Tonight is The Annie Awards, when all us wacky cartoonists put on tuxedos and act like grownups for a night. Don't worry, we're just pretending. The orchestra level of UCLA's Royce Hall is sold out, so we expect a good crowd. Our presenters include Tom Kenny the voice of Spongebob, Paige O'Hara who played Belle and Patrick Warbuton. No picketlines around our event, so a good time will be had by all. Good luck to all the nominees.

last years Annies saw Steve Worth,the director of the ASIFA/Hollywood Animation Archive with Winsor McCay Award winner Andreas Deja.
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Question: Why is a mixed alcoholic drink called a cocktail?

Answer to yesterday’s question below- What is meant by highballing?
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History for 2/8/2008
Birthdays: Jules Verne, Dmitri Medeleyev- inventor of the Periodic Table of Elements, James Dean, William Tecumseh Sherman, John Williams, Bulgarian animator Ivan Ivano-Vano, Lana Turner, Jack Lemmon, Alejandro Rey, Ted Koppel, Nick Nolte, Buck Henry, Gary Coleman, Robert Klein.

1587- MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS BEHEADED at Fotheringay Castle. Circumstantial evidence proved Mary had not discouraged plots to overthrow and kill Queen Elizabeth. Truth was Elizabeth could never sit on her throne securely while Mary lived. While some could argue Elizabeth’s legitimate birth Mary’s mother was the sister of King Henry VIII. Apologists for Queen Elizabeth argue she did ordered the execution with great sadness but others say she cracked jokes as she signed the death warrant. Elizabeth and Mary never met face-to-face. Mary’s son James accepted his mothers death calmly, he hadn’t seen her since he was a toddler and his Presbyterian tutors were all filled him with hate for her.
It must have been a hard day at work for the headsman. First in order to ensure a good job, Mary gave a bribe to the executioner, but he muffed the first chop and had to do it in a couple of swings. Then, when the headsman picked up the head it plopped out of it's red wig. She had lost a lot of her hair to smallpox, as did Elizabeth and a lot of other folks. Finally, when they moved Mary's body, a yelping lap dog jumped out of her skirts and bit him. The heartbroken little lap dog refused all food, and died soon afterwards.

1672- THE SPECTRUM- Earlier in 1666 Sir Issac Newton bought a little prism stone at Stourbridge Fair. It inspired him to think about the principles of light. On this day he presented his paper to the Royal Society “New Theory about Light and Colors”. Newton discovered the Spectrum. That white light is not light devoid of color but made up of all colors which when broken up in a prism always assume the same spectral pattern Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

1836- Davy Crockett with twelve Tennessee leathershirts arrived at the Alamo.

1864- Abraham Lincoln visited Matthew Brady's Photo Studio and posed for the photo's that would one day be on the Penny and Five dollar bill.

1893- THE FIRST RECORDED STRIPTEASE -discounting Salome’, of course. At Paris's famed Moulin Rouge an artist's model named Mona decided to get an edge in a beauty contest judged by art students by disrobing to music while walking up and down the stage. She was arrested and fined 100 francs. The students rioted. Vive le' France!

1915- THE BIRTH OF A NATION or The Clansman premiered at Clunes Auditorium in Los Angeles. Film pioneer and son of a Confederate veteran, D.W. Griffith's racist movie was considered for years the first American feature length film. Only recently the discovery of a 1913 Richard III film predates it. It is thought nowadays that Griffith was making a personal statement by the film, truth is there was a flood of Civil War films to mark the 50th anniversary of the conflict and the book the Clansman by Thomas Dixon was a hot property. President Woodrow Wilson ( another son of the South ) called it :"History written with a thunderbolt and I’m afraid all too true." Birth of a Nations’ inflammatory imagery and this politically incorrect Presidential endorsement helped a rebirth of the almost moribund Ku Klux Klan and caused a marked increase in lynchings of African Americans. But despite the film’s unfortunate politics it’s technique influenced world cinema and established once and for all the feature film length as the standard for all future motion pictures. It’s original running length was 3 hours. IN Later years D.W. Griffith lost his fortune and became a drunken has-been. Watching him at Chasen's Restaurant in the 1940’s pitifully beg MGM studio head Dore Schary for work inspired Billy Wilder to write the story for SUNSET BLVD.

