It is officially summer now. Despite being someone who wrote an essay called, “Why I Hate the Beach,” I have begun swimming on a regular basis when the weather is warm, and I love it. I am fortunate to live half a mile from a beach, and I have friends who accompany me into the waves. Getting in the briny water each day, even briefly, has become a great summer pleasure. I hope you are enjoying some time outside, too.

Netflix recently released the documentary, “Tell Them You Love Me,” about the Anna Stubblefield episode, a famous case of sexual abuse that involved facilitated communication, the discredited method of communication that I have written about in the past. Colin Wright asked me to write about the documentary on his site Reality’s Last Stand, and I took the opportunity to give some of the history of this pseudoscientific technique and its variants. The Stubblefield story is complicated by issues of race and power, but at its core is Stubblefield’s delusional belief in facilitated communication. My article can be found here, but it is paywalled for the first two weeks of publication. Email me if you would like a copy now, and I will send it along.

A scene from “Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle” (1987).

My latest column in Skeptical Inquirer is about some interesting perceptual phenomena that happen when the sun or moon is near the horizon. The article, “Magic at the Horizon,” was inspired by two classic films by the French director Eric Rohmer, “The Green Ray” and “Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle,” both of which involve characters who give special significance to rare events involving the horizon. In the process, I also discuss the moon illusion, mirages, and the three phases of twilight.

Finally, I was recently interviewed by two Brazilian friends, Guilherme Brambatti Guzzo and Gabriel Dall’Alba on their YouTube channel “Nas Trilhas da Razão” (On the Trails of Reason). We had a delightful free-ranging conversation about irrationality, superstition, the beauty of science, and how to be a better person through uncertainty. You can watch the video here.

I will leave you with a picture of the local beach, where I swim. Happy summer!

SV

DuBois Beach, Stonington Borough, CT.

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days.

—from June by James Russell Lowell (1819 – 1891)

Happy June to all!

My latest “Behavior & Belief” column for Skeptical Inquirer, “Scientists on Trial: Follow the Money” is about the shocking development of Harvard professor Francesca Gino suing three other professors for $25 million. The trio operate a blog called Data Colada where they exposed what they viewed as evidence of fabricated data in four of Gino’s published studies. The free exchange of ideas—including the ability to criticize each other’s work—is an essential feature of the scientific enterprise, and the introduction of expensive lawsuits into the field will undoubtedly have a chilling effect. In the column, I speculate about how things have come to this.

I spent the Memorial Day weekend in Philadelphia at the annual convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. Some time ago, I retired from attending professional conferences, but in this case, I was there to receive an award for the “Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media.” This recognition was given for my writing about behavior analysis in books, such as Going Broke: Why Americans (Still) Can’t Hold on to Their Money, in my monthly column for Skeptical Inquirer, and in various other places. I am enormously grateful to have received this award, and it was nice to see many old—and some new—friends while in the city of brotherly love.

I am enclosing both a shot of me receiving the award from Ruth Anne Rehfeldt, president of the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, on stage at the conference and a closer view of the very large (it weighs 10 lbs!) glass sculpture award. It was quite a project getting it safely home on the train.

That’s about all I have for you. Last week I went to New York City to see Manhattanhenge, but cloud cover prevented us from witnessing this pagan festival. By way of compensation, I’m including my latest sunset photo of Stonington Harbor taken from the end of the Town Docks. All for now.

SV