How did a Baptist lay preacher launch the Industrial Revolution? And Why Did Mick Jagger turn down an advance for his memoirs? Hear the answers in this episode of The Off Ramp with Bob & Marcia Smith (Graphic: Albrecht Durer, Wikimedia Commons)
Bob and Marcia discussed the importance of maintaining a lighthearted outlook in life, sharing personal anecdotes and observations. Bob shared a story about an unexpected source of innovation, while Marcia revealed that children laugh more than adults and emphasized the importance of laughter. They also discussed various aspects of American culture and society, including the country’s obsession with automobiles, the volume of goods transported by rail, and the history behind height restrictions in Washington DC. Marcia was surprised at the weight of character costumes at Disney World and Disneyland, and Bob provided statistics and insights into these topics. They also discussed famous artists and their contributions to the art world.
Outline
Steam engines and laughter.
- Bob and Marcia discuss Mick Jagger turning down a large advance for his memoirs and how a Baptist lay preacher named Thomas Newcomen helped launch the Industrial Revolution in 17th-18th century England.
- Bob Smith shares the story of a Baptist minister who invented the steam engine, demonstrating the unexpected origins of innovation.
- Marcia Smith adds that a 40-year-old may need 10 weeks to laugh 300 times, highlighting the difference in laughter frequency between children and adults.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the US leading in railroad tracks despite being obsessed with cars.
Writing techniques and Disney trivia.
- Marcia and Bob discuss Virginia Woolf’s writing process and Disney World costumes.
- Bob and Marcia discuss working at Disney World, including the term “fuzzies” for characters in full-body costumes and the nickname “the asylum” for cast members who work at It’s a Small World.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the strongest and weakest muscles in the body, with the masseter muscle in the jaw being the strongest and the stapedius muscle in the middle ear being the weakest.
- James K. Polk, the 11th US President, was operated on for kidney stones in 1844 while a teenager and took brandy to numb the pain during the procedure.
Art, history, and architecture.
- Marcia and Bob discuss famous artists, including Picasso, Van Gogh, and Monet, and their contributions to different art movements.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the height restrictions in Washington DC, including the Cairo Hotel’s 12-story height and the Washington Monument’s 555-foot height.
- Marsha Smith is the first First Lady born outside of the United States, born in London in 1775 as the wife of John Quincy Adams.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the history of classical music, with Bob mentioning Gregorian chants and the Renaissance period, while Marcia adds that the first musical era with a name is classical music, born around the 1400s and reaching its peak in the 1700s with rock stars like Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart.
Expressions, including “sliced bread,” “buttering up,” “quack,” and “deadpan.”
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the origins of expressions like “the best thing since sliced bread” and “buttering someone up.”
- The term “quack” originated from Dutch and referred to a hawker of salves, or dubious medical concoctions, in the 16th century.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of the term “deadpan” and its connection to theater and Buster Keaton.
- Gold leafing is used in Disney parks for its durability and aesthetic appeal, despite being more expensive than paint.
- Bob and Marcia discuss Antarctica’s size, Elon Musk’s wealth, and healthy living tips.
Bob Smith 0:00
How did a Baptist lay preacher helped launch the Industrial Revolution?
Marcia Smith 0:05
And why did Mick Jagger turn down in advance for his memoirs?
Bob Smith 0:09
Two very different questions. Coming up in this half hour of the off ramp with Bob and Marcia
Marcia Smith 0:16
Smith.
Bob Smith 0:33
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down, steer clear of crazy take a side road to sanity and get some perspective on life. Let’s see perspective. A rock star turns down and advance for a memoir. That’s kind of unusual on that test an advance of 3.5 million pound advance?
Marcia Smith 0:49
He turned it down? We’re talking Mick Jagger now yeah, for an advance on his memoirs.
Bob Smith 1:00
So the question is, why did he turn it down? Yeah. And I’ll say, it wasn’t enough money. You know, 3.5.
Marcia Smith 1:07
That’s for just an advanced offer. Well, so God knows what he gets. He didn’t want to kiss and tell. That’d be nice. But no, not that either. He didn’t want to dance, dance to someone else’s tune.
Bob Smith 1:19
He didn’t want to reveal any pictures from his youth. I don’t know what was the answer. He said he couldn’t remember.
