110: A very 'odd' race

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What used to be measured in kilo girl hours?

The answer to that at the end of the show.

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

Welcome to Lateral, your cozy retreat for the next 40 minutes.

To access the podcast, please go to the key safe and enter 1701 and then turn your brain 90 degrees to the left.

The Wi-Fi password is outside the box 123, but feel free to invent your own if you don't like ours.

Please note that the oven oven only runs on non-sequiturs, and the bathroom is equipped with a quantum toilet that may or may not flush depending on whether you observe it.

And the bed in the loft is actually a thought experiment, so you can sleep on that.

Here to load up the dishwasher and put the garbage out, please.

We have the team from Let's Learn Everything.

Welcome back to the show.

You are favorites of our listeners.

It is wonderful to see you all back.

Let's introduce yourselves one at a time.

Ella Hubber, how are you doing?

I'm so good.

I'm so happy to be back always

we've never we've never left

actually vaguely worrying to be honest it should be helped us

we we do make sure all our guests get you know thorough enrichment exercises and time away from

away from this the recording uh what has let's learn everything been learning recently we recently have just learnt

why

ants queen ants don't have babies with their offspring.

When we learnt this from Hank Green, who came and joined us to teach us a lovely little incest story.

So

insect incest.

It's going to sound weird if I say that's on brand for Hank, but it is kind of on brand for Hank.

It's really.

Caroline Roper, the, I don't want to put you in order, but I'm going to say the second in terms of introduction to this podcast, chronologically the second third of Let's Learn Everything.

How are you doing?

I'm doing good actually i will take this ranking of ella dr ella at the top me in the middle and then the funny one ish kind of at the bottom this feels good to me

i thought this was gonna be in like degrees and i was like that's fair caroline does have a master's i'm i'm happy to

just stay with my undergrad but then you went for the low blow i went for it i'm sorry we did have two phds on the show uh a while back and i introduced both of them as doctor because that was in their in their briefing and cursely should i be introducing dr ella hubber here i would say if you don't want to offend me like you have been doing for the past few episodes

oh part of me is taking that as a joke and part of me is having the most socially awkward feeling i've had in a long while because just something in my brain believes that i feel like ella it it it does uh it's great to set a lower expectation for our quality on this show and how well we'll do also that's the thing i really don't want people to think i'm gonna come in and do this well yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But also, please welcome the third third of Let's Learn Everything and now from his own YouTube channel as well, Tom Love.

Oh, yeah.

Hello.

Smash that subscribe button.

What have you made on there so far?

Because I remember linking to your first video in my newsletter.

Yeah,

I did a big old video about carbon dating and that whole process.

And I recently just dropped a Patreon bonus video going through everything on this bookshelf that is behind me.

But yeah, doing that YouTube thing.

Well, very best of luck to all three of you.

It is always a joy to have you on the show.

As you settle in to the accommodation here, let's hope you give a five-star review to question one.

Thank you to previous lateral contestant Oliver Vorge for this question.

Since he began in 2010, Daniel could justifiably claim to be the most photographed person of all time.

How?

And one more time, since he began in 2010, Daniel could justifiably claim to be the most photographed person of all time.

How?

Oh, I love.

I know, Ella.

I've, I think recently you said this.

You're like, the best kind of correct is technically correct.

And I'm so happy like this is going to be a real like.

Well, actually, I'm the most photographed.

You said since he began.

And then gave absolutely no context to that statement.

Yes, Tom, give us nothing.

Since he began existing.

I do appreciate that I've just been called out in the manner of a drag queen who's just doing a really bad job.

Thank you for that.

I feel like modelling is a really obvious one when it comes to.

I feel like that's too on the nose, you know, but it just felt like since you began being photographed, it's an obvious one that I should say because I'm sure people in the comments would be like, why didn't you say modelling?

People in the comments will say, I knew this immediately,

because that's what they say.

Yeah,

people in the comments will say, I love when Let's Learn Everything is on.

Okay,

Ella, I do love the idea that begin means, yeah, is born.

Like, whenever someone's like, When did you begin?

Oh, you know, 19.

Is this like a

stunt or like a?

Oh,

I was going to say, is this a living, real person, or is this person in the world?

That's a fair question.

Yeah, it's it's always a fair question on lateral, uh, but in this case, yes, an actual living identifiable person.

Okay, so I just I feel like we need to figure out what he began

since he began.

I'll tell you what, if you solve that, you've got the whole question.

The most photographed person.

What under what circumstances would you be excessively photographed

if you were

a se a celebrity?

