Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
As a child, I did not relish my trips to the dentist. Ironically, my dentist (at the Bethesda Medical Building) was Dr. Broring, a name I found to be appropriate because “Broring” was the sound his drill made while he was eagerly boring into my teeth. I mention this because I took my three kids to the dentist this afternoon – that’s why this newsletter is being published later than usual – and it was a delightful experience. Most veteran Davis parents know of Dr. Mandelaris. One of my colleagues joked today that he and I together have paid for the graduate school tuition of all the Madelaris children (or at least paid for the arcade games and elevated trains that distract the Mandelaris patients). Dr. Mandelaris is full of wisecracks, reassuring banter, absurdist asides, and everything that you could hope from a pediatric dentist. After my 13 year-old’s x-ray, we were given a printout of smiling photographs from her last 25 or so visits. She practically grew up in that Oak Street office. Whether it’s her dentist, her heroic pediatrician Dr. Reinhart, Geneva and many other Davis natives have had innumerable opportunities to exchange kind words with many business owners and front-line customer service representatives here in Davis, a town where we do customer service particularly well. I don’t know that I forged such bonds with the people who took care of my brother and me when I was a child. We are lucky to live where we do.
The veteran Pub Quiz team In Vino Veritas will be reforming for a special appearance this evening. Brianna, the heart and soul of the team, moved to Oklahoma a number of months ago, but has returned for a family visit. I’m honored that she will spend some of that trip with us this evening. Stop by Table 11 (given up this week by Portraits of Mohammed) to meet Brianna and her charming family.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature all sort of intriguing questions on a variety of topics that you know something about. Or at least that’s my hope. I’m sending out this newsletter before the Quiz is done (blame the dentist), so the following list is all conjecture, invention, and whimsy, with a few nuggets of accuracy thrown in. At least I’ve done all my research. I’ve researched topics that include (but are not limited to) superheroes, people in groups of three, books in French, leading ladies, revamped fairy tales, Harry Potter, a number of monkeys, polydactyly, people that were born in the year 2000, the members of Abba who were not blonde or Swedish (might not use that one), the blank of nuclear war, going solo, eagles and other high-flying birds, crow vindicators and the cars they drive, popularity in Washington, Alaskan Malamutes (also a red herring), The Guinness Book of World Records, Oscar-winning directors, public apologies, The Emmys (full disclosure: I did not watch the Emmys), far-flung people who speak French, Shakespeare, French explorers (by request), and several others on topics I haven’t conceived of yet. When I am overworked and behind on researching the Quiz, I turn to film. I probably should have just double-majored in film. This week you can expect no questions on Vitaliy Klychko or Cher.
I was pleased to meet so many new people at last week’s Quiz. If your team is new, please identify yourselves to claim your prize.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Mottos and Slogans. “We’ll leave the light on for you” was selected by Advertising Age magazine as one of the Top 100 Advertising Campaigns of the Twentieth Century. Name the company.
2. Internet Culture. Carol Bartz has resigned from the board of directors that she blasted for firing her as what Sunnyvale company’s CEO last week?
3. Newspaper Headlines. As of this last week, General David Petraeus has a new job in Washington DC. What is it?
4. Four for Four. Fayetteville, North Carolina has a population of about 200,000 people. Which two of the following four cities has a larger population? Anchorage, Alaska; Corpus Christi, Texas; Flint, Michigan; Ventura, California.
5. A pre-K question about K. What are the four vowels in the Japanese word, starting with a K, that refers to singing along with a video game or teleprompter, such as we do with questions 7 every week?
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/.