Health & Fitness
The Nobility of Spirit Veterans Day Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter
Reflections on Veterans Day and on tonight's Pub Quiz.
Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
My favorite Veterans Day message came this morning from my friend Indigo Moor, the multi-award winning poet and essayist who was posting, as so many of us do when we have an important message, on his Facebook wall:
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10 years in the Navy: Desert Storm, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and a Kuwaiti Liberation Medal. My ex asked my oldest grandson if he knew that I was a veteran. Michael replied "yeah... there's a kid in my class, he's a veteran, too." LOL. Off to work.
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Indigo’s words reminded me of a quotation I read recently by the Italian conductor Riccardo Muti, who is also the musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: “Nobility of spirit has more to do with simplicity than ostentation, wisdom rather than wealth, commitment rather than ambition.”
One way to honor veterans is to thank them for their selflessness. I wonder if President Obama carried the veteran-heavy states of Virginia and Florida in the election this year because of the ways that his campaign focused on the needs of returning veterans (especially helping them find jobs). Because this was the first election in 80 years where no one on the ticket could point to military service as a qualification in his run for office, perhaps President Obama had an opening with veterans who saw that he genuinely cared for their well-being and their futures.
Expect a couple Veterans Day-themed questions on tonight’s de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz. Also, expect a crowd. The monthly Art About is bringing more and more outsiders to downtown Davis, and many of them this past Friday tried to get a table at de Vere’s. Tonight the crowd will be more focused, less frenetic, and more ready to participate in their own entertainment. With some favorite teams returning from vacations and other forms of hiatus, I bet we will sell out.
Tonight’s Quiz will also include questions about Microsoft, popular charities, Motown, 50 years of Bond films, funky music, puppets, sugar, American royalty, quarterbacks whose names are spondees, baritones, cloaking, islands, Star Trek, Oscar-winners, heavenly tunnels, (northern) Italy as a setting, people with the last name of Fett, fireflies, lovely summers, spouses who share birthdays, clones, the ages of bunches of celebrities, vacancies, parks, islands, the Caribbean, religious leaders, Persia, fun with atoms, time spent with ghosts, states full of women, veterans, and Shakespeare.
I hope to see you this evening, and happy Veterans Day.
Your Quizmaster
http://www.facebook.com/yourquizmaster
Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Unusual Bicycle Words and Acronyms. When referring to bicycles, what does the acronym BMX stand for?
2. Aristotle. According to Aristotle, the secret to humor is WHAT?
3. Pop Culture – Television Hosts. Huell Howser is best known for hosting a TV travel show titled California's WHAT?
4. Another Music Question. In what Beatles song does one find the line “Got to be good looking ‘cause he’s so hard to see”?
5. Anagram. What was the last-released full-length non-animated film that included Mike Myers in its cast? Two hints: The 2009 film made $120 million domestically, and its title is an anagram for the common phrase A BED RUINS UROLOGISTS.
P.S. I hope you’ll come out to the John Natsoulas Gallery this coming Thursday night at 8 to see two of UC Davis’s best poets perform: Joe Wenderoth and Joshua Clover. You should leave your children at home for this event.
