Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to remain vigilant, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world looks like once recovery begins. As things improve, I hope that you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family and other outdoor activities. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this update finds all of you staying safe, healthy, and hopefully vaccinated. If you haven’t done so already, I strongly encourage you and your families to get the covid-19 vaccination as soon as possible (if available in the country you live in). Moreover, I hope that all of you are enjoying the warm spring weather (though it’s definitely summer in Shanghai) and are getting to spend some time outside doing socially distanced activities.

I’ll begin this week’s post with a covid-19 update. I’m sure some of you have heard that Guandong Province and Guanzhou (city) have gone into lockdown. For those of you unfamiliar with Chinese geography, this is the southern tip of China, near Hong Kong, so very far away from Shanghai. The lockdowns are a result of a rise of imported cases (though still small numbers, just 130 cases). However, it’s these kind of strict responses, which include mass testing of the populace, that have allowed China to remain being safe throughout the covid-19 pandemic. In terms of cases, there are 71 imported and active cases in Shanghai, with a recovery rate of 96.32%. In Beijing, there are just 9 cases with a recovery rate of 98.3%. The situation in Taiwan remains concerning as there are now ~ 9,600 cases (nearly all the cases in China). For China as a whole, there are 10,049 cases and the recovery rate is at 86.75%.

A few weeks ago, I shared with you that I was able to get a covid-19 vaccination. 🙂 I wanted to update you on how Shanghai has been pushing vaccinations. When I was vaccinated, I had to register with a local hospital for an appointment (that was about 40 minutes away from where I live). However, now, there are mobile clinics that are coming to each residential compound (roughly a block) and offering vaccinations. Today, as I was out for a walk, I saw a flyer for one of these for my own compound. While I’m not sure if I would have been eligible (as a foreigner), I’m glad to see that Shanghai is promoting the importance of getting vaccinated and making it more accessible to everyone! On a funnier note, every time I translate these messages, novel corona virus is translated to new crown virus (which makes sense), but always makes me laugh.

In other China news, this past week, China announced a 3 child policy (in effort to increase population growth, which has apparently stagnated). While I haven’t talked to my colleagues about it, what I’ve heard is that there’s more concern about being able to afford a third child than there is excitement for the opportunity.

In terms of Astronomy, this was another very work focused week. I spent most of my time adjusting and reanalyzing my mock galaxy catalog. While I definitely made progress and fixed some of the bugs, there are still a few issues that seem to be resulting in measurements that aren’t quite in agreement with what we expect, so it looks like I’ll be continuing to tweak this again. Hopefully, my supervisor Ying and I can figure out what the issue is to fix. Additionally, thanks to more help from my Ph.D. supervisor, I was able to finish making the revisions based on the comments from the final reviewer for my DES paper on the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass relation and it’s evolution. So, that paper will be resubmitted to the reviewer at the start of the week.

Since I know many of you aren’t Astronomers, I wanted to explain some of the bigger picture aspects of my research. However, since I’m working on a bunch of projects, I’ll do this one at a time spaced out over a few weeks (thanks for the suggestion Bernard!). To start, I want to explain my research on the redshift evolution of the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass (SMHM) relationship.

In simplest terms, much of my research focuses on understanding the makeup and population of galaxy clusters. In particular, for this project, we are studying Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) that sit at the center of clusters and whose properties are strongly tied to the underlying dark matter halo (that forms the substructure within which galaxies form). BCGs are ~10-100x more massive than the Milky Way. In quantifiable terms, the SMHM relation compares the amount of stellar matter contained within that BCG to the amount of dark matter within a cluster. While this number itself can be very interesting, we measure how this relationship evolves over cosmic time (we cover ~ 6 billion years in our analysis). In doing so, we aim to understand how these massive galaxies grow and evolve over cosmic time as well as how the halos they reside in grow. This type of insight can be gleaned because changes in the slope of this relationship can tell us how these two masses are changing. Moreover, by adding additional components to our SMHM relation (which we do using the magnitude gap, a tracer for how much brighter the BCG is than smaller galaxies in the cluster), we can characterize how both the cluster population and outskirts of the BCG (the intra-cluster light) are changing as well. This type of analysis allows us to better understand both the formation mechanisms of massive galaxies and also how the dark matter halos they live in assemble. So, to summarize, the goal of my research on the evolution of the SMHM relation is to best characterize how and where massive galaxies grow over cosmic time.

I hope that this summary makes sense to everyone (especially to those of you not studying Astronomy). However, as always, if you have follow up questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

This was a pretty work focused week. As I noted in the title, we’re now reaching the start of summer in Shanghai. While the temperature hasn’t maintained the incredibly high heat every day, it’s very rarely cooler than the mid 80s with about 70+% humidity. So, in my mind, pretty uncomfortable without the AC running. Given that, the temperatures and humidity have reached the point where it’s unpleasant to go for long runs (which are my favorites). However, I’ve continued to go to the F45 HIIT classes as a way of exercising, which I’m really enjoying!

Next weekend is the Dragon Boat Festival Holiday. Shanghai does Dragon Boat races the week before, which I tried to see. However, I didn’t realize how early in the morning the races were being held and by the time I arrived at Suzhou Creek (at 10:30 am) the races were already over, which was disappointing. Hopefully next year I’ll get to see them race!

Despite the heat (which was pretty oppressive over the weekend, it reached the mid-90s), I still have some fun photos to share with all of you including some cool sculptures and some cute cats! Also, the eagle statue is located on the SJTU campus. I hadn’t seen it up close before and it was really cool! Not sure what it means, but will attempt to find out.

Jewish Life in Shanghai

The highlight of my week was on Friday when I had Shabbat dinner with my friend Kate (and her dog Pina)! I made vegan challah (first time on my own, which was surprisingly easy), which came out really well! Kate and I then made a sweet and sour tempeh, which was also really delicious!

After a busy week of work, it was really nice to have a relaxing and fun Shabbat dinner and then spend the evening catching up and talking about different sci-fi tv shows and movies! It was also lots of fun to play with Pina (my favorite dog in Shanghai!).

On Sunday, I subbed for the Bar Mitzvah class for Kehilat Shanghai’s Tov! religious school. Practicing the different prayers with the students and teaching them new prayers brought back fond memories I had of preparing for my own B’nei Mitzvah with Emmet some 17 years ago. 🙂

Overall, this was a very research focused week. I’ve got a lot of presentations and projects wrapping up so it will likely be a busy month of research (though hopefully there will be a bit of a summer break). However, it was really nice to take a break and enjoy Shabbat dinner with Kate and Pina! This upcoming week will be very research focused as I work to finish up some research for the DESI collaboration meeting the following week. Additionally, due to some plans and the Dragon Boat Festival Holiday, the next post will likely be published next Monday (1 day later than normal).

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about what I’ve been working on, seeing pictures of Shanghai, and hearing about my Shabbat dinner! I hope that you all have a safe and healthy week.

In peace,

Jesse

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to remain vigilant, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world looks like once recovery begins. As things improve, I hope that you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family and other outdoor activities. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that you, your families, and your friends are continuing to stay safe and healthy. I’ve said this before, but I hope you take the opportunity to get vaccinated (or have your appointments scheduled). While life may seem like it’s returning to normal, the best way for this to actually happen is by being vaccinated and then continuing to follow social distancing protocols. Additionally, as we enter summer (in Shanghai it’s already very hot), I hope that you are all enjoying time outside as well (maybe for some socially distanced gatherings)! Also, for those of you who are experiencing the 17 year cicadas, I hope that they aren’t driving you crazy yet.

I want to touch on the continued level of polarization within the US government and lack of accountability by the Republican party (and their constituents). It is incredibly dangerous that Senate Republicans chose not to support a bipartisan commission to investigate the attempted coup on January 6th. The coddling to the former Trump fascist regime (and their supporters) is dangerous because it allows almost Republicans (all who voted not to impeach) and the clearly crazed Trump base to not be held accountable for their treason. That there were multiple investigations into Benghazi and yet here we can’t get a single investigation into treason is despicable and shows how backwards the current Republican party is. Moreover, I want to call out the weak response by congressional Republicans toward Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s insane comparison that Nancy Pelosi’s insistence on mask wearing in the House (because not enough members are vaccinated) is comparable to the situation for Jews in Nazi Germany. This is undoubtedly anti-semitic. Given that this congresswoman has a long history of anti-semitism (and wild conspiracy theories about Jews), it is time that Republican leadership actually do something to eliminate this behavior and the person saying it instead of their continued slap on the wrist. However, given the lack of a moral backbone and their cowardice toward the Trump contingent of the party, I’m not optimistic for much change.

Now, to briefly update you all on the covid-19 situation in China. Covid-19 continues to remain under control. There have been a few minor outbreaks (< 10 cases) in mainland China and the government continues to respond strongly and swiftly by instituting quarantines for people coming and going from those regions (in some cases locking areas down). Moreover, especially in Shanghai, there’s a big emphasis on getting more people vaccinated. Currently, there are 67 active cases in Shanghai (all imported) and the recovery rate is at 96.46%. In Beijing, there are only 4 cases and the recovery rate is at 98.77%. For China as a whole there are 6,951 active cases (~ 6,500 in Taiwan) with a recovery rate of 89.26%. However, the situation in the mainland is very stable.

For the most part, this was a very normal week. This is basically what I expected when I first moved to Shanghai. Most of my time would be devoted to Astronomy with a few fun things intertwined (no world events to worry about). So, it’s nice that things are starting to return to this level of normal.

This was a very Astronomy focused week for me. While I didn’t have too many late night meetings for a change, I spent much of my time throughout the week (and weekend) working on my many different research projects. Thanks to a lot of help from my Ph.D. advisor, Chris Miller, I was able to address all of the Final reviewer’s comments on my DES paper, which was a big relief since I was very stressed out about over having to deal with more statistics related comments. There were a few additional supporting figures that I made that I need to discuss with my co-authors, but other than that, I hope to be able to wrap up this paper soon. I also made some tangible progress on my Luminosity Function mock. I was able to generate the 3D mock correctly (and measure the input Luminosity Fuction), so step one is done. I’m currently working on turning the x, y, z positions of the galaxies into RA and Dec and redshifts (sky coordinates that we use in astronomy) so I can do an accurate projected measurement to best simulate observational results. Hopefully, I’ll be able to figure this out with help from one of my colleagues this week. I also am working with some other Astronomers at SJTU to compare my different halo mass proxies to weak lensing (the most accurate halo mass technique) measurements to better quantify which method is best. I’m very excited to see those results come together in a few weeks (and it’s nice to work with other members of the department on one of my projects 🙂 ). Lastly, this week, I started to re-analyze some of my projections for the fibering fraction for cluster member galaxies (redMaPPer) in DESI (the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) using the actual planned observations (instead of the predicted forecasts).

As you can see, I’m working on a bunch of different projects and really tried to get a lot done this week. This doesn’t even include the ICL project that I wasn’t able to do much work on this week, but will get back to this upcoming week and hopefully some new DESI cluster related projects as well! While some weeks it may seem like I’m doing a lot of fun things with friends in Shanghai, I’m always working hard (often on the weekends as well) to make as much Astronomy progress as possible, so sometimes my weeks are really just all about Astronomy (but this is normal and expected). As a researcher, I find it important to recognize that all this hard work doesn’t always lead to tangible updates (even this week while a lot of work was done, not everything led to new results); however, getting those great results wouldn’t be possible without putting in all the time and energy needed.

Also, I know that not all of this will make sense to those non-Astronomers. So, if any of you have any questions about the terminology/jargon that I use or what I’m working on, please ask and I’ll do my best to make it as clear as possible. 🙂

In a somewhat disappointing Astronomy update, there was a supermoon and lunar eclipse that should have been visible in Shanghai on Wednesday. However, it sadly rained and was overcast the entire day, so the moon wasn’t visible. Hopefully there will be another opportunity during my time in Shanghai!

While my week was very work intensive, I still made time to go to 3 F45 HIIT classes as well as go for 1 run over the weekend. It’s definitely reaching the point where long runs are unpleasant here, so I’m glad I’ll have a gym to go to over the summer! Moreover, since it’s warming up, there aren’t quite as many flowers to take pictures of, but there were still some (as well as a cute cat and a cool display window with DC comics figures, though the store is not comics related at all).

Jewish Life in Shanghai

On Friday, my friend Ha hosted another lovely family Shabbat for members of the Kehilat Shanghai community. As usual, it was lovely to gather with many of the community members I’ve become friends with to relax and enjoy Friday night. Moreover, it was adorable as always to watch the kids devour the challah as well as the the monster cookies (chocolate chips, pretzels, and peanuts) that I made (using the Lunchroom’s recipe — from my favorite vegan restaurant in Ann Arbor). 🙂

Overall, this was a very research focused weeks, which will likely be the case as I’m working on so many projects. However, I’ll still try to have some more fun activities and photos to share with you as well!

For those of you in the US, I wanted to wish you all a Happy Memorial Day. I’ll be honest and let you know that I completely forgot that Memorial Day was this week (I thought it was last weekend). Unlike for the 4th of July, none of the ex-pats I know are planning any activities for it. However, if you are, I hope that you all have a fun time enjoying the outdoors.

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about what I’ve been working on and that you all have a safe and healthy week.

In peace,

Jesse

Trivia

MAYors

1). The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character is an 1886 novel by this English Author, written as part of his Wessex novels.

— Thomas Hardy

2). In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, she is the adopted daughter of the Mayor of Monreuil-sur-Mer?

— Cosette

3). In both the Batman Earth One Graphic novels and the television show Gotham this Batman villain is the mayor of Gotham City.

— The Penguin (Oswald Cobblepot)

4). This early popular democratic candidate for president, nicknamed Mayor Pete, was the former mayor of what city

— South Bend, Indiana

5). This former Mayor of Paris, and Prime Minister of France, would later become President of France from 1995-2007.

— Jacques Chirac

6). The First Female mayor in the United States was Susanna Madora Salter, who served as Mayor of Argonia, Kansas in 1887. However, the first major metropolitan city to have a female mayor occurred in 1926, when Bertha Knight Landes was elected as Mayor of this Pacific Northwest city.

— Seattle

7). This rising Democratic political star surprised Democratic pollsters and constituents when she announced that she would not be running for another term as Mayor of Atlanta.

— Keisha Lance Bottoms

8). This current mayor of Washington D.C. was the first female mayor ever re-elected as mayor of D.C.

— Muriel Bowser

9). In Family Guy, this real life tv actor played himself as the Mayor of Quahog, RI

— Adam West

10). This, now disgraced, former mayor of New York City, turned Trump stooge, was initially elected Mayor of NYC in what year?

— 1993 (term began in 1994)

MAYsons (Birthdays in May)

1). Three actors who have (or will) portrayed Batman on the Big Screen were born in May. One in Batman & Robin, One in the Lego Batman Movie, and one in 2022’s The Batman. Name them.

— George Clooney, Will Arnett, Robert Pattinson

2). Motown legend, Stevie Wonder was born on May 13th. One of his most famous song’s is a rendition of Happy Birthday, which honors this civil rights icon?

— Martin Luther King Jr.

3). Super Bowl III featured 3 different quarterbacks born in May. Most famously, Joe Namath guaranteed a win for the New York Jets over the Baltimore Colts. While the Baltimore Colts had been quarterbacked by Johnny Unitas for much of that decade, Unitas suffered an injury and missed 9 games throughout the season (and did not start the Super Bowl). Instead, this quarterback, who also played for the 1972 Miami Dolphins started the game.

— Earl Morrall

4). This woman, who became the youngest and first American woman to enter low-earth orbit, in 1983 was born on May 26th.

— Sally Ride

5). This award winning author of more than 200 books best known for coming of age stories set in the wilderness, including Hatchet and Winterdance was born on May 17th.

— Gary Paulsen

6). Prior to his success as a writer with The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, who was born on May 15th had a failed career writing for this other popular medium.

— Newspapers

7). Though no longer the longest reigning British monarch, this other British queen, born on May 24th, now has the second longest reign beginning when she was just 18 years old.

— Queen Victoria

8). Legendary singer-song writer and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan was also born on May 24th. However, his real name is what?

— Robert Allen Zimmerman

9). This Australian actress born on May 14th has had starring roles in films including the Talented Mr. Ripley, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, I’m not there, and Thor Ragnarok

— Cate Blanchette

10). Adele, born on May 5th sang the titular theme song in what James Bond movie?

— Skyfall

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to remain vigilant, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world looks like once recovery begins. As things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family and other outdoor activities. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry continues to find all of you safe and healthy. Hopefully, you and your families are continuing to get vaccinated (or have been) and you have been continuing to take precautions as things start to return to normal. For those of you who are vaccinated, I hope that you’re enjoying small gatherings with loved ones and time outside!

I don’t usually talk about sports (though I am a huge sports fan). However, I wanted to share a sports story with you that brought a huge smile to my face. I am a longtime Utah Jazz fan. Throughout the course of this NBA season, the Utah Jazz new ownership group (led by Ryan and Ashley Smith — the cofounder of Qualtrics) pledged a 4 year scholarship to a student from an under-represented minority to attend a university in Utah. For those of you who haven’t been following, the Jazz had the best record in the NBA and won 52 games (55 including pre-season). That means the Jazz will be sponsoring the college education for at least 55 students. This week, the Jazz shared a truly heartwarming video of the Jazz players letting the first 30 students know they had received the scholarship. As a lifelong Jazz fan, I couldn’t be more proud to see my team support the educational dreams of so many students. As someone who’s spent a lot of time this past year learning about and discussing the systemic inequalities that exist within the US I am extremely proud to support the Jazz! While these scholarships won’t solve all the problems, it’s important for those with means to give back and help others achieve their dreams and successes. I look forward to cheering Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and the rest of the Jazz on throughout the playoffs as they hopefully continue to rack up the wins and the scholarships!

In terms of covid-19, the situation appears to continue to be stable in Shanghai. In total, there are 63 active cases in Shanghai (all imported) with a recovery rate of 96.61%. In Beijing, there are only 3 cases with a recovery rate of 98.86%. For China as a whole, there are 3098 cases (~2700 in Taiwan) and the recovery rate is 92.53%. These are the numbers provided by the Chinese government (why Taiwan is included).

Before I talk about my own Astronomy, I wanted to comment on the remarkable achievement of the Chinese Zhurong rover landing on Mars last Saturday! Zhurong is the first rover that China has ever sent to Mars (it joins the US’s Perseverance on Mars) and is the first probe China has ever landed on another planet! To just give you some basic info, it was launched in Hainan (Southern China) last July and was carried on the Tianwen-1 rocket. Zhurong will be carrying out a 90 day exploration mission of Mars. It is operated remotely. There was a lot of excitement about the landing. I saw stories and messages posted on WeChat from many of my colleagues (despite the fact that none of us study Mars) as well as some of my Chinese friends (non-Astronomers). I’m excited to hear what we will learn from Zhurong (and Perseverance) about Mars! For those of you who are curious, Tianwen means Questions to Heaven and Zhurong is an ancient god of fire from Chinese mythology.

In terms of my own research, this was sadly a more frustrating week. I got more comments from the Final reviewer for my DES paper, so it will probably be a few weeks before I’m able to submit the paper for publication, which is very frustrating since additional comments at this stage were not expected (or typical). However, with help from my co-authors I think we’ll determine the best path forward. In terms of my other projects, I’m currently generating a new version of my mock after solving one of the bugs in my original generation, which is good. Hopefully, that will yield some interesting results soon. Additionally, I have some very interesting plots for our analysis on halo mass proxies, which I think should result in a really interesting paper! Lastly, I was able to work out the bugs in my ICL code, so now my results are making a bit more sense. 🙂

As you can likely tell, this was a very research heavy week. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Shanghai is very close to summer. It wasn’t quite as hot this week, but it was still quite humid. As a result, I only went for two runs this week. However, to supplement my running, I started going to F45 (a gym that specializes in 45 minutes HIIT training exercise classes that many of my friends go to). This way, I’m still exercising when the weather isn’t great!

