Lateral with Tom Scott - 1: The elevator where you're "born again"

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

Matt Parker, Bill Sunderland and Dani Siller face questions about a 'born again' elevator, a bronze medal failure and a very expensive Danish supermarket. LATERAL is a comedy panel game podcast about weird questions with wonderful answers, hosted by Tom Scott. For business enquiries, contestant appearances or question submissions, visit https://www.lateralcast.com. HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. RECORDED AT & EDITED BY: The Podcast Studios, Dublin. EDITOR: Julie Hassett. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Josh Halbur, Ben Justice, Lewis Tough, Arun Uttamchandani, Eglė Vaškevičiūtė. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If only more people told the truth, more of these would be sold. What are they? I'm Tom Scott, this is Lateral, and we'll have the answer to that at the end of the show. I've asked three people to come and play a game where all the questions have a sideways answer. Joining me today from Escape This Podcast, Danny Siller and Bill Sunderland. Hello! How are you doing? Hello, very happy to be here.

I'm very excited. Thank you very much for joining us. We also have, also from Australia, but not there at the moment, from Stand Up Maths and... Sorry. Are you just disappointed

at being not in Australia at the moment? I am. I genuinely am. I was honestly just thinking both myself and my accent are now a long way from being in Australia.

Well, from Stand Up Maths and from Festival of the Spoken Nerd and from Australia, Matt Parker. Thank you very much, Tom. It's good to be here. All right, we will get straight on. Wherever here may be, who knows. All right, we will get straight on with question one. Lateral is a very simple game. I've got questions and I'm hoping you'll have answers. There's no points, no prizes. It's just reputation bragging rights on the line and we start with an advert featuring

a famous painting was placed next to an elevator in an ingenious position. The advert's tagline reads Be born again. Who will you become if just for a moment? I'll give you that again. An advert featuring a famous painting was placed next to an elevator in an ingenious position.

The advert's tagline reads, Be born again. Who will you become if just for a moment? I do like that I have given the first question an art question to a mathematician and two people who do escape rooms. Any art knowledge? I was about to be

insulted that you were going to say I can't believe I'm giving an art question to three Australians. I was ready. We've got some culture. We have an artist who paints sailboats. Sorry, and I nearly came back to we have some culture with, yes, but unfortunately it's E. coli because apparently I'm just in a satirical mood today.

Sorry about that. We've got some art knowledge. I wish i had more because i would then have the answer to this question do you think how much do you think we should be focusing on the born again part versus the next to an elevator part yeah what's an elevatorial picture i mean there's not much that's traditionally around an elevator other than the button to operate the elevator. Oh, that's interesting. Do we have any button related to that? I mean, there's bound to be other things,

but there's nothing that's common to all elevator environments other than maybe having floors above or below where you are. If we're talking pure humor value, I think if you put the scream right opposite the doors so as they opened in front it was just a right in front i think you want to put them half on each door so it does the the home alone as the doors close i i hate to pedant you matt but in that case where's the face what oh the face moves with

the hand that's why they're screaming i thought yeah yeah that's like art 101 i think yeah come on and tom says australians have no culture you are actually doing very well with the elevated button there that was because there's lots of comedy places you could put a button so if you basically you got a painting and instead of doing the cutting out the two holes hilarious looking through the painting bit if you cut out a single hole and then line that up with the elevator button yeah you're on exactly the right lines that's what they did really seriously now you've they've all sorts of childish places you can put that button they've lined up a very famous bit of a very famous painting with the elevator button

now what is a painting that has a conspicuous circular possibly arrow-shaped feature that could be replaced with a button to call an elevator i'm thinking the guy with an apple for a face oh yeah marat end of list uh i have just been told by the producer that it's magrete magrete i was confusing him with the guy who died in a bathtub archimedes oh we haven't got time to fact check that story. No, we really don't. Just move on.

It's probably true. And it's a shame for anyone listening in audio, you didn't see Matt's face when you suggested Archimedes as dying in the bathtub. It's called the Son of Man. Yeah, it is unfortunately not that one. You're closer with an arrow. It's not a feature.

