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Biography: Gregor MacGregor
They say that those who don’t pay attention to history are doomed to repeat it. This may or may not have anything to do with anything that’s happening today. Con artists have always existed. If you notice similarities between our subject tonight and any other people in the world, so be it. Gregor MacGregor was a Scottish soldier and adventurer. Oh. And he also tried to pull off one of the most outlandish cons in history.
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Biography: Emperor Norton I
This is one of my favorite stories. It’s a rags to riches to rags to insanity story. It’s what happens when the class clown is allowed to do whatever. Or it’s the story of how mental illness affects the homeless.
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Biography: Jeanne de Clisson
I recently found out about Jeanne de Clisson, when someone on Twitter said that Taylor Swift was the most badass woman of all time. Someone else replied by mentioning Jeanne de Clisson, and some of her deeds, so I looked it up. Wow. Such a cool story. So now I shall share it with you.
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Biography: Tycho Brahe
I really want to do a biography on LBJ, but every time I sit down to write it, I get distracted. Then I came across Tycho Brahe, and knew I had to write about him. Tycho Brahe might not be a household name, like Newton, or Einstein, but he discovered the supernova, and was instrumental in our understanding of the cosmos. Also, he had one of the most entertaining lives ever lived.
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Biography: Grigori Rasputin
It’s time for another biography. Today it’s the Siberian Swindler, Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin is primarily known for two things: His seeming ability to control the Russian Czar, and one of the most odd, confusing, unreliable deaths in modern history.
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Biography: J. Edgar Hoover
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Some of you don’t recognize this name. Those of you who do will have very polarized opinions of him. J. Edgar Hoover was one of the most powerful people in the country, yet he wasn’t the President, Vice President, or a Supreme Court Justice. He ran the FBI… for almost 50 years. During that time he was either a creative detective, or the beginning of the end of privacy (depending on how you view it). Many of the NSA issues in the news lately, could largely be attributed, or at least inspired by, J. Edgar Hoover.
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Biography: Alexandre Dumas
In my opinion, Alexandre Dumas is one of the best authors of all time. It’s not just because he wrote my favorite story, The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s not that he looked like a morbidly obese Mark Twain. It’s not because he lived a rapper’s lifestyle. It’s because he found a way to make history interesting by making it the backdrop of his adventures. That and his style of prose.
