Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
My assistant recently followed a link from a news story to the Freeh Report outlining the case against Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, and other coaches and administrators at Penn State. She immediately regretted the decision, and soon after started experiencing nightmares (though about serial killers rather than serial sexual offenders). You won’t find questions about the Freeh Report on the Pub Quiz. Nor will you find questions about today’s coordinated series of suicide bombing’s in Iraq, nor will you hear questions about the pickup truck that crashed in south Texas late last night, killing 14 of the 23 people crammed inside. And although I love superheroes and blockbusters, I won’t touch the horrific events that took place in Aurora overnight Thursday. You can find all that elsewhere, but you shouldn’t have to research those topics because of your plans for Monday evening.
As a teacher, author, and father, I love learning. I believe that as a society, we should all feel responsible to encourage the young and the curious to find answers, and always to ask more difficult questions. As Abigail Adams put it, “Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” That said, a Pub Quiz does depend to a certain extent on chance, for you don’t know for sure what topics I will ask you about this evening, but ardor and diligence are much more likely to prepare you for success on tonight’s quiz (and in life). And if you are to be motivated to keep reading, and listening, and discussing what you know, you should be motivated by learning for its own sake, with individual pub quiz triumphs as secondary rewards. When the week is hard, as last week was, the Pub Quiz may also be challenging, but I hope in a way that allows for escape and camaraderie, as well as cognitive calisthenics. No nightmares should result from our time together Monday evenings.
Tonight’s de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz will instead share with you questions about the happy and welcome topics of beer, social networking, diamonds that are not recommended to wear on the soles of one’s shoes, French cities, UC Davis honchos, Trident Maples, real-life superheroes, journalism, alternatives to biology, productivity, SNL alumni, Anthony Tommasini, baseball, bewitched inns, stalwarts, French firsts, tiny vibrations, Al Capp inventions, wet weather wearables, Obama strongholds, popular TV shows (that I don’t watch), mononyms, jobs, poets, Batman, alcoholic drinks that have been debunked, two anagrams, Europe questions that I asked about three months ago, axes before breakfast, diseases, bald people, money, impressive women whose names and faces would not be recognized by most Americans, Shakespeare plays that have similarities with The Tempest, basketball, and fast women.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will sell out again this week. Isn’t that terrific? Come early to claim a table.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Mottos and Slogans. What General Mills cereal calls itself “Magically Delicious”?
2. Internet Culture. The collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications known as the Creative Suite is made by what software company?
3. Newspaper Headlines. This past Thursday the Romney campaign folks suggested to Matt Drudge that a certain Republican woman was at the top of their list of contenders for the running mate spot on the ticket. Name the woman.
4. Fictional Characters. Mabel Simmons, commonly known as Madea, is a comedic fictional character created and portrayed by whom?
5. Film. What 1991 Disney film was the first ever animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture?