Bob and Marcia Smith discuss various trivia topics, including the term “flamboyance” for a group of flamingos, the historical contribution of American women to WWI by donating 28,000 tons of steel from corsets, and the origin of the phrase “watch your P’s and Q’s.” They explore the powerful WLW radio station in Cincinnati, the story of Julia Parsons, a WWII codebreaker, and the impact of Henry Lee Higginson’s eye fatigue on the Boston Pops Orchestra. They also cover the percentage of US homeowners with no mortgage (40%), the superior sense of smell in dogs (100,000 times better than humans), and the significant role of China in global manufacturing (33% of all products).
Outline
Flamingos and Their Group Names
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the name for a group of flamingos.
- Marcia Smith initially guesses “flock,” but Bob Smith corrects her, mentioning “murder” for crows.
- Marcia Smith reveals the correct term is “flamboyance,” which Bob Smith finds amusing.
- They discuss the fun and non-serious nature of these group names.
American Women’s Contribution to WWI
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith how American women donated 28,000 tons of steel to WWI.
- Marcia Smith initially guesses they collected pots and pans, but Bob Smith reveals the answer is stopping the use of steel corsets.
- Bob Smith explains that the War Industries Board asked women to stop wearing corsets to conserve steel for the war effort.
- They discuss the historical context of steel corsets and the shift to bras during WWII.
Origins of Phrases and Radio History
- Marcia Smith asks about the origin of the phrase “watch your P’s and Q’s.”
- Bob Smith explains two major theories: one from 17th-century English pubs and the other from typesetters.
- Marcia Smith shares a trivia question about the most powerful radio station ever, which was WLW in Cincinnati.
- They discuss the historical significance of WLW and its impact on radio broadcasting.
World War II Code Breakers
- Bob Smith shares a story about Julia Parsons, a US Navy code breaker during WWII.
- Julia Parsons was part of a top-secret team that decoded messages from German U-boats.
- She was told to keep her work a secret, but later shared her experiences with students and in interviews.
- Bob Smith highlights the importance of her contributions and her long life.
Historical Commercial Radio and Biological Trivia
- Marcia Smith asks about the first commercial radio broadcast.
- Bob Smith explains that the first commercial radio broadcast was in 1925, sponsored by a real estate developer in New York City.
- They discuss the rapid growth of radio ownership in the 1920s and 1930s.
- Marcia Smith asks a biological question about why it’s normal to breathe through one nostril, which Bob Smith answers with a detailed explanation.
Percentage of US Homeowners with No Mortgage
- Marcia Smith asks what percentage of US homeowners have no mortgage.
- Bob Smith guesses 60%, but the actual percentage is 40%.
- They discuss the significant increase in this percentage in recent years.
- Bob Smith shares a personal anecdote about paying off their mortgage.
Dogs’ Superior Sense of Smell
- Marcia Smith asks how much better dogs sense smells than humans.
- Bob Smith explains that dogs can smell 100,000 times better than humans.
- They discuss the reasons behind dogs’ superior sense of smell, including the number of scent receptors in their noses.
- Marcia Smith finds the comparison fascinating.
Eye Fatigue and Pops Concerts
- Bob Smith asks how eye fatigue led to pops concerts by symphony orchestras.
- Marcia Smith is initially puzzled but Bob Smith explains the story of Henry Lee Higginson.
- Higginson, who suffered from chronic eye fatigue, was inspired by European popular music concerts.
- He founded the Boston Symphony Orchestra and started the first popular music concerts by an American symphony orchestra.
Construction Equipment AKA Game
- Marcia Smith introduces a game where they guess construction equipment based on descriptions.
- They successfully guess bulldozer, cement mixer, crane, ball peen hammer, jackhammer, forklift, and cherry picker.
- Bob Smith expresses pride in his performance, and Marcia Smith congratulates him.
- They find the game enjoyable and challenging.
Amelia Earhart’s Aviation Firsts
- Bob Smith asks about Amelia Earhart’s three big firsts in aviation.
- Marcia Smith guesses the Pacific Ocean, but Bob Smith corrects her, mentioning the Atlantic Ocean.
- Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly non-stop solo from one coast of North America to the other.
- She was also the first female aviator to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to fly solo across the Pacific.
Preseason Football and Deceptive Phrases
- Marcia Smith asks about the longest field goal ever made in preseason football.
- Bob Smith guesses 65 yards, but the actual distance was 70 yards.
- They discuss the significance of preseason games and the long field goal by Cam Little of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- Marcia Smith asks about the origin of the phrase “blowing smoke,” which Bob Smith explains is related to magicians and dishonest salesmen.
Monaco’s Income Tax Elimination
- Marcia Smith asks about a small country that eliminated its income tax within four years.
- Bob Smith reveals that Monaco achieved this by opening the first Monte Carlo Casino.
- Prince Charles III of Monaco was able to eliminate income tax within four years of opening the casino.
- They discuss the historical context and the ongoing absence of income tax in Monaco.
US State Typed with One Row on Keyboard
- Marcia Smith asks what US state can be typed using only one row on the standard keyboard.
- Bob Smith guesses Iowa or Ohio, but the correct answer is Alaska.
- They find it surprising that Alaska, the largest state, has the shortest name and can be typed with one row.
- Bob Smith reflects on the simplicity of Alaska’s name compared to other states.
China’s Manufacturing Dominance
- Marcia Smith asks about China’s dominance in manufacturing products.
- Bob Smith explains that nearly one of every three physical products in the world is made in China.
- They discuss the significant impact of Chinese manufacturing on the global economy.
- Bob Smith highlights the extensive reach of Chinese products, surpassing other major manufacturing nations.
Oscar Wilde and John McEnroe Quotes
- Marcia Smith shares a quote by Oscar Wilde: “Memory is the diary that we all carry with us.”
- Bob Smith agrees, noting that memory is a personal diary of life experiences.
- Marcia Smith also shares a quote by John McEnroe: “The older I get, the better I used to be.”
- They both find the quotes thought-provoking and reflective of their own experiences.
Bob Smith 0:00
What do you call a group of flamingos? Hmm, and how did American women donate 28,000 tons of steel to the first world war effort? Answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with
Marcia Smith 0:15
Bob and Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 0:16
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, little known facts about well known people, places and things. So Marcia, your first question?
Marcia Smith 0:48
What do you call a group of flamingos?
Bob Smith 0:50
Not just, hey, there’s a group of flamingos over there!
Marcia Smith 0:52
Most people would say a flock, a flock,
Bob Smith 0:54
Because birds are flocks.
Marcia Smith 0:56
Yeah, but that’s not the official name.
Bob Smith 0:58
Crows are A Murder of Crows.
Marcia Smith 1:01
That’s right, which, I don’t get that at all. This is just more fun and not so weird.
Bob Smith 1:06
Okay, so it’s a fun term for flamingos. Yeah, is it a glamorous term?
Marcia Smith 1:11
Well, sort of. It’s. It’s not a real word. I’ll just tell you. Okay, a flamboyance,
Bob Smith 1:17
A flamboyance of flamingos.
Marcia Smith 1:19
Yes, a group of flamingos is a flamboyance. Flamboyant is a word is Yes, right? Anyway, I love that, so that’s why I teased you with it.
Bob Smith 1:30
Well, flamingos are flamboyant, yes, sure. And so a flamboyance of flamingos, yeah, is valid.
Marcia Smith 1:36
Who are the people that come up with these things, you know, like the murder of crows.
Bob Smith 1:41
I don’t know. I don’t know. Well, I’ve got one here. It’s interesting. How did American women donate 28,000 tons of steel to the first world war effort?
Marcia Smith 1:51
Do they collect? What did they do go out and collect pots and pans in the neighborhood?
Bob Smith 1:55
No, they stopped doing something. They stopped
Marcia Smith 1:58
They stopped getting their cavities filled. This is what in the – for what World War?
Bob Smith 2:04
World War One, 1917 was when the US entered World War One. What did American women do that?
Marcia Smith 2:16
Okay, tell me.
Bob Smith 2:16
They stopped wearing corsets.
Bob Smith 2:16
Oh my gosh, steel corsets. Just shoot me.
