Posted 5:18 AM by Blah blah

Sexy Scientist Girls (Science)

From that article I just mentioned, How I decoded the human genome (Salon.com), I SO identify with this part:

"In the spring of 1978 I was in love with this hot scientist who was doing research on shifted reading frames in single-stranded DNA viruses....

But I may be anthropomorphizing: harboring jealousy, a quarter century later, against a molecular archetype. For if you want to know the truth, DNA was the only thing that my gorgeous so-called girlfriend ever thought about. Ever. Even in our most intimate moments she was thinking about the tricks, subtleties, sleights of hand, misdirections, camouflages and bad faith of DNA. It was as if she were Sherlock Holmes and DNA were Dr. Moriarty. Their relationship was all-consuming, adversarial and to the death. My role was incidental, and biological, like food or a blanket.

Yet so smitten was I, so in awe of her nonchalance in the domain of the nucleotides, that I resolved to learn the code myself. I read textbooks, I sneaked into lectures, I lurked about laboratories. And I read scientific papers that she gave me, and that I barely understood, as I popped Jiffy Pop popcorn over a Bunsen burner at 3 in the morning while she was in the cold room packing a column -- or at the next bench running two-dimensional isoelectric-focusing slab electrophoresis gels in preparation for a talk she was to give at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory that summer.

Oh my God, to be in that laboratory! I pity anyone who has not watched a hot chick, with her hair in a bun, wearing a white lab coat, perform science in the middle of the night. Even her mistakes were sublime: One night while doing some assay she accidentally poked her wrist with a hypodermic full of some nasty mutagen. 'When I die of cancer in the name of science 30 years from now,' she said without slowing down or looking up, 'you can say you saw it happen.'

I knew then that I was on hallowed ground, in the very presence of Science with a capital 'S,' privileged to watch something as selfless, sacred and filled with mortal peril as the first wave landing on Omaha beach. I felt awe, as if Marie Curie were speaking directly to me from some ethereal realm. I felt as if I were popping popcorn for Galileo.

She gave that talk at Cold Spring Harbor; it went well, and then she left for London or Zurich, some lover or husband, it was all so long ago, I cannot remember. She later told me that James Watson and Francis Crick were in the audience when she presented her paper and that Watson complimented her afterward. Whatever the merits of her research, I have no doubt that Watson was more impressed by her ass than her assays. But in any event one does not present papers to the popes of DNA unless one knows whereof one speaks: That chick was the real deal."

Amen.

At Berkeley I was in love with a brilliant girl like that. Her hero was Marie Curie. She's the only girl I've really known whom I seriously thought could win the Nobel Prize.

Unfortunately for me, she was looking for her Pierre. (Marie's husband. Both of them won the Prize. I saw their tomb at the Pantheon when I was in Paris.)

We'd go out Friday night, and after saying goodbye at 10 pm, she'd return to her research lab and work till 2 am.

I was in awe at this romantic chemist and her intense dedication. I was astounded at how she could reserve time in her life to both pursuit of scientific gold and gazing dreamy-eyed at pink sunsets.

Posted 6:09 PM by Blah blah

Bioinformatics. Computational Biology. (Science)

I'm looking forward to being here all day tomorrow: Biomedical Computation at Stanford 2003 Symposium. Here are some of the talks.

Salon.com recently posted these personal articles and letters on bioinformatics! It's fantastic to see some of the things we're talking about (like the National Center for Biotechnology Information) hit a mainstream magazine like Salon. Note the writer's moralistic caution.

How I decoded the human genome (Part 1). "We are becoming the masters of our own DNA. But does that give us the right to decide that my children should never have been born?"

One vote for the new eugenics (Part 2). "Yes, genetics research can alleviate suffering. But in our consumerist, narcissistic society, it's ultimately about producing perfect people." People fear that Ethan Hawke/Uma Thurman movie Gattaca coming to life. That was an outstanding film, by the way!

Readers' letters:

"For 11 years, I suffered from crippling childhood mental illness. Although my symptoms have been under control for over a decade, and I'm now living a happy and successful independent life, I applaud attempts to eliminate suffering like mine from the human experience.

If a prenatal test revealing the tendency to develop an illness like mine had existed when I was a fetus, I probably wouldn't have been born. So what? My parents would have had a different child instead -- one just as likely as their diseased fetus to grow into a loving, talented, creative individual, and one far less likely to spend years in agony and die young. What's so terrible about that? In fact, what's the downside?

If, thanks to genetic testing, 'nut jobs like [me] disappear from the earth,' I'll view it as a human triumph comparable to the elimination of polio and smallpox. Unless such a test is developed, I will not have children. This nut job would be thrilled to be the last of her kind."
___________________
How spammers are targeting blogs (BBC).

