Useful Information

Even the trivial is important to somebody.

Ah, it's not quite fair to gloss over the Trivium as Artes Liberales. The Trivium was logic, rhetoric and grammar.

Having read the lead-in post several several times, and still don't get its thrust or vector. But the latent quotation about hobgoblins as they might slightly relate to trivia is Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Petty consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

And having the curatorial passion for Fellini that I do (this is no trivial matter), I'll have to say that the quotation attributed to Fellini sounds utterly and even wildly out of character for him. I assert that it's certainly not the Fellini of "Amarcord" and "Nights of Cabiria" and "La dolce vita." And since all of his good or worthwhile work was done before the game "Trivial Pursuit" had any currency....(I hasten to just go ahead and bite my tongue). Maybe he said it in association with making the evil clunker of a movie "Et la nave va" as the nave sank at warp speed at the box office. It was definitely made a very long time after Fellini's best-if-used-by date.

No data exists to support that PEA from chocolate is a neurological facsimile for falling in love.

KSS will attempt to right the situation and impersonate a certainty of having gotten up on the right side of the bed by passing on a trivial thing that probably Venn-diagrams as a joke: Why is an elephant old, gray and wrinkled? Because if it were small, white and smooth it would be an aspirin.

Inundated by trivia, I ate two boxes of chocotates and it feels absolutely nothing like falling in love.  It feels, in fact, very much like eating chocolates.  I have always had great suspisions about "white" chocolate.  Chocolate is supposed to be brown. The darker the better.  And I have never thrown a shoe at anyone, male or otherwise.  I keep my own freezer stocked with ice cream.   It sounds like I am putting on weight.  Not to worry.  My inability to cook a decent meal at regular intervals helps maintain my svelte figure.  Going around hungry most of the time will sure keep the weight off!

 some trivia:

HERSHEY, Pa., July 7, 2007 -

The Hershey Company today celebrated the 100th birthday of the iconic

Hershey®'s Kisses® Brand Chocolates with the unveiling of "The World's Largest

Hershey's Kisses

Chocolate" in Hershey, Pa.

when I see a bowl of M&M's, I go through it and remove all the W's...my service to mankind...

Roadie: If what you say above is true, then you and Dash would really ..clash.
Have you had any of the dark chocolate W&W's?

More trivia ~ perhaps KSS can put some flesh on the bones of my poor memory. Back in the 80's I was browsinng some mental health magazine and there was an article about an an anti-depressant pill that had been withdrawn as an interesting side effect on women who took them was they had an orgasm if they sneezed.
1. This decision must have been made by men
2. What a kill-joy, unenterprising reaction. Could/should have made a fortune.
Do tell, ladies, apart from leaky bladder problems, does sneezing do anything for you?
 

I call them just "m"s and the first time I saw a blue one I thought I'd faint. I always ate them in color order with the coveted red ones last. Gone. But every now and them, the dark ones are a treat.

Haze: You are correct...it was a drug called clomipramine (trade name Anafranil in the US). It's a tricyclic antidepressant, and some of its siblings and cousins are still around, including amitryptiline and nortryptiline. These drugs are in serious disfavor because (1) you can easily succeed in suicide with them by overdose (not true of the SRI's such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, Lexapro; (2) their anticholinergic side effects are horrific (dry mouth, thirst, constipation, and in some situations urinary retention). The tricyclic antidepressants, when taken at low doses that don't have antidepressant effects can be used as sleep-inducing agents. At therapeutic doses for treating depression in males, they do bizarre things to orgasm as well. I'll be glad to tell you about it if you really want to know, but going into that here might make the Eye turn evil toward me.

Clomipramine basically disappeared from use by the mass-action effect of the advent of so many better and safer drugs.

HAZE--sneezing per se has never been a thrill, but I have known to compare more mundane versions of other activities to a sneeze. Accomplished, over & done.

Thanks, KSS ~ it's the sort of stuff that people don't believe if you tell them! As you say, the Eye is not the place to discuss such matters in any depth, especially with somebody like me who is always looking for the funny side of life. The item I read was very short, but it amused me - and sort of scared me - the sneeeeeze thing must be connected to the orgasm thing in the brain - thinking as a writer, what a story could be made of women having involuntary reactions to a sneeze, which is, of course, involuntary. The scenes in the supermarket, the road accidents, the chaos in the office, the kitchen, the bank - a goldmine of silliness.

O dear, KSS~ there was me thinking you were normal. The red ones are the best, always have been and always will be.

Useful information from Snow White: When you
are tired of feeling Grumpy and can't get hold of Doc, don't get Bashful or
Dopey, Sneezy will always make you Happy and Sleepy.

