229 Tasty Trivia

Bob Smith 0:00
Who has the most top 10 selling albums of all time?

And what US president was the foodie we can thank for ice cream as Americans? Answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith

Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy and take a side road to sanity with fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. So music music, what is the question again, Marcia?

Marcia Smith 0:46
Who has the most top 10 selling albums of all time?

Bob Smith 0:50
The most top 10 selling albums of all time. That’s one whole subset of charts that’s different than hit records and so forth and so on. So, is it a pop singer? Is it a rock singer? Or is it a country singer?

Marcia Smith 1:03
Or is it none of those?

Bob Smith 1:06
None of those. Is it a classical – no, is it a big band? Yeah. Is it like Mantovani orchestra?

Marcia Smith 1:15
It’s a group Bob, it’s a group.

Bob Smith 1:16
A group, it is a group .Okay.

Marcia Smith 1:18
As I’ve never bought one of this group’s albums.

Bob Smith 1:22
I know you never bought a Beatles record. So

Marcia Smith 1:24
Yes I did! I bought the second one.

Bob Smith 1:26
Okay. I don’t know the answer to the question. Who is it? The Ventures?

Marcia Smith 1:30
to ventures? This group sold 38 Top 10 selling albums that’s hard to build. That’s a lot of albums. Rolling Stones.

Bob Smith 1:39
Really?

Marcia Smith 1:40
Yeah

Bob Smith 1:40
They have more top 10 albums

Marcia Smith 1:42
Than anybody else.

Bob Smith 1:43
I didn’t know that.

Marcia Smith 1:44
I didn’t. That’s why I put it out there. And you know who number two is?

Bob Smith 1:47
Who

Marcia Smith 1:48
With 34 top 10s

Bob Smith 1:50
Who?

Marcia Smith 1:51
Barbra Streisand.

Bob Smith 1:52
Wow., 34 top 10s – Just to have 34 albums. That’s a heck of a collection, isn’t it?

Marcia Smith 1:58
And there’s a tie for number three, Both sold 32 Top 10 selling albums

Bob Smith 2:03
Who’s that?

Marcia Smith 2:04
One’s a person, one’s a group.

Bob Smith 2:06
I don’t know.

Marcia Smith 2:07
Frank Sinatra and the Beatles.

Bob Smith 2:09
Wow.

Marcia Smith 2:09
32 top 10 selling albums.

Bob Smith 2:11
32 Top 10 selling albums and how many did the Rolling Stones have?

Marcia Smith 2:15
38

Bob Smith 2:17
38 Top 10 selling albums

Marcia Smith 2:19
Yeah, how many albums did they do?

Bob Smith 2:20
Didn’t know they did that many? I didn’t know there were that many Beatle albums. But I guess you have different collections and you know, you have the anthology and all kinds of other things. You know, it’s got to be compilations and everything else because hardly anybody does 30+ original albums, you know, I’m sure Barbra Streisand multiple collections of Greatest Hits too. All right now history question, Marcia.

Marcia Smith 2:43
Oh, yay.

Bob Smith 2:45
And this comes to us from Daria Solovieva Smith. What US president was the foodie. We can thank for ice cream in America.

Marcia Smith 2:55
Oh, really? The foodie

Bob Smith 2:57
A foodie. He was a foodie. We’re going way back though.

Marcia Smith 3:00
Way back to the

Bob Smith 3:02
One of the founding fathers was a foodie.

Marcia Smith 3:05
I’m sure that was a term back then. I’ll say it was that scallywag John Adams?

Bob Smith 3:11
No, it wasn’t John Adams.

Marcia Smith 3:12
It was Jefferson.

Bob Smith 3:13
It was Thomas.

Marcia Smith 3:14
It was Tom

Bob Smith 3:15
Thomas Jefferson. And she gave me a link to an article called, “We Made Thomas Jefferson’s ice Cream,” by Christina Wright, because he is the first American known to have written down an ice cream recipe. He had interest in kitchen gadgets too. This all plays into ice cream

Marcia Smith 3:32
And he was a bit of a dandy too. Yeah, he was very versatile.

Bob Smith 3:35
He didn’t introduce it to the U.S. It had been in the United States since at least 1744. But he is the first known American to write down a recipe for it. Dates to 1784,

Marcia Smith 3:45
Really?

Bob Smith 3:46
They also have references – written references to different ice cream makers and equipment like the sabottiere, s-a-b-o-t-t-i-e-r-e. It’s a lidded metal bucket within a larger wooden bucket. It’s just like ice cream makers today where you put ice in and you put salt and then the ice cream’s in the middle thing. That’s how it was done. And also pewter ice cream molds. He had those shipped from France. So he really did. He went all-in to ice cream.

Marcia Smith 4:14
He was an all-in kind of guy.

Bob Smith 4:16
All-in for ice cream.

Marcia Smith 4:18
Yeah.

Bob Smith 4:19
And his granddaughter even published a recipe for it after his death. So we know in that family they loved ice cream! So we thank Daria Solavieva for that some very fascinating things there. Where do you think ice cream came from originally though?

Marcia Smith 4:32
Not France?

No.

Was it one of the cold countries Scandinavians

Bob Smith 4:36
no farther east

Marcia Smith 4:38
China?

Bob Smith 4:38
Yes, China. The Chinese are generally credited with creating the first ice creams 3000 BC. They believe Marco Polo may have brought it back to Italy and Italy became known for ice cream making before it went to France and then England and the United States.

Marcia Smith 4:53
We were late adopters.

Bob Smith 4:56
Most regular people never tasted ice cream until the late 19th century. And why would that be?

Marcia Smith 5:01
Expensive?

Bob Smith 5:02
Why would it be expensive?

Marcia Smith 5:03
Milk?

Bob Smith 5:04
No.

Marcia Smith 5:04
Cows.

Bob Smith 5:05
No. Ice

Marcia Smith 5:07
Ice.

Bob Smith 5:08
You have to have ice houses.

Marcia Smith 5:10
Yeah.

Bob Smith 5:10
Only the rich people could afford to build houses for something that was going to melt. So before modern refrigeration, regular people never tasted ice cream.

Marcia Smith 5:19
Yeah. there’s a lot of food like that. All right, Bob, one more musical question.

Bob Smith 5:23
Okay.

Marcia Smith 5:24
Who is the only singer to have sold over a billion records worldwide?

Bob Smith 5:30
Wow. Would that be Elvis? Everything?

Marcia Smith 5:32
That’s it! Very good.

Bob Smith 5:33
No kidding.

Marcia Smith 5:34
He had to be on these lists somewhere. Fore sure. According to Graceland, Elvis records have been sold worldwide more than anyone in record industry history.

Bob Smith 5:44
I’m not surprised.

Marcia Smith 5:46
Yeah, worldwide. A billion. Someone’s tracking that at Graceland. Bob.

Bob Smith 5:51
All right. Well, Marcia, what town is known as the birthplace of country music and is it in Tennessee or Virginia?

Marcia Smith 5:58
Well, I’m gonna say Virginia.

Bob Smith 6:00
Well, you’re wrong.

Marcia Smith 6:01
(Laughs) I said it because it was contrary to what I would have said.

Bob Smith 6:05
It’s in Tennessee AND Virginia.

Marcia Smith 6:08
It’s on the line huh?

Bob Smith 6:09
It’s called Bristol. Bristol, Tennessee. Bristol, Virginia. That’s where Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company conducted recording sessions over 13 days in 1927. This is considered the big bang of modern country music. He recorded 19 acts, 76 songs, including the first recordings of Jimmy Rogers and the Carter Family. And in 1998, the US Congress officially designated Bristol as the birthplace of country music. A lot of people have never heard of Bristol, they know of Nashville. Bristol has a birthplace of Country Music Museum. They have Radio Bristol, three different streams of country music. It goes out to 140 countries.

Marcia Smith 6:47
Three forms of country music?

Bob Smith 6:49
There’s multiple versions of country.

Marcia Smith 6:51
Like one isn’t enough?

Bob Smith 6:54
Oh listen to this bias of Mrs. Smith!

Marcia Smith 6:56
It’s true. That’s bias.

Bob Smith 6:58
They have a Rhythm and Roots Reunion Music Festival – 130 bands on 20 stages – in downtown Bristol in September of every year. So still, country music very live in the city where it began almost 100 years ago. It’s nice when towns that start something like that can continue to benefit from it years later.

Marcia Smith 7:16
That’s very cool

Bob Smith 7:17
Sometimes you’re forgotten.

Marcia Smith 7:18
Yeah, they have to celebrate it. Okay, Bob, what was bubble wrap originally invented for

Bob Smith 7:25
Bubble wrap. Bubble wrap was originally wallpaper.

How did you know?

Well, it’s a famous story. I know that is one of those famous stories where they invented it for one thing and it turned into something totally different. So tell me the story.

Marcia Smith 7:39
Okay. It’s one of our most beloved inventions today. The pliable air pocketed sheets have been used for decades to insulate pipes, protect fragile items and even make dresses. You ever see that? Somebody wrapped in bubble wrap?

Bob Smith 7:53
Bubble wrap dress!

Marcia Smith 7:54
And that’s not to mention the fascination you have with popping the bubbles. But when it was first created in 1957 in New Jersey, inventors, Al Fielding and Mark Shavonis has had a different vision. The pioneering duo hoped that their creation, which trapped air between two shower curtains and they ran it through a heat sealing machine, would serve as a textured wallpaper marketed to a younger generation with modern tastes. The initial idea was a flop. However, those two went on and pivoted to promote bubble wrap. They called it Air Gap as a greenhouse insulator, another idea whose bubble quickly burst. So it took a while to get what to use that for right

Bob Smith 8:42
That’s really is a process to make that bubble wrap. I mean that’s not an easy thing to put together and for them to do that and then –

Marcia Smith 8:48
With shower curtains

Bob Smith 8:49
– with shower curtains originally oh my goodness that’s sounds awful, doesn’t it frankly? Okay, Marshall let’s go to Mother Nature. This is interesting. Trees come in all sizes, shapes and colors but regardless of their length or thickness. What natural force can fell any tree?

Marcia Smith 9:09
What natural what?

Bob Smith 9:10
What what natural force.

Marcia Smith 9:12
Oh force! F-O-R-C-E.

Bob Smith 9:13
Can fell any tree? There’s a specific condition when all trees behave the same. What is it ?

Marcia Smith 9:19
A Tordado certain – reaches a certain level- a hurricane

Bob Smith 9:23
You’re on the right track. What is one of the major features of a tornado or a hurricane?

The wind velocity.

The windo is it. Big or small, all trees break at the same windspeed 94 miles per hour. The trees of all diameters heights and variety seem to break when the wind speed reaches 94 miles per hour. These findings came from a study in Europe. There was a cyclone named Klaus. It tore across southwestern France and after the storm scientists noted this strange phenomenon. Area A was a forest of pines area B was a forest oaks, and the results were the same.

It’s awful See, I saw it on a weather video channel.

Oh to see it happen.

Marcia Smith 10:04
Yeah.

Bob Smith 10:04
Interestingly, several famous scientists, including Galileo, and Leonardo da Vinci noticed that as well. And modern scientists think that the speed of 94 miles per hour is an evolutionary optimization of trees over time because most wind speeds on Earth rarely exceed 112. So God or the universe, caused these trees to adjust, so they would live at least up to 94 miles per hour. No matter how big or small they are, after that point, snap,

Marcia Smith 10:34
Tthe universe knows what it’s doing.

Bob Smith 10:36
Yes, it does.

Marcia Smith 10:37
Okay, time for that wonderful card game aka also known as Okay, and the category is to follow up your questions. Trees.

Bob Smith 10:46
Okay.

Marcia Smith 10:47
Types of trees, so if I say nightmare Street, the tree is elm.

Bob Smith 10:53
That’s right. Because Nightmare on Elm Street. Got it.

Marcia Smith 10:55
Okay. All right. Cigarette residue.

Bob Smith 10:58
Ash Trees

Marcia Smith 10:59
Correct. Ash. Ruby lumber.

Bob Smith 11:03
Redwood.

Marcia Smith 11:04
Correct. Long for.

Bob Smith 11:07
Long for?

Marcia Smith 11:07
Yeah.

Bob Smith 11:08
I long for trees.

Marcia Smith 11:10
Long for. I long for you. What am I doing? I’m

Bob Smith 11:13
Yearning, a yearning tree. What would that be?

Marcia Smith 11:17
It’s a synonym.

Bob Smith 11:17
A pine! You’re pining for me.

Marcia Smith 11:20
Okay. All right. Mink coat.

Bob Smith 11:24
Mink coat. Fur trees.

Marcia Smith 11:24
Correct. Here’s one. I would bet you’re not going to get Will Smith’s daughter.

Bob Smith 11:33
Yeah, you’re right there. What’s her name?

Marcia Smith 11:36
Willow.

Bob Smith 11:37
Okay, so the willow tree. All right.

Marcia Smith 11:39
And finally, improve the place.

Bob Smith 11:43
What?

Marcia Smith 11:43
Yes, it’s a type of tree. What do you do when you improve the place or your place or your home?

Bob Smith 11:50
The construction tree? You’re the redecoration tree. I don’t know. What?

Marcia Smith 11:54
You’re sprucing it up.

Bob Smith 11:56
Oh. Sprucing it up. Spruce. Great.

Marcia Smith 11:59
All right.

Bob Smith 12:00
Okay. Marcia, this is about city names. Okay? What famous Russian cities name was changed to honor a Bolshevik revolutionary and then changed back after the Soviet Union dissolved. What’s the city?

Marcia Smith 12:15
Leningrad?

Bob Smith 12:17
That’s what it was? Yeah. What’s it called now? It went back to its original name, which is named after another Russian ruler.

I was gonna say Putingrad, but no.

St. Petersburg.

Marcia Smith 12:22
Ah, ha.

Bob Smith 12:23
The Russians Czar Peter founded the city of St. Petersburg, Russia in 1703. And then, during World War One, they changed the city’s name to the more Russian sounding Petrograd. In 1924, its name was again changed to Leningrad, to honor Vladimir Lenin, one of the Bolshevik revolutionaries. And then after the dissolution of the USSR, it went back to St. Petersburg, and that’s the name it has today.

Marcia Smith 12:51
Okay, what percent of Earth’s mass contains all known life in the universe?

Bob Smith 12:58
Wow, that’s quite a statement. It’s only known …

Marcia Smith 13:01
By us.

Bob Smith 13:01
Yeah.

Marcia Smith 13:02
So.

Bob Smith 13:03
Yeah. So basically, you’re asking me, what’s the percentage of the earth the planet?

Marcia Smith 13:08
Yeah.

Bob Smith 13:09
Where all of life as we know it?

Marcia Smith 13:11
Yeah.

Bob Smith 13:11
Exists. We’re talking human beings, animals, plants,

Marcia Smith 13:15
Plants. Fungi.

Bob Smith 13:17
Okay

Marcia Smith 13:18
And you’re a fun guy.

Bob Smith 13:18
Thank you very much. Well, let me see. I’m gonna guess. 10%

Marcia Smith 13:23
That sounds fair. But it’s only 1%. Bob.

Bob Smith 13:25
Holy cow. That’s amazing.

Marcia Smith 13:27
It is it is. The crust is 25 miles deep, and is home to everything we know. But beneath the crust is the mantle, which contains rocks, minerals, and areas of semi solid magma. Okay, so that’s where most everything is, and none of it is.

Bob Smith 13:44
None of it has life as we know it. So that means we’re very inefficient in our use of the Planet.

Marcia Smith 13:49
Of the planet. 1% Amazing, isn’t it?

Bob Smith 13:52
Or we are efficient in our use of the planet. Depends how you look at it

Marcia Smith 13:55
it. And how many percent of people on earth believe there’s life on other planets? Want to take a guess?

Bob Smith 14:01
Oh that’s a good one. I – I’ll give it 55%

Marcia Smith 14:05
Yeah, it’s actually a little more. 65%. So people are coming around to, “Yeah, I don’t think we’re the only one.” Okay, let’s

Bob Smith 14:14
go back to history. Marcia, what French city now think of France?

Marcia Smith 14:18
I am. I’d like to I’d like to be there.

Bob Smith 14:20
What French city was founded by the Greeks in 600 BC, and it’s not Paris. What French city was founded by the Greeks in 600 BC?

Marcia Smith 14:32
I don’t know how many I’ll say Rouen.

Bob Smith 14:34
Rouen. No, it’s not Rouen. It is Marseilles

Merci beaucoup,

Marseilles on the southern coast of France, it’s the oldest French city. Takes its modern day name from the original name of the settlement Musalia, and today it’s a capital of one of the provinces. 870,000 people live there. It’s second only to Paris in population, but it is the oldest – one of the oldest cities on the Mediterranean. 600 BCE, founded by the Greeks. Didn’t know that.

Marcia Smith 15:03
I didn’t either.

Bob Smith 15:04
All right, and I got another one. Okay. This is another geography question. Again, we’re in the Mediterranean Marcia. This famous city is named after the man who founded it in 332 BC. It is the most populous city along the Mediterranean Sea. What city is that? That most popular? It’s got more population. It’s the biggest city on the Mediterranean.

Marcia Smith 15:25
On the Mediterranean. What country? What country?

Bob Smith 15:27
I’m not telling you?

Marcia Smith 15:28
Oh.

Bob Smith 15:28
All right. It’s in Egypt.

Marcia Smith 15:30
Oh,

Bob Smith 15:31
It’s named after the man who founded it. It’s not Billy Cairo.

Marcia Smith 15:35
(Laughs) It’s Nellie Cairo.

Bob Smith 15:39
No, it’s Alexandria, named after Alexander the Great. 5.2 million people. And he founded it in 332 BC, and it was formerly home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which was the world’s tallest human made structure when it was unveiled in 250. BC.

Marcia Smith 16:00
Okay. All right. It’s time for a break away.

Bob Smith 16:03
I think it’s time for a break. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment.

We’re back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We do this each week for the Cedarburg Public Library in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and it’s internet radio station. And then it goes on podcast platforms all over the world.

Marcia Smith 16:23
How many Supreme Court justices, were there when George Washington was in office?

Bob Smith 16:29
Let’s see. How many did you have originally? Were there five? I think there were 5?

Marcia Smith 16:33
6

Bob Smith 16:30
6.

Marcia Smith 16:33
Yeah, the Supreme Court was established by the Judiciary Act. We went to nine justices in 1869 and have stayed there. Okay. Yeah.

Bob Smith 16:45
I understand that went down to five justices at one time, because John Adams was – he was very incorrigible guy about a lot of things. And he sponsored the Judiciary Act of 1801. That reduced the court to five justices. He wanted to limit the incoming President Thomas Jefferson’s appointments to the high bench. So six to five to nine.

Marcia Smith 17:07
We’ve been at nine justices since 1869. And have stayed there.

Bob Smith 17:12
Okay.

Marcia Smith 17:12
It’s often a political factor that

Bob Smith 17:15
It’s always political.

Marcia Smith 17:16
Yes, that makes the numbers go up and down. So there you have it.

Bob Smith 17:22
Okay, here’s a question about that. The building they’re in now, when was that built? When did they first meet there?

Marcia Smith 17:28
The Supreme Court building?

Bob Smith 17:29
Yes.

Marcia Smith 17:30
Is that what it’s called? Does it have another fancy name?

Bob Smith 17:32
It’s called the Supreme Court building.

Marcia Smith 17:35
Clever.

Bob Smith 17:35
Okay. When was that built?

Marcia Smith 17:36
I don’t know

Bob Smith 17:37
During the Great Depression, 1935, and Cass Gilbert was the architect. He built the Woolworth Building the Minnesota State Capitol, West Virginia State Capitol. So a famous architect.

Marcia Smith 17:48
And did you know that if you divide the Great Pyramids parameter by twice its height, you get pi to the 15th digit?

Bob Smith 17:56
That’s a lot of pie. I’m hungry now.

Marcia Smith 18:00
It’s just it’s just a bizarre fact that I found.

Bob Smith 18:03
You always haves ome of those and it’s like, that is a distinction without any significance.

Marcia Smith 18:08
It’s stupid, isn’t it? I wonder if they did that on purpose?

Bob Smith 18:12
Oh, I’m sure they did. Yeah, they’re like, you know, Emperor. You know, Pharaoh, if we build this, this way. We’ll screw up people in the future. Okay, Marcia, what US state specifically bans driving while wearing a blindfold?

Marcia Smith 18:26
Sounds like a good law.

Bob Smith 18:27
But there’s always a need for a law. So what the hell happened there?

Marcia Smith 18:31
What state has that on the books?

Bob Smith 18:33
Yes, it has it on the books.

Marcia Smith 18:35
I’ll say

Bob Smith 18:36
It’s a southern state.

Marcia Smith 18:37
I was going to say Mississippi.

Bob Smith 18:39
It’s nearby.

Marcia Smith 18:40
Louisiana.

Bob Smith 18:41
No.

Marcia Smith 18:42
Alabama.

Bob Smith 18:42
It’s Alabama. Yeah, it’s got some weird, confusing laws. And one of the bizarre laws in Alabama states that driving while blindfolded is illegal. Cross into another state, go ahead, put on that blindfold. No problem. I’m sure that every state has something in it statutes …

Marcia Smith 18:59
Oh have you ever read all the statutes even in this state something about you can’t have a cow in your car or something? I don’t know.

Bob Smith 19:05
What?! We do that every week!

Marcia Smith 19:07
Okay, Bob, who is the only person to have served as president of the United States and as chief justice on the Supreme Court?

Bob Smith 19:17
That was – oh geez, he’s from the 20th century is it William Howard Taft?

Marcia Smith 19:22
Very good! Ding ding ding. He was 27th president of the US, serving from 1909 to 1913. Then he became the 10th Chief Justice of the United States. And he served in that role from 1921 to 1930. So that tells me what between 1930 and 21 you know, he was peddling gas at the gas station.

Bob Smith 19:43
(Laughs) No. Now that’s quite remarkable thing to have done those different roles.

Marcia Smith 19:48
Oh, yeah. Let’s get serious. How many balls does the average golfer lose on an 18 hole round of golf?

Bob Smith 19:57
I thought good golfers never lost balls. I would say each, I would say three.

Marcia Smith 20:03
Yeah, I would have said two or three.

Bob Smith 20:06
How many

Marcia Smith 20:06
Nine.

Bob Smith 20:06
Nine? Oh my goodness.

Marcia Smith 20:08
Nine balls per game.

Bob Smith 20:09
How good of a golfer Are you If you’re using nine balls?

Marcia Smith 20:12
That’s the average. So some are less. And the perfect amount of golf balls to carry, according to the sources is anything from six to 12 golf balls extra in your bag. In tournaments. You are limited to the one ball rule.

Bob Smith 20:27
Oh?

Marcia Smith 20:28
Yyou can’t lose more than one on a round.

Bob Smith 20:30
Okay, Marcia, here’s one. What American city’s most famous landmark was originally sketched on a napkin. You’ve been to this city.

Marcia Smith 20:41
Was it St. Louis Arch?

Bob Smith 20:43
No.

Marcia Smith 20:43
Was it the Statue of Liberty?

Bob Smith 20:46
No.

Marcia Smith 20:46
Was it the San Francisco bridge?

Bob Smith 20:49
No.

Marcia Smith 20:50
Was that our backyard bench?

Bob Smith 20:52
No.

Marcia Smith 20:53
I don’t know.

Bob Smith 20:53
Do you want to any hints or

Marcia Smith 20:55
Yes,

Bob Smith 20:55
Okay. It’s none of those.

Marcia Smith 21:00
(Laughs)

Bob Smith 21:00
Okay, it’s either the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument or the Seattle Space Needle.

Marcia Smith 21:04
I’ll say the needle.

Bob Smith 21:05
It is the space needle that officially opened April 21st 1962 for a World’s Fair, called The Century 21 Exposition. That’s what they were. For this century. We’re in now. It had a space age theme. And Edward Carlson, who was the chief organizer, he sketched the Space Needle, a flying saucer concept on a napkin. That’s why it’s called the Space Needle because it’s a flying saucer concept. Did you know that?

Marcia Smith 21:32
It looks like it. So yeah, I believe that.

Bob Smith 21:34
So it’s one of the most recognized structures of the world. It took 400 days to build it. 1.3 million guests visit it every year. Cost $4.5 million to build back in 1962. That would be $100 million dollars today. And guess what? It’s privately owned. Did you know that? It’s privately owned by the Wright family. And it sits on a 120 foot by 120 foot private parcel of land on the Seattle Center campus. I had no idea it was owned by a private family and that’s on private family land.

Marcia Smith 22:06
Did they build it for the fair?

Bob Smith 22:08
Yeah, they build it for the fair

Marcia Smith 22:09
Just out of their own pocket?

Bob Smith 22:10
Yeah.

Marcia Smith 22:11
Well, that’s hard to believe.

Bob Smith 22:12
It 43 seconds to travel from the ground to the top.

Marcia Smith 22:17
Okay, next question.

Bob Smith 22:18
All right.

Marcia Smith 22:19
Okay. Why do we call a critical point in time, the moment of truth? Where does that come from?

Bob Smith 22:25
The moment of truth? Well, it had to be like in a tragedy or in a very – was it a wartime experience?

Marcia Smith 22:31
No.

Bob Smith 22:32
Was it – moment of truth? Okay. I don’t know. Is it just I don’t know. What is it?

Marcia Smith 22:37
It’s interesting. Yeah, sort of, I think the moment of truth is what the Spanish called the instant when a bullfighter chooses to make the final and critical thrust of his sword into the bulll.

Bob Smith 22:47
Oh!

Marcia Smith 22:48
Yes. The phrase was introduced into the English language, by bullfight-loving Ernest Hemingway, in his 1932 novel, he referred to it, in Earth in the Afternoon.

Bob Smith 23:00
Oh no kidding. So that’s where it comes from. Ernest Hemingway came up with it.

Marcia Smith 23:04
No, it was a phrase for the moment of truth during a bullfight.

Bob Smith 23:07
Okay.

Marcia Smith 23:07
In Spanish and he recorded it

Bob Smith 23:09
He kind of popularized it for the rest of the world.

Marcia Smith 23:12
Correct.

Bob Smith 23:12
Didn’t know that. What year was that?

Marcia Smith 23:14
1932

Bob Smith 23:16
1932. Okay, since then, we’ve known the moment of truth. We’ve all used that phrase.

I used that when I married you.

Marcia Smith 23:24
I have other phrases for you, but we’ll move on.

Bob Smith 23:26
What? That’s not fair.

Marcia Smith 23:29
Okay, what have you got?

Bob Smith 23:30
Okay, Marcia. This is kind of an interesting one on the human body. I saw this in the New York Times recently. Just a fact. When did people once believe pregnancy began?

Marcia Smith 23:39
(Laughs)

Bob Smith 23:41
You know, centuries before there were pregnancy tests. Many people believe that Oh, life began when

Marcia Smith 23:47
Oh, okay. Oh, I see what you’re saying.

Bob Smith 23:50
It was when women first felt the first fetal movement. They call it quickening. That’s what they called it. Usually between 15 and 18 weeks. That’s when people though this is the beginning of life.

Yeah.

And today,

Marcia Smith 24:00
Yeah.

Bob Smith 24:01
That’s the cutoff date for many people to be able to have an abortion. It’s interesting.

Marcia Smith 24:05
When the kick comes?

Bob Smith 24:06
Yeah, that’s interesting.

Marcia Smith 24:08
Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Ready Bob? In early America. Who are what were the Corps of Discovery?

Bob Smith 24:16
Oh, that was the Lewis and Clark expedition!

Marcia Smith 24:16
Oh, darn.

Bob Smith 24:16
That’s what they called it. Isn’t it interesting. They gave it that name. The Corps of Discovery.

Marcia Smith 24:18
Between 1803 and 1806, Lewis and Clark and approximately 30 other people, known together as the Corps of Discovery, walked from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back again, traveling around 8000 miles.

Bob Smith 24:40
That’s the interesting thing – they walked!

8000 Miles.

It’s not like they rode horses on this journey. They walked.

Marcia Smith 24:46
And was their discovery? They returned with loads of maps, specimens and descriptions of plants, animals and minerals, and information about the peoples of the West, which allowed the United States to establish a better claim to the Oregon region.

Bob Smith 25:02
So they walked from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. When you think of it that way, oh my God!

Marcia Smith 25:07
And back again.

Bob Smith 25:08
Yeah, amazing.

Marcia Smith 25:09
How how many years? Three years?

Bob Smith 25:11
Yeah, In three years time. And nobody knew where they were. I mean there was nobody sending letters back, you know?

Marcia Smith 25:16
30 of them.

Bob Smith 25:17
Yeah, no postcards.

Marcia Smith 25:18
Yeah.

Bob Smith 25:18
Just out here, meeting the Indians and working with

Marcia Smith 25:21
Sacajawea.

Bob Smith 25:22
Sacajawea.

Marcia Smith 25:23
She’s the one that worked with Indians.

Bob Smith 25:25
She helped them out so much.

Marcia Smith 25:26
A lot. Okay, one more if there’s time.

Bob Smith 25:29
All right.

Marcia Smith 25:30
Okay. What thing was banned from movie theaters in the 1920s and 1930s.

Bob Smith 25:36
Is this a food item?

Marcia Smith 25:37
Well, yes,

Bob Smith 25:38
It is a food item.

Marcia Smith 25:39
Yeah.

Bob Smith 25:39
I bet it’s chewing gum.

Marcia Smith 25:41
Good guess. No.

Bob Smith 25:43
Popcorn.

Marcia Smith 25:43
Yes.

Bob Smith 25:44
Really?

Marcia Smith 25:44
Yes.

Bob Smith 25:45
They banned popcorn from movie theaters?!

Marcia Smith 25:47
Yes, cinema owners of the time decided to ban the snack because they considered it loud and messy. And at the time, they were trying to emulate the

Bob Smith 25:57
Oh the regular theater.

Marcia Smith 25:58
You weren’t gonna go and watch Madame Butterfly and sit there and eat popcorn.

Bob Smith 26:01
Yes., this is a high society thing!

Marcia Smith 26:04
Right. So the movie theaters had beautiful carpets and rugs, and they didn’t want popcorn ground into it. But guess what changed everything.

Bob Smith 26:12
What?

Marcia Smith 26:12
They had depression. It came calling and those who decided to start selling popcorn for five and 10 cents a bag didn’t go out of business.

Bob Smith 26:21
Wow. Popcorn, the difference between success or failure in the movie business? Who would have thought?

Marcia Smith 26:28
Are you ready for my quote Bob?

Bob Smith 26:30
Yes.

Marcia Smith 26:30
All right. This is from Flannery O’Connor. She wrote the much acclaimed book of the 1950s, A Good Man is Hard to Find. I always that that was what’s her name?

Bob Smith 26:41
Mae West?

Marcia Smith 26:42
Yeah.

Bob Smith 26:42
Yeah. It was was a different quote, I think. Yeah,

Marcia Smith 26:45
I think a little play on that.

Bob Smith 26:46
Yeah I think we’ll just not go there.

Marcia Smith 26:48
Okay. She said, everywhere I go. I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them.

Bob Smith 26:58
(Laughs) There’s a lot of bad writing is what she’s saying.

Marcia Smith 27:01
That’s right.

Bob Smith 27:02
Interesting.

Marcia Smith 27:03
Yeah, and I agree.

Bob Smith 27:04
All right. Hopefully we’ve had some good writing here today. Our thanks to Daria Solovieva Smith for that Thomas Jefferson item on ice cream. We want to invite you to contribute, if you’d like to to send us any fact or question you’d like one of us to ask the other. Just go to our website, the off ramp dot show. Scroll all the way down to contact us and leave us a message. We look forward to hearing from you. Well, that’s it for today and we hope you join us when we return next time with more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. I’m Bob Smith.

Marcia Smith 27:36
I’m Marcia Smith.

Bob Smith 27:37
You’ve been listening to the off ramp.

The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin, visit us on the web at the off ramp dot show.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai