Bob and Marcia discuss various trivia topics, including pedestrianism, a 19th-century sport where people walked for miles in front of large crowds, and George Washington Carver’s contributions beyond agriculture, such as creating over 300 colors and the Egyptian blue pigment. They also explore historical facts like the cost of producing the original “Snow White” ($1.5 million) and the discovery of Uranus’ rings in 1977. Additionally, they touch on cultural references, such as the origin of the term “upper crust” and the expression “living high on the hog.” They also mention notable figures like King Charles III, who ascended to the British throne at 73, and the alligator’s powerful bite, which is 2,960 pounds of force.
Outline
Pedestrianism: The Sport of Walking
- Marcia Smith introduces the concept of pedestrianism, a competitive walking sport from the 1800s.
- She shares that in 1879, 10,000 people watched Captain Barclay Allardice walk one mile every hour for 1000 miles.
- The sport attracted large crowds, and it was a significant pastime before television.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the unusual nature of people watching others walk for hours.
George Washington Carver’s Contributions
- Bob Smith asks about George Washington Carver’s contributions beyond agriculture.
- Marcia Smith mentions Carver’s work with peanuts and sweet potatoes, and his encouragement of crop rotation.
- Bob Smith reveals that Carver created over 300 colors and tints, including the highly coveted Egyptian blue pigment.
- Carver’s background in art influenced his work in creating colors, and he was recognized for his talent early on.
Famous Women’s Around-the-World Journey
- Marcia Smith asks about a woman who made an around-the-world journey using a specific mode of transportation.
- Bob Smith guesses incorrectly, and Marcia Smith reveals the answer: the woman traveled by zeppelin.
- They discuss the popularity of zeppelins before the Hindenburg disaster and the Empire State Building’s original design as a zeppelin docking station.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith reflect on the rickety nature of early airplanes compared to zeppelins.
Periodic Table and USB Oddities
- Bob Smith asks which letter does not appear in the periodic table.
- Marcia Smith guesses incorrectly, and Bob Smith reveals it is the letter J.
- They discuss the origin of the term “USB” and its significance in connecting computers and peripheral devices.
- Bob Smith shares a story about a student who wrote a computer-generated paper to avoid conference solicitations.
George Washington Carver’s Candy Bar Invention
- Bob Smith mentions that Carver created a chemical that made chocolate stick to peanuts.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the first candy bar with peanuts, the Mr. Good Bar, and its influence on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
- They share a trivia question about a famous soft drink and its original name.
- Bob Smith reveals that Pepsi was originally called Brad’s Drink.
Graham Nash’s Tribute to His Mother
- Bob Smith shares a story about musician Graham Nash discovering his mother wanted to be a singer.
- Marcia Smith asks how Nash honored his mother’s wish.
- Bob Smith recounts how Nash scattered his mother’s ashes at various concert venues, fulfilling her dream of singing on stage.
- They reflect on the emotional impact of the story and its significance.
Cost of Classic Films and Bubble Gum Facts
- Bob Smith asks about the cost of making the original Snow White.
- Marcia Smith guesses incorrectly, and Bob Smith reveals it cost $1.5 million to produce.
- They discuss the film’s success and its high revenue compared to modern films.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith talk about the ingredients in bubble gum that make it suitable for creating bubbles, including plasticizers.
World War I Trenches and Upper Crust
- Bob Smith asks about the length of trenches built during World War I.
- Marcia Smith guesses incorrectly, and Bob Smith reveals they encircled the earth.
- They discuss the purpose of drummers in battle, conveying orders and directions to soldiers.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith talk about the expression “upper crust,” its origin in feudal times, and its meaning.
Drummers in the Civil War and Living High on the Hog
- Bob Smith asks about the role of drummers in the Civil War.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the importance of drum calls in conveying orders and the bravery of drummers.
- They talk about the expression “living high on the hog,” its origin in the 1940s, and its meaning.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith reflect on the significance of these expressions and their historical context.
Planetary Rings and Memorable Speeches
- Bob Smith asks about the planets with rings.
- Marcia Smith guesses correctly, mentioning Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune.
- They discuss the discovery of Uranus’ rings in 1977 and the subsequent discoveries by Voyager 2 and the Hubble Telescope.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith talk about the Gettysburg Address, its significance, and its memorization in school.
Venus and King Charles III
- Bob Smith asks about the planet almost equal in size to Earth.
- Marcia Smith guesses incorrectly, and Bob Smith reveals it is Venus.
- They discuss Venus’ circular shape and its lack of flattening at the poles.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith talk about King Charles III, the oldest person to ascend to the British throne, and his accomplishments.
Iceland’s Olympic Medals and Alligator’s Bite
- Bob Smith asks about a cold country that has never won a medal in the Winter Olympics.
- Marcia Smith guesses incorrectly, and Bob Smith reveals it is Iceland.
- They discuss Iceland’s success in the Summer Olympics and the irony of its lack of Winter Olympic medals.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith talk about the alligator’s powerful bite, its strength, and its impact on prey.
Bob Smith 0:00
Bob beyond his work in agriculture, what is George Washington Carver known for? Okay,
Marcia Smith 0:05
what is pedestrianism? What
Bob Smith 0:10
pedestrianism? Yeah, answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and
Unknown Speaker 0:17
Marsha Smith. You
Bob Smith 0:34
Music. 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. Pedestrianism, yes, is this like the the thought of pedestrians? No, no, the being of a pedestrian. What
Marcia Smith 0:53
does the pedestrian do? Walk? That’s it. Yeah, this. This blows my mind. I never heard of this. It was a sport, competitive walking. That was a total thing. Bob back in 1879 in fact, 10,000 raucous onlookers showed up to Madison Square Garden to watch people walk around in a circle. Oh, Lord, not dogs, but people. Yeah, and they just walked to see how far they could walk. One of the most famous competitors was Captain Barclay Allardice, who would be the first person to walk one mile every hour for 1000 miles. Good Lord, he achieved his 1000 mile mark between June 1 and July 12, and the crowds went wild. Oh, for God’s sake, this went on for years, this sport pedestrianism, and people showed up in droves
Bob Smith 1:45
watching other people walk. Was a sport, yeah?
Marcia Smith 1:49
Wasn’t a race. It was just walking, not a lot to do in the 1800s after the Civil War.
Bob Smith 1:56
It was before television. So I guess that explains so many things for me, you know, yeah, you
Marcia Smith 2:01
got that right, buddy.
Bob Smith 2:04
Okay, pedestrianism, wow, all right, well beyond his work in agriculture. What is George Washington Carver known for his work in agriculture? Yeah, we know him as an agricultural scientist who came up with hundreds of uses for peanuts and yeah, I was just getting sweet potatoes, yeah. And he encouraged crop rotation, which transformed American agriculture. But what else
Marcia Smith 2:29
he was? An African American, he was one of the most famous in that era. What else did he do? I don’t know.
Bob Smith 2:38
He also created more than 300 colors and tints, really? Boy, heck, he was a busy guy. Amazing. Among them was a highly coveted formula for color, the pigment Egyptian blue, oxidation number nine, that is considered identical to the long lost blue pigment the Egyptians used to decorate the tombs of their pharaohs. No kidding, it was the first process color, they invented it, and then the process was lost for 1000s of years, and he reinvented it. King Tut’s tomb was open in 1922 and by 1930 he had created it. I thought this was so unusual. I went online to find out, why would George Washington Carver experiment with colors. And guess what? I found out, he began his life with an enthusiasm for art as a kid. From his days as a child, he had a fascination with colors and flowers and plants, and he wanted to produce his own pigments and become an artist and an art teacher at his first school, Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, Miss Etta Budd recognized his talent and encouraged him to explore agricultural studies, and so his enthusiasm for art led him to becoming a researcher and inventor. Is that fascinating?
Marcia Smith 3:47
Another case of extraordinary people have more than one talent, more than one passion, right? And achievement and skill, and they pursue these things. Oh, really? He played the violin. Of course, he was interested in other things, right? Yeah, many things that they were super bad. So that doesn’t surprise me, amazing. He
Bob Smith 4:07
was so good at art when he was at Iowa State University. He earned a bachelor’s degree there in 1894 and a master’s in 1996 before he moved to Tuskegee Institute, that’s where he’s known for all these other things. He was so good at art during his agrarian and botanical studies. One of his oil paintings earned honorable mention at the 1893 Chicago
Marcia Smith 4:26
World’s Fair, and I have seen it’s probably in the book somewhere. So
Bob Smith 4:30
no wonder George Washington Carver synthesized the color Egyptian blue, because art was his first love. I had no idea. Okay, and apparently, a vial of this Egyptian color blue that’s in the Iowa State University special collections that had a place of honor in a recent groundbreaking exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on black artist and Ancient Egypt. Pretty fascinating. But like you said, Of course, these people had more than one interest. We all have more than one interest, but you become known for one. Fame, yeah,
Marcia Smith 5:00
extraordinary people, yeah, okay, in 1929 here’s a quickie. Bob lady Drummond, hey, gained fame by being the only woman on around the world journey. By what mode of transportation I’ll give you choices. Okay, was it a Zeppelin, an airplane, a ship, or a hot air balloon.
Bob Smith 5:22
I thought this was the woman who did the bicycle around the world. Okay, so was it a Zeppelin, a ship? What was the other ones? A hot air balloon, air balloon and an airplane. I’d say it was a hot air balloon,
Marcia Smith 5:32
and you’d be wrong. Okay, what would it be she went around the world in a zeppelin? Oh, geez, I don’t know. I’d be a little worried about that I know is that before, oh, that
Bob Smith 5:42
was long before the explosion, 1930 something, was when they had the, oh, the Hindenburg, and that was because of a certain mixture of fuel, yeah, yeah, they didn’t use hydrogen anymore. But before then, zeppelins were pretty popular. The the big tower on the top of the Empire State Building was originally designed to be a dirigible or Zeppelin docking station. Oh, yeah, I didn’t know this, yeah, so it was considered a going thing. His is the nude form of transportation at the time, the early airplanes seemed so rickety and crude.
Marcia Smith 6:12
Oh, yeah, who’d get on one of those? I was frightened.
Bob Smith 6:16
Those things had no future. Okay? Marcia, which letter does not appear in the periodic table. This is just an oddity. Okay, there’s one letter that doesn’t appear on the periodic table, Q, no, you think it’d be Q, wouldn’t you? X,
Marcia Smith 6:31
not Z, nope. Oh yeah. Hold on. It’s just an oddity, huh? All right, hold on. F, no, that’s not it. I’ll tell you
Bob Smith 6:41
what it is. Okay. It’s the letter J. It’s not found anywhere on the periodic table. This is despite the fact that in some countries, the element iodine is known by the name jod, J, O, D. However, the periodic table still uses the symbol I for iodine, so j does not appear anywhere on the periodic table. Just an odd little thing. Just start speaking of initials, Marsha, what does the U and USB stand for? You know those little the cables we use all the time. Is it? Thank you. Urban, ulterior, universal, unconventional. Universal, that’s it. Universal Serial Bus is what it’s called, cereal bus. Serial Bus. That’s the US. That’s the name of a connection technology used to connect computers with peripheral devices, and that was first introduced in 1996 developed by IBM and Intel and Microsoft, as a simpler way to connect hardware to personal computers.
Marcia Smith 7:35
Well, you’ll like this one staying in line with your technology question here in 2005 Bob, Massachusetts, Institute of Technology student Jeremy Stribling wrote an academic paper that got him an offer to speak at a leading technology conference called the world multi conference on systemics, cybernetics and informatics in Orlando, Florida, we were not invited. What? But alas, his conference credentials were eventually revoked. Why? Ill loves this. Okay. What was it because his paper entitled ruder, how did you spell that? Marsh, R, O, O, T, E, R, okay. Ruder colon a methodology for the typical unification of access points and redundancy. UNQUOTE was nothing but gibberish. Jeremy wrote a computer generated paper of sentence after sentence of random important sounding words, such as, we can disconfirm that expert systems can be made amphibious. And why did he do it? Because he was sick to death of all the emails soliciting him for research papers for the conference, so he just popped this one off to him, and they accepted it and put him in the lineup to speak sentence after sentence of random important sounding words. So
Bob Smith 8:57
so this was because he used a computer to write it for him, just like people today are using artificial intelligence to write things.
Marcia Smith 9:05
This is back in 2005 so it wasn’t done much back then. Well,
Bob Smith 9:09
here’s a new quote I just found today. It’s funny. It’s from the New York Times. It’s from an academic, he says, a creative writing student using a I in a memoir writing class. Oh, geez, I have to wonder what you are saying about your life, if even you can’t be bothered to think about it, what kind of world are we in? Yes, okay, I do have another question here on George Washington Carver, he created over 300 products from the peanut he created a chemical that made chocolate stick to peanuts. He came up with that. So because of that, he’s credited with the first candy bar with peanuts. Okay? So that was a 1916 in 1925 Hershey’s came out with Mr. Good bar using his invention. That’s still one of my favorites, and that also led to the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. All right? Okay,
Marcia Smith 10:00
it’s time. Bob four, aka, aka,
Bob Smith 10:02
also known as, yes, the subject today is
Marcia Smith 10:07
soft drink, brains. Oh, okay, so if I say, MD, jalapeno, what is the drink? Dr Pepper, that’s it. You got it all right. That’s how this works. MD,
Bob Smith 10:19
jalapeno. I love that
Marcia Smith 10:23
next one. Everest moisture, Everest
Bob Smith 10:26
moisture, Everest moisture, Mount let’s see Mountain Dew, yeah, okay, very good. Bar bill, bar bill. Bar bill, tab, yeah. Okay,
Marcia Smith 10:39
that’s funny, okay? Honolulu uppercut, Honolulu
Bob Smith 10:42
uppercut, Honolulu uppercut. Oh, I’m seeing this visually, but I can’t remember what it would be. Okay. What is it? Hawaiian
Marcia Smith 10:50
Punch? Oh, okay, coffee cup. Coffee Cup,
Unknown Speaker 10:56
yeah, coffee cup. I
Marcia Smith 10:58
didn’t realize this was the actual name of the beverage mug? Yes,
Bob Smith 11:03
it’s the root beer mug. Root Beer. Okay, yes, yes, I’ve heard of that. Okay, I
Marcia Smith 11:07
didn’t this might be hard. Pixie, Pixie, yeah, I
Bob Smith 11:12
don’t know. Sprite, oh, she’s very Sprite, Okay, gotcha, Okay.
Marcia Smith 11:18
Last one elevated septet.
Bob Smith 11:22
Elevated septet. Sep Tet, yeah, septet, that’s seven things, right? Elevated, seven up. Seven Up. Okay,
Speaker 1 11:30
seven up. Bravo. You got it? Okay, okay, pretty well, I have one.
Bob Smith 11:34
What famous soft drink was originally known as Brad’s drink. Brad’s drink. Brad was the name of the pharmacist. Why?
Marcia Smith 11:41
That’s real catchy. That’ll go in a jingle. Here’s Brad’s drink, don’t he’s not a think. Okay, I don’t know, Pepsi, really? Yeah, Pepsi
Bob Smith 11:49
was originally called Brad’s drink. Oh, well, that has over. Okay, dear, okay. I have an interesting little story here. What did Graham Nash do? And he found out his mother wanted to be a singer, what did he do for her?
Marcia Smith 12:03
You have to say who Graham Nash is. Not everybody knows. You’ve heard
Bob Smith 12:07
of Crosby Stills and Nash was the Nash and Crosby Stills, Nash and Young and the Hollys. Graham Nash was one of the high harmony singers, beautiful voice. What did he do when he found out his mother wanted to be a singer? What did he do for her? Did he
Marcia Smith 12:21
put her on the album? No, did he bring her out on stage? No,
Bob Smith 12:26
he found out this about two years before she died, and then she passed away, and ever since then, he’s been doing something for her. I don’t know what. Well, two years before she died, he asked his mom, Mom, why did you and dad encourage me in my musical ambitions? All my other friends were being discouraged by their parents. She said, Well, that’s easy. I wanted to be a singer. He was dumbfounded. He never knew this. He said, Well, what do you mean? She goes. I thought I had a good voice. I wanted to be on the stage, but World War Two came along. I married your father, and we had three beautiful children, and it was over for me. So you’re living my life. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 13:03
well. So what did he do? Well, she passed away.
Bob Smith 13:05
And then one night in 1971 as he and David Crosby were playing Carnegie Hall, David Crosby whispered to him, I gotta go to the bathroom. So after one of the songs, so he left the stage. So he said he’s talked to the people. So he just started talking to people. Oh, great to be here in New York. And blah, blah, blah, Carnegie Hall. What a wonderful place. He kept talking. And David Crosby didn’t come back. David Crosby didn’t come back. Oh, my God. So eventually he told the story. And as I’m telling the story, I reach my hand into my jacket pocket, and I pull out some of my mother’s ashes, and I scattered them on the stage at Carnegie Hall. And he said, anywhere I go, that I think my mom would like to sing, she’s there. Isn’t that sweet. So she’s at Royal Albert Hall, she’s at Hollywood Bowl, she’s at Carnegie Hall, all these places, I thought there was a sweet story that’s magnificent. Obviously it affected you. You’re over there blubbering away.
Marcia Smith 14:05
Okay, I think it’s time for a break. Okay,
Bob Smith 14:07
you’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment. Okay, we’re back. I’m here with sniffles. Sniffles. Smith,
Marcia Smith 14:19
character on Sesame Street. You’re listening
Bob Smith 14:20
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. Indeed. All right, Marcia in 2025 Walt Disney released a new live action version of Snow White. It cost $230 million to make. How much did it cost to make the original Snow White? Now, the original Snow White was made during the Great Depression, yeah,
Marcia Smith 14:47
I’ll say $800,000
Bob Smith 14:49
No, little more than that million the original Snow White, which was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, cost Walt Disney, $1.5 million to produce the. That $1.5 million budget that was a big gamble in 1937 in the middle of the Great Depression, but it brought in $184 million and in all, the film has made $4 billion Oh, my in today’s money, no kidding. So how many modern films have generated $4 billion in revenue? None, no. Not a single one, not a single one. You’re right.
Marcia Smith 15:23
You’re right. Marcia, thank you. I like putting some effort. Not
Bob Smith 15:28
a single one According to Box Office mojo.com none of the top 10 films of the 21st century, not avatar, Titanic or the Avenger films have made more than $2.9 billion but there you have Snow White from the 1930s has made $4 billion but the highest grossing film in history is not Snow White. What is that? The highest grossing film in history, when adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind, that’s right, Gone With the Wind, adjusted for inflation, it’s generated the equivalent of $4.3 billion
Marcia Smith 16:01
all right, on the bubble gum. Bob, okay, I like that. Bob, what makes bubble gum a better bubble than regular chewing gum?
Bob Smith 16:10
It’s got to be a chemical, something that’s in there. In
Marcia Smith 16:14
order to produce a substantial bubble, a gum must be strong enough to withstand the pressure of the tongue and the formation of an air pocket, but also it has to be flexible enough to stretch evenly as it expands. And the secret ingredient, now this is very tasty in bubble gum, is plasticizers.
Bob Smith 16:37
Can’t wait to get my teeth on some of those. Again,
Marcia Smith 16:39
God, in this it’s a synthetic gum base that stretches farther than plain resin and can guarantee sufficient elasticity so that kids can pop big bubbles all over their face. Wow. Plasticizers. Plasticizers, yeah, that makes you want to go buy a Mr. Bubble. It
Bob Smith 16:59
doesn’t make you think I should put that in your mouth. Hey, Marcia, we often hear of World War One giving birth to trench warfare. But how many trenches were built? If you position them end to end, how long would those trenches stretch? Give
Marcia Smith 17:11
me? Give me hundreds or 1000s, 1000s of miles? Yeah, I’ll say two and a half 1000. That would be a lot.
Bob Smith 17:19
But if position end to end, the trenches dug by both sides during World War 5000 25,000 miles placed end to end, they’d encircle the earth. That war was so bad, more than 8 million men died in it. Oh God, 25,000 miles terrible, isn’t it? Yes, terrible. Okay, Bob,
Marcia Smith 17:41
why do we call wealthy members of society the upper crust?
Bob Smith 17:46
Hmm, that’s a good question. It is, does it have to do with cake? No, okay. Does it have to do with anything that people would eat, that only wealthy people could afford? Well,
Marcia Smith 17:57
you’re half right. It has to do with something they ate. But it wasn’t only wealthy people. Everybody ate this. Okay, so here it is. I love this. In the days of feudalism, Bob, remember that when noble men gathered for a meal in the neighborhood Castle, those of higher ranks sat at the head of the T shaped table with the host and the rest of the people in diminishing importance away from them. So you’re not that important. You’re down here, you’re in the room, but you’re long way away. For such an occasion, a yard long loaf of bread was baked, and the honor of cutting the upper crust belonged to the highest ranking person at the head of the table. So if you belong to the upper crust, you were at the head of the table. So
Bob Smith 18:40
the upper crust was gone by the time it reached the other folks. Yeah, they got the they got the heel. You don’t want the heel. I love the heel of bread. Absolutely. That’s
Marcia Smith 18:49
why you’re not in the upper crust. Bob, right there. Well, it says it all, okay,
Bob Smith 18:55
you’re the heel buddy. Yeah. Hey. This is interesting. I recently found a book. It’s called an eyewitness book, and it was done with the Smithsonian, so it’s got a lot of good information in it, but I never thought about this. What was the purpose of drummers in battle? The drummer boys and people like that, oh, geez, like during the Civil War,
Marcia Smith 19:14
certainly let the enemy know they were coming. I guess that wasn’t the point keep them awake. It was to give them fortitude, to pep them up, to give them some get up and go.
Bob Smith 19:26
That’s what we all kind of think. Well, must have been just a spirit kind of, yeah, right. Well, believe it or not, drummers had to learn dozens of drum calls, and during the chaos of battle, drums were used to convey orders and directions to soldiers on the battlefield, yeah, they couldn’t hear somebody screaming at them, but they hear the drums going, and that certain rhythm meant a certain thing for them. There were specific drum beats or drum calls representing different commands, such as advance, retreat, charge or form lines, for example, the long roll just a very long. Long roll that was attack and over the course of the war, how many drummers Do you think there were in the Civil War? That was the last war with a lot of did both sides have them? Yeah, they both had them.
Marcia Smith 20:09
Jeez, I don’t know. Tell me, 40,000 men. Are you kidding? No.
Bob Smith 20:14
40,000 men served as drummers, and 28 army musicians received the Medal of Honor for bravery displayed while removing wounded soldiers from the field. Wow. Well, that’s interesting. Yes, and a lot of these were boys. Yeah, they were younger people. At times,
Marcia Smith 20:31
my boy go out there and beat a drum while going into battle, I don’t think so. So
Bob Smith 20:36
that’s the purpose of drums in the old days in war, it makes sense when you think about drums in Indian tribes and things like that, so as to tell them what the next move is, yeah. In the chaos of battle, the fog of war, can’t see or hear your leaders. You can hear the drums. It
Marcia Smith 20:51
makes sense. I never thought of it either. So who was telling the drummer? The drummers weren’t near the commander? Yeah. So the commander would say, okay, tell them this. Order this, and then they would do the drum well, it makes great sense. And I never even thought of they always
Bob Smith 21:03
seem superfluous. Like, why did they have these musicians out there? I thought that was fascinating. 40,000 men served as drummers in the Civil War, and 28 of them won the Medal of Honor. Amazing. It
Marcia Smith 21:14
is, why do we say someone is living high on the hog? That
Bob Smith 21:19
must be another one like that bread question you asked me. It is okay. So the hog, if you had a hog, you were, you were a wealthy man, I would imagine, no,
Marcia Smith 21:27
not necessarily. What’s interesting about this expression, it only dates back to the mid 1940s
Bob Smith 21:34
Oh, I didn’t know that. Yeah, that sounds like something that would have been around for centuries, living high in the hog, whereas
Marcia Smith 21:39
upper crust goes back to the futile times. This goes back to the mid 40s, and essentially it means someone who can afford to eat well, the best pork cuts, chops, hams, roasts, etc, can usually be found higher on the hog, okay, whereas the low parts on the hog are usually organs, like feet, belly and Knuckles, and were relegated to field hands and laborers when dividing up the spoils. Okay, so if you had some bucks, you were living high on the hog and eating pork chops, and your minion was eating, you know, Knuckles, pig knuckles. Pig
Bob Smith 22:17
knuckles doesn’t sound good, doesn’t well,
Marcia Smith 22:19
people buy them today for all sorts of things. Let’s, let’s set
Bob Smith 22:22
our sights way, way, way off somewhere else, Marsh, way off into the skies, into the deep, dark night skies. Okay, okay. Which planet is surrounded by rings?
Marcia Smith 22:33
Oh, that’s Saturn. Saturn. Guess what? There are four
Bob Smith 22:38
of them. Four planets are surrounded by rings Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, the four giants, all have rings, and that wasn’t known until 1977 that’s the year when Uranus was discovered to have rings because of satellites and so forth. Yeah. And the astronomers James Eliot, Edward Dunham and Douglas mink discovered the first nine rings with the help of NASA’s Cooper observatory, two more were discovered by Voyager two in 1986 and the Hubble telescope in 2003 to 2005 I thought that was fascinating. I thought it was just one so Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune all have rings. Okay,
Marcia Smith 23:17
what is considered Bob the most memorized and memorable speech in American history,
Bob Smith 23:23
that would be the Gettysburg Address. That’s it. That’s it. Abraham
Marcia Smith 23:27
Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address, three minute speech. It was delivered by a weary president that gave a young nation a voice to sing unto itself, and
Bob Smith 23:39
he was weary because he was waiting for the guy before him, who went on for two hours, two hours. Did you have to memorize that in high school or grade school? I remember in about third grade, had to, had to memorize that.
Marcia Smith 23:50
Yeah, no, I don’t remember having to. I remember having to do Hamlet.
Bob Smith 23:55
That was later, yeah, but this is grade school, if they had us memorize these things,
Marcia Smith 23:59
and it’s a good one to memorize and discuss. Yeah, man, we had to
Bob Smith 24:03
analyze it because, you know, it’s it goes by in a quick in fact, at the time of the speech, if you read some of the original reviews of that remarks of the President, you’ll find that the newspapers were like, what was that? It was over. It’s done. He’s done. He’s sitting down now. We’ve been waiting three hours for this guy to come up and speak, yeah, it’s powerful stuff. Yeah, it was okay. Marcia. One more question on the planets, which planet in the solar system is almost equal in size to Earth?
Marcia Smith 24:32
I don’t know Mars.
Bob Smith 24:33
We think of Mars because we think, well, that’s where we’re going to be going sometime soon. Maybe you. But no, no, not me. Venus. Venus, okay, is often referred to as the sister planet, and with good reason, it’s 7521 miles in diameter. It’s almost the same as Earth, but unlike Earth, Venus experiences no flattening at the poles, which means it’s almost perfectly circular. Earth is not
Marcia Smith 24:57
who is the oldest person Bob to ascend to the British. Throne.
Bob Smith 25:01
Think it’s King Charles the current king, isn’t it? Bingo,
Marcia Smith 25:04
King Charles the third. He got his crown at age 73, years. He’s also the only monarch to hold a university degree. He’s an accomplished and best selling water colorist, and as we once noted on a previous episode, President Nixon once tried to set him up with his daughter Tricia. He thought Charlie would be a good add to the family tree,
Bob Smith 25:29
yeah, and but he is the best, probably the most educated king in the history of the world. When you think of that fascinating, yeah, King
Marcia Smith 25:37
as kings go, for sure, okay?
Bob Smith 25:38
Marcia, the Winter Olympics recently took place. What country that’s cold has never won a medal in the Winter Olympics? Oh, really, this country has never won a medal in the Winter Olympics, and it’s cold, and it’s been in 19 games since 1948 it’s not Greenland. No, it’s not Greenland. It is Iceland. Iceland, even though it’s a frosty country, has never won a single medal during a winter Olympics. On the other hand, they’ve won two silvers and two bronzes during the Summer Olympics, really. Yeah. Well, so Iceland has won medals in the Summer Olympics, but not in the Winter Olympics. How about that?
Marcia Smith 26:15
Oh, the irony. Okay, all right, before my quotes, Bob, this American animal has one of the most powerful bites of any living animal. What
Bob Smith 26:25
is it? American animal, crocodile,
Marcia Smith 26:28
yes, well, it’s the alligator.
Bob Smith 26:30
Alligator, because the jaws are so strong, it
Marcia Smith 26:33
has a bite that is 2960 pounds of force, jeez, when it bites into its prey, there, you’re done. You’re done. My God, I remember when we were down at our friend’s house on that island near Savannah, and there was just crocodiles and alligators crawling around on the
Unknown Speaker 26:50
golf course. On the golf course, absolutely, God,
Marcia Smith 26:53
how can you live here?
Bob Smith 26:57
All right, you got a thought for the day?
Marcia Smith 26:58
I do two of them. Billy Graham, when wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost. When character is lost, all is lost.
Unknown Speaker 27:12
That’s good, yeah, Billy
Marcia Smith 27:13
and I’ll finish with Donald Duck, okay. He said, sometimes I look at people and think some are out there. There’s a village missing its idiot.
Bob Smith 27:27
Donald Duck said that. Well, that’s funny, all right. Well, you never know from from whose mouth the wisdom is going to come. Yeah. Okay, that’s it for this week. We want to thank you for joining us, and hope you will join us again when we return with more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith, you’ve been listening to the off ramp. The off ramp is produced in association with the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Visit us on the web at the offramp. Dot show at.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