1928- Englishman John Logie Baird transmitted a still television image across the Atlantic from England to Hartsdale New York. It was a still image of a woman. Baird was one of the fathers of Television with Vladimir Zworkin, Lee DeForrest and Deutches Telefunken.

1960- Adolph Coors III the heir to the Coors beer empire was killed in a failed kidnapping attempt. Joseph Corbett Jr was apprehended in Canada and charged with the crime. Ironically, Adolph Coors was reputedly allergic to beer.

1961- Nebraska teenager and future movie star Nick Nolte was busted for the first time. He was accused of selling fake Draft cards so his friends could buy alcohol. He was arrested for drunk driving in 2003.

1967- Georgy Girl by the Seekers goes to #1 in pop charts.

1994- Jack Nicholson destroyed the windshield of a neighbors car with a golf club, screaming “You cut me off!” He settled the matter out of court.

2002- The death of Sheldon Allman. He was 77. Sheldon was the lyricist of television songs like George of the Jungle and Mr. Ed .” A Horse is a Horse Of Course, Of Course”

2007- Penthouse centerfold and pole dancer turned heiress, Anna Nicole Smith, died from an overdose of prescription drugs. She was 39.
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Yesterday’s Question: What is the origin of the phrase “I’m Highballing it out of here.”

Answer: Before railroad trains had radio communications, signalmen would raise a large round white ball to the top of a pole to signal the engineer of a train that he didn’t have to slow down or make a stop, but could continue on with no obstructions. So highballin through town meant going by at top speed.

The date is set for the annual AFTERNOON OF REMEMBRANCE. This is when the animation community in LA gathers to remember our friends and colleagues who left us the previous year. A little later than usual this year, we will gather on Saturday March 1st at the historic Hollywood Studio Museum. It is the landmark building affectionately called the DeMille-Lasky Barn, where the first Hollywood movie was filmed. Cecil B. Demille’s office is still lovingly preserved there, maintained by Hollywood Heritage. We used to hold it in a church, but most animators get squirrely in such sacred places, and would rather be in someplace less solemn to recall stories of their friends.

Past speakers included Chuck Jones speaking about Friz Freleng, Joe Grant speaking about Marc Davis, Bill Stout speaking for Alex Toth and many more. This year we are honoring 47 people, from studio vice presidents to ink & paint artists, voice actors, writers. Jack Zander who died just shy of his 100th birthday, to James Street, voice actor of Strawberry Shortcake, who died in a skateboarding accident at age 13, the youngest honoree we’ve ever had to do.

Scooby Doo, characters designed by honoree Iwao Takamoto

Other honorees of 2007 include Iwao Takamoto who created Scooby Doo and Penelope Pittstop, Steve Krantz who produced Ralph Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat, Ryan Larkin, award winning Canadian animator who lived on the street, Jim Thurman who wrote the Roger Ramjet Show for Fred Crippen, Ray Erlenborn a sound effects artist who acted in Chaplin’s City Lights, and Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last, Will Schaefer who composed the music for the Flintstones and Yogi Bear Show, and Dave Hilberman, an artist/ activist who’s talents contributed to Walt Disney’s classic films, then co-founded UPA and Tempo Prod, and had the unique distinction of being one of the only artists personally fingered by Walt Disney to the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1947.
I’ll publish a complete list of honorees next week.

Background from Disney’s The Lion King, painted by honoree Gregg Drolette. Courtesy of The Van Eaton Gallery

The afternoon is free and is open for all the members of the animation family and their fans. Contact the Animation Guild Local 839 for more details.
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Question: What is the origin of the phrase “I’m Highballing it out of here.”

Answer to yesterday’s question below
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History for 2/7/2008
Birthdays: St. Thomas Moore, Eubie Blake, Sinclair Lewis, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Laura Ingalls Wilder writer of Little House on the Prairie, Gay Talese, GI-Joe (the toy), James Spader is 48, Chris Rock is 43, Eddie Izzard is 46, Ashton Kutcher is 30

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Mouse. Gong Hai Fat Choi!

