Bob and Marcia engage in a lively conversation, covering topics from American history and culture to the decline of landline phones. Bob shares his knowledge of the founding fathers and their roles in shaping the country’s history, while Marcia impresses Bob with her trivia questions on presidential history. The conversation then shifts to the unexpected use of trained dolphins to guard the US nuclear arsenal, and the speakers discuss food-related topics and the origin of the word ‘window.’ Throughout the conversation, Bob and Marcia share their enthusiasm and curiosity for different subjects, showcasing their diverse interests and perspectives.
Outline
Founding fathers, nuclear arsenal guarded by dolphins.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the seven founding fathers of the United States, with Bob providing his own take on the matter and Marcia providing historical context.
- Bob Smith shares interesting facts about the term “founding fathers,” including that it was first coined by Warren G. Harding in 1916 and that some of the founding fathers, such as John Adams, did not like the term.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the use of trained dolphins to monitor the water near a US naval base in Washington state, where 25% of the country’s nuclear weapons are stored.
- The dolphins use their mouths to attach buoys to intruders, such as divers, and then drag them to the surface for easy identification.
US history, landlines, and founding fathers.
- 73% of Americans have gotten rid of their landlines, with states like New York and Maryland having the highest number in use.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the average age of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, with Bob correcting Marcia’s initial answer and providing the correct range of 26 to 70.
- Marcia Smith mentions that two presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died on July 4, while Bob Smith corrects her and states that the third president to die on that date was James Monroe.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of the term “United States of America,” with Bob revealing that it was coined by Thomas Paine, an English author who wrote the influential pamphlet “Common Sense.”
- Marcia and Bob also touch on Lafayette’s involvement in the American Revolution, with Bob mentioning that Lafayette wrote the popular pamphlet and encouraged Thomas Paine to move to America.
US presidents, war, and history.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the first female cabinet member, Francis Perkins, who served under Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.
- Bob and Marcia later discuss the Navy’s elite fighting force, the NSA Navy dolphins, and their history of being associated with the Navy for almost 100 years.
- Bob Smith shares a unique story about a white dish towel used as a flag of truce during the American Civil War, and its subsequent preservation in the National Museum.
- Marcia Smith is surprised by the story and asks why a dish towel was used as a flag of truce, to which Bob Smith offers a humorous response.
Food, history, and brain cells.
- Marcia and Bob discuss unusual dishes, including a stir fry featuring stones.
- Marcia and Bob discuss Texas’ official state snacks, including tortilla chips and salsa, and the fact that the state legislature made tortilla chips and salsa the official snack in 2003.
- Scientists have found evidence that humans can generate new brain cells in certain areas of the brain, including the hippocampus, which is associated with learning and memory.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the differences between turtles and tortoises, with Bob providing examples and Marcia struggling to keep up.
Word origins and quotes.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origin of the word “window,” learning that it comes from the Norse word “vintra” or “gwoc,” meaning “opening” or “hole.”
- Bob and Marcia discuss quotes from Gloria Steinem, Groucho Marx, and George Carlin, and invite listeners to contribute their own quotes to the show.
Bob Smith 0:00
Name the seven founding fathers, and what trained animals help guard the US nuclear arsenal? 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 and take a side road to sanity. Well, Marcia seven Founding Fathers Yes, I think I saw something about that. This was a historian who named the seventh right? Yes,
Marcia Smith 0:48
Richard Morris, the historian in 1973. He identified these seven figures as key founders based on a series of tests he did and actually he looked at them as the leaders who produced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Bob Smith 1:05
Okay, let me give you my take on that. Okay. I think we’ve got to have of course, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote it, John Adams, who is involved in the writing of a to as was, let’s see, Benjamin Franklin. Then you probably have is Alexander Hamilton is okay. So that’s 1234. So I need three more George Washington got it. And then who would be the other two?
Marcia Smith 1:30
Yep. One was the president and one wasn’t
Bob Smith 1:32
James Madison. Correct. And then would be spine you’ve
Marcia Smith 1:37
always read about this guy. I always read about him. He always comes up in all the documentaries.
Bob Smith 1:43
Aaron Burr. Now, okay.
Marcia Smith 1:45
John J.
Bob Smith 1:46
Oh, John J. Yes. Who became the Supreme Court Justice of the United States.
Marcia Smith 1:50
So it was John J. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
Bob Smith 1:57
Those are considered the original seven founding fathers. Yeah. Okay. Hey, you know, I have a question on that. Okay. Who came up with the term founding
Marcia Smith 2:06
fathers? Oddly enough? I don’t know that. Okay.
Bob Smith 2:09
Let me tell you a little bit about that. All right. This was a future president as well. And it wasn’t until 140 years after the revolution began that that phrase became popular. Did you know that? No, I didn’t. Warren G. Harding. He was a US senator. He first coined the phrase founding fathers. And he did it in a keynote speech for the Republican National Convention in 1916. Before that term, such as the fathers, the founders and founders of the Republic were used, but not founding fathers. In fact, some of the founding fathers didn’t like that kind of term. Did you know that? John Adams in 1811, responding to praise for his generation said, don’t call me father or founder. These titles belong to no man, but to the American people in general. So founding father, the term has only been around since 1916.
Marcia Smith 3:02
Well, that makes sense. Yeah. It’s not something that would come out at the time, is it? I’ve got a couple more intermitted
Bob Smith 3:07
my question now. Oh, my teaser question.
Marcia Smith 3:12
Oh, yeah. You did have a tease? Yes. Right. Yeah, it was it Bob. What
Bob Smith 3:15
trained animals help guard the US nuclear arsenal. Believe it or not? What trained animals help guard the US nuclear arsenal. They do? No.
Marcia Smith 3:28
Lions.
Bob Smith 3:31
Well, sea lions do help the government but that’s not what this is. Yeah. Okay. Let me think I’ll tell you where this is. This is in Washington’s Puget Sound.
Marcia Smith 3:41
Oh, okay. Oh, Seattle. Okay, so whales. No,
Bob Smith 3:46
no, no. Dolphins? Yes. Yes, according to britannica.com. Now, this is at the Naval Base Kitsap. In Washington’s Puget Sound Washington state. That’s home to one quarter of the US stockpile of nuclear weapons. You didn’t know that? No, here your friends in Seattle living near a big blow up there. Yeah, it’s there that train dolphins monitor the water near the base. They do it round the clock and alert guards to suspicious activity. Really? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 4:15
How do they alert them? Well,
Bob Smith 4:16
I had to look a little deeper to find this and on military.com I found a story they protect the naval base Kitsap from mines by using biological sonar, so if a dolphin detects a mine or some other explosive, the dolphin returns to the handler who gives the animal a boy to mark the location of the device on the surface of the water then Navy explosives Ordnance Disposal divers dive in and investigate and hopefully neutralize the threat. If a dolphin detects a diver intruder, if somebody’s under the water swimming towards that naval base, half Dolphins will swim up to them bump into them and place buoy devices under a limb how mild they use their mouth and they attach a buoy to their limb or They’re back. And then the bully drags the outed diver to the surface for easy CAPTCHA. And that true, it’s true. And it is because that naval base houses the largest single nuclear weapons site in the world, the US has 9952 nuclear warheads, and 25% of them are there. So it needs protection from all sides, including from the sea. So that’s where the Navy dolphins and sea lions come in. They’ve been defending the waters around the stockpile since 2010. Wow,
Marcia Smith 5:31
that blows my mind. Isn’t it amazing? Okay. What percentage of Americans don’t have landlines anymore?
Bob Smith 5:41
What percentage of Americans don’t have landlines anymore? I think we’ve gone past the 50% mark. Haven’t we know
Marcia Smith 5:48
it? 73% down tab on three out of four people got rid of their landlines. Wow.
Bob Smith 5:54
So only about 25% of people have landlines, we are
Marcia Smith 5:59
in the minority you and I can probably get rid of it. Now the way we keep losing our phones around the house.
Bob Smith 6:04
We got two cell phones. You can call the other one where the hell’s the other cell phone.
Marcia Smith 6:08
But what if you’re not here and I can’t find mine and the kids want to call
Bob Smith 6:12
then you’re in trouble. But that’s just due to your mistakes. It’s
Marcia Smith 6:15
cheap. It’s cheap. And it’s I think it’s a better connection to like I said 73% That’s three out of four Download tab them. It’s a number that has tripled since 2010. According to Bloomberg survey, man, now this will surprise you states like New York and Maryland have the highest number of landlines yet still in use. And states like Idaho, Texas, and Mississippi have the least you know, I would think
Bob Smith 6:41
that’s because New York big business, lots of businesses there. and Maryland close to Washington, lots of government agencies, so they would say no, we’re keeping our landline.
Marcia Smith 6:51
How can you think of that and
Bob Smith 6:52
what were the states with the least least
Marcia Smith 6:54
were Texas, Mississippi, Idaho, will so these are
Bob Smith 6:58
big states generally large spaces with, you know, sparser populations for the most part, although Texas has a lot of people. Yeah, yeah. More frontiers out on the frontier Paragon we don’t need those landlines say that. Sure. Okay, Marcia. We’ve done this before a couple of times. But I think it’s always nice to bring up during the independence day period of time. What was the average age of the signers of the Declaration of Independence? Do you remember that? Hey,
Marcia Smith 7:24
was yes, somewhere around 3534? No, no, no, no, you’re wrong.
Bob Smith 7:29
Okay, so
Marcia Smith 7:31
have such relish when you say you
Bob Smith 7:33
have to remember the range from 26 to 70. Because the oldest was Ben Franklin, the youngest were 26. So the average age was 44. Oh, okay. But there were a dozen of the signers who were younger than 35. But the the youngest guys were Thomas Lynch and Edward Rutledge. They were delegates from South Carolina. They were 26. And how about the other people who are involved in the revolution, Marquis de Lafayette. How old was he when that was signed?
Marcia Smith 7:59
I remember him he was when he was 20s 18.
Bob Smith 8:04
And Alexander Hamilton. He
Marcia Smith 8:06
was well, I saw the play, so I should know this. I don’t he was only early 20s. Yeah.
Bob Smith 8:10
21 John Hancock was 39. Even King George of England was only 38 in 1776. So why do we think of these founding fathers as older people? historian David McCullough points out that the only visuals we have of them were painted when they were much older by people like Gilbert Stewart? Oh, yeah. John Trumbull, right. But guess what, at the time of the declaration, the painters were young Gilbert Stuart and John Trumbull were just 20 years old, at 1776. When the revolution began, it’d be years before they painted the founding fathers. And in the meantime, everyone would age revolution as a young person’s game, as David McCullough says,
Marcia Smith 8:48
All right. We’ve talked about this before. And I’ve always found it fascinating that two of our presidents died on Fourth of July on the 50th anniversary of the
Bob Smith 8:59
signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yes, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. That’s
Marcia Smith 9:04
correct. But there was a third that died on July 4, Bob Smith.
Bob Smith 9:08
Bob Smith was president. I
Marcia Smith 9:10
didn’t know that third president.
Bob Smith 9:12
Okay. A third president died on that date. Huh? No, Calvin Coolidge was born on that date. But who died on that day? I don’t know who what’s the answer? No.
Marcia Smith 9:23
Okay. It was James Monroe. Oh, really? Yeah. He died only five years later in 1831. So he’s the third president to die on July 4. Oh, okay. Isn’t that interesting? It is. Yeah. And he was known for the Monroe Doctrine row
Bob Smith 9:40
doctrine. What was that? He stated that European powers need to just stay out of American waters all the North and South America will take care of ourselves. Oh, good
Marcia Smith 9:48
for you. That’s right. Yeah. Said the US would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs.
Bob Smith 9:55
That was the end of it. I don’t even think of it. All right, Marsha. You Here’s another one that’s related to Independence Day, the term United States of America who coined that and guess what? It wasn’t by an American. Who was the person France? No.
Marcia Smith 10:12
Who is the person? percent? Here’s
Bob Smith 10:14
a hint He was a famous author. And he did take part in the Revolution. Churchill? No and he didn’t take part. Don’t jump the gun. He was not an American, but he did take part in the American Revolution. Who was he? Lafayette? What did Lafayette write that makes you think he was an author?
Marcia Smith 10:30
The stories of Lafayette and everyone knows no, no,
Bob Smith 10:35
no, no, it’s Thomas Paine. Oh, really? He wrote the popular pamphlet common sense. He was the person who coined the expression. The United States of America did that. Where did he come from? England. Yeah, from England. And you could say that Ben Franklin may have shared in some of the credit for that term, because it was Ben Franklin, who encouraged Thomas Paine to move to America. He lived his first 37 years in London. Yeah. Ben
Marcia Smith 10:59
had a lot to do with a lot of things in the early days. That’s interest. wonderful person, Thomas Paine. Yeah. Did you ever read that? His papers? Common
Bob Smith 11:06
sense? Yes. It’s really glorious. I mean, you want to just stand up and go? Yeah, yes.
Marcia Smith 11:10
That’s amazing. Yes. If only people could be that articulate today, you
Bob Smith 11:15
gave the Americans the battle cry. Here’s what you got here. And that’s what
Marcia Smith 11:20
you need in times of woe. And trouble is someone that can rouse you.
Bob Smith 11:24
But if you read about Thomas Paine, he was a little bit of a difficult person to he wanted to be paid for by the Congress as the official writer off he went for all kinds of things like nah, Tom II got great ideas. Great words here, but no, no, no, no. But that was a best seller. That pamphlet. Yeah, it’s sold all over the colonies.
Marcia Smith 11:42
I read it so long ago, but I remember being very impressed. Okay, Marsh, all right. What President appointed the first female cabinet member, the
Bob Smith 11:51
first female cabinet member was I think it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, wasn’t it?
Marcia Smith 11:55
Correct. She’s
Bob Smith 11:56
the treasury secretary. What was her name? No, it wasn’t. Well, Secretary labor, right. What’s her name?
Marcia Smith 12:02
Francis Perkins. There
Bob Smith 12:03
you go. I knew it was Perkins.
Marcia Smith 12:06
I’m pretty impressed that you knew that by Thank you. Yes, she went on to serve as labor secretary, the longest of anyone in that position for 12 years. Wow. Till 1945 Pretty
Bob Smith 12:17
farsighted for FDR to do that. He did so many different things during the great depression because he had kind of had the freedom to do it. There was just the country was almost, you know, bordering on insurrection, there was a real difficult time. Yeah. Hey, let’s get back to dolphins. Okay, they are fascinating. Okay, now, you may not know this, but dolphins are held in such high esteem. They are the mascot for one of the Navy’s most elite fighting forces. Stamp aside Navy SEALs
Marcia Smith 12:46
make NSA Navy dolphins.
Bob Smith 12:49
Really? Yeah, that’s what the members of the elite us submarine force are known. They’re called dolphins, and they earned their status by mastering the vast array of systems aboard a submarine in a process called qualifying. And then their veterans wear hats and vests and shirts and even buckles adorned with submarine dolphins.
Marcia Smith 13:07
No kidding. When did this come about? Well,
Bob Smith 13:10
this is interesting. This goes back almost 100 years now.
Marcia Smith 13:13
Can you believe that? I thought it just happened no submarine
Bob Smith 13:16
warfare insignia is considered one of the most difficult to earn in the Navy. They pictured a surfaced o class submarine flanked by two dolphins resting their heads on the deck of the submarine. It’s been the Insignia since 1924. So dolphins go back as far as being associated with the Navy for almost 100 years now.
Marcia Smith 13:37
Okay. All right. Last presidential question, Bob. Okay, named the two future presidents to sign the Declaration of Independence. And
Bob Smith 13:45
we’ll answer that question. After this for the off ramp. I Bob Smith.
Marcia Smith 13:51
I’m Marcia put your Google search away, Bob.
Bob Smith 13:53
Okay, we’ll be back in just a moment. Let me just take my phone here. Okay, we’re back again with the off ramp. We do this for the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and it’s internet radio station. One of the few if not the only owned by a library in the world, the only Okay, Marsh, do you have? You’ve researched all this? I did. Okay. You visited every library in the world and said, Excuse me, do you have a radio station? All right. All right. You have a question about two
Marcia Smith 14:26
presidents. Right? What two presidents signed the Declaration of Independence? What future presidents?
Bob Smith 14:31
Yeah, okay. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson,
Marcia Smith 14:35
da. Okay. Now named the two different ones that signed the Constitution.
Bob Smith 14:40
Okay. Different presidents who signed the Constitution, different future presidents. Okay. James Madison. Yes. And let’s see one more James Madison and George Washington. Yes. Okay. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 14:52
All right. You are my presidential scholar in house and James
Bob Smith 14:57
Madison took all these notes that were published here. As leader, he kept a diary. And then of course, the head of that that whole convention, the person in charge of it was George Washington, so that’s why I know Okay,
Marcia Smith 15:08
wow. Yeah. Plus you read everything about every president. In house, Presidential Scholar,
Bob Smith 15:16
there’s only two of us here, Mark.
Marcia Smith 15:18
I know. Okay, that’s not hard. Is
Bob Smith 15:19
it? Okay. All right. I’ve got a question not about a president but about a war. Okay. This came to light recently, I’ve seen pictures of it. And I’d never heard of this before. What part did a dish towel play in ending the American Civil War? How
Marcia Smith 15:34
funny I should say that. Why? I have no idea. Oh.
Bob Smith 15:39
Because it was used as a flag of truce.
Marcia Smith 15:42
Was it a white one? It was white. Yes. It still
Bob Smith 15:45
exists, or parts of it still exist. who waved it? Well, it was a confederate. Yeah, but boo. Well, here’s the story. Okay. Union troops were surrounding Robert at least forces in Virginia in April of 1865. And Lee decided the jig is up. So he sent a staff officer our M Sims across enemy lines to ask for a ceasefire. So lead could meet with Union General Ulysses S. Grant, and to pass through the Union line safely, generally handed Simms, a fringed white dish towel, which Simms carried with him, okay, so he could wave it like, okay, you know, don’t kill me. And after the surrender at Appomattox, Simpson was asked by the Union Colonel Whitaker for the towel to preserve its role in history. And guess what his response was? I’ll see you in hell first. I’ve shall not let you preserve it as a monument to our defeats. Well, somehow the white dish towel did end up in Union hands. Well, it’s
Marcia Smith 16:39
not like Grant walked over and handed him you know, sent me that thing, seven dishes that needed dry.
Bob Smith 16:44
But according to National Geographic after the war, the Union General Philip Sheridan presented that flag of truce to General George Custers wife, Elizabeth, and then when she died, she donated it to the United States National Museum. So it’s been in the American collection since 1936. Okay, now, you might ask this question, Marsha. I might but probably not why didn’t they just use an official flag of truce?
Marcia Smith 17:09
They didn’t have one handy somebody used it for something else. Well, the reason is bandage
Bob Smith 17:15
according to flag expert James Harrigan army’s never issued truce flags, because they be counterproductive to morale it is. That’s why if things aren’t going your way, and you have to chat with the guys with the bigger guns, you have to find something else. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 17:29
Is that a pair of BVDs? I see what is
Bob Smith 17:31
underwear there? Yeah. So throughout history, truce flags, they’re known as flags of parley. That’s the another words we want to talk have overwhelmingly been household items like towels, sheets and pillowcases. And today, a portion of that white dish towel, which is yellowed with age, is now in a glass case on the third floor of the National Museum of American History. And that’s how a dish towel played a part in ending the civil war.
Marcia Smith 17:58
I was afraid it’s going to be something we’ll be seeing next week at that Grant Museum and Galena, we’re going to oh, I can’t wait. Okay, Bob. The Chinese social media currently is full of a new dining craze. What is being served along with your stir fried today in the more trendy restaurants in Hong Kong? Well,
Bob Smith 18:20
stir fry is vegetable. This is
Marcia Smith 18:22
something something new, something totally a new ingredient. Well, it’s not even an ingredient. It’s an object.
Bob Smith 18:28
Really?
Marcia Smith 18:29
Oh yeah. It’s been dubbed According to CNN, the world’s hardest dish.
Bob Smith 18:34
Do they put rocks Yes. Wow.
Marcia Smith 18:39
That’s it. A traditional stir fry featuring stones as its key ingredient has sparked culinary curiosity on Chinese social media. Oh
Bob Smith 18:48
my goodness. Oh, they
Marcia Smith 18:49
do come up with some fun things don’t they? Patrons are supposed to sack and small rocks to relish the rich and spicy flavor of the dish. suck off the flavor and then spit out the rock cheese. You can take them home as a souvenir
Bob Smith 19:03
to oh no kidding. Yes, I got these at
Marcia Smith 19:07
first you have to pay for him. Customers are served the flavored stones in little palm sized boxes. labored stone each cost about 16 yen or $2.30 Okay, this custom of sucking stones goes back hundreds of years and it was passed down from starving boatman putting spices on stones. So they had some kind of nourishment. Gee whiz,
Bob Smith 19:28
that sounds horrible. Hit dance. Okay, speaking of food, what is the official state snack of Texas and Marsha? Unlike you? I have hints. Okay. Baby back ribs, chips and salsa chicken wings or jalapeno peppers. Which one is the official chicken snack? What?
Marcia Smith 19:50
Chicken eggs?
Bob Smith 19:50
No. Jalapeno
Marcia Smith 19:52
peppers. No. Okay, I’ll tell you the answer now.
Bob Smith 19:55
Okay, the answer is what were the other two chips and salsa or chicken? chips and salts. You’re right. It is good on the third try. Yeah, the Texas State legislature made tortilla chips and salsa. The state’s official snack 20 years ago in 2003. Do
Marcia Smith 20:12
you know the snack for Wisconsin? No. What is it fried cheese curds? Of
Bob Smith 20:17
course. Yeah. Back to Texas. The jalapeno is the state’s official pepper. Their official vegetable is the sweet onion. And the Texas State Fish is the Guadalupe Bass.
Marcia Smith 20:30
Wow, they have something for everything they do possibly have
Bob Smith 20:33
culinary treasures. Those are actually pretty good. Are they? So that’s all about Texas eating.
Marcia Smith 20:39
Okay, Robert?
Bob Smith 20:40
Yes.
Marcia Smith 20:41
Can you or can you not grow new brain cells?
Bob Smith 20:44
Can you? Oh, I’m sorry. That’s that was the answer, or
Marcia Smith 20:48
can you not?
Bob Smith 20:49
I always heard you couldn’t grow new brain cells, right?
Marcia Smith 20:52
I’m sorry. What’s your answer?
Bob Smith 20:54
I forgot I lost my brain. So
Marcia Smith 20:57
tell me the answer. Until the 1990s. Bob, most scientists believed 100 billion cells was all we’d ever have. No more. I don’t know who counted them. Wow. growing new neurons would interrupt communication they thought with our existing brain cells. But now they tossed that theory out the window. Okay. And in 1998, a study found evidence that humans could generate new cells in the brain’s hippocampus. Thank God said Hey, you said hippocampus, that hippocampus
Bob Smith 21:26
that’s on the back of the campus. That is the power plant and the stadium, right? Yeah, it’s,
Marcia Smith 21:33
it’s an area in your brain associated with learning and memory. Okay. And more recent studies have largely supported the idea Bob that suggests we might be able to make 1500 neurons a day. Wow. Just through
Bob Smith 21:48
this is this is interesting news to all of us who grew up thinking anytime you got drunk, you are destroying brain cells and you’re sniffing each drink goes you’re stupid or stupid or stupid or, but no, now maybe you can grow new ones. Brain Cells I’m talking about. There’s
Marcia Smith 22:04
a joke there. Okay. growing fresh neurons make our brains more resilient against Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety and other disorders. Okay, keep on learning. Keep on reading keep on trying to figure things out. Keep growing
Bob Smith 22:17
those brain cells. All right, Marsha. I have a question for you on evolution. Yes to What animal is believed to have escaped dinosaur killing asteroids. This animal is still with us.
Marcia Smith 22:29
Oh, yes. Yes.
Bob Smith 22:30
Let’s the animal. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 22:31
The Is it the roach? No. Is that? Oh, it’s ants. No, he does No.
Bob Smith 22:39
Bigger, bigger. Pet shell. Turtles Turtles. That’s according to britannica.com. About 80% of today’s known turtle species survived the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. So apparently they think that there are a few other things that survived that that are still around but the turtles are didn’t know that. Okay, now what’s the difference between a turtle and a tortoise Marsha Well,
Marcia Smith 23:04
ah,
Bob Smith 23:05
no tortoises are older turtles. No, that’s not it.
Marcia Smith 23:10
Fun, Bob. Yes, I am. I don’t know the difference. Is that what you want to hear? No, I
Bob Smith 23:15
want you to come up with a different shell. No tortoises and turtles are both reptiles whose bodies are encased in a bony shell. But tortoises are land creatures. Turtles may live on land or water. Tortoises are generally vegetarians. And turtles are omnivorous. They’ll eat anything. meat, vegetables, you name it. Finally, two more things.
Marcia Smith 23:40
Tortoises don’t go in the water. Tortoises
Bob Smith 23:43
live on land. And here’s another thing, there are anatomical differences. You may think they look alike, because, well, they’re both in a shell and you don’t see a whole lot of them but tortoises because they are exclusively land creatures. They have elephant time, or columnar limbs and feet, those big thick things in the back. Okay, yeah. Turtles because they can live on land or in water. Their forearms are flipper like and their hind feet are webbed. So the easiest thing is to look at the web feet in the back. Say okay, that’s a turtle. No kidding. So it’s that helps it swim. But it doesn’t need that if it’s gonna live on land. It’ll be a tortoise.
Marcia Smith 24:20
Okay. Here’s one you probably thought about earlier today. What’s the origin of the word window?
Bob Smith 24:27
Oh, that’s a good What’s the origin of the word window?
Marcia Smith 24:30
So it sounds mundane, but it’s actually I like things
Bob Smith 24:33
like this because like, where did that word come from? window. So window is known as an opening. So it must go back to something meaning opening or a hole probably Greek or Latin? I don’t know the answer. What’s the answer?
Marcia Smith 24:45
I love to hear you say that.
Bob Smith 24:47
I don’t know the answer. Early II don’t know the answer.
Marcia Smith 24:52
grinning from ear to ear. Early Norse Homes Bob were simply designed and often included a stable for life. I’m stuck under the same roof so you got your bed here and then you got your cows right next to you just so you know okay winter when the doors are shut tight it got a bit smoky from the fire and a bit stinky from the animal I would think so so the North’s they build hall they build holes high on the walls and under the roof for ventilation they put holes way up high okay to for ventilation and they call these openings vintra or gwoc It meant the winds i The winds i Yeah, and when the British copied the practice they modified the word into the word window wow
Bob Smith 25:42
now tell me how they spelled that the the nor spelled the other one the the original name
Marcia Smith 25:48
our vendor vi N Dr. And agua AUG A Wow.
Bob Smith 25:53
So that met the winds i which is very poetic. It is poetic. Yeah. The winds i Yeah. Up
Marcia Smith 26:00
and you go watch the wind die for me today. That’s right. I
Bob Smith 26:03
want you to squeegee that winds. Oh, they probably didn’t have any glass in it. So it changed but the British changed it to Windows. Yeah. Okay.
Marcia Smith 26:11
Have quite, you know, modified the word? Yes. Yes. All
Bob Smith 26:15
right, Marsha. I have a thought for the day. I know you have thoughts. But this comes from my cousin Roger Moore of Hayden Ville, Ohio, had this sign that he shared on Facebook and I think it’s funny. It’s a pawn sign. Okay, okay. It says Don’t tell secrets in the garden. The potatoes have eyes. The corn has ears. And the beans talk Beanstalk. So thanks to Roger of Hayden Ville for that.
Marcia Smith 26:40
kind of cute. Yep. Don’t
Bob Smith 26:41
Don’t tell any secrets there. Potatoes have eyes, corner beers in the beanstalk. I
Marcia Smith 26:46
got three quotes. Gloria Steinem. The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.
Bob Smith 26:55
I like that. Yeah, that’s good. Groucho
Marcia Smith 26:57
Marx. People are born alike. Except Republicans and Democrats. Yeah, that’s true.
Bob Smith 27:03
They’re totally different.
Marcia Smith 27:04
That’s right. That’s why we’re going to preserve both good got one more from George Carlin. Okay. In America, anyone can be president. That’s the problem.
Bob Smith 27:15
And that is the problem. All right. That’s great. Well, if you’d like to contribute to our show, like Roger did with that quote, or did the problem be part of the problem here, you can go to our website, the off ramp dot show, scroll all the way down to contact us and leave us a message. We’d love to hear from you. Just send a thought please send something. I’m Bob Smith. I’m
Marcia Smith 27:33
Marcia Smith. Join us again next
Bob Smith 27:34
time when we return with another half hour of funfilled facts and tantalizing trivia here on the off ramp. The Earth rep is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarbrook Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
