Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

I wrote poems from time to time for specific occasions, a practice I started when I was Davis poet laureate, back when I would write poems for city council meetings and for rallies and memorials. I had written one book of poetry about Yolo County veterans, and thus was asked to read poems from the book at Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies at the Davis Cemetery. I will be reading one such poem to begin Stories on Stage Davis this coming Saturday (Veterans Day) at 7:30 at the Pence Gallery.

Most of the poems I write for people or for occasions are for my wife Kate, and I often return to such compositions when I am starting a Pub Quiz newsletter on a Wednesday afternoon, but with many meetings and obligations between newsletter time and the time I take the stage. Today, for instance, I will be delivering one family member to the doctor and another to the dentist and a third to a fourth family member (we don’t all live in the same house anymore), all between now and when I start my KDVS radio show at 5.

So happy belated birthday (November 4) to my wife Kate. For her “birthday week” (which is ongoing), I wrote her two poems and let her choose which one to pose on Facebook. The second one, this one, would get posted on Instagram:

The Two of Cups

You entice like a riddle

Your legs never end

You prefer banjo to fiddle

I’m in love with my friend


The artist at the griddle

Has her boy’s plays to attend

You call our dog “Liddle”

You’re my workweek’s weekend

You make my heart giggle

Your eyes, they transcend
We’ve just now reached the middle
You are the poem that I’ve penned

My high-end godsend birthday girlfriend

I’d marry you again and again and again


It’s rare that I wrote poems where the only punctuation marks are quotation marks, and this time even those might be superfluous. Happy birthday, Kate!


If you are in the city of Davis tonight, please join us for the Pub Quiz at Sudwerk. Recruit a team, dress for sunset, and join us at the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for almost everyone. As it gets cooler, some of you may want to find a table to play inside. We always have more fun with the bigger crowds and more voices.  

In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on getting things done with oil, radios, yachts, ducks, county seats, hospital bills, compounds that you may remember from 11th grade, seals, tall athletes, orchestral necessities, deciduous trees, Albania, Iranians in California, famous forests, sports in the Midwest, people with common and uncommon names, plows, Greek mythology, big countries, dramas about race relations, cities that change names, Brown characters, musical queens, Oscar-winners, Roberts, Novelists with opinions on late starts, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, southern states, National Parks, current events, angry whales, books and authors, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Gena Harper and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! 

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are three Pub Quiz questions from last week:

  1. Film. The top-grossing film from this past weekend, Five Nights at Freddy’s, was adapted from which of the following: Another film, a novel, a TV show, or a video game?  
  1. UC Davis Youth Culture. What is the most popular location on the west side of the UC Davis campus where students watch the sun set?  
  1. Science. In the field of genetics, what P word do we use for the observable traits of an organism?  

Dancing Chemistry in the Aisles – A Pub Quiz Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

When David Byrne appears with a portable cassette recorder and his guitar in the opening moments of the concert film Stop Making Sense, the stage is bare. He says, “Hi! I have a tape I want to play,” and then the pre-recorded backing track accompanies him as he plays a solo version of the band’s first hit, “Psycho Killer.” 

One admires Byrne’s ostentation, and later his athleticism. As an additional bandmember joins Byrne on stage, and later as the set for the concert is built behind and around the other Talking Heads, David Byrne rolls out new dance moves that are at times innovative, athletic, and even frenetic. He soaks through several shirts and later, famously, a really big suit. 

Driving home from The Varsity Theater last night, we remarked that it’s a good thing that Jonathan Demme filmed Stop Making Sense over four days, for no one would be able to move that much, that quickly, and that artfully in 90 minutes. As one ancestor of mine remarked about the children many years ago, “Where do they get that PEP?” Byrne has moves and restlessness like Jagger. Stop Making Sense is a musical version of one of those martial arts films where the punching-and-kicking gymnast hero never tires or has to use the bathroom.

My son Truman insisted that we see the film on the big screen, and of course, he was right. Over the past two years, Truman has been experiencing fine film the way that I experienced classic masterpieces during the early years of my PhD. The author James Clear would say that Truman is engaging in the sort of “deliberate practice [that] requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance” (Deliberate Practice: What It Is and How to Use It).

Truman will have to decide what sort of performances his practice of film research and enjoyment will improve. Isn’t that what college is for? He’s working on his applications now.

The best part of attending a concert is the opportunity (nay, the necessity) to dance while a favorite band is playing. On October 21st, 1986, a friend and I attended a Billy Joel concert at The Centrum (in Worcester, MA) as part of his The Bridge tour. My friend and I got up to dance from our cheap seats after a few songs, only to be told by a big dude that we were blocking his view. And then when Joel started “Only the Good Die Young,” everyone jumped up to dance, and the big dude had nothing more to say to us.

