Marcia and Bob delved into lesser-known aspects of American history, including the first interracial kiss on TV and the secret purchase of enslaved children by President James K. Polk. They highlighted the need for perspective and understanding in their discussion of a historical display of slaves’ paystubs. Later, Bob and Marcia discussed the transformation of yoga from a meditative practice to a global wellness industry worth $25 billion. Bob shared interesting facts about the Grand Canyon and Mars, while Marcia revealed a fascinating fact about the Bible.
Outline
TV history, slavery, and kissing.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the first interracial kiss on TV, with Marcia correcting Bob’s answer and providing the correct information.
- Bob asks a follow-up question about early presidents owning slaves, and Marcia responds with additional information.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss James K. Polk owning enslaved people while in the White House, with Polk buying 19 people, including children, and sending them to work on his Mississippi cotton plantation.
- Marcia Smith asks if kissing can boost the immune system, with Bob Smith joking that exchanging bacteria through kissing can make you more immune to certain conditions.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of clocks, including the first water clock invented by a Greek mathematician during Alexander the Great’s reign, and Leonardo da Vinci’s alarm clock that raised his feet to wake him up.
- The French outlawed kissing in churches, but not in hospitals or for health purposes.
Language origins and historical events.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of words and phrases, including “llama,” “Dalai Lama,” and “grandfather clause.”
- Marcia Smith explains the grandfather clause, a Jim Crow law that disqualified most black people from voting while exempting white people whose grandfathers had previously voted.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the first scientific publication of the Wright Brothers’ flight, which was actually published in a beekeeping magazine, not a scientific journal, despite being rejected by Scientific American.
- Bob and Marcia discuss historical events where a vice president became president, with examples from George Washington’s administration and the Nixon presidency.
History, culture, and saints.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the difference between a spider’s web and a cobweb, with Bob providing a humorous response.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the paystubs of slaves who built the US Capitol and White House, with little known about their lives beyond receiving basic necessities and occasional small payments.
- Bob explains that Valentine, a priest in Rome, became a patron saint of lovers due to his marriage ceremonies and encouragement of marriage, despite Emperor Claudius II’s ban on marriage in AD 270.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the origins of Valentine’s Day and the story of Emperor Bishop Valentine, who was sentenced to death for marrying young lovers in secret.
- Iris Westman, a 115-year-old woman, shares her thoughts on Donald Trump during an interview, and Marcia Smith finds it interesting that she had more to say about Warren G. Harding, who was president when she was in high school.
The Grand Canyon, yoga, and the Bible.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the world’s largest shopping mall, Grand Canyon depth, and COVID-19’s impact on young people’s stress levels.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the Grand Canyon, including its size and location, as well as the recent discovery of a massive canyon on Mars.
- Marcia and Bob discuss Mars geography and the origin of the phrase “rule of thumb.”
- Marcia shares a quote from a famous woman, “I’m older than fire and twice as hot.”
Marcia Smith 0:00
What popular American TV show broadcasts the first interracial kiss? Hmm, okay.
Bob Smith 0:08
And we know some early presidents were slave owners but what President was secretly buying slaves while in the White House
Marcia Smith 0:15
Oh, that’s that’s not good
Bob Smith 0:19
answers to those that other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy. Take a side road to sanity and have some perspective on life. Well, that was an interesting question.
Marcia Smith 0:54
It is think about it. Now. This is very popular show. You know the show. Oh, really? Okay, what popular American TV show broadcast the first interracial kiss. This was between a white male and a black woman
Bob Smith 1:08
that King Cole and Dinah Shore exchanged a kiss on television in the 50s. That’s what I thought was the first
Marcia Smith 1:13
did they But didn’t they just they weren’t locking lips. Just a peck on the cheek? Yeah, this is a regular kiss. I’ll give you the year. Wait
Bob Smith 1:22
a minute. I bet it was all in the family.