Even though the weather was a bit of a mixed bag, I still had some cool photos I wanted to share with all of you!

Though this was a very heavily work focused week, I still made some time for some fun activities! On Tuesday, my friend David and I hosted another Kehilat Shanghai Trivia night! All the categories were MAY themed. We did MAYhem, MAYors, MAYsons (May birthday’s), MAYday, and There MAY be a Connection! 🙂 I wrote the MAYors and MAYsons questions, you’ll see below! It was another really great trivia night and everyone was challenged by our questions!

On Saturday, I attended another AAPI month event. This event was a screening of two of the episodes of the Cinemax/HBO Max show Warrior (about San Francisco’s China town in the late 19th century — originally conceived by Bruce Lee). Followed by a discussion about the model minority myth (focused mostly on examples of people like Grace Lee Boggs, who defied this myth). For those of you who are unfamiliar, the model minority myth is a concept that emphasizes that minorities can succeed in the US by using very particular examples. Essentially, this idea championed East Asians (as well as Jews) as examples of minorities that are well educated, polite, and law abiding and were able to both assimilate and succeed in America. However, it is often used as a mechanism to antagonize and criticize other minorities and offer a false narrative of racial equality (that anyone can succeed). This is a topic that I’ve had a lot of conversations about and definitely something that I plan to discuss further.

The highlight of my week was on Friday night, when my friend Ha hosted a murder mystery themed birthday party! It was set in the 1920’s Chicago. While not nearly as easy for me to dress up in as the 1960s themed party I attended a few months ago (nothing’s as easy as tie-dye for me). I did my best to channel the look from Perry Mason (the HBO Max show).

Here are some photos of me with other friends at the party (many from the Kehilat Shanghai community)! Overall, it was a lot of fun both celebrating Ha and playing the murder mystery game. Emmet and I did one our freshman year at Brown, but I think it was a bit more fun this time (though I still didn’t figure out who the murderer was until we were told at the end). As you can see, many of the attendees went all out and really had fantastic costumes! It was fun for a night to escape to the Roaring 1920s! 🙂

Overall, this was a really nice week. This upcoming week will definitely be research focused as I work to address the remaining comments on my DES paper while also working on my Luminosity Function analysis. I know I’ll have some fun activities to share with you as well!

I hope that you enjoyed reading my thoughts about the Jazz scholarships (definitely watch the video) and the Zhurong rover, as well as seeing the photos from the 1920’s themed birthday party! I hope that you all have a safe and healthy week.

In peace,

Jesse

Trivia

MAYors

1). The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character is an 1886 novel by this English Author, written as part of his Wessex novels.

2). In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, she is the adopted daughter of the Mayor of Monreuil-sur-Mer?

3). In both the Batman Earth One Graphic novels and the television show Gotham this Batman villain is the mayor of Gotham City.

4). This early popular democratic candidate for president, nicknamed Mayor Pete, was the former mayor of what city

5). This former Mayor of Paris, and Prime Minister of France, would later become President of France from 1995-2007.

6). The First Female mayor in the United States was Susanna Madora Salter, who served as Mayor of Argonia, Kansas in 1887. However, the first major metropolitan city to have a female mayor occurred in 1926, when Bertha Knight Landes was elected as Mayor of this Pacific Northwest city.

7). This rising Democratic political star surprised Democratic pollsters and constituents when she announced that she would not be running for another term as Mayor of Atlanta.

8). This current mayor of Washington D.C. was the first female mayor ever re-elected as mayor of D.C.

9). In Family Guy, this real life tv actor played himself as the Mayor of Quahog, RI

10). This, now disgraced, former mayor of New York City, turned Trump stooge, was initially elected Mayor of NYC in what year?

MAYsons (Birthdays in May)

1). Three actors who have (or will) portrayed Batman on the Big Screen were born in May. One in Batman & Robin, One in the Lego Batman Movie, and one in 2022’s The Batman. Name them.

2). Motown legend, Stevie Wonder was born on May 13th. One of his most famous song’s is a rendition of Happy Birthday, which honors this civil rights icon?

3). Super Bowl III featured 3 different quarterbacks born in May. Most famously, Joe Namath guaranteed a win for the New York Jets over the Baltimore Colts. While the Baltimore Colts had been quarterbacked by Johnny Unitas for much of that decade, Unitas suffered an injury and missed 9 games throughout the season (and did not start the Super Bowl). Instead, this quarterback, who also played for the 1972 Miami Dolphins started the game.

4). This woman, who became the youngest and first American woman to enter low-earth orbit, in 1983 was born on May 26th.

5). This award winning author of more than 200 books best known for coming of age stories set in the wilderness, including Hatchet and Winterdance was born on May 17th.

6). Prior to his success as a writer with The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, who was born on May 15th had a failed career writing for this other popular medium.

7). Though no longer the longest reigning British monarch, this other British queen, born on May 24th, now has the second longest reign beginning when she was just 18 years old.

8). Legendary singer-song writer and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan was also born on May 24th. However, his real name is what?

9). This Australian actress born on May 14th has had starring roles in films including the Talented Mr. Ripley, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, I’m not there, and Thor Ragnarok

10). Adele, born on May 5th sang the titular theme song in what James Bond movie?

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to remain vigilant, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world looks like once recovery begins. As things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family and other outdoor activities. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest update continues to find all of you, your families, and your friends remaining safe and healthy. As the covid-19 vaccines continue to be made available to younger people, I hope that you and the rest of the members of your family are taking advantage of this and getting vaccinated. Moreover, I hope that as spring is happening in the US (almost summer here in Shanghai) you’re spending more time outside as well!

Given how so many of you began following my blog when China went in to lock down last year and then followed my own experiences with China opening up, it’s hard for me not to comment on the lifting of the mask mandate in the US for those who are vaccinated. I have mixed thoughts about this. Currently, masks are only required on public transportation (buses, subways, planes, taxis) and inside enclosed public spaces (i.e., malls) for everyone. However, many people still wear masks all the time. Importantly, nobody criticizes or condemns people for wearing masks. However, Shanghai reached this point because there have been almost no non-imported cases for the better part of a year. So, this is quite different than the current situation in the US. My concerns stem from the fact that there’s no way to ensure that people who aren’t wearing masks have been vaccinated and aren’t instead the people who have been listening to the former president and downplaying the seriousness of covid-19. While outside, I feel comfortable not wearing a mask, I still wear masks inside (at bookstores, malls, grocery stores, …). This is based solely on my own level of comfort (I’m vaccinated), so I strongly encourage that all of you do what you are comfortable with (if vaccinated). However, it’s important to recognize how much wearing masks has reduced the transmission other diseases like the flu and colds. In China (and other parts of Asia), people wear masks whenever they are under the weather as a way to prevent spreading germs. I would love to see this concept remain in the US. As someone who’s spent a lot of time on college campuses, it’s incredibly frustrating how most everyone gets kind of sick during the winter, so this would be a great way to reduce this. However, I sadly remain skeptical of this outcome due to the politicization of masks in the US, since many of the same conservatives who have downplayed the virus are unlikely to not recognize the positive impact they’ve had beyond just slowing the spread of covid-19.

Additionally, I want to comment on the recent situation where players and coaches on the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres who have been vaccinated have gotten covid-19. It’s important to remember that vaccines are not 100% effective. Many people who get flu shots get sick every year. The vaccine reduces the likelihood of getting sick, while also reducing the side effects. It is not a miracle cure or super power protecting you from all risk. So, please remain vigilant, especially in situations where not everyone is vaccinated.

I also want to briefly comment on the situation in Israel. I won’t be discussing the details because I honestly have not spent enough time reading about and discussing the situation to comfortably provide many thoughts. However, I believe that it’s important to recognize that violence is decidedly not the answer and has accomplished little over the past few decades to change the situation between Israel and Palestine. While I pray that this current situation will end, I also recognize that for something to truly change, a new non-violent approach built on understanding and mutual respect of the people and their religious beliefs is needed.

To update you all about the covid-19 situation in China. Covid-19 remains entirely under control. However, a few cases have popped up, which has resulted in more stringent quarantines for people entering the country. In total, there are currently, 54 active cases in Shanghai and the recovery rate is 96.99%. In Beijing, there are just 2 active cases and the recovery rate is at 98.95%. For China as a whole, there are 727 active cases, with a recovery rate of 94.63%. So, clearly these more stringent regulations have been working.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a productive week. My collaboration wide review (and telecon) for my DES paper on the evolution of the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass relation ended last week. I have a few minor comments that I’m discussing with my co-authors, but we should be ready to submit the paper to the Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) very soon! I’ll share it with you all once I post it on the arXiV. In addition to that, I’ve continued to spend a lot of time on my Luminosity Function mock. Unfortunately, there are still a few kinks that I’m working to figure out in order to get more precise measurements from the simulations. So, hopefully I’ll be able to figure them out soon. Additionally, I’ve continued to make progress on my work on the evolution of the Intra-Cluster light, the region surrounding the brightest central galaxy, as well as on our halo mass proxy analysis. So, hopefully I’ll have some other papers coming together soon as well.

As I hinted at in the opening, spring is ending here in Shanghai and we’re already moving in to summer. While it’s not brutally hot all the time yet (it did reach 93 feels like 106 on Saturday), it is very humid, which means I’m sweating every time I leave my apartment (thankfully the air conditioning is much better in my current apartment than in my old apartment 🙂 ). So, due to the weather, I only got to go for 1 very unpleasant run this week. Running season might be ending for me soon, since the heat and humidity make it quite uncomfortable.

Additionally, the heat is causing a lot of the flowers to wilt. However, there are still some beautiful ones that I can share with you!

