Portal:United States
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Parent Portals: Geography / North America / United States
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The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and has sea borders with Cuba, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and Russia, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Each state has a high level of autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were one free and independent state. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.
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Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and editor of the New-York Tribune. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressman from New York and was the unsuccessful candidate of the new Liberal Republican Party in the 1872 presidential election against incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant.
Greeley was born to a poor family in Amherst, New Hampshire. He was apprenticed to a printer in Vermont and went to New York City in 1831 to seek his fortune. He wrote for or edited several publications, involved himself in Whig Party politics, and took a significant part in William Henry Harrison's successful 1840 presidential campaign. (Full article...) -
James Wood Bush (c. 1844–45 – April 24, 1906) was an American Union navy sailor of British and Native Hawaiian descent. He was among a group of more than one hundred Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants in the American Civil War, at a time when the Kingdom of Hawaii was still an independent nation.
Enlisting in the Union navy in 1864, Bush served as a sailor aboard USS Vandalia and the captured Confederate vessel USS Beauregard, which maintained the blockade of the ports of the Confederacy. He was discharged from service in 1865 after an injury, which developed into a chronic condition in later life. The impoverished Bush was unable to return to Hawaii for more than a decade, during which time he traveled through New England and much of the Pacific. Back in Hawaii, he worked as a government tax collector and road supervisor for the island of Kauai, where he settled down. In later life, he converted to Mormonism and became an active member of the Hawaiian Mission. After the annexation of Hawaii to the United States, Bush was recognized for his military service, and in 1905 was granted a government pension for the injuries he received in the Navy. He died at his home on Kauai on April 24, 1906. (Full article...) -
Benjamin Jackson (January 2, 1835 – August 20, 1915) was a Canadian sailor and farmer who was a decorated veteran of the American Civil War. Raised in a small community of Black Nova Scotians, Jackson began his career as a commercial seaman at 16 years old and started a farm in his twenties.
During the American Civil War, Jackson served for one year in the Union navy in the place of a drafted US citizen. For most of that year, he was deployed in the Union blockade of the Confederate coastline. As a gun captain aboard the USS Richmond, Jackson served in the Battle of Mobile Bay. He disarmed multiple naval mines and once picked up a live shell and threw it from the deck of the Richmond. Jackson likely earned an enlistment bounty, as well as prize money, by capturing multiple blockade runners. He developed bronchitis, suffered a serious hand injury, and eventually received a Civil War Campaign Medal for serving during that conflict. (Full article...) -
Solomon Porcius Sharp (August 22, 1787 – November 7, 1825) was an American lawyer and politician, serving as attorney general of Kentucky and a member of the United States Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly. His murder by Jereboam O. Beauchamp in 1825 is referred to as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy or "The Kentucky Tragedy."
Sharp began his political career representing Warren County in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He briefly served in the War of 1812, then returned to Kentucky and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1813. He was re-elected to a second term, though his support of a controversial bill regarding legislator salaries cost him his seat in 1816. Allied with Kentucky's Debt Relief Party, he returned to the Kentucky House in 1817; in 1821, he accepted Governor John Adair's appointment to the post of Attorney General of Kentucky. Adair's successor, Joseph Desha, re-appointed him to this position. In 1825, Sharp resigned as attorney general to return to the Kentucky House. (Full article...) -
The Battle of Osan (Korean: 오산 전투) was the first engagement between the United States and North Korea during the Korean War. On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, an American task force of 540 infantry supported by an artillery battery, was moved to Osan, south of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and was ordered to fight as a rearguard to delay the advancing North Korean forces while more US troops arrived to form a stronger defensive line to the south. The task force lacked both anti-tank guns and effective infantry anti-tank weapons and had been equipped with obsolete (60 mm) rocket launchers and a few 57 mm recoilless rifles. Aside from a limited number of HEAT shells for the unit's 105 mm howitzers, crew-served weapons that could defeat T-34/85 tanks from the Soviet Union had not yet been distributed to the US Army forces in South Korea.
A North Korean tank column equipped with ex-Soviet T-34/85 tanks overran the task force in the first encounter and continued its advance south. After the North Korean tank column had breached US lines, the task force opened fire on a force of some 5,000 North Korean infantry that were approaching its position, which held up their advance. North Korean troops eventually flanked and overwhelmed the US positions, and the rest of the task force retreated in disorder. (Full article...) -
The American twenty-cent piece is a coin struck from 1875 to 1878, but only for collectors in the final two years. Proposed by Nevada Senator John P. Jones, it proved a failure due to confusion with the quarter, to which it was close in both size and value.