310 AD- Feast of St. Theodore the General. He commanded a Legion under the Emperor Licinius in Pontus. After admitting he had embraced the outlaw sect Christianity he was tortured and burned in a furnace. Two years before the ban on Christians was lifted.

457AD- After the death of the Roman Emperor Marcian, General Aspar proclaimed his friend General Leo the Armenian to be the new emperor of the Eastern Empire.

1601-Elderly Queen Elizabeth Ist dallied with a conceited courtier named Robert Deverueaux the Earl of Essex. This hot headed toyboy soon got it into his head he could overthrow the old Queen and take over her government. This night at his estate- the original Essex House, flattering friends paid for a performance of Master William Shakespeare’s play Richard II. Queen Elizabeth’s spies overheard and told her; the symbolism of Essex watching a play about a monarch justly deposed was not lost on her. Next day the Essex plot was crushed and he and all his buddies went under the headsman’s axe.

1792- The major European powers- Russia, Austria, Prussia, Spain and England announced a grand coalition to crush the Revolution in France. They considered it a pre-emptive war to prevent French people’s style revolution from over throwing their monarchies. About the only ally the French had was the American Republic, but they were too weak and too far away to be of any help.

1796- Napoleon and Josephine’s engagement was announced.

1807- BATTLE of EYLAU- Up until the 20th century armies traditionally avoided fighting in winter because of the added hardships of weather. After chasing the Russian army up into Northern Poland Napoleon put his French army into winter quarters and proceeded to bed down with his new mistress Countess Maria Walewska. Unfortunately a French division bumped into the main Russian force and a battle ensued. Everyone rushed there and an inconclusive slaughter raged in a blinding snowstorm. The battle was only ended when Marshal Murat massed all the French cavalry into one big juggernaut and sent it hammering through the Russian center.

1821- Yankee Captain John Davis became the first explorer to step ashore on the continent of Antarctica.

1904- Great fire of Baltimore.

1910- The Town of Hollywood annexed into the City of Los Angeles.

1925- Professor Raymond Dart of the University of South Africa named the small human like skull found in a lime deposit Australopithicus, a missing link between ape and man.

1931- Aviatrix Amelia Earhart married publisher George Putnam.

1937- PACKING THE COURT-Since seizing the initiative in 1933 to battle the Depression Franklin Roosevelt was used to having his own way with Congress. After the Supreme Court struck down important components of the NRA as unconstitutional FDR this night informed leading Senators that he was introducing a bill to expand the Supreme Court from 5 justices to nine so he could name his own men and create a majority to do his bidding. The heretofore docile Senate rose up and defeated FDR’s scheme, the resistance led by his own vice president Cactus Jack Garner. The newly invigorated Congress continued to defy Roosevelt until Pearl Harbor.

1940- Disney's classic "Pinnochio" opened nationwide.

1942- Despite being under heavy Japanese attack British commander Sir Spencer Percival vowed that Singapore would resist to the last man. Singapore surrendered one week later.

1942- Detroit assembly lines ceased all production of civilian automobiles and focused exclusively on war material- tanks, planes, trucks until 1945. When President Roosevelt challenged carmakers to help make America the "Arsenal of Democracy" in 1939 they dragged their feet. Now the government sweetened their orders with guaranteed profits, labor peace and they would sell at incredible discount the factories built at government expense.

1944- German Panzergrenadiers launched a heavy counterattack on the Allied beachhead at Anzio Italy.

1950- The US recognized the nation of Vietnam not as ruled by Ho Chi Minh, but ruled by French mandate under the Emperor Bao Dai.

1960- JFK PARTYS WITH THE RATPACK-Before he created the Peace Corps and Camelot, presidential candidate John Kennedy needed to relax and raise some hell. So in total secret he helicoptered down to Las Vegas and spent this night at the Sands Hotel with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and his brother in law, actor Peter Lawford. These men were famous for their all-night Rat Pack parties, heavy drinking, party girls, poker and more. Sinatra introduced Kennedy to a party girl named Judith Cambell Exner, who would claim JFK as a lover at the same time as she was sleeping with Sam Momo Giancana, the don of the Chicago Mafia. In the wee dawn hours Kennedy slipped away to continue his race for the White House.

1964- THE BRITISH ROCK INVASION BEGAN. Thousands of screaming fans welcome THE BEATLES to New York for their first U.S. Tour. The last music out of England to be taken seriously by Americans was the Lambeth Walk, now the UK announced itself as a powerhouse of rock & roll. For a Brit to do Rock & Roll in America was as audacious as an American reciting Shakespeare in Stratford, but the welcome for the Beatles was so overwhelming that other bands like the Rolling Stones and Herman’s Hermits soon followed. Local New York disc jockeys Cousin Brucie and Murray the K wiggled to the front of the crowds and got a national audience by following the young musicians around. The crowds of teenagers were so excited they mobbed a Rolls Royce in front of the Warwick Hotel where the Beatles were staying just because they figured a Rolls Royce would be something they drove in. They actually used taxicabs.

1968- During the Vietnamese Tet Offensive a US Army colonel issued a statement to the A.P. after burning the tiny village of Ben Tre.:" We had to destroy that village in order to save it." It typified the sometimes dizzy logic the Army used to justify it’s actions.

1971- Women in Switzerland receive the right to vote.

1979- Nazis Angel of Death Dr. Josef Mengele was living in hiding in Brazil. This day the old man had a stroke while swimming and drowned. His death was kept secret until 1985.

1989- Retired tennis champ Bjorn Borg was rushed to a Madrid hospital and had his stomach pumped after he tried to overdose on sleeping pills.

1992- Twelve European nations sign the Maastricht Treaty of European Union.

1994 Jean Bertrand Aristide sworn in as democratically elected president of Haiti.

2001- Jean Bertrand Aristide sworn in as President of Haiti again. He was overthrown in 2003.
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Yesterday’s Question: There are hundreds of kinds of Typefaces in lettering- Geneva, Times, Baskerville, Old English. So what makes the typeface Helvetica so special that the Museum of Modern Art in NY had a special display about it?

Answer : Helvetica, created by a Swiss graphics firm in 1958, today is the most widely used typeface around the world for public signage.

Question: There are hundreds of kinds of Typefaces in lettering- Geneva, Times, Baskerville, Caslon, Old English. So what makes the typeface Helvetica so important that NY's Museum of Modern Art had a special display about it?

Answer to yesterday’s question below- why is a toilet called a can?
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History for 2/6/2008
Birthdays: Christopher Marlowe, Eva Braun, Ronald Reagan, Francois Truffaut, Zsa Zsa Gabor is 91, Babe Ruth, Elias Disney- Walt’s dad, Bob Marley, Rip Torn is 77, Queen Anne Ist of England, Aaron Burr, screenwriter Robert Townsend, Tom Brokaw, Mike Maltese, cinematographer Haskel Wexler, Axel Rose, Patrick McKnee- Mr Steed of the Avengers, Natalie Cole is 53, Kathy Najimy is 51

1481- The first public burnings of heretics by the Spanish Inquisition. Six men and women were marched out to a public square in Seville and burned at the stake. The executions soon took on a pageant like atmosphere and were called the Auto-da-fe’, an Act of Faith.

1778-The Kingdom of France signed an alliance with the rebellious North American colonies calling themselves the United States. Queen Marie Antoinette was charmed by the American ambassador Benjamin Franklin and called him 'Le Ambassadeur d'Electrique'. In the House of Commons Prime Minister Lord North had said that he doubted any European monarch would ever ally itself to the rebels: “For it would raise in America a new Empire dedicated to missionary it’s form of radical democracy around the world. “ German philosopher Goethe said: “We wish the Americans every success.”

1847- The Treaty of Waitangi- Britain settled New Zealand from the Maoris. Hobbits to follow….

1919- Because defeated Berlin was awash in communist and rightwing paramilitary mobs fighting in the streets, the German government moved to Weimar to write it's democratic constitution. Germany in between the wars was called the Weimar Republic.

