Bob and Marcia Smith discuss various trivia and historical facts. They reveal that Abraham Lincoln died without a will, despite being a lawyer, and that three other presidents—Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Grant, and James Garfield—may have done the same. They also talk about the “Moon Museum,” a ceramic tile with artworks by famous artists, secretly placed on Apollo 12. The conversation covers how iguanas traveled from the Americas to Fiji and Tonga via ocean rafts, and the history of the first Oscar winner, “Wings.” They explore the origins of the phrase “Anchors Away,” the invention of the toothbrush, and the concept of a “nuclear sponge” during the Cold War.
Outline
Abraham Lincoln’s Will and Moon Museum
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the US president who died without leaving a will, revealing it was Abraham Lincoln.
- Marcia Smith is surprised, noting Lincoln was a lawyer and had a significant net worth at the time of his death.
- Bob mentions three other presidents – Andres Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, James Garfield also supposedly died without wills, but that’s not confirmed.
- Marcia Smith inquires about the Moon Museum, an artwork on the moon, which she explains is a tiny ceramic tile inscribed by six contemporary artists.
Iguanas and Rafting in Prehistory
- Bob Smith discusses how iguanas traveled 5000 miles on vegetation rafts from the Americas to the South Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga.
- Marcia Smith is fascinated by the evidence suggesting iguanas hitched rides on mats of floating vegetation.
- Bob Smith explains that iguanas from the Southwestern American desert could survive the three to four-month journey without starving.
- Dr. Simon Scarpetta’s research is cited, noting that no fossils of iguanas are found in Asia except in Tonga and Fiji.
First Best Picture Oscar and Motion Picture Academy
- Marcia asks the first Oscar award winner for best picture, revealing it was the silent film “Wings,” an aviation drama about World War I.
- She notes “Wings” was the first and last silent movie to win the prize.
- She adds that the first Academy Award show was more of a dinner party with 270 people in attendance.
- Douglas Fairbanks was the MC. He and Mary Pickford were among the founders of the Motion Picture Academy.
Anchors Away and Sunglasses History
- Bob Smith explains the nautical term “Anchors Away” means lifting the anchor, not dropping it.
- Marcia Smith is surprised, as Bob notes that “weigh” means lifting, not pressure downward.
- Marcia discusses the history of sunglasses, revealing they were originally worn by Chinese judges to hide their facial expressions.
- She adds that modern sunglasses for sun and glare protection originated in Venice in the 1700s.
Toothbrush Invention and Bolivian Capitals
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about a great invention by a man in prison, revealing it was the toothbrush invented by William Addis in 1770.
- Bob notes that before the toothbrush, people used rags to clean their teeth.
- Marcia asks about the two capitals of Bolivia, revealing La Paz is the constitutional capital and Sucre is the administrative capital.
- Marcia explains that Sucre houses the executive and legislative branches, while La Paz is more bureaucratic.
AKA Game and Mutiny on the Bounty
- Marcia has Bob play an AKA game with clues related to parts of a chicken, including breast, thigh, drumstick, wing, down feathers, and comb.
- Bob Smith asks about the cause of the original Mutiny on the Bounty, revealing it was a dispute over water for the breadfruit plant cargo.
- He notes that the men mutinied and went back to Tahiti, taking wives from the native girls they met.
- Marcia mentions that Marlon Brando met a native girl in Tahiti who became his wife and had a child with her.
Gold Malleability and 1951 Oscar Record
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the rarity of gold, noting it’s rarer than diamonds but very malleable.
- Marcia Smith explains that all the gold ever mined would make a cube about the size of a tennis court.
- Bob Smith asks about the film that set an Oscar record with 14 nominations in 1951, revealing it was “All About Eve.”
- He notes that “All About Eve” dominated the 1951 Oscars with 14 nominations, a record matched by “Titanic” and “La La Land.”
Snail Sleeping Habits and Nuclear Sponge Strategy
- Marcia Smith asks Bob how long a snail can sleep, revealing it can sleep up to three years during unfavorable conditions.
- Marcia Smith explains that snails intermittently sleep for 13 to 15 hours a day and can hibernate for long periods.
- Bob Smith discusses America’s sponge strategy during the Cold War, where five states were designated as nuclear sponges to draw fire away from more densely populated coasts.
- He lists the five states: Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, and North Dakota, each with 150 underground missile silos.
Band Name Origin and Poet Marketing
- Marcia asks about the origin of the Leonard Skinner Band, revealing it was named after their high school gym teacher who once said they would never amount to anything.
- Marcia Smith explains that the band’s frontman, Ronnie Van Zant, changed the spelling as a joke on their former teacher.
- Bob Smith asks about two poets who should have coordinated their marketing better in 1951, revealing it was Carl Sandburg and Robert Frost.
- Bob notes that Sandburg’s “Complete Poems” won the Pulitzer Prize that year.
Blue Whale’s Tongue and San Antonio Cattle Corral
- Marcia asks Bob about the length of a blue whale’s tongue, revealing it is 18 feet long and can weigh up to 8000 pounds.
- Marcia Smith notes it’s bigger than a bus and heavier than a jeep.
- Bob Smith asks about the man who turned San Antonio’s main square into a cattle corral in 1875, revealing it was John Warren Gates demonstrating barbed wire.
- Bob explains that Gates proved barbed wire required little work and maintenance, ending the open range on the American prairie.
Benjamin Franklin’s Tornado Attempt and Jimmy Carter’s Royal Protocol
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about Benjamin Franklin’s attempt to dissipate a tornado in 1755, revealing he chased it on horseback and lashed out with his whip.
- Marcia Smith is surprised, noting it was not one of Franklin’s more successful experiments.
- Bob Smith asks about the US president accused by British tabloids of breaching royal protocol by kissing the queen mother on the lips, revealing it was Jimmy Carter.
- Bob notes that Carter denied the account, insisting it was a goodnight peck on the cheek.
Bob Smith 0:00
Who was the only US president to die without leaving a will,
Marcia Smith 0:05
really, and what and where is the artwork entitled The Moon Museum?
Bob Smith 0:11
Hmm, answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and
Marcia Smith 0:16
Marsha Smith.
Bob Smith 0:34
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 Marcia, who was the only president to die without leaving a will, well, well, well, well, well, now you could do some deductive reasoning on this. I always do, Paul, perhaps it was a president not trained in the law. Perhaps it was a president who died sooner than he thought he would. Perhaps it was a president who, well, there could be a number of things,
Marcia Smith 1:06
General Eisenhower, no, it wasn’t General Eisenhower, why I said that? He wasn’t a lawyer. That’s all I know. Okay, tell me
Bob Smith 1:09
it was Abraham Lincoln, who was a lawyer? What about Mary and the kids? Well, they got, they got his net worth. His net worth was $110,295 when he died.
Marcia Smith 1:22
That’s a sizable amount
Bob Smith 1:24
That would be worth $2.2 million today. Wow. So he was not a pauper, but he was trained in the law, and he didn’t have a will. Probably just didn’t get around to it, like the shoemaker whose kids go without shoes, right? The lawyer who goes without a will.
Marcia Smith 1:40
I bet you that made crazy Mary even more cranky.
Bob Smith 1:44
Probably did. Now, three other presidents supposedly died without wills, but this is not confirmed by a lot of sources. Supposedly, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Grant and James Garfield also died without wills. But the most surprising of all, because of his well known career as a lawyer, is Abraham Lincoln.
Marcia Smith 2:01
Okay Bob, this fascinates me. What and where is the artwork? There’s an artwork, and it’s called Moon Museum.
Bob Smith 2:08
Moon Museum is the name of the work of art, yeah. What is it and where is it? Okay, let me ask you, this, is this an installation? So it’s like a physical structure or something? No, no, not that. Okay, so it’s a painting,
Marcia Smith 2:21
sort of, yes, sort of, sort of a painting, yes, yes, it is, it’s, it’s, it’s an artwork. Let’s call it the moon
Bob Smith 2:28
Museum, yeah, such an interesting imagery. It brings up, yes, you’ll find
Marcia Smith 2:33
this fascinating. Okay, where is it? It is on the moon. It really is. Yes, when Apollo 12 departed Kennedy Space Center on November 14, 1969 the spacecraft was carrying a tiny, little artwork called Moon Museum. The piece was a ceramic tile less than an inch wide, inscribed with designs from six contemporary artists, including Andy Warhol Oldenburg, novaros, Robert Rauschenberg and John Chamberlain, all well known at the time. They all did this little bitty sketch on the tile, and NASA was asked to approve taking this tile into space, and they said no, and the astronauts didn’t even know about it. Was smuggled on board by who an anonymous NASA engineer who today is known as John F he helped smuggle the artwork into space. It is believed that moon museum was covertly attached to the lunar module and is on the moon six little itty bitty pieces of famous artists on it. Though it’s impossible to confirm until we get back up. That’s interesting.
Bob Smith 3:41
I had never heard that. I never did either. Okay, Marcia, how did rafting and iguanas intersect in the prehistoric world? Well, funny.
Marcia Smith 3:50
You should say that rafting, rafting, you mean, like you get on a raft and go down the
Bob Smith 3:56
kind of like that. Yeah. White water rafting and iguanas, I don’t know about this is this is their extreme sport, apparently. Well, this is interesting. And this was in the New York Times, an article entitled, these iguanas got carried away and ended up 5000 miles from home for years. Something puzzled animal experts. How is it that iguanas and iguana fossils are only found in the Americas and in the South Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga. They couldn’t figure it out. How on earth did they get to those islands, 4790 miles away in the South Pacific? Well, now, evidence suggests that millions of years ago, iguanas somehow managed to make an ocean crossing, and they likely did it on rafts, not the kind that humans build, but the kind nature builds. They think the animals hitched rides on mats of floating vegetation composed of uprooted trees and tangles of plants across the ocean 30 to 40 million years ago, good Lord, and apparently, rafting, hitching right across oceans on vegetation has been. Recognize for a while, because back in 1995 scientists observed at least 15 green iguanas rafting 200 miles on hurricane debris from one Caribbean island to another.
Marcia Smith 5:10
Wow. That’s that’s fascinating, and it makes sense, if you think about it, it does.
Bob Smith 5:13
And incidentally, there are no fossils of iguanas anywhere in Asia except these two islands and these iguanas in Tonga and Fiji apparently, are descended from the southwestern American desert in Mexico. Those iguanas, they live in the desert, so they didn’t need a lot of water right away, and they said it would be a three to four month crossing, and that would have been the length of their winter hibernation. So the lizards could have made the voyage without starving, and if they did raft on a mat of vegetation they would have had food on the journey. Okay, all right. Well, that’s Dr Simon Scarpetta from the University of San Francisco. His work was published in the National Academy of Sciences.
Marcia Smith 5:53
Okay? Bob, first Oscar award was in 1929 Do you know what movie won the top prize that
Bob Smith 5:59
year? That was a war movie about World War One, and it was called God. It was one word, Wings. Wings, yes, about the about flight, about the winning the war with airplanes. That’s
Marcia Smith 6:10
right. It was the first and last silent movie to win the prize. I actually have a copy of that. I thought we did somewhere. What is it? A DVD, DVD of
Bob Smith 6:20
that film. George Lucas studied that footage when he did Star Wars, to do the pilots and how they did the fighting scene. It
Marcia Smith 6:26
was considered a really good movie. And yeah, it was black and white. World War one film about two fighter pilots and their love interest was who
Bob Smith 6:35
that was the same girl, Clara Bob. That’s it. The it girl.
Marcia Smith 6:39
The it girl. The first Academy Award show was more of a dinner party than today’s high profile spectacle. Academy President Douglas Fairbanks MC the inaugural event. And 270 people were in attendance, and they paid five bucks a piece to attend. Oh, my, of course, movie tickets back then were a quarter. So it’s all relative, that’s
Bob Smith 7:00
right. Wow. And then, of course, who formed the Motion Picture Academy, who were among the founders? Well, wasn’t fair banks? And Clara Bob, no Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Mary Pickford, yes, right. Okay, they’re responsible for movies being good today, really trying to support quality and very visionary. Yes, they were, okay. Marsh, I have a question. You’ve heard the expression Anchors Away, uh huh, but spelling, is it Anchors Away, a W, A, Y, or Anchors Away, a W, E, I G, H, the latter, and why is it a W, E, I G, H,
Marcia Smith 7:38
because they’re heavy, and they weigh down
Bob Smith 7:42
the ship. No, when you say, away, what are you doing? You’re
Marcia Smith 7:46
tossing it overboard. No, just the opposite. You’re bringing it up.
Bob Smith 7:50
Yes, 400 years ago, way, W, E, I, G, H was a nautical term, and it means to lift, to lift the anchor. Weighing the anchor means lifting the anchor from the bottom of the lake, the river or the ocean. Now, you mentioned heavy when you try to figure out how heavy something is, what do you do? You lift it? Yeah, that’s what weigh means. It doesn’t mean pressure downward. It means lifting. So Anchors away means lifting the anchors,
Marcia Smith 8:21
okay, keeping,
Bob Smith 8:25
okay. One more thing about that most people think Anchors away means to drop. Anchor is because of the term Bombs away. People Bombs away, you’re dropping a bomb. But Anchors away means to lift, okay.
Marcia Smith 8:37
Bob, long before they became fashionable for sunny days. Some of the earliest sunglasses served a far different purpose. What was it?
Bob Smith 8:46
The original sunglasses were Chinese, and they were worn by judges. Oh, come on. How do you know this is a fact. I’ve read this for years. Judges wore these glasses so people could not see their eyes moving about what they were thinking.
Marcia Smith 9:00
That is correct.
Bob Smith 9:04
Gosh, you hate it when I know this well, this just that’s so obscure. Well, so am I okay? So tell me what it says in
Marcia Smith 9:10
Chinese courtrooms, judges use dark lens glasses to hide their facial expressions. Eyeglasses became popular in Chinese society during the late 13th century, amazing, and the early 14th century, that’s how far back. But it wasn’t until the 18th century that modern sunglasses were starting to be worn for dealing with sun and glare. And it started in Venice in 1700s and they were primarily used by guess what, gondoliers. Oh, okay, yes, the water was reflecting. Okay, so the gondoliers and high society women and children often shield their eyes from the glare that bounced off the canal waters. How it all began
Bob Smith 9:50
in Venice, yeah, wow. All right, all right. Marcia, what great but simple invention was devised by a man in prison who was thinking of an occupation for himself. When he would be released, this was in 1770
Marcia Smith 10:04
What did he invent? Yes. What did he invent? Was it a? Give me some clue. Is it a? It
Bob Smith 10:09
was a personal hygiene device, a person a toothbrush. That’s exactly really right, yes. The toothbrush was invented in England’s Newgate Prison in 1770 by William Addis, he founded a brush company. After that famous brush company. Before that, people used rags to clean their teeth.
Marcia Smith 10:30
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Which of these two cities Bob in South America has two? Count them, two capital cities called La Paz and secir.
Bob Smith 10:39
That’s Bolivia, and it has two capitals. One is more of a bureaucratic center, and one’s a center for heaven’s
Marcia Smith 10:47
sakes. Oh, sorry, my notes. No, I didn’t read your notes. Came in and read my notes. Read your notes. Secret is the constitutional capital, while the process serves as the administrative capital, housing the executive and legislative branches of government. So there you go. All right, how about aka? We haven’t done that for a while, okay? AKA means also known as it’s a card game I love. Basically, I give you a clue and you tell me the word I’m looking for, yes, right? And today’s category, Robert is parts of a chicken. Oh, no, inside and out. First, first clue, yes. Cleavage, what?
