Thursday, September 13, 2012

Our Long Trivial Nightmare is Over. . . for now

Hi Everybody,

So, hey, have any of you taken a look at the website of The Olde Harbor Inn?

Go ahead.

Awww, hell, who am I kidding, most of you won’t click through.

Here is the relevant section, which I am going to reprint in its entirety:

>The Olde Harbor Inn Is Closed For Business.
>After Five Years Of Great Food, Great Entertainment and Great Dockside Dining, We Regretfully Announce Our Closing.
>This decision does not come lightly.
>We have poured our hearts and souls into making this location of one the best spots for seafood and entertainment in Summit County.
>Unfortunately, the tough economic times we are all experiencing have finally caught up with us, and we are no longer able to remain open for business.
>We will truly miss the wonderful patrons and staff who have become our friends and family over the years.
>Our Web site will remain temporarily visible in its most recent state as a monument to the past five-and-a-half years.
>You may reach us by email if needed.
>Thank you,
>The Olde Harbor Inn


Wait, what?!



I know that this news will either
a.) take you on a guided tour through the seedier districts of Kübler-Rossylvania, or
b.) leave you sighing relief that you won’t have to put up with my asinine emails every week.

But for BOTH groups, I would like to say:


Just because Tuesday Trivia at the Lighthouse is finished, that does not mean that our little journey is at an end.
Necessarily.

The big question you may be asking yourself is:

Less than you might worry.

If you are playing in a league, you can still play in any of our other locations.  There is Trivia Tuesday-Thursday.
If you don’t want to leave the Greater Akron Population District, you are currently out of luck.
But you can help find the next venue!
There have GOT to be other bars that you think would be a good fit for Trivia.
Send me the name, number, email, and contact name of a human, and I will have one of the amazing folks at Last Call USA speak with them and try to get things going.
If you are the first person to refer a place to me, and they sign up, you’ll drink free for the first trivia night.



Until then,


Thank you!



Rob Core

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Tuesday Already? Another Annoying Email from Rob Re: Tuesday Trivia Tonight at the Lighthouse! 7:30

Hello All,

Trivia.
Tonight.
Tuesday.
7:30 pm.

* * * * * * * *
League play goes for 12 weeks, but only your top 6 scores will count for finals.
Show up and play as normal but make sure you sign up, either with me, or on the LastCallUSA Website.
You can play as much as you want, but only your top 6 scores will count for finals.
Top teams (from ALL LastCallUSA sites) will compete in the Finals on Dec. 8.
TOP PRIZE is for the $1000 (I did the math, and it turns out that you could afford to buy MORE THAN 18 THINGS FROM 5 BELOW!)
(Remember you can only have 6 players per team during league play.)
Begin Date: August 26th
Final Week: November 11th
Finals: Saturday, December 8th at Noon (location TBA)

(Have you enrolled already, but have a question about your score?  Check with me tonight, and I'll review the scores I have sent in!)
* * * * * * * *

A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the most successful eponymic shoe salesman of all time, who is the man responsible for sales of over 1.2 BILLION shoes?   (Also - he was never paid a commission for this heroic work!)
Tell me his name IN PERSON, after 7pm, for a cheesy prize.
* * * * * * * *

LIGHTHOUSE INFO!
Become a fan of The Lighthouse and The Olde Harbor Inn on Facebook.

Info on the Portage Lakes Beer Tour – We are in the middle of Week 2!  THERE IS STILL TIME!
* * * * * * * *

GET A CLUE!
Go check the Last Call USA website for your weekly hint.
It's okay, we'll wait.

You won't have to squint to see the clue.
* * * * * * * *

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME?!
You receive this email from me because at least one of the following list of things is true.
You:
* Have come to a Tuesday Trivia at The Lighthouse Bar and Grill and signed up for my emails.
* Have a friend or enemy who came to Tuesday Trivia at The Lighthouse Bar and Grill who chickened out, and put down YOUR email instead of their own.
* Are unlucky to know me OUTSIDE of Trivia, and are someone I think may actually be interested in these.
* Are related to me – either by blood or by marriage.  If the former, then “Hi Mom!”  If the later, then may God have mercy on your soul.
* Work for LastCallUsa, The Lighthouse Bar & Grill, The Olde Harbor Inn, or associated entity.
OR you
* Have an email address that may be close to someone else who meets the conditions above, and I completely mistyped.


Want to get OFF the list?  Respond to this with “ANGERBALLSOFRAGEROB! STOP SENDING THESE STUPID $#!+ING EMAILS TO ME!” and I will do so.


rob


so tired.

Monday, September 10, 2012

CITATION NEEDED - Grandma Candy at the Frozen South?

When I got the quiz the other night, one question stood out:

"Admiral Richard Byrd, a polar explorer, traveled to the South Pole with 2 ½ tons of what candy – enough for each member of his team to eat nearly a pound per week for their 2-year stay in Antarctica."


Full disclosure - I am one of the only people under 60 that I know who actually love and enjoy NECCO Wafers - even the mysterious purple wafer. (I found out a few years ago it's clove flavored.) I just wanted to mention it in case you just want to respond telling me you think they are horrible and disgusting. I won't be offended, but I will be a little sad. . .

This South Pole/NECCO connection just sounded odd - I had to dig in.

Some quick Google searching found an almost identical passage on the NECCO website:
"In the 1930s, Rear Admiral Richard Byrd, a polar explorer, traveled to the South Pole with 2 ½ tons of Necco Wafers in tow – his team had nearly a pound per week for their 2-year stay in the Antarctic. "

As much as I love their candy, I am not sure I can count the company website as a reliable source.

Wikipedia had this passage in their entry on NECCO:
"In the 1930s, Richard E. Byrd famously took 2½ tons (2,300 kg) of NECCO Wafers to the South Pole, nearly a 1 pound (0.45 kg) a week for each man in his party, for their two-year stay in the Antarctic."

The footnote for this bit of info brought me to the Local Legacies section of the Library of Congress website.

When I followed that link, the Necco-Byrd connection shows up as:
"In the 1930s, Admiral Byrd took 2 1/2 tons of NECCO Wafers to the South Pole, practically a pound a week for each of his men during their two-year stay in the Antarctic."
At the bottom of the page was this note:
"Originally submitted by: Michael E. Capuano, Representative (8th District)."

It looks to me as if Rep. Capuano either used materials directly from NECCO, or a site that took the information from the NECCO website. I couldn't find anything that looked as if it came from outside of NECCO itself.

I dug around and found a reference in an actual published book! It's Candy: The Sweet History by Beth Kimmerle. I found the passage in question on Google Books:
"Two and a half tons of NECCO Wafers went to Antarctica with Admiral Byrd on an expedition as nutrition and treats for Eskimo children."

At first, I was happy to see SOME printed source for this.
Then I re-read that passage.
"Nutrition and treats for ESKIMO CHILDREN?" - was Byrd bringing a bunch of Inuit kids thousands of miles south? Was he using them instead of sled dogs?

Random Aside - Inuit/Eskimos are from the freezing sections of furthest North America. North Pole expedition? You'll probably encounter a few more Inuit than elves on the way, but for the South Pole? No way. Antarctica has no native human population.
As the crow flies, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina (closest inhabited land to Antarctica) is about 14,000 kilometers or 8,700 miles from Nunavut, Canada. That's a long way to travel for some candy . . .
(You probably knew all this, but my mom got confused when I mentioned this to her.)

So, I have some doubts about Ms. Kimmerle's research, and her index, notes, sources, and bibliography are not accessible through Google books.

The question is this:
Can anyone verify that Byrd took NECCO Wafers on his expedition?
Can anyone find contemporary sources for this?
Or any sources of this that don't read as if they came right from NECCO's own corporate history?




I posted this (in a slightly different form) on ask.metafilter.com.  (You can follow the entire original exchange here.)