Oh great---another pain in the neck. Maybe it's good I don't have blog comments. At least my tagboard forces me and others to be succinct.

Sunday I have traffic school all day. Oh joy. Sweet roadkill stories.

Posted 8:41 AM by Blah blah

Check out my new biotechnology and bioinformatics links, in the left column!

Posted 5:54 AM by Blah blah

Madame Chiang Kai-shek Dies in New York: Grand Dame of Chinese Politics (Chinese Politics)

Fascinating profile of a remarkable Chinese lady who, with her incredibly ambitious family (i.e. see movie The Soong Sisters) dominated politics and finance in Taiwan and China in the first half of the 20th Century. "They were born around the turn of the century, in China, the daughters of Charlie Soong, a friend and ally of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen when he founded the Republic of China. Ai-Ling, the eldest, married the wealthiest man in China. Ching-Ling married Sun Yat-Sen and continued his legacy after his death. May-Ling, the youngest, married Chiang Kai-Shek, who became the leader of the Nationalist Party."

The only woman I know comparable to these women is my friend E, vice president of marketing for an investment management firm.

Madame Chiang, 105, Chinese Leader's Widow, Dies (NY Times):
_______________
For many Americans, Madame Chiang's finest moment came in 1943, when she barnstormed the United States in search of support for the Nationalist cause against Japan, winning donations from countless Americans who were mesmerized by her passion, determination and striking good looks. Her address to a joint meeting of Congress electrified Washington, winning billions of dollars in aid.

Madame Chiang helped craft American policy toward China during the war years, running the Nationalist Government's propaganda operation and emerging as its most important diplomat. Yet she was also deeply involved in the endless maneuverings of her husband, Chiang Kai-shek, who was uneasily at the helm of several shifting alliances with Chinese warlords vying for control of what was then a badly fractured nation.

A devout Christian, Madame Chiang spoke fluent English tinted with the Southern accent she acquired as a school girl in Georgia, and presented a civilized and humane image of a courageous China battling a Japanese invasion and Communist subversion. Yet historians have documented the murderous path that Chiang Kai-shek led in his efforts to win, then keep, and ultimately lose power. It also became clear in later years that the Chiang family had pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid intended for the war.

Madame Chiang had a notoriously tempestuous relationship with her husband, and then with his son by a previous marriage, Chiang Ching-kuo, who became Taiwan's leader after Chiang Kai-shek's death. Madame Chiang had no children....

Her skill as a politician, alternately charming and vicious, made her a formidable presence. She made a play for Taiwan's leadership after Chiang Ching-kuo died in 1988, even though she was 90 and living in New York at the time.

Although she suffered numerous ailments, including breast cancer, Madame Chiang eventually outlived all her contemporary rivals....

Soong Mei-ling's rise to power began when she married Chiang Kai-shek in an opulent ceremony in Shanghai in 1927, bringing together China's star military man with one of the nation's most illustrious families.

Her eldest sister, Soong Ai-ling, directed the family's affairs and innumerable money-making ventures with the help of her husband, H.H. Kung, a scion of one of China's wealthiest banking families.

Madame Chiang's second sister, Soong Qing-ling, was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, China's first president after the last emperor was toppled in 1911. After Sun Yat-sen's death, Soong Qing-ling carried his banner over into the Communist camp, causing an irreparable rupture in the family....

Today, Chinese still remember the three sisters with a telling ditty: "One loved money, one loved power, one loved China," referring to Ai-ling, Mei-ling and Qing-ling.

Posted 2:47 PM by Blah blah

Liza Minnelli: Husband-Beater? (Gossip)

Enough seriousness. Here's some new silly gossip about singer Liza Minnelli (daughter of actress Judy Garland)! Just sit back and drool over the saga of Liza and David. If you thought YOU had problems...

As anyone who IS anybody should know, the couple have been beaming over their "happiness" worldwide ever since the wedding---a mere 16 months ago. Last fall, Liza and her new FOURTH husband, David Gest, had planned to star in a TV reality show on VH1 about---guess whom?---themselves.

Unfortunately, due to "creative differences," VH1 canned the whole idea (EOnline).

Speaking more bluntly, the New York Post said:

"David Gest redefines the term 'control freak.' He was almost insane....[Gest] canceled us about 20 times," the production source told the Post. "He had a bodyguard stand outside to keep the crew out." The mole also accused Gest of being a "neat freak" who made VH1 staffers wear hospital booties while traipsing on his and Liza's carpet, and requested that one crew member stick her head in an oven to check for dirt.

Roll the clock forward to this week:

Gest now claims his small wife, Liza, has been physically abusing him. Uh...yeah.

"A day after Gest, a music producer and avid collector of Shirley Temple memorabilia, filed a $10 million lawsuit against the 'Cabaret' star in which he alleges he sustained neurological damage from repeated pummelings by his vodka-fueled spouse, Minnelli has filed for divorce."

What a great line. I hope my name is never used in the same sentence with "vodka" and "beaten by his wife."

Talk About a Powerful Drink (NY Times):

"The easy thing to do would be to dwell on — no, wrong phrase — to savor the image of a grown man crossing his arms over his face and shouting, 'Liza, stop it, stop it!'

But New York and the world around it have already had a full day to laugh and laugh and laugh at David Gest, the concert promoter who contended in court documents this week that he was the recipient of multiple whuppings from his wife, Liza Minnelli, of all people....

Though Ms. Minnelli's weight class may vary, she reliably measures up at around 5 foot 4. That means that Mr. Gest, 50, who is seven years his wife's junior, has nearly half a foot on her and an apparent reach advantage, raising the question of how strong she is regardless of her state of sobriety or intoxication."

DAFFY DIARIES OF DISASTER FOR KOOKY COUPLE (NY Post):
______________
From the wreckage of the Liza Minnelli-David Gest love nest, urban archeologists have unearthed a secret Diary of Fabulous Love, co-written by the "It" couple....

[T]his diary answers a question that's keeping a stable family man like Michael Jackson up at night, asking his preteen playmates - what went wrong?

March 16, 2002. Liza writes:

Dear Diary,

Hooray! Gesty and I are finally, officially Wifey and Baby!

Such a beautiful ceremony - I cried and cried. Didn't even mind when David wrestled me for the Maybelline! His eyes are gorgeous enough without pilfering my stash.

I told Liz Taylor to shut up about him, already. Her marital track record sucks worse than mine. And she hogged the hors d'oeuvres. Get your own sausage, honey!

Baby and I ended our first night of wedding bliss in the most romantic way - David hid my Skyy, and I bitch-slapped him.

Aug. 28, 2002. David writes:

Diary,

She's out of control. This morning, she tries to make a phone call without my permission. What's next? Pick out her own clothes? Hey, I know Luther Vandross!

Last night, I commanded her to cool it on the Grey Goose. So she bitch-slapped me. I took seven Vicodin and called it a night.

Nov. 28, 2002. Liza writes:

Dearest Diary,

Thanksgiving was divine! Just Baby, me, 146 of our nearest and most marvelous. And Mr. Cristal. He sure knows how to chase away those goblins.

But David was in a nasty mood. He said something really hurtful about Mia Farrow. She so hates to be reminded about that ungrateful adopted daughter she allowed to scrub her floors. I hear Woody's got money problems now. Didn't seem to cheer anyone up.

I had to calm David down best as I could. I bitch-slapped him as usual.

June 10, 2002. David writes:

D,

London is a nightmare. Not only is she drinking nonstop, she ate Chinese food. Makes her breath smell like moldy garlic.

And she's hitting me. Really bad. Me! I'm a personal friend of James Ingram! My head hurt so bad from the bitch-slapping, I took 12 OxyContin and turned in.

March 4, 2003. Liza writes:

OK, Diary,

I have to come clean. David and I are having a few teensy, weensy problems. I mean, I have gone from a dress size of Whale down to Sea Lion with his help. But the more he nags me about drinking, which, I swear, I've practically stopped, the more I want to dive off that wagon. It's his fault! So I bitch-slapped him. What would you do?

June 2003. David writes:

Last night, she wailed my butt like a little girl. You should see the red marks. She's so mean. I'm a battered, pill-popping husband. Me. I'm also a personal friend of Raoul Felder. I'll make her pay.

June 2003. Liza writes:

David was so bad, I just had to teach him a lesson. Hurts me more than him.

Do you think our marriage can be saved?

Posted 11:44 PM by Blah blah

Too Busy. Some Interesting Girls.

I am SO exhausted. Please read "Best of Tiger Cafe" above if you want something written by a half-sane, mostly awake man.

If you want a delirious comatose post, keep reading.

Phuong and Stephanie invited me to another meeting of the Ryze Pearl Tea Group. (Like you thought Ryze was only for lofty purposes or meeting business people!) Like so many other invitations recently, I had to turn them down. :( I am just swamped with stuff I must get done.

Something cool today: I met a fashionable girl with light brown hair, originally from China, who had gone to college in Taipei. You don't meet people from China who lived in Taiwan very often. She had sold cosmetics before and said she knew much about skin care and facial massage.

A couple of weeks ago I had dinner with a girl from Hangzhou, a fashion designer who told me her clothes had been popular in several cities around that part of China. She had some special software she used to design it, and she tried to create clothes that were both sexy, chic, and appropriate for both the office and going out casually. She'd dyed her hair blonde.

Here's another interesting girl---Rumiko, a classmate who used to work in the travel business. Now she's studying computers. From Japan, she was unusually tall growing up. Tall for a Japanese person, that is. In her high school, they'd line up the kids by height---a girl's line and a boy's line. She was always the tallest in her school, taller than the tallest boy!

They actually put her in the boy's line! Yup...she was ashamed and had always felt awkward for her height. People would always be mentioning it. She'd stoop and try to avoid being noticed.

Ain't it so silly? Here, it's the short people who have inferiority issues, but in Japan it (was?) tall people!

Back when she was growing up, she said the Japanese pop idols were mostly shorter. The "ideal" height for a girl idol was 158 cm. "No one told us---we just knew," said Rumiko. It wasn't till later that the models and singers began to grow, stretched out undoubtedly by better nutrition.

By that time, Rumiko was beyond feeling weird. When she first came to Los Angeles, she bought something like eight pairs of shoes! Couldn't find such a variety of styles back home, and she greedily scooped them up.

Posted 8:51 AM by Blah blah

New Reading (Blogs)

Check out these new female blogs for my link list! Both chatty, personal, and introverted girls. Both have been blogging a long time.

- Honeydew Boba (San Francisco).

- Skyblue Traveller (Chicago?). She has some similar artistic tastes to mine.

Introverts tend to write the most intimate blogs, yet if you shine a light on them they sometimes scurry away. Please keep doing what you're doing! And say hi.

Posted 4:24 PM by Blah blah

Friendster (Friends)

I've linked my Friendster page in the left column. You're welcome to add me as a friend! Whether I accept you is another story... hehe.

Posted 10:38 AM by Blah blah

Greg's Blog (Blogs)

Check out my friend Greg's new blog, Pulp Comment. (He's "nirvana" on MixerMixer.) He's a computer chip design engineer, originally from London. He wrote some flattering things about me. Shy at first glance, Greg, we see from his blog, seems very thoughtful and sensitive.

Posted 10:17 AM by Blah blah

SMYSP Alumni Assoc. Birthday. (Events)

Yesterday morning I was at Stanford Medical School for our second meeting of the SMYSP Alumni Assoc. I'm helping to found the group.

We hope to help high school students, undergrads, medical students, and working people who were related to the program all expand themselves professionally and socially.

I just set up this blog for us:
SMYSP Blog.

For my birthday last night, someone finally DID convince me to go out! Hehe. Thanks for treating me to pearl tea, Wendy!

Posted 9:03 AM by Blah blah

My friend Sher sent me this! She used to be a manager at a big hotel in Taipei. By the way, Sher, the last time I had dinner with you, you had a "NICE DRESS." *Wink*

TRANSLATING WOMEN'S ENGLISH !!
Yes = No
No = Yes
Maybe = No
We need = I want
I'm sorry = You'll be sorry
We need to talk = I need to complain
Sure...go ahead = I don't want you to
Is my butt fat? = Tell me I'm beautiful
Do what you want = You'll pay for this later
I'm not upset = Of course I'm upset, you moron!
Are you listening to me?? = Too late, you're dead
You have to learn to communicate = Just agree with me
Be romantic, turn out the lights = I have flabby thighs
You're so.. manly = You need a shave and you sweat a lot
Do you love me? = I'm going to ask for something expensive
It's your decision = The correct decision should be obvious by now
You're certainly attentive tonight = Is sex all you ever think about??
I'll be ready in a minute = Kick off your shoes and find a good game on TV
How much do you love me? = I did something today that you're really not going to like

TRANSLATING MEN'S ENGLISH
I'm hungry = I'm hungry
I'm sleepy = I'm sleepy
I'm tired = I'm tired
Nice dress = Nice cleavage!
I love you = Let's have sex now
I'm bored = Do you want to have sex?
What's wrong = I guess sex tonight is out of the question
I love you, too = Okay, I said it...we'd better have sex now!
May I have this dance? = I'd eventually like to have sex with you
Can I call you sometime? = I'd eventually like to have sex with you
Do you want to go to a movie? = I'd eventually like to have sex with you
Can I take you out to dinner? = I'd eventually like to have sex with you
Will you marry me? = I want to make it illegal for you to have sex with other guys
You look tense, let me give you a massage = I want to have sex with you in the next ten minutes
Let's talk = I am trying to impress you by showing that I am a deep person and maybe then you'd like to have sex with me
I don't think those shoes go with that outfit = I am gay