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Image 1Claudia Jean Cregg is a fictional character played by
Allison Janney on the American television drama
The West Wing. From the beginning of the series in 1999 until the sixth season in 2004, she was the
White House Press Secretary in the administration of President
Josiah Bartlet. After that, she serves as the president's
chief of staff until the end of the show in 2006. The character is partially inspired by real-life White House Press Secretary
Dee Dee Myers, who worked as a consultant on the show.
Aaron Sorkin, the show's creator, designed C.
J. to be assertive and independent from the show's men; though she is portrayed as a smart, strong, witty, and thoughtful character, she is frequently patronized and objectified by her male coworkers. She is sometimes shown as overly emotional, a trait criticized by reviewers as a
misogynistic stereotype. Her onscreen romance with Danny Concannon (
Timothy Busfield), a senior White House reporter, was also criticized by commentators as giving the impression she was betraying her coworkers. Initially, she is portrayed as politically inept, but she quickly becomes one of the most savvy characters on the show. (
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Image 2Fuck: Word Taboo and Protecting Our First Amendment Liberties is a nonfiction book by law professor
Christopher M. Fairman about
freedom of speech, the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution,
censorship, and use of the word
fuck in society. The book was first published in 2009 by
Sphinx as a follow-up on the author's article "Fuck", published in 2007 in the
Cardozo Law Review. It cites studies from academics in
social science,
psychoanalysis, and
linguistics. Fairman establishes that most current usages of the word have connotations distinct from its meaning of sexual intercourse. The book discusses the efforts of
conservatives in the United States to censor the word from common parlance. The author says that legal precedent regarding its use is unclear because of contradictory court decisions. Fairman argues that once citizens allow the government to restrict the use of specific words, this will infringe upon
freedom of thought.
The book received a mostly favorable reception from news sources and library trade publications.
Library Journal described the book as a sincere analysis of the word and its history of censorship,
Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries called it stimulating, and the
San Diego Law Review said it was thought-provoking. One reviewer said that the book, like the article, was a format for the author to repeatedly use "fuck" rather than analyze it from a rigorous perspective. After the book's release, Fairman was consulted by media sources including
CNN and
The New York Times, as well as the
American Civil Liberties Union, on issues surrounding
word taboo in society. (
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Image 4Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th
president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first
Democrat elected president after the
American Civil War.
Born in
Caldwell, New Jersey, Cleveland was elected
mayor of Buffalo in 1881 and
governor of New York in 1882. While governor, he closely cooperated with
state assembly minority leader
Theodore Roosevelt to pass reform measures, winning national attention. He led the
Bourbon Democrats, a pro-business movement opposed to
high tariffs,
free silver,
inflation,
imperialism, and
subsidies to businesses, farmers, or
veterans. His crusade for political reform and
fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the time. Cleveland also won praise for honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to
classical liberalism. His fight against political corruption, patronage, and
bossism convinced many like-minded Republicans, called "
Mugwumps", to cross party lines and support him in the
1884 presidential election, which he narrowly won against Republican
James G. Blaine. (
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Image 5Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid (born January 14, 1943) is an American
biochemist and retired
NASA astronaut. She has flown in space five times, including a prolonged mission aboard the Russian space station
Mir in 1996, and is the only American woman to have stayed on
Mir. From 1996 to 2007, Lucid held the record for the longest duration spent in space by an American and by a woman. She was awarded the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996, making her the tenth person and the first woman to be accorded the honor.
Lucid is a graduate of the
University of Oklahoma, where she earned a
bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1963, a master's degree in
biochemistry in 1970, and a
PhD in biochemistry in 1973. She was a laboratory technician at the
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1964 to 1966, a research chemist at
Kerr-McGee from 1966 to 1968, and a research associate at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1973 to 1978. (
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Image 6Treehouse of Horror is a series of annual
Halloween-themed
anthology episodes of the American
animated sitcom and spin-off of
The Simpsons. Also known as
The Simpsons Halloween Specials, each episode typically consists of three separate, self-contained segments. Each segment involves the
Simpson family in some comical
horror,
science fiction, or
supernatural setting; plot elements operate beyond the show's normal
continuity, with segments exaggeratedly more morbid and violent than a typical
Simpsons episode. With 36 episodes as of 2025, each
Treehouse of Horror episode is numbered in
Roman numerals, one less than the respective season it is in, because the show's first season never had one.
The eponymous first installment "
Treehouse of Horror" aired on October 25, 1990, during
the second season, broadly inspired by
EC Comics horror tales. In addition to
parodies of horror, science fiction, and
fantasy films, episodes include the recurring alien characters
Kang and Kodos, unique opening sequences, and 'scary' pseudonyms in the credits.
Treehouse of Horror episodes have earned high ratings and broad popularity, spawning a steady stream of merchandise, including a
comic book series that ran from 1995 to 2017. (
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Image 8Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer. He rose to fame in the era of
silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona,
the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures. His career spanned more than 75 years, from his childhood in the
Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both accolade and controversy.
Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. His father was absent and his mother struggled financially – he was sent to a
workhouse twice before the age of nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a
mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring
music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19, he was signed to the
Fred Karno company, which took him to the United States. He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for
Keystone Studios. He soon introduced and adopted the Tramp as his screen persona. He directed his own films and continued to hone his craft as he moved to
Essanay Studios, where the Tramp persona was developed emotionally in
The Tramp (1915). He then attracted a large fanbase and demanded more money as he moved to
Mutual and
First National corporations. By 1918, he was one of the world's best-paid and best-known figures. (
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Image 9Interstate 82 (
I-82) is an
Interstate Highway in the
Pacific Northwest region of the United States that travels through parts of
Washington and
Oregon. It runs 144 miles (232 km) from its northwestern terminus at
I-90 in
Ellensburg, Washington, to its southeastern terminus at
I-84 in
Hermiston, Oregon. The highway passes through
Yakima and the
Tri-Cities, and is also part of the link between
Seattle and
Salt Lake City,
Utah. I-82 travels
concurrently with
U.S. Route 97 (US 97) between Ellensburg and
Union Gap;
US 12 from Yakima to the Tri-Cities; and
US 395 from
Kennewick to
Umatilla, Oregon.
I-82 primarily serves the
Yakima Valley agricultural region, following the
Yakima and
Columbia rivers southeastward to the Tri-Cities. The highway enters the valley from the north by crossing the
Manastash Ridge, which separates Yakima from the
Kittitas Valley. I-82 bypasses the Tri-Cities by traveling southwest around
Richland and Kennewick and then turns south to cross the Columbia River on the
Umatilla Bridge. Its only
auxiliary route,
I-182, connects the highway to Richland and
Pasco in the Tri-Cities. (
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Image 10Operation PBHistory was a
covert operation carried out in
Guatemala by the United States
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It followed
Operation PBSuccess, which led to the overthrow of Guatemalan President
Jacobo Árbenz in June 1954 and ended the
Guatemalan Revolution. PBHistory attempted to use documents left behind by Árbenz's government and by organizations related to the communist
Guatemalan Party of Labor to demonstrate that the
Guatemalan government had been under the influence of the
Soviet Union, and to use those documents to obtain further intelligence that would be useful to US intelligence agencies. It was an effort to justify the overthrow of the elected Guatemalan government in response to the negative international reactions to PBSuccess. The CIA also hoped to improve its intelligence resources about communist parties in Latin America, a subject on which it had little information.
The first phase of the operation began soon after Árbenz's resignation on June 27, 1954: several agents were dispatched to Guatemala beginning on July 4. These included agents of the CIA and the
Office of Intelligence Research (OIR). The first phase involved the collection of 150,000 documents from sources including Árbenz's personal possessions, trade union offices, and police agencies. The ruling military junta led by
Carlos Castillo Armas aided these efforts. Following a presentation made to US President
Dwight Eisenhower on July 20, a decision was taken to accelerate the operation, and the number of people working in Guatemala was increased. The new team members posed as unaffiliated with the US government to maintain
plausible deniability. The operation helped set up the Guatemalan
National Committee of Defense Against Communism, which was covertly funded by the CIA: agents of the committee became involved in PBHistory. The team studied over 500,000 documents in total, and finished processing documents on September 28, 1954. (
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Image 11 Ed, Edd n Eddy is an
animated television series created by
Danny Antonucci for
Cartoon Network and was produced by
a.k.a. Cartoon. The series revolves around three friends named Ed, Edd (nicknamed "Double D" to avoid confusion with Ed), and Eddy—collectively known as "the Eds"—who are voiced by
Matt Hill,
Sam Vincent and
Tony Sampson respectively. They live in a suburban
cul-de-sac in the fictional town of Peach Creek along with fellow neighbourhood children Kevin, Nazz, Sarah, Jimmy, Rolf, Jonny, and the Eds' female adversaries, the Kanker Sisters, Lee, Marie and May. Under the unofficial leadership of Eddy, the trio frequently invents schemes to make money from their peers to purchase their favourite confection,
jawbreakers. Their plans usually fail, leaving them in various, often humiliating and painful, predicaments.