As I was watching The Talking Heads perform last night, I wondered to myself why I wasn’t dancing. First of all, I didn’t want to embarrass my son who was still costumed like Agent K from Men in Black. Also, I noticed that I wasn’t 17, the age I was the last time I saw this film in a theater. Also, like that big dude in Worcester, I might have felt it was too early in the concert to leave my seat.

But then when the song “Slippery People” began, two women from the audience behind us did jump up to descend the stairs to the front of the theater, and to dance. Hooray for them, I said to myself, and then I accidentally started writing this newsletter in my head, planning to conclude that all of us should be the ones in this life who step up to dance, rather than the ones who just watch the dancers with admiration from our seats. 

I agree with Kool and the Gang. In their song “Get Down On It,” they share these immortal words:

How you gonna do it if you really don’t wanna dance
By standing on the wall?
(Get your back up off the wall) 

After the film ended and the lights came up, one of the dancers exclaimed, “Hi Truman!” It turns out she was Truman’s retired chemistry teacher, and a subscriber to this newsletter. If such an esteemed and respected member of our community can get her back up off the wall, shouldn’t the rest of us, at least once in a lifetime, follow her lead? 

I look forward to hosting a Pub Quiz this evening, hopefully with you in attendance. If you are in Davis tonight, please come by Sudwerk at 7 PM. Recruit a team, dress for sunset, and join us at the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for almost everyone. Latecomers will find a table to play inside. Even though it is more work for me, we always have more fun with the bigger crowds and more voices. 

In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on people who are powerful, Halloween, our fellow citizens of Earth, the Vatican, Jimmy Carter, famous sayings, jobs in common, Romanian philosophers named Emil, straps one would use to hold down an orca in your RV, successful hosts, flowers, jokers, vitamins, job-seekers, teenage musicians who make good, post-season play, outraged peers, portable kitchens, famous novels, personal traits, dead Americans, countries of origin, UC Davis, adaptations, French culture, self-confidence, puzzles, The Beatles, sweaters, National Parks, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Gena Harper and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. They receive the weekly quiz and all the answers in their inboxes every week. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this endeavor! 

Best,

Dr. Andy

Here are three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz:

  1. Unusual Words. Starting with the letter Q and ending with a C, what adjective means “Extremely idealistic and unrealistic, often to the point of being impractical”?  
  1. Pop Culture – Television. Sharing a seven-word title with a Poe story, what 2023 gothic horror drama television miniseries on Netflix includes the line “Roderick Usher, your family is a collection of stunted hearts.” 
  1. Another Music Question. What instrument does James Galway play?  

P.S. Speaking of which, esteemed flute maestra Rachel Geier will open for California poet laureate Lee Herrick at Poetry Night tomorrow night at 7 at the Natsoulas Gallery. What an amazing night this will be! Dancing will be encouraged.

Planting Seeds and Putting Down Roots: A Pub Quiz Newsletter

“When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope.  We also secure the future for our children.” Wangari Maathai, The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

As I write this, my French bulldog Margot has her paws up on the windowsill of a second-floor bedroom, looking out the window at the greenbelt below.

As is the case with me, some of her happiest outdoor moments take place on the greenbelt that winds around and through the city of Davis, connecting neighborhoods with tree-lined walkways that encourage lacing up walking shoes or mounting a bicycle rather than grabbing car keys.

I’ve been reading about retirement lately, imagining that time a decade in the future when Kate and I will have to rely on what we’ve saved rather than what we will be earning to meet our daily needs. Although California is considered the second most expensive place to retire in America (aloha, Hawaii), we will likely stay in Davis because of our friends, because of the community, and because what we love about living here doesn’t cost a lot of money (with the exception of property taxes).

Although my day today has been full of meetings, so I may break my streak, so far this October I have been averaging ten miles a day in walks, with my son Jukie joining me for most of those miles. Living right on the greenbelt, we work in walks the way that I imagine some folks add a cup of coffee or a cup of tea into their routine: without much thought. As a result, the miles add up.

While out on these walks, we sometimes encounter large groups of what I assume are retirees exploring the greener parts of Davis together, white-haired citizens walking quickly, as if following the advice of their doctors. Some of these folks are already taking required minimum distributions from their 401Ks and 403Bs, but the ones I wave to seem to be focusing on spending time wisely (walking in nature with friends) rather than their money profligately.

Will Kate and I (or, more likely, Kate and Jukie and I) spend the 2030s traveling the country and the globe, as we hope? Or will we be satisfied with lower-cost pursuits in our hometown? Like our walks, a game of chess with a friend, a poetry reading, an hour spent journaling, or a talk at the library all come at no cost. A burrito and a water can be had for less than a ten-spot. This year I discovered that the non-alcoholic beers at The Beer Shoppe on G Street are sold at cost (to incentivize designated drivers), so I can enjoy a couple beers with friends there for less than $5, just as my mom used to do at The Grog and Tankard on Wisconsin Avenue in the 1970s.