Obviously, they're not someone famous enough.

A model like Caroline said, but I don't know.

Because

my brain goes to, you know, like the thing with a model or like an advertising thing is that that's almost more like your photo is redistributed versus like being photographed, right?

And so my brain

gets taken photographs of a lot is like a tourist attraction, right?

So that's why it's like, if Daniel was like the nickname for like the Leaning Tower of Pisa or something like that.

But like, and and also, my brain goes to the bottom of the city.

I like that the Leaning Tower of Pisa has a nickname like that.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, it's officially, it's the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

What locals call it?

Dan.

Do you want to go see Dan?

Dan, Dan, still leaning.

When did Dan begin?

Oh, 2010.

Started leaning in 2010.

That's also true, yeah.

Is it so?

I think 20, the fact it's 2010 kind of makes me think that it's like some kind of technology started at this time that needed someone to be really excessively photographed to make it work, like some kind of 3D

mapping of someone, for example.

I'm also wondering if this is even Daniel's face or if this is a different part of Daniel's body that might have been photographed, like a hand.

Daniel's big toe.

Yeah, you know.

Sorry.

Well, this is what I'm thinking.

I'm thinking, is there some kind of, is it like,

also, is photographed photographed in the traditional sense, or is it some kind of

imaging, like s in a scientist?

You're getting big nods from Tom there, which is.

Imaging is

perhaps too technical a term, but if you're expecting this to be one photographer going click, click, click, click with a shutter button, you'd be disappointed.

Okay.

Part of me was like, this person has taken the most x-rays.

They've taken a million X-rays.

I was just thinking changed the shutter speed.

Is it like some kind of medical

photography thing that you know?

No, it's not Caroline.

It's Caroline.

You just said shutter speed.

Oh my god, is it Dan of the Slow-Mo, guys?

Yes, it is Tom.

You are Caroline.

No, that was 100% Caroline.

That's

good.

Oh, we do know this, Dan.

Wow.

Wow.

For the audience who don't know this, Dan, Tom, who is this Dan?

Dan is one of the duo of the slow-mo guys,

the duo with Gavin, who they take slow-motion video of various things, and they've done a bunch of wonderful videos.

And because the shutter speed on those is like, you know, like a million pictures or something like that,

a second or something like that, like they, and I know they, like, like a two-second video can take like a whole like terabyte because they're just taking that many pictures.

Yeah.

Wow.

And Dan did famously begin in 2010 existence.

Oh, since they began.

The sort of grammatically elided bit there is since he began being photographed for this project.

Yes, yeah.

Oh, that's amazing.

Yeah, and he could be captured, photographed, however you want to say it, up to 1.5 million frames per second.

Wow.

Oh, my God.

I thought my 1 million guess was way off.

That is so much.

Wow.

Yeah.

So even if you're someone who's got a camera pointed at you 24-7,

there's probably still more frames been taken of Dan over the many, many, many slow-mo shots of all the footage that doesn't make it to end.

Yes, this is Dan from the Slow-Mo guys, the duo of Gav and Dan, who have been posting slow-motion videos since 2010.

I can't believe Dan was actually a hint.

Just to be clear, why is it Dan and not Gav?

Why is it not the other one of the slow-mo guys?

Because Gavin's the one who operates the camera, I believe.

Yes, Gavin is usually behind the camera, and Dan is usually having something fired at his face or falling into a swimming pool.

These days, because he used to be in the army working with munitions, firing the gun.

He is often the one who has the qualifications to be able to do the stuff and also is willing to take a football to the face.

We go over to our guests for the first question.

We'll start today with with Tom.

Wonderful.

This question has been sent in by Chris Shenton.

Chester, an English city south of Liverpool, has a famous square clock tower on its town hall.

However, only three of the four sides have clocks.

According to a local legend, what explanation is given for this?

I'll say that again.

Chester, an English city south of Liverpool, has a famous square clock tower on its town hall.

However, only three of the four sides have clocks.

According to a local legend, what explanation is given for this?

I've been to Chester.

I've been to Chester.

I've been to Chester Zoo.

Yeah, me to the nice zoo.

Don't remember the three-sided clock.

No, no, not particularly.

Didn't get a shirt that was like, I saw three sides of the clock and all I got was this.

Does it matter what way

I mean, maybe you can't answer this, but does it matter what way the side of the face is not facing?

The blank face.

I'd say so.

Okay.

Now I just need to know what side it is.

What do I know about Chester?

It's got city walls.

And in a sentence that I am deliberately using in order to annoy everyone in and around Chester, it feels like a lower rent York.