The first good lead came when a MeFite told me about the Byrd Polar Research Center Archives at the Ohio State University.  
After a little digging, I sent this email to Laura Kissel, the Polar Curator (best job title ever?) of the Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program at The Ohio State University:

"This is an odd question.
(I think that is the traditional opening for any random inquiry of a librarian or archivist, right? Maybe I should hedge and type "This is probably an odd question," but I know full well it is.)
. . . snipped intro of self, and metafilter thread . . . If you read all that, you'll see that I focused on the NECCO side of things, and neglected the Byrd side.
Within 30 seconds of posting there, (actually 5 minutes, but it seemed that quick) a user named Zamboni pointed me to the Byrd archives at OSU.
I clicked and searched a bit, with no luck.
Zamboni is taking it much further, and posting interesting finds
. . .snipped reposting of Zamboni's leads . . . So here is the part where I ask you to do some work for me, an anonymous dork on the internet for no pay, and little recognition.
Is there any evidence of Byrd having taken NECCO wafers on any expeditions at all?
I'm not looking for confirmation of the 2.5 tons, and certainly NOT asking you to spend more than a few minutes on a cursory check, but any information would be great. Thanks
"

 
NOTE:I snipped out my attempt of bribery by offering her free drinks at the bar trivia contest I run on Tuesdays in Akron - if you want details, you can message me about that.

Her quick and elegant response (stitched from two separate emails):


"So you win the prize today for making me chuckle. And yes, all of our questions are odd and off the wall! Having said this, I feel that I must find the answer because I desperately want my free drink :).
Let me look into it and I’ll get back to you. Give me a day or two. I’ll need to have some files pulled and do a little hunting
. . . . next bit from second email . . . . Of course, post away! And feel free to name me, because as you said, the info is out there. And we want people to find us! Frankly, I need a new and interesting facebook entry, so I hope that we find evidence of this Necco thing so I can put it on our fb page! Win-win."


Later, I got this reply from her:
"HI Rob – Just a quick update – I’m still looking for evidence of the Necco wafers on Byrd’s expedition(s). You would be amazed as to how many files would be possibilities for this info! So far no luck. However, I just feel there is a kernel of truth in this story, so there must be evidence, so I have not yet given up. Unfortunately, the “candy” file did not contain any info about the Necco wafers (that would have been just way too easy!).

For your enjoyment, I’ve attached a food list that I found. No Necco wafers, but lots of other stuff! Must be hard to pack enough food for 2 years!

Still hunting,
Laura

P.s. Thanks for the facebook shout out – we’ve gained lots of new “likes”!"
(note: I added the link to their Facebook page.)
 

She sent me a 15 page PDF titled "Byrd6324_foodlistBAEII.pdf."

It is a scan of typewritten list with handwritten annotations that was used to prepare for Byrd's second Antarctic expedition.
(I think. I am having Laura clarify, and I asked her for permission to upload it to Scribd so you can all enjoy it, also.)

No NECCO by name, but it is full of gems.
Here's a taste:

page 11
100 Cases Soda Crackers - 50 lbs. to case
handwritten next to this is "nice to have but don't purchase"
page 13
3 Cases Ovaltine - 100 lb. to case
page 15 (handwritten under "MISCELLENAEOUS - if donated."
200 lbs. Cracker Jack
and my favorite from page 12:
1000 lb. Pop Corn
The 1000 is crossed out. Next to this entry is handwritten "75lbs. (red checkmark) + 75 (red checkmark) +--- This is enough
The +----- is meant to indicate an arrow. I'd use the arrow bracket, but the interweb  wants to save that for the HTML tags.


Later, from Laura:
"I think that you are right – this is some kind of working list and the annotations are more than likely what they decided to take. There are literally hundreds (thousands?) of pieces of paper documenting the stuff that went. I’m not sure if there is a comprehensive list someplace or not…. Piecing it together may be possible but it would be more time consuming than either one of us would like – files upon files of stuff that was donated vs. stuff that was purchased; files of the equipment and supplies, then broken down into various categories; files of donors (cash? Stuff? Can’t tell unless you pull it and take a look…) That’s why I like the list that I sent you – because it is an actual list!!!

