Bob and Marcia Smith discuss various historical and cultural trivia. They explore the influence of the ancient Roman festival Saturnalia on Christmas traditions, including gift-giving, feasting, and singing door-to-door. They delve into car depreciation, noting that brown cars depreciate the most (17.8% in three years). They discuss Teddy Roosevelt’s 1906 trip to Panama, the time capsule in the St. Louis Arch, and the origins of Boxing Day. They also cover the Lincoln Memorial’s subterranean cave, the significance of Hanukkah, and the discovery of 2 million-year-old DNA in Greenland. Additionally, they touch on the history of Wall Street, the Oshogatsu holiday in Japan, and the Lion King’s 25th anniversary on Broadway.
Outline
Saturnalia and Christmas Traditions
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the ancient Roman traditions of Saturnalia and their influence on Christmas.
- Marcia Smith mentions the tree, gifts, and feasts as traditions that originated from Saturnalia.
- Bob Smith confirms that singing door-to-door was also a tradition from Saturnalia.
- Marcia Smith expresses surprise at the traditions being part of Christmas celebrations.
Car Depreciation and Resale Value
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about the color that depreciates the least.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the resale value of different car colors, with brown cars depreciating the most.
- Bob Smith shares a personal anecdote about owning a yellow car and its depreciation rate.
- Marcia Smith recalls their son calling their brown car “nameless.”
First US Presidential Trip Abroad
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the first US president to make an official trip abroad.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss Teddy Roosevelt’s trip to Europe and Asia to inspect a major US construction project.
- Bob Smith reveals that Roosevelt visited Panama to inspect the construction of the Panama Canal.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the significance of the trip and its impact on US history.
Gateway Arch Time Capsule
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about what is embedded in the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the time capsule added to the top of the arch in 1965.
- The time capsule contains signatures of more than 700,000 St. Louis citizens, including many school children.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith reminisce about writing in the time capsule as a family.
Christmas Boxing Day Origins
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the origins of Christmas Boxing Day.
- Marcia Smith explains the charitable roots of Boxing Day, where leftover food and presents were given to the poor.
- Bob Smith elaborates on the history of Boxing Day, including its expansion into a full week of sales.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the modern celebration of Boxing Day in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Lincoln Memorial Cave
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about what lies under the Lincoln Memorial.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the discovery of a cave with stalactites during construction in the 1970s.
- The cave contains graffiti on 122 supporting columns, including caricatures of famous figures.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith find the graffiti amusing and interesting.
Hanukkah and Traditional Foods
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the traditional foods associated with Hanukkah.
- Marcia Smith incorrectly identifies chocolate coins as a traditional Hanukkah food.
- Bob Smith explains that pork is not a traditional Hanukkah food due to Jewish dietary restrictions.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss other traditional Hanukkah foods, including latkes and jelly donuts.
Newspaper Crossword Puzzle Ban
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about a newspaper that defied the popular trend of publishing crossword puzzles.
- Marcia Smith identifies the New York Times as the newspaper that initially opposed crossword puzzles.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the New York Times’ eventual acceptance of crossword puzzles in 1942.
- Marcia Smith finds the newspaper’s initial resistance to crossword puzzles amusing.
Krampus Night and St. Nicholas Day
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the meaning of Krampus Night.
- Marcia Smith incorrectly identifies Krampus Night as “Krampus naughty.”
- Bob Smith explains that Krampus Night is the night an evil character visits children who behave badly.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the origins of Krampus Night in Germany and its celebration in Austria and Germany.
Brooklyn Bridge Wine Cellars
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about what lies under the Brooklyn Bridge.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the wine cellars built by engineer Washington Roebling to finance the bridge.
- The wine cellars helped solve financial hurdles and allowed the construction to proceed.
- Marcia Smith finds the use of wine cellars to finance the bridge fascinating.
Kwanzaa Celebration
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the celebration of Kwanzaa.
- Marcia Smith identifies Kwanzaa as a celebration of African American culture for seven days.
- Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, such as unity and self-determination.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the significance of Kwanzaa and its cultural importance.
St. Lucia’s Day and Nobel Peace Prize Winners
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about St. Lucia’s Day and its celebration in various countries.