Antonucci, an
adult cartoonist, was dared to create a children's cartoon. While designing a commercial, he conceived
Ed, Edd n Eddy, designing it to resemble classic cartoons from the 1940s–1970s. When pitching the series to
Nickelodeon, the network declined to give him
creative control, a deal to which Antonucci did not agree. He then pitched the series to Cartoon Network. A deal was made with the network to commission the series under his control, and it premiered on January 4, 1999. During the show's run, several specials and shorts were produced in addition to the regular television series. The series concluded with a
television film,
Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show, on November 8, 2009. (
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Image 12Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was the only
president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented
Mississippi in the
United States Senate and the
House of Representatives as a member of the
Democratic Party before the
American Civil War. He was the 23rd
United States secretary of war from 1853 to 1857.
Davis, the youngest of ten children, was born in
Fairview, Kentucky, but spent most of his childhood in
Wilkinson County, Mississippi. His eldest brother,
Joseph Emory Davis, secured the younger Davis's appointment to the
United States Military Academy. Upon graduating, he served six years as a lieutenant in the
United States Army. (
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Image 14American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic
passenger flight that was hijacked by five
al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the
September 11 attacks. The hijacked airliner was deliberately crashed into the
North Tower of the
World Trade Center complex in
New York City, killing everyone aboard the flight and resulting in the deaths of more than one thousand people in the top 18 stories of the skyscraper in addition to causing the demise of numerous others below the trapped floors. The crash of Flight 11 stands as the
deadliest of the four suicide attacks executed that morning in terms of both plane and ground fatalities, the single deadliest act of terrorism in human history and the
deadliest plane crash of all time. The aircraft involved, a
Boeing 767-200ER with 92 passengers and crew, was flying
American Airlines' daily scheduled morning
transcontinental service from
Boston Logan International Airport in
Massachusetts to
Los Angeles International Airport in
California.
The airplane left the runway at 07:59. Less than fifteen minutes after takeoff, the
hijackers injured two flight attendants, murdered one passenger, and breached the cockpit while forcing the passengers and crew to the rear of the aircraft. The assailants attacked both pilots, allowing lead hijacker
Mohamed Atta to take over the controls. Air traffic controllers suspected that the flight was in distress because the crew became non-responsive. They realized that the plane had been hijacked when Atta's announcement to the hostages was accidentally transmitted to air traffic control instead of through the aircraft's PA system. Also, two flight attendants were able to contact
American Airlines and pass along information relevant to the situation, including casualties suffered by the crew and passengers. (
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Image 15The
Gobrecht dollar, minted from 1836 to 1839, was the first
silver dollar struck for circulation by the
United States Mint after production of that denomination had been halted in 1806 (the last previous silver dollars were struck in 1804 but dated 1803). The coin was struck in small numbers to determine whether the reintroduced silver dollar would be well received by the public.
In 1835,
Director of the United States Mint Samuel Moore resigned his post, and
Robert M. Patterson assumed the position. Shortly after, Patterson began an attempt to redesign the nation's coinage. After Mint Chief Engraver
William Kneass suffered a stroke later that year,
Christian Gobrecht was hired as an engraver. On August 1, Patterson wrote a letter to Philadelphia artist
Thomas Sully laying out his plans for the dollar coin. He also asked
Titian Peale to create a design for the coin. Sully created an obverse design depicting a seated representation of
Liberty and Peale a reverse depicting a soaring
bald eagle, which were adapted into coin designs by Gobrecht. After the designs were created and
trials struck, production of the working
dies began in September 1836. (
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Image 16Caitlin Elizabeth Clark (born January 22, 2002) is an American professional
basketball player for the
Indiana Fever of the
Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Regarded as one of the greatest female collegiate players, Clark was twice named national female
college basketball player of the year while playing for the
Iowa Hawkeyes; she remains the
NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer. She has helped popularize
women's basketball, a phenomenon dubbed the "
Caitlin Clark effect".
Clark attended
Dowling Catholic High School in her hometown of
West Des Moines, Iowa, where she was named a
McDonald's All-American and rated the fourth-best player in her class by
ESPN. In her
freshman season with Iowa, she led the NCAA Division I in scoring and earned
All-American honors. As a
sophomore, Clark was a unanimous first-team All-American and became the first women's player to lead Division I in
points and
assists in a single season. In her
junior season, she was the national player of the year and led Iowa to its first
national championship game, again leading Division I in assists and setting Big Ten single-season marks in points and assists. As a
senior, she repeated as national player of the year and helped Iowa return to the
national title game. She also set the Division I women's career and single-season record in points and
three-pointers, broke the conference record in assists, and led the nation in points and assists. (
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Image 17The
Flying Eagle cent is a one-
cent piece struck by the
Mint of the United States as a
pattern coin in 1856 and for circulation in 1857 and 1858. The coin was designed by Mint Chief Engraver
James B. Longacre, with the eagle in flight based on the work of Longacre's predecessor,
Christian Gobrecht.
