Your Quizmaster — Home of the Quizmaster of Sudwerk Brewing Company in Davis

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. What brand was responsible for the slogan “Good to the Last Drop”?

Internet Culture. What were the first and last names of the man portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game?

Newspaper Headlines. At 5 million people, the previous record for attendance at a Papal Mass was set by John Paul II in Rizal Park, but yesterday Pope Francis broke that record, with more than 6 million in the same location. Name the country.

Four for Four. Which of the following pop singers are over 21? Ariana Grande, Kesha, Lorde, Taylor Swift.

Greek and Roman Mythology. Half human and half goat, what sort of monosyllabic creatures are featured in the films The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Pan’s Labyrinth?

P.S. Poetry Night returns February 5^th with Indigo Moor. As with all the (mostly musical) names mentioned in this newsletter, you should look up Indigo Moor and then join us that Thursday at the Natsoulas Gallery for poetry. See you tonight!

The Slow Wheels of Justice Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on January 20, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

More cinematic controversy in my house! This time, discussions of racism, nationalism, and film award segregation!

You probably know what I’m talking about. As has been well documented, The Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences revealed the nominees for the 87^th Annual Academy Awards, and somehow neglected to nominate anyone of color for the major individual awards. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, some would say, when you consider that the Academy is about 94% Caucasian and 77% male. When African-American performer Viola Davis was nominated for Best Lead Actress for The Help (in 2012), she said, “I have to tell you, I don’t even know who is a member of the academy.”

The film Selma explored a similar but much more serious diversity problem in the voting rolls of Alabama counties. In some counties, there were no African Americans registered to vote, and in order to register, one had to get a fellow voter to “vouch” for him or her. Without those “vouchers,” African Americans were excluded from the democratic process. And as only voters could serve on juries (juries of 12, rather than the Motion Picture Academy juries of 6,000), neither Blacks nor Whites in Alabama and other southern states could get a fair trial in a racially-charged (or even racially-relevant) case. Famously, the all-white jury that heard recanted rape allegations testimony in the Scottsboro Boys case of 1931 still convicted the boys on that train, ages 12-19, to a variety of jail terms. At one point, eight of the nine convicted faced a death sentence.

Just over 13 months ago, Alabama granted the Scottsboro Boys a full pardon. Of course, it was posthumous. As Euripides said, “Slow but sure moves the might of the gods.” Today the familiar saying reads “the wheels of justice turn slowly.”

As Kate and I watched the movie Selma Saturday night, she became more and more angry that the actor David Oyelowo and the director Ava DuVernay were not even nominated for what she thought were some of the strongest performances from a 2014 film. And I was reminded about ongoing attempts to limit minority voting, especially in the south. “Deep Data” studies of voting patterns have created pretzel-shaped gerrymandered districts that are almost as effective as Bull Connor to ensure as little minority representation as possible in southern state legislatures, the U.S. House, and the U.S. Senate. As we celebrate today the man who Gallup calls the most admired American of the 20^th century, I wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King would say about the power of the poor and minority voter today.

Tonight’s Quiz will touch on a few of these topics, as well as offer questions about computer science, coffee, record-setting Popes, Narnia, California colleges, hippies, baseball, Queen Mary University, Greek mythology, The Oscars, drops, US Presidents, Shaka Zulu, “reality” on TV, jealousy, full taboos, postage stamps, billionaires, people named Erika, hot days, Africa, the Milky Way, football, droughts, current events, bodies of water, and justice in Shakespeare.

Thanks to all 90 of you who came to the poetry reading this past Thursday. I am expecting about twice that tonight, so come early to claim a table for the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz! See you tonight, and enjoy the holiday.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. Spoken by Visigoths and pirates, what are the four words in Capital One’s most famous slogan?

Internet Culture. The iPhone was released in the same year as Ratatouille, making WHAT a good year for Steve Jobs? Hint: Juno and No Country for Old Men came out the same year. With a one-year margin of error, name the year.

Newspaper Headlines. Today The White House admitted a mistake in not sending a representative to a large gathering in what foreign city?

Four for Four. Which of the following, if any, are names of barber shops currently doing business in Davis, California. Aggie Barber Shop, Olive Drive Barber Shop, Razor’s Edge Barber Shop, University Barber Shop.

