{"id":5298,"date":"2024-12-09T19:41:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T19:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/?p=5298"},"modified":"2025-06-02T23:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T23:48:16","slug":"in-shield-webinar-scientists-prove-defenseless-against-charismatic-grifter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/in-shield-webinar-scientists-prove-defenseless-against-charismatic-grifter\/","title":{"rendered":"In SHIELD Webinar, Scientists Prove Defenseless Against Charismatic Grifter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In August, Diana spoke with Dr. Merav Opher, professor of Astronomy at Boston University and director of the SHIELD NASA DRIVE Center.<\/p>\n

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Above: <\/strong>A screenshot from SHIELD’s home page. “SHIELD” is an acronym for “Solar wind with Hydrogen Ion charge Exchange and Large-Scale Dynamics.” <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The SHIELD Center is an international collaboration of researchers studying the heliosphere, a solar-wind-generated bubble<\/a> surrounding the solar system. Nyad appeared as part of the SHIELD Center’s webinar series. They called her presentation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Human Spirit Can Make the ‘Impossible’ Possible: <\/a>
What Space Exploration Can Learn About Passion, Perseverance, and Resilience from a Groundbreaking Athlete.”<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would have called it something else. Nyad lied throughout. Let’s start with some new ones.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Fantastic Five<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I don’t have my own children. I’m a pretty good aunt and grauntie, and I have five stepchildren. I’ve been very involved in their lives.<\/strong> (40:10<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Diana has bestowed upon herself several distance records, a doctorate<\/a>, a ratification, a glowing review<\/a> in The New York Times<\/em>, and many other imaginary accomplishments. We can now add five stepchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She may have a godchild or two, but reality has never been enough for Diana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Girl With The Ishin-Denshin Tattoo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

“I got to give a speech in Stockholm in 2014,” Nyad begins this tale. She’s there with her best friend, Bonnie Stoll. Their visit coincides with the Nobel Prize ceremony (53:08<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At her hotel, she meets<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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the man who won for biology that year. He had just proven that, after 30 years of studying with teams, not just himself, . . . that humans do not have a circadian rhythm. (53:20<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The man \u2014 Nyad doesn’t name him during the interview \u2014 won the entire million-dollar prize. After the Swedish government took its 40%, he used the balance “to bring all the scientists that he worked with for 30 years over to Stockholm.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since they weren’t invited to the ceremony, he organized a “black tie evening for them with a chamber orchestra.” And he thanked all of them, just like she thanked her own team “two hours from shore, exhausted” after having swum “for 53 hours.” (Her crossing lasted 52. She stopped and thanked her team at about 50, looking far too fresh for having swum that long.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above:<\/strong> Bonnie demonstrates Ishin-Denshin in a clip from her Book Passage appearance<\/a> on December 16, 2023. Watch Bonnie’s facial gesture after Diana says her biopic received “a 10-minute applause.” Ishin-Denshin (\u4ee5\u5fc3\u4f1d\u5fc3<\/em>) is the Japanese concept of unspoken mutual understanding, as in “I know you’re a serial liar, but I’ll never tell.” Nyad and Stoll have identical Ishin-Denshin tattoos.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Oh my God, I got moved,” says Dr. Opher, pointing to a tear (55:14<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She’d been defeated by Diana\u2019s superpower: Telling heartwarming, nonsense-filled stories with the confidence and shamelessness of a seasoned grifter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nyad was with Bonnie in Stockholm once. The truth ends there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n