Limits to growth Ghost photography Australia’s ceremony country Kelvin Cruickshank back on the road
number 94 - summer 2010 content editorial
Apocalypse soon: Unwarranted skepticism and the growth fetish 3 Room for all in
Digital Photography and the Paranormal 7 discussion group Newsfront 10
Travels in ceremony country 13 HE nzskeptics Yahoo discussion group has been very busy of Tlate, with December 2009 registering more than 300 new mes- On the threshold of a dream 16 sages – the largest number in the almost five years of the group’s Forum 18 existence. In large measure this has been thanks to contributions from a couple of participants who hold views which I would assume The spiritual Science of Alpha most of our members don’t share. Beta, healer to the stars 18
Owlcat: definitely not coming One of these was a scientologist, the other a chiropractor. Topics to a place near you, discussed ranged beyond the core concerns of these two camps into any time soon 19 Chinese medicine, psychiatry, evolution and the nature of the soul. Although the tone sometimes veered towards exasperation, the debates with one or two exceptions were generally conducted in good spirit, and didn’t degenerate into the flame wars that internet discussions are notorious for. A good thing too – when scientolo- ISSN - 1172-062X gists and chiropractors make their presence known on the group, it’s a reminder that it is open to anyone who cares to sign up. Skeptics Contributions are on public display, and some will judge the society by the way a Contributions are welcome and few individuals behave. should be sent to: The flurry of activity seems to be dying down again, at least for David Riddell the time being. Ultimately fatigue sets in, as entrenched positons 122 Woodlands Rd show no signs of shifting, and one by one people drop out. But RD1 Hamilton Email: [email protected] discussions like these are still worthwhile. While occasionally frus- trating, they serve the function of giving participants the chance to Deadline for next issue: hone their arguments, and to examine issues from perspectives they March 10 2010 may not have considered, as well as providing a stimulus to further Letters for the Forum may be edited reading and research. Many more read than actively take part, and as space requires - up to 250 words derive some pleasure from following the exchanges – although my is preferred. Please indicate the mailer’s Deleted folder currently has a stack of 32 unread messages publication and date of all clippings with the subject line ‘Chiropractors’. There are only so many hours for the Newsfront. in a day, after all. Material supplied by email or CD is appreciated. A group where everyone held similar views would get boring very quickly. nzskeptics, for now, is working well, and has become Permission is given to other non- a valuable extension of the society’s activities. Thanks are due to profit skeptical organisations to Simon Clendon for getting it up and running and maintaining it. reprint material from this publication provided the author and NZ Skeptic And Kevin, Justin, and all the other regulars on nzskeptics, your are acknowledged. contributions are appreciated too. Opinions expressed in the New Zealand Skeptic are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of NZ Skeptics (Inc.) or its officers.
Subscription details are available from www.skeptics.org.nz or PO Box 29-492, Christchurch. number 94 – summer 2010 main feature Apocalypse soon: Unwarranted skepticism and the growth fetish John Robinson
The dire predictions of the Club of Rome’s 1972 report on The Limits to Growth have supposedly been refuted by subsequent studies, but the refutations have serious shortcomings. This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics 2009 conference in Wellington, 26 September.
E belong to a species peak will happen sooner, around aspects of a greater complexity. Wthat dominates the planet. 2030. The thought of possible global After millennia of steady growth collapse within one lifetime This model was based on a which have altered regional en- impressed me and I set off on considerable body of research vironments and killed off many a new career. I have found that and is supported by many other species, the human population the picture based on physical more detailed studies. Here has exploded during one life- science can readily be fleshed we have a picture of a world in time. Whereas it took millennia out by reference to past historical which population may plummet to reach the first billion, the hu- events. It is easy to foresee the following an overshoot-and- man population tripled in 140 repetition of population collapse, decline pattern when limits are years to three billion by 1960, social breakdown and war. passed. and is currently trebling again in So here am I proclaiming just 80 years, to nine billion apocalypse in just 20 years. in 2040. We have become a What do you make of it? Ei- plague. ther I am mistaken or society Many scientists, including is just a little bit crazy. J B myself, have been concerned Priestley made this point in with this picture. There relation to William Blake: is considerable evidence “And no doubt those who describing an overpopulated believe that the society we have world, threatened by food and created during the last hundred water shortages, a shortage of and fifty years is essentially oil supplies, and huge changes sound and healthy will continue due to global warming. to believe, if they ever think Consider the message in the about him, that Blake was figure on the right, which insane. But there is more profit adds more recent data to the for mind and soul in believing Projected changes in human populations under Limits to Growth forecasts our society to be increasingly various scenarios: so far actual growth since insane, and Blake (as the few of Meadows et al (1972)� for��� 1972 is right on track. who knew him well always the Club of Rome’s Project declared)� to be sound and on the Predicament of Man- I looked at this some 35 years healthy.” kind. World population may hit ago with the eyes of an applied a peak around 2040-2050 and I introduce this point as I have mathematician. I had seen that then rapidly decline. My own been treated as a pariah for tak- a model can capture the essence research, including work with a ing up an extremely important of a situation and provide real- number of international forecast- scientific endeavour. Should you istic guidance, just so long as ing projects, suggests that the be sceptical of those like me who the model is based on the key talk of impending catastrophe?
