Bob and Marcia discuss the shortening of attention spans, noting it has decreased from 32 minutes 10 years ago to 20 minutes today. They explore the history of Thanksgiving, revealing it was moved by FDR in 1939-40 for business reasons, causing controversy and leading to two Thanksgivings in 1940. They delve into the origins of terms like “lobbyist” and “lobby,” and discuss various namesakes, such as Cheddar cheese from England and Lyme disease from Connecticut. They also cover popular American hobbies, including genealogy and cooking, and share trivia about Disneyland attendance and the origins of terms like “cockpit” and “Google” as verbs.
Outline
Attention Spans and Brain Function
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the average attention span, noting it has decreased over time.
- Marcia Smith mentions that attention spans are now around 20 minutes, compared to 32 minutes 10 years ago.
- They discuss how various factors, including the internet and fast-paced culture, have contributed to this decrease.
- Marcia Smith shares factoids about brain function, including that the brain starts slowing down at age 24 and that intoxication can prevent memory storage.
Thanksgiving’s Date Changes
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about a national holiday that was moved for business purposes.
- Marcia Smith guesses Thanksgiving, and Bob confirms it was moved by FDR during the Great Depression to boost Christmas shopping.
- They discuss the controversy surrounding FDR’s decision to move Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November in 1939 and 1940.
- The U.S. Congress eventually returned Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in 1941.
Origin of the Term “Lobbyist”
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith why lobbyists are called lobbyists.
- Bob Smith initially guesses it has to do with waiting in lobbies, but Marcia Smith corrects him, explaining the term originated from the British Parliament’s lobby.
- They discuss how constituents waited in the lobby to meet their representatives, leading to the term “lobbying.”
Namesakes and Origins
- Bob Smith quizzes Marcia Smith on the origins of various namesakes, including cheddar cheese from Cheddar, England, and duffel bags from Duffel, Belgium.
- They discuss the American origin of Lyme disease, named after Lyme and Old Lyme, Connecticut.
- Bob Smith mentions the naming of Chihuahuas after Chihuahua, Mexico, and the origin of the Rosetta Stone in Rashid, Egypt.
- They conclude with the origin of rugby, named after Rugby School in England, where the game was invented.
Top Hobbies and Activities in the U.S.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the top hobbies and activities in the U.S. as of 2022.
- They note that 37% of Americans enjoy genealogy, and 39% love cooking and baking.
- Other popular hobbies include pets, outdoor activities, video gaming, traveling, arts and crafts, gardening, board games, card games, socializing, tech and computers, and photography.
- They share a story about a man named Jeff who visited Disneyland every day for almost 3000 days before the pandemic shut it down.
Disneyland’s Daily Visitor
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss a man named Jeff who visited Disneyland every day for almost 3000 days.
- Jeff started this routine as a joke with a friend and continued it until Disneyland shut down during the pandemic.
- They mention that Disney employees are not allowed to say “I don’t know” to guests; instead, they should offer to help or find out the answer.
Six Flags Over Texas
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the flags that once were over Texas.
- They discuss the six nations that have claimed Texas at one time or another: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, and the Confederate States of America.
- They note that three of these powers controlled Texas more than once: Spain, France, and the United States.
Sistine Chapel and E.T.
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about the inspiration for the E.T. movie poster.
- They discuss how the poster was inspired by the Sistine Chapel’s “Creation of Adam” fresco.
- Bob Smith is surprised to learn that 18 people contributed to E.T.’s voice, including an older woman named Pat Welsh and various sound effects.
Presidential Nicknames and Airline Service
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about a town named for a U.S. President’s nickname.
- They discuss Rough and Ready, California, named after Zachary Taylor’s nickname.
- Marcia Smith shares that Delaware is currently the only state without commercial airline service, having lost its last route in June 2020.
Sleepy Hollow and Airplane Handrails
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the state where Washington Irving’s Sleepy Hollow is located.
- They discuss the village of Sleepy Hollow in New York, which inspired Irving’s short story.
- Marcia Smith shares a trivia fact about a secret handrail next to the toilet in airplanes, used by flight attendants to steady themselves.
