The Late 2010s
SF & The Bay
Things I Can Finally Afford
College & The Berkeley Vibe
Public Health & The Clinic
100
“Cash me outside, how ‘bout that?” came from this daytime talk show.
What is Dr. Phil?
100
This SF neighborhood is beloved — and avoided — for being the city's coldest, foggiest zip code, full of pastel row houses and stubborn locals who brag about the mist.
What is the Sunset District?
100
DAILY DOUBLE
What is the ad-free (premium) subscription tier?
100
This 2013 Disney Pixar film features a gate reminiscent of Sather Gate's Beaux-Arts style and ornate ironwork.
What is Monsters University?
100
This British physician mapped cholera cases around a Soho water pump in 1854, becoming the father of epidemiology — without knowing a thing about germ theory.
Who is John Snow?
200
This ByteDance app surpassed 1 billion downloads in 2019, turning 15-second videos into a cultural revolution.
What is TikTok?
200
The nickname given to San Francisco's dense summer marine layer, particularly around the Golden Gate Bridge. He even has his own Twitter account.
What is Karl the Fog?
200
You now can "this company" food without ever having to leave your apartment. Funny...their logo is reminiscent of our friend's startup's logo.
What is Doordash?
200
Hoards of students gather on Memorial Glade to "blaze it" on this day every year.
What is 4/20?
200
The Secretary of Health and Human Services is likely better known for his brain worms than his public health experience.
Who is RFK Jr?
300
This person is associated with the 2019 meme phrase "this sparks joy."
Who is Marie Kondo?
300
The Salesforce Transit Center's rooftop park is connected to Salesforce Tower by this whimsical mode of transport, earning it an equally whimsical nickname.
What is the sky bridge / gondola (aerial gondola)?
300
Your building has this person to call up to make sure you're "on the list."
What is a doorman / front desk person?
300
This pre-med course is so notoriously brutal it's used as a weed-out class. It involves carbon chains, reaction mechanisms, and the quiet death of GPAs.
What is Organic Chemistry (O Chem)?
300
The medical symbol featuring a serpent on a staff is often mistaken for the caduceus. The correct single-snake symbol used in medicine is called this.
What is the Rod of Asclepius?
400
Beyonce released this Netflix documentary concert film chronicling her 2018 headlining performance of Coachella, a two-hour, 26-song set both weekends that included numerous costumes, a Destiny Child's reunion, and a nail change.
What is Homecoming?
400
What are San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa?
400
You finally book a flight that departs at a civilized hour rather than this ungodly time slot beloved by budget airlines and sleep-deprived masochists.
What is a 5 AM (red-eye / early morning) flight?
400
This standardized test used for graduate admissions assesses verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing on a scale of 130 to 170.
What is the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)?
400
In public health, "downstream vs. upstream" describes treating individual illness versus addressing these broader root factors of health.
What are social determinants of health?
500
Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" spent a record-shattering 19 weeks at number one on this chart in 2019.
What is the Billboard Hot 100?
500
The stretch of Fillmore Street in SF's Pacific Heights is sometimes called the "Rodeo Drive of SF." But for authentic local grit, you head to this neighborhood's 24th Street instead.
500
You now own this brand with Air Multiplier™ technology to keep your room clean during wildfire season.
What is a Dyson?
500
These open toed leather sandals from Germany are part of the Berkeley student uniform.
What are Birkenstocks?
500
This branch of medicine studies patterns, causes, and effects of health conditions across entire populations — not just individual patients.
What is epidemiology?