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Certainly, but consider the alter- for six months with t�������he ����OECD sceptical of the warnings of native which is to put your faith Interfutures project. While I approaching limits. Such scep- in those who have dismissed was able to study an extensive ticism may be better applied the reality of a finite Earth. The collection of input information, to many of the arguments for Limits to Growth was the subject I had no real part in the analysis, continuation of growth; here is of widespread denunciation by which was dominated by a small a New Zealand example. the supporters of status quo In 1990 the Planning Council economic growth. Let’s look at It is ... like the fellow the validity of some of the crit- published a report, The fully ics; we at the DSIR considered falling off a building who employed high income society many and found some bizarre felt that all was well as he (Rose 1990)�, which received arguments. sailed down, before he nationwide publicity due to its reached the pavement. suggestion that sustainable full One key critique was a employment with full incomes 1977 Report to the United was possible by 1995 due to Nations, The Future of the World core group. The 1979 report high rates of productivity in- Economy, by a team headed by includes a claim that would be crease – but otherwise continu- Nobel Prize- winning economist satisfactory to the clients, the ing current policies. Vassilly Leontief. The Dominion wealthy nations of the world: reported that: When I read the document “Economic growth may continue carefully I found some very “Among the most significant during the next half-century in all questionable points: aspects of the study are its rejec- the countries of the world without tion of predictions by the Club (a)� Estimates of employment encountering insurmountable of Rome that the world will run long-term physical limits at the requirements commenced in out of resources and choke on its global level.” 1988 and ignored the significant pollution if it continues to expand loss of jobs between that date its economy.” There are two reasons why this and 1990. statement is misleading. Firstly, The summary of the report (b)� Modelling of productiv- emphasised this theme: all their many computer model calculations stopped in 2000 ity increases commenced with “No insurmountable physical and did not reach out that far, modelling which has proved barriers exist within the twentieth so this is not in any way based unrealistic and overly optimistic, century to the accelerated on the work of so many of us and assumed a further doubling development of the developing in this project. Secondly, they of productivity. regions.” look ahead for just 50 years, (c)� The model run commenced Read that carefully. It says thus stopping short of 2050, in 1984 with these increases in “in the twentieth century”. The the forecast time for crisis. It productivity in order to generate Limits to Growth’s authors made is always easy to dodge a crisis an optimistic result in 1995, thus a forecast of a possible calami- by stopping short of the due ignoring the negative experi- tous population collapse around date, like the fellow falling off ences of 1984-90. 2050 – not within the twentieth a building who felt that all was century. By stopping their model well as he sailed down, before (d)� The model was instructed 50 years before, in 2000, the UN he reached the pavement. They to produce full employment by team made quite sure that they knew what The Limits to Growth 1995 – this was not a conse- avoided any possibility of such forecast; they knew what they quence of the modelling based an event. In fact, as far as they were doing. on policy changes as represented went, their forecasts are very by input parameters. These are examples of the way similar to those of The Limits to in which organisations employ (e)� Full employment was Growth. expertise to generate desired completely generated by Such sleight of hand is not results and make unjustified additional capital investment. uncommon. In 1978 ��������I worked claims. Many readers will be number 94 – summer 2010 club of rome
The model failed the most forecast paths towards the com- basic scientific test of forecast- ing crisis. ing even before it was pub- lished. In the four years from The graph of population on 1986, the date one model run page 3 is typical. These fur- commenced, to 1990, the date ther graphs (right)� of food and of the report, the model had industrial output per capita, suggested an increase in em- non-renewable resources and ployment of 38,000, whereas global persistent pollution show���� the actual experience was of a the same correlation between fall of 90,000. Nor was that forecast and observation. followed by a fully employed Data since 1972 follow the society – indeed unemploy- standard run closely, and do not ment was 11 percent in 1991. deviate to follow alternative The main feature of this paths. This result echoes a study work was a failure to produce I carried out in 2000, when I the required result of full found that my worrying picture employment within realistic built up around 1980 was robust. model parameters. The correct Trends have been intriguingly process would then have been following the expected pattern, to report that finding, which including more recently the 2008 would have been in line with oil peak and economic collapse, what actually happened, but galloping global warming and they chose to tweak the model the appearance of boat people by the introduction of massive off the Australian coast. capital investment. This When I studied the futures artificial process forced the literature back in 2000 I found model to say what was wanted two very different dominant and the result was then widely themes. Each followed ob- publicised. served trends and each could Whereas the growth mer- describe features of the coming chants have feet of clay, the decades. Some�������������������� of the articles limits forecasts from the 1970s suggested the possibility of hold up well when put to the food shortages, which would test. When in 2008 the CSIRO exacerbate the considerable (noted above)� returned to the inequalities observed today. 1972 forecasts of The Limits That negative scenario may be to Growth and considered exacerbated by water shortages whether the real world had fol- and climate change.����� How- lowed the forecast trends, the ever a�������������������� much more prevalent results were convincing. They picture was of increasing human considered measures of popu- capabilities, new technologies lation (birth rates, death rates and wealth. and population growth)�, food No choice is needed; both sets (and food per capita)�, services of forecasts may prove robust, (basic education, electricity as existing trends take different and suchlike)�, industrial out- regions or different groups put per capita, non-renewable along very different paths. resources and global pollution. There is then the possibility All were tracking along the of the coexistence of two very
page club of rome different societies in the future. down, and initiative is killed as gas emissions from 1990 to 2007 This is quite likely; after all ��it scientists waste time writing increase 39.2����������������������� percent for energy was like that in mediaeval times proposals for guaranteed results and 35 percent for industrial and in eighteenth and nineteenth rather than asking questions and processes. Where is the madness century Europe, and this is the exploring the world. The human here? reality in many parts of the world cost has also been enormous today. with the crushing of the lively, Ignorance goes nowhere. A questioning spirit in true science. people which faces the world I have described the applica- The fun of science is gone. Sadly with eyes wide open can gain a tion of the scientific method to the spokesman for the scientific national spirit and decide to work long-term forecasting. This is community, the Royal Society towards a satisfying and full life the way a scientist operates, in (RSNZ)� is quiescent. for all, even in the face of adver- a search for the truth. An op- sity, rather than put up with the posite process is followed in Even in economics much more massive inequality introduced in economics, where false analyses can be done. In 1989 I was able 1984 and still touted as the way are widely publicised, and the to foresee the collapsing system forward. fit of forecast to reality is ig- we have now. Sometimes I Dr John Robinson is an applied nored. New Zealand discourse dream that we can recover the mathematician. Over the past 35 is dominated by shonky sci- spirit of the 1970s when the de- years he has expanded his interests ence. The key work on global bate was well-informed, when to include economics, sociology, crisis comes from the Australian an initiative in the DSIR was ecology and history, in order to CSIRO while the DSIR, where supported and the Commission inform his understanding of the global and national future. I started my work, is no more. for the Future was set up. It is Graphs are reproduced with Here science is in a straitjacket nowhere on the horizon. This is permission from Graham M Turner of controls, totally gutted. In a a country that is deep in denial, 2008: A comparison of The Limits recent round of grants eight out which can sign up to Kyoto and to Growth with 30 years of reality, of nine applications were turned then do nothing as greenhouse���������� Global Environmental Change 18(3): 397-411.
number 94 – summer 2010 photography Digital Photography and the Paranormal
James Gilberd
More ‘ghosts’ than ever are appearing in photos – thanks to digital cameras. This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics 2009 conference in Wellington, 26 September.
INCE the beginnings of very few strange occurrences in than 0.5mm. (As a comparison, Sphotography in the mid- the photos. This century digital the maximum aperture of my nineteenth century people have compact cameras have become Mju-1 was 35mm/f3.5=10mm.)� used the medium to capture im- ubiquitous and supposed ghost These tiny apertures allow things ages of ghosts, both naïvely and photos are also now common. very close to the lens to be cap- as a hoax for commercial gain. There is a connection. tured by the recording medium Until the arrival of roll film late (albeit out of focus)� even when in the nineteenth century, which Design-wise, the basic layout the lens is focussed on medium- was more light-sensitive than of a compact digital camera isn’t long distance. earlier wet and dry plates, long much different to a compact exposure times sometimes re- 35mm film camera; both have The most common photo- sulted in spectral-looking figures a lens with a minimum focal graphic anomaly that is mis- length a little shorter than stand- takenly held up as evidence of accidently or intentionally ap- 1 pearing in photographs. Nearly ard and a flash positioned close paranormal activity is the orb. all early photographs showing al- to the lens. The main differences While there are natural objects leged ghosts can be explained by are the lens focal lengths and the that are visible to the unaided double exposure, long exposure, image recording medium. eye and may photograph as orbs – that is, any small or point or they are recordings of staged A typical 35mm film cam- scenes – contrivances such as the source light, either close by such era has a semi-wide angle lens as a lit cigarette or burning marsh cutout fairies at the bottom of the (which may also zoom well into garden in Cottingley. gas, or distant such as the planet the telephoto range but we’re not Venus – there are other types of As cameras became more much interested in that)� in the orbs that only show up in pho- foolproof, with mechanisms to range of 28mm-38mm. A stand- tographs. You don’t see them eliminate double exposure etc, ard lens for the format is about but the camera does. These are accidental ghosts in photographs 45mm. A digital compact camera mainly caused by airborne dust, became scarce. During the 1990s is more likely to have a lens focal moisture droplets, or tiny insects. I carried a compact 35mm cam- length starting out in the range In the dark, they are visible only era (an Olympus Mju-1)� and shot of 4mm to 7mm. A 5mm lens is briefly (for a millisecond or so) more than five thousand photos typical, and at a maximum ap- when illuminated by the camera with it. At the time I was not erture of around f2.8, the maxi- flash. Dust is the most common looking for paranormal effects mum working aperture of the cause of orbs in photographs, such as those described below, lens can be less than 2mm and captured as an out-of-focus glow but a quick review showed only the stopped down aperture less as it passes within centimetres
1. A standard lens has a focal length close to the diagonal measurement of the film or digital sensor. This lens renders objects in correct proportion according to their distance – a neutral perspective, neither compressed (as by longer focal length, or ‘telephoto’ lenses) nor exaggerated (as by shorter focal length, wide-angle lenses).
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the lens (above)� and subject, a tree, and how the also have larger image out-of-focus orb appears over sensors and longer fo- the tree in the processed image, cal-length lenses which appearing the size of its Circle are more like a 35mm of Confusion at the film plane camera. (or, in this case, digital imaging plane)�. Note: a built-in flash on a digital SLR, while Other common photographic being closer to the lens anomalies which are sometimes axis, is set some distance assumed to be paranormal are The placing of the flash close to the short focal back from the front of caused by lens flare, internal re- length lens of a digital camera means that dust the lens, so the dust flections, dirty lenses and objects motes can be illuminated as ‘orbs’. particles it illuminates in front of the lens. These can of the camera lens, in the zone are also out of view of all occur in any type of camera. covered by the flash. the lens; they are behind it. What they have in common (and this includes dust orbs)�, is The diagram above shows how Specifically, a dust orb is an that the phenomena exist only a compact digital camera, having image of the electronic flash in the camera: they will not be its flash close to its short focal reflected by a mote, out of focus seen with the unaided eye. Most length lens, is able to photograph and appearing at the film plane of the time, photographs that dust orbs. Most 35mm cameras as a circular image the same are held up as paranormal were shape as the lens at full aperture.
A dust mote in the foreground appears as an orb on a photo.