Bob Smith 2:16
Here’s the story. As the United States entered World War One, the War Industries. Board pleaded with American women to give up their corsets and for factories to stop making them. The board wanted metal, all metal, even the steel used in manufacturing women’s undergarments for the war effort. Now, at the time, manufacturers were embedding flat and spiral strips of steel known as boning in women’s corsets.
Marcia Smith 2:40
I thought that was something like a bone elephant tusks or something.
Bob Smith 2:44
Close. It was whale boning, original. Okay, that’s what it was made of, yeah. And those steel strips gave foundation garments, their structure. So how much metal was used in women’s corsets?
Marcia Smith 2:56
Okay, tell me.
Bob Smith 2:57
28,000 tons, enough for two battleships.
Marcia Smith 3:01
Wow.
Bob Smith 3:02
That is how much steel was going into women’s undergarments at the time. And a similar thing happened in World War Two. But by then, more flexible sleepwear, such as bras, were becoming popular because women entering the workforce, especially those in factory jobs and munitions plants, they learned that the bras offered comfort and freedom of movement that the corsets couldn’t.
Marcia Smith 3:21
Yeah.
Bob Smith 3:21
So by the end of the Second World War, corsets were out, bras were in, and that’s how those two wars affected women’s fashions. 95% of women today in Western countries wear bras now, and most of the the boning you’d call it is elastic fabrics like lycra, spandex and nylon.
Marcia Smith 3:37
Yeah, well, we’re big givers.
Bob Smith 3:39
That’s right, women are givers,
Marcia Smith 3:42
and Spanx has replaced the good old
Bob Smith 3:44
girdle to battleships worth of steel.
Marcia Smith 3:48
Hard to comprehend. That’s a great visual in my head.
Bob Smith 3:52
That’s why those women look so good. Yeah, the uplift everything
Bob Smith 4:19
Well, and they ruin their some of their in, inside
Bob Smith 4:19
Their waists and everything.
Marcia Smith 4:00
Well, they they hurt their internal organs immeasurably. Yes, with those stupid things, that’s true. Hey, Bob, let’s get more serious than World War One. What’s the origin of the phrase, watch your P’s and Q’s?
Bob Smith 4:13
Watch your P’s and Q’s
Marcia Smith 4:15
Think about it, and you’ll probably get it.
Bob Smith 4:17
Oh, I know what it is. It’s pints and quartz.
Marcia Smith 4:19
Yes, that’s one of them. There’s two major theories on the origins of that phrase, and that’s the oldest one that goes way back to the 17th century English pubs where bartenders would track your bar bill with pints or quarts, Ps and Qs, okay, so they could keep track of what you were drinking.
Bob Smith 4:37
That makes the most sense to me.
Marcia Smith 4:39
But the other one is teaching children and typesetters to make sure that they get the lines correct in lowercase Ps and Qs.
Bob Smith 4:47
Oh, that makes sense.
Marcia Smith 4:48
Yes. If you look at a P and a Q make thing that makes them different is that line.
Bob Smith 4:53
They’re pretty close. They’re pretty close.
Marcia Smith 4:54
You put the straight line on the wrong side,
Bob Smith 4:57
That’s true. Hadn’t thought of it.
Marcia Smith 4:58
You don’t have Q, you have P.
Bob Smith 5:04
That might be where it came from. Watch your P’s and Qs
Marcia Smith 5:07
I can see that certainly in a type setting operation
Bob Smith 5:12
Right. Because they used to load all that stuff manually back in the day. It was amazing.
Marcia Smith 5:17
Here’s one for my broadcasting Major, the most powerful radio station ever. Was what and where.
Bob Smith 5:25
I think it was XERT or XERC in Mexico.
Marcia Smith 5:29
Ah, no, where was it? It was Cincinnati, WLW.
Bob Smith 5:34
Yes. I knew at one point they were heard all over the world.
Marcia Smith 5:37
They certainly were, let me tell you, that was before regulation. Yeah, yeah. In fact, it changed regulation. You know how big it was? No, how big it was, 500 kilowatts, geez. And it was simply too powerful, and it limited broadcast to 50 kilowatts. Today it’s the current limit for an am Clear Channel,
Bob Smith 5:57
50,000 watts, right? 50 kilowatts,
Marcia Smith 5:57
Then 500 kilowatts is
Bob Smith 6:00
500,000 watts.
