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 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world will look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.

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Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry continues to find all of you, your family, and your friends safe and healthy. As the situation in the US continues to worsen, you all remain constantly in my thoughts, even as the situation in Shanghai remains under control. With that in mind, I hope that you all are continuing to take covid-19 seriously. Despite the existence of possible vaccines, there are many questions that exist about covid-19 that haven’t been definitively answered (can you get covid-19 twice, how long is the vaccine effective). Moreover, it remains unlikely that everyone will be able to get fully vaccinated until next summer (at the earliest), so it is paramount that you all follow social distancing practices, wear masks, wear gloves, wash your hands, and generally follow smart practices.

From my outsiders perspective, this was a relatively normal week in the US, which means that it was still unsettling. I am very much troubled by the attitude of the Republican party and it’s members. It is disgusting that in a recent Washington Post poll only 25 Republican house of representative members acknowledged that Joe Biden won the election. I hope that the beginning of the Biden-Harris presidency can return things to normalcy. However, the extreme polarization that exists within the American electorate is very scary. Moreover, if any of you are in Georgia, or have family/friends who are registered to vote there, please make sure that they are registered and vote. If you want Congress to actually pass a stimulus bill that will help the American people and not corporations, it’s paramount that the Democrats gain control of the senate.

In terms of covid-19, the situation in the US seems to have further accelerated following Thanksgiving (with no look of slowing down). The US is up to over 14.5 million cases. So, I’m going to ask all of you to not travel for Christmas or attend religious services. If we want the virus to slow down, everyone must act responsibly and start thinking about the greater good and not their own selfishness. In stark contrast to the situation in the US, in China, the virus remains entirely under control. In Shanghai, there are 61 cases (no new local cases). There are 4 in Beijing. The recovery rate for Shanghai sits at 94.8% and for China as a whole, the rate is at 93.2%. I will note that there have been more cases in Hong Kong (~1100). However, since that’s an island (with somewhat separate regulations about who can enter), there doesn’t appear to be any additional spread to the mainland.

In Astronomy, this was a very productive week! On Friday, I finally submitted my Dark Energy Survey (DES) paper on the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass Relation to the DES Cluster working group for the collaboration wide review. Since this is a paper where the analysis was done as part of DES, the paper mush be internally reviewed by two members of the collaboration, followed by a short period where anyone in the collaboration can review it, after which it is then submitted to a journal for publication. So, this is the start of the publication process for a project I’ve been working on for almost the last two years! Needless to say, I’m extremely excited to start to share this analysis with the larger scientific community. I think a lot of the research that is discussed in this paper nicely synthesizes all of my prior work from my dissertation building a really cohesive narrative (that I look forward to discussing further once it’s published).

On top of that, I spent a fair amount of time working on other projects. I’ve begun the scientific analysis on the higher redshift DES-ACT clusters as well as continued to work a lot (and use most of my computing resources) on my Luminosity Function measurements. I also finished the main scientific analysis for the project comparing different methods of estimating halo mass (magnitude gap, central + N satellites, satellite galaxies). I’ll spend some time this week revising the drafted paper.

As you can tell, this week was largely dominated by my research, which is good, since it was very productive! However, I balanced out all the time in front of my computer by going for three runs. It’s still warm enough that I’m able to wear my short tights (which is nice). My friends complain that it’s cold, but having lived in Saratoga Springs, Providence, and Ann Arbor, I’m perfectly fine with temperatures in the 40s and low 50s. 🙂

During my runs and walks around the city, I continue to see a lot of cool things! The Pagoda is on the SJTU campus!

As you can see, Shanghai is always lit up, so it’s hard to tell what’s Christmas decorations and what’s just normal!

In addition to all the work, I did take some time for some fun stuff. On Friday night, my friends and I got together for another improv night and potluck (I made tofu meatballs)! It’s always fun playing different improv games. Although I’m still not really good at the games where you have to randomly jump into scenes. I guess it’s still a little hard for me to think completely on the fly without getting into the right mindset. This time we played some favorites including freeze (where you freeze people and insert yourself into a scenario), change word/change action (where you tell actors they have to do one of the two options randomly), paper chase (where you act out a scene and then have to randomly do 3 actions/phrases that are written on pieces of paper in your pocket), and half-life (where you act out a scene in 1 minute, then 30 seconds, 15 seconds, 7 seconds, 3 seconds). Overall, it was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs!

On Saturday, I spent most of the day helping my friends Hannah Maia and Sydney with their apartment renovations, mostly helping to clean up and remove a lot of junk left behind by old tenants. While exhausting, it felt very good to help my friends out. Plus, it’s nice to have friends who are only a 5 minute walk from my apartment! I didn’t realize that not all apartments get completely cleaned out like what I’ve experienced (I guess I’m lucky).

One highlight of helping Hannah Maia and Sydney, was that I got to meet Sydney’s cat Friday (seen below along with two other cats of Shanghai!). The white cat lives at the foreign import store I go to and the other cat lives in my neighborhood.

