Greetings, dear friends -
This month, cultures who celebrate the Lunar New Year did just that. In Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, some groups in Malaysia, Singapore, and other locations that follow the Chinese Zodiac, we welcomed the year of the Rabbit on January 22, specifically the Water Rabbit, as each Zodiac cycle also associates with one of the five elements - water, metal, earth, wood, and fire.
According to an interview with Feng Shui Master Dato Joey Yap in Tatler Asia, one of Southeast Asia’s most popular English language lifestyle magazine, “the Rabbit symbolises good luck, patience, prosperity, and vigour while the Yin Water element represents sensitivity, intuition, and inner peace. Combined, we can expect to move into a more patient and gentle 2023, with some lucky breaks.”
Online, you’ll find a buffet of fortunes for specific combinations of animals, elements, and actual birth year - the luckiest according to some sources can be the unluckiest in other sources.
In general, the rabbit is considered to symbolize good luck, and luckily, we possess powers to discern lucky moments without online aid.
What luck have you seen so far in the year of the rabbit?
Two days ago, I left my village in a taxi with a companion, when we began walking away from the taxi at our destination, I patted my jacket then purse, then said to my companion "Can you call my phone?" He began dialing and said "you better run after that cab." I did, then stopped, knowing that a couple had entered the taxi right after we alighted and rode off by then.
"Go catch your boat," I said, knowing he had a timeline to see to some responsibilities. By then, he dialed my number several times with no answer. He said, "No, let's go sort this out first. Might you have left it on the table at home after you called the taxi?"
"Maybe," I said.
"OK, let's sort this out then go check," he said, as he kept dialing.
Then I insisted that I backtrack home to check by myself.
"No," he said, "because if you don't have your phone I don't have a way to reach you."
"And how does you missing your boat help?" I said.
He didn't budge. We hailed the next taxi available while my friend continued dialing my number. Moments later, "Wei, Si Fu?" My phone was in the previous taxi driver's hand.
We found out he was coming from the village neighboring mine and told him we were in a taxi heading that direction and negotiated to meet him by a landmark midway.
We alighted the taxi there, then crossed the street to intercept the previous driver heading our way. Minutes later, the driver pulled up in his taxi with the sign blocking the 'for hire' sign signaling he was unavailable for guests. He opened the back door and held my phone with his stretched-out arm. I took it outpouring words of gratitude, then asked if we could ride with him back to the same destination he drove us to before.
"Ho ah!" he said. That means “good!”
In the happy chatter among the three of us, I said, "Gum nin zen hai ho dai wun," I said, which means literally - this year certainly very big luck.
We pulled into our destination, again, I paid the fare along with a gratuity, checked my phone, and saw 14 missed calls over
How was this a water rabbit moment?
A persistent and quick-thinking friend. Intuitively, he directed us home to see if my phone was there and stayed with me calling my phone over and over until the driver answered it. The driver said that the couple he drove after us had found the phone. It hadn't rung, it was on silent, as I usually keep my phone. Somehow, he picked it up at one of the calls. Had we gone our separate ways as I suggested, there’d be no way to contact me to arrange its return.
Lucky circumstances - The couple noticed the phone and handed it to the driver. The driver happened to be nearby and just completed a short trip near our origin in Clear Water Bay. Just about anywhere else a green taxi (different colored taxis have regional restrictions) can go would have been more inconvenient - Sai Kung, Ma On Shan, Tai Po, Yuen Long, Sheung Shui, anywhere else in the New Territories – even the airport, 45 kilometers (almost 30 miles) away.
Good-willed people - The couple handed the phone to the driver. The driver picked up the call and blocked himself off from any more business until he returned it. Seemingly, no one intended to profit off my lost phone.
What are some lucky moments for you since the Water Rabbit year started?
What’s happening in business?
Two months ago, an opportunity crossed my desk to be an in-house career coach for science undergraduates at a local university. Yesterday, they got back to me and informed me that my company is not selected to provide this service this time.
THEN, they said that the other service I described, communication coaching, is beneficial for their students and they would reach back to discuss more details.
Whether this pans out or not, it’s a success to recognize a need and to offer something valuable while they were addressing a different need. Another Water Rabbit moment.
What is Communication Coaching with me like?
This coaching supports individuals, most of whom speak English as a second language, who want to become more effective and to increase opportunities in their work and/or studies by improving their professional and/or academic communications.
We start with reports, emails, presentations, job/school application materials, day-to-day work communications, and/or sometimes simply conversation practice with the subject matter you choose. We tackle points about organizing thoughts, syntax - the choice of words and how to use them, grammar, vocabulary, style, pronunciation, and most importantly, the courage to practice regardless of mistakes!
Clients have included professionals in wealth management, law, and engineering, and of course, science students and researchers. Most, not all, were native Chinese speakers. Thanks to my scientific background, I have no fear of technical language and concepts, so I can support clients where English language specialists may not be able to. Thanks to my language and musical background, my ears are sensitive and I can relate to practicing regardless of mistakes!
Does this sound valuable to you or someone you know?
This type of coaching can be standalone or integrated with personal coaching or other support, in person or online.
Please contact us to start a conversation about it.
Finally, an invitation to all…
Did you know that you could practice empathy and deep listening by having 5 minutes uninterrupted to speak (or not speak)?
...Yes… your companions will also get 5 minutes uninterrupted to speak (or not speak).
Join us online for Empathy and Solidarity Practice - a practice transforming me for the past 2 years, led by Hong Kong-based leadership coach Angela Spaxman.