It's certainly pointing at something because you almost want like a roulette like a spin again is it a melting like who could you be like you're selecting something bill what were you uh what were you doing just there i was just trying to imply that there's got to be it's pointing at something right but it's got to be pointing either up or down no one's pointing. Like if you had a picture of someone pointing left or right and you replaced that with an up arrow, you'd be a fool. Now, it just occurs to me that the way you're gesturing there with the pointing and the hands and the fingers,

it is pointing sideways. Oh. Well, Danny also suggested a melting clock. That's definitely got arrows. It has. Don't take my lead on arrows. I'm saying you're getting closer and closer as you continue to point your fingers around.

All right. I'm just going to move my fingers and you tell me where. The only thing that I was thinking of, and right at the start, it was talking about being born again. I only have two paintings in mind when it comes to things like birth. One of them is the birth of Venus and one of them is the creation of atoms.

That's the creation of atoms. That's not some pointing. You're right. Like if you're Adam. You are absolutely spot on. Oh, wow. Absolutely right. It was Michelangelo's creation of Adam.

And now that you've confirmed it, now I can actually visualize it. And it makes sense. They took the right hand half with God, cut that that out and just made the finger touch the elevator button so when you call the elevator you were touching fingers with god it's just remote that feels that's got to feel pretty glorious it was actually an advert for a plastic surgeon i'm not entirely sure what the context but yes the uh in the painting god is giving life to adam the first human so for just a moment as you call the lift you are you are being born uh as the first human which frankly is more than i asked for when i called it this feels very thinky for a plastic surgery advertiser i feel like you're

stereotyping plastic surgeons there matt no i'm not i'm just you know it doesn't feel like you're stereotyping plastic surgeons there, Matt. No, I'm not. I'm just, you know, it doesn't feel like, you know, that's, I mean, maybe they know the demographic better than me, but there you go. I have been into a lot of surgeons' office. I haven't had promises like that before. Yes. Although if you did go into that office and you said, and you accused them of playing God by being able to change people, like they couldn't really deny it.

So, yes, it was Michelangelo's creation of Adam with the section with God on the right-hand side of the elevator. So you reached out and touched God's finger for just a moment. Now the tables are turned, and one of our guests is going to take over as host. I do not know the question that they have. I certainly don't know the answer. I'm going to be playing along, too.

We're going to start with Bill. And I should check, because you and Danny are in the same room, you have not seen the question either. Danny, you've... Not a clue. All right. Bill, it's over to you. Give us the question.

All right. I have a question here. I'm ready to go. This is a movie's question. Excellent. It's a movie-themed question. So I'll give you a second to just re-centre your head and go away from high art and to movies instead.

Police blank blank was accidental. Which two words have been removed from this newspaper headline from a 1993 film? Again. Police blank blank was accidental which two words have been removed from this newspaper headline from a 1993 film academy four the whole film was just an accident i would explain a lot if i'm being honest or academy n that's i mean why why commit to a number that's that's more uh more a mistake than an accident a newspaper within the film yeah did you say it was from a film yes okay yes this is not about a film this is this is from

the film so this is a newspaper that exists in universe in the film and we see the newspaper headline, police blank blank, was accidental. I'm not great at the early 90s era, but I'm trying to think around then. Oh, okay. Silence of the Lambs. I hope not. I just know there's a prop company somewhere in Los Angeles that has stock newspapers where all the headlines are

guaranteed to be you know safe and not affecting your movie and you don't have to clear the rights so the same newspaper keeps showing up in tv shows and movies and everything like that with there's there will be a super cut of it somewhere on the internet I have a great example of that and that's in the first episode of the tv show charmed they have the mrs doubtfire newspaper article oh ah wait wait because that can't be accidental wait how did they i thought if i remember mrs doubtfire right like they he's looking around and sees the words doubt and fire was it just oh and he sees like wait a second, is this it? Have I landed on it? Is it police doubt fire? Oh my, yes. Was accidental?

What? Come on. You've done it. Was this just my question? Yeah, I was worried. I was worried as soon as you said it, but yes, that's it. Police doubt fire was accidental. I feel like that was a real team effort, just so we're clear on that.

Sorry, Matt. We stumbled upon that before you had a chance to get a single gag in there. I'm so sorry. That's amazing. That's excellent. Congratulations, Danny. There are no points I feel like there should be. I didn't see that coming.

I'd written seven individually handcrafted hilarious jokes about films from 1993 but i don't bother with any of those now that's fine we'll move on i would like to point out that like that that aspect of it right that is like oh i need a name i need a name let me just oh it says doubt fire hmm i could be done danny does this constantly. I think everyone who does tabletop role-playing GMing does this. The players always make you point out a random stranger in your campaign, say, oh, what's that person's name? And so you just look around and you go, oh, that's Detective Waterbill. Yeah, that is Detective Mike Paper.

Yep, got it. Absolutely. Hey, it's it's me mike paper i got things to do here me and water bill are meeting up after this case let's get this in let's get this done i gotta go home i'm retiring no no you've got one more i thought we're doing character work you've got one more case before retirement you've just gotta get through that it seems like a routine case i can't't think anything's going to go wrong. But it's turned into the murder of Jill Keyboard. Bloody Jill Keyboard. What I don't get, though, is if that prop was made for

the movie, which it must have been, surely, did they just leave it hanging around? Give it to a prop warehouse? I don't know. I mean, there's a non-zero chance. because the name's not important in the plot is it it's just a fake name pretty much so williams could have improvised a different name at the time based on a prop i mean williams like he was famous for improvising all so it could have just

been that he was picking a different name every time like well that's that's the name yeah exactly every edit was it was it every take was a different thing in the room yeah and also like if you put an infinite number of screenwriters with an infinite number of fake newspapers they're gonna write the same headline so you never know i set my um wi-fi password by looking for things in the room so when when people come to my office, they're like, what's the password? I'm like, it's these things on the shelf. But then I moved office, so I had to take a photo of them. And I realize now I can't end this story. Without giving away your Wi-Fi password.

Without compromising with the password on my office. It's three things that were on a shelf. without compromising with the password on my office. It's three things that were on a shelf. So yes, the headline from the movie Mrs. Doubtfire was police doubt fire was accidental. I mean, there's a good chance that we could have had Mrs. Police doubt. All right, it's back to me for the next one.

And it goes something like this. Putney Bridge in London is unusual in that it has a church at both ends. All saints on the north bank of the Thames and St Mary's on the south bank. How did that come about? I'll give you that question again. Putney Bridge in London is unusual in that it has a church at both ends. All saints on the north bank of the Thames and St Mary's on the south bank. How did that come about?

Hmm. I'd never noticed. I mean, I don't want to give away your location here, Matt, or compromise your security again. But your Wi-Fi password is here, and apparently you're based in Putney. That ship has sailed. No, I lived near Putney for several years when I lived in South London. But when I go into London, if I cycle in, I go over that bridge. So it's potentially I'm so exhausted by that point in the cycle, I'm not paying close attention. But now that you say it, there's definitely, well,

there's definitely a church and a walkabout at one end, the southern end of the bridge. And I do not know if there's another walkabout on the north end of the bridge but that could also be significant walkabout being the australian themed bar the the horrific all right that's fair i i was gonna ask if there are walkabouts in australia i assume the same way there aren't there are not there's not like british themed restaurants in britain hmm and america what does america? They have Outback Steakhouse. Outback Steakhouse.

Yeah, that's the one. We don't have that either. Oh, I think we have one now. Ooh, exciting. Really? People ask us about Blooming Onions when we're overseas. I don't know what that is. You've invented a food.

So how heavy is the gang warfare between churches in London? I don't know how to answer that question. I think that might be a decent, that's a decent chunk of the answer, I suspect. I don't know how to answer that question without being offensive to some group. And I don't know whether it's the religious or the gangs of London.

I don't think I want to annoy any of those people. Like, do I want teenagers with knives on uh coming at me absolutely not do i want bishops coming at me also no they're going to be more polite about it though but they've also got knives yeah ceremonial ones surprisingly sharp i gotta say i feel like if you if you had to pick right who do you think got better off in that deal because one of the churches has mary that's a pretty good saint but the other one has all saints that's like they got a better deal i think i don't want to take sides in the war no okay i'm gonna move on just see everyone dodging the answer to that question um i will everybody at home pick a denomination

today's winner is the no i'm not finishing finishing that sentence. I will tell you that it is nothing to do with the specific denominations or the religions of the churches. Is it because churches are quite territorial? They're like, like jaguars or water voles. I don't know animals that are territorial. You went with jaguars i went with uh with mcdonald's franchises so you know because because you if you have a franchise manager in an area their job is to not put things so close together um i think that's that's even closer to the truth because if you get yourself a church franchise right you don't want to you you got your congregational map that you're drawing.

It's not like subway. They just cram them in next to each other. that is a problem. The franchisees complain about that. I also, I've realized that the word I've been struggling to find there is parish. Parish. Yes.

So when you open a McJesus's, you're guaranteed, according to Tom Scott. Oh no, don't drag my name into this. Parish catchment area we're offending the gangs again yeah i'm i mean how special is this bridge this is how it used to be that you the church would be for a certain parish and it would be

for the certain area and you generally didn't have two churches in the same village if everyone there was the same religion because you didn't need it. It's even like each city's only allowed one cathedral or whatever and you can have other equally impressive churches but only one is bestowed the rank of cathedral or whatever. We've got to reassess. What's the situation? We're in a place. I can't remember where we are. Putney Bridge. We've got to reassess. What's the situation? We're in a place. I can't remember where we are.

Putney Bridge. Putney, not Putnam. The place is probably important because London started in the east in what is now called the city. That was London original. And even like Westminster, because I taught in a school in Westminster for a while when I was a regular old math teacher, that used to be like an outpost.

I mean, it's in the name. It's the Minster in the West. It's the Minster in the West, yeah. And the school I taught at was founded after the Great Fire because suddenly a lot of people moved out from London to the suburbs after the Great Fire, and then they had to build schools and whatnot. And Putney is even further to the suburbs after the Great Fire, and then they had to build schools and whatnot. And Putney is even further to the west.

It's the West Westminster of Westminster. And so I imagine originally these were like little villages. You've got Putney. You've got, what's north of that? Like Knightsbridge or something, something in there. I can't remember what it is, but you are definitely along the right lines here. You've got not Putney. it's a bit like all saints it's just not putney is every other suburb and so i imagine originally they were like totally separate towns there was no bridge

so all they could do is throw rocks at each other and then they had their own little churches no bridge is good that makes a lot of sense and. And one day London expanded out, you know, just slapping bridges everywhere. And suddenly they're mere accessible, you know, hundreds of meters apart. That's why. London became the city of a hundred bridges. Exactly.

And the people who ran the walkabout were sensible enough to collapse those down into a single location, not not mcjesuses they they were like we've we've separately got thousand year leases on this franchise we're we're keeping it with with apologies to every christian listening matt you've absolutely got it right yeah the churches were built before the bridge it was two separate parishes two separate congregations two separate everythings. There was a worship site on the south bank since the 13th century, on the north bank since the 12th.

There wasn't a bridge until 1729. And there was a ferry, but that wasn't enough to make them the same place. It is said that there wasn't a bridge for a long time, and then Prime Minister Robert Walpole was making his way back to Parliament, and the ferryman was drinking in a pub on the other side of the river and held up the Prime Minister Robert Walpole was making his way back to Parliament and the ferryman was drinking in a pub on the other side of the river and held up the Prime Minister and suddenly a few years later

there was a bridge. In the walkabout is what I've been trying to explain. You know what? I can absolutely believe because it's London and there will be that history that the pub the Prime Minister

got delayed by is now the walkabout. Matt, we are coming to you for the next question. As before, I've not seen it. I don't know the question. I don't know the answer. No one here does other than the production team. And Matt, it's you.

My question, and this is one that I am a big fan of this topic. So the question is, there is, you get this for free, there is a mathematical reason why bees make their honeycombs using hexagonal shape cells the question is what is that reason why are bees such big fans of hexagons i mean we all are but why why are bees particularly into hexagons i know there's a cg Grey video about this, and I cannot remember a single word of it. I just remember the phrase, hexagons are the bestigans.

Are the bestigans. There you are, see? Every time I mention hexagons, in any context, everyone yells bestigans at me. I can't remember a single word of the rest of that video. I didn't do maths past being being a kid so all right i messaged gray after that and said thanks a lot you've tainted hexagons henceforth i i want to say that there's something along that line uh, something is jumping my head that bees kind of don't make hexagons.

Like they just make circles, which when they start to layer just sort of naturally will compress down and make, but they're just like, I'm a bee. I don't know hexagons. I just put it around me. I make a little circle and it compresses down naturally. Is it something about them having amazing tessellation? Don't interrupt me.

He said he's going to give me something. Oh, please. No, I was about to, but Danny is now noinked. No, tessellation. Tessellation. It's about tessellation, everybody. Is it the most efficient way to get that number of honeycomb cells into an area? Well, okay, so it depends subtly on how you phrase the question,

because Bill was absolutely correct. Bees would rather make circles. If you leave bees alone and there's no other honeycomb near them, they will make a circular cell. And by circular cell, I mean like the opening to the tube is a circular and then actually be a cylinder how did they find that out did they just get a single what they do okay oh they know what they actually they get unusual starting conditions like for honeycomb that would never happen in nature they artificially make a really weird starting setup put some bees

on it and then see where they build from there i'm sorry i just love the, put some bees on it, and then see where they build from there. I'm sorry. I just love the phrase, put some bees on it, which sounds, which reminds me both of just bad advice for life and also put a donk on it, which is just like,

which is a reference that has landed for no one in this call. Nevermind. I thought you were going to say that that was medieval surgery advice i cannot work today my legs my legs i have gout put some bees on it yeah now we're out of leeches but we have got a recent shipment of bees you say shipment they just they just sort of arrived a while back we haven't really wanted to get rid of them. It's the latest treatment from Prague. You get bees. I was talking to a beekeeping friend of mine on the weekend,

and they get bees are shipped in the post. Really? Actually, another beekeeper I know happens to be in the same room as me is nodding their head furiously. They happen to be talking about bees. It's true. You order bees in the post and they are angry you open it up you wanna wait do you do you make them fall asleep first you like put them in the

fridge no you just open it don't use like bee smoke or something like that sorry i i'm gesturing it's my favorite western i don't do bee smoke um sorry i have just been completely like nerd sniped by the idea of like how a bee would hold a gun and swivel a six shooter to be in a duel at high noon so well fun fact bees have bees have little pockets bees have tiny pockets on them that's true so you can put a gun you can holster the... Bees are the best cowboys of the insect kingdom because you can holster the guns in your little leg pockets. The pollen pockets.

Bees have little pockets. Now, Matt, I don't want you to repeat anything I say about bees out loud because there's a beekeeper near you who can immediately fax check me. Bees have pockets from from the person who brought you archimedes drowned in the bath hey he didn't say drowned he

just said died he died good point you're right i'm i'm adding some narrative flavor to it no so so bees he was shot oh yeah sorry we were talking about tessellation this is your question sorry to go back to go to one answer the question is bees make hexagons because they start with cylindrical tubes and if you stack them they become hexagons or more accurately because the wax is pliable when the bees making like the the cylinder it just pushes out a lot but there's a bee on the other side of the wax it's like hey stop that and they're pushing back back it's often the same b at different points in time because the same b can be working around a b two b's maybe the same b or not two b's separated in time yeah it wasn't it wasn't

that joke sorry oh my goodness oh look an open goal sorry carry on so two bees or as i mentioned before not two bees one bee separated in time pushing the wax backwards and forwards and the stable structure that you end up with is a hexagon now the tessellation thing is also super important because nature like as bees did that and and evolution was like good work bees you get to live because that is the most efficient way to section space into little areas with the minimal perimeter the hexagon can't beat it and bees have been doing this for millions of years. And we only managed to prove mathematically that that is the best arrangement in 1999. So within the last 30 years.

We wasted all our time on triangles. I know. We were distracted by the triangles. um and so the in one sense the answer is because that's the shape that forms when bees argue over where wax should go but the answer is also that's just the most efficient way to do it um it gets slightly more interesting when you look at the end of the tube because if you think about it you got the you got the opening to the tube as a hexagon. Then you've got a tube. It's got to end somehow. Does anyone want to have a guess what the end, the other end of the B-tube is?

It's a shape we all know and love. Wait, so it's not just the same all the way through? You've got a different shape at the end? It's got an end. Chaotic tunnels? Does it like splay out? What actually happens is you got tubes coming from both sides of the, the, the,

the, what do you call the thing in the hive? The thing you lower in where I'm going to my B expert, the frame frame. That's it. Yeah. You got, you got B B tubes,

technical phrase coming from both directions in the frame. And where they meet, they have to form some kind of, I mean, one option is just a flat surface. But that's not what happens. They actually form a different shape in the middle. And I'm taking bonus fictitious points. An exact replica of Spaghetti Junction. Close. It's not, is it?

It's actually, I've actually got it behind me it's been in shot the whole time there it is if you were looking at the webcam version it's a rhombic dodecahedron here we go oh this is this is gonna be see it was a clue that you just had to look in the background the hints were there, people. So they form a rhombic dodecahedron shape. So they end like that, like a pointy bit of a rhombic dodecahedron, which for people listening is just a bunch of rhombuses that meet in a point, basically. And this is not the most efficient way to do it. There are better ways of doing it. Yeah, but it's got style.

It's got style. And so this is the counterpoint to bees are doing maths because if they were they'd do something better like a truncated octahedron but they're not they're just pushing wax around so they've ended up with the pretty good but not perfect rhombic dodecahedron although it is my favorite of all the Dikahedra. Another one for you then. At the 1924 Olympic Games, the American athlete Robert Legendre set a world record with a long jump of 7.76 metres,

which no one surpassed at the event. However, he only received a bronze medal for his efforts. I'll give you that again. At the 1924 Olympic Games, the American athlete Robert Legendre set a world record with a long jump of 7.76 metres, which no one surpassed at the event. However, he only received

a bronze medal for his efforts. Why? Back then, robots were allowed to compete. Ah, those bloody robots. Yeah, the 1924 Steampunk Olympic Games. No, you just put some bees on them. They'll fly for miles. That's it. How many bees does it take to lift a human if they really work together he was just banned for doping because he just had 10 000 bees attached to him uh no

it's not that i realized i was supposed to yes and these suggestions matt but no no i accept the occasional no blocked um so okay so he has set the the world record yeah for the long jump look at me i'm the best long jumper no one here has outperformed that long jump but he doesn't get the gold no he comes third yeah To me, there's only, there's like, I'm thinking there's two possibilities. I would like to, we can collectively weigh up these options. I think either. Two's a good start. Long jump does not exist as its own sport. So he's done the long jump as part of the heptathlon or the pentathlon.

Oh, that would be a funny way of doing it. Or the decathlon or the dodecaathlon or the rhombic. No. Yeah, the the dodecaathlon, or the rhombic, no. Yeah, the rhombic decathlon. I'd love that. And so best long jumper by far, but then his high jump, oh, not so good. He still went long and he just went underneath. And so he ends up on average third.

I think this is a very reasonable goal. That actually is very reasonable. That tracks. Here's my second option. He gets the long jump it counts according to like the record rules but it doesn't count according to like normal olympic rules so it's like yeah look by the record book you set the record you did the longest jump no one's gonna jump that far but you got a time penalty you know you didn't tuck your toes at the end and that means that

in the olympics you get nothing you lose so vice versa, it could qualify for the Olympic win. Like let's say there was too much wind to be an official world record, but the Olympics don't care about wind assist. So it still counts for the Olympics, but not for the world record. Yeah, exactly right. Different standards. Yeah. Or the other two competitors never landed this is yes they

just kept going this is funny the other two competitors never landed they just oh no just flying up that happens in a simpsons episode one of them just goes right out of the stadium it happens and they're like well i mean we can't measure, but I feel like they should win. Yeah, no record, didn't land, but that's the gold. One of those three suggestions is exactly right. You've nailed it. Good work, Matt. You got it. They never landed.