Swiss Misters. Who was the Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology?

The Sharing Jukie with Everyone Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on January 12, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Starting a week ago Saturday, strangers and acquaintances have been stopping me in the streets and restaurants of Davis to talk about an essay about my son Jukie that I published in the Sacramento Bee. Friends have been sending me supportive emails. Jukie and I have received invitations to attend a movie in a theatre in Roseville. And yesterday I was stopped at the Midtown Sacramento Farmers Market by the Education Editor at the Bee. She and her husband and kids had biked to the market just as my family of five biked to the movies on Christmas Day. Kate and I also received many encouraging and supportive comments from friends via social media and email, including a nice piece in today’s Davis Vanguard.

Some of my favorite comments about the article came from notable strangers in letters to the editor and viewpoints. The first came from Beverly Baker, a teacher of a special-needs classroom in Rescue, California (near Shingle Springs) – she hosts disability awareness presentations at her school, and briefs everyone there on opportunities to share compassion. The second came from Dr. Lou Vismara, co-founder of the MIND Institute (and thus a hero to me), who pointed out that the sort of behavior we saw at the movie theatre on Christmas Day might indicate anger-management concerns. The third, coming yesterday, came from a giant in Sacramento journalism, Gregory Favre, the former executive editor of The Sacramento Bee and retired vice president of news for the McClatchy Company. I hope you will check out Favre’s viewpoint, not only because of the picture of my son Jukie in the Sunday paper, but also because of the masterful way that Favre uses metaphor and insight to weave together multiple narratives. I’m encouraged to see such strong writing in the Sacramento Bee and am humbled by all the attention (1282 shares on Facebook alone) paid to the Christmas story I shared.

In addition to writing a weekly blog for you, I will resolve to see where and how I can share my written stories and reflections more widely. Would a monthly column be too much Dr. Andy for all those readers? I suspect so. In any event, topic suggestions welcome!

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on big cities, Visigoths, Jobs, barbers, Swiss misters, pressure sensors, funky music, returning champions, places that start with the letter G, competitions, great presidents, giant whales, Chelonian orders, that which is considered proper, Taylors, football, little blue girls, idols, columns, museums, numbers of universities, Google Mapping a serious bicycle commute, Italian teenagers, kidnappings, the white cliffs of Dover, counties, John Williams, SI, favorite poets, Swedes, crucifers, favorite places, and Shakespeare.

Poetry Night this week will feature the poets Emily Hughes and Lauren Swift. I hope you can join us Thursday night at 8 at the Natsoulas Gallery, and tonight for dinner at 6 and then the 7 PM bell that chimes the beginning of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Internet Culture. What company invented the x86 series of microprocessors?

Newspaper Headlines. The CES opens tomorrow in Las Vegas, and Pub Quiz regular Mike May is there. What do the letters CES stand for?

Violent States. If you ever wanted to know the names of two of the three most violent states in the US, you should ASK A LAVA DEAN. Name the two states.

Sports. Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the Australian team at the Hopman Cup because of a back injury. Name the sport.

Science. “Honey Pot”, “Jack Jumper” and “Leaf Cutter” are all varieties of what kind of insect?

The Categories of Bragging Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on January 5, 2015

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

My stepmother recently told me that she doesn’t care for all the bragging she sees in social media, and thus she rarely visits Facebook, Twitter, and other such social media sites. In 2013, Broadway performer John Carroll helpfully categorized the five types of Facebook braggarts: the work braggart, the relationship braggart, the body braggart, the death braggart, and the religious braggart. I’m sure we all can think of examples of these, and imagine some additional categories that we could add.

As Your Quizmaster, I am obligated to make my Pub Quizzes helpfully topical, and sometimes I will do the same with my newsletters. Because of my family’s direct and indirect connections to the entertainment industry, I myself have sometimes been guilty of telling stories about my own interactions with celebrities who have just died, such as Amiri Baraka and Jean Stapleton. Because of my father’s work at the Washington Theatre Club, in the late 1960s, an alarming number of future millionaires lived in my basement. Sadly, the late great orator Mario Cuomo was not one of them. I would have liked to have met him.

