Bob and Marcia Smith discuss various trivia topics, including the intelligence of chickens, which can recognize up to 30 different bird species and prefer symmetrical faces. They explore the spy backgrounds of British novelists like Frederick Forsyth, Graham Greene, Ian Fleming, and John le Carré. The conversation also covers the origin of the peace symbol, the US’s fifth most valuable export in 2021 (vaccines), and gender-related trivia. They delve into historical facts, such as the creation of West Virginia during the Civil War and the discovery of a $5 Confederate bill in Abraham Lincoln’s wallet. The show concludes with geography and historical anecdotes about Ian Fleming’s espionage activities.
Outline
Chickens and Their Intelligence
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss whether chickens recognize people.
- Marcia Smith jokes about chickens having facial recognition technology implanted by the FBI.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss chickens’ ability to differentiate numbers, patterns, and shapes.
- Marcia Smith mentions a 2002 study finding that chickens prefer looking at humans with more symmetrical faces.
British Novelists and Spy Connections
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the commonality among British novelists Frederick Forsyth, Graham Greene, Ian Fleming, and John le Carré.
- Marcia Smith suggests they were spies, and Bob Smith confirms they all worked in British intelligence.
- Bob Smith details the spy backgrounds of each author, including their roles during World War II and the Cold War.
- Marcia Smith notes that Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, had the highest rank among the authors.
Peace Symbol and US Vaccine Exports
- Bob Smith explains the origin of the peace symbol from the anti-nuclear movement in Great Britain in the 1950s.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the symbol’s combination of the maritime semaphore signals for “N” and “D,” standing for nuclear disarmament.
- Bob Smith shares that vaccines became the fifth most valuable US export in 2021, with a total value of $5.26 billion.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the rapid expansion of COVID-19 vaccine exports by the US government.
Gender Questions and Ian Fleming’s Spy exploits
- Marcia Smith asks a series of gender questions, including whose heart beats faster, who gets hiccups more often, and who blinks more.
- Bob Smith answers one out of three questions correctly.
- Bob Smith shares more about Ian Fleming’s spy exploits, including his code name 17F and his work with MI6 and the SOE.
- Bob Smith details Fleming’s involvement in Operation Mincemeat and the 30 Assault Unit, as well as his influence on the OSS and the CIA.
Horror Movies and Geography Trivia
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith play a game identifying horror movies based on clues.
- They discuss the inspiration behind Stephen King’s “Carrie” and the cruelty among high school students.
- Bob Smith asks a geography question about the states where most of the Ozark Mountains are located.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the terrain and popular destinations in the Ozarks, including Lake of the Ozarks and Branson, Missouri.
Spices and Civil War Facts
- Marcia Smith asks about the most popular spice in the world, and Bob Smith correctly identifies black pepper.
- They discuss the popularity of pepper, cumin, cinnamon, and chilies in global cuisines.
- Bob Smith shares a surprising fact about Abraham Lincoln’s wallet, including a $5 Confederate bill with Jefferson Davis’s image.
- They discuss the White House serving as a barracks during the Civil War and Clara Barton’s efforts to find missing Union soldiers.
Animal Breath-Holding and Civil War State Creation
- Marcia Smith asks which animal can hold its breath longer underwater, and Bob Smith incorrectly guesses dolphins.
- Bob Smith learns that sloths can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes due to their slow metabolism.
- Bob Smith asks a geography question about the only US state created during the Civil War, and Marcia Smith correctly identifies West Virginia.
- They discuss the creation of West Virginia from the Western mountainous region of Virginia, which opposed secession.
Arctic Circle and Ian Fleming’s Spy Missions
- Bob Smith learns that the Arctic Circle changes position every year by 49 feet due to the Earth’s axial tilt.
- Marcia Smith explains that the Arctic Circle marks the latitude where the sun doesn’t set in summer or rise in winter.
- Bob Smith shares that Ian Fleming and two other British spies broke into the Japanese Consul General’s Office in Manhattan during World War II.
- They discuss Fleming’s influence on James Bond’s character, including his personal style and upper-class background.
Ancient Predators and Four Corners States
- Marcia Smith asks which animal predates trees, and Bob Smith incorrectly guesses fish or fowl.
- Marcia Smith explains that sharks have been predating trees for up to 450 million years.
- Bob Smith asks a geography question about the four states that touch at the Four Corners, and Marcia Smith correctly identifies Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
- They discuss the unique location where tourists can stand in four states at once.
National Park in American Samoa and Olive Oil Production
- Bob Smith asks a geography question about a national park not part of any US state, and Marcia Smith incorrectly guesses Hawaii.
- Bob Smith learns that American Samoa is the only national park not part of any US state.
- Marcia Smith asks how many pounds of olives it takes to make a quart of olive oil, and Bob Smith is surprised by the answer.
- They discuss the low yield of olives for oil and the high cost of olive oil compared to other edible oils.
Historical Treaties and Wine Bottle Design
- Bob Smith asks which future US President negotiated a treaty acquiring Florida from Spain, and Marcia Smith correctly identifies John Quincy Adams.
- They discuss the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, which transferred Florida from Spain to the United States.
- Marcia Smith explains the historical and structural reasons for the indentation at the bottom of a wine bottle.
- They discuss the practical functions of the punt, including sediment collection, pouring stability, and rack storage.
Bob Smith 0:00
What did these famous British novelists have in common: Frederick Forsyth, Graham Greene, Ian Fleming and John Le Carre?
Marcia Smith 0:08
And do chickens recognize people?
Bob Smith 0:11
Good question.
Marcia Smith 0:12
You probably pondered that this morning.
Bob Smith 0:15
Answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 0:37
Welcome to the Off Ramp. A chance to slow down, steer clear of crazy and take a side road to sanity with fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. So do chickens realize I’m their friend?
Marcia Smith 0:50
No, do they recognize your face, Bob?
Bob Smith 0:54
Okay, I’ll say yes, they do.
Marcia Smith 0:56
And why you think that is?
Bob Smith 0:57
I think because facial recognition technology.
Marcia Smith 1:00
That’s right, they were implanted with it. The FBI put it there. Okay. No, they do recognize people, and they recognize other birds too. Who would have guessed? Did you know chickens are descendants of dinosaurs?
Bob Smith 1:13
Yes.
Marcia Smith 1:13
You did?
Bob Smith 1:14
Well, most birds are.
Marcia Smith 1:15
And its closest living relative from that period is the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Bob Smith 1:20
Oh, no kidding, chickens are related to the Tyrannosaurus Rex?
Marcia Smith 1:24
You had to be there.
Bob Smith 1:25
Wow.
Marcia Smith 1:25
Anyway, chickens are capable of differentiating between numbers and can identify patterns and shapes. These guys are smarter than we think.
Bob Smith 1:35
It’s amazing.
Marcia Smith 1:35
Those memory skills help chickens recognize up to 30 different kinds of birds.
Bob Smith 1:40
How do they test this?
Marcia Smith 1:42
I’d love to be there.
Marcia Smith 1:43
(Imitates chicken) Brock-Brock-Brock-Brock-Brock-Brock
Marcia Smith 1:45
It’s a process that starts within 36 hours after hatching, when chicks imprint on their mother. Chickens can also recognize human faces and have a preference for those they find attractive.
Bob Smith 2:01
Any chicken ever follow you around Marcia?
Marcia Smith 2:03
I’d hate to be rejected by a chicken, a kitchen chicken. A 2002 study found that chickens preferred looking at humans with more symmetrical faces, just like humans do.
Bob Smith 2:15
Oh, really
Marcia Smith 2:16
Yes.
Bob Smith 2:16
Oh, that’s funny.
Marcia Smith 2:17
I prefer looking at them fried.
Bob Smith 2:20
Oh, Marcia, poor little chickens,
Marcia Smith 2:23
Little Kentucky Fried.
Bob Smith 2:25
Okay.
Marcia Smith 2:25
I do like Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Bob Smith 2:27
Okay
Marcia Smith 2:27
All right.
Bob Smith 2:28
All right. Marcia, what do these four famous British novelists have in common? Frederick, Forsyth, Graham, Greene, Ian Fleming and John Le Carre?
Marcia Smith 2:36
Well, on the face of things, I’d say nada. But were they spies?
Bob Smith 2:41
Yes, they were!
Bob Smith 2:42
Oh ding, ding, Marcia!
Bob Smith 2:43
They all wrote spy novels, too, but they also all worked in British intelligence and engaged in spy craft, either during World War Two or the Cold War. John Le Carre, who wrote The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy worked for MI5 and MI6 during the Cold War. Graham Greene, who wrote The Third Man, and Our Man in Havana was recruited into MI6 by his sister, Elizabeth. She worked at the agency. And Frederick Forsyth, who wrote Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File was a former RAF pilot who became a journalist, and he worked as an unpaid agent for MI6 from 1968 to 1988. However, none of them served in a higher position of intelligence than . . . ?
Marcia Smith 3:28
What’s the bottom of the tier? I don’t know.
Bob Smith 3:31
No, the top of the tier. Ian Fleming, James Bond – the creator of James Bond. He came from a wealthy, influential family, spoke three languages, was educated at Eaton and Sandhurst, and served at the highest levels of British intelligence during World War Two. He was Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming.
Marcia Smith 3:48
Oh, of those authors, he was the highest ranked.
Bob Smith 3:51
Yeah
Marcia Smith 3:51
Gotcha. I misunderstood the question.
Bob Smith 3:53
And was the personal assistant to Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence. I’ve got more on him I’ll talk about later.
Marcia Smith 4:00
Okay! Many of us know that the two finger peace sign came about during World War Two as a symbol of victory.
Bob Smith 4:07
Yeah
Marcia Smith 4:07
That’s right. But where did the peace symbol itself come from?
Bob Smith 4:11
That came from the anti nuclear movement in Great Britain in the 1950s, I think it was.
Marcia Smith 4:17
Very good!
Bob Smith 4:18
Wasn’t it?
Marcia Smith 4:19
Yes, the symbol was designed in 1958 by members of the Anti Nuclear Direction Action Committee. The inverted Y is a combination of the maritime semaphore or flag, that is a signal for the letters N and D, which stood for …
Bob Smith 4:36
Nuclear Disarmament.
Marcia Smith 4:37
Very good.
Marcia Smith 4:38
That’s right,
Bob Smith 4:39
That was in the 50s, wasn’t it?
Marcia Smith 4:40
Yes.
Bob Smith 4:41
Yeah. That’s when it was first developed and used in Great Britain in marches and everything.
Marcia Smith 4:45
Yeah.
Bob Smith 4:45
And that in the 1960s during the anti war movement, that’s when it became very, very popular.
Marcia Smith 4:50
And kids today, you still see them wearing a peace sign around their neck sometimes, or have stickers, but I’ll bet you they don’t know it stands for ND.
Bob Smith 4:58
That’s right, yeah. All right. Mike. Marcia, here’s a good question. This goes back to about 2021 what became the fifth most valuable export in the US that year? It is not any longer.
Marcia Smith 5:09
In 2021?
Bob Smith 5:11
Brand new thing,
Marcia Smith 5:11
A brand new thing.
Bob Smith 5:12
Kind of a brand new thing? Was a brand new thing. As far as being an export.
Marcia Smith 5:16
Did it have something to do with computers?
Bob Smith 5:18
No. Think about the times.
Marcia Smith 5:19
2021 – oh it was after COVID
Bob Smith 5:22
During COVID.
Marcia Smith 5:22
During COVID, during COVID. It was a vaccine?
Bob Smith 5:25
That’s right! After aircraft, gasoline, natural gas and oil. Vaccines became the US fifth most available export in 2021 and that was thanks to the US government’s rapid expansion of COVID 19 vaccine exports. And the total value of vaccine, plasma and blood exports from the United States was $5.26 billion during that year, 2021.
Marcia Smith 5:50
Wow. Billion?
Bob Smith 5:51
Billion.
Marcia Smith 5:52
Wow. Okay, here’s three quick gender questions so you either answer male or female.
Bob Smith 5:58
Okay, all right, I could do that.
Marcia Smith 5:59
Okay. Whose heart beats faster?
Bob Smith 6:01
Uh Males.
Marcia Smith 6:03
Wrong.
Bob Smith 6:04
Umm – wait-wait a minute. Females, I got it. Females!
Marcia Smith 6:07
Gott a 50/50, chance here, baby.
Bob Smith 6:09
Okay
Marcia Smith 6:10
Who gets hiccups more often?
Bob Smith 6:12
Uh Females.
Marcia Smith 6:13
Men, Bob. So far, two down, Bob.
Bob Smith 6:16
Are we playing AKA yet? Because that’s usually when this happens.
Marcia Smith 6:20
And lastly, who blinks twice as much as the other gender?
Bob Smith 6:24
Males.
Marcia Smith 6:24
That is correct.
Bob Smith 6:26
Okay, I got one out of three.
Marcia Smith 6:27
Yeah.
Bob Smith 6:28
Where did that come from?
Marcia Smith 6:29
Interesting Facts.
Bob Smith 6:30
What’s the significance of those together? Anything?
Marcia Smith 6:32
No, no, it was just random things and interesting facts.
Bob Smith 6:36
Very good.
Marcia Smith 6:37
Uh huh.
Bob Smith 6:37
All right, I’ve got more on Ian Fleming. I thought you might find this interesting. Listen to some of the things he actually did as a spy. Like his creation, James Bond, who was 007, he had a . 007, he had a code name: 17F. That was his code name.
Marcia Smith 6:50
Somehow, that isn’t as glamorous. 17 F.
Bob Smith 6:53
But his job was glamorous. He worked at the Admiralty. He liaised with MI6, military intelligence, the SOE, that’s the Special Operations executive group that developed all their disguised weapons and lock picks, silent pistols and suitcase radios. And he liaised with Winston Churchill staff, putting himself at the center of British wartime espionage. He was the mastermind behind Operation Mincemeat, one of the war’s most successful intelligence operations. That was the secret mission that outfitted a corpse with false military plans that fooled the Nazis about where the Allies were going to invade Italy. He was the mastermind behind Britain’s 30 assault unit, which is a cutting edge commando force, kind of a prototype for today’s modern Special Forces. He came up with that idea. They would find all of the documentation, technology. He sent commanders detailed memos on seizing Enigma machines and rocket plans and Uboat schematics. I mean this, this guy was amazingly ahead of his time, and like James Bond, his creation, he traveled widely. He planned operation GoldenEye. Does that sound familiar?
Marcia Smith 7:56
Uh huh.
Bob Smith 7:56
That was the theme of one of his novels and the 17th James Bond film starring Pierce Brosnan. But Golden Eye was actually an operation he planned during World War Two that secured cipher traffic between Gibraltar and Tangier and London. They wanted to make sure the Mediterranean remained open and all the encrypted communications remained secret. He was in charge of that. And then, during a visit to Washington in 1941, he shared British intelligence methods with William Donovan, who set up America’s first spy agency, the OSS, which became the CIA. So he was in charge of all those things. He was a very influential guy, not just an author.
Marcia Smith 8:35
I guess, so.
Bob Smith 8:35
Fascinating.
Marcia Smith 8:36
Speaking of AKA, let’s do it!
Bob Smith 8:38
All right. What’s the topic today?
Marcia Smith 8:40
It’s a good time of year for horror movies.
Bob Smith 8:43
Oh, okay,
Marcia Smith 8:46
Okay, ready?
Bob Smith 8:47
Yeah.
Marcia Smith 8:47
So if I said October 31 what horror movie am I referring to?
Bob Smith 8:51
Halloween by John Carpenter, he’s the director, wasn’t he?
Marcia Smith 8:55
I don’t know.
Bob Smith 8:56
Yes, of course.
Marcia Smith 8:57
Okay, Al’s beer mug.
Bob Smith 9:00
Al’s beer mug
Marcia Smith 9:01
It’s funny.
Bob Smith 9:02
Al’s beer mug?
Marcia Smith 9:04
And she was in some politicss. He was a comedian before.
Bob Smith 9:07
Okay, I don’t get it.
Marcia Smith 9:09
And beer mug, Al … Franken,
Bob Smith 9:12
Oh, Franken-stein
Marcia Smith 9:13
Yeah.
Bob Smith 9:14
Oh, geez.
Marcia Smith 9:15
Al’s beer mug,
Bob Smith 9:16
Okay.
Marcia Smith 9:17
Oh, and this one is more recent. Leave,
Bob Smith 9:22
Leave?
Marcia Smith 9:22
Yeah.
Bob Smith 9:23
L-E-A-V-E?
Marcia Smith 9:23
Yeah. L-E-A-V-E. What’s the name of the movie was very popular. Not that long
Bob Smith 9:28
Let’s see. It was called Go. Was it called Go? Or something like that?
Marcia Smith 9:32
Get out.
Bob Smith 9:33
Get out. Yes. That was a great thriller. We saw that one.
Marcia Smith 9:36
And if I say the quiet of the sheep
Bob Smith 9:39
Silence of the Lambs!
Marcia Smith 9:41
That is correct. And if I said, Yell, what’s the movie?
Bob Smith 9:45
Scream!
Marcia Smith 9:46
That’s right. Miss Fisher.
Bob Smith 9:49
Miss Fisher?
Marcia Smith 9:51
Uh huh.
Bob Smith 9:51
Miss Fisher
Marcia Smith 9:52
Come on, a horror movie.
Bob Smith 9:54
Miss Fisher, I don’t know what’s that.
Marcia Smith 9:57
Oh, yes, you do.
Bob Smith 9:58
Okay, give me a hint.
Marcia Smith 9:59
It’s a woman popular in movies, Fisher, Star Wars,
Bob Smith 10:04
Carrie,.
Marcia Smith 10:04
That’s it.
Bob Smith 10:05
Okay, the movie, Carrie by – the Stephen King, book,
Marcia Smith 10:08
Yeah.
Bob Smith 10:08
Okay, gotcha.
Marcia Smith 10:09
Yeah, that was one of the big ones, right?
Bob Smith 10:10
Yeah.
Marcia Smith 10:11
And finally, Bob attack of the corpse thieves.
Bob Smith 10:14
Attack of the corpse thieves, Attack of the is that the zombies or the, let’s see, I know what that one is. The body, the body snatchers – The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Marcia Smith 10:26
You got there, took a bit, but you got there,
Bob Smith 10:29
you remember the Carrie that was about the high school student, and she was being belittled and and then she caused problems for everybody else. But I think setting everything on fire, you don’t want to tick off Carrie, you know that was inspired by no Stephen King was a high school teacher, and he was inspired by how cruel students were to one another, especially girls, yeah, oh yeah. Still are. He was just amazed by how bad it was. I
Marcia Smith 10:54
don’t know where that comes from, if that’s hormonal, but it’s, it’s mean, okay,
Bob Smith 10:58
question for you, geography question. Oh, great. Tell me, in what two states can you find most of the Ozark Mountains you’ve been to the Ozarks because your brother lived there for a time, correct? Okay, so Kansas and Arkansas, Arkansas and Missouri, Missouri and Illinois or Oklahoma? In what state can you find inside Missouri, most of their 50,000 square miles are in You’re right. Ding, ding, ding D, Arkansas and Missouri. You know how many square miles there are of the Ozarks in Missouri, 33,000 square miles and 13,000 square miles in Arkansas. Then the other 4000 square miles are divided between Oklahoma, Kansas and some people include Southern Illinois as part of the Ozark region. No kidding, yeah, but that boundary has been debated. But I’ll tell you, the terrain is a lot like it. The highest peaks, around 2000 feet high, are in Arkansas. There are many popular resort and recreational destinations, including Lake of the Ozarks, Bull Shoals Lake, and of course, Branson and Springfield, Missouri are very popular.
Marcia Smith 12:01
My brother built a beautiful home in the top on the way up a mountain in the Ozarks. He had quite a VISTA. It was a log cabin, wasn’t it was a log house. It was huge, fancy log house. Yeah, that he did every bit himself.
Bob Smith 12:14
That’s right, because he was a carpenter, yep. And she was a lady, yeah. Okay, there we go,
Marcia Smith 12:18
Bob. What is the most popular spice in the world,
Bob Smith 12:23
the most popular spice in the world. Yeah, let’s see. Would that be pepper?
Marcia Smith 12:27
Very good. That is the king of the spices. King
Bob Smith 12:31
of spices, pepper. King pepper as specific, as opposed to Sergeant Pepper,
Marcia Smith 12:35
black pepper, and it’s used in almost all the world’s cuisines. And it’s followed by cumin, cinnamon and chilies.
Bob Smith 12:43
That makes sense. I was thinking of cinnamon next, but don’t forget, this is global.
Marcia Smith 12:47
That’s right, cinnamon and then chilies.
Bob Smith 12:49
Okay, Marcia. What surprising thing was found in Abraham Lincoln’s wallet after his death. A number of things were found, but one was unusual,
Marcia Smith 12:57
Lincoln pennies. No, no, they didn’t have Lincoln pennies back then. Kind of unusual. Was it a poem about death or something?
Bob Smith 13:07
No, no, no. Okay, tell me a $5 Confederate Bill imprinted with the image of Jefferson Davis was found in Lincoln’s wallet after he died. I wonder why. I don’t know, but he had a piece of Confederate money in his pocket. That was interesting. And one more question on the Civil War, sure, true or false? The White House served as a barracks during the Civil War. That is true. Okay, you’re right. True for a time it did. Very good. Marcia,
Marcia Smith 13:33
very good. I’ve been married to you a long time.
Bob Smith 13:35
Early in the war, when large numbers of union volunteers arrived in Washington, there just weren’t enough barracks to house them. Kansas volunteers stayed in the East Room of the White House, while Massachusetts soldiers camped inside the Capitol. So these people had come quite a ways to fight, and they had to put them somewhere, and they at the last minute, they decided, well, we got two buildings do what you got to do? Yeah. All right. All right. I think it’s time for a break. I think it is. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment. We’re back with the off ramp. We do this each week for the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and then we put it on podcast platforms where it is heard, Marcia, all over the world. Thank you. I thought you forgot. Okay, one more civil war question. What did Clara Barton do immediately after the Civil War? We know she was a nurse during the Civil War, set up the American Red Cross. Yes, she did. But what did she do immediately after the Civil War? This is while Lincoln was still president, he asked her to do this really. And it’s interesting, because we think of the Vietnam War for this kind of thing.
Marcia Smith 14:44
Really, did she set up like a Veterans Committee or
Bob Smith 14:47
something had to do with people who fought? Uh huh, it had to do with people who were missing. Okay, missing in action. Mia, at the end of the war, there were 60,000 Union soldiers missing. Jeez. And President Lincoln asked Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, to find out what happened to them. And he died. She continued to work, and she eventually accounted for 22,000 of the 60,000 missing. How do you go about that? I’m sure you have to go everywhere and ask for records, and
Marcia Smith 15:18
They sure didn’t have DNA. So how to have some kind of idea on you.
Bob Smith 15:22
I’m sure that meant digging up a lot of graves and battlefields and things like that. Must have been a grisly thing to do. Yeah? But she did it. She headed up a team that did it. They found 22,000 of the 60,000 missing. She was an amazing person. She
Marcia Smith 15:35
was quite a woman. Yeah, okay, Bob, who can hold their breath longer underwater dolphins or sloths?
Bob Smith 15:45
Sloths, that’s interesting. You would say sloths. That’s like one of the slowest creatures on earth, right, right? I guess I would go with them. But dolphins have remarkable qualities. They have turn off part of their brain and let part of their brain sleep at night, the other stays awake. So I’m going to say dolphins, oh, darn, oh, dear, it’s the sloth. Okay, tell me about the sloth. And the sloths win by a large margin, really, but not quickly. They win, but they don’t win quickly. Okay. Dolphins
Marcia Smith 16:13
can hold their breath for 10 to 15 minutes, but Sloths can go up to 40 minutes. Wow, yeah, it’s 40 minutes. Yeah. And why do you think that is, if you think it through,
Bob Smith 16:23
because they don’t do anything when you’re resting all the time. You can hold your
Marcia Smith 16:28
breath a long time because of their incredibly slow metabolism. Okay, so essentially, I was right, yeah. And their capacity to drastically lower their heart rate underwater, reducing oxygen consumption and conserving energy. So if they go under, they just dial it down, and they can stay under for 40 minutes, whereas the dolphins got to come up every 10 to 15. Geez. How do dolphins sleep if they have to come up every 10 to
Bob Smith 16:54
15? I don’t know, but remember, we read about that, where they can be alert with one part of their brain or something, and they must have had a very rough time of it with predators to have evolved to do that, I would think I got another question for you on the Civil War Marsh. Only one US state was created during the Civil War. As you can imagine, it was a time of quite a lot of chaos. What state was created during the Civil War? The only state, and it wasn’t there before. It was part of another state, which broke off because these people didn’t believe in slavery. Oh, okay, what was it? West Virginia? The land that is now West Virginia, used to be part of Virginia, but when Virginia voted to secede from the states in 1861 delegates of that state’s Western mountainous region opposed secession, and so they formed a new state West Virginia, which was admitted to the United States in 1863 on the condition that slavery be abolished there. Ah, so that was like another insult to the south or trying to fight this war, and you took part of our state, you know?
Marcia Smith 17:56
Yeah. Geez. Good old slavery, huh? The position of the Arctic Circle Bob changes every year by how many feet,
Bob Smith 18:05
I will say the Arctic Circle. Why would the Arctic Circle? I could see the Earth’s magnetic pole changing, uh huh. But not the Arctic Circle.
Marcia Smith 18:15
Its actual location changes slightly every year, 49 feet per year. It changes because of the fluctuation of the Earth’s axle tilt.
Bob Smith 18:24
So what’s the definition of the Arctic Circle? Here’s
Marcia Smith 18:28
the twist Bob. The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line, and it’s not fixed. Changes every year.
Bob Smith 18:35
It’s an imaginary line drawn parallel to the equator. So why would it change?
Marcia Smith 18:39
Because it marks the latitude above which at least one day a year the sun doesn’t set in summer or doesn’t rise in winter.
Bob Smith 18:48
Oh, I see. So that’s why the axial tilt makes a difference. Correct? I didn’t know that, see, I thought it was just it’s there. We all know it’s that latitude, but it isn’t. Oh, my God. All right, you learn something every day. Well, that’s why we exist. Okay, back to Ian Fleming. I got one more thing. It’s fun that he actually did, as I told you, he came to the United States and helped the United States organize the OSS, which became the CIA. But he also was sent to Manhattan and get this. He and two other British spies broke into the Japanese Consul General’s Office, which was located one floor below the British security coordination office on the 36th floor of Rockefeller Center. They did this at 3am one morning in the middle of the war. They picked a safe lock and they took documents, including the Japanese code book. Boy, this guy was amazing, right? Yeah. So they ran it upstairs, they micro filmed it, and then they returned everything less than an hour later, putting it exactly where it had been, in the safe, and the Japanese never knew they were there. I’ll be damned. So he was a spy, and he modeled his James Bond after his fellow spy, William Stevenson, who pioneered the. Event of killing gadgets that the British used, he modeled the spy boss M after his World War Two boss, Admiral Godfrey, and he modeled James Bond after himself, his personal style and his upper crust
Marcia Smith 20:11
background. I wonder if he got that many women and drank that many Martini I think he did all right.
Bob Smith 20:15
He created this gentlemanly spy who could move through embassies and casinos and war rooms with equal ease, and his taste for tailored suits, fine wines and exotic travel echoed his lifestyle.
Marcia Smith 20:27
Okay, all right, well, we’ve learned a lot about Ian Fleming, okay, Bob, what animal predates trees?
Bob Smith 20:34
What animal predates trees? Yeah, so there were no trees when this animal came to be correct. Okay, is it fish or fowl? Fish? Okay, man, I have no idea. What
Marcia Smith 20:45
is it? Some species of trees that line our streets today predate the dinosaurs by millions of years. But when it comes to the truly ancient, you need to look to the oceans. And sharks are the ones that go back the farthest, really, yeah, millions of years ahead of any terrestrial life forms. The predator of the sea has been stalking the world’s oceans for up to 450 million years. Oh my, that’s hard, that’s hard to fathom. Holy cow, whereas trees just came about 385 million years ago.
Bob Smith 21:22
So wow, I could see the difference. Yeah, that’s just a long time, either way you look at it. But to think that sharks have been here before trees, that’s
Marcia Smith 21:30
fascinating. 150 versus 385, so that just blew my mind. All
Bob Smith 21:36
right, okay, another geography question. Oh, yay. Four states touch at the four corners. That’s the only place where four states touch. What states are they?
Marcia Smith 21:46
You’ve given me this before, and I failed. You still can’t get it. No, Oklahoma is one of them. No, it’s not. It’s not, no, well, then I don’t even remember it correctly.
Bob Smith 21:55
Okay, it’s Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, okay, yeah, you’re right. It’s the only place where tourists can stand in four places at once. All right, this is a little trick question. I think we may have covered this before, but it’s a different way to look at it. What National Park is not part of any US state? There’s a national park that’s not part of any US state. Where would that be? Well,
Marcia Smith 22:18
that’s a goal. Wow. I haven’t a
Bob Smith 22:22
clue. It’s in the far west, yeah, in the Pacific Ocean. It’s in Hawaii. No, I said it’s not in any state. Oh, I know that. Okay, so I don’t know. Bob, it’s American Samoa, that’s the only national park the US gained possession of the eastern portion of the Samoan islands in 1899 to secure a naval base there. The National Park of American Samoa was established there in 1988 to protect its unique rainforest and coral reefs. Okay, it’s a park you can go to, and you won’t be in any US state. It’s very interesting. Is it Marsh? I don’t get the impression you think it is, yeah, okay, what you got there?
Marcia Smith 23:02
How many pounds of olives does it take to make a quart of olive oil?
Bob Smith 23:07
Oh, that is so interesting.
Marcia Smith 23:12
Well, I’m a woman who uses a lot of would you prefer me to ask you, how many olives it takes to make a quarter? It takes 10 pounds of olives to make very good. It’s 11. Wow, 11 pounds of olives. That’s a lot of olives. They have a surprisingly low yield. When it comes to oil. It takes about 11 pounds of olives to make 32 ounces or one quart. That’s between 50 208,000 olives per quart. Jeez, depending on the variety and the size, this is also the reason olive oil is more expensive than other kinds of edible oils. About 90% of the world’s harvested olives get slated to become oil, and the rest will become table
Bob Smith 23:54
olives. No kidding, yeah. 90% become oil,
Marcia Smith 23:57
yeah, and the rest, rest are in the jars on your table, and I love them, either way. That’s funny. And you know, every time I make something which isn’t very often, I use olive oil, so I like it. I
Bob Smith 24:09
have a question for you. Uh huh, what future President of the United States negotiated a treaty that acquired from Spain Florida for the United States? Now this man later went on to become a US President. So what future president is responsible for us having Florida? Now you might think, Oh, Thomas Jefferson. Ah, no, no, no, it’s one of Thomas Jefferson’s adversary’s sons, John Adams son. So it was Quincy, John Quincy Adams, yeah, mingling, that’s right, it was the Adams onus treaty that got the US the state of Florida, and it was the colonial possession of Spain for 250 years. But that changed with the treaty in 1819, which was negotiated by then Secretary of State, John Quincy.
Marcia Smith 24:54
Adams, okay, Bob, yes. Here’s one from my book club to ponder. Okay, why does the. Bottom of a wine bottle have an indentation.
Bob Smith 25:03
Oh, I think something to do with suction or something with gravity. Forget, what is it?
Marcia Smith 25:08
Well, many reasons, historical and structural reasons. Glass blowing actually began with the Romans. What didn’t right? Yeah, they did invent glass blowing in the first century BC, and so they quickly made the first wine bottles. Of course, that would be the first thing to do in my world, yes,
Bob Smith 25:28
not a window. We need a wine bottle.
Marcia Smith 25:31
And those early bottles had a pointy bottom, you know, it was pointy, okay, okay? And it wasn’t conducive to sitting up, right? Yeah, or hurting yourself. You hurt yourself on those so you hurt yourself trying to create a wine bottle. So early glass blowers would push the seam inward, okay, to create a stable base, preventing the bottle from having that sharp point. And it would make it stable and safe. It gave it structural integrity, okay? And practical functions include sediment collection, you know, it doesn’t gather around and in the inside the thing, it goes to the bottom. Sure, it gives you pouring stability. And it’s also good for rack storage. Apparently, the punt, that’s what they call that indentation, okay, the punt helps the bottle rest more stably in a wine rack. I wonder why they
Bob Smith 26:18
don’t use that in other beverage bottles, if it’s so good.
Marcia Smith 26:22
Well, wine is what you want to keep around for quite a while, usually, if you don’t open it, right? So,
Bob Smith 26:28
well, I don’t know well, like water and other things too. Yeah, I know you don’t understand that. I know you can’t understand that. But yes, it’s not just wine. Marsh. There’s more than wine to this
Marcia Smith 26:37
world. Are you ready for my quote? Yes, I am, all right. John Adams, yes, power must never be trusted without a check. Oh, that’s good, yeah. He also said, Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, which is another brilliant thing, which is true anyway. And Albert Einstein said, coincidence is God’s way of staying anonymous and keeping things interesting too. I would say, Oh yeah. I thought that was a very interesting
Bob Smith 27:06
I love that God’s way of staying anonymous. Coincidence, okay? And
Marcia Smith 27:10
lastly, from unknown, when nothing goes right, go left.
Bob Smith 27:15
Okay, that’s my favorite of
Speaker 1 27:17
all. That’s my favorite of all so far. Okay.
Bob Smith 27:21
All right. We hope that you have decided that you like us going right or left and will return with us when we come back with more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. I’m Bob Smith. I’m
Marcia Smith 27:30
Marcia Smith. You’ve been listening to the off ramp. Hello.
Bob Smith 27:35
Sorry. I turned off. I just decided I was done. So let’s try that again. All right, join us next time when we return with 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.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
