Charities and a Birthday Party: The de Vere's Irish Pub Quiz

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Thanks to all of you who sent me birthday greetings on Saturday. Today’s will be a special edition of the Pub Quiz, for it will conclude with a party, that is, even more of a party than we usually hold on a Monday evening.

Starting at about 9pm, the hard-working staff of the Irish Pub will emerge from the kitchen with all sorts of finger food, the phrase that we Americans use instead of “hors d'oeuvres.” Although I will be paying for the extra food myself, in honor of the Native American tradition of potlatch, you will have to purchase your own drink.

Gifts (to me) of any sort are specifically discouraged, but if you are feeling particularly generous, I encourage you to consider one of my three favorite local charities as a focus for your generosity: community radio station KDVS (which holds its annual fund-raiser next month right after Picnic Day), The Cultural Action Committee of the City of Davis (which supports my poetry efforts in the community, as well as all the public art that you’ve seen popping up in the last two months), and Writing on the Edge, the local (and nationally famous) writing journal that is sponsored by the University Writing Program at UC Davis. Subscriptions to WOE are only $20 a year, a real bargain when you consider the incredible writers who one sees interviewed, and whose work is published, in every issue.

Speaking of charities, I’m really pleased to be associated with an organization, de Vere’s Irish Pub, and a group of people, the de Vere White Family, that is doing so much good in the world. More specifically, the de Vere’s Irish Pubs do more than any other local outfit that I know of to support the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, an organization that has raised over $188 million over the last dozen years to fund innovative and promising research into cancers that affect children. They do this primarily by shaving heads of volunteers who raise money for this good cause.

My friend John Marcotte, the Sacramento-based journalist and activist, is getting his head shaved at the de Vere’s Irish Pub in Sacramento this evening. I supported his efforts with a donation on his St. Baldrick’s Foundation Page, and you can, too. Thanks to de Vere’s Irish Pub for focusing on important causes during St. Patrick’s Week. Enjoy this frabjous day,  and take note of the St. Patrick’s Week events that de Vere’s will be sponsoring – at least one a day through Saturday. Perhaps I will see you at one of the celebrations.

In addition to the expected topics during St. Patrick’s Week (Irish culture and such), expect questions tonight on personal hygiene products, Hawaiian culture, Gorgons, philosophers, confections, Grammy-award winning singers, football, dangerous car accidents, the American Presidency, UC Davis, textiles and clothing, actors with natural names, grenades, cashmere poets, coffee drinks, Indian culture, Japanese words, cereal, prominent Twitter users, translations, mystery novels, modern fables, rushing, Irish culture, big countries, fruits and vegetables, people whose pockets brim with imperatives, politics, and Picnic Day, after which the KDVS fundraiser shall begin.

I look forward to seeing you tonight for a memorable Pub Quiz and after-party.

Your Quizmaster

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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

1.         Mottos and Slogans.    What product that starts with the letter M uses the slogan “Medicine with muscle”? 

2.         Internet Culture. This past January, what website became the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark, most of those users being women? 

3.         Newspaper Headlines. The last name of the Georgetown graduate student who Rush Limbaugh has been picking on is a synonym for the words “accident” and “blessing.” Name her. 

4.         Four for Four.  Which two of the following names, if any, are those of the Leonardo DiCaprio character in the film Inception? Bob, Cobb, David, Dominick. 

5.         Star Trek. What Star Trek species that shares ancestry with the Vulcans has been described as passionate, cunning, and opportunistic?   

P.S. Here’s the event page for tonight’s after-quiz party: https://www.facebook.com/events/198696140235793/