Wasp comb

I noticed this under-constructed wasp comb two weeks ago. At that time, there was only one wasp worked. Now, there are four of them work together. They belong to social wasp becasue solitery wasp does not build nest at all. I guess they are either hornet or paper wasp in terms of the nest appearance.

Normally, social wasp colony is built by wood pulp or soil, which mixed with saliva. The very first wasp is queen. It built a canopy with cell and then laid egg in each cell. That's why the number of worker increases gradually. After enough female workers are born, queen focus on reproduction. And then, workers add new tier on old one to form a big comb eventually.

Interesting, a old nest (on lamp) was abandoned without completion. I think heat from the light dry it quickly and make it unsuitable to live.

A true fox spirit （狐狸精）in real world？

An anecdote on China Daily arouse my interest today: A vixen stole over 100 pairs of shoes in German town of Foehren. Is she a Fox Spirit (Huli Jing, 狐狸精) in love with high-heeled shoes? J

Fox Spirit is a well-known character in Chinese mythology. They are beautiful, enchanting and capable of acquiring human forms. It is a common role in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (聊斋志异), authored by Pu Songling of Qing dynasty . Normally, the Fox spirits are seen as dangerous, who seduce male for purposes. “Fox sprits” is used as a negative term to describe bad women seduce married man. The judgment for this character is controversial. Male have mixed feeling of hate and affection.

In Germany, the vixen stole shoes for her cubs to play with.

U.S. type exam

I finished my Regulatory Affairs Certification exam last Friday. It is a good timing to compare U.S. type exam and Chinese type exam. There must be some people want to argue the point, is there different style of EXAM?

Exam. A extremely familiar word for Chinese student, who studies for and lives on exam. Till date, I am not able to count how many exam I have taken. For people like my age, their situation is similar. We experience various exams from elementary through college. Even we began our career, different professional certification are presented in front of us. CPA for accounting professional, CFA for finance people, and for me Me, I have RAC... So, what’s my understanding of their difference?

1^st: Scope: guideline V.S. unlimited:

I still remember motivation of buying a magic book, Teacher’s Reference, when I was a high school student. Literally, Teacher’s Reference is for teacher rather than student. The only reason is for guideline, which will tell us the scope of the course. Another example will be High School qualification exam. Students were given special guideline for preparation. Gradually, we are trained to memorize knowledge instead of understanding and application.

In contrast, there is no scope for U.S type exam. Understanding and application is test goal. Take my RAC exam as an example: Case analysis accounts for sixty percent of the whole exam. Exam question asked the BEST answer not the right one… Memorization based exam always ask RIGHT answer, while application driven question ask BEST answer.

2^nd Pressure: tension V.S. ease

Pressure is usually caused by others. Hundreds of exam taker sit in one small room is quite normal. It is common that Chinese student, like me, feel tension before exam. How can I feel ease when I saw many faces in contemplation.

While in the RAC exam, exam takers are free to pick any day within exam opening window, from April to June. Due to it is an internet based exam, we also feel free to choose examination site. Accordingly, when I reported to the examination site last Friday, to my surprise, there are ONLY three persons were taking DIFFERENT exam… So, I do not need to spend time on peeking at other’s answer! LOL! No pressure.

In addition, no proctors walk around… they are another source of pressure. We are trusted to be honest in the U.S. while we are suspected to be cheating in China. …

Canada Goose

Goslings and their parent...They are fleeing from me...  

Canada Goose is a common waterfowl in the North America. Its name clearly cue its original living place.  Spring is breeding season. I happened to see a goose is hatching in its nest.  

CBA event

I attended a CBA event on April 19, 2009. It is a dinner workshop in Far East restaurant for SFDA delegation who come to Rockville for meeting with FDA. SFDA personnel are director level of medicinal product registration.  

CBA is not abbreviation for Chinese Basketball Association. J Any person from Mainland will have this wrong idea. Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association is a biotech organization here, in Maryland. It has 20 years history. Now, its member includes Professional from Industry, research institute and Government Agency.

Before dinner, Mr. Wei Zhang, Director General of the Department of Drug Registration gave a presentation on currant situation of Chinese pharmaceutical industry and New Regulatory System.

Bullet points:

l         Now, Chinese drug product sales are 17 billions, which is 2% of Global sales.

l         Chinese new drug development strategy changes from “Government Development” to “Corporation Development with support of Government”.

l         Coin several new Abbreviations: GRP (Good Regulatory Practice), GUP (Good utilization Practice and GVP (Good Vigilance Practice) … (I think it is 画虎不成反类猫, it is easy to cause confusion)

l         Intellectual protection: Innovation, Protection, Management, Application.

l         New registration system allows oversea marketed drug register in China through supplement (Technical transfer), not through generic drug pathway. (Speed up drug registration)

l         Establish Fast Track (特殊药品审批)for 4 categories of drug.  

l         Commodities and Cosmetics will be regulated by SFDA. Previously, They are regulated by Health Department.