Trivia

Since some of you asked for them, I thought that I’d include the trivia questions that I wrote for last week. Some are easy, others less so. I’ll post the answers at the end of the blog next week, so you can all test yourselves!

Category 1: Judaism and Food

1. žDuring Passover, Matzah is eaten instead of Bread, in order to be Kosher for Passover, matzah must be made in less than how many minutes?
2. During Channukkah, fried foods are eaten to remind us of the miracle of the oil lasting 8 days.  Some of the traditional foods include latkes and these jelly filled doughnuts?
3. žDuring Purim, hamantaschen are traditionally eaten as we recall Queen Esther’s triumph over the wicked Haman.  Traditional flavors include raspberry, apricot, chocolate, and this ingredient, more commonly associated with bagels? ž
4. žEach week for Shabbat, Challah is enjoyed.  However, during this holiday, instead of the traditional long braided challah, the challahs are round, often including raisins. 
5. žThe Passover Seder plate features charoset, matzah, and maror.  Maror refers to something bitter.  Traditionally, this vegetable is eaten, either sliced or grated.
6. žThe Yom Kippur fast is a primary observance of the holiday.  Traditionally, how many hours does the fast last?
7. žRosh Hashanah celebrates the sweet new year.  Often people enjoy apples dipped in honey and these sweet crescent shaped deserts filled with raspberry jam, nuts, raisins, and sometimes chocolate. 
8. žThis traditional marbled bread desert can come in either chocolate or cinnamon flavors.
9. žNothing may be more traditional to see at any synagogue potluck than this dish that can be made either sweet or savory often featuring potatoes and carrots or noodles. 
10. žAs part of this holiday, celebrated 50 days after Passover and commemorating the giving of the Torah, people celebrate by indulging in dairy foods such as cheesecake and blintzes.

Category 2: Things People are or were Thankful For

1. žIn the United States, many democrats are currently thankful for the heroic efforts to engage and register voters in Georgia led by this former gubernatorial candidate.
2. žIn Argentina, football fans remain thankful to this former player and coach whose miraculous “hand of god” led to Argentina’s 2^nd world cup victory in 1986.
3. žIn 13^th century Japan, citizens were grateful for this aptly named wind storm that saved the Japanese from two separate Mongol fleets led by Kublai Khan. 
4. žDuring the American Revolutionary War, many were thankful for a victory in this small town in upstate New York, which turned the tide of the revolution. 
5. In 1969, American were grateful to have won the space race when these two Astronauts became the first men to land on the moon.
6. žEurope was thankful in 1815 when Napoleon was defeated and exiled for the second time, this time to this small island off the coast of Africa. 
7. žIn British folklore, the people of this town were grateful for the heroic thievery of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men. 
8. Many people are currently thankful for the two promising covid-19 vaccines that are being developed by these three companies.
9. žThe Ancient Hebrews were grateful for the military victory of Judah and the Maccabees over this group of people. 
10. žDuring World War II, soldiers were grateful for the heroic actions taken by many local fisherman and boaters to help rescue allied soldiers during this battle. 

Jewish Life in Shanghai

On Sunday, Kehilat Shanghai hosted another Adult Education session at Tov, this time on Jews and Hollywood. We began by discussing how many of the earliest Hollywood studios were founded and run by Jewish men. However, we noted that while the owners were Jewish, they did not turn Hollywood into a Jewish industry (meaning it did not turn the focus into Jewish related themes/topics). Additionally, we discussed the roles that Judaism and Jewish characters played during the golden age of Hollywood (including the Jazz Singer and Fidler on the Roof). Then we ended by discussing the current situation in Hollywood. Overall, it was an interesting conversation, touching on topics to Jewish actors who changed their names to the reasons why Jews began to invest in entertainment in the first place. Considering that Jews are often stereotyped as running Hollywood, it was interesting to discuss the history behind that.

Next week, on Friday, Kehilat Shanghai will be hosting it’s 4th Annual Shabbatakkah Channukkah Celebration! I’m one of the board members coordinating, organizing, and promoting the event. We’re holding the party at Tacolicious (the owner is a member of community!). So, I look forward to sharing with you all a lot of the highlights of our celebration! They’ll be latkes, sufganiyot, and tacos for everyone!

This week was very much a work focused week, which after Thanksgiving was needed. This upcoming week will be a bit of a mixture as I spend most of the first half of the week doing research and attempting to join for some of the DESI zoom collaboration meeting (starting at 12:00 am most days — the west coast and daylight saving time are the worst) and then working on preparations for Channukkah! For all of you who are celebrating Channukkah, I hope that even though you’ll be celebrating with your immediate family, that you are able to make some latkes and enjoy them yourselves along with the festive glow from your menorah!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week. If there’s anything you’re curious about with regards to my life in Shanghai, please let me know.

In peace,
Jesse