Bob and Marcia discussed a range of topics, from trivia questions and history to health and current events. Bob shared interesting facts about the Colosseum in Rome, while Marcia asked questions about Rubik’s Cubes and their combinations. They later delved into historical events and pop culture, touching on topics such as ‘pin money,’ the first 30-minute infomercial, and famous last words. In the second time span, Marcia and Bob discussed the current work landscape after a year of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Marcia sharing insights from a Microsoft survey and Bob referencing a Harvard Business School survey. They also touched on demographic differences in work preferences, such as parents’ desire to return to the office and married people’s preference for a mix of in-office and remote work.
Outline
Rubik’s Cube, US presidents, and stadium capacity.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss a new world record-holding Rubik’s Cube, measuring over 8 feet tall and wide, and the number of US presidents buried at Arlington Cemetery (2).
- Bob Smith discusses the Colosseum in Rome, providing statistics and interesting facts about its design and history.
- Marcia Smith joins the conversation, asking Bob about the difference between the Colosseum and modern-day football stadiums.
Whiskey and work culture during COVID-19 pandemic.
- Marcia Smith explains that the spelling of “whiskey” with an “E” is used in Ireland and the United States, while “why” without an “E” is used in Scotland and Canada.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about a building in England that was built in the 1830s as a royal residence, and Marcia identifies it as Buckingham Palace.
- Marcia and Bob discuss YOLO, a philosophy popularized by Drake a decade ago, which is now being used as a meme among workers who want to prioritize their personal lives after a year of remote work.
- A Microsoft survey found that 40% of workers globally are considering leaving their jobs after a year of remote work, while a Harvard Business School survey found that 81% of remote workers prefer a hybrid work schedule or want to continue working from home full-time.
Tulips, Volkswagen, and belching.
- Marcia and Bob discuss tulips, including their edibility and historical significance, as well as the British refusal of Volkswagen as part of war reparations due to their belief that cars with engines at the back had no future.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the longest burp on record, which was achieved by Michelle or McHale in 2009 and lasted one minute and 13 seconds.
- Benjamin Harrison was the first US president to have the White House wired for electricity, but he refused to use it due to a fear of light switches.
Slang terms and presidential fitness habits.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origin of the term “toady,” which refers to someone who pretends to be subservient or obsequious for their master’s gain.
- Abraham Lincoln was a skilled wrestler with a reputation for trash talking his opponents.
Historical events, actors, and beaches.
- Marcia Smith: The first 30-minute infomercial aired in 1949, featuring the Vitamix blender.
- Bob Smith: Lucy did a takeoff on the infomercial in an I Love Lucy skit, making it a cultural phenomenon.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss famous last words, including those of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who said “Just a lot of damn foolery” on his deathbed.
- Bob Smith discusses Andersonville prison and its connection to the term “deadline” with Marcia Smith.
- 19-year-old Bob Smith won $35 million in Powerball, but lost it all within a year due to poor investments.
Bob Smith 0:00
There’s a new Rubik’s cube that set a world record for its size, how big is
Marcia Smith 0:07
and how many US presidents are buried in Arlington Cemetery?
Bob Smith 0:11
The answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marsha
Marcia Smith 0:16
Smith.
Bob Smith 0:34
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy. Take a side road to Saturday and get some perspective on life. Well, we’ve got some fun trivia questions today. And Marcia, you have asked numerous times questions about Rubik’s cubes to me, who invented it? How many combinations are there, et cetera? Well, I just found that there is a new Rubik’s Cube. Uh huh. It’s considered the world’s largest Rubik’s Cube and was recently unveiled in Hong Kong. How big is it?
Marcia Smith 1:05
All right, is it in feet or inches?
Bob Smith 1:07
It’s in feet.
Marcia Smith 1:08
Alright, I suspected as much. All right, I will say five by five.
Bob Smith 1:14
It’s more than eight feet tall and wide. Imagine trying to get your hands around that. The new Guinness Book of World Records holder debuted at Hong Kong’s Nina mall on March 28 2021. And Yahoo reports at each side is 67 square feet are more than eight feet tall and wide. And the rows of blocks are capable of being spun independently, just like the real toy.
