Bob and Marcia discuss historical trivia, including the Ottoman Empire’s ban on coffee during Sultan Murad IV’s reign, which was enforced by executions. They explore the term “torpedo juice,” a World War II slang for a highly alcoholic drink made from torpedo fuel. They delve into the edibility of plants, noting that only 10% of 350,000 known plant species are edible, and humans cultivate only about 170. They also touch on the Mayflower Compact’s significance in American democracy and the unusual practice of using American dirt to bury Marquis de Lafayette in France.
Outline
Coffee and the Ottoman Empire
- Bob Smith discusses the historical significance of coffee, noting that it was outlawed during the Ottoman Empire.
- Marcia Smith asks about “torpedo juice,” leading Bob to explain its origins and its connection to torpedoes.
- Bob explains that during the reign of Sultan Murad IV, drinking coffee was a capital offense due to its association with dangerous free thinking.
- Despite the harsh punishments, the ruling class continued to drink coffee, and even Sultan Murad himself consumed it.
Torpedo Juice and Military Slang
- Bob and Marcia discuss the term “torpedo juice,” which was a highly alcoholic cocktail made from the fuel of torpedoes.
- Marcia explains that during World War II, soldiers would drain a bit of the fuel from torpedoes and mix it with fruit juice.
- Bob and Marcia discuss other military slang terms, such as “a can of milk” for an armored cow and “army strawberries” for prunes.
- They also mention the King’s Shilling scam, where recruiters would add a shilling to a drink to enlist men without their consent.
Historical Events on April 12
- Bob lists several significant historical events that occurred on April 12, including the start of the American Civil War, President Roosevelt’s death, and the announcement of the polio vaccine.
- They also mention the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin and the launch of the space shuttle Columbia.
- Bob notes that April 12, 1633, was the day Galileo was accused of heresy by the Catholic Church.
- Marcia comments on the Catholic Church’s slow admission of Galileo’s correctness.
New York City Landmarks
- Marcia and Bob play a game where they identify New York City landmarks, such as the Statue of Liberty, Lincoln Tunnel, and Radio City Music Hall.
- They discuss the significance of these landmarks and their historical importance.
- Bob asks a question about a US city built on top of sunken ships, and Marcia correctly identifies San Francisco.
- They discuss the history of San Francisco, including how it was built on tidal flats and how ship captains would sink their ships to claim land.
American Dirt and Marquis de Lafayette
- Bob asks a question about American dirt being used to bury a Frenchman, and Marcia correctly identifies Marquis de Lafayette.
- They discuss Lafayette’s role in the Revolutionary War and his wish to be buried with American dirt.
- Bob mentions that Lafayette was honored as an honorary US citizen in 2002.
- They discuss the significance of Lafayette’s contributions to American history.
English Titles and Ranks
- Marcia explains the five ranks of peerage in England: Duke, Viscount, Earl, Marquis, and Baron.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the differences between these titles and the title gentry, which includes knights like Sir Paul McCartney.
- They mention the Duke of Devonshire and the significance of titles in England.
- Bob shares a personal anecdote about visiting the Duke of Devonshire’s house, Chatsworth.
World War II Musical Instruments
- Bob asks a question about unusual musical instruments shipped to allied battlefields during World War II.
- Marcia correctly identifies that Steinway built special, compact pianos called victory verticals to increase troop morale.
- They discuss the logistics of transporting these pianos and the challenges faced by soldiers.
- Bob and Marcia reflect on the significance of music in boosting morale during wartime.
Fruit Questions and Boysenberries
- Bob asks two fruit questions, including the botanical classification of strawberries and the invention of boysenberries.
- Marcia explains that botanically, the red parts of a strawberry are considered an accessory, while the seeds are the fruit.
- They discuss the development of boysenberries by Rudolph Boysen and their commercial cultivation.
- Bob and Marcia reflect on the interesting history and characteristics of various fruits.
George Washington’s Writings
- Marcia asks a question about what George Washington did before becoming president, and Bob correctly identifies that he wrote hotel reviews.
- They discuss Washington’s practice of avoiding political favoritism by staying at inns during his travels.
- Bob mentions that Washington visited all of the colonies and wrote reviews of the inns he stayed at.
- They reflect on the significance of Washington’s writings and his contributions to American history.
Edible Plant Species and Crop Dependence
- Bob asks a question about the number of edible plant species and the number cultivated by humans.
- Marcia estimates that 10% of the world’s plant species are edible, and Bob confirms that humans cultivate only about 170 plant species on a commercially significant level.
- They discuss the dependence of humans on a few key crops, such as corn, wheat, and rice, for most of their plant calories and protein.
- Bob and Marcia reflect on the importance of these crops and the challenges of food production.
Mayflower Compact and American Democracy
- Marcia asks a question about the significance of the Mayflower Compact, and Bob explains its role in establishing the first seeds of democracy in the new world.
- They discuss the importance of self-government and the agreement made by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower.
- Bob shares a personal connection to the Mayflower Compact through his ancestor, George Soul.
- They reflect on the historical importance of the Mayflower Compact and its impact on American democracy.
Quotes and Closing Remarks
- Marcia shares quotes by Hugo Black and Otto Bismarck, emphasizing the importance of freedom of the press and the tendency to lie during certain times.
- Bob and Marcia express their hope that listeners enjoyed the show and look forward to future episodes.
- They thank the Cedarburg Public Library for their support and encourage listeners to visit their website for more information.
- The episode concludes with Bob and Marcia signing off and wishing listeners a good day.
Bob Smith 0:00
Do you drink coffee like your life depends on it? Well, guess what? If you did it during the Ottoman Empire, your life would depend on it. Say,
Marcia Smith 0:08
what and what is torpedo juice? Is that something you could drink too? Yes, it is, unfortunately.
Bob Smith 0:16
Oh, answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marcia
Unknown Speaker 0:21
Smith.
Bob Smith 0:38
Welcome to the off ramp. A chance to slow down, steer clear of crazy, take a side road to sanity and get some perspective on life with fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. We are dedicated to lifelong learning. You drink coffee, don’t you? Indeed, I do do you drink it like your life depended on it? Well, it would, if you would live during the 17th century. It was outlawed in the Ottoman Empire. But why is the question? Is the question, I mean Turkey, that whole area there, that’s where coffee became big. You know the first place they had coffee houses. Well, during the reign of Sultan Murad, the fourth of the 17th century, drinking coffee was a capital offense. You know what that means? Capital offense?
Marcia Smith 1:23
Yeah, that’s punishable by death, exactly,
Bob Smith 1:27
right? He ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, he was considered a strict and ruthless ruler, known for his brutality. He was the Butcher of Baghdad. He took over Baghdad during his years as a ruler, he implemented a series of bans on tobacco, alcohol and coffee, believing these substances were detrimental to Ottoman society, he was particularly concerned about coffee because that had become such a popular beverage in coffee houses, where people from all social classes could come together and talk. Oh, my goodness, that was dangerous. They might just discuss ideas that could lead to unrest. In fact, the whole ruling class thought that they didn’t like coffee houses. The rabble rousers were there. Everybody’s going there. That’s not good. So when he claimed the Ottoman throne at age 16,
Marcia Smith 2:19
16 – that’s where he gets his wisdom.
