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Tag: history

May 21, 2017, was the final show of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It began at 7pm EST and ran for a little over two hours. Then everyone went home.
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May 21, 2017, was the final show of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Much has been written about this; the short version is that the name was too long for modern audiences. It began at 7pm EST and ran for a little over two hours. Then everyone went home.

Feld Entertainment will no doubt find new jobs for the acts and crew in their other productions, and likely there will be some other circus-like show popping up at some point. The point is this is the end of an era; while there will always be the connection of the tradition of the circus, the loss of the actual 149-year-old circus is a big moment in the life of a world.

After you see "Hidden Figures" (or read the book) check out Tom Wolfe's story of the same events. It's interesting to see the same events from a different perspective.
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After you see "Hidden Figures" (or read the book) check out Tom Wolfe's story of the same events, sans mathematicians. It's interesting to see the same events from a different perspective; what's left out can be infuriating, but that's what's instructive. And fair dues to Wolfe, his book is a great read and he doesn't contradict the other version so much as leave it out -- possibly was unaware of it? -- concentrating on the story from the perspective of the astronauts, which is what makes the combination of these two versions a compelling, rounded history of this time and place.

 

 

Donald Trump loves a conspiracy, and he doesn't care how little evidence there is to support it. Is this a secret plot? Okay, no.
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Donald Trump loves a conspiracy, and he doesn't care how little evidence there is to support it. The Daily Show piece is a good survey of this:

 

President Obama had a few good lines about it as well. (There is some speculation that Trump's humiliation at being trumped by facts led eventually to his current run for the presidency.)

But as fun as this is, there are humans at the other end of his loutish idiocy. This week he claimed the Clintons had their friend Vince Foster murdered. Five investigations, Jake Tapper of NBC News, and the Daily Show prove this to be a lie, which will only deter Trump from repeating it if he finds it's not helping him in the polls. But Vince Foster's sister wrote a piece on the Washington Post that reminds us why this is the sort of behavior human adults should be ashamed of. The title of the piece is "Vince Foster was my brother. Donald Trump should be ashamed."