King Charles’ Unique Car and Cockpit Origin
- Marcia Smith shares that King Charles has owned an Aston Martin DB6 since 1970, fueled by wine and cheese.
- They discuss the unique bioethanol fuel created from surplus English white wine and whey from cheese making.
- Bob Smith learns the origin of the term “cockpit” from legal cockfighting, where birds fought in a pit in the ground.
Google as a Verb and Quotes
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the first use of “Google” as a verb in pop culture.
- They discuss its first use in the TV show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
- Marcia Smith shares two quotes: “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance” by Oscar Wilde and “Never eat more than you can lift” by Miss Piggy.
Closing Remarks
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith wish listeners a happy Thanksgiving and invite them to join them again for more trivia.
- They describe the Off Ramp as a peaceful land of trivia, where people celebrate and stump each other with facts and figures.
- The Off Ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Bob Smith 0:00
What American national holiday was kicked around to different dates for business purposes?
Marcia Smith 0:07
I have a guess. And how long is the average attention span?
Bob Smith 0:12
Very short answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith.
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, attention spans, they keep getting shorter and shorter,
Marcia Smith 0:48
don’t they? Indeed, they do.
Bob Smith 0:50
So your question again is, how
Marcia Smith 0:51
long is the average attention span today
Bob Smith 0:55
that keeps changing as time goes by. We seem to be losing our ability to focus on things.
Marcia Smith 1:02
So what was that? A squirrel. Hello,
Bob Smith 1:04
attention span. Yes, we were just talking about, okay, yeah, is it somewhere in the minutes? Is it like maybe within 10 minutes or less? It’s
Marcia Smith 1:13
in minutes more than 10?
Bob Smith 1:16
Well, that’s, that’s good, okay, I don’t know, 20 minutes really. See, I would have thought it would have been shorter than that. Sure. Think about
Marcia Smith 1:22
it. You watch movies and you read books, and you know, you do focus. But if you’re listening to someone boring, that’s true, you lose interest pretty fast. But,
Bob Smith 1:32
oh, sorry, what was that? You do that to me? People are listening going. That is so mean. So Well, you do it to me too.
Marcia Smith 1:40
Yeah. Well, okay, I do. How much shorter is the attention span than it was 10 years ago? Bob, how many minutes have we lost?
Bob Smith 1:48
I’ll bet we’ve lost at least five minutes from 10 years or, Oh, really, what? How many 12
Marcia Smith 1:53
minutes? So,
Bob Smith 1:54
what was it before?
Marcia Smith 1:55
Well, today it’s 20, so it must have been 32 Oh, no kidding, yeah, 10
Bob Smith 1:59
years ago? Yeah, boy, that’s a lot of time to lose in 10 years time. But yes, you know, you had the internet and a whole bunch of other things that have changed
Marcia Smith 2:07
things. Yeah, just the culture, just the things we watch too are so crazy fast
Bob Smith 2:12
and brief. That’s true, fast paced. Okay,
Marcia Smith 2:14
all right, so just a couple factoids, your brains start slowing down at around age 24 according to legacy box.com if you’re intoxicated, your brain cannot store memories. Oh, really.
Bob Smith 2:27
So see now that would explain why people black out. They can’t remember what they did.
Marcia Smith 2:32
You gotta be really intoxicated. Is that why people don’t remember their weddings? Oh,
Bob Smith 2:36
they remembered their weddings. They don’t remember the wedding reception. Oh, that’s it. Yes, that’s where the memory starts to fade. Okay,
Marcia Smith 2:44
thank you. Bob, okay. Marcia,
Bob Smith 2:45
what American national holiday was kicked around to different dates for business purposes?
Marcia Smith 2:52
Oh, I bet it was Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving.
Bob Smith 2:55
Yes, it was Thanksgiving, which, you know, we know goes back to the pilgrims, and before that time and George Washington was the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving a holiday. Did you know that George Washington, yes, and then Abraham Lincoln did it officially as a holiday in 1863 but one president messed around with the date of thanksgiving to help business people who wanted an extra week of Christmas shopping to spur the economy. Well, that makes sense. Okay, it was during the Great Depression. Uh huh, who was the president
Marcia Smith 3:28
during the Great well, was the guy? Was it the guy before? FDR,
Bob Smith 3:32
who would that be? Ah, you’re
Marcia Smith 3:34
the president. Guy. Can’t remember, Herbert Hoover. HERBIE, yes,
Bob Smith 3:37
but guess what? Why it wasn’t Herbert Hoover? No, it was FDR, oh, it was yes, you’d think Herbert Hoover, big business person would be the one who’d mess around with the holidays. But no. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, starting in 1939 he declared November 23 the next to last Thursday as Thanksgiving Day. And he did it again in 1940 to give the nation one more week of shopping for Christmas at the urging of business people. Well, that didn’t go over well. The move was very controversial. Several states followed his lead, but others balked, with 16 states refusing to honor the calendar shift. So we had two Thanksgivings for two years in a row. 40s. Yeah, yeah. Then in the fall of 1941 the US Congress passed a resolution returning the holiday to the fourth Thursday of November, and FDR signed it, and that’s where it’s been ever since, but that was the holiday that was kicked around for business purposes of all holidays, Thanksgiving,
Marcia Smith 4:34
okay, all right, Bob, why do We call those seeking political favors from elected officials lobbyists, because
Bob Smith 4:44
they were always out in the lobby. Let’s see that was a building. There was a building where this happened. I don’t know if it was in the White House, but one building where they kept these people in the lobby waiting for their appointments.
Marcia Smith 4:54
Well, you’re on the right track. The term lobbying originated from the earliest days of the. British Parliament, where an extensive corridor runs between the chamber of the Lords and the House of Commons, because the general public was allowed into this corridor or lobby, it’s where constituents waited to meet their representatives. Okay? And that had a great influence on the term, and they became lobbyists. Isn’t
Bob Smith 5:20
that interesting? Even back then, we were turning those things into verbs, from they’re in the lobby out there to they’re lobbying me out there. Because it’s like a verb lobbying, but it means a room where this takes place. Well, speaking of things taking place, I have a number of things named after the places where they came from. I’ll tell you what the things are. And you tell me where the places are. Okay, cheddar cheese. Where did
Marcia Smith 5:45
it come from? Where
Bob Smith 5:46
was that named for? What place?
Marcia Smith 5:48
What place? Cheddar England?
Bob Smith 5:50
Yes, the town of cheddar in southwest England. You’re right.
Marcia Smith 5:54
I just made that up. No, it’s
Bob Smith 5:56
true. It’s not covered by a protected designation of origin. That means, no matter where it’s produced,
Marcia Smith 6:02
you can call it cheddar, it’s not like champagne, right? Not like champagne.
Bob Smith 6:05
Here’s another one, duffel bags. Duffel
Marcia Smith 6:08
bags. What place was it named after? Okay, duffel,
Bob Smith 6:13
duffel. But where is duffel? England? No, no. Germany, no. France,
Marcia Smith 6:19
no. Okay, you’re close. Me, sir, you’re close.
Bob Smith 6:24
It’s Belgium. Belgium, yeah, the phrase duffel bag stands for a particular type of bag, but they were originally named for the thick duffel cloth they were made out of, which was produced in the town of duffel Belgium and duffel coats are named for the same purpose. Okay, one more Lyme disease. You’ve heard of that?
Marcia Smith 6:43
L, Y, M, E, now I’ve heard of Lyme too. Lyme England. No,
Bob Smith 6:47
not Lyme England. I think, just wrong. Wrong, wrong. No, that disease had its large outbreak in the towns of Lyme and old Lyme Connecticut during the 1970s Oh, really, it’s here. And that’s when that syndrome was recognized as a disease, and they called it Lyme disease. So it came from L Y, M, E, Connecticut, so
Marcia Smith 7:09
it’s an American origin, yeah. Very interesting. Bob. Okay, Bob, can you name a few of the top hobbies and activities in us as of 2022
Bob Smith 7:21
okay, the top hobbies and act. See. Now this is one of those things where I’m I know I’m not in the mainstream. I don’t do auto repair, I don’t go hunting, I don’t do a lot of things that a lot of people do. So let me just try genealogy, family history. Now, see, there we go, walking through cemeteries. Now let’s see what else might be of interest. You do
Marcia Smith 7:45
some of these top things. I
Bob Smith 7:46
read a lot. I don’t know it’s number two. Oh, good. I do the mainstream. 37%
Marcia Smith 7:50
of us love to read. What’s the number one? Marsh, cooking and baking? Oh, I can’t imagine that. 39% of Americans love to cook and bake, but they do not. I eating that would be a larger percentage. You and I are definitely number one with that. All right, what
Bob Smith 8:08
are some of those
Marcia Smith 8:09
others going right down the list here, pets, okay, outdoor activities, outdoor activities, that’s kind of that’s broad. It is. Could be hunting, uh, fishing. Could
Bob Smith 8:19
be pets outdoors. Could be cracking outdoors.
Marcia Smith 8:22
That’s followed by video gaming, traveling, arts and crafts, gardening, board games and card games tied with socializing. That’s a hobby, socializing, socializing. Let’s go out. Well, that’s
Bob Smith 8:34
a big hobby for me. Tech and computers, oh yeah, I do that. That’s
Marcia Smith 8:38
20% of Americans. And then 12 photography.
Bob Smith 8:42
Oh, I do that too. Yes, well, I’m more mainstream than I thought. Yeah, that’s kind of scary. Ask anybody who knows me. Okay, back to things and where they came from. Okay? Chihuahuas,
Marcia Smith 8:53
okay, that’s from Wawa, Washington.
Bob Smith 8:58
No, not. It’s from Chihuahua Mexico. Marsh. I’ve heard of that. That’s where the excavations prove that the breed was in that area for more than 1400 years before Europeans arrived. So chihuahu is being named after Chihuahua Mexico. Very legitimate naming of those itty bitty, skinny things, okay, the Rosetta Stone. You’ve heard of that. What was that named after? Not Rosetta
Marcia Smith 9:24
girl that somebody used to go out with at the museum? No, well, did they find Rosetta in Egypt somewhere?
Bob Smith 9:31
Yes, yes. In Egypt, yes, in the town of Rashid, or as the French called it, Roset. Okay, so that’s how they came Rosetta Stone and one more rugby. Oh,
Marcia Smith 9:41
well, that is a very I say England for everything, don’t I? It is
Bob Smith 9:47
true. Marcia, you’re absolutely right. We’re in we’re in England. How do I know the Rugby School? Of the Rugby School, there was a school called the Rugby School, supposed to know that people. People at Rugby School in England picked up the ball and ran with it during a soccer game and invented the game of rugby,
Marcia Smith 10:05
really? Oh, that’s funny. Yeah, I didn’t know that the first
Bob Smith 10:08
written rules for the game originated at the school in 1845 okay, so All right, thank
Marcia Smith 10:15
you for that. You got it. Okay, you may love Disney, Bob, and I know that you do, but you don’t love it as much as Jeff writes. He’s a 49 year old who brought new meaning to the term Disney adult by visiting the happiest place on earth. How many days in a row until the pandemic shut him down? Oh
Bob Smith 10:35
my goodness, yeah. How many days in a year or over time, over time? Oh geez, I have no idea. 1000 days that would be over three years.
Marcia Smith 10:44
Yeah. Wow, is that your answer? Yeah. Okay. No. 2995 days, almost 3000 days in a row, a streak that only ended when Disneyland shut down during the pandemic. In a row, he was going there every day. He said it began as a joke and a fun thing to do between he and a friend, and they were between jobs, and they started on, you know, New Year’s Eve, and it just kept going on and on. And he worked in nearby Long Beach, and he’d usually arrive at Disneyland between 430 and five every day, and he’d log his 10,000 steps every day during his three to five hour visits
Bob Smith 11:23
every day after work go to Disney. I don’t
Marcia Smith 11:27
think he had a big social I don’t think so either. Did you know that Disney employees have a phrase they’re not allowed to use? You know what that is? I don’t know. Oh, really,
Speaker 1 11:37
yeah. Oh, you’re not supposed to do that. You know, that’s not a bad thing to teach somebody say, let me see if I can help you, or let me see if we can figure that out. Yeah, it’s a better way to say it than I don’t know. Yeah, huh? Okay, Marcia, I have a question for you. We’ve heard of the Six Flags amusement parks. Yes, okay. And those kind of began. Six Flags started in Texas. Six Flags Over Texas is a famous phrase. Yeah, it is, what were the Six Flags Over Texas? What were the flags that once were over Texas? Were they
Marcia Smith 12:08
like different like Texas, US, Mexico, those kind of flags? No,
Bob Smith 12:14
they’re the six nations that have claimed Texas at one time or another. Of course. What were they? What was the first any idea? The first to say they were dates, 15, 1915.
Marcia Smith 12:25
Oh, that helps. I’ll say Spain.
Bob Smith 12:29
That was right. 1519, Spain claimed sovereignty over Texas. After that came France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas. It was a country unto itself at one point, the United States. And what was the other nation?
Marcia Smith 12:45
What year
Bob Smith 12:46
1861?
Marcia Smith 12:47
18 Well, that would have been Mexico, the
Bob Smith 12:51
Confederate States of America. Oh, during the Civil War? 61
Marcia Smith 12:55
Yeah. Oh, Six Flags. Well, there you go. All
Bob Smith 12:59
right. Now, one more question on the Six Flags Over Texas. Okay, three of those powers controlled Texas more than once. Any idea which ones they were? Say again, three of those powers we named controlled Texas more than once. I’ll give you one. Obviously. The United States had it more than once right before and after the Civil War. Spain had it from 1519, to 1685, and then from 1690 to 1821, and then France had it twice, from 1684, to 1690 and from 1800 to 1803, when it was part of Louisiana, French Louisiana, anyway. So that’s a little information on Six Flags Over Texas. Back to amusement park questions.
Marcia Smith 13:41
Okay, Bob, the famous Sistine Chapel ceiling has that fresco centerpiece in the middle of it called the creation of Adam. Can you picture that in your head? Yes, that’s
Bob Smith 13:51
where the I think it’s Adam and God and their fingers are touching fingers. I believe
Marcia Smith 13:56
yes. And, you know, there’s, isn’t there kind of a spark there or something? Yeah. Anyway, what famous movie poster did that visual Inspire?
Bob Smith 14:06
Was it? Oh, God, was that that
Marcia Smith 14:08
one? No, this is something you know. Well,
Bob Smith 14:11
let’s see. Can you give me any hint? No, you love the movie. It wasn’t heaven. Can Wait. Was it?
Marcia Smith 14:20
You love the movie? Oh,
Bob Smith 14:22
it was et Yes. Oh, really, yes. Think
Marcia Smith 14:25
about the the poster. It’s, it’s the finger of the alien and the boys finger touching, and the big spark.
Bob Smith 14:33
I hadn’t thought of that. Yeah, me either. So that was inspired by the Sistine Chapel.
Marcia Smith 14:37
The poster was designed by artist John Alvin, who was inspired by the Michael Angelo masterpiece.
Bob Smith 14:43
Wow, I never think of Michael Angelo is two different names like that.
Marcia Smith 14:47
It’s Michelangelo. I know it’s one name you just you’re just trying to get me to know you said the Michael Angelo master. I was just spreading it out. Okay, I want to go and warm my cheese.
Bob Smith 14:57
Let’s take a break. Cool off. Welcome. Back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and me. Marcia Smith, okay, let’s take a break. Take
Marcia Smith 15:06
a break. I’ll be right back.
Bob Smith 15:10
You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith, we’re back again and refreshed and ready to move on. Marsha, I’d like to return to the present holiday of Thanksgiving, and ask you a question, What did Mary? What did Mary Had a Little Lamb have to do with thanksgiving?
Marcia Smith 15:28
Not that nothing that I know of.
Bob Smith 15:33
There’s two word answer, Marcia, not much, a lot, a lot. Just the opposite of your answer, a lot.
Marcia Smith 15:41
Okay, tell me sweetheart. Okay. Now, Secretary
Bob Smith 15:43
of State, William Seward wrote it. Abraham Lincoln signed it. But much of the credit for the Thanksgiving proclamation during the Civil War should go to a woman named Sarah Joseph Ale, a prominent writer and editor. She wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb, and she was a famous magazine editor. Back into civil war, and she lobbied and campaigned for the holiday during the Civil War, she write editorials urging Americans to put aside their sectional feelings. And then, after both the United States and the Confederates used the holiday for political purposes during battles, issued their times of Thanksgiving, she thought, no, no, this isn’t the right use of this. And she sent Abraham Lincoln a letter, and a week later he signed a proclamation. So apparently she kind of spurred him on some sway, yeah. So she wrote a letter in September 28 and then within a week, Seward had drafted Lincoln’s official proclamation. Okay, so you can thank Mary Had a Little Lamb for the Thanksgiving holiday. No
Marcia Smith 16:40
idea. Well, the
Bob Smith 16:41
woman who wrote Mary had a little
Marcia Smith 16:43
I could see your little face. Wanted to say more. Okay, how many people contributed to E T’s
Bob Smith 16:49
voice? How many people? I thought it was just one? I thought it was 18. Actually,
Marcia Smith 16:53
really thought you’d get a teen? Yes, the primary voice behind the alien was an older woman named Pat Welsh who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day to get that certain vocal quality. Okay, but when it came to ETS other sounds like burping and snorting, they were sourced from all over, including the film sound effects creator’s wife, Spielberg himself. And ultimately, there were a total of 18 people who took part in the fictional friend voice. Oh, no kidding. And at some points they even used sea otters, raccoons and horses, wow, for different sounds, noises and words.
Bob Smith 17:33
That’s why it sounds so strange at times. Yeah, it maybe
Marcia Smith 17:37
it did seem to veer off into different ways. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. 18 voices, 18 different voices.
Bob Smith 17:44
I had no idea. Thank you, Mark. You’re welcome, dear. All right, back to presidents a question.
Marcia Smith 17:50
You do this on purpose, don’t
Bob Smith 17:52
you? What town was named for a US President’s nickname? And I have a hint. It’s in California. What town was named for
Marcia Smith 18:02
a US President’s nickname, California, Old Hickory. Old Hickory,
Bob Smith 18:06
yeah, would have been, I don’t know, Andrew Jackson, yeah, yeah, but it’s not
Marcia Smith 18:10
Ah, but how do you there could be a hickory California, but
Bob Smith 18:13
there isn’t, okay, not the one I’m talking about. All right, okay, it’s rough and ready. California,
Marcia Smith 18:19
you’re kidding, rough and ready. There’s an, okay, there’s
Bob Smith 18:23
a town called Rough and Ready. It’s a president’s nickname. Rough and Ready.
Marcia Smith 18:27
Was it Teddy?
Bob Smith 18:28
No, it wasn’t. Who was it? It was Zachary Taylor. The town was named by an army captain, a a Townsend. He came to California in 1849 and discovered gold. He’d recently served with future president Zachary Taylor, old, rough and ready. And so Townsend named the community rough and ready in honor of Zachary Taylor. But at one point, the Rough and Ready people tried to secede from the Union over concerns about taxation and representation, and they had the Republic of rough and ready. But it didn’t last real long that
Marcia Smith 19:00
doesn’t have a ring to it. When the
Bob Smith 19:02
citizens tried to buy alcohol from a nearby town and they were rejected as foreigners because they weren’t from the United States anymore, they decided to go back and call the town rough and ready again. So it’s rough and ready California. It goes all the way back to 1849 and it was for the nickname of us. President Zachary Taylor,
Marcia Smith 19:20
all right, thank you, Bob. I have to dig out that old book I haven’t looked at for a while that Steve short sent us on presidents. I’ll have to trip you up. There’s
Bob Smith 19:28
a lot of good stuff there, I
Marcia Smith 19:30
bet, and a lot of it we use, but I got to find more, because you’re starting to annoy me. Okay, Bob, what is the only state currently without a commercial airline service.
Bob Smith 19:42
Wow,
Marcia Smith 19:43
yeah, there’s a state without commercial airline service right now as we speak.
Bob Smith 19:48
Is it a hmm? Is it a big state or a little state? Is it a western state or an Eastern State? Is it a northern state or a southern state? Which
Marcia Smith 19:55
one do you want me to answer you get one? One hint.
Bob Smith 19:59
Western. Later in Eastern State, Eastern okay? Is it Delaware? Yes, okay. Why? I think I just read that they just lost their commercial air service.
Marcia Smith 20:09
They had one remaining route, a frontier airline flight between Orlando and Newcastle airport near Wilmington, Delaware, and it ended in June 2020, 2am, I with a spokesperson saying there wasn’t sufficient demand. It doesn’t exactly leave Delawareans stranded, because they can always hop over to Wilmington, the state’s most popular city, and it’s only 32 miles from Philadelphia, where they have a few airline routes. Yes, just a few. Yeah, alvilo, a v, e, l, o. Airlines is expected to begin operating five new routes from Wilmington. Okay, they will be getting air service back again. All
Speaker 1 20:49
right, I have a question on a place in what state is Washington? Irving’s sleepy, hollow. This is actual places for literary settings, a quiz I found on travel quiz.com quite interesting. So one of the questions was, in what? What state is? Washington. Irving’s Sleepy Hollow. I’ll give you choices. Okay, unlike you, I give you choices. Marcia, Mexico. No, I’m sorry, Minnesota, South Carolina, Delaware
Marcia Smith 21:16
or New York, South Carolina? No,
Bob Smith 21:19
it’s not in South Carolina. It sounds like it could be a Sleepy Hollow South Carolina, but the village of Sleepy Hollow, there’s actually a town by that name is in New York. That inspired Washington Irving to pen his most famous short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with the Headless Horseman and all of that. Do you read that? Yes, of course, that was a poem or story. It was a short story, but kind of a poem. Oh, poem. Oh, poem. And that was in 1820 when he did that. And the real town, Sleepy Hollow, the Headless Horseman, is fictional, but the village of Sleepy Hollow is a real place. It’s in Westchester County, 30 miles north of New York City. So it wasn’t that far away from New York, but back in those days, yeah, you step outside the city limits. You’re in the country. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 22:02
Okay, well, let’s No, I never heard of that. All right, Bob, before I get to my quote, here’s the question, all airplanes have a secret handrail. Where is it a secret hand
Bob Smith 22:14
rail? In airplanes? It’s next to the toilet. No, I don’t. I don’t know where the secret handrail would
Marcia Smith 22:21
be, neither. I didn’t either. But when you think about it, if you’ve ever watched the flight attendants, you notice that they repeatedly reach up to the ceiling when they walk down the aisle. I thought they were just checking always the overheads, but that’s because there’s a built in handle, a rail along the bottom edge of the storage compartments, which they use to steady themselves, and we can too, but nobody knows about it. I’ll
Bob Smith 22:45
be done. No, I
Marcia Smith 22:46
didn’t know that. Yeah, I saw a picture of it. It’s actually an indentation, and you can just hold yourself upright. I can imagine
Bob Smith 22:53
it now that you’re talking about it, looking at some of those shapes, of those storage units above the plane, well, I’ll be darned. Okay. Who
Marcia Smith 23:01
knew you think they tell you? They tell you everything else. Maybe they don’t want to tell you Marsh. They want to see a fall over in the aisle. Oh, no, you know, what do most people do? They grab the back of a chair to steady themselves, and you annoy the person who’s sitting
Bob Smith 23:14
there. Definitely.
Marcia Smith 23:17
Just speaking of King Charles, you know we were talking about how environmentally conscious he is of everything. Yes, since 1970 Charles has owned an Aston Martin DB six automobile, which is fueled by what? Since 1970 potatoes?
Bob Smith 23:32
No, okay, so he has a car. Is it? Is it a hydrogen car? Is it? No, so his car is not fueled by gasoline. No,
Marcia Smith 23:41
I love this. So
Bob Smith 23:42
is he on the cutting edge of things? It’s not electricity. This
Marcia Smith 23:45
has been going on since 1970 okay, what’s the answer? Wine and cheese.
Bob Smith 23:50
You’re kidding. His car is fueled by wine and cheese. It’s
Marcia Smith 23:53
an untraditional fuel source. Oh, my God, in keeping with his efforts to lower his own personal carbon footprint instead of gas, Charles, favorite vehicle uses repurposed surplus English white wine and whey made from cheese making process.
Bob Smith 24:10
Is there a certain year that he uses because it’s the best vintage for powering a car? These
Marcia Smith 24:14
two things are converted into bio ethanol fuel. The unique fuel is created by a company called green fuels, and he worked with Aston Martin specialist to produce this unusual energy source. So it just shows you where there’s a will,
Bob Smith 24:28
there’s a way. So what does he own? He owns a he owns an Aston Martin car, and Aston
Marcia Smith 24:32
Martin DB six car. All right, good, all right. And I have a one word origin question for you, which you’ll like, Okay, why do we call the control area of an aircraft a cockpit?
Bob Smith 24:46
Oh, that’s a good question. The cockpit, the cockpit, hmm, it has something to do with another time before aviation. I’ll bet it does. Okay, so I don’t know what’s the answer. I
Marcia Smith 25:00
would never thought of this in the good old days of legal cockfighting, birds were taken into a pit in the ground and fought to the death. These fights were very quick and very bloody. And so during the First World War, pilots were inserted into a confined space to do battle, and so they named that space the cockpit. Oh
Bob Smith 25:20
No kidding, just because they’re in that tight little area and
Marcia Smith 25:23
they’re going to do battle, wow. And just like the cocks in the pit did,
Bob Smith 25:28
well, that makes sense. And you got the wings of the plane, like a wing, like a bird has wings, yeah, it all fits. It all makes sense. I would have never thought that’s a great phrase. Origin question, yeah, yeah, okay. We all know the term Google has been turned into a verb, right? I’m going to Google something. I’ll look at something, googly eyes. Where was the first use of Google as a verb in pop culture? Any idea? Was a TV show.
Marcia Smith 25:55
Was I was joking just now? Googly eyes? Was it something to do? No,
Bob Smith 25:59
that goes way, way back, way back. Yeah, that’s old. This is Google. I’m gonna Google using it as a verb, yeah? Tell me Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oh, really, yeah. Was that show was the first place anywhere that somebody used that term, first time it was ever used that way, Google as a verb in pop culture,
Unknown Speaker 26:18
I’ll be darned.
Bob Smith 26:19
Yeah. All right, what’s your great quote for today? Marsha, all
Marcia Smith 26:23
right, I have two little ones, Oscar Wilde, and I truly believe this to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
Bob Smith 26:35
Just ask Aaron Rogers.
Marcia Smith 26:39
So he’s so in love right now he can’t throw the ball, okay? And here’s one that I use regularly. It’s a quote from Miss Piggy, never eat more than you can lift. Oh, I remember
Bob Smith 26:50
you used to use that term a lot. You’d say that we’d go places. I never eat more than I can lift. All right? Well, that’s it for today. We hope you have a happy, happy Thanksgiving coming up if you’re celebrating that, and we invite you to join us when we return again with more fun facts, trivia and fascinating stories. I’m Bob Smith, I’m Marcia Smith, and we invite you to return with us to the great land of trivia, the great
Marcia Smith 27:18
peaceful land, the peaceful land different tier of trivia around I think
Bob Smith 27:22
it’s a rowdy land. Trivia is a rowdy, rowdy land with lots of people celebrating and stumping each other with facts and figures. Yes, that’s trivia. That’s the land of trivia. Trivia town.
Marcia Smith 27:33
Trivia town
Bob Smith 27:34
here on the off ramp. The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library. Cedarburg, Wisconsin, the.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
