Things I've Learned: Diwali, An Abandoned Island, and Candy Corn Day

I'm nearly halfway through my ENT rotation! As it's a specialty I hadn't previously rotated through (and also one that was unfortunately overlooked in my medical school lectures), everything I see from day to day is new and interesting learning. Here's one ENT thing and four completely random things I've learned in the past seven days:

1. Diwali is a Hindu festival of lights celebrated over five days each October. Decorative lights are put up to celebrate the triumph of light over dark and good over evil. People gather in mandirs, Hindu places of worship, to leave food offerings and share holiday meals. This year Diwali was celebrated from October 23 to 27.

   

   Diwali celebrations at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India (http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/25/travel/diwali-2014/)

2. An ear tube (or tympanostomy tube) is a small plastic or metal tube inserted through the ear drum and left in place until it falls out or is removed. Its function is to allow air into the middle ear to prevent bacterial ear infections from recurring within the middle ear (the area behind the ear drum). As it's a very common ENT procedure, I've gotten to see them inserted in pediatric (most commonly) and adult patients. While adults may be able to tolerate the procedure in the office, children generally have it performed in the OR under general anesthesia.

   

   an ear tube in the ear drum
   (http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/ear-infection/ss/slideshow-ear-infection-anatomy)

3. Johnston Atoll is an abandoned island in the south Pacific, under American administration. Formerly used as an airbase, naval refueling station, and nuclear weapons test site, it was contaminated from its use between 1971 and 2001 as a storage and disposal site for chemical weapons and Agent Orange. As seen on Google Maps, its 1941 runway remains -- decommissioned in 2004 when the last workers left the island, but used once more in 2007 to rescue an ill fisherman.

   

   Johnston Atoll (Google Maps)

4. Today is Candy Corn Day in the USA (according to Food.com every day is a food holiday -- yesterday was Oatmeal Day). Candy corn was created in the 1880s by a Philadelphia candy company called Wunderle (now Jelly Belly) and was originally called "chicken feed". It was made by hand from sugar, corn syrup, carnauba wax, water, fondant, and marshmallows. Love it or hate it, you've got to respect that candy corn's remained around for so long!

   

   Do you like this stuff? (by Evan-Amos, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACandy-Corn.jpg)

5. Paris Street; Rainy Day is an 1877 oil painting by Gustave Caillebotte that I've always found intriguing. It's a shot of daily life which leaves me wondering about the stories of its subjects. On a more morbid note, it also makes me think of Pierre Curie, who was killed when he slipped crossing a Paris street on a rainy day and had his skull crushed by the wheel of a carriage. I can almost imagine him dashing out onto the cobblestones.

   

   Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGustave_Caillebotte_-_Paris_Street%3B_Rainy_Day_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)

   I realize now, looking up the painting on Wikipedia, that I never appreciated its true detail. Here's a fantastic description from the article -- noting interesting things I'd never noticed: Caillebotte's interest in photography is evident from the painting. The figures in the foreground appear slightly "out of focus", those in the mid-distance (the carriage and the pedestrians in the middle of the intersection) have sharp edges, while the features in the background becomes progressively indistinct. The severe cropping of some figures - particularly the man to the far right - further suggests the influence.
   The point-focus of the image highlights the dimensions and draws the viewer's eye to the vantage point at the centre of the buildings in the background. The figures appear to have walked into the painting, as though Caillebotte was taking a snapshot of people casually going about their day, hiding the fact that he spent months carefully placing his figures within the pictorial space.
   The strong vertical of the central green lamppost divides the painting in half, with another strong horizontal alignment breaking the painting into four quarters. The two principal figures in the right foreground are a fashionable man and woman walking together under an umbrella: he with top hat, moustache, bow tie, starched white shirt, buttoned waistcoat and open long coat with collar turned up; she with her hat, veil, diamond earring and demure brown dress. The main figures are from the well-dressed middle class, but some working class figures can be seen in the background (a maid in a doorway, a painter carrying a ladder). Caillebotte juxtaposes the figures and the perspective in a playful manner, with one man appearing to jump from the wheel of a carriage and another pair of legs appearing below the rim of an umbrella.