Lateral with Tom Scott - 15: Elfrida, dog detective

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

Sabrina Cruz, Melissa Fernandes and Taha Khan from 'Answer in Progress' face questions about baffling bans, Australian emblems, and stamp sales. 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. EDITED BY: The Podcast Studios, Dublin. EDITOR: Julie Hassett. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Eglė Vaškevičiūtė, Samuel, Manfred Paul. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Which component must be fitted to commercial airlines, but cannot legally be used by passengers? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. Today's guests are from Answer in Progress, a YouTube channel all about answering interesting questions like why pizza tastes good, the history of the sourdough cocktail, how to teach an AI to make pasta. I did just realize that I have just taken all your food videos there. Sorry about that. Let's have some introductions because you all know each other for once. This is going to be a little more competitive than the usual videos, I think. Melissa Fernandez. Hello, I'm Melissa, a third of Answer in Progress, and I am scared.

Taha Khan, you were the one who messaged me saying, can we come on the show? Like, why do you want to be on here? Oh, I love every, give me a game show and I'll be on it. I love game shows. I love this show. I'm so excited. And how about Sabrina Cruz? Are you excited as well

or are you just being dragged along behind Taha here? Hey, I'm excited, but also worried for my friendships because I am a very competitive person. Melissa is rightfully scared. Well, there are no points here, no prizes at the end

other than bragging rights, but I somehow have the feeling that's going to be quite important for all three of you. So good luck to you all. The questions here are a bit like that party game where you spin around with your head on top of a broom and get dizzy and try and walk somewhere. What happens in the UK? You don't know that party game. Also what I was thinking.

I don't know that party game. What happens in Tom's house? Look, the scripts for this are just getting increasingly unhinged as time goes on. Okay. And I am dealing with them as best I can. Are you telling me you have never like held up a broom, span around with your head down and then try to walk somewhere? That's never a thing.

That's never a thing. You said that with so much confidence that it would be relatable. Okay. But I can guarantee now. I'm going to finish my script because i've got no other option here which is which is let's see who's gonna stagger down the garden path of uncertainty and who's gonna land in the nearest hedge but you know what we'll we'll just do question one that's that's fine we have already derailed Tom's game show. Your first question then.

Stockholm resident, Elfrida Carlson, worked as a tax inspector. Her job was to locate people who were not paying their taxes for dog ownership. What did she do to track them down? I'll give you that one more time. Stockholm resident,

Elfrida Carlson, worked as a tax inspector. Her job was to locate people who were not paying their taxes for dog ownership. What did she do to track them down? Barked really loudly. Dog treat. Boom. Nailed it.

Nailed it in one. Next question. Next question. We're good. Okay. Here's the thing, Sabrina. You actually did just nail it in one. No! Yes!

What? So, why? Here's the thing, Sabrina. You actually did just nail it in one. No! Yes! What? So, why? What was the plan? Like, yes, it absolutely involved barking. Why? I wasn't supposed to be right. I don't know. Because she speaks dog?

She speaks dog. She was just asking where they were. You've modified the question to Stockholm resident health reader Carlson stands and barks. Why? Okay. Surely because the dogs would

reveal themselves. They would bark back. They wanted to participate in the conversation. So she visited addresses where unlicensed dogs might be present and barked outside the door. And apparently that was enough. She was able to mimic about 20 different types of dog barks. So she practiced.

That's impressive. She also said she was able to estimate the correct age and breed of any dog that replied. Who has a dog encyclopedia in their brain? Yeah, that's incredible. What I'm hearing is dog impersonator got a job as a tax professional. I will say that the reference for this, which I do have in my notes, is a domain that ends in.ru.

So I'm not completely ruling out that this is some badly translated misinformation. But no, this is tagged to an actual reference here. That's amazing. Here's the thing. That was meant to be a five-minute question. So good luck. You ruined it. Here we go.

Oops. All right, so Sabrina, since you started us off so well there, we'll go to you for the first guest question. Each of our guests has brought a question along. As ever, I don't know the question. I definitely don't know the answer. So Sabrina, it's over to you. All right.

The performance artists Marina Abramovic and Ule finish their romantic and work relationship in typically grandiose fashion by walking for 90 days in roughly east and west directions. How and where did they say goodbye? I'm going to say it one more time. Performance artists Marina Abramovic and Ulay finished their romantic and work relationship in typically grandiose fashion by walking for 90 days in roughly east and west directions. How and where did they say goodbye? Wow. I mean, that is a grandiose way to end your relationship. That's a 90-day breakup, which now I say it sounds like a reality show.