Oh,

ouch.

Okay.

Sorry, I'm loyal to one side of the Pennines and it shows.

Here's what my initial thought was: Chester is on the border of Wales,

so they decided not to have the

clock tower, the clock face on the side of Wales so that

the Welsh couldn't learn to tell the time.

I was thinking to not help the Welsh

invaders, or to

not allow the people who are not paying for their clock.

I agree.

Oh, that's very, oh, that's good.

But then you said there are walls, there are city walls.

so i was thinking is there a city entrance

um and maybe you put you don't put the clock on the side that people can potentially get through any invader welsh or otherwise

um so that you're you're in the invaders can't tell the time

i do love the idea of putting the the wrong time on the the face that is facing them that would be a good strategy um

but

yes i think i believe tom hit hit both the uh the what has happened and the reasoning.

I mean, Ella teed me up there, to be fair.

Chester lies on the border with Wales, like you guys caught on.

One of the four sides is therefore facing Wales.

And in theory, Welsh residents are close enough to be able to see the tower.

But local legend has it that Chester didn't want to give the Welsh the time of day because they hadn't contributed to the cost of the conflict.

Oh my God.

That is so petty.

Brutal.

I just want to say, say, I live in Wales and I love Wales.

I know the Welsh could tell the time.

I'm sorry.

And while the town hall was opened in 1869, the three clocks were not added until 1979.

So this is not, this is recent pettiness.

Wow, this is not like...

Wow.

That is petty.

I assumed it was ancient pettiness.

It's not 1970s pettiness.

It's not local legend, then, is it?

Oh, yeah, that does make it seem like it is also

more informed there.

This next question was sent in by Schoper.

Thank you very much.

In 1938, Russian air forces enhanced the range of some of their fighter planes by 80%

while carrying bombs that were twice as heavy.

Yet only small modifications were made to these fighters.

How was this possible?

Give you that one more time.

In 1938, Russian air forces enhanced the range of some of their fighter planes by 80% while carrying bombs that were twice as heavy.

Yet, only small modifications were made to these fighters.

How is this possible?

You know how in printers they will often have for their ink cartridges like a limiter after a certain number of pages

to like stop them from printing, even though there's still ink in there.

And now I'm just thinking, is there like a limiter in the engine in some way?

And they were like, oh, if we just like take that out, then it'll just fly for way longer.

What if it's even like stupid and that it was like the fuel gauge um it said there was like it was empty but actually it was just reading the wrong amount and so they are they're like oh we can go further

many years ago uh i watched colin furze if you know him uh bypass the limiter on a golf cart and it turns out that that the limiter on a golf cart is just like a little thing like it took him two or three minutes we were building a thing for a show and he just kind of went, oh, yeah, I know how to do this.

Kind of fiddled with the engine for a while, and suddenly the thing went twice as fast as it was meant to.

Maybe the most, the least surprising Colin Ferris story I ever heard.

This makes perfect sense.

Could the bombs have doubled as fuel?

It's not that, but I feel like you should work in the Ministry of...

interesting wartime ideas back in the 1930s when they were just sort of throwing everything out there to see what would work.

That's very kind.

I want you to know the humility as I walked into that so slowly, being like, I don't want to ruin this episode by getting this.

I want you to know how much I was like, is this okay?

Should I run this by producer David to see if it's okay to say this answer that quickly?

Because it's

completely wrong.

Sorry.

Oh, come on.

If this is a, yeah, if this is an actual technology thing, I have nothing.

But if it's like some kind of

ridiculous workaround, we can get there.

Part of me was like, you have extra mass because of the mass of the bombs.

Therefore, like when you launch off of like a ramp or a roller coaster, you'll get extra.

A roller coaster?

Yeah, you know,

the mask on going down and then you launch from that.

Also, part of me, I know something about how like,

you know, if you go high enough in the jet stream that like certain factors don't matter as much.

And also maybe then on the way down, you go faster because you're descending with more mass, and therefore, actually, you can go farther.

Physics

that might work over short distances, but this is extending the range, like the entire range of the fighters.

Yeah, and I assume by range, you mean like distance it can travel.

Yep, okay.

Was it fewer fewer bombs, but they increased the size of them?

I don't know if there's some trick in the wording there.

Or even the opposite way around of it was like more bombs, but lighter, so that they would drop them quicker, and therefore it was lighter in the long run.

Oh.

Yeah, like they're lighter on the way back when they drop after they drop them.

It was certainly very different on the way back.

Oh boy.

