The striped throbber indicator in user interfaces kind of looks like a “barber pole.”
What is the history of the barber pole? I heard an interesting “campfire story” that the barber pole was red from the blood of the patients that were previously served, due to the use of razors in old fashioned barbershops. Well, this actually isn’t too far off from the truth. Alas, the barber pole is symbolic of the profession rather than literal, and barbershops previously also did surgeries.
The original pole had a brass wash basin at the top (representing the vessel in which leeches were kept) and bottom (representing the basin that received the blood). The pole itself represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow.[3]
20191030/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber%27s_pole