Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
When we arrived at the Sudwerk Brewing Company for the Pub Quiz last Wednesday, my wife Kate, my son Truman and I were delighted to discover that a table had been reserved for us at the front near the Quizmaster’s station, right under a mister.
Misting systems can quickly cool affected areas by dozens of degrees Fahrenheit through the magic of flash evaporation. The fine mist presented by the misters cools the air without soaking those nearby. If you close your eyes, you can imagine the spray from a waterfall or a seaside leeward gust on a cloudy day.
Some people who blow-dry their hair do so to preclude the follicle chaos caused by a shower or a humid bathroom, so some such people might choose not to perch right under a mister. I told Kate Wednesday evening that her hair looked great, but I also fondly remember how curly her hair became when she and I lived in the same room in a London apartment in 1987. She noted with some concern that it rained almost every day that we lived in England together, but I had no complaints. Looking at Kate, I thought of a quotation by Julia Roberts, another curly-haired beauty who was getting her start in Hollywood around then: “My hair is naturally curly, and I have a whole lot of it.”
I typically am still wearing my sun hat when my son Jukie and I venture over to the misters cooling the Delta of Venus patio (122 B Street) on Sunday afternoons. A longtime favorite haunting place of Humanities majors because of its closeness to Voorhies and Sproul Halls, Delta of Venus has been showcasing local jazz musicians at 2 o’clock on Sundays, and has been keeping the jazz fans cool with recently-installed misters.
Today I enjoy jazz at Delta, but on July 6, 1986, I ventured to RFK stadium in Washington D.C. to see one of my favorite concerts ever: Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, as well as Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. It was so warm down on the field that the stadium staff hosed down the grateful concertgoers who were closest to the stage, those who waited the longest to be close to their musical heroes. My friends Bob (Hi Bob!), Russ, Kevin and I watched the entire spectacle from the nosebleed seats opposite the performers. The sound was good, and we had room to dance up there, but we didn’t have the benefit of hoses or misters.
Some visitors to Disneyland this week will get soaked while strapped into their boats on the Grizzly River Run, and “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure” will (rightly) replace Splash Mountain in 2024, promising riders a soaking good time with splashes that will evaporate quickly in the summer heat, tonight we will depend upon the Sudwerk misters (or, for some, the indoor air conditioning) to keep cool.
“Water is the driving force of all nature,” Da Vinci said. Tonight I hope you will gather with us to enjoy some flash evaporation, a tall glass of cold water, or some other beverage at the Sudwerk Pub Quiz.
If you do, you will hear questions about topics raised above, and the following: favorite and beloved libraries, starters, vowels, villains that travel together, bicycles, debut novels, word counts, glucose, big horns, things named after swans, Oakland, other Leonardos, fictional authors, lifetime changes, lists of four, equivalencies, urban dances, belches, bridges, individual poems, muscles, free men, guts, sharks, Texas counties, Led Zeppelin songs, hackers, fruits, colleges east of the Mississippi, examples of the undead, people who are difficult to be caught, openers, current events, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to The far-flung Original Vincibles, as well as to Quizimodo, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon. It’s wonderful to see so many of you in person!
Be well,
Dr. Andy
Find here three questions from the first Sudwerk Pub Quiz:
- Books and Authors. Born in Columbus, Ohio, what author who has sold more than 400 million books has been referred to as the “Stephen King of children’s literature”?
- Current Events – Names in the News. One of our country’s least competent lawyers recently turned himself over to police in Atlanta. What is his name?
- Sports. 30 NFL writers at the sports journalism website The Athletic’s recently ranked their top five favorite stadiums. The average top choice by a wide margin was U.S. Bank Stadium. What NFL team plays its home games at this stadium with a seating capacity of 66,000?
P.S. I’ve added some video to Patreon if you would like to hear a sample of the content from last week’s quiz. Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/yourquizmaster.