In 1874, the newly elected Jones began pressing for a twenty-cent piece, which he stated would alleviate the shortage of small change in the Far West. The bill passed Congress, and Mint Director Henry Linderman ordered pattern coins struck. Linderman eventually decided on an obverse and reverse similar to that of other silver coins. (Full article...) -
The Mercury dime is a ten-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from late 1916 to 1945. Designed by Adolph Weinman and also referred to as the Winged Liberty Head dime, it gained its common name because the obverse depiction of a young Liberty, identifiable by her winged Phrygian cap, was confused with the Roman god Mercury. Weinman is believed to have used Elsie Stevens, the wife of lawyer and poet Wallace Stevens, as a model. The coin's reverse depicts a fasces, symbolizing unity and strength, and an olive branch, signifying peace.
By 1916, the dime, quarter, and half dollar designed by Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber had been struck for 25 years, and could be replaced by the Treasury, of which the Mint is a part, without Congressional authorization. Mint officials were under the misapprehension that the designs had to be changed, and held a competition among three sculptors, in which Barber, who had been in his position for 36 years, also took part. Weinman's designs for the dime and half dollar were selected. (Full article...) -
Simon Bolivar Buckner (/ˈsaɪmən ˈbɒlɪvər ˈbʌknər/ SY-mən BOL-i-vər BUK-nər; April 1, 1823 – January 8, 1914) was an American soldier, Confederate military officer, and politician. He fought in the United States Army in the Mexican–American War. He later fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he served as the 30th governor of Kentucky.
After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Buckner became an instructor there. He took a hiatus from teaching to serve in the Mexican–American War, participating in many of its major battles. He resigned from the army in 1855 to manage his father-in-law's real estate in Chicago, Illinois. He returned to his native state of Kentucky in 1857 and was appointed adjutant general by Governor Beriah Magoffin in 1861. In this position, he tried to enforce Kentucky's neutrality policy in the early days of the Civil War. When the state's neutrality was breached, Buckner accepted a commission in the Confederate Army after declining a similar commission to the Union Army. In 1862, he accepted Ulysses S. Grant's demand for an "unconditional surrender" at the Battle of Fort Donelson. He was the first Confederate general to surrender an army in the war. He spent five months as a prisoner of war. After his release, Buckner participated in Braxton Bragg's failed invasion of Kentucky and near the end of the war became chief of staff to Edmund Kirby Smith in the Trans-Mississippi Department. (Full article...) -
Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles is a 2021 American concert film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Patrick Osborne, starring singer-songwriter Billie Eilish. It features performances of all 16 tracks from Eilish's second studio album, Happier Than Ever (2021), at the Hollywood Bowl amphitheater. She is accompanied by other musicians, including her brother Finneas O'Connell and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Inspired by films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Cool World (1992), A Love Letter to Los Angeles blends live action and animation.
Besides directing, Osborne worked on the animation in collaboration with Nexus Studios, Zoic Studios, and Digital Frontier FX, mixing motion capture footage with rotoscoping techniques. Filming took place for one week in Los Angeles, mostly at the Hollywood Bowl, without a live audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crew aimed to avoid making the performances feel too similar, so they produced distinct color palettes and lighting effects for every song. They often recorded Eilish from close distances, wanting to create a sense of intimacy between her and the viewers. (Full article...) -
Master Juba (c. 1825 – c. 1854) was an African-American dancer active in the 1840s. He was one of the first black performers in the United States to play onstage for white audiences and the only one of the era to tour with a white minstrel group. His real name was believed to be William Henry Lane, and he was also known as "Boz's Juba" following Charles Dickens's graphic description of him in his 1842 travelogue American Notes. By affecting blackface performance, Juba was highly influential in the development of such American dance styles as tap, jazz, and step dancing.
As a teenager, he began his career in the rough saloons and dance halls of New York's Five Points neighborhood, moving on to minstrel shows in the mid-1840s. "Master Juba" frequently challenged and defeated the best white dancers, including the period favorite, John Diamond. At the height of his American career, Juba's act featured a sequence in which he imitated a series of famous dancers of the day and closed by performing in his style. Being a black man, he appeared with minstrel troupes in which he imitated white minstrel dancers caricaturing black dance, obscuring his underlying ethnic identity with blackface. Even with his success in America, his greatest success came in England. (Full article...) -
Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. He was known for his distinctive supporting character roles and his memorable leading roles in many films and theatrical productions from the early 1990s until his death in 2014. He was voted the greatest actor of the 21st century in a 2024 ranking by The Independent.
Hoffman studied acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He gained recognition for his supporting work, notably in Scent of a Woman (1992), Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). Hoffman began to occasionally play leading roles, and he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Truman Capote in Capote (2005). He was also nominated for Academy Awards for his performances in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008), and The Master (2012). While he mainly worked in independent films, Hoffman also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters such as Twister (1996) and Mission: Impossible III (2006). In one of his final roles before his death, he played Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games series (2013–2015). The feature film Jack Goes Boating (2010) marked Hoffman's debut as a filmmaker. (Full article...) -
Baby Driver is a 2017 action film written and directed by Edgar Wright. It stars Ansel Elgort as Baby, a getaway driver seeking freedom from a life of crime with his girlfriend Debora (Lily James). Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Eiza González, Jon Bernthal and Jamie Foxx appear in supporting roles. Eric Fellner and his Working Title Films partner Tim Bevan produced Baby Driver in association with Big Talk Productions' Nira Park. Sony and TriStar Pictures handled commercial distribution of the film. Baby Driver was financed through tax subsidies from the Georgia state government and a co-production pact between TriStar and MRC.
Wright conceived Baby Driver in the mid-1990s, and it became a long-gestating passion project. Originally based in Los Angeles, Wright chose Atlanta as the film's setting after the studio secured tax credits to subsidize production costs, integrating the city's ethos into an important storytelling device. Principal photography took place in Atlanta from February to May 2016. Production involved the planning of meticulously coordinated stunts, choreography, and
in-camera effects. Thematic studies of Baby Driver examine patterns of color symbolism and Baby's evolving morality. (Full article...) -
Socrates Nelson (January 11, 1814 – May 6, 1867) was an American businessman, politician, and pioneer who served one term as a Minnesota State Senator from 1859 to 1861. He was a general store owner, lumberman, and real estate speculator associated with numerous companies in the insurance and rail industries. He was involved in the establishment of the community of Stillwater, Minnesota, and was an early member of the first Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge in Minnesota. He served on the University of Minnesota's first board of regents before being elected to the Minnesota Senate.
Nelson was a member of an 1848 committee that met in Stillwater to petition the U.S. Congress to create the Minnesota Territory, and he took part in the early organization of the Minnesota Democratic Party. He was a county treasurer, territorial auditor, and county commissioner. As a senator, he voted in favor of a failed bill to legalize bringing slaves into Minnesota temporarily and helped to repeal the Loan Amendment – intended to expedite the creation of railroad infrastructure – from the Minnesota Constitution. He was elected as a delegate for the 1864 Democratic National Convention. (Full article...) -
Edwin Porch Morrow (November 28, 1877 – June 15, 1935) was an American politician, who served as the 40th governor of Kentucky from 1919 to 1923. He was the only Republican elected to this office between 1907 and 1927. He championed the typical Republican causes of his day, namely equal rights for African-Americans and the use of force to quell violence. Morrow had been schooled in his party's principles by his father, Thomas Z. Morrow, who was its candidate for governor in 1883, and his uncle, William O. Bradley, who was elected governor in 1895. Both men were founding members of the Republican Party in Kentucky.
After rendering non-combat service in the Spanish–American War, Morrow graduated from the University of Cincinnati Law School in 1902 and opened his practice in Lexington, Kentucky. He made a name for himself almost immediately by securing the acquittal of a black man charged with murder based on an extorted confession and perjured testimony. He was appointed U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky by President William Howard Taft in 1910 and served until he was removed from office in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson. In 1915, he ran for governor against his good friend, Augustus O. Stanley. Stanley won the election by 471 votes, making the 1915 contest the closest gubernatorial race in the state's history. (Full article...) -
Fort Concho is a former United States Army installation and National Historic Landmark District located in San Angelo, Texas. It was established in November 1867 at the confluence of the North and South Concho Rivers, on the routes of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route and Goodnight–Loving Trail, and was an active military base for the next 22 years. Fort Concho was the principal base of the 4th Cavalry from 1867 to 1875 and then the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 10th Cavalry from 1875 to 1882. The troops stationed at Fort Concho participated in Ranald S. Mackenzie's 1872 campaign, the Red River War in 1874, and the Victorio Campaign of 1879–1880.
The fort was abandoned in June 1889, and over the next 20 years was divided into residences and businesses, with the buildings repurposed or recycled for their materials. Efforts to preserve and restore Fort Concho began in the 1900s and resulted in the foundation of the Fort Concho Museum in 1929. The property has been owned and operated by the city of San Angelo since 1935. Fort Concho was named a National Historic Landmark on July 4, 1961, and is one of the best-preserved examples of the military installations built by the US Army in Texas. (Full article...) -
The American goldfinch (Spinus tristis) is a small North American bird in the finch family. It is migratory, ranging from mid-Alberta to North Carolina during the breeding season, and from just south of the Canada–United States border to Mexico during the winter.
The only finch in its subfamily to undergo a complete molt, the American goldfinch displays sexual dichromatism: the male is a vibrant yellow in the summer and an olive color during the winter, while the female is a dull yellow-brown shade which brightens only slightly during the summer. The male displays brightly colored plumage during the breeding season to attract a mate. (Full article...) -
Fort Yellowstone was a U.S. Army fort, established in 1891 at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was designated in 1872 but the Interior Department was unable to effectively manage the park. Administration was transferred to the War Department in August 1886 and General Philip Sheridan sent a company of cavalry to Mammoth Hot Springs to build a cavalry post. The army originally called the post Camp Sheridan in honor of General Sheridan but the name was changed to Fort Yellowstone in 1891 when construction of the permanent fort commenced. The army administered the park until 1918 when it was transferred to the newly created National Park Service. The facilities of Fort Yellowstone now comprise the Yellowstone National Park headquarters, the Horace Albright Visitor Center and staff accommodations.
Between the years 1891 and 1913, a total of 60 structures were made at Fort Yellowstone, of which 35 were still in existence one hundred years later. The fort was built in two major construction waves. During the first construction period from 1891 to 1897, mainly wood-framed buildings in what has been referred to as "cottage style" were built. A few of them had Colonial Revival architectural elements. A second construction wave began in 1908 and concluded in 1913. These structures were primarily built from locally quarried sandstone. Many of the structures from the later construction period are now used as administrative offices, residences for National Park Service employees, museums and visitor center. Beyond the immediate confines of the fort, cabins were constructed for use by small detachments of army personnel while on patrol throughout the park. (Full article...) -
On 9 February 2001, about nine nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) south of Oahu, Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, the United States Navy (USN) Los Angeles-class submarine USS Greeneville collided with the Japanese fishery high-school training ship Ehime Maru (えひめ丸) from Ehime Prefecture. In a demonstration for some VIP civilian visitors, Greeneville performed an emergency ballast blow surfacing maneuver. As the submarine shot to the surface, she struck Ehime Maru. Within ten minutes of the collision, Ehime Maru sank. Nine of the thirty-five people aboard were killed: four high school students, two teachers, and three crew members.
Many Japanese people, including government officials, were concerned by news that civilians were present in Greeneville's control room at the time of the accident. Some expressed anger because of a perception that the submarine did not try to assist Ehime Maru's survivors and that the submarine's captain, Commander Scott Waddle, did not apologize immediately afterwards. The USN conducted a public court of inquiry, blamed Waddle and other members of Greeneville's crew, and dealt non-judicial punishment or administrative disciplinary action to the captain and some crew members. After Waddle had been questioned by the Naval Board of Inquiry, it was decided that a full court-martial would be unnecessary, and he was forced to retire and given an honorable discharge. (Full article...) -
The 2006 UAW-Ford 500 was a stock car race that took place on October 8, 2006. The 38th annual running of the event, it was held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, before 160,000 spectators; the 188-lap race was the 30th in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the fourth in the ten-race, season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. Brian Vickers of Hendrick Motorsports won the race; Kasey Kahne finished second, and Kurt Busch came in third.
David Gilliland, who had the pole position, was passed immediately by teammate Dale Jarrett. The race lead changed 63 times, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading for the most laps (37). Earnhardt was leading on the final lap when he and Jimmie Johnson crashed after Vickers made contact with Johnson's right rear quarter panel, causing the race to end under caution flag conditions. Vickers (Johnson's teammate) was determined the race winner by NASCAR and was later criticized since the crash lowered Johnson in the points standings. (Full article...) -
The orca (Orcinus orca), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus Orcinus, it is recognizable by its distinct pigmentation; being mostly black on top, white on the bottom and having recognizable white eye patches. A cosmopolitan species, it inhabits a wide range of marine environments, from Arctic to Antarctic regions to tropical seas, but is more commonly documented in temperate or cooler coastal waters. Scientists have proposed dividing the global population into races, subspecies, or possibly even species.
Orcas are apex predators with a diverse diet. Individual populations often specialize in particular types of prey, including bony fish, sharks, rays, and marine mammals such as seals, dolphins, and whales. They are highly social, with some populations forming stable matrilineal family groups (pods). Their sophisticated hunting techniques and vocal behaviors, often unique to specific groups and passed down from generation to generation, are considered to be manifestations of animal culture. The most studied populations are off the west coast of North America, which include fish-eating "residents", mammal-eating "transients", and offshores. (Full article...) -
Fight Club is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed narrator, who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight club" with a soap salesman, Tyler Durden (Pitt) and becomes embroiled with an impoverished but beguiling woman, Marla Singer (Bonham Carter).
Palahniuk's novel was optioned by Fox 2000 Pictures producer Laura Ziskin, who hired Uhls to write the film adaptation. Fincher was selected because of his enthusiasm for the story. He developed the script with Uhls and sought screenwriting advice from the cast and others in the film industry. It was filmed in and around Los Angeles from July to December 1998. He and the cast compared the film to Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and The Graduate (1967), with a theme of conflict between Generation X and the value system of advertising. (Full article...) -
USS Connecticut (BB-18), the fourth United States Navy ship to be named after the state of Connecticut, was the lead ship of her class of six pre-dreadnought battleships. Her keel was laid on 10 March 1903; launched on 29 September 1904, Connecticut was commissioned on 29 September 1906, as the most advanced ship in the US Navy.
Connecticut served as the flagship for the Jamestown Exposition in mid-1907, which commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony. She later sailed with the Great White Fleet on a circumnavigation of the Earth to showcase the US Navy's growing fleet of blue-water-capable ships. After completing her service with the Great White Fleet, Connecticut participated in several flag-waving exercises intended to protect American citizens abroad until she was pressed into service as a troop transport at the end of World War I to expedite the return of American Expeditionary Forces from France. (Full article...) -
Fuck: 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. (Full article...) -
Melville Weston Fuller (February 11, 1833 – July 4, 1910) was an American politician, attorney, and jurist who served as the eighth chief justice of the United States from 1888 until his death in 1910. Staunch conservatism marked his tenure on the Supreme Court, exhibited by his tendency to support unfettered free enterprise and to oppose broad federal power. He wrote major opinions on the federal income tax, the Commerce Clause, and citizenship law, and he took part in important decisions about racial segregation and the liberty of contract. Those rulings often faced criticism in the decades during and after Fuller's tenure, and many were later overruled or abrogated. The legal academy has generally viewed Fuller negatively, although a revisionist minority has taken a more favorable view of his jurisprudence.
Born in Augusta, Maine, Fuller established a legal practice in Chicago after graduating from Bowdoin College. A Democrat, he became involved in politics, campaigning for Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 presidential election. During the Civil War, he served a single term in the Illinois House of Representatives, where he opposed the policies of President Abraham Lincoln. Fuller became a prominent attorney in Chicago and was a delegate to several Democratic National Conventions. He declined three separate appointments offered by President Grover Cleveland before accepting the nomination to succeed Morrison Waite as chief justice. Despite some voicing objections over his political past, Fuller was confirmed by the Senate in 1888. He served as chief justice until his death in 1910, gaining a reputation for collegiality and able administration. (Full article...) -
Lady Blue is an American detective and action-adventure television series that aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network. Created by Robert Vincent O'Neil and produced by David Gerber, with cinematography by Jack Priestley, the episodes were filmed on location in Chicago. It was picked as a series after ABC aired a two-hour television film pilot on April 15, 1985 and the series aired from September 15, 1985, to January 25, 1986 after which it was cancelled by ABC after 13 episodes.
The show revolves around Chicago detective Katy Mahoney (Jamie Rose) and her violent methods of handling cases. The supporting cast includes Danny Aiello, Ron Dean, Diane Dorsey, Bruce A. Young, Nan Woods, and Ricardo Gutierrez. Johnny Depp also guest-starred on the series in one of his earliest roles. Television critics noted Lady Blue's emphasis on violence, calling Mahoney "Dirty Harriet" (after Clint Eastwood's character Dirty Harry). Rose said she joined the project after being drawn to its genre. She prepared for the role by watching Eastwood's films, received advice from Eastwood on how to handle a gun, and practiced at a shooting range. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a United States regulatory agency, does not require workplaces to have employee break rooms?
- ... that a forensic investigation of Signalgate has determined how a journalist was included in a group chat about Operation Rough Rider?
- ... that Cecile Long Steele pioneered the broiler chicken industry in the United States after accidentally receiving 500 chickens?
- ... that Massachusetts gave the United States its first openly LGBT state legislator to be elected, as well as the first out congressperson and state attorney general?
- ... that actress Edna May Sperl's fiancé was arrested on the day of her wedding by a federal marshal because her fiancé's father opposed the marriage?
- ... that a graphic novel for teens was among the 10 most challenged books in the United States in 2023?
- ... that a church of the Order of St. Augustine in the United States was burned to the ground during the Philadelphia nativist riots of 1844?
- ... that Carol and Eric Hafner ran for five United States House of Representatives seats for states in which they did not live, and mostly had not visited?
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Photo: Daniel SchwenThe Chicago Theatre is located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago. When it opened on October 26, 1921, the 3,880-seat theater was promoted as the "Wonder Theatre of the World". Its marquee, "an unofficial emblem of the city", appears frequently in film, television, artwork, and photography. -
Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew ShivaZachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was the 12th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1849, until his death in office the following year. He was previously a career officer in the United States Army, rose to the rank of major general and became a national hero as a result of his victories in the Mexican–American War. As a result, he won election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs.
On July 4, 1850, Taylor reportedly consumed copious amounts of raw fruit and iced milk while attending holiday celebrations during a fundraising event at the Washington Monument. Over the course of several days, he became severely ill with an unknown digestive ailment, several of his cabinet members being similarly affected. Despite treatment, Taylor died five days later. His vice-president Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency and completed his term in office. -
A woman using a Hollerith pantograph, a machine developed by Herman Hollerith for the punching of cards, providing data which could then be processed. Such tools were used in the 1890 United States census, the first time the country's census was tabulated by machine. -
Photograph credit: J. Malcolm GreanyAnsel Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist, known for his black-and-white images of the American West. As a child, he visited Yosemite National Park with his family and was given his first camera. He was later tasked by the United States Department of the Interior to take photographs of national parks. For this work, and for his persistent advocacy, which helped expand the National Park system, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. -
Cutout credit: Martha Ann HoneywellMartha Ann Honeywell (1786–1856) was an American disabled artist who produced silhouettes and paper-cutout images using only her mouth, arm stumps and toes, often in public performances. She sold cutouts such as this one as souvenirs. The text at the center of this cutout, with framed dimensions of
'"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000002D-QINU`"'
8+1⁄4 in × 7+5⁄8 in (21 cm × 19 cm), is the standard text of the Lord's Prayer, signed underneath with the inscription "Written without hands by Martha Honeywell". The work is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. -
Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew ShivaJames Buchanan (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) served as President of the United States for a single term from 1857 to 1861. He was unable to calm the growing sectional crisis that would divide the nation. In the midst of the growing chasm between slave states and free states, the Panic of 1857 occurred, causing widespread business failures and high unemployment. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, seven Southern states declared their secession from the Union, a crisis which culminated in the outbreak of the American Civil War shortly after Buchanan left office. Buchanan is consistently ranked as one of the worst presidents in the country's history. -
Photograph: Kevin Rofidal, United States Coast Guard; edit: Papa Lima WhiskeyThe I-35W Mississippi River bridge was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Saint Anthony Falls of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Once the third-busiest bridge in the state, it suddenly collapsed on August 1, 2007, killing 13 and injuring 145. Rescue of people stranded on the bridge was complete in three hours, while recovery of bodies—involving 75 local, state and federal agencies—took three weeks. An NTSB investigation cited a design flaw as the likely cause of the collapse, noting that a too-thin gusset plate ripped along a line of rivets. -
Photograph credit: George HurrellJane Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model who became one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. This publicity still, depicting Russell reclining on a bed of hay and holding a pistol, was taken by George Hurrell for her film debut in Howard Hughes's film The Outlaw (1943), which launched her career. She went on to star in more than twenty films, including opposite Marilyn Monroe in the hugely successful Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). -