1926- Georgia born former minstrel show hoofer Oliver Hardy signed a contract with the Hal Roach Studios to appear in short comedies, usually as a villain. Next year director Leo McCarey teamed the rotund Hardy with skinny Scottish comedian Stan Laurel and a legendary team was born- Laurel & Hardy.

1935- The board game Monopoly is announced by Parker Brothers. The prototype monopoly board was round oilcloth and had street names derived from Atlantic City NJ. It now is in the toy collection of Forbes Magazine in New York.

1935- BOXERS OR BRIEFS? Arthur Kneibler patented the men’s underwear brief. He got the idea looking at Frenchmen’s bathing suits on the Riviera and called them Jockey’s.

1937- John Steinbecks novel “Of Mice and Men” published. In a result Mr Steinbeck probably didn’t anticipate was the stereotype image of a mildly retarded man as the big dumb sidekick Lenny, cartoonists used so often. “Duh, tell me about da rabbits, George.”

1943-“GET ME GEISLER!” Actor Errol Flynn was acquitted of two counts of sex with adolescents, which even if it is consensual is still considered statutory rape. The two girls who brought the charges had actually tried this shakedown with other celebrities. They weren't exactly adolescents despite testifying in court with pigtails and a lollypop. Flynn hired lawyer to the stars Jerry Geisler and he slowly took the girls story apart. Geisler discovered one girl had a prior conviction for 'public lewdness' and the other had had an abortion which then was illegal. So Flynn got off- literally. Flynn had just finished a film called "Gentleman Jim" and at the end of the film when he says to Alexis Smith:"I never said I was a Gentleman." Peals of knowing laughter rang out from audiences. This is also the time the slang term for living it up was coined- to be “In Like Flynn”. Flynn’s limo soon sported the license plate- R U 18?


1952- King George VI died at 56 of lung cancer. Princess Elizabeth found herself queen at 27 years old.

1985- Steve Wozniak, the young engineer who started Apple Computer with Steve Jobs in his garage, resigned from the company. He’d rather be an engineer and teach children.

2007- KILLER ASTRONAUTS-Lisa Nowak, Space Shuttle commander, and mother of three, nicknamed RoboChick by the astronauts, was enamored of another astronaut on the program, William “Billy-O” Oefelein. Today Lisa shocked America by driving 900 miles from Texas to Orlando non-stop to threaten the life of her lovers’s new girlfriend. When arrested She wore a wig, a Huggies diaper to prevent having to pull over to use the restroom and was carrying handcuffs and duct tape. The incident spawned dozens of puns- Astro-Nut, Lust in Space,The 150 Mile High Club, etc.
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QUESTION” Why is The Can, another name for toilet?

Answer: German sailors on U-Boat submarines discovered that below 30 feet under water the water pressure was so great, the normal toilets were unusable. So they recycled large empty peaches and pears tin cans for ..uh,,,, you know what. So that’s when “using the can” entered normal parlance.

Ach Schweinhundt! Light some matches! Open ze vindow!"

It's the big primary day in the U.S. If you are in a primary state and can vote, please do so. Many's the artist from Leonardo to David to Daumier who got involved in politics. And the Athenian leader Pericles said a person who does not participate in public life is a useless person. This year more than any other shows how what goes on in Washington effects us all ( can we say- $4 a gallon for gas by this summer? )
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Question: Why was a toilet sometimes called the can? Well, thats not too hard to guess why, but who started it?

Answer to yesterday’s question below:
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History for 2/5/2008
Birthdays: Sir Robert Peel founder of London’s Metropolitan Police- the Bobbies, Female outlaw Belle Starr, John Carradine, William Burroughs, Arthur Ochs Schulzburger, Hank Aaron is 75, Tim Holt, Barbera Hershey, Charlotte Rampling, Roger Staubach, Michael Mann, Bobby Brown, H. R. Giger, Red Buttons, Christopher Guest, Jennifer Jason Leigh is 47, Laura Linney is 44

Happy Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday- The day before Ash Wednesday ushering in the Catholic season of Lent is the cause for wild parties in many cultures- Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Venice, Quebec and other cities. Carne-Vale is Latin for Goodbye to Meat., i.e. the Lenten fast. The Mardi Gras custom in America started in Mobile Alabama around 1708 then went to New Orleans. It died out in more somber Victorian times but was renewed after the Civil War- so-' Lesse Le Bon Temps Rolle’! “Let the Good Times Roll!”

