Bob and Marcia Smith shared surprising facts and trivia, and the usefulness of everyday tools. Marcia provided insights into the origins of election days, while Bob shared humorous anecdotes and quotes related to the topic. The couple discussed the renunciation of American citizenship by Boris Johnson, and shared interesting facts about lasagna noodles and plutonium. They also discussed the future of dining and entertainment, including the use of UVC 222 lights in restaurants, and the evolution of opera and popular music. Bob expressed excitement about the potential of UVC 222 lights in revolutionizing the dining experience, while Marcia provided in-depth knowledge of opera and popular music.
Outlin
US citizenship and surprising renunciations.
- Marcia Smith reveals Iceland’s population density in Reykjavik.
- Bob Smith surprises Marcia Smith by revealing Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, was born in New York and held American citizenship until 2016.
History, food, and TV shows.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of lasagna noodles and the October Revolution, with Marcia providing insight on the former and Bob sharing trivia on the latter.
- The Blind Horse restaurant in Wisconsin is set to become the first in the US to offer safe indoor dining with UVC light sanitization.
- America’s Funniest Home Videos sees 500% increase in video submissions during pandemic.
Opera, history, and empires.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the top five most performed operas in the world, with Verdi’s La Traviata topping the list with 4190 performances.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith a question about the origin of the potato, which she correctly answers as Ireland.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the history of potatoes, with Marcia sharing that they were banned in Burgundy due to fears of leprosy.
- Bob Smith corrects Marcia’s assumption that the Roman Empire was the largest contiguous empire of all time, revealing that it was actually the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan.
History, science, and everyday items.
- Bob and Marcia discuss term limits, African countries named after US presidents, and the world’s most dangerous chemical element, plutonium.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the shortest war in history, to which she answers correctly.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the Swiss Army knife, with Bob sharing interesting facts about its history and use in space exploration.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss commercials for Campbell’s Soup, Pillsbury cookie dough, and Snuggle fabric softener, with Bob suggesting that the families in these commercials are often the families of the ad people responsible for them.
- Bob and Marcia share personal experiences of their children participating in commercial shoots, with Bob mentioning that his son Ben had to act in a pretend funeral for a National Lutheran Senate video and Marcia mentioning that their friend John put their whole family in a video.
US history, media, and trivia.
- Marcia and Bob play a trivia game, with Marcia answering questions on US history and Bob answering questions on war history.
- Bob answers a question about the Civil War battle with the most casualties in a single day, while Marcia asks Bob a question about the first Native American to appear on a US stamp.
Election history and trivia.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the unequal treatment of people in different social classes during the 16th century, with the wealthy and ruling class being spared gruesome punishments while the lower classes were subjected to hangings and torture.
- Bob and Marcia Smith discuss the origins of Election Day in the United States, including the connection to daylight saving time and farmers’ needs.
Bob Smith 0:00
Who is the most surprising person of note to recently renounce American citizenship?
Marcia Smith 0:06
93.8% of this country’s population is in one Cities area named the city and the country.
Bob Smith 0:14
Wow, that’s interesting answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 0:21
and Marsha Smith.
Bob Smith 0:39
Welcome to the off ramp by chance to slow down steer clear of crazy take a side road to Saturday and get some perspective on life. Marcia, that was a very interesting question. Well, thank
Marcia Smith 0:50
you, Bob.
Bob Smith 0:51
Was it 98% of
Marcia Smith 0:53
93.8% of this country’s population is in one Cities area. Name the city and the country. Is
Bob Smith 1:00
this country an island? Yes. Is this country and I Okay. Is this Iceland? Yes. Reykjavik. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 1:11
That’s right. That’s very good deduction there. I was thinking is that country connected to anything else? Country? And it’s again, it’s an island. Yeah, I was trying to think of the world map and I thought, is there some little connection to land there?
Bob Smith 1:24
Well, you think that have to be if they’re that close to one place? It’s it’s either tiny, tiny, isolated, coastal country, or it is in the islands. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 1:33
93.8% of this country’s population. 217,000 people live in and around the city of Reykjavik. And there’s not a cheap place to live Bob, it costs money to maintain a welfare state at the edge of a habitable world. For example, at the local pub, at 4.4% of a bottle of beer is taxes. And that’s why a single brewski can set you back around $11 Holy
Bob Smith 2:04
cow that is expensive. Yeah. Well, you know, a lot of islands you have to bring a lot of things in, you know, there’s not a lot you can make in one place. So
Marcia Smith 2:13
and, and, and those taxes, they really lay it up on alcohol.
Bob Smith 2:18
Well, that was a surprising question. Here’s a surprising question. Okay. Let me be the judge of a recent Wall Street Journal headline was more Americans renounce citizenship. And in that I found this little gem. So tell me who is the most surprising person of note to recently renounce American citizenship?
Marcia Smith 2:40
I can I have a little more specific like, is it entertainment world is not
Bob Smith 2:44
an entertainer, let’s put it that as a political world. It is political. Okay, I can assure you, you and probably almost everybody listening, wouldn’t guess this from anything in the world. And I’m not going to guess the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Boris Johnson. He was an American until 2016. He had dual citizenship.
Marcia Smith 3:08
I did not know that
Bob Smith 3:09
the leader of Great Britain was born in America. He was born in New York City when his parents work there in 1964. And he retained his American citizenship. They only lived there a year and then they went back to England. But he was born here. So he was an American for 52 years into 2016. Why did he renounced his citizenship? I don’t know why, because he sold his house in North London and found out he might owe the IRS $50,000. And that was like, that’s it. There’s no benefits to that. Isn’t that amazing? Yeah, he
Marcia Smith 3:44
could use that maybe an American hairdressers hairs.
Bob Smith 3:48
I just think it’s so hard to believe that the Prime Minister of England was until recently an American citizen I wonder what the leaders of England in the American Revolution would have thought if you would have told them and a future prime minister, a future prime minister who is a distant relative of George the second would be born and American crazy
Marcia Smith 4:06
talk.
Bob Smith 4:07
It is crazy talk.
Marcia Smith 4:08
Did you ever wonder Bob why lasagna noodles have crimped edges? No.
Bob Smith 4:14
lasagna noodles have crimped edges. Yeah. No, I never thought about that. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 4:20
well think about it now.
Bob Smith 4:21
Okay. It was a mistake in packaging. Now. It’s a machine that does that.
Marcia Smith 4:26
It is I imagine but why did they do it? Think about it. Common sense here.
Bob Smith 4:31
You know, I never even noticed they have crimped edges I didn’t I don’t even I can’t even picture what you’re
Marcia Smith 4:36
talking about. Never even cooked lasagna noodle I never did like
Bob Smith 4:40
I’ve eaten lasagna, but I’ve never cooked it and I’ve never looked at a lasagna noodle before it’s been cooked well,
Marcia Smith 4:45
the answer is quite sensible. Actually. It helps retain the sauce and the filling between layers while it’s baking. Otherwise, if you didn’t have the crimps, you’d have flat noodles swimming in sauce and tasty filling. It may never been between the layers. I never thought of it that way so gush out. I never thought about it either, but it’s like a little it’s like a little cocoon for, for the Chi to meet the sauce and even
Bob Smith 5:13
think about cheese, obviously.
Marcia Smith 5:15
Okay,
Bob Smith 5:16
that was good though. I bet you never thought of this. Russia’s October Revolution. That’s 1917. That’s when the Soviets came to power. Russia’s October Revolution actually started in November. So why is it called the October Revolution? You
Marcia Smith 5:34
know, just wondering that over coffee. It is that you were Yeah. Is that the world civics? Yeah,
Bob Smith 5:40
that’s the Bolsheviks. Ah, I don’t know. Well, at the time, Russia was using the Julian calendar, which It marked the starting date as October 25. But today’s calendar the October Revolution really began November 7.
Marcia Smith 5:55
It’s funny. That’s one of those funny
Bob Smith 5:58
accidents of history. Yeah. Well,
Marcia Smith 6:01
Bob, we often drive to Kohler, Wisconsin, right? Yeah. To eat or drink. There’s several great restaurants up there. And it’s a charming little town with just a nice little ride specially during COVID. But anyway, there’s a restaurant up there one we haven’t eaten it. The blind horse. I think that’s over at one of the big golf courses. Anyway, it is about to become this week, the first restaurant in the country to do
Bob Smith 6:26
what? What is it about to become yet
Marcia Smith 6:29
the only restaurant in the country? The
Bob Smith 6:32
only restaurant in the country that? Wow, I
Marcia Smith 6:35
don’t know. I know I that said they serve
Bob Smith 6:38
food. They probably been serving it inside and outside. I don’t
Marcia Smith 6:41
know if they’re about to provide the safest indoor dining experience in the country. patrons will be dining under 18 new FLIR UVC 222 lights that will safely and continuously sanitize the air and nearby surfaces. Really, the general manager promises that it’s safe for humans and kills any kind of virus or pathogen in the air. And studies have shown amazing, it kills up to 99.9% of any virus in the air after 25 minutes. I’d be afraid to sit under the Yeah, well, it’s perfectly safe it says For humans kills almost 100% of any virus in the air. This light kills the light kills. Yeah. Wow. This is a high end restaurant. Yeah, this guy predicts everybody will have this in the near future.
Bob Smith 7:34
But they’re the first. That’s pretty cool. All right. You spoke of the pandemic during this COVID pandemic, what TV show has seen a 500% increase in audience participation.
Marcia Smith 7:49
Well, what is it that is that that millionaires show is the Don’t people call it now there’s some show that people call in and
Bob Smith 7:56
oh, there are several those with lifelines or use. Yeah, no, it’s not that this is an older show than that. Believe it or not, it is ABCs longest running entertainment show and it’s
Marcia Smith 8:06
still on still on. Oh, I bet it’s something like America has talent or something. Something like that. Dancing with the Stars.
Bob Smith 8:15
I’ll tell you what it is. Yeah, it’s America’s Funniest Home video. Oh, they’re getting everybody’s home doing video. I didn’t know they were still on the air. But either. Yeah, this comes from an item in the short report a newsletter that our friend Steven short publishes, and he reported that America’s Funniest Home Videos is now averaging around 6500 video submissions per week. That’s the number of videos it’s receiving from Americans looking for that $10,000 weekly prize 6500 videos a week. That’s 500% more than usual. Not surprising since more Americans are working from home. Yes,
Marcia Smith 8:51
send in your home videos and 1000 Extra doesn’t hurt. Here’s a statistic.
Bob Smith 8:56
How many videos do you think they’ve gone through in the past 30 years? How many video submissions have they had to look at? in 31 years on the air? They started in 1989 to 150,000 2 million home videos. They’ve had to watch 2 million home videos. That’s more than I’ve subjected family in years. Oh yes, he has never lost its time slot is still 7pm Eastern Time on ABC Sunday night. It’s now syndicated in 50 countries. They describe themselves as spreading American humor and clumsiness across the globe.
Marcia Smith 9:33
Last time I looked at it was a lot of cruelty. Yeah,
Bob Smith 9:35
that’s not funny. I don’t think that’s funny. You always look at that Goku. Yeah. I wonder if the money they won paid for the hospital bill. You know, that’s what I always think. Yeah, yeah.
Marcia Smith 9:45
Okay, Bob, can you name two or three of the top five most performed operas in the world? Oh,
Bob Smith 9:54
my goodness.
Marcia Smith 9:56
Okay. Dun,
Bob Smith 9:57
dun dun, Giovanni. Nope, I just know some names I’ve only been to one opera in my life and you took me there Marcia was somebody it was wonderful labo M is
Marcia Smith 10:07
one it’s number four. Let’s see what are the other ones my can’t take any one out of five. Well, is that the one I took you to?
Speaker 1 10:17
I think so. Bad and butter butterfly. That’s six or
Marcia Smith 10:21
seven. Okay, but that’s true. No, that’s not the top five. Oh geez. Okay, topping the list is Verdi’s La Traviata with 4190 performances, separate performances. Think about that. Wow, Mozart’s The Magic Flute is number two, Carmen number three and Puccini. My fav rounds out four and five that’s LeBeau, ame and Tascam. And I’m a big fan of Puccini, although he was always knocking women off in his production, kind of like Disney.
Bob Smith 10:53
Or the mother always died in the Disney Korea
Marcia Smith 10:55
I personally saw Mimi die in lava wave of tuberculosis like 40 times.
Bob Smith 10:59
Well, you because you worked at an operetta theatre.
Marcia Smith 11:03
Yeah. But it gets old.
Bob Smith 11:06
It gets old watching somebody die over and over big.
Marcia Smith 11:11
Anyway, yes, that’s anyway those there’s your only accurate cash. And
Bob Smith 11:15
I should counter with a rock’n’roll question. But I don’t have one. Oh, yeah. Okay. You
Marcia Smith 11:19
know, the most popular rerecorded pop song, the
Bob Smith 11:24
most popular re recorded pop said the most re recorded. So in other words, a cover by other people. There was an original probably yesterday by the
Marcia Smith 11:33
Beatles, that that you’re right, you did get it that makes up for a little bit of your opera deficient. Well, thank
Bob Smith 11:38
you very much. All right. I’ll come back to you with a history question.
Unknown Speaker 11:42
Okay. All right. You know,
Bob Smith 11:43
we all know that the potato originated where? Ireland, South America. Oh, that could have been my question for you. Where did the potato originate? Answer. Ireland. No, I’ve told you the Yes, sir. South America, South America.
Marcia Smith 11:58
They were
Bob Smith 12:00
imported to Europe by the 1500s with Spanish ships returned from Peru with their silver and all that. But they were slow to catch on. Why were they banned in Burgundy at one point?
Marcia Smith 12:13
Potatoes.
Bob Smith 12:13
Yeah. Tell me well, people thought they caused leprosy. You know, there’s all kinds of things. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 12:22
I still do. I don’t eat him.
Bob Smith 12:27
Okay, well, Francis Drake bought those first potatoes to England from Colombia. That’s where he got his. Okay. Okay, here’s another, you know, we always hear of empires, a lot of empires in history, Roman Empire and so forth and so on. What was the largest contiguous empire of all time, the most territory connected? What was the largest contiguous empire of all time?
Marcia Smith 12:49
Well, it’s not the Roman Empire.
Bob Smith 12:51
No. Okay. I thought it would be too because, you know, it’s spread across most of Europe and overtake. Was
Marcia Smith 12:58
it Chinese?
Unknown Speaker 12:59
And then yes, sort of, well, it’s from that.
Marcia Smith 13:01
Or that some dynasty, Genghis Khan, Genghis Khan. Yeah. Nasty sword wasn’t
Bob Smith 13:07
actually there’s a been a reassessment of him because he did allow a lot of local control and emphasized education. So yeah, there was blood thirstiness it’s kind of like the Romans there’s good and there’s bad Wow, great engineers, terrible people.
Marcia Smith 13:21
Killing um, he was giving him rights to do things youngest
Bob Smith 13:24
con united the North East Asian tribes, and he formed an empire of 9.2 7 million square miles, all of it connected, and it reached its peak in 1270. Again, 9.2 7 million square miles, the British Empire was actually bigger at its height. It controlled 13 point 7 million square miles, but they weren’t contiguous lands. When was the British Empire at its height? When I had the most territory in the world?
Marcia Smith 13:53
I bet it was the 1800s. It was 1920 Oh, okay.
Bob Smith 13:57
I had no idea there was that late
Marcia Smith 13:59
1800s 1920s And it’s later than I thought,
Bob Smith 14:03
speaking of late, we’re late for a break. We’ll be back in just a moment with the off ramp with Bob and
Marcia Smith 14:08
Marsha Smith.
Bob Smith 14:12
Okay, Marsha, we’re back with more trivia. What do you got?
Marcia Smith 14:16
Well, Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently died at the age of 87. But she wasn’t the oldest active judge to serve in the US. It was Albert K. Alexander, the magistrate and probate judge of Clinton County, Missouri. He retired in 1965. At what age?
Bob Smith 14:38
So this is like a small place in Missouri. Okay. Let’s say the guy was 105 years old when
Marcia Smith 14:45
he was he was four months shy of his 106 birthday. You’re kidding. You got it. Wow, excellent. Bob,
Bob Smith 14:53
can you imagine being judged by a magistrate sitting up there? And this guy’s Uh huh. underwritten five years old. Oh my
Marcia Smith 15:01
god. Yeah, horrible. Sir. Sir, could you put your head up term
Bob Smith 15:05
limits? I don’t care what party you’re in. That’s too old to be in charge.
Marcia Smith 15:09
We are fans of term limits. And there’s another reason why, man,
Bob Smith 15:14
I can’t believe that. Okay, which African country named its capital after a US President?
Marcia Smith 15:23
Oh, Madagascar.
Bob Smith 15:26
Wrong said with bravado and confidence so to remember, you know, the country is not named after him. It’s capitalist named. Okay. Go ahead. What? African country? Liberia? Oh, it was established in 1822 by the American Colonization Society. It was a home for freed American slaves. Oh, yeah. And they named it Liberia. That means liberty. And the capital was Monrovia. All after Monroe after James Monroe. He was the president at the time Liberia was founded in 1822. Who
Marcia Smith 16:03
knew? Yeah, that’s a Monrovia. Is that like Monroe city or something? Yeah,
Bob Smith 16:07
Monrovia it’s like Monrovia, California. One of your your nephew’s lived in Monrovia we used to visit there we did.
Marcia Smith 16:13
Okay, Bob, what’s the world’s most dangerous chemical element? Whoo.
Bob Smith 16:19
That’s interesting. The most dangerous I guess by what standard has a judged that? Can you give me an A to any? Well, no cancer,
Marcia Smith 16:28
pretty lethal? 130 Millions of an ounce inhaled or swallowed? Will do you in the most poisonous of all the chemical elements would probably be plutonium. Of course, it so sure bet you’ll get cancer if you get anywhere near it or touch it. Plutonium has a radioactive half life of 23,640 years. Wow. Hence, toxicity can be retained for centuries. It just doesn’t that freak you and
Speaker 1 17:01
that’s what they use for nuclear nuclear power. Yeah, you’re out. That’s very unsettling. It is unsettling.
Bob Smith 17:07
And I’m just going to take my plutonium and put it away. No
Marcia Smith 17:11
more playing with the plutonium. It’s been sitting on a desk here. If I told you once told Yeah. 100. Okay,
Bob Smith 17:17
Marcia, another history question. Of course, what was the shortest war in history? The fighting began at 9am. And it ended by 940. That’s my kind of one.
Marcia Smith 17:31
Well, that would be if you use plutonium out of the back.
Bob Smith 17:33
That’s right. That would be the end. But everybody would die if that was the case. Okay, tell me where this is the Anglo Zanzibar war. So this is one of the English colonial wars, the East African island state of Zanzibar fought back against the British Empire. The firing began at 9am on August 26 1896. It ended at 9:40am, making it the world’s shortest war a mere 38 minutes long. But tragically 500 Zanzibar fighters were killed or wounded. And one British petty officer was severely injured, but he recovered in a hospital so you can guess who won that war? It was the British. Wow.
Marcia Smith 18:09
Okay. So this is your kind of question. Travelers, anglers, outdoorsman, or Boy Scouts seldom leave home without this device. And in 1978, NASA ordered 50 of them for use by astronauts. It’s the
Bob Smith 18:26
Swiss Army knife. Oh, forgot. Well, isn’t it? Yes, yes. That kind of the obvious answer the Swiss Army knife. If
Marcia Smith 18:33
you don’t know it, it’s it has been well, maybe it was the Boy Scouts or anglers. I don’t know. But why Bob? Because that thing comes with a wide range of blades. Many tools like pliers, saws, scissors, tweezers, and a bottle opener. The most important, of course,
Bob Smith 18:52
a wine bottle opener.
Marcia Smith 18:54
And no corkscrew. And yeah, in a regular bottle opener. That’s
Bob Smith 18:58
true. It’s got many things. Yeah. That is quite an interesting history on that. We’ll have to examine that. And some of the astronauts
Marcia Smith 19:04
did indeed take it up with them. And I think it was on the space shuttle it helped them fix something that needed to I’m sure it did connect with that and
Bob Smith 19:15
duct tape were very well, absolutely. I’m sure. They had duct tape in outer space.
Marcia Smith 19:20
Simplify, simplify. Absolutely. Okay, Marsha.
Bob Smith 19:24
What do commercials currently running on television for Campbell’s Soup, Pillsbury cookie dough and snuggle fabric softener have in common? I’ll repeat that. What do commercials currently running for Campbell’s Soup? Pillsbury cookie dough and snuggle fabric softener have in common?
Marcia Smith 19:42
The same agency? No. Then I don’t know. The
Bob Smith 19:47
families in those commercials are the families of the ad people responsible for that really?
Marcia Smith 19:51
Really? Yeah.
Bob Smith 19:52
You know, with COVID It’s it’s difficult to shoot scenes with actors in close proximity. So adverts pacing professionals have had to cast non both action of course brilliant their families Yeah. In national spots and it’s not been easy. One photographer who used it family members for spot says they’re the most available but definitely not the most cooperative. Oh, his his kid is daughter 11 year old she was supposed to be have this box of pasta and she’s supposed to be shaking it like rhythm like it was a band. And she just sat there shaking it, you know, and rolling her eyes probably rolling her eyes. But but like a typical kid. months later when he was preparing for another shoot
Unknown Speaker 20:30
she said Do they need a kid? Oh, that’s funny. Yeah, that is typical
Bob Smith 20:33
and a producer have a spot for edible Pillsbury cookie dough had to bribe his kids with new toys to participate. But once they started consuming this edible cookie dough, he had to spread the filming out over three days. He said I didn’t want my kids to eat 45 cookies and I had to hold them back from devouring it but
Marcia Smith 20:50
finding Well didn’t you and I auditioned for one audition
Bob Smith 20:55
for a commercial product it was cellular Consumer Cellular because we’re a customer of consumers. Yeah. Well you know that kind of experience is new to a lot of families but our kids grew up in front of cameras, not just home videos but professional sets with directors and lighting
Marcia Smith 21:10
people and location I mean everything I could our friend John
Bob Smith 21:15
Barbara who was the media director for one of the National Lutheran Synods put our whole family in videos. Remember Ben had to learn to act by looking at a comb at your pretend funeral I pretend funeral that was shut out in a cemetery and there was a real coffin there and Ben was told to look at a they put a hair comb on the coffin and said Look at that comb Ben and feel sad and he did dressed in his little suit and
Marcia Smith 21:40
a tear came down his cheek. Yeah, it was a showstopper. It really was and
Bob Smith 21:44
Chelsea starred in professionally produced videos at the age of six. So it’s not surprising both of them are in media jobs these days. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 21:51
Okay, riddle me this Bob. Man. Three quickies. Okay. Who was the first woman to appear on a US postage stamp? Eleanor Roosevelt? Queen Isabella? 1893. Really?
Bob Smith 22:04
A foreign queen? Yeah, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, right? Yeah, they financed Christopher Columbus’s journey. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 22:14
okay. First American woman was Eleanor Roosevelt. Martha Washington. God, I can’t get it. Right. You know, to 1902 That makes sense. Yeah. Who was the first Native American to appear on a US stamp? Eleanor? See,
Bob Smith 22:28
who would that be? I bet it was
Marcia Smith 22:31
Geronimo, Pocahontas. Oh, okay. 1907. Well, I’m over three there. I know. And you won’t get this one either. Okay. And who was the first African American?
Bob Smith 22:42
I don’t know. Frederick Douglass. Booker
Marcia Smith 22:45
T. Washington. Okay. 1940
Bob Smith 22:48
I just did terribly. Well. Those were
Marcia Smith 22:50
tough. I didn’t realize those went back so far. You know, I didn’t realize, you know, gosh, 1800s, early 19. And when was the oldest one you mentioned there? What? 1893 Queen Isabella? Wow. So go through those again. Quickly. Queen Isabella 1893 Martha Washington. 1902. Pocahontas 1907. And Booker T. Washington. 1940.
Bob Smith 23:14
All right. I’ve got another question. Another war question. Marcia. Yay. Yeah, depressing. What Civil War battle had the most casualties in a single day. Oh,
Marcia Smith 23:24
that was in America. Yeah. What
Unknown Speaker 23:27
Civil War? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 23:28
Yeah, I know. Is that what the Gettysburg what was that? It’s that Battlefield out on the coast there. It’s on the east. It’s right. We haven’t I haven’t been there you have? Actually, I
Bob Smith 23:42
don’t know if I’ve been there. You know, I’ve been to Gettysburg. And that’s what most people say. But that battle lasted three days. Yeah, this is the battle that lasted one day. So it was Antietam and Tetum in Maryland. 22,726 casualties in one day that is so so that that was on September 17 1862. At the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. But Gettysburg had 51,000 casualties over three days more people killed, wounded, missing and captured than the Revolutionary War The War of 1812 in the Mexican War combined.
Marcia Smith 24:16
Oh boy.
Bob Smith 24:18
Okay, one more question. In the Middle Ages, what type of execution was reserved almost exclusively for the aristocratic class because it was considered faster more efficient legality?
That’s right decapitation, so
Marcia Smith 24:31
that was the nice way to go instead of hanging or yeah bleeding you out and something it was
Bob Smith 24:36
more swift immediate devoid of suffering so that was saved for the wealthy and the ruling call CMP Okay, wow, the lower classes had to go through the hangings and gruesome torture. Yeah, well, and then the witches in the heretics they were burned alive so
Marcia Smith 24:50
they always even even unto death.
Unknown Speaker 24:52
If you’re well off, you could get by with being treated better it should be reversed. Okay.
Marcia Smith 24:59
That is Not a rich person. Yes. Well, you
Bob Smith 25:01
wouldn’t say that.
Unknown Speaker 25:02
You wouldn’t say that if you were correct.
Marcia Smith 25:04
That is correct. Yeah, I’m gonna got a couple
Bob Smith 25:07
fun things to wrap it up with you elections.
Marcia Smith 25:09
Election questions today. And next week I’ll have some. How did a foot powder win an election in Ecuador?
Bob Smith 25:24
How did a foot powder win an election in Ecuador?
Marcia Smith 25:28
I kid you not. And the answer is in 1967, the foot powder. Paul van appies ran a funny ad during the election that said, if you want hygiene, vote for Paul Vapp. Ease. I don’t know who the competition was. But the majority of voters chose the foot powder as a write in vote.
Bob Smith 25:47
And that’s an Ecuador. Oh, that’s
Unknown Speaker 25:50
hilarious.
Marcia Smith 25:51
It. It’s a sad state of affair in Ecuador, in 1960s. And you want another election question? Sure. Why did we vote on Tuesdays Bob?
Bob Smith 26:03
Well, it’s the second Tuesday in November. It’s in the Constitution that way, but I didn’t know what what the reason was for that day being chosen was same reason
Marcia Smith 26:11
we have daylight saving time. Farmers. Oh, no kidding. Yeah, farmers used to have to travel long distances to the nearest polling place. Sunday was out of the question. And Wednesday was market day. So they had to be home for those things. So Tuesday was picked and November because the harvest was over. Well,
Bob Smith 26:28
that all makes sense. You’re right. It’s related to the daylight savings time
Marcia Smith 26:33
that farmers need. Takes a while to get to the polling
Speaker 1 26:36
place always did seem weird that they chose it’s going to be on a Tuesday, November
Marcia Smith 26:41
2 Tuesday. The harvest is over and it’s not market day. Okay. I’m going to close out with two laughter. Okay. And here’s an anonymous quote, it says, Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
Bob Smith 26:57
Oh, that’s right. Well, that’s me. If you have enough foibles, you’re always laughing at something you do.
Marcia Smith 27:02
And my dear Ben Franklin, he said, I like this for these times. Trouble knocked at the door, but hearing laughter hurried away.
Bob Smith 27:10
Oh, it’s great. Well, we hope that the trouble is hurrying away from you. And we hope you’ve enjoyed listening to us as we prattle on with some interesting facts and trivia by Bob. I’m Marcia where the Smiths join us again next time
Marcia Smith 27:25
on the off ramp.
Bob Smith 27:32
The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio and the Cedarbrook Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