It's a sequel to Love is Blind. Yeah. We found divorcing couples and just stuck them together for 90 days on a trip. Love is tired. Love is tired. Love is getting their hundred 100 steps 100 steps 10 000 steps we we have just workshopped a reality show format there so you know let's just copyright that okay the thing that i have questions about here is east and west Oh, did they both go East and West together? Or... I feel like they're both, like...

It doesn't say... Does it say that they started in the same place? Because I think they would start at different places, go East and West and, like, join up. Not join up, meet up. I was thinking they were walking both together, but now thinking about it, like, why... If they're breaking up, do up I was thinking they were walking both together But now thinking about it If they're breaking up

Do they start in the same place and move apart? But then how do they After 90 days How do they meet up? I can say that Taha's going in the right direction Because they did start this journey In different spots Because they have to meet up

Right? They can't it is yeah i i think that the performance art part of it is flawed because they should be moving away from each other symbolically yeah so maybe they that's why they broke up is because they were bad at performance art were they were they walking back and forth somewhere did they have to go in one direction the whole time were Were they like walking, you know what I mean? Like, were they on stage? Were they meeting again on stage?

Were they just walking back and forth on stage? That's a very tedious journey. 90 days pacing. I don't know. Maybe they were practicing for a new project. I've seen worse performance art than that. Is there any part of Earth where you can like walk for 90 days east and west without, like how far do you go in that length of time? Depends how many steps you

plan to take, right? If you figure it's about, yeah, five, six miles a day, maybe. But the thing is like anywhere, east and west, like you could, you could just walk in a line and meet each other. It's like, east and west are literally opposite directions, right? So, like,

this could be anywhere. It's got to be somewhere symbolic, then. Surely. It's got to be a rendezvous point. Is it going to be like the, like,

bridge of love in Amsterdam? Is that a bridge in Amsterdam with the locks? The lock one? Yeah. Yeah, because I think it's worth remembering that they are performance artists.

So, you know, there was some drip and pizzazz. What? Is there a country that's 90 days of walking along? Does anyone have that information in their brain? How much is one day of walking along? That's about six or seven miles, I guess. Like how long can you keep that up for 90 days? Like, yeah, you can do 20 miles in a day if you want to,

but after a while you'll be tired. So let's say, I don't know, six or seven miles, it's maybe 500 miles. It's not like, they didn't do the proclaimers, did they? They didn't walk 500 miles and then walk 500 more. That, I would take back my comment about performance artists. That is what they did. That is epic.

Well, for this journey, it was in a location that they needed to get, like, permission from the country to do this thing. So it wasn't some arbitrary distance. Was it Vatican City? Did they walk Vatican City? Surely you can walk Vatican City in a day. You they walk Vatican City? Surely you can walk Vatican City in a day. You can walk Vatican City

in about 10 minutes, I think. Oh. It was not Vatican City. Oh. You know that old riddle about going north and then east

and then south and then ending up back in the same place or whatever order it is and it turns out you're at the poles. Did they like circumnavigate

the Arctic or the Antarctic or something like that and then both go east and west and then meet back up at the same point and like walked around a circumference i like this the journey was done on foot i will say that the path was a little bit more obvious than just walk in a the direction of a pole all. So they were kind of set on a route. Is it like Lord of the Rings? Did they, like, do the walk to Mordor? I was thinking Great Wall of China, but that's not east-west.

You're making a face. Well, I will confidently say that it wasn't Mordor. But what did you say, Tom? I was thinking Great Wall of China, but that's north-south, isn't it? I mean, the question did say roughly east and west directions. So was it the Great Wall of China? It was. Hey!

Interesting. So where did they meet? The centre of the wall? China. Good answer. Like it. Do I get the point? I want you guys to guess, like, where did they meet? And then how did they meet up? Because like the question did say how and where did they say goodbye?

So we know the location. Now paint me a visual picture. I don't know anything else. Did they scale the walls? What? They met up by physically being in the same place. So that answers your question. Yeah.

They were that couple that put on wingsuits and dove off the Great Wall of China They met up by physically being in the same place. So that answers your question. Yeah. They were that couple that put on wingsuits and dove off the Great Wall of China through the big arch thing I can't remember the name of. I love performance art. Nah, they just walked from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China and then they met in the middle to say goodbye. Aw.