2BC -The Senate awarded the Roman Emperor Octavian Caesar the title Father of His Country- Pater-Patria or the Augustus.

1887- Verdi’s opera "Othello" debuted. Guiseppi Verdi had retired from composing after 1875 but was goaded by a new generation of composers like Arrigo Boito to take up his pen once more. Boito was originally a critic of Verdi's style but later became his protege and wrote the libretto for Otello.

1895- PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND asks BANKER J.P. MORGAN TO BAIL OUT THE UNITED STATES- The business climate of the late 1880’s & 90’s was dominated by the debate of whether U.S. currency should be backed by gold or silver bullion. Class distinctions and politics were aggravated by Gold Bugs vs. Silver Men. Wild speculation on Wall Street in both metals made and ruined fortunes overnight. In the midst of all this confusion it was suddenly noticed that the gold reserves of the U.S. treasury were so seriously depleted that the Federal government was about to go bankrupt.
So President Cleveland was reduced to going cap-in-hand to the famous tycoon for a loan. Morgan drove a hard bargain but the U.S. economy was saved. J.P. Morgan was so rich at this point he had stopped several Wall Street panics almost single-handedly.
Morgan smoked twenty fat cigars a day and on the advice of doctors never exercised because it would be bad for his health.

1919- Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith form the United Artists Studio. It was declared: The lunatics are running the asylum!

1921- The Loews State Theater in Chicago opened.

1922- The Reader’s Digest began publication.

1936-THE BATTLE OF JARAMA - Spanish General Franco’s Fascist army was thrown back from the gates of Madrid with help from the Republic’s newly arrived foreign volunteers, called the International Brigades. The idealistic young Europeans and Americans (the Abraham Lincoln Brigade) were thrown into the battle with no training as they had just arrived. They suffered 50% casualties but won the day. The Lincolns sang a tune to Popeye the Sailor Man:
"In a green little vale called Jarama, We made all the fascists cry "Mama!; we fight for our pay, just six cents a day, and play football with a bomb-a "

1937- Charlie Chaplin’s film Modern Times premiered. Chaplin was inspired to lampoon modern technological madness when he was invited to view the auto assembly production lines in Detroit and saw men moving like machines.

1952-New York City is the first to adopt the three light traffic lights-red, yellow, green.

1953- Walt Disney’s "Peter Pan". They had been developing the story off an on since 1938.

1956- Darryl Zanuck resigned from 20th Century Fox, the studio he built into a powerhouse. He later won back the chairmanship in 1962 only to be ousted finally in 1970.

1957- Mel Lazarus’ comic strip Miss Peach debuted.

1970- TWA began 747 nonstop service between New York and Los Angeles.

1972- After numerous airline hijackings the U.S. institutes luggage inspection and metal detectors at major airports.

1974- Hearst Media heiress Patty Hearst kidnapped at gunpoint by an underground radical group called the Symbianese Liberation Army. She is kept in a closet, brainwashed, changes her name to Tania, does prison time for a bank job, and later appears in several John Water’s movies.

2003- Former war hero and US Secretary of State Colin Powell went to the United Nations to make the case for the United States attack on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. He was doing so in emulation of Adlai Stephenson’s historic presentation to the UN of proof of the Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962. But Stephenson had real proof. Powell had only the rumors and half truths supplied him after the CIA declared it all suspect. Describing some trucks and aluminum tubes as proof of mobile nuke labs. In 2005 these findings were declared totally false, and Powell’s reputation damaged. He privately confessed:” It was the worst day of my life.”
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Yesterday’s Question: Sometimes people wishing to be witty, say “ that’ll be interesting, but in the Chinese Sense.” What does that mean, and why is it Chinese?

