149: Sea 26

This podcast is supported by Progressive, a leader in RV insurance.

RVs are for sharing adventures with family, friends, and even your pets.

So, if you bring your cats and dogs along for the ride, you'll want Progressive RV Insurance.

They protect your cats and dogs like family by offering up to $1,000 in optional coverage for vet bills in case of an RV accident, making it a great companion for the responsible pet owner who loves to travel.

See Progressive's other benefits and more when you quote RV Insurance at progressive.com today.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, pet injuries, and additional coverage and subject to policy terms.

What profession is the subject of the documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom?

The answer to that at the end of the show.

My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral.

You find me in something of an unfortunate position on this episode of Lateral, because due to a technical hitch, I genuinely do not have the introduction script in front of me.

I just have a piece of paper that says improv.

So,

in the style of an improv game, could someone please give me some prompts

in a style with which to introduce lateral?

Just any of our guests today.

Shakespeare!

Ah, forsooth.

Wonderful, wonderful.

I must speak in iambic pentameter, and I'm not able to do that off the cuff, but welcome to lateral.

Not in close.

Give me another one.

A very happy vegetable.

I'm going to need a specific type of vegetable here.

A very happy pea.

Hello, welcome to Lateral.

Samo would joy to be here.

See, if it was a potato, would have been a bass voice.

But you said pea.

That's definitely

a little tiny pea.

Yep.

Colin, give me something.

Old-timey gangster.

Well, see, we're here at lateral today, and I bet we're no trouble, all right?

I can't do that accent, but you know what?

That's clocked up enough of an intro that I can go to our guests.

Last time that we had Good Job Brain on here, we had one person from the crew, and this time we have two.

We'll start.

Welcome back to the show, Karen Chu.

Hello, double trouble.

It is I, Karen, from Good Job Brain, a trivia podcast.

And I brought a friend,

one of my best friends, also from Good Job Brain.

Colin, this is your first time.

Happy to be here.

Like, at the rate, we're doubling.

Next time, there'll be four of us.

Unconstrained growth.

Yes, I'm Colin, also from Good Job Brain, also Karen's friend, and her one-time boss.

Yes.

That's filed away for the the factoids.

I love it when the guests set each other up.

I didn't have to read Colin Felton anyway.

You just did that for me.

Thank you very much.

You should plug Good Job Brain.

We're proud to represent here, Good Job Brain, the offbeat trivia show and pub quiz podcast.

And now in the style of a 1930s gangster movie.

Listen, C, you're going to listen to the show and you're going to like it, all right?

It's called Good Job Brain.

You find it on your radio.

That's better than mine.

That's much better than mine.

Rounding out the panel today, friend of the show, regular on the show, Daniel Peake.

Welcome back.

Hey, Up.

I always wonder about what to introduce you as because you have so many arrows in your quiver right now.

I was going to have strings to the bow, and then my metaphor got confused.

What's your big thing right now?

You leave my big thing out a bit.

I am Jack of All Trades, Master of None.

At the moment, mainly I'm a puzzle editor and writer, but I also work on Obi-Connect.

Those are my two big strings.

How are you improvised voices for the introduction to a panel show?

I like being in my pod.

Thank you.

That's all we needed.

Well, very best of luck to all three of our players today.

We'll see if we can improvise our way through question one.

Thank you to Dare Koenig for this question.

On a Swiss railway in the 1930s, how did the construction workers use one rail that was perpendicular to all the others?

I'll say that again.

On a Swiss railway in the 1930s, how did the construction workers use one rail that was perpendicular to all the others?

Perpendicularly.

Naturally.

All right, well, I mean, it's going to be too small to like sit on.

It's not a bench,

but

I have a guess here that they're Swiss, so maybe it's something related to working at high altitude.

Oh,

like

altitude sickness area.

Oh, oh, oh, sure.

Like, you mean they lean over when they have to, you know,

send something down below, as it were.

They do often work at high altitudes.

Just get that out there.

Have any of you ever had altitude sickness?

Because I've had it once in my life.

I was like...

I have.

I have.

I have.

It was awful.

It was pretty bad.

Your body just suddenly decides it can't do things.

Yes.

Just over the course of like 10 minutes, I went from, oh, that's fine.

I'm jogging along here to, no, I must lie down immediately and I cannot eat anything.

It took me ages to work out what had happened.

It's terrible.

I was at the top of a snowboard slope, and when I went up to the top, I felt fine.

And as soon as I got there, my body was like, oh, no, you don't.

No, you don't feel fine.

Not anymore.

You don't.

You need that third rail.

The place I was staying actually had like one of those oxygen machines.

You plug into your nose, just like it was part of the hotel because it happens that often that some sea level idiot arrives and decides to run.

That they just like, yeah, we'll just give you that for a couple hours.

I had to make do with hot chocolate in the lodge, which was, you know, maybe not the best thing.

What if these railway workers are working at such high altitude, they need a place to hang their stuff or maybe hang themselves while they work on the rails like from below or something?

Like, doesn't that paint a cool little image?

Ooh, but who's to say that you can't put something on the rail?

Right.

If a train can go on the rail, like it could be a single car, it could be a single space that's kind of just an offshoot, kind of out of the way.

Maybe it's like a sleeping quarters kind of deal because they can't come back down home, right?

They're up there.

They're working.

When we say perpendicular.

what are we saying it's perpendicular to i'm fixated by this word could i just say uh so all the others all the other pieces of rail they were they were laying okay oh okay it could be perpendicular straight up it could be it could be oh

good taking us into the third dimension

well done captain kirk in star trek 2 oh my third eye that has not helped me but i did like the ooze it could be a marker it could be a help

i'm here in the snow

yes a distance marker you know until lunch break you got to work to the post.

Now, Colin, you're stumbling very close to the answer there.

Oh, no.

Okay.

Some sort of distance marker.

All right.

I don't believe it's tied to.

That part of your statement.

Do you want to try saying that again, but this time the exact opposite?

Oh.

When it's lunchtime,

you need somewhere to put your stuff.

I don't know.

When it's lunchtime, you need to know where to stop working.

working.

Oh,

so you know where you are.

It's not where.

When?

But when?

The Swiss are famous for their clocks.

But what do you do if you haven't got a clock around?

You've got a cuckoo clock on the train, but it's all the way over there.

So you need to find a way to tell the time.

Is that what they're doing?

They're making an impromptu sundial.

That is slightly more complicated than the actual answer.

Oh, right.

But you're right.

This is being used to tell everyone that it's time for lunch.

Is it if you work and get to this marker, there you go, you can have a break.

No?

Nope.

Like, you've got all the key parts here.

It's hanging up.

It's hanging upright.

It's not welded and upright.

It's hanging upright.

Do they bang on it like a lunch bell?

Like, hey, no matter where you are on the line, it's lunchtime.

Yes.

On railway construction sites in Switzerland in the 1930s, a free-hanging piece of rail was basically used as a public address system.

Free hanging.

Yes.

Free hanging.

That was the last little bit there.

Right.

So it was the equivalent of a factory whistle or something like that.

It is just hit with a hammer, makes a very loud noise, and everyone knows it's time for lunch.

Colin, it is over to you for the next question, whenever you're ready.

All right.

We have a question that was sent in by Ali and Jenny.

Ali was planning a business lunch at the Café Les Duguerre.

When booking, why was he asked to choose from C26, that's S-E-A,

and game 27,

among other options?

Read it again.

Ali was planning a business lunch at the Café Les Duguerre.

When booking, why was he asked to choose from C26

and Game 27,

among other options?

Café du Guerre of war.

Yeah.

G-A-R-E-S.

G-A-R.

So stations.

Stations.

Mmm.

You guys are linguistically skilled here.

Yes.

Yes, Guerrero.

It's more than anyone learning French.

Like, one of your basic things is like, ooh,

like, that's just in my.

Is it pronounced right?

No.

But from years of high school French, that's stuck in there.

Yep.

Well,

you're onto the right name here of the cafe, at least.

So how can you work with that?

C26, game 27.

26 is always a very suspicious number for me as a puzzler.

There are 26 letters in the alphabet, but then you go to 27.

So.

Yeah.

So, you know, this is a lunch, right, that was

being scheduled here.

Here's a weird reference.

It's not going to be this, but there is a restaurant at a theme park in germany which is a dark ride restaurant like full full gourmet dining experience like molecular gastronomy type of thing whoa but the tables and the chairs are individual little dark ride vehicles and after every course whenever everyone make sure everyone's back from the low everything like that

the whole restaurant setting will pick itself up and move into a new like space and theater and everything like this.

So the whole thing changes.

Let's go.

I haven't done it because it's crazy expensive, and I'm not that much of a foodie, but I'm like trying to think:

is it something where

if it's cafe du guerre, like it's moving between stations or something like that?

What if they're eating on the train?

Ah, ah, ah.

I think you guys are maybe giving a red herring here to yourselves with

the train.

I think the fact that you've hit on the language is a key to this.

This was a business lunch, and as the question notes, there were other options available, but maybe not quite so confounding as C26 and game 27.

This is a business lunch being booked on.

I will say that C could be like surf, and game could be like

treat.

So it could be like surf and turf.

Oh, yeah, the fish menu and the venison menu or something like that.

Yes, I don't think it is, but it feels like C and game could be surf and turf.

And then the number next to it is just the price.

It's actually just how many euros it costs i'm assuming france at this point could be like montreal or something like that yeah tom let me let me let me steer you back a bit to yeah where where do you think this lunch is taking place this business lunch being booked online i will i will add here booking online a business lunch couple options thrown out

maybe

Maybe less complicated than the restaurant moving or changing position, but just a simple act.

I mean, it feels like we're in a French restaurant, but it could be, or any French-speaking restaurant, so Capita would also work, that sort of

sort of thing.

Are we in France?

You are in Paris, indeed.

This cafe is in Paris.

It's weird that C and game are in English, right?

If it is a restaurant in Paris, why is C and game?

That's true.

If there's any city in the world that is not going to try and do English if they don't have to, it's going to be Paris.

Maire and Je.

Dan,

you have stumbled directly onto the answer.

Oh, why?

What's the link?

What's the link?

It's the days of the week.

Is it the days of the week?

And it's been badly translated.

Yes, yes, you got a bad Google translation or something.

And so your Mecredi, which is Wednesday, Mare, got translated to C.

So that's exactly right.

27th or 26th.

Vancis, I think, is right for that.

Yeah.

Yeah, Vancis.

And

Jerdie is going to be

Thursday.

You got it.

Well done.

Yeah, good teamwork on that one.

Right into it.

Yeah.

And maybe an example of it, not a bad translation per se, but overzealous.

Maybe overzealous.

Well said.

Yep.

Yep.

I take back what I said about Parisians not translating to English.

You were right.

But

they did just hit the automated button rather than get a human to do it.

Say hello to the next generation of Zendesk AI agents.

Built to deliver resolutions for everyone.

Zendesk AI agents easily deploy in minutes, not months, to resolve 30% of customer and employee interactions on day one, quickly turning monotonous tasks into autonomous solutions.

Loved by over 10,000 companies, Zendesk AI makes service teams more efficient, businesses run better, and your customers happier.

That's the Zendesk AI effect.

Find out more at Zendesk.com.

CRM was supposed to improve customer relationships.

Instead, it's shorthand for customer rage machine.

Your CRM can't explain why a customer's package took five detours, reboot your inner piece, and scream into a pillow.

It's okay.

On the ServiceNow AI platform, CRM stands for something better.

AI agents don't just track issues, they resolve them, transforming the entire customer experience.

So breathe in and breathe out.

Bad CRM was then.

This is ServiceNow.

Honey bunches of votes for all.

The next question was sent in by Daniel.

Thank you very much.

In the 1960s, William Lubov went to a Manhattan department store and asked dozens of employees where the women's shoes were.

On the fourth floor, they all replied.

He then repeated this at two more stores, but with different products at each.

Why?

I will give you that one more time.

In the 1960s, William Lubov went to a Manhattan department store and asked dozens of employees where the women's shoes were.

On the fourth floor, they all replied.

He then repeated this at two more stores, but with different products at each.

Why?

I would just like to clarify I am not the Daniel in question here, so I don't know the answer.

You have sent him questions before.

I have indeed.

Not planting.

Okay, with different products, meaning at another store, he might have asked where

men's shoes or housewares.

Interesting.

Happy peas.

Yes.

Someone coming in halfway through the show will not understand why I just did that.

But also, this isn't on the radio in the 1930s, so I don't know why I thought that.

does this gentleman own the store.

Maybe he's he's quizzing his employees' knowledge somehow.

Some form of like undercover shopper.

But why would he go to another store or other stores?

Another one in a chain or something?

So he's testing his own stores.

Yeah, and why would he mix up products, you know, if he's just testing their knowledge?

It's got to be, it's got to be some sort of Manhattan.

It's got to be some sort of department store where there are multiple floors for different things.

At first, maybe I was like, oh, maybe he's, he's casing the buildings.

He's trying to figure out.

Oh, I like this thief angle.

This is good.

Ah, William Lubboff, 1960.

Or he likes feet.

Now,

let's not defame Mr.

Luboff here.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Oh, impressive double backpedal there.

I like that.

Yes.

And there's a large number of shoes in Karen's background as well.

This is that's true.

Is he, is, is, is William Love Off maybe less interested in the items than in getting to the items?

You know what I mean?

Like if he's mixing it up, is he interested in root finding or is he the escalator designer?

I mean, something like along those lines.

Oh,

or yeah, I like maybe this interior strategizing.

Maybe they had a survey and women are like, why are my shoes?

Because usually women's shoes are first floor or B1 nowadays.

They're never that high up.

Ah, see, I was being cynical and thinking they're marching them past all the other merchandise, so they have to buy something on their way to and from getting the shoes.

You're right that he was not interested in the shoes themselves, and you're right that he is

choosing the products very carefully.

Oh

market research.

So, not like an undercover shopper, but seeing what their competitors are doing oh you've got your shoes there oh this is where you stack your

i can't think of any other words there are no products in the world

boots

right right like seeing how can i improve maybe perhaps but then why would you even bother asking the employees he specifically asked employees you could just go and walk around the shop but he's asking employees so that's important yes and ask dozens of employees the same question at the same store.

Okay, is he, I mean, checking for courtesy or memorizing the company tagline or something, I don't know, very

nitpicky.

Or maybe there isn't a floor for women's shoes, and it's kind of, I don't know, he's trying to see if people are BSing him.

The answer was always the same, and it was the same at the other stores.

It was always on the fourth floor.

Is he a scaffolding merchant?

No,

like a stair salesman.

Hey, can you get up to the fourth floor?

Is it accessible?

No, have some stairs.

Try stairs.

An escalator.

Possibly.

An escalator.

Yeah.

Elevator.

At some point, someone had to invent the stairs.

Of course.

Right.

Right.

No, in this case, he was compiling a study.

Is it, you know, disability access?

Like, is there a way for someone in a wheelchair to get to the fourth floor?

He could just find that out himself.

He didn't need to ask dozens of employees at each story.

True, true.

Are the words fourth and floor important here?

Yes, they are.

I feel like it's something about the way they're said or something.

In the UK, the ground floor is what you call the first floor in the US.

Yes.

I'm wondering if that's going to be a thing then.

It's not.

Or L, like floor one versus a lobby floor.

Or four being an unlucky number in some cultures.

Okay, so he's trying to elicit people to say fourth floor.

Yes, he is.

Okay, so he's so he's doing a study perhaps on the linguistics of

the sounds involved in the words fourth floor.

Yes, he is.

Is he trying to learn an American accent or something?

He is trying to study American accents.

What?

And because I have enough of a linguistics background here, I am going to ask us to drill down and try and figure out what the difference might be.

And what might be helpful is if each of you three say the words.

Fourth floor.

Fourth floor.

Fourth floor.

There was a distinct difference there between how Dan said it and how Karen and Colin said it.

Yes, for sure.

Which is?

Yeah, the American R.

Exactly right.

Keep going, Colin.

Well, I mean, in

fourth floor

versus the lighting over the R in fourth floor,

which would be closer to a more UK typical pronunciation.

Yes, this was linguist William Labov, who is studying the New York accent.

And he couldn't.

I was just going to say it's a Manhattan and that's even more a distinct accent.

So So why couldn't he just say, how do you say fourth?

Because he's British.

Yeah, or they would subconsciously mirror it back to him or change.

They'd be aware of how they're saying it.

Yep, they'd be self-conscious.

So he found a natural question.

He went to department store workers and asked where certain products were so he could record the way they said fourth floor without saying it himself.

in a way that might prompt a response.

Absolutely right.

He found that workers were significantly more likely to use the traditional NYC.

Look, there's just a lot of W's in this pronunciation here.

For

yes, at high-end stores, in the cheaper shops, staff use a more general Midwestern.

There's a lot of R's in this.

If someone could

absolutely right.

And today, Labov, I've just seen the pronunciation guide.

It might be Labov.

I'm really sorry if it is.

He is widely, because I should know that.

He is widely considered the father of of sociolinguistics.

Wow

Didn't even buy anything in any of the shops.

What a cheap skirt.

Anyway.

If there's one thing I know from studying linguistics, Dan, is that the budgets for studies are not that high.

Indeed.

Dan, it is your question.

Alrighty then.

A woman crouches beyond a white line with people either side of her.

She then sprints for 50 feet or 15 meters, stops stops and turns around.

Soon she is surrounded by people who ignore her.

What's happening?

A woman crouches beyond a white line with people either side of her.

She then sprints for 50 feet or 15 meters, stops and turns around.

Soon she is surrounded by people who ignore her.

What's happening?

Well, I mean, we're being led, I think, to think of, you know, some sort of track meet scenario.

Yeah.

You know, possibly.

Do you think that's a misdirection?

Because the first thought I had in my mind

is maybe it was a race, and sometimes people don't go to the port-a-potty or the bathroom because they're running and

they'll just kind of go or crouch down and do their business and

finish the race.

And people are kind of like, okay, we're staying away from the movie.

You would be ignoring that person.

Yes, you would be ignoring that person.

So you're trying to play cool.

You're like, I did not see all that stuff in their shorts.

Oh,

that was

unnecessarily graphic.

Yes.

Yeah.

We were ready to move on.

The last detail, the parting shot there.

I have no social skills.

My first thought was that it might be a false start at a track and field event because

you're crouching in the blocks.

You get up, you run, and oh, there is no one else going.

The gun didn't go.

I think it's an alarm that sounds if you go off early.

So after about 15 meters, you would stop and you would turn around and come back again.

But that feels a very that doesn't feel like a lateral answer to me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I feel like we're not, we're not necessarily looking for a weird edge taste here.

We're looking for, yeah, something

that is hiding behind.

So, she runs, she stops, and she goes, she sprints, and then she returns.

She turns around, she turns around, turns around.

Bonnie Tyler doing tofu.

No, sorry.

sorry i heard the words turn around and my brain's activated i think that's an automatic trigger for any brit i think it'll be playing in my head for the rest of this segment no doubt

is is this a person maybe who's you know like they're they're working in a in a in a meta capacity at like a track event like like you know maybe a videographer or or a photographer somebody you know like where they're not the person performing but they kind of have to mirror some of the actions.

I don't know.

We are not at a trek and field event.

Okay, okay, got it.

It's hard to

move you away from there.

So, my thought is some other sporting thing.

But

that's not really my specialty.

I'm going to move you away from sport as well.

Oh,

okay.

White line.

Disappointing people.

This is excellent.

A school setting,

a drill,

maybe

something military, perhaps?

I don't know.

I will say if you can work out what she's doing,

then the where might follow afterwards.

But the action itself might be a way in here.

Because it is important that she turns around.

Crouch behind a white line, sprint 15 meters, turn round.

Okay.

Maybe

she doesn't want to miss something that's behind her, but she wants to keep moving forward.

I mean, it feels like a very regimented distance that, you know, this is the distance you do it.

You are setting up an explosive, and the fuse is way too short.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But you want to be close enough to see it.

Yeah, you know, I mean, you're not getting all that trouble, and that works.

It's like when you, like, as a kid launching fireworks, it's fine, don't need to.

I'll get him running now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And people would ignore her because they're currently going,

don't play with fireworks, kids.

Okay.

She is turning around to face a friend.

Okay.

But it's

facing a friend.

Maybe she...

I mean, the photographer angle is nice.

Maybe she's trying to take a picture of her friend and trying to line it up.

Maybe it's like, you know, those Pisa Leaning Tower of Pisa where they're trying to do a pinchy photo.

Maybe she's the one being photographed.

Ah, she has to set the timer on her camera and jog back to position.

She's an influencer.

She's doing a selfie.

you're getting that 50 50 meters though like that's what about three five seconds at a good

if you're gonna speed up slow down that's about the it's about the length of time a camera will take on a timer oh i see it's a pretty it's a pretty long distance no to be taking a selfie right at 50

it is and to be leaving your camera equipment there

so she was she was with a friend so it's it's so so someone else was looking after the camera.

Okay.

She is Wily Coyote in a cartoon and has run out over the cliff and is just doing the realization to turn back and get the picture before gravity kicks in.

Danielle, you did say once we figure out kind of her activity, then the place and her whereabouts will come into focus.

Yes.

So it's something.

Because

she turns around and then soon after that, she's surrounded by people who ignore her.

Oh, I forgot forgot that part.

I completely forgot that part of the question.

Yeah,

runs out with a friend, facing a friend, surrounded by people who ignore her, yet are surrounding her.

Oh, oh,

it's one of those

long exposure photos.

No, the sprinting doesn't make sense then.

Although it's like she's standing steady and all the people around her are blurred.

For like an artistic effect.

But that doesn't, the sprint doesn't make sense.

You don't need to take time to go for that.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm thinking of like a natural phenomenon like a geyser or something where you have to time it to some external event, maybe, but the people ignoring.

Well, what are the people doing?

Maybe the people are paying attention to

something else that's more important.

Maybe it's like the

situation.

Crossing in Japan, Shibuya, where there's just so many people going past and there are so many people with cameras there that they just ignore them all the time.

Tom, that's correct

because you have to

you have to cross so what's going on because

after a few seconds the light will change the people will not be in position she wants to get there oh no she wants to get there ahead of everyone else she wants to get the crossing while it's

there we go she's taking a photo at shibuya pedestrian crossing she wants to be in the middle without the crowds wow And has to just book it.

This is the famous Shibuya Scramble pedestrian crossing in Japan.

User Banana Peel290 on TikTok posted a video of herself sprinting to the middle of the crossing, then turning around

so that her friend could take the photo.

And then sprinting ahead of the crowds, allows her friend to take a clear shot before she swarmed either side by people using the crossing.

Ah, the people on each side, yes.

Oh.

There is a film studio in Japan that has built a replica crossing.

There's a lot of green screen around it for the detailed parts, but they have duplicated every bit of curb and every pavement and every line just so people can film without having to get permission.

They'll still issue you tickets.

It's that accurate.

Thank you to Simon Lombard for this question.

Gwenny and Marino had a child called Alex.

In 2023, Gwenny gave birth to their 13th child.

They say their family is now complete, but mathematically, they could have up to 11 more if they wanted to use every possibility.

How?

And I will give you that one more time.

Gwenny and Marino had a child called Alex.

In 2023, Gwenny gave birth to their 13th child.

They say their family is now complete, but mathematically, they could have up to 11 more if they wanted to use every possibility.

How?

Okay, I have a feeling Gwenny and Merino are not humans.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was my first angle.

Yeah, I don't know, horses or pigeons or something.

Hamsters, rabbits, no.

Guinea pigs.

It'll be some form of fast-breeding thing.

It is a standard lateral trope to just make a question be about animals when it sounds like it's about humans, but in this case,

Gwenny and Merino are people.

No!

Ow!

Oh, I hate this show.

Finally, I think I'm getting a handle on it all nice and quickly.

I know, I know.

Okay.

13.

And 11 more.

So their 13th child and mathematically could have 11 more.

That makes 24.

But adding Gwenny Mourinho, that makes 26.

Suspicious number of clocks.

Alex,

the first name is Alex, the first child.

So that's true, Alex.

And they're working their way through the alphabet.

What a strange goal.

It's not working their way through the alphabet, but it is related to the names.

Okay.

24.

Every...

Alright, I'm struggling to think of

muses or gods or things where there's a set of 24 to be named after.

Greek letters.

There are 24 of those.

Oh.

But I don't see how that helps.

Yeah.

Gwenny and Marino.

How are Gwenny and Marino spelt, please?

It's not actually relevant.

That one.

Okay.

I can give you their full names.

They are Gwenny Blanket and Marino Vaminu.

I'm again, probably mispronouncing that, but

not relevant to the question.

But it is to do with the names.

You're right there.

2003 is their first child, Alex.

No, they've had a child called Alex.

Those are two facts.

Yes, two facts.

Gweny and Marino had a child called Alex, and in 2023, Gwenny gave birth to their 13th child.

All right.

So now there was some emphasis on, like, by if every possibility, right?

I mean, why would there be an end?

You know, why would they could have up to 11 more?

All right.

I mean, so it's definitely

set.

It's not open-ended.

That's right.

They, they, they must know already what that last possibility would be.

Yes.

And it's not a power of two either, if that makes any sense.

So it's not

2, 4, 8, 16, 32.

But what is that maximum number?

24.

Yes.

24.

Number of hours in the day.

They wanted to give birth between 0 and 1.

No.

But the names, the names.

It has to do with

the names.

Okay.

So

it's not the alphabet.

I mean, unless they're including themselves, right?

Daniel is mentioned.

Is it that the names are nicknames and they're working their way through

Alexander?

Alex is sure for Alex Akkad.

Concentrate on the name Alex.

So that starts with A, ends with X.

It does, yes.

Oh,

maybe all the different ways to spell Alex, A-L-Y-X.

There are 24 ways of

arranging four things,

I think.

I was kidding.

There you go.

I think there are.

Wow.

Is that a good idea?

So they doing all the anagrams of Alex?

Yes, they are.

Wow.

And those are,

so far,

I've got a script in front of me.

Here we go.

Alex, Axel, Zila, Lexa, Zale, Zeal, Axela, Liax, Zale, Elax, Auxe, Lex, and now Laxe.

That's actually quite a nice set of names.

I mean, be that as it may, I do feel that the early children maybe got fine names.

Yes, in theory, they could have four factorial children with this pattern.

Four times three times two times one.

You're absolutely right, Dan.

That is the number of ways the letters can be rearranged.

Some combinations not really an option due to difficult pronunciation.

But that is the possibility space of those four letters.

That's great.

I wonder at what point did they start thinking they want to do this?

Because it must be at child two at the very start.

Yes.

Right.

But child two requires the first name to be like quite a reasonable name to begin with, because you can't do it with, say, the word Rachel or something like that.

You're going to have really difficult anagrams of that.

So did they plan it at child one?

And they're going to go, we've got a plan here.

Or they're having their morning coffee and someone's going to be able to do it.

Do you know what would be fun?

What if?

This is actually a personal anecdote from Simon, who sent the question in two of the children in the school he's an administrator in.

But we do have a news article to back it up.

There is evidence here outside just our question writer's word here.

We do have a news article to back up the family naming.

That's awesome.

Amazing.

Karen, I think it's your question left.

Whenever you're ready.

Woohoo!

This question has been sent in by Tom Donnelly.

Since becoming a parent in Norway, Tom's cell phone has gradually accumulated phone numbers of other parents.

The more walks he goes on, the more numbers he gathers.

Why is this?

And why will he message but not meet some of those parents?

Once again,

since becoming a parent in Norway, Tom's cell phone has gradually accumulated phone numbers of other parents.

The more walks he goes on, the more numbers he gathers.

Why is this?

And why will he message but not meet some of those parents?

I think it's because Tom is staggeringly attractive.

Thank you.

Sorry, not me, not me, sorry.

I couldn't possibly comment.

I have a weird knowledge thing that I've never seen in person, but been told that in parts of Norway, it is traditional to just leave your kid outside in the cold to get some fresh air.

Like even when it's Really, really cold, like Norwegian cold outside, you bundle the kid up and you put them outside because it is it is healthy for them.

So, I'm wondering if there's

if there's some like monitoring the kid's system, like as he goes for walks like, yep, kid's still there, check.

Is there no is my kid missing?

Please call.

Oh, yeah, to be clear, when I say kid, I mean like baby here.

I'm not talking like bundling up your 14-year-old and going, there you go, out in the cold.

That is effective parenting, though.

I mean, it, if it's all right, so these other numbers are to other parents, I believe, was the bit of info we got there.

So he's out,

he's walking his child.

The other parents are saying, I'd love to do that too.

Let me know the next time you go out.

So clarification or an addition, in theory, childless people could also do this.

Ooh.

Because, yeah, parents...

trade numbers all the time.

You're going to meet outside the school gates when you're picking your kids up or whatever the Norwegian equivalent of that is.

i don't know if that's a thing they do there um i imagine in the us it's school buses but like you you're gonna trade numbers with other parents so but why on walks and message but never meet right i think i've cracked this oh oh we've assumed that he's walking a child

and i don't think he is i think is he walking pets is he walking dogs instead and people are going up to him and say yes you can walk my dog.

And therefore, he'd like to collect the dog and would never meet the other owner at a future point in time.

It's a really brave move, Dan, to open with.

I think I've cracked it.

Do you still think you've cracked it?

No.

I've seen Curren's face.

I'm still going for it.

This is a Gwenian Merino situation where there are humans.

Everybody's human.

All right.

I still hate the show.

Collecting numbers, message, but not me.

So he's sending either information or photos, right?

I mean, those are the two reasons that you would message another human and yet not meet that human.

Is there some like parent communication system that involves like putting your number up somewhere?

Like as you go for a walk, there is a space where you're like, leave your number here.

If you are a parent, because

X.

And I don't know what X would be.

You're onto something.

It's not a space.

Where do you think these numbers appear?

Like, where are these phones?

These are phone numbers.

These are definitely phone numbers.

This isn't something.

Phone numbers, yes.

It's not a space.

It's not a space.

It's a time.

No.

Is it written on paper?

Not necessarily paper.

Not paper.

Okay.

I love what Tom noted earlier that, you know, leaving babies or maybe kids out is kind of part of the culture.

Okay, so maybe he's just doing welfare check and sending photos of, hey, I spotted your kid.

They're still okay.

I mean, but we sort of went through that idea.

Is the number written on the kid?

Like,

oh, good thinking, though.

Yeah, what is the number written on?

The box on the outside or something, but no.

Okay.

The kid box.

the kid box

are the kids carrying the numbers with them usually

usually the kids are carrying the numbers with them they all have the phone numbers in their jackets because they keep leaving them behind places and it's like if lost return to

yes yes and it and it doesn't apply to just jackets it's everything on and on all belongings of said child all belongings belongings.

All belongings.

And it's, I found it and I left it on this park bench or I found it and it's by the way.

That's why you wouldn't meet them because you just go here, that's where it is, and then you go and collect it.

Your kid has once again left their favorite toy, their jacket, their whatever here.

Yes, so Norway has a very strong communal and also like a like a strong outdoor, get some fresh air culture.

So children kindergarten age, around that age, they often play outside in all types of weather conditions, which means a lot of stuff, not just jackets, but gloves, hats, scarves, they get kind of maybe mixed up or even left behind.

And so in Norway, the telephone numbers are written on labels.

like in all of the clothes.

And so as Tom walks through, you know, takes a little stroll, he will often find lost items on the ground.

He looks to see if there's like phone number on the tag, on the label, and then will arrange to meet to hand them back or let the people know where they left their stuff.

That's so much better than the British system of just stick the lost glove on a fence post nearby.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Or the American tradition of you just keep it.

Which also is, yeah.

Which leads me to the question that I asked the audience at the very start of the show.

What profession is the subject of the documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom?

Before I give the answer to the audience, does anyone want to take a quick shot at that?

Oh, I already know.

Karen knows this one.

I'd go with Karen then.

Karen?

I believe the profession is background singer.

Yes, it is.

This is the people who are in the background of the stage 20 feet from the star.

How did you know that?

Oh, it's a terrific documentary.

It's a good doc.

A lot of like, ah, hopes and dreams and tension.

And it's like, can they make it?

And the title itself, like, you're 20 feet away.

You're a background singer.

The star is right there.

And it's like, when can I have that chance?

It's just, it's a really well done.

I believe it won an Oscar too.

I believe it won an Academy Award.

But yeah, terrific.

I would highly recommend.

Well, congratulations to all three of our players for running the gauntlet.

What's going on in Lives?

Where can people find you?

We'll start with Dan.

You can find me on Twitch and YouTube.

I stream on Twitch a few nights a week.

Search for quizzy Dan.

Colin, tell us about Good Job Brain.

Good job brain.

We have been doing for 12 years.

I can scarcely believe it since before children.

But it is a mix of pub quiz style questions, crazy stories, fun facts, trivia nuggets.

And with our beloved, still with us, not dead, our beloved partner, Chris, Karen and I.

Karen and I meet to share the joy.

And Karen, where can people find it?

You can find it on goodjobbrain.com and on all podcast apps.

And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at lateralcast.com.

There are full video episodes every week on Spotify, regular highlights on YouTube and TikTok, and we are at Lateralcast basically everywhere.

And if you go to lateralcast.com, you can send in your own ideas for questions.

Thank you very much to Karen Chu.

Thank you.

Colin Falton.

Thank you very much.

Daniel Peake.

Happy Peak.

I've been Tom Scott.

And that's been Lateral.