Bob and Marcia Smith discussed their knowledge of ghostly encounters in the White House, including Winston Churchill’s encounter with Abraham Lincoln’s ghost. Marcia shared information on other ghostly encounters, while Bob and Marcia discussed the prevalence of ghost beliefs among Americans. Later, they talked about Truman Capote’s choice of Holly Golightly actor, Marilyn Monroe, and the parallels between Monroe’s personal life and the character’s backstory. Bob and Marcia also shared their fascination with the eerie similarities between the lives of James Springer and James Lewis, who were adopted separately as infants and later reunited at age 39. In the second part of the conversation, Bob and Marcia discussed various haunted locations across America, sharing interesting facts and expressing skepticism. Bob shared his experience of visiting haunted websites and landmarks, including the Forbidden City in China, while Marcia provided misheard song lyrics and inquired about the most populated city in the world.
Outline
Ghost sightings in the White House.
- Bob and Marcia Smith discuss Winston Churchill’s ghostly encounter in the White House.
- Bob and Marcia discuss ghosts in the White House, including Abigail Adams and Dolly Madison, with Bob sharing a personal experience of hearing knocks on the door while his wife was away.
Ghosts, haunted hotels, and lost change on planes.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss ghost sightings in the White House, including Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln’s lost sons and Harry Truman, Andrew Jackson, and Thomas Jefferson’s apparitions.
- Marcia Smith shares that 46% of Americans believe in ghosts, and Bob Smith mentions equipment used for paranormal sightings.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the inspiration for Stephen King’s novel “The Shining” and the amount of loose change left on airplanes each year.
Haunted places, cars, and history.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss John naming his pianos after famous female singers and musicians.
- Indiana features a race car on its state quarter, despite not having a car on the quarters of Massachusetts, California, or Michigan, due to the Indianapolis 500.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the most haunted house in America, with Bob suggesting the Winchester Mystery House in California and Marcia correcting him with the Stanley Hotel in Colorado.
- Bob and Marcia also talk about the most haunted Civil War battlefield, with Bob naming Gettysburg and Marcia agreeing that it’s the most haunted in America.
Ghost stories and twin phenomena.
- Marilyn Monroe was Truman Capote’s first choice to play Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
- Marcia and Bob discuss Eastern State Penitentiary’s haunted history and nightly ghost tours in Philadelphia.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the eerie similarities between twins James Springer and James Lewis, including their shared names, occupations, and personal details, despite being separated at birth and living different lives.
- Bob mentions a haunted house in Iceland where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met in 1986 to discuss the Cold War, but the site is also known for ghostly tales and strange noises.
The history of the internet and famous landmarks.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the origins of the World Wide Web, with Marcia mentioning Tim Berners-Lee and CERN’s role in its creation.
- Bob Smith shares his knowledge of the Wayback Machine, an organization that aims to preserve every website in the world.
- Bob Smith discusses the number of websites he has built, estimating it to be around 500 million, and Marcia Smith provides information on the number of websites in 2050, which is estimated to be 37 petabytes.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about a haunted landmark in China and she correctly identifies the Forbidden City as the haunted location.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discussed misheard song lyrics, including “Benny and the Jets” becoming “Betty in a dress,” and the origin of the term “monda green” for misheard song lyrics.
- Marcia Smith ended the conversation with a quote from Liu lair, “Never brag about your ancestors coming over on the Mayflower. The immigration laws were more district in those days.”
Bob Smith 0:00
Whose ghost did Winston Churchill see during a visit to the White House?
Marcia Smith 0:05
Oh, and what color is in almost every scene of the classic horror movie? The Shining? Oh,
Bob Smith 0:12
I bet I know the answer to that. Yeah. answers to those and other questions coming up next here on the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith.
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy. Take his side road to sanity and get some perspective on life. Okay, Marsha. It’s Halloween time. And so we have a question based on that kind of thing. Who’s ghost? Did Winston Churchill say he saw during his visit to the White House? Why does visits? Oh, you do? Okay. Who did he say? I’ll give you choices here. George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, or that great traitor who defected to the English Benedict Arnold.
Marcia Smith 1:16
It was Abraham Lincoln. Yeah, he encountered Lincoln in the Lincoln Bedroom, which is the most haunted room in the White House. Oh, I didn’t know that. And he just stepped out of his bath, and as he said, was wearing nothing but a cigar. When he saw Lincoln by the fireplace, and he said, according to him. Good morning, Mr. President, you seem to have me at a disadvantage.
Bob Smith 1:42
So you you had the same question. Oh, no kidding. So you have a lot more information than I have. Yeah. I just heard that. He saw him lurking in the halls. But he actually saw me in the Lincoln in the Lincoln room, too. Yeah. And this is before they renovated the White House. Basically, during the Harry Truman years. They tore all the inside of the White House out and rebuilt it. Yeah. So this was the original house that was in there.
Marcia Smith 2:03
Well, wait, Churchill couldn’t have been there in the original house.
Bob Smith 2:06
Yeah. Because he was in there during Roosevelt’s administration. Okay, you have information on other ghosts in the White House?
Marcia Smith 2:13
I do but okay. Okay. Abigail Adams, the first First Lady to reside there. And according to some people, she still does. Oh, yeah. Because the newly completed East Room was the warmest and driest in the building. Abigail used to hang her wash there, right. Can you imagine today’s first lady hanging wash in the White House? So she did her wash there and many people have reported seeing her in or near the East Room in the two centuries since then. Wow. And she’s often walking with her arms outstretched as those still carrying laundry. I didn’t know that now. First Lady Dolly Madison apparently haunts the Rose Garden. Did you know that? You didn’t know that? Yes, I knew that was the case. And did you know the story about the two landscapers? No, okay. Two landscapers were tasked 100 years later with moving the famous garden while they were supposed to move it. Yeah. But apparently they encountered Dolly’s angry ghost and abandon their plan. And it remains in the same spot today. Wow. Harry Truman one night when wife was away heard knocks on the door people in the hall all sorts of weird thing. Okay. Yeah. And he wrote to his wife and said, quote, The damn place is haunted. Sure is shooting.
Bob Smith 3:31
Do you have any other names of other people? Okay,
Marcia Smith 3:33
Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln lost sons while living in the White House. And Mary said she was frequently visited by your sons who stood at the end of her bed at night did talk to her Gosh, and the most famous ghost is a boy who not only haunts the bedroom, but he walks the hallways and wraps our doors and stands by windows. Oh, no. Yeah. And they say and often he appears more when the country is in turmoil.
Bob Smith 4:01
Okay, well, he could help I think of anybody. Oh, my goodness. What a wonderful man. I have two other names of people who supposedly are seen in the White House. Okay. Andrew Jackson is frequently seen laughing Oh, really? Yeah. And Thomas Jefferson playing the violin in the Oval Room. Really? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 4:19
Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. Do you know how many what percentage of Americans believe in ghosts? 46% of Americans believe in ghosts. But you know, we’re talking about Harry Truman Abraham Lincoln was in sharp jellies are people people with credibility? That’s right saying that sheen goes That’s just you and me.
Bob Smith 4:37
All right, those are some good ghosts and haunted quest. It’s
Marcia Smith 4:40
so funny. So we overlapped at a totally different sources but the same it’s a good question about ghosts. It is sightings and we have friends who have
Bob Smith 4:49
equipment and they go do paranormal sightings of ghosts. Yes.
Marcia Smith 4:54
All right, but what color is in almost every scene of the shining
Bob Smith 5:00
I’ll bet it’s beds red.. It’s red or blood. What is it? Yes?
Marcia Smith 5:06
Maybe? Okay, this 1980 Stanley Kubrick horror classic as the color red in almost every scene. Some of the appearances are obvious like that famous scene of blood pouring out of the elevator. Did you ever make it through that film? No, I never did. I didn’t think so. The red walled men’s room where Jack Nicholson freshens up, but many are quite subtle, like the darts that young Danny Lloyd plays with are read the book placed on the table in the opening scene is red and the dress that Wendy Shelley Duvall wears is red.
Bob Smith 5:44
No, it was just too creepy for me. Some of those movies they get, I could just tell they just start getting creepy and then I get out of them
Marcia Smith 5:50
yet. According to one analysis, the inclusion of the scarlet hue is meant to be a visual nod to Jack’s deteriorating mental condition as the Overlook Hotel takes hold of him. Okay,
Bob Smith 6:02
now I have a question on that same movie. So what haunted hotel inspired the shining the plaza in New York City, the Biltmore in North Carolina, the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, or the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone National Park. I’ll say the Stanley that’s it. Yeah. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. He stayed there. And oh, he know Stephen
Marcia Smith 6:26
King. Oh, really? Oh, yeah, that’s right, of
Bob Smith 6:29
course. So he was inspired to write the 1977 horror novel, The shining from there. So it’s a 113 year old hotel, they have a history of ghost sightings. And they offer spirited night tours to catch a glimpse of their alleged paranormal guests. Oh,
Marcia Smith 6:44
fun. All right, Bob. According to the FAA, approximately how much in loose change is left behind on airplanes each year? Give me a ballpark loose
Bob Smith 6:55
change. Yeah. On this doesn’t even count the luggage or anything. This
Marcia Smith 6:59
is less change on the on the actual airplane. Okay. Okay.
Bob Smith 7:03
I’ll give me a moment here. How many planes there are how many flights? Or how much loose change? There might be? Let’s say $350,000. I’m using not enough. Oh,
Marcia Smith 7:16
you’re so close though. Okay. 58 million.
Bob Smith 7:19
You’re kidding. 58 million is left on planes. Yeah, the
Unknown Speaker 7:23
petty cash. Yeah. Oh my god. Ha
Marcia Smith 7:25
and it makes sense. When you remember how many people are often in the air at any given time? In an average year the Federal Aviation Administration handles more than 16 million flights
Unknown Speaker 7:37
$58 million. Yeah, that’s That’s just unbelievable. I
Marcia Smith 7:40
couldn’t fathom that myself. Okay,
Bob Smith 7:42
I have a question on haunted catacombs. Okay. Haunted catacombs lie beneath which of these European cities Oslo, Paris, Milan or Barcelona,
Marcia Smith 7:56
Paris, Paris.
Bob Smith 7:57
How many people do they think are down there in the catacombs? How many skeletons
Marcia Smith 8:02
1000s More than that, millions. Located
Bob Smith 8:06
65 feet below Paris is a mass grave containing about 6 million skeletons. Oh my god. Well, they were moved there from overcrowded cemeteries during the 18th century and today the catacombs span nearly 200 Miles 200 mile underground. Yeah, only a portion a small portion are available for public tours, but visitors have reported eerie happenings and disturbing noises noises you know who knows? It’s
Marcia Smith 8:33
disturbing to know. All right, Bob, who does help John name his pianos after
Bob Smith 8:41
he names his pianos? Yes, he calls him Freddie.
Marcia Smith 8:44
Joe, you name your microphones out names.
Bob Smith 8:48
Microphone, you’re
Marcia Smith 8:49
very close. You’re very close. You talk to them.
Bob Smith 8:52
They feel my breath. No, I don’t know that. I know the answers to this. Does he name his pianos after songs? No,
Marcia Smith 9:00
that would be a good guess. He named them after famous female singers and musician. John has christened pianos after Nina Simone. Diana Krall Aretha Franklin, American jazz singer blossom Dari and Trinidad and pianist. Winifred at well.
Bob Smith 9:17
Wow. He names his pianos after these people. Yeah. Okay. Well, that’s interesting. I tell you can tell me he named him after his cats or something. This is better. Yeah, this is better. Good. Okay, Marcia, you know, every coin has a state on it these days. So there is a whole series of coins with the states on them. Correct. What state features a car on its state quarter.
Marcia Smith 9:40
Is that Michigan? I was going
Bob Smith 9:42
to give you some choices. Okay. California, Michigan, Massachusetts or Indiana, Michigan, Michigan. That makes sense. That would be the logical choice. No, it’s not what is it? Okay, which are the other states California, Massachusetts or Indiana, Indiana.
Marcia Smith 9:59
Why? Cuz it’s near Michigan?
Bob Smith 10:04
The answer to this makes the most sense and we wouldn’t think of it cuz of the Indianapolis 500. Oh, yeah. Okay. So even though the automobile started in Massachusetts in this country with the jury brothers, and of course, found its wheels in Detroit with Ford, GM and Chrysler, you won’t find a car on the flip side of those two states quarters, but you will on Indiana State quarter, which features a race car imposed on an outline of the state plus 19 Star celebrating Indiana as the 19th state to enter the Union. So it’s perfect sense the Indianapolis 500, the global racing event that’s been going on for more than 110 years. It really Yeah, since 1911. And
Marcia Smith 10:44
Kaiser only been around a few years, and the first thing they did was racing, which makes sense,
Bob Smith 10:49
right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, cars were around in the 1890s. So Okay,
Marcia Smith 10:53
before we going to break up what’s considered the most haunted house in America,
Bob Smith 10:58
I think it’s that one out in California that the old Winchester family it wasn’t at the Winchester there. She kept building on the house. So
Marcia Smith 11:07
yeah, that certainly is one of them. But apparently this one is, so that’s not the right answer. Well, not in this group have
Bob Smith 11:13
not in your universe. Okay, what’s the answer? Ah, well, give me a clue.
Marcia Smith 11:19
We just talked about it. Why?
Bob Smith 11:23
Use your use your memory bank, the Stanley Hotel Colorado,
Marcia Smith 11:27
your short term memory, it’s the White House. Oh, really? It’s considered one of the most famous haunted houses in America.
Bob Smith 11:34
All right. Well, what what Civil War battlefield is said to be the most? Oh,
Marcia Smith 11:39
it’s gotta be that one. I haven’t been there. I think you have or you want to be there. It’s the one. Let
Bob Smith 11:47
me give you choices here. Oh, yes, your Fort Sumter, Manassas, Gettysburg or Harpers Ferry.
Marcia Smith 11:55
It’s not Gettysburg. It is it is of course it is. Gettysburg. And yes,
Bob Smith 11:59
I have been there. And one of my ancestors was shot there. So yes, the place No, no, he survived. Civil War battlefields. They all have their share of ghost stories, but Gettysburg is regarded as the most haunted. In America. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war and many ghosts have been captured on camera there, including the likeness of property Lee.
Marcia Smith 12:20
Really? Do they just float around there? Or what do they do? They
Bob Smith 12:24
see they hear cries from wounded soldiers. They see lifelike shadows lurking and maybe some images once in a while.
Marcia Smith 12:32
I don’t really care to go there. We’ll want to go again. We
Bob Smith 12:36
don’t have to go there at night. Mark. We could go there during the morning. That could be bad. Okay with coffee. All right. Let’s take a break. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and a Danish. And Marcia and a Danish Marcia. You left do you do have Danish blood? Don’t
Marcia Smith 12:51
you coffee and a Danish? sweet roll?
Bob Smith 12:54
Oh, well, you’re the sweet roll. Oh, that’s very nice. Yeah. Or, or is it? Okay, break we’ll be back in just a moment. We’re back after discussing breakfast rolls and I don’t know if that was the sweetest thing to say about Marsha but she has a sweet coffee
Marcia Smith 13:08
and bakery at the Danish burn.
Bob Smith 13:11
Okay, in what southern city will you find the allegedly haunted Forsyth Park now this is a place we visited. It’s been famous as a setting for a famous novel. What famous city do you find the allegedly ha Savannah. That’s it. Savannah, Georgia. I was gonna give you choices but apparently you don’t need those. Okay, yeah. Built in the 1840s. It’s known for its famous fountain and a popular starting point for many southern tours of Savannah haunted ins and former hospitals surround the park lending in Erie air. Forsyth Park in Savannah. Okay.
Marcia Smith 13:46
All right, Bob. Who was Truman Capote ease first choice to play Holly Golightly? In Breakfast at Tiffany’s? His
Bob Smith 13:56
first choice. Yeah. His first choice wouldn’t be Marilyn Monroe was it? It was Oh, okay.
Marcia Smith 14:01
Why did you say that? Well
Bob Smith 14:02
that she was an actress about that time and I could see him he liked people like that. And I could see her being that that choice for that role.
Marcia Smith 14:10
They were good buddies who knew? Oh, no. Kedesh Truman and Marilyn Monroe. She had a thing for older very smart men, as she told Shelley Winters was she wanted to go to bed with Albert Einstein. Anyway, yeah, so Marilyn Monroe. He chose her to play Holly Golightly. And a lot of her backstory Polly’s mimicked Monroe’s own troubled backyard. Oh, really? Yeah, so that was interesting. But Paula Strasberg, her drama coach said there’s no way she will play that girl. Marilyn Monroe will not play a call girl. A lady of the evening. See? I
Bob Smith 14:45
never thought of that. Holly Golightly. Is it Lady Eve? How
Marcia Smith 14:47
stupid was that?
Unknown Speaker 14:48
Maybe we were too young when we saw
Marcia Smith 14:50
that. Yeah, that could be I never occurred to me. She was what if it was very subtle. I know she was dating occasionally. But I didn’t understand the big giving it all up or why she was crying? She was a she was a sweet girl. She Yeah, well she was the original pretty woman wasn’t Yes, yes. So yeah so but she didn’t get the part and God knows so it made a big splash for Hepburn,
Bob Smith 15:16
Hepburn. Audrey Audrey good. Yeah, not bad, Catherine. No. Okay. I’ve got more ghost stuff here. And I want to give credit here. A lot of my material today comes from a website called Travel quiz.com Lots of great stuff there. Okay, so this place is known for its ghosts. Where is it? It’s the Eastern State Penitentiary. What is it and where is it? Where is the Eastern State Penitentiary, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta or San Francisco.
Marcia Smith 15:45
But San Francisco is an Easter egg. It’s
Bob Smith 15:47
kind of a giveaway isn’t it? It’s not that one. All right. What about the
Marcia Smith 15:52
boy? Boy are you a little nerd sometimes?
Bob Smith 15:55
Okay. New York City Philadelphia or Atlanta? What about those three Philadelphia? You’re right. That’s interesting. It is the original Modern penitentiary but it’s in ruins today. In fact, its website says it stands in ruin, a haunted world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. And it’s only five blocks from Philadelphia Museum of Art. Where rocky stood up there and yeah, it’s only five blocks away, but it held Al Capone Scarface, slick Willie and a number of other people. But it was the world’s first true penitentiary a prison designed to inspire penance or true regrets. Oh, I never thought of Yeah, that’s the idea and action in the hearts of prisoners. Oh, no. It
Marcia Smith 16:36
just made him more angry. Yeah.
Bob Smith 16:38
So anyway, it’s supposedly very haunted. And they’re a nightly ghost tours.
Marcia Smith 16:43
Philadelphia has a lot of interesting backstories doesn’t Yeah, it does.
Bob Smith 16:47
The revolution and everything else. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve never been there, Franklin. Oh wants to take you there sometime. Feel
Marcia Smith 16:53
free. Okay, he
Bob Smith 16:54
was gonna drop
Marcia Smith 16:56
this. Let’s get gone. Here’s interest here. So here’s someone to do the show. Here’s some interesting synchronicity. Okay, from my strange but true fire. Oh, I didn’t know I had wanted. No, I didn’t. I don’t. Okay. James Springer and James Lewis were identical twins who went their separate ways as infants through adoption. Yet they went on to live eerily similar lives. Before reuniting again at age 39. Each grew up with a brother named Larry. They each had a pet dog named toy, went into law enforcement and named his firstborn son James Allen. They did the same thing. Yeah, with slightly different spellings, but they both named their son, James. Are these were twins identical and given up for adoption, okay. And even if you chalk up some of those matches to genetic disposition, it doesn’t quite explain how each twin somehow married a woman named Linda, before falling with a second wife named Betty. Good Lord, or how both settled on the same vacation spot at a small beach in St. Petersburg, Florida, more than 1000 miles away from where they were separately reared in Ohio, separately
Bob Smith 18:08
reared in the same state and then they spent St. Fat so many things. Isn’t that bizarre? That is amazing. Yeah. Well, I’ve heard that about you know, twins, they always communicate seem to do the same
Marcia Smith 18:18
thing. Wives their first and second wives with the same name. Is it because one
Bob Smith 18:22
of them got divorced? I guess it’s time to get divorced. No, I’m just talking about No, I met a woman named Betty. You don’t have a girlfriend? Well, I’ll find one. That seems to be the name I need. And
Marcia Smith 18:33
then they name their dog toy. And that’s not what the hell that makes no
Bob Smith 18:38
sense. Well, this is a kind of thing that that you’ve put it into a movie and they go, no, nobody believed.
Marcia Smith 18:44
James Springer and James Lewis. Wow. Okay.
Bob Smith 18:47
All right, Marcia, a haunted house in what country hosted a 1976 meeting of world leaders. Was it?
Marcia Smith 18:57
Were we there? No. Okay, then. That’s not it.
Bob Smith 19:02
Remember, a haunted house and what country hosted a 1976 months
Marcia Smith 19:06
in Transylvania?
Bob Smith 19:10
I don’t know where Iceland. Oh, yeah. In 1986 Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met at Iceland’s most notorious haunted house, the huffy house, built in 1909. They met there to discuss a possible resolution to the Cold War, but the site is also known for its ghostly tales and strange sounds heard at night it said that a former resident of the House who poisoned herself still haunts the halls
Marcia Smith 19:34
to Ronald Reagan. Meeting.
Speaker 1 19:36
I’ve heard a lot of things last night, you know, knocking on the wall. Kirby, I thought it was you you wanted to talk. Open the door. Nobody was Gorbachev and Reagan, not even Nancy was.
Marcia Smith 19:49
It’s kind of scary, isn’t it, Ronnie? Yeah, he and Gorbachev were pretty good friends and respected each other.
Bob Smith 19:56
They hit it off after the first couple of visits. Yeah. Just a couple of goals.
Marcia Smith 20:00
Yeah, that really was an amazing relationship. Okay, Bob, who, who had the very first website in the world who had
Bob Smith 20:10
the very first website in the world? Well, now I thought that would have been. I’m thinking of Marc Andreessen because he came up with Netscape when he was working at the University of Illinois and then he you know, built that mosaic was the name of it,
Marcia Smith 20:23
you can name the person which would be hard or the organization,
Bob Smith 20:26
the organization was Ripley’s Believe it or not. I don’t know
Marcia Smith 20:32
who I yeah, I found this pretty interesting. It was the European Organization for Nuclear Research known as CERN. Okay.
Bob Smith 20:39
I knew CERN was. Tim Berners is the guy who Tim Berners Lee, that was his name. Why
Marcia Smith 20:44
you are awesome. How do you remember that? Berners? Lee? Yes. And CERN is now known for the supercollider right, then that’s what they’re known for. But much like in 1969, that’s when the first internet connection was established between Stanford University and UCLA. And it was created for sharing information between scientists working in universities and institutes around the world, which makes great sense. And as a computer scientist at CERN. Berners. Lee, I can’t believe you know, that was submitted an early proposal for Information Management outlining what would eventually become the World Wide Web.
Bob Smith 21:24
I knew that I knew he was very early involved in the world wide web. The
Marcia Smith 21:28
first it took him two years. But he released the first website, August 6 1991 1991. That was the first website in the world. So
Bob Smith 21:38
the first connection between universities was 69, between Stanford, and UCLA, but it took that long 6990 before
Marcia Smith 21:47
somebody came up with the idea for a website well, and less than two years later, this is cool. CERN released the software into the public domain, and the worldwide web took off. So they just gave it away. And in 2013, CERN launched a program dedicated to preserving the world’s first website, and you can find it@info.crn.ch
Bob Smith 22:11
Have you ever heard of the Wayback Machine? I’ve heard of it, but I forget what it is. Well, that was a term that was used in Bullwinkle and Rocky, that was way back. tourists and residents. Remember that? Yeah, you got in the Wayback Machine. It was a time travel. But the Wayback Machine is the name the Internet Archive uses. That’s an organization in San Francisco, they’ve gone out and they tried to capture every website in the world and take a picture of that site. And I found websites I built out there for Rockwell and Allen-Bradley, that so it’s kind of neat. You get to go out and see portions of your sites that you built way back and these were in the mid 90s.
Marcia Smith 22:46
How many websites? Do you think there are? No
Bob Smith 22:48
Mike millions, let’s say 500 million sites? How about to build 2 billion website
Marcia Smith 22:54
and it’s estimated projections that in 2050, the websites will number 37 petabytes. Jeez, you know what a petabyte it is a huge amount of data. It’s it’s a massive unit of data equal to 1 million gigabytes. That’s a few more
Bob Smith 23:11
than I have. I guess. Closing in on it though. I was thinking the 500 million number. I think that’s how many podcasts there are no? Yeah, yeah. Lots a lot of podcasts. Yes.
Marcia Smith 23:22
But okay, so in that short time, 9091 to 2022 went from one to 2 billion. It went
Bob Smith 23:29
from one website to 2 billion website. Yeah. Amazing. Yep. Okay, I think I have one more haunted question. Okay. This is a famous landmark in China. And I never thought of it being haunted before. So I’m gonna give you these names. Which one which famous Chinese landmark is haunted by the ghost of a woman in white? The Summer Palace, the Shanghai Tower? The Forbidden City or the you garden?
Marcia Smith 23:54
I will say the Forbidden City. It is.
Bob Smith 23:57
Yeah, the Forbidden City, which nobody could go into for so many years, you know? Yeah, it’s a tourist attraction now built in the 15th century as the Royal Palace, a royal palace. Starting in the 1940s guards reported seeing the ghost of a woman dressed in white weeping around the grounds of the palace complex at night.
Marcia Smith 24:17
Really? Ooh. We got assembled Joe there with their machine. Okay, what is the most populated city in the world
Bob Smith 24:26
the most populated city in the world? The world well known that keeps changing it was Mexico City now there’s nothing close to this is probably in China. No, gotta give me any choices. No. Oh, well, great. Thanks for all your help. All right. What’s the answer? Marsh Tokyo. Tokyo is the world’s largest Yes.
Marcia Smith 24:47
It’s metro area is estimated to be an astounding 37 point 7 million people.
Bob Smith 24:54
God that’s just one city on that island. Yeah, that’s amazing. Its
Marcia Smith 24:58
population is on almost equivalent to the total sum of the 25 most populated cities in the US, which adds up to 37 point 8 million.
Bob Smith 25:08
Yeah, ours are pretty small these days. Okay, and what are the question totally unrelated to all the rest, okay. This artist painted one of the most famous posters in the United States history and used himself as the model. What was the poster? One of the most famous posters in US history. All right, would be it was that Andy Warhol earlier in that century? Earlier in the 20th century, okay, okay.
Marcia Smith 25:32
I don’t know. Oh, my God.
Bob Smith 25:34
So long. The uncle sam i while you poster, okay, that was recruitment poster for the US Army for World War One. And 40 year old New York illustrator James Montgomery flag used his own face as a model for the stern face of Uncle Sam and the army distributed 4 million copies of the poster in its first year 1917.
Marcia Smith 25:57
Hmm, very interesting. And just I have a little factoid. Did you know A misheard song lyric has a name.
Bob Smith 26:04
Did you know that? No,
Marcia Smith 26:06
it’s called monda green.
Bob Smith 26:08
That’s the name for misheard song lyrics
Marcia Smith 26:10
if you’ve confused taking care of business with making carrot biscuits.
Bob Smith 26:16
Never heard of that way,
Marcia Smith 26:17
or Benny and the jets with Betty in a dress. You’ve been tricked by Amanda green. As Merriam Webster explains, this phenomenon occurs when a word or phrase results from miss hearing of something said or sung
Bob Smith 26:32
by favorite of those. And I saw it first in the dormitory in a girl’s dorm in the Northern Illinois University back in the 70s. And it was the Jimi Hendrix excuse me while I kissed this guy. Instead of excuse me while I kiss the sky. And I thought How appropriate for a girl’s dorm. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 26:50
yeah, that is cute. All right. I’m going to finish with a quote that goes out to you, Bob. Oh, thank you. You’re welcome. Thank you very much by a fellow called Liu lair. He said never brag about your ancestors coming over on the Mayflower. The immigration laws more district in those days.
Bob Smith 27:10
That’s true. There were no immigration laws of the Mayflower. All right, is that it? It is okay. I think that’s it for today. We’ve covered a lot of ground hauntings, artists who didn’t have a model and use their own face. And then songs whose lyrics got totally mixed up in people’s minds. And that was good. And
Marcia Smith 27:28
twins who married only women with the same. That’s right.
Bob Smith 27:33
That’s it for today. I’m Bob Smith.
Marcia Smith 27:35
I’m Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 27:36
You’ve been listening to 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