Additionally, I saw some cool murals and a cute cat that I thought I’d share with you as well!

Despite the heat, I still made time for some fun and thought provoking events. On Wednesday, I attended the second AAPI month discussion, this time led by my friend Heather, a History Professor at NYU Shanghai. Heather’s talk began by providing a historical background to the Asian American immigrant experience, focusing mostly on the experience of Chinese Americans in the 19th to early 20th centuries. While I was aware of the Chinese-Exclusion Act, I was unaware of so many of the additional ways that laws were enacted to explicitly restrict and prevent Chinese (and Asian) immigration into the US. After the historical background, Heather and many of the attendees shared personal experiences of the ways Asian Americans are often both hyper visible and hyper invisible in the US and other parts of the world today. It was a very powerful discussion and I greatly appreciated having the opportunity to learn and listen to everyone share their experiences.

On Sunday, I went back to the foreign language bookstore. I hadn’t been in a few months and needed some new books to read (I only have 2 left). I picked up the fifth and sixth books in the Millennium saga (Girl with the Dragon tattoo series) as well as the first two Witcher books. So, I’ll have some good fiction to read this summer! Additionally, I got some more cool gatchopods (little anime figures) as well! The bookstore has a ton of manga in Japanese (so sadly nothing I can read), but I loved seeing so many of my favorite characters. Plus, I couldn’t not take a picture of Maus!

The primary fun highlight of my week was on Saturday, when Moishe House hosted a tie-dye party! I’m sure some of you remember that Emmet and I gave out tie-dye t-shirts for our b’nei mitzvah, so it’s probably unsurprising that I’m a big fan of tie-dye. I hadn’t done it since my senior year at Brown, but it was so much fun hanging out with friends and attempting to make some cool shirts! While it was sadly way to hot to do it outside, it was still a blast! I tie-dyed 2 shirts and 2 bandanas!

As you can see, I had a blast and everyone made some really great shirts with colorful designs! I was really happy with how my shirts and bandanas came out!! I can’t wait to wear them this summer!

Overall, this was a really nice and a quieter week. This upcoming week will definitely be research focused as I try to fix my mock and finish up my first DES project! I’m sure I’ll have some more fun things and photos to share with all of you as well!

I hope that you enjoyed seeing my photos of flowers and tie-dye! I hope that you all have a safe, happy, and healthy week.

In peace,

Jesse

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to remain vigilant, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world can look like once recovery begins. Once things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family and outdoor activities. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest update continues to find all of you staying safe, happy, and healthy. For those of you in academia, I hope that the end of the semester has gone/is going well and that you’re looking forward to a less stressful summer. For the rest of you, I hope that the weather has been nice enough that you’ve been able to take advantage of it and spend time outside running, walking, hiking, or gardening!

Before I discuss the covid-19 situation in Shanghai and China, I wanted to let you all know that I received my second shot of the Chinese Sinopharm Beijing (Beijing Biological) vaccine on Wednesday! This is the vaccine that was recently approved by the World Health Organization (the first covid-19 vaccine manufactured in China to be approved). All-in-all, the process was almost identical to my first time. I waited in line for ~ 30 minutes, then registered and paid for my vaccine (it cost ~ $15). After getting my shot I waited 30 minutes. Thankfully, fatigue was the only side effect that I felt. After getting my shot, I also got the official covid-19 vaccine documentation (there’s also digital documentation as well). So, overall, my experience was very positive! Since I rarely go to hospitals, I thought I’d share some more photos of the cute stickers set up to amuse children! Also, so far over 300 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine have been administered in China.

In terms of the actual number of cases in China, the number remains under control. In Shanghai, there are just 58 imported cases and the recovery rate is 96.76%. In Beijing, there are only 2 cases and the recovery rate is 98.95%. For China as a whole, there are just 499 active cases and the recovery rate is 94.83%. So, because China has remained vigilant about preventing the spread of covid-19, the cases have remained low even as places have opened up. However, because the numbers are so low, a lot of effort has been made to emphasize the importance of getting vaccinated, since not everyone is as concerned about it anymore (so, please get vaccinated if you haven’t already, regardless of where you live).

In terms of Astronomy this was a fairly productive week. Because of the combination of the labor day holiday (May Day) at the beginning of the week, and getting my second covid-19 shot on Wednesday, I didn’t get quite as much research done. However, my DES Stellar Mass – Halo Mass research has it’s collaboration wide review ending on Tuesday, so hopefully (assuming I don’t receive many more comments) that will allow me to submit this analysis for publication soon! Additionally, I’ve continued to work on my Luminosity Function analysis (using the mock simulations). I’m starting to have results, but unfortunately there’s still deviations between my measurements and the underlying truth (that we built in to the simulation), so I’ll have some things to work on this week for that project. Lastly, I was finally able to start working on my intra-cluster light analysis again so hopefully, I’ll start having some interesting results on that end again, soon!

Though not related to my work, on Monday, I walked by a pre-school/day care center where they had a really neat space set up (that I could see through the windows)! If I was little, I’m sure I’d have had a lot of fun!

Sadly, the weather in Shanghai has started to heat up. This weekend, every day was over 90 degrees! Even though I know that it gets very hot (and humid) in Shanghai in the summer, I wasn’t quite mentally prepared for the heat. We’re also about to enter plum rain season, where it will rain/thunderstorm for about a month, so sadly, I don’t think I’ll be doing much running this month. 🙁 Though I may not be thrilled with the heat, some are enjoying it!

Despite the oppressive heat, I still saw a ton of beautiful flowers this week!

Since it was very hot this weekend, I spent a lot of time in my apartment (where thankfully the air conditioning works much better than in my old apartment). However, I did make some time for some fun and meaningful activities. Since May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, some of my friends are organizing a series of activities and discussions to celebrate. As an ally, it’s important to attend these kind of events (as well as those supporting the black community and other minority communities), not only to support my friends, but also to help me grow and improve as a human being. The world will only get better if we all try to support and help each other.

The first of these events was a kickoff party and discussion with a member of US consulate here in Shanghai on Saturday night. The speaker shared her story of growing up in Taiwan and then her experience moving to the US as a child, her time abroad in Germany, and then her experience in the foreign service. It was very interesting hearing about her experiences working and living in different countries around the world (Germany, Egypt, China, Japan) and interacting with different political figures in many different administrations. However, for me the most important takeaways were the the similarities in terms of the values emphasized by her parents (and that she emphasizes for her children) to the values that my parents instilled in me and my brother and in stark contrast, thedifferences of sometimes feeling invisible and having to fight to be heard. I look forward to attending more of these discussions in May so that I can became both more aware of the situations that many of my friends and colleagues face and also help to better myself and be a more supportive ally.

Food in Shanghai

On Monday, to celebrate the May Day holiday, some of my friends (about 8 of us) and I went to a fantastic lunch at one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai, Godly!

We enjoyed so much delicious food! Bamboo shoots, kao-fu (spongy seitan), mixed vegetables, seasonal greens, tofu, mock duck (tofu skins), mixed vegetables with noodles, eggplant, dumplings, and rice noodles! I love that I can get so much delicious vegan/vegetarian food in Shanghai!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

The highlight of my week was on Friday, when Kehilat Shanghai hosted our first community Shabbat celebration at the historic Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum. This is significant because the museum is built and centered on the Ohel Moishe Synagogue, one of two remaining synagogues in Shanghai. This was the first time that any such Shabbat celebration had occurred at the Ohel Moishe Synagogue in about 70 years! In past entries, I’ve shown many photos of the newly renovated Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum (it’s truly fantastic and I recommend visiting if you’re able to come to Shanghai).

While Kehilat Shanghai has been able to have Rosh Hashanah services and the Community B’nei Mitzvah at the synagogue in the past, this was the first time we’ve been able to gather for Shabbat here. I had the pleasure and honor of co-leading with Hannah Maia! As some of you know, I co-lead the reform minyan with Emmet our senior year at Brown, so leading Shabbat services is something I am both very comfortable with and really enjoy! We had a wonderful turnout of about 50 community members, which made this occasion all that more special. Below, you can see some photos that highlight the evening.

It was wonderful to join with so many members of the Kehilat Shanghai community to celebrate our Jewish heritage in one of the few places in Shanghai that holds both religious and historical meaning to the Jewish community! Following the service, we had a nice community dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant. So, it was both a fun and meaningful night spent with many of my friends from the Kehilat community!

Before I conclude, I do want to wish my Dad a Happy Birthday! I hope that you had a lovely birthday and even though I was only able to celebrate with you on FaceTime, I hope that you know how much I love and miss you. Thanks for being such a supportive and loving father.

Additionally, since today is Mother’s day (Happy Mother’s day to all the amazing Mom’s reading this), I wanted to wish my Mom a Happy Mother’s Day! Thank you so much for being such a loving and supportive Mom. I know that you’ll always have my back. I love and miss you!

Overall, this was a really nice and surprisingly eventful week. From getting vaccinated to the community Shabbat to the AAPI Month kickoff event, a lot happened and it was really wonderful to get to see so many of my friends in one week! This upcoming week should be more research focused, highlighted by my DES Collaboration wide review. However, I know I’ll have some fun things to share with you all as well.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing my photos from the Community Shabbat! I hope that you all have a safe, happy, and healthy week.

In peace,

Jesse

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to remain vigilant, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world can look like once recovery begins. Once things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family and outdoor activities. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry finds all of you continuing to stay safe and healthy and hopefully vaccinated (or in the process of getting vaccinated). I hope that all of you are taking advantage of spring and starting to spend some more time outside going for runs, walks, or hikes, as well.

I want to start this entry by thanking all of you for so many wonderful birthday wishes. It was really nice receiving comments, e-mails, and Facebook messages from so many of you wishing me Happy Birthday :).

