Monthly Archive for March, 2008
The $2 Trillion Nightmare - Scary, scary, scary.
Yes, MSG, the Secret Behind the Savor - Today’s fun fact: MSG was invented 100 years ago at the University of Tokyo.
My favorite football player for the past 14 years, Brett Favre, has retired.
Tyler or the Field - Fantastic coverage of a competitive crossword competition.
A new show on Nick Jr. that is to Chinese what Dora the Explorer is to Spanish. Check it out, the show is pretty darn cute.
I’ve read around and it seems like pre-schoolers really love the show. Check out the pictures of the kids who’ve made Chinese lanterns for Kai-lan.
The show’s website is pretty direct in the lessons it wants to teach kids:
The show will familiarize the viewing audience with elements of Chinese and Chinese American cultures to promote multicultural understanding in the next generation and goes beyond featuring “culture” as only ethnic food and festivals. Instead, it celebrates growing up in an intergenerational family, having friends from diverse backgrounds, and “habits of the heart” that are Chinese American. These values include:
Mind-body connection Typically, television portrays excitement as the good emotion to feel. In many Chinese-American communities, the good thing to feel is often calmness and contentment. Feeling excited and feeling calm can both be happy feelings, but they differ in how aroused the body is.
Perspective-taking In many Chinese and other East Asian families, children are encouraged to take the perspective of others to maintain harmony in relationships with other people.
Being a good member of the group Ni Hao, Kai-lan also emphasizes the Chinese and Chinese American value of being a good member of a group.
Social & Emotional Goals Highlight cause-and-effect thinking about social and emotional issues germane to preschoolers and to support preschooler’s social and emotional development.
Wow who knew that Chinese-Americans had so many family values! Four of them! Judging by the Kai-lan gallery, it would seem there’s a good mix of kids amongst the show’s fans. Asian kids would probably enjoy seeing familiar cultural activities on mainstream television. There’s probably not much of that going around. What I think would be really interesting is finding out how the show might affect non-Asian American kids who would grow up hopefully with a bit more exposure to Chinese culture outside say Kung Fu movies and Manchu Wok fine Asian dining.
Also, the cute tiny monkey’s name is Hoho! “At 3-years-old, Hoho the monkey is the youngest of Kai-lan’s friends. He’s full of boundless energy, he’s super good at jumping, and loves to DJ. He is also an amazing at it. Nothing makes Hoho happier than being the center of attention. He also has a problem being patient.”
Finally, kai-lan is also Chinese broccoli.
Ni-hao, Kai-lan! - nickjr.com
Cartoons With Heart … and a Little Mandarin - nytimes.com
Cheap salt outweighs green concerns - The Star on why Toronto still uses salt even though it can be toxic for trees and fish and pretty much anything else alive around these parts. One of the reasons: Torontonians would hate not being able to get around town if we used something less effective or more expensive.
Buffett’s State of the World: There’s Folly in Wonderland - Warren Buffett, the world’s third-richest, writes a letter to Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders each year. Buffett discusses Berkshire Hathaway’s investments as well as what he believes the future holds for the financial world. His company has averages over 25% return to its investors for the past 25 years, so it’s not so stupid to giv’r a listen.
You can read the actual letters here.
Online Scrabble Craze Leaves Game Sellers at Loss for Words - NYTimes on the unprecedented popularity of Scrabulous, and the rights holders attempts to deal with it. bennymoto view - Isn’t it weird that Literati has been around for years and Mattel and Hasboro have totally missed out on creating a fun way to play Scrabble with friends online.