Marcia Smith 1:24
Enough significant details from his own life. He said, I don’t remember. Is this where the drugs coming?
Bob Smith 1:34
I guess this is like I was at Woodstock. But I don’t remember.
Marcia Smith 1:36
Yeah. Doesn’t ring a bell.
Bob Smith 1:38
Oh, man. That’s funny. So he could have
Marcia Smith 1:42
made some up for that kind of going?
Bob Smith 1:44
I would think so. All right. Here’s a very different question for you. How did a Baptist lay preacher help launch the Industrial Revolution?
Marcia Smith 1:54
Is this in England? Yes, it is.
Bob Smith 1:57
We’re talking the 1600s 1700s.
Marcia Smith 2:00
Okay, I don’t know he wanted to find a better way to collect shackles from the congregation and he came up with a little automated system.
Bob Smith 2:11
Just took your money on a conveyor belt and well, amazingly, you got the answer wrong. Oh. No, he just became a successful entrepreneur by observing things. But his name was Thomas Newcomen. And he made his living selling tools and metal equipment. And he lived in England from 1663 to 1729. Now, if you know anything about industry, that name means something to you. So let me tell you the story of that. One day, several of his best business customers, they were owners of tin mines in Cornwall, England, complaining about losing tremendous productivity when their mines flooded. This was a common thing. When you dig holes deep in the ground, you know, the, the water rushes in and mining had to stop so that men could manually pump the water out or hitch up teams of horses to haul buckets up out of the mine, okay to bring water. Well, he knew that centuries earlier, the Greeks discovered power could be generated with steam, but nobody had found a practical use for a steam engine. But he saw one right there. A pump powered by steam, a steam engine that could force a piston to move or turn a wheel. And before you know it his pumps revolutionized mining. They were soon applied to other machinery and mills and factories. But that was the genesis for it. So who invented the steam engine – an industrialist? A mechanic? A scientist? No, a Baptist minister who sold tools to make a living. And he got that idea one day and came up with the steam engine. Very, very cool. The lesson here you learn marsh is you never know what you’ll learn when you take the off ramp from your everyday life. He did. Oh yeah. And that’s what our listeners are doing by listening to us.
Marcia Smith 3:59
Oh, what a segue.
Bob Smith 4:00
You wasted it. You should have agreed with me.
Marcia Smith 4:04
How often does that happen? Okay, there you go. Okay, according to Jennifer Acre, an author and social psychologist, a four year old child laughs up to 300 times a day, which is a little less than you and I.
Bob Smith 4:21
Oh, not much, though. Really? 300 times a day, a little child, a four year old child laughs.
Marcia Smith 4:25
Yes. According to her. So how many days or weeks? Does a 40 year old have to go to laugh that much?
Bob Smith 4:33
The typical, the typical, yeah, most people. In other words, you get caught up in your life and the troubles of your life and that takes no news.
Marcia Smith 4:40
No. I’ve seen
Bob Smith 4:43
Okay. So a child does that in one day. Yeah. So I would say at least a week for a 40 year old that you’ve bled the fun out of their life.
Marcia Smith 4:55
Well, if you don’t turn on the news and you don’t read something on social media Yeah, you might be happy. Yeah. might laugh a little more. But according to her, it’s 10 weeks you have to go to laughs 300 times
Bob Smith 5:06
10 weeks to laugh 300 times when you’re in your 40. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 5:12
Are y’all ever sit down the porch the other day watching the little guy next door, Max and run around? He’s all by himself laughing at everything. You know, he does some and laughs at it.
Bob Smith 5:24
And I hear him giggling
Marcia Smith 5:24
Oh, yeah, but a doll. He’s four. Okay. And that explains a lot.
Bob Smith 5:31
Okay. Wow, that’s sad.
Marcia Smith 5:33
Fortunately, you and I don’t have that problem.
Bob Smith 5:36
But, but the mental illness comes in and makes the difference for us. So Vaughn Bob. Okay. All right. I’ve got a statistic I want to ask you about now, we’ve often heard how in America, like we we are too focused on the automobile. And we’ve never really embraced a lot of public transportation. So here’s a question. What country has the most miles of railway track? And these are the potential answers here. Okay. China, Russia, the United States, Canada or India, which countries kept the most railroad tracks?
