吃蘋果

凡凡本來就愛吃蘋果，拿著水梨和蘋果讓他選，他會毫不猶豫地選蘋果吃，這在酷愛吃水梨的凡凡爸爸眼中簡直是不可思議的事情。




自從上禮拜去採蘋果後，凡凡每天都有吃不玩的蘋果。凡凡最喜歡吃的是一種叫「Pink Lady」的新品種蘋果。比五爪蘋果小，凡凡拿在手上剛剛好。

現在凡凡可以自己一個人慢慢地嗑掉大概四分之顆普通大小的蘋果了，很厲害。不過美國蘋果真的比台灣的蘋果好吃很多，而去果園現摘的又比在超市買的好吃一大截。

開燈

房間裡的立燈原本是連接著牆壁上的開關，凡凡喜歡站在床沿玩牆上的開關，一來是危險，也怕燈就這樣被凡凡開開關關給弄壞，後來就把立燈接在獨立的插座上，開燈關燈得走過去用手轉才可以。

沒想到房裡多了張小沙發之後，凡凡又發現怎麼開關燈了。不過現在比較懂事，燈打開後就是坐在沙發上等著大人講故事書給他聽。

康橋社區派對

這個禮拜六 Cambridge City Hall 在北側的公園舉辦 community party，主要的對象是各種年齡層的小朋友，還提供免費的食物飲料和玩具，所以我們也帶著凡凡去湊熱鬧。

現場警察和消防隊之類的單位都有派人來跟小朋友介紹他們的工作，玩成一片，小朋友也都玩得很開心。現在看起來，消防隊比較受到小朋友的歡迎，因為他們讓小朋友坐在雲梯車的駕駛座上玩。


公園佔地很廣，應該是 Cambridge 最大的公園。凡凡脫了鞋在草地上跑來跑去，很高興的樣子。

天氣很好，溫度也適中，只是風大了些。不過剛好 Party 有提供免費的風箏，我們帶著凡凡領了一個，凡凡第一次放風箏。不過凡凡好像搞不太懂風箏是怎麼回事，到後來只想趕快把風箏脫手。


陽光很溫暖，在草地上野餐再好也不過了。領了免費的熱狗洋芋片汽水果汁礦泉水，鋪上自備的毯子就可以了。照片裡後放的巨幅美國國旗就是掛在消防隊的雲梯車上，小朋友超愛。

Party 裡有很多活動，像贈送免費的遮陽帽，還提供螢光筆讓你在上面作畫。不過凡凡還小，做不來這事。凡凡爸爸就寫幾個中國字在帽子上代替，想現在中文正 in，幾個中國方塊字在外國人眼中一定很炫。凡凡愛吃洋芋片，邊吃還會邊笑，凡凡媽媽說真該送去幫洋芋片公司拍廣告。


今天在公園裡凡凡跑來跑去，大概腿很酸，到後來找到機會就停下來休息一下。

公園裡的草地比較濕涼，凡凡也很精，總是喜歡跑到路中間坐著，這樣比較溫暖也比較舒服。

Two Talks from Wallace Marshall

Wallace Marshall 一連兩天給了兩場不同性質的 talks，昨天的比較正式，今天中午的 theory lunch 則比較隨性。

Wallace 似乎從以前到現在都沒有甚麼變，一樣的 wild。Tim 是昨天的主持人，介紹時講到他還在 UCSF 時是 Wallace 的 thesis advisory committee，當時 Wallace 的 lab 在 UCSF 的 15 樓，然後 Tim 接著講「你們知道的，那邊空氣比較稀薄，所以 15 樓的人行為都怪怪的，Wallace 也是其中一個。」講完哄堂大笑。

後來 Wallce 還以顏色，在討論 wildtype 和 mutant 差異的時候，Wallace 表示在 Tim 當 committee 的幾年中，對他影響最深的就是 Tim 對 genetics 的看法 -

Tim 當時跟他說「FUCK genetics!」

自然又是一陣大笑。

Wallace 用 chlamydomona 做材料，希望瞭解細胞怎麼調控組成。鞭毛是各種胞器中較簡單較易測量的一個，所以便以鞭毛做他研究的主題。昨天的演講大概就是講他們的 model，Wallace 還提到他們實驗室有一個研究 Economics 的學生，正在用 competition theory 來解決這個鞭毛長短調節的難題。

今天中午的 theory lunch 反而沒有甚麼 model，主要是他們春天時想的一個小計劃，研究 chlamydomona 在水裡要不要沉下去這個問題。

Chlamydomona 直徑約 10 um，用鞭毛游動前進的速度約是 100 um/sec，如果將鞭毛不會動的 mutant 放在水中，那麼這些 chlamydomona mutant 因為布朗運動，會均勻地在水中飄來飄去。如果是 wildtype chlamydomona，均勻分布水中一段時間後會自主地形成一波波的 wave 往下移動，速度是 600 um/sec (單一 chlamydomona 游動速度的六倍)。而這現象只會在 chlamydomona 數量每西西大於十的七次方時才會發生。

Wallace 設計了很多好玩的實驗，像是裝一台小攝影機在離心管裡，然後離心看看重力的影響有多大等等。本來他們以為這個小計劃是個很好的調劑，大概一個禮拜就可以搞定，最後變成了 The Stanford Prison Experiment，每個人都「說好不提」。

該給 theory 的 lunch 當場變成 idea competition，會場的每個人開始幫 Wallace 想些點子實驗該怎麼做下去。Lew Cantley 就建議把實驗移到太空梭上去太空裡做。

另一個小故事，有一次 Wallace 在 Woods Hole 遇到 Conly Rieder，Conly 是個大個子很有力氣，握手總是十分用力。Wallace 跟 Conly 握手之後手痛十分不爽。回家後馬上跑去買了 hand gripper 練握力。那個共有五級，最高的一級叫 Iron-mind，說明是寫只有摔角手這種專業的人才可以握得動；據說那時 Wallace 無時無刻一直手握著 gripper 練力氣，最後 Wallace 練到了第三級，但之後再也沒有遇到 Conly，所以也一直沒有機會報仇。

不知現在到 iron-mind 的境界了沒？這兩天還沒看到有人跟他握手，所以不清楚。

Abnova Part IV

I received my free anti-cep55 antibody from Abnova and did some tests on it. It indeed works for immunofluorescence. Great!

I wrote back to Abnova saying we are happy to share our images with them if interesed. Then I got another good news, they are gonna send me two anti-kif15 antibodies which I am dying to have right now.

Okay, maybe not as much as dying, I am extremely interested in it for some wild ideas. If it works and the result fits our expectation, we definetely will order it from Abnova. Then it will be a win-win situation.

I guess this is the last post in the Abnova thread, unless they are willing to send me more sample antibodies in the future (which I secretly hope so).

Abnova is a nice company with great customer service - my conclusion.

The Most Ridiculous Introduction

This is the most ridiculous introduction I've ever heard, ever.

Iran president Ahmadinejad was invited to give a speach in Columbia University, NYC. While being the introducer, Columbia University President Bollinger hammered Ahmadinejad, the guest speaker, before the talk was given.

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How ridiculous is it? By only reading the script, you would ask yourself - "who wrote that speech? George W. Bush???".

Of course Bollinger can have his own judgement/opinion on Ahmadinejab, but throwing those harsh critique and questions without citing any reference is simply wrong. He could choose not to be the introducer if he feels it strongly against his "integrity". Since he is still the introducer, try to be civilized and not so rude.

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responds to the hammering he received by Columbia University president Lee Bollinger

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I don't like Ahmadinejad either, but the arrogance Bollinger showed in the introduction is not going to embarrass Iran people. Bollinger was embarrassing himself and the poor Columbia University.

Bollinger's behavior is even worse than Larry Summers' stupid speech. Thank God we don't have Bollinger as our president.

The Price of Leadership Replacement

This noon our new dean Jeff Flier invited us to join a huge BBQ lunch in the quad, for the beginning of a new academic year (and his first year as our dean). The food is great. I told my colleagues that if this is what happens for having a new dean, we should have a new one every one or two years.

There was a similar ice-cream event in the Old Yard few months ago, for Drew Faust, our new president. The formal installation is set on Oct.12.

I am pretty happy the new semester starts. The campus feels totally different, from full of tourists to full of students. It comes to vivid again. Makes you feel good. That is why I don't want to live in Loogwood but rather in Cambridge, even though winter trafficking is a pain.

Semester begin means the Systems Biology Theory Lunch (aka the FREE Friday lunch) is back too. I just got the new schedule. Wallace Marshall from UCSF is coming to give the first talk this Friday. He will also give "cell biology" talk on Thursday - "How Cells Measure - Exploring the Flagellar Length Control System".

His lab is pretty young. Because of that, it seems the future direction is not fixed and clear yet. I was told Wallace Marshall is a extremely nice and considering person. No wonder he has 6 graduates in his lab already. I am not clear how many students UCSF take every year, but in here it is very rare that a junior faculty can "recruit" so many students in a short term.

I am looking forward to his talks on Thursday and Friday.

Cell Division Symposium @ MIT

This morning I went to the Cell Division Symposium at MIT for several interestd talks. I left early at noon. I have to say it is quite enjoyable biking across Charles River by the Harvard bridge at such a beautiful day!

Yes, the beautiful bridge in front of MIT is named "Harvard bridge", although for unknown reasons, people in MIT like to call it "Mass. Ave. bridge" instead.

I like Andrew, Tarun, and Steve's talks. My friend Ting did most part of the work and was mentioned several times in Steve's talk, pretty impressive! Tim's talk is okay. It is a bit away from so called "Cell Biology". I missed all afternoon talks. I heard Marc Kirschner gave a very boring talk. It surprised me since he is very good at presentation. He probably doesn't take this seriously.

One thing interesting is this meeting is kind of like the K-Lab reunion. Andrew and Steve were both Marc's postdocs. Tim was Marc's student and Tarun was Tim's post-doc.

So, Ting, you and I are in the same pedigree chart!

自得其樂

說來奇怪，好像男生真的是天生就對車呀飛機之類的東西較感興趣，不過說這話的時候得小心，Larry Summers 當初也是舉自己女兒作例子說他女兒從小就不喜歡玩卡車之類的玩具，來支持他男女天生在科學研究上就不平等的想法；然後結果你們都知道，Larry 旋即被來自四面八方的炮火攻擊，沒多久就下台一鞠躬了。

不過我還是對這現象很好奇，小男孩喜歡車子跟老男人喜歡車子完全是兩回事，小男生甚麼都不懂，為啥會喜歡車子哩？據說美國小學裡的男生有將近一半將來的志願是當卡車或怪手司機；他們要是生在台灣，大概會被打斷腿吧。



回到主題，凡凡現在最喜歡的遊戲就是將積木和車子合在一起玩，當然，以凡凡現在的功力，蓋個台北 101 大樓那樣直挺挺的高塔大概還可以，要他用積木蓋個車庫或機房給車子飛機住，就太強人所難，這差事當然就落到凡凡爸爸的頭上。



蓋個拱門或隧道讓車子或飛機通過也是常見的玩法。

積木真是個好玩具。

Happy Feet，噓！

早上起床後放凡凡喜歡看的 Happy Feet 給他看，凡凡並不是只要是電視都愛看，只有他喜歡看的電影或節目才會看得很專心。



聽到影片裡的節奏就會跟著跳起舞來，後來不知怎麼回事，也不知從哪裡學來的，連續比了兩次「噓」的動作，要企鵝們小聲一點。