Dear Friends,
Thanks to all of you who shared your fond memories of interacting with my friend John Poirier, the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz regular who passed away last week.
A wheelchair user who was paralyzed from the waist down, John was especially careful to protect himself from Covid, and that meant limiting in-person social activities, including our pub quiz when we returned to in-person events at Sudwerk.
I did get to meet with John a few times as Quizmaster during the pandemic, though, and that was by holding Zoom trivia contests for him and for others who wanted to test their knowledge remotely.
I will not get to Zoom with John again, but I will get to host another bonus Zoom pub quiz later this month, and I hope you will join us.
As many of you know, I’m a big fan of Sheila Allen, a local candidate for Yolo County Supervisor. If you look over her campaign website, you will see that she is eminently qualified to take on this role. If you were to chat with Sheila for a quarter-hour, you would learn that she also has the heart and drive needed to succeed as an advocate for the people of our county.
To do my part in amplifying the work of our best local public servants, I am hosting a bonus Zoom-based Pub Quiz for Sheila on Tuesday, January 30th at 7 PM.
Although there is no cost to participate, I hope that everyone who joins us will consider making a donation to Sheila’s campaign. You can bring your regular Pub Quiz team, form a team just for this event, or join one once you arrive in the Zoom room. Even though we will focus on fun and fellowship rather than competition, it’ll still be fun to see how the different teams do.
You need not be local to join us, so invite your faraway family, friends from college, or retired former coworkers to add themselves to your team. If you can make this special event, consider also recruiting locals who will appreciate the opportunity to learn more about Sheila Allen, her campaign, and her vision for Yolo County.
We will meet on Tuesday, January 30 at 7 PM
We will meet via Zoom at this link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/my/andyojones
You can bring a team of up to six or add yourself to a team after you arrive
Register your interest in this event via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1412311316379171
There will be some campaign talk at the start, at halftime, and at the end, so bring your patience and curiosity for brief political interruptions. With so many public-spirited people in the Zoom room, surely we will make some new friends. We will also raise a remote toast of a beverage of your choice to our departed friend and big-time trivia fan John Poirier.
Speaking of online events, have you seen the names of all the kind souls who have contributed to my fundraiser for the Smith-Lemli-Opitz Foundation? Readers of this newsletter, including the new Mayor of Davis and my favorite Chancellor, have been especially generous. Will you add your name to the list? Perhaps this week we could top $3,000.
If you are in Davis tonight, please join us for the Pub Quiz at Sudwerk. Recruit a team, dress for a January sunset when the temperature drops five degrees in an hour and a half, and join us at the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for everyone. Even though it is more work for me, we always have more fun with the bigger crowds and more voices. As Saint Augustine allegedly said, “Good times and crazy friends make the best memories.” Someone should source that quotation.
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on bank holidays, maternal choices, patents, original songs, telephonic companions, melodious marches, halls of fame, rotten tomatoes, birth cities, southern places, turtle egg islands, golf bags, so-called aliens, mountain lions, inauspicious birds, Lennon favorites, creative bombs, people born before your parents, confluences, broil able hens, names that start with the letter T, poker hands, ridiculous words that comics love, notable poets, beetles, states with professional sports teams, currencies, people named Harris, kids, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine! Also, have you been following the bonus trivia on Patreon?
Best,
Dr. Andy
Here are three questions from last week’s quiz. Congratulations to the team “Summer Brains, Summer Not” for being the first team in the Sudwerk era to answer all 30 questions correctly! I predict no one will match their record this evening.
- Mottos and Slogans. The big three index fund managers are Vanguard, State Street, and a third, the world’s largest asset manager, with US$9.42 trillion in assets under management. Using the slogan “We are committed to a better future,” what is the name of this company whose name starts with the color Black?
- Internet Culture: Two-Syllable Video Games. Released by Epic games, what 2017 popular co-op sandbox survival game was updated in 2023 with a “Festival”?
- Newspaper Headlines: The Consumer Electronics Show. Tony Stark would have been pleased that Samsung recently announced its first MicroLED TV screen that could be described with what three-syllable T word?