Bob and Marcia discuss the origins of pirate speech, influenced by Disney movies like “Treasure Island” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.” They explore the prevalence of cousin marriages among U.S. presidents, noting that seven presidents, including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, married cousins. They delve into historical trivia, such as William Henry Harrison’s first campaign slogan and the reduction of deer-related traffic accidents in Wisconsin due to gray wolf repopulation. They also cover various facts, including the tallest freestanding mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the umbrella capital of Baltimore. The conversation concludes with a trivia game and historical anecdotes about famous figures like Albert Einstein.
Outline
Pirate Speech and Its Origins
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss how we know pirates spoke in certain ways, such as “arg” and “shiver me timbers.”
- Marcia Smith explains that pirate speech is often influenced by movies like Disney’s “Treasure Island” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
- Bob Smith mentions that not all pirates had peg legs, which could affect how we perceive their speech.
- Marcia Smith notes that many pirate phrases are fictional, created by scriptwriters for movies.
Marriage Among Cousins in the US Presidency
- Bob Smith asks how many US presidents married their cousins.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the commonality of cousin marriages in royalty and upper classes to keep wealth within families.
- Bob Smith mentions that the first scientific evidence linking first cousin marriages to birth defects was presented by Charles Brooks in 1855.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith list seven US presidents who married their cousins, including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Martin Van Buren.
First Campaign Slogans and Presidents Who Married Cousins
- Marcia Smith asks who was the first president to campaign and use a campaign slogan.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss William Henry Harrison, who used the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” in 1840.
- Bob Smith mentions that James Madison married Dolly Madison, who was his second cousin.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith talk about Martin Van Buren, who married his childhood sweetheart, Hannah Hose, who was his first cousin once removed.
Chick Flicks and Trivia Game
- Marcia Smith introduces a trivia game called “AKA,” where they guess the titles of classic chick flicks.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith play the game, guessing titles like “Pretty Woman,” “Bridesmaids,” “The Princess Diaries,” and “The Notebook.”
- They discuss the movie “27 Dresses” and its main actress, Catherine Heigl.
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith a question about Wisconsin reducing deer-related traffic deaths by repopulating gray wolves.
Mount Kilimanjaro and More Trivia
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about the tallest freestanding mountain in the world.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss Mount Kilimanjaro, which is in Tanzania and is a volcano.
- They talk about the mountain’s height, its national park status, and the number of people who attempt to reach its summit each year.
- Marcia Smith lists more presidents who married their cousins, including John Tyler and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Shared DNA and Famous People Who Married Cousins
- Bob explains the percentage of shared DNA between relatives, noting that it drops dramatically after first cousins.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss famous people who married cousins, including Rudy Giuliani, Edgar Allan Poe, and Albert Einstein.
- Bob Smith shares anecdotes about Albert Einstein’s personal life and his multiple marriages.
- They mention other famous people who married cousins, like Jerry Lee Lewis and Kevin Bacon.
Haunted Cruise Ship and Currency Facts
- Marcia Smith asks which cruise ship is now a haunted hotel.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the Queen Mary, which was repurposed into a floating hotel and is said to be haunted.
- They take a break and return to discuss which country’s currency exists primarily outside its borders.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith talk about how much of the US currency is in circulation outside the US.
Most Visited Websites and Historical Facts
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about the most visited website in the world.
- They discuss the top five most visited websites, with Google leading the list.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about who was on the US $1 bill before George Washington.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith talk about Salmon P. Chase, who selected his own portrait for the $1 bill in 1860.
Punch and Umbrella Capital
- Marcia Smith asks why a punch bowl of mixed drinks is called a punch.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the origin of the term “punch,” which comes from a British colonial drink made with five ingredients.
- They talk about the umbrella capital of the world, which is Baltimore, where the first umbrella factory opened in 1828.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the history of umbrellas, noting that they have been around for 3000 years and were originally used for shade.
Mexico’s Land Loss and Final Trivia
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the percentage of Mexico’s land mass given up after its war with the US.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war in 1848 and resulted in Mexico ceding 55% of its territory.
- They talk about the 10 current states that were part of Mexico before the war.
- Marcia Smith recommends a book about the history of umbrellas, and they conclude the show with a quote from Zig Ziglar.
Marcia Smith 0:00
At what two times of your life do you age the most?
Bob Smith 0:04
And when the RMS Titanic went down in 1913 1500 people died. But what other precious cargo disappeared? Oh, dear. Answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 0:18
and Marcia Smith. You myth.
Bob Smith 0:36
Welcome to the off ramp. A chance to slow down, steer clear of crazy. Take a side road to sanity and enjoy life with some fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. So Marcia, there are two times of your life when you age the most. Yes,
Marcia Smith 0:52
there are two birthdays that we have that this is the year you’re going to age the most. Okay, aren’t you dying? You
Unknown Speaker 1:00
know what those are? Age one.
Marcia Smith 1:03
Let me physically get older.
Bob Smith 1:05
Is it different by male or female? Because they usually say they’re different time periods. Now,
Marcia Smith 1:09
according to the journal Nature aging, they have defined there’s two ages where you rapidly deteriorate.
Bob Smith 1:15
I would say one is age 45 or something like that. Very good. One is 44 Oh, really, and then the other is around 7578
Marcia Smith 1:25
60, oh, I passed that. 44 and 60 go past both of them. Aging isn’t a long, slow decline. It happens in bursts. At approximately 44 and 60 in our 40s, there’s a change to the processes related to our cardiovascular disease and to metabolizing things. Then at 60 comes a shift in our immune system which gets slower. Okay, so anyway, that’s the latest study in the journal Nature aging. So it says 44
Bob Smith 1:55
and what’s the other 160? 60. So those are the two times you begin aging the most, most,
Marcia Smith 2:01
yes. I mean, you’re always, always aging, but there are big bursts of decline. I kind of noticed on your 60th birthday, thanks a lot drooling in your birthday cake.
Speaker 1 2:13
All right, Marcia, when the RMS Titanic luxury ship went down in 1913 1500 people died. But what other precious cargo disappeared, never to be seen again, on the Titanic, on the Titanic, besides the people we know it for the 1500 people who died, lots of good wine.
Bob Smith 2:34
What other precious cargo disappeared? More than 9 million units were lost.
Marcia Smith 2:42
What would you be carrying? Wine, caviar? The
Bob Smith 2:46
hint is in the ship’s official name, the RMS Titanic, what does
Marcia Smith 2:50
Royal Majesty service?
Bob Smith 2:52
Royal Mail ship? Oh, it was yes, beyond the passengers and freight. The luxury vessel also transported mail. Now, how much mail? Well, in addition to the 1500 lives lost, up to 9 million pieces of mail are thought to have gone down with the show. Gosh, think
Marcia Smith 3:12
of all the thoughts that didn’t get over to their family and friends in America. Yeah. Wow. 9 million pieces, and those wouldn’t possibly unless they were in metal boxes, waterproof never would have survived, no, but wouldn’t it be interesting to find some and what was the other
Bob Smith 3:29
form of communication that was on the ship? Thank God, the telegraph. Yeah, that’s the only way they knew that the ship was going down, yeah? And still, otherwise it would have just disappeared, and nobody would have ever known what happened to Yeah,
Marcia Smith 3:41
that’s true. Bob, what does space smell like?
Bob Smith 3:46
Oh, it’s funny. I read about this the other day, really, but the astronauts were saying it smelled like, what did it smell like? Somebody said it had a metal smell.
Marcia Smith 3:56
It’s gunpowder and burnt steak. Burnt steak. Yeah, many astronauts have reported that it smells like a mix of gunpowder and burnt steak. The odor is most noticeable after an astronaut returns to the spacecraft through the airlock and they remove their helmet, at which point the lingering scent can be detected by both the astronaut who has been outside the ship and Their crewmates who remain aboard so they can all smell it because it came in with them.
Bob Smith 4:24
I don’t think I’d mind the burnt steak. That would be fun. Yeah. Well,
Marcia Smith 4:26
you like burnt food?
Bob Smith 4:27
Okay, all right. Marcia May, what US Memorial, was damaged in a terrorist explosion 30 times more powerful than the World Trade Center collapse on 911. Say the first part again, what US Memorial. Memorial was damaged in a terrorist explosion 30 times more powerful than the World Trade Center collapse in 2001
Marcia Smith 4:52
Memorial.
Bob Smith 4:53
It’s in the city of New York. Statue of Liberty, that is it the statue. Of Liberty was damaged in a blast in 1916 and this story I’m going to tell you is a great example of today’s headline. Is forgotten tomorrow. Yeah, this was called the Black Tom explosion. To this day, it’s one of the largest terrorist blasts ever on US soil, and it was caused by agents of the German government. So this was during the First World War, before we got involved, the explosion measured up to 5.5 on the Richter scale. Now that’s 30 times more powerful than when the buildings collapsed on 911, shrapnel hit the nearby Statue of Liberty, pockmarketing the gown, tearing holes in the arm and breaking glass in the torch. Remember I was talking, I said they closed down the torch. That explosion closed off the arm and torch to future visitors. And to this day, the National Park cites the black Tom explosion as the reason the torch is closed more than 100 years later. So what happened was, there was this Island in New York Harbor, where armaments were being shipped to Europe. And on July 30, 1916, 2 million pounds of small arms and artillery ammunition stored in freight cars and our barges blew up. Okay? It was 208 in the morning. It caused a detonation wave that traveled 24,000 feet per second. It lifted firefighters out of their boots and into the air. What year again was that? 1916 Wow. Windows all over New York City were shattered, all the store windows and
Marcia Smith 6:29
everything. Forget that’s something that this is something it was don’t know anymore. It took them
Bob Smith 6:33
until 1939 to solve it and say, Yes, it was the German government. They should pay up. Well, by then, Germany was starting to get involved in World War Two. And it wasn’t until after World War Two that the payments began. Really. Guess when the last payment to the United States for this explosion? 1950s 1979 Oh, my word. That’s how long it takes, 60 some odd years. Wow, after an event like this, for the final payments to be made. But they paid up, yeah. But the Statue of Liberty, which is a couple miles across the harbor from where this happened, had shrapnel in it, and it was causing almost $2 million worth of damage in today’s money in the statue.
Marcia Smith 7:12
Okay, all right, Bob, did you know that originally, people would say a prayer or Grace after a meal instead of before? No
Bob Smith 7:20
Why? Because they said, Thank God that meal was good. There’s nothing wrong with it. Nobody got food poisoning.
Marcia Smith 7:26
Well, they’re something to that absolutely. Traditionally, in today’s world, people who pray do so before a meal to demonstrate their gratefulness for an abundance of food and drink and thank God. But in ancient times, food spoiled quickly, often causing illness or death. Nomadic tribes experimenting with unfamiliar plants were often poisoned. Who the heck had to taste that first mushroom and say, Oh, that wasn’t good. So before a meal in ancient times, they would make a plea to their gods to deliver them from poisoning. And after the meal, if everyone was still standing, they would offer a prayer of thanksgiving. So I’m kind of right, that’s great, yeah, or grace that we did it. We lived, nobody died. Isn’t that funny? Sitting around a table with a bunch of people think some of us might not make it through this meal? Oh,
Bob Smith 8:20
I’m so hungry, but I’m scared to death of this food.
Marcia Smith 8:23
Think about, oh,
Bob Smith 8:24
my goodness, okay, Marcia, how can we thank the Dutch for orange carrots? Well, who says I want to thank them? You can thank the Dutch for orange carrots. So what’s the story?
Marcia Smith 8:35
Their soil had a certain acidity? No, no. Okay. What
Speaker 1 8:40
originally? Carrots grew in shades of purple, white and yellow, and domesticated carrots actually originated in modern day Afghanistan, more than 1000 years ago. Historians believe they began to breed their carrots for their natural pigments back then, and they think now that the Dutch growers in the 17th century deepened the color of carrots from a yellow hue to dark orange, paying tribute to William of Orange, a key figure in the fight for Dutch independence. They were such horticulturalists with their flowers and everything, so they took this root vegetable and thought, let’s turn this orange. So they bred carrots to be orange the carrots we have today. It
Marcia Smith 9:21
was a breeding thing, intentionally, yes, wow, that’s something. All right. Bob on January 1, look back 1913 remember?
Bob Smith 9:30
No, I don’t remember that
Marcia Smith 9:32
the United States Post Office began offering what
Bob Smith 9:37
these were, self adhesive stamps. No, no, stamps you had to lick. No, okay, because maybe they glued them on before Okay. Was it post cards?
Unknown Speaker 9:48
No, okay. What
Bob Smith 9:49
was it parcel
Marcia Smith 9:50
service, while private freight companies had already existed for quite some time, the program of parcel service allowed many more people, including. Including folks in rural communities, to get goods shipped to their front doors. So
Bob Smith 10:04
they didn’t do parcel shipping before that, no, but people get stuff shipped to them.
Marcia Smith 10:08
Well, they had to do it through a private company or the railroads, yeah. But immediately Americans went nuts and started shipping everything they could think of. One of the first packages sent was Bulldog college kids started mailing their laundry home, and there you go. More than one flushing. Queen’s resident received an opossum in the mail. Oh, my God, the most brazen early parcel customers trusted the post office with their children. That’s right. Human children started being sent via parcel post. The first one, it wasn’t a long trip. James Beagle, an eight month old resident in Ohio, his journey wasn’t long. A carrier picked up the well wrapped infant from his parents on january 25 and per the address on his attached card, delivered him to his grandmother just a few miles away. Postage was 15 cents, and his parents insured him for $50 by the time the post office put a stop to human beings in 1915 one of the last ones to go through the mail was a three year old Maude Smith, possibly an ancestor Bob with a shipping label sewn to her dress and she went to visit her sick mother. She was placed by her mail carrier on a train from Carrie to Jackson, Kentucky.
Bob Smith 11:29
And that first one gets me, would you imagine putting an eight month old baby into a parcel and having it shipped somewhere? And what did you say? $50 what was it? Oh,
Marcia Smith 11:39
no, it was like 15 cents to send and $50 for your baby. Seems so awful that three year old went much farther, and that was it. The post office said that’s enough kids coming through the mail. Interesting.
Bob Smith 11:51
Wow, all right, thank thank God that that change. Yeah, okay, I have another interesting thing about a fruit here. Did you know that you could thank a British nobleman for today’s bananas?
Marcia Smith 12:05
Well, you know, I always wondered who to thank for that. Bananas
Bob Smith 12:09
today are easy to peel, They’re nutritious, they taste sweet, but originally they were tougher and stockier and full of hard black seeds. Researchers have traced bananas origins to Papa New Guinea, but the British were the key figures in developing the variety found in most grocery stores, the one we’re most familiar with. Now, listen to this and Marsh Cavendish banana. Ever heard of that? That’s essentially the type of Chiquita bananas we get today. It is.
Marcia Smith 12:36
What is it? Cabin? What
Bob Smith 12:37
the Cavendish banana?
Marcia Smith 12:38
Cavendish?
Bob Smith 12:39
Does that name sound familiar? Yeah, English,
Marcia Smith 12:41
Cavendish. At the at the castle we went to at where at Chatsworth. Chatsworth Cavendish family.
Bob Smith 12:50
It’s the sixth Duke of Devonshire, William Spencer Cavendish. He is responsible for the banana today. But he was an avid gardener and a horticulturalist, he established the Royal Botanical Gardens, and he acquired an early specimen of the banana from India, which he raised in the glass house that his gardener, Joseph Paxton, built on the Chatsworth estate. That plant is the progenitor of almost all the varieties of banana in supermarkets today, and it was named the Cavendish banana in his honor, I had no idea.
Marcia Smith 13:23
And the man behind the banana
Bob Smith 13:26
was the Duke here. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 13:27
Okay, moving on, aka Bob, it’s time. Oh no, oh yes, oh no. My favorite card game and called, also known as, what’s
Bob Smith 13:36
the topic today? Category
Marcia Smith 13:37
Bob is salad dressing. Oh
Bob Smith 13:40
dear.
Marcia Smith 13:40
You’ve had all these Okay, get on top of it. So for instance, if the if I said Venetian, what would be the salad dressing?
Bob Smith 13:49
Venetian? Yeah, that would be Italian dressing. That’s
Marcia Smith 13:54
it. Okay, all right, next Parisian French dressing. That’s right, horse farm, what think about it? Horse
Bob Smith 14:03
Farm, yeah, horse farm, it’s
Marcia Smith 14:06
not a farm. Branch dressing. That’s
Unknown Speaker 14:07
right. Ranch, okay,
Marcia Smith 14:09
I like this 110, 100 Maui’s.
Bob Smith 14:12
What’s a Maui? What do you what do you think 10, 100 Maui’s, uh huh. 1000 Islands. That’s
Marcia Smith 14:19
it. Okay?
Bob Smith 14:21
1000 Island dressing. All right,
Marcia Smith 14:23
okay, this is one of my favorites, sad cheddar.
Bob Smith 14:27
Sad cheddar, blue cheese, very good. Sad cheese.
Marcia Smith 14:34
I didn’t think we’d get that blue cheese. Opium flower germ, what? Yeah.
Bob Smith 14:40
Opium flower germ,
Marcia Smith 14:41
uh huh,
Bob Smith 14:42
okay, that one, I don’t know opium flower
Marcia Smith 14:44
is a Poppy. Poppy seed dressing. Oh, okay, and Emerald. Female deity,
Bob Smith 14:53
emerald. Female deity, emerald. That’s green. Yeah, green.
Marcia Smith 14:58
Female. Male deity, wait a minute, there’s
Bob Smith 15:02
a dressing that’s green. Yeah? Green dress. You’ve
Marcia Smith 15:06
had this, really? Yeah? What is it? Green Goddess,
Bob Smith 15:10
no, I don’t remember that. You
Marcia Smith 15:11
don’t remember having that. Never heard of it. It’s the type like 1000 Island. Oh, my God. All right, you go, Marcia.
Bob Smith 15:17
What US state was the first to use a firearm as an official symbol. Oh, really, this is recent. It’s
Marcia Smith 15:26
recent. They added it. Yes, they made it has to be, though, something in the South. No, it’s not in the south. So then it has to be one of the earlier this thing
Bob Smith 15:36
happened in 2011 Marsh. They have an official gun. Is it
Marcia Smith 15:40
West? Is it outside West? Okay, is it something like Idaho?
Bob Smith 15:45
It’s something like that. It’s Utah. Yeah, Utah adopted the Browning M 1911 pistol as its official state gun. And since then, yeah, nine other states have adopted firearms as official state symbols. So now 10 states have an official gun or official
Marcia Smith 16:02
fire with an AK, 47
Bob Smith 16:04
I don’t know yet. I haven’t looked that up.
Marcia Smith 16:07
All right, what’s the longest time Bob recorded between twins being born? It’s
Bob Smith 16:12
not more than a day, is it?
Marcia Smith 16:14
You tell me it’s hours, like eight hours, 90 days.
Bob Smith 16:18
Oh, my goodness. So that other baby was still in there? Yeah, holy cow. On
Marcia Smith 16:23
average, twins are delivered just a few minutes apart. But this isn’t always the case. In 1996 for instance, a Maryland woman named Lassa West gave birth to fraternal twins over a span of 90 days. On January 1 of that year, she and her partner, David, welcomed daughter Molly into the world. She was born premature. After her birth, doctors were able to stop Lisa’s contractions so she could carry the other baby to full term. Jeez, I didn’t know you could do that.
Bob Smith 16:53
I didn’t either, and this is not long. When was this? This was
Marcia Smith 16:57
1996 Okay, yeah. And three months later, on March 30, she gave birth to a little Benjamin, setting an all time record for the longest gap between the birth of two twins. That’s just a weird, weird statistic and a few and a few factoids, most surviving children ever delivered during a single birth. Okay,
Bob Smith 17:18
I hate to think of this. So the, you know, the quintuplets was a big deal. There’s five, I think there were seven at one point. Yeah, is it more than that?
Marcia Smith 17:27
It’s nine. Oh, dear. Well, yes, the heaviest baby ever born. Want to guess that one the heaviest
Bob Smith 17:33
baby ever born?
Unknown Speaker 17:34
Yeah, yeah. Oh, let’s
Bob Smith 17:36
see. Okay, so 10 pounds, 11 pounds. Those are big babies. I’ll go to 12 pounds, 22
Marcia Smith 17:43
pounds. Oh,
Bob Smith 17:44
my goodness, a 22 pound baby, yeah.
Marcia Smith 17:47
Oh, my God. And percentage of twins who are said to share their own quote, secret language,
Bob Smith 17:55
I don’t know, 40% really. So 40% of twins have some kind of secret connection that they use. And I have one more thing related to births here. What did the Chicago World’s Fair of 1934 want and almost get as its prime attraction of its show,
Marcia Smith 18:11
somebody giving birth? No, close really.
Speaker 1 18:15
They wanted the Dion quintuplets there. Oh, they wanted to place the infants on exhibit at the fair. How dare? In return, they offered 23% of the gate, but the father was contacted 48 hours after their birth. He already had four children and a wife and a $100 a month income, so he said yes for money reasons, but a family physician stepped in stopped the deal, saying the infants were too young, and the Canadian government seeing more such tour and movie offers coming, set up a $1 million Trust Fund for the youngsters and made them wards of the state because they were worried about them being exploited.
Marcia Smith 18:51
Well, good for them. Now that’s government really stepping in and doing a yeah, great thing. It’s
Bob Smith 18:57
time for a baby break.
Marcia Smith 18:59
Let’s take a break. Okay,
Bob Smith 19:02
you’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment.
Speaker 1 19:08
We’re back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We do this every week for the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and its internet radio station. And after it airs on Monday and Wednesday night. It goes out all over the world on podcast platforms. That’s right. Marcia, Thomas Edison, we know him for the light bulb, we know him for the phonograph. We know him for a multitude of inventions.
Marcia Smith 19:32
Really know him.
Bob Smith 19:33
Bob, okay, he
Marcia Smith 19:34
hasn’t come for dinner.
Unknown Speaker 19:36
That’s true.
Marcia Smith 19:36
He’s busy all the time. Well,
Speaker 1 19:38
Thomas Edison contributed something very important to our form of democracy. But this invention, his first patented one, was ignored for many years and was a failure in his lifetime. What was it very important to democracy? Democracy,
Bob Smith 19:54
I don’t know. The first voting machine he designed it in the eight. 1960s All right? And then here’s a funny fact. In 1845 it was unlawful to own a bathtub in Boston unless your doctor prescribed it.
Marcia Smith 20:10
Really, well, what? Tell me. Tell me why it was
Bob Smith 20:13
considered unlawful, ironically, for sanitary reasons, really, yes, you don’t want to get in water, yeah, and take a bath. No, that’s unsanitary. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 20:23
Okay, things have
Bob Smith 20:25
changed a little bit. What year was that? That was in 1845 because
Marcia Smith 20:29
then they started allowing it, and people would all use the same bath water. I
Bob Smith 20:34
suppose that was the unsanitary nature of it. And the baby was always
Marcia Smith 20:38
the last to go in after the whole family. Don’t
Bob Smith 20:41
throw out the baby with the bathroom. That’s where that phrase, I can’t imagine washing a baby in dirty water. Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. No,
Marcia Smith 20:47
it doesn’t Okay. Bob, what color are sunsets on Mars? The
Bob Smith 20:53
sun sets on Mars. How many times have we had that enjoyment of watching the sunset on Mars? What? Okay, they’re not red. The red planet. I don’t think they were red.
Marcia Smith 21:04
Maybe you would think so, but no, okay,
Bob Smith 21:06
are they white? No, okay. What’s the color of the sunset on Mars? Blue, blue
Marcia Smith 21:14
because of the way the planet’s atmosphere scatters light through its iron, rich dust, which scatters red light during the day. Right the red planet at sunset, the blue glow is visible throughout the Martian day, but you don’t but towards sunset, the atmosphere scatters and filters so much red light that blue light passes through. Wow. And so Earth and Mars, this is interesting. Are the only two places in our solar system where we can observe sunsets.
Bob Smith 21:47
Oh, really, there’s no other place in the solar system than the sunsets, right? Well, that’s weird. Why? Well, that’s
Speaker 1 21:54
because the atmosphere. Okay, gotcha All right. Marcia, for 20 centuries after the assassination of Julius Caesar, his very name lived on through a tradition adopted by European leaders. What tradition
Marcia Smith 22:10
I’m sorry say it again for 20
Bob Smith 22:11
centuries after the assassination of Julius Caesar, his name lived on through a tradition adopted by European leaders,
Marcia Smith 22:24
the calendar. The what the calendar? No,
Bob Smith 22:27
not the calendar. This is something adopted by European leaders,
Marcia Smith 22:30
some kind of holiday. No, no, Jesus. I don’t know all
Speaker 1 22:35
of their names. The emperors of Germany and Austria, Hungary were called Kaiser. That’s the German spelling and almost the correct pronunciation of the Latin Caesar. And the Russian word Tsar, T, S, A R, or C, Z, A R is also a form of Caesar. I didn’t know that, and until 1947 the British emperors of India had the title Kaiser ahind. So that was the use of Julius Caesar’s name that lasted for 20 centuries after his death.
Marcia Smith 23:05
I’ll be darned. Okay, quick. Bob in medical school today. What percentage are women
Bob Smith 23:11
in medical school today? What percentage are women? Gee, I would hope it’s at least 50% is it more than that? Let’s say 60% No. Is it 40% no, oh, what is it 55 oh, well, it’s not bad.
Marcia Smith 23:26
That’s a majority of people. According to Association of Medical College the 2023 24 school year was made up of more than 55% women. And today, women, in practice, make up 37% of the US physicians, compared to just 5% in 1970 Wow.
Bob Smith 23:47
So it’s changed a lot. That’s a huge growth in the last 50 some odd years,
Marcia Smith 23:52
5% to 37 and now in school, they outnumber the boys. That’s great.
Bob Smith 23:57
I mean, it’s, it’s progress, right? Oh, absolutely yes. All right, Marcia gold, very malleable or flexible.
Marcia Smith 24:04
I wouldn’t mind some what, nothing. Gold can
Bob Smith 24:07
be beaten out into a very thin film. How wide an area can a single ounce of gold cover? Oh, that’s interesting. Single ounce of gold, you can beat on it and fly
Marcia Smith 24:18
20 feet, probably a lot farther, 20 feet. Yeah,
Bob Smith 24:22
it can be beaten out into a thin film that would cover 100 square feet. Yeah, 100 square feet,
Marcia Smith 24:30
that’s pretty thin film.
Speaker 1 24:32
That’s less than 1/200 82, thousandths of an inch. But you can do it also. A single ounce of gold can be drawn into a wire, a very fine wire, 50 miles long.
Marcia Smith 24:44
Gosh, isn’t it something?
Bob Smith 24:45
That’s why gold was used in science, not just in jewelry. And so it’s very, very valuable.
Marcia Smith 24:51
Yeah, gold is very interesting, and it’s worth more in my mind, than a diamonds, because it’s just malleable. It has just forget it. Everything. I just said, okay, all right,
Bob Smith 25:02
I can’t beat a diamond. No, that’s what one girl told me. You can’t beat a diamond.
Marcia Smith 25:07
Simple answer to, why do you want? Okay, diamonds. Okay. All right. Before I get to my final quote, Bob, here’s a question, why can’t you hum while holding your nose shut? Well, sure
Bob Smith 25:20
you can hum while holding your nose. Let
Marcia Smith 25:22
me see you now, close it tight.
Bob Smith 25:25
I can’t Okay, you’re right. I was wrong. You can’t hum. Yes, you
Marcia Smith 25:32
can’t hum because the air can’t resonate in your nasal cavity and can’t be expelled. Yeah, when you hum, air escapes through your nose to create that sound okay, and when your nose is plugged, you’re right, humming does
Bob Smith 25:44
come through your nose. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 25:46
I never thought about it, but it’s not something I lie awake thinking about. Air needs to resonate and be expelled. Yeah. Sorry, all right. Got another one. I
Bob Smith 25:58
do have an interesting question for you, after he surrendered at 1886 the Apache chieftain Geronimo, for a while, adopted European ways, white man’s ways, what occupation did Geronimo take up? What religion did he join? And why was he expelled from his church?
Marcia Smith 26:16
Really Holy kamole, okay, so he had
Bob Smith 26:20
a different occupation, yeah, he joined a church and he was kicked out.
Marcia Smith 26:25
Okay? He was a computer analyst. He became a Buddhist and he got kicked out. That’s
Bob Smith 26:30
right, he was a data specialist. No Marcia, this is the 19th century, and being
Marcia Smith 26:34
amusing, okay, well, all right, all right, I don’t what would he become? I became a farmer. Oh, all right, that’s lovely. And
Bob Smith 26:42
a member of the Dutch Reformed Church on a military reservation in Oklahoma. Now, why was he expelled from the Church? Was it some heresy? I don’t know, some other belief he had probably he was kicked out of church for gambling. Oh, really, he tried to be a white person just didn’t work. Chief Germano, 1886 Wow.
Marcia Smith 27:05
All right, my final quote of the day comes from Stephen Hawking. Okay. He said, I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predestined and that we can do nothing to change it still look before they cross the road,
Bob Smith 27:23
there’s always a lot of those things, like something happens to a psychic. How did she see that happen?
Marcia Smith 27:27
Didn’t see that come
Bob Smith 27:28
in? See that coming? Well, that’s it for today. I’m Bob Smith. I’m
Marcia Smith 27:33
Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 27:34
Please be with us next time when we return with more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia here on the
Marcia Smith 27:39
off ramp,
Bob Smith 27:43
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 offramp. Dot show at.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