Ominous answer for that.

The fuel efficiency was far, far better at the start of the journey, though.

They put in pedals so you can charge them.

It's like a Flintstones car.

You could run along the ground with the plane.

I thought you were doing like a chicken run vibe of like they pedal and then it flaps.

That's what I thought.

Is it wheels?

Did they add wheels to the plane that before there were no wheels so it couldn't take off properly or land properly?

It's safe to say that while the fighters themselves weren't really modified, there is something quite big going on here.

Did they create really big catapults that flung them into the air so that they didn't have to use fuel to take off and therefore their fuel efficiency was better?

No, but you're along the right lines.

Oh, wow.

Like, there is definitely

some help being received here.

They pushed, they just pushed the plane to save the fuel at the start.

How would you push a plane?

Very difficult.

Difficultly?

Difficultly.

They pulled the plane to get the speed up with a.

That wouldn't give you 80%.

Yeah.

80% is a ton.

It's a lot.

It's almost so much that it feels like there's like, has to be, yeah, it has to be, it's more of a trick than it is like an actual like improvement.

Maybe I'm wrong here, though.

So they doubled the mass of the bombs on the plane and improved it 80%.

And on the return.

So you're not using a catapult.

You're not using a slingshot or anything like that.

You're using something that

can go a lot further than that.

Another plane?

Another plane.

What?

Talk me through how that might work.

No.

Ah, yes, yes.

And then, of course, every word I say, I think through carefully.

So just give me a second to organize my plan schematics.

What, like one really big plane that had a plane that carries the second plane?

Yes, Caroline, you've nailed it.

I remember.

this was what they called parasite aircraft.

Oh, love that.

This is a tuple of heavy bomber loaded with up to five fighter craft attached to it.

Oh,

no.

Why am I still talking about fuel efficiency here?

Why do we just not phrase this as, oh, they took the planes out and launched them from there?

Because it includes the fuel of the big plane as well, right?

So it's the fuel efficiency of all of them together rather than like individual journeys.

Yes.

I feel like you're picturing they fly the planes there and then they kind of just spool the engines up and go.

That is what I'm picturing.

Are all of the engines on?

All of the engines are on.

The engines of the smaller planes are on.

Yes.

That's why the efficiency was so great.

They have locked all these together to make one weird, like

mighty morphine power ranges.

Giant, colossal plane with up to six engines and six propellers, all working in tandem.

And then when they get near to the destination, they can disconnect the fighters and send them off.

I'm picturing those, is it the crocodiles that have like the birds on them, but then the birds are also flapping to help make the crocodiles like run faster?

Oh my gosh.

And the other reason they do that is because the same kind of way that cyclists will work together as a pack and help each other with fuel efficiency, the planes in that close proximity also boost each other, and together they work better.

Wow.

So, yes, this was the parasite aircraft system that the Russian Air Force invented in the 1930s to moderate success.

It wasn't one of these things that just completely vanished.

They actually did have some success with it, where the small fighter planes were attached to a heavy bomber for the journey out.

Caroline, over to you for the next question.

Lovely.

This question was sent in by Martin Pennings.

40 people are given a piece of paper with a large number on it.

Half a day later, some of them will run back with about 10 more pieces of paper bearing the same number.

They repeat this up to four more times.

What's happening?

And why are the numbers always odd?

And once more, 40 people are given a piece of paper with a large number on it.

Half a day later, some of them will run back with about 10 more pieces of paper bearing the same number.

They repeat this up to four more times.

What's happening?

And why are the numbers always odd?

My first...

Well, okay, I'll be honest.

My first guess was it was a giant check because it was a big piece of paper with a number on it.

Oh,

nice.

Yeah, I don't think so.

My second guess for a piece of paper with a number on it is, of course, like marathon runners.

And that also then makes sense for the running part of it.

I mean, it sounds like a scavenger hunt, but I feel like that can be really good.

I was thinking some kind of treasure hunt or game.

Oh, all of you are weirdly close right off the bat.

Okay, okay.

Because I, yeah, part of me was like, is this like, um,

you know, is this like one of those questions where it's just like a funny way of describing a real thing, or is this just like a literal way of describing something very strange?

Um, and so it could, it seems like it might be the latter.

Um, is it like a day later that's a kind of a competition and an athletic something like a triathlon do you

change

not a triathlon and actually tom uh tom lum you were super super close with something like a marathon there's plenty of like ultra long distance trail running yeah

that

where it's really really long distances we're talking like past marathon distances yeah yeah yeah yeah that is pretty spot on yeah the up to four more times is interesting, Caroline.