Marcia Smith 6:02
Gee. Well, you know what was happening. Of course, people living close to the tower reported hearing the broadcast vibrating along their kitchen pans.
Bob Smith 6:12
And their teeth. And buildings and things,
Marcia Smith 6:14
Barbed wire and even bed springs. They were getting the radio signal. Oh, God, the station used an 831 foot 500 kilowatt tower capable of sending a signal halfway around the world.
Bob Smith 6:27
And that’s why they decided to regulate things. This was the wild west of broadcasting. It’s like before the 1933 Communications Act.
Marcia Smith 6:35
Yeah. It’s like
Bob Smith 6:36
The internet.
Marcia Smith 6:37
Yeah, yeah,
Bob Smith 6:38
The web, right?
Marcia Smith 6:39
Yeah. We’re still going through that phase. So there you go. Radio guy and who you know, who set that off in May 1934 President Franklin D Roosevelt pushed a button in the White House, and he put out the world’s first super station.
Bob Smith 6:54
He launched their broadcast? I didn’t know that. WLW.
Marcia Smith 6:57
WLW.
Bob Smith 6:58
And a lot of great entertainers from the 30s and 40s started there in Cincinnati, yeah, became very famous, heard all over the country. Okay, here’s another story about World War two’s quiet patriots, a woman who just died. She did top secret work. She was told to be quiet about it, and she was her name was Julia Parsons. She died in a Veterans Affairs hospice facility in Aspen Wall, Pennsylvania. She was 104 and early in her 20s, she was a US Navy code breaker during World War Two, and she’s among the last survivors of a top secret team of women who decoded messages to and from German U boats.
Marcia Smith 7:37
Okay.
Bob Smith 7:37
This is a woman from Pittsburgh. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, and in 1942 she read about a new US Navy program called Women accepted for volunteer emergency services. What was that acronym? Women accepted for volunteer emergency services?
Marcia Smith 7:55
Waves, the waves.
Bob Smith 7:56
Yeah, and more than 100,000 women got in the waves. Well, she left Pittsburgh. She went to Smith College in Massachusetts, trained in cryptology, and then she ended up at the Naval communications annex in Washington, DC, and one day, an officer said, anyone here speak German, her hand went up, and she immediately was transferred to the Enigma section, that was a top secret department, and there were hundreds of women there using a code breaking machine called the bomb to decipher German radio transmissions to and from U boats. They were decoding the Enigma machine stuff. Well, the women were told never to talk about it. After the war, you never talk about this for the rest of your lives. And she didn’t. She told friends and family. She was doing office work for the government. She got married in 1944 she never told her husband, and she never told her children either. Then one day in 1997 she was visiting the National Cryptologic Museum as a tourist, and she was shocked to see a large exhibit of German Enigma machines on display with detailed explanations of how they worked. And she took the tour guide aside, and she said, Why is all this here? And they said, well, Enigma was declassified in the 1970s.
Marcia Smith 9:04
Oh, so she could have told everybody by then.
Bob Smith 9:06
But from that day on, she started talking, and she spent the rest of her life visiting classrooms and giving interviews about her work. And when she died at 104 she wasnot only one of the oldest code breakers, she may have been the oldest Wordle player too.
Marcia Smith 9:21
I’ll bet. Oh, I love Wordle. I love codes.
Bob Smith 9:23
Her kids said that’s how we knew she was up and about. If we didn’t hear from her, we’d call and say, Where’s your Wordle? So she passed away. She was one of America’s last World War Two code breakers died at 104, survived by two children, eight grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. I just love that story.
Marcia Smith 9:40
That’s very good stories.
Bob Smith 9:41
These people, they took all this stuff to heart. Don’t you tell anybody for the rest of your life? That’s a secret.
Marcia Smith 9:47
I’m surprised you didn’t see a picture of herself up there. That would have been funny. Okay, all right. You know that radio was on the air for like, 20 years before it had a commercial. Did you know that?
Bob Smith 9:57
Well, it was experimental. Yeah, there were a lot of experimental stations. The first commercial was like 1925 for a station in New York City. It was a real estate talk.