Regarding your other questions- Byrd’s expeditions were privately funded until the 1939-41 US Antarctic Expedition. Byrd raised the money for his expeditions up until this time period. He had a lot of financial contributors as well as companies that donated products. He also wrote and sold his books and lectured (for a fee) about his expeditions. He referred to it as “this hero business.” One gets the sense that maybe he didn’t love it, but he had to do it in order to pay for his expeditions. Copyright is a complicated cluster of rules, but here is my big thing – people need to know where you got it, so the citation information needs to be clear – and you can’t profit from our stuff without our permission. We’ve got forms that you need to complete for that, and yes a small fee must be paid. So if you decided to make a coffee mug, let’s say, with Byrd’s face on it, derived from one of our photos, you gotta pay us for that. (Mind you, our fees are very minimal, but you get the idea.) So – yes, go ahead and post the list, and just make sure that people know it came from us, file #6324 in the Papers of Admiral Richard E. Byrd.
Haven’t given up yet on finding evidence of Necco…."


and more a few days later:
"Hi Rob,
 Well, I don’t give up easily, but I give up. I’ve been through all of the logical files for 3 Byrd Antarctic Expeditions – BAE I 1928-1930; BAE II 1933-1935; and the US Antarctic Service Exped. 1939-1941, and I find no evidence of the NECCO connection. I also looked for random correspondence with the New England Confectionary Co. and/or Oliver R. Chase of Chase and Co., and with no luck. Please note, just because I did not find it, doesn’t mean it isn’t so – but I am a little bothered that there was just nothing in our files to connect Byrd to NECCO. I found so much other correspondence and lists upon lists of foodstuffs, etc. It is interesting, as you have already pointed out, that the various “sources” all seem to be quoting the same identical fact, almost verbatim. Maybe the NECCO people can provide some substantiated evidence?
Sorry :) . It’s more fun when I can actually find the documentation.
-Laura"


Looks as if the polar angle has turned out to be. . .

(adjusts shades)

. . . for the Byrds.
 

(It's probably clear that I need to get out more.)

This doesn't mean I am going to stop, but I'll have to tack back to the NECCO side of things.

Some searching led me to an excellent blog The Candy Professor, written by Samira Kawash, PhD. She is a Professor Emerita from Rutgers, my alma mater, and writes extensively about candy, culture and history. You can see some samples at her blog, or here are several articles she wrote for The Atlantic.

I'm going to write to her - she has several posts about NECCO on her blog. One post in particular, and she also steered my towards a book by Louis Untermayer. It's called "A Century of Candymaking, 1847-1947: The Story of the Origin and Growth of the New England Confectionery Company Which Parallels that of the Candy Industry in America" . Google Books has scanned the volume, but it is in copyright (under copyright?) and so I get teeny tiny maddening glances. Byrd shows up twice:

Page 31
In modern times such hardy explorers as Byrd and MacMillan also realized the value of candy as a source of quick energy. MacMillan took” (preview cuts off)

Page 72
“. . . South Pole and with MacMillan on his expeditions to Eskimo land. You can find them at the corner store.” (Preview doesn't actually show Byrd, but is probably right above the selection shown?)

I altered the search a few different ways. The best result was by searching for MacMillan, but it only gave me the two above, and this:

Page 82 (Apparently a timeline of Necco candy?)
1913 Donald MacMillan, explorer, takes Necco Wafers on his Arctic expedition, using them for nutrition and as rewards to Eskimo children.”

That line is copied verbatim on NECCO’s own timeline , except for changing the capitalization of “Necco” to NECCO and adding a “®” symbol.
What is interesting is that this timeline page does NOT mention Byrd at all.
I used an online library catalog and found copies of the book as close as Cleveland, but that's a bit of a hike - I know it will be forever and a day before I get up there...

(September 2013 update - More than a year, and I haven't been there yet.)

On September 4, I got another update from Laura:
"So – I rather skimmed over the MacMillan thread before, but maybe this is the ticket. MacMillan and Byrd were together on an expedition to Greenland in 1925. Obviously not Antarctica, but some people really muddle this up. We have very little documentation of this expedition, so it won’t take me long to check it out. I’ll have it pulled and try to review tomorrow. Stay tuned…."

Unfortunately, I got this the next day:
 "Darn it, I’m not so amazing after all, it seems. No sign of the elusive NECCO wafer in the MacMillan Greenland expedition documentation either.

But – you can believe that I will keep my eyes peeled for any sign of this and let you know if I ever come across anything to substantiate this in our collections. Did I mention that the Byrd collection is more than 500 boxes? That means things aren’t always where you think they should be and often turn up when looking for something else!!
"

When she mentioned the size of the collection, I immediately flashed on Ion the ending of the first Indiana Jones movie. (The Ark storage area, not the face melting.)
I told her this in my reply, and she said:


"So, sometime when you are in Columbus, come by and visit and I’ll show you our storage facility – which is unbelievably Indiana-Jones like. You would enjoy it. I might even give you a ride on the forklift. (yes, we use forklift machines to retrieve materials from our stacks. I figure if the Archivist gig doesn’t work out, there is always Home Depot ;-))."

(Sept 2013 update - have not yet taken her up on this.)

I did get a reply from Dr. Kawash"
I'll start with her completing the passages from Untermayer's A Century of Candymaking. She gave the missing parts of the passages, but I am going to stitch them together to make it clearer.

More complete selection from page 31:

In modern times such hardy explorers as Byrd and MacMillan also realized the value of candy as a source of quick energy. MacMillan took Necco wafers to the Arctic, while Byrd brought two and a half tons of candy to the South Pole, practically a pound a week for each of his men during their 2 year stay in the Antarctic.

More complete selection from page 72:

Necco candies are known far and wide. they went with Bryd to the South Pole and with MacMillan on his expeditions to Eskimo land. You can find them at the corner store.

And her actual reply (note: My mail acted weird - most of this came through as plaintext, and spaced a bit oddly, I am going to add breaks for clarity and flow. I added the links to the NYT archives, but they are behind the paywall.) :

Ah, I see you've caught the bug.
Untermeyer will not help you.


(Here is where she included the completed passages.)


"I have a bit more information on this topic.
From contemporary sources, it is not clear how many Necco wafers were on the ship, if any.
There were definitely not 2 1/2 tons of Necco wafers, in any case.
There was 2 1/2 tons of candy in general, including cough drops and gum, as well as 10,000 candy bars.
Curtiss candy is named, but not NECCO, in the announcement that was in the trade journal Confectioners Journal, Curtiss presumably supplying the candy bars (the head of Curtiss, Otto Schnering, was a genius for marketing)
Confectioners Journal, 1928 Oct p. 55 “Sugar and Candy in the Antarctic.” (I can't find a link - rob)
The NYT archive seems to be down right now but these articles also mention candy in the expedition: “Byrd Ship Drops Negro Stowaway,” NYT 17 Sept 1928; “Byrd Dogs Seasick Leaving Labrador,” NYT 1 Sept 1928.
Also of interest is Russell Owen, “Chicken and Mince Pie Dinner at Byrd’s Camp Marked Warm Antarctic Christmas Day” NYT 27 Dec 1929 (describes how each man got a one pound box of candy at Christmas, it had been buried under the snow).
Good luck, and if you want to return the favor, when my book comes out next fall I'd love it if you'd spread the word and maybe drop a line on Amazon!
"

And her followup email, when I asked if it was okay to post this, she replied:


"Sure, go ahead. I didn't know about metafilter so that has been a fun discovery.
There are a lot of mythic candy stories that don't hold up to investigation.
I suspect because really it doesn't matter that much. But still there is something quite thrilling about uncovering the real story.
You might be interested in a couple of entries on my blog under the category "myth busting" on Tootsie Roll, kisses etc.
Also since you're traveling to polar regions you might like a related story about another candy -fuelled expedition "Arctic Gum Drop Fiasco".
CandyProfessor.com is sort of on pause mode while I finish my book, but will be ramping up next year.
My book is about how America came to be a "great candy eating nation" in the first half of the twentieth century, and why candy today isn't what it used to be.
With ample candy trivia and history along the way.
Should be out in Fall 2013. I'll post progress on the blog. Thanks so much for your enthusiasm!
"

So, the final verdict seems to be:

Byrd certainly brought a LOT of candy (2.5 tons) on his expedition, it was a variety of candy, not simply NECCO wafers.

(If a book that NECCO paid to have written in 1947 doesn't claim the candy was all theirs, I think it is pretty safe to assume that it wasn't.)

So it looks to me as if the Untermayer book is the source of the "fact" which got smudged a bit as time went on, into 2.5 tons of NECCO wafers.


whew!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Another Week, Another Rambling Email. . .Trivia Tuesday - Rob Core @ The Lighthouse

Hello Triviators (and random friends, acquaintances, well-wishers, spite-mongers and chinchillas),

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME?
You receive this email from me because at least one of the following list of things is true:
You
* Have come to a Tuesday Trivia at The Lighthouse Bar and Grill and signed up for my emails.
* Have a friend or enemy who came to Tuesday Trivia at The Lighthouse Bar and Grill who chickened out, and put down YOUR email instead of their own.
* Are unlucky to know me OUTSIDE of Trivia, and are someone I think may actually be interested in these.
* Are related to me – either by blood or by marriage.  If the former, then “Hi Mom!”  If the later, then may God have mercy on your soul.
* Work for LastCallUsa, The Lighthouse Bar & Grill, The Olde Harbor Inn, or associated entity.
OR you
* Have an email address that may be close to someone else who meets the conditions above, and I completely mistyped.


Want to get OFF the list?  Respond to this with “HOLYHECK ROB! STOP SENDING THESE!” and I will do so.
(I may cry, but I’ll do it.)


* * * * * * * *
LIGHTHOUSE INFO!
Become a fan of The Lighthouse and The Olde Harbor Inn on Facebook.

Info on the Portage Lakes Beer Tour – Starting September 2nd!


* * * * * * * *
CONTINUING BASEBALL MADNESS
The question is settled, and scores are final, but I ran across this little item in Deadspin last week, and thought it might be of some interest.
* * * * * * * *

CLUEMANIA
Did you check the Last Call USA website for your weekly hint?  If you did, and clicked on the “Hints & News” Link at the bottom of the page?
If you did, you’ll discover hints from last week (in case you have a police call box, or are Merlin) and lower down, for this week (if you travel through time in the usual way).

This week, the clue for Tuesday is quite pedestrian.

* * * * * * * * *
League play goes for 12 weeks, but only your top 6 scores will count for finals.
Show up and play as normal but make sure you sign up, either with me, or on the LastCallUSA Website.
You can play as much as you want, but only your top 6 scores will count for finals.
Top teams (from ALL LastCallUSA sites) will compete in the Finals on Dec. 8.
TOP PRIZE is for the $1000 (I did the math, and it turns out that you could afford to buy MORE THAN 18 THINGS FROM 5 BELOW!)
(Remember you can only have 6 players per team during league play.)
Begin Date: August 26th
Final Week: November 11th
Finals: Saturday, December 8th at Noon (location TBA)

* * * * * * * * *
Hidden Note: Invisibility!

* * * * * * * * *
CHEESY QUICK QUIZ:
What gigantic company (which was originally going to call itself “BackRub”) celebrates its birthday today?
(Or at least sometime in September, official accounts vary, but September 4 seems to have a plurality of the citations.)

Random prize to the first person to tell me, in person, tonight after 7pm!


Rob