Bob Smith 2:21
Oh, yeah. In1623, he quickly closed down all coffee houses and wine shops too. Marcia, sorry, violators were executed. Even people merely suspected of being violators were executed. But that’s not all. Sultan Murad didn’t stop there. He took the law into his own hands to help enforce the coffee ban. He reportedly disguised himself as a commoner, and he patrolled the streets of Istanbul. He would personally catch and kill anyone he saw drinking coffee. What a guy you want? This guy as your ruler? You know, Chase. He’d cast off his disguise and behead an offender on the spot with his 100 pound broad sword. Good Lord, wow, that’s just amazing. Despite the harsh punishments, the prohibition against coffee drinking was not fully enforced and people continued to consume. The better you do it. If you threat of being beheaded by probably say, I don’t think I need that. Yeah, no kidding, but people continue to drink. Especially, guess what? The ruling class, you know why they didn’t drink their coffee in those coffee houses where all that dangerous, free thinking was taking place. So historians even say Murad himself consumed coffee and alcohol every day, so much so that his untimely death at age 27 was caused by his addiction to alcohol. Wow,
Marcia Smith 3:41
see. Oh, the billionaire went down. Yeah, a real hypocrite
Bob Smith 3:44
there. So Burad The fourth made coffee illegal in the Ottoman Empire.
Unknown Speaker 3:51
Torpedo juice. Bob, what is it?
Bob Smith 3:55
It sounds like a real bad drink to me, or a good one, I guess, depends on how you look at it. Torpedo juice, I heard something about this. It had something to do with torpedoes. At one point, were being powered by some kind of alcohol, and then the sailors decided they would take a little sip once. Is it true?
Marcia Smith 4:11
Well, getting close World War Two era military speak was full of colorful slang terms. Yeah, a can of milk was known as an armored cow. Oh, I didn’t know that prunes were called army strawberries, a cup of coffee that was battery acid. Oh, my. And then there was torpedo juice. It was sometimes referred to by the lesser known moniker, torpedo Tessie. It was a highly alcoholic cocktail with surprisingly literal name, because torpedoes of the era were fueled by 180 proof ethanol, jeez, a very potent variant of essentially the same natural grain alcohol found in beer, wine and spirits. Because liquor wasn’t otherwise accessible, soldiers would drain a bit of the fuel from the torpedo and mix it with. Fruit juice. Oh, no, yeah, as World War Two veteran and former torpedo operator Jim Naris told the Anchorage Daily News, the torpedo wasn’t going to use it all anyway, so we kind of tapped off a little bit of it.
Bob Smith 5:15
That’s a great way to justify it. Yeah, and now there’s nice time left over when it blows up. So it’s just, you know, you might as well drink it here before we send it off.
Unknown Speaker 5:24
Talk about desperation. Oh my goodness, wow.
Bob Smith 5:26
You know, people get desperate. They do drink a lot of things. How badly do you need that? Well, you’re when you’re in a submarine for like, weeks, if not months at a time. That would be awful. One of the worst kinds of duty and very lethal. From you read the statistics about World War Two, chances of dying in a submarine was really high as a crew member. All right. Another question relating to food or beverage, what common food is related to poison ivy? Say again, what common food is related to poison ivy? Arugula, no, I’ll give you a hint. It’s a nut, a nut, nut, a nut. You enjoy macadamia. No, these grown trees cashews, oh, really, they are related to poison ivy. Raw cashews contain euricial, u, r, U, S, H, I, O, L, the same substance that makes poison ivy irritate the skin, raw cashews sold in the states have been roasted to neutralize that exposure, but are still labeled raw if they’re not flavored. And if you eat a cashew That’s raw and it’s not been roasted, you got some problems, yeah, just irritate you, like poison ivy, but going down your Can you imagine?
Marcia Smith 6:44
All right, it’s kind of obvious, Bob, what the term bottoms up means in the drinking terminology. I
Bob Smith 6:50
just assume it’s from somebody watching somebody drink. Bottoms up shows you the bottom of the glass. Uh huh.
Marcia Smith 6:54
Now you’ll never get this. Okay, I don’t know. During the 18th and 19th centuries, recruiters for the English navy would try to persuade men to join the military by offering them a King’s Shilling in order to boost their numbers. Some recruiters ran a scam. They would discreetly drop a shilling into an almost drunk man’s beer when he wasn’t looking. The drinkers wouldn’t notice the shilling until they finished their drink, and by then, it was too late. They got to the bottom, and the recruiter had already added their name to the draft list, and they’d be hauled off to see the next morning. Oh no, they’d come and get him and dump you’re one of us now. Bottom is up, jeez. Once bar owners discovered the scam, they started serving alcohol in glasses that had a clear bottom. Okay? Then they’d remind their patrons to check for an illicit shilling by saying bottoms up before they took a sip, they’d look at the bottom, wow. Put the bottom up and look see if there was a shilling there.