Marcia Smith 1:24
That would have been my guess. Okay, that’s not in. No,
Bob Smith 1:26
that’s right. Sammy Davis Jr. Kissed Archie Bunker. Yeah, family. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 1:30
When was that? That was in the 70s. Okay, this is before that the year is 1968. Was that the TV show, Julia? Now? I would have guessed that too.
Bob Smith 1:39
That was also with a first black female lead. Yes.
Marcia Smith 1:42
Yes. It was. Okay. What was it? Okay, Bob. It was Star Trek. Really? And it was a kiss between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant. Uh, you are a you heard? Yes, yes. She was a lieutenant and she was always the one running the boards. But anyway, this is interesting. It was on one of the episodes in 1968. producers of the show. were worried about some stations how they’d react to the whole thing. Yeah. So they wanted to film a second version in which the kiss happened off screen so you didn’t see it. But actors William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols deliberately flubbed their lines to force them to use the original take. The so they took it upon themselves, thank goodness, they’re gonna show this. Yeah. And we’re gonna use it. That’s how they did. I thought that was very and the year again for that was 60 1860. A big year for a lot of things that year. Yeah.
Bob Smith 2:37
Mine’s a historic question, but it’s related to African Americans as well. Okay. Now, we know some early presidents were slave owners. We know George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and some of those folks, right. Yeah. But what President was secretly buying people, most of them children while in the White House
Marcia Smith 2:55
is a way yes. sounds disgusting. No, it wasn’t John Adams and John Adams was canceled. He was just busy with his own, you know?
Bob Smith 3:06
I don’t know. Well, unfortunately, it was the man for whom the street we live on was named.
Marcia Smith 3:15
You know, one of the mediocre presidents James
Bob Smith 3:17
K. Polk. Yeah. Yeah, he bought 19. People will acting as president 13 of those were children. He wanted them young and effective and cheap. The source for this is Lena man, a historian at the White House Historical Association. She says that James Polk concealed his purchases of the enslaved children and young adults. He sent them to work on his Mississippi cotton plantation while he lived at the White House between 1845 and 1849. And he had surrogates buy slaves for his plantation. He didn’t want people to know he was doing.
Marcia Smith 3:51
That was just another name. Just another good reason to rename the cul de sac.
Bob Smith 3:56
Yeah, yeah. cul de sac is a good term for a president like that. Kind of a dead end. All right, yeah. James K. Polk, he was one of at least a dozen presidents who owned enslaved people. Eight of them served before him, but he was the only president who apparently purchased slaves while President by the time he became president. Most politicians were saying they inherited the slaves, or they own them because it was part of their wife’s dowry, but it wasn’t their responsibility. So that’s why he kept it a secret. So he was but he was actually buying people while he was in the White House.
Marcia Smith 4:29
Okay, so I have two more quick kissing questions. Oh, kissing questions. Yes. Well, this, these were interesting. I thought, can kissing boost your immune system?
Bob Smith 4:40
I never thought of that. Well, maybe it can because you’re exchanging bacteria with somebody else indeed. And you become immune. Are you becoming more used to that? That’s
Marcia Smith 4:49
exactly right. While mononucleosis aka the kissing disease is only one of several conditions you can catch from a kiss in most cases. says swapping spit boosts your immunity. When you smooth someone awful when you smooth someone new and we haven’t done that in quite a while have we know you exchange 10s of millions of microbes long term partners share a common microbe mix from all their years of lip smacking. These exchanges help protect us against infections and maybe allergies.
Bob Smith 5:24
So if you think you and your spouse have nothing in common, you’re wrong. You
Marcia Smith 5:28
got microbes there, baby.
Bob Smith 5:31
Okay, that’s great. That’s fascinating. Okay, Marsha, if necessity is the mother of invention. Why was the first clock invented? Ever wonder about this? Why was the first clock invented?
Marcia Smith 5:42
Well, I don’t know.
Bob Smith 5:45
Obviously, somebody wanted to track time for some reason what reason?
Marcia Smith 5:49
It wasn’t for the trains because that came a long time after this goes way back to the Greeks. Yeah, I would say this was way back. I don’t know. We should have a set time every day to start the orgies and let no
Bob Smith 6:01
no that had nothing to do with. Not that I know of. But okay, one of the first clocks was invented by a Greek mathematician. It was a water clock invented during the reign of Alexander the Great, the rain. Why was the clock invented the first clock to limit the time a lawyer could speak in court?
Marcia Smith 6:19
Well see now that perfect is perfect sense. I like it, it could hold true for you know, in the Congress or wherever
Bob Smith 6:26
else. You said you had another kissing question. I have another clock question. All right. So how did Leonardo da Vinci’s alarm clock wake him up? Leonardo da Vinci, one of the great paths of his
Marcia Smith 6:37
oh my god, he was amazing. Well, it didn’t ring a bell now but
Bob Smith 6:42
it raised his feet. It did. Yeah, he invented a water clock in which a thin stream of water flowed from one receptacle to another and when the second container was full, a system of gears and levers, raised his feet into the air and that’s when he knew it was time to wake up. Oh, I love it. So the first clock was invented to keep lawyers from talking too long. And Leonardo’s fabulous and Leonardo da Vinci’s alarm clock raised his feet to wake him.
Marcia Smith 7:10
Alright, last kissing question. Oh. Where did the French of all people outlaw kissing?
Bob Smith 7:19
Where did they outlaw? The outlawed kissing in one place? Yeah. Would it be in hospitals? Nope. Okay, I’m thinking of health purposes. Okay, where would they in? In church? No, can’t Kissinger. No, no. Okay.
Marcia Smith 7:32
What were good guesses, though? Public displays of affection can get you in trouble in some places. They’re illegal in Dubai. Did you know that? And frowned upon in China. Even the French outlawed smooching on train platforms to prevent amorous passengers from delaying train departures.
Bob Smith 7:53
There’s always a reason for a law so somebody must have kept the train from starting. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 7:58
so they banned it in the lip laws go all the way back in centuries to King Henry the sixth. And he banned all kissing in 1439 to stop the spread of the bubonic plague. Oh, no. Yeah. So between the plague and late trains, but they did it twice. Ban kissing what’s good? Yeah,
Bob Smith 8:20
very interesting. That’s okay. I have a question about a word the origin of this word. What does the word llama mean? The word llama.
Marcia Smith 8:29
Okay. He said, hat and gloves.
Bob Smith 8:33
Think of llamas. They’re pretty quiet, aren’t they?
Marcia Smith 8:35
Yeah. They’re awake. Quiet tall. We go. I don’t know about the
Bob Smith 8:40
word Lama means Buddhist monk.
Marcia Smith 8:42
Really? Yeah. So Dalai Lama. Well,
Bob Smith 8:46
that’s my next question. What does Dalai Lama mean?
Marcia Smith 8:52
Definitely Lama if if Lama may means mark, hi, holy, holy monk, highest monk. Dali, the highest
Bob Smith 9:01
in Tibetan. Dalai Lama means ocean monk. Really spiritual head of that religion is said to possess an ocean of compassion. So ocean monk, that’s the main title. He has an ocean of compassion, the Dalai Lama? And he really does. Yes, yes.
Marcia Smith 9:17
You like this? It’s a common question. What is the legal origin of grandfather clause?
Bob Smith 9:24
Hmm, the legal Origin of the term grandfather clause, and that’s where you take something that already exists. You’re gonna ban it or make illegal the activity but for this group of people or this circumstance, it stays the same. Yeah. Your grandfather’s something. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 9:38
because it existed
Bob Smith 9:40
before. Okay. I don’t know.
Marcia Smith 9:42
The term grandfather clause means something is exempt if in practice before a new law forbids it, yes, in legal terms, and it comes from a legal trick used by Southern states to keep former slaves from voting. A law was introduced requiring The passing of a literacy test before anyone Black or White could vote. The only exemptions were people whose grandfathers had voted prior to the new law. What this gave all whites the right to vote, and virtually all blacks were disqualified.
Bob Smith 10:16
Oh, my goodness, I had no idea. That’s how it started. That’s
Marcia Smith 10:19
the grandfather clause.
Bob Smith 10:21
So if your grandfather could vote, you don’t have to pass a test. Oh, that how granddad was? Holy cow. That’s amazing. So that was a Jim Crow law. Yeah. So grandfathering something in as a result of the Jim Crow era. Okay, here’s a good question. What type of publication published the first scientific accounts of the Wright Brothers flight? Now, this was a great moment in science because it was applied. So yeah. So what magazine? What publication published the first account,
Marcia Smith 10:52
I’ll say it was something like Colliers or some women’s magazine. That would actually be good. Yeah. But no, it wasn’t. It was like, because
Bob Smith 11:03
Scientific American rejected the story, really. The man who wrote it, AI route of Medina, Ohio. He was a beekeeper, he said to be made, so he published it in a bee magazine leanings in bee culture.
Marcia Smith 11:17
Well, I could have guessed all day on this one.
Bob Smith 11:19
Isn’t that funny? Yeah, he realized the significance of the flight that brothers made. He read a brief story about them in the Dayton Ohio newspaper. So he submitted a story scientifically written to Scientific American rejected it. So he sent it to his to beekeepers, magazine, Gleanings and bee culture and that published it exclusively that was the first scientific story on the Wright Brothers plane flight.
Marcia Smith 11:43
That’s funny. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Why do so many Scottish and Irish names begin with Mac as in McDonald, or with O’s? As in O’Connor? You
Bob Smith 11:54
know, I always wondered about that. What is the answer to that? Well,
Marcia Smith 11:57
in Gaelic, the prefix Mac means son while O means grandson or descendant. I had no idea. Both were used to keep track of the true bloodline. MacDonald means the son of Donald while O’Connor means the grandson or descendant of Connor. Okay. Yeah.
Bob Smith 12:16
Oh, that’s good. Very good. Now, Marcia, the last time we did a show you solicited you said any rappers listening could submit a question and guess what one of our rappers did? Okay, this is a question from our listener, Rob Fredrickson of the Milwaukee area,
Marcia Smith 12:32
Our first responder. Okay, first responder. There
Bob Smith 12:35
we go. Rob, you’re a first responder. He says this is something you can ask Marcia, if you so choose. It’s not too hard. But it’s not a slam dunk either. This is kind of a riddle Marcia and you like riddles? I do. Person A served as vice president, then Person A became president. person be served as vice president under Person A, then Person B became president? Who is Person A, who is Person B. This actually happened twice in real life in history. Okay, so let me do it again. Person A served as vice president, then Person A became president, person B served as vice president under Person A, then B became president.
Marcia Smith 13:20
It’s not a Biden and Obama. No. Because?
Bob Smith 13:23
No, because we’re talking about two vice presidents becoming president.
Marcia Smith 13:28
Yeah, yeah. All right. Tell me. Okay. It was John
Bob Smith 13:31
Adams, who served as vice president of George Washington. Then he went on to become the nation’s second president. Person B was Thomas Jefferson, his vice president. And then Thomas Jefferson, of course, went on to become a president. So you have three presidents in a row, two of which were vice president. Thanks, Rob. All right. Now, let’s go to the 20th century this happened again, who was Person A, who is Person B. Person A served as vice president, then a became president than Person B served as vice president under person A and B became president and
Marcia Smith 14:06
20th century discipleship. No, right. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Notorious president. Nixon Agnew.
Bob Smith 14:14
Well, was Richard Nixon. He served as vice president. Then Nixon later went on to become president and he did have Agnew as his vice president. But Agnew resigned. And then who became President Ford? Yes. Who became president? Yeah,
Marcia Smith 14:28
there you go. I should have worked it all out. Riddle. Yes, it is, isn’t it? It is. All right. Well, thank you.
Bob Smith 14:35
Don’t sound too enthusiastic.
Marcia Smith 14:36
I didn’t get it. That’s why I didn’t like it. Rob says
Bob Smith 14:39
So essentially, we could think of Adams and Nixon as the protegees who became the mentors and the mentees who also went on to become mentors. And a lot of that comes from Wikipedia. Thanks, Rob. That was fun. I got I got to stump Marcia. I love that.
Marcia Smith 14:55
Yes, you did. So
Bob Smith 14:56
cool. Oh, okay. Let’s take a break. We’ll be back With more of the off ramp and just a moment with Bob and
Marcia Smith 15:02
Marsha Smith
Bob Smith 15:06
you listening to the off ramp with Bob and
Marcia Smith 15:08
Marsha Smith. Bob, what’s the difference between a spider’s web and a cobweb?
Bob Smith 15:13
Well, cobweb is something that you find dust in. Now that’s a good question. I thought there was the same thing as a spider’s web, but it’s got dust all over it. So you can
Marcia Smith 15:23
see it. Yeah, you can see it. Yeah. Yeah, that’s the answer dust.
Bob Smith 15:27
This is going to come as a shock to a lot of people who don’t realize they have spiders in there. I just got cobwebs. Yeah, well, that’s a spider web.
Marcia Smith 15:36
That’s gonna bring out the dustbuster. Okay, okay.
Bob Smith 15:38
There is a historical display unlike any other history display at the capitol rotunda and the National Archives right now. Do you know what it
Marcia Smith 15:47
is? Right now? Meaning February. So I didn’t even know these things existed. Well, then I have no idea. They
Bob Smith 15:55
are paystubs of the slaves who built the US Capitol in the White House. Why? Yeah, were they actual slave were slaves at the time. We’ve been hearing stories for the past 20 years stories Most of us never heard in high school or college history courses that the White House and the Capitol were built in large part by slaves. That might sound like an exaggeration, but the National Archives has proof hmm. And apparently it’s always had proof. And in observance of Black History Month, the archives are going to put on display the paystubs of all those slaves.
Marcia Smith 16:25
Were they making $15 an hour?
Bob Smith 16:30
I don’t think so. How did slaves become laborers on those buildings? It turns out that in 1791, Pierre L’Enfant, the designer, who planned the city of Washington, he had African American slaves clear the sights for the Capitol and what was originally called the White House. And then once they cleared the land, the Board of Commissioners tried to recruit laborers from Europe and America to build the buildings. Guess what? They couldn’t find enough. They couldn’t find enough of a workforce. Why? I don’t know why.
Marcia Smith 16:59
So you’re telling me that slaves got paid?
Bob Smith 17:01
They didn’t get paid. It was their owners who got paid. For five years, there were 122 names labeled Negro hire, who worked for the White House in the Capitol. And two of those were owned by the architect of the White House two of those slaves.
Marcia Smith 17:16
again, so they didn’t get any money for –
Bob Smith 17:20
Their owners, their owners did. They have a 1795 promissory note to Jasper M. Jackson, for hiring his slave, known as Negro Dick who is paid for three months at $5 per month. That’s $104. In today’s money, unfortunately, little else is known of the lives of these people most lived on shacks, on the building sites where they receive medical care, food and occasionally, a small incentive payment beyond what went to their masters but slaves, the paystubs of the slaves who built the White House and the Capitol are now on display from
Marcia Smith 17:51
Okay, how did Valentine become the patron saint of lovers?
Bob Smith 17:56
And who is Valentine? Was he a priest? Yeah. Okay. So he became a patron saint of lovers in the way in which he married people maybe or he encouraged people to be married. Hey, you’re on the right courage Romans.
Marcia Smith 18:10
In AD 270, yeah, so we’re talking a couple of years ago, a couple of years ago, the Mad Roman Emperor Claudius the second outlawed marriage because he believed married men made for bad soldiers.
Bob Smith 18:24
Well, of course, yes, they are concerned about something other than fighting and killing.
Marcia Smith 18:28
Yes, ignoring the Emperor Bishop Valentine continued to marry young lovers in secret until his disobedience was discovered and he was sentenced to death. As legend has it, he fell in love with the jailers blind daughter, now it’s getting a little weird about and through a miracle, he restored her sight. On his way to execution. He left her a farewell note ending from your Valentine. Oh,
Bob Smith 18:56
that no that isn’t that a great story. I didn’t know that whole story about him. Yeah, that his miracle was that he restored her sight. Yeah. Well, so
Marcia Smith 19:05
that’s how he became a saint. So he you know, he took his
Bob Smith 19:08
Yeah, chances took seriously it. It took his light. It did. Wow. Yeah. So okay, I got a fun one here. Sometimes the things you know, in your youth have more impact than anything that follows the rest of your life. Well, how was one 115 year old woman and example of that? Any idea she just passed away? She did. Yeah. Iris Westman. She died at the age of 115. She was asked for her impression of Donald Trump, who was campaigning for president when they interviewed her. I’ve heard of them, she said, but not enough to express an opinion. She had more to say about Warren G. Harding. Who was president when she was in high school now there was a man. He was awfully good looking. She remembered really? Isn’t
Marcia Smith 19:53
that weird? Okay,
Bob Smith 19:55
what wellness industry activity associated with physical fitness. was once designed to help men stay mentally pure and celibate. Oh dear God, this is something that you’ve done. Many millions of people do it,
Marcia Smith 20:08
walking or running no sit-ups Well, it’s got
Bob Smith 20:11
seating positions. Seated yoga, yoga, yoga has grown from a meditative practice into a global wellness industry. It’s worth $25 billion now, but originally it was strictly meditative, had no postures it was strictly for men and it was designed to keep them mentally pure and celibate. Goes back to India first mentioned in the you Upanishads ancient Indian texts, those started appearing about 800 BC in the Sanskrit language, but yoga was described as the union of the individual mind and the universal divine consciousness. And it was practiced by Forest rec looses people who lived in the forest, all men who turned their back on conventional family life. Wow, they wanted no fluids to leave the body. That’s true, strange it is you think yoga positions are extreme or difficult sound can be okay. Well, when they finally came in the weird postures for yoga included sitting by a blazing fire in the heat of the summer, or immersing yourself in frozen water in winter, those were all original yoga positions
Marcia Smith 21:14
at the polar bear club,
Bob Smith 21:15
so it’s had a very strange life, the concept of yoga. Well,
Marcia Smith 21:19
speaking of that, have you noticed COVID has been around now for the lockdown almost a year coming up in another month right or so? Yeah. What hasn’t happened? That everybody said what happened in nine months? The baby would be born. Yeah. No, if there was no boom, really? Yeah, I thought there wouldn’t be what the next and they’re trying to figure out why they think stress. Young people are just stressed and they’re not as horny as they used to get in the snow storms of the old days.
Bob Smith 21:48
Is that a technical term we
Marcia Smith 21:49
use on the show? That’s what I get for talking off the top of my head. Okay, moving.
Bob Smith 21:53
That’s what I get for a green to let you talk off the top of your head. Okay, Bob,
Marcia Smith 21:57
where is the world’s largest shopping mall?
Bob Smith 22:00
I believe it is in Indonesia. Dubai?
Marcia Smith 22:04
Okay, the world’s largest mall in square footage. But it comes in at 12 million square feet. Wow. That’s a lot of shopping. I can’t even drive past the Mall of America without getting tired. Yeah. Just has no interest for me. But we’re talking here at the Dubai Mall. 1200 shops and ice rink, a five star hotel 22 cinema screens and 122 restaurants and cafes. She’s so all right.
Bob Smith 22:34
Speaking of massive Marcia the Grand Canyon now that’s massive. How long? how wide and how deep? Is it? Oh, I
Marcia Smith 22:43
should just pop this off right at the top of my head. Well, of course. I’ll bet it’s at least a mile deep. It is a mile deep.
Bob Smith 22:50
That’s right. Okay, now how long and how wide? I don’t know. Well, it can be as wide as 18 miles. Oh, really? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 22:58
Where’s what part is that? It’s 277
Bob Smith 23:00
miles long. I didn’t know it’s that long. Yeah. It’s 6000 feet deep at its deepest point. And for 277 miles, it’s 4000 feet deep. So it’s almost a mile deep for 277 miles. And the park doesn’t include the entire Canyon. But the park is massive. The National Park. Grand Canyon National Park is larger than the state of Rhode Island. Hmm. Yeah, it’s 1904 square miles. Wow. Okay, Grand Canyon Village on the Grand Canyon, South Rim. And the lodge on the North Rim. They’re 10 miles apart as the crow flies. You can see them 10 miles apart. Yeah. How long does it take to drive from the South Rim to the North Rim? If you could fly, it’s 10 miles over
Marcia Smith 23:46
there. Yeah. But if you can’t you have to drive. Right? Or can you go down to the bottom and drive? Yes, yes.
Bob Smith 23:52
Go down the ground and drive up. Okay. I’ll
Marcia Smith 23:54
say five hours. That’s
Bob Smith 23:57
exactly right. That’s amazing. Yeah. It takes five hours to travel from the lodge on the North Rim. To the Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. You have to drive through the park over the Colorado River and loop around the canyon. 215 miles, which is five hours of driving. Wow. Okay, now, what’s the largest canyon in the Solar System?
Marcia Smith 24:21
Oh, wow. We don’t know anyone on the moon. No,
Bob Smith 24:25
it’s on Mars. Okay. Yeah, this this has just been discovered. It’s called the valus. Marin Neris Canyon. It’s 2500 miles long. So it’s roughly the distance from San Francisco to New York and it’s seven miles deep. And we now have images of this thing from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Marcia Smith 24:44
Well, here’s a quickie, okay, who wrote the Bible, Bob?
Bob Smith 24:47
That’s a whole bunch of people. Now hundreds of people.
Marcia Smith 24:52
The answer to the question who wrote the Bible is of course, Shakespeare. Wow. What the King James Version was pub left in 1611, Shakespeare was 46 years old. Then he turned 47 later in the year. Look up Psalm 46, Count 46 words from the beginning of the Psalm, you’ll find the word Sheikh, Count 46 words from the end of the Psalm, you’ll find the word spear. Oh, dear. It’s an obvious coded message.
Bob Smith 25:23
Of course it is. Well, it’s
Marcia Smith 25:24
as good as any other conspiracy theories going around now. Well,
Bob Smith 25:29
there were stories for years, because the King James Version was written by a committee and they had what somebody read the verses that they approved on the make sure they sounded good. There were people have always thought, well, Shakespeare may have been part of that group because he was a known playwright or writer. Yeah, let’s bring him in. See if he can have
Marcia Smith 25:46
a copy writer proofreader, yeah, up. There’s
Bob Smith 25:49
no evidence. Okay, I’ve got another Mars geography question. Okay. This is another thing that’s been determined by our spacecraft orbiting Mars. Mars has the largest known volcano in the solar system, really called Olympus month. Okay. So keep that under your head. When we get out of all this, and we can have cocktail parties again, that’s one of the facts. You can say, oh,
Marcia Smith 26:12
that that’ll be that’ll draw people to me. Well,
Bob Smith 26:15
I’ll say wow, how did you know that Marcia that Mars has the largest canyon and the largest volcano in the solar system? Wow.
Marcia Smith 26:23
And here’s something you can use to dazzle our guests, Bob. Okay. Where did the phrase rule of thumb originate?
Bob Smith 26:31
I think that had to do with a ruler, meaning a king. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 26:34
no, no. Okay, go ahead. It’s derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb. And that’s the rule of thumb. All right, I just want to say that if anybody would like to submit a question to stump us, just go to our website, which is the
Bob Smith 26:57
off ramp dot show. Go to contact us at the bottom and type in your question. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 27:02
And tell us where you’re from. I’ll finish with a quote from Cher. Go right. The woman who made singular names popular, okay. She said I’m older than fire and twice as hot.
Bob Smith 27:14
Oh dear. Of course. She said that. Oh, that’s great. Well, that’s it for today. We’re warm now, but it’s time to go. I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. Join us next time when we return with more trivia here on
Marcia Smith 27:27
the offering.
Bob Smith 27:35
The off rep is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
