Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
When your beloved French Bulldog puppy is mauled in the UC Davis Arboretum, the community of Davis is quick to offer its concern and support. Such was the case for us this past Thursday, when my wife Kate was taking our new puppy Margot on her daily walk. She had no reason to expect that the owner of the much larger and decidedly ferocious dog would walk her dog right up to Kate and Margot to initiate the attack. Over the course of a minute or more, Kate tried a variety of strategies to get the dog to let our puppy go, finally reaching down to pry the jaws apart, and bloodying up her hands in the process. A visit to the vet immediately afterwards revealed that it was probably Margot’s puffy sweater that saved her life, for it took the brunt of the damage. We continue to monitor her to see if there are signs of internal damage.
Kate posted two Facebook posts about the ordeal. In the first, she highlighted a picture of the dog’s owner and the dog itself, both to determine their identity, and to warn other walkers of dogs and children on the greenbelts of Davis to take extreme care if they see the two. This post garnered more than 400 expressions of concern in the form of emojis: 277 angry faces, 82 sad faces, 37 looks of surprise, 20 likes, and one laughing face. People left 386 comments (more on that in a moment), and the post was shared 472 times, a record for either of us on Facebook.
Kate’s post attracted so much attention in part because Kate mentioned the breed of the dog that had attacked Margot. A great number of defenders of the breed shared their opinions, as did an even greater number of people who were not fans of the breed. While still nursing her wounds, Kate had to spend much of Thursday and Friday deleting comments from strangers who shared aggressive, maligning, malevolent, racist, and even violent posts directed at a number of targets, including the dog, the breed of the dog, the owner of the dog, people who were the perceived race of the owner of the dog, and even Kate herself.
When Kate stopped by Trader Joes Friday, the friendly banter with the woman who was scanning all of Kate’s purchases turned to weekend plans; Kate admitted that she was just going to spend her weekend snuggling to her French Bulldog, for she had been attacked in the Arboretum the day before. The woman responded, “That was you?” Word had spread. A kind neighbor of ours stopped by the house yesterday to see how Margot was doing, even though she is not a Facebook friend and hadn’t talked to Kate about the ordeal. If you are active in Davis social media, chances are you have heard this story, as well.
Margot continues to heal, and Kate is asleep this morning as I write this. As we continue to grapple with the physical trauma, and the psychological distress (Kate hasn’t been back to her daily walking route along the Arboretum’s Putah Creek since the attack), we will most remember the hundreds of expressions of love for our dog, many from Davisites whom we have never met. Such words of support gives people overcoming an awful incident an alternative narrative to focus upon. The benevolent voices fill our ears while we wait for other echoes to subside.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on the following topics: canine companions, sad stories, firefighters in Alabama, midwestern sports, prisoners, landed gentry, chefs, spices, public duels, names in the news, arboreal obsessions, people named Greg, breathing room, flattery, funny names, distinguishing between Mikes and Mickeys, transferred channels, Vegas residency, math topics, title characters of TV shows, iconic Grammy nominees, members of Congress, formidable Greeks, first ladies, the Dalai Lama on Twitter, DNA, newspaper headlines, quenchers, and Shakespeare.
I hope you can join us this evening. If you recruit too many, bring two teams!
Your Quizmaster
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Here are three questions from a 2013 quiz:
- Internet Culture. What’s a LAN?
- Newspaper Headlines. The last British king to have been killed in battle was recently found under a parking lot in Leicester, 100 miles north west of London. Name him.
- Mathematics. In our American system of mathematical progressions, what denomination come after million, billion and trillion?