Tidbits of the Rogue Valley Vol 1, Issue 53

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NATIONAL TRIVIA DAY

by Janet Spencer

• January 4 has been designated National Trivia Day, so come along with Tidbits as we delve into the most trivial of facts!

TRIVIAL DRIVEL

• On an average day in New York City, almost a million people use taxis.

• Washington, D.C., has the lowest marriage rate in the U.S., along with New Jersey.

Nevada has the highest, and Hawaii is second.

• Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland, married Jack Haley, Jr, the son of Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz.”

• Steven Spielberg was just 26 years old when he directed “Jaws.”

• The average American business lunch lasts 67 minutes, but the average French business lunch lasts 124 minutes.

• When Hitler’s associate Ernst Hanfstaengl told him that his short mustache was unfashionable, Hitler responded: “If it is not the fashion now, it will be because I wear it.”

• Only 2% of the world’s population is naturally blonde.

• There are no rivers in Saudi Arabia.

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TRIVIAL DRIVEL (cont’d) • The average home buyer looks at 14 homes before making a purchase.

• The average American lives in 30 different abodes over the course of a lifetime.

• Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has gone on record saying he witnessed a UFO. • Between 1900 and 1920, Tug of War was an officially sanctioned Olympic event.

• Diamonds are simply crystallized carbon (like coal or soot) and will burn at a temperature of 1652° F. (900° C.) • Red wines are fermented from grapes that still have their skins on. White wines come from grapes with no skins.

• When Walt Disney went to collect his Academy Award for the film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” he was handed one regular sized award statue and seven little tiny ones.

• The term ‘carpet’ comes from the Latin word ‘carpere’ meaning ‘to pluck’ probably because carpets were made from ‘plucked’ fabric. Carpet has the same Latin root as ‘carpe diem’ meaning ‘pluck/seize the day.’

• Caterpillars completely liquefy inside the cocoon as they transform into moths.

• Humans can survive longer without food than they can without sleep.

• Months that start on a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th.

• The State of Florida is bigger than England.

• Ants stretch when they get up in the morning.

• About 7 to 12 million slaves were transferred from Africa to the Americas between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries.

• Men outnumber women in U.S. prisons by about 25 to 1.

Young Puppy Just Can’t ‘Hold It’ DEAR PAW’S CORNER: We adopted a puppy last month. “Jake” is having some problems adjusting to his new home. He has soiled his own bed three times so far (we crate him at night) and doesn’t make it through the day -- he starts whining by the door around lunchtime and, if we’re not home, will just go anywhere in the house. How can we fix this? -Carl B., via email DEAR CARL: How old is Jake? It sounds like, barring any unknown physical issues or illness, that he is a young puppy with a small bladder.

He simply can’t hold it as long as a fully grown dog.

The fact that Jake makes it a point to whine by the door means that the house training is effective, but you may be waiting much too long to take him out. When he has to go, he will go. That includes soiling his crate, which is an absolute last resort for a dog.

Follow this guideline, published by the American Kennel Club, called the “month-plusone” rule: Take your puppy’s age in months, and add one. That gives you a rough estimate of the maximum number of hours Jake should

wait before going outside to pee or poop.

For example, if Jake is four months old, add one to that number. The total, five, means he should be taken outside every five hours.

Every puppy is different, so Jake may need to go out a little sooner. And yes, that means he may need to go out in the middle of the night, or on a pee pad.

He should always be taken out just before bedtime and first thing in the morning, regardless of his age.

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TRIVIAL DRIVEL (cont’d)

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) A hectic period begins to wind down. Take time to draw some deep breaths and relax before getting into your next project. A long-absent family member makes contact.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You’re eager to move forward with a new challenge that suddenly dropped in your lap. But you’d be wise to take this one step at a time to allow new developments to come through.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You’re almost ready to make a commitment. A lingering doubt or two, however, should be resolved before you move ahead. An associate could provide important answers.

CANCER ( June 21 to July 22) Caution is still the watchword as you move closer toward a decision about a new situation. If you act too fast, you might miss some vital warning signs.

Go slowly and stay alert.