- Marcia Smith incorrectly identifies Brazil as the country where St. Lucia’s Day is celebrated.
- Bob Smith explains that St. Lucia’s Day is celebrated in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Italy.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the four US presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize: Teddy Roosevelt, Barack Obama, Franklin Roosevelt, and Jimmy Carter.
Bodhi Day and Wall Street Origin
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the significance of Bodhi Day.
- Marcia Smith identifies Bodhi Day as the celebration of Buddha’s enlightenment.
- Bob Smith explains that Bodhi Day is celebrated by Buddhists in China, Japan, and India on December 8.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the origin of Wall Street, which was named after a protective wall built in 1653.
Oshogatsu and Time Capsules
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about Japan’s Oshogatsu holiday.
- Marcia Smith incorrectly identifies Oshogatsu as a celebration of Constitution Day.
- Bob Smith explains that Oshogatsu is a house cleaning holiday to welcome the Shinto god.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the oldest known time capsule in the US, which is located in the Massachusetts State House.
New US Bank Notes and Table Manners
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the new US bank notes featuring women’s names.
- Marcia Smith identifies Janet Yellen and Marilyn Melba as the first women to appear on US bank notes.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the significance of women’s names on US currency.
- Marcia Smith explains the origin of the rule against putting elbows on the table during dinner, which comes from the Bible.
Oldest DNA Discovery and Crypt of Civilization
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the oldest DNA discovery.
- Marcia Smith identifies the discovery of 2 million-year-old DNA in the permafrost of Greenland.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the findings, which show that the region was once a forest inhabited by various species.
- Marcia Smith asks about the Crypt of Civilization at Oglethorpe University, which is to remain closed for 6177 years.
Lion King Anniversary and Festivus
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about a recent anniversary celebrated by the Disney company.
- Marcia Smith identifies the 25th anniversary of the Lion King on Broadway.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the success of the Lion King, which has played in 27 productions and filled 112 million seats.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss Festivus, an alternative holiday invented by a TV show, which includes the airing of grievances and feats of strength.
Bob Smith 0:00
What ancient Roman traditions of Saturnalia influenced Christmas and what color
Marcia Smith 0:06
car depreciates the least?
Bob Smith 0:08
Oh, really, that’s interesting. Preferred color. I have to know what that is. Answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. You
Music. Welcome to the off ramp, a chance to slow down, steer clear of crazy and take a side road to sanity. Well, Marcia, I think we’ve all heard of the Roman Holiday of Saturnalia. Parts of the Christian tradition date from that. So do you know what some of those traditions are that became part of Christmas celebrations?
Marcia Smith 0:54
The tree, the tree was that one of them? No, that
Bob Smith 0:58
wasn’t okay. I have three here. Okay, so it was an ancient Roman festival that honored the agricultural god Saturn that’s why it’s called Saturnalia. And it occurred around mid December, the winter solstice, and lasted for a week.
Marcia Smith 1:12
Ah, now that’s pretty much why they picked Christmas date, isn’t it,
Bob Smith 1:16
historians believe that the festival involved three things. Any idea what they are, all
Marcia Smith 1:20
right, it wasn’t a tree. What else presents?
Bob Smith 1:23
Yes, okay, exchange of gifts. Yes,
Marcia Smith 1:25
lots of food, yes, feasts, right? Okay, and three is Santa Claus. No, no,
Bob Smith 1:30
no, no. Singing door to door. Oh, really, all those things, yeah, feasts, the exchange of gifts, and even singing door to door and house to house, all traditions that are now part of the Christmas season came from the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.
Marcia Smith 1:45
Santa went look right in a togo. No, no, I don’t think so. All right, Bob, you’re wondering what color car depreciates less than other colored cars. What
Bob Smith 1:57
depreciates the most or Less? Less, less. Okay,
Marcia Smith 2:01
so what has the most resale I think red has the most resale value. You’d say that.
Bob Smith 2:05
And is it true? No. Blue, no. What has the most resale value? Yellow? Oh, no.
Marcia Smith 2:11
Isn’t that surprising? It depreciates on an average over three years, 4.5% Wow, over three Guess what? Car loses almost 17.8% in three years. What color? Brown, Brown car, that was it. But we had a brown car. You know what? Our son called it?
Bob Smith 2:30
Yeah, I called it the bronze bunny, but he called it nameless.
Marcia Smith 2:37
But yeah, you’re right. 17.8 that’s a big difference. Would drop
Bob Smith 2:41
17% in value in three years, in three years, and a yellow car drops, what, under
Marcia Smith 2:45
five, 4.5%
Bob Smith 2:48
that’s amazing. It is. And I had a yellow car once, when I met you, I had a yellow Well, that’s what attracted yellow Dotson, yes, Bob, who was the first US president to make an official trip to another country. Marshall, I
Marcia Smith 3:02
think that was, that was Teddy Roosevelt, that’s exactly
Speaker 1 3:05
right, yeah, first President to make a trip to another country on official business. That is, where did he go? Do you know where he went? Oh, I’m trying to remember he went in this hemisphere. He went to Europe, he went to Asia. Where did he go? He went to check on a major US construction project in where, in where. That’s what I’m asking you think now Marcia 1906 Yeah, the biggest construction project in the world.
Marcia Smith 3:29
It couldn’t have been the Panama could exactly what it was in the northern hemisphere. It’s in
Bob Smith 3:34
this hemisphere. It’s in the Americas. So that was in 1906 he made the journey to Panama to inspect construction of the Panama Canal, which would be completed eight years later. I
Marcia Smith 3:45
see. All right,
Bob Smith 3:46
since we’re in the holiday spirit here, I have some questions on other holidays that happen and occur in December. We’ll get to Okay,
Marcia Smith 3:53
all right, let’s go to landmarks. What’s embedded Bob in the gateway, St Louis Arch? What’s embedded in the way? Something inside of it,
Bob Smith 4:04
the time capsule. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marcia Smith 4:06
You knew that, yeah, oh yeah. In October 1965 a time capsule was added to the top of the arch. Did you know it was at the top? No, I didn’t know it was up there. Yep. The contents aren’t exactly major historic relics, but they’re very sweet. What are they? They contain the signatures of more than 700,000 citizens of St Louis, many of them being school children. So that’s kind of cute, huh? Yeah, it’s permanently welded to the arch, so it will remain intact as long as the arch stands. That
Bob Smith 4:36
is also a major architectural achievement to build that thing. I remember seeing it built, yeah, when they had to meet in the middle at the top, it’s like bridges, yeah, you come, you have to really engineer it right to meet the right place.
Marcia Smith 4:48
Pretty young, but yeah, I remember seeing, Oh, is that going to come together? And it did, and it did.
Bob Smith 4:53
We wrote in that as a family. Few months after that went up, they had little like five or six person capsules. That they had to build for that thing. And it was kind of had be on rocker panels, because it has to go up at an angle. Oh, really, like little pods. They still use the same kind of it was invented for that particular piece of architecture, the train that goes up on each sides of the legs. Okay, all right, Marcia, what are the roots of Christmas Boxing Day? Now, this is something we don’t really celebrate here in the United States, England, yeah. So what are the roots of Christmas Boxing Day? This goes back to the 1830s
Marcia Smith 5:27
I read it in a novel, okay? And I can’t remember the answer. It had
Unknown Speaker 5:33
charitable roots.
Marcia Smith 5:33
Charitable they would box up left leftover things or food or presents and take them to the poor houses.
