links for 2010-05-28

From Life's November 1991 issue, an account of an fire investigator's efforts to track down the identity of a little girl who died in a massive circus fire in 1944. Nearly fifty years later, he solves the mystery of her identity, figures out how the fire really started, and identifies the coverup that allowed it to go unsolved for so long. The writing isn't great, but the story is, and a good story covers a multitude of sins. Fun fact: traveling circuses used to waterproof their enormous canvas tents by soaking them in thousands of pounds of paraffin thinned with thousands of gallons of gasoline. That is exactly as bad as an idea as you think it is.

The harrowing story of how a 200-foot fishing vessel went down in the mile-deep, 0°C Bering Sea with 47 souls on board. Forty-two survived. This is the story of how.

Is there anybody who thinks it's a good idea to mock the intelligence of an 11-year-old girl on a national radio show? Is anybody willing to defend this as appropriate? At some point, Republicans are going to have to accept that Glenn Beck is as much a voice of conservatism as Rush Limbaugh. Is this really a guy who they want speaking for them?

Many Republicans figure that moving to the right means they'll get more votes. But this political scientist's analysis of 2000-2008 Senate election shows that the median voter theory is as true as ever: the more moderate the Republican, the more votes they received.