Bob and Marcia Smith engaged in a wide-ranging conversation, touching on historical events, environmental disasters, technological advancements, and global issues. Bob shared interesting facts about Winston Churchill’s family and the 1997 Lego toy spill, while Marcia raised concerns about collectibles made from historical disasters. The speakers also explored the origins of the name.
Outline
Famous historical figures and environmental disasters.
- Lego pieces, superglue, and disposable lighters washed up on shore after a ship accident.
- Winston Churchill’s American grandfather was a wealthy financier and the “king of Wall Street.”
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the name change of Kyiv (Kiev) and its historical significance.
- Las Vegas is the brightest city on Earth, according to NASA, with neon signs and marquees providing around-the-clock lighting that can be seen from space.
Cheese, Niagara Falls, salary gap, and daylight in Alaska.
- Marcia and Bob discuss cheese production and Niagara Falls, with Marcia providing interesting facts and Bob offering humorous responses.
- Marcia and Bob discuss salary gaps in different states, with Wyoming having the largest gap and Vermont having the smallest.
Marriage, lying, and world travel.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the Guinness World Record held by Darius Slavic, who can lift 133 pounds with his pinky finger.
- Psychologists have found that smiling in family photos can predict a successful marriage, with 90% of big smilers staying married compared to 30% of less frequent smilers getting divorced.
- Marcia and Bob discuss a TV series and share interesting facts, including Mark Beaumont’s record-breaking bicycle trip around the world in 79 days.
- Bob and Marcia play a trivia game, with Bob answering questions about American cities and Marcia providing the answers.
Language origins and unique animal abilities.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of expressions, including “you’ve got your work cut out for you” and “Heard It Through the Grapevine.”
- Bob shares a story about a rare and expensive watch, the Titanic, and how it relates to tragic history.
- Bob and Marcia discuss a company that sold Titanic DNA watches, despite controversy and bankruptcy.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the origins of the countdown in film and space exploration, as well as the irony of a poet’s tragic death.
The origins of “The Wizard of Oz” and audiobooks.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the origin of the name “Oz” from L. Frank Baum’s imagination, inspired by his file cabinet labeled “Oh to Z.”
- Bob Smith shares a fascinating fact about German Shepherds sticking their heads out of car windows, experiencing a high equivalent to human beings on cocaine due to their acute sense of smell.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the invention of books on tape by Deval Hecht, who died at the age of 91.
- Nelson Mandela and Sir Winston Churchill are quoted on the topic of perseverance and equality.
Bob Smith 0:00
What famous world war two leaders grandfather was once known as the king of Wall Street? And
Marcia Smith 0:06
what is the worst ever toy related environmental catastrophe?
Bob Smith 0:12
Whoa, that sounds really awful. Okay answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 0:20
and Marsha Smith
Bob Smith 0:37
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. So, a quarter a century ago, it was the worst environmental catastrophe that was related to toys Yes.
Marcia Smith 0:52
And February 13 1997, a giant wave swept 4.8 million Lego pieces into the water 20 miles off Cornwell in the UK. A quarter of a century later, the plastic toys are still washing up on England Southwestern shore. Oh dear. Can you imagine? Yeah, they’ve estimated that the pieces could have already drifted 62,000 miles across the world’s oceans and roughly 3.2 million of the last Legos are light enough to float, which means the other 1.6 million have ended up on the seabed. According to a 2020 study. It will take 1300 years for the Legos lost at sea to fully break down. Now we
Bob Smith 1:40
were talking about this beforehand. But this isn’t the only thing that was bad on that ship. There were there
Marcia Smith 1:44
were superglue and disposable lighters went out. So there are 1000 of those all floating out there. And I’ve already you know come up on shore if you ever walking on say how did we get all this here? That’s shipping containers shipping containers.
Bob Smith 1:58
I’m sure there are tons of things that have fallen off container ships over the years and ended up in the ocean. Absolutely.
Marcia Smith 2:03
In the 80s a container ship lost a shipment of Garfield phones you know Garfield the cat telephones. Yeah, and they washed ashore in France for years and years. Dear, I imagined going to France for the beauty and wind up seeing Garfield phones on the shore. On
Bob Smith 2:23
the beach. Yeah, coming up on the beach. Oh dear. Okay. Thank you Marsh. Thank you. Thank you.
Marcia Smith 2:29
What is that? No, it’s Thank you.
Bob Smith 2:32
Okay, Marsha, what famous world war two leaders grandfather was once known as the king of Wallstreet world war two famous world war two levers Grandfather,
Marcia Smith 2:43
I don’t know that many okay. We’ll say patents. patent. Okay.
Bob Smith 2:46
No. Okay. Who you will probably would think it was Roosevelt, right? Because he was a famous World War Two, rich and rich and his family goes back in American history, but it’s actually Winston Churchill. Oh, yeah, we forget many times. Winston Churchill was half American. His mother was American, right? So his American financier grandfather, Leonard Jerome made a fortune with railroads. He was friends and business partners of the Vanderbilts. He helped found one of New York’s first opera houses, and he helped launch thoroughbred horse racing in America. That was all Winston Churchill’s grandfather, and was known as the king of Wall Street. He had four daughters, three of whom married British people. They were the million dollar princesses of the 19th century. Okay, they inspired the character of Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham Oh, yeah, Downton Abbey. And the very first of those billion or million dollar princesses was Winston Churchill’s mother, beautiful, 19 year old Jenny Jerome. She was 19 when she met the dashing and handsome 24 year old Lord Randolph Spencer Churchill at a grand ball. They fell in love in three days they were engaged
Marcia Smith 3:55
sounds like yes, well, when we’re well. Yes, sir.
Bob Smith 3:58
How rich was Churchill’s mother’s American family. Ah, millionaires very many times over. I’m going to describe their home. This is the home she grew up in Jerome mansion, it had a 600 seat theater in it in them in the home, a breakfast room which seated 70 people a ballroom of white and gold with champagne and Cologne, spouting fountains, and a view of Madison Square Park. That’s how rich Winston Churchill’s mother’s family was, and they were Americans.
Marcia Smith 4:29
Okay, Bob, here’s something. Why do we now say Kiv instead of Kyiv?
Bob Smith 4:34
It’s because the citizens of Ukraine wanted to change its name because Kyiv is what the Russians use?
Marcia Smith 4:43
Yes. And Keef is what the Ukrainians have used it. That’s the pronunciation of the Ukrainians, but it’s called the Russification when the Russians wanted it to be more Russian sounding so they gave it that pronunciation Kyiv. And it worked. We all pronounced that Kyiv until this crisis. And now we all have started to say kif. As the Soviet Union unraveled, in 1991, Ukraine declared its independence, and the country has been working to supplant the name ever since.
Bob Smith 5:16
And it was a famous city in ancient times, you know, the Vikings had a settlement there and key if they were there. I’ve got a question for you regarding that. How does the Russian economy compared to the European Union?
Marcia Smith 5:29
How does it compare in give me in terms of size, in terms of
Bob Smith 5:33
how much bigger as the European Union economy than the Russian economy?
Marcia Smith 5:37
Okay, well, the Russians haven’t got a lot going for it except the oil. Right. So I’ll say that 63% More, it’s
Bob Smith 5:45
10 times bigger. The European Union economy is 10 times bigger than Russia’s. And only 5% of EU exports go to Russia. But 50% of Russia’s exports go to the EU. All right. I got a question on a city. What is the brightest city on Earth? Marcia? Space some space?
Marcia Smith 6:07
Ah. Don’t laugh. I’ll say it again. Abu Dhabi.
Bob Smith 6:14
You just love that. So
Marcia Smith 6:17
is it? No, it’s not. It’s not the Hong Kong. Nope.
Bob Smith 6:20
And this is according to NASA. Think of a city with bright lights and
Marcia Smith 6:23
I Oh, Paris. It’s that city of lights. Darn it.
Bob Smith 6:28
Well, I know that. This is a city that never sleeps. Okay. Las Vegas. Las Vegas doesn’t even have clock
Marcia Smith 6:34
Really it’s that easy. But it’s with all those neon lights never occurred to me.
Bob Smith 6:38
80% of the world’s population lives in a place lit by artificial light at night. But according to NASA nowhere do those lights shine brighter than Las Vegas. To city with neon signs bright marquees they offer around the clock lighting that can be seen in outer space. And the brightest of these is the sky beam atop the Lux or hotel pyramid. It’s the brightest light powered by 39 7000 Watt ultra bright xenon lamps how many 39 7000 Watt ultra bright xenon lamps it also has curved mirrors that collect their light and focus them into the strongest beam of light. So not only can it be seen from space, but the sky beam provides enough illumination to read a book from 10 miles out in space now that’s bright.
Marcia Smith 7:27
God, I should have thought of that. I read that once. Totally forgot it. Okay, Euro Wisconsinite. Now, Bob, why is cheese made in a wheel? Do you ever wonder that you ever see those big wheels of cheese?
Bob Smith 7:40
Yeah, what the hell’s with that cheese wheels? Isn’t it like a long log that they just cut off the wheels of the Yeah,
Marcia Smith 7:47
no, no, the aging and ripening of cheese happens when the cheese is left to absorb salt as well as mold. It’s part of the process of the ripening process. And if the cheese is in a shape of a wheel, the mold tends to distribute more evenly in the cheese. It really is has edges for to collect around. So that’s good to know. A cheese wheel also provides a better structure for the rind to form which helps protect the cheese from insects, undesirable bacteria or other contaminants.
Bob Smith 8:23
Fascinating cheese questions from Marcia. All right. I have a question about a famous landmark. It’s Niagara Falls. How many swimming pools worth of water flow over Niagara Falls every minute. Well, how
Marcia Smith 8:38
big is the swimming pool? Well,
Bob Smith 8:39
we’re talking about Olympic swimming pools. Okay.
Marcia Smith 8:41
Thank you. Well, that makes it much easier. That
Bob Smith 8:44
didn’t help you did it.
Marcia Smith 8:47
Smarty Pants? My pants are smart.
Bob Smith 8:49
What is the answer? How many swimming pools worth of water?
Marcia Smith 8:52
No multiple choice? No. Okay. I will say 848,000
Bob Smith 8:58
No, that’s way too much. Oh, okay. 70 Olympic swimming pools of water flow over Niagara Falls each minute. That’s more than 6 million cubic feet per minute.
Marcia Smith 9:09
So you didn’t say a minute. I wouldn’t have said that huge number. See, but that’s okay. That’s fascinating. Bob, thank you just as
Bob Smith 9:17
fascinating as cheese Marsh. I have to tell you that.
Marcia Smith 9:22
All right. What state has the largest salary gap Bob between men and women? I’m
Bob Smith 9:28
gonna say something like Alabama or something like that.
Marcia Smith 9:32
But no, this is going to surprise you. It’s the equality state. Oh, Wyoming. That’s right. We talked about the first place to allow women to vote is also got a 35% difference between the wages of women and men.
Bob Smith 9:48
Oh, that well, shame on them.
Marcia Smith 9:51
Yeah, no kidding. And the smallest. Do you want to guess which state has the smallest difference?
Bob Smith 9:56
I’ll bet it’s a state like Massachusetts or something close.
Marcia Smith 9:59
sits in that vicinity. Vermont. Yes, Vermont percent. And there’s one profession Bob across the board with the biggest gap 45%. What profession?
Bob Smith 10:11
Is it in law enforcement?
Marcia Smith 10:13
No.
Bob Smith 10:14
Is it in the military? No. Is it in industry? No. Is it in education now? What is it? Lawyers?
Marcia Smith 10:21
Really? Yes. 45% difference.
Bob Smith 10:26
Oh, my goodness.
Marcia Smith 10:27
Isn’t that interesting?
Bob Smith 10:28
Well, well, well. Okay, go ahead. Okay. I’m going to ask you, what city has the longest and shortest days in the United States? Where do they occur? The long is it in Alaska? Yes, it is. It’s in Alaska somewhere.
Marcia Smith 10:44
It says long days and nights. It’s in
Bob Smith 10:46
the northern most state in the country. And it’s the northern most community. How
Marcia Smith 10:52
I don’t know. Never Been there is Juneau up there.
