Bob and Marcia Smith discussed various topics, including temperature measurements, international relations, and creativity. Bob shared insights on the metric system and why some people may be resistant to adopting new standards, while Marcia highlighted the importance of showing up and producing work, rather than waiting for inspiration. They also discussed interesting trivia related to ancient Romans and a recent discovery of a millipede species with 1300 legs. Later, they talked about the impact of creativity and kindness on their lives and the world, with Bob sharing stories of his artistic inspiration and Marcia highlighting selfless acts of kindness demonstrated by individuals like Michael Gardner and Nadia Popova.
Outline
Winter Olympics, cold climates, and temperature records.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the unusual snow preparation for the Beijing Winter Olympics, with all snow being artificial.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the seven seas of the world, with Marcia providing the correct answer.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith to name the coldest cities in the US, and she struggles to come up with 10, eventually naming 3 (Duluth, Minnesota; Bismarck, North Dakota; and Aberdeen, South Dakota).
- Bob Smith provides the top 10 coldest cities in the US, with Fairbanks, Alaska taking the number one spot (226 days below freezing, minimum average temperature of minus 13).
Music, history, and culture.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales, with Marcia explaining why the US clings to the Fahrenheit system despite the rest of the world using Celsius.
- Marcia and Bob also discuss the best-selling jazz artist according to Guinness World Records, with Marcia correctly guessing Kenny G’s real name and Bob providing additional information on the topic.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the origins of the song “Let It Be” and how Aretha Franklin recorded her gospel version before the Beatles released their version.
- Marcia Smith answers Bob Smith’s question about Angela Merkel’s distinctions as a leader, including her role as German Chancellor and her pre-political career as a physicist.
Firsts in history and journalism.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss a person who was the first to send a cartoon by radio.
- Marcia Smith: Robert Ripley did a variety of firsts, including broadcasting to every nation simultaneously and introducing the first museum (now called an auditorium).
- Bob Smith: Ripley’s cartoons are still in print and hold the title of the world’s longest running syndicated cartoon, found daily on ripleys.com.
Odd facts and good deeds.
- Marcia Smith shares interesting facts about the life and legacy of Frank King, a pioneering cartoonist and broadcaster who created “Amos ‘n’ Andy” and was known for his attention to detail and dedication to accuracy.
- Bob Smith shares two heartwarming stories from recent news about people showing kindness and generosity, including Michael Gardner, who gave $2,000 to employees of a minor league baseball team he had just sold.
- Bob Smith shares a heartwarming story of a former editor of the Des Moines Register and former president of NBC News, Michael Gardner, who gave away $600,000 to his employees as a token of appreciation for their hard work.
- Marcia Smith finds it inspiring that Nadia Popova, a hockey fan, noticed a mole on the back of an assistant equipment manager’s neck during a game and alerted him, potentially saving his life.
Sandcastles, ancient Rome, and millipedes.
- Marcia and Bob discuss a giant sandcastle built in Germany, with Marcia sharing interesting facts about its size and construction.
- Marcia and Bob also discuss a dubious condom brand named after an ancient Egyptian pharaoh known for fathering many children, which raises questions about the product’s effectiveness.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss a newly discovered species of millipede with 1300 legs, found in West Australia.
- The pair also discuss the vast network of arteries, veins, and blood capillaries in the human body, with over 62,000 miles of blood vessels.
- Marcia Smith: Inspiration is for amateurs; artists just show up and work (Chuck Close).
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith share stories of beestings and good Samaritan acts.
Bob Smith 0:00
What’s unusual about the snow being prepared for the Beijing Winter Olympics?
Marcia Smith 0:06
Can you name the seven seas of the world? answers
Bob Smith 0:09
to those and other questions coming up in this half hour of the off ramp with Bob and Marcia
Marcia Smith 0:15
Smith?
Bob Smith 0:31
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. Well, Marcia, I have a question about the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. And I want to know what’s unusual about the snow being prepared for those Winter Olympics. Okay,
Marcia Smith 0:51
well, it’s Beijing has winter. Yeah, sure. But are they low on snow? So they’re bringing it in from the Alps or something?
Bob Smith 1:02
Well, you got it. Every flake of that snow is going to be artificial, really. Now alpine skiing at the Beijing Winter Olympics will take place in the Yan Chien District, which it’s very, very cold but the rest of the story is, while it’s cold in Yan Chien, it snows very little there. So every flake in the 2022 Winter Olympics, every snowflake will be man made. In other words, artificial snow.
Marcia Smith 1:27
Why did they bother to have it there? I
Bob Smith 1:29
don’t know. That’s a very good question.
Marcia Smith 1:32
I remember I remember when they had it in Sun Valley. Not a problem with snow. Every day. All right. Okay. All right, Bob. You’ve heard of the seven seas of the world. Yes, I have. Well, tell me what they are.
Speaker 1 1:44
Dear. Let me see. Atlantic Pacific Mediterranean. I think the Arctic Ocean is considered one. You got the Caspian Sea. You got the Black Sea. And you got the Dead Sea. But that’s a lake so I don’t think I’ve got them all. No, you don’t. Okay. What are they? Okay.
Marcia Smith 2:00
Okay, the seven are the North Atlantic Ocean. That South Atlanta. Oh, really? So we divided the oceans up north Pacific, South Pacific. Okay, Indian, Arctic and the end Arctic Ocean. I’ll be darned. Yeah. So those are the seven.
Bob Smith 2:17
Well, what about the Caspian? The black and the other seas?
Marcia Smith 2:19
Well, that’s a good question. I don’t know. Apparently, those aren’t considered parts of the I don’t know. No, I wouldn’t have gotten that either. Okay.
Bob Smith 2:27
Well, going back to snow. Marcia, and the cold weather. Okay. I have a question that is related to some of the questions I’ve asked in the past about the coldest places and so forth. This is what are the 10 coldest cities in the United States In the United States? 10 coldest cities in the United States. You lived in one of them? I did. Yeah. Six of the 10 coldest cities in the United States. This is a hint six are in the Dakotas. No kidding. Yeah, it’s not amazing.
Marcia Smith 2:56
Yeah. Well, you’re not gonna ask me to name 1010 Now 10? Yes. 10. Now,
Bob Smith 3:02
okay. All right.
Marcia Smith 3:03
I’ll just try to think of three. What was the city you lived in? Well, I the only cold. This one I can think of is Marquette, Michigan, Michigan.
Bob Smith 3:09
Yes. The minimum average temperature there is 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit. And the all time lowest temperature there was 34 degrees Fahrenheit. Wow, it’s number nine of the top 10 coldest cities in the US.
Marcia Smith 3:21
Did I ever tell you that? I used to picnic on the frozen lake. Yeah, right. Barbecue. Did you really? Yeah. With fellow reporters else? Fun time.
Bob Smith 3:31
Okay. All right. So I’m going to ask you what is the coldest tea and then I’ll tell you the others here. They’re
Marcia Smith 3:36
okay. I’ll just I would think that something like Duluth?
Bob Smith 3:41
Hmm. Or buffalo. Duluth is one of them. Okay, so
Marcia Smith 3:46
now I got to. I said I’ll come up with 10 Okay. Well, the Dakotas I was getting I’m thinking that’s Montana. What’s the heck is in Dakota? Oh dear. Oh, dear.
Bob Smith 3:58
I know you’ve offended people. I
Marcia Smith 4:00
know. I have I
Bob Smith 4:01
let me take you out of your misery. Thank you. Here are the ones in reverse order. This is the David Letterman top 10 Okay. Oh top 10 coldest cities number 10 here on South Dakota market. Bismarck, North Dakota. St. Cloud, Minnesota, Aberdeen, South Dakota, Duluth, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota. That’s up to four. Okay, and the top three are number three Wilson, North Dakota. Grand Forks, North Dakota and number one is Fairbanks Alaska.
Marcia Smith 4:31
I was thinking of Anchorage but fair. Yes, it’s colder. Here’s how cold
Bob Smith 4:35
it is. 226 days below freezing. 226 Fairbanks. Yes. Holy c’mon. The coldest city in the United States. 226 days below freezing and a minimum average temperature of minus 13. That’s the minimum and the lowest recorded temperature was 66 below zero on January 14 1934.
Marcia Smith 4:59
How many how many? How many people live there? I have to look that up.
Bob Smith 5:01
I think I’ve got everything but that information. It’s funny. None of those are huge cities. When you think about it, they’re all pretty small. That’s the reason that’s part of the reason. So those are the top 10 coldest cities in the United States. That comes from travel trivia.