In terms of covid-19, the situation in Shanghai and China as a whole remains entirely under control. However, given that the US recently ended the mask mandate, I want to discuss what the “normal situation” is here in Shanghai. On a daily basis, some people still where masks all the time. However, masks are only required when you’re inside (in crowded areas), or public transportation (and taxis). So, I wear my mask every day when I take the bus to work. Whenever I go out, I always carry my mask with me just in case. Nowadays, when I go running, I don’t where a mask. So, depending on what you’re comfortable with, keep wearing masks. I think it’s important for those in the US to recognize that wearing a mask is not and has never been a hardship. It’s quite commonplace in China (and other parts of Asia) for people to wear masks when they have a cold, fever, or the flu. In terms of covid-19 cases, Shanghai currently has 67 imported cases, and a recovery rate of 96.28%. Beijing has just 5 cases and a recovery rate of 98.67%. For China as a whole, there are 532 cases and a recovery rate of 94.79%. So, despite the fact that we no longer are required to wear masks all the time in Shanghai, the situation is quite different than the current situation in the US.

In terms of Astronomy, this was another productive week. First, my DES paper on the evolution of the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass Relation officially entered the 2 week period of collaboration wide review! So, hopefully it will move to publication soon after that! In terms of my actual research, I spent much of the week working on my mock Luminosity Function. However, much to my frustration, I caught a bug in my analysis when I was making science plots. However, that bug had actually forced me to generate almost 100x more random galaxies than I actually needed. So, what took me about 3 weeks to run took me about 2 days to redo! That code that I was parallelizing that took 25 minutes now can be done in ~ 10 seconds! 🙂

The weather in Shanghai for the most part has still been nice (mid to upper 70s). However, Friday was our first very hot day, reaching 88. I’m not mentally prepared for the Shanghai heat and humidity, so thankfully the temperature cooled off this weekend. This week I went for 3 runs! Here are some photos from my walks and runs around Shanghai. I really liked the butterfly statue garden built in the nearby Xujiahui park!

There was also this really interesting Bull sculptures, that reminded me of the horses that are set up around Saratoga!

In addition to the runs, on Thursday, I attended the most recent Unravel storytelling event. This month’s theme was Down to Earth in honor of Earth Day! Though not all the stories were related to the Earth, it was a really interesting and captivating series of stories. Topics included overcoming depression, an experience skydiving, and learning to love to eat bugs. Overall, I really enjoyed it and look forward to the next one!

The highlight of my week was on Sunday. On Sunday morning, my brother Emmet messaged me to tell me that there was a full scale Gundam built and set-up in front of a mall in Shanghai! For those of you who are unfamiliar, Gundam is a long running anime franchise that Emmet and I have been watching since 2000 (with Gundam Wing). So, I knew I had to go see this! So, on Sunday afternoon, I trekked out to the LaLaporte mall in Pudong (other side of the river). This is a Japanese mall (though having been there, other than some Japanese stores, I’m not sure what made it a Japanese mall).

As you can see, the statue of the Freedom Gundam (from Gundam Seed) was really amazing! It was gigantic and looked so awesome!

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As a huge Gundam fan, seeing a Gundam in person was truly a breathtaking! This is only the third time one has been built to scale (the first two were in Japan). So, I was really lucky to get to go see it!

As you can see, the mall itself was really cool, too. There were plenty of Gundam ads set up all over as well and you can see people building Gundam models inside!

I’m really thankful that Emmet saw the article about this, because it was definitely something I wouldn’t have wanted to miss!

Food in Shanghai

Friday was International Jianbing day. For those of you who are unfamiliar, a jianbing is a Chinese style crepe that is then filled with egg, vegetables, sauces, and sometimes meat. This is a really common breakfast or morning food in Shanghai. As a vegan, I’ve never actually had a jianbing. However, again, thanks to Emmet, I found out that Just Egg, a vegan egg substitute company that is building an audience in China was providing their Just Egg product to local jianbing shops and then offering free jianbing. So, on Friday for lunch I got a free jianbing filled with a scallions, chives, onions, just egg, spicy sauce, and a cracker (made from the dough batter). It was really good, so I’ll definitely have to get them again and encourage them to keep stocking just egg!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

On Friday, my friend Ha hosted another lovely family Shabbat! This month’s Shabbat was a really nice mix of young professionals as well as some families. It was really lovely to gather everyone together to celebrate Shabbat and it was adorable to watch the kids do the blessings and then devour the challah. 🙂 I’ve been going to the Family Shabbats for almost a year now, and it’s been a great way for me to get to know and become friends with so many of the community members!

As you can see, we enjoyed homemade Challah, pizza (including both vegan pizza and jianbing pizza), and a delicious strawberry cake that I made (which was a big hit with everyone, including the kids)!

Overall, this was a really nice, calm, and relaxing week. I was even able to bounce back quickly from a research mistake and redo my analysis :). It’s currently the International Labor Day holiday here in China, so SJTU is closed through Wednesday. So, I’ll be doing some work at home for the first half of this week. This upcoming week, we have a community Shabbat on Friday as well as some other fun things that I’ll share with you all!

I hope that you enjoyed seeing my photos of a full sized Gundam and of family Shabbat! I hope that you all have a safe, happy, and healthy week.

In peace,

Jesse

Trivia

Here are the answers to my trivia questions!

This Day in History

1). In 2008, this racer became the first woman to win an IndyCar Series Race?
— Danica Patrick

2). In 1986, Michael Jordan set an NBA record scoring 63 points in a playoff game against what team?
— Boston Celtics

3). In 1980, Fidel Castro opened this port, allowing ~ 125,000 Cubans to leave the country over the next 5-6 months
–Mariel Port

4). In 1940, this type of microscope, that significantly improved upon the resolving power of light based microscopes was first demonstrated
— Electron Microscope

5). In 1920, this Declaration officially made Palestine a British mandate
–Balfour Declaration

6). On this day in 1916 and 1912, these two famous and still used Baseball stadiums were opened
–Fenway Park and Wrigley Field

7). In 1862, the first of these tests, which later would extend the life of processed goods was done by this famed scientist
-Louis Pasteur

8). In 1611, this Shakespeare Tragedy featuring characters including Banquo, Hecate, Donalbain premiered
–MacBeth

9). In 295 and 1910, this Astronomical Object was recorded as being seen in the night sky?
–Halley’s Comet

10). In 1937, this actor known best for his role as Sulu on Star Trek was born
— George Takei

Where in the World

1). Where did Dr. James Naismith invent basketball?
–Springfield, MA

2). In what city was Arch Duke Franz-Ferdinand assassinated, leading to WWI?
–Sarajevo

3). What was the first city outside of the UK where the Beatles performed?
–Hamburg
Bonus: Name the two former members who played in this show, but would soon after leave the Beatles
–Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe

4). What was the first city outside of Greece to host the Olympics?
–Paris

5). The emperors of China had seasonal homes, the northern capital was Beijing, name this southern capital?
–Nanjing

6). In January of 1790, which city was the capital of the United States?
–New York City

7). What is the name of the Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned from 1964 – 1982
–Robben Island

8). The first manned flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright occurred near what North Carolina town?
–Kitty Hawk

9). The battle of this location in 1600 led way to the formation of the Tokugawa Shogunate?
–Sekigahara

10). Many of the world’s best and largest Telescopes are built in Chile in the Atacama Desert Region. This nearest city is 100 km to the Northeast and ~ 500km north of Santiago?
–La Serena

Units of Measurement

1). Which of these astronomical related distance measurements is the largest: parsec, Astronomical Unit, lightyear
–Parsec

2). Named after a French mathematician and physicist, this is the unit of electrical current?
–Ampere

3). Named for English Physicist, mathematician, and brewer, James Prescott Joule, the joule is the SI derived unit of what?
–Energy

4). Name the three units that are commonly used to measure temperature
–Fahrenheit, Celsius (centigrade), Kelvin

5). In chemistry, this is the unit used to describe luminous intensity
–Candela

6). In astronomy, for measures of the mass of stars and galaxies, we use the unit solar masses. For planets, we use either earth masses or Jupiter masses. Which of these answers best describes how much more massive the sun is than the earth?
— 1 Msun = 300 Mearth
— 1 Msun = 30 million Mearth
— 1 Msun = 300 hundred thousand Mearth
— I Msun = 3 billion Earth

7). The Watt is a unit that is used to measure radiant power, in Astronomy, this is referred to as what inherent property
–Luminosity

8). When this unit of measurement was originally introduced it was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of water
–Gram

9). The modern formulations of Newton’s two Most famous equations begin with this quantity, that is measured in Newton’s
–Force

10). Named for a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, writer and Catholic Theologian, this is the SI unit of Pressure
–Pascal

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to wear masks when you go outside (even if you’re vaccinated), avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world can look like once recovery begins. Once things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family and outdoor activities. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest update continues to find all of you safe, happy, and healthy. For those of you who are in academia, I hope that the end of your semester is going well. Additionally, I hope that more of you have been able to either schedule your vaccination or get your covid-19 vaccination shot. If you haven’t, I hope you are able to do so soon.

I want to begin this post by reflecting on the result of the Derek Chauvin murder trial. I believe that like me, many of you were relieved that a guilty verdict on all counts was delivered. However, there’s still a lot to process about this trial. First, it was heartening to see the collapse of the “blue wall” that generally protects police officers from getting convicted for these violent actions. However, I fear that this may be a solitary example of police casting aside the worst offender and not a true structural change. To me, it’s paramount that we stop treating police officers as being above the laws that they are sworn to protect. Moreover, it’s hard to view this as celebratory, because George Floyd, and so many others, are not alive today. I found that Utah Jazz center, Rudy Gobert, put it best in his tweet “Let’s hope that one day justice for all will feel normal and not like a celebration.” So, while this is progress, it’s vital to remember that there is still much more justice to achieve and it’s up to us to keep pushing and working to make structural changes in policing and the removal of infrastructure that supports the systemic racism and oppression that is still prevalent in America.

Now for your weekly covid-19 update. The situation in China remains largely the same. The only real news was that China is now allowing people to enter who have had the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, instead of just those made in China. In terms of the number of cases, there are 66 cases in Shanghai (all imported) and the recovery rate is 96.28%. In Beijing, there are only 10 cases and the recovery rate is at 98.2%. For China as a whole, there are 530 cases and the recovery rate is 94.79%. All numbers come from OneTubeDaily, an expat English language news resource on WeChat that I follow.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a productive week. At long last, my DES paper on the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass relation and it’s evolution has progressed to the collaboration wide review (should go out soon) stage! This is the final stage of collaboration review and the last stage before I can submit the article for publication. Given that I’ve been working on this project for over 2 years, I’m ecstatic to finally get this paper in front of more eyeballs! Outside of that, much of my time was spent working on my mock Luminosity Function analysis. I’m now starting to make measurements, though it appears that there still may be some nuances that I’m trying to get figured out completely in how the measurements should be done. Additionally, I made some more interesting plots for my halo mass proxy analysis, so hopefully I’ll be able to start writing that up as well soon.

As you know from my previous posts, it is now Spring in Shanghai. However, it’s actually starting to warm up (reaching the mid-70s this past week and 80s next week). For those of you who remember my posts from the summer, Shanghai gets unbearably hot/humid in the summer, so hopefully the spring will hold out longer. This week, I was still able to go for two runs though and see some lovely flowers!

This was a very fun-filled week for me. In addition to my birthday celebrations, which I’ll discuss next, on Tuesday, Kehilat Shanghai hosted another trivia night at Tacolicious! We had another great turnout and David and I came up with some great questions! I’ll share mine with all of you at the end of this post. 🙂

The highlight of my week was that on Saturday, April 24th, I turned 30! Before I share some of my celebrations, I want to start by wishing my brother, Emmet, a Happy 30th Birthday! Thanks for being such a supportive and loving brother! I can’t wait until your able to move to Beijing so that we can see each other again and go on some China adventures!

In terms of my birthday celebrations, on Saturday night I had a lot of my close friends over to my apartment for a dinner party! I made tons of delicious food including Pra Ram Tofu (tofu with peanut sauce), Tempeh Fajitas, and Veggie Meatballs (following a veganized version of my great grandmother’s recipe!) as well as some salads. My friends brought some other dips, veggies and salads as well so it was a real feast!

For desert, we had a beautiful fruit/nut spread, choclate covered strawberries, and vegan cookies!

However, the desert highlight was the vegan carrot cake that my friend and fellow Kehilat Shanghai board member, Ha, made for me! I was incredibly touched that Ha offered to make me a cake and it was really delicious! It was the same recipe that my Mom used to make Emmet his cake, so there was a nice symbolism that even though we weren’t able to celebrate in person together, we were able to celebrate by enjoying the same cake!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, my family has a tradition of singing the birthday song: “Hooray Today is your birthday, not the pickles or the pears, not the beavers or the bears, not next week or yesterday, Hooray Today is your birthday!” And thanks to some help from my Mom (who reached out to my friend Heather), my friends surprised me by singing this, which I was totally not suspecting. This was then followed by Happy Birthday in English, 2 versions in Chinese, two versions of Spanish, 2 versions of French, and Hebrew! Overall, I had a wonderful time catching up with so many of my friends. I haven’t had a ton of dinner parties in my apartment, so it was really lovely to have so many people over and get to spend the evening with my friends here in Shanghai! While I’ve only been here for a year and a half, I’m incredibly grateful for my friends. I’m so fortunate that I’ve been able to make such kind, caring, and supportive friends here!

And as you can see, my favorite dog Pina was able to come join in my celebration as well and she also had a fun time! 🙂

While I’m not going to discuss most of the gifts I got, though special thanks to Emmet and my parents for getting me some really great and lovely gifts as well as my friends Heather and Shimi, I do want to share one of my gifts, because I think you’ld all find it really neat!

My friend Kate made me this decorative good luck charm. It says in Mandarin: be blessed by a lucky star. As an Astronomer, I thought this message was lovely and it will be a lovely memento of my time in Shanghai!

Food in Shanghai

On Tuesday, I got lunch with my friend Ha. We went to Duli, one of my favorite vegan restaurants in Shanghai. The food was as always inventive and fabulous! We enjoyed a cauliflower curry, sweet potato gnocchi, and ma po tofu hummus!

Duli is one of the few vegan restaurants that does fusion food, so it’s always cool for a change in culinary experience!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

On Saturday, Kehilat Shanghai held a Lag B’Omer BBQ. For those of you who have never heard of Lag B’Omer, this is a minor holiday that is celebrated on the 33rd day of the Omer and represents a break in the mourning period between Passover and Shavuot. This is joyous holiday, where people celebrate by having bonfires or BBQs.

My friends John and Alex (who invited me for Passover) hosted the BBQ and as you can see we had a fantastic turnout (there are a ton of kids not shown in the photos playing on the playground). You can also see that cool view of downtown Shanghai!

However, the highlight of the BBQ was when John and Alex surprised me with a birthday cake! I was absolutely not expecting it and it was really wonderful! John made me a delicious vegan chocolate cake! It was a big hit with the kids, and it was completely devoured! :).

I also have some great videos of being surprised by the cake that I wanted to share!

As you can see I was very surprised by this and it made me incredibly happy! I’m so grateful for all the wonderful friends that I’ve made in the Kehilat Shanghai community. It’s really been a huge part in helping me make Shanghai feel like home!

Overall, this was a great week of birthday celebrations! I had so many fun celebrations, both in person, as well as on Zoom/FaceTime with Emmet, my parents, and my cousin Margaret and her family! It was really wonderful to be able to celebrate so many times! This upcoming week will definitely be a little quieter, it’s not every week you turn 30, but I know I’ll have some fun things to share with you all as well!

I hope that you enjoyed seeing and reading about my birthday celebrations! I hope that this upcoming week is safe and healthy for all of you as well.

In peace,

Jesse

Trivia

This Day in History

1). In 2008, this racer became the first woman to win an IndyCar Series Race?

2). In 1986, Michael Jordan set an NBA record scoring 63 points in a playoff game against what team?

3). In 1980, Fidel Castro opened this port, allowing ~ 125,000 Cubans to leave the country over the next 5-6 months

4). In 1940, this type of microscope, that significantly improved upon the resolving power of light based microscopes was first demonstrated

5). In 1920, this Declaration officially made Palestine a British mandate

6). On this day in 1916 and 1912, these two famous and still used Baseball stadiums were opened

7). In 1862, the first of these tests, which later would extend the life of processed goods was done by this famed scientist

8). In 1611, this Shakespeare Tragedy featuring characters including Banquo, Hecate, Donalbain premiered

9). In 295 and 1910, this Astronomical Object was recorded as being seen in the night sky?

10). In 1937, this actor known best for his role as Sulu on Star Trek was born

Where in the World

1). Where did Dr. James Naismith invent basketball?

2). In what city was Arch Duke Franz-Ferdinand assassinated, leading to WWI?

3). What was the first city outside of the UK where the Beatles performed?
Bonus: Name the two former members who played in this show, but would soon after leave the Beatles

4). What was the first city outside of Greece to host the Olympics?

5). The emperors of China had seasonal homes, the northern capital was Beijing, name this southern capital?

6). In January of 1790, which city was the capital of the United States?

7). What is the name of the Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned from 1964 – 1982

8). The first manned flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright occurred near what North Carolina town?

9). The battle of this location in 1600 led way to the formation of the Tokugawa Shogunate?

10). Many of the world’s best and largest Telescopes are built in Chile in the Atacama Desert Region. This nearest city is 100 km to the Northeast and ~ 500km north of Santiago?

Units of Measurement

1). Which of these astronomical related distance measurements is the largest: parsec, Astronomical Unit, lightyear

2). Named after a French mathematician and physicist, this is the unit of electrical current?

3). Named for English Physicist, mathematician, and brewer, James Prescott Joule, the joule is the SI derived unit of what?

4). Name the three units that are commonly used to measure temperature

5). In chemistry, this is the unit used to describe luminous intensity

6). In astronomy, for measures of the mass of stars and galaxies, we use the unit solar masses. For planets, we use either earth masses or Jupiter masses. Which of these answers best describes how much more massive the sun is than the earth?
— 1 Msun = 300 Mearth
— 1 Msun = 30 million Mearth
— 1 Msun = 300 hundred thousand Mearth
— I Msun = 3 billion Earth

7). The Watt is a unit that is used to measure radiant power, in Astronomy, this is referred to as what inherent property

8). When this unit of measurement was originally introduced it was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of water

9). The modern formulations of Newton’s two Most famous equations begin with this quantity, that is measured in Newton’s

10). Named for a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, writer and Catholic Theologian, this is the SI unit of Pressure

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to wear masks when you go outside (even if you’re vaccinated), avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world can look like once recovery begins. Once things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family and outdoor activities. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest update continues to find all of you staying safe and healthy. Hopefully all of you have been able to either sign up to get vaccinated or have already been vaccinated. Additionally, despite the fact that I saw photos of snow in Saratoga on Facebook this week, I hope that the weather is starting to feel more and more like Spring wherever you are.

As I’ve talked about in many of my posts, I unfortunately feel the need to once again address the importance of Black Lives Matter. The recent murders by police officers of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo, further emphasize and justify the need for a sweeping overhaul in how policing is done in the US. Reform may not be enough. Both young men (though Adam Toledo was really a child) were killed in what should have been non-violent interactions with the police. That these officers chose to escalate to deadly force (or even have that ability, to supposedly due so by accident, in the case of Daunte Wright) highlights that we need police officers who have more training in verbal communication and de-escalation tactics. These violent actions by police officers come as America (and the world) watches for the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial. I hope that Chauvin is convicted for murdering George Floyd because it’s necessary to remind all Americans and police officers that they are not above the laws they claim to uphold. I hope that all of you can support your Black friends and neighbors and help make America a safer country. In my opinion, nobody is truly safe until everyone can feel feel the same level of safety. Black Lives Matter.