The Stoic philosopher Seneca reminds us that “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. ” I’m grateful that our civic leaders have invested our aforementioned property taxes in Davis schools, libraries, and parks and greenbelts, for those are the riches I crave. If you are a Davisite, I will likely see you in our hometown soon, and I’m grateful for the rewards such encounters bring.


I host a Pub Quiz every Wednesday at 7 at Sudwerk’s in Davis, and I would love to see you there tonight. If you can join us, you will have a chance to answer questions about topics raised above, and the following: saving money, Halloween, rocks and stones and pebbles, New Hampshire lights (hi Bob!), shipwrecks, people named Taylor, famous islands, Caldecott Medals, local plants, people with three-syllable last names, distinctive flags, fallen heroes, the forgotten names of uncles, knights, faraway countries, notable people with the same name, amazing athletes, taxonomic distinctions, fierce Italians, beautiful instruments, gothic horrors, horror films, Gilbert and Sullivan, remembered battles, impressive muscles, youthful musicians, kids’ choices, devoted pets, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Quizimodo, Gena Harper and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon, where American chess champion John Langreck just checked in. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this endeavor! 

As I mentioned last week, two of our PQ regulars will be reading at a Killer Authors at Folsom Library event this Saturday,  October 28, at 1 PM. Find the details for such (Catriona McPherson) events at http://catrionamcpherson.com/news.

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are a few questions from a recent quiz:

  1. Film. The first line of which Toy Story movie is “It’s raining cats and dogs out there!”? 
  1. Countries of the World. Starting with the letter N, in what country do viewers of Raiders of the Lost Arkfirst meet Marion Ravenwood?  
  1. Journals. Starting with the letter B, what kind of journal is made of quality paper laid out with dots?  

P.P.S. California poet laureate Lee Herrick will be reading in Davis at the Natsoulas Gallery on November 2 at 7 PM. Plan to join us!

Angry Jurors and Exhumed Sphinxes 

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

In my house, we have multiple reasons to celebrate. As the Roman playwright Plautus said, “Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.” I’m sure he would accept beer, if that’s your preferred beverage.

Anyway, on to the celebrations! We have been attending multiple showings of the successful run (so far) of my son Truman’s production of 12 Angry Jurors. He plays the Henry Fonda role with the sort of bravery and eloquence that any of us would hope we could display were we transported into the 1957 Sidney Lumet production of 12 Angry Men. You can still see the play this coming Thursday evening at 7, or Saturday or Sunday afternoon at 2. So worth it!

My wife Kate’s parents arrived by train into the Davis train station this morning, coming from Chicago via Portland, Oregon. They didn’t originally plan to travel through Portland, but evidently one of their intended trains was stuck in a snowdrift. I love that these impressive octogenarians who spent most of their lives in the 20th century have been bravely traveling the way we did in the 19th century. I’m glad they did not come via horseback, or we would worry.

Finally, Halloween is almost upon us, and I have written a spooky poem to celebrate. It’s called “Exhuming the Sphinx.”

Exhuming the Sphinx

Breathing dust, we followed incongruous paw prints 

Across the baked earth to the forsaken tomb

And saw how the entangled amaryllis blooms darkly, 

Its thorny spine thick with hemorrhaged 

Snakeroot, a thousand fists shaken, 


But now unclinched, skeletons in the sand.

Cosmic castaways beneath a penumbra

Of palm trees, each revealing where, parasitic, 

They succumbed to the windy mane’s incessant ache,

A mind’s splinter, a map without bearings.


An immaculate apparatus, once a glowing engine

Attuned to the earth’s supersonic percussion,

Like the forgotten oracle, lies wrapped in ragged tapestry;

The desiccated tumbledown remnants of its spells

Now tatter in this sickbed, scorched by an infertile sun.


Once the hectares of stone pyramidions suggested

Solar alignment, nebular umbilical; the sidereal display case

Is now torchstruck, devoured by hourglass pathogens,

The aspiring human blood-knot cut, the specimens splayed,

Impossible to record, too fearful for any bible. 


We imagined answers heliotropic, a starved cosmos,

A bitter army of lesions, jigsaw salted amputations,

Artful carvings behind the shadow of the sand’s only rock, 

Seared zombic blood the antipode of water,

Makeshift altar where snapping Anubis anointed a jackal.


Ever unrecovered, the sacrificial knife still scalds

Across the centuries, one imagines, errant incantations

Where someone once sacrificed an entire nocturnal flock.

Dig deep enough beneath Thebes, disassembled nuclei

In the lamentation of desert heat, and you’ll encounter Eden.


I don’t know if that will spook you more than a Poe tale, but I will enjoy reading it at Poetry Night tomorrow evening (at the open mic after a D.R. Wagner and Dave Boles performance on October 19th at 7 atop the John Natsoulas Gallery). One joy of poetry is that we get to read and write the sort of unusual words, such as “torchstruck” and “pyramidions,” that don’t come up in everyday conversation, or even in one’s reading.