Photo credit: United States ArmyAfter being forced to leave the Philippines after the Japanese victory in 1942, General Douglas MacArthur vowed, "I shall return." 31 months later, he waded ashore at Palo Beach at the outset of the Battle of Leyte, fulfilling his pledge as the United States retook the island. -
Lithographer: Joseph E. Baker; Restoration: Lise BroerA fanciful 1892 lithograph of the Salem witch trials. The trials, which took place between February 1692 and May 1693 in colonial Massachusetts, involved people accused of witchcraft, and have been used as a cautionary tale about the dangers of religious extremism, false accusations, lapses in due process, and governmental intrusion on individual liberties. -
Photograph credit: UnknownBessie Coleman (1892–1926) was a civil aviator. On June 15, 1921, she became the first African-American woman and the first Native American to earn an aviation pilot's license. Denied opportunity in the United States because of her race and sex, she had to go to France to learn to fly. Her career involved stunt flying and performing in air shows, and was cut short in 1926 when she was thrown from a plane in mid-air. Her death meant that her ambition to establish a school for young black aviators went unaccomplished, but her pioneering achievements served as an inspiration for a generation of African-American men and women. -
Engraving: Paul RevereA depiction of the Boston Massacre, an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers killed five male civilians and injured six others in Boston, Massachusetts. Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder, though all but two were acquitted; two soldiers were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to branding. During the era of discontent that led to the American Revolution, this event was used for anti-British propaganda. -
Photo credit: U.S. Army Forces Strategic CommandThe LG-118A Peacekeeper missile system being tested at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The Peacekeeper can carry up to ten re-entry vehicles, each armed with a nuclear warhead with the explosive power of up to 300 kilotons, 25 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II). Under the unratified START II treaty, all are to be removed from service by 2005. -
Engraving credit: Frederick Girsch, Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew ShivaThis picture is an engraved vignette of the American artist John Trumbull's 1821 oil-on-canvas painting Surrender of General Burgoyne, depicting the surrender of British troops under John Burgoyne on October 17, 1777, at the end of the Saratoga campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The work is one of eight historical paintings that hang in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The American victory at Saratoga had dramatic consequences on the war. Although some foreign states, notably France, had been supporting the American cause in the form of financial and material provisions, the French wished for no further involvement until the capture of a British army at Saratoga by American forces made them reconsider their level of commitment. This line engraving was produced for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) for use on United States banknotes. -
Lithograph: Currier and Ives; Restoration: Lise BroerA Democratic campaign poster from the United States presidential election of 1864, showing presidential candidate George B. McClellan (left) and his running-mate George H. Pendleton. They lost to the Republican candidate, incumbent Abraham Lincoln, who became the first American president in 32 years to be reelected.
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Selected culture biography -
Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award, won a Golden Globe Award, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her work in films, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award.
Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. Garland was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft.
In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema.
Selected location -
The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its mega casino–hotels and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, Las Vegas is the 24th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 660,929 at the 2023 United States Census Estimates. The 2013 population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area was 2,027,828. The city is one of the top three leading destinations in the United States for conventions, business, and meetings.
Selected quote -
Anniversaries for June 3
- 1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.
- 1808 – Jefferson Davis (pictured), the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, was born.
- 1889 – The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
- 1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.
- 1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the Zoot Suit Riots.
- 1968 – Valerie Solanas, author of SCUM Manifesto, attempts to assassinate artist Andy Warhol by shooting him three times.
Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -
The cuisine of California reflects the diverse culture of California and is influenced largely by Indigenous, European American, Hispanic American (Mexican, Latin American, Spanish), East Asian and Oceanian influences (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese), and Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences, as well as the food trends and traditions of larger American cuisine. (Full article...)
Selected panorama -
Philadelphia skyline.
More did you know? -
- ... that the long-nosed god maskettes (pictured) found throughout the American Midwest are believed to have been used in the ritual adoption of visiting tribal leaders?
- ... that the first proper society page in the United States was the invention of James Gordon Bennett, Jr. for the New York Herald?
- ... that the report "Top Secret America" by The Washington Post revealed that over 850,000 people in the U.S. intelligence community have top-secret clearance?
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