LEO ( July 23 to August 22) Your new goal looks promising, and your golden touch does much to enhance its prospects for success. In your private life, Cupid does his best to make your new relationship special.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) That impatient side of yours is looking to goad you into moving before you’re ready to take that big step. Stay calm and cool. Let things fall into place before you act.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A

legal matter you hoped could finally be settled could be a pesky problem for a while, until all the parties agree to stop disagreeing with each other. Be patient.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Partnerships -- personal or professional -which began before the new year take on new importance. They also reveal some previously hidden risks. So be warned.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Your associates are firmly on your side, and that persistent problem that has caused you to delay some activities should soon be resolved to your satisfaction.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Favorable changes continue to dominate, and you should be responding positively as they emerge. Someone wants to become more involved in what you’re doing.

AQUARIUS ( January 20 to February 18) A friend wants to share a secret that could answer some questions you’ve wondered about for a long time. Meanwhile, travel aspects continue to be strong.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Stay on your new course despite so-called well-meaning efforts to discourage you. Rely on your deep sense of self-awareness to guide you to do what’s right for you.

YOU BORN THIS WEEK: You have the capacity to meet challenges that others might find overwhelming, and turn them into successful ventures.

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• Michael Jackson’s 1988 autobiography “Moonwalk” was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

• Horses can’t vomit.

• Koalas sleep up to 22 hours a day.

• The sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” which uses every letter in the English alphabet, was developed by Western Union to test communication systems.

• One out of every five people on the planet is Chinese.

• On Valentine’s Day, nearly 189 million stems of roses are sold in the U.S. • The little dot over the lowercase letter ‘i’ is called a tittle.

• The mask used by Michael Myers in the original “Halloween” movie was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.

• About 10% of the world’s bird species live in Thailand, a greater diversity than in all of Europe or North America.

• Voice actor Thurl Revenscroft sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and was also the voice of Tony the Tiger.

• The Corduroy Appreciation Club celebrates 11-11-11 as ‘The Day That Most Resembles Corduroy.’

• Bug repellent doesn’t repel mosquitoes; it simply masks your body odor with a new scent that female mosquitoes dislike.

• Rome was the first city to reach a million people.

• Fortune cookies were invented by a cook in San Francisco in 1920.

• The bladder of a male lobster is located in its head.

When they fight, they squirt each other in the face with urine.

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Stop Dreaming & Start Doing: If my credit was good, then I would start talking to banks and see how much of a loan I could qualify for. But wait, you might even want to break down the “talking to bank” action. Maybe what you really need to do is some research first on which banks to talk to. Or maybe the first step is finding the phone numbers of the banks that you want to meet with and make an appointment with one of their loan officers. You need to drill down and figure out every next step. It takes a minuscule amount of planning to figure out the next step. This small little step keeps those projects off the shelf and allows you to move forward.

Working in Smaller Time Increments--Here is the key when you drill down and figure out the next actionable step. Let’s say your next step is calling a bank to set an appointment. How long will taking that action take you? Five minutes? Ten minutes? How long will it take you to “buy an investment property”? I don’t know. Hours? Days?

When you break down the project into smaller steps, you don’t need to set aside 4 hours to start working on that project. You can work on that project when you have 10 minutes of downtime between meetings. It gives you actionable steps where you don’t need to set aside a whole day to do something. Who can find a whole day to do anything? If you don’t break it down, then the project doesn’t keep moving because you can never find those large blocks of time to keep it moving forward.

If you don’t keep moving the project along, it eventually starts collecting dust and you never return to it. In your mind, it becomes too difficult to pick it back up. This strategy helps you keep the ball moving on all of your projects. It will keep you more productive and will help you accomplish big goals that other people think are too much to take on --What actionable steps are you taking to reach your real estate goals?

Rogue Valley Real Estate

BY MARK AINLEY ~ 10/10/15 www.BiggerPockets.com I had a meeting with my team earlier in the week, and we were having a conversation about which new projects we were going to be undertaking. We came to a consensus on which internal project we were going to work on. We were wrapping up the meeting, and I asked, “What is the next step?” Everyone looked at me puzzled. I was sitting there thinking, we just spent 30 minutes trying to figure out the next project, and we were about to wrap up the meeting without knowing what needed to happen next.

Do you ever find yourself in that situation, whether personal or professional? You spend all this time planning out what you are going to do rather than spending time figuring out the next action step.

Breaking Down Tasks Into Actionable Steps--David Allen, who was a BiggerPockets Podcast guest, opened my eyes to this. I remember buying his book Getting Things Done around 2005 off a bargain rack at a bookstore.

(Yes, there used to be places where you could go to buy books.) While I haven’t been very successful implementing all of his teachings (my label maker has about an inch of dust on it), figuring out the next action step has stuck with me.

