Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
If you dropped by the Farmers’ Market Saturday, or tried to drive anywhere in Davis since the weekend, you know how our city has changed: They’re back. The students have returned to Davis, flocked with their parents to our favorite restaurants, and descended upon our bicycle stores and supermarkets (Safeway was almost cleaned out of cereal and pasta sauce last night). The energy that students bring with them is frenetic, and prompts questionable driving and biking choices, but it also distinguishes our city from others nearby. We have so much intellectual energy in this town that is creative – UC Davis garnered more than $600 million in research funding last year – but downtown the strolling faculty who represent this mature studiousness can seem a bit sedate to our newcomers. Fortunately for all of us, the hurried students, brimming with eager energy and potential, represent a welcome complement to our slower “townies.” But this influx of people also means that the competition on Monday evening – for prizes, as well as for tables – will intensify. Since September 1st, we’ve usually had reservations available on Pub Quiz Day, but now that summer is ending, you may soon have to show up earlier to participate in the show.
Summer is a relative term in our warmer world. I remember East Coast Septembers where we had to bundle up in the morning only to stuff our jackets into our backpacks on the way home from school. Some of us had to wear raincoats, or even winter jackets, over our Halloween costumes to protect ourselves from the torrents of autumn. But in 2010, with our globe significantly “warmed,” Davis summer temperatures extend on and on almost to November, and today the mercury in St Louis, Topeka, and Denver will hit 92 degrees. In another generation, perhaps what we once called “Indian Summer” will simply be known as “fall.” This term that might be offensive to Native Americans was in use when Emily Dickinson observed a brief respite from fall chills in New England, as presented in this excerpt sometimes titled “Indian Summer”:
These are the days when birds come back,
A very few, a bird or two,
To take a backward look.
These are the days when skies put on
The old, old sophistries of June, —
A blue and gold mistake.
My quick review reveals a Pub Quiz tonight that may be easier than some, so there will be less room for that single “blue and gold mistake.” In my experience, teams wearing blue and gold rarely make careless mistakes. Expect questions tonight on beer, classified ads, Michael Bloomberg, the color yellow, ascending in Paris, the end of the dark ages, 1980s movies where Tom Cruise played a cocky protagonist, gateways, football, bucks and jacks, US Presidents whose significance you might have trouble characterizing, Thomas Jefferson, crafty words, little blue creatures, bloggers, Protestants, Kevin Costner, the polka, the midwest, freedom, Spaniards, Africa, New York City entertainments, assigned poems, late night comedians, basketball, and Shakespeare plays you should have read in high school.
I’m planning on some new bonus competitions surrounding the website (https://www.yourquizmaster.com), so stay tuned for those. Visit the website to see how you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
See you tonight!
Your Quizmaster
P.S. Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
8. Sports – Major League Baseball. What Ohio-born former Rookie-of-the-Year holds the record for at-bats and the most outs?
9. Science – Multiple-Choice. Amber is fossilized WHAT? Heartwood, resin, paraben, sap.
10. Great American Dams. The Hoover Dam, so named in 1947, had a different name when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated it in 1936. What was its original name?
11. Unusual Words. What two-syllable word beginning with the letter M means both 1. An area of muddy or boggy ground, and 2. A complicated or confused situation?
12. A Music Question. What hit Lady Gaga song includes these unforgettable lyrics? “K-kinda busy / K-kinda busy / Sorry, I cannot hear you, I’m kinda busy.”
P.P.S. Seen any good plays recently?
Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.