Marcia Smith 1:38
How do you turn it?
Bob Smith 1:39
Well, I’ve seen pictures of this. They’re like four or five men turning these things
Marcia Smith 1:42
at a size. There’s so much for playing by yourself.
Bob Smith 1:45
Looks really cool. It looks very fun. In fact, there’s a time lapse video of it being constructed you can find on the web.
Marcia Smith 1:50
I will go there right after the show eight feet by
Bob Smith 1:53
eight feet. That’s the world’s largest Rubik’s Cube. All right,
Marcia Smith 1:56
here’s something in your wheelhouse cemeteries, you like hanging around them looking at them. So all presidents in the United States are entitled to be buried at Arlington Cemetery. How many are actually there?
Bob Smith 2:08
I think only one. I think John F. Kennedy is the only one there. No, it’s
Marcia Smith 2:13
twice that Bob. Oh, there are two. Yeah. Okay. Who else is buried? Yeah, JFK and William Taft. Oh, really
Bob Smith 2:21
tough. William Howard Taft. Yeah. All right. You know, Marcia during the COVID lockdown, there were all kinds of shortages. Toilet paper shortages. What else did we have that were short? Paper
Marcia Smith 2:32
towels? Yeah, primarily paper wipes and sanitizer masks.
Bob Smith 2:37
What’s the newest thing that is a shortage, and it’s creating a new market for all your old packets of ketchup Ketchup. Ketchup shortage is vexing restaurants right now. And that’s fueled a secondary market in coveted ketchup packets.
Unknown Speaker 2:54
Can you believe that? No.
Bob Smith 2:56
Can’t writing a Facebook marketplace seller from Danville. He offered packets for $4 Each a bargain price of 20 for $50. Are you kidding? No. He says there’s a shortage. Don’t try to lowball me. I know what I’ve got.
Marcia Smith 3:10
Oh, for God’s sakes. Oh my Lord.
Bob Smith 3:14
If you go online, you’ll find people on eBay selling these things. Hmm. I have to credit Steve short because he did that catch up item in his newsletter. Okay, Marshall, let’s go way back in history. You you’re very familiar with the Colosseum in Rome. You’ve seen it. It’s a famous building, and it’s one of numerous stadiums that the Romans built. So how many people did those stadiums seat?
Marcia Smith 3:40
Well, I know a big football stadium holds 60 80,000 I’ll say 80,000.
Bob Smith 3:46
No, it’s not quite as big as today’s football stadium. Oh, okay. 50,000 people. That’s what the Coliseum could seat. I think about the technology to build that that years ago and 50,000 feet.
Marcia Smith 3:58
Yeah, I really can’t fathom that.
Bob Smith 4:01
It opened in 80 AD with tiers of stone benches flanking the oval arena. And thatce seats were screened by awnings which were swung into position by sailors of the Imperial Navy, but it was like the Olympics the the opening ceremonies took 100 days. 9000 animals were killed during that place. Sailors and gladiators also killed in the naval battles staged there. They could actually flood it. So you could have boats in there. And they could flood it to a depth of five feet.
Marcia Smith 5:16
Okay, already Bob. Steve short San Francisco says Bob, what’s the difference? Spelling whiskey and whisky one with an EY at the end and one with Y — why?
Bob Smith 5:28
So one spelled W-H-I-S-KY what is that? How is that different from the EY
Marcia Smith 5:34
did you ever notice that? I never did.
Bob Smith 5:36
I know the EY spelling is in like Ireland and I think England but whiskey. Why with just a Y is that American whiskey?
Marcia Smith 5:44
Well, Bob, you’re right.
Bob Smith 5:46
Accidentally know what’s not accidentally. Well, I mean, deductive reason? Yes,
Marcia Smith 5:50
that’s, that’s my wheelhouse.
Bob Smith 5:52
So if it’s why is the United States? No, but
Marcia Smith 5:55
you’re on the right track. Okay. It’s just the opposite of that. It, it has sometimes to do with what it’s made with. But the main reason is where it was produced. It is generally called Whiskey with an E in the United States and Ireland, where just whiskey without an E is in Scotland and Canada.
