Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Treasure your moments of inactivity. Although we find distraction in television, video games, and endless web surfing, we often approach peacefulness and contentment though a more purposeful inactivity: time spent in reflection, meditation, contemplation, invention, or prayer. I enjoy turning off my email on Friday evenings and Saturdays. I leisurely read the Davis Enterprise rather than scrolling rapid-fire through my many social media outposts and favorite news websites. I might read or write a poem. I take my sons and our bulldog on a long walk.
Knowledge Workers, a term coined by Peter Drucker in 1959, are called that because they think for a living. Such workers have more autonomy, require (or accept) less supervision, and usually make more than the rest of us. They also sometimes suffer from what is called “normative control,” the expectation to act in an expected way because “that’s how things are done around here,” and thus from burnout. In this way, Knowledge workers might be distinguished from Creative Professionals, a term I use in the Writing Across Media and Writing in Fine Arts classes that I teach at UC Davis, for creative professionals often confront or resist such control (and often challenge what might be called “normative.”) They also are less likely to experience burnout, for they create many of their own deadlines.
Both Knowledge Workers and Creative Professionals need a break, a moment to themselves, a respite from thought and duty. For this we have the weekend. Christian and Jewish workers celebrated a day of rest and prayer on different days, so early last century some cotton mills and Henry Ford’s car factories would shut down two days a week to accommodate everyone. And then in 1940 the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act finally went into effect, and all of us were expected to work no more than a 40-hour workweek. Today we might thank labor unions, President Roosevelt, and all those workers of faith for the opportunity to reflect and play for two days a week. As Joseph Addison said hundreds of years ago, “Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.” If he were around today, I’m sure he would add Saturday, as well.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on television shows that I don’t watch. I’ve largely had to give up TV in order to leave time to read and write, to play with my kids, and to prepare your Pub Quiz. For that, I thank you. Expect also questions about companies that rhyme with their slogans, tracks, The Ukraine, words that are not “ankle,” comedy, the RIAA, football, Swedes, fancy houses, 13-letter phrases that describe 80% of a certain people, Dick Van Dyke, wrinkles, enthusiasm from Rolling Stone, Star Wars czars and other words that include the letter Z, Russians, literary journals, old people, St. Patrick’s Day, Candelabra, Oscar nominees, crust, favorite states, and Shakespeare.
St. Patrick’s Day happens to take place on a Monday this year, so we will not be holding Pub Quiz on March 17. Also, on March 31, I will be participating in the yearly poetry reading and fundraiser to benefit the Mind Institute, and its Autism research. I will let you know if we will hold pub quiz late on that evening, or if I will enlist the help of a substitute.
See you tonight!
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
Pub Quiz for Monday, February 17, 2014
1. Newspaper Headlines. This week we learned from a University of Chicago study that one of the biggest killers of the elderly – that is, one of the biggest factors that speeds up death from other inevitable causes – is not obesity, but is actually a ten-letter word that starts with the letter L. Hint: Mother Teresa said that L-word and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” Solve for L.
2. Pens and Sponges. A pen is like a sponge because both are involved in dispensing WHAT? This was a great question. Hall of Fame, for sure.
3. Greek Gods. Cupid is the son of what Greek goddess?
4. Pop Culture – Music. When I asked my 16 year-old daughter if she knew the rapper who had a big hit with the song “Happy” from the Despicable Me 2 Soundtrack, she responded “Oh, do you mean the guy with the hat?” What is the name of the rapper?
5. Science. According to a study released last week, cocaine use in young people raises by six times the risk of what six-letter S word? Favorite incorrect answers include the six letter words STUPID and SCURVY.