Answer: Allegedly the saying is based upon an ancient Chinese curse:” May you live in Interesting Times.” Meaning, times of political, social upheaval and great loss and sacrifice are considered interesting to historians. But the concept is not exclusive to Chinese wisdom. Ancient Roman philosopher Seneca (4BC- 65AD) made a similar observation:” Happy the people who’s history is dull.” Napoleon also once noticed:” How painful it is to write a page of history.”

There is news of a breakthrough in the Writers Strike. It's hard to say if it is real or not. Being someone who has been union contract negotiations before, the best sign is that both sides have stopped talking to the press. That means the posturing for publicity is done, and the real deal is being made. I wish them all luck.

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Quiz: Sometimes people wishing to be witty about a bad situation, say “ that’ll be interesting, but in the Chinese Sense.” What does that mean, and why is it Chinese?

Answer to yesterday’s question below.
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history for 2/4/2008
Birthdays: Francois Rabelais, Big Bill Haywood, Fernand Leger', Charles Lindbergh, the Agha Khan, Betty Friedan, Rosa Parks, Erich Liensdorf, Alice Cooper, Dan Quayle, Ida Lupino, Conrad Bain, McKinlay Kantor, George Romero, Lisa Eichhorn, boxer Oscar De La Hoya, Clyde Tumbaugh - the amateur astronomer who discovered the planet Pluto in 1930.

211 AD Roman Emperor Septimius Severus died, despite praying every night to a line up of statues that included Zeus, Apollo, Mithras, Moses and Jesus. This guy wasn’t taking any chances! His two sons Caracalla and Geta became co-emperors. That didn’t last too long because by December Caracalla killed his brother and ruled alone.

1703- THE 47 RONIN- A Japanese story that has inspired hundreds of play novels and films.The Lord of Ako, Asano Nagori quarreled with Kiru, the chief of protocol for the Shogun, and struck at him with his sword. To attack a representative of the Shogun was an insult no matter how justified, so Nagori was ordered to commit suicide (seppuku) and his samurai declared Ronin, or discharged freelancers. The Ronin banded together to plan their revenge. They ambushed Kiru, and placed his severed head on the grave of their master. Then they sat in his house to quietly await judgement. After consulting several Shinto bishops, the Shogun could see no dishonor in what they did. So instead of executing them as criminals, on this day they were allowed to commit suicide, which they did unquestioningly. Today their gravesite is a popular shrine in Japan as a model of total dedication to duty.

1783- Britain declared a formal cease fire with it's former colonies the U.S.
ending the American Revolution.

1826- James Fenimore Cooper’s novel “The Last of the Mohicans” was published. The character of wild frontiersman Natty Bumpo called Hawkeye has been referred to as the first American superhero.

1961- United Artists released the Misfits, the last film of stars Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. John Huston directed and Arthur Miller wrote the screenplay. The film flopped in its initial run but has since gained classic status.

1968- Old beatnik Neal Cassady was found dead in Mexico. Cassady was not an intellectual but his wild non-conformist lifestyle was the inspiration for his companion author Jack Kerouac to write his greatest novel " On the Road'. While Kerouac disliked hippie kids Cassady in 1967 drove the first Hippie Bus filled with LSD advocates like Ken Kesey. Jacques Kerouac also died in the same year 1968 of advanced alcoholism.

1983- Pop singer Karen Carpenter died of anorexia-nervosa. She was 32 and only weighed 77 pounds. Her death brought to national prominence how the social pressure to stay thin could lead to this deadly condition.

2003-Legendary rock and roll producer Phil Spector allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend, actress Lana Clarkson at his LA mansion. Spector created the Wall of Sound concert technique and produced for the Beatles among many others. Clarkson appeared in Scarface and Fast Times At Ridgemont High. The few days before, Phil Spector said to the British Daily Telegraph, "I don't know, genetically, whether or not that had something to do with what I am or who I became. I would say I'm probably relatively insane, to an extent. I take medication for schizophrenia, but I wouldn't say I'm schizophrenic. I have a bipolar personality, which is strange.” His first trial was a mistrial, now he is due for another.
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Question: What religious denomination was once called the Russelites?

Answer: The Jehovah’s Witnesses, after their founder Charles Taze-Russell.