Notifications for Dr. Andy
Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Some of my friends don’t even have Facebook accounts. Some such friends are elderly, some are busy authors, and some see what Facebook does to the rest of us, and just choose to abstain. I remember feeling the same way as a high-school senior. Even though the drinking age in my hometown of Washington DC was 18 when I was 18, I chose to abstain from drinking alcohol. Now I work in a bar.
According to an article in today’s Washington Post, “Facebook is slowly eating the rest of the Internet.” (As an aside, note that the Post is still capitalizing “internet”). Today the encroachment comes in the form of live steaming video. Here’s how the Post article begins:
You can now stream live to Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg wants you to know it’s a big deal.
But Facebook’s latest feature is more than just the ability to post live video for your friends to see. There’s a map where you can explore streams from across the world. There are filters to use when broadcasting, and integration with the newly minted Facebook reactions.
It’s one of the largest product releases by Facebook in a while, but most of the bells and whistles sound like features offered elsewhere. By jumping into live video, Facebook is also replicating or, well, re-imagining live video done by Periscope, Meerkat and others. In an interview with Buzzfeed News last week, Zuckerberg addressed what makes Live different from Periscope — the video streaming company owned by Twitter.
His answer was simple, Facebook has the audience. The competitors don’t.
“If you’re a person that just wants to share with your friends, it helps to have your friends there,” Zuckerberg told Buzzfeed.
After imploring various constituencies to come of my SRO book release party Friday night, I myself took the weekend off from Facebook, spending time instead walking around town with my kids, and attending a barbecue in Central Park. Just now I glanced at Facebook and see that I have 74 notifications waiting for me. I’m sure many of those people are wondering where in addition to the Avid Reader they can find my book.
I can see why authors and other creative types take a break – sometimes a lifelong break – from the Facebook feed. I myself have just this morning graded a dozen essays, bike-commuted to campus, taught a class, written the Pub Quiz and, as you can see, written the newsletter. Perhaps my Facebook sabbatical has made me more productive. I wonder what such a break could do for you.
That said, I guess it’s now time for me to take a break from this blessed break, and thank some people for coming to my book release party. People like to know that they are “liked.”
Speaking of likes, Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature the return of my wife and her team, for which I am grateful. It will also feature questions on words (a favorite topic of any poet), couplets, endings, Latin mottos (remember last week?), Uber, hungry corporatists, the crown of Queen Victoria, Missouri households, new clothing, people born in 1970, collapses, dreams and trees, small ages, yogurt, world capitals, Roman culture, masks, comic books, Scrabble knowledge, tingly sensations, cheerful refusals, conjunctions, the financial burden of maintaining the British military, numbers of records, obvious prequels, recognized wizards, opinions in action, tall men named James, jams on it, light bars, Facebook, and Shakespeare.
Word on the street is that A) Mayor Dan Wolk is returning to the Quiz this evening, B) April 13 is National Scrabble Day, and C) I will be announcing at the beginning of the Picnic Day Parade. Perhaps I will see you there by the bandstand. Question: When do I get to ride (or, better, drive in one of those funny or eco cars IN the parade. Maybe they need me too much up front, pronouncing Jamima Wolk’s name properly as HA-MEE-MA, which is a lot of fun to say.
See you this evening!
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
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Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:
- Mottos and Slogans. In the western world, mottos are usually written in what language?
- Internet Culture. Are the websites Breitbart.com and RealClearPolitics.com progressive or conservative?
- Newspaper Headlines. As part of the European migration crisis, Greece has started deporting migrants to what country?
P.S. The next Poetry Night on April 21 features Nick Jaina!