Inspirations from observing wiser people. Some videos.
Secrets to success
Sirena Huang on violin.Isn't this 11 year old scarily talented? A good speaker too!
David Pogue, on software user interface.Highly entertaining.
More videos here
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Newsbits, emu, love
Started to ponder (PONDER) the meaning of love last night before I went to bed. Don't laugh. It's completely random but I don't think I ever understand it. I'm so protective of myself and narcissistic I never seem to, or so far, love anyone with a pure intention. Desires or an animal instinct to reproduce to maximum advantage can muddle immensely. I deem these preliminary, honest but superficial but won't you agree instincts work simpler than any attempted demystification of what we coined as 'love'... Eskimos have 50 different words for snow but never a general term for 'snow'. We on the other hand alternate among 'like', 'detest', 'love', 'no chemistry', a handful of descriptions that state the nature of relationships. And after all 'love' is an overused term we get too used to. Too complicated. How can I be so selfless as to transcend that emotion. Not coz you have a pretty face, the distance between your eyebrows and eyes is just right, your voice, your fickle caring nature, you virtually my half blood, your habits I know too well, your secrets I don't venture, your half physical contact, you filling up my vanity, your naivety the foundation of my superiority. I don't want any of that. I just want someone who can open the door for me. Show me kindness.
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Emu, an opportunistic, normadic, huge bird native to Australia. Looks like ostrich.
Rival sperm hooks up and cooperate mouse sperms have hooks and they form a train swimming towards the egg.
Does He Love You So? Maybe It Really Is In His Face - Physiognomy (the attribution of personality to faces)
Google video - Bermuda Triangle
TED2006 conference(Only available online)
TED2006 - annual conference that marks the convergence of three industries (Technology, Entertainment and Design). The world's leading thinkers come here for inspiration.The film includes appearances by Al Gore, Tony Robbins, Clifford Stoll, TEDtalks hit speaker Hans Rosling, Matt Groening, Peter Gabriel, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Meg Ryan, the string quartet Ethel, veteran TEDster Jim Young, 11-year-old violinist Sirena Huang, Thomas Dolby, Eva Vertes, Jehane Noujaim, Reed Hastings, and yours truly, not to mention great shots of the Main Hall and the Simulcast lounge.
.jpg)
Emu, an opportunistic, normadic, huge bird native to Australia. Looks like ostrich.
These images show the hooklike heads of rodent sperm cells, and how they can hook together to create a speedier "train" for fertilization of the egg.
Rival sperm hooks up and cooperate mouse sperms have hooks and they form a train swimming towards the egg.
Does He Love You So? Maybe It Really Is In His Face - Physiognomy (the attribution of personality to faces)
Google video - Bermuda Triangle
TED2006 conference(Only available online)
TED2006 - annual conference that marks the convergence of three industries (Technology, Entertainment and Design). The world's leading thinkers come here for inspiration.The film includes appearances by Al Gore, Tony Robbins, Clifford Stoll, TEDtalks hit speaker Hans Rosling, Matt Groening, Peter Gabriel, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Meg Ryan, the string quartet Ethel, veteran TEDster Jim Young, 11-year-old violinist Sirena Huang, Thomas Dolby, Eva Vertes, Jehane Noujaim, Reed Hastings, and yours truly, not to mention great shots of the Main Hall and the Simulcast lounge.
Daily report
Reused title.
Did 3 Western blots. First time I used the wrong secondary antibody. Second time everything was right but result wasn't convincing enough. Third time used another primary antibody but didn't show any result after half hour film exposure. Left it overnight and hopefully I see something tomorrow. That was a chore.
We went for 'all you can eat' sushi buffet AGAIN (please refer back to last year summer) after lab. Sat there from 8 to 1030, ordered five times until what initially was an absolute enjoyment became a painstaking challenge to human perseverance. Sheryl kept deceiving herself by chanting 'nice, nice, nice' after she squeezed in one whole sushi in her mouth and started mechanical chewing while in fact I bet her stomach must be cringing in self-retreat just as bad as mine did. Here's a list of orders Sheryl scribbled down on tissue paper, what she called 'backup list' coz whenever the waiter delivered a dish to our desk, we stared hard and wondered, wait a sec, what is it? The Japanese names made absolutely no sense. Therefore we decided to refer back to our order and half guess its mysterious identity.
Caption: Spider, Rainbow, Martini refer to sushi combo. Wakame = seaweed. Kappa = cucumber (we ordered 1 Kappa and realized it arrived in 6 pieces). The rest are all kinds of fish sashimi.
Got my GC albums today, First Soundscope and I'm waiting 4 you. I've always wanted to buy their earliest album. No words to describe how intoxicating it feels(I guess 'intoxicating' counts as one word?)! The latter, well, coz it's international press meaning half price of original. These two added together are even cheaper than the latest album I purchased from CDJapan. YesAsia provides free international shipping. CDJAPAN is more expensive although they have rare stock.
When we stepped out for dinner at 8pm, it was snowing in the city. Imagine white flakes flickering against a dark indigo sky, all over it. Up and down left and right everywhere you go and every breath of air you breathe. I felt as if the world could finally be cleansed, and an illusion that I had been brought back in time to old classic stories, where streetcars careened along a busy street filled with commoners going around their daily chores but among the seeming chaos resides a comfort and order. Soft and unspoken. People were chatting in the snow. Lights from the convenience store warmed up the wet pavements. It was an incredible feeling and I was on my way to dinner. I must be grinning to myself and devoured by ultimate happiness. You love the city coz of one night's snow, foreigners or natives. Call it a one night stand romantic association with your spiritual delusions.
Some updates on our tulips. I artificially pollinated them, i.e. dusting pollens onto stamen, wishing to see fruits and seeds. I wikipedia-ed, says tulips don't usually grow from seeds. Consulted our lab technician who's a fanatic gardener in his own spare time and he told me tulips are the same class to daffodils (Narcissus species?) in that they share a bulbous root, like onions. Onions, daffodils, tulips. Fine. I should uproot it, wrap up the root in paper and soil it again next autumn. Hmm, I would probably be gone by next autumn and guizi won't keep it, or so I thought. Makes me a tadbit sad. Bought new mosaic (orange-black) colored tulips. So far so good. And guizi says my recent hobbies (she's pointing out my obsession with tulips) very much resemble old retired folks. What??! Will post up some photos soon, graphic 'withering progress report' if you'd like to think that way.
A miniature shot of 3/4 of our lab demographics. Beside me is Evaylo, a hunky European, who as I mentioned before, locked all pipettes in his private drawer. And who, I found out recently through lab meetings, is more stubborn than rocks. It would be much easier to nod in defeat than to drive your opinions through his impenetrable reasoning filter. (The filter doesn't work that well I assure you.)
Did 3 Western blots. First time I used the wrong secondary antibody. Second time everything was right but result wasn't convincing enough. Third time used another primary antibody but didn't show any result after half hour film exposure. Left it overnight and hopefully I see something tomorrow. That was a chore.
We went for 'all you can eat' sushi buffet AGAIN (please refer back to last year summer) after lab. Sat there from 8 to 1030, ordered five times until what initially was an absolute enjoyment became a painstaking challenge to human perseverance. Sheryl kept deceiving herself by chanting 'nice, nice, nice' after she squeezed in one whole sushi in her mouth and started mechanical chewing while in fact I bet her stomach must be cringing in self-retreat just as bad as mine did. Here's a list of orders Sheryl scribbled down on tissue paper, what she called 'backup list' coz whenever the waiter delivered a dish to our desk, we stared hard and wondered, wait a sec, what is it? The Japanese names made absolutely no sense. Therefore we decided to refer back to our order and half guess its mysterious identity.
Caption: Spider, Rainbow, Martini refer to sushi combo. Wakame = seaweed. Kappa = cucumber (we ordered 1 Kappa and realized it arrived in 6 pieces). The rest are all kinds of fish sashimi.
Got my GC albums today, First Soundscope and I'm waiting 4 you. I've always wanted to buy their earliest album. No words to describe how intoxicating it feels(I guess 'intoxicating' counts as one word?)! The latter, well, coz it's international press meaning half price of original. These two added together are even cheaper than the latest album I purchased from CDJapan. YesAsia provides free international shipping. CDJAPAN is more expensive although they have rare stock.
When we stepped out for dinner at 8pm, it was snowing in the city. Imagine white flakes flickering against a dark indigo sky, all over it. Up and down left and right everywhere you go and every breath of air you breathe. I felt as if the world could finally be cleansed, and an illusion that I had been brought back in time to old classic stories, where streetcars careened along a busy street filled with commoners going around their daily chores but among the seeming chaos resides a comfort and order. Soft and unspoken. People were chatting in the snow. Lights from the convenience store warmed up the wet pavements. It was an incredible feeling and I was on my way to dinner. I must be grinning to myself and devoured by ultimate happiness. You love the city coz of one night's snow, foreigners or natives. Call it a one night stand romantic association with your spiritual delusions.
Some updates on our tulips. I artificially pollinated them, i.e. dusting pollens onto stamen, wishing to see fruits and seeds. I wikipedia-ed, says tulips don't usually grow from seeds. Consulted our lab technician who's a fanatic gardener in his own spare time and he told me tulips are the same class to daffodils (Narcissus species?) in that they share a bulbous root, like onions. Onions, daffodils, tulips. Fine. I should uproot it, wrap up the root in paper and soil it again next autumn. Hmm, I would probably be gone by next autumn and guizi won't keep it, or so I thought. Makes me a tadbit sad. Bought new mosaic (orange-black) colored tulips. So far so good. And guizi says my recent hobbies (she's pointing out my obsession with tulips) very much resemble old retired folks. What??! Will post up some photos soon, graphic 'withering progress report' if you'd like to think that way.
A miniature shot of 3/4 of our lab demographics. Beside me is Evaylo, a hunky European, who as I mentioned before, locked all pipettes in his private drawer. And who, I found out recently through lab meetings, is more stubborn than rocks. It would be much easier to nod in defeat than to drive your opinions through his impenetrable reasoning filter. (The filter doesn't work that well I assure you.)
Monday, January 29, 2007
UV makes sexy spiders
A pretty interesting article. Why do I always find these kind of articles interesting... Someone please agree with me it's interesting. Just so I could clear up my 'pervert' label, as what most friends call me.
News from MSNBC
Ultraviolet glow lights up spider sex
Fluorescent markings play role in buggy mating rituals, scientists say
By Jeanna Bryner
Updated: 3:18 p.m. MT Jan 25, 2007
As if dressed for a psychedelic rave, jumping spiders sport glowing patches on their bodies to lure in eight-legged mates, a new study finds.
Jumping spiders of both sexes are known for their excellent eyesight, particularly in the ultraviolet wavelengths, and male jumping spiders are equipped with UV-reflecting scales that glow bright white and green under the sun’s ultraviolet light.
The spiders display and pose these body parts to intimidate other males. Such bright ornaments seemed a likely lure for mates, but no one had yet found evidence of them in action.
Scientists led by Matthew Lim of the University of Singapore videotaped pairs of male and female jumping spiders under full-spectrum light — which includes UV light — and under UV-blocked light.
Under ultraviolet light, the male and female were seen to hit the "dance floor" with their bodies aglow: Turns out, females have their own “glow stick” — their front appendages, called palps, glowed in a bright green hue under UV light.
As courtship progressed, the male arched its body, vibrated its palps and slinked on tiptoe toward the female. The female spider hunched, seeming to play hard to get, and then scampered away.
Researchers also observed the spiders when one sex was in full-spectrum light and the other in UV-deficient light. When a partner was not lit up by UV, the females showed no interest, suggesting that a male must show its good before courtship can proceed. Males ignored or showed much less interest in females under UV-blocked light.
News from MSNBC
Ultraviolet glow lights up spider sex
Fluorescent markings play role in buggy mating rituals, scientists say
By Jeanna Bryner
Updated: 3:18 p.m. MT Jan 25, 2007
As if dressed for a psychedelic rave, jumping spiders sport glowing patches on their bodies to lure in eight-legged mates, a new study finds.
Jumping spiders of both sexes are known for their excellent eyesight, particularly in the ultraviolet wavelengths, and male jumping spiders are equipped with UV-reflecting scales that glow bright white and green under the sun’s ultraviolet light.
The spiders display and pose these body parts to intimidate other males. Such bright ornaments seemed a likely lure for mates, but no one had yet found evidence of them in action.
Matthew L.M. Lim and Daiqin Li
A close-up of a jumping spider's face highlights markings that glow in ultraviolet light. Such markings appear to be a "crucial prerequisite for courtship," researchers say.
Scientists led by Matthew Lim of the University of Singapore videotaped pairs of male and female jumping spiders under full-spectrum light — which includes UV light — and under UV-blocked light.
Under ultraviolet light, the male and female were seen to hit the "dance floor" with their bodies aglow: Turns out, females have their own “glow stick” — their front appendages, called palps, glowed in a bright green hue under UV light.
As courtship progressed, the male arched its body, vibrated its palps and slinked on tiptoe toward the female. The female spider hunched, seeming to play hard to get, and then scampered away.
Researchers also observed the spiders when one sex was in full-spectrum light and the other in UV-deficient light. When a partner was not lit up by UV, the females showed no interest, suggesting that a male must show its good before courtship can proceed. Males ignored or showed much less interest in females under UV-blocked light.
NBC VIDEO |
 | • The invisible sex dance of spiders Jan. 25: Watch the mating dance in full-spectrum and ultraviolet light. Matthew L.M. Lim and Daiqin Li |
Saturday, January 27, 2007
雪日
第一场积雪，之前尽下些触地即融的烂雪渣被路人践踏成泥水，路上一个一个黑脚印子。多伦多的雪不算厚，再往北整月的下。Lab里的人给我们看他家周围的风景照，那些水鸟成群结队的窝在雪里，原本平滑的雪地被钻出一条一条的道。下课后大家开始讨论雪地里留脚印的问题，两票说坚决不要双手双脚反对，另两票（包括我在内）希望唯一留下的脚印是自己的，我看到无痕的雪地就非要踩一脚。另一票说有一道脚印就好，不管是谁的（或是鸵鸟，恐龙，蜘蛛）。前几周tuition很不好意思但照收不勿的拿下80大洋（除去每次来回4块其实也没赚什么了 ），和桂子去泰国餐馆吃到爆撑了出来，吃饭时旁边一对男女很是沉默，除了专心喝汤就是一言不语的注视盘子，很诡异。
早上lab discussion day，原本都有早餐提供的，跑去只有咖啡橘汁和热可可。prof弯弯绕的解释说“手头紧，免费早餐传统正式结束，但是，你们好心的course coordinator（注：在说自己呢）将继续提供液体。” 台下一片掌声。继续道：“不过BUSS （Biochemistry Undergraduate Student Society）听说有budget，可以刮出一部分来买固体。” BUSS头头立刻回应“NOT ANYMORE!” 没钱的我们只好喝水填肚。某女做presentation，说完了两张slides，面无表情的从电脑屏幕后抬起头来，用酥酥的声音说“by the way, my name is Angela.” 众人爆笑。
桂子lab里有个很虔诚的博士，似乎基本的英文语法已无法满足他对化学的热诚。"Get a MORE CLEANER chemical" Next time, he says "This chemical is MORE CLEANER." And the next next time, he says(with great enthusiasm) "This chemical is MUCH MORE CLEANER."
早上lab discussion day，原本都有早餐提供的，跑去只有咖啡橘汁和热可可。prof弯弯绕的解释说“手头紧，免费早餐传统正式结束，但是，你们好心的course coordinator（注：在说自己呢）将继续提供液体。” 台下一片掌声。继续道：“不过BUSS （Biochemistry Undergraduate Student Society）听说有budget，可以刮出一部分来买固体。” BUSS头头立刻回应“NOT ANYMORE!” 没钱的我们只好喝水填肚。某女做presentation，说完了两张slides，面无表情的从电脑屏幕后抬起头来，用酥酥的声音说“by the way, my name is Angela.” 众人爆笑。
桂子lab里有个很虔诚的博士，似乎基本的英文语法已无法满足他对化学的热诚。"Get a MORE CLEANER chemical" Next time, he says "This chemical is MORE CLEANER." And the next next time, he says(with great enthusiasm) "This chemical is MUCH MORE CLEANER."
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