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245 Body Of Evidence Trivia

Why do our noses have two nostrils? When 3.5 million attended the largest concert of all time, who performed? Hear the Off Ramp Podcast.

Marcia and Bob Smith discuss various trivia and facts. They reveal that Rod Stewart performed the largest concert in history in Rio de Janeiro in 1994, with 3.5 million attendees. They explain the dual functions of nostrils, each alternating between breathing and smelling. They also discuss the preservation of covered bridges to prevent wood rot and the practice of dog trainers keeping treats in their mouths to avoid distraction. The conversation touches on historical misnomers for North America, such as “Baccalaureum,” and the origins of Oktoberfest. They explore the anatomy of the “funny bone” and the top five most memorable TV characters. The show concludes with quotes from Buddha and Yiddish wisdom.

Outline

Rod Stewart’s Record-Breaking Concert

  • Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss a rock concert attended by 3.5 million people.
  • Marcia Smith reveals the concert was in Rio de Janeiro in 1994.
  • The concert was headlined by Rod Stewart on New Year’s Eve.
  • Marcia Smith shares that Stewart was amazed by the large crowd.

Function of Nostrils

  • Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith why humans have two nostrils.
  • Marcia Smith and Speaker 2 discuss the evolutionary benefits of having two nostrils.
  • Bob Smith explains that each nostril has different functions: one for breathing and one for smelling.
  • The conversation delves into how nostrils switch between breathing and smelling dominance.

Covered Bridges

  • Marcia Smith and Speaker 2 discuss the purpose of covered bridges.
  • Speaker 2 explains that covered bridges were built to protect the wood from rot.
  • Marcia Smith mentions a covered bridge in their community that has lasted for over 100 years.
  • The conversation touches on the historical significance and preservation of covered bridges.

Westminster Kennel Club Show

  • Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the Westminster Kennel Club Show.
  • Marcia Smith guesses the treats are kept in the handlers’ pockets.
  • Bob Smith reveals that some handlers keep treats in their mouths to avoid distraction.
  • The conversation highlights the unique techniques used by dog trainers during competitions.

Arrow Wagon Disaster

  • Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the Arrow Wagon, an experimental vehicle.
  • The Arrow Wagon combined a train with an aircraft’s propeller.
  • The vehicle derailed and killed seven people, including the inventor.
  • The conversation draws parallels to other historical transportation disasters.

Hidden Messages in Art

  • Marcia Smith shares that Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” has a hidden inscription.
  • The inscription reads, “Can only have been painted by a madman.”
  • Marcia Smith also mentions George Seurat’s self-portrait hidden in “Young Woman Powdering Herself.”
  • The conversation explores the use of advanced technology to uncover hidden messages in art.

Historical Names for North America

  • Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the various names North America has had.
  • North America was once called “Baccalaureum,” meaning “realm of the codfish.”
  • The conversation explains the misnomer and its origins.
  • Bob Smith mentions the influence of Amerigo Vespucci and his nephew on the naming of North America.

Egg Preparation Riddles

  • Marcia Smith presents a series of riddles about egg preparations.
  • The riddles include “hunted illegally” (poached), “destroyed from a power surge” (scrambled), and “Caesar or antipasto” (egg salad).
  • The conversation highlights the obscure and humorous ways to describe egg preparations.
  • Marcia Smith and Bob Smith engage in a playful quiz about egg terminology.

Oktoberfest Origins

  • Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the origins of Oktoberfest.
  • The first Oktoberfest was a wedding reception in 1810 for Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Theresa.
  • The event became an annual tradition and later an official festival.
  • The conversation highlights the popularity and global reach of Oktoberfest.

Human Anatomy Facts

  • Bob Smith shares a fact about the “funny bone” being a nerve.
  • The ulnar nerve is vulnerable at the elbow, causing a tingling sensation when hit.
  • The conversation explains the anatomy and the misconception behind the term “funny bone.”
  • Bob Smith provides a humorous and informative explanation of the ulnar nerve.

