Happy 31st Anniversary to Kate!

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Sometimes when we are celebrating a special day around my house I just substitute whatever poem I have written for the occasion for a long newsletter. September 7^th, for instance, is my wedding anniversary with my wife Kate.

Whereas last year, on our 30^th anniversary, I presented her a hardback original book of 100 poems, almost all of them written in secret for that one occasion, this year I wrote a little poem about the fact that 31 years is equal to about a billion seconds. In a world where so much of the news is about what Wordsworth in his famous sonnet called “getting and spending,” I wanted to focus more on the time I have spent with Kate. I value that.

So here is my own poem, one that started with the last line, then the rest was retrofit, in rhymes and themes, to match the ending.

Billion Second Sonnet (on our 31st anniversary) 

Kate, I courted you with a tape deck 

rather than one of those newfangled CD players.

I would rather see silver around your neck 

than to own gold, stocks, or shares.

I would rather see your name on my personal check 

than see it printed elsewhere.

I would rather see you in a turtleneck 

than to date some starlet in formalwear.

I would rather shuffle that diaphanous cabin deck 

of hearts with you than to dine on chinaware.

I would rather cherish a midnight moment to check 

in with you than own a mansion in Delaware.

I would rather have lived a billion sec-

onds with you than to retire a billionaire.

Happy anniversary, Kate!

I hope you can join us for tonight’s Pub Quiz at Sudwerk. If you do, you will encounter questions about the following: blockchain, funny wallets, Bible words, treatises, Pakistan, midfielders, tragedies, thieves, quanta, long wars, foreign countries, famous roads, Africa firsts, notable visits, public security, Sacramento exports, jars of cosmetics, cookies, rearranged Kiwis, Detroit, decades, sequels, famous sons of more famous parents, unbreakability, given name Charles, calmness, big cities, 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! Thanks especially to Ellen for the email and the charming photograph!

Best,

Dr. Andy

Here are three trivia questions from last week’s quiz:

1. Science. Found on the limbs of many vertebrates, what do we call muscles having three points of attachment at one end?    

2. Great Americans. Sam Altman is admired for his work in what specific field?  

3. Unusual Words. What word refers to a strongly worded critical attack, a nearly simultaneous firing of all the guns from one side of a warship, a single poem published on quality paper, or the act of colliding with the side of a vehicle?