QUES: Triumph and Disaster: The 20th century saw a stupendous release of energies that had been pent up for the 250 years of Tokugawa isolation. By 1930 raw-material production had tripled the figure of 1900, manufactured goods had increased twelve-fold, and heavy industry was galloping towards maturity. Britain led the World War I Ailies in large orders for munitions, while Japan expanded sales of manufactured goods to Asian and other markets cut off from their usual European suppliers. Merchant shipping doubled in size and increased its income ten-fold as the European fleets were destroyed. Setbacks in the 1930s caused by the European postwar slump were only a spur to redouble efforts by diversifying heavy industry into the machine-making, metallurgical, and chemical sectors. Even the terrible 1923 Tokyo earthquake, which cost over 100,000 lives and billions of dollars, provided another stimulus due to the construction boom that followed. Riding the crest of this economic upsurge were the zaibatsu conglomeratesa dozen family-run combines, each involved in mining, manufacturing, marketing, shipping, and banking. These tightly controlled commercial pyramids were the true heirs to the old feudal structures. Japan's progress toward parliamentary democracy was halted in the 1930s by the growing nationalism being imposed on government by the generals and admirals. They proclaimed Japan's mission to bring progress to its backward Asian neighbors in language not so very different from that of the Europeans in Africa or the US in Latin America. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Soviet Union was regarded as a major threat to Japan's security, and the army felt it needed Manchuria and whatever other Chinese territory it could control as a buffer against Russian advances. In 1931 the Japanese occupied Manchuria. And then in 1937, with the popular support of ultra-right-wing groups, the army overrode parliamentary resistance in Tokyo and went to war against the Chinese Nationalists. By 1938, they held Nanking, Hankow, and Canton. Japanese expansionist policies were leading to direct confrontation with the West. Japan hoped that war in Europe would divert the Soviet Union from interference in East Asia, giving Japan a free hand both in China and, through its alliance with Germany, in French IndoChina after the defeat of France. The US responded to the Japanese invasion of IndoChina with a trade and fuel embargo, cutting off 90 percent of Japan's supplies. The result was the attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941) and total war.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What act against Japan resulted in the attack on Pearl Harbor?

QUES: (CNN) -- Tito Joseph "TJ" Jackson, who on Wednesday was named temporary guardian of Michael Jackson's three children, was inspired by his famous uncle to form a singing group with his brothers. TJ had been placed in charge of the children when the kids' grandmother, Katherine, left home on July 15 and will watch the children while the legal proceedings play out in a California court. TJ Jackson, 34, is the son of Tito Jackson and the late Delores Martes Jackson. TJ and his older brothers, Taj and Taryll, form the R&B group 3T. Jackson is married with three children, a boy and two girls. Judge suspends Katherine Jackson as guardian of Michael Jackson's children A 1995 article in People described the brothers' childhood as normal despite their famous father, uncle and aunts. Taj Jackson told the magazine: "My mom made sure that we had a real childhood, with birthday parties, baseball, family outings, all that stuff." They were close to their Uncle Michael. "He's like a third parent to us," Taj told People in 1995. Eventually the brothers went along on one of his tours and decided to form a singing group and were recording their first album in 1994 at the time of their mother's death. Initially it was believed Delores Martes Jackson, who had divorced from Tito Jackson in 1993, drowned in a swimming pool, but the case was reopened, and her sons in 1995 filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against a man they accused of killing her. Three years later, Donald Bohana was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, according to People magazine.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Who is Michael Jackson's mother?

QUES: { { Plot } } Tom plays pool in a deserted pool hall , pocketing two balls by lowdown means and then wakes Jerry up by shooting the 10-ball into the pocket where he is sleeping . Jerry awakes just in time to avoid the 10-ball and is carried out to the ball return , where the 10 and the 13 smash the mouse between each other . Jerry is mad and walks up through the pocket , first sees nothing , but after a few steps back to the pocket , he spots Tom perched behind it . Jerry tries to jump into another corner pocket , but Tom aims a cue ball with so much force that it roll's into the pocket , and spins back out of it and it rolls Jerry backwards to Tom , who has made a ramp with his cue stick for the mouse to slide up . Jerry stops at the top of the stick and is then blown down by Tom , who then shoots a stream of balls to make the mouse flat . The whole train rebounds back towards the cat and the balls stack up at Tom's end of the table . Tom shoots all the balls in succession with his cue , and then tries to shoot Jerry , but the mouse hangs onto the cue tip . The cat , as if he were saying '' Have it your way '' , chalks up and shoots the 8-ball using Jerry . The mouse drops off the cue tip and then is upended by the 8-ball rolling in circles , and Tom forces Jerry to jump through the ball rack as if he were a circus performer . Tom then sets it on fire to add an additional level of torment , and when Jerry accomplishes this with poise , Tom discards the flaming rack and shoots the 8-ball across the table and back .
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
How does Tom up the ante when he makes Jerry jump as if he were a circus performer?