So it's like an optional up to four more times.

Or you're proving how many times you've done the course.

It is something to do with how many times you might have done the trail.

A trail you've done multiple times.

Is this

competitive

trail running, which we covered on the World Games, which is a sport that is covered there?

I don't remember it being featured on the World Games.

No.

Yeah, we might not have mentioned it.

I researched it, but it was also.

I don't think it's part of the World Games.

No.

Actually, based on what I read, it's held in the same place each year.

Why do they run back paper and why are the numbers odd?

I have a thing in my head about some bizarre endurance race in the US.

It's some kind of game of tag.

Like you're catching other players because you're coming back with more paper.

So you're taking paper off other people.

Ella, that's a really wonderful thought.

And it's wrong.

Oh, come on.

It's so good.

It's good.

You're killing the people and getting the paper off of the game.

Are these actual just like pieces of paper with numbers, or is this like a dollar bill or something like that?

Is there some trick in that?

And also, is this like regional to a specific place that maybe makes this make more sense?

Like, is there like like some famous mountain or some like famous track that you run around?

No, no, it's nothing quite like that.

The numbers are always odd because they're one and five dollar bills.

Yeah, that's

they're just going out and hunting for money, they're just robbing people.

It's the great pickpocketing games, yes.

Oh, that'd be great.

World Games, add that.

Pickpocketing next year to the World Games.

What other pieces of paper have numbers on them or are numbered?

Pages of a book?

Oh, yes, they are.

Is it pages of the Bible?

Is this something?

No, but it's.

Okay, you are spot on that they are looking for pages of a book.

Could this be like Da Vinci code related?

Like it's like a themed thing where you have to like go around the city to like find pages of a book in a thing.

Wait, but but book pages have an odd number on one side and an even number on one side.

Yeah, they do.

They absolutely do.

And that's key as to why these people are going to go and look for them.

Oh.

And go back to what you thought about with marathon runners at the beginning.

It's just a marathon running with a book open in front of you.

It's one of those things like chess boxing where you have to do the marathon and then answer questions on the book that you have.

About crime and punishment.

Yeah.

Is it a relay?

It's just a relay.

So

you are collecting to prove.

No, it's not a relay.

That was a good word.

Prove.

Oh.

Okay, you're proving something.

Okay.

You're proving your theoretical theorem.

The proof that they have been to the remote places, to the

points on this trail that they have to tag in order to prove they've gone all round there.

A really cheap way to do that would be to just put a book at each one of those.

And if you get there first, you take the first page.

And if you get there second, you take the next page.

And then that proves the order in which everyone's going to be able to do that.

So incredibly close.

You're so, so close.

That was really good.

Wow.

But like the 40 people with the large numbers, they're runners, right?

They've got numbers pinned on them.

They do have numbers pinned on them, yes.

And that's just for their race number to identify them right is it oh okay okay okay you're you're so close you've got a number pinned to them

and then numbers in a book they they need to bring back the book the number in the book that corresponds to their not the number on there that's exactly it yeah absolutely

odd because you can't take you can't have a runner with an even number in them because then you could take their page instead because they're attached to the the same page.

Absolutely.

Yep.

A sigh of relief, everyone.

So if you're wearing number three, you take page three.

Yeah, that's exactly it.

And four.

So you can't have four because then someone else would have taken it.

Yep.

So this is because they are running a race and they're tearing pages out of the book as proof that they have run the whole way around.

So this was a race established in 1986.

This is called the Barclay Marathons, which is an ultra-marathon held in Tennessee.

It challenges competitors to complete five loops of a 20-mile off-trail course.

So a total of 100 miles or 160 kilometers.

And they have to do it within 60 hours as well.

So it's not just that you have to complete it.

You have to complete it in 60 hours.

This thing is grueling and a lot of people don't complete it.

So to prevent cheating, so as proof that Ella said,

books are hidden at various points on the map.

The bids are,

yeah, there you go.

So the bibs are always odd numbers to prevent any confusion.

Since, for example, if you tore out page 57, you're also removing page 58.

So you would complete a loop and then actually you get given a new bib number and do the loop again so that you pull back a different page after you've done your second loop.

You get a new number, new number on your third loop.

That's actually, that's some.

It's clever, right?

That's some really clever like cryptography.

That is again, because also part of me was like, why don't you just like have a person stay there?

And then you said how long it took.

And I was like, I would not.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

Would not have a person stationed there.

That's really clever, actually.

Would you like a little fun fact at the end for you as well?

Would love that, Caroline.

Ah, thanks.

So in 2024, Jasmine Paris became the first woman to complete the race.

She had 99 seconds left to spare.

And out of the 40 people who started this race, only five people actually completed it in 2024, Paris being one of them.

Wow.

So yeah, that's the reason there are people competing in the Barclay marathons that require people to rip pages out of books.

The page number matches the number on their bib in order to prove that they're not cheating the race.

This question was sent in by Katie Wanning.

Andre also sent in the same idea.

One evening in 1985, many Czechoslovakian families argued about whether to turn on a lamp now or wait for 30 more seconds.

Why?

And one more time.

One evening in 1985, many Czechoslovakian families argued about whether to turn on a lamp now or wait for 30 seconds.

Why?

My first thought

is

this, this, oh,

oh, never mind.

I guess I didn't have one.

Sorry.

Oh, I know.

I'm just not.

Happens to all of us.

Like, the power grid switches to something.

And it's like, if you start earlier, at this time, you get like grandfathered into like a lower rate or something like that.

My second thought was like a New Year's thing, you know?

My thought was Christmas.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, some holiday in which the threshold of the 30 seconds.

But it was only in one specific year.

It's not something that everybody's arguing about every single year.

So there was something particularly

this year, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm thinking something like, um, so this reminds me, it's making me think of TV pickup.

in the UK, you know, during the like 90s, late 90s, early noughties, when everyone would go and during the like advertisement breaks or half-time of a football game, go and turn on their kettles and it would overload the kind of energy system.

Yeah.

So, if that maybe there was some kind of like really big

football match on in Czechoslovakia or like some kind of world event happening, and if they turned on their lamps, then it would turn off their TVs or something because it was overloading the power grid if everyone was having their lights on at the same time.

Keep thinking along those lines.

TV pickups aren't much of a thing in the UK anymore because obviously, streaming and there's a hundred thousand channels, but yeah, there still is a person, as far as I know, in the National Grid Control Centre whose job it is to call up the BBC and check when programmes will be ending and just prepare, you know, or to watch the football match to see if it goes into overtime.

And if it does, just change the plans for when the power plants go on and off.

Could this be fun job?

A

could

a way to signal a vote through the power grid output?

Stay with me.

It's

American Idol, and you want to vote for one of two contestants.

And so you turn on the power grid, you check, because this is before cell phones, and you check if the power grid spikes during this time or during a different time.

And you vote based on the time at which you turn the lamp on.

Yeah, it's your, but it's Eurovision.

I mean,

it very well could be knowing Eurovision.

Although I don't think Eurovision had public voting at this time.

It would have been the juries back then.

But Tom, you've basically nailed it.

Oh, what?

Absolutely.

Yes.

This was a TV sitcom called, and I'm translating here, The Troubles of Chef Svatopluk.

What might have been going on that required all this shenanigans?

It was like a wedding ceremony or something, and it was like the bride is going to say, I do, or run off, and you have to like cast your vote.

Yeah, exactly right.

It was an interactive story.

I mean, it wasn't necessarily the wedding.

I can't tell you exactly what the plot was, but there were forking plot branches in this sitcom, and the audience could vote for them by waiting to turn on or off their lights at the right time.

Oh my gosh,

that's so clever.

That's such an amazing thing to do.

That's lovely.

Producers asked the audience to turn off all unnecessary electronic devices, and then the head of the Czechoslovak State Energy Dispatch was tasked with monitoring the country's energy consumption and would make the call of whether to go or not go on various plot devices.

That's so cool.

I love the idea that these days, like Game of Thrones, going to like the National Energy Department and be like, hey, we have this idea.

what can't we really quickly?

That's so clever.

That's so.

I got there because I was like, what would families argue about?

There was one other similar thing they did during a different episode, which involved a TV camera rather than calling up the energy board.

What might they have done?

Could they like look out at the city and see how many lights were turned on?

Yeah, they pointed the camera at an area of Prague and said, turn your lights on, turn your lights off.

We will measure that

and go whichever way.

Beautiful.

It was a bit of a gimmick because both options would eventually resolve to the same storyline.

Annoying.

Can we use the power grid for a thing that will eventually not matter at all?

Yeah, it's just such a, oh, that's so great.

Yes, this is Czechoslavian TV in 1985 who asked the audience to turn on or off their lights en masse to vote on which way the show would go.

Charlie Sheen is an icon of decadence.

I lit the fuse and my life turns into everything it wasn't supposed to be.

He's going the distance.

He was the highest paid TV star of all time.