Memorable TV Characters

  • Marcia Smith lists the top five most memorable TV characters of all time.
  • The list includes Walter White, Tony Soprano, Michael Scott, Dexter Morgan, and Kermit the Frog.
  • The conversation highlights the iconic status of these characters.
  • Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss their favorite characters and their impact on television.

Brain Freeze Relief

  • Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the best relief for brain freeze.
  • The conversation presents four options: holding breath, rubbing forehead, pressing thumb against roof of mouth, and blinking eyes rapidly.
  • Bob Smith explains the science behind brain freeze and the effectiveness of pressing the thumb against the roof of the mouth.
  • The conversation concludes with a humorous and informative tip for relieving brain freeze.

Quotes of the Day

  • Marcia Smith shares quotes from Buddha and Yiddish wisdom.
  • Buddha’s quote states, “Three things cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
  • The Yiddish quote says, “A half truth is a whole lie.”
  • The conversation emphasizes the importance of truth and honesty.

Audience Engagement

  • Bob Smith invites listeners to participate by sending questions or facts.
  • The conversation encourages audience interaction and engagement with the show.
  • Listeners are directed to the show’s website for contact information.
  • The segment concludes with a reminder to join the next episode for more fascinating facts and trivia.

Marcia Smith 0:00
3.5 million people attended this rock concert who sang, and where was it? Wow,

Bob Smith 0:06
okay, and why do our noses have two nostrils? Answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob

Marcia Smith 0:18
and Marsha Smith. You

Bob Smith 0:36
COVID. Welcome to the off ramp, a chance to slow down, steer clear of crazy and take a side road to sanity with some fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. Well, that must have been some kind of rock concert, Marcia, 3.5 million people attended. Was this all live people attending, as opposed to dead people?

Marcia Smith 0:57
Yeah, it wasn’t.

Unknown Speaker 0:58
Was it a televised concert? I

Marcia Smith 1:00
don’t know, but it’s a well known person. It was in 1994 in person. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 1:06
where was it? Rio de

Marcia Smith 1:08
Janeiro. Oh,

Bob Smith 1:09
wait a minute. Was this? Elton John, no, okay, keep

Marcia Smith 1:13
thinking English,

Unknown Speaker 1:14
Rio de Janeiro. You

Marcia Smith 1:15
know this guy?

Unknown Speaker 1:16
Not Paul McCartney, no. Who

Marcia Smith 1:19
it was Rod Stewart.

Unknown Speaker 1:22
Oh no kidding. It

Marcia Smith 1:23
was the largest concert of all time on New Year’s Eve, 1994 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the Copacabana beach, the free concert brought in 3.5 million people from all over the world. The pictures are phenomenal. I have to look at them. Was

Bob Smith 1:42
this during his Do you think I’m sexy period? Yes.

Marcia Smith 1:46
And not surprisingly, Stewart said afterwards he never saw so many people. Well, da, Yeah,

Speaker 1 1:53
no kidding. 3.5 that is amazing. You should see the pictures. I

Bob Smith 1:58
believe it. There’s no stadium that can hold that many people, it’s a beach Wow, that’s fascinating. And you have beach pictures, huh? Yep, bikinis and things like that. I mean, okay,

Speaker 1 2:08
they’re aerial shots. Bob, Oh, all right, just a bunch of people. Gotta

Marcia Smith 2:11
get out more. That’s something, something gonna miss here. Okay,

Bob Smith 2:15
Marcia, and here’s my physical question for you, why do our noses have two nostrils?

