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.

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Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest update finds all of you safe and healthy. Moreover, as the restrictions on who is eligible to get vaccinated loosen, and more of you get vaccinated, I hope that you are continuing to stay safe and follow social distancing protocols as well. Lastly, I hope that you are all taking some advantage of the warmer weather and getting outside a bit more.

Given that just last week, I discussed some of my feelings about the recent racism and violence towards Asians and Asian-Americans living in the US, I feel obligated to begin this entry by sharing some of my thoughts on the shootings in Atlanta. First, I feel terrible for all of my family, friends, and colleagues who are grappling with how to deal with this growing rise of violence towards Asians and Asian-Americans and want to offer my support to them as an ally and a friend. With this recent shooting in particular, so much of what I’ve seen has been depressing. There was the racist police captain who claimed that the shooter was “having a bad day.” It’s ridiculous that every time a white person decides to go out and murder people that law enforcement or certain news outlets will defend the murderer and describe that person as just having a bad day. This kind of narrative intentionally humanizes the murderer and strips those killed of their humanity. It’s far more important to recognize the 8 people killed and the loss that their deaths bring to their families, friends, and communities. Secondly, I have seen a number of people claim that these murders were not racially motivated because some news outlets claimed that the murderer said that they were not and that he chose to shoot up 3 massage parlors because he was dealing with a sex addiction. As some of my friends here in Shanghai have pointed out, attempting to claim that these attacks were not racially motivated invalidates the pain and suffering felt by members of the Asian/Asian-American communities and is particularly cruel at this time. Moreover, it also neglects the long history that the US and western world has with sexualizing Asian women, which intrinsically removes the idea that this shooting was not racially motivated.

While I don’t think there is a simple solution, I encourage all of you to reach out to your friends, family members, or colleagues who have been impacted by these recent events. Try to be a supportive ally and a better human being. If you can, make donations to organizations that are supporting stopping this kind of hate in the US. Lastly, HATE IS A VIRUS and it must be treated as such. It’s up to all of us to call out racism when we see it. It doesn’t matter if you think the person who says something isn’t racist. If someone says something that is racist, you need to confront them, because the level of passive racism that exists today is just as dangerous as the overt racism.

Additionally, even though the model minority myth was likely not the cause of this recent attack, I want to briefly touch on it. The model minority myth is the idea that certain minorities have been able to rise up and succeed in America by hard work alone. This myth has been applied to Jews in America and most recently, to members of the Asian/Asian-American community. However, as some of my friends have described to me, this myth removes the diversity that exists within the Asian community and neglects the fact that many Asian/Asian-American immigrants are working minimum wage jobs, are illegal immigrants, or living below the poverty line. By highlighting any one group as the model minority, society has also set up a situation where minorities fight against one another, instead of recognizing the systemic injustices and racism that has been built into the system.

To attempt to wrap this up, the level of hate and animosity that exists within the US is becoming so dangerous for all minorities in the US. While much of this disgusting behavior was normalized by the previous president, it’s clear that this kind of racism has long existed within the US and it’s really important to not normalize this kind of hatred and racism. Whether you’re and Asian-American, Black, Jewish, Muslim, Latinx, LGBTQ+ or a member of another under-represented minority, it’s important that we all look out for one another and confront racism when we see it. We shouldn’t feel safe and comfortable until everyone around us is able to live safe and comfortable lives.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on this. I hope that you reflect on what I’ve said and like I’m doing, work to make the world a better place for everyone.

To transition to covid-19, the situation in China has remained much the same. Shanghai will be starting up another round of vaccinations in the coming weeks (hopefully that’s when I’ll get vaccinated) as well. In terms of cases, there are just 40 cases in Shanghai and the recovery rate is at 97.46%. In Beijing, there are only 3 cases and the recovery rate is 98.85%. For China as a whole, there are just 505 cases (300+ in Hong Kong) with a recovery rate of 94.77%. So, as I’ve emphasized before, the restrictions that China put in place really did drastically reduce and halt the spread of covid-19.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a very productive week. I spent most of my week working on my mock Luminosity Function. Thanks to that time, I was able to generate a mock for the first time!! Even though we didn’t do anything really sophisticated for this mock, I’m really happy with this accomplishment because this has long been something that I was aware that other researchers did, but not something I fully comprehended how to do. So, thanks to Ying for making me learn how to generate one! This upcoming week, I’ll be using that mock to put together some tests that we were running for comparison with our observational results.

Additionally, last week, I mentioned that I thought they were building a telescope on the roof and it turns out they are! There is now a 0.4m telescope on top of the New Sciences Building #5! It’ll be opened in May, so I look forward to trying to use it later this summer (though no promises about seeing much in Shanghai)!

This week, the weather was a mixture of rainy for the first half, with some nicer weather on the weekends, so I only got to go for 2 runs. However, on Sunday, I did take a ton of photos of some beautiful flowers!

In terms of fun activities, this week was a little bit quieter. On Tuesday, my friend David and I hosted another trivia night! We had another great turn out. It’s been really fun to watch it grow and to build a great group of regular attendees! For this week, we had categories including Famous Women in History, Music, PASSing and OVERtime, the Passover Seder, and a Connections round! I’ll post the questions I wrote at the end of this entry.

Additionally, on Saturday, I was invited to the 50th birthday party of one of my friends on the Kehilat Shanghai board! It was 70s themed, so thanks to some advice from my Mom, I was able to get a good sense of what to wear. Given my long hair and beard, I leaned heavily into the hippy aesthetic! Unfortunately, I don’t have too many photos from the party yet, so I’ll plan to share some more when I get them!

Overall, I had a lot of fun getting to celebrate and sing some Beatles Karaoke!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

On Sunday, I attended the latest Kehilat Shanghai Adult Education discussion. This time, we focused our discussion on the upcoming Israeli Elections. It’s the fourth election in the last 2 years and each time Netanyahu has failed to form/maintain a coalition. It was really fascinating (and somewhat depressing) to learn about the Israeli political system. Thanks to the discussion I know have a much better understanding of the way the political system in Israel works. While I wish that we had more than 2 parties in the US, I’m somewhat grateful that our system isn’t quite as chaotic as the Israeli system.

Additionally, we’re starting to get ready for Passover! Chabad finally got matzah into Shanghai (it was delayed in customs), so I’ll be picking some up on Tuesday. Next week, I’m co-leading the Kehilat Shanghai community Seder, which should be a lot of fun! I look forward to sharing the highlights of this experience with you.

This was a very productive and work filled week, with some fun activities interspersed. This upcoming week should be similar, so I’m hoping to get a lot done before Passover! For those of you who are celebrating, I hope that you all have a meaningful and enjoyable Passover. While I know that many of you are saddened by not being able to celebrate in large groups, I hope that you enjoy your Zoom Seders and that that allows you to still connect with you family and friends. Also, please note that I will be posting the next entry on Monday (not Sunday) because the Kehilat Shanghai Seder will end late on Sunday night.

I hope that you reflect on what I wrote about the shootings in Atlanta and enjoyed the pictures of the flowers from this week as well!

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Passover

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

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

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?

5). What is the first of the 10 plagues

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

7). A Hillel sandwich consists of what ingredients?

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

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

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