That said, in these Monday missives I generally don’t brag about work, relationships, religious assurances, or my body. As I was preparing my goals for 2015, however, I noticed that I had actually met my 2014 goal of dropping ten pounds and biking every day to my teaching and administrative jobs at UC Davis.

And whom do I have to thank for reaching this goal? I will tell you:

My NaNoWriMo friends who inspired me to attempt 100 pushups a day in November of 2013, thus starting me on this health quest;
De Vere’s Irish Pub, home of the Dr. Andy salad (a large pub salad with two fried eggs and two orders of avocado – you should try it);
Davis Swim and Fitness, the south Davis gym with new weight machines and a large stack of swag prizes that were offered for me to give out at the Pub Quiz;
My wife Kate, for obvious reasons;
Nutrition professor Liz Applegate, whose advice has been really helpful;
My Vitamix 5200 super blender / smoothie maker, responsible for my daily fruit and kale protein smoothie;
Nutrishop Davis, which provides me the protein powders that power my protein smoothies;
My thoroughly fit friend Tylor, the de Vere’s Irish Pub server whose arms each weigh about as much as I do after losing that ten pounds;
Jillian Michaels, who taught me that “Sometimes you’ve got to make your work and workouts co-exist”;
John G. Martin and Jack Morgan, inventors of the Moscow Mule (sorry, Guinness family!)
And my children, Geneva, Jukie, and Truman, with whom I have now almost caught up.

I’ve heard it said that if New Year’s resolutions worked, we wouldn’t need them. Nevertheless, I hope that your 2015 is full of empowerment and accomplishment, and that you spend part of every Monday night at de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis.

Happy birthday to my son Jukie, the subject of an op-ed that appeared in Saturday’s Sacramento Bee (and which was adapted from last week’s newsletter). Check out the article to see a picture of my smiling boy and his daddy.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will include questions about aluminum, my friend Mike May, microprocessors, what Adele has been up to, violence (a topic I typically avoid), questions that you might ask a lava dean, surreal landscapes and the crazy things that happen there, numbers that are divisible by 8 and 12, mountains, honeypots, unfortunate back injuries, unusual sports, that which is specialized, A-list actors, villains, one of my favorite musicians from the 1980s, warnings against odd work, the ways we count on irrational fears, places that start with the letter S, movies that may never have come to Davis, military generals, tied with Norway, the CIA, what women wear, strong winds in Ireland, understanding time from 30,000 feet, Henry Ford, what we learn from watching How the Universe Works, the question whether comic books count as books, current events, the garishness of the sun, blackbirds, long words, and Shakespeare.

See you tonight, and Happy New Year!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Internet Culture. What eight-letter word is the most commonly-used password used to log into websites?

Newspaper Headlines. According to NPR, Britain has surpassed France as the world’s 5th largest economy ever since Britain included the amount Brits spend on which of the following? A) Crumpets, B) Internet porn, C) Plastic surgery, or D) Prostitutes and illegal drugs.

Superheroes. I will now name three members of the Fantastic Four. The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch, Thing. What is the five-syllable name of the missing member?

Pop Culture – Music. The Irish musician Hozier (Ho-zee-er) has a big hit right now with the song “Take Me to BLANK.” What word fills in the blank?

Sports. Wilt Chamberlain has four of the top-five, all-time, single-game scoring performances in NBA history including his all-time best 100 point performance in 1962 against the New York Knicks. Who in 2006 had the second highest scoring game in NBA history at 81 points?

P.S. Poetry Night returns on January 15 at the John Natsoulas Gallery.

P.P.S. This newsletter is coming out a bit late because I teach Monday mornings this quarter. I’m already loving my “Writing Across Media” class that I am teaching for Technocultural Studies at UC Davis.

The Holiday Debt of Love Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on December 29, 2014

Christmas Day Picture of Jukie and his Dad

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Facebook makes it easy to review your friends’ holiday traditions. Children seem concerned primarily about the timing and quantity of presents to be opened, while many of the rest of us are more concerned with the timing and attendees of meals and reunions.

I hope your holiday break was filled with joy.