Bob Smith 11:26
Okay, breast, chicken, breast, correct, yes. Upper legs, a thigh.
Marcia Smith 11:32
Correct, yes, Ringo, holds them. Ringo,
Bob Smith 11:36
oh, drumsticks, that’s it, yes, yes, McCarthy’s
Marcia Smith 11:39
second band, wings. I
Bob Smith 11:43
hadn’t thought of all these things related to chickens. That’s so funny. Down, down feathers, that’s it.
Marcia Smith 11:50
And lastly, a brush alternative. A
Bob Smith 11:54
brush alternative, yeah, this is a comb. That’s it. Chickens, cold. Got them all? Wow. Wow. Thank you so much. Well,
Marcia Smith 12:01
I didn’t think you’d get the last two. Oh, wait, I missed one. The last one, the clue is one who doesn’t die. What part of the chicken? One who doesn’t die. Okay,
Bob Smith 12:12
that’s it for that category. Let’s see, come on, one who doesn’t
Marcia Smith 12:17
die. It’s an organ of the chicken. An
Bob Smith 12:19
organ of the chicken, yeah, one who doesn’t die, yeah? What is it? I don’t know. It’s a liver. One who doesn’t die, yeah, what does that mean? A person
Marcia Smith 12:30
who doesn’t die? Oh, geez, a liver.
Bob Smith 12:34
Oh my, that’s that’s really bad. That’s a bad pun. Okay, we’ve talked about this the last couple of shows, usually about the movie Mutiny on the Bounty. What caused the original Mutiny on the Bounty? Ah,
Marcia Smith 12:46
lack of food or lack of rum, or it was
Bob Smith 12:51
a dispute over something rum, no. And you can understand how this would tick people off. Yeah, it was a dispute over who got water, the man or the breadfruit plant cargo that the bounty was carrying. Oh, it’s a plant. Yeah, they just had left Tahiti after 18 months on that native island, and all the women they had there, that’s right. And they were headed toward the West Indies, and the officers of the ship were charged with depriving the men of water. Oh, my depriving the men of water in order to keep the plants alive. The men mutinied went back to Tahiti, took wives from the native girls they’d met and went into hiding. Wow.
Marcia Smith 13:30
And Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando didn’t get off that island without a
Bob Smith 13:34
wife. I think he did meet a native girl there. He’s pretty famous. He had a child. We have to watch that sometime. We have that on a DVD. I
Marcia Smith 13:41
think I’ve seen it enough. Oh, okay, all right. Well, it’s
Bob Smith 13:45
time for a break then from Mutiny on the Bounty. If nothing else, you’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith, we’ll be back in just a moment. Okay, we’re back with a bounty of many questions so clever. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith, we do this each week for the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, then put it on podcast platforms, and it’s heard all over the world, all over the world. It’s been a while since you
Unknown Speaker 14:10
said that. I know.
Bob Smith 14:11
Okay, you missed it. I guess. Okay, you got a question there. If
Marcia Smith 14:16
gold is so rare, Bob, why does there seem to be so much in circulation. I
Bob Smith 14:22
had never thought of that, maybe because it’s been pounded so thin you can spread it throughout the world. Well,
Marcia Smith 14:28
you’re really getting on my nerves today.
Bob Smith 14:32
I’m so sorry to hear that. Yes. Okay, tell me the answer. Gold
Marcia Smith 14:36
is very rare. It’s rarer than diamonds, but it’s also very malleable, right? If, since the beginning of time Bob, the beginning of time, all the gold that has ever been mined was lumped together, it would make a cube about the size of a tennis court. Wow, that’s all a cube of gold the size of a matchbox would cover that same tennis court. And one tiny ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long. I remember that statistic, yeah, I remember we had that once about, what, 50 miles. But I didn’t realize that since the history of time, there’s very little gold mined. Isn’t that
Bob Smith 15:15
amazing? Yes, after all these centuries and gold being used in all of the civilizations you can think of, yeah, you know, going all the way back four or 5000
Marcia Smith 15:23
years ago. It’s much rarer than diamonds. Wow. Who knew?
Bob Smith 15:27
All right, Marcia in 1951 going back to a time when you were here. What? Okay, in 1951 a film set an Oscar record with 14 nominations. No other film had ever gotten that many nominations before? What was the film now? Ever since then, we’ve had several other films that have received this many nominations. Oh,
Marcia Smith 15:48
oh, received nominations. Nominations, not winnings. Is it? Has this been remade? I don’t think so. No, I was going for a star is born. I don’t know All About Eve. Oh, that was good, yeah.
Bob Smith 16:02
Betty Davis and Anne Baxter being the young fan who becomes an ambitious and ruthless actress herself. That
Marcia Smith 16:08
was one of those movies from way back that still holds the test of time.
Bob Smith 16:12
It really is good. It dominated the 1951 Oscars with 14 nominations. And that’s a record match by Titanic and La La Land. No kidding. Now it’s still the only film to earn four female acting nominations. That’s how good it was. In addition to Betty Davis and Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter, got Supporting Actress nominations. Four women nominated for Oscars in that film. Unfortunately, none of them took home an Oscar. Really, none of them just didn’t happen. So Marcia, three films have received 14 nominations. What film received the most nominations before All About Eve, very famous film, Gone With the Wind, that’s right, it had 13 nominations. I know things gone with the wind, that’s still a lot of nominations. Yeah, only eight other films have received 13 nominations, including Oppenheimer and Eva Perez, really? Yes, recent films. So there’s like, what is that? Nine films with 13 nominations, and three films that have had 14 nominations,
Marcia Smith 17:11
all right, in Oscars, okay? Bob, probably you were wondering about this when you got up this morning. Okay, how long can a snail sleep?
Bob Smith 17:19
I was wondering about that because I didn’t get much sleep. I know you didn’t. I’m sorry, snails and slugs, do they get a lot
Marcia Smith 17:25
of sleep? We’ve had slug questions recently, but this is a snail,
Bob Smith 17:29
a snail. So how much sleep does a snail get?
Marcia Smith 17:32
The question is, how long can it sleep? Oh, not, you know, but they
Bob Smith 17:36
do everything slowly, so I imagine they can stretch out of sleep for a long time. So let’s say they could sleep two days.
Marcia Smith 17:44
It’s actually up to three years. Oh, my
Bob Smith 17:47
God, you’re kidding. They can sleep three years on the job.
Marcia Smith 17:52
Wow. Especially during unfavorable conditions like dryness or cold, the snail goes into a state of hibernation. Of course, they’re not too frisky in good weather either. No, they’re not. And they intermittently sleep for 13 to 15 hours a day. So there you go. How do they procreate and everything I don’t know. 13
Bob Smith 18:12
to 15 hours a day is their normal sleep. And if they’re really, really have a tired day,
Marcia Smith 18:17
really crummy outside, they’ll say, I think I’ll go to sleep for three years. Good Lord,
Bob Smith 18:21
that’s amazing. What do these animals accomplish for life,
Marcia Smith 18:26
for the world? Well, they get across the room, I guess
Bob Smith 18:29
they clean tanks for fish tanks and things like that. Okay? Marcia, this is an interesting one. I’d never heard of this before. What is America’s sponge strategy in case of a nuclear war, Oh, for God’s sakes. Now, this was done during the Cold War. This is how things began. There’s sponge.
Marcia Smith 18:47
You mean the the living sponge, or this is called
Bob Smith 18:50
a nuclear sponge. It’s an area of the North American continent. I have no idea. Okay, well, during the Cold War, the United States installed ICBM missiles in sparsely populated areas toward the middle of the country. That area is known as the sponge, the nuclear sponge, and the intention is to draw fire away from more densely populated coasts. So five states were designated nuclear sponges due to their remote locations and low population density. Oh, they must be thrilled. You know what the states are.
Marcia Smith 19:23
Oh, I would think something like Wyoming, that’s one. Are they all out west? Yes, they
Bob Smith 19:29
are. They’re Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota. And the theory is, because they house so many ICBMs and enemy would have to target them first. Oh yeah, taking attention away from the coasts, everything within those states would be obliterated, but they would serve the greater good. Of that was the term, isn’t that But Isn’t that awful? Everything within these states would be obliterated, but they would serve the greater good. There goes Denver. Tell that to somebody living in Nebraska. Oh, my word. So there are one. 150 underground missile silos in Montana, 150 in North Dakota, and 150 across Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska, 450 silos total. And I actually even have the names of the Air Force bases where they are. It’s quite interesting. But where are the most nuclear weapons in the United States? By far?
Marcia Smith 20:20
Utah, no. Nevada, no. Okay, none
Bob Smith 20:24
of those states, and I’m surprised at this, okay, Albuquerque, New Mexico, that’s where more nuclear weapons are than anywhere else.
Marcia Smith 20:31
Well, that’s right near where Oppenheimer set up shop. But the reason
Bob Smith 20:35
they’re there is because most weapons there are retired and are waiting to be dismantled, and then the next largest inventory is at Washington State, at the strategic weapons facility Pacific and the naval submarine base kits app near Seattle, more usable nuclear weapons there than anywhere else in the world. Overall, nuclear weapons are assumed to be stored at 24 locations in 11 US states and in five European countries. Okay? God,
Marcia Smith 21:03
so depressing. All right, yes, let’s talk about something else. Okay, I like asking you about band name origin, okay, okay, how about the Leonard Skinner band? How did they get that name? I’m
Bob Smith 21:16
gonna make you angry again. My God, this was the name of their or they took the name of their high school teacher, who’s Leonard Skinner. I think was his name, something like that. Hello. What’s that pained look on your face? What does that mean? Not
Marcia Smith 21:31
talking to you? Leonard Skinner was the name of their gym teacher. The teacher once said to them, you boys will never amount to anything. Actually, he said, You boys will never amount to nothing. And if that doesn’t get under your Craw, nothing chip on the shoulder there. That’s what it takes. Sometimes the band’s front man Ronnie Van Zant, decided to adopt the name, but he changed the spelling as a joke on their former teacher. Funny, yeah, so that’s why it’s spelled, l y n, A R D, S, k y n, A R D,
Bob Smith 22:06
see, I remember that because at the time that came out in the what late, I think, was 72 or three people were asking, what’s that name? Yeah, strange. And then at that time, I remember reading that, and
Marcia Smith 22:16
you remembered it, yes, for this show, just regurgitated. 50
Bob Smith 22:20
years later. Okay? Marcia, this is interesting. What two poets should have coordinated their marketing better in 1951 because they both came out with collections with the same name, and only one won the Pulitzer Prize. Two of these poets, okay? Carl Sandburg, Allen, Ginsberg, Dylan, Thomas or Robert Frost, that’s another one. Yeah. What about him? What poets should have coordinated their marketing better in 1951 because they both came out with works with the same name. Oh, they did, yes. What was it? It was called complete poems. Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg both that in 1951 frost released the complete poems, and Sandberg released complete poems. They’re both acclaimed works of literature, and the Pulitzer, for the best volume of verse, went to Sandberg collection. Complete poems, huh?
Marcia Smith 23:11
Well, it shows you they’re not that clever with coming up with names for their own books.
Bob Smith 23:16
Complete poems. Yeah, no, these are my complete now, these
Marcia Smith 23:20
are partial poems. Who would publish partial poems? That’s right, who would Okay, Bob. How long is a blue whale’s tongue? Oh,
Bob Smith 23:29
my. How long is a blue whale’s tongue? It’s as long as three school busses, something like that. Okay, tell me the answer. 18
Marcia Smith 23:39
feet. Okay, wow. And it’s up to 8000 pounds in weight. Holy cow. So it is bigger than a bus and it is heavier than a jeez. It’s just 8000 now that’s,
Bob Smith 23:52
that’s just the tongue of the whale, the blue whale. Okay, Marcia, how did an Illinois man turn the main square of San Antonio, Texas into a giant corral for cattle in 1875 who did? A man from Illinois turned the main square of San Antonio into a giant corral for cattle in 1875 why? Okay?
Marcia Smith 24:15
Why he did it? Because he was on a cattle drive and he had to stop for a beer and brought no okay. Why? It
Bob Smith 24:24
was a product demonstration of what branding a 20 year old promoter from Illinois, John Warren gates, wanted to promote a new thing called barbed wire as a safe and effective fencing material.
Marcia Smith 24:37
So he set up the barbed wire. Yep, he’s around the town. He strung
Bob Smith 24:41
up the main plaza and turned it into a makeshift cattle corral for Longhorns. Good for him. Yeah, he proved that it required little work and maintenance and barbed wire ended the open range on the American prairie, and that was the product demonstration.
Marcia Smith 24:55
He made a ton of money, I’ll bet. After that, I wonder if the city fathers. Proof that back then, they just did it, and he died a millionaire, maybe. Who knows? How did Benjamin Franklin
Bob Smith 25:05
try to dissipate a tornado in 1755, this was unsuccessful, by the way.
Marcia Smith 25:11
How did he attempt to he tried to
Bob Smith 25:13
dissipate a tornado. He saw a tornado coming. I don’t know. Bob, we chased it for three quarters of a mile on horseback, lashing out with his whip. Oh,
Marcia Smith 25:22
that’s, you know, I always thought he was smarter than that,
Bob Smith 25:25
didn’t you, good Lord, not one of his more successful experiments. Oh, my Oh, Ben, Ben, isn’t that funny? And finally, Marcia, what US president, was accused by British tabloids of breaching royal protocol by kissing the queen mother on the lips.
Marcia Smith 25:46
Oh, no, well, that is a faux pas on the lips.
Bob Smith 25:50
Not Queen Elizabeth, but the Queen Mother. Yeah, the
Marcia Smith 25:52
Queen Mother, I will say somebody handsy. Bill Clinton, no,
Bob Smith 25:58
no, not Bill Clinton. No, just the opposite. Jimmy Carter, Oh, you’re kidding. You’re right. I would have never thought of that. Yes. Two years after he visited Bucha palace in 1977 rumors began to fly in the British press that he had kissed the queen mother on the lips. Yeah, she said he is the only man since my dear husband died, who had the effrontery to kiss me on the lips, and I liked it. Jimmy Carter forcefully denied that account in his memoir. He insisted it was a good night Peck that was delivered lightly on the Queen Mother’s cheek.
Marcia Smith 26:29
You think there’d be a picture today. There’d be 14,000 cell phones showing it,
Bob Smith 26:34
or AI pictures, yeah, showing this thing that didn’t really happen. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 26:38
yeah. Okay, I’m going to finish up with a couple of unknown quipsters here. Okay, a bald spot is like a lie. The bigger it gets, the harder it is to cover up.
Bob Smith 26:52
That’s good. I love that. And here’s I tell you, the first time you as a man see that bald spot, it’s like, Oh no, I didn’t know I had that. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 27:00
but you don’t have one. Oh, okay, never mind.
Bob Smith 27:04
He dips his head down. I guess you do
Marcia Smith 27:07
see that’s being shorter than you. I don’t see it well.
Bob Smith 27:10
That’s very nice that you never noticed it. Thank you so much. All right, and here’s
Marcia Smith 27:13
right from one of the napkins at the specialty store. I’m always disappointed when a liar’s pants don’t actually start on fire. Me
Bob Smith 27:24
too. There a lot of fires going right now. All right, that’s it for today. We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode, and we invite you back when we return with more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. Join us again when we return for another episode of the off ramp. The off ramp has produced an association with the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Visit us on the web at the offramp. Dot show at.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