Bob Smith 6:14
So sometimes it’s the ingredients and the process. Yeah, but usually it’s location. Okay, so EY is in Ireland and the United States correct. And why wh is KY Scotland and Canada?
Marcia Smith 6:28
There’ll be a test on this again later, will there? No, maybe some whiskey though, I would have to go look and see what it says on our bottle. Okay, I’ve
Bob Smith 6:37
got another architecture question. And this is about a building you’re familiar with one country’s home for its rulers was built in a reconstruction of an earlier style of architecture. The style of the building was not contemporary when it was built. Which country’s home for its rulers is like that the Louvre no that no that was built as a palace Yeah, King but that was the style that for a king back then. Okay,
Marcia Smith 7:02
so I’ve been in this building is no you’ve
Bob Smith 7:05
not been in this building. I’ve been near this building near around this building. Is
Marcia Smith 7:09
it in the United States? No, no, it’s in England. In England. I’ve been around Oh, is it Buckingham Buckingham
Bob Smith 7:14
Palace that was built in 1836 as the royal residence by architect John Nash. But he completed the palace for William the fourth, designing a Palladian style reconstruction of a 1704 mansion that was built for the Duke of Buckingham. So he created this to make it look like an older style. We I figured, well, that was the style when they built it, but it was about 130 years later. But interestingly enough, William the fourth disliked the palace. To be Queen Victoria was the first British ruler to use the palace as her home after William the fourth died.
Marcia Smith 7:53
Wow. I was so in awe of that. When I was by myself coming into London to meet you somewhere and that I will ask the taxi driver to drive past the palace and honest to god my mouth has dropped open. Oh, really? Yeah. I’d never seen anything quite like that. Remember, we knocked on the door and asked if Liz was on but they just don’t know. They didn’t let us in. I don’t understand. So we never did get inside.
Bob Smith 8:19
Marcia, I have a question. Do you know what YOLO means? Y o l o this?
Marcia Smith 8:23
Is this in texting world? Yes. Uh huh. YOLO something about laughing out loud? No,
Bob Smith 8:30
it’s not laughing out loud. Okay, this is you only live once. YOLO that was a, you know, an acronym. It was popularized by the rapper Drake a decade ago. But it’s coming back decades ago. Yeah. It’s a philosophy. It seems to be affecting the way people feel about work after a year in LA.
Marcia Smith 8:49
Yes, you only live once so they’re not going back.
Bob Smith 8:52
So YOLO is a new meme that a lot of people are using like they go I’ve changed my job YOLO you only live once. And YOLO is also a meme amongst stock traders on Reddit. They use it when making irresponsible bets that sometimes pay off anyway, like this game stop trade that was so big spring of 2021
Marcia Smith 9:11
people have changed their lives after being at home for a year and just finding other pursuits. It’s fascinating study sociologically speaking,
Bob Smith 9:20
speaking of studies, there is a Microsoft survey. How many what’s the percentage of workers globally? Were considering leaving their jobs after a year and locked down
Marcia Smith 9:28
globally? Yeah, what percentage 27%
Bob Smith 9:33
40. 40% of workers that this survey touched globally said they were considering leaving their jobs. Here’s another one. The Harvard Business School did a survey on people who’ve been working at home. What’s the percentage of people they found? Now I’ve seen other surveys by businesses saying people can’t wait to get back to their jobs in the office. While the Harvard Business School did a survey, what’s the percentage of people who don’t want to go back back to the office. They want to continue working from home.
Marcia Smith 10:03
Oh have I bet it’s higher 56% 81% God
Bob Smith 10:10
81% of people who’ve been working from home through the COVID pandemic either don’t want to go back or prefer some kind of a hybrid situation. Yeah. Of the 1500 remote workers, they surveyed 27% hope to continue working remotely full time indefinitely, while 61% would prefer to mix working from home with going in the office two or three days a week. So 81% either don’t want to go back or prefer a hybrid schedule. And here’s funny, parents who have kids at home, they are more likely to want to go back. And oh, married people want to go back to the office more so than singles.