Paolos~ Brilliant!

Hazel - I believe the word you were looking for in reference to the article about sneezing, tri-cyclics, and orgasms was that it 'aroused' your curiosity.....

In my mind, white chocolate is vanilla.
 
Hey y'all!  I hope it was a nice holiday for everyone and that your new year is positively orgasmic!
 
 

KSS - I too cannot quite get the thrust of today's missive.  And I too know trivia as deriving from trivium, and whilst meaning the meeting of three roads, the missive neglects to mention that it refers to studies of rhetoric, logic and grammar - and was followed in studies by the quadrivium - arithmetic (number in itself), geometry (number in space), music, harmonics, or tuning theory (number in time). astronomy or cosmology (number in space and time)/  The whole gave one a full study of the Liberal Arts.  So, far from being trivial, the whole thing of the focus of studies through the Middle Ages, and still informs education.  As to chocolate, the chemistry may be interesting, and chocolate is wonderful.  But it ain't better than sex.  And I too have never had the sensation of falling in love after consuming chocolate.  And I will agree with several of you, that the darker the chocolate, the better, although when it comes to a bar of chocolate that is 70% dark chocolate or higher, it starts getting a bit bitter.

And as to trivia itself, you never know when some odd fact might be useful.  Some of my college education at Columbia felt like we were being stuffed with trivia.  I even read an essay by the Italian businessman who invented double entry bookkeeping.  I believe it was late Middle Ages or early Renaissance.  And did you know that "bookkeeping" is the only word in the English language with three sets of double letters in a row?  We used to say that they were preparing us to be marvelous conversationalists at cocktail parties...

Truffles.........................mmmmmmmmmmmmm.......................
 
LOT..................great first post & absolutely bloomin' true!
 
Good morning all & SHANDONISTA, nice to see you! Right back at you w/ the New Year's wish!

KSS-first off, ahhhh Neuhaus......nothing to compare it to. I had a friend who lived in Brussels who visited once a year and always brought me a box. I would have one a day...
But you appear to prefer more complicated chocolate than I --aside from truffles I like just plain dark chocolate. oh yeah.

Color order of m's? Well just as I used to eat my vegetables first and save my beloved meat for last---for me M color order was as follows: yellow(eww), green (yuck what kind of color is that for choc?), orange, brown, tan (now also obsolete) and finally the gorgeous sumptuous red. Now I do know they don't taste any different, but I guess it was just the ritual. My late husband was colorblind btw and now I am wondering if his (to me)curious disregard of sweet treats had anything to do with that. Mostly it manifested itself in ridiculous outfits on the children.

Oh, and why does it seem women rather than men love chocolate so? It is reliable.

At our Chanukkah party, we had a drawing for either a five pound Hershey bar -- and somehow, five pounds seems so much bigger in person and in a bar than in writing; or a large vintage jar of Hershey's miniatures.  All they had to do, that is if they wanted to be in the drawing, was put their name in the little teddy bear's bag.  The first person picked got their choice -- my grandson, Will, who picked the bar and was a happy little boy and the second got the one left. So, yes, I think that chocolate may cause you to fall in love; they sure loved me for thinking of it.
 
I agree with Dash -- chocolate should be, well, chocolate colored.  My daughter's eyes would not be as beautiful if they were "white chocolate brown" instead of "dark chocolate brown".
 
And yes, trivial though it may be, I do love when we talk of food,

Chocolate has played a big part in our lives -- we taught the kids their colors with M&M's -- really made them pay attention.

I find the pursuit of amor and chocolate anything but trivial...I think the MC is giving us some additional cocktail party conversation starters like why are sewer covers round and did you know the life span of sea turtles is...? On the eve, I am hosting a murder mystery as a Columbo wannabe (Peter Falk '+' God rest his soul) and as it is at a local Italian ristorante I am brushing up on my Italian quips. Trivia and Bullshit can often be interchangeable terms and delivery of both requires timing to get the look of who is this dude and why did he say that?

@ Tommy....you are so right!  Trivia is often Bullshit.  And Bullshit, well of course, is just Bullshit! I hope your murder mystery is a success!
 
Trivia experts can all be found nightly on "Jeopardy!"....the black hold of all useless information. 
 
I do want to say that this community does enjoy the topics of food!
 
Have a wonderfully trivial day everyone!

Andy~ I am much tickled by the notion of your kids being dressed by colourblind Daddy.