Never landed. They hit orbital velocity. I'm going to ask each of you to put your weight behind one of them. Was it that it was a different event and he just happened to beat the long jump as part of that? Was it on some technicality that counted for the world record but didn't give him the win? Or was it that the other two competitors

kept going? Matt, pick one. I reckon, I suspect it's the first one, but I'm going to put my weight behind the second one, the technicality one, just because I figure everyone's going to vote for the first one. I'm going to vote for the first one. I think you don't get a medal for the long jump. You get a medal for the multi-jumps.

Dari? I'm a little disappointed because my initial guess was none of those. And it was that because I know this was a thing at one point, they didn't have gold medals. I was assuming bronze was the highest was the best. But I guess we're going to have to go with one of these other ones. If you vote for they never landed, this question never ends. And Tom is stuck in this episode forever. There was no interesting.

The first the first clue I have on here, on my notes here, is that there was no lack of gold or silver medals. Bronze did mean third. You predicted me. You saw me coming. Yeah, if this were a different show, there'd be klaxons going off now, but this is not that show for both important legal and copyright reasons.

No, and it was an actual part of the real competition. Yeah, the first one just makes so much sense. I feel like I have to go in. Absolutely right. He was competing in the five-event pentathlon with everything taken into account. He came third, but he casually broke the world record along the way.

As you do. However, there was a long jump event at that Olympics and he didn't qualify for it. Oh! He showed them. I mean, he also played American football and baseball, graduated from Georgetown University, tried making it as a Hollywood actor, and then became a dentist in Washington.

So there's a lot of stories in that man's life. So yes, you're absolutely right. He was competing in the five event pentathlon. So despite casually setting the world record in the long jump, Kane third overall got the bronze medal. Which means we turn to Dani for your question. What have you got for us? Happy to read this one out for you.

So, some time ago, you could try to purchase two items from Rotunden, a Danish supermarket. Excuse my pronunciation. I don't know that much Danish. One would cost you the equivalent of $6, while the other cost $150, even though both items were completely identical. Why? Oh, OK. OK, so we're going.

What was this? Where are we buying this from? Some time ago, you could try to purchase two items from Rotunden, a Danish supermarket. One would cost you the equivalent of $6, while the other cost $150, even though they're completely identical. That's the new special Danish offer.

Buy one, get another at an enormously inflated price. Buy one, get one for 90 times the price. That's how they get you yeah yeah okay so both items are completely identical how much was the second one about 150 dollars 150 bucks so you're 25 times more expensive i thank you matt i tried and failed to do that mental arithmetic while also talking. I was like, 90 doesn't sound right. No, it wasn't even close, Matt. It was a complete shot in the dark guess. And I am both grateful and slightly annoyed you called me out on it.

That's my model, yeah. Is that amount important, like the 25 times? I wouldn't have thought so specifically, just that it was greatly more. There's two options here. I would say either these are items where the government heavily subsidizes one of them, like prescription drugs or something. And they're like, the amount you need for your health care is government funded but if you want some more just for fun and giggles you're paying subsidies you're paying full price or the reverse it's something that's like you know rationed so you get the

first one for normal price but you want a second one you're being a little greedy and there's a massive surcharge to suppress people you know taking more than they require was this like start of 2020 by any chance are you thinking uh baby formula or whatever it was that's an australian sorry let's talk about australian politics and chinese uh politics and talk about baby formula shortages. Although I do know there's one Nordic country that gives new mothers just a box of stuff for your baby. But once you have a second baby. Well, I don't know. Maybe you can reuse this.