Marcia Smith 9:57
Well, fine, there goes that question! It was 1922 also Brainiac. Well, it was your major. So, okay, good job.
Bob Smith 10:17
Sorry,
Marcia Smith 10:17
Yes, it was a real estate developer in New York City, and it changed the broadcast world forever.
Bob Smith 10:24
It was a sponsored talk, which, you know, you have a lot of that stuff on YouTube and TV now.
Marcia Smith 10:29
The spot was for an apartment complex in Jackson Heights in Queens, okay. And between 1923 and 1930 the number of Americans who owned at least one radio jumped 60%
Bob Smith 10:41
I remember my dad talking to me about how when they got their first radio, it was a crystal set. So they would put headphones on.
Marcia Smith 10:48
Oh, really!
Bob Smith 10:48
This is the 20s. So they would write down where all the stations came from. They’d keep a record every night they listened and, “Well, that’s Pittsburgh, and that’s there, and that’s, you know, New York” and all that. Yeah, fascinating time.
Marcia Smith 10:59
That’s funny.
Bob Smith 11:00
This is a biological question. Marsh, a different kind of question.
Marcia Smith 11:03
I have biology!
Bob Smith 11:05
Okay, why is it normal to breathe through one nostril?
Marcia Smith 11:09
Why is it normal? It’s normal.
Bob Smith 11:11
I thought it wasn’t normal at certain times, at night, you know, when you have a cold or something, but
Marcia Smith 11:15
when you’re doing yoga, inhaling, all right, I’m asking the question, why is it normal? Because one side of your brain is working and sucking in the air. Apparently,
Bob Smith 11:25
your body is designed to switch back and forth, really, yeah, during regular breathing, one nostril takes in about 75% of the air, and the other only takes in 25% the body automatically swells capillaries in one nostril to restrict air flow switching between nostrils every few hours. Who knew? And apparently the reason is to allow the restricted passageway time to moisten. Well,
Marcia Smith 11:49
next time that makes sense, doesn’t, I’m gonna just sit and relax and see when my nostrils switch over. How
Bob Smith 11:56
do they desperate these things? I don’t know. No, okay,
Marcia Smith 11:59
here’s a quickie. Okay, I heard this on the radio. What percent of US homeowners have no mortgage?
Bob Smith 12:06
Now? This is because they paid up their mortgage. They paid up their house. What percentage of all US homeowners? Yeah, I bet as the baby boomer population is bigger, that number has gone bigger. Let’s say 60%
Marcia Smith 12:19
Oh, my God, no, no, it’s not that bad. This was crazy. Okay, how much is it? It’s 40%
Bob Smith 12:24
that’s still
Marcia Smith 12:26
pretty good. Oh, I was amazed. I thought it’d be like 20% half the people have paid off their houses. Oh, well, 40 recent census reports indicate significant increase from previous years, and it is at its highest level in the past 13 years, but I thought the answer would be like 20%
Bob Smith 12:44
Well, I’m just you just don’t think people pay their bills.
Marcia Smith 12:47
We you know, we were lucky enough to pay ours off, but that wasn’t that long ago.
Bob Smith 12:52
That’s true. Hey, getting back to the sense of smell, and you know, how you use your nose, I think it’s very important to talk about this. How much better does a dog sense smells than you? Oh, 400%
Marcia Smith 13:07
better. 400% better. 500% better.
Bob Smith 13:11
Well, here’s the answer, a canines sense of smell is much, much better than men, women or children. In fact, dogs smell 100,000 times better than human beings, 100,000 now, the dog itself doesn’t smell better than a human being, but a dog’s nostrils sense smells 100,000 times better. That’s funny. Dogs usually don’t smell anywhere near as good as a human being. That’s been my personal
Marcia Smith 13:37
experience. All right, I think it’s time for a break.
Bob Smith 13:39
All right, you’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment. We’re back. 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 put it on podcast platforms where it’s heard
Marcia Smith 13:56
all over the world.
Bob Smith 13:59
Well, we’ve had it together. Marcia, I have a question for you. How did eye fatigue lead to pops concerts by symphony orchestras?
Marcia Smith 14:08
Really well, that just makes no darn sense. Does it? Good grief,
Bob Smith 14:14
how did eye fatigue lead to pops concerts by symphony orchestras?
Marcia Smith 14:18
I’m thinking it’s through Bob and I got nothing.
Bob Smith 14:23
Well, there was a fellow named Henry Lee Higginson, and when he was a young man, he was sent to Europe to convalesce due to chronic eye fatigue, which repeatedly interrupted his education. He had withdrawn from Boston’s Latin School twice, and then from Harvard College after just four months, all because of debilitating eye strain. Okay, so at the time in the 1850s apparently, if you were rich and you were from a Boston family, going to Europe for this kind of thing was a popular thing. They sent their kids or family members to Europe for health reasons, and the idea was exposure to European culture, fresh air and a change of pace might restore. Physical and mental well being. While he was over there, it exposed him to the musical life of Vienna, one of your favorite cities, where he loved going to the Volks concerts, the People’s concerts. These concerts performed lighter fare, waltzes, polkas, overtures and outdoor public gardens and dance halls. But when he came back, guess who founded the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1881 and really Higginson, Higgy, Higgy. And guess what? He started in 1885 the first popular music concerts by an American Symphony Orchestra that had never happened
Marcia Smith 15:35
before. I think your question was, I think that was pretty esoteric, Bob. And then this is interesting. Lead the pop concert. Come on.
Bob Smith 15:44
These concerts were strategic for three reasons. He wanted to entertain people. He wanted to give the orchestra a dual identity, and he wanted to provide year round employment for musicians, which was unusual at the time. It was a good idea. Now you know the term pops today. Yes, okay, when did the orchestra adopt pops as a name? Sounds like something rather recent to me. The Boston Pops,
Marcia Smith 16:08
popular, right? Stands for popular, yeah, popular music. When? What year? Yeah, jeez, I don’t know. I’ll say just 5219 5219
Bob Smith 16:22
52 the term pops for pop music, 1900 okay, I was off. That’s when an ensemble performing popular concerts was officially renamed the Boston Pops Orchestra, and it was made up of members of the orchestra. And apparently that was just kind of a slang term that had come up. Oh, go see the Pops. So they adopted it officially. So they’re credited with embedding the term pop music with pops as the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1900 and it’s all because this guy had eyestrain as a music student.
Marcia Smith 16:55
That’s a logical path. Thank you very much. I’m glad you like that. Well, pleased with that. One Bob time for AKA, all right, also known as it is. It’s a card game that Marshall likes. And today’s topic or subject, let’s call it subject is construction equipment. Construction equipment, yes, so if I said sleeping male cow, what’s the construction equipment? I’m talking about
Bob Smith 17:21
sleeping male cow, a bulldozer.
Marcia Smith 17:25
That’s it, okay, that’s how the game works. Okay, okay, if I said concrete blender, what am I talking about?
Bob Smith 17:33
Concrete blender? Cement mixer. Yeah, okay, yeah,
Marcia Smith 17:39
okay. Whooping bird,
Bob Smith 17:41
whooping bird, yeah, that’s a crane, correct, okay.
Marcia Smith 17:45
Nicholson ball peen,
Bob Smith 17:48
that’s a hammer, right? A ball peen, hammer, yeah, oh,
Marcia Smith 17:51
no. This is construction equipment. Nicholson jack hammer.
Bob Smith 18:00
Jack hammers. What it is,
Marcia Smith 18:03
yeah, do your jackhammer Jack, Nick, all right. Bob, ready, yeah. Tuning instrument, raise, what’s the piece of equipment?
Bob Smith 18:12
Tuning instrument, raise, R, E, y, s, suit,
Marcia Smith 18:16
yeah, R, a, i, s, e,
Bob Smith 18:18
something that lifts.
Marcia Smith 18:20
Tuning instrument, yes, oh, man, tuning instrument.
Bob Smith 18:23
Tuning instrument. I’m sorry I can’t tuning fork. So a fork lift, that’s okay, very good. Okay, gotcha.
Marcia Smith 18:31
That’s very good. Maraschino chooser, a cherry picker. That’s it. Very good, very good.
Bob Smith 18:39
And that’s it. So I did it. Yeah, wow, that’s the best I’ve ever done.
Marcia Smith 18:42
Yes, well, that’s two more of those. That’s more construction. You’re just so proud of yourself. I’m
Bob Smith 18:47
so proud of myself. Yes, okay, oh my goodness. You know, I was watching something the other day about Amelia Earhart, and I didn’t realize she had three big firsts in aviation. Can you describe them? And they’re in terms of geography. Do you know what her big three firsts were as a Aviatrix?
Marcia Smith 19:06
Well, the one, obvious one is she went across the ocean.
Bob Smith 19:10
Across what ocean the was
Marcia Smith 19:15
that the Pacific or the Atlantic must have been the Atlantic.
Bob Smith 19:19
Actually, she’s the first person to fly solo? Well, let me tell you what the three are. Okay, the first woman to fly non stop solo from one coast of North America to the other, she was the first female aviator to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to fly solo across the Pacific. Before she died, she successfully crossed the Pacific solo from Hawaii to Oakland, California in 1935 and she flew those 2400 miles solo. No man or woman had ever done that. Apparently, her husband, he was Putnam for the Putnam publishing company. There’s a disparaging new biography about her, saying he’s basically like the PT Barnum of things. And he probably. Probably encouraged her to do this last trip, and may have killed her by accident. That’s sad. Anyway. The last flight, 1937 she was accompanied by her navigator, Wiley Post. What was their objective? There was a certain objective in their flight. They aimed to fly around the world at the equator. Okay? So they took off from Miami. They flew south, then East. They went across the Atlantic, Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and they finally got to New Guinea. By the time they reached lay New Guinea, how many miles had they covered? 22,000 miles? Jeez, that’s amazing. And that was their last land stop before they attempted the most challenging leg, which was a 2227 mile flight to Howland Island, which is just a small spec in the Central Pacific. And from there they were going to go to Hawaii and then back to the United States. But after they took off from New Guinea, lost radio contact near Howland Island. She reported being low on fuel, and they couldn’t locate the the island. And that was the last anybody heard of her, but she had those big three first. I thought that was interesting. And she had luggage and all kinds of merchandise. Yeah, merchandise? Oh, yeah, there’s Amelia Earhart luggage was famous for years. I didn’t even after she died, even up to the 1980s Amelia Earhart luggage was still a brand, really, yeah, never heard of it. I remember it. I remember thinking, Oh, that’s unusual, you know. But it was like Walt Disney, you know, started merchandising of cartoons and, you know, the stuff that we do in movies all the time. And Amelia Earhart was one of the first celebrities to market luggage, which is perfect for her image. I mean, her brand was traveling, right? So she must know how to buy the best luggage.
Marcia Smith 21:38
Bob, preseason football, yes, has brought about the longest field goal ever made, but it won’t count because it was in the preseason. Okay, take a guess how long it was. Well, 50
Bob Smith 21:50
yards is a long, long way. So I’ll say 65 yards. That would be a long one.
Marcia Smith 21:56
It’s 70 yards. Wow. And it happened on August 9, 2025, geez. Yes. And it was kicked by cam little of Jacksonville Jaguars. And it’s pretty amazing, the record for regular season when it counts, is 66 yards. And that was done by Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens. But he did 70 yards because, you know, preseason games you have nothing to lose, right, right, go for it, and he did it, and the crowd went wild. Bob, why is someone deceptive said to be blowing smoke?
Bob Smith 22:29
Blowing smoke? Where does that come from? I just would guess that would be one way deception occurred. Somebody blew smoke and it clouded or hid what was happening. Well,
Marcia Smith 22:38
who would do that the most?
Bob Smith 22:39
Smoke blower.
Marcia Smith 22:43
Well, that is correct.
Bob Smith 22:44
Okay, so I got the answer. Let’s move on. I don’t know. I never
Marcia Smith 22:47
thought about this, but of course, it comes from magicians. Oh no kidding. They often use smoke to cover their sleight of hand. Yeah, right, the trickery like that of a dishonest salesman is concealed, and the same origin goes for smoke and mirrors, because magicians also smoke and mirrors
Bob Smith 23:06
to hide their deception. That that I understood, but I didn’t think about blowing smoke. Yeah, that’s why I started with that. So it’s just like the were those people that used to come into town with a wagon, and they had the always carnival barkers, but they always were usually selling some kind of lotion or potion or something, something to drink or put on your skin, something you buy in Amazon today. Yeah, that is correct. Okay, Marcia, what small country eliminated its need for an income tax within four years. How did they do it? This occurred in 1865
Marcia Smith 23:39
well, maybe it was, what’s that gambling capital. That’s
Bob Smith 23:42
it. That’s it. It’s what you’re thinking of starts with an M baracko, Monaco. Monaco. Monaco, yeah. Monaco, Prince Charles the third, who is in desperate need of money, opened the first Monte Carlo Casino, and by 1869 four years later, the casino was so profitable he was able to eliminate their income tax. It still is. They still have and never went back to income tax, never reinstated it. They opened the casino four years later. Don’t need any income tax, and they never went back to it. Here we would go back to it anyway, right? Yeah, oh yeah. Think of all the promises they made when the casinos up. Oh, this is going to eliminate taxes for this. And that, did it ever eliminate any taxes
Marcia Smith 24:21
anyway? Was it like the Illinois Tollway that was only going to last a couple of years? That’s right, we just re upped our contribution. Yeah? Jeez
Bob Smith 24:30
Louise, it’s funny, when that went automated, I remember reading on their website, all these people say, Oh, great. This is wonderful. Thank you from automating this and making it easy for me. Yeah, like they’re stealing your money. They’re pulling money out of your wallet now you don’t even have to stop and put coins in the basket, and you’re thanking them for a highway system that was paid four years ago.
Marcia Smith 24:51
I remember my father driving us all from Milwaukee to Chicago to see grandpa and saying, yeah, these toll booths, they’re just here for a little while. I.
Bob Smith 25:00
Yeah. And they were in a lot of places. You know, there are bridges we just discovered. We both lived in Dubuque, Iowa, and at one point, that Bridge over the Mississippi River, built in the 30s, we saw a picture of it, and it had a toll booth in front of That’s right, and we didn’t know about that, and it, it went away after like, seven years. It was supposed to be there for 10, but I will was honest, Illinois was not. They
Marcia Smith 25:21
actually stopped. That’s right. All right. Noodle, me this. Bob, okay, what is the only US state that can be typed using only one row on the standard keyboard?
Bob Smith 25:33
Okay, I’m going to, I’m going to go on a limb and say it’s Iowa or Ohio. Wrong and wrong. Thank you very much. It’s got to be a short name, though, right on a
Marcia Smith 25:44
standard it’s one row, okay, what is it? It’s Alaska, all on the same line. I’ll be darned. Of our keyboards on the computer and typewriters, our biggest state
Bob Smith 25:53
has the smallest name, the easiest, easiest name to type. I never thought of it that way. Yeah. All right, okay. Marcia, we know China is a major manufacturer, but just how big has it become in terms of all of the products you can buy out
Marcia Smith 26:08
there? You mean percentage of all products? Yeah, purchase,
Bob Smith 26:11
rough percentage, you know, one in so for
Marcia Smith 26:13
two, right? Let me guess that’s pretty high. This is a recent statistic, okay, what percentage I will say,
Bob Smith 26:22
made in China? Yeah, she appears on how many things? 75% No, it’s not that much. Okay. 60% No, it’s not that much. Good. That’s pretty good. 40% it’s still high, but it’s not that much. How high is it? China makes nearly one of every three physical products in the world are made by China, which is more than the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britain combined, over 30% that’s amazing. Yes, about 33% of all products are made in China. That’s right, 33 and a third
Marcia Smith 26:53
we learned. Okay, all right, I’m going to finish up with Oscar Wilde. Memory is the diary that we all carry with us.
Bob Smith 27:03
Well, that’s true. Yeah, your memory is kind of a diary of your life. That’s right.
Marcia Smith 27:07
That’s nice. And here’s something a little more sacrilegious from John McEnroe. He said, The older I get, the better I used to be.
Bob Smith 27:15
Hey, that’s the story of my life. Oh, my goodness. Well, we hope you look back with fondness on your past and on this past show, come back with us next time 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.
Bob Smith 27:40
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.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