After they met up to say goodbye, did they then have to turn around and go away from each other or did they then be like right okay now we're both going to go to the exit i accidentally have booked ourselves on the same flight back and that's just that's just awkward that's okay so this is interesting because saha you were pointing out how um it seemed like weirdly it seemed like a bad art choice to choose them starting from different locations and meeting in the middle if they were going to break up but the thing is uh in 1988 the original plan was for them to start on opposite ends meet in the middle and then get married but it took them so long to

get permission from the chinese government to do this project that they broke up oh no oh oh no Broke up. Oh no. Oh. Oh no. Yep. That is so sad. That's the reality TV show right there. Walk the Great Wall of China. I think that arguably makes the performance art better. That's just, that's two people who now don't like each other that much. Just coming towards each other.

Oh God. That's two days now. I'm going to have to meet them. And then the proclaimers were in the middle. It was amazing. They were their pace car. The interesting thing is, I think they ended up meeting again

during another performance art piece. I think that Marina, she was, it's like, it's a very viral video. She's sitting at a table and then this dude walks up and then they just start crying and holding hands. And if you don't have any context, it's just like, going on and i think it's because it's like one of the first times they've seen each other since they've had like a very intense relationship their art is

really beautiful i recommend checking it out i retract my previous statement about them being bad at art so these two performance artists uh just start off on opposite ends of the Great Wall, originally expecting to marry, but it took so long to do that they ended up breaking up in the middle. Back to me for this question. Good luck, everyone. Ringo Starr auctioned his copy of the Beatles' White Album for charity in 2015. Apart from it being in his possession, there was a clear way to prove that it was his personal copy of the album. How? One more time.

Ringo Starr auctioned his copy of the Beatles' White Album for charity in 2015. Apart from it being in his possession, there was a clear way to prove that it was his personal copy of the album. How? Okay. I know nothing about the Beatles. Did he write his name on it? Did he label his items like my mum always recommended I do? I mean, he could have done that to end...

Like, he could have bought a copy of the White Album from someone else, shoved a signature on it, gone, yeah, yeah, that's... Sorry, I nearly tried to do a Ringo Starr impression there, and I got as far as, yeah, yeah. I'm just not going to try on that. I'm just, yeah, absolutely my copy. Look, it's got my signature on it. There's something else about that. Is there something about record pressings

that like make it obvious which one's a map, like an original one versus like a future pass? Like maybe there was like a specific error. I imagine it's on vinyl. Yes, it is. It is on vinyl. So if it's on vinyl yes it is it is on vinyl so if it's vinyl each pressing can

potentially be using a different uh material which means like the pressings can be different colors if you had a test press sometimes those have a different label so it could have been like one of the only test presses um or so what it was one of the sort of early samples so not for resale but there were hundreds of those this is particularly valuable because it was very clearly ringos hmm he'd smashed it with a drumstick it was broken it was just impaled that he's the drummer, right? Yeah, I was going to say, is he the drummer? Okay.

Interesting. I forget that we have three people here who are just into the generation where the Beatles are starting to become less relevant. Yeah. I feel like I'm going to get in trouble for this

because I'm British. So, you know. Melissa, what do you think? I'm trying to get in trouble for this because I'm British. So, you know. Melissa, what do you think? I'm trying to think, like, was there some, was there publicly known, like, quirks that he had that he would, like, put on? I mean, Ringo does have a lot of publicly known quirks. I just don't know them.

Is he the only surviving Beatle? No, Paul McCartney's still alive bro i don't know the beetles we're gonna get complaints about this one i know i'm sorry is did he like get no no because it can't be special because it was oh hmm hmm much to think about what things can you do to a vinyl album that makes it uniquely yours you could play it was it was certain songs played a lot so that like the grooves had like changed slightly because that happens not in this case but yes you can wear out a vinyl i think but this is this is not what happened here i uh i think it could have been still factory sealed here. I don't know if it was, but it could have been for this to work.

He took a selfie with it. He said, this is mine. I haven't played it before. It's fully sealed, but it's mine. And somehow the selfie is from 1974. I think the Beatles had broken up by 74. Never mind. He made an NFT out of it.