To transition back to covid-19, the situation remains under control in China. There are a few more local cases in Yunnan (Western China). However, in Shanghai, all the cases are imported cases. Unlike in the US, when people arrive in China, they are required to do a 14 day quarantine (in a hotel that they pay for). Every person is then tested and has their temperature monitored. This has been very effective in preventing the spread of covid-19 to the city’s populace. There are currently 57 cases in Shanghai and the recovery rate is 96.7%. In Beijing, there are only 10 cases and the recovery rate is 98.2%. For China as a whole, there are 529 active cases and the recovery rate is 94.78%. So, clearly these policies are working.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Shanghai opened up the covid-19 vaccination to foreigners. Thanks to lots of perseverance, I was able to snag one of the slots that opened up (the initial slots were taken incredibly quickly, so I was checking all the available clinics, you can only go in the district where you live — Xuhui– or work — Minhang). On Wednesday, I got my first of 2 covid-19 vaccination shots! The vaccine that I got is the Beijing Biological Vaccine. From what I was able to learn (and told by fellow ex-pats who could communicate better with the doctors), the vaccine has an efficacy rate of 79%. For those unfamiliar, this is not an mRNA vaccine, I believe that it’s more in live with the type of vaccine that Johnson & Johnson developed. I’ll get my next shot in 3 weeks. 🙂

The process was relatively simple. I arrived at the hospital and got in line to sign in (you have to give your passport number and sign forms). Then I paid RMB 100 (~$15), the government covers the cost for Chinese citizens). Then I got my vaccine (and they scheduled my next appointment) and then waited for 30 minutes. My only side effect was a little fatigue, but I’m not sure that wasn’t my normal afternoon fatigue. So, I strongly encourage all of you to also get vaccinated when possible.

For those of you who’ve never been to a Chinese hospital, they look pretty similar to US hospitals, even down to decorations to make kids more comfortable.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a very productive week! I’ve been spending a lot of time (basically the entire week) running analysis codes on the mock galaxy catalog that I generated. The catalog is gigantic (> 30 GBs) so everything takes a while to run. However, I should start to have some of my results this week! Using mocks and doing a lot of this analysis is new to me, so it’s both fun and frustrating when I encounter new challenges! But a lot of the frustration seems to be paying off! Additionally, I’ve continued to work on my project comparing different Halo Mass proxies and have put together most of the figures that we plan to use in this analysis, so I will probably work on writing this analysis up over the coming weeks! Additionally, I’ve continued to work on my analysis of the redshift evolution of the Intra-Cluster Light. We’re still figuring out some of the nuances of the different ways that we can analyze the data, but I’ve been busy at work making plots comparing these. So, firing on all cylinders research wise!

In terms of running, the weather has been really nice here! It’s not hot yet, mostly in the low 70s, so I was able to go for 4 runs this week! As usual, I made sure to take photos of lots of flowers that I saw!

In addition to the flowers, I also saw some cool storefronts.

As well as some friendly cats! The one on the left was especially friendly!

The main highlight of my week was going on a Black History Walking Tour of Shanghai. Hannah Maia, Clem, and I co-organized this as part of our anti-racism discussion series along with Patrick Cranley, who runs Historic Shanghai. Patrick seemingly knows everything about the history of Shanghai, from the architects who designed the older buildings, to their original owners, to the landmarks that are seemingly hidden in plain sight. Every time I go on one of the Historic Shanghai walks, I always learn a ton! Unsurprisingly, there is not a ton of Black History in Shanghai. Most of it, is related to the Former French Concession (the area where I live) during the 1920s-1930s. At the time, many Jazz musicians would come to play in Shanghai, where they would experience the same cultural freedoms that they would experience in France at that time. Sadly, the international Concession (separate from the French Concession) was not free from segregation, due to the strong influence from the Americans. Additionally, we learned about Langston Hughes’s trip to China, where he wrote the poem Roar China! as well as about different civil rights activists and leaders who would visit China in support of Mao in the 1970s. Of course, we also learned about much of the history of many of the other buildings in Xuhui as well!

Additionally, on Sunday, I went to the shopping district Tianzifang! Tianzifang is a cool lane neighborhood with tons of different shops and food stalls that’s ~ 1 mile from where I live. Some of the things are artisan, others are small shops selling trinkets, lots of them are selling tea. I visited about 1.5 years ago, but it was cool to be back and I’ll definitely go again!

As you can see, there’s a lot of really cool street art/graffiti as well!

Despite this being another quieter week, there was a lot of fun stuff for me to share with you all! This upcoming week I’m aiming to get a lot of work done, but I also have some fun things planned (including my 30th Birthday on Saturday!). So, I’ll definitely have some fun things to share with you!

I hope that you enjoy seeing all the photos I shared of Shanghai! I hope that this upcoming week is safe and healthy for all of you.

In peace,
Jesse

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to wear masks when you go outside (even if you’re vaccinated), avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world can look like once recovery begins. Once things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry continues to find all of you safe and healthy. As vaccine eligibility opens to more of you in the US, I hope that all of you are scheduling your appointments (or have already done so) so that the US and the rest of the world can begin to recover. Additionally, as we all now enter Spring, I hope that you are using this as an opportunity to get out of your homes and enjoy some time outside doing some fun socially distanced runs, walks, or hikes.

In Shanghai, covid-19 remains entirely under control. As I mentioned, there was a minor outbreak in Yunnan (western China), but that outbreak appears to have been contained. In total, there are currently only 49 active cases and the recovery rate of covid-19 is at 97.08%. In Beijing, there are just 9 cases, with a recovery rate of 98.29%. For China as a whole, there are only 481 active cases, and the recovery rate is at 94.82%. These numbers remain very comforting. So,it’s important to remember that much of this has been able to happen because people continue to wear masks in public transportation/enclosed spaces and when outbreaks occur (like in Yunnan), cities or neighborhoods have been quarantined.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a productive week! After about 2 weeks of struggling, I finally got my Luminosity Function analysis up and running in parallel on the SJTU computer server. I hadn’t used parallel computing since my time at Michigan (and only figured out how to do it then thanks to help from my friend/colleague Hui), so thanks to help from some of my friends/colleagues and advice from my supervisor Ying, I was able to make the proper adjustments to my analysis to get my code to run quickly and properly. What would have taken ~ 77 hours can now be done in 25 minutes. I should start to have results from my mock analysis in the coming days. Additionally, I finally received more positive feedback on my DES Stellar Mass – Halo Mass relation paper (still waiting on 1 reviewer), but hopefully this analysis will move to collaboration wide review soon! Lastly, I’m back working on some of my high-z intra-cluster light (ICL) analysis (with my collaborator Yuanyuan) in order to look at how the ICL grows over cosmic time. So, thanks to a lot of time spent running code and getting everything back up and running on my computer, I was able to have a very productive week of research!

Although most of the time I spend on the SJTU campus is spent in my office, occasionally, I take the time to walk around the beautiful campus grounds!

Over the last week, we’ve had very nice weather, so this week, I got to go for three more runs! It hasn’t started to get very hot yet, so I’m trying to go for as many runs as I can before it gets too hot (generally June/July/August).

Spring is my favorite season in Shanghai! As you all know from my past entries, there are so many beautiful flowers planted all over the city. There are tons of small parks in each neighborhood as well as beautiful flower boxes scattered throughout the city. This makes the walks and runs that I go on particularly enjoyable this time of year! Moreover, there are also the gorgeous cherry blossom trees.

This week, I went for a really nice walk on Saturday and visited the Jing’an sculpture park. Sadly, it was too late in the year to see the tulips that are planted each year, but there were still other gorgeous flowers and cool sculptures to see!

In addition to all the gorgeous flowers, I also saw some really cool advertisements that I wanted to share with you all! I’m always on the lookout for DC Comics things, so I’ll have to stop by the bar that I took a picture of.

While most of my week was spent working (and thankfully making tangible progress), I did go to Moishe House on Wednesday for a Yom Hashoah event that I’ll discuss below. While there, I got to play with Daniel’s cat Osiris! He’s much bigger than the last time I saw him, but he still really seemed to like me! 🙂

Food in Shanghai

When I was at my local grocery store this week, I saw white strawberries for the first time! I’ve seen these before on tv and the internet, but I’ve never seen them in person or tried them. For those of you who are unfamiliar, white strawberries are very popular in Japan recently. They are sweeter and more delicate than regular strawberries. Their white color results from an absence of a certain protein that yields the traditional red coloring. The most expensive varieties that are cultivated in Japan are also exposed to little sunlight as well and only ~ 10% of the harvest is truly white (without the pink spots you see on some of time). I’m not sure if these are available in the US, but if you see them, you should definitely try them.

Jewish Life in Shanghai

As I previously mentioned, on Wednesday, Moishe House hosted a discussion to commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. As part of this event we took part in an Israeli program called Zikaron Basalon, and listened to and discussed recorded testimonials from two Holocaust survivors. The testimonies were incredibly moving. Following that, we had a discussion of the testimonials as well as how the Holocaust is taught around the world and how we should react to modern genocides happening today. Overall, the event was a very important discussion, and I’m glad that I was able to participate.

This was a quieter week, which definitely helped me be very productive. This upcoming week should also allow me to get a lot of research done as well. Though, I’m sure I’ll have some fun things to share with you!

I hope that you enjoy seeing all the photos I shared of Shanghai in bloom! I hope that this upcoming week is safe and healthy for all of you.

In peace,
Jesse

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 persists in the US and around the world, and you are (hopefully) continuing to wear masks when you go outside (even if you’re vaccinated), avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world can look like once the road to recovery begins. Once things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable as I have.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my life and adventures in China!

Life in Shanghai

Thank you all so much for understanding why I wasn’t able to post last week. I wanted to begin by letting you know that my computer has been fixed, thanks to AppleCare! So, hopefully going forward, there won’t be any more unforeseen delays. I hope that this latest entry continues to find all of you staying safe and healthy. For those of you who celebrated Passover with Seders last weekend, I hope that you had a meaningful and enjoyable holiday! I did and I’m excited to share my experiences with you in this entry! Also, regardless of whether you’ve been vaccinated, I hope that you are continuing to stay socially distanced. It frightens me to see how relaxed some of the restrictions in the US have become, so I hope that you all continue to take the covid-19 situation seriously.

In my last post, I focused on the recent shootings in Atlanta and the rise in Asian and Anti-Asian American racism in the US. I really appreciate that so many of you took the time to read and reflect on what I had to say. While I still fully support everything I wrote, I realized that I didn’t really make clear what portion of this insight was impacted by my experiences living in Shanghai. While living in the US, both in childhood and through college and graduate school, I had family and friends who are Asian/Asian-American. However, my time in Shanghai has provided me with an opportunity to both learn more about and gain a much better appreciation of Chinese culture (and to some extant some other Asian cultures as well). Whether it’s the visiting the breathtaking Buddha statues inside the different Buddhist temples, the traditional and modern works of art I’ve seen in different museums, watching different decorations appear around Shanghai and thus gaining an understanding of the different holidays beyond just the Lunar New Year, watching people do tai-chi or dancing in the park while I go running, or enjoying the different types of delicious food, living in Shanghai has instilled within me a much deeper level of appreciation than I had prior. I also didn’t discuss how these attacks are being reported in China. I didn’t do that because I honestly don’t know. While I know that all of my expat friends are fully cognizant of what is happening and some of my work colleagues are aware, since I can’t yet read Chinese, it’s difficult for me to learn what is reported. I get most of my news from expat aggregators with articles in English, so there’s definitely a slant to what I’m able to learn from the news. That being said, that doesn’t mean I haven’t had many discussions about this. I’ve met so many interesting, warm, and wonderful people living in Shanghai and much of my understanding and response to this tragic hate crime was based on conversations (either in person or on WeChat) with my Asian/Asian-American friends. It was based on advice given to me from them that I came to best understand what I can do to be a better friend and ally (the information I shared with you) and for that, I’m very grateful.

To transition back to covid-19. Since it’s been a few weeks since my last update, here are the revised numbers. Unfortunately, there’s been a minor outbreak in Yunnan (western China), so travel to parts of that part of the country have been restricted. Thankfully nothing is happening here in Shanghai, though we still need our QR codes and masks. In total, there are 50 current cases in Shanghai with a recovery rate of 96.99%. In Beijing, there are only 4 cases with a recovery rate of 98.76%. For China as a whole, there are only 421 active cases and the recovery rate is at 94.87%. So, if you’re excited by these numbers, remember that they only happened because people took covid-19 precautions seriously and still do.

In terms of Astronomy, these two weeks were mildly productive. Not having my computer for ~5 days prevented me from getting much done in the interim. Thankfully I frequently back up my computer, so I didn’t lose any research. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been getting my Luminosity Function code up and running on the SJTU servers in order to analyze the mock Universe that I generated. The mock is pretty gigantic, so I’m currently trying to figure out how to best optimize and run the analysis in parallel, which is pretty neat and kind of tricky. Hopefully, I’ll get this solved soon since there’s a bunch of tests I plan to run on the mock catalogs I generated.

Outside of Astronomy, the weather’s been really nice in Shanghai, so I’ve gotten to go for a ton of runs! In the last two weeks, I’ve gone for 8 runs, which makes me really happy! On top of that, there are so many beautiful flowers and cherry blossoms to see around Shanghai, which makes my runs all that more enjoyable!

Outside of Passover, which I’ll discuss next, I didn’t do too many fun activities (other than my runs), since I wanted to make up for some of the time I lost due to my computer being repaired. One thing I wanted to mention was that last Thursday, I attended the most recent Unravel Story Telling Event! I’ve mentioned these before, these are kind of like an in person version of This American Life that I really enjoy attending! This time, the theme was A Whole New World. There were some very moving stories of people having life changing experiences as well as stories about looking at aspects of their lives from different perspectives. The highlight was my friend Clem sharing a story. Clem is an captivating storyteller, so it’s always a highlight getting to listen to him!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

The primary highlights of the last two weeks were the Passover Seders that I attended. For the first night of Passover, I was invited to a Seder hosted by my friends John and Alex (both new to Shanghai in the past year)!

As you can see, John and Alex hosted a lovely Seder. One highlight for me was getting to use the new Mishkan Haggadah (the reform movements new haggadah). I hadn’t seen them before and I really enjoyed the modern and updated readings and reflections on the Passover Seder. I was also really grateful that John and Alex made me my own personal serving of Vegetarian Matzo Ball soup! While I made my own soup to eat during the week, I was convinced that neither Seder I attended would have Vegetarian Matzo ball soup, so this was a pleasant surprise. Additionally, (though not pictured) Alex even made a vegan desert with vegan marshmallows! Overall, this was a fun first night Seder and a really lovely experience getting to celebrate with many new friends.

For the second night of Passover, Kehilat Shanghai hosted a community Seder. Josh (the president of Kehilat Shanghai) and I co-lead the Seder for 158 people!

If you recall, last year, I led the Kehilat Shanghai Seder for ~ 45 people. This year, without the covid-19 restrictions, we had a gigantic group, which was fantastic! While it was stressful and exhausting getting everything organized and set up (though I didn’t have to manage that, I was just helping the other board members), leading the Seder was a lot of fun! While it was weird leading from a lectern instead of from a table, I think that overall, the Seder went very well. Josh and I incorporated some fun activities, including the youngest children singing the Four Questions and the teenagers doing a play for the story of Passover. While most of the evening was fun, the entire Passover Seder isn’t just a fun retelling of the Exodus from Egypt. During the solemn memorial that is the 10 plagues, given the makeup of our community, I also decided to honor the memory of the victims of the Atlanta shooting by marking the plague of racism (particularly that against Asians and Asian-Americans) that’s been plaguing the US, a sentiment which was broadly appreciated by many members of our Kehilat community.

Overall, this was a wonderful evening. I received so many compliments from people who were so happy to be able to celebrate together and who had really enjoyed the Seder! It’s experiences like these that make me feel rewarded for all the time that I invest in the Kehilat community!

One other Seder that I wanted to mention is my family’s Zoom Seder. For the second year in a row, I was able to join my family for their Seder (early in the morning). When I moved to Shanghai, I assumed that I wouldn’t be able to celebrate Passover with them, which made me sad, since I really enjoy the Seder that my Dad leads every year. So, even though Zoom Seders may not be as fun as in person Seders, to me, it’s been a really lovely way for me to connect and celebrate the holiday with my family!

This was a productive Passover week. This upcoming week will be largely work focused, though I’m sure there will be some fun things to share with you (and hopefully more flowers). For all of you who celebrated Passover, I hope that you had a meaningful Passover and wonderful Seders. For those of you who are celebrating Easter, I hope that you are also able to celebrate safely (and socially distanced).

I hope that you enjoy seeing all the photos I shared with you from my Seders and that you all continue to stay safe and healthy!

In peace,
Jesse

Trivia

PASSing & OVERtime

1). The immaculate reception was a touchdown thrown by Terry Bradshaw that bounced off safety Jack Tatum’s hands as well as those of running back John Fuqua, but was miraculously “caught” by fullback Franco Harris who ran it in for the winning touchdown for this NFL team?

–Pittsburgh Steelers

2). In the NBA, the primary role of the point guard is to facilitate the offense, which usually results in this player having many assists. No point guard was more prolific than this NBA legend, who leads NBA history with 3,000 more assists than any other player. Many of his assists were passes to his longtime teammate, who was nicknamed the Mailman.

–John Stockton

3). Which of the four major professional sports leagues has a Sudden death overtime?

— NHL

4). Starting in 2020, during extra innings in baseball, a runner starts on which base at the beginning of each inning?

— Second Base

5). In both of the Super Bowls that Tom Brady and the New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants, this Giants quarterback was responsible for throwing miraculous passes that led his team to late game scores.

— Eli Manning

6). This NBA legend is now one of the most thoughtful writers about race and race relations in America is best known for his signature shot, the sky hook. However, he is also the center, with the most career assists.

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

7). Like in basketball, passing is a fundamental part of hockey. Similarly, passes to set up goals are recorded as assists. Name this GREAT ONE who has over 700 more assists than any other player?

— Wayne Gretzky

8). Though tennis doesn’t have a traditional overtime, the result of each set must win by 2 points or go into a tie-breaker. However, at some tournaments, the final set does not feature a tie-break. As a result, the longest tennis match in history was a 5th set victory by John Isner over Nicolas Mahut 70-68 at what Grand Slam Tournament.

— Wimbledon

9). This type of acrobatic kick can be used to either pass or score a goal in soccer/ football. In this action, the player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair.

— Bicycle Kick

10). This prolific NFL quarterback, who also is known for his funny commercials, threw for the most yards in NFL history in a single season, 1 yard more than the recently retired Drew Brees.

— Peyton Manning

Passover

1). In the Passover Seder how many cups of ceremonial wine are drunk before the dinner.

— 2

2). For the karpas blessings, you eat greens dipped in what?

— Salt Water

3). Which is not one of the Four Sons:

žA). The simple son žB). The wicked son žC). The greedy son žD). The wise son

4). When the pharaoh ordered that all male Israelite children be killed, what did Moses’s mother do to save him?

— She put him in a basket in the Nile

5). What is the first of the 10 plagues

— Blood (Dam)

6). Which two store cities were mentioned as Pharaoh having forced the Israelites to build?

— Pithom and Raamses

7). A Hillel sandwich consists of what ingredients?

— Matzah, Maror, Charoset (sometimes)

8). A cup of wine for this prophet is kept at the center of the Seder plate

— Elijah

9). How much was chad gad yah purchased for?

— Two Zuzim

10). Which of these is not one of the four questions:

žA). On this night, why do we eat only leavened bread žB). On this night, why do we eat only bitter herbs žC). On this night, why do we dip herbs twice žD). On this night, why do we lean