Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Having finished another book by and about the Dalai Lama yesterday (The Art of Happiness), I’ve been thinking about compassion, what some have called a “heart full of grace.”
With so many people having died before their time this year, and so many more sickened and filled with fear of this new plague that has descended upon the populations of the world, all of us have been called upon to see and imagine the struggles of others, especially grieving families, and thus we have been given opportunities to practice compassion. I’ve seen looks of kindness and of appreciation of the shared struggle in eyes and masked faces of the Davis citizens whom I’ve encountered while walking our greenbelts this spring.
As a community of states and a community of nations, we were primed, then, to feel the loss of George Floyd especially deeply. This is true because the footage from multiple smartphones permitted us to watch his last breaths escape him, despite his pleas, under that police officer’s knee, to be allowed to breathe. This is also true because Floyd symbolized the many African Americans who have been unaccountably killed by police, or whose deaths were not sufficiently investigated, reminding us of the usually unspoken hierarchy of the value of our lives, depending capriciously on skin color, class, LGBT status, nation of origin, or some other abhorrent justification of devaluation. And this is true because we were confronted with an inescapable moving image of a racist justice system in which these officers were raised, trained, and encouraged to wield power over Black bodies in the ways that they do.
With everything that has happened, and has been spoken, in the two weeks since Floyd’s death, many have argued that George Floyd functionally sacrificed his life so that citizens of the United States and of the world could be reminded of the systemic racism that still undergirds and, historically, has enabled the uneven prosperity of our American democracy. Eyes that were closed, or at least shaded, have been opened, and as a response, a multicultural and (one hopes) multi-generational population of activists has been galvanized into action.
I am encouraged by the energy, the ideals, the goals, the creativity, and the non-violent tactics of this new anti-racist movement. Long may it persist, with changes resulting everywhere from the small town to the city hall to the state house to the White House. We all have a part to play, whether it be by reading, listening, financially contributing, or taking to the streets with a sign and a mask-muffled chant. Your service is required.
“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will be shared virtually again this week. You can receive one every week during lockdown by subscribing to the newsletter. I hope you are still finding use for my backlog, and that you will still purchase my future Pub Quiz books even if some of the questions look familiar from the stationary spring of 2020.
Stay safe.
Dr. Andy
Pub Quiz from June 6, 2016, with some updates for Monday, June 8, 2020
This version has no answers
- Mottos and Slogans. What company has used the commercial slogan “So easy a caveman could do it”?
- Internet Culture. The second most-popular website in the world is the third most-popular website in the U.S., after Facebook. What is the second most-popular website in the world?
- Newspaper Headlines. With all the tropical storms visiting his state, Rick Scott must sometimes feel like a meteorologist. Of what state is Scott governor?
- Four for Four. The routes of which of the following Unitrans bus lines, if any, include south Davis? E, F, P, W.
- Religious Groups. Known as Religious Society of Friends in Europe, this group is known by what two-syllable name here in the United States?
- Actors and Actresses. Who played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series?
- Pop Culture – Music. You may know that “The Greatest Love of All” was written as the main theme of the 1977 film The Greatest, a biopic of Muhammad Ali. The song was a #1 hit for what singer who lived from 1963-2012?
- Sports. Shaquille O’Neal led the NBA in field goal percentage 10 times, breaking whose record of nine?
- Science. Found on a bottlenose dolphin, an assassin bug, or a goblin shark, a “rostrum” is a Latin word for what four-letter B word?
- Great Americans. What great Americans are running for Davis City Council (and thus Davis Mayor) this November?
- Unusual Words: Note that this is actually a long question. Meaning “repugnant,” what three-syllable A word is missing from this quotation by Winston Churchill? “Nothing can be more BLANK to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.”
- U.S. States. What is the second least densely populated of the 50 United States?
- Pop Culture – Television Shows about a goofy English guy who has forgiven $15 million in medical debt he bought for pennies on the dollar. What are the six words in the title of John Oliver’s TV show?
- Another Music Question. The 5th highest-rated song of 2014 was titled “Counting Stars.” Name the band from Colorado.
- Anagram. Raised on the upper east side of Manhattan, and educated at Exeter and Yale, what is the name of the disgraced former Merrill Lynch securities trader who is now the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the news website Business Insider? Hint: His name, appropriately, is an anagram of the phrase BEHOLD: GENTRY.
- Muhammad Ali’s funeral service took place in the same city where he was born. Name the state.
- The reach of Muhammad Ali in inches is the same as the atomic number of platinum, the number of cards in a tarot deck, and the total number of gifts in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. What is that number?
- The middle name of Cassius Clay was the same as the first name of the Ving Rames character in the film Pulp Fiction. Name the name.
- In what decade did Muhammad Ali retire from boxing?
- In what year did Muhammad Ali light the torch to begin the summer Olympics in Atlanta?
- Books and Authors. What was the name of the titular dog in the children’s books authored by Norman Bridwell?
- Film. Alexander Gould voiced the title character in the highest-grossing animated film, and second highest grossing film, of 2003. Name the film.
- Irish Culture. True or False: Muhammad Ali was part Irish. True.
- Countries of the World. Located in the Horn of Africa, what country shares a border with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south?
- Malaysia. One of Muhammad Ali’s 55 boxing victories took place in the national capital and most populous city in Malaysia. Name it.
- Science. The subject of many classes taught at UC Davis, “pedogenesis” refers to the formation of what?
- Books and Authors. What are the five letters in the last name of the author of Tuesdays with Morrie?
- Current Events – Names in the News. According to a Public Policy Polling poll released on June 5th, 2020, which candidate for U.S. President currently leads in Texas? Biden, Trump, neither.
- Sports. Which Golden State Warrior is the son of former NBA player Mychal Thompson?
- Shakespeare. Created early in the 17th century, what is the name of the Shakespeare character who accompanies her husband when he is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the Republic of Venice?
Tie-breaker. As you may know, the distance between the sun and the earth is 149,598,000 kilometers, something astronomers call an “astronomical unit” or AU. Here’s your question: Measured in AUs, what is the average distance between earth and the planet Neptune?