Marcia Smith 6:07
Oh, India, India.
Bob Smith 6:11
That makes a lot of sense. It’s not no. America. Yeah, the United States specifically, really? Not Canada. But the US. Yeah, that’s surprising that a nation is obsessed with the automobile also leads in railroad trains. That is surprising. But in total miles of railroad track, and we know most of that’s used for freight these days. According to the World Bank, we have 93,000 miles of rail, as of 2018. That’s a bit. Okay. Who’s next you think?
Marcia Smith 6:41
I’ll say China?
Bob Smith 6:43
No, it’s the next largest country by landmass. That would be Russia. Russia has 53,000 Miles that’s followed by India, which has 42,500. China has 42,000. But that’s going to be changing because they’re really changing their infrastructure a lot. And Canada has 30,000 miles. And when it comes to the volume of goods transported by rail, the US also leads – but not when it comes to the number of passengers per mile, that that’s where India dwarfs all other countries and China’s next. Then Russia and Cameroon and France, but the United States has more miles of railroad track than any other country. 93,000 miles.
Marcia Smith 7:24
Here’s a quickie. How did Virginia Woolf write her books?
Bob Smith 7:29
How did she write her books? She had a pen and paper. That’s true. Next question, next step.
Marcia Smith 7:33
But she did a particular thing when she wrote
Bob Smith 7:38
This had to do with her inspiration, or a process of process. Okay, she outlined things.
Marcia Smith 7:45
No, I don’t know. Perhaps she did. But this also – you don’t know the answer. You only know part of the answer.
Bob Smith 7:50
Yes. I haven’t. Apparently.
Marcia Smith 7:54
If, if she were alive today, she would be very much on trend, though. Really? The way she writes her books? Yeah. Okay. Explain. She stood up. She stood up. And I’m sure she wrote longhand, right back. Back in the day. Yeah. But you know, today they have like our daughter has that stand up desk. Yeah, she did that. And of course, she was writing longhand and oh, my gosh, magic. Oh, standing up and writing.
Bob Smith 8:17
She – did she have like a pedestal or something she was writing on?
Marcia Smith 8:20
I don’t know. Like I said you don’t know enough about this question.
Bob Smith 8:22
But the point is, she was standing up when she was writing. That’s that was the way she could think better.
Marcia Smith 8:28
Apparently that was the question and the answer.
Bob Smith 8:31
Oh, wow. That’s great. All right. You had some questions on Disney World and Disneyland? Last? Yeah. I’ve got a couple here. Okay. Okay. And it’s not a glamorous job, but it is in a glamorous place. How much trouble are those character costumes at Disney World and Disneyland? How much do they weigh?
Marcia Smith 8:48
Oh, my God, I can’t believe you got to be 20 years old to do that stuff. Yes. It must be miserable. I mean, are you on average? On average? I’ll save 30 pounds.
Bob Smith 8:57
40 pounds. That’s on average. So some way a lot more than now. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. I mean, that’s like, you know, those big salt bags at the supermarket for water conditioners. Can you imagine carrying those on you kind of pay me enough. And then under the blazing summer sun in Florida, the temperatures can get as hot as 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Marcia Smith 9:17
They must pass out all the time. That’s why they have and this is the job I would take because who wouldn’t love to work at Disney when they’re young? Is there their helpers that go out? That makes sure that somebody doesn’t tip them over? Oh, yeah. People around you go Who is that guy standing not far away. It’s to to get you away from the character and so you don’t push them over or something?
Bob Smith 9:39
Well, yeah, as you said earlier cast members is the term they use for a lot of employees. But the people who wear those full bodied character costumes with heads, they are known as what? It’s a different term. They’re known as fuzzies fuzzy fuzzy. Okay, and one more question here. What’s called the asylum by Disney cast members. This is kind of like behind the scenes? Yeah, yeah. working there.
Marcia Smith 10:02
Yeah, it’s really bad.
Bob Smith 10:04
It’s something you would think of it.
Marcia Smith 10:05
It’s not the tower of terror. Oh, well, it’s just, they don’t want to be there. Oh, is it the breakfast for children? No, no,
Bob Smith 10:14
No, it’s not anything like that.
Marcia Smith 10:16
Okay, tell me.
