Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
My 15 year-old daughter Geneva just returned from two weeks in Seattle. Evidently in Seattle families play board games every night, and make amazing meals together in their artisan kitchens. Were these veiled complaints? Does she need more attention? I’m not sure, but Geneva and I did spend an hour or more drawing last night, with her teaching me how to draw Manga faces. She left me convinced that I draw like a caveman, and that I can only draw cavemen. Not a single one of my drawings could be considered “subtle.”
Much of what Geneva knows about her cartooning and art studio work she learned from instructors she will never meet. YouTube and the Khan Academy provide the internet-connected students an opportunity to shop for teachers, to make those teachers repeat themselves, and to pause them while sharpening a sketching pencil. Such teachers are endlessly patient, they never criticize, and they are never disappointed. One remembers the words of Sarah Connor: “Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. The terminator, would never stop. It would never leave him, and it would never hurt him, never shout at him, or get drunk and hit him, or say it was too busy to spend time with him. It would always be there. And it would die, to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only one who measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice.”
Find out what's happening in Davisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
But one not be insane to choose human interaction over the pre-recorded. We know that YouTube instructors fail to make eye contact, they can’t tailor their instruction to the needs of a particular student, and they can’t recognize distress. The most enterprising students recognize and take best advantage of the strengths of both kinds of instructors. But first we teachers should consider how best to inspire a love of learning that lasts a lifetime. As Mark Twain says, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
I have a thing or two to teach you this evening. Today’s de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz will include questions on Genesis, internet memes, embassies, vowel cities, Mitt Romney, that which overwhelms, bluesmen, the Wolf Pack, people that look just like each other, stock exchanges, monarchs, liquids, Jacks, legal cases from the 19th century, primates in conflict, periods, comedians, mononyms, energy that you can actually touch (anagram), bounties, happy families, live action vs. animated films, recent Irish history, Soderbergh, fairy tales that were made into films, Shakespeare projects, and Bulgaria.
Find out what's happening in Davisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
I bought some freeze-dried bananas at Trader Joe’s today, and they were so delicious. Who needs candy? See you tonight for the Pub Quiz. Last week the Pub was filled by about 6:30, but one table of slow eaters left soon after I started the noisy and exuberant welcome. Bring your friends!
Your Quizmaster
2. Radio Culture. Believe it or not, Rush Limbaugh still has the number one most-listened-to radio show in the country. Who has the second most-listened to show? Sorry, Davis, but it’s not Ira Glass.
3. Newspaper Headlines: Drug Abatement in the US. I would have guessed that cocaine use is down because of harsher sentences and increased enforcement of border security in the US. But according to Peter Reuter at the University of Maryland, there are three other primary reasons for the rapid decline in America’s cocaine problem in the last ten years. Name one of Reuter’s reasons.
4. Four for Four. Which of the following Sacramento streets, if any, frame Capitol Park, the California state capitol building? L St, N St, 10th St., 16th St.
5. Birds. What bird appears on the coat of arms of Austria, Iceland, Palestine, and Zambia? Surprisingly to many of you, it’s not a dove.
6. Film. In what film is Gina Carano’s character ostensibly responsible for the deaths of Obi Wan Kenobi, Puss in Boots, and Magneto? And by that I mean actors who have played those fictional characters.