I look forward to welcoming back some VIPs tonight, including the folks who represent us in the Mayor’s office and the California State Senate (both named Wolk). Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on Einstein, the chase, animals, storied franchises, dark protagonists, things made of pewter, yellow foods, the products of two prime numbers, observed rituals in Ireland, films that are aggressively scandalous, books with shared titles, mathematics in 2015, winter on stage, Pamela Anderson, world sports, Russians who sway kinda slinky on the dance floor, games, Italy, the White House, Wilt Chamberlain and what follows, knights, dogs and sports, current events, groups of four, changing fortunes in Europe, and Shakespeare.

This is probably the best time for me to wish you a happy new year. I hope we get to see much of each other in 2015.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. With a Panda as its logo and using a three-letter acronym, what international non-governmental organization with a focus on conservation has used the Christmas slogan “Consuming the earth is consuming our future”?

Internet Culture. LinkedIn recently published its list of the “hottest skills of 2014,” and you don’t need A GIANT MIND to guess which one came in first. Name the skill.

Gifts. What gift did Herr Drosselmeyer give to Clara?

Four for Four. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea, borders which of the following countries, if any? China, Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam.

The New Republic. What is the missing four-letter word from the headline of this article that ran last week in The New Republic? “Stephen Colbert Didn’t Change the World, But We Wouldn’t Have Survived the BLANK Years Without Him.”

P.S. Poetry Night returns on January 15^th with Emily Hughes and Lauren Swift.

The Welcome Torino Impertinence Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on December 22, 2014

Torino Christmas Lights

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

My wife Kate and I were up late last night, for she was counseling an anxious dad in the Italian city of Turin. As the Communications Director of the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome Foundation, Kate has welcomed a great number of parents to the SLOS Family, a Facebook group she created to provide therapy and information to international and domestic parents of children with Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome. SLO, as we call it at home, has been a topic of research and thousands of conversations since our boy Jukie was diagnosed about 13 years ago. Using this Facebook forum, Kate has provided information and introductions to people who never knew that they had a “family” of friends who immediately stood ready to support them.

While Kate has become close friends with English speakers in Australia, Germany, and the UK, sometimes she encounters challenges when she gets to work with someone who doesn’t speak what Robert A. Heinlein once called a language marked by “variety, subtlety, and utterly irrational, idiomatic complexity.” When Kate and I lived in London, we discovered why George Bernard Shaw said that “England and America are two countries separated by a common language,” but the separation between English and Italian is much broader.

This Italian dad reached out to Kate, saying “Scusami la mia impertinenza ma ho bisogno di informazioni! Siamo al buio!” We translate that to mean “Excuse my impertinence, but I need information! We are in the dark!”

This is how Kate described to me her conversation with “a dad of a newly diagnosed baby on the other side of the world”:

“He messaged me an adorable picture of this boy, and I immediately knew he was one of “ours.” (The babies all look pretty similar. He could be Jukie’s brother.) Seeing this little SLO face made feel me an instant connection — I wanted to help this family. Still reeling from the SLO diagnosis, we remember well these early days of terror, and we had no language barrier with the people who had the information we needed. Today there is so much more information, so obviously it frustrates me that I can’t communicate well to share it with him.”

Kate continues:

“It’s my job to be a support for people, direct them to other means of support, and give them information. The information is complex and scientific. It is difficult enough to communicate without a language barrier. This dad wants and needs a much more nuanced conversation then Google Translate will allow. But one thing we are communicating is a shared love for our kids born with the same rare syndrome. I hope I am giving him hope that there are people out there who can answer his questions and who do understand his plight.”

If you are curious about our story of raising a challenging, delightful and beloved boy with this rare syndrome, we will be bringing copies of our book Where’s Jukie? to the Pub Quiz tonight. We will gladly sign a copy for you. All funds raised from book sales go to the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome Foundation (and if you would like to send a check to the Foundation later, perhaps after your January paycheck, we will just give you a copy). Where’s Jukie? will even fit in most stockings!

On tonight’s Pub Quiz, expect questions about pandas, giant minds, LinkedIn, crazy dictators, Italian creativity, Stephen Colbert, Swedes, people who would “love to,” New York City distractions, gods and their books, Christmas carols, Presidents and sports teams, capitals, gratitude and its opposites, epiphany feasts, marble, New England, people named Farrow, counterfeits, an Anagram with two unknowns (the way Dianna likes it), David Letterman, words that are spelled the British way, holiday gift expectations, the Russian economy, presents, rankings, Nielsen, Jeb Bush, a number of films, secret stashes, people named Wes, the fun of four random letters, heteronormativity, Mandela, astronomical unions, business partners, humanitarians, fresh marriages, bleachers, and Shakespeare.

I look forward to the return of some Pub Quiz all stars tonight, including Robert Lipman and Mayor Dan Wolk and his family. I hope you will join us, too, on this warm Winter Solstice that we are enjoying. Happy holidays!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Internet Culture. Instagram was founded in the same year that the first iPad was released. With a one-year margin of error, tell me the year. My son Truman just submitted a report on his favorite invention: The iPad

David Letterman. The name of what living 83-year old has appeared most often in the last 29 years of Top Ten lists written by the writing staff of David Letterman? You should expect another Letterman question on tonight’s quiz.

Roman Numerals. Since the beginning of the common era, August 28th of what year is the longest date thus far in Roman Numerals? Hint available. The birth year of T.S. Eliot. I often try to sneak Eliot into conversations.

Pop Culture – Music. There’s a red-headed singer-songwriter who has been the opening act for Taylor Swift’s Red tour, and who has three E’s in the nine letters in his first and last name. Who is he? By the way, my favorite redheads are named Kate and Jukie.

Sports. Jerry Rice, lifetime leader in this category, caught how many touchdown passes? 108, 208, 308, or 408? I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know this.

P.S. Poetry Night returns on January 15^th.

Hundertwasser on the QE2 Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on December 15, 2014

Hundertwasser-Paintings-1959-singender-dampfer-in-ultramarin-III-detail-1

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

When most people are asked to name their favorite Austrian artists, they inevitably bring up Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, and I can see why, for they were both supremely talented, and their works are widely shared, especially on Tumblr. I myself much prefer the third most-famous Austrian painter, someone who died in 2000 and whose birthday we celebrate today, December 15th: Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

My family owned a beautiful Hundertwasser reproduction when I was a child. It contained wild and curvy lines and small mirror tiles that would reflect the afternoon sun shining into my home on Tunlaw Road. A delightfully radical architect as well as a painter, Hundertwasser might not have approved of my north Georgetown row house, for he was not a fan of straight lines, once writing that “Because of the straight line, the products of design, drawing board, and modeling have become sickeningly sterile and truly senseless. The straight line is godless and immoral. The straight line is not a creative line, but simply a reproductive lie. In it there live not God and human spirit, but a mass created, brainless and addicted to comfort.”

Hundertwasser himself was not addicted to comfort, once living in a New Zealand home made of bottles, and refusing to spend money even on haircuts. Hundertwasser focused on invention, rather than convention, believing that “No restraint should be imposed upon the individual’s desire to construct. Each person should be allowed to build (and ought to build), and would thus be truly responsible for the four walls within which he lives.” He confronted homegrown authoritarianism and totalitarianism with his art, and all of us who know his work have benefited.

So happy birthday, Friedensreich! We can only assume that no other pub quiz newsletter is celebrating you today, so I have stepped into the curvy breach, for all of us. Thank you for your artistic leadership, and for your swirls and your spirals. Thank you for helping the Dalai Lama escape Tibet. Thank you for your environmental activism. Thank you for telling the story of how you fooled Hitler as a youth. I’m glad you could die at sea, aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, rather than amidst the sterile right angles of a hospital. I hope someday to visit one of your buildings!

Regrettably, tonight’s Pub Quiz will offer no questions on Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Instead expect to reflect on your knowledge of toys and playthings, online photographs, newspaper headlines, Taylor Swift (for the youngsters), Robert Downey Jr. (for my wife Kate), David Letterman, holiday traditions for those who watch TV, Roman numerals, unwilling dog accomplices, handicrafts, unusual adjectives that start with the letter M, salt, mumps and bumps, world leaders who almost share a name, pictures, monosaccharaides, film musicals, income gaps, Irish music, funny actors, wars that matter, V words from “Santa,” Davis businesses, women who did a job more famously than any man, reds and redheads, hooks, lying liars, speeches from heroes, glands, the meaning of a touchdown, YouTube, and the scandals of Shakespeare.

I look forward to seeing you this evening. I shall wear black.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Internet Culture. The names of the fastest growing social networks (over the last six months) are an anagram for the common phrase REBEL MUTT PRINTS, which is, coincidentally, what I have requested for holiday presents from all my family. Name the social networks.

Art and Art History. Salvador Dali was born and died in the same city. Name the country.

Next Year. What awakens on Dec. 18th, 2015?

Pop Culture – Music. Actress and Grammy winning musician Kelly Rowland rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of what girl group?

Sports. EPL is the acronym for the UK’s primary football competition. What do the letters EPL stand for?

P.S. Have you considered giving a book of poetry as a holiday gift this year?

The Alan Ternes Crackling Blows of Axes Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on December 8, 2014

Alan Ternes

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

During one of my most recent trips to visit my mom (and the NIH) in Washington DC, we were treated to a visit from my mom’s brother, Alan Ternes. The Editor Emeritus at Natural History Magazine, and former Director of the Natural History Museum on the upper west side of Manhattan, Alan was an author and editor of books, and the guide and inspiration to the authors of many others, most notably the paleontologist and nature writer Stephen Jay Gould, one of Alan’s closest friends. In the early 1960s he was also friends with a penurious actor and director, Davey Marlin-Jones (my father), whom he introduced to his sister (my mother).

I am grateful for that introduction, and that gratitude extends throughout my relationship with Alan and his family. Alan and his wife Barbara invited me to live with them for a few weeks in their apartment overlooking Central Park (333 Central Park West). While still a high school student, I worked an internship with Barbara at the Children’s Aid Society in Greenwich Village, and explored Manhattan during my extensive lunch breaks. Over family meals in their large but Spartan apartment, Alan and Barbara’s essentialist practices taught me lessons that wouldn’t sink in for decades later: those people are richest who require the fewest things, who have shed the needless ballast of our lives.

Running New York’s most famous museum (thanks to Ben Stiller), and working with the authors whose books we teach at UC Davis, Alan did so much with his life, including after he left New York, when he became a Justice of the Peace and environmental education enthusiast in Bellows Falls, VT, and a sailor of the Atlantic, voyaging solo from a port in New England to a port in Morocco. As impressed as we all were with Alan Ternes, I most appreciated his generosity with me during our many casual conversations, and for the way that he cared for his nuclear and extended family.

About 35 years ago, I was hiking back down Shade Mountain to my grandmother’s cabin in Beavertown, Pennsylvania. During the last leg of the hike, and starting what seemed like a mile or so as we wended our way back to our Snyder County home, I had heard the slow and methodical sound of someone chopping wood. It grew louder as we approached the cabin, and then I found the source of all this industry. Wielding the longest-handled axe I had ever seen, Uncle Alan had been splitting logs for more than an hour. Imposingly tall, bearded, and shirtless, Alan stacked log after log upon the chopping stump, and then fragmented them powerfully and precisely, like a 19^th century woodsman.

Bearded, portly, manly, strong, generous, and intellectually and geographically curious, Alan Ternes has always made me think of another hero of mine, Walt Whitman, whom he resembled. Recently I have been thinking again of Alan chopping all that wood, and the way that he provided for the family as men like him have done for thousands of years. The image reminded me of a section of one of Whitman’s rare California poems: “Song of the Redwood-Tree.”

Part 2 of this section of Leaves of Grass begins this way:

Along the northern coast,

Just back from the rock-bound shore, and the caves,

In the saline air from the sea, in the Mendocino country,

With the surge for bass and accompaniment low and hoarse,

With crackling blows of axes, sounding musically, driven by strong arms,

Riven deep b the sharp tongues of the axes—there in the Redwood forest dense,

I heard the mighty tree its death-chanting.

I use these words from our great American poet to commend the life and mourn the death this past weekend of another great American. Rest in peace, Alan Ternes.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on natural history, bonded words, rebel mutt prints (seems like an anagram), social media, specious celebrities, presidents in San Francisco (where I spent all day yesterday), people who were born and who died in the same, anticipated dates, multi-Grammy winners, UK acronyms, Santa’s little helpers, Africa, words that start with the letter O, obsessive tweeters, celestial hierarchies, IKEA, enlightened fools, full sweep of the South, crime novelists, islands with rich histories, big companies, biotic diversity, villains that can’t spell their own names, karate masters, missing persons, Basil, world capitals, banana crabs, the heart, words that follow happy, New Jersey, exchanges, and Shakespeare.

Tonight will be busy at the Irish Pub. Vacation is approaching for may, and here for some. I invite you to come early to claim a table.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. In the 1980s, which of the big three American car companies used the slogan “Everything we do is driven by you”?

Internet Culture. According to Mashable, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company’s Connectivity Lab in March, unveiling plans to use BLANKS and lasers to “beam” Internet to the world in an effort to get the last 15% of the population, who aren’t connected, online. Fill in the blank with a monosyllabic word.

Newspaper Headlines. On Saturday, a judge threw out all charges against a deposed president of what country?

Disney Productions. What 2014 American musical comedy caper film produced by Walt Disney Pictures features Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and others?

Pop Culture – Music. Musicologist Mickey Hart played what instrument for the Grateful Dead?

The Checker Marathon as Status Symbol Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on December 1, 2014

The Checker Marathon

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

I read recently that a paid-off mortgage has replaced the BMW as the status symbol of choice (a few of you will catch that reference). Some people invest significant time and energy in their cars as status symbols, which is odd to me because of how quickly new cars lose their value. We bought a new Toyota Prius last year in part because we felt it was our duty as ecologically responsible citizens of Davis, and in part because it was my wife’s dream car. Kate also pointed out to me that it would be difficult to purchase a year-old Prius that does everything she’d want hers to do.

When I was a youth, my family purchased two cars total: each one of them was a Checker Marathon. The 1967 Checker Marathon was powder blue, while our 1978 Checker was a more sensible tan color. As you can imagine, our Checker chariot attracted stares, in part because it could seat more people than most family minivans. During those decades, New York City was awash with Checker cabs, while today they can be found only on film sets, with the last New York Checker turning off its meter for good, as the headline said, in 1999. I loved those cars, and if I were to own one today, I would absolutely consider it a status symbol. Of course, even my talented mechanic Bob Redfield (whose Davis Wiki reviews offer a sampling of the sort of referrals honesty can garner you) would have trouble finding parts for a Checker Marathon.

My current car, a 1998 Saturn sedan, gets scant use because of my preference to bike rather than to drive. It has been enjoying this past rainy weekend in the garage, for its osmotic roof is only a semi-permeable membrane. If Bob Redfield helps me stay with that car for another 17 years, we may just be able to pay off our mortgage – what a status symbol! – in time for retirement. I will let you know what happens.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on topics that appear only rarely on the Pub Quiz: cars, astronomy, Amsterdam, and ruminants. Take some time to ruminate on those. Consider also that tonight we’ll be discussing “beaming” the internet (star Trek style), depositions, Atlanta, Disney productions, other Mickeys, single votes, the Football Writers Association of America, bookworthy sojourns, an antiquated expression of wrath, unpopular leaders, yarn made of the hair of yaks, cubing, abandonment, sequels, wavelengths, debatable centers, the circulation of magazines, France, one-word titles, Oscar nominees who have never won, weather events, the equivalent of Cecil B DeMille, aspiration, the effect of power when it doesn’t corrupt, leaf-shaped items, unemployment, the Pacific Northwest, famous speechifiers, surprising statistics, Ireland, poetry, and Shakespeare.

Welcome to December. November at the Pub Quiz has been busy, as you probably have noticed, and I’m sure the trend will continue. Arrive with your team by 6 to claim the best tables!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

Mottos and Slogans. What company founded in 1928 has used the commercial slogan “Hello Moto”?

Fashion. What fashion designer who died this month at the age of 82 was famous for his evening gowns, one or more of which he made for every US First Lady from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama?

Pop Culture – Music. What LA-based band founded in 1981 is considered one of the founding “big four” bands of thrash metal, alongside Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer?

Science. Aside from humans, what genus of old-world monkeys are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from Japan to Afghanistan and to North Africa and Southern Europe?

Mathematics. A billion seconds is closest to how many years?

P.S. Poetry Night is Thursday here in Davis. Please join us at 8 PM this Thursday, December 4th, at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 First Street, Davis) for Poetry Night featuring Jennifer O’Neill Pickering and company from the Quill and Sable Writers from Sacramento.

The Customer Service for Supinators Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on November 24, 2014

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

My wife Kate spent about an hour this weekend comparison shoe-shopping online. In my family we have runners, hikers, pronators, supinators, and, no offense to us, shoe losers. In fact, once we bought an expensive pair of Keen sandals for Jukie, and then walked over to our favorite eatery / Irish Pub for dinner. After eating, Jukie absented himself from dinner by lying back on the padded seat along our favorite booth and then, without our knowing it, dropped to the ground to retrieve his shoes.

When we were leaving, we couldn’t locate Jukie’s second shoe, and quickly realized that he had somehow secreted the shoe inside the bench. The de Vere’s manager (Josey) and a few servers tried in vain to extricate the brand new hiking sandal, but to no avail. It is still there today, and probably will be for decades. Although many restaurants have come and gone from 217 E Street since I moved to Davis in 1990, I expect de Vere’s Irish Pub to have a long tenure in that location.

Yesterday morning Kate opted to buy Jukie’s new pair of boots locally. When one of our favorite local stores, Outdoor Davis, didn’t have anything that would fit our boy’s high arches, Kate ventured over to Big 5 Sporting Goods, one of the local chain stores that sends a multi-page full-color insert to every Sunday subscriber of the Davis Enterprise. There she found Jukie a pair of boots and six pairs of socks. Jukie’s in-store antics must have distracted her while she was signing for the purchase, for she didn’t notice that Big 5 had charged her twice for the boots.

When I called yesterday evening to point out the overcharge, and ask that the store refund us the money for the second pair of boots, I was told by Steve the manager that they would refund the money only if their inventory reflected that they had sold us one pair of boots instead of two, and that we would have to come in today for our refund. How did Steve feel about over-charging us? How did he feel about our having to drive back to Big 5 during Thanksgiving vacation? We don’t know, for we heard no apology for the overcharge. We will see if Kate is treated with that same assumption of guilt when she returns to Big 5 today.

During our extended phone conversation, I didn’t tell Steve the manager that I consult with companies on customer service and media relations. I guess he didn’t know that he was speaking to a member of the media. But I do know that anyone working with the public should know that we are all members of the micro-media, and that anyone with a blog, or a Facebook or Twitter account, can tell a story. Excellent customer service makes it much more likely that the customer will share the narrative that a business owner would like to hear.

I guess my family and I keep returning to de Vere’s Irish Pub not only because of the friends we have made here, and because of the tasty food and cocktails, but because of the consistently excellent customer service that we’ve enjoyed at our favorite Davis restaurant. If you feel the same way, feel free to share your story. If you share it with me, you may find yourself quoted in next week’s post-Thanksgiving edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter. Until then, Jukie and I will give thanks for our comfortable shoes.

Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on superheroes, the telecom industry, splitting checks, poets laureate, avoiding interceptions, rising fees, Jackie Kennedy, basketball, that which thrashes, heroes born in Pennsylvania, fishmongers, gowns, understanding billions, the song of a city, widespread genera, Longfellow, mantles, Scottish dangers, app addicts, Elizabeth Bishop, nosy oxen greens, impending glaciers, Pinocchio, sexy blonds, Gwendolyn Brooks, pumpkins, axes, Irish beauties, Asian-American women, favorite colors, crusts, Robert Frost, white flowers, Aggies, and Shakespeare. Have you read Hamlet recently? I try to reread it or re-view on stage or screen it at least a few times a decade.

The schoolchildren of Davis seem to have the rest of this week off from school, so I’m sure that tonight’s Pub Quiz will be overrun with teachers. For them, I have included a mathematics questions that perhaps any of us could solve if we had enough time. Because of the time factor, I moved that question from the second half of the Quiz, to the first. I wonder who will come in first tonight? Come by to find out, and bring some friends!

Your Quizmaster