No, because that doesn't make sense. You'd have twins. I'm assuming you're buying both of these at the same time. Yes, yes, absolutely. So is this to prevent panic buying at the start of the pandemic was that was that the rules they put in i suspect like australia all of denmark's toilet paper comes from one factory in adelaide yeah wait wait that seems extremely specific is there just one toilet paper factory in the whole of Australia?

I think I'm slightly over-exaggerating, but I feel like maybe there's two factories in Adelaide. But no, I like that idea. If it's a rationing thing, right? It's like when they didn't want people overbuying toilet paper or masks or hand sanitizer or something like that, where it's like, everyone's going and buying a million. So that makes sense, right?

Like it's just a rationing effort for stuff. You are indeed bang on if we're looking at when this was. Early 2020. You nailed it. The question very cleverly says some time ago. So you jumped on that. Very well done. It was one of the items that you've suggested?

It was masks. Toilet paper. Hand sanitizer. Baby form? Option number three, it was hand sanitizer. That was my first sign that there was something going on in early 2020, which is literally

I was in London and I had a moment of going, huh, shop sold out of hand sanitizer. That's weird. And that was the first little, you know, if this had been a movie, that would have been the foreshadowing for me. That would have been the moment where there's just stuff going on in the background that I didn't pay attention to. Now, at least hand sanitizer makes sense.

Did you get weird ones that seemed very unusual for a pandemic you would have thought like two minute noodles i was very upset that i couldn't get my two minute noodles you couldn't get flour anywhere near where i yep absolutely true here as well anything in the pasta aisle was pretty much anything that lasts was gone because as soon as one person just goes oh you know what i'll get a couple more bags just to be safe, the entire supply chain falls and it's terrifying. Thank you very much.

Dani, do you want to wrap up the question, please? Absolutely. You're quite right. So fed up with people hoarding hand sanitizer at the height of the pandemic, this supermarket put up a sign saying first bottle of hand sanitizer costs 40 Danish kroner

and all the subsequent ones that you bought, 1,000 Danish kroner. I wonder how they policed that. At some point, someone must have been going in. You know what? Go in. Fake mustaches were also 1,000 Danish kroner. That's how they get you.

Go in, buy some hand sanitiser, come back five minutes later, buy some hand sanitiser, come back five minutes later. I'd like to return these two bottles of hand sanitiser. Tom knows how to game the system. That's the real lateral thinking. Finally then, at the start of the show,

I asked this question. If only more people told the truth, more of them would be sold. What are they? Very quickly, anyone on the panel have some thoughts before I give the audience the answer? Treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. You know what? You know what? That is not on my card, but I will accept that answer.

That is... Wow. I don't like sold in that question because I'm from the UK and that implies a much darker future. But you know what? I will accept that answer. Danny or Matt? I was going to say cans of deodorant. What kind of things do people lie about?

Copies of 1984 that no one has read because they keep pretending they've read it uh the answer is birthday candles if more people are honest about their age for you'll sell a few more candles that is our show thank you very much bill and danny uh please tell the audience where can they find you what do you Yeah, look, we make a show called Escape This Podcast, where we have guests on to play through audio escape rooms that we create, a new one every two weeks. You can check that out at escapethispodcast.com. Why not go back to the start of the year and find the episode that Tom Scott was on,

where he tried to save his friend's ailing farm? And Matt, how about yourself? What have you got going on? I've got a podcast called a problem squared where myself and comedian beck hill solve listeners problems people send in a problem we will solve it and i'm i'm dabbling with this whole youtube thing if you're if you're into math check that out congratulations on the million subscribers there it's uh oh thank you that's our show today. Thank you very much to all our guests. Well done to everyone for surviving that onslaught.

If you want to know more about the show or want to submit an idea for a question, the website is lateralcast.com. You can find us at Lateral Cast basically everywhere. And you can watch the latest video highlights at youtube.com slash lateralcast. Thank you very much to Bill and Danny from Escape This Podcast.

Thank you. Thank you very much to Matt Parker. Yes, thank me. I'm Tomott and this has been lateral see you next time you