Bob and Marcia discuss various trivia topics, including Australia having the largest population of wild camels, with numbers growing from 300,000 in 2013 to over a million today. They explore differences between male and female brains, noting women have more prefrontal cortex volume and are more prone to depression and anxiety. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1601. A CIA-exclusive Starbucks in Langley, Virginia, caters to high-security personnel. The Eiffel Tower’s nighttime light show is copyrighted. Denmark is the happiest country, while Afghanistan is the unhappiest. The oldest subway system is in London, and the world’s highest outdoor elevator is in China’s Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.
Outline
Australia’s Camel Population
* Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith a trivia question about the country with the most camels, revealing the answer is Australia.
* Bob explains that Australia has the largest population of wild camels, despite not being indigenous to the country.
* The camels were introduced in the mid-1800s for transportation but became feral due to technological advances.
* By 2013, there were approximately 300,000 camels in Australia, and the number has since grown to over a million.
Differences Between Male and Female Brains
* Marcia Smith questions if male and female brains are the same, leading to a discussion on their differences.
* Bob and Marcia discuss that while men have larger brains, women have more volume in the prefrontal cortex.
* Women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety, while men suffer more from substance abuse.
* The conversation touches on the misconception that brain size correlates with intelligence, citing Albert Einstein as an example.
First St. Patrick’s Day Parade
* Bob Smith asks where the first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held, revealing it was in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1601.
* Marcia Smith guesses Boston or New York City, but Bob corrects her, explaining the parade was in America, not Ireland.
* The first parade was held 400 years ago, and Boston and New York followed with their own marches in the 18th century.
* The conversation includes a humorous note about the Irish living in St. Augustine at the time.
CIA’s Secret Starbucks
* Marcia Smith asks about a 24/7 Starbucks with only one customer, revealing it is at the CIA headquarters in Langley.
* The Starbucks is only accessible to CIA employees with the highest levels of security clearance.
* The store is decorated to look like a normal Starbucks but has strict rules, such as no names on cups and no Starbucks Rewards.
* Despite the restrictions, the store remains popular among employees, with long lines at all hours.
Eiffel Tower’s Light Show Copyright
* Bob Smith asks about a world-famous landmark with a copyrighted light show, revealing it is the Eiffel Tower.
* The evening light show was created by artist Pierre Bedeaux in 1985 and is protected by copyright law.
* The law allows the artist to control the sale and distribution rights for photos or videos of the show.
* Despite the legal protection, the law has never been enforced in court, and the show remains popular.
Happiest and Unhappiest Countries
* Marcia Smith shares a survey of the happiest and unhappiest countries, revealing Denmark, Norway, and Israel as the top three.
* The United States ranks 15th, and France ranks 20th, while North Korea, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Afghanistan are at the bottom.
* The conversation touches on the factors contributing to happiness and unhappiness in different countries.
* Marcia and Bob discuss the surprising inclusion of Israel in the top three and the challenges faced by the bottom-ranked countries.
Old World vs. New World Monkeys
* Marcia Smith asks about the differences between Old World and New World monkeys, revealing that only New World monkeys can hang by their tails.
* Old World monkeys have longer tails but lack the ability to hang by them.
* The conversation includes a humorous note about the evolutionary advantages of each type of monkey.
* Marcia and Bob discuss the unique characteristics of both types of monkeys, including their tails and sitting pads.
NASA’s Moon Artifacts
* Bob Smith shares information about artifacts left on the moon by astronauts, including a family photo by Charles Duke.
* The conversation includes details about the Apollo missions and the items left behind, such as lunar landers and human waste.
* Bob mentions the Moon Museum, a tiny ceramic wafer with miniature artworks from famous artists, hidden on the moon.
* The discussion touches on the significance of these artifacts and their impact on the lunar landscape.
Elephant Seal Oil and Oldest Subway Systems
* Bob Smith asks about the oil extracted from elephant seal blubber, revealing it can yield up to 210 gallons.
* The conversation includes a humorous note about the use of elephant seal oil for lubricating machinery.
* Marcia Smith asks about the oldest subway system in the world, revealing it is in London, England, with the second oldest in Istanbul and the third in Chicago.
* The discussion includes details about the history and operation of these subway systems, including their original purposes and current usage.
Galileo’s Experiment and Van Gogh’s Ear
* Bob Smith shares a trivia question about Galileo’s experiment with dropping objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, revealing Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott did the same on the moon.
* The conversation includes details about the feather and hammer experiment and the artifacts left on the moon, such as golf balls and an aluminum sculpture.
* Marcia Smith asks about the person Van Gogh cut off his ear after a fight, revealing it was his roommate and rival artist Paul Gauguin.
* The discussion includes a humorous note about the aftermath of the altercation and Van Gogh’s subsequent stay in an asylum.
Animal Sleep Habits and Quotes
* Marcia Smith asks about the sleep habits of various animals, revealing elephants need only two hours of sleep a night, while gorillas and cats need up to 14 hours.
* The conversation includes a humorous note about lions sleeping for 20 hours a day.
* Marcia shares quotes from Reese Witherspoon and Erma Bombeck, touching on the challenges of parenting and life.
* The show concludes with Bob and Marcia inviting listeners to submit questions and thanking them for tuning in.
Bob Smith 0:00
What country has more camels than any other in the world?
Marcia Smith 0:13
And are male and female brains the same?
Bob Smith
Answers to those and other questions coming up in this half hour of the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smtih
Bob Smith 0:30
Welcome to the off ramp. It’s a chance to slow down, steer clear of crazy, take a side road to sanity. We’ve got some interesting questions here today. Well, Marcia, what country has more camels than any other in the world? I’ll give you choices. Oh, good. Egypt, yeah. Mongolia, yeah. Australia, yeah. Or Saudi Arabia, okay?
Marcia Smith 0:53
I will say, Well, it seems like Saudi Arabia would, but that’s probably wrong, because it’s obvious, right?
Bob Smith 1:02
You’re overthinking it. Marcia, Saudi Arabia.
Marcia Smith 1:04
Bob, we’re
Bob Smith 1:05
wrong. Believe it or not, it’s Australia.
Marcia Smith 1:10
What now, if
Bob Smith 1:11
you’re thinking, geez, I didn’t know camels were indigenous to Australia. No, you’re right. They’re not yet today, Australia has the largest population of camels in the world, and not only the largest population of camels, the largest population of wild camels too. When did they first get them? Well, in the mid 1800s it’s really recent, and they were originally intended to be used as transportation because there’s big, big swaths of open desert in Australia. Yeah. However, since then, technological advances have changed that plan, and many of the camels either escaped or were just released into the wild. So feral camels, F, E, R, E, L, rode the undeveloped, uninhabited Australian desert for more than a century, and they had cabs of their own. I had no idea. I didn’t even come by boat. They brought them over by ship. Yeah. How
Marcia Smith 2:05
else would they, I guess, by
Bob Smith 2:06
2013 approximately 300,000 camels lived on the Australian continent. And 10 years later, that number is estimated to be closer to a million, a million camels
Marcia Smith 2:18
in Australia. Never, ever would have thought of that they
Bob Smith 2:21
multiply like rabbits, apparently. Who knew? So Australia, the land down under, not the African desert, has more camels than any country in the world, okay, okay,
Marcia Smith 2:31
Bob, your brain, my brain. Are they the same? Well,
Bob Smith 2:35
they’re different because they’re in different people. So the answer is different. Next question, okay,
Marcia Smith 2:41
well, well, thought out. Bob, well, women usually have smaller brains. Oh, I didn’t know that, even after adjusting for our size difference. But human brain size does not correlate to intelligence, because, guess who had a small brain? Albert Einstein, that’s who. Okay, okay, take it easy. I’m sorry.