When it started to change, it was queer.

He kept saying, no, no, no, I'm in the hospital now, but next week I'll be ready for the show.

Now, Charlie's sober.

He's going to tell you the truth.

How do I present this with any class?

I think we're past that, Charlie.

We're past that, yeah.

Somebody call action.

AKA Charlie Sheen, only on Netflix, September 10th.

Ella, it is over to you for the next question.

Okey-dokey.

Wish I hadn't said okey-dokie.

It was a weird way of introducing things, but you know what?

That's staying in.

This question has been sent in by Joseph Gallier, Adam Matthews, Sam Walsh, and Matthew.

Big group.

At an Asda supercentre in Cheshire, England, goods such as DVDs were being stolen by customers customers without the staff's knowledge, with no chance of triggering the security alarm.

In 2015, which item was reshelved elsewhere in the store to make the crime harder to commit?

I'll read that one more time.

At an Asda Supercentre in Cheshire, England, goods such as DVDs were being stolen by customers without the staff's knowledge, with no chance of triggering the security alarm.

In 2015, which item was reshelved elsewhere in the store to make the crime harder to commit.

So I can translate Asda Supercenter as Walmart Supercenter for North America.

It is,

I think, the same parent company.

Just

a giant big box store.

They were taking DVDs without them being triggered.

Part of me was just like, because it's right, it's like those things on the side of the door.

Part of me is like, you just hold it up above and you just go through.

But like, what about DVDs?

So these get set off by specific antennas, like little RFID things, like credit cards, like stuff like that, that get put onto products that might get stolen.

I have a lateral thought, if you will.

Could this be maybe not

the shop?

Could this be like one of those like red box, like that?

That's an American thing, but like a dispenser, like a vending machine of DVDs, basically.

And then by changing the location, you like can't do like a gimmick to the like shake or like do a trick on the vending machine to steal it.

No, this, these are, this is just a normal, well, super center

ASDA shop, and the DVDs are just on a shelf.

So they've got to be put in something.

There's got to be like a Faraday cage or something that's nearby that's stopping that antenna being picked up by the

big things by the door.

There's got to be something that they've got to hide it inside, surely.

So Tom said, I'll say they are going in something.

So were they going in something before or after the change?

They were going in something.

Before the change.

Well, they reshelved the item.

So they've got to put whatever this Faraday cage is, they've moved it further away.

Faraday cage might be thinking a bit too much.

Were they putting it in something else that would also have to be

because you can just swipe it over something, can't you?

And it'll like deactivate the system sometimes.

So could you be putting it in, like,

I don't know, a pair of trousers that also have a tag on them and by deactivating the trouser tag.

Imagine someone scanning that and then not realising there was a DVD inside of a pair of trousers.

No.

Yeah, but like, and I don't know why I have an encyclopedic knowledge of anti-theft devices, Your Honour.

But I was assuming that it was like the antenna tags, because those were, you know, that I've had that problem before, but it's also those that get like physically clipped on that go on clothing where they have to where they get unclipped at the checkout by the by the cashier it's nothing to do with the type of tag in fact let's say it's not leaving the store in the traditional sense through the front doors oh what

all right folks it's time to put our shoplifting brains in

how else do you get out of uh through the roof dig a hole

in a push chair

Pretend you're pregnant and hide it in your belly.

Was it like going in like a food delivery order or something?

You could like put it in like a.

You guys are coming up with great ideas.

You'd be great thieves.

None of them are right.

Thank you.

Oh, another clue I'll give you is this is there's a very specific reason I've emphasized that this is a super center.

Oh

Because that's more than just a shop in here, like a normal supermarket.

Is there a cafe as well?

Maybe there is, Caroline.

That would be nice.

It's nothing to do with the cafe, though.

Well, they end up with having things like a locksmith's and an optician's and a load of other little shops alongside.

Same as the Walmart has.

Yeah, keep going.

A car dealership and they drive away with

the DVDs and the boots.

A pharmacy.

Pharmacy would be good.

Yeah, if they could sneak it into

some way to get it out of there that isn't through the front doors, I assume, through something.

And it's right next to the DVDs.

It was.

The people stealing the DVDs,

they're waiting for the DVDs to come to them.

What?

What?

They leave the store without it.

My brain was like, can you like bake it into something?

And then like...

Why are you baking the supermarket?

Okay.

Oh, but not baking.

What if you just like put it inside something?

That like then an order of flowers that you then get delivered to you?

Just like a trash can.

The word delivered.

Something big and cheap.

Peace.

That you then...

No, no, no.

Just a big...

You just put a load of DBDs inside like a trash can or something,

and then you place a click and collect order for the trash can.

or for the delivery or something like that and the employees just bring it out to you.

You're like, you're on the right lines.

The word delivered is key here.

They're putting it into something.

It has to, I think, another thing here is it's only small things they're stealing, like DVDs.

And there's something in the super center that means that they can

put them out into the world.

It's just groceries.

It's not groceries.

The DVDs were next to something, next to a product.

They then used that product and another service in the super center, left the store, and waited.

What was the product?

The trolleys?

No, small.

Think small.

The baskets, a DVD player.

You put the DVD and a DVD.

Oh, I like that.

A pet shop.

Okay, I'll tell you.

I love it.

I hate it when we're stumped.

It's so rare for us.

I don't think this has happened to us since we started.

So in 2015, which item was reshelved elsewhere in the store to make the crime harder to commit?

It was envelopes.

No.

Oh, no.

There's a post office in there.

There's a post office.

No, no.

So they were mailing

the product in the store to themselves?

Exactly.

The thieves were taking DVDs and other small items off the shelves and putting them in envelopes.

They took that to the in-store post office, wrote their own address on the envelope, and then walked out the store.

They just posted it to themselves.

That is so simple.

Wow.

Yeah, I'm so upset about this.

That's good.

High stuff.

Importantly, the envelopes are taken out of the goods entrance where there's no shoplifting alarms.

So you guys kind of did get ahead with that.

Oh, okay.

And the thefts happened at the Ellesmere Port branch of Asda.

If just in case you live near there and you wanted to know,

you can't do that anymore.

Sorry.

It's not.

I've already insulted that part of the world once in this episode.

Well, now we have respect for them for being very clever.

So where did they move the DVDs in the shop to?

Did they just put them in like eyesight of the post office so that they could see?

No, they moved the envelopes.

Oh.

So it's not known how long the ingenious scheme had been operating.

But if it took us this long to figure it out and we're talking about it, I would imagine for a long time.

Yeah.

One last thing, then.

At the top of the show, I asked this question that was sent in by Nate.

What used to be measured in kilo girl hours?

Anyone want to take a shot at that before I give the audience the answer?

I know

typically women did a lot of computing work and like telephone work for a while.

So part of me is like, is that like in the same way you had horsepower, you had how many people working at like the telephone operator line or something like that?

I love that because that makes me go.

I know there's like

girl math and girl dinner.

Is this just like

more?

It's the weight that I measure myself in, and then I just subtract some and say, oh, that's my kilo gut.

That's

and also, of course, girl power is measured in the number of spice girls that you know.

Yeah, Tommy, basically,

you've basically got it.

It is computational processing power.

Actually,

back before electronic computers were common, a computer was usually a woman, usually young, and so it's.

It's a key who computes.

Yeah.

Oh, it makes sense.

So it's like horsepower.

You start with the

who's operating it.

Yes, a kilo girl hour was the amount of computation that 1,000 women could perform in one hour.

There's something like gently misogynistic about it, but I can't figure out why.

Yeah, there's something there for sure.

I mean, I think you've just really understated the entire mid-20th century.

This whiffs of misogyny.

Thank you very much to all of our players.

Let's talk about the podcast.

What you've got going on.

We will start today with Caroline.

The fun thing is that we often don't know what we've got going on because we all bring things to the table that we don't know what each other are going to bring, which is part of the joy of the show.

So, yeah, we simply don't know.

Ella, what is the show and where can people find it?

The show is Let's Learn Everything, where we learn, as the name suggests, everything and anything interesting.

And you can find it anywhere you get podcasts.

And Tom, what else are you working on at the minute?

I'm working on a video.

Oh, you know what?

I'll say it now so that hopefully when this comes out, I'll have motivation to finish it up.

Working on a video on...

why we keep rediscovering water on Mars and what that says about science communication and how we learn.

Yeah, which was also a topic on the podcast we've covered.

So you can hear it both there and you can watch it.

That's all that stuff.

Wow, just repurposing the podcast for your YouTube.

Where can people find you, Tom?

You forgot to drop the name in the link.

Tomlum.com or just Tom Lum.

I got good SEO, baby.

When I was born, my parents were like, this kid's going to have great SEO.

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

We are at lateralcast basically everywhere.

And there are regular video highlights at

slash lateralcast.

Thank you very much to Tom Lum.

Woo!

Ella Hubber, Okey Doki, Caroline Roper.

Yay!

I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Lateral.

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