You might find something from the above in a past or future pub quiz. For instance, careful readers will recognize last week’s supersonic percussion anagram nestled into line 12.

If you are in town tonight, please join us for the Pub Quiz at Sudwerk. Members of my family may be joining us, perhaps even my actor son and my sleeper railway car enthusiast in-laws. Although an earthquake struck our region soon after they de-trained, they are still getting used to stable ground beneath their feet. I guess that could be said for many of us.

In addition to topics raised above, tonight expect questions on the following: feeling like a shape-shifter, social media alternatives, beaks, eyeball obsessions, summer cities, financial recourses when “No pill’s gonna cure my ill,” nearby interstates, title characters, famous founders, better angels, long adjectives that I used in graduate school, chart-toppers, gender-indeterminate television stars, muscles, deserters, forgotten first names, tiny machines, galvanizing bands, early friends, misguided kings, circus examples, football teams, Gay books, taxonomies, Mongols, international airports that you have unlikely visited, people with accents in their first names, hospice work, final compositions, Nabokov inspirations, people named Stella, Dr. Spock, evolutionary biology, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to all of you who have signed up for the Pub Quiz mailing list at yourquizmaster.com. Thanks also to The Original Vincibles, who joined us with a new name last week, as well as to Quizimodo, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Gena Harper and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon, where you can find a picture of Leonard Nimoy surprising Carol Burnett and a baby. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of Patreon supporters. I appreciate your backing this endeavor! 

Speaking of favorite Pub Quiz attendees, two of the regulars will be reading at a Killer Authors at Folsom Library event on October 28 at 1 PM. Find the details for such (Catriona McPherson) events at http://catrionamcpherson.com/news

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz:

  1. Mottos and Slogans. Starting with the letter E, what magazine uses the slogan “Where Black Women Come First”? 
  1. Internet Culture. What three-word phrase does Alexa use to tell that she is changing the subject to a suggestion of something you should buy from Amazon?  
  1. Newspaper Headlines. What actress in her new memoir, titled Worthy, reveals that she has been separated from her even more famous husband since 2016?  

P.P.S. If you are looking for free events to attend, I would love to see you tomorrow night at Poetry Night! And Friday at noon I am hosting a Zoom forum on designing online classes. Be well.

The Uninvited Gritos on the Plaza – a Pub Quiz Newsletter

I moved to California in 1989, the same year that I graduated from college. The mom of a high school friend heard that I would soon be driving from Washington, D.C. to Berkeley, and she insisted that I look up an old friend of hers, public broadcasting pioneer Daniel Del Solar, and that I stay with Daniel until I get situated.

Daniel soon became my housemate, offering me a room in the basement apartment of a large home a few doors down from Indian Rock in North Berkeley. Later Daniel left Berkeley to live with his future wife, selling me his futon for $20. 

Before he moved out, Daniel would post cards from his friends around the home. Frequently when I was brushing my teeth, I used to read a postcard over and over again that Daniel had propped writing-side out on the credenza next to the sink. It came from a friend of his who attended a party in Los Angeles.

I can still remember the writing:

And who do you think was the surprise guest at this party? 

*M*A*D*O*N*N*A*

1989 was the Like a Prayer era, back when, according to the BBC, “critics first [began] to describe Madonna as an artist, rather than a mere pop singer.” The critics loved the release more than her previous albums, though it hadn’t thrilled fans as much as True Blue or Like a Virgin, each of which had sold more than 20 million copies. Even though the Queen, Whitney Houston, Mother Teresa and Princess Diana were all alive in 1989, back then Madonna was arguably the most famous woman in the world.

How strange it was for this guy from Washington, D.C. to move to California, where the aroma of star jasmine filled the air, where weekend athletes pretended to climb mountains on a rock up the street from my house, and where people attended dinner parties with Madonna.  

I benefitted from a different California musical experience from this past weekend in Davis. To celebrate a birthday at Tres Hermanas restaurant downtown, a large party had hired a mariachi ensemble. Even though they were directed to serenade members of the birthday party, all the diners enjoyed the music as much as if management had hired the musicians to play for them. Total strangers were singing along with the performers or sharing their own uninvited gritos, those sudden vocalizations of joy that heighten the elation of the evening. As local hero Julie Saylor said to me as she was leaving the restaurant with her husband and daughter, “Isn’t this delightful?”

Impromptu singers hoping to harmonize with Mariachi did not hit all the notes with perfect pitch, but nobody minded. Joy trumps precision every time. Whether it’s a serenade at Tres Hermanas or a double rainbow above an inclusion rally in Central Park, you never know what unexpected gifts life might offer you.