Think of all the things that you have on your to-do list. There are probably many of you who have “buying an investment property” on your list. That may seem like something you could do, but until you figure out what the very next physical step is going to be, nothing will happen. You need to break these projects down into more manageable actions. How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time. That is how you have to deal with these big projects.

If my project was to buy my first investment property, my first step would be to figure out my finances. My next actionable step would be to gather all of my bank accounts and see how much money I would be able to put into a property. If I had enough, I would then check my credit to see if I would be able to get a bank loan.

To Your Good Health

By Keith Roach, M.D.

Every Minute Counts During Heart Attack

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have read that if you think you are having a heart attack, you should put an aspirin under your tongue to help it dissolve fast and therefore thin your blood. Is this true? Does it somehow adversely affect any medicine the hospital might want to administer?

Would it be the same to swallow powder versus a tablet under your tongue? Goody’s powder has caffeine in it. Does this make it better or worse in the case of a heart attack? -- G.A. ANSWER: Yes, it is true that aspirin is among the very first treatments given by paramedics for someone with a suspected heart attack. The fastest

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way of it being effective is to use a 325-mg regular, uncoated aspirin, and to chew and swallow it. Every minute counts during a heart attack, and chewing the tablet speeds up effectiveness by about six minutes. I think you may be confusing aspirin with nitroglycerine, which is absorbed under the tongue and should be administered only by the paramedic or a doctor if you haven’t had it before. Aspirin is very important and does not interfere with the other medications used.

If you really think you are having a heart attack, call 911 first, then take the aspirin. You still should take it even if you regularly take a baby aspirin. Tell the paramedics that you took it and when. I wouldn’t recommend using a preparation with caffeine.

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Please allow four weeks for delivery. *** DEAR DR. ROACH: Nine weeks ago, my 76-year-

TRIVIAL DRIVEL (cont’d) • The oldest living organism on earth ever verified was a Great Basin bristlecone pine tree in Nevada called Prometheus that was measured by a ring count to be about 4,900 years old when it was cut down in 1964.

• George Washington was a redhead.

• Michigan has more shoreline than the entire eastern seaboard of the U.S. • Texas is larger than every country in Europe.

• The characters Bert and Ernie on “Sesame Street” were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s film “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

• When director George Lucas was mixing soundtrack for the film “American Graffiti” he numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog starting with a D. When the sound designer requested Reel 2, Dialog 2 by requesting “R2D2” George liked the way it sounded so much that he worked it into his Star Wars project.

• The Sahara desert is larger than the continental U.S. • Whales, dolphins, and porpoises move by plunging their tails up and down, unlike fish, which move their tails from side to side.

• In 1949, brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel created a restaurant that sold roast beef sandwiches. They spelled out the initials “Raffel Brothers” (RB) to create the name Arby’s.

• The deadliest natural disaster in the U.S. was the Galveston hurricane of 1900, which killed between 8,000-12,000 people.

• China and the U.S. are about the same size but China’s population is four times larger.

• Thomas Jefferson first introduced French fries to the White House.

old dad went to Punta Cana in the Dominic Republic for a two-week vacation. On the second day there, he began having diarrhea, and it has persisted since then. He has lost 15 pounds (and was not overweight to start).

He went to a GI doctor, who ordered a single stool culture for ova and parasites, giardia, shiga, campylobacter, salmonella, shigella and C diff (toxin B screen cytotoxin), which all were negative. He will occasionally vomit. He has not had a fever or abdominal pain. Many foods cause violent symptoms, something that never happened before. The GI doctor recommended probiotics, which is being followed.

The GI doctor says he is stumped, and has now started him on a lactose-free diet. We need some resolution to this. What are your thoughts? What else can be done to find out what is wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated. -- B.I. ANSWER: Normally, we would repeat the stool cultures, since ova and parasites especially can be missed on one. Most specialists recommend three cultures.

I agree with the lactose-free diet and probiotics for now. If it persists, he should probably get an upper and lower endoscopy as well.

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Amazing Animals

COWS: BY THE NUMBERS

• Average cubic feet of gas a cow belches each day: 35 • Gallons of milk a good dairy cow can produce daily: 8 gallons (30 l) • Gallons of urine produced daily: 30 (113 l) • Pounds of manure produced daily: 60 (27 kg) • Distance of world record toss of a cow chip: 266 ft (81 m) • Number of times an average cow stands up and sits down daily: 14 • Percent of DNA genome cows share with humans: 80 • Normal lifespan of a cow: 20-25 years • Typical lifespan of a beef steer: 2 years • Number of cows in the U.S.: 90 million • Number of people in the U.S.: 318 million • Percent of U.S. beef cows in Texas: 13% • Approximate percent of food budget Americans spend on dairy products: 12% • Average number of people killed by cows in U.S. annually: 20 • Average number of people killed by bee stings in the U.S. annually: 60 • Number of 7-ounce (200 g) servings of beef a typical cow will yield: 1,000 • Average annual consumption of beef by Americans: 61 lbs. (27 kg) • Average annual consumption of poultry by Americans: 97 lbs. (45 kg) • Approx. number of cows consumed by McDonalds per day: 2,500 • Percent of U.S. cattle purchased by McDonalds: 1 • Number of cows a typical American will eat in a lifetime: 350

Lifestyle Changes and Social Security

With a new year it’s time to get organized, and Social Security should be at the top of the list. If we’ve had any changes in our lives that could affect our benefits, we need to tell officials right away if we collect retirement, disability or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). By law, we need to notify Social Security no later than 10 days after the end of the month when the change occurred.

Here are some of the changes Social Security needs to know about, depending which benefits you receive: * Address * Telephone * Change in ability to work * Return to work * Medical condition improves * Additional income * Overpayments

VA Makes Changes to Choice Program In 2015 the Department of Veterans Affairs made an important change to the Veterans Choice program: the distance to medical centers. Originally, the distance was measured as the crow flies. In mountainous regions, that straight line could turn into double the miles in actual travel. The change it made was to switch to driving miles: If a veteran is over 40 miles driving distance from a medical facility with a full-time primary-care physician, he or she qualifies for care at a civilian facility.

The VA recently added more changes to the Choice program. A veteran now qualifies if he or she: * Cannot get a desired appointment within 30 days, or if an appointment can’t be scheduled

Financial changes are most important: You could be eligible for more benefits ... or less. If you receive SSI and you don’t let Social Security know (or you let them know after that 10 days), you could be subject to a penalty. Worse, if you don’t report changes quickly enough, no matter what kind of benefit you receive, you can be sanctioned and lose your payments for six months. If it happens again, that would increase to 12 or 24 months with no payments.

There are three publications that are helpful in learning our responsibilities: What You Need to Know When You Get Social Security Disability Benefits, What You Need to Know When You Get Supplemental Security Income, and What You Need to Know When You Get Retirement or Survivors Benefits.

Those publications can be read online at www. socialsecurity.gov. Or you can call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. If you need the TTY number, that’s 1-800-3250778.

If you’re online, take a look every week at the Social Security blog (blog.ssa.gov). It will keep you up on new information you need.

within 30 days of when the physician wants the patient to be seen. * Must take a boat, ferry or airplane to get to the closest VA facility. * Faces a burden in the form of frequency of care needed, medical condition, need for an attendant to travel, or geographic or environmental factors. * Lives in an area with no full-service VA medical care, such as Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire (unless within 20 miles of the White River Junction facility) or Territories (except for Puerto Rico).

Other services added since the Choice Program’s inception include standardized care for veterans who use telemedicine, an extension of the Assisted Living Program for those with traumatic brain injury until 2017, and care for sexual trauma that happened to National Guard or Reserve members during inactive duty training.

To learn more about the Veterans Choice Program, go online to www.va.gov/opa/choiceact. Or call 1-866-606-8198 to schedule an appointment or verify eligibility.

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Civil War Hymnal Q: I have a copy of “Army Hymns Written for the First Regiment, New England Cavalry”

by Chaplain Friederich Denison. It is a small, pocket-size book and was originally published in 1861 in Providence, Rhode Island. I wonder if it is valuable. -- Jonathan, Walla Walla, Washington A: I found your book referenced in “Warman’s Civil War Collectibles: Identification and Price Guide” by John Graf and published by Krause Books. According to Graf, your hymnal is worth

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about $85. As with most collectibles, condition is extremely important. If a cover or pages are missing, that value might be less than half. *** Q I have a 78-rpm copy of Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” Decca 18429. I have been offered $25 for it. Keep or sell? -- Stan, Midvale, Utah A: “White Christmas” was first issued by Decca in October 1942. An estimated 100 million copies of the song sold in some 350 versions. Simply put, is remains one of the most popular songs ever.

Ironically, it was written by Irving Berlin while he soaked up the sun poolside at the Biltmore in Phoenix. “White Christmas” was selected for the NARAS Hall of Fame.

Keep or sell? Since so many copies were sold, I suggest you sell it. Your recording is probably valued in the $5-$10 range. ***

Q: I have inherited a Flow Blue pitcher, eight-sided and featuring an Oriental scene. It is ironstone and is about 5 inches all. Do you have any idea of its value? -- Barbara, Casper, Wyoming A: According to several collectors I have consulted, Flow Blue pieces are worth less than they were just a few years ago. For example, a Flow Blue platter that might have sold for $450 a decade or two ago now might bring only about $250. With that in mind, I would think your pitcher would be valued in the $95 to $150 range. *** Q: In a thrift shop, I found a Hallmark Christmas ornament, “Portrait of Scarlett.” I paid $5 for it, but think it is probably worth much more. -- Kathy, Pottsville, Pennsylvania A: Your ornament was issued in 2001 as part of Hallmark’s “Gone With the Wind” series. It is worth about $30.

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1. TELEVISION: What is “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek’s country of birth?

2. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is a group of bacteria called?

3. SCIENCE: What is converted into alcohol during brewing?

4. PSYCHOLOGY: What is it called when someone has a phobia about touching money?

5. MUSIC: How many members are in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?

6. MYTHOLOGY: What was the domain of the Roman goddess Trivia?

7. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What was Canada’s first national animal?

8. LANGUAGE: What does it mean to be flagitious?

9. ENTERTAINERS: What age did comedian Jack Benny always claim to be?

10. GEOGRAPHY: Where is the island of Alcatraz located?

1. The first major-league regular-season game played outside the U.S., in 1969, featured the Montreal Expos and which team?

2. Who was the last New York Yankee before Stephen Drew in 2015 to have a pinch-hit grand slam home run?

3. In 2014, Dallas running back DeMarco Murray set an NFL record for consecutive 100-yard rushing games to start a season (eight). Who had held the mark?

4. Who was the first Big 12 men’s basketball team other than Kansas to win the conference tournament?

5. Twice the Detroit Red Wings have won the Stanley Cup with a Game Seven OT goal, in 1950 and 1954. Name either of the goal scorers.

6. In 2015, Jimmie Johnson became the fifth NASCAR driver to win 10 Cup races at a single track. Name three of the other four.

7. What was the most recent of the 17 Grand Slam singles title won by Roger Federer?

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Rosemary Cashews for Holiday Snacking

CATTLE (cont’d) • The Latin word ‘caput’ meaning ‘head’ is the origin of the word ‘capital’ meaning ‘a principle sum of money.’ That word went into the Anglo-Norman language as ‘catel’ and the Old French language as ‘chatel.’ That evolved into the word ‘cattle’ because a person measured wealth in terms of how many head of livestock they owned. The Old English word ‘feoh’ also meant cattle or property, and survives as our word ‘fee.’

• Cattle were domesticated some 10,000 years ago, descended from a species of wild ox called aurochs which is now extinct. DNA studies have shown that it’s likely the 1.4 billion cattle that now inhabit the earth are descendants of a single herd of auroch.

• Christopher Columbus brought cattle with him on his second journey in 1493. Texas longhorns descended from the cattle explorer Coronado brought with him in the year 1540.

• Cows have nearly panoramic vision, being able to see 300 degrees from side to side. This helps them spot predators as they graze. Their sense of smell is highly developed and it’s been estimated they can catch a whiff of a predator at a distance of six miles (9.6 km).

• Cows have 32 teeth, but they are all located on the bottom part of the jaw. The top part of the mouth is a hard platform of skin which serves as a grinding pad.

• Cattle are ruminants, meaning they have a digestive system that allows them to digest difficult foods by regurgitating and re-chewing the cud. The cud is then re-swallowed and further digested by specialized microorganisms in the four different compartments of the stomach, called a rumen. They can digest things such as almond shells and shredded newspaper.

I’m nuts about nuts. All year round. I try to keep a bowl of fresh, shelled California almonds replenished and within easy reach on the kitchen counter for a grab and go snack. And thanks to my Georgia-raised friend, I have a stash of tasty pecans for tossing on salads and desserts.

For the holidays, our tastes shift to cashews, and this easy recipe that makes them, well, more festive. The addition of fresh rosemary and cayenne pepper is unexpected and always gets raves.

Here’s our family version, which calls for your kids’ assistance. Let them take charge of pulling the fresh rosemary leaves off the stems before you mince the fragrant herb with a sharp knife. Heat up the nuts in the oven and the remaining steps come together in minutes.

