Electric Vehicles in 2010

As electric vehicles has become a new project of mine, I'm trying to learn a little about the topic each and everyday. Due my kid-years in the 90s, I remember reading in scholastic news that electric vehicles were being produced. At that time it just seemed like a cool idea. I never told my parents to get one, and as things turned out, EVs never became commercial. But times are changing with the oil price increases. People want new ways to save some pennies, and maybe EVs will provide just that.

I just read what looks to be a nice blog about green/clean technology. In this particular article (electric Cars for 2010) it highlights that major car companies are producing EVs that should be available by 2010. By major, I'm talking about Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, etc. This is great news, especially since I'm learning about how great these machines can be and that in a couple years I'll most likely be looking to purchase my first vehicle.

haha...depending if the Tata Nano makes it to the country I'll be, maybe I'll replace getting that with an EV.


Monkey teaches english in China

I just stumbled upon a great article that was posted by Mikey Meyer in The New York Times entitled Learning to Speak Olympics. In here, Mike talks about his experiences living in China and how some local children are learning English.
I was in China in 2006, but I don't recall ever seeing Mocky the naughty monkey. Apparently this cute monkey is being used throughout schools to drive up the number of English-speaking Chinese to 50 percent of the total population. He is teaching simply phrases like "I want to go...." and such and it seems to be a hit for the children.

Another thing I didn't realize is that Chinese students begin learning English in first grade! That's a big surprise to me b/c I hardly remember running into anyone that I could communicate in English. Well, maybe the best techniques aren't being used to teach English. Apparently most of the courses are on DVD in which students just sit and listen to it in class and there isn't much active participation. I guess I understand that being a problem.

I remember taking so many French courses prior to my first trip to France and I couldn't say a word.

Anyhow, here are a couple of English book examples that have hit the shelves to help the Chinese to better communicate with the foreigners coming to see the Olympics.


Police - Olympic Security English:
60 percent of the police force is supposed to be English competent for the games. An English book calls for “Dissuading Foreigners From Excessive Drinking” and
“How to Stop Illegal News Coverage”. It also introduces useful phrases like
“Don’t pretend to be innocent.”

Love English:
This book is meant to decode some of the hidden messages linked to certain expressions.
  • “Do you want to go to a movie?” really means “I’d eventually like to
    have sex with you,”
  • “I’m bored” really means “Do you want to have
    sex?”
Learning to Speak Olympics

I guess I'm going to have to equip my friends heading to games with new pickup lines or else they're going to get slapped across the face!