 Besides SFDA personal, CBA also invite some Chinese FDAer. A FDAer sitting beside is a  Shanghainess. To my surprises, her cousin is Deputy Mayor of Shanghai………. 

D.C. Sakura Matsuri

Sakura blossom of D.C. is very famous.  Every year,  Japan-American society sponsors Sakura Matsuri.  Last Saturday, I went to D.C. for Sakura. From the opposite of road, the people looks as if they were floating in the pink-and-white sea.  

Sakura woods is a common Japanese drama background (many JP drama is love story).  And, I am big JP drama fan. Accordingly, In my mind, sakura becomes a symbol of romance.  

 This year, the Sakura Matsuri sponsor invites several Japanese performers including an indy band and popular singer, kawashima ai (川島 愛).   I am glad to have a picture with her.  Surprisedly, I was not an idolater back in China.  

Srping break : NYC

After the bus driving through the Lincoln Tunnel, we cross the boundary between of New York and New Jersey. My memorable spring break began.  

Day 1: March 16^th Monday.

In the afternoon, my best friend, Chen qi, show me the Cathedral of St. John the Divine which is one block away from his apartment. It is magnificent cathedral. The outer construction style is the same as other cathedral I visited. The inside space is extremely large. I guess it is capable of containing two thousands Christian. Chen qi told me the Cathedral caught fire in 1980s. Its towers were burn down completely. I can see some stones are still black and reconstruction work has not been finished.  We happened to hear organ playing at that time.

Left the Church, we walked to campus of Columbia University. I found the legendary owl hidden in Alma Mater statue in front of the Low Memorial library. People said the first student in freshmen class who find the owl hidden in the statue will be valedictorian.

In the Low memorial library, I happened to find two many Chinese antique which are donated by Columbia alumni. The antique are very old.  Recumbent Feline is of Dynasty  Attendant to Kuan-yin (赵匡胤) is of Ming dynasty. This Gilded Bronze is ordered for palace by the emperor of the Ming dynasty.

Day 2:

I planned to spend a half day on Liberty Island and Ellis Island, but the trip took a whole day! Much time were used to get security check, just like what we do in the airport, and even more strict.

Since 9.11, tourists are not allowed to go up to the face level of Statue of Liberty. But, I was still glad that I could stand there and took as many pictures I can. After all, the statue is a landmark of U.S. with symbolic meaning.

The Ellis Island, which was a gate for hope and expectation, is an amazing museum of American immigrant history.  All today’s procedure I experienced could be found its original shape such as I-94 form, medical exam, financial verification, English ability testing (….original TOEFL testing… ) and so on.

Aboard the ferry back to Manhattan, it was 5 o’clock already. We headed to the Wall Street. Taking pictures in front of NYSE, Charging bull (the Wall Street Bull) which is actually on the Broadway not Wall Street.  

Day 3:

I love to spend time in museum, where is full of history and human wisdom. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is my day 3 destiny. There are two part of collections impress me. The first one is Armor collection. The museum preserves thousands of Armors from Europe through Asia.  Western style armor is quite different from Eastern style. European armor is made of iron and bronze; barely see fabric and leather, while Asian armor is opposite. The other part attracted me is Impressionism art. My preference to impressionism pictures started from a art appreciation class at junior high school. The Sunrise of Claude Monet makes me love impressionism from that time.     

Day 4

The United Nation tour is not fun at all. It turned to world peace education by our tour guide. But, at least, I stand in The General Assembly Hall.

Leaving the United Nation building, I went to downtown Manhattan for WTC site. 9.11 has passed for 8 years, I could still feel sorrowful atmosphere around WTC site.

At night, Shu and Chen took me to a Broadway show, Little Mermaid. I think it is the most exciting event I had in the NYC. The stage is glamorous. The mermaid actress is a cute little girl. I enjoyed the show quite much. After the show, I met Jimmy, my cousin not meet for 27 years. Huh Huh. He is a cool guy doing a cool job. We decided to hang out next day.

Day 5

It is my last day in NYC. Chinatown and Brooklyn Bridge are in my plan. I had a lunch in New land cafeteria (新世界茶餐厅), a Cantonese style restaurant. It may be one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Chinatown (Not sure…), their waiters are old….

Labor up and down the Brooklyn Bride is a tiring job. But, I did it and will not try again….  

In the evening, I hanged out with jimmy. We went to a JP style BBQ restaurant called Yakitori Taisho. The small restaurant is packed. We have to wait on hour for seat… Jimmy told me it is one of several affordable places in downtown Manhattan.