Bob and Marcia discuss the unique historical footprint of two Quaker US presidents, Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover, who were eighth cousins and Republicans. They also explore the list of cities with the most bridges in the world, with unexpected winner Recon Qing China, and share interesting facts about Venice and Tokyo’s bridge infrastructure. Later, they discuss Francis Ford Coppola’s contributions to the film industry, including his family involvement spanning over 100 years, his connection to ‘Rocky,’ and his own accomplishments as a director and recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The speakers also delve into various aspects of forestry in the US, including literacy rates, state borders, and the history of the popsicle.
Outline
US presidents, bridges, and trivia.
- Quakers Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon were 8th cousins removed, both US presidents in the 20th century.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the number of bridges in various cities around the world, with Recon Qing, China topping the list with 10,000 bridges.
US forestry, literacy rates, and border dynamics.
- Marcia Smith: Maine is the most forested state in the US with 88.8% of its area composed of forests.
- Bob Smith: California has the most burned acreage with 2.2% of the state affected by fires.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the US-Canada border, including the no-touching zone and the existence of six airports with land and runways crossing both borders.
- According to the transcript, 21% of adults in the US were illiterate in 2022, and 54% had literacy levels below sixth grade level.
US-Canada border states, cereal history, and space tourism.
- Bob and Marcia discuss US states that border with Canada, including the five states that border with more than one Canadian province.
- Marcia and Bob discuss various topics, including Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner, as well as a mundane question about the best-selling cereal in the United States (Cheerios).
- Tito, a space tourist, paid $20 million to become the first private citizen to go to space in 2001.
- Marcia and Bob Smith discuss Nebraska’s unique unicameral legislature, with only one House of Representatives, and how it compares to the bicameral legislatures of other states.
- Bob Smith provides interesting facts about Nebraska’s unicameral legislature, including its small size and the former US Senator George Norris’ role in its creation.
Popsicle history and blinking habits.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of the popsicle, with Marcia providing the correct answer that it was invented by a 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson in 1905.
- Bob suggests that the name change from “epical” to “popsicle” was suggested by Frank’s kids, who grew up with the business and had a great influence on its naming.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith how many times she blinks per minute, and Marcia responds with a humorous explanation.
- The expression “one for the road” is discussed, with Marcia providing historical context and Bob joking about its potential danger.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the origins of the term “jaywalking,” with Bob sharing that it was originally used to describe unsophisticated rural people who didn’t know how to properly cross the street in urban areas.
- Marcia Smith explains that the term “jay” was used to refer to country bumpkins, and how the term evolved over time to become associated with pedestrians who disregard traffic laws.
- Francis Ford Coppola has had five generations of his family work in the movie business for over 100 years.
Famous quotes from US presidents.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss famous quotes from US presidents, with Bob providing the quotes and Marcia identifying the presidents.
- The pair play a lightning round of naming the presidents associated with famous quotes, with Marcia correctly identifying the presidents and Bob occasionally guessing correctly.
Marcia Smith 0:00
What two presidents were the only Quakers to hold that office and were eighth cousins removed.
Bob Smith 0:06
Wow, that’s interesting. All right. I knew you’d like that. And what city in the world has the most bridges? You won’t believe the number answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob Marcia
Marcia Smith 0:19
Smith.
Bob Smith 0:36
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy and take a side road to Saturday with some fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. Well, Marcia, two Quakers served as US presidents.
Marcia Smith 0:51
Yeah. And they were related. And they were related. Yes, Mr. MC, President history history MC breasted history.
Bob Smith 0:57
I think let me try this on for size. Okay. Were they from the 19th century or
Marcia Smith 1:03
the 20th century? 20th century? Okay.
Bob Smith 1:06
They’re both in the 20th century. One was raised a Quaker in the 20th century. I don’t think he was a Quaker, Richard Nixon. Is that one of them? Yep. Okay. And here’s the other one. Herbert Hoover. Oh, no kidding.
Marcia Smith 1:18
And they are eighth cousins. Once removed. No
Bob Smith 1:22
kidding.
Marcia Smith 1:23
There’s a lot of relations and both
Bob Smith 1:24
Republicans were that was Herbert Hoover. Oh, yeah. They’re both Republicans. How interesting. I never thought of Quakers in the 20th century being president. But I remember Richard Nixon’s family was Quaker so. Yeah. Herbert Hoover’s was
Marcia Smith 1:38
too and they made such a deal out about JFK being Catholic. You think Quakers would a made him crazy? That’s
Bob Smith 1:45
right. Yeah. Because you know, the Quakers were pacifists. They didn’t want a pacifist as president. He won’t protect us. You know? Okay, Marsha. I was looking at something a week or so ago. And it was about Venice, Italy having 400 bridges. And I thought, wow, I bet they go way back at least 1000 years. And I bet many of them are small. And that’s probably why they have so many. Then when they had the recent disaster in Baltimore that has closed the harbor. Yeah, I found out they have 300 bridges in Baltimore. And I started thinking, Well, really? Yeah. 300 bridges, how many bridges are in other cities? So I stumbled upon this list of nine cities with the most bridges in the world. So how many bridges Do you think LA has maybe 3050 40? Cash and
Marcia Smith 2:35
we go there all the time? Yeah. So I don’t know. I’ll say 7575 bridges.
Bob Smith 2:40
I would have thought something like that. It has 450 Oh, yes. How can that be more rivers in the Los Angeles area, the Los Angeles River, the Rio Hondo, San Gabriel and Santa Clara. They all converge. So they need lots of 450 bridges. Okay. What is next up on the list? It’s Tokyo. How many bridges Do you think they have? They got 39 million people there. No idea. And more than 100 rivers 500 bridges
Marcia Smith 3:07
in Tokyo in Tokyo, but how can you have 500 bridges in one city? I mean, I hope they don’t have to go up and down for okay,
Bob Smith 3:15
then you’re really going to be surprised because tell me numbers goes up. When you get to Europe. You’ve got cities with over 1000 bridges like Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin, and Hamburg, Germany. But the number one, the number one city with the most bridges 10,000 bridges, a city you’ve never heard of recon Qing China. No kidding. Yes. It’s a metropolis in southwestern China. Over 31 million people live there. And it’s called the Bridge capital of China. It’s the bridge capital of the world. 10,000 bridges. And some of the most modern you’ve ever seen in the world. There’s one that’s two bridges that connect together in the middle of a river. And they have 10,000 bridges, more bridges than any other city in the world. Okay, Bob,
Marcia Smith 4:06
what is the most forested state in the US? Oh, I
Bob Smith 4:11
saw this the other day. And I did go past the headline, the most forested state in the United States. Could it be Minnesota by any chance? Is it in the upper Midwest? No. Okay. Is it in the northwest? Is it Washington State or Oregon?
Marcia Smith 4:26
That’s what I would have said. But it’s no okay. What is it? It is Maine.
Bob Smith 4:30
No kidding. It lets the largest state in New England. It’s
Marcia Smith 4:34
the most forested with 88.8% of its total area Bob composed of forests. How many 88.8 Wow, that’s I had no idea. In fact, it has the highest percentage of any state when it comes to total woodland cover. The majority of trees in their forests are hardwood trees such as maple oak, birch and ash. Second place is New Hampshire at one Point 9%. Third is West Virginia with 78.1. So I was gonna go to the Midwest and Washington but it’s all out east. So that was very surprising. That’s interesting. So let’s go look at the bottom three. Okay? The least forested stays forested. This surprises me to South Dakota. 3.9%. Really? Nebraska 2.9% I knew Nebraska didn’t have that many forests and rock bottom is North Dakota with 1.8%. Wow, land covered in forests.
Bob Smith 5:32
The interest to him.
Marcia Smith 5:33
Just one more question about forests. What state has the most burned acreage
Bob Smith 5:39
the most burned over acreage? Yeah. Would that be California?
Marcia Smith 5:42
Yeah. It’s number one. And that’s still only 2.2% of the state.
Bob Smith 5:47
Yeah, that’s how big the state Yeah, but it’s got the most burned acreage because of all these fires. Yeah. Marcia, what is the No touching zone? between the US and Canada? Really, as it relates to forests,
Marcia Smith 6:02
and no touching zone, no touching zone? Well, you can’t, you can’t chop down their trees and they can’t tap chop down our tree
Bob Smith 6:10
trees from each side of the border. Don’t ever touch no trees totally. Because because there is a no touching zone. Believe it or not, I didn’t know this, that when the 49th parallel was established as the border between the two countries Canada and the US surveyors were sent out they marked off the entire 5525 mile border, and they established 900 concrete markers. But they also created a no touch zone, you can see this it’s nearly a straight horizontal line across the whole continent, okay,
Marcia Smith 6:45
is this because of transference of bugs or disease just decided
Bob Smith 6:50
they would have a deforested line. And the US and Canada each backed off of their borders by 10 feet, cutting down all the trees in between, oh, dear, that means along the border, no tree of one nation touches the other. You can see this, it’s interesting. And you know, you’re on the border, because you’re in a 20 foot wide grass strip and any new saplings that sprout in that no touch zone, they’re cut down. Well, do they say why? Just the government’s decided that we have this border, we have to know where it is. We’re not going to build a wall. We’re not going to build a fence. Oh, just a way to know what country you’re
Marcia Smith 7:24
in. Oh, that’s, that’s good. Better than a wall? No,
Bob Smith 7:26
even though they have that there are still six airports with land and runways crossing both borders. Why is that? Six airports that have led in both countries? I didn’t know that either. And then of course, that one New England town we heard about a month it’s bisected by the border to in
Marcia Smith 7:43
the library. That’s right. I mean, you can be in both countries in one room of a library.
Bob Smith 7:49
But there is a no touching zone between the US and Canada. Just like the No touching zone your parents made when you were in cars with your siblings. That’s right. And you weren’t allowed to touch and I always had
Marcia Smith 8:00
to sit in the middle. How can you do that? Don’t touch your brothers. Is that? Okay, Bob, what percentage of adults in the US cannot read?
Bob Smith 8:11
So illiteracy we’re talking here? Yeah. Wow, I would hope that would be very small. But gee, maybe it’s not as small as I thought I’m gonna go 20% or less.
Marcia Smith 8:21
Very good. 21% were illiterate in 2022. That’s a fifth of the country. It’s crazy. And 54% of adults have literacy below sixth grade level. Oh, my, you know that literacy is near and dear to my heart. And I volunteered a lot to teach literacy to adults, American adults who could not read. It was very gratifying, once they caught on. These were adults who wanted to take tests to be truck drivers or whatever. And, and they needed to be able to read the darn test. So it’s crucial. The states with the lowest level of literacy are Texas, Mississippi, California and New Mexico.
Bob Smith 9:02
These are the states with the most reading problems.
Marcia Smith 9:06
There aren’t many surveys with Mississippi and California almost tying. That’s unusual.
Bob Smith 9:13
Speaking of states, how many US states have borders with Canada? I’ll give you the numbers. Okay. Four 710 or 1310? Actually, there are 13 or 1313. States, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Alaska. 13 states that border with Canada and eight Canadian provinces that border with the United States. Do
Marcia Smith 9:42
you still need a passport to go to Canada? Yes, you do. I think when I was a kid, I guess we didn’t have to have passports we went up there. Very interesting.
Bob Smith 9:50
Okay, Marsha. One more question about the borders. Okay. What US states have borders with more than one Canadian province. Five states. Yeah. border more than one Canadian province. You know which ones they are?
Marcia Smith 10:02
Wow. I’d say Montana is one of them. Yes. In
Bob Smith 10:05
fact, that is the only one that borders three Canadian provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Okay. Okay. What are the other states you mentioned that had hardly any forest. You just mentioned it started with North Dakota, North Dakota. shares a 310 mile border with Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They have 18 border crossings across North Dakota. Yeah, including the International Peace Garden airport to
Marcia Smith 10:33
know Canadians they all have to be monitored all across our border. What are the
Bob Smith 10:37
other states we
Unknown Speaker 10:38
did two of the five now Tommy,
Bob Smith 10:40
Minnesota has a 547 mile border with Manitoba and Ontario. New York State shares a 445 mile long border with Ontario and Quebec, and Maine is bounded to the northwest and northeast by the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. So those are all the states that border with more than one Canadian province, okay. There’s one state that has no land touching Canada. It shares a water only border. Oh, Canada, Michigan. That’s it. I gave that to you because you live there. That’s a 721 mile border, but it’s a marine boundary. I didn’t realize it was that much. Yeah. And it’s the second largest border between the two countries. Okay,
Marcia Smith 11:23
who come on. This guy was a 35 year old attorney who tried to negotiate the freedom of a friend held hostage by the British. I know who it is during the War of 1812. He had a bridge
Bob Smith 11:39
named after him which collapsed in Baltimore, Francis Scott Key, but he’s known more for the Star Spangled banana. I mean, the Star Spangled Banner
Marcia Smith 11:50
Bravo Bob. Yes. I thought I’d have to give you two clues. But you knew he was an attorney and tried to negotiate freedom for friend.
Bob Smith 11:58
That’s why he was on the boat out in the middle of the harbor and saw
Marcia Smith 12:01
the rock. Yeah, all right.
Bob Smith 12:05
Okay, Marcia. Here’s a mundane one. What cereal is the best selling one in the United States? I’m gonna give you choices here. Cheerios, Lucky Charms cornflakes or Froot Loops.
Marcia Smith 12:13
I hope it’s not Froot Loops. I’ll say cornflakes.
Bob Smith 12:18
No, it’s Cheerios. Believe it or not. I prefer Cheerios myself. This is interesting. You never hear any of the history of these things. They tested more than 500 formulas and numerous shapes and sizes before it landed on the winning combination in 1941. And originally, the name was cheery oats. Oh, really? Cheery oats. That name was changed to the familiar Cheerios in 1945. They sell about $435 million worth of the Cheerios every year. Okay. And of course, it’s made with whole grain oats. So it’s a gluten free. Just want you to know that.
Marcia Smith 12:54
I’m a gluten Nazi. Not really now. All right. 2001. Bob, Dennis, Tito, T it paid $20 million to make history by becoming the first
Bob Smith 13:07
space. Tourist. Oh,
Marcia Smith 13:10
exactly. Oh, I
Bob Smith 13:12
just figured it was 20 million. It’s got to be something like this space tourists. Yeah. What was his name again? Dennis
Marcia Smith 13:17
Tito. And it’s 2001. That was quite a while ago. Yeah, I didn’t know we had him up there that long ago. $20 million. And one, I had four choices if you stumbled on this. And that was just one of them. Do you know any more about him? He founded the Wilshire Associates. It’s a leading provider of investment management consulting and technology. In Santa Monica, California. He was
Bob Smith 13:41
in finance. Yes. Okay. If you want a seat on the space shuttle or space station, you have to have that kind of money. So that’s
Marcia Smith 13:47
about podcasts, people. Where do we get to go? No, we don’t get to go at all. Okay, we go to somewhere. We just have to watch or bank or something. Watch TV.
Bob Smith 13:58
Watch it all on TV. Okay. You know, I think it’s time for a break, I think. Let’s take a space break. We’ll be back in just a moment. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. Welcome back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. We do this each week for the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and it’s internet radio station. And then it goes on podcast platforms around the world all over the world. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take that away from that. Sorry, Marcia. What is the only state with a unicameral legislature and what is that? What? What is the only state with a unicameral legislature. You know, unicameral Ca me Ral you and I meaning one cameral legislature. What does that mean? I don’t know. It means it only has one House of Representatives. Oh really? Does never house in the Senate. There’s only one in the whole country. What state is it? Is it in the South? No.
Marcia Smith 14:56
Is it in the east? No, it is not. I know where it is. Okay, where the West?
Bob Smith 15:01
Midwest West? Yes, it’s all. Okay. Well,
Marcia Smith 15:04
I don’t know. Is it
Bob Smith 15:06
Texas? Isn’t Nebraska? Is it Utah? Is it Washington? I’ll say Utah. It is Nebraska. It is. I got it right. Oh, I knew the answer. 49 states have bicameral legislatures to separate houses, think of the Senate and the House of Representatives, but only one state strays from that model, and that is Nebraska. They moved to a unicameral legislature in 1937. Their legislators are all called senators. Former US Senator George Norris was the primary force behind that change. He thought that a one house legislature would be more efficient and would consume fewer taxpayer dollars. And is it? I don’t know. But they’ve got the only state capitol that looks like a skyscraper. Oh, really? Yeah. If you’ve never seen a picture of it, look at it. It’s in Lincoln. It’s tall. And it’s a unicameral legislature. And it only has 49 members to so it’s the smallest legislature of any state, and they probably get everything done on time. They probably do.
Marcia Smith 16:07
All right, Bob, why did the popsicle go from one pop to two pops per package?
Bob Smith 16:13
I never thought of that. Yeah, you’re right. They did come in two pops per package, didn’t they? Yes, they did. But originally one. Well, maybe because they found that they had to compete against something else that had more than one unit. Yeah, like Twinkies, you know? Yeah. Maybe they had a couple of Twinkies package.
Marcia Smith 16:29
Well, that’s a good guess. But it’s wrong. The Great Depression happened forced a lot of different changes in the world. They were created so two children could share a nickel treat. Oh, that’s a good idea. Yeah, there was, you know, so much poverty going around and people were poor. So they said, Let’s divide this up. So two friends can share it to what a great thing that is. And yeah, you should know this. Who invented the popsicle. That was
Bob Smith 16:56
guy named EP. Epi percent. Epperson.
Marcia Smith 16:59
How old was he?
Bob Smith 17:00
He was a kid. He was like nine or 10 years old. 11
Marcia Smith 17:03
he invented the first popsicle on the San Francisco Bay Area in 1905.
Bob Smith 17:10
left something out in a cup overnight and it froze. That’s
Marcia Smith 17:13
right. He after a long day of playing outside. He left his cup of soda with a stirring stick still out on the porch. stirring stick? Yeah. Left out overnight. The soda froze like an icicle. He gave it a try. And whoa. The first popsicle was created. Frank named his invention, the epical. Taking his last Yeah. And he grew his little business from the neighborhood kids to selling them at Neptune Beach. And he was on his way. Wow. He named it the epical after himself. But how do you think it morphed into the popsicle?
Bob Smith 17:49
I don’t know. Was it a kid said something about their dad or something like that? Or was his own kid his own kids? Because he got older? Yeah, making this business as Yeah, yeah, my kids
Marcia Smith 17:58
would call it pops, sicko. Oh, that’s great. And then the kids then urged him to change its name to popsicle.
Bob Smith 18:04
So his kids had very great influence on it. Yeah. Isn’t that cute? So and he invented it as a kid. As he grew up, his kid said renamed this. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 18:12
it’s it’s popsicle. So they love
Bob Smith 18:15
it. That’s great. That’s a great American story. And many people don’t realize that that’s kind of a fun thing that a kid came up with it. Yeah, there’s
Marcia Smith 18:22
a lot of stories of everybody from nine years old to 90s invented things that became famous.
Bob Smith 18:30
Okay, Marsha, I have a question for you. And this is about your human eye. You have a human I don’t you? Of course, on average, how many times do you blink per minute? Is it 15 to 20? times? Is that one to five times? Is it 45 to 50 times, or 30 to 35 times?
Marcia Smith 18:48
I’ll say that one with the 50. Isn’t it? 5040 to 50 times? Yeah,
Bob Smith 18:53
no. Well, if you’re doing that a lot of people will be noticing you blinking your eye alive, something wrong got something in your eye. Now the average person blinks between 15 to 20 times per minute. In other words, you blink about 900 to 1200 times per hour. It’s a lot death. Every time you blink your eyelid sweeps oil and mucous secretions across the surface to keep you from drying out. And the brain ignores the blackness. So we experience a continuous experience. We don’t really pay attention to it.
Marcia Smith 19:24
So when I think you’re winking at me to say Hi, sweetie, just put something in my god secretions. You’re getting rid
Bob Smith 19:29
just getting rid of stuff. Okay? And infants only average about one or two blinks a minute. So that’s why you think about babies being open all the time, because they don’t have secretions. They only blink 60 to 120 times an hour. Hmm. Okay,
Marcia Smith 19:44
ready? Yes. Why is the final drink before you hit the road called One for the road? It’s
Bob Smith 19:51
because of that song. And one more for the road. I don’t know. It’s kind of a dangerous thing when you think about it. One more than
Marcia Smith 20:00
the road it is, but this is weird is all get out. One for the road. The expression was coined long before the automobile. It comes from the ancient English tradition of offering condemned felons a final drink at all the pubs on the route to the Tyburn tree where they would go to be publicly executed by hanging. Oh, dear.
Bob Smith 20:22
So it’s only last for the road to the hanging tree. Yeah. Would you like another drill? One more for the overall anything to delay me there? Yes, sir.
Marcia Smith 20:31
Okay, I would stop it every every 10 feet.
Bob Smith 20:34
Holy cow.
Marcia Smith 20:35
That’s where the expression started. The Hanging Tree. Jeez, cat typer. Okay,
Bob Smith 20:40
speaking of that, what’s the word for a phrase that uses every letter in the alphabet? Is it a pangram? A lipo gram? a palindrome or a cipher? You love to do coding. I assumed you would know this. Yes, it what is the second one? It’s a pangram a LiPo gram Flipagram. No, that’s me talking. a palindrome or a cipher?
Marcia Smith 21:03
Well, it’s not a palindrome or a cipher. And it’s not the one I named. So it must be the other one. The
Bob Smith 21:09
pangram. Yeah, yeah. It’s a sentence that uses every letter or given alphabet at least once. All right now the best known one is what the quick. I don’t know that the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog didn’t know that. Well, you’ve used that. No. Well, that’s what we all used in typing class and everything because you use every letter of the alphabet. I wasn’t in your type, but for God’s sake. It’s been used since at least the 19th century, it was used by Western Union to test their telex and telegraph lines to see if they were accurate. Okay. I can’t believe you. You didn’t have any interest in that?
Speaker 1 21:44
I didn’t. I didn’t know the quick brown fox jumping over that lazy dog. Okay,
Marcia Smith 21:49
okay, Bob, why are pedestrians who break the law called J walkers? Where does that phrase come from?
Bob Smith 21:57
Because you’re walking diagonally across an intersection. I thought that’s what it was. What’s that got to do with J? Why? Well, because Jays they fly crooked. They fly? No. Maybe like it’s because j is kind of like, no, no.
Marcia Smith 22:11
Okay. When cars were first introduced, Bob crossing city streets became a lot more hazardous than when those horse drawn carriages were the only traffic new safety laws were introduced in anyone ignoring them was considered a country bumpkin. In the early part of the 20th century unsophisticated rural people were referred to as Jays Oh, I didn’t know that. It’s just another bird from the country, flying into the big city and not knowing enough to cross at the corner. And so their ignorance about how to properly cross the street became known as jaywalking. Yeah,
Bob Smith 22:47
I didn’t know that. Yeah, he’s
Marcia Smith 22:49
a J. For the country bumpkins.
Bob Smith 22:53
All these terms say change over time. Yeah. J used to mean like hick. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Marcia, what major filmmaker has had five generations of his family work in the movie business. They’ve been at it for more than 100 years. What
Marcia Smith 23:08
had happened to be a family that also makes wine. It Yes. That’s, that would be the oh, we were at their winery? Yes. I know. One of them. Yes. It’s just stuck in my head. It’s Francis Ford Coppola. A fan.
Bob Smith 23:23
That’s right. His granddaughter Gia Coppola is the fifth generation of the family in the movie business. And that began 100 years ago, when his grandfather, who was a tool and die maker helped to invent the Vitaphone sound recording system for Western Electric. He was a tool and die maker. So he built the Vitaphone, which was used to make the jazz singer so he was involved from the very first part of the motion picture. Yeah, those
Marcia Smith 23:47
his wineries are fascinating to go to because he has things from the Godfather there and different props from these big movies
Bob Smith 23:56
car from what was the movie about the guy who did the remember that car? What was the name of that? The Tucker? Yeah, remember? He had a Tucker there? Oh, that’s what that was. He did the movie on Tucker. And that was the car that failed. So anyway, you said he has all kinds of artifacts about these things. And one of those this this picture of his great grandfather, and he said a machinist would never wear a tie. So this is a PR photo. My grandfather had a tie on. Oh, that’s cute. That’s cute. Okay, now, Francis Ford Coppola had a connection to a famous film. He didn’t direct back in the 70s called Rocky. What was the connection there? I don’t know his sister. Talia Shire. She was Adrian. Oh.
Marcia Smith 24:37
Yeah. That was his sister, sister. That’s right. All right.
Bob Smith 24:40
Okay. Francis Ford, five generations in the movie business for more than 100 years and
Marcia Smith 24:45
a darn good bread wine too. Okay.
Bob Smith 24:49
Oh, one more Francis Ford factoid here. When did he get his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
Marcia Smith 24:56
What year?
Bob Smith 24:57
How long after the Godfather Ah, three years. 50 years Oh, really? Not until 50 years after the Godfather one best picture when he was 83 years old. Did Francis Ford get his star on the Walk of Fame? And if that sounds overdue when he received his star in 2022, he pointed out his friend, filmmaker George Lucas still didn’t have his star. No
Marcia Smith 25:23
kidding.
Bob Smith 25:24
These people deserve the stars. Yes, I
Marcia Smith 25:26
agree with that.
Bob Smith 25:28
He said, If anyone deserves a star on the Walk of Fame, it’s George. I’ll give him mine. All right, Marsh, you got a thought for the day to take us out?
Marcia Smith 25:37
Yes, this is the lightning round Bob. But lightning round quotes for the day, Bob, and it’s gonna be fast. These are all famous quotes from famous presidents. And what am I supposed to do? You’re supposed to name the president. Oh,
Bob Smith 25:49
okay. That was just supposed to listen. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 25:53
Yeah, this is can we hold these truths to be self evident? Thomas Jefferson. Yes. The President is not a bed of roses. Hmm,
Bob Smith 26:03
let’s see. Who would that be? That could be. Let’s see. That’s not Harry Truman isn’t? Nope. There’s Oh, John Adams. Yep. No, who is James
Marcia Smith 26:11
Polk? Oh, okay. Okay. That government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth, Abraham Lincoln. Speak softly and carry a big stick Teddy Roosevelt, the world must be made safe for democracy. Woodrow Wilson, the business of America is business.
Bob Smith 26:27
Herbert Hoover. No, no, no, Calvin Coolidge.
Marcia Smith 26:30
Okay, I chickened out in every pot, unnumbered Hoover, and a car in every garage. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. FDR, the buck stops here. Harry Truman asked not what your country can do for you. That has to be Kennedy. That’s right. Ask what you can do for your country. I am not a crook.
Bob Smith 26:50
Oh, that’s Richard Dick Nixon. Nixon,
Marcia Smith 26:54
Our long national nightmare is over. It’s
Bob Smith 26:57
when Richard Nixon left was
Marcia Smith 26:59
Gerald Ford. Yes, we get all these famous presidential quotes here. Okay. Government is not the solution to our problem. government is the problem. Ronald Reagan 1000 Points of Light. And there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. It’s
Bob Smith 27:16
Bill Clinton and
Marcia Smith 27:18
we just have these reasons. Okay. Okay, good.
Bob Smith 27:21
All right. That’s it. Right. That’s it. I think that’s it for the show today. Okay, enough of me.
Marcia Smith 27:27
Never bought never enough of you.
Bob Smith 27:30
I Bob Smith.
Marcia Smith 27:31
I’m Marcia Smith. We
Bob Smith 27:32
want to thank you for listening. We hope you’ll join us again next time when we come back with more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia here on the off ramp. The off ramp is produced in association with CPL Radio Online, and the Cedarbrook Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin, visit us on the web at the off ramp dot show.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
