Google

[hobie16]

Yam Kim Fai’s 103rd Birthday



Chinese theatergoers have beheld the spectacle of Cantonese Opera since before the end of the Song Dynasty nearly 800 years ago. Thousands of performers have appeared on stages all across Southern China in that time, and the star of today’s homepage, Yam Kim-fai, is perhaps one of modern history’s most beloved. Known for her ability to sing in a low register and play both male and female roles, audiences thronged venues like Hong Kong’s Central Theater throughout the mid-twentieth century to watch Yam perform. Affectionately nicknamed the “opera fans’ lover”, she would eventually star in dozens of movies as well.

[hobie16]

Weiberfastnacht 2016

[hobie16]

Františka Plamínková’s 141st Birthday



When she was born in 1875, Františka Plamínková's native country of Czechoslovakia was already embroiled in the debate on women's role in society. By the time Plamínková began her career as a teacher, this ethical and cultural discussion had become even more heated, and Plaminkova didn't hesitate to dive in. She was deeply involved in community organization and and furthering the cause for women's suffrage. A brilliant teacher, journalist, and debator, Plamínková, nicknamed Plamka or "a small flame," stoked the embers for Czech women's suffrage.

As the national movement for Czechoslovakian independence heated up, her contributions towards women's rights were echoed in her fight against fascism, and for the liberation of her nation. Eight years after her death in 1942, Plamínková was awarded the Czechoslovak Order of the Gold Star by the Czech Ministry of National Defense. We honor her today by bringing you a small piece of her story.

[hobie16]

Dmitri Mendeleev’s 182nd Birthday



Around 400 BC, the ancient Greeks organized the worldly elements into four groups: air, water, earth, and fire. In the seventeenth century, Robert Boyle explained the material world in terms of elements, mixtures, and compounds. And in 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev made sense of the 56 elements known at the time, showing how they related to each other in a distinct pattern. His periodic table let elements fall into "periods" according to atomic mass and valence (the power that determines how they combine).

Scholars had attempted to organize the elements into a table before, but Mendeleev's work extended beyond mere chart-making. Mendeleev used the logic of his table to argue for the existence of yet-to-be discovered elements (like gallium and germanium), and even to predict their behaviors. Some of these predictions were wrong, but the basic principles behind his periodic organization continue to stand at the foundation of modern chemistry. The periodic table of the elements (now with 118 elements and counting) adorns science classrooms worldwide.

[hobie16]

Lunar New Year 2016



Happy Lunar New Year!

Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries such as China, Korea, Mongolia, and Vietnam. Though not officially used in the United States, the lunar calendar plays an important role in global timekeeping.

The calendar is marked by the Shēngxiào or Chinese Zodiac, which is used to predict health, wealth, and compatibility. You've probably heard of the animal designations prescribed to various years: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, pig or dog. Each year is also associated with one of five fixed elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, or water.

2016 is the year of the Fire Monkey, which is the 9th in the 12 year cycle of the zodiac. The monkey sign represents quick-wittedness and smarts, and people born under it are thought to be adaptable and flexible in their thinking.

[hobie16]

475 Anniversary of Santiago City Foundation



A lot can happen in the 475 years of a city’s existence. Since its foundation on February 12th, 1541 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, Santiago de Chile has emerged as a cultural icon and landmark city of South America. It's now the sixth largest city on the continent, with just over 5.5 million people.

The city was originally named after St. James, the patron saint of Spain. The name Santiago actually derives from a colloquial Latin pronunciation of St. James: Sanctu Iacobu. That’s why St. James in English is Santiago in Spanish. Write that one down for your next trivia night.

[hobie16]

Valentine's Day 2016

[felinefan]

I'm a Fire Monkey, but I wouldn't consider myself normally to be quick-witted and adaptable in my thinking, depending on the situation.
The one sign you really have to be careful of is the Fire Horse, especially if it's a woman. The last year of the Fire Horse was 1966; the next one, 2026. Traditionally, women born under the sign of the Horse in a Fire year were believed to have horrible tempers, and there are legends of Fire Horse women killing their lovers and removing unmentionable body parts from the corpse and carrying them with them. One Fire Horse woman was blamed for a catastrophic fire in Tokyo. Sadly, being a Fire Horse woman also meant these women were considered to be unfit for marriage, and many lived in extreme poverty and starvation.
www.chinesezodiac.com

[hobie16]

Rene Laennec’s 235th Birthday



Late in 1816, while examining a patient suffering complications of the heart, René Laennec’s memory of a stroll taken months prior came rushing back. Walking the courtyard of the Louvre that day, he observed two children playing with a long stick--one scraped it with a pin while the other listened giddily to the amplified sound on the other end.

Recalling this, Laennec rolled up a piece of paper and pressed it to his patient’s chest. The beating of her heart was suddenly audible and clear, and the stethoscope--an innovation that would fundamentally change the detection and diagnosis of lung and heart problems--was born.

After several prototypes, he settled on an instrument that resembled a long, wooden tube. Using his invention, Laennec continued his research on sound in diagnostic medicine and made several important contributions to the field. To celebrate what would have been his 235th birthday, artists Helene Leroux and Olivia Huynh depicted Laennec’s very first stethoscope beside the one we know today.

Happy birthday, Dr. Laennec.

[hobie16]

Tamaki Miura’s 132nd Birthday



A master of operatic performances in French, German, and Italian, Tamaki Miura was the first internationally heralded Japanese soprano. She was best known for her role in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, which she performed for enraptured audiences over 2,000 times in theaters from London to San Francisco. As one critic for The Evening Post noted after a 1920 performance in Chicago, her artistry was sensational both “vocally and dramatically”, and “many [in the audience] were in tears.”