If you are in Davis tonight at 7, please join us for the Pub Quiz at Sudwerk. Recruit a team, dress for sunset, and come by the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for almost everyone. Latecomers will find a table to play inside. Even though it is more work for me, we always have more fun with bigger crowds and more voices. As Walt Whitman says, “the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on silly outfits, first and last names that start with the same letter, the U.S. Senate, winners of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction, magicians, groups of animals, comedians, post-disco anthems, supersonic sounds, bandleaders,  smiling blondes, measurements of temperature and other phenomena, Toronto Raptors, Ken Burns, famous fathers, queens, a kind of writing, the locations of famous fires, good luck charms, cats and dogs, magazines you may have seen in a supermarket, revenge tales, Pixar films, marketing strategies, worthiness, categories of Nobel Peace Prize winners, frightening statistics, local stars, the state of sports, expensive tissues, explorers, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.

The Davis poet Beth Suter just signed up for the Pub Quiz mailing list at yourquizmaster.com. Welcome, Beth! Thanks also to The far-flung Original Vincibles, as well as to Quizimodo, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Gena Harper and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this endeavor, and I hope to see you tonight!

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:

  1. Japanese Seasonings That Start with the letter M. What traditional Japanese seasoning is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae)?   
  1. Pop Culture – Television. What odd number of months were the late night talk shows off the air because of the recent writers’ strike?  
  1. Another Music Question. Born in 1933, what funk progenitor was known as “the hardest working man in show business”?  

P.P.S. There will be no questions at this week’s pub quiz about the topic that most of us have been thinking about with horror and regret: the terrible loss of civilian lives in Israel and now Gaza. I feel for everyone grieving the deaths of innocents from this past weekend.

Rumi Verses in the Hot Yoga Studio

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

I have stuck exclusively to non-fiction, but I’m trying something new with this week’s newsletter.

We loved that our Bikram hot yoga class was taught by a husband and wife team. She was tall and impossibly flexible with her long dark hair packed into a bun, while he was short and muscular with a blond mustache that I overheard one of the women in class call “unfortunate.” 

She led the class, but he was able to keep up, certainly more easily than the rest of us. He told me once that his wife let him film her as she worked through the specific Bikram sequence of 26 poses and two breathing exercises in their living room. In the heat of the studio, he would quietly name each pose just before she assumed the relevant position, as if proving to the rest of us that he had memorized his lines.

Sometimes he would comment out loud. When she would say “Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Paschimotthanasana,” pronouncing the words as if she had spent the day studying Sanskrit, he would sometimes inspire polite laughter with his translations: “This is the ‘Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose.’ When I first learned it, I called this the ‘Collapsing on the Floor Separate Leg Stretching Pose.’”

She once told us that they could bring their daughter in a car seat because the heat in the yoga studio would ease her to sleep, providing the two parents their only opportunity to do some “adulting” in public. The moms and I would check on little Luna sometimes, smiling at the beads of sweat on her brow, as if she had been working hard on growing and on inspiring her parents’ smiles.

* * *

The pandemic changed us. When I first returned for hot yoga, as my bones creaked, I noticed across the prescribed social distance that our instructors’ smiles were gone, first obscured behind masks, and then still absent after they had taken steps taken towards unmasking. Luna sat at a little table in the corner, herself wearing an aquamarine surgeon’s mask, coloring in COVID-19 symptom list fliers.

Hoping to protect themselves, the instructors kept their distance even from one another, as if they weren’t breathing the apartment air they shared with little Luna every day. The yoga studio seemed hotter than it had been before.

One of the moms gave our yogis a welcome back card that was taped open on the mirrored wall above Luna’s coloring station. It shared a haunting Rumi verse: 

Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon;

How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.

Luna’s mom increasingly seemed fixated on her own horizon. Soon she would stop making eye contact with any of us, or with her husband. Then one week, Luna and her mom stopped attending, leaving only the dad to teach our classes. He had shaved his mustache.

Last week, maskless Luna, seemingly having grown twice her previous size, was back in our studio, wearing earbuds and fixating on her phone. The little table and the moonlight card were gone from her corner.

We were surprised to see Luna’s mom arrive in civilian clothes and a fresh manicure. Luna removed her earbuds and insisted to her mom that the session wasn’t over. 

“Let’s go.”

“But they miss you. They want you to lead them. We all do.”

After they left, our instructor said, “Let’s try Supta-Vajrasana, also known as the “fixed firm pose.” 

All of us had trouble. It was so hot in that room.


Poetry Night takes place on Thursday, October 5th at 7 at the Natsoulas Gallery. We have a famous physicist who is also a poet in Lisa Rosenberg as well as a poet whose work has appeared in Best American Poetry in Amy Glynn. Find details at the website Poetry in Davis.