Double the recipe for holiday gift-giving. Instead of filling cellophane food bags, use recycled clear-glass jars. Your kids might want to make it whimsical and reminiscent of a snow globe scene by layering the seasoned cashews in the bottom third and adding a cute foil-covered chocolate snowman or ornament on top of the cashews. Anchor sprigs of rosemary upright to mimic pine trees, screw on the lid and add a tag.

For an extra gift, tie a spoon to the jar for scooping up the flavorful treat.

Let’s get cooking ...

ROSEMARY CASHEWS 3 cups roasted, unsalted cashews 1 heaping tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon salt 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) 1. Heat oven to 350 F. 2. Spread the cashews in one layer on a cookie sheet and bake for about 6 minutes, or until warm and lightly toasted.

3. Combine the rosemary, brown sugar, salt, melted butter and cayenne pepper (if you wish an extra kick) in a large bowl. When the cashews are heated, immediately pour them into the bowl with the spice butter mixture. Toss thoroughly.

4. Cool and serve. Store in an airtight container up to two weeks.

Note: If you prefer, substitute 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup for 1 tablespoon brown sugar.

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TRIVIA ABOUT TRIVIA

• In ancient Greece, it was common to find statues of the god Hermes (messenger of Zeus) or the goddess Hecate (goddess of childbirth, wilderness, and land of the dead) at the street corners.

• Hermes’ name originated with the Greek word ‘herma’ meaning a stone cairn used to mark roads and pathways. The Greeks thought that the spirit of Hermes would reside inside these piles of stones, protecting and guiding travelers.

• Hecate’s job was to ensure that people didn’t take the wrong road, so pillars were erected at crossroads to please her.

• The cairns and pillars built for Hecate and Hermes were also considered to be altars, so passersby could pay homage to the two gods as they traveled, hoping for a safe journey.

Travelers customarily added stones to the cairns to win the favor of the gods.

• Of course, any time roads and pathways meet, people also meet, and they pass the time gabbing. With so many cairns and pillars handy, they could chat with each other and worship the gods at the same time.

• Altars and statues of Hermes and Hecate were so plentiful that Hecate became known as Trioditis, which is Greek for ‘one who is worshipped where three roads meet.’

• When the Romans began to adopt Greek gods as their own, they re-named Trioditis, giving her a new name that meant ‘three roads’ in Latin.

• Eventually Trioditis’ new Roman name entered our language meaning ‘useless or obscure knowledge’ such as those petty details exchanged where three roads meet.

Her name was Trivia, and that how a word that means ‘three roads’ came to mean ‘things of little importance.’

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A: 1964. Q: What year did Jeopardy first debut, with Art Fleming as the host?

A: 1984. Q: What year did Alex Trebek take over as host of the “All-New Jeopardy”?

A: 2016 Q: What year is Alex Trebek scheduled to retire?

A: 100,000 Q: How many people apply to be on Jeopardy each year?

A: 0.04% Q: What is the acceptance rate of people who apply to appear on Jeopardy?

A: $1 Q: What’s the lowest amount that ever won the game?

A: $3.4 million Q: What’s the highest amount a contestant has ever won?

A: $2.5 million Q: What’s the amount Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings won?

A: 74 Q: How many shows did Ken Jennings appear on?

A: $556,400 Q: What is the maximum winnable sum in a single game if a contestant sweeps the boards, bets the max, and wagers everything in Final Jeopardy?

A: 30 seconds Q: How many seconds does a contestant have to write down their answer in Final Jeopardy?

A: 30 seconds Q: How long did it take show developer Merv Griffin to write the Jeopardy theme song?

A: $70 million Q: How much did Merv Griffin earn in royalties from the Jeopardy theme song?

A: 30 Q: How many Emmys has the show won?

JEOPARDY! See if you can answer some Jeopardy-style questions about this popular trivia show!

Answer: “What’s the Question?”

Question: What was the name originally proposed for the Jeopardy show?

1. St. Louis -- the Expos won, 8-7.

2. Jorge Posada, in 2001.

3. Jim Brown, with six in 1958.

4. Iowa State, in 2000.

5. Pete Babando (1950) and Tony Leswick (1954).

6. Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson, Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip.

7. Wimbledon, in 2012.

Answers 1. Canada 2. A culture or colony 3. Sugar 4.

Chrematophobia 5. 360 6. Sorcery and witchcraft 7. The beaver 8. Wicked 9. 39 10. San Francisco Bay