Bob Smith 3:01
So just because men have bigger brains doesn’t mean they’re better thinkers. Absolutely
Marcia Smith 3:05
not. The volume of certain regions in the brain also differs. For example, women have more volume in the prefrontal cortex and men have more volume in the occipital region.
Bob Smith 3:18
Oh my goodness, where’s that?
Marcia Smith 3:20
I was hoping you knew, but it’s not in the prefrontal Yes, we win with the prefrontal cortex. All right, the differences between male and female brains may help explain why men and women are not equally vulnerable to some mental illnesses. Oh, I didn’t know that women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety, okay, pretty much because they’re married to men. But Hello,
Bob Smith 3:44
was that fact or editorial?
Marcia Smith 3:47
That was an editorial, okay, and men suffer from more substance abuse than women do because
Bob Smith 3:52
of the women they’re married to. Okay? Well, that’s interesting. So the answer is, male and female brains are different in size,
Marcia Smith 4:03
and women have smaller but superior brains. Wait a minute. Now, I didn’t hear that. All right, have smaller brains, but not necessarily less intelligent. Okay,
Bob Smith 4:14
I’ll go with it. Hey, we just recently had St Patrick’s Day, and I have a question, Where was the first St Patrick’s Day parade? The
Unknown Speaker 4:23
first? Yeah, was
Bob Smith 4:24
it way back in Ireland? I
Marcia Smith 4:26
have no, I have a guess. Okay, I’ll say, I’ll
Bob Smith 4:30
tell you it was 400 years ago. 400 400 Yeah,
Marcia Smith 4:33
I was gonna say Boston or New York City. Oh, oh, I guess they weren’t parading 400 years ago.
Speaker 1 4:39
No, they were parading 400 years ago in America, though, where St Augustine, oh, really, yeah, believe it or not, it was in America, not Ireland. And believe it or not, it was more than 400 years ago the feast day of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, that’s been observed by the Irish for over 1000 years, but the first of. St Patrick’s Day parade took place in 1601
Bob Smith 5:04
in what is now St Augustine, Florida, 16
Marcia Smith 5:09
floats going down there in the marching band. I
Bob Smith 5:11
guess it’s a different kind of parade, but they had it there. And Boston and New York did follow up with their own marches, but not until the 18th century. So it all started in St Augustine, in 1601, the first St Patrick’s Day.
Marcia Smith 5:24
Were many Irish living there. I
Bob Smith 5:27
don’t know. I thought there was Spanish primarily, but what did we know? Maybe it was a maybe they were making fun of the Irish Spanish. Were parading Irish people there. That
Marcia Smith 5:37
was an interesting place that we visited once say in August, yes. It was yes. Okay, Bob, where is a Starbucks that is open 24/7 and has only one customer? What? Well, one customer with lots of employees, one customer
Speaker 1 5:54
with lots of employees. Is it in the White House? No one customer with lots of employees? Oh, I’ll bet that is the Starbucks down in Antarctica. Oh, remember we talked about the ATM down there? Yeah, no, okay, where is
Marcia Smith 6:07
this? It is the CIA headquarters in Langley. And I’m telling you, there are 30,000 Starbucks worldwide, but there’s only one Starbucks that specifically caters to members of the Central Intelligence Agency. It’s located inside CIA headquarters in Langley, and this Starbucks is only available to those with the highest levels of security clearance, really, while the store is decorated to look like a normal Starbucks in order to help humanize the otherwise tense job. Receipts merely depict store number one, as opposed to any specific location. You know, they usually give their name and location. Furthermore, baristas who undergo extensive background checks are forbidden from writing names on any of the cup, not even aliases.
Bob Smith 7:00
Oh, really. So they can’t say Igor or Ivan. You know, drink for Ivan? Yeah, Russian spy names or something
Marcia Smith 7:07
that’s done to preserve the confidential identities and and don’t try using your Starbucks Rewards car there either, because those perks are banned from there because they could fall into the wrong hands. Right
Bob Smith 7:20
data would go to the wrong Yeah. Well, if you, if you can’t get in there anyway, how are you going to use your card there? Yeah,
Marcia Smith 7:25
I don’t know. Despite all these irregularities, compared to the normal experience, the store remains immensely popular, uh, among employees, and boasts long lines at all hours of the day. I don’t know how many employees are there.
Bob Smith 7:41
I wonder if they have any fancy, different drink names there or something. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 7:45
yeah, you know,
Bob Smith 7:46
I don’t know espionage,
Marcia Smith 7:48
the terrible jumbo
Bob Smith 7:50
missions, you know, Mission drinks or something. All right, Marcia, what world famous landmark, has a light show that’s protected by copyright. Now I’ll give you some choices. Yes, thank you. These are major landmarks, the Sphinx, the Eiffel Tower, Disney World, the Roman Coliseum, or Big Ben, which world famous landmark has a light show protected by copyright? Well,
Marcia Smith 8:17
I’ll say Eiffel Tower, that’s
Bob Smith 8:19
right. That’s what it is. Yeah, they have that evening light show now that was actually created by an artist, Pierre bedeaux, in 1985 and it’s covered by copyright law. Under that law, sale and distribution rights for photos or videos of the show belong to the original creator of the art, and they’ll only expire 70 years after he dies. But since the building’s architect, Gustav Eiffel, passed away in 1923 pictures of the tower itself. That’s okay. It’s under public domain. Perfectly fine to snap a picture during the daytime. However, this other fellow who did the light show is still alive, so technically, any photo or of the tower at night or video can only be published, shared or sold if you have his permission. But fortunately, for millions of us who’ve been there, the law has never been enforced in court, but it’s protected by a copyright. I don’t know what’s that worth if you can’t enforce it? Yeah, it is not worth the paper it’s printed on, apparently.
Marcia Smith 9:20
Well, Bob, you’ll be happy to know the 2023, survey of the happiest and unhappiest countries is out. Oh, that’s Oh joy. Oh joy. We talk about this every so often.
Bob Smith 9:32
Yes, who are the happiest countries? There
Marcia Smith 9:34
are 150 countries in this survey, and once again, for six straight years. Let
Bob Smith 9:41
me see if I got it. Is it Denmark or number two? Okay, it’s it’s right up there, though it’s Denmark Norway. What is the one that wants to get NATO now? Not Sweden, but the other one? Okay, which one is Finland? Finland? Yes,
Marcia Smith 9:57
six straight years. It tops the list. That’s the nine. Number one, right there. They’re the happiest country in the world. Yeah, that’s followed by Denmark. But guess who comes in number three, who? That’s the one that surprised me. Take a guess. It’s not, it’s not a Scandinavian country,
Bob Smith 10:12
not the United States. No, no. Oh, okay, what is it? It’s
Marcia Smith 10:15
Israel, really. That surprises me, because there’s, you know, they’re always
Bob Smith 10:21
at kind of war, that’s right, somebody’s at their throat. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 10:24
they worry about somebody bombing them or taking them out at any given time, but they’re pretty happy over there. Interesting, I thought so. But America, no, we’re number 15, and France, 20.
Unknown Speaker 10:36
Oh, okay,
Marcia Smith 10:37
so who’s at the bottom of the list? North Korea, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and in the basement is Afghanistan. Jeez, yeah, Taliban is not bringing the joy there, that’s for sure. Oh, my
Speaker 1 10:50
goodness. Okay, I’ve got some more animal facts. We talked about camels. I’ve got some other ones here. Okay, okay, what’s the major difference between monkeys from the old world and monkeys from the New World. Now, by that, I mean the old world is like Africa and Asia. Monkeys in the new world. In the Americas, there are monkeys down in Brazil and places like that. Okay, okay, South America, Central America, I
Marcia Smith 11:14
don’t know. They’re
Bob Smith 11:15
what’s the difference between monkeys from the Old World and the New World?
Marcia Smith 11:20
No, no, they’re more adventurous. They’re more patriotic. No, this
Bob Smith 11:26
is kind of a weird thing. Okay, yeah, only New World monkeys from Central and South America can hang by their tails, really. That’s according to the Isaac Asimov book of facts. Is that, like evolutionary I don’t know. It says no Old World monkeys from Africa or Asia can hang by their tails. Ironically, the Old World monkeys have longer tails. Even so, Old World monkeys share a distinct advantage over those from the Americas. They have sitting pads of tough skin, while American monkeys don’t, huh? So they don’t have a nice high knee there that helps them out. Nice, thick, honey. Yeah. Okay, I’m not talking about beer.
Marcia Smith 12:07
You know, you know what the NASA logo looks like, don’t you? Yes, it’s what. It’s like a blue ball with a red streak, and then it’s got like a white orbit thing in it. Yeah? So this is your kind of question. What do employees call the NASA logo.
Bob Smith 12:21
Oh, dear, you’ll like this. Okay, what would they call that? I don’t know. What is it? What do they call it? The meatball? The meatball? Yeah, we called the meatball Alan Bradley, Alan Bradley, or Rockwell, Alan Bradley, because it was an octagon, the meatball, yeah. So they call it that in at NASA. At NASA too, the meatball. This is inside corporate stuff. Oh, that’s so funny. Well, speaking of NASA Marcia, you had that story a couple of weeks ago about Neil Armstrong leaving the boots on the moon or the galoshes. Remember that? Yeah, I did a little research after that and found a really interesting article, and it’s on the royal Museum’s Greenwich website. Now, this is in England, but most of the information is about American astronauts. So I’ve got a few other things that the astronauts left behind on the moon. On
Marcia Smith 13:10
The Moon is it pretty getting cluttered up there.
Bob Smith 13:12
It’s very cluttered. You know, we talked about Neil and Buzz. They were the first two, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. They disposed of anything they didn’t need from the lunar module that included the tube the US flag had been rolled up in the TV camera they used to send footage back to Earth, and the tools they used to gather the moon, rock and dust. So they created a toss zone, they called it, which lies to the west of the Apollo 11 landing site, a litter pile. That’s what it was. But you ask about the total amount of stuff on the moon, yeah, from the Apollo missions. Now this includes, it sounds huge, but it includes the lunar landers, the remember the modules they took, the ones that the rovers that went out like Jeeps all over the moon, yeah? So all that metal and all the other stuff, 400,000
Marcia Smith 13:58
pounds of stuff. That’s That’s unfortunate, including
Bob Smith 14:01
96 bags of human waste.
Marcia Smith 14:04
96 bags. Awful. Buzz was busy. They
Bob Smith 14:08
were all busy. All the astronauts. In fact, the scientists would like to bring those back to see how they change. Oh yeah, over the years, being exposed to lunar radiation and
Marcia Smith 14:16
everything. I’d hit that assignment. Okay, time to go to break. Wait a minute. There’s a couple more things that we’ll get out of that I’m glad you went and looked up. I enticed you to look at you.
Bob Smith 14:26
Astronaut Charles Duke Apollo 16. He left a framed family photo on the moon. Service took a picture of it before they left, and it’s him and his kids and his wife. He was the youngest person to walk on the moon. He says this is the family of astronaut Charles Duke from the planet Earth, who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972 How old was he? He was 36 the youngest person to walk on the moon. Okay, more on these things left on the moon in just a moment, and we’ll be back with more trivia from Marcia here on the off ramp with Bob and
Marcia Smith 14:59
Marsha. Marsha Smith,
Speaker 1 15:02
we’re back with more on the off rap. We do this for the Cedarburg public library every week. It goes out Monday nights on their internet radio station, and then all over the world through podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora and all kinds of other places. Okay. Marcia, what’s your next question?
Marcia Smith 15:21
How did the rabbit and eggs become symbols of Easter?
Bob Smith 15:25
Oh, that’s interesting. Why did the rabbit and eggs? Well, fertility for both, I think because the eggs meaning life, you know, but rabbits meaning that fertility of at rabbits, they’re obviously notorious for reproducing. So I would think that’s the reason. Ah,
Marcia Smith 15:39
no, not according to The Big Book of answers. Oh,
Bob Smith 15:42
let’s open that one.
Marcia Smith 15:46
The word Easter goes to the ancient Norse word Ostra, which is what the Vikings called the festival of spring. The legend of a rabbit bringing easter eggs is from German folklore. Oh, okay, which tells of a poor woman who, during a famine, dyed some eggs and hid them in her chickens nest to surprise the kids. Just as the children discovered the nest, big rabbit leaped away, and the story spread that it had brought the
Bob Smith 16:15
eggs. Oh, no kidding. So
Marcia Smith 16:16
that’s where it came from, just according to this source, that’s how it was a folk tale.
Bob Smith 16:21
And then we went to Peter Rabbit and all those other stories.
Marcia Smith 16:23
World evolved from that whole new world.
Bob Smith 16:29
Okay, speaking of that, let’s go back to the moon with more questions and answers. Okay, Marcia, we talked about, you know, remember the first flags they put up on the moon? They, how were they different from regular flags?
Marcia Smith 16:39
Was the material different material is different because, because they would rip to shreds up there right away. No, no, because there’s no wind on them. There’s no wind. They wouldn’t rip tissue. They would just hang, hang down. They wanted something, oh, to be stiff. So they pick out wires and
Bob Smith 16:54
material to make it stiff out. Yeah, so that’s that makes sense. Those flags did not actually fly. It’s interesting that Eugene Cernan, the Apollo 17 flag planted by him, had already been to the moon. It was carried to the lunar surface and back on Apollo 11, they carried an Apollo 17 flag looking ahead to the last flight. And then they brought it back, and then it hung on the wall of Mission Control. And then they took that flag again and took it back to the moon one more time. That’s interesting. Ashes have also been taken to the moon. Did you know that? I did not. Okay. They took the ashes of a gentleman named Gene Shoemaker. He was a US geologist who studied terrestrial craters and discovered many comets and planets. And when he died, his ashes were transported to the moon in a capsule on board the lunar prospector space probe. He’s the only person to have his ashes flown to the moon. There have been other ashes that have been sent in outer space. Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, you got to pay for that. There is a service Yes, I think you have to pay for that. Now, service
Marcia Smith 17:56
charge. A
Bob Smith 17:57
little service charge. Okay? That $25,000 nothing is free. A burial is cheaper on Earth than it is in outer space. Like
Marcia Smith 18:05
I can hear you doing the commercial, okay, Bob, this is up your alley. Okay? What American city was named after Marie Antoinette,
Bob Smith 18:17
Marietta, Ohio. Oh,
Marcia Smith 18:19
I would wondering if you would I knew that we’ve been there. I just didn’t know if you remember that little factoid from the museum. And
Speaker 1 18:27
of course, this was before the French Revolution, and Marie Antoinette was the wife of the leader of France who was giving millions of dollars to the Americans to help with their revolution against Great Britain.
Marcia Smith 18:39
So you’d have more information on this, then that’s right. So they named the town Marietta. It’s in southeastern Ohio, and it’s the county seat of Washington County, and has a population of 13,385
Bob Smith 18:52
it’s the first colony outside the 13 in the United States. Official, yeah, okay, and some of my ancestors helped found that.
Marcia Smith 18:59
Well, as I recall. I did hear that 1020, 30 times. Okay, more
Bob Smith 19:04
stories on monkeys. Oh, no, wait a minute. Okay, I got another animal fact here. Okay, okay, how much oil can be extracted from the blubber of a male elephant seal?
Marcia Smith 19:14
Oh, gosh, I was wondering about that. Now here’s morning, here’s a
Bob Smith 19:16
little hint, its skin is only seven inches thick. So how much
Marcia Smith 19:21
we talking
Bob Smith 19:22
pounds? We’re talking gallons, gallons a male elephant seal. That’s a seal, not a not a whale, yeah, how much oil can be extracted from the blubber of a male elephant seal?
Marcia Smith 19:36
I’ll say 25 gallons. It’s amazing, but
Speaker 1 19:40
it’s 210 gallons of oil. No, yeah. Its skin is only seven inches thick, but it can give as much as 210 gallons of oil. And that’s considered superior to oil from the sperm whale the elephant seal. Oil is often used for lubricating machinery
Marcia Smith 19:56
really well. That’s phenomenal. It’s. Okay, Bob, where is the oldest subway system in the world?
Speaker 1 20:03
It is in London, England. Bingo. You’re on a roll today that was dug before they had the railways underground. They had wagons being pulled by horses underground. In the 1850s or 60s,
Marcia Smith 20:17
what’s known as the tube opened in 1863 and still carries around 5 million passengers each day. That’s amazing. But the system, as you said, was originally intended as a way to move goods and livestock, as much as it was to transport humans in January 1863
Bob Smith 20:36
so this is an 1863
Marcia Smith 20:39
Yeah, wow. And there were six original stations, and then they kept digging lower. And then, after the turn of the century, when the reliability of electric trains and elevators adequately reassured investors to fund the projects, they started opening more stations and more tunnels.
Bob Smith 20:55
How smart was that to take livestock horses and yeah, How bad did that smell down there?
Marcia Smith 21:01
Not too good. The original 1863 stations and tunnels are still in use today, and a small but busy part of the 272 station system. 272
Bob Smith 21:12
stations.
Marcia Smith 21:14
Okay, you want to guess where number two is.
Bob Smith 21:16
I think it’s in New York, isn’t it? No, okay, wait a minute. Let me guess it could be, I think it’s either in Russia or it’s in South America. Which one is it
Marcia Smith 21:24
Istanbul? Just
Bob Smith 21:25
like I thought, That’s
Marcia Smith 21:26
right,
Bob Smith 21:27
Istanbul has the second oldest subway system
Marcia Smith 21:30
in 1875 and number and number three is our southern suburb of Chicago. Oh, they finished theirs in 1892 I didn’t know that, and parts of it, though, still run on elevated tracks, right, which I always think adds a certain charm to downtown, Shy Town. That’s
Bob Smith 21:48
the L, yeah, all right, Marcia, I have more on what’s left on the moon. Did you know there’s an art gallery on the moon? I did not know that a tiny little art gallery. It’s called the moon Museum. The small ceramic wafer measuring three quarters of an inch by half an inch, and it was created by a gentleman named Forrest Myers. And the chip features tiny artworks from six artists, including Andy Warhol, David norovos and clays Oldenburg. Apparently, he gave it to an Apollo 12 engineer who attached it to a leg of the lunar module. That’s how it got there, because NASA didn’t agree to transport really, so they just snuck that in there. Yeah, of course, on one of the legs of the original lunar lander is that famous plaque which says, We came in peace for all mankind. You know that one? That’s an interesting one that’s on the moon,
Marcia Smith 22:36
okay? Where is the world’s highest outdoor elevator is
Bob Smith 22:41
that the Eiffel Tower? No, no. Highest outdoor elevator is this in one of those new buildings in China or in the Middle East? It’s
Marcia Smith 22:50
in China. In China, okay, tell me the bail long elevator. And it was made so everyone could enjoy the spectacular scenery of China’s Zhang Zhao National Forest Park. Ooh, that sounds interesting, does? It’s a crazy hike to get to the top to see the gorges and the impressive waterfalls and stuff. So they built this thing you should see. Oh, I’d love to see that. Take a Google of it later. I bet that’s interesting. A ride in one of these double story glass and steel cars is not for the faint hearted, as it ascends 1082 feet in about 90 seconds. Whoa, 1000s of visitors each day take this elevator, also nicknamed the 100 dragon elevator, to witness the region’s natural wonders.
Bob Smith 23:35
That sounds great. I’d love to see that. Okay, okay. Marcia in the late 16th century, Galileo is said to have dropped two objects of different masses from the Leaning Tower of Pisa that was designed to prove that the speed with which they fell was independent of their mass. Well, on Apollo, 15 astronaut David Scott did the same thing. He dropped a feather and a hammer at the same time, and the world watched, and they fell at the same speed landing on the lunar surface, simultaneous. I don’t remember that. So there’s a hammer up there, and there is a feather. There’s a feather from baggin, the Air Force Academy’s mascot, Falcon. That’s a that’s a cool experiment. Also on the moon is an aluminum sculpture, the Apollo, 15 astronauts left, called fallen astronaut. It had all the names of all these people, not just Americans, but Russians too, that lost their lives on their way to trying to get to the moon. So that’s kind of interesting. Those are those things are still on the moon too. Also golf balls. Alan Shepard the first American in space. He was also the first American to hit a golf ball on the moon.
Marcia Smith 24:36
That’s a cool distinction. Yeah. Okay, the famous post impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh bob cut off his own ear after having a fight with whom, having
Bob Smith 24:48
a fight with whom, I thought he just did that in anger and depression. He cut off his ear. Yeah, I thought so. Wasn’t he didn’t have a fight with his brother.
Marcia Smith 24:57
Did he No?
Bob Smith 24:58
Who did he have a fight with? He.
Marcia Smith 24:59
His roommate and rival famous French artist Paul Gauguin. I
Bob Smith 25:04
didn’t know that. Yeah, I didn’t either. So that’s before he went to the insane asylum. Yeah, he
Marcia Smith 25:08
went shortly after that,
Bob Smith 25:11
I will cut off my ear. Yes. Why would that be something you would do in spite of your friend, he was
Marcia Smith 25:17
really ticked off, and he was mentally ill. They actually shared a house together. I didn’t know that. Yeah, they fought over their work and who was better? Blah, blah, all the time. Gauguin’s first hand account says Van Gogh approached him with a razor before pausing and retreating back to their home. This freaked out Gauguin, who decided to check himself into a hotel and call it a night rather than go back to their house. That man is crazy. Yes, I’m gone to going back there. Guy had a razor. It was at some point soon after that altercation that Van Gogh took the razor to himself and cut off his ear. Oh, dear. Wow, that’s pretty, pretty dark. But he went to the asylum and painted 150 paintings while there, including the masterpiece known as the starry night. Oh,
Bob Smith 26:01
that’s the beautiful one. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 26:03
Okay, you got another one before I give my quote,
Speaker 1 26:06
I have a question for you on sleep. Alright, alrighty. Cos I know, hello, hello. Most human beings get by with from six to eight hours of sleep a day. How much sleep do elephants demand? Gorillas and cats? Any idea?
Marcia Smith 26:21
I know lions sleep like 20 hours a day. Wow,
Bob Smith 26:24
I didn’t know that. Yeah, that’s why they’re so energetic. Okay, the largest animals need less sleep. Oddly enough, the elephant gets by on only about two hours of sleep a night. You’re kidding. While gorillas and Cats seem to need as much as 14 hours of shut eye, really, yeah, but an elephant only needs two, yeah,
Marcia Smith 26:44
I went to guess that.
Bob Smith 26:44
I mean either okay.
Marcia Smith 26:47
And here’s a quote from Reese Witherspoon, actress, okay, if you are not yelling at your kids, you are not spending enough time with them. And one final one from Irma Bombeck, remember her. When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.
Bob Smith 27:11
Oh, all right, well, that’s the joys of parenting, and at certain times of life, that’s the way it feels, too. You’re in the playpen yourself. Yeah. Hope you’ve enjoyed our show today, we would like to invite you to submit any questions you might have to us by going to our website, the offramp, dot show and scrolling down to contact us. I’m Bob Smith, I’m Marcia Smith. Join us again next time when we return with more fascinating facts and tantalizing 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