In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on the following: perfect fruits, the definitions of a furlong, moon rings, ekphrastic novels, Kurt Russell, empty squares, Oscar-winners from four different decades, unlucky shots, posthumous film appearances, uses for wool, animated film favorites, famous channels, microbes, seven-letter H words, memories, long place names, sports stories, badgers, California colleges, cathedrals, conspiracies, billboards, standard issues, unexpected vacations, seasonings, notable edicts, California cities, drink choices, mayors, taxi choices, Chinese proverbs, singer-songwriters, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to the far-flung Original Vincibles, as well as to Quizimodo, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Gena Harper and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. Sometimes I will share a bonus Pub Quiz question there, such as a bonus question last week about Dianne Feinstein, whom Kate and I saw with Barbara Boxer in Sacramento in 1992, the Year of the Woman, the year we got married. I appreciate your considering supporting this Patreon endeavor! 

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are four questions from last week’s pub quiz:

  1. California Lakes. California’s largest man-made lake, covering a total surface area of 47 square miles, and which sits on the upper Sacramento River, was established to generate hydroelectricity. Name the lake.  
  1. Superfans. Mariann from Brooklyn is evidently the number one superfan of what media personality?  
  1. Pop Culture – Music: Female Artists. What singer-songwriter who has earned 15 Grammy Awards (about half as many as Beyoncé) was named by Billboard as the R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Decade (2000s)?  
  1. Sports. Born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania in 1943, what NFL quarterback led the Jets to win one AFL championship and one Super Bowl, their only championships?  

The Truman’s Birthday Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

Processed with MOLDIV

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

For today’s newsletter, I am stealing wholesale from my wife Kate, the author in our family who best represents our children and our love for our children. As of this week, our children are all adults. Our kids are no longer kids. 

This is what Kate wrote:

18 years ago, just after midnight, you made a peaceful entrance into the world. Looking into your eyes, I felt that we already knew each other. We immediately sensed that the nickname your sister had given you in utero fit you perfectly; you were our Cool Guy, right from the start. 

A few years later, a friend noticed your remarkable compassion and concern for others and started affectionately calling you “Mr. Empathy.” Challenges early in your life sensitized you to the needs and feelings of others, and your sustaining emotional intelligence is one of our favorite things about you. 

18 years have FLOWN by. For 6570 days (so far!), we have enjoyed your company, your humor, and your sweet Truman-ness. You plan our vacations, pick our movies, and loan us books to read. You decorate our home for every holiday and fill it with the soulful sounds of your dramatic monologues, and especially your saxophone. 

As Cool as we thought you were on Day One, you are exponentially cooler on Day 6570. We declare it a pleasure and a joy to be your lucky parents. Happy, happy birthday, Truman! ❤️

As you can from the attached, Kate also takes better pictures than I do. Happy birthday to our youngest!

This week’s pub quiz will contain questions about computer ownership, divided centuries, defunct professional sport team names, jackets, seemingly haughty people, fast mammals, attorney generals, slides, socks, ulcers, capital letters, slow empires, record appearances, required reading, bell ringing, Olympic medalists, recovering supervisors, hydroelectricity, spices, dance moves, series starters, all the magazines, hammers, quant blogs, third billing actresses, unwelcome famous residents of small towns, repetitive cities, famous Kennedys, generous people, an average of just under four, cities near Pittsburgh, singer-songwriters, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to The far-flung Original Vincibles, as well as to Quizimodo, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators,  Gena Harper and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I appreciate your supporting this endeavor! 

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are five Pub Quiz questions, most of them from last week:

  1. Mottos and Slogans. “First in Flight” is the most popular license plate motto for what U.S. state?  
  • Sports. Who is the greatest-ever soccer player who had three instances of the letter A in his last name?  
  • Pop Culture: Music. What American rock band implored us to stop making sense?  
  • Science. After the discovery of the neutron, models for a nucleus composed of protons and neutrons were quickly developed by Dmitri Ivanenko and Werner Heisenberg. Was the neutron discovered around the time of the birth of Jakob Cash, Rosanne Cash’s son; around the time of the birth of Rosanne Cash; around the time of the birth of her father, Johnny Cash; or around the time of the birth of her grandfather, Ray Cash?  
  • Great Americans. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently traveled to Detroit in support of the auto workers strike. Leader Jeffries’ district is found in what state?  

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Every year I get to host the Summer Institute of Teaching and Technology (SITT), a showcase of innovative teaching and faculty at UC Davis. We meet for two days at the end of the second summer session via Zoom.

One year we opted not to have me perform a SITT poem, and we heard about the absence in the SITT evaluations.

Inspired by a question I asked at the Pub Quiz the previous week, this year the SITT poem tried to echo Eminem’s famous song, but talked about my presenter name pronunciation concerns rather than my crashing and burning at a freestyle rap contest.

Lose Yourself at SITT

If you had only one chance a year to attend SITT, 

would you grab that opportunity, or let it slip?

OK. Dr. Andy

We’ve come to the peak of the week,

So try not to freak your freak or

Succumb to internal critique or

Be your typical too tongue-in-cheek 

as you rushedly pressure our next presenter.

Tech don’t fail me now;

Just smile and somehow

Learn how to pronounce all the proper nouns:

We’ve got Delmar Larsen, Margaret and Mark and

Cecilia Giulivi.

Oh brain, don’t leave me.

Oh good, my son Jukie has come by to prove he 

needs me once again to switch out his movie. 

Ope, no burrito

Ope, it’s nice to meet you

Ope, no toasters

It’s a teaching roller coaster

I’m so grateful for the spate-full

Of the frequently heard but difficult words 

I get to use when I introduce

You digital formidable summer institute people.

I tell ya, when ya got your agenda

You learn the entire production turns on whether 

I can string together cogent introductions 

to Talitha van der Meulen and to Heather Hether. 

And now we turn to Butner and to Bwalya Lungu;

If you have extra time, fill some with talk of Tor Cross or Janine Wilson.

Dr. Kenji Quides was happy to meet us, 

but you know the drill; we’ve spun the wheel:

and we still have to appeal to Professors Jane Beal and Walter Leal.

All of SITT depends on the wit 

Of that namby-pamby cotton candy Dr Andy. 

I have my doubts, but let’s find out 

if our engrossed host with the checklist can persist, 

that is, can he stick to our Modus operandi.

Take some final advice, 

now that you’ve broken the ice,

Try to preserve your tact, 

maintain Zoom room eye to eye contact, 

try not to wax, 

As a matter-of-fact, if your little pronunciation acts don’t detract, 

Then this packed SITT will be on track all year to enact 

the advertised roller coaster absent toaster droplet poster 

promised thematic big impacts.

Tech don’t fail me now

Just smile and somehow

Learn how to pronounce all the proper nouns.

We’ve got Delmar Larsen, Margaret and Mark and

Cecilia Giulivi

Oh brain, don’t leave me

Now at the end of our day one fun conference debut, as if right on cue, 

Jukie has chosen The Emperor’s New Groove, he

Insists that I once again switch out his movie.

Day one of SITT, that’s it.

If you would like to see the video of me performing this work before some of the SITT attendees, visit this page on The Wheel.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz may feature some of the content from above, as well as questions about the following: famous beaches, technological developments, surprising conflicts, people named Linus, big cities where English is spoken, the Pacific Ocean, alphabetical lists, approaching 100, Paris, devastating hurricanes, slow exits, isolated islands, lovely gardens, home-cooked meals, what banks do, five-syllable adjectives that rarely come up in conversation, travelers to Detroit, country music dynasties, soccer, female friendships, felines that inspire films, actors and actresses, brave people, AI concerns, varieties of necks, townships, the examples of Finland and Italy, native expressions, vanishing souls, your memory of recent years, soccer coaches, current events, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to The far-flung Original Vincibles, as well as to Quizimodo, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, Gena Harper, Dr. Doug, and others who have embraced the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I appreciate your supporting this endeavor! 

Best,

Dr. Andy

P.S. Here are three questions from our last quiz:

  1. Current Events – Names in the News. What prominent 76-year old U.S. Senator recently indicated that he is too old to run for a second term?  
  1. Sports. According to The Wall Street Journal, Coco Gauff’s triumph at a sporting event last Saturday “felt like a thunderbolt of joy.” Name the event.  
  1. Shakespeare. What ill-fated friend of Romeo speaks the line “A plague o’ both your houses!” in Act III, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet?  

P.P.S. Two Bay area poets and the phenomenal Tony Passarell will perform atop the Natsoulas Gallery roof as part of Poetry Night this week. Join us September 21st at 7 PM for the fun. Details here: https://poetryindavis.com/archive/2023/09/tony-passarell-richard-loranger-and-greg-carter-perform-on-the-natsoulas-gallery-roof-on-september-21-2023/

Both Namby and Pamby — Dr. Andy’s Pub Quiz Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Tomorrow and Friday mornings (September 14 and 15) I get to host The Summer Institute of Teaching and Technology at UC Davis. I’ve been attending this yearly event for the last 28 of its 29 years, and I’ve been the host for more than 15 of those years.

As you can see from the page of on-demand content, this year I recorded interviews with ten colleagues, a few have which have participated in my pub quizzes over the years. Most people come for the synchronous presentations and the chance to engage with colleagues, even via Zoom. Faculty love to learn from their peer instructors about their plans for effective teaching in fall classes and throughout the school year at UC Davis.

If you know a faculty member who would be interested in “Small Acts, Big Impacts” (our theme this year), then please invite them to join us for this free event. At about 12:50 on Thursday, September 14th, attendees will also get to see me read the annual SITT Poem. This year’s poem playfully rhymes “Dr. Andy” with “namby-pamby” (a word which is sure to be an answer to a future pub quiz question).

Speaking of people who step up to participate, I want to send a special shout-out and thanks to Gena Harper, known on YouTube as Gena Harper, Blind Woman of Action. A remarkable Davisite, Gena has used her circumstances to inspire sighted and visually impaired people alike with the way she rushes with brisk and cheerful readiness towards any sort of challenge. Gena has supported me and our pub quiz at the Platinum Tier on Patreon. Gena’s participation may obligate me to record some audio quizzes in the future.

I will be interviewing Gena and another blind friend on my KDVS radio show this afternoon at 5. Tune in then or check out the podcast recording tomorrow morning.

Please join us tonight at 7 at Sudwerk for the Pub Quiz. As you compete, you will encounter questions about entities that go, archaeologists, tree names, Live Aid, shovels, chocolate bars, thunderbolts of joy, famous binders, notable roads, clay particles, circuses, paydays, big smiles, wolves, ice skating, the work of nuns, separate bathrooms, people who wield spears, famous Danes, androids, space rangers, superheroes, unfortunate drifts, hearing loss concerns, horror shows, Yorkshire exports, scopes, amateur emptiness, frogs and monarchs, odd elements, polar bears, red towns, French people, big cities, current events, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to The far-flung Original Vincibles, as well as to Quizimodo, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, the aforementioned Gena Harper and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. One member of one of those team, Catriona McPherson, was recently announced as the winner of the Anthony Award for Best Humorous Novel. Anyone who gets to talk to Catriona in person can attest to her humor. Congratulations, Catriona, and thanks to you for reading to the end of the newsletter.

Best,

Dr. Andy

Here are three questions from our last quiz.

  1. Gangsters. Born in Italy with the name Salvatore, and later taking the name Charles, who is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States and was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family?  
  1. Pop Culture – Music. What singer and actress had a number one hit in 2019 with “Lose You to Love Me” and a number three hit in 2022 with “Calm Down”?  
  1. Sports. What former Baltimore Oriole holds the record for consecutive games played (2,632), having surpassed Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 that had stood for 56 years and that many deemed unbreakable?  

P.S. Congratulations to the team Portraits for scoring 28 of 30 questions correctly on last week’s quiz. One of the captains of Portraits will be (uncharacteristically) absent tonight, so we will see if the team can keep up with the leaders without this figurehead.

P.P.S. Thanks to all the people that reached out to Kate and me on the occasion of our 31st wedding anniversary. I feel lucky to have held Kate’s interest (and hand) for so long.  

Happy 31st Anniversary to Kate!

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Sometimes when we are celebrating a special day around my house I just substitute whatever poem I have written for the occasion for a long newsletter. September 7th, for instance, is my wedding anniversary with my wife Kate.

Whereas last year, on our 30th anniversary, I presented her a hardback original book of 100 poems, almost all of them written in secret for that one occasion, this year I wrote a little poem about the fact that 31 years is equal to about a billion seconds. In a world where so much of the news is about what Wordsworth in his famous sonnet called “getting and spending,” I wanted to focus more on the time I have spent with Kate. I value that.

So here is my own poem, one that started with the last line, then the rest was retrofit, in rhymes and themes, to match the ending.

Billion Second Sonnet (on our 31st anniversary) 

Kate, I courted you with a tape deck 

rather than one of those newfangled CD players.

I would rather see silver around your neck 

than to own gold, stocks, or shares.

I would rather see your name on my personal check 

than see it printed elsewhere.

I would rather see you in a turtleneck 

than to date some starlet in formalwear.

I would rather shuffle that diaphanous cabin deck 

of hearts with you than to dine on chinaware.

I would rather cherish a midnight moment to check 

in with you than own a mansion in Delaware.

I would rather have lived a billion sec-

onds with you than to retire a billionaire.

Happy anniversary, Kate!

I hope you can join us for tonight’s Pub Quiz at Sudwerk. If you do, you will encounter questions about the following: blockchain, funny wallets, Bible words, treatises, Pakistan, midfielders, tragedies, thieves, quanta, long wars, foreign countries, famous roads, Africa firsts, notable visits, public security, Sacramento exports, jars of cosmetics, cookies, rearranged Kiwis, Detroit, decades, sequels, famous sons of more famous parents, unbreakability, given name Charles, calmness, big cities, current events, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to The far-flung Original Vincibles, as well as to Quizimodo, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. It’s wonderful to see so many of you in person! Thanks especially to Ellen for the email and the charming photograph!

Best,

Dr. Andy

Here are three trivia questions from last week’s quiz:

  1. Science. Found on the limbs of many vertebrates, what do we call muscles having three points of attachment at one end?    
  1. Great Americans. Sam Altman is admired for his work in what specific field?  
  1. Unusual Words. What word refers to a strongly worded critical attack, a nearly simultaneous firing of all the guns from one side of a warship, a single poem published on quality paper, or the act of colliding with the side of a vehicle?