Bob Smith 10:17
Cast members who work at it’s a small small world.
Marcia Smith 10:21
Oh my god, they properly they refer to it as the asylum?
Bob Smith 10:23
They jokingly say that’s where they’ll end up as a result of hearing that song hour after hour after hour. I’ll bet Oh, that’s been playing since the World’s Fair of 1964. That was from the World’s Fair 1964
Marcia Smith 10:38
Yeah, think about that. But the little kids love it. You know, they do. Oh, yeah. Song because it’s memorable, easy to just kind of a United Nations idea.
Bob Smith 10:46
Yeah, original.
Marcia Smith 10:48
That’s it. And that’s small, small. We’re Yeah, we went through it. We went through.
Bob Smith 10:53
Yes. We enjoyed it. Okay, for a moment.
Marcia Smith 10:56
Can you name any of the strongest muscles in your body?
Bob Smith 11:00
Well, let’s see. I always think of the biceps, you know, the arms and things like that. But I would imagine your stomach muscles or some other muscles in your body that you don’t see are actually considered the strongest?
Marcia Smith 11:12
The answer is the masseter muscle. It’s the muscle in your jaw. Oh, really? Okay, with all the muscles of the jaw working together, it can close the teeth with a force as greatest 55 pounds on the incisors or 200 pounds on the molar. Whoa.
Bob Smith 11:28
So somebody bites you. That’s how much force is being pushed back to the molars.
Marcia Smith 11:32
To underpants and the other two strongest right at the top on your tongue? Hmm, I wouldn’t have thought of that I wouldn’t have and you’re but your maximum glutamates or whatever it is.
Bob Smith 11:45
But I can think of certain people I would say those are the strongest muscles they have. Yeah, the tongue for the loud mouth and the butt for the horse as well. Okay.
Marcia Smith 11:54
Wait, do you know the weakest muscles Bob?
Bob Smith 11:56
Oh, the weakest muscle the brain.
Marcia Smith 12:02
Or, you know, personally, oh, camera.
Bob Smith 12:03
Oh, think of other people like toes. Fingers. Those are losers. I don’t know. If they’re weak, though.
Marcia Smith 12:11
They’re all pretty strong think ear. It’s the stapedius muscle in your middle ear and is about 1/16 of an inch. Its purpose is to stabilize the bone in also in the middle ear, the stapes bone but together they help limit the amount of sound that goes into your ear. So it’s crucial.
Bob Smith 12:29
So even though it’s the smallest and the weakest muscle it performs a very important function. That’s exactly right. Okay. Okay, history question, Marcia. You always talk about how Sherlock Holmes whenever they’re reviving somebody in those stories that give them some brandy. Right, you know, yeah. Okay. What US president was numbed with brandy, not anesthesia when he was operated on for kidney stones.
Marcia Smith 12:54
Oh my god.
Bob Smith 12:55
Can you imagine how painful
Marcia Smith 12:57
we have to go way back?
Bob Smith 12:58
Are you going way back?
Marcia Smith 13:00
Okay, we’ll say I’ll give you a hint.
Bob Smith 13:03
You’re very familiar with a name because it’s a street near us.
Marcia Smith 13:08
Is it President Polk?.
Bob Smith 13:10
Yeah. Yeah. James K. Polk, and it was when he was a teenager. So this was long before he became president. Wow. He was said to have had kidney stones removed when he was 17. And he took brandy to numb the pain but was awake for the entire operation. Oh my god. That’s because anesthesia wouldn’t be invented for another 30 years.
Marcia Smith 13:31
The good old days.
Bob Smith 13:32
What’s so good about those? Yeah, he became president 33 years later when he was 50.
Marcia Smith 13:36
Okay, let’s talk art, who are considered some of the most famous artists of all time.
Bob Smith 13:45
Yeah, the most famous artists of all time in terms of what people think of them today, apparently. Okay, so Picasso is probably Yeah, he is Michelangelo?
Marcia Smith 13:53
Yeah, you’d think but he’s not on the top four.
Bob Smith 13:56
He considered himself a sculptor more than –
Marcia Smith 13:59
Yes, he did. He did. Okay, give me the answers. Okay. And Vincent van Gogh.
