I just finished reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code.  This book continues in the same vein as The Da Vinci Code, following Harvard professor Robert Langdon as he uses his wits, knowledge, & luck to try to solve a mysterious puzzle and save his friends from certain death. 

Because of his unique expertise in symbology, Mr. Langdon is the only person in the world who can solve the Ancient Mysteries, the lost wisdom of the ages.  Can he do it before it's too late?

An entertaining book, full of history, symbols, and secret codes.  Fans of The Da Vinci Code will enjoy this book, too.

tobuy

I finally got a chance to see "Food, Inc.," a documentary by Robert Kenner which reveals a behind-the-scenes look into the food industry in the US. 

Mr. Kenner raises several questions:  Why is it that cows are being fed corn instead of grass?  Why are chickens being raised in darkness?  How do they grow chickens to be twice as big in half the time?  Why is meat being processed with ammonium & chlorine?  Why are there so many cases of E. coli poisoning from food?  Who's in charge at the FDA, EPA, and other agencies which are responsible for protecting consumers?

The answers are eye-opening.  & There are negative effects on our health, environment, economy, and workers' rights.

How can we affect change?  Viewers are encouraged to vote with their dollars and to buy organic, locally-grown food with little or no pesticides.  Stop drinking sodas and eating junk food.  Eat at home instead of eating out.  Tell schools to promote healthy meals.  Read labels.  Tell Congress that food safety is important to you.  Demand job protection and fair wages for food workers.  Visit Food, Inc. for more information.

tobuy

Saw this Thai commercial on Absolutely Fobulous.  It's hilarious!

Love these beautiful green cupcakes to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. 

Julie at Blue Cupcake did a fantastic job with these!

I found this awesome silverware from a re-tweet by Steamy Kitchen for Guy Kawasaki's post on Alltop.com.  Love it!

Bite Silverware

Fish Cutlery

I first found out about E-Readbook from the blog Big Boy and Xiao Chien.  E-Readbook is a system that features a touch-reading pen that reads English or Chinese words for you when you point at the words in a special book.  Fantastic, right?

I found the system on Amazon.com, and I bought the Beginner Package.  It came with the pen, an adapter, a USB cable, & 8 books.  When I received it, I was all confused because I couldn't read the instructions--they were all in Chinese.  Luckily, with the help of my Chinese-literate friend, I learned how to download the sound files from the E-Readbook website, and I learned how to use the pen.  Now, it works great, and I'm so happy!

Basically, you turn on the pen by pressing the button, then you sync the pen with the book by touching the pen to the logo on the front cover of the book.  Then, you can start using the book. 

This system seems to be designed for Chinese-speaking students to learn English, rather than for English-speaking students to learn Chinese.  The pen often gives instructions in full sentences in rapid Chinese, and it's hard to understand it unless you are fluent in Mandarin. 

However, the system can still be useful for those of us with limited Mandarin skills in that you can touch the pen to a word or phrase, and the pen will speak the English or the Chinese word or phrase that you're pointing to.  The key is in choosing the right books. 

In all, I'm happy that I got the E-Readbook system.  However, it would've been extremely difficult if I didn't have a friend who was able to read and understand Mandarin in order to help me learn how to use it.  I later discovered that there are some instructions in English that you can download from the E-Readbook website.

These are the books that I received with the Beginner Package:

New Concept English/Chinese Beginner Series
The orange book called "PQR" contains a few greetings, family members, animals, fruit, drinks, movements, parts of the face, colors, & clothing with English & Chinese words, as well as small sentences & poems.  There are also some short songs in English.  No pinyin is provided.

Disney's Scene Series
Disney's Home goes over family members, household items, garden tools, & food with some well-known Disney characters.  There are English & Chinese words, but no pinyin.  There's also a "Can you find?" game.

World Classic Fairy Tales Collection
Pinocchio is a storybook with Chinese characters and pinyin, but no English.  The pen reads the whole page in rapid Chinese with accompanying music.  Not a good choice if you're not fluent in Mandarin.

Learning Joyfully Series

The pink "A" book teaches the words for animals, food, vehicles, play structures, and household objects in English and Chinese (no pinyin).  There are blank spaces for you to practice writing these words in English.

The orange "zi" book teaches parts of the face, animals, household objects, vehicles, and things in nature with Chinese characters and pinyin.  There is no English.  There are blank spaces for you to practice writing in Chinese.

The blue "pin" book teaches sounds.  There are Chinese characters and pinyin.  No English is provided.  There are blank spaces to practice writing alphabet sounds in English.

The green book with an abacus on it has you practice writing numbers and do simple addition.  There are only numbers and Chinese characters.  No pinyin or English is provided.

Happy Coloring Series

The orange book with a compass on it has you color in pictures and guess what the picture will be.  The pen speaks sentences in rapid Chinese.  There are only Chinese sentences.  No pinyin or English is provided. 

If you have tried the E-Readbook system, please let us know what you thought of it and which books you enjoyed.

tobuy

Love this cute little Panda USB Flash Drive.  Active Media Products donates 5% of the purchase price to World Wildlife Fund.

tobuy