Marcia Smith 2:25
Well, well, because we’d look pretty weird with one big hole in the middle of our face. But why not? Well,

Speaker 2 2:30
now I say it because, you know, when it comes to eyes and ears, the pairs make sense. That’s good. Okay. Paired eyes give us stereo vision, which allows us to see objects in depth, and the paired ears give a stereo hearing, which allows us to detect the direction of Yes, can I so? Why do we have twin holes in our noses? Twin holes? Is it possible

Marcia Smith 2:50
one is for inhaling and one is for exhaling? They each have a different function. Yes, they do. And you tell me what that is, they actually

Bob Smith 2:59
have two functions, and they trade off on doing it. Oh, okay. The reason is, the nose is the focus of our sense of smell, but it’s also where we draw in most of our oxygen. So our nostrils have evolved to perform both roles, although each nostril prefers one role over the other at different times. So at any given moment, one of your nostrils may draw in more air than the other, the other will draw in less air, which allows it to pick up certain scents in the environment.

Marcia Smith 3:26
So there’s only one doing the smell thing. Apparently,

Speaker 2 3:30
at a time, one’s doing one thing and one’s doing the other. No kidding, yeah, even in breathing mode, the high flow nostril can still detect a scent, but the scent will spread throughout the nostril sensory receptors quickly. If the scent is the kind whose microscopic particles can dissolve quickly in the fluid covering the receptors, the high flow nostril will pick it up. If the scent is the kind whose particles can’t dissolve quickly, the low flow nostril is better at dissolving and detecting said particles. Okay, good to know. So each nostril can switch between breathing dominance and smelling dominance several times a day. Okay? That helps you. When you have nasal congestion, like, yeah, cold and everything, you still have to smell that gas that you’ve left on in the kitchen, you know. Okay, Bob, why

Marcia Smith 4:16
were covered? Bridges covered? Oh,

Speaker 2 4:19
my God, and I was working in that same question, Are you right? I know the answer. Well, tell me. Okay, they were covered in order to protect the wood of the bridge. Now, covered bridges looks old fashioned, and so they tore a lot of them down just because of that. But the reason they kept those things covered was because all of the woodwork and everything would rot and weaken. And the bridges that were covered and still exist are 100 to 200 years old, yeah,

Marcia Smith 4:46
otherwise, they just last 10 to 20 years. And that’s the main, the main belief why they were covered. The

Bob Smith 4:53
other beliefs were all the animals were afraid if they’d go over the water to see the water down below them. Well. Or they need a place to be in a storm. There were people that put those kinds of theories out. Well,

Marcia Smith 5:06
I guess you got the whole question and answer. I don’t know. We’ll have to talk later and see where you got yours. Okay? Thank you. Yes, you’re right. I’m

Unknown Speaker 5:13
sorry, no, that’s good. I

Bob Smith 5:15
thought that was an interesting question, too. Yeah,

Marcia Smith 5:17
what was the point of them being covered? Because right here in our little community, we have a covered bridge from the 1800s and it’s a beautiful thing, and they’ve preserved it, and it’s still really in good shape and

Speaker 2 5:28
good to walk through. There’s one in, I think it’s in Massachusetts or in New York. It’s over 200 years old, still being used. And then, of course, the friends who grew up with me in Southern Illinois know that Brown County, Indiana has a lot of coverage, really? Yeah, they have a covered bridge festival every year. So there. Okay,

Marcia Smith 5:47
okay. Bob, what do you got? Marcia, you

Bob Smith 5:50
are a viewer of that famous dog show every year in England. What’s it called? The

Marcia Smith 5:54
Westminster Kennel Club? Oh,

Bob Smith 5:57
yes, yes, the famous Westminster Kennel Club show. Where do the dog trainers keep their treats during competitions? Wouldn’t the dogs become distracted if they could smell those treats? Well, that’s

Marcia Smith 6:08
a good question. Do they wrap them in a little sniff proof paper in their pockets?