Bob Smith 14:04
Okay. Yeah, he had an ear for art, didn’t he? Oh, pardon era. Oh, era of art.
Marcia Smith 14:09
Yeah. Leonardo da Vinci. And Claude Monet. Of those four Picasso keeps coming up as the number one in the world. He was born in Spain lived in France. He was a talented. Did you know this? Ceramicist printmaker, theater designer, sculptor, and painter? Wow. Yeah. I didn’t know he did all that. Even though we saw a documentary on him. Remember, they focus more on painting? Yeah, they did. Yeah. But what’s interesting, I thought about these four artists. They all represent a different period of art, Picasso, cubism, Van Gogh, Dutch, post impressionist, DaVinci Italian Renaissance, and Claude Monet is considered the founder of impressionism. Very good.
Bob Smith 14:49
All right. All right. I’ve got a question about a major US city. Think of all the major US cities. There is one that has absolutely no sky scrapers and why is that? There is a major US city that has no skyscrapers and why? It’s not.
Marcia Smith 15:08
I was going to say, Salt Lake City, but the churches the sky like scrape it. Well, they have large buildings here. Yeah, yeah. So this is a major city,
Bob Smith 15:17
A major US city. It’s been around since the beginning of the country, and it has no skyscrapers.
Marcia Smith 15:22
Oh, is it someplace like Santa Fe? You’re going to say,
Bob Smith 15:25
Why didn’t they think of this when – Washington DC?
Marcia Smith 15:30
Oh, that’s right. You can’t have anything higher than the Washington Monument.
Bob Smith 15:35
Well, in the 1890s, you know, the skyscrapers started coming out. And they began creeping up in US cities. But in 1894, there was a citizen backlash to a building built in Washington called the Cairo Hotel. It rose 264 feet. It was 12 storeys tall, and that’s when Congress passed the height of building act. It stipulates that buildings in Washington DC can be no taller than the width of the street. They face kind of an arcane thing. But basically, it’s an effort to prevent the capital’s architectural character from getting out of hand. Yeah, they want to keep preserving these broad streets and expansive views of government buildings.
Marcia Smith 16:14
Isn’t there a height restriction of the Washington Monument being the tallest thing they could have?
Bob Smith 16:19
It was the tallest building in the world when that was built. The Washington Monument was the tallest building in the world when that was built. And so it’s the tallest, tallest building there now. So yeah, since 1910 buildings in Washington DC have maxed out at about 11 storeys. 130 and the Cairo hotel remains the tallest private building in town. It’s 100 years old, and it’s still only 12 storeys tall. And like I said, the tallest structure was the Washington Monument that’s 555 feet. It was completed in 1848. And for years, the tallest structure in the world. Isn’t that amazing? Yeah. And it was a building. You could go up inside and had stairways all the way to the top. So it’s considered a building. Okay, okay. Well, let’s take a break and we’ll be back in just a moment. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 17:04
and Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 17:08
Okay, we’re back again with the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. Marcia. I may have asked this question earlier. Now. Melania Trump was born in Slovenia. But she wasn’t the first First Lady born outside of the United States. Who was the first First Lady? Huh?
Marcia Smith 17:26
Let me say.
Bob Smith 17:27
First, firstly, born outside of the United States.
Marcia Smith 17:31
This is in not too far distant. No, it goes way back. Yeah. Okay. Dolly Madison. Nope. That’s the only one that’s okay. Pretty close. Did it tell me
Bob Smith 17:42
Louisa Adams, the wife of John Quincy Adams Wi Fi. Yeah. She was born in London in 1775. And that makes her the first First Lady born outside the United States. She is also the first known First Lady born out of wedlock. I didn’t know that. Uh huh. And she grew up in England and France.
Marcia Smith 18:03
Her mother was a scamp.
Bob Smith 18:06
Okay, well, you can you can say that if you want to. Don’t put that thing on somebody.
Marcia Smith 18:12
Yeah. Oh, of course not. All right. All right. What is the first musical era that has a name?
Bob Smith 18:18
That has a name? Okay. So because we well, I’m thinking of Gregorian chants. That was my that’s yeah, go back. And those thousand years? Yeah, yeah. So that’s, that would be my answer. Yeah. Well, I guess. And then there were there were always, even in the Bible. There were all the Songs of Solomon, all those types they had. David supposedly played a harp and so there’s music in ancient civilizations, but we’re talking about essentially a more modern thing.
Marcia Smith 18:44
I would assume it’s what’s considered the first musical era in musical history.
Bob Smith 18:49
There’s Baroque, there’s classical.
Marcia Smith 18:53
Yes, it is classical. Oh, and it was during the Renaissance period, everything started to come alive in the Renaissance. You know, before that, things were pretty dull. It’s called the early music back then. And it was born around the 1400s. Okay, and it wasn’t though, until the 1700s, that you started getting the classical rock stars like Beethoven, Bach and Mozart. They all came alive in the 1700s. So there was a 300 year lag there, but that music existed and then the rock stars were born.
Bob Smith 19:27
Well, okay, so classical. Yeah, you know, it’s funny, I just saw this online guy who’s a combination of a musician and I don’t know if he’s medical or what, but he did a little study of Bach’s skeleton. And based on his hands, he had a far greater reach to play the organ, really than any other musicians of the time, which may be why he was so prolific.
Marcia Smith 19:52
But you also – he had a physical advanced, yes, physical advantage.
Bob Smith 19:56
So he could reach farther I forget what they said his reach was 10 inches. Oh, yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s more than most people when you spread your fingers under Yeah, can’t go that far but yeah. All right. I’ve got a couple of questions here on expressions. Remember we did flying colors and all of them. The best thing since sliced bread. Where did that expression come from? What inspired that? Slice sliced bread? I would assume. Right? But when was that?
Marcia Smith 20:23
The 1800s
Bob Smith 20:25
No, no, it’s more modern. The sliced bread was invented in 1928. Can you believe that? Wonder Bread was one of the first one oh yeah, but the inventor Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa. He first released his bread loaf slicing machine. The interesting thing here is its advertisement claimed it was the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped. So then WAGs who are riffing on this whole theme started to compare everything they had to him. So that’s as well this is the best thing since sliced bread. But the first advertisement for the sliced bread was not a great theme. You know, it wasn’t a great advertising. The best forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped. Who knew it would go the other direction? And then here’s one buttering someone up. Where does that expression come from? Oh, you’re just trying to butter me up to butter somebody up is to beguile them or lavish them with praise to get what you want, right?
Marcia Smith 21:28
Yeah, like when you buy me diamonds I have.
Bob Smith 21:31
Where did that expression?
Marcia Smith 21:33
I don’t know.
Bob Smith 21:35
It goes all the way back to the Hindu tradition of throwing balls of clarified butter at the statues of deities really in exchange for the offering it was thought that buttered up gods would we reward the faithful with a good harvest? Wow. So that’s an ancient expression. Ah, just buttering me up. I thought that was pretty funny.
Marcia Smith 21:56
Wow. All right. Bob, why is a terrible or fake doctor called a quack?
Bob Smith 22:03
Oh, that’s a good one. Was it was there actually a doctor that was named quack and he was considered such a fraud. He became the you know, symbol for somebody who was malpractice.
Marcia Smith 22:16
Yeah, that’s a good guess. But no.
Bob Smith 22:19
Okay. So the answer is, quack.
Marcia Smith 22:21
It’s a clipped form of the archaic term quack solver
Bob Smith 22:25
quack solver. Okay,
Marcia Smith 22:27
it’s Dutch. Quack solver is a hawker of salves.
Bob Smith 22:32
Okay, so
Marcia Smith 22:32
You know, these kind of pretend medical guys would hawk these different salves to the people in the crowd. And the quack solvers sold their wares on the market by shouting in a loud voice and selling their dubious concoction.
Bob Smith 22:48
Wow, so, interesting. So they had no medical training, but they’re selling this stuff that people think has medical value
Marcia Smith 22:54
Salves, I get it the first reference to a healer as a quack goes back to the 16th century. Jeez, today’s quacks still dispense bad medicine then we carried on since the 16th century – isn’t that hard to believe?
Bob Smith 23:09
Yeah. Okay. Since it’s the 50th anniversary of Disney World, I’ll give you a couple more questions on Disney. Okay. When Disney land first opened, okay. 1955. What year in the future did Tomorrowland represent?
Marcia Smith 23:23
That’s interesting. Was it? 2020?
