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Comment by bmitc | Hacker News Reader

I would suggest passing on Neil deGrasse Tyson or at least taking a second look. His smugness alone is enough reason for me to not have anyone, especially kids, look up to him. Not to mention, he's often just flat out wrong. I personally cannot stand even seconds of hearing him speak, and I find him insufferable. It's his lack of humility that really gets to me.

The original Cosmos is still available, and it's quite good.

These videos may not be the best, but it shows a side of him that I find distasteful. He behaves the same way in every panel I’ve seen him in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwZXR2PlcEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTItMy5EI2o

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Does anybody else wonder at people who insist on using three names? Some actors do it, too, like Hayley Joel Osment and Brian Taylor Green. It just seems pretentious to me, like somebody insisting on using a title outside of their official duties.

Actors at least have a good excuse: there are various rules in the industry and/or unions requiring unique names (stage names, if necessary) for certain things.

Sometimes the media does it, which is a good thing for people with different middle names. Here are a few examples I thought of. Not good:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harvey_Oswald https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

LHO just seemed to call himself Lee Oswald, indeed the 3 names seem to be a media creation.

I was always under the impression that this is general practice with infamous people, to avoid mix-ups which might get the media outlet sued, however frivolously. But this may not be the case, including with Oswald, who apparently used his middle name sometimes.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/01/jared-lee-loughn...

Many people have multiple equal family names. Leaving one out would be as wrong as adding another. Names are never simple.

Usually such people acquire a nickname. A friend of mine's name was a triple name followed by III. Everybody just called him "Trey".

This kind of vitriol makes me sad at humanity

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