Our next session is Friday, February 3, 10:00 - 11:15 am Hong Kong time. Newcomers are extremely welcome, as is anyone able to sign on from any time zone. Here are some of the more comfortable time zones (probably):
New Zealand time:
Friday afternoons 3:00 - 4:15 pm starting Feb 3
Hong Kong time:
Friday mornings 10:00 - 11:15 am
North America East Coast (New York) EST:
Thursday nights 9:00 - 10:15 pm starting Feb 2
North America Pacific Coast (San Francisco) PST:
Thursday nights 7:00 - 8:15 pm
To receive the meeting link, sign up here: Empathy & Solidarity Practice. There is no commitment to participate each week.
Thank you to the sea of family, friends, and collaborators, personal and professional, old and new, near and far. Positive change is a long road. Hang in there! Thank you for your consistent support, and Happy New Year again!
This week’s science post, online January 30, 2023
The mRNA vaccines against the COVID-19 virus hold the RNA code for making the spike protein of the virus. Once inside us, the protein-making machinery inside our cells follows the instructions in that genetic code to construct the spike protein, which then triggers our immune system.
One big advantage of mRNA vaccines is that the RNA code they contain can be changed to be more similar to the code found uniquely inside specific variants of the virus.
Taking the mRNA vaccine by Pfizer/BioNTech as an example - the original vaccine, called BNT162b2, contains the RNA sequence that holds the code for the spike protein of an early variant common in 2020.
Research and experience have shown that this version of the vaccine has limited potency against the Omicron variants.
Now, new versions of the vaccine BNT162b2 where the mRNA code has been adapted to the Omicron variant BA.1 are under clinical trials.
In a recent Phase 3 clinical trial with 1846 adults older than 55 years, two versions were tested in addition to the original BNT162b2 – all together, three vaccines were tested. Prior to the trial, all participants had had 3 shots of the original BNT162b2 vaccine, so the clinical trial was examining the effects of these vaccines when used as the 4th shot (or second booster).
Two of these vaccines were monovalent – meaning they contain the sequence for just one variant. The original BNT162b2 is monovalent – it contains only the sequence from just one variant that was common in 2020. The new monovalent vaccine contains the sequence just for the BA.1 variant.
The third vaccine tested was a bivalent vaccine – meaning it contains a mixture of the sequences in the two monovalent vaccines.
For each of these three vaccines, two doses were tested, either 30 µg or 60 µg (µg means micrograms).
Those of us who received the standard 3 shots of Pfizer/BioNTech received 30 µg each time.
In one test, researchers extracted antibodies from the participants' blood and tested the ability of these antibody titers to neutralize the Omicron BA.1 variant in the lab.
They concluded that among the adults 55 years of age and older in this study, boosting with a vaccine adapted to the Omicron BA.1 subvariant led to superior protection against this variant than boosting with the original BNT162b2.
See the numbers and more in this video summary by the New England Journal of Medicine. If you can't view the video right away, you might have to create a free account.
Read the full study.
Like what you read here? Clear Water Science Consulting provides science translation, research, consulting, and communication solutions, among other services, to broaden the accessibility and impacts of science for all stakeholders, including the public. Please contact us to discuss ideas and projects.
Human Resources – the most important resource in any enterprise
Jacob Berlin Straight-talking chemist turned CEO, husband of a data science executive, and father of two boys based in Pasadena, California, USA. During his 8.5 years as a professor at City of Hope Cancer Treatment and Research Center in Pasadena, he and his colleagues invented a technology that updates the way we collect chemical data, a non-negotiable part of drug discovery. That technology, now at the heart of Terray Therapeutics, can measure interactions between millions of drug candidates and drug targets within minutes. Terray pairs its unique ability to measure precise chemical data at scale with machine learning and other modern computational techniques to rapidly identify promising drug candidates, design more optimal candidates and come back around to test millions of those candidates. This allows Terray to solve problems others cannot and to deliver better drug candidates. It’s like being able to search the entire internet for the right jacket when you had to only go to the local store before. As CEO of Terray, Jacob manages 60 dedicated scientists, business, and human resource personnel and finds himself doing more science than ever. Ask him about effective merit and support systems in research and the fun of fatherhood.
Interesting Reads
Bizarre ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker - Ars Technica 2016 - A layperson-friendly report on a scientific report in The Journal of Hymenoptera - wood ants have built a colony at the top of the ventilation shaft of a Soviet-era bunker. For years, another ‘colony’ has thrived inside the bunker thanks to regular barrages of ants falling down the ventilation shaft, never to rise to the surface again.
Interesting Watches
Wednesday - 2022 Netflix supernatural comedy around Wednesday Addams, daughter of the iconic Addams Family, fitting in at Nevermore, high school for outcasts. Typical of executive producer Tim Burton, vivid personalities and sympathetic monsters abound. This is the first Addams Family show involving Tim Burton, who was involved in talks around a stop motion Addams Family film in 2010 as well as the 1991 film.
In an interview with Empire magazine, he said that when he read the script, "it spoke to me about how I felt in school and how you feel about your parents, how you feel as a person," and added, "You know, Wednesday and I have the same worldview."
Thank you for reading and peace to you in the Year of the Water Rabbit!
About
The Clear Water RoundUp is Clear Water Science Consulting’s regular newsletter – a collection of sharable business updates and insights, news from select locales, and features of interesting people and media.
Clear Water Science Consulting empowers science and scientists through effective communication. Our main activities are science communication (content creation, editing, technical review) and full-suite coaching for people scientists and researchers (communication coaching, research coaching, career coaching) – one-on-one and workshops.
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