Most of the time when a compact taken when nothing apparently camera takes a flash photo the paranormal was suspected: the aperture blades automatically anomalous effect was only no- stay out of the way to allow the ticed later upon reviewing the widest possible lens opening. If images. the aperture blades close down SLR cameras rarely photograph at all, they create a diamond- Another confusing aspect of orbs. shaped opening and any dust photographic anomalies is the won’t do this because the lens is orb then becomes triangular, an loss of sense of scale, caused by too long in focal length to be able effect predicted by this theory of the reduction of the 3D world to to create a small enough Circle dust orbs. a 2D photograph. In the photo 2 opposite, it appears the baby is of Confusion image of the dust The diagram above shows a and larger Single Lens Reflex looking at the orb, but actually dust mote much closer to the the dust particle causing the orb (SLR)�-type cameras tend to have camera lens than the focussed the flash positioned farther from is centimetres from the lens and
2. Circle of Confusion (COC)� is a term in optics for the image of a point of light that is in or out of focus at the imaging plane of a lens. Each point of an object forms an image circle of a diameter relative to its degree of sharp focus, with an in-focus point forming a tiny COC that effectively appears as a point. An Infinite number of larger, overlapping COCs form the blurry (unfocussed)� areas of an image. This is the basis of Depth of Field in photography. number 94 – summer 2010 photography
mode will cause light trails from any light source due to the slow shutter speed (usually several seconds), combined with flash. Also, in Night mode a person moving will record as a blur combined with a sharp image from the flash, making it look like a ‘mist’ is around them. It is important to remember that a compact digital camera will process an image file be- fore displaying it. While a more serious camera will shoot in Raw (unprocessed)� mode, most compact cameras record the image in JPEG form, which is What’s that? Orbs can, by coincidence, sometimes appear to interact with objects or people in a photo. compressed. Cellphone cam- eras usually apply a lot of file the baby is looking at something Next is an enlarged part of a compression to save memory else out of frame. photo of the Oriental Bay Ma- and minimise transmission time. rina. The ghost lights in the sky Digital compression creates A variation on this is when are secondary images of light artefacts, and the effect can be someone senses the presence of sources elsewhere in the photo, seen in the enlarged photo of the a ghost and responds by taking a caused by internal reflections in dust orb (page 12)�. Also, digital photograph. If a dust orb appears the camera lens. in the photo it may be assumed sharpening is automatically ap- to be a visual representation or manifestation of the spir- itual entity. Naïve paranormal investigators and other credulous types get terribly excited when this happens, and it often does during a ghost hunt. And ghost hunting is about the only type of activity that involves wandering around in the dark taking photos of nothing in particular. Now that digital cameras have large displays, photographers using the cameras during a paranormal investigation are able to im- Lights in the sky: internal reflections can produce strange effects. mediately see dust orbs in their photos. If they believe these orbs to be paranormal, the hysteria of While operating a camera plied, which can make a vague the investigators is fed. I’ve seen in the dark it is easy to make blur into a more definite shape, it happen. With film cameras and a mistake such as letting the a smear into a human face. even with older digital cameras camera strap or something else We are all aware of the ten- having smaller displays or no get in front of the lens, or put a dency to want to recognise hu- photo display at all, the orb effect fingerprint on the lens that will man faces or figures in random was not usually observed until cause lens flare later. Use of the after the investigation. camera in the Night Photography To Page 12
page newsfront Compiled by David Riddell Psychic and TVNZ join forces to profit from child’s disappearance
HEN Sensing Murder misadventure seemed the most be enough to attract the cat. Wpsychic Deb Webber an- likely explanation. It was only There was no evidence of a large nounced on TV One’s Breakfast as time went on that the abduc- predator attacking free-ranging show that missing Auckland tion scenario gained favour. stock, however. toddler Aisling Symes was in “a When her body was eventually ditch, hole” it raised eyebrows discovered in a concrete storm- We should apply the skeptical all over the place (NZ Herald, 9 water pipe the Waikato Times adage, when you hear hoofbeats October)�. (13 October)� reported Webber in the night, think of horses, not had been “proved correct”. of zebras. Big cats have been Webber was appearing on reported very widely, and some- the show to plug her upcoming But “ditch” or “hole” covers times are reported as brown or nationwide tour – and also the almost all the likely options – in- grey, suggesting that breeding latest series of Sensing Murder, cluding a shallow grave. Again, populations of at least two spe- screening on the same channel. the standard psychic’s ploy of cies are involved. Black leop- Later that day TVNZ journalist making a vague statement which ards (‘panthers’) are rare within Amy Kelley asked the police is then misremembered as more their natural range compared at a press conference how seri- accurate than it was, paid divi- to the more common spotted ously they would take Webber’s dends. variety, yet no spotted leopards “information”. have been sighted roaming free in New Zealand. TVNZ then approached a friend of the Symes family and Hunt on for ‘panther’ Far more likely that the big subsequently Webber had met A few years back the annual cats are just that – big cats. Feral them. The state broadcaster NZ Skeptics conference heard domestic cats can grow remark- seemed to have far too cosy a about reports of big cats in the ably large – I once saw one in relationship with the psychic. South Island high country. Now the Lewis Pass which must have someone has built a trap for the been almost a metre nose to tail TVNZ spokeswoman Andi – and people are very poor at Brotherston defended the chan- mystery beast (Sunday Star- Times, 13 December)�. judging scale at long distances nel’s role, saying, “You know (hmm, maybe that cat wasn’t so what they are doing? They are High country farmer David big after all!)�. being human. They have a fam- Wightman says he’s never seen ily out there that are desperate to the “panther”, but others on his find their child.” 9500ha Winterslow Station in Scientology ‘organised fraud’ Interestingly, Webber’s Sens- North Canterbury have, on at ing Murder co-star Kelvin least four occasions. “Too many The church of Scientology Cruickshank said at a public people have seen it to doubt what has been branded an “organised show in Hamilton (see p. 16)� it is – without actually capturing fraud” by a French court and that his spirits had told him to it and doing a DNA test on it, fined 600,000 euros ($1.2m) for keep clear of the case, because one can only assume it is a black preying financially on vulner- the family were devout Baptists leopard or black panther.” able believers (NZ Herald, 28 October)�. who didn’t believe in spiritual- Wightman said he planned to ism. use a live goat to lure the panther Judges in the Paris criminal It is worth remembering that into the trap. The panther would court ordered the church to pay at the time Webber made these be unable to harm the goat be- for adverts carrying its find- comments (less than 48 hours cause it would be in a separate ings to be placed in newspapers after Aisling’s disappearance) enclosure, but its bleating should around the world. It is believed number 94 – summer 2010 newsfront to be the first time that Scientol- ear infections, asthma and pro- of her – at DoC speaker Richard ogy has been declared fraudulent longed crying. Griffiths. The department were by a court in a large, democratic “parasites” and “disease monger- country, although individual sci- Singh described the treatments ers”, she said. entologists, including its founder as “bogus” and criticised the L Ron Hubbard, have previously BCA for “happily promoting” Others at the meeting accused been convicted of fraudulent them. DoC of spreading poison in the gulf, and of being blinded by sci- activities. The Paris decision In May, Mr Justice Eady in the went further and declared the ence. Six dogs died and others high court ruled on the meaning became unwell after apparent core claims of Scientology were of the words, saying they implied “fallacious” and designed to exposure to tetrodotoxin, a natu- the BCA was being deliberately ral marine toxin, on Auckland “hook” members into paying dishonest. Singh was initially re- large amounts of money. beaches. Marine organisms, fused leave to appeal, but Eady’s including penguins and dolphins, Two French female plaintiffs interpretation was deemed to be had also been found dead in the alleged that, between 1997 and open to argument by Lord Justice area. Mr Griffiths told the meet- 1999, the Scientology movement Laws, who said Eady had risked ing toxicology results ruled out persuaded them to pay the equiv- swinging the balance of rights brodifacoum as being responsi- alent of 21,000 euros and 49,500 too far in favour of the right to ble. “I’m not sure what else we euros for treatments to improve reputation and against the right can say.” their mental and physical health. to free expression. The two main Scientology bod- Many scientists and science ies in France were put on trial for writers have rallied to Singh’s Thief warned of sex change “systematic use of personality support, claiming that the free- curse tests of no scientific value... with dom of scientific opinion is at the sole aim of selling services stake. A thief in Auckland may get and products”. more than he or she bargained “Simon Singh’s battle in this for with a terracotta flower pot Scientology spokeswoman libel case is not only a glaring taken from a Gulf Harbour home Agnes Bron said the verdict example of how the law and its (Rodney Times, 3 December)�. was the result of an “inquisition interpretation are stifling free of modern times” and that they expression, it shows how urgent The owner says it contains his would appeal. the case for reform has become,” African witchdoctor grandma’s said Jo Glanville, editor of Index ashes and is now cursed. In a on Censorship. letter to the Rodney Times, At Science writer wins ruling in du Plooy says his grandmother libel battle was a sangoma or witchdoctor who died in Africa aged 93. Du Brtiish science writer Simon ‘Tumour’ thrown at meeting Plooy claims to be a medium Singh, who is being sued for The hysteria over the Dept who keeps in contact with her libel by the British Chiropractic of Conservation’s use of brodi- spirit. While he should be able Association, is to fight on after facoum to eradicate pests on to trace the pot, through this link, a preliminary judgment against Rangitoto and Motutapu, re- it appears grandma is unfamiliar him was opened to appeal (The ported in last issue’s Newsfront, with the area concerned. Guardian, 14 October)�. has continued (NZ Herald, 15 Instead, she has cursed a one Singh was sued after writ- October)�. kilometre area around the pot ing an article in the Guardian A woman, Donna Bird, was with sex-change ions – meaning criticising the association for ejected from a 14 October meet- men may gradually change to supporting members who claim ing on Auckland’s North Shore women and vice versa. Dump- that chiropractic treatments can after hurling abuse and objects ing the contents won’t break the treat children’s colic, sleeping – one of which she claimed was spell, du Plooy says, only its and feeding problems, frequent a tumour that had been taken out return.
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From Page 9 patterns. This is a strong instinct possibly linked to infancy, pick- ing out a parent’s face from the surrounding incomprehensible shapes. Once people see human features in a photo it is difficult to convince them that they’re looking at a random pattern and just interpreting it as a face. The effect is called pareidolia, some- times referred to as matrixing, or Enlarged views of dust orbs, with the internal patterning resulting from the figure as a simulacrum. lens optics and digital sharpening and compression of the image by the camera. It is easy to imagine these patterns as human or animal faces. The ‘Face in the Middle’ photo, below, is an example of camera methods such as long one can claim ignorance and pareidolia. The third face ap- exposure or multiple exposure, honestly say they didn’t mess pearing between the boy and girl or in post-production using with the photo, it is exactly how is several background elements imaging software such as Pho- the camera saw it. Having done combining to produce the simu- toshop, current camera technol- a fair amount of ghost hunting lacrum. The low resolution and ogy makes it hardly necessary. myself, it is tempting to use a large amount of compression in It is far easier to choose to use digital compact camera with the this cellphone photo exacerbate a compact digital camera or knowledge that while it is highly the effect. cellphone camera and allow it unlikely an actual ghost will be to produce the anomalous effects photographed, a certain number While we all know it is easy automatically: one reason why of anomalous photographs will to fake a ghost photo using in- ‘ghost hunters’ use them. Then result which will at least spice up the investigation report!3 In my experience of analys- ing photographs, I have found that some people are prepared to accept a rational explanation of what they thought may have been a photograph of a paranor- mal event. Others don’t want to hear anything rational; they’ve made up their mind that there’s a ghost in the photo and that’s the end of it. Having looked at a large number of photographs that allegedly show ghosts, I haven’t yet come across one that doesn’t fall into one of the general cat- egories of photographic anomaly The ‘face in the middle’ is one of the more famous ghost photos to have come referred to above or isn’t a prob- out of New Zealand in recent years. able fake.
3. In Strange Occurrences we use digital photography in much the same way as police photographers, that is, to record details of a location for later reference. Also, long exposures with a digital SLR on a tripod can show things the unaided eye cannot quite make out in low light, such as reflected and/or diffracted light patterns from external light sources that may appear somewhat ghost-like. number 94 – summer 2010 photography
While I think that people do visible light). Photographs are backup from other types of hard have ghost-like experiences (an not considered hard evidence of data and witness accounts to lend opinion based mainly on the vast anything much these days any- it evidential weight. accumulation of published anec- way, because it is widely known James Gilberd lives in Wellington dotal evidence but also on some that even a moderately skilled and receives many alleged personal experiences that remain photographer or Photoshop oper- paranormal photographs via email unexplained)�, it is probably not ator can create a realistic looking through the website www.strange- possible to photograph a ghost as picture of almost any fantasy. In occurrences.com such using any known method of paranormal matters a photograph He is an experienced professional photographer who is happy to offer photography (including pictures can at best be considered cir- analyses of photographs sent in. using the EM spectrum outside cumstantial evidence requiring culture Travels in ceremony country Jim Ring
Some claim our society is too materialistic and lacks spiritual values. But what would it be like to live in a society that rejects materialism?
RNHEM Land in tropical A tiny number of operators in (that would presumably result in AAustralia has a curious Nhulunbuy will offer tours with a conviction for manslaughter)� status. Although the govern- a vehicle and guide, and assist- would occur when he got out of ment has overall responsibility, ance in obtaining the necessary hospital. On some previous oc- the indigenous inhabitants are permits. The tribespeople are casions, the spearing took place considered to be in control over generally not unfriendly but shy, when the offender got out of the area where they live. Out- and few will attempt much of a prison and this was thought to siders must seek permission to conversation even if they have be unfair. enter a tribal area and a permit sufficient English. As Austral- is issued on payment of a fee. ian citizens they are eligible Some but not all children go Twenty years ago the tourist fee for benefits so individuals have to school. On one tiny island was relatively modest, but for a some income though very few in the Gulf of Carpentaria I met mining concession the fee is sub- have jobs (and those who do a group of young boys living stantial as one might expect. We are nearly all women)�. A good on their own to prepare for the paid $65 for two of us per day on deal of their income is spent on ‘circumcision’ ceremony that our first visit, although fees have alcohol. Getting drunk is not would admit them to full tribal risen greatly over time. frowned upon within the tribal membership. They had spears system. Religion puts a high and knives (but no clothes)�, and Very few tourists visit because value on a trance-like state and were living on fish and other sea- the fee is for entry only and there it is not clear how inebriation food that they could catch or col- are no hotels, restaurants, shops differs from this (even to me)�. lect. Water was in short supply or similar facilities. There are Violence when drunk can be and the gifts of cold cans of soft very few roads, or even tracks for punished, especially if somebody drink were more than welcome. four-wheel drive vehicles. How- is harmed. These boys (around 12 years old ever it is possible to fly in and at my guess)� could speak some stay at the small mining town of On one of our visits, a chief’s English. But they could not Nhulunbuy within Arnhem Land drunken son had just beaten a reach a consensus as to how long where there is accommodation, woman to death. A meeting they had been on the island, how shops and restaurants. No per- of elders had decided that the long since they had seen an adult, mit is needed provided one stays spearing would take place imme- how long they expected to stay or within the town perimeter. diately and that the official trial even whether they had ever been
page 13 culture to school. I got the impression one that had been admired and we were not aware of this on our that they were not supposed to the tourist did not like it. But, earliest trips! have any contact with me, but explained the artist, the one he soft drinks overwhelmed any had liked was still there, it was Most tribes are small; one we moral inhibitions. just underneath. In fact there encountered consisted of about were four layers of painting; 40 individuals. All receive some Anthropologists have de- none of these were intended to be assistance from the government scribed this island sequestration viewed by human eyes. Painting and those whose lands contain of pre-initiates, but I doubt they is done to satisfy the artist and valuable minerals get money interviewed the boys on an is- please the spirits who are not from their leases. In fact the land. The written descriptions limited by human sense organs. amounts from leases can be enor- simply add to my scepticism The artist had some understand- mous when considered against of anthropologists. What I ob- ing that the tourist might wish to the standard of the material pos- served differed from the anthro- own something that pleased the sessions of the tribe, apart from pological accounts in a number spirits. He could not understand its land. of important ways. why the new owner might want A giant aluminium company I have become friendly with to view the painting. built a village for one tiny tribe one (white)� Australian who had on the edge of a huge lagoon been initiated into one tribe and called Bradshaw Harbour. There could act as interpreter. However were vast resources for fishing my friendship has not progressed and gathering of food, but after to the stage where I felt able to a few years when the senior elder ask him if he had undergone the had died, the tribe abandoned severe penile mutilation that their houses and moved to the the young boys are supposed to edge of Nhulunbuy where they endure. The ceremony involves could camp within easy access more than simple circumcision to alcohol. as understood by us. Of course there are outsiders On one trip my friend had with a mission to help the local recently taken a guy on an eco- people, medics, teachers, social tour. They first visited the tribe workers and religious enthusi- for permission and found a man asts, but the curious status of the apparently completing a paint- place allows the locals to deter- ing on bark. In some parts of mine what kind of help they will Australia paintings are made to accept. These are tribal societies, Glen Dillon sell to tourists but these are of so it is the elders, ie the older variable quality. The tourist was men, who decide. excited at finding an authentic There are many rock paint- work of art, which he thought ings across the tropical North. Most outsiders would like to beautiful. The artist showed However the access to some sites see the available money spent on little reluctance to sell, and lit- has been restricted or stopped material things like housing, hy- tle interest in a price. But his altogether. This is not because giene, education, medicine, etc. work was not complete and he the tribes think the paintings That is, those things upon which insisted it had to be finished. It may be damaged by tourists, in our society puts great value. But was agreed that the tourist would fact they paint over some old the elders put the greatest value return at the end of his visit. examples. This does not ‘dam- on their religion. This involves age’ them as they are still there complex and lengthy ‘ceremo- Some days later the guide for the spirits. But viewing by nies’, when a tribe invites its and tourist returned and the art- non-initiates desecrates the site. neighbours to a session of feast- ist produced his now-complete Actually photography and video ing and ritual generally lasting painting. It was nothing like the desecrates them even more but many days. In earlier times this number 94 – summer 2010 culture presumably had the practical re- limited to those tribes in the vi- (four anglers)� in an uninhabited sult of reducing tension and the cinity: within walking distance. area when we had a visit from risk of intertribal war. Generally it is estimated most the ‘traditional owners’ plus tribes held a ceremony only social workers and government Initiated men are called ‘war- once a year, while they probably officials. They came supposedly riors’ in English translation, attended between two and four to see that the region was being even though they may be young more, held by their neighbours. looked after properly. There is teenagers. I have been on a fish- never any litter around at fish- ing/hunting trip with a ‘warrior’ Mining royalties mean that the ing camps in the Kimberley, so whose grandmother told me was tribes (though not the individual)� after this group had left one of 13. He carried two spears and a have considerable discretionary the guides went round to pick ‘throwing stick’ (his term) some- income and a very large per- up all the litter they had dropped times called an atlatl or woomera centage of this is spent on travel – mainly cigarette butts. by outsiders. However it was a costs, to allow the people to at- sacred object, no uninitiated per- tend distant ceremonies and on There was no road access son could touch it or even learn catering for the greatly enlarged and no place for a landing strip. its proper name and he did not numbers who attend the local A helicopter was kept on the know any other western names ceremony. If sufficient funds ground while the party was for the object. allow they may also increase visiting. When it came time for the number of ceremonies held. them to leave it had developed We went fishing in one spot; These days food is purchased as a fault. Another chopper with a part of our concession was to well as gathered, in fact close mechanic had to come to exam- take along a tribal member. A to a supermarket in Nhulunbuy ine it, while a third very large woman agreed; she would spend very little is gathered, while very machine came to pick up the her time gathering food on a sa- large amounts of alcoholic drink party (they all had to travel at cred beach. But she wanted to will be needed. once instead of being ferried, as also take her daughter who she night was approaching)�. None of thought had just become fertile. At first the travel range was the visitors had been there before It was necessary also to take a increased by four-wheel drive – it is actually Government land warrior, because a girl not so ac- transport, but with unskilled – ie public land and it could not companied would become preg- drivers and a complete lack of support a permanent settlement nant by walking on this sacred mechanics for maintenance, now or in the recent past. beach. This had happened to her these had only a brief useful life. as a teenager so she was certain Where mining roads have been The main concern of the tra- it was true. Our guide (in the installed, ground vehicles may ditional owners was to ensure woman’s hearing), explained that still be of use, but road mainte- that tourist operators did not take the tribespeople were perfectly nance is costly and without up- people to visit ancient sites and aware of the connection between keep no road is likely to survive in particular did not photograph, sex and pregnancy but they had even a single wet season. or even view, ancient rock art. sex all the time and pregnancy Such visitors offended against did not always result so some Travel by air is more feasible the traditional spiritual values, other factor must be involved. and tribes now often hire air but these people expressed no I decided this was similar to transport. This makes the whole interest in charging fees to al- attitudes in rural Ireland where of Arnhem Land within the range low tourists to do these touristy prayers to the Virgin are thought of any tribe living within one things. important in such matters. day’s walk of a bush airstrip. Jim Ring is a Nelson skeptic. Outside Arnhem Land, in Before money was introduced, Further reading: the cost in resources of putting Western Australia, taxpayers provide subsidy for tribal trans- Spoken Here: Travels Among on a ceremony was considerable Threatened Languages. M Abley, port where there are no mining relative to the economic status 2003. of a tribe. However the number concessions. In 2007 we were at a small, isolated fishing camp The Elements of the Aborigine Tra- of people who could attend was dition. James G Cowan, 1992.
page 15 medium On the threshold of a dream
NZ Skeptic editor David Riddell finds Kelvin Cruickshank less impressive in person than he appears on Sensing Murder. A shorter version of this review appeared in the Waikato Times on 9 December 2009.
ENSING Murder has a lot audio recording of the evening the soul ... only at its epochs of Sto answer for. As well as and below is a transcription of most intense tranquility ... and at cluttering up our television some of it. This is rendered ver- those mere points in time where screens with its exploitative and batim, to give an impression of the confines of the waking world unproductive re-warmings of the relaxed, conversational style blend with those of the world unsolved murders, it has created he adopts with his audience. of dreams. I am aware of these ‘fancies’ only when I am on the three stars on the psychic circuit. “When you go to sleep at night very brink of sleep, with the con- Deb Webber, Sue Nicholson and time, you get that nice fluffy sciousness that I am so.” Kelvin Cruickshank all regularly zone, where you just start to drib- tour New Zealand, Australia and ble, you know, like
page 17 forum from the vaults
A non-remedy for This excerpt from an NZ Skeptic article of 20 years ago reviewed an evening with self-styled New Zealand ‘magnetic healer’ Colin a non-disease Lambert. Presumably the pseudonym ‘Alpha Beta’ was used to minimise the chances of legal action should Lambert have con- sidered anything in it defamatory. Lambert died in 2006, but his HAD to wait for my prescrip- disciples maintain a website, www.magnetichealers.org.nz, where Ition at the pharmacy and while some of his books and CD’s can be purchased, and workshops are browsing the shelves noticed a promoted. new homeopathic remedy for white-tail spider bites. At $18.40 a small bottle it’s money for jam! The spiritual Science of Alpha Beta, No, that metaphor will just not work; perhaps money for water healer to the stars would be better? White-tail spider bites have been blamed The skeptics having been in- The surgeon wafts the ‘healing for a huge range of injuries but vited to Mr Beta’s lecture, I went energy’ in the book down into the scientific evidence has dis- along to clutch, if not wave, the the patient helping the release counted this attribution. (Those flag. I duly arrived at the local of particularly stubborn growths. spiritualist church, a command- Then a piece of goo, the size of pesky skeptics again…!)� Still, ing fading edifice at 14, Gullible an orange, is flashed onto the I thought it rather amusing to St. A chap with a withered leg screen. “How could anyone hide see a ‘non remedy’ for a ‘non hobbled up the front steps; a thing like that up his sleeve, es- disease’. things were auguring well. An pecially as they always work with audience of approximately 100 their sleeves rolled up?” (positive John Welch slowly assembled, 90% women, hums of appreciation). After Picton mostly middle aged. spending a long time studying these ‘wonderfully skilled’ heal- Mr Beta began the first part of ers, Mr Beta has refined their The printed word – the best his three part lecture with a long technique to the point where he series of slides, providing ‘posi- communication there is now completely ‘dematerialises’, tive proof’ of various paranormal tumours, clots etc and then Readers may be as amused as I goings on. He kicked off with a throws them away, in their still was by the following quote from spirited defence of Philippino dematerialised state. Tim LaHaye: psychic surgeons. Various gory slides quickly had the audience Many Hollywood stars have “The best way to reach the minds glued. Anyone who suspects benefited from Mr Beta’s min- of people is the printed page. God these Philippinos of trickery is istrations. A slide of the late chose the printed page to com- an ‘idiot’. An anonymous New Lee Marvin surrounded by his municate with mankind. So how Zealand G.P. has carefully ex- many fishing trophies and Mr can you improve on that?” amined these photographs and Beta impressed the audience. concluded that the surgery ‘must So too did a slide of ‘old timer’ No respectable skeptic would be genuine’. An anonymous James Coburn. Mr Beta also believe that even an American German eye specialist who ‘absent healed’ actor Martin fundamentalist could be that doubted that the human eye ball Sheen over the telephone ‘the stupid, so the reference is: can be removed from its socket night before Sheen was shot and placed on the cheek, still doing the Kennedy film’ (laughter Have a Nice Doomsday, by attached, was ‘ignorant’. When and warmth abounding). Rita Nicholas Guyatt: an interview one puts the question to these Coolidge (Rita who?) and her with LaHaye p 275. ‘scoffers’; “How long have you sister pleaded with Mr Beta to studied this surgery in the Philip- absent heal their father, Dick. Jim Ring pines?”, that always gets them Dick was in San Francisco and Nelson (approving nods and smiles from Mr Beta in Malibu... the audience). The audience marvelled at a shot of an open David Shanks, NZ Skeptic 14, Bible being held over a patient. August 1989. number 94 – summer 2010 bioblog
Owlcat: definitely not coming to a place near you, any time soon
Alison Campbell ponders the evolutionary significance of lolcats..
their modern descendants - there is too much time and too many gradual transitions between them. As Richard Dawkins puts it: “The demand for a crocoduck is based on the misunderstanding that there should be intermedi- ates between modern animals and other modern animals.” Unfortunately (for the crea- tionist camp) this isn’t how it works. Dawkins again (using leopards and rabbits as his pair of modern species)�: “You start with any modern ani- mal you like, such as a rabbit, and put her next to her mother and then her mother in a chain that goes back in time a very long AKES me chuckle when are all modern species, far re- way until you hit the common MI think about it. Not moved from any last common ancestor with some other animal just because Lolcats (www. ancestor. such as a leopard. It would no longer look like a rabbit but more icanhascheezburger.com)� make like a shrew. me LOL (they do)�, but also In the case of owls and cats, because the idea of an owlcat very far removed indeed; mam- “You call that the hairpin bend epitomises a standard creation- mals and reptiles (including and you turn round and start ist argument. It goes something birds)� last shared a common going forward in time. You just like this: if evolution is true, how ancestor around 300 million keep taking the fork that leads to come there aren’t any croco- years ago, and have followed the leopard and in time you’ll get to the modern animal.” ducks/owlcats/
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