Stiletto was used by anarchists as well as by members of various "Black Hand" (a method of extortion) organizations to assassinate Italian-Americans and others who either opposed the "Black Hand" or ignored its demands for blackmail. The "Black Hand" even established schools for training its members in the use of the stiletto. The emergence of fierce hand-to-hand combat in the trenches of World War I created a new need for stabbing weapons, resulting in the reappearance of the dagger and the stiletto. Many versions of these stabbing knives exist, some individually made by soldiers, while others were government-procured and authorized. On
Lisa Gets an "A" Maxtone-Graham, neither the main storyline nor the subplot was conceived by him. The main storyline was instead pitched by former staff writer Ron Hauge, while Richard Appel, who also was a staff writer, had pitched the episode's subplot for a long time. The episode satirizes educational establishments, and features a parody of the video game "Crash Bandicoot". In its original American broadcast, "Lisa Gets an "A"" was seen by approximately 8 million viewers, and finished in 51st place in ratings the week it aired. Following its broadcast, a scene in the episode garnered criticism from the Catholic League, but the