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Allison Janney, who played C. J. Cregg

C. J. Cregg is a fictional character, played by Allison Janney (pictured), on the American serial television drama The West Wing. From the beginning of the series in 1999 until the sixth season in 2004, she is 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 said to have been 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 Cregg to be assertive and independent from the show's men. She is portrayed as a smart, strong, witty, and thoughtful character, although she is frequently patronized and objectified by her male coworkers. Initially, she is portrayed as politically inept, but she quickly becomes one of the most savvy characters on the show. For her performance, Janney received four Primetime Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Roman Bunka playing the oud

... that the German guitarist Roman Bunka (pictured) studied the Arabic oud in Egypt and played in Mohamed Mounir's band at the Pyramids of Giza to celebrate entering the year 2000?
... that in 2010, a blue poison bottle inscribed "not to be taken" was excavated from the wheel pit of Knowles Mill?
... that a Billie Eilish song references the Depp v. Heard defamation trial and the overturning of Roe v. Wade?
... that in 1888, Edward P. Duplex became the first African American to be elected a mayor in California?
... that the 6.0 system of judging figure skating was replaced in 2004, as a response to the scandal during the pair skating competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics?
... that when creating Aerodynamic Forms in Space in 2010, Rodney Graham was inspired by photographs of misassembled toy model gliders he took in 1977?
... that Bill Hatfield, the oldest person to have sailed solo around the world, had previously narrowly survived a shipwreck with his young family?
... that a reviewer said that playing as a cat "is at least 50% of the appeal" of Stray?

In the news

Anna Muzychuk

The Chess Olympiad concludes with Uzbekistan winning the open event and Ukraine winning the women's event (player Anna Muzychuk pictured).
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, is killed by a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In association football, UEFA Women's Euro 2022 concludes with England defeating Germany in the final.
In cycling, Annemiek van Vleuten wins the Tour de France Femmes.

On this day

August 11: Raksha Bandhan (Hinduism, 2022); Independence Day in Chad (1960)

Hussein of Jordan

106 – The region of Dacia, comprising parts of modern Romania, became a province of the Roman Empire.
1309 – Reconquista: Aragonese forces led by King James II landed on the coast of Almería, beginning an ultimately unsuccessful siege of the city, then held by the Emirate of Granada.
1786 – Francis Light founded George Town, the first British settlement in Southeast Asia and the present-day capital of the Malaysian state of Penang.
1952 – King Talal of Jordan was forced to abdicate due to mental illness and was succeeded by his eldest son Hussein (pictured).
2012 – At least 306 people were killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.

John Hunyadi (d. 1456)
Enid Blyton (b. 1897)
Jacqueline Fernandez (b. 1985)

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Today's featured picture

The white-naped honeyeater (Melithreptus lunatus) is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to eastern Australia. It dwells in dry eucalypt woodland with long periods of dryness and heat, with a diet consisting of nectar from various flowers, and it also feeds on insects. The species is classified as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This white-naped honeyeater was photographed in Glen Davis, New South Wales.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

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