David Buchholz

Phil, when I saw that the recipes were missing I turned to an old standby, Meridian Chardonnay ($48 per case plus a $12 Costco discount), chilled, in a clean glass (neither shaken nor stirred), in a quantity considerably greater than 2 oz, (more like 375 ml).  No lime nor lemon twist required.

David Buchholz

OK, Phil, here are the urinals.  From a Professional Photographers of America Convention.  You gotta give these people credit for effort.

All of you who want me and Phil to go away raise your hands.  I thought so.  Goodbye.

Philip Spiess

Well, ain't that a pisser!  (Classy ads, though.)  I'm a Chardonnay man myself, on the whole, though my wife prefers Sauvignon Blanc.  With fish, we both go with a Pinot Grigio, though with a really good fish dish, we like Sancerre.

Ann:  Thanks for the Cincinnati video link.  Boy, has the Findlay Market area changed!  (As a child, I used to go down there on Wednesdays or Fridays in summer with my grandmother and great-grandmother.  We used to get free handouts of olives at Kunkel's Pickles, free handouts of brick cheese at Spies's Cheese -- only one "s" on the end -- and broken cookies from "The Cookie Man"; a butcher in the market used to amuse us with dancing pig's ears and pig's feet.)  And where are those "in plaza" fountains -- the waterfront?  (I'm not talking about the Tyler Davidson Fountain, of course.) 

Barbara Kahn (Tepper)

Thanks Ann - the video is beautiful!  It doesn't make me want to move back but it does wake up some memories.  

Nancy Messer

A friend of mine sent me this as a joke, not knowing who it was.

I'm assuming it's Uncle Rolf.  How in the world does he wash, brush his teeth and shave?!!

David Buchholz

Nancy, I'm so delighted to see Uncle Rolf again, even though we missed him in Dubai.  Thanks for the lovely portrait.  

In keeping with the mood though, I'd like to post one more photograph of another normal person, again, echoing that it's being surrounded by so much normalcy in the Bay Area that makes me feel so comfortable here.  You gotta love the Giants..  The woman in the concession stand had thought that she'd seen everything...

Philip Spiess

That's your Uncle Spike, right?  (Um, does this guy have his finger in an electrical socket in front of him?)

Ira Goldberg

Nancy and Dave  - for such personal care, perhaps he simply uses a wire brush.

David Buchholz

My last three photographs were of a sign, urinals, and a spiked-haired Giants fan.  Those aren't the real reasons why I love the Bay Area.  This is.

Mary Vore (Iwamoto)

Thanks Dave for the wonderful pictures of San Francisco.  I met my husband and lived there for 4 years (1974-78) on Mt. Sutro - with similar glorius sunsets whenever the fog lifted.  I miss the wonderful food, shopping on Clement Street without hearing one word of English, and the great spectrum of people, as your pictures show.  I am not sure I could live there now (too much traffic), but Kentucky is so bland after San Francisco.  I think often of the song Hotel California - "you can check out, but you can never leave". 

Richard Murdock

Ann:

Thanks for posting the link to the short video of Cincinnati.  I have fond memories of Cincinnati (but not of the summer humidity) and it was great fun to see the video.  Some of the sights I recognized - like Fountain Square - and some I did not.  Looking forward to our next reunion of the physical variety so I will have an excuse to visit my old hometown.

Stephen (Steve) Dixon

Me, with my sister Sara, by the lake at Red Top Mountain State Park in  GA.

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Steve - You've been busy today. Looks like you're having lots of fun.

Richard -  if you enjoyed the video, here is the official video on the Cincinnati USA page. If you watch the video very closely (and pause at exactly :19) at the very front of the frame, you'll catch our classmate Phillip Penn, dancing at Salsa on the Square (ball cap and red shirt). 

http://cincinnatiusa.com/

Philip Spiess

Ladies and Gentlemen (and the rest of you, too) of the WHHS Class of 1964:  I am shocked -- shocked -- that here it is Saturday already, and I had promised you every Friday a weekly "Sursum ad Summum" Challenge, or "Trivia for the Over-Educated" (nevertheless hoping that some of you might pick up on the idea and assist me in this endeavor).  I need hardly say that, although several of you (Gail, Larry, Steve Dixon) struggled mightily with the first inquiry, you all failed, having not really paid close attention to the question!  (The rest of you either didn't give a shit, in which case we suggest that you turn in your Walnut Hills High School diploma, or are present-day couch potatoes and worse, which is surely what's wrong with our country today.  Scholar up, people!)

So (ahem!), this week's Challenge (actually offered last week as an alternative, but nobody took up the gauntlet -- do you people even ever attend Renaissance Festivals?  They've got great Medieval armor and weapons for sale!  In those days, chain letters equated with chain "mail," and mace did not refer to a spice, but to something which resembled more of a can-opener.)  Anyway, here's the Challenge:  Can you say, without looking it up (that is to say, researching it), where the word "Trivia" comes from?

David Buchholz

Oh Phil, can't you come up with something more challenging?  The "tri", of course means "three."  And the "via" means "way."  Three-Way.  The origin of the word "trivia" is obviously from Skyline.  Trivia is not to be confused with "Quattrovia" or "Cinqovia", which mean Four Way and Five Way respectively.  Did I win the Gold Star?

T-----R-----I-----V-----I-----A

Philip Spiess

Oh, Dave, your response was really good (as is Skyline Chili, my favorite -- and I hope you all know that its secret ingredient is cinnamon, not chocolate, as many national food writers claim); but no --  Skyline is more than just three-way -- it can go to five-way or six-way (my favorite being a "Coney Island," a hot dog on a bun, covered with chili, onions, cheese, etc.).  But you are correct with the "tri" being three (if two can do-et, three can try-et).  And although "via" does mean "way," it is a feminine singular Latin noun, whereas "via" in "trivia" is the plural of "trivium," a neuter noun.  (Steve Dixon, help me out here if I'm flubbing something.)

As to "quad" meaning "four," you are correct again; the follow-up to the "Trivium" (plural, "Trivia" hint, hint) was the "Quadrivium," obviously a much higher level!  But we are talking the Middle Ages here (I don't think Skyline Chili, the origins of which are Greek, connects in any way with Latin). 

And Dave, you really bombed out on mentioning "Gold Star"; "Gold Star Chili" is verschtunkene compared to Skyline!  (Although your posted picture is really making my mouth water!)

Judy Holtzer (Knopf)

Dave, I finally found your instructions for posting a picture on the Message Forum. I guess my patience has become tissue-thin lately, sorry. So thanks very much for your wonderful patience! Judy

I am a total loss at the names of plants and birds..... is the large-leaf plant in the back a ficus? All I know is that one of my kids gave it to me when he was 13 years old, and he is now 38. It is like huge, well, in my perspective. And what is the flowering trumpet plant in the front? It's from a plant that needs a trellis to control it.....

Thanks for any answers. And I need a volunteer who can come to Beer Sheva and consult with me about what flowers to plant and where in my back yard which is the size of a South American stamp. Further, I hold the neighborhood championship in the Fellowship of the Black Thumb. Just to warn you. 

Judy Holtzer (Knopf)

So excited that now I can send pictures to everyone! 

Here is my wonderful dog BG (names after either Ben Gurion or Bill Gates, your pick). He's the hero (with a big ?) who barks like a maniac when an air-raid siren goes off, and I cannot get HIM to join me in the safe room until the siren stops, even though I can hear the bombs falling already.

Anyone offering free dog psychiatry sessions long-distance is welcome to chime in. Even giving him treats when he finally comes in doesn't move him..... one very stubborn dog.

The picture is a few years old, but he hasn't changed.

Larry Klein

Phil - trivia - I hadn't a clue, so of course, scholaring up, I looked it up.  I dare say, Phil, that you are the epitomy of 'trivia', though that's not to say that you are 'trivial'.  Hope that helps.

Nancy Messer

Phil - I looked up the definition too, but Dave's perfectly logical definition and accompanying photo are perfect.  Whenever I bring home a Skyline 3-way,  I must first open a pack of cheese for my cats to share.  They're already in front of me waiting.

Judy - BG is adorable.  Maybe Ann can assist with canine psychiatry!

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Phil - I lifted these two explanations from Google for the quiz:

The word trivia is actually a back formation from trivial, a word which English borrowed from Latin in the early 15th century, but which didn't take on its current meaning until the late 16th century. English took it from trivialis the possessive form of the Latin trivium 'crossroad' (literally 'three roads'). It has often been suggested that, the meeting place of three roads being equivalent to today's street corner, common folk would pass by having common (hence trivial) conversations. The sense of 'commonplace' evolved into 'trifling' or 'unimportant', and that is where today's sense of the word comes from. The noun trivia arose at the end of the 19th century. 

and

"Trivia" derives from "trivium," a Latin word meaning "three roads" or, colloquially, "crossroads." The derivative "trivialis" carried the sense of "common, ordinary, of the crossroads," the sort of thing found anywhere, which influenced the modern meaning of "trivial" as "of no importance." But "trivium" played an important role in Medieval education that led more directly to our modern sense of "trivia." The "trivium" (the "three ways" or "three roads") was the first stage of a classical education at the university level, composed of rhetoric, grammar and logic. This was followed by the more advanced postgraduate "quadrivium" ("four ways") of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Since the "trivium" was considered "the basics," the derivative "trivia" eventually came to mean "less important matters."

I concur, I enjoyed. Dave's explanation so much that I had a TRI-Way and a cheese coney for lunch.

Judy - Little BG is so cute.  His eyes are so expressive.  Though not an expert, by any extent except having dogs all my life, could it be that he won't go into your safe room because he can't hear the bombs?  

Nancy Messer

Ann - BG hears EVERYTHING, even stuff Judy doesn't hear.  Since he won't even go in there for a treat, maybe Judy needs help so she isn't "lumping" it!

Philip Spiess

Okay, guys, that was quick!  (Even if you all -- Larry Klein, Nancy Messer, Ann Shepard Rueve -- looked it up, which you weren't supposed to do, but which is what we do these days, and at least is scholarly research!)  But Ann Shepared Rueve wins the prize -- and so does Dave Buchholz, as having the cleverest and most amusing response to the Challenge.  And the prize is (when I am next in Cincinnati, probably for the 2016 Reunion), each of you, Ann and Dave (if you're there) gets -- this prize should be appropriate -- your meal of choice at Skyline Chili!  (Yes, Dave, your picture did it!)

Now to recap what the answer (at least my answer) was.  Can you say, without looking it up (that is to say, without researching it), where the word "Trivia" comes from?    Answer:  The "Seven Liberal Arts," in the medieval universities of Europe, were "The Trivium" (the Three Elementary Subjects of Study), namely, Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic, and "The Quadrivium" (the Four Advanced Courses of Study), namely, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy.  To these were added "The Two Tongues," Greek and Hebrew (Latin was already assumed to be well known by all scholars), and "The Three Philosophies," Natural Philosophy (Science), Moral Philosophy (Ethics), and Metaphysical Philosophy (Speculative:  "How do we know?").  Then above these were "The Superior Faculties," Theology, Medicine, and Law -- which surely you will immediately recognize as those subjects which were considered until quite recently the only "true professions."

I've more than enough other questions of this sort to attack you with, but I'm hoping some other erudite fellow graduate (Dale?  Bill Sinkford?  any Ransohoff worth naming?) will jump in some Friday and help create a "Sursum ad Summum" Challenge (remember folks, not only is this sort of thing helpful at our age to combat Alzheimer's and dementia, but "an idle brain is the Devil's playground").

In the meantime, what was Victory Parkway's original name?  (And for god's sake, quit trying to look this stuff up!)

Philip Spiess

Judy:  I really go for your dog's name, BG, standing for Ben-Gurion; there was a crafty politician and a leader!

Stephen Collett

Nice to hear from you Rick, and that you kept up with Paul Ahlert. His universal solvent I think of every time I take a shower -which is not that often, but.... it's water!