Bob Smith 23:28
No, 2000. Now there it’s 55 is when it opened? Yeah. And they set it in a certain year. Yeah, it would be the next time Halley’s Comet appeared and that year was I don’t know. 1986. Oh, really? That’s tomorrow. There was a big Tomorrowland when Disneyland first opened. All right. Now here’s one more if Disneyland and Disney World are fantasy places – places dedicated to illusion. Why does Disney use actual gold leafing in parts of the park? Why waste all this money on gold leafing?
Marcia Smith 23:59
Wow, is it more resilient?
Bob Smith 24:01
That’s it. It’ll last longer. And it looks amazing. The exterior of our favorite place it’s a small world is actually gold leafing. Wow. And that might sound extravagant. But over time, gold leafing is more cost effective than paint because it doesn’t have to be replaced as often.
Marcia Smith 24:19
I’ll be darned.
Bob Smith 24:19
You never know.
Marcia Smith 24:20
Yeah, learn something every day
Bob Smith 24:21
Learn something. Okay,
Marcia Smith 24:22
I have one more expression and this one you’ll like very much okay. Why does deadpan mean in expressionless human face. Where does the expression deadpan come from – dead pan.
Bob Smith 24:33
Now does that come from mining because they used to pan for gold and things like that?
Marcia Smith 24:39
That’s a good one, though. That’s not it. No.
Bob Smith 24:40
Okay. Pan. Is it a flash in the pan met the explosion of the lighting for the stage. Does it have something to do with the stage?
Marcia Smith 24:52
I’m trying to answer your money.
Bob Smith 24:54
No, that’s Don’t be me. We’re going down. What’s the answer?
Marcia Smith 24:57
The word deadpan was first used in print by the New York Times in 1928. As a description of the great silent film comic –
Bob Smith 25:07
Oh Buster Keaton.
Marcia Smith 25:08
That’s correct. Who was also known as the Great Stone Face? Yes, the theatrical slang use of “pan” for face dates back to the 14th century. “Dead” of course means it’s not moving or is expressionless.
Bob Smith 25:23
No kidding. So pan meant face!
Marcia Smith 25:25
Yeah. ancient theater like pancake maker.
Bob Smith 25:28
Oh, no, I get it. I never always wondered why they called it pancake make up
Marcia Smith 25:32
Yeah. Pan for face and it goes way back. A long wait, pancake and Buster Keaton.
Bob Smith 25:40
Wow, dead pan. Dead face. That’s pretty impressive. I knew you’d like and this is pretty impressive. One more still. One more question on Antarctica. Marcia. And I promise this will be the last one. All right. Okay. Antarctica is closest to the size of what country? If it was a country? It’s a continent? Yeah. Right. It is a continent. and Canada. No. Russia, Russia. Yeah, with an area of roughly 5.4 million square miles. Antarctica is only the fifth largest continent. But if it were a country, it would be the second largest in the world, just behind Russia. Put another way Antarctica is a bit larger than the size of the United States and India combined. That’s how big that is.
Marcia Smith 26:24
That’s big. All right. I’m going to go out with a couple of tweets actually. Okay, here’s a tweet. I got out a Reader’s Digest. Okay. It said, quote, Elon Musk is now worth $208 billion. You want to know how he did it? He skipped 34 point 6 billion lattes, it’s that easy.
Bob Smith 26:46
Don’t drink that much coffee and your salaries.
Marcia Smith 26:49
You know what they cost and if you drink 34 point 6 billion, it adds up to a lot of caffeine and just to go out with some advice on healthy living. Amy Schumer says listen to your body. I listen to mine. And every day it tells me not to do Zumba.
Bob Smith 27:08
So she doesn’t like to do exercise,
Marcia Smith 27:10
I would guess.
Bob Smith 27:12
Oh dear. All right. Well, that’s it for today. We want to thank you for listening. And if you’d like to send us a question, we invite you to participate by going to our website, the off ramp dot show and scroll down to contact us and then leave us your question your answer and
Marcia Smith 27:28
where you’re from. Yeah, like to know that. Okay. Thanks for listening
Bob Smith 27:32
and join us again next time when we return with more trivia here
Marcia Smith 27:36
on the off ramp.
Bob Smith 27:40
The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
