I'm Almost Scared by the Scale of Our Universe

The Scale of the Universe

Go to this website and play. It's very meaningful and fun.
The creator even added comments on every object. Click to see them.
Oh by the way, you can switch to a different language from the bottom.

I dragged from the smallest scale to the largest. I'm almost scared right now. LOL
I can again laugh at physicists from the view point of a biologist for what they're dealing with.

Great Food from the Farmers' Market

After shopping at the Farmers' Market several times, I gradually know which stands have great food. Here are some bakeries and producers that I'd like to become a regular customer of. Too bad many of them will take a break during the winter.

Sugar River Country Bakery makes firm, sweet cakes like this. The variety includes chocolate zucchini, orange chocolate chip (those two shown in this picture), strawberry, cranberry orange, almond chocolate, blueberry, lemon poppy seeds, lemon, and more. Except the fruit peel in the lemon cake is bitter, other flavors I've had are tasty and filling.

Stella's Bakery has so far the best bread I've had in the US. Their signature is the spicy cheese cake but I didn't have that. Instead, I had some of their huge, firm bread and toast. The Russian black bread has a very distinct flavor, made from caraway seeds, cocoa, and molasses. I was surprised that it tasted great with cheese and ham. The one in the picture is Italian basil bread. I ate it with cheese spread from Fayette Creamery.

The creamery is very popular and their stand is always surrounded by people who are getting a taste of their genuine Wisconsin cheese. I'm not so interested in the cheese that people eat directly as snack or meal, but last week I found those cheese spread that smell so good. There are many flavors. I bought bacon cheddar and Swiss almond. Most food in the US are not fragrant, but those are. When the Italian basil bread and Swiss almond cheese entered my mouth, the aroma of basil, the texture of baked wheat, and the nutty milky flavor made me feel as though I walked into an exquisite Italian restaurant. What a combination!

South American Traditional Clothing Styles

I wondered how those countries' traditional clothing differ, too. To a person from the other side of the world like me, they look a lot alike. They're also so colorful to wake your eyes completely up. This picture is helpful.

Science Cookies

There are some epic cookies that a member of the student organization, oSTEM, made for us. We get together every other week just nerding out. The ones in this picture are beaker, test tube, and flask cookies. There were some very pretty orbital-model atom cookies (you can see one on the corner) and others too. I think all science and non-sicence majors should be jealous!

Normal Life, Busy Day

It was such a long, busy day. Fortunately, I fell asleep last night early because I was too tired, so I have the energy the deal with everything today. I was also lucky enough to just wake up in time without the alarm. The day started with working in the lab at 9:30 AM on the dot blot analysis, and physics class, more work in the lab, physics exam review session, checked homework answers with a classmate, and got home by midnight. I still have homework to complete now, and I'm having midterms in a few days, but I'm back to my normal life. I slept especially sweetly last night and felt very happy today because my apartment is finally my own again. So good!

潮蟲娃娃

今天下午到State Street上去逛了一會兒解悶，看到一個約20公分大的潮蟲娃娃(就是鼠婦，很多隻腳，會蜷起來變成一個球的那種生物)，用柔亮的金屬光澤布料作成，還真的可以捲起來，很可愛，可是要$30，太貴了，而且我早就不玩填充玩具了，算了吧！

我買了一個特價的乳牛花色馬克杯，下面還有四個腳做成乳頭造型，寒假要送給Meika叔叔，還有一張Wisconsin風景的明信片要寄給張媽媽。

希望沒被傳染狂犬病

昨天是我第一次對L比較兇，因為當我熄燈後，她(雖然早就想睡)還是躺在地舖床上，不肯把音樂關掉，好像是在做幼稚地報復；反正我那時也不想睡，就開我的音樂，繼續做我的功課。半小時後我厲聲跟L說：「你知道，我早可以叫警察的。你現在做個決定：把音樂關掉，我就馬上去睡覺，要不然我就整晚醒著跟你耗！」她才把音樂關掉。

既然我們都約好了星期一她會搬家，她至少不會露宿街頭，我也盡量配合她父母的時間，為什麼她就不願意好聚好散？一定要一直濫用我的同情心、試探我的脾氣和耐性，讓她自己的最後兩晚待不下去？

她前幾天寄給我一封電子信，說為她對我亂發脾氣感到抱歉，並說她明白我可以隨時請她離開我家。我知道人要一時改變很難，既然她道歉了，也似乎學了一些東西，我就幾乎原諒她了。但昨晚她所說的顯示她其實根本沒有學到；她說，「你又沒有被踢出你自己的公寓」，好像現在是我把她踢出「她的家」一樣。

我不是一個喜歡計較金錢的人，但L除了給我帶來種種不便跟困擾(要我都配合她的時間和方便，到最後簡直把我當女傭一樣使來喚去，我當然不想理她了)，還有一堆已經算是「間接要錢」的行為。我真的不知道這個人是遲鈍看不出我的付出，還是都當成理所當然？我沒要她房租不算，她也知道我的水電費比上個月多兩倍。她常常用我的食材，最近還每天跟我借手機，只為了跟她媽媽說話；我有告知手機費很貴，請她長話短說，她也看得到每通電話後自動簡訊告訴她通話費。就算我付出的時間和精力她體會不到，她平常對自己花錢斤斤計較，會感受不到這些金錢和物質上的付出嗎？

今天一早我還沒起床，她就起來，弄出一堆聲音後甩門而出，連燈都沒關。三個形容詞：忘恩負義、笨到極點、又超沒教養。在她心中也許我才是殘酷沒教養的那一個，但她把我逼到原諒她很難。反正現在我是屋主，她是不可能把我趕出這棟房子的，我看她今晚還敢不敢回來睡覺，走著瞧！我一直覺得這是她的損失，因為可能沒有另一個朋友會對她這麼好了。雖然我妹妹不喜歡瘋狗這個字眼，但我還真是撿了一隻流浪狗回來，流浪狗本來是值得同情沒錯，但誰知時間越久越瘋、越囂張，希望這段時間內我沒被傳染狂犬病。

真正的「毛毛」蟲

Family: Megalopygidae

這真的是一隻蟲嗎？怎麼看起來像小雞帶羽毛的翅膀？

這一科的蛾來自美洲，盛產於中南美的雨林，秘魯是大本營。除了以上這一隻，牠們還有更多很「毛」的毛毛蟲。但牠們再奇特、再可愛，也是只可遠觀不可褻玩焉──如果你把牠們的毛弄斷了，斷裂處會放出有毒的化學物質，造成皮膚刺激紅腫、潰傷、甚至讓過敏體質的人呼吸困難。

這隻顏色好搶眼！

白色龐克頭，潮爆了。

兩隻不同種的排排站，好可愛。

這隻好像不怎麼可愛 ...

棉絮？ ...

連我都越看越無言了，這些真的是蟲嗎？

原來底下長這樣。

來看看成蟲吧！

不愧是毛毛毛毛蟲的父母，也是一團毛茸茸。

這隻艷麗不輸幼蟲。

好像長了翅膀的小狗。

這隻的長相也夠逗趣的！

German New Wave

I realized that several of the New Wave bands or songwriter-singer I've been listening to are German. I might have mentioned or posted about them before, but it's good to do a feature here. 80s music for the win!

Nena - 99 Luftballons

Well, it was a smash hit. I like the German version better than the English. It's such a good song.

Sandra - In the Heat of the Night

I adore this songwriter-singer. The first song I've heard by her is "Midnight Man" on the radio. If you love 80s music, can't get that song wrong. She married Michael Cretu, who is the musician of Enigma, and took parts in vocals of New Age music.

Modern Talking - Geronimo's Cadillac

Modern Talking might be better categorized as 80s synthpop and disco. They became Eurodance in the 90s. They remind me of the Bee Gees. Although their songs all sound the same, "Geronimo's Cadillac" is my current favorite, and also "You Can Win If You Want".

Alphaville - Sensations

A band that I've been listening to for a while. They have a variety of good 80s styles and are best known for "Forever Young".

The Camouflage - The Commandant

A good song I just found two days ago. As someone commented on Youtube, this song is reminiscent of Depeche Mode.

Peter Schilling - 120 Grad

I love Peter Schilling! Most of his songs were actually sung in German and it's hard to find them on the Internet.

There are more German New Wave bands out there. I feel like many songs sung in German had more distinct styles than what we're used to, like American and English music, though they're probably not as popular. I hope they are more available on the Internet and the majority of people are more willing to listen to lyrics that are not their mother languages.

終於了解我的實驗在做什麼了

昨晚想說有好多書要讀，卻因為忙了一整天而太累睡著了。今天除了物理實驗課之外，都泡在實驗室裡養我的細菌。直到現在我才比較清楚Professor G交給我的工作是為了什麼。在我之前有兩個學生參與這個計畫，他們完成改造細菌基因和初步嘗試提純juvenile hormone binding protein (JHBP)的部分，但還沒來的及找出要如何提純JHBP，所以我接手的部分是這個計畫真正的高潮。教授說每一個蛋白質的提純條件都不一樣，他研究JHBP了40年，從發現這個蛋白質、解開它的DNA、到它的大結構，還沒找出提純它的好方法。

實驗大目標：

在科學家解開JHBP和它的許多生化活性或活動之謎前，我們需要大量、純化的JHBP。可以在花費越少、越方便的條件下運用E. coli製造大量的JHBP越好。然後JHBP必須被提純，不變質且形成整齊的結晶。

我的近期實驗目標：

1) 前一個學生發現E. coli被誘導4小時候製造的JHBP比誘導24小時候多，她假設因為E. coli會自行分解JHBP。但只生長4小時的細菌數量很少，我要檢驗這個假設是否是真的，和誘導細菌4、6、8、和24小時做比較，找出誘導的最佳時間。

2) 我們的E. coli被改造對kanamycin有抗藥性，所以用添加大量的kanamycin來確保陪養液中只有純菌。kanamycin不但昂貴，還對人體和其它生物有害。Professor G在另一個實驗中餵Manduca幼蟲吃kanamycin來淨空牠們腸道中的細菌；雖然kanamycin沒有殺掉毛毛蟲，卻害牠們短命。教授的另一個學生提出kanamycin可能是我們的E. coli沒有辦法製造大量的JHBP的原因之一，因為kanamycin的作用是和rRNA結合，抑制細胞內所有蛋白質的合成。我們的純菌雖有抗藥性，卻可能為了要製造分解kanamycin的酵素而用光所有的能量，沒有力氣再製造JHBP了。Professor G說他認為4小時內不添加kanamycin應該也不至於生出雜菌，他希望我試著誘導E. coli，但不要加kanamycin，看看細菌會不會真的因此製造更多JHBP。如果可以不用kanamycin，不但可以替實驗室省下很多錢，也對未來的研究者的健康有好處。(換算，如果我要養一公升的細菌培養液，我需要3公克的kanamycin，這個劑量說不定毒的死人。)

我和教授一邊講著一邊踏出實驗室，因為太興奮居然把電腦忘在實驗室的抽屜裡，晚上還跑回去拿，還好成為實驗室的一員之後我有鑰匙可以隨時進出昆蟲系大樓。雖然我的未來生涯目標不見得是生化，我還是因為有機會參與貢獻世界的知識庫開心的咧！