Bob Smith 10:56
Not that far. No, no,
Marcia Smith 10:59
I don’t. It’s Klondike or it’s
Bob Smith 11:01
Barrow, Alaska. The sun stays up from May until August. Oh Lord, so a day lasts over two months. This distinctive type of unending daylight is called the midnight sun. And it’s only found in areas located above the Arctic Circle. And approximately 33% of Alaska lies above the Arctic Circle. So makes for some pretty intense days. It also has one of the longest nights from mid November through January the sun never fully rises above the horizon. So it’s over two months of dim Twilight.
Marcia Smith 11:36
Two months of Twilight. Yeah, not blackness. Well.
Bob Smith 11:40
It’s dark. You never really see the sun is just Twilight. Wow. It’s gonna do a lot to you and change your perception of mass with
Marcia Smith 11:47
your head, don’t you think? I would think so. Yeah. Okay. All right. This is from my great big book of Guinness World Record. Okay. Give me a ballpark number Bob on how much Canadian dairy vez Slavic can lift with his pinky finger?
Bob Smith 12:04
This is a this is a world’s record. Yes, it is. He’s Canadian. And his name is Darius. What
Marcia Smith 12:09
Dara vez. Slavic derivates. slove.
Bob Smith 12:12
Yes, he
Marcia Smith 12:13
can lift something
Bob Smith 12:13
with his pinky.
Marcia Smith 12:15
Yes. How much weight?
Bob Smith 12:16
I’m going to say 100? Well, I’m gonna say 220 pounds.
Marcia Smith 12:19
Oh my god. Yes. 133 pounds. All right, you aren’t close enough. It’s the same weight as an adult panda in case you were wondering. Anyway, this is this guy’s claim to fame. All right, go ahead.
Bob Smith 12:34
All right. Is there any truth to the Pinocchio story?
Marcia Smith 12:38
Oh, that’s curious.
Bob Smith 12:40
Your nose growing? If
Marcia Smith 12:41
you lie. I wouldn’t think you’d ask it unless there was yes, there is truth to it, Bob. Okay, and why? Well, that’s your what happens? Well, maybe your blood vessels expand a little when you’re lying, and that increases the size of your snap. That’s
Bob Smith 12:56
kind of the deal. Yes, because technically, when a person lies, the nose does grow larger. That means that there is some truth to the Pinocchio story when a person lies tissue in the nose. In gorges. The swelling isn’t as dramatic as Pinocchio is but it does produce histamine, which causes the nose to which so an itchy nose can indicate lying because your nose tissues are swelling, bigger and itchy. Or when you lie. I notice you you a lot. Scratching your nose a lot around here. I’m doing it right now. And here’s another question. What did psychologists learn about marriage from photographs? You
Marcia Smith 13:39
know what I would say because I often look at pictures of photographs, people getting married or if they’re touching or not cozy. Okay, if they’re touching, I personally believe that bodes well for their future. That
Bob Smith 13:53
sounds good. That’s not it’s not right. It’s not what it is. But it is something that psychologists say predicts a successful marriage more than not, and that is smiling.
Marcia Smith 14:03
And that was my other thing I was going to say Yeah, after poring over
Bob Smith 14:07
family photos and reading the smiles of their test subjects. Psychologists have determined that 90% of the biggest smilers stay married while roughly 30% of the founders are less than smiles get divorce.
Marcia Smith 14:22
All right around the world in 80 days. We’re watching that series right now. Aren’t we on PBS? I think so what is the most unique way it’s been done going
Bob Smith 14:31
around the world? In 80 days? The most unique way to go around the world and add it has been done. Well they did it in balloons, you know? Yeah, high altitude balloons.
Marcia Smith 14:43
Mark Beaumont, H 39 went around the world and 79 days on a bicycle. A bicycle? Yeah, he’s a Brit. And in 2017 He started and finished his trip in Paris and he passed through 16 countries and went 18,000 Miles And he beat the previous record by 44 days. So it was quite something
Bob Smith 15:04
he did it in add 79 days. I can’t believe that. No, that could do that on a bicycle. 70 days.
Marcia Smith 15:11
18,000 miles. Wow.
Bob Smith 15:14
Okay, all right. I’m tired. I want to take a break.
Marcia Smith 15:17
Okay, time to check your break. All right,
Bob Smith 15:18
you’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha. Wait a minute. Go with HIPAA. Okay, Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment. Okay, we’re back with the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. Marsha. I have a history question about an American city. What US city got its name from a club for Revolutionary War officers. This is in the Midwest. Yeah, I don’t know. I’ll give you three names.
Marcia Smith 15:47
Well, thank you, Bob. St.
Bob Smith 15:49
Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, or Detroit.
Marcia Smith 15:54
I will say Cincinnati. That’s exactly right. That’s right. I knew it.
Bob Smith 15:58
It was originally named lo Santee and it kept that name for two years until 1790. That was the year that the Northwest Territories first Governor General Arthur St. Clair named it Cincinnati after the Society of Cincinnati that was formed by officers of the Continental Army. At the end of the American Revolution. The officer’s club was named after Cincinnatus, who is a Roman general I’ve heard of him who saved Roman 458 BC.
Marcia Smith 16:23
Okay, so Bob, what city dies? It’s river green every St. Patrick’s Day. Oh, that
Bob Smith 16:29
must be Dublin. Oh, no. Wait a minute, Chicago. For you. Yes. Chicago in the United States says that.
Marcia Smith 16:37
And you should know that because they talk about it every year here and it’s coming up and they’re you know what it takes 40 pounds of green vegetable dye
Bob Smith 16:46
that doesn’t seem like much doesn’t that’s pretty intense die. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 16:50
I don’t know how big a swath of river it is. But in Dublin, they celebrate St. Patty’s festival for four days. Wow.
Bob Smith 16:58
They’re serious about it. They’re very serious. Very serious. Makes Chicago
Marcia Smith 17:02
look like pikers. Okay,
Bob Smith 17:04
I’ve got some expressions, I want you to tell me where they came from. Okay. When somebody says you have your work cut out for you. Where does that come from?
Marcia Smith 17:13
Well, is it go back to carpenters. It goes back to sewing. Oh, when you make patterns, and you have to cut the pattern. You’re
Bob Smith 17:23
on the right path. It’s the expression comes from tailoring to do a big sewing job. All the pieces of fabric are cut out before they get sewn together. And it seems like if your work has been cut out for you, it would make the job easier. Yes. But we don’t use the expression that we use it the opposite. We think of it in a negative way. Oh, you got your work cut out for you. Lots of stuff to do there. Okay, Heard It Through the Grapevine. Where did that come from? Wilson
Marcia Smith 17:49
pick it? Well.
Bob Smith 17:52
The singer right. The expression actually goes back to the 1850s. The Telegraph era, where the telegraph was a straight line of communication from one person to another a grapevine telegraph. was a message passed from person to person with some unlikely twists along the way.
Marcia Smith 18:08
Yeah, I’ll be doing you know, here’s a quickie. What is the only animal that can see both infrared and ultraviolet light?
Bob Smith 18:17
Whoo. I never thought of that. I think for us an animal that can see ultraviolet light. Is this something in the sea by any chance?
Marcia Smith 18:25
It’s in water? It is in
Bob Smith 18:27
water? Yeah, but not in the sea. Well, is it in the ocean? It’s a
Marcia Smith 18:31
goldfish. Oh, okay.
Bob Smith 18:34
So they can see ultraviolet light as well as regular Yeah,
Marcia Smith 18:36
they’re the only animal in the world. Wonder what the purpose of that was? I don’t know. Why did God do?
Bob Smith 18:45
Plants did he have for goldfish that we aren’t? God? We don’t know. You know, brother. Okay. Okay. I have an interesting little story here. Unless you’re wealthy enough to you know, buy a watch for oh, let’s say eight grand or $173,000. You probably didn’t know about this. But when you want to wear a piece of history, tragic history, that’s how much it can cost. What kind of tragic history am I talking about? Any idea? A piece of tragic history. Think of the big tragedies in the 20th century. Yeah, think of the one that captured everybody’s imagination because it was deep under the sea. Oh, it sank Titanic the Titanic, right? Well, I didn’t know this. But up until recently, there was a Swiss company, RJ watches or Romain Jerome watches that sold an exclusive Titanic DNA watch. It was a big steampunk type of timepiece. Yeah. High end mechanical watches, integrating real steel and coal from the Titanic from the ocean floor. Can you believe this? The company purchased a piece of the whole weighing about three pounds that was retrieved in 1991. They didn’t identify the seller. The metal was certified authentic by the Titanic’s builders Harland and Wolff and then the Watchtower was painted black with a lacquer that contains coal dust recovered from the debris field.
Marcia Smith 20:05
So this is their selling point. This is their and they start selling different these watches
Bob Smith 20:10
were selling they were selling in 2007 at prices ranging from $7,800 to $173,100. If you were that wealthy you might want a piece of the Titanic to wear on your wrist. People are so stupid Isn’t it awful? Now the company said the combination of new and old materials infuse the watches with a sense of renewal, instead of representing a reminder that 1500 people died yesterday.
Marcia Smith 20:36
Here’s a reminder of a huge catastrophe and two
Bob Smith 20:41
years later, they did something more positive they marketed a moon dust DNA watch made of metal fibers from the Apollo 11 spacecraft. How did they get that? And moon dust? But the novelty didn’t last after 16 years, the controversial company declared bankruptcy in February 2020 That comes from Are you kidding me a book by Harry Bryden. Jacob answer Yeah. Can you believe that? Titanic watches I worked
Marcia Smith 21:06
as thing is has has positive has an interesting, but I couldn’t put something like that on my wrist.
Bob Smith 21:12
Can you imagine doing?
Marcia Smith 21:13
No, I cannot mean either. Okay, according to The Big Book of answers, okay. All right. Why do we come backwards to launch a rocket into space?
Bob Smith 21:22
Well, that comes from a motion picture that was done years ago, in like, in the silent days or something. They had a countdown on this film, right? Yes. What? Oh, I know these things. I learned these things. And I will tell you the story.
Marcia Smith 21:36
All right. The countdown apparently was introduced by a German film director Fritz Lang in his 1928 movie rocket to the moon. He used the backward count 10, nine, eight sort of thing to increase the suspense for the liftoff. And you know, years later, was just picked up by
Bob Smith 21:59
by NASA. Isn’t it interesting. So it’s actually not Hollywood, per se, was a German filmmaker. But film, the film industry influenced how we’ve counted off of rocket going to the moon, wherever.
Marcia Smith 22:11
And they were saying it really doesn’t make sense to count up to a number because it doesn’t have precision, because you could just keep going. So you count down and you hit zero. And that’s that.
Bob Smith 22:24
There you go. Okay, I’ve got a couple tragic questions today. This is my second round of tragedy. Yeah, whatever. What was ironic about the tragic death of the poet, Hart Crane, tell me, Hart Crane committed suicide, he jumped off an ocean liner in 1923. He was a modernist poet, but the irony was this fellow who jumped off of a ocean liner to his death. His father was Clarence crane, who invented Lifesaver candies. Oh, in the shape
Marcia Smith 22:56
of a life preserver.
Bob Smith 22:58
That’s exactly right. Oh, yeah. Clarence, the dad became very wealthy with candies while heart the sun shifted from advertising copywriting to being a modernist poet and he died in the Gulf of Mexico at the age of 32. But his dad invented Lifesaver candies, kind
Marcia Smith 23:13
of tragic little thing. Yes. Okay, how did oz get the name in the Wizard of Oz? Well, that
Bob Smith 23:21
was from a filing cabinet.
Marcia Smith 23:23
For what you are on a roll today.
Bob Smith 23:27
It was a filing cabinet with Oh to Z. And he thought, just call it us.
Marcia Smith 23:33
Yeah, it came from his imagination. Author l Frank Baum made up the story for his son and a group of children in 1889. And when a little girl asked him the name of this magical place where the Scarecrow lion and tin man lived, he looked around his room for inspiration. And he was sitting next to his file cabinet with the drawers labeled a two g h two N and older z which gave him the quick answer of
Bob Smith 24:06
C now that just shows you inspiration is all around
Marcia Smith 24:08
it is that is I thought, Oh, I feel Baba like this. But you knew
Bob Smith 24:13
I’m sorry. Well, I read a book on the making of The Wizard of Oz movie number of years ago and they really got into L. Frank Baum and people don’t realize that was like a Harry Potter book series back at the Century. Yeah, a whole series of books about us. And then he merchandise that into movies and plays and there were stage plays of The Wizard of
Marcia Smith 24:32
Oz started with stories for his kids. Yeah.
Bob Smith 24:34
And it was like Harry Potter books it was that kind of a wizard and every you did
Marcia Smith 24:38
that. But we’re not fabulously wealthy.
Bob Smith 24:40
Just told stories about the Smith family. That’s not Yeah, I made up stories about Smith ancestors stories of things I knew about the pioneers and the cabins they lived in and all that.
Marcia Smith 24:52
But did our kids always say tell us about when you were little tell us about when you were little. I was born in a little log hospital, my fire and your story?
Bob Smith 24:58
Exactly. Oh, the log hospital your father built. Oh, all right, Marsha, what happens when German Shepherds stick their heads out of car windows? There’s a sensation they get in it. Something’s actually going on in their heads. Not to capitation though.
Marcia Smith 25:13
Okay. Something well, they’re probably getting hit. They’re getting a like a game or something that buffering I don’t know. It’s probably soothing to have the wind in your face. Well, here’s
Bob Smith 25:26
the answer, Mark.
Marcia Smith 25:27
Thank you. They get it. They get high, they get high get high. A
Bob Smith 25:31
German Shepherd sense of smell is 30,000 times more acute than a human’s. Yeah. And when a German Shepherd sticks its head out the window of a moving car. It’s exposed to so many smells. it experiences a high equivalent to a human being being on cocaine.
Marcia Smith 25:47
Oh my god. And you have noticed they do hold their head up a bit. Like they’re sniffing? Oh my gosh.
Bob Smith 25:54
Now German Shepherds. I don’t know about the other breeds of dogs. Well, that’s fascinating. Yeah, again, that comes from the book. Are you kidding me? And I’m gonna wrap my side up by saying a nod of the head to Duvall Hecht, a man who gave readers something new to listen to he died at the age of 91. He’s the guy who came up with the idea for books on tape, which led to audio books, which led to streaming of books and novels. Do you know what his inspiration was? Books for the deaf. He used books for the deaf because he had a very long commute every day over an hour in California to drive and at one point, he put a tape recorder in his car and he was listening to books for the deaf. And then he realized there’s not a whole lot of variety in these. I’m gonna find some other books and he started recording people doing books on tape, and then he got all these contracts and brilliant. Why was that? That was 1975. I believe he launched you think that would have been around longer craving intellectual stimulation during his rush hour commute between his home in Newport Beach and his office in Los Angeles.
Marcia Smith 26:59
Today. He also has the off ramp he can listen to for stimulation.
Bob Smith 27:03
No, he just died. Oh, that’s why I’m telling you about this. I see. Deval Hecht who invented books on tape and led to all the you know, the podcasting and everything we have today came from
Marcia Smith 27:14
the ball rolling. Yeah. All right. I got two quotes I’m going to finish up with okay. Nelson Mandela said it always seems impossible until it’s done. And a fun one from Sir Winston Churchill. Okay, I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs. Treat us as equals. Sir Winston Churchill. He’s got a million.
Bob Smith 27:38
He did have a million of them. And his granddad was the King Street.
Marcia Smith 27:44
What a fascinating transition. Let’s
Bob Smith 27:46
go all the way back to the beginning. Together, we want to remind you we would love to have any questions that you can send to me that I can stop Marcia with or vice versa. Just go to our website, the off ramp dot show, scroll all the way down to contact us and leave your information. We’d love to hear from you. All right. I’m Bob Smith.
Marcia Smith 28:08
I’m Marcia Smith. Join us again
Bob Smith 28:09
next time when we return with more fascinating trivia on the off ramp. We hope you join us when we return next time for more fun facts on the offering. We love doing the offering. Okay.
Marcia Smith 28:22
All by yourself.
Bob Smith 28:23
All right. All right, this
Marcia Smith 28:24
making a fool of yourself. You know, you say that in your sleep.
Bob Smith 28:31
The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