Marcia Smith 5:16
I should have jumped on that site. Okay, speaking of temperature, this is a perfect segue. Bob. United States uses Fahrenheit right? Yeah, measure temperature. How many other countries use Fahrenheit?
Bob Smith 5:27
I think there’s only one other one in the world. And I forget the other one. It’s in the it’s a small country in the Caribbean. I think it’s never nobody else is using Celsius or centigrade temperatures.
Marcia Smith 5:38
There’s more than one but it’s only the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, you’re right, Belize and Palu. They cling to the Fahrenheit system, as do we. It’s Daniel Fahrenheit. We just apparently had a thing for him. But the rest of the world uses Andre Celsius system where water temperature freezing is zero, right turns to ice and water boils at 100.
Bob Smith 6:02
That’s right. I know it’s such a beautiful system. Celsius. Isn’t that amazing? You think we would have gotten to that system? Since it’s so simple. It is. Zero is freezing. 100 is boiling. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 6:11
that’s it. That’s it. That makes sense to me. You know why we didn’t do it? It’s
Bob Smith 6:15
probably related to the same reason when the metric system didn’t succeed people just well, we don’t want it. I want to drive on this side of the road and we want this
Marcia Smith 6:24
we’re cowboys at heart.
Bob Smith 6:26
Alright, I have a couple of music questions for you here. Okay. Okay. What musician holds the Guinness world record as the best selling jazz artist? Best Selling jazz? Is
Marcia Smith 6:39
it somebody like Kenny G? That’s who it is? Gonna say? I bet it’s not John Coltrane.
Bob Smith 6:46
Oh, it’s not cool. It is Kenny G now his real name is Kenneth Gorlick. goes yeah, it goes by the name of Kenny G understand and that’s according to the Guinness World Records the best selling jazz artist of all time. The Sax Man delights and divides that came from a New York Times story. All right, the other question in January 1970. Marcia pop music question. Okay, so something you may be more familiar with them?
Marcia Smith 7:10
I got that one. Right. That’s true.
Bob Smith 7:13
Okay, well, nevermind. In January 1970. The song Let It Be was first released on an album who was the artist?
Marcia Smith 7:25
Okay, I take it it wasn’t a Beatle.
Bob Smith 7:27
That’s number one. You’re right. It wasn’t the Beatles. Yeah. Who was it though?
Marcia Smith 7:31
I’m thinking it was. Did you say it was became a number one record?
Bob Smith 7:35
I didn’t say that. I said the song Let It Be was first released on an album in January 1970. And who was the artist?
Marcia Smith 7:42
I’ll just say. Was it a woman?
Bob Smith 7:45
Yes.
Marcia Smith 7:46
Was it Carly Simon?
Bob Smith 7:48
No. This is an interesting story. And I Judy Collins I noticed this when I was watching the Get Back series on Disney plus the documentary of the Beatles. It was actually shot back in 1969. It was Aretha Franklin. Really? Yeah. And they’re just talking about it at the time and I found an article on it. So you can’t call her version of that song, a cover version because it was seeded. That’s right preceded the Beatles singles so she had the original version. Now how did that happen? How well in that documentary after one of the bands run throughs of the song George Harrison suggests the group should give that to Aretha Franklin to record and Paul McCartney agrees. He says we should record it and give it to her. It would be great for Aretha Franklin that number. Well, you have to remember Lennon and McCartney began their careers wanting to be the Rodgers and Hammerstein of their generation. They wanted to write songs that other people would sing. Oh, really? Yeah, that makes sense. And then Paul McCartney recently said what he always used to like to do was think who would I really liked to record this and get an early version to people I’d love to record it. So I sent let it be to his Aretha Franklin, and 13 Months went by after they recorded their version. In the meantime, the Queen of Soul recorded her gospel version, and it preceded the Beatles version by seven weeks. on her album, this girl’s in love with you in January 1978. I didn’t know that. Now. I knew that other people covered their songs once in a while, but I had no idea they actively would send them. Here’s a demo. We’d love to have you record that. And they did that to Aretha Franklin. Just turned out that she released hers before they released theirs.
Marcia Smith 9:18
All right, Bob, I did you know that the famous 1948 film Easter Parade, which most human beings have seen, I think, starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. Yeah. Fred was not originally cast for that movie. I didn’t know. He was not the first choice.
Bob Smith 9:35
Who was was it Bing Crosby? No. Was it? Gene Kelly car rack? Oh, yeah,
Marcia Smith 9:42
I was gonna say first you go for the big and obviously gene can dance and he broke his ankle. Oh my goodness. So they had to scratch him from the show. He was intended to be a film star and he would have been a lot cuter in it that Fred never pulled off that romantic lead in that time. My satisfied I
Bob Smith 10:01
just don’t like Fred
Marcia Smith 10:04
Astaire. Oh, he’s he’s homeless. Oh, there
Bob Smith 10:06
we go again. It always comes up. All right, Marcia money. Here’s a question. How much did COVID Help household savings?
Marcia Smith 10:14
Well, God, how would I know that? Well,
Bob Smith 10:17
I’ve got the answer. Thanks. In part to those pandemic era stimulus funds, American households had approximately $2.5 trillion in excess savings at the end of 2021. I
Marcia Smith 10:28
believe that. Okay, I
Bob Smith 10:29
have a question for you about a politician who recently stepped down from her role as German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. What four distinctions does she hold as a leader? Do you know what she was before she became a politician?
Marcia Smith 10:45
Ah, a nurse.
Bob Smith 10:46
She was a scientist. No kidding. Yeah, she received a doctorate in quantum chemistry and worked as a research scientist until 1989. Okay, what are the four distinctions during her tenure as he didn’t let
Marcia Smith 10:58
me answer? Oh, I thought you didn’t know. I don’t. Okay.
Bob Smith 11:01
Come on. No, she was the first German Chancellor born after World War Two. Really? All right, the first to hail from what was once East Germany during the Cold War. Okay. And the first woman to hold the office period, the first female chancellor of Germany. So those were the three distinctions. The fourth was she was a scientist. Oh, okay. First leader to be a science. So that’s very interesting. What do you got anything else there? Right.
Marcia Smith 11:28
I do I have a new segment, Bob. Okay. A new segment coming up, which
Bob Smith 11:32
is it’s called Who Am I? Who am I? So a question, I have to guess who it is. Yeah. We’ll get to that in just a moment. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 11:40
and Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 11:44
You’re listening to the off ramp with who am I? That’s the new segment with Bob and Marcia.
Marcia Smith 11:50
It’s not going to be a regular I don’t think, but I find it interesting.
Bob Smith 11:54
Okay, you’ve got a question. You’re gonna describe somebody, and I have to figure out who would have to say who is this person? This sounds like a good board game.
Marcia Smith 12:04
It does definitely let you build that and we can sell it and make some good retirement money.
Bob Smith 12:06
There we go. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 12:06
Okay. This person was the first artist ever to send a cartoon by radio, cartoon by radio. I thought maybe you’d know the answer to that. How does that work? Oh, maybe
Bob Smith 12:18
it’s a facsimile. faxing was using radio technology.
Marcia Smith 12:22
Okay, so it could be done. Yeah, the first ever to send a cartoon by radio, the first to send a drawing by telephone from Chicago to New York. He broadcast the first radio program from mid ocean to a nationwide network. And he was the first to broadcast to every nation of the world simultaneously, assisted by the Corps of linguists who translated his message into various tongues. Good Lord. And he was the first to broadcast from Australia to the United States in 1932. And lastly, the first two broadcasts from Buenos Aires to New York in 1933.
Bob Smith 13:02
Pedro Rodriguez. Oh, my goodness, listen to that list of
Marcia Smith 13:08
So you know who this is. He did a whole host of firsts including his broadcast,
Bob Smith 13:12
was it Rudy Vallee?
Unknown Speaker 13:13
No.
Bob Smith 13:14
Is it somebody from that era?
Marcia Smith 13:16
Let me tell you, he was a cartoonist. He was a cartoonist.
Bob Smith 13:19
Okay, so was it the man who used to draw the he drew the Gertie the dinosaur, what was his name? And he traveled around the country lecturing with us motion picture of this Dinosaur Cartoon and talking to him and
Marcia Smith 13:34
no, so he worked for New York newspaper, and he was the cartoonist. Okay. The sports cartoonists specifically. Yeah, he did all sorts of things. And he was a slow sports day, and he didn’t have much so we opened his drawer and there were a bunch of weird little things in the drawer little weird sports event, you know, the person to hold their breath underwater the longest. Oh, like, basically, believe it or not type stuff. Exactly. Like Ripley, believe it or not, because he threw his ideas on his editor’s desk, went to lunch, and he wrote on it, believe it or not, and he listed six.
Bob Smith 14:08
Oh, so it’s him, Robert Ripley. I’ll be darned
Marcia Smith 14:13
And he went on to become a huge hit his books and he became incredibly rich. Yes. And it all began with a slow day at the sports.
Bob Smith 14:21
See, I didn’t know he was a journalist.
Marcia Smith 14:24
No, that’s basically that’s why I thought maybe on this one, I get you. Well, you did. In 1933, Ripley introduced the first of his famous museums. They’re called oddditoriums
Bob Smith 14:35
Odd. Oh, itorium. Yeah, that’s not AUD. It’s odd. Odd.
Marcia Smith 14:39
That’s right. It’s what some people call our home. Well, that’s true. His cartoons are still in print, and it holds the title of the world’s longest running syndicated cartoon, and can be found daily on ripleys.com. So they started when 1929 and still running here. And at its height that a readership of 80 million people amazing.
Bob Smith 15:03
Yeah. Wow. And what were those six first again?
Marcia Smith 15:07
First artist ever to send a cartoon by radio first to send a drawing by telephone broadcast the first radio program from mid ocean to nationwide network. Wow, first broadcast from Australia to the United States and the first two broadcasts from Buenos Aires to New York in 1933.
Bob Smith 15:26
Well, he was a quite a pioneer in broadcasting as well. I didn’t know that. Yeah, he would
Marcia Smith 15:30
come up with these oddities and then illustrate them right. That’s what he was a cartoonist. Now it
Bob Smith 15:36
all makes sense, because I always liked the way those always little panels with a picture, hand written. Yeah, what the fact was or the interest? Yeah,
Marcia Smith 15:43
I didn’t think I realized that was him. I didn’t know that. I had
Bob Smith 15:47
no idea he did that that makes us so personal to know that he did that himself.
Marcia Smith 15:51
At the time of his death in 1949. He had in his employ 66 people, including linguists, research experts and 12 secretaries to handle male and authenticate his amazing facts. Oh, he lived alone, the 29 rooms of his home on his private island estate on Long Island Sound. New York, and the 20 rooms of his New York studio were filled with some of the most unique objects of the world. He was a world traveler had his own island,
Bob Smith 16:20
I had no idea he was such an entrepreneur with such a big organization just dedicated to finding things, translating them, and corroborating what’s accurate, what isn’t accurate. Okay. Well, that’s good. It gives a lot more validity to a lot of those claims, then. Well, Marcia, I have two stories that are good Samaritan kinds of stories that have been in the news recently. And you know, we hear so much bad news these days, and there’s so much political division. Do you think people don’t care for each other, but these are two stories about people who do okay, it’s kind of fun here. Two days after Christmas, Michael Gardner summoned the employees of the Iowa cubs. It’s a minor league baseball team, to a staff meeting in Des Moines because they had just sold the team and he wanted to give all the employees business cards. So he handed out envelopes. But inside were checks worth $2,000. For every year, each employee had worked for the team. And their people had worked for the team for 20 years, 30 years. So they got checks for like $60,000 a year with this. This just happened. He gave away a total of $600,000 from the money he earned by selling the team that’s so rare, this fellow Michael Gardner. He was a former editor of the Des Moines Register a former president of NBC News, he won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing and, and then he bought this team and affiliated with Chicago Cubs. And everybody says he was always a great boss. They had 401, k’s and everything else for years. And here. He calls this meeting because he’d sold the team and they said there were people with tears streaming down their cheeks.
Marcia Smith 17:51
Wow, that’s a rare thing to do and the right thing to do that. They made him rich. That’s excellent. Good news.
Bob Smith 17:57
Here’s a hockey story. A lady named Nadia Popova cheat. She was attending a game of the Seattle crackin. Playing the Vancouver Canucks. She sat behind a plexiglass where the visiting team was in front of her. And she kept shifting from her eyes from the hockey game to the back of Brian Hamilton’s neck. Brian Hamilton was an assistant equipment manager with him and he had a mole in the back of his neck could tell it was she could tell it was not possibly cancerous. And she said she just couldn’t help herself. And she told her parents she was with them. She goes, I kind of tell them. So what she did was she typed a message on her phone and waited for the game to end and then she waved him over several times. Then she put her phone up against the plexiglass and the message was the mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please see a doctor. And then he asked his partner that night. Do you see something back there? His partner said yeah, they do. So then he went to the team doctor, he says could this be dangerous? He goes, yes, it could. And after he had it removed, he waited for the biopsy. They came back the doctor told him if I had ignored this for four or five years, you wouldn’t be here. I’ll be darned. So she saved his life. Well, then that began, we got to find this woman and thank her the team and he did this. He sent messages out on Twitter. The team had a press conference that looking for this woman. Does anybody know who it is? And one morning, she woke up with texts from her mom saying you got a call. So here’s what happened. This is such a cool thing. Both teams got together and here’s what they did. At the next game. Both teams presented her with a combined $10,000 scholarship to make sure she gets through medical school. Oh, that is so awesome. Isn’t that great? I just thought that was so wonderful. Discovering a cancerous mole from the stands. She saves a life New York Times story from January 4 of 2022. So two good Samaritan stories.Cheer you up.
Marcia Smith 19:54
Yeah, we should do a lot of those. Yeah. Okay. This is from my brand new big Christmas. book,
Bob Smith 20:00
The Guinness Book of World Records. Okay,
Marcia Smith 20:03
how tall is the world’s largest sandcastle?
Bob Smith 20:07
Is this something that still exist? Yeah, I’m
Marcia Smith 20:08
sure it’s gone now. It was a 2019. They built it for our sand castle festival in Germany. Wow. And did took maybe this will help you 12,125 tons of sand. Oh my goodness. And they just mixed it only with water. So it’s just a legitimate plain sandcastle.
Bob Smith 20:27
I don’t know. 10 feet tall would be huge. But probably more than that. 20 feet tall, probably.
Marcia Smith 20:33
How tall? 58 feet tall. Well, over 85 feet around. It took three and a half weeks for an international team of 12 sculptors and eight technicians to create this glorious looking structure. It’s beautiful. Cathy’s tourists and all this. Goodness, just sand and water and it’s just blended looking.
Bob Smith 20:54
Isn’t that nice? When people come together to do things like that?
Marcia Smith 20:56
The world could operate this at 12 You know, international team from people all around the world. That sounds great. Yeah, just build a sandcastle together. I think there’s a metaphor there for international relations about it. You know, I think so too washed away by the water. But that’s another thing. Okay, here’s a fun fact. And question bomb. How did ancient Romans punish men found guilty of rape?
Bob Smith 21:20
This is a fun fact. I hesitate to think hell is this fun in a kind of a sadistic sense. Yes. Okay. Okay, well, I’m not gonna even touch it. So you tell me the
Marcia Smith 21:33
Yeah, they had their testicles crushed between two stones. Oh, dear. So that’s a good thwarting? Gosh, March.
Bob Smith 21:41
Hope We’re not ending on that. No.
Marcia Smith 21:44
Speaking upsets, Bob. Okay.
Bob Smith 21:47
I don’t know if it’s the same thing. Rape and sex are two different things.
Marcia Smith 21:51
That’s for sure. And so is this okay, you’re familiar with I think it’s called their Ramses condom. Brand. Xisha. Brand. Yeah, it’s a brand. Well, what makes that a dubious name for this product?
Bob Smith 22:04
What makes that a dubious name? Yeah, for a condom. Because Ramses was a ruler of ancient Egypt.
Marcia Smith 22:11
He was yeah, a pharaoh. The great Pharaoh Ramses two. But the dubiousness is he fathered more than 160 children.
Bob Smith 22:19
So he’s condoms didn’t work. Well, I
Marcia Smith 22:21
would say would you really want to name it after that guy?
Bob Smith 22:26
Not a birth control device that we would recommend. Alright, I got another nature question here for you. Okay, this is another recent thing in the news, okay. named this creature. Scientists have finally found one that truly lives up to its name. What is it? It’s a creepy crawly. But it has a certain name that refers to a certain number of something. And this is the first one they’ve ever found that actually has that many.
Marcia Smith 22:50
Okay, I’ll say the caterpillar the you had some
Bob Smith 22:55
of these around the house once in a while you see them? Oh, Lady Bugs?
Marcia Smith 22:57
No.
Bob Smith 22:59
These have a lot of legs.
Marcia Smith 23:00
Centipede centipedes, and millipedes.
Bob Smith 23:02
Yeah, the millipedes. The name means 1000 footed. But until 2021 None had ever been found. And in September, a species was found 200 feet underground in West Australia. It does have 1000 feet. You’re kidding. And this is amazing. It has more than 1300 legs. And the incredible thing it’s tiny, tiny tiny because these millipedes are just a few inches long and less than a millimeter. Why they have no eyes. They look like Angel pasta, but they have Asha 1300 1300 legs. Now, they found this in an underground borehole that mining companies dig to search for precious minerals. And it was found by a Dr. Bruno bazaruto of a company that was hired by the mining firms to study the wildlife that the mining might affect so how do they know it has 1300 legs because they counted them under a microscope painstaking process 1306 legs on this thing
Marcia Smith 24:06
can you imagine your job when you come into work that day? Count the legs and no kidding.
Bob Smith 24:10
But they say it’s probably not the last word on it because some species of millipedes are known to grow additional legs. Oh my God in their lifetime good to know that’s a millipede that lives up to its name finally found.
Marcia Smith 24:22
All right. I’m going to ask you a couple short questions here. All right. Do you know there are actually miles of arteries, veins and blood capillaries in your human body? Yes. Okay.
Bob Smith 24:33
How many? I don’t know. Just take it. Okay. I’d say 50 Miles 50 mile
Marcia Smith 24:38
that’s a lot. Okay, but it’s 62,000 Oh
Bob Smith 24:40
my god. 62,000 Miles your body? Yeah, that’s amazing
Marcia Smith 24:46
arteries, veins and blood capillaries. That is hard for me to fathom.
Bob Smith 24:50
Where did you find that?
Marcia Smith 24:51
Ah, in the Ultimate Book of useless information. PAGE 72. Okay. What else?
Bob Smith 24:59
Six See 2000 Miles that’s a road trip and your body isn’t it?
Marcia Smith 25:03
Oh, something that’s good for you to know Bob most
Bob Smith 25:05
of that’s what your blood goes through then.
Marcia Smith 25:07
Yeah. What is it again? Artists veins, arteries, veins and blood capillaries. So
Bob Smith 25:12
it’s all blood. Wow, that’s amazing.
Marcia Smith 25:15
Okay. All right. Here’s a quickie. Yeah. Is is good for you specifically to know in what kind of weather conditions are you most likely to be stung by a bee?
Bob Smith 25:26
I would assume it’s summer but it’s not.
Marcia Smith 25:29
No. It’s a weather condition. Not a season. Oh, an event?
Bob Smith 25:33
Yeah, it’s like a storm or something.
Marcia Smith 25:35
Yeah, but it’s not okay. What is it March. It’s just a windy weather. More so than any other weather condition you are most likely to get bit by a bee in windy with – stung by a bee – to be stung by a bee.
Speaker 1 25:47
They don’t bite you. They drill into, like that one did to me. Whenever that was That’s right. Amen. Save my life. And you’re our son, our son. Our son waved the ambulance over to our house to save my life. Yes. That’s a great story of the family.
Marcia Smith 26:03
How old is was he?
Speaker 1 26:04
It was Ben’s birthday? Remember nine years old and I was laying there on the floor. And I heard the sirens coming and I said bend those people are coming to help daddy. So could you when they get here you have to let them know which house in the coldest sack we are in so and all and then you came back and you saw all those ambulances and about had a heart attack.
Marcia Smith 26:22
And they took me away?
Bob Smith 26:26
Anyway, yeah. So yeah, I have a history of beestings. And that’s why Marcia referred to them.
Marcia Smith 26:31
Okay, you got another one. That’s it. That’s it. Okay. You ready for my quote? Yes. This is a quote from artist Chuck Close. Okay. He said, inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work.
Bob Smith 26:44
That’s really what it all comes down to. In many ways.
Marcia Smith 26:47
You only sit around waiting for inspiration so long before you got to you know, produce.
Bob Smith 26:53
You just got to start writing if you’re a writer. You just got to start painting or doing artwork if you’re an artist.
Marcia Smith 26:57
Yeah, whatever it is. You can’t wait for inspiration right? All the time.
Bob Smith 27:01
All right. That’s great. And that’s it for this week. We hope you’ve enjoyed hearing all of these quite interesting stories. I think we had this time is pretty good. And some good Samaritan stories too. Those were nice. Yes, I
Marcia Smith 27:11
liked those.
Bob Smith 27:12
I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. Join us next time when we return for more trivia here on the off ramp.
The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
