Song of the day:
Top Ten Tuesday
I probably should have chosen something Olympic related for this week’s top ten but I couldn’t come up with anything interesting…maybe next week. There’s no list for this week because I couldn’t come with anything interesting outside the Olympics either. I may have to rethink what Tuesday’s posts are called…instead, please enjoy this balloon tiger.
Black History Month / Meet Patricia Bath
Patricia Bath was the first African American to complete an ophthalmology residency with New York University’s School of Medicine, in 1973. Two years later, the UCLA School of Medicine appointed her as the first female faculty member in its department of ophthalmology. Believing that “eyesight is a basic human right,” Dr. Bath went on to cofound the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.
In the early 1980s, Bath studied laser technology and saw its potential for eye surgery. In 1986, she invented the Laserphaco probe, a device and method for cataract treatments. When she patented the instrument, in 1988, she became the first African American female doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention.
Lunar New Year / The Number Four
The Weatherhead East Asian Institute explains that during Lunar New Year, it's important to avoid the number four ("si") because it sounds like the word for death in Chinese. "Any words and their homonyms related to death, illness, or bankruptcy are inauspicious," the institute says.
In South Korea, the number four is also a superstitious number associated with death (due to the Korean word for "four" being spelled the same as the first half of the Korean word for death)—so much so that elevators in South Korea feature the letter "F" instead of the number four on the button for the fourth floor. (Source: Newsweek)
You’re gonna have to click this one since NBC won’t let it play from other sites…but trust me, it’s worth it.