Bob Smith 5:42
There are theories, nobody really knows for sure, apparently. But it started with members of the upper crust distributing Christmas boxes with food gifts and money to their servants and other employees. And then it became a different celebration. It’s like post holiday sales. You know, you take, okay, take the stuff back that you didn’t like and take it back. So that’s that’s what it becomes known as. Now. What started in the 1830s it celebrated in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Yeah, I see it on the calendars here, yeah, by the u2 1000, many retailers began expanding their offerings for a full boxing week, running from december 26 to the 31st four returns. So that’s what it became known as,
Marcia Smith 6:23
Okay, Bob, you know what lies under the Lincoln Memorial? What
Speaker 1 6:27
lies under the Lincoln Memorial under there? Let’s see what is, what lies Well, swamp. I think that whole area was a swamp, but don’t they have some kind of a a basement kind of structure in there or something? No,
Marcia Smith 6:39
it’s a full cave, a cave complete with stalactites and everything, really. Construction workers stumbled upon the cave in the 1970s when digging out for an elevator shaft for disabled visitors. And then they went holy commodity. They found nine foot stalactite rock formations and, oh,
Bob Smith 6:58
I didn’t think about caves being there. Yeah. The most fascinating
Marcia Smith 7:01
part of the cave is the graffiti that adorns the 122 supporting columns visitors who embark on the cave tour. There’s a tour now. Did you know that? Know that they include caricatures of everybody from Woodrow Wilson to the foreman of the construction crew? Oh, really,
Bob Smith 7:17
so the crews making funny pictures of their boss. Yeah, that’s hilarious. And
Marcia Smith 7:22
Woodrow Wilson,
Bob Smith 7:23
so who was president at
Marcia Smith 7:24
the time when they were down there doing the shaft, right? Yeah, isn’t interesting. I thought it was going to be some ancient hieroglythics, but now it’s the construction, construction
Bob Smith 7:33
crew. People. Are people, you know? Okay, here’s another celebration that occurs at this time of the Earth, Hanukkah. Our Jewish friends have that. What is Hanukkah, also known as, I’ll give you some choices, the festival of feasts, the Festival of Lights, the festival of freedom,
Marcia Smith 7:49
Festival of Lights. How
Bob Smith 7:50
did you know that? Because
Marcia Smith 7:51
I’ve always known that.
Bob Smith 7:52
What does that mean? Why is it called the festival lights
Marcia Smith 7:55
the Hanukkah lights the candles, the oils, the oil candle that kept going,
Bob Smith 8:01
the oil in the temple that kept the menorah candles burning for eight full days. You’re right. That’s right. All right. Now, follow up question on Hanukkah. Which of the following is not a traditional Hanukkah food, Christmas, chocolate coins, jelly donuts, pork loin or latkes.
Marcia Smith 8:19
I think jelly donuts are a part of it.
Bob Smith 8:21
Which of the following is not? Is not latkes? Pork loin jelly donuts or chocolate coins?
Marcia Smith 8:27
Chocolate coins?
Bob Smith 8:28
No, you’re wrong. It’s pork.
Marcia Smith 8:30
Oh yeah, of course.
Bob Smith 8:32
Latkes, they’re potato pancakes. Oh yeah, fried jelly donuts and chocolate coins are all Hanukkah treats, but consuming pork goes against Jewish dietary restrictions and is not commonly consumed during the holiday celebrations. However, brisket is often consumed as a meat dish in its place. Yum,
Marcia Smith 8:50
yum. Okay? What newspaper defied the popular trend of publishing crossword puzzles, and in 1924 when they were very popular, described them as a craze, as a sinful waste in the utterly futile finding of
Bob Smith 9:09
words. Was this a religious publication? No. Was it the New York Times? Yes, which has the best crossword puzzles in the world famous
Marcia Smith 9:16
now for its crosswords? Yeah, they but they fought it. They put they fought it until 1942 and then came out with the best crossword puzzles of everybody. So
Bob Smith 9:25
even during the 20s, when there was a huge crossword puzzle, 30 rays, yeah, they didn’t have crossword puzzles in the New York Times. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 9:34
funny. That’s hilarious waste in utterly futile finding of words. And that’s a bad sentence,
Speaker 1 9:39
yeah, that is a sinful waste of utterly futile finding words. Very good Bob, that’s funny. What does the European holiday, Krampus knocked, translate to Krampus knocked? Krampus knocked. And I’m gonna give you some choices. Krampus night, Krampus knocking, Krampus nose. Or. Krampus naughty.
Marcia Smith 10:01
Let’s go with naughty.
Bob Smith 10:03
It isn’t it’s Krampus night. It’s what it means the night that an evil character named Krampus visits children who behave badly, bringing them coal and mischief. What country is this? It started in Germany. Apparently, Krampus comes from the German word krampen, which means claw. So Krampus was a half goat, half demon figure. And the myth is believed to have originated in Germany. This, again, this is stuff that happens during December, during the holiday season. Again, Krampus is the central figure of the Krampus Nacht celebrated December the fifth in Austria, Germany and many parts of Central Europe. So now, what is celebrated on December the sixth.
Marcia Smith 10:41
That’s what’s his name. Our kids found out about it, and then we had to do it St Nicholas Day.
Bob Smith 10:49
Yes, St Nicholas Day for good little girls and boys. Follows krumpus Knock for bad little girls and boys. It celebrates a holy figure, the actual St Nicholas was bishop, and is famous for his generosity, and it’s observed in many northern European countries on St Nicholas Day, December the sixth, St Nicholas visits and leaves gifts for good children, often under their pillows or in shoes or stockings.
Marcia Smith 11:13
I’ll never forget that day, the afternoon, the kids came home from school and said, Why don’t we have stockings up for St Nicholas, I said, say, what everybody else in class has it? Wow, good God, I didn’t get the memo. But from then on, we did it. So
Bob Smith 11:30
St Nicholas, day, so that was a major crisis for you. Is that right? Yes. That’s
Marcia Smith 11:36
when I called you at work and said, Hey, come home, bring some candy. Okay, what’s under the Brooklyn Bridge? Bob,
Bob Smith 11:46
they had, uh, they have big like caissons, I think they call them, and they were hollow, didn’t they used to store wine in there. Did they? Yeah, okay, tell me about it. Yeah, they’re
Marcia Smith 11:55
wine cellars. Engineer Washington Roebling had some serious business smarts when he created the Brooklyn Bridge, when he started construction, he faced two huge hurdles. One, there wasn’t enough money in the city to pay for the full project. And second, two local wineries refused to move their facilities out of the path of construction. Oh, really, yeah. So what does he do in a stroke of genius, Roebling solved both problems by incorporating two full wine cellars in the base of the bridge on each side. Wow. To help finance the bridge, he rented the cold, dark cellars out to the local business and wineries they could store their stuff, and they did until the prohibition area and he made enough money to finish the bridge. Oh, no
Bob Smith 12:41
kidding. So alcohol helped to finish the Brooklyn Bridge.
Marcia Smith 12:45
That’s exactly right. Yeah, there’s the caverns are still there, but they’re dry now and don’t have any wine down there.
Bob Smith 12:52
I’ve got some more things about holidays. There is a seven day holiday that starts on december 26 called Kwanzaa. Yes. What is that dedicated to? And here are the questions, oh, okay, traditional foods, prayer, black cultural figures, a different philosophy for each of the seven days. Which one is it? Well,
Marcia Smith 13:12
I don’t know if it’s cultural. I’ll go with that.
Speaker 1 13:15
That’s exactly what it is. Kwanzaa celebrates African American culture for seven days, and each of the days is dedicated to one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, unity, self determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith,
Marcia Smith 13:33
all good things.
Speaker 1 13:34
Now I got a question for you. There was a popular 1980s song that mentioned the Kwanzaa feast of caramu. Caramu. Now you will know this song, but you probably didn’t know this is even mentioned there. So what is it? Part time? Lover by Stevie Wonder, all night long, by Lionel Richie. I’m coming out by Diana Ross, or human nature by Michael Jackson.
Marcia Smith 13:55
I’ll go with Stevie Wonder.
Bob Smith 13:57
It’s Lionel Richie’s all night long, really, he pulled from different cultures for the lyrics, including karamu, the Swahili word for a feast or banquet. That’s also the name of a family and community meal that takes place at the last day of Kwanzaa. So we have a lot of different celebrations that take place during this time of the year, other than Christmas and Hanukkah. I think it’s time for a break. All right, let’s
Marcia Smith 14:20
take it. All right, we’ll
Bob Smith 14:21
be back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 14:25
and Marsha Smith. I dozed off there. I’ll
Bob Smith 14:28
be back in just a moment with more of the off ramp. Just me. Nobody else, just me. It
Marcia Smith 14:33
wouldn’t be any fun without me, any
Bob Smith 14:35
I don’t know. We’ll see. Okay, we’re back, and Marcia is back too, with the off ramp here for the Cedarburg Public Library and for our podcast platforms around the world, St Lucia’s or Lucius day, l, U, C, I, a, is a December celebration. In which of these countries? Marcia, Brazil, Sweden, Germany or Mexico? Co
Marcia Smith 15:00
St Lucia,
Bob Smith 15:03
Brazil, just a moment,
Marcia Smith 15:07
which country Brazil,
Bob Smith 15:08
and you’re wrong. Marcia. It’s celebrated in Sweden, Norway and some parts of Finland and Italy. It’s also known as St Lucy’s day. But Lucia, l, U, C, I, a, on December 13, Lucia, or Lucia or Lucy was an ancient mythical figure who was known as a bearer of light for dark. Swedish winters, modern Swedish celebrations appoint someone to play her role. She leads a procession of children dressed in white and wearing wreaths of light in their hair. On December 13, huh.
Marcia Smith 15:40
Okay, all right. There were four presidents, Bob who won the Nobel Peace Prize. Who were
Bob Smith 15:46
they? Teddy Roosevelt was one because we mentioned him. Let’s see. Barack Obama, yes. Franklin Roosevelt, probably not. Woodrow Wilson, did he win one? Yes. Okay, good. So I’m thinking people who’ll help settle wars. I don’t know who the fourth one was, Jimmy Carter, really, yeah. And what was that for negotiating the Middle Eastern peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis? I believe that’s true. So four US presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize, yeah? And I think
Marcia Smith 16:12
remember when Obama won, everybody, including him, said, I just became president. You know? It
Bob Smith 16:18
made no sense. Okay, Marcia. I have a Buddhist holiday that also takes place in December. It’s called body day, B, O, D, I, body day. What does that celebrate? Siddhartha, birth. Siddhartha is death, the creation of Buddhism, or the date of the Enlightenment. What’s
Marcia Smith 16:36
the day called again? Body day, I’ll say the last one, the enlightenment. That’s
Bob Smith 16:41
exactly right. Yeah. It’s celebrated by Buddhists in China, Japan and parts of India on December the eighth. So it’s another December holiday in the world. It marks the moment in 596, BC, when Buddhism’s founder, Siddhartha Gotama, attained enlightenment, becoming the Buddha, or the awakened one. He’s said to have achieved this while sitting under the body tree. The day is marked in peaceful ways, such as meditation chance and traditional meals of tea and cake. That sounds good to me. Lot of cake and hot drinks anytime you’re celebrating anything this time of the year around the world, it’s interesting.
Marcia Smith 17:15
Nothing wrong with that. Okay, Bob, how did Wall Street get its name? Wall Street
Bob Smith 17:19
got its name because it was a wall didn’t it pin in cattle or something like that? No, no. Okay, tell me. In
Marcia Smith 17:27
September 1653, the settlers in what is now New York City felt threatened by local natives and the possibility of an invasion by Oliver Cromwell’s army from England.
Bob Smith 17:41
Oh my goodness, yeah. So
Marcia Smith 17:42
there’s two big things that wanted to stay safe from. For protection, they built a large protective wall that stretched a half mile across Manhattan, exactly in the spot where we now know
Bob Smith 17:54
as Wall Street. They thought Cromwell’s army was going to come across the
Marcia Smith 17:57
city. Yeah. They felt threatened by the natives. And Cromwell natives
Bob Smith 18:01
being Native Americans, correct? Indians. What
Marcia Smith 18:03
year was this? 1653, wow.
Bob Smith 18:06
Okay, so that’s the beginning of Wall Street. Okay, Marcia, here’s another holiday. This is in Japan. What does Japan’s OMA Soca holiday celebrate? Does it celebrate New Year’s Eve, Constitution Day, Hiroshima, or a complete house cleaning.
Marcia Smith 18:24
Does it bring you joy? Bob, all right,
Bob Smith 18:28
well, I got to tell you, it is the house cleaning. Yes, it is that goes along with what was the book tidying up, right? Well, tidying up goes way back, apparently, almost Soca, one of Japan’s most important traditional holidays. Occurs December 31 it’s marked with rice straw, Robe decor, the ringing of bells and a complete cleaning of the house. To bring good luck. It’s to welcome the Shinto god, who is said to enter the house at midnight, apparently wants a clean house when he enters.
Marcia Smith 18:59
Good to know doesn’t live here.
Bob Smith 19:00
Yeah, no, okay, we’d have a little trouble with that. All right,
Marcia Smith 19:03
I’m into time capsules this time Bob. All right, what’s the oldest known time capsule in the United States? The
Bob Smith 19:10
oldest known time capsule in the United States, I bet it is in the US capital, because they were building that in the late 1790s early 1800s Yes, I know they put a time capsule in there. Yes, they did. That’s it. I’m right. Okay, thank you. All right,
Marcia Smith 19:26
let’s move on. There’s one before that. Oh, it’s 1795 it’s the Sam Adams and Paul Revere time capsule, oh, located in the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House, and it’s widely believed to have been buried by then Governor Sam Adams and Paul Revere, the oldest known time capsule in the US. It contains silver and copper coins dating back to 1652 newspapers and a medal depicting George Washington and a silver plaque believed to have been engraved by Paul Revere, okay. Okay,
Bob Smith 20:00
so they actually had things in there that were well over 100 years old when they put them in there. Yeah, let’s see, yeah.
Marcia Smith 20:05
So things that are about
Bob Smith 20:07
140 years old were included, yeah, wow. Hey, speaking of currency, there’s something new involving the $1 and $5 bills. What’s new about that? I’ll give you a hint. It involves women,
Marcia Smith 20:21
the taking off the faces that are on there now, and putting women on No, no, I don’t know
Bob Smith 20:26
the first bank notes bearing the name of America’s first female treasury secretary. That’s Janet Yellen, but the bills also bear the name of Marilyn Melba, M, a, L, E, R, B, A, the first Native American to hold the role of us treasurer. So really, two women’s names, first time ever on US bank notes, signatures that will be entering circulation. Women
Marcia Smith 20:50
do control a lot of the purse strings. Apparently,
Bob Smith 20:52
yes, the US purse strings. Okay,
Marcia Smith 20:54
all right. Why is it rude to put your elbows on the table when dining? Oh,
Bob Smith 20:58
this is perfect for the holiday season. I remember as a kid getting called off on them. I thought, What’s wrong with putting my elbows on the table?
Marcia Smith 21:05
What’s that problem here? Well,
Bob Smith 21:08
Bob is the problem. I mean, I would love to be able to go to a Christmas or a holiday dinner and put my elbows on the table. Why is that a bad way?
Marcia Smith 21:16
Where do many of these things come from? If it’s not Dickens, it’s who Shakespeare, yeah, or, I mean, if it’s not Shakespeare, it’s who
Bob Smith 21:24
Dickens the Bible, that’s it. It’s from the Bible, yeah, the Old Testament,
Marcia Smith 21:29
so the Jews and the Christian from the book of Ecclesiastes, yeah. It includes the line, be ashamed of breaking an oath or a covenant and of stretching your elbow at dinner. Be ashamed of that. Explain that many have translated this directive as a warning to keep elbows off the table. It’s the translations of people, anyway, but table manners were originally introduced to prevent meal time fights, and that’s why the knife and the fork helped establish boundaries at the table. Oh, is that right? Yeah, and keeping your elbows off the table also allowed you to see the person down the road from
Bob Smith 22:10
you, if they had their knife or fork ready to kill you, dinner must have not have been the fun time we have today. No, no, not. So there’s all these weapons, and people are eating, but somebody might kill you with their weapons there
Marcia Smith 22:22
were a lot more fights at the dinner table. Holy
Unknown Speaker 22:24
cow,
Marcia Smith 22:25
never discuss don’t
Bob Smith 22:26
discuss politics. If the discuss politics or religion, thee shall fight. Oh my who knew that? Well, there’s enough rules in the Bible. Anyway, I don’t need to be told to keep my elbows off the table. Okay? Scientists recently discovered the oldest DNA. Do you know where it was and how old is it? Is it underwater? No, it’s not underwater.
Marcia Smith 22:49
Is it above water?
Bob Smith 22:51
What country is it in? I don’t know. Okay, scientists recently discovered 2 million year old DNA, the oldest they’ve ever discovered in the permafrost of the northern edge of Greenland. The DNA came from more than 135 species. They show that the region, just 600 miles from the North Pole, was once a forest covered with poplar birch trees inhabited by mastodons, reindeer and Arctic hares at the same time. So his Arctic hairs are like bunnies, yeah, bunnies, reindeer and mastodons all live there at the same time, apparently. And the warm coastal waters were also filled with horseshoe crabs. Those crabs can never be found anywhere north of Maine these days in the world.
Marcia Smith 23:37
Okay, I got one more time capsule question, okay, sure. Okay, there’s a time capsule Bob called the crypt of civilization at Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, Georgia. It was finished and sealed off in 1940 and is to remain closed. For how long?
Bob Smith 23:56
For 500 years,
Marcia Smith 23:59
no for 1000
Bob Smith 24:00
years, no for five years, no for 20 years. I don’t know how long 6177 years. Oh, my God, who’s going to police that it was
Marcia Smith 24:10
and you’d say, How did they come up with that? How did they come up with that number? It was decreed in 1940 that this crypt should be closed for 6177 years, the same amount of time that was then thought to have passed since the beginning of recorded history. And the crypt remains at Oglethorpe to this day, and it is to be opened in 8113 ad and it’s filled with everything from 640,000 pages of microfilm books, wow, and religious texts to an early television, a container of beer, Lincoln Logs.
Bob Smith 24:50
People have great hopes for these things to be opened up. Oh, my God, you got TV. I got to have a beer if you got TV,
Marcia Smith 24:56
beer and TV and yeah, I mean, it is. Is amazing. That’s bizarre. Yeah, it is okay.
Bob Smith 25:02
Something just recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. It’s something the Disney company has done, and Michael Eisner said, when he mentioned it at the first board meeting, everybody laughed. Okay, it’s a show on Broadway.
Marcia Smith 25:17
Oh, Lion King, The
Bob Smith 25:19
Lion King. That’s
Marcia Smith 25:20
a wonderful show. Yeah,
Bob Smith 25:22
it has had 27 productions over the past 25 years. They’ve filled 112 million seats and have played on every continent except Antarctica. So shows the Lion King has been everywhere now. Elton John wrote the music for that. What a jackpot that must have been for him, but it’s still going strong on Broadway. It’s gross, ten billion more than any other stage show, more than any other film,
Marcia Smith 25:50
really, yeah, more than Les Mis and Hamilton,
Bob Smith 25:55
any other show or film. So that’s more than any other entertainment, really, single entertainment. It was, I
Marcia Smith 26:00
tell my friends to see it. It’s, it’s one. It is
Bob Smith 26:03
fabulous. But Michael Eisner said, when he sat down and told everybody, we’re gonna do the Lion King on Broadway, everybody laughed, yeah, at the meeting, nobody thought it would happen.
Marcia Smith 26:12
Yeah? And look at that fabulous opening with the puppets. Who would have thought it’d be such a spectacular way to open? I’m gonna finish up with a quote, okay? Hanukkah, as we were talking about before, is upon us in about a week or so, or as Adam Sandler, so beautifully, sings, put on your yarmulke, here comes Hanukkah. So much funnika, okay, but here’s some meaningful words from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Hanukkah is about the freedom to be true to what we believe without denying the freedom of those who believe otherwise. Very
Bob Smith 26:49
good. And since you mentioned that, what is the alternative festival that was invented by a TV show because of Christmas being so commercial, there
Marcia Smith 26:57
was an alternative what? Oh, Festivus. Festivus
Bob Smith 27:01
on Seinfeld, an alternative to overly commercial Christmas season. Festivus for the rest of us, yes. And do you remember what that’s celebrated with? Yes, it’s a pole, an aluminum pool, and the activities include the airing of grievances and feats of strength. I
Marcia Smith 27:16
love it. I’ve got a Festivus pool on the hearth in the family room.
Bob Smith 27:21
So I think we’ve covered everything today. Hanukkah, Festivus, calanza, Christmas. There
Marcia Smith 27:26
are a few more things in the world, Bob, but let that be enough for today. That’s
Bob Smith 27:29
enough for now. I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. Join us when we return next week with more fun facts and trivia here on the off ramp. The off rep has produced an association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, the.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