Marcia Smith 10:46
Really? Yeah. Wow. Wow, that says
Bob Smith 10:50
something that doesn’t say something good. No,
Marcia Smith 10:52
no. Okay. Tulips, Bob, it’s spring. And there are tulips everywhere. There are tulips. Tulips are everywhere, on most continents. And they occur naturally in every color, except what tulips
Bob Smith 11:06
occur naturally in every color. Except what’s the answer? Blue, blue.
Marcia Smith 11:12
Yeah, who knew? And did you know that the petals of a tulip are edible? Some tastes like lettuce and other like peas and others like cucumbers?
Bob Smith 11:22
No, I didn’t know they were edible. Edible, edible, edible petals. It’s
Marcia Smith 11:26
a great term to Solomon a little packet. Edible petals. In the 17th century, Howland had a tulip buying craze, which is why today they produce 60% of the world’s supply. Yes,
Bob Smith 11:37
that was a exuberance for something for tulips. Yeah, that was crazy. People were mortgaging their houses to pay for tulip bulbs. Okay, another history question, Marcia. Oh, yay. What were the British offered as part of the war reparation package at the end of World War Two. Now they refused it because they felt this prize of war had no future. It was a business Bitcoin.
Marcia Smith 12:03
No, okay. They refused it. Because why?
Bob Smith 12:07
Because they thought it had no future. And they refused. It. Was I’ll give you a hint. Yeah, give you a hint. They believe cars with engines at the back had no future. Oh. So they turned down Volkswagen. Oh my God. They were offered the Volkswagen business as part of war reparations. But they said you know those cars with engines in the back have no future. The British occupation authorities did place an order for 20,000 cars, though to help put VW back on its feet but they could have gone on to own Volkswagen. Anyway, Volkswagen later went on to produce more of a single model than any other carmaker in history, the rear engine Volkswagen Beetle. That’s
Marcia Smith 12:49
very enlightening. Thank you. Okay, well, in the stay healthy column in Parade Magazine, it reveals that the longest burp on record was achieved in 2009.
Bob Smith 13:03
Shut up. It was – It sounds like something you’d expect me to bring
Marcia Smith 13:06
It was achieved in 2009 by an Italian lad named Michelle Virgone . Or McHale Virgone. Sorry, and anyway, how long was his birth? Bob in 2009?
Bob Smith 13:19
Has this been recorded? We’re gonna play it on the show. No, okay, good.
Marcia Smith 13:23
People are eating Bob,
Bob Smith 13:25
I would think I’d say 10 seconds. That’s a long verb.
Marcia Smith 13:29
It is it is. But the answer Bob is one minute and 13 seconds.
Bob Smith 13:34
You are kidding. Oh my god, we you know, we do need a recording of that. It’s gotta be on the website.
Marcia Smith 13:40
Boy, we were just getting so many listeners with that. And just for factoid, info, the average number of deltas a healthy person has in 24 hours is how many is
Bob Smith 13:51
I have no idea what just take a
Marcia Smith 13:54
guess based on your number of belches in 24 hours.
Bob Smith 13:59
Well, my goodness, let’s say I’ll go up to 10. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 14:02
I would have thought it was in that wheelhouse with you. Maybe 14 Okay, hey. 32.7 32.7
Bob Smith 14:10
belches Yeah, what’s the point seven Belch? What’s that?
Unknown Speaker 14:16
That’s a good question.
Bob Smith 14:17
Or something? Yes.
Marcia Smith 14:18
In 24 hours? Well, I wouldn’t have guessed it was in a healthy person.
Bob Smith 14:23
It a healthy person. That self is 32.7 times per 24 hours. Correct. And on that note, let’s take a break. We’ll be back in just a moment. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. Okay, Marcia, here’s a question a history question with regard to technology. Who is the first US president who had the use of electricity and how did he use it?
Marcia Smith 14:49
Okay, well was it had the use of luck in the White House? FDR was it before FDR?
Bob Smith 14:56
Oh, yeah. Well before FDR,
Marcia Smith 14:58
Okay
Bob Smith 14:58
Electricity to Thomas Edison. Yeah, the light bulb back in 1876. Okay.
Marcia Smith 15:03
All right. Tell me,
Bob Smith 15:05
Benjamin Harrison. Benjamin Harrison’s presidency was the first to oversee a White House wired with electricity. So you could commend him for embracing scientific progress if it weren’t for the fact that he had a desperate fear of light switches, which kept him from ever actually using electricity. So the White House is wired. The White House is wired for light and electricity, and the President refuses to use it because he’s scared to death of lights. Wow.
Marcia Smith 15:31
Wow. Okay, Bob, you know how we use the word Toady? Yes, he’s a Toady. What is it? Well,
Bob Smith 15:40
it’s somebody who’s kind of obsequious to other people. Very good. obsequious. Look that went up. Well, I
Marcia Smith 15:47
have the answer. obsequious sycophant.
Bob Smith 15:49
Yes, there you go. But kisser is what we’re talking about. Exactly. Right. Okay.
Marcia Smith 15:54
According to who put the butter in butterfly toady is a 19th century slang expression for total leader, one who eats toads total leader how to use total leader to a D E A L T E R. What does that mean? One who eats toads.
Bob Smith 16:09
Oh, okay. Back
Marcia Smith 16:11
in the day, frogs were considered a delicacy, whereas toads were believed to be poisonous. So traveling medicine shows us that belief to stage an incident where their assistants would pretend to eat a toad on stage and then fall victim to some fictitious dreaded malady, right? And the medicine man, of course, would just happen to have a little elixir on hand and cure the poor lad almost instantly. And fortunately, he always had enough leftover to sell the crowd. So the toad eater became known as the toady someone willing to humiliate or endanger himself for his master. No
Bob Smith 16:50
kidding. That’s where it comes. Yeah, he’s just a Toady. Yeah. So they would fake some thing just to help sell something. Yes. Wow. That’s an interesting, I never thought of that. That’s very good. Yeah. Okay. All right. We know that certain presidents for certain kinds of physical fitness things. George W. Bush was a runner, he ran in marathons and so forth. What was Abraham Lincoln’s athletic past time?
Marcia Smith 17:18
I can’t see him doing sports. I don’t know if they had pole vaulting back then. Or basketball because he was so tall and lanky. Was he a runner? cross country runner? No, he
Bob Smith 17:28
was a welterweight fighter in his time. Really? Yeah. Yeah, a lot of presidents golfer jog to release tension, but Abraham Lincoln apparently preferred a more intense breed of physical activity. In his younger days, he earned a reputation as an ace wrestler reportedly suffering only one defeat in more than 300 matches. So it wasn’t boxing. It was wrestling. Not only that, but the Coleman kindly Lincoln we all know and love. Had a penchant for trash talking his opponents. I love it. Did you imagine trash talking anyone?
Marcia Smith 18:01
Oh, that’s hilarious. Oh, no, I that’s a good visual to think about, isn’t it?
Bob Smith 18:06
Abraham Lincoln as a young man. Yeah, we’re talking real wrestling real hard wrestling on the ground. 300 matches and only one loss. It’s amazing. Really?
Marcia Smith 18:14
Yeah. Wow. That’s pretty impressive. Okay. Pin money, Bob.
Bob Smith 18:20
I know where that came from. I’m sorry. I just read about this. Metal for pins was so rare that there was only one time of the year that pins were sold. So housewives saved up their money to buy pins for sewing and things like that. Correct?
Marcia Smith 18:34
Is close. It’s very close.
Bob Smith 18:36
Where was that in England?
Marcia Smith 18:37
Yes, back in the good old 1500s The monarchy had exclusive rights to manufacturing pins. Did you know that and they chose to produce a small amount of them and charge a whole lot of fires Lynx was a moneymaker for them. Henry, the eighth wife, Catherine Howard popularized the French invention. And her subjects her all the women were clamoring to get their hands on those pins, because, you know, she was their idol. It was decreed that the pins could be sold for only two days in January. So that goes along with what you thought. And husbands who could afford it gave their wives money to run out and buy the much coveted pins and behold the term pin money.
Bob Smith 19:20
When you think about it, that was quite a technological innovation to make something that small that well crafted, you know, the machinery that was required for, you know, molding those pins and everything. Yeah, that’s very tiny. Yeah, so
Marcia Smith 19:33
actually, the answer could be both of our answers. Were both
Bob Smith 19:37
right. Like that’s cool with that. Okay.
Marcia Smith 19:39
Can I let me I got another one here. infomercials are everywhere today. But What year do you think the first 30 minute infomercial aired on TV?
Bob Smith 19:51
I imagine that goes way back to the 50s, early 50s. Late 40s. Yeah, because everybody was doing something just to get on television. And then TV stations were hungry for revenue. So they put anything on the air. Yes. And it so when was it and what was it for
Marcia Smith 20:07
1949? It was the Vitamix blender. Oh, and what was the take off on that? You think
Bob Smith 20:14
that was the I Love Lucy she did the Vita Vita Vegemite, made
Marcia Smith 20:18
a vegetarian infamous blender commercial skit and never knew that it was a takeoff on an info,
Bob Smith 20:24
either. And there was just she kept drinking it then she kept getting more and more drunk. That’s why
Marcia Smith 20:29
everybody was laughing so hard because they had all seen that 1949 infomercial, apparently. Wow. And so she did a take off on it. It’s funny
Bob Smith 20:39
things like that. You know what inspired them? Yeah, you lose that over time. Yeah. What was the inspiration
Marcia Smith 20:43
we wanted to know? And we saw long after? Yeah, she had done
Bob Smith 20:47
We didn’t even – I don’t think we even saw that his kids. It was like I see something later. Yeah. And I always assumed Well, it was a tonic or an elixir which had too much alcohol, which apparently it was but I’ll be darned. So there was a real thing and what was the name of vitam?
Marcia Smith 20:59
Vitamix blender,
Bob Smith 21:02
the Vitamix blender. I’ll be darned. I have some famous last words again, if you haven’t done that for a while. That’s a fun one. Okay, whose last words were this isn’t Hamlet you know? There’s context I have to explain. After you
Marcia Smith 21:20
figured out give me give me at least a profession. He was
Bob Smith 21:23
an actor, a famous actor. Okay. Was
Marcia Smith 21:25
it like Barrymore? Somebody if somebody like that, okay, Laurence Olivier. Okay.
Bob Smith 21:30
He said that on his deathbed, when his nurse spilled water on him as she tried to moisten his lips. He says this isn’t Hamlet, you know, it’s not meant to go in my bloody ear. Oh. Okay, whose last words were just a lot of damn foolery. Really? And what were the context of Give
Marcia Smith 21:50
me Give me your profession or
Bob Smith 21:52
this was a well known – he was a doctor, but he became a very famous Supreme Court justice. I don’t know Sherlock Holmes is named after him. Holmes
Marcia Smith 22:01
Holmes. Justice Holmes.
Bob Smith 22:05
What’s his first two names? Marcia?
Marcia Smith 22:07
I can’t remember Oliver Wendell. Oliver Wendell
Bob Smith 22:10
Holmes. Yes. He was 94 years old on his deathbed as he watched an oxygen tent being erected around him. He said, Just a lot of damn foolery. And he died and he died.
Marcia Smith 22:23
In 2018, Bob, several beaches along the coast of Northwest France had to close down. Why?
Bob Smith 22:32
Northwest France in 2018. Northwest France
Marcia Smith 22:36
beaches all along the coasts close.
Bob Smith 22:38
That’s something you could do with pollution.
Marcia Smith 22:40
I’ll bet. No, no, no, this is France. So
Bob Smith 22:43
okay. It wasn’t there’s no pollution in France. No, there is but the
Mara Smith 22:48
reason is very French, and amorous dolphin. They nicknamed him Sapphire, and he was running and trying to engage some female swimmers. The final straw came when Sapphire tossed a woman into the air. That’s when the beaches closed down until Sapphire calmed down.
Bob Smith 23:10
Oh, my God, because he was a little too amorous.
Marcia Smith 23:14
Yes, yeah. And why he how he could tell the difference between men and women is beyond me.
Bob Smith 23:19
Okay. All right. Now we know over the centuries of war crimes, and some terrible atrocities, but it’s only been in modern times that there people have had to pay a price for that. So tell me this, who was the only soldier convicted of war crimes? Oh, Callie. In the American Civil War? Oh,
Marcia Smith 23:41
wrong or wrong war that was Vietnam. I have no idea. Major
Bob Smith 23:47
Henry Wirtz. He was the commanding officer at Andersonville, the Confederate prison in Georgia. How bad was it? It was a 261 acre prison only in existence for 14 months in 1864 and 65. But it was the largest Confederate prison. It was built for 10,000 prisoners, but there were 49,500 men in prison there. And in the end, 13,000 died from either overcrowding disease, poor sanitation, or malnutrition. So they they tried him and he was convicted of a war crime, one of the first in modern American history because he ran this camp. Wow. And it was totally inadequate. It was terrible. And he was hanged in Washington DC in 1865. The only person executed for war crimes during the Civil War. The only one?
Marcia Smith 24:34
Yeah. Well, that’s interesting. It’s for being inhumane too.
Bob Smith 24:38
All right. Now one more question about that. What famous word did Andersonville prison give us it’s used today in journalism and project management
Marcia Smith 24:47
and game
Bob Smith 24:50
not endgame and something along those lines. You use it all the time. You’ve used it all the time as a writer. What have you had,
Marcia Smith 24:59
what do you have to meet deadline
Bob Smith 25:01
deadlines. Yeah, it referred to a simple rail fence with posts that ran around the inside perimeter of the prison. 19 feet from the walls. You couldn’t go across that that was called the Dead Line Wow.
Marcia Smith 25:13
Isn’t that interesting because
Bob Smith 25:14
Confederate guards and sentry posts would shoot you dead if you crossed over. Today a deadline is the latest time or the last date by which something could be completed. So in prison, you don’t want to cross a deadline in business. You don’t want to miss a deadline. And it came from this Andersonville prison. Hmm,
Marcia Smith 25:31
that’s fair. I love those Entomologies. Yes. Okay. Bob 2008, a 19 year old Texas kid won over $35 million in a Powerball lottery win. Wow. But he lost most of it in a year. How? Wow,
Bob Smith 25:47
how can you lose $35 million in a year? Well,
Marcia Smith 25:50
he found a way was it gambling? No. Wasn’t gambling.
Bob Smith 25:55
Did he give it all away? No. Well, did he invest in improper things so he unusual?
Marcia Smith 26:02
Investment is the key term. Remember Bob teenage brains aren’t known for early developed? Well, that’s true. What is it 20 Something before they even get full. But apparently the lad loved wrestling because he invested almost all the money he won in a wrestling TV production company called rest delicious. What rest delicious. It was meant to compete with WWE and WCW and it featured women in lingerie wrestling together in a pink ring.
Bob Smith 26:37
Now that’s a million dollar idea what went wrong?
Speaker 1 26:40
What went wrong? I asked you 19 year old idea of wisely investing Oh my
Bob Smith 26:45
god. Oh women in negligees wrestling? Yeah, who wouldn’t think that would be successful.
Marcia Smith 26:52
I’d like to finish with a quote by Walter Winchell. Remember him? Oh, yes, he was this before our time, but we always heard of them growing, which
Bob Smith 26:59
all he said. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and all the chips or tea. That’s it, Bob.
Marcia Smith 27:04
Okay, quote from him. A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
Bob Smith 27:10
We’re walking out on you right now.
Unknown Speaker 27:13
Great Transition.
Bob Smith 27:15
Thank you so much for that, Marsha. And thanks to everyone who’s been listening today. We want to remind you just like Steve short of San Francisco. If you’d like to submit a question to us, you can go to our website, the off ramp dot show and go to contact us and leave us your question the answer and who you want to answer. All right, I’m Bob Smith.
Marcia Smith 27:36
I’m Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 27:37
You’ve been listening to the off ramp. The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarbrook Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