Bob Smith 7:55
The British navy. They did. Then they would impress the sailors of other nations to come on their ships. When they would take over a ship in the middle of the ocean. They had a hard time with this greatest Navy in the world.
Marcia Smith 8:05
I don’t know what do you mean. They invited them over
Bob Smith 8:10
Impress hem. That was, that was the United States got into a war with them over that they would see ships at sea and impress the sailors, bringing them into the Navy, forcing them to serve in the British Navy. I didn’t know that. Oh, they did that to numerous nations. Yeah, and if you didn’t do it, they killed you, I suppose, or they put you in chains. What do you want? Okay, I’ll serve. Okay. Hey, Marcia, you know, if you look at the Today in History feature, you occasionally find a list of events that cause you to remark, really, all those things happen today. Recently, I looked at the April 12 date, I was just struck by all the things that occurred on that date. April 12, 1861 the American Civil War began with the Battle of Fort Sumter. April 12, 1945 President Roosevelt died of a stroke at Warm Springs, little white house in Georgia 10 years later, April 12, 1955 the University of Michigan announced the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was declared to be safe. And six years later, on April 12, 1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri gargirin became the first human being to go into outer space. And if that wasn’t enough, the space shuttle Columbia was first launched. April 12, 1981 all those things occurred on april 26
Unknown Speaker 9:27
the cosmos come together and things happen. It’s
Bob Smith 9:30
amazing. And one more event, this was not a good one. April 12, 1633, the Catholic Church accused Galileo of heresy for suggesting that the earth was a planet that revolved around the sun. There you go. He was found guilty and sentenced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. How long did it take the Catholic Church to admit Galileo was correct? Any
Speaker 1 9:52
idea. Well, what year was that? 1633, about 300 years. 350 years. I.
Bob Smith 10:00
Some people absolutely don’t want to admit they’re wrong, do they?
Marcia Smith 10:02
Oh, absolute rule is great. Yeah, we’re going to do an AKA now. Okay, sure. That’s also known as my favorite card game. The category is New York City landmarks. Okay, all right, okay, I’ll give you a clue, like
Bob Smith 10:18
a couple of times. Let’s see.
Marcia Smith 10:21
I’ll give you a example here, figure of freedom, also known as the Statue of Liberty. That’s right. Okay, how about Abraham middle?
Bob Smith 10:29
Abraham middle, Lincoln Tunnel, Lincoln Center.
Marcia Smith 10:33
That’s it, all right. Middle, of course. Wide Street. Broadway, very good. Okay, doing great. Stereo town tune corridor,
Bob Smith 10:43
Stereo town tune corridor stereo town you’ve been here. Stereo town tune corridor music, something, yes, oh, Radio City Music,
Marcia Smith 10:56
That’s it, perfect. See how you gotta think it’s true. Elizabeth and Victoria,
Bob Smith 11:03
Elizabeth and Victoria queens, yes, okay, that’s the neighborhood. Gotcha the burl. Creed auditorium, Creed auditorium, Creed auditorium. That would be, wait a minute, it’s not Carnegie Hall.
Marcia Smith 11:23
It is, comes from a Rocky movie creed. Remember his name, the boxer that Oh, Apollo Theater. That’s right, gotcha. That’s a real NYC landmark. It is, yes. And finally, noon and midnight quadrilateral,
Bob Smith 11:38
noon and midnight, quadrilateral Times Square, okay, I didn’t do too badly on those. You got them all Bob, all right. Speaking of another city, I have this question. Marcia, yes. What US city was built on top of 40 sunken ships?
Marcia Smith 11:53
Oh, really, yes. What was the first part? What? What US city? US city was, well, had it be somewhere on an island like New York, no, or Sun Coast, California, yes. Would it be, oh, San Quentin?
Bob Smith 12:11
No, San Quentin, that’s a prison. Yeah, no. We’re talking about the city, okay, what city has a harbor? A lot of cities have, right? What is one of the big cities that has a big harbor in
Speaker 1 12:21
California, yes. Would it be? Are you rolling your
Bob Smith 12:25
eyes? A a way to get into the harbor? It’s called the gates. Would it
Unknown Speaker 12:31
be the Golden Gate? Okay, but it was,
Bob Smith 12:34
there you go. Yeah, the modern downtown city of San Francisco was built entirely on tidal flats I had no idea, once called the Yerba Buena Cove, and in its early history, through a legal loophole, a person living there could fill in shallow water with land and declare the plot was theirs. Oh so ship captains would deliberately sink their ships to claim land in the cove. A ship is a ship, and you could build commercial space on top of their downed vessels. So they would all, I got land here. I just sink my ship. And hey, there’s land here. Eventually, the cove was filled in, and today, it’s estimated there are at least 40 sunken vessels under downtown San Francisco. Yes. How was American dirt used to bury a Frenchman? And what Frenchman was that Marcia, American dirt was used to bury a Frenchman. What French man?
Marcia Smith 13:26
American dirt over in France, I take it. That’s why it was unusual. They buried him in France with American dirt. Yes. Was it? Was it a Lafayette? Yes, that’s who it was.
Bob Smith 13:37
I had never heard of this before, the Marquita Lafayette who fought in the Revolutionary War. He ordered, in his will that he be buried in France using dirt he obtained from Bunker Hill during a return trip to the United States, one of the big battlefields in Boston. Yeah. How about that?
Marcia Smith 13:55
He was a real force of nature in America. He loved it, but he also loved his country.
Bob Smith 14:00
What happened to him 220 years after the revolution?
Unknown Speaker 14:05
Well, I don’t know.
Bob Smith 14:06
He became the sixth person ever to become an honorary US citizen that was in 2002
Marcia Smith 14:12
Wow. No kidding. I like that. All right. Bob, as you know, titles and ranks are still very big in England, correct, primarily decided through inheritance, or less common, through the creation of a title by the monarchy. There are five ranks of peerage in England. Okay, the top rank is Duke or Duchess, which is only can be surpassed by a queen or a prince, and the bottom of the five ranks is a baron. So can you name the ranks in between
Bob Smith 14:45
Baron and the Duke or Duchess? So there’s, are there just the lady? Are there things? Is it, sir, so and so, and all of that. I mean,
Marcia Smith 14:52
no, that’s, that’s down. I’ll explain that afterwards. But okay, there are, you know, there’s, uh, Duke Bob,
Bob Smith 14:58
thank you, Duke Robert. I. Okay, yes, thank you. The five
Marcia Smith 15:00
ranks in order are Duke, Viscount, Earl, Marquis and Baron.
Bob Smith 15:06
Now that’s from top down. Yeah, you just read them in descending order, yeah, okay, all right.
Marcia Smith 15:11
And also there are title gentry and knights like Sir Paul McCartney, okay, he’s given the title for some accomplishment or thing that he did. So that’s that comes after the five ranks. Okay,
Bob Smith 15:24
so a Baron is above a sir, so, but Sir is a big it’s a big deal.
Marcia Smith 15:28
It isn’t a rank, but not a real high one, compared to if you inherited a title, you don’t have to really do anything. All you need is a lot of money and be born into it. Well, you’re born into it. That’s right, you know, I like Marquis de Bob. Like Marquis de Bob when
Bob Smith 15:43
we were at the Duke of Devonshire house, yeah, in in England, because that’s a beautiful place, Chatsworth. So we’re familiar with the Dukes. And he actually my, my cousin knew him. I mean, she got pictures of her.
Marcia Smith 15:57
It’s no big deal. They’re just rich people, just a local rich person, yeah, it’s not a deal, but they give great honor to people who have the title. That’s right, that’s right, even if you do nothing
Bob Smith 16:11
judgment, there aren’t you? Yes, generally, they’re large landowners, yeah. And they have big businesses. Basically, they’re running a business. It could be mining, it could be farming, could be all kinds of things
Marcia Smith 16:20
they really did at Chatsworth. It was amazing. They had a farm and ponies. They had the whole thing, and it all went to help the local community
Bob Smith 16:30
and to keep the property up too going, Yeah, paying for all the upkeep. Yeah, the family needs to have to pay for that. Yeah, almost all those places were opened up to the public as a result of that need. Yeah, most of that was after World War Two. Yeah. Okay. Marcia, this is an unusual question. What unusual musical instruments were shipped to allied battlefields in World War Two? What unusual musical instruments shipped to allied battlefields in World War Two? And I’ll give you a hint. The company that did it was called Steinway. So what do you think it was?
Speaker 1 17:04
What? They didn’t ship pianos. They did, no, not, not
Bob Smith 17:07
the big pianos, not the kind of grand pianos. But according to britannica.com during World War Two, Steinway built special, compact pianos, really, that could be parachuted onto the front lines to increase troop morale. The instruments, dubbed victory verticals, were small enough to be carried by four soldiers, and they were tropicalized to withstand the termites and moisture of jungle environments. Good, great. I guess it was a they did it for the war. I’m sure they got paid for it, but they
Marcia Smith 17:38
did something like, you know, a Fife, or, you know, something little clarinet, or something, yeah, something
Bob Smith 17:46
a little more mobile than four soldiers could carry it. You know, that’s a lot of people. That’s a bit much. Hopefully not. Well, shells were, you know, were falling and the machine guns were going on. That’s
Unknown Speaker 17:56
nuts. I think it’s time for a break. Okay, all right. You’re listening
Bob Smith 17:59
to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment. We’re back. It’s been a little while you’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We do this each week for the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and then we put it on podcast platforms, and it is heard all over the world, all over the world. We do hear from listeners in India and in England and numerous places around the United States. So it’s fun. Marcia, I have two fruit questions for you, fruit Yes, I thought that’d be appropriate for you and me. Two fruit questions for the fruity people on the off ramp. How are strawberries far different than the way you think of them? They’re vegetables. It’s sort of like that. It’s kind of like these aren’t really nuts, but we call them nuts. Yeah, no, I don’t know. So what’s different about strawberries than what you probably think of them? I don’t know. You bite into that and you go, this is a great piece of fruit,
Marcia Smith 18:53
and it’s juicy, but it’s not a fruit, is it? Well, it is a fruit. Can Tell me, it’s a legume.
Bob Smith 18:58
You know, the seeds on the outside of strawberries. Yeah, those are actually the fruit. Oh, botanically speaking, the red parts of a strawberry, the part we enjoy today, are just an accessory,
Marcia Smith 19:11
but that’s where all the flavor is, the accessory who determined that that’s ridiculous. People who study these things, well, that makes no sense. I’m sorry, but that’s what they say. Then what do you call the juicy part of the strawberry
Bob Smith 19:23
an accessory? I told you. I got one more fruit question, and then you can go off on your own. What famous Berry was invented in California?
Marcia Smith 19:32
Invented a berry? Invented? Yes, a berry was invented. Was a cross. Do I know this berry? Yeah, you’ve heard
Bob Smith 19:39
of it. Okay, I’ve heard of it. I don’t know if I have had any, but I’ve heard of it.
Marcia Smith 19:45
Gooseberry. No, no. Boysenberries. Oh, yeah, that’s very common.
Bob Smith 19:48
Boysenberries are named after Rudolph Boyzen. He was a California farmer who developed the fruit in 1923 but he failed to sustain a crop, and they’re a cross between blackberries. Raspberries and Logan berries. He turned over development of the berry to the farmer Walter not of Knott’s Berry Farm. Oh, no kidding, for commercial development, they’re softer and larger than blackberries with a sweeter flavor, smaller seeds and a color closer to maroon or indigo than black, and today, the boys and berries are grown commercially up and down the coast of North and Central America, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Coast of the United States, from California to Oregon. Okay?
Marcia Smith 20:28
Bob, when he wasn’t busy being the first President of the United States, what did George Washington do? What
Bob Smith 20:36
did he do? Yeah, okay, well, I know he was a farmer. He had a farm. He had flour. He sold flour, branded Washington. G Washington. He had a fishery on the river. He
Marcia Smith 20:48
did a lot. Let me narrow this down for you. It involved writing. What did he write? Oh,
Bob Smith 20:53
really, yeah. What did he write? Checks to vendors? I don’t know what
Marcia Smith 20:58
he wrote, hotel reviews basically as well reviews, well, they weren’t called hotels, then they were American inns, right? Okay, the founding father penned a series of these assessments early in his presidency, a time when he swore not to accept invitations to say in his fellow Americans private residences. He didn’t want any impropriety of staying with certain people or anybody. He didn’t
Bob Smith 21:24
want to seem to have political favor. That’s right, that was the reason, yeah,
Marcia Smith 21:27
he wanted to avoid any appearance of political favoritism. So that necessitated patronizing inns during two major trips, one to New England and one to the south.
Bob Smith 21:38
Okay? I was thinking maybe during his trips, yeah, because remember, we did a question, who was the first US president to visit all of the country? Yeah? And it was George Washington. He visited all of the colonies. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 21:50
yeah. And he would stay at different houses and and write about them and let everybody know, this is a good house. This is a bad he wasn’t very colorful in his descriptions. His best review I see here is Boston. He noted a widow kept a very decent and good house, and found that Delaware’s Buck tavern was a better house than appearances indicate, pretty mild, isn’t it pretty mild? Pretty mild. Not a lot of adjectives. Well, that’s interesting, but that was it, good and bad. And then he’d post that, and other people would know, well, that’s why
Bob Smith 22:24
there were all these jokes about George Washington slept here. I don’t know if you remember that when we were kids, you’d see movies and they’d have George Washington slept here, because he went to all of these cities. He tried to visit all the people in all the regions of the country. Very interesting idea. It’s
Marcia Smith 22:39
like, why across the street we have Hamilton. Son went through here and they named the whole little area Hamilton, right? I mean, it’s, oh, he drove through here and he stayed, he stayed at that house on the corner. Did you know that there’s actually no
Bob Smith 22:52
a tavern where he bought everybody drinks? That’s what it was. He was driving 700 head of cattle up from Illinois, yeah. And we’re really near the fork of a road here, where our house is up on a hill, overlooking a little place where there’s a creek, and where that creek is, there was a tavern, and he apparently bought alcohol for everybody that night.
Marcia Smith 23:09
What were the 700 cattle doing at the time when he was inside there.
Bob Smith 23:13
In the in the pasture, you know, I don’t know, but he apparently drove those cattle and didn’t lose any. I think that’s a fascinating thing. Anyway, that’s local history, and most people listening to us are not local. So I got a question for you, though about plant species. Now, there are 1000s of plants in the world. Yes, indeed. How many plants do humans cultivate? And of all the plant species in the world, how many of them are actually safe for humans to
Speaker 1 23:40
eat. So I’ll just give you a percentage. This is a process of
Bob Smith 23:44
winnowing down from hundreds of 1000s to a number plant world, 5% 5% are edible. Yeah, you know, you’re not too far away. Now, there are approximately 350,000 known plant species, and of that, about 30,000 or 10% of the total are estimated to be edible. 10% 10% of all the world’s 350,000 known plant species are edible. That’s all. Who
Marcia Smith 24:11
wants to be the person to decide that?
Bob Smith 24:15
Oh, well, I guess that wasn’t, that wasn’t good. But Frank didn’t like that. Frank so they’re dead. Really. Think of
Marcia Smith 24:21
the the process people had to go through in the good old days to decide if it was edible. It was like
Bob Smith 24:27
being the king’s food taster. Yeah, yeah. It might pay well, but it could be a very short job. Okay, so of those 30,000 edible plant species, how many do humans cultivate? We know there are 30,000 species. 10% of all plants that are edible by people. But how many do we cultivate as crops?
Speaker 1 24:49
I’ll say 175 175
Bob Smith 24:55
you’re only five off. That’s amazing. Is the light showing through my. Paper. Yeah, okay, that’s pretty Yes, humans cultivate only about 170 plant species on a commercially significant level, and just three, just three, provide 60% of the plant calories and plant protein eaten by humans, corn, wheat and rice. So we’re actually dependent on three plant crops out of 30,000 we know we can eat.
Marcia Smith 25:22
Isn’t that interesting? It’s fascinating. Wow. That’s why I didn’t have a high number. I kept thinking, how many we live in farm country, in this state. I think, well, there aren’t that many. Yeah.
Bob Smith 25:31
Well, you got soybeans, you got, yeah, we got like five or six things you think of, yeah, 170 we only, and the whole world depends on pretty much three, three plants to survive. That’s fascinating. It is.
Marcia Smith 25:43
Think there’d be more. Okay, Bob, you’ll like this. You probably know the answer in 1620 the 41 adult free men aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact, yes. Why is that so important to American history? Because
Bob Smith 25:59
it was the first time that people on this continent were allowed to decide for themselves to form a government and self government, and that was what they did. They said, Okay, we’re away from where we’re supposed to be. The they had a colony contract that was null and void because they’re in the wrong place. So they had to decide, okay, we’ll choose our leaders. We’ll decide what to do and we will live by these rules. And they all signed it, that’s
Marcia Smith 26:23
right, they developed this agreement for just and equal laws, and that compact was considered the first seeds of democracy,
Bob Smith 26:31
right, the first document of democracy in the new world? Absolutely. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 26:34
it’s kind of thrilling. And your ancestor was, that’s
Bob Smith 26:37
right, George Soule, yeah, 19 years old, one of the people on the ship an indentured servant. I’m very proud of that. You’re
Marcia Smith 26:45
right. He was a tutor.
Bob Smith 26:48
Yeah to Edward Winslow’s children, yeah. And before that, the story is they were actually rebel printers over in Holland, George Soule and his employer.
Marcia Smith 26:57
So he was a printer, and then he had to get out of the world. He didn’t have enough money for passage, so he said, I’ll teach your kids. You give me passage.
Bob Smith 27:04
I think it was probably his boss telling HIM that, yeah, that’s how they got out. Yeah. And they left under assumed names. A lot of those people, a lot of people don’t know this, but the names of the people who signed the Mayflower Compact were never revealed until King James I, died. Or he’d come get them, years and years later, because he could send agents anywhere in the world and get you if you had done something. Oh, he was terrible, terrible. Yeah. So after he died, the names were revealed, and the only one alive was George Soule, my ancestor.
Marcia Smith 27:33
No kidding, I didn’t know that. All right, I’m finishing up with the quotes. Okay. This is by Hugo black Bob, freedom of the press. Is the mortar that binds together the bricks of democracy. I believe a good one. I believe that wholeheartedly, too. And then secondly, Otto Bismarck, he said, people never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
Bob Smith 27:59
Those are all times when people lie the most. Yeah, all right. Well, we hope you’ve enjoyed our show and would like to return when we bring more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia to your ears. We will do that in another week,
Speaker 1 28:11
from our mouth to your ears. Yeah. I’m Bob Smith, I’m Marcia Smith. You’ve been listening to the off ramp.
Bob Smith 28:21
The off ramp is produced in association with the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Visit us on the web at the off ramp. Dot show you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