Bob Smith 6:15
No, it’s not. It’s kind of interesting, kind of gross too. Okay, here’s what happens. Dogs would become distracted if they could smell the treats right. Can you imagine that in competition? That’s why at the famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, some handlers keep their loose treats, like hot dogs, cheese or liver, stashed in their mouths. Really? Yes, that’s right, the trainers keep the treats in their mouths. Britannica.com says that technique allows them quick access to the treats without having to dig through their pockets, and it also keeps their clothes from smelling like meat, which they would if they had it in their pocket, would be a definite distraction for a dog. So some of the famous dog handlers keep the treats in their mouth, and they’ll pull out what

Marcia Smith 7:02
they need to watch that more carefully next time. Okay, like

Unknown Speaker 7:06
I said, a little gross it, yeah, it is. It is little flame in your Here you

Marcia Smith 7:10
go. More like it. Bob, what was the arrow wagon? The Arrow wagon, yeah, A, E, R, O, W, W, n,

Bob Smith 7:19
that was a famous car. Wasn’t it aerial? The Aero wagon? No, what was it?

Marcia Smith 7:24
It’s a train. It’s a plane. In 1921 the arrow wagon, invented by a 25 year old Russian engineer named Valery abesky, combined a train with the power and propeller action of an aircraft. Oh,

Bob Smith 7:41
my goodness. So it’s an experiment in transportation. The inventor

Marcia Smith 7:44
and a bunch of government officials took it for a test run. The arrow wagon derailed at high speed and killed seven of the 22 people aboard, including the inventor valerian. Oh, my board. God, that’s terrible. It is. It reminded me of that thing they went down to the CN, the guy who invented that went down, went down for the Titanic, and everyone died. Yes. Anyway, the arrow wagon went up to speeds of up to 87 miles per hour. And back in those days, 1921 apparently that was just a little bit too much.

Bob Smith 8:21
Well, cars were going that fast in races, yeah? But this was an experimental vehicle, and it was probably a big piece of iron that just went candy. Wampus,

Unknown Speaker 8:30
so this was in Russia, yeah? Moscow, okay. Marcia,

Bob Smith 8:33
here’s another body question. I got body questions today.

Marcia Smith 8:38
More nostrils. Any more nostrils?

Unknown Speaker 8:40
Not about nostrils, okay?

Bob Smith 8:41
What part of the human body means little doll in Latin?

Unknown Speaker 8:47
Little doll, little doll.

Unknown Speaker 8:49
Wow,

Marcia Smith 8:50
that’s a weird isn’t it exterior?

Bob Smith 8:53
Yes, it’s an exterior part of your body. Little doll. You’ll never get it. It’s kind of interesting, all right, I haven’t a clue. It’s the pupil of your eye. The black circle at the center of your eye, the name pupil for that part of the eye comes from the Latin word for little doll, and it refers to the small reflection of yourself you see when looking into someone else’s eye. Oh, really. Now, isn’t that cool little doll? Yeah, it’s from Latin, huh?

Marcia Smith 9:20
All right, okay, Bob, how did our cars instrument panel get the name dashboard?

Bob Smith 9:27
Oh, that’s a good one dashboard. Now, there was a dashboard in wagons back in the horse and buggy days. They called it a dashboard. Now, why did they call it a dashboard? Because it was actually a piece of wood. I believe

Marcia Smith 9:39
you’re all on the right track here. Had

Bob Smith 9:43
something to do with being right up front there, right? Yeah. Okay, explain

Marcia Smith 9:46
it. Okay. Very much. On the right track. The word comes directly from the horse and buggy. In the mid 19th century, an apron or board was placed in front of the vehicle to keep mud from hitting the passengers. Hmm. Hmm, especially when they were moving or dashing, the horses would dash. Oh, no kidding, yeah. So hence the word dashboard. So

Bob Smith 10:09
because the horses are going fast and their heels are kicking up, this dashboard kept you from getting the mud flung in your face, yeah, right. So it performed the same function as a wind shield, yeah? But it was a dashboard, yeah, I’ll never think of it the same way again. That’s pretty cool. Yeah, I

Marcia Smith 10:27
love origin

Bob Smith 10:27
stories. Dashboard. Wow. That is a great thought. Okay, here’s a good thought. What happens when 10 million pounds of butter catch fire? Well, you know,

Marcia Smith 10:38
as a lot of popcorn to put in there only come only can you how much? Well, how many? How many pounds, 10

