I realised the other day that my life would make perfect sense if I first assumed that some malevolent entity was trying to destroy me in the slowest and most painful way possible, raising obstacle after obstacle over the smallest things I try to do, ensuring luck never goes my way, and – if I … More Conspiracy theories and how they relate to medieval butt trumpets
A little ago I encountered someone whose arguments highlighted how conspiracy theorists get traction, and how they disable any who object. Let me explain. On the night of 16-17 January 1945, U-862 – under Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Timm – cruised across Hawke Bay on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island and loitered off Napier … More How conspiracy theorists get traction
I’ve decided to call defeat over conspiracy theories. You can’t stop ‘em or change the minds of anybody who believes them. So I’ve decided to join them. From here on, I’m a believer in every conspiracy theory around, especially the ones that contradict each other. So yes, the moon landings were faked (six times), and … More Why I believe every conspiracy theory, including the ones that contradict each other
I love science. Check out this photo of NASA astronaut Alan Bean descending the ladder of lunar module Intrepid during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969 and about to set foot on the Oceanus Procellarum. Know what’s so awesome about it? Other than the fact that – hey – these guys are on the moon, … More Why science is so awesome
It appears there’s a new effort to find the mysterious monster that, allegedly, lives in Loch Ness. Water taken from the loch will be DNA-analysed for its biodiversity. If there are any odd genes in it, they’ll show up. Apparently. Personally I’m sceptical. The problem with the Loch Ness Monster is that for such a … More Why Yetis, Abominable Snowmen and Nessie probably don’t exist
The death of Adolf Hitler – 72 years ago today – always intrigues me because of the way it has been so shrouded in conspiracy thinking. These conspiracies – none of which are consistent – all claim that Hitler did not die, grubbily by his own hand, in his Berlin bunker. They range from the … More Debunking the conspiracies about the death of Hitler
The other day I threw a crumpled bag into a bin and almost missed. It hung on the edge for a while. Quite suddenly it began collapsing into the bin, flexing as it did so. In a strict sense this was all understandable; I’d crushed the bag, meaning the energy of my fingers was stored … More Do humans see patterns where there aren’t any? Let’s talk…
A UFO was caught over the South Island the other week by an Australian film crew. By “UFO” I mean “unidentified object” which was “flying”. We don’t know what it was – and the objects could have been an artefact of the video. Needless to say, I am certain they weren’t alien spacecraft, any more than any … More Flying saucers and other aerial crockery
As a writer I find just about anything grist to the inspiration mill. One thing that’s intrigued me for years has been our fascination with mysterious animals that take Size 82 in shoes and turn up in shadowy videos by lone hunters in remote locations. To me such obsessions reveal more about the human condition … More Secret beasts of New Zealand. Only one of them with big feet.
It’s the sixteenth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in in Paris this week. It was first reported in New Zealand, mid-afternoon on that August day in 1997, as ‘breaking news’ that she had been injured in a motor accident. In our household we were cynical about media beat-ups of Diana’’s adventures – a woman being presented … More Our fascination with Diana just doesn’t go away
Matthew Wright 