White chocolate is made with cocoa butter which is a by-product of traditional chocolate making and comes from the cacao nib, erego it is called white chocolate.  It does not have the antioxidants that dark or even milk chocolates have and it tends to have a much higher fat and calorie count. From personal experience it is miserable to dip with.  It melts differently than milk or dark and has a much lower scorching temperature and seizes more readily.  If you have some WHITE white chocolate and it melts easily, check the label, chances are there isn't the word "chocolate" or "cocoa" anywhere on it.  Those "melts" are mostly oil, food coloring, and sugar, no actual cocoa butter. And now I'm off to job #1.

O bother! Not Andy, Chef Deb. Silly me!

Like many of you I am trying to fathum at what Mr. P. is aiming.  (How's that for advoiding the preposition?)   How dull life would be without some trivial like Hazel's question concerning the antidepressent.  It certainly added a giggle to the day.
 
I had an odd experience with chocolate and love.  My father died in February of 1990 in his 80s.  I was very close to Daddy and loved him dearly.   Sometime in late April I realized that everytime I had the oppertunity I would buy a Hershey's chocolate bar with almonds.  I am not a chocolate fan, and this really surprised me, because I devoured that candy, I didn't just eat it.  It certainly wasn't the falling in love I wanted.  The more I considered what I was doing I realized I had the feeling of being loved.  As I mourned Daddy that is exactly what I needed.

Awww~ Rusty~ I know just what you mean. I'm not a tea drinker, except when I miss my Dad. To his thinking, a 'nice cup of tea' cured all ills, especially if there were ginger biscuits to dunk in it.

All this conversation about chocolate, which I dearly enjoy, and no mention of red wine, which I dearly enjoy. It would be remiss if no comment was made about the enjoying of them together. A great combination any time except that my neurologist has told me to avoid both because neither a compatable with my meds. He is a good Dr. but does have a mean streak as you can tell. Of course I do ignore his advice somewhat often.At my age I want to get all the pleasure I can.

very dark chocolate,and wine...how can I go about my day now without a fantasy.....mmmmmmchocolate and wine

First off, it has been quite some time since I have visited the Eye, but I was delighted to see the conversation just as interesting as the last time I was here.  I was equally delighted with this trivial conversation of chocolate.  My personal favorite is Godiva, especially the BIG box of mixed varieties.  My sweet husband, the ex-pat, always leaves it for me when he travels to the other side of the world.  It does make me feel very loved. :)

as a kid in chicago, there was a chocolate drink in a clear bottle, the size of a coke bottle,and it had that same kind of top that needed an opener...and if the hazy meomory serves, there was a boy with a derby hat as a logo....

RY Was that Yoo-hoo?

Trivia, dark chocolate and red wine..................my definition of a fun evening in! 

Chocolate and bits of bacon......and I'm happy as a clam lazing in a bowl of Manhatten clam chowder

CD~ I don't think it was yoo hoo...ah, aged memory is sweet as chocolate,too...

Speaking of trivia, wasn't red wine & chocolate a recent topic?

Peter Lake how about my recipe for bacon toffee...
 
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/bacon-toffee/
 
I actually made chocolate/chocolate chip banana bread and cinnamon brown sugar banana bread last night to use some over ripe bananas up and it made so much that I've fed the gentelmen at coffee club (on my lunch break) and all of my co workers.

KSS is of course right; "trivia" refers to logic, rhetoric, and grammar, the basics, while the quadrivia were more specialized and of course more advanced, though perhaps not more difficult. At any rate, in the old days, if you said something was "trivial", it meant that what was being said was basic, and not a new insight. Its modern usage, for material that is not essential, is completely different, sharing only this, that in both cases to say that the matter was trivial was a put-down. It is nice to be among a community of people who often think that the non-essential is, well, essential in a different way, and also who very seldom put other people down.

Yummmmmmm! Ginger biscuets dunked in tea.  Yes, Hazel, that does give that warm feeling of being loved and being content.  I'm off to bew a cup-a!

Nachista, that does sound mighty toothsome!

Sometimes, well quite often actually........ A good dose of trivia is just what the doctor ordered. It has probably often saved the day, mended bridges, averted bad outcomes.......

On the other hand....if it was too abundant, caused all of the above vague calamities.

I think chatty-chat is the synchromesh that allows the gears to shift down from full-tilt hostile to a nice state of aahhhhhhhh (betcha thought I was gonna say docile.

Peace out

I find trivia to be fascinating. It is why I love historical novels, Downton Abbey and every slice of other lives I can peek in the window at. I love it when someone gives me a new nugget of useless information because I find it interesting. I like to know what people are wearing and saying and what they're doing--sometimes it makes me feel good to not be doing it, sometimes the opposite. Little tiny details are all part of the fabric of life. If you read, do crossword puzzles, play scrabble and yes, be Queen of Jeopardy (although when I actually tried out for the show it was an extremely humbling experience)--well, these are all trivia based pastimes. And then the cheesy magazines like People and Vanity Fair--cover to cover trivia. I do admit I no longer enjoy the magazines as much since everyone is named Taylor and Jessica and I don't know who any of them are.
Its not just celebrity trivia, its stuff like the fact that today is the anniversary of the Hershey's kiss as RY told us. And when the doctor throws you some nugget of info about who manufactures the paper rolls for the tables you sit on. No wonder trivia is 85% of our conversations.

And yes, ginger cookies dunked in tea were Hazel's dad's go to comfort snack, and Rusty's almond chocolate bars as her Father's hugs, thats great trivia to share and let us in your hearts with.

Hazel -- it's okay, I always get us confused.
 
Peter -- I've been looking for chocolate covered bacon or chocolate with bacon in it.  It sounded good and yet I haven't been able to find it.

Andy, chocolate bacon bars and pancakes are just a click away....

http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/category/all_bacon_chocolate?gclid=CLn4oNLjpa0CFQLrKgodTlTolg

Just dropping by for a quickie post about chocolate and it's pharmaceutical effects on animals. Perhaps pigs instead of parrots.

Pigs hunt truffles you know, and now the term truffles is also used to describe a chocolate confection.

Perhaps pigs like chocolate, and it makes them feel loved.

But what if you had a depressed pig with hayfever?

You could question him about it while taking a stroll.

Of course if it was a sneezing, chocoholic, clomipramine treated pig it would be unable to respond for at least 30 minutes.

Andy----Surely if I can find the chocolate bacon bars in a small Midwest town, you can find some in your more cosmopolitan and sophisticated environs......but if you can't, let me know and I'll be happy to fix you up!

Naughty Jax!

Duvet time in dark and windy Wales. Nos Da dear people. x

That's our Jax, when she is naughty....she is very good

PL - Thank you .......... twice!

Someone above said, in so many words, that trivial facts are a form of BS. This is just untrue. The former exist in the domain of the sincere, while the latter are the province of the insincere, the lying, the Blago types in the world.

ChefDeb: If People and Vanity Fair are both cheesy, well, it's Kraft American singles compared with raclet. I cherish every issue of VF, which I read cover to cover, but avoid People in the same behavior streak with which I avoid USA Today.

Chocolate, cheese, red wine, coffee---these can be permutationally combined into some blissful pairings.

I would go even further than KSS and Chef Deb. What we call trivia decorate and humanize life. My wife taught medieval history and she would give an extra-credit trivia question in every examination, such as, "What were the team colors in Justinian's time, and what did they mean?" Many students' academic lives were saved by those whimsical questions.

Chocolate was used for many years in obedience training of dogs, and now they say it is poisonous to dogs. It is sad to have to deny something so comforting to our best friends. Strongly recommended: the book "A Dog's Purpose", by Bruce Cameron. Get your hankies.

If, as the Eye article quotes us, 86% of our conversations are about trivia, then trivia is life.  How can you hate that?
 
As a youngster, I had a brain for useless facts.  I dominated Trivial Pursuit games.  If y'all remember the phrase, "kick ass and take names later", then you can appreciate this story.  My college boyfriend and I were at a party where a couple of drunk frat boys challenged us to a game.  Sure....take your girlfriend as your partner, they said, feeling very sorry for my fellow.  Ten minutes later, when I'd cleaned up, I looked over at Butch and said, "your names, please?"   He was so proud.
 
Sadly, time, age and more important commitments have dimmed my memory for nifty facts but I still love trivia because it sparks your interest in new topics and your imagination for that book you know you have in you.
 
 
 
 

If Someone is me. Let Someone clarify-flawed humans often don't get their trivia straight and I speak in terms of a more recent meaning which I perceived the topic was alluding to and that is knowledge related to pop culture topics. When it is delivered either sincerely or insincerely in copious amounts to a person who has politely had enough it can be BS to the listener. I stick to my untruth.

That Chicago area chocolate drink was called  KAYO...A WONDERFUL MEMORY!! I would chug it straight down,almost in one gulp! And no brain freeze!

and what about those chocolate covered potato chips?yummmmm...of course, now-a-days, a little healthier snack is the oatmeal,honey,cinnamon,blueberries,bananas,honey&and just enough salt to make that salty/sweet flavor....mmmmmm...after my fresh squeezed grapefruit/apple/ginger (and some times fresh cranberries)....and then, my coffee, and thou....my eYe friends