Bob Smith 10:45
million pounds of butter? Did

Marcia Smith 10:47
that happen somewhere? It

Bob Smith 10:49
happened in Wisconsin. Geez, in 1991 in the dairy state, a warehouse that stored 10 million pounds of government owned butter went up in flames, Lordy, and because of the high fat content, the blaze was essentially one giant grease fire caught fire now this 1991 Madison, Wisconsin, five fire trucks became stuck in the gelatinous quagmire of butter and water three feet deep, necessitating mechanics to wade through carrying buckets of diesel for refueling, but took eight days to extinguish that fire, jeez. However, they were doing that,

Marcia Smith 11:28
when I smell melted butter, I start thinking a lobster tail. I could bring over a little bucket of lobster and dip it in the well that that would be wrong. Okay, all

Bob Smith 11:37
right, fortunately, no one was seriously injured. That’s the last word I need to say on this, as opposed to your little lobster tag on the end there. All right, Marsh,

Marcia Smith 11:47
okay. Bob, hidden messages and works of art. I’ve, I’ve got two. I’ll give you one first. Okay, this is, you know, this piece of work. Edvard Munch, oh yes, the scream. That’s his most famous one. What did he have hidden in his painting that nobody saw for 11 years? Really?

Speaker 2 12:07
He had something hidden in that painting, yes, so he was, that was the big scream, the guy’s face and so forth, as a woman, a woman’s face, all right, screaming. So he had a little, a little doll, a little pupil.

Marcia Smith 12:20
Now he had an inscription up in the corner, all right. What did it say? It was written in pencil at the top left of the painting, and it is tiny, but visible to the naked eye. If you look very closely in Norwegian, he wrote, can only have been painted by a madman. Wow. Spooky. That’s

Bob Smith 12:41
his own. Yeah, admonition there, yeah,

Marcia Smith 12:44
it’s in pencil, and you really hard to see, but infrared technology has recently been able to make it stand out a little bit more.

Unknown Speaker 12:52
Well, did he have mental illness or something? I think he was

Marcia Smith 12:55
a little crazy, a little off the palette. Yes, at the palette. And here’s one you know who George Seurat is, yes, right? Sera Actually, yes, afternoon in the park and all that. Yes, that’s one of our favorites. He painted his famous painting, young woman powdering herself in around 1890 and it shows his Paramore, his lava at a vanity table, powdering herself, and there’s a window in the background with the flowers in it. But if you look at it with today’s advanced image technology, you’ll see something in the window that isn’t the flowers. You know what it is? No,

Bob Smith 13:33
no. What is it a is it a self portrait or something? Oh, no, kidding. Yes.

Marcia Smith 13:37
It would have been the only self portrait of Seurat to ever exist, but he painted over it because one of his friends said That’s kind of creepy. I would think so you looking in the window at a woman, you know, half naked, powdering yourself,

Bob Smith 13:52
no kidding, even though it is your lover. Yeah, we think it’s a little strange. Yes, they

Marcia Smith 13:56
had two children.

Bob Smith 13:57
Might make it hard to sell the painting. That’s interesting. Even in those days, somebody thought that’s a

Marcia Smith 14:03
little creepy, little creepy. Char G,

Bob Smith 14:06
I think it’s time for a break. Okay, you’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment.

Marcia Smith 14:13
I love these hidden messages in paintings. I think it’s so cute.

Bob Smith 14:19
We’re back hidden messages and paintings and all. And if you listen to our recording at twice the speed,

Marcia Smith 14:28
demonic messages,

Speaker 2 14:30
I don’t think we have anything like that. He is alive. Paul is dead. We do this every week for the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, for its internet radio station, and after it airs on that broadcast platform, it goes on to podcast platforms and airs all over the world. Got to be at the microphone when I do these things

Bob Smith 14:54
all over the world. That’s right. Okay. Marcia, why was North America once called? Baccalaureum, baccalaureate. Why

Marcia Smith 15:02
was what called Baccalaureate North America, really? Yeah, baccalaureum, because there are a lot of bacteria here. It’s

Speaker 2 15:10
just one of the many different names North America had on maps back in the day. Okay? Because almost from the start, the New World continent to the South was America, just America without the directional adjective. The big stuff up north was either unknown, mysterious or misnamed for a long time, and at one point, North America’s name was baccalaureum, B, A, C, C, A, L, E, A, R, U, M,

Bob Smith 15:34
which means realm of the codfish. Now, how did bless the codfish?

Marcia Smith 15:41
How

Unknown Speaker 15:42
did that happen? How

Marcia Smith 15:43
did that happen? How did I don’t know, sailors had a few too many on board and named it. Then

Bob Smith 15:49
you can blame Amerigo Vespucci, nephew. Oh, that’s Kelly wag America. Vespucci was the explorer who discovered the new world. He figured out it was a new world after Columbus thought it was India in the 1500s and vespucci’s nephew became a royal pilot for the Spanish government, and he was in charge of exploration and mapping of all the western territories for Spain. His 1524 map of North America showed the tip of Florida, labeled Terra florita, immediately below Newfoundland with nothing in between. The whole east coast of America gone. Okay, so the map was labeled Terra del bacchia, the land of the codfish, which was a good name, because codfish were plentiful in Newfoundland. But it was hardly a reason to misname an entire unseen continent. I kind of like codfish. Still, for a time, that was our name, realm of the cod Fauci

Marcia Smith 16:43
I love it’s better than the alewives of Milwaukee. That’s

Unknown Speaker 16:46
true. Okay, Bob,

Marcia Smith 16:47
it is time for AKA, also known as, that’s right, Marsha’s favorite card game. The category today is ways to prepare eggs. Oh,

Bob Smith 16:59
no, yes, the obscure things you do, the ways to prepare eggs.

Marcia Smith 17:04
Okay, so if I said above simple, what kind of eggs are these above,

Bob Smith 17:10
simple, that’s not over easy. Yes, it is. Okay, okay,

Marcia Smith 17:15
all right. Second one, solar part elevated.

Bob Smith 17:19
Solar part elevated. Solar part elevated. Solar part sun, sun, yeah, elevated, okay, I don’t know what is it? Sunny

Marcia Smith 17:32
Side,

Speaker 2 17:32
sunny side, up, okay. Solar part elevated, all right,

Marcia Smith 17:36
okay, these eggs are hunted illegally.

Unknown Speaker 17:39
Hunted illegally. They’re poached. That’s correct,

Marcia Smith 17:43
destroyed from a power surge.

Bob Smith 17:46
Destroyed from a power surge scrambled.

Marcia Smith 17:49
No, what do you say? If your computer goes up in smoke, it’s

Unknown Speaker 17:53
toast. Well,

Marcia Smith 17:55
that’s what I say. That’s another word for it. Yes. What is it fried?

Unknown Speaker 18:00
Oh, it’s Fried, fried eggs. Okay, a power surge.

Marcia Smith 18:03
Here’s one, Caesar or antipasto.

Bob Smith 18:06
Caesar or antipasto? Is it tossed No, like tossed salad, no, okay. What is it? It’s egg salad. Egg Salad. Oh, egg salad.

Speaker 1 18:15
Okay, all right, okay, Arnold the traitor. Arnold the trader, yeah. What kind does that mean?

Marcia Smith 18:22
You know these eggs, Marsha’s favorite,

Bob Smith 18:25
Arnold the traitor. No, I don’t get that one at

Unknown Speaker 18:29
all. Bob,

Marcia Smith 18:29
how many Arnolds Do you know? Benedict? Arnold. I

Speaker 1 18:32
know Schwartz. I was thinking of Arnold Benedict. Bob’s Benedict. And lastly, Arnold the traitor. Okay, dispatched fighter jets.

Bob Smith 18:43
Dispatched fighter jets.

Marcia Smith 18:44
This one you used earlier, but this is being used jets. They put them up. Do they put them in sequence? No, they put them up. Scrambled. Okay. Oh, you weren’t 100% on that, my darling. No, no,

Bob Smith 19:00
I wasn’t that. That’s okay. I want to go back to the other names that North America had. Okay, did you know there were other names? No, I did not. There was Terra Ultima incognita, the ultimate unknown land, apparently, Terra Ultima incognita, Regulus dois, Terra de Cuba. That was actually North America was called Terra de Cuba

Unknown Speaker 19:20
at once, land of Cuba. Yeah, Terra

Speaker 2 19:23
Florida. Terra de Francesca and America applied only to the southern continent. Then in 1538, famous mapper, Gerardus Mercator, named the entire Western Hemisphere America after Amerigo vesp, Bucha America, SIV Indian Nova America, or new India. And new India, it became,

Bob Smith 19:43
did you know that no new India? That’s what Spain thought of America, new India. In fact, for a time, the Spanish Empire officially called its North and South American territories las Indias, and it even named the government body overseeing. The territories, the Council of the Indies, and today, if the archive of the Indies, that’s the name of the huge ancient library where all of the Spanish documents regarding the founding of the new world exist, maps and all they all exist in the archive of the Indies. It’s still called that after being misnamed 500 years later.

Marcia Smith 20:23
Well, who finally settled on North and South America? Map

Bob Smith 20:26
makers changed it in 1538, or so. But even then, it was America of the Indies for a while. No, you’re still

Speaker 2 20:32
not in India, don’t you get it? Guys, look at the map. Oh, that was their map. That’s the problem.

Marcia Smith 20:40
Oh, gotcha All right, Bob. There are lots of autumn traditions, corn mazes, bobbing for apples, leaf peeping, although I never heard that phrase, leaf peeping, yes, I know I said looking through leaves. I’ve never heard it before, either, and I heard it twice this week. It means going out and looking at the colors. You know, which we do, leaf beeping. Okay, so anyway, another great celebration in Fall is Oktoberfest, right? A good reason to drink good beer in the fall. Okay, all right. So the question is, how did this come about? Oktoberfest?

Speaker 2 21:17
Yeah, okay, this was done in Germany, and it was in Munich, I believe, and they had an excess of beer, and they they saved it to consume in the fall. They put it in caves, and they brought it out as Oktoberfest. Oh, that

Marcia Smith 21:32
would make sense, but no, okay, the first October Fest was a wedding reception, believe it or not, on October 12, 1810, the citizens of Munich gathered at the city gates to celebrate the marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Theresa of Saxony. The event was so popular with all the villagers that it took place again the following year without the two, you know, prince and princess. Oh, really. They

Unknown Speaker 22:00
said, Hey, that was a good party. Let’s do it again. Let’s

Marcia Smith 22:02
do that again. We don’t need a wedding. And they did it the year after that, and so on and so forth, until it became the world famous festival of Bavarian culture that it is today. So

Bob Smith 22:14
it just kept going on and on and on. And they took it over and made it official then,

Marcia Smith 22:17
yeah, and it celebrated all over the world, including right here in our little town of Cedarburg, we have a Oktoberfest, sure, but Munich is the HQ of Oktoberfest, and they draw 6 million people a year from around the world to their

Bob Smith 22:33
oktobering. 6 million people go to Munich for Oktoberfest. Yeah, that is a successful celebration. A

Marcia Smith 22:40
lot of beers poured, baby, wow. Okay,

Bob Smith 22:43
another human. Fact, Marcia, a body. Fact, the funny bone is, in fact, a bone, a nerve, an organ or a muscle. It is a it is a nerve, a nerve, that’s right, it is a nerve, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, right. Marcia, thank you, Bob, yes, for much of its path, the ulnar nerve, U, L, N, A, R, did you know that? No, I did not. And for much of its path, the ulnar nerve, which extends from your spine to your finger, is protected by layers of bone and muscle, but there’s a tiny, four millimeter wide spot at the elbow, and that’s where the ulnar nerve is vulnerable. If you hit that spot that’s called the funny bone, results in a tingling sensation, and does it laugh out loud? It laughs out. No, you laugh out. Oh, okay, yeah. So that’s it. It’s just kind of like a minor little anomaly in your body where that nerve is exposed. So it’s not a bone. It is a nerve, the ulnar nerve, U, L, N, E, R, so somebody says, Oh, that’s a funny bones. No, you correct them and say, No, that’s my own. Our nerve. That’ll make you sound pretty impressive.

Unknown Speaker 23:47
People just love it when you do that, when you correct them, yes,

Marcia Smith 23:51
okay. Bob, various surveys and entertainment websites have identified the top most memorable and iconic TV characters of all time, and they all come up pretty much the same the top five do anyway. So can you name any of the top five characters of all time on TV? Archie Bunker? No, he’s in the top 10, I think. But this we’re going for the top five of the crop tops are these actual people, these characters. These are the characters names, I

Bob Smith 24:19
know, but the characters who are supposedly people, yeah, not Mork from Ork,

Marcia Smith 24:23
not Mork from Ork, no, but a personal friend of yours who’s green.

Bob Smith 24:28
What a personal friend of mine who’s green. What do you mean? What

Marcia Smith 24:32
happens to be green? The green? Somebody green, famous TV character,

Unknown Speaker 24:38
green jeans, Mr. Green jeans. From it the

Marcia Smith 24:39
frog. Oh, sorry, of course, I know what you’re talking about there. Okay, he’s in the top five. For any top five, he’s iconic and memorable characters. Very, very handsome. Yes. Am I dead? Yes, okay, okay, the other ones, I don’t even think you know who all these people are.

Bob Smith 24:57
Are they in crime shows? Are they kind. Comedies,

Marcia Smith 25:00
no Walter White from Breaking Bad, okay? Tony Soprano from the Sopranos. Michael Scott from the office, Dexter Morgan from Dexter, and our own beloved Kermit rounds out the top five.

Unknown Speaker 25:13
She’s the only non human on there. That’s right. Okay, that’s

Marcia Smith 25:17
the only one you know really well. What does that tell you? Bob,

Bob Smith 25:20
I like frogs. Okay. Marcia, I have one more question on the dealing with the body for today. Okay, when a frozen drink gives you a brain freeze, what gives you the most relief? Here’s some choices. Okay, okay, thank you. Holding your breath, uh huh, rubbing your forehead, really, pressing your thumb against the roof of your mouth, or blinking your eyes rapidly,

Marcia Smith 25:42
Oh, wow. I’ve never tried any of those. Just say the thumb one, the

Bob Smith 25:46
thumb one, that’s it is just brilliant today. Thank you. Yes, when eating cold things too fast, the body tries to offset the lower temperature by quickly expanding blood vessels in the head. That’s what happens? So by pressing your thumb or your tongue against the roof of your mouth will help you return your mouth’s temperature to normal. So keep that in mind. I

Unknown Speaker 26:11
will all right, everything will be okay, okay, okay,

Marcia Smith 26:17
on to my Quotes Of The Day. All right, Buddha, good old Buddha always has a few good things to say. He said three things cannot be hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth. Well, that’s true. Isn’t that nice? That’s good. I like that. And here’s a good old Yiddish quote that said a half truth is a whole lie.

Bob Smith 26:39
Well, that’s good. Those are very good quotes. Good things to keep in mind during election season, all right, and we want to make sure that you enjoy our show, so we would welcome you to try to participate if you’d like to, by sending us a question, a thought or maybe a fact, and we can stump the other person with it. You can go to our off ramp, dot show website, and drop down to contact us, and that’s where you’ll find a box you can put your information. Okay, all right. Well, that’s it for today. We hope you’ve enjoyed our show, and we’ll come back when we return next time with more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. Join us next time when we return with more fun here on the off ramp, you

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 you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai