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"America's Bicentennial Census" was conducted in 1990 by the American Census Bureau and marked 200 years of census taking in the United States.  This was the 21st decennial census taken and it determined that population of the United States at that time was 248,709,873. The census of population and housing is mandated by the Constitution and is used to determine representation in the United States government.  The long form of the census, sent to 1 in 6 households, gathers more detailed information and is used to determine funding for a variety of government programs.

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The Boeing 757 was introduced on January 1, 1983 and was produced from 1981-2004.  This jet airliner had two jet engines and was intended for short to medium routes carrying 200 to 295 passengers. It has a top speed of 610 mph and each plane cost $65-80 million in 2002.  Although no longer in production, Boeing 757s are still in use by many commercial airlines, as well as by government agencies and individual owners.

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MetLife was founded in 1868 and celebrated their 125 year anniversary in 1993. In 1985 MetLife licensed the Peanuts characters for their promotions, making Snoopy, Woodstock, and many of the other Peanuts characters the face of MetLife promotions for 31 years. The Peanuts and their creator Charles M. Shultz have been popular since the 1950’s and are considered iconic.

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“Surf’s Down” is the opposite of “Surf’s Up,” which is surf slang for good waves. This graphic shows a sad surfer because “Surf’s Down” means no waves. American Surf culture began during the 1950s and 60s in Hawaii and along the California coast. The fashion, the lifestyle, and the language caught on with the mainstream, and the popularity of Surf Culture boomed. It affected music, literature, film, art, and youth jargon in popular culture. During the 1960s, teen movies like Beach Blanket Bingo, television programs like Gidget, and hit songs from Jan and Dean, and The Beach Boys featured surfing. Surfing is still very popular; its influence has spread worldwide.

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The sexual revolution emerged during the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Younger generations rebelled against the nuclear family lifestyle of the 1950s by means of self expression through protests, wearing eccentric clothes, and growing out their hair, distancing themselves from the squeaky clean image from the generations before. In response to decades of conservative values that were the backbone of American culture, the sexual revolution espoused liberal attitudes toward sex, reproductive rights, sexual orientation, and fetishism. 

In 1969, the Supreme Court made a landmark decision regarding the right to privacy in possessing pornographic material. Leading up to this historical moment was an evolution of modern pornography that dated back to the late 1800s when photography became commercially available to the general public. By the 1920s, erotic photography had evolved into erotic film, also known as "stag film." During this time, pornography was considered taboo, however by the 1970s, it experienced an explosion in popularity and acceptance, ultimately becoming a billion dollar empire.

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The television has its origins as early as the 1800s, with rudimentary mechanical devices transmitting images to a screen. The first electronic television was created in 1927 by Philo Taylor Farnsworth, and as the number of television sets began to grow, the first TV stations soon appeared. 

Television sets would not become commercially available until the late 1930s, but from then on popularity began to soar. By 1952 around 20 million Americans owned a TV set. After the remote control was invented in 1955, and color TV became ubiquitous in the 1960s, an already popular device became even more so. By 1993, 98% of Americans owned at least one TV.

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Oedipus was a figure in Greek mythology who was prophesied to kill his father and marry his mother.  Abandoned on a mountainside by the order of his father the king, Oedipus was rescued and raised by a shepherd.  He learned from the oracle at Delphi that he would kill his father and marry his mother, so he left his home to avoid this fate.  In doing so, Oedipus encountered and killed a stranger who would turn out to be his biological father King Laius. He continued his journey to Thebes where he defeated the Sphinx and married Queen Jocasta, his biological mother.  Unbeknownst to Oedipus, he had fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother. The Oedipus complex is a concept introduced by Sigmund Freud in 1899 where a child may possess an unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent.

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Graduation from school is an event that recognizes the intellectual growth of an individual. In this case, that recognition is humorous, as the individual may have learned many things, but does not know how to begin implementing that information and starting their career.

Hallmark began in 1910 when Joyce Clyde Hall started selling postcards. He had little money—not even enough to take a horse-drawn cab to his lodgings at the YMCA—but he had an entrepreneurial spirit and the determination of a pioneer. Hall quickly made a name for himself with the picture postcards he sold. Rollie Hall joined his brother in business, and the company was named Hall Brothers. On January 11, 1915, a fire destroyed their office and inventory. They took the only salvageable item, their safe, and set up shop again. With $17,000 in debt, they decided to press onward. As postcard sales declined, they recognized the public’s desire for more privacy in their communication, so they started offering high-quality Valentine’s Day and Christmas cards mailed in envelopes. The fateful fire resulted in the Hall brothers’ decision to buy printing presses and begin producing their own greeting cards in 1915. Hallmark eventually made the move to manufacture and sell collectable memorabilia including pin-back buttons, most of which revolve around holidays and other special events.

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Armageddon is a biblical term meaning “Hill of Megiddo” in Hebrew. The ancient Palestinian city of Megiddo sat at an important crossroads between Egypt and Mesopotamia, and was the site of numerous military conflicts due to its strategic position. Armageddon is mentioned only once in the Bible in the Revelation to John, and is prophesied to be the final battlegrounds between the forces of evil and the forces of God. The term Armageddon has since taken a much broader use, meaning anything from nuclear apocalypse, to being used to dramatize and catastrophize ordinary scenarios.