By the early 1850s, the
large cent (about the size of a
half dollar) being issued by the Mint was becoming both unpopular in commerce and expensive to mint. After experimenting with various sizes and compositions, the Mint decided on an alloy of 88%
copper and 12%
nickel for a new, smaller cent. After the Mint produced patterns with an 1856 date and gave them to legislators and officials,
Congress formally authorized the new piece in February 1857. (
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Image 18
Martin with the Yankees in 1954
"
Billy"
Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989) was an American
Major League Baseball (MLB)
second baseman and
manager, who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the
New York Yankees. First known as a scrappy infielder who made considerable contributions to the championship Yankee teams of the 1950s, he then built a reputation as a manager who would initially make bad teams good, before ultimately being fired amid dysfunction. In each of his stints with the Yankees he managed them to winning records before being fired by team owner
George Steinbrenner or resigning under fire.
Martin was born in a working-class section of
Berkeley, California. His skill as a baseball player gave him a route out of his home town. Signed by the
Pacific Coast League Oakland Oaks, Martin learned much from
Casey Stengel, the man who would manage him both in Oakland and in New York, with whom he enjoyed a close relationship. Martin's spectacular catch of a wind-blown
Jackie Robinson popup late in Game Seven of the
1952 World Series saved that series for the Yankees, and he was the hitting star of the
1953 World Series, earning the Most Valuable Player award in the Yankee victory. He missed most of two seasons, 1954 and 1955, after being
drafted into the Army, and his abilities never fully returned; the Yankees traded him after a brawl at the
Copacabana club in New York during the 1957 season. (
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Image 19Racer's hurricane was a destructive
tropical cyclone that had severe effects in northeastern
Mexico, the
Republic of Texas, and the
Gulf Coast of the United States in early October 1837. It was named after the
Royal Navy ship
HMS Racer, which encountered the cyclone in the northwestern
Caribbean. Termed "one of the most famous and destructive hurricanes of the century" by meteorology historian
David Ludlum, the storm first affected
Jamaica with flooding rainfall and strong winds on September 26 and 27, before entering the
Gulf of Mexico by October 1. As the hurricane struck northern
Tamaulipas and southern Texas, it slowed to a crawl and turned sharply northeastward. The storm battered the Gulf Coast from Texas to the
Florida Panhandle between October 3 and 7. After crossing the
Southeastern United States, it emerged into the Atlantic shipping lanes off the
Carolinas by October 9.
The effects of the tropical cyclone were far-reaching.
Matamoros, on the southern bank of the
Rio Grande, faced hurricane conditions for several days, with significant damage to ships. Many towns along the Texas shoreline were inundated by
storm surge, which flooded the coastal plains for many miles inland.
Galveston Island was devastated, with nearly every building washed away and most vessels driven ashore. To the east, a water level rise of 8 ft (2.4 m) on
Lake Pontchartrain submerged low-lying areas of
New Orleans. Many steamboats on the lake were wrecked and buildings along its shores demolished. Storm surge and wind damage extended into
Mississippi and
Alabama, but with less severity. In the interior Southeast, sugar cane and
cotton crops bore heavy losses. As the weakening storm buffeted the
Outer Banks of
North Carolina on October 9, the passenger steamship
SS Home ran aground about 300 ft (91 m) off
Cape Hatteras and rapidly broke up in the pounding surf. About 90 passengers and crewmen died in the wreck. Overall,
Racer's hurricane killed an estimated 105 people. (
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Image 20Mulholland Drive is a 2001
surrealist neo-noir mystery film written and directed by
David Lynch. Its plot follows an aspiring actress (
Naomi Watts) who arrives in
Los Angeles, where she befriends a woman (
Laura Harring) who is suffering from
amnesia after a car accident. The film follows several other
vignettes and characters, including a Hollywood director (
Justin Theroux) who must deal with
mob interference while casting for his latest film.
