猪猪昨天晚上把头钻到椅子靠背的两根横梁之间，自己退不出来，大哭，而且完全不配合猪爸猪妈。幸好那椅子是在宜家买的，三根大螺钉取下就能拆开来。小猪很可怜地大哭了1分钟，随后便故态复荫，拍着椅子一边大笑一边又用头去拱了。成都人说人蠢，常用“头被门夹了”这句俗语，不知这回小猪头被椅子夹了又该如何理解。反正至今我们也没有搞清楚他是怎样把头钻进去的。

这次事件再次说明所谓的child proof对顽皮的小男孩基本无效。比如桌子角上贴的软垫子第一时间被小猪掰下来藏了。重新粘回只要被他看见，一定会上前去先除之而后快。又比如专为防小孩设计的药瓶，小猪只看过我们开几次就知道怎样打开了。至于搬凳子爬高处更是家常便饭。我看惟一有效的child proof方法只有三个字：“盯紧点”。

这段时间比较忙，都没有时候给猪拍点什么。猪在晚上比较喜欢来回亲猪爸和猪妈，一人一次一个绝对公平。

 

下面的链接是一个颜色测试：
http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

目标很简单，把几条打乱的色块按色调重新排列起来：

图1：测试起始点，混乱的色块：



图2：排列好的图：




图3：评分：数字越小越好。这个图显示了正确的色调变化，同时以白色的柱状图标出被测试者在哪些区域排列错误。



图4：如果你输入了年龄和性别，这个页面指出你的分数在你的年龄、性别组的相对位置。



这个测试与电脑显示器的好坏有很大的关系。我能得0分，也间接证明了MacBook Pro的显示器的确不错。

情人节的时候猪猪猪的柜子里有一张Iron Man情人节卡，我以为是幼儿园老师放的，扔到猪猪的包里，一直没有仔细看。

今天猪妈看到了这张卡，翻开一看，竟然是猪猪班上的一个小姐姐送的。这位昵称Yo-Yo的小女孩是他们班上最漂亮的女孩，比亮堂堂大几个月，一直都挺喜欢我们家猪，两人经常一起玩。

我听说过有小学生早恋的，不过1岁零几个月的小娃娃，还真是早早早恋哟。

买了一台小相机送人。佳能powershot SX110 IS。比较小巧，操纵起来挺方便，LCD大，用起来比较顺手。拿到手随便拍了几张，还不错。灯光下白平衡有点偏黄，微距一般。号称ISO1600，实际上ISO800以上根本不能用（不过这是傻瓜相机的通病）。

2009年1月16日    天气：晴转阴

今天是总统节，天气非常好，蓝蓝的天上飘着几朵白云。爸爸妈妈带我去参观华盛顿故居。

早上9点钟出门，我们先要顺道去位于威斯康星大道的中国大使馆签证处给我办理旅行证。

由于今天很多地方都放假，到大使馆办事的人真多。10点钟开始办工，但我们9点45分到达时，签证处大厅已经坐满了人。我们还遇到了妈妈的朋友齐叔叔和爸爸的同事张阿姨。大使馆的工作人员服务态度真好，轮到我们时我对那位阿姨直笑，阿姨也对着我笑，还亲切地夸我可爱。

很快办完事情，全家人又上路向目的地进发。乔治华盛顿故居的人更多，因为今天是总统节，在这个美国第一位总统的家里有很多庆祝活动，而且免门票。我们在几大停车场里转了近1小时才找到车位。

华盛顿故居叫Mount Vernon，修建在山顶上，Potomac河旁边。庄园占地也很大，近300亩，可以想象庄园全盛时期要多少奴隶和仆人才能打点得井井有条。

进入入口大厅，迎面而来的华盛顿一家人的铜像。里面人山人海，爸爸妈妈推着我通行都有些困难。我们拿了地图就赶紧走向华盛顿家的豪宅。虽然有人提醒过我们排队的人很多，我也还是被门前的长队惊呆了。人群从大屋入口绕过门前的大草坪，一直排到大门口，队伍足有50米长。

爸爸妈妈决定不进屋里，照了几张到此一游照后绕到大屋的背后。大屋旁有一株大树，妈妈说这树的形态比较象恐怖电影里的，应该照一张。爸爸奉旨，立即拍了下来。站在屋后的草坪上遥望大河，风景非常好。

大屋的南面有华盛顿的墓地，阴气比较重，免去。屋旁边陈列的马车，马棚很有趣。一路往外走，路过果园。著名的小华盛顿砍樱桃树的故事也许就发生在这里吧。当然连我这个小娃娃都知道那个故事是假的。美国人会承认自己说谎？那真是滑天下之大稽。果园过后是鸡窝，猪圈。唉，同样都是猪，为什么它就长得黑不溜秋一点也不可爱呢？

绕到庄园门口，有着“古装”骑大马的哥哥姐姐开路出来，原来很快游行就要开始。不过爸爸妈妈已经等不急了，外面阳光遍照，气温却偏低，在这大冬天里没有比一碗乳白香滑的牛尾汤更能去寒了。我们冲向汽车，飞车开到Springfield的一家韩国餐馆（Gamasot - 6963 Hechinger Dr, Springfield VA)。这里的牛尾汤果然名不虚传。

吃过饭，爸爸妈妈又带我到White Flint Mall去任凭我跑来跑去，奖励我在外面和吃饭时老实座着乖乖听话。

今天真是有意义的一天。


这是华盛顿家的主“屋”，确切的说是主屋的一半。室内的陈设可以在Mt Vernon网站上看到。


大屋的侧面。




屋后的风光太好了。


这就是令猪妈觉得恐怖的树，被猪爸拍出来一点也不恐怖。


“古”装骑马的男男女女，脸蛋儿绯红，象刚喝了酒。


做猪难，做花猪更难，做长得不可爱的花猪是难上加难。


鸡圈。那只公鸡长得真漂亮，让我想起原来外婆养的天天生双黄蛋的鸡。

周一是总统节，到Mount Vernon玩了一天，照片还在整理中。以下是周末在家在外的几张猪照片。

到哈瑕酒家去吃饭，门口一大鱼缸里有一只巨胖的菠萝鱼。小猪看着那个兴奋啊。大鱼的胖嘴一张一张，猪猪猪也把嘴凑过去亲那只鱼。鱼也很配合的凑过嘴来。可怜的猪，第一个情人节居然同一条鱼过了。

十年前的2月13日，情人节的前一天，泸沽湖的摩梭人在湖边过节。

七大家人，七张帐篷。赛马，盛宴，湖风猛却吹不散欢乐。我和猪他妈被邀请到每一家，海碗喝苏里玛酒，大醉而到湖边。

湖水天地为证，撮沙为香，借酒劲私定终身。

没有那一天，哪会有快乐活泼帅气可爱的猪猪猪呢。

Journal article: Rowe ML, Goldin-Meadow S., Early gesture selectively predicts later language learning, Dev Sci. 2009 Jan;12(1):182-7


From Yahoo! News:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090213/ap_on_he_me/med_gesturing_toddlers

WASHINGTON – Don't just talk to your toddler — gesture, too. Pointing, waving bye-bye and other natural gestures seem to boost a budding vocabulary. Scientists found those tots who could convey more meaning with gestures at age 14 months went on to have a richer vocabulary as they prepared to start kindergarten. And intriguingly, whether a family is poor or middle class plays a role, the researchers report Friday.

Anyone who's ever watched a tot perform the arms-raised "pick me up now" demand knows that youngsters figure out how to communicate well before they can talk. Gesturing also seems to be an important precursor to forming sentences, as children start combining one word plus a gesture for a second word.

University of Chicago researchers wondered if gesturing also played a role in a serious problem: Children from low-income families start school with smaller vocabularies than their better-off classmates. It's a gap that tends to persist as the students age. In fact, kindergarten vocabulary is a predicter of how well youngsters ultimately fare in school.

One big key to a child's vocabulary is how their parents talked to them from babyhood on. Previous research has shown that higher-income, better-educated parents tend to talk and read more to small children, and to use more varied vocabulary and complex syntax.

Do those parents also gesture more as they talk with and teach their children?

To see, university psychology researchers Susan Goldin-Meadow and Meredith Rowe visited the homes of 50 Chicago-area families of varying socioeconomic status who had 14-month-olds. They videotaped for 90 minutes to count both parents' and children's words and gestures. Quantity aside, they also counted whether children made gestures with specific meanings.

This is not baby sign-language; parents weren't formally training their tots. Instead, they used everyday gestures to point something out or illustrate a concept. A child points to a dog and mom says, "Yes, that's a dog." Or dad flaps his arms to mimic flying. Or pointing illustrates less concrete concepts like "up" or "down" or "big."

The researchers found an income gap with gesturing even in toddlerhood, when children speak few words.

Higher-income parents did gesture more and, more importantly, their children on average produced 25 meanings in gesture during that 90-minute session, compared with an average of 13 among poorer children, they reported in the journal Science.

Then the researchers returned to test vocabulary comprehension at age 4 1/2. The poorer children scored worse, by about 24 points. Researchers blamed mostly socioeconomic status and parents' speech, but said gesturing contributed, too.

It's not just that richer parents gesture more, stressed Peggy McCardle of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which funded the work.

"It's that there's a greater variety of types of gesture that would signal different types of meaning," McCardle said. "It sure looks like the kids are learning that and it's given them kind of a leg-up."

The study doesn't prove gesturing leads to better word-learning, but it's a strong hint. Now scientists wonder if encouraging low-income parents to gesture more could translate to toddlers who do, too, and in turn improve school readiness.

"It wouldn't hurt to encourage parents to talk more and gesture more," Rowe said.

雪花师姐到HHMI开会。我们通电话时她说离NIH很近。Google Map上一查果然，二者相距不到1英里。原来Chave Chase和Bethesda相邻，一条大街把二者分开，同我以前想象“两城”相隔的距离完全不同。

HHMI外表很低调，外面甚至没有指示身份的牌子，足象一座私人宅院，哪像NIH，每个进口前都以大牌子标记（Rockville Pike上有5个进口）。开车去HHMI接师姐，直接与HHMI擦身而过。掉过头来问清了门卫才确定。

HHMI占地面积不大，修得很漂亮。完全看不出来这是全美最大的资助生物医学研究和教育的私人机构（175亿美元经费）。虽然经费总数无数与NIH这样的政府机构相比，但是HHMI资助的项目选选少于NIH的项目，所以具体到个人，HHMI非常富裕。

中午开车带师姐参观了NIH，又一起聊了2小时。同她夫妇有近一年未见了，现在两人都转战洛杉矶，做microRNA/epi-genetics和干细胞/基因疗法研究。热门课题，前途无量。

这一天早些时候，实验室的全体成员在楼前合影一张。平时一起开会不觉得，站在一起突然发现人真多，数几遍都没有数清楚。我发现我在人群合照中，总是站在边上，藏在人群中。从合唱团是这样，武大校友聚会也是这样。

小猪开始涂画，墙壁的恶梦正式开始。家里墙上Miro, Kandinsky的画已经有了，猪猪猪就不要再添乱了。所以现在我们家里能划出线的东西属于严格管制品。连他自己的蜡笔已经经“家委会”没收。只有这块胡胖子叔叔送的磁性写字板例外。你别说，猪画的东西还有些味道。



上周末华盛顿地区非常暖和。白天气温达到10多度。这是冬天么？经人介绍，在弗吉尼亚那边有一个很大的儿童游乐园（http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/clemyjontri/playground.htm）。设施很好很安全，反正摔在地上也不会痛。去玩的娃娃真多。猪的本质有点胆小，开始的时候还放不太开。后来就开始同比他大的娃娃抢玩具玩；看到美女躺在那里，也要去躺。真是没有礼貌又霸道，给黄家丢脸。不过出来混的，迟早还是要还的。后来在迷宫里被大娃娃推到地上，打不赢人家，他就只有找妈妈的份。

生肖属相的起止时间该如何计算?这是一个很多人都容易疏忽的常识问题。有人认为十二生肖是中国古人发明的，当然不能按阳历划分，得按农历来划分，正月初一零时为两生肖分界点，比如09年正月初一零时后就算属牛了，而到2010年正月初一零时就属虎了。其实这样划分是不正确的。

我们首先要弄清楚生肖的概念，生肖所反映的其实是一个时间概念，每一个生肖所管的时间是平均的，就是地球绕太阳转一圈的时间，十二年一个轮回。弄清楚生肖是一个时间概念后，就知道为何按正月初一零时定为两生肖的分界点是不正确的了，因为如果那样界定的话，遇到闰年一个生肖就要管十三个月的了，这样配天干地支就乱套了。

正确的生肖时间计算应是“从交立春的那一刻开始至次年交立春前结束。”例如在阳历2009年2月4日零时52分（交09年立春）后——2010年2月4日6时42分（交2010年立春）前这个时间段出生的小孩，其生肖属牛。所以说，生肖的划分既不是按阳历来划分，也不是以农历来划分，而是以节令来划分的。按节令划分是最精确的，因每月的节气交令点都会根据地球所处的位置及时作出调整。

    十二生肖源于何时，今已难于细考。长期以来，不少人将《论衡》视为最早记载十二生肖的文献。《论衡》是东汉唯物主义思想家王充的名著。《论衡·物势》载：“ 寅，木也，其禽，虎也。戌，土也，其禽，犬也。……午，马也。子，鼠也。酉，鸡也。卯，兔也。……亥，豕也。未，羊也。丑，牛也。……巳，蛇也。申，猴也。”以上引文，只有十一种生肖，所缺者为龙。该书《言毒篇》又说：“辰为龙，巳为蛇，辰、巳之位在东南。这样，十二生肖便齐全了，十二地支与十二生肖的配属得以如此完整。
    生肖为何取数十二？

《周礼·春官·冯相氏》载：“掌十有二岁，十有二月，十有二辰，十日，二十八星之位，辨其叙事，以会天位。”时间的分割以十二累进，一纪十二年，一年十二个月，一日十二时辰。《国语·晋语四》载：“黄帝之子二十五宗，其得姓者十四人，为十二姓。”甚至天子妻妾也有“十二女”之说，《后汉书·荀爽传》：“故天子娶十二妇，天之数也；诸侯以下各有等差，事之降也。”

"Kitchen Insects" by Sayaka Yamamoto

Check this out (link below). An interesting idea beautifully executed.

http://mocoloco.com/art/archives/010409.php#more

一本好书！不是因为它的封底上密密麻麻地印着所获奖项。

我向所有父母和小孩推荐这一本书。从娱乐性上讲，它有引人入胜的故事。从教育性上来讲，它包含发人深省的哲理。

每一次翻看这本漫画书时别人总会以为这是给我们家小猪买的。是为他买的，但也是为我自己买的。

漫画中的三个故事看似不相关的故事，到最后串连成一线。正如封底上内容简介所说，三个主角（孙悟空，华人移民第二代王谨和高中生Danny）的目标，仅仅是为了融入［"Three very different characters, one simple gaol: to fit in."］。作者想要传达的想法很明确：为了融入社会而否认和排斥自己的文化和种族背景的作法是无用而且愚蠢的。一个人的着装、口音、生活习惯都可以改变，然而不能认同和接受自我，结果只会是丧失自信，被所有人排斥。

孙悟空说：“You know Jin, I would have saved myself from five hundred years' imprisonment beneath a mountain of rock had I only realized how good it is to be a monkey.”

香蕉人的悲哀就在于，“外人”看到的是他的“皮”，同胞看到的是他的“芯”。结果自由自在的齐天大圣成为照镜子的猪八戒。


附：

本书故事人物关系如下图：


作者简介 (From wiki)：Gene Luen Yang (born in Alameda, California) is an American comics artist whose graphic novel American Born Chinese was named a 2006 finalist for the National Book Award in the young people's literature category. This was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award. It has also won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for young-adult literature, a first for a graphic novel.

This weekend was a busy but very fun weekend.

We started playing at Chuck E. Cheese Friday night. This I wrote about already.

Saturday, we went to the National Zoo Amazonia exhibit. Dan likes fish very much, even those huge arapaima fish three times his size (see previous blog entry).

The fun extended when we visited the Ocean Hall at the National Museum of Natural History. The Ocean Hall opened late last year, but this was the first time we had a chance to see it. I was impressed by the presentation: The center piece is a 14-meter-long model of an actual North Atlantic right whale, hanging down from the ceiling. Everybody stands under its shadow, looking up, and jaw-dropping. Under the whale is a specimen of a giant squid; 6 meters long. A serious walk is needed just to see the whole animal. Nothing matches the lively beauty of a coral reef ecosystem. A big aquarium with colorful clown fish, angel fish, shrimps, and anemones attracts a crowd of children. With everyone calling "Nemo", I was afraid that generations later, nobody will remember what's Nemo's actual name. For tech lovers, the Global Ocean System gallery is a must. Educational programs of the global ocean system is projected, 360 degree, on a 2-meter globe, which is constantly rotating. Even children as young as little Dan Dan find places to explore. The diversity displays at the entrance of the ocean hall featuring specimens, illustrations, and videos (on LCD displays) of marine creatures, easily lure young children to linger around for a long time. And they can play too. Dan was particularly fond of a sea weed model with little crab and anemones placed in a turn-able cylinder. It was hard to pull him away when he was having so much fun. I would suggest everyone to visit the exhibit, adults and children alike.







Earlier the same day, I followed a guided tour in the National Gallery of Art for the new photography exhibit, "Robert Frank's The Americans". The exhibit itself was great, and the tour was even better.

Contemporary  art lovers should not miss the new exhibit at Hirshhorn Museum: "Strange Bodies: Figurative Works from the Hirshhorn Collection" (December 11, 2008 to late 2009). Either it is a leg sticking out of the wall (Robert Gober, "Untitled", 1990), or a larger-than-life-size sculpture of a nude male, sitting in the corner, thinking or staring at you (Ron Mueck, "Untitled (big man)", 2000), the art works in the exhibit are intriguing.