The film was originally conceived as a
television pilot for
ABC, with footage shot and edited in 1999 as an open-ended mystery. After viewing Lynch's cut, however, television executives cancelled the proposed television series. Lynch then secured funding from French production company
StudioCanal to make the material into a feature film, writing an ending to the project and filming new material. The resulting
surrealist narrative has left the film's events open to interpretation. Lynch declined to offer an explanation, leaving audiences, critics, and even the film's own cast to speculate on its meaning. (
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Image 21Natalee Ann Holloway (October 21, 1986 – disappeared May 30, 2005;
declared dead January 12, 2012) was an 18-year-old American high-school graduate from
Mountain Brook, Alabama, who disappeared from the Caribbean island of
Aruba on May 30, 2005. Her disappearance resulted in an international
media sensation, especially in the United States. The prime suspect, Dutch national
Joran van der Sloot, has made conflicting statements over the years about his involvement, including a confession to killing her. Holloway's remains have never been found.
Holloway, who had visited Aruba with classmates following her high school graduation, was scheduled to fly home on May 30 but failed to appear for her flight. She was last seen outside
Carlos'n Charlie's, a restaurant and nightclub in
Oranjestad, entering a car with local residents van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. When the three men were questioned, they claimed that they had dropped Holloway off at her hotel and denied knowing what had become of her. Upon further investigation by authorities, van der Sloot was arrested twice on suspicion of involvement in her disappearance and the Kalpoe brothers were each arrested three times. Due to lack of evidence, the suspects were released each time without being charged with a crime. Holloway's parents criticized Aruban police for the lack of progress, and called for a boycott of Aruba, which failed to gain widespread backing. With the assistance of hundreds of volunteers, Aruban investigators conducted an extensive search operation.
FBI agents, Dutch soldiers and aircraft, and ocean divers participated in the search for Holloway's body, but nothing was found. Aruban prosecutors announced in December 2007 that the case would be closed without charging anyone with a crime. Holloway was declared legally dead in January 2012 at her father's request. (
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Image 23The
blue whale (
Balaenoptera musculus) is a
marine mammal and a
baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9–30.5 m (98–100 ft) and weighing up to 190–200 t (190–200 long tons; 210–220 short tons), it is the
largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue on its upper surface and somewhat lighter underneath. Four
subspecies are recognized:
B. m. musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific,
B. m. intermedia in the Southern Ocean,
B. m. brevicauda (the
pygmy blue whale) in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, and
B. m. indica in the Northern Indian Ocean. There is a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies.
In general, blue whale populations migrate between their summer feeding areas near the poles and their winter breeding grounds near the tropics. There is also evidence of year-round residencies, and partial or age- and sex-based migration. Blue whales are
filter feeders; their diet consists almost exclusively of
krill. They are generally solitary or gather in small groups, and have no well-defined social structure other than mother–calf bonds. Blue whales
vocalize, with a
fundamental frequency ranging from 8 to 25 Hz; their vocalizations may vary by region, season, behavior, and time of day.
Orcas are their only natural predators. (
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Image 25The
Battle of San Patricio was fought on February 27, 1836, between
Texian rebels and the Mexican army, during the
Texas Revolution. The battle occurred as a result of the outgrowth of the Texian
Matamoros Expedition. The battle marked the start of the
Goliad Campaign, the Mexican offensive to retake the Texas
Gulf Coast. It took place in and around
San Patricio.
By the end of 1835, all Mexican troops had been driven from Texas.
Frank W. Johnson, the commander of the volunteer army in Texas, and
James Grant gathered volunteers for a planned invasion of the Mexican port town of
Matamoros. In February 1836, Johnson and about 40 men led a herd of horses to
San Patricio in preparation for the expedition. Johnson assigned some of his troops to a ranch 4 miles (6.4 km) outside town to guard the horses, while the rest of his men garrisoned in three different locations in town. (
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Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as
T.R., and to the public (but never to friends and intimates) as
Teddy, was the twenty-sixth
President of the United States, and a leader of the
Republican Party and of the
Progressive Movement. He became President of the United States at the age of 42. He served in many roles including
Governor of New York, historian, naturalist, explorer, author, and soldier. Roosevelt is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" persona. Roosevelt prided himself on being a rough and tumbled man. This was partly because as a child he suffered from sever asthma. As he outgrew his ailments he took on masculine challenges such as boxing, wrestling, and of course, his favorite pastime, hunting. His last name, often mispronounced, is, per Roosevelt, "pronounced as if it were spelled "Rosavelt"— in three syllables, the first syllable as "Rose."
As Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt prepared for and advocated war with Spain in 1898. He organized and helped command the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the Rough Riders, during the Spanish–American War. Returning to New York as a war hero, he was elected Republican governor in 1899. He was a professional historian, a lawyer, a naturalist and explorer of the Amazon basin; his 35 books include works on outdoor life, natural history, the American frontier, political history, naval history, and his autobiography.