He made an NFT. He had the receipt. He sold it with the receipt from HMV. Sorry, you don't know the Beatles, but you know HMV? I knew Paul McCartney was still alive. I just don't know anything else. Is he related to the woman that makes the vegetarian sausages? That's Paul McCartney, who was once married to Linda McCartney,

who made the vegetarian sausages. Really? I think that's right. I hope that's true. That's who I care about no Ringo Starr is famous as the drummer

in the Beatles and the British narrator for Thomas the Tank Engine I didn't know that that's yeah I didn't know that either that wasn't a clue

just to be clear that was not a clue oh okay right okay I was so excited yeah I was gonna be like I know that there is this novelty vinyl player, like record player,

which is a little like train with a, like, and you just put it on the vinyl in it and it spins around and it plays music. So I was thinking something to do with that, but no. Beatles fans are going to be shouting this one immediately Because it turns out there is a feature On the cover of the White Album

That makes this easy Just to be clear, the White Album The cover is just white with the Beatles on it It's just known as the White Album Because that's the most distinguishing feature Did he spill tea on it? So it wasn't quite white It was tea coloured

That could still be anyone's tea that's true so just to get things clear this everything about the album was at least at the moment that he first received it was indistinguishable from like other copies sold indistinguishable is not the right word there yeah so distinguishable i mean obviously distinguishable that's how they know it's ring goes like it could have been like something that happened after the fact it had the same features as all the other copies of the white album when it was created yeah well here's the thing you keep keep saying features, and in my head, when you say music and features... No, that's not...

Okay, great. Characteristics. I thought that he just had a version of the album where it's just him playing the drums. Nobody else. Just isolated all the drum tracks. Like, this is Ringo's white album. This is the one that matters.

Yeah, okay. So when it came off the presses, it's the same thing. It's put in the sleeve. Was the sleeve different? The same thing is done to all the copies of the white album. All the vinyl ones. It was numbered.

It was his number. Four or five, whatever Beatle he was. Now, it's interesting you pick him as number four or five there for two reasons. One, he is usually last in the list.

And two, there are only four Beatles. Number five, then. Number one. Number one. You've got it there. He has album copy number one. And all the copies of the White Album, it was designed by pop artist Richard Hamilton. And it was his idea, as a a joke they are all limited edition millions and millions of copies of this album were originally stamped and numbered uh later on they just kind of printed text but they all have an increasing

number of how many copies have been sold and ringo has number one i love that that's awesome it's like a physical version of views You know what I mean? Yeah, it really is Like this album has 10 million views And it's like great Yeah, you're not wrong I don't know how they coordinated all the pressings to make sure You did take something that I was like quite happy with

Which was like the idea of numbers and like limited pressings And labeling your prints And then you turned it into the worst thing Yeah quite happy with, which was like the idea of numbers and like limited pressings and labeling your prints. And then you turned it into the worst thing. Yeah. So yes, Ringo Starr was able to prove that his copy of the White Album was his because he has stamped copy number one. Our next question comes from Taha. So whenever you're ready, let's hear it. Okay. So in 2012, the British art dealer, Jeff Salmon, weird name. No, I can't say that. That's not weird. I can't write someone's name.

We were all thinking it. Jeff Salmon is a character from a sitcom with a really dull life. Anyway. Oh, I thought it was just a fake name. He has a really interesting life. It's just a sitcom about a salmon. Oh, it's a was just a fake name. He has a really interesting life. It's just a sitcom about a salmon. Oh, it's a salmon with a day job. In 2012, the British art dealer Jeff Salmon bought 250,000 pounds of new first and second class postage stamps from the Royal Mail. He didn't use any of them. Why?

I'll say that again. any of them why i'll say that again in 2012 the british art dealer jeff salmon bought 250 000 pounds of new first and second class postage stamps from the royal mail he didn't use any of them why just to be clear what do you mean by pounds ah Ah. Pound sterling. Pound sterling. British currency. Okay. And what do you mean by used? I said he didn't use any of them.

Yeah, but he didn't use them for post, but he's an artist. So did he use them in a work of art? Yeah, did he put them on the wall? He's a British art dealer. He didn't put them on the wall? He's a British art dealer. He didn't put them on the wall. A quarter of a million pounds on stamps. So this is me from knowing that the cost of stamps has gone up a lot. Is this like an investment?

Because the stamps used to be a lot cheaper than they are now. They seem to go up every year. Did he just realise he could sell these in a few years for twice as much as like a stamp dealer all of a sudden? Yeah, you literally actually got it in one. That's exactly what he did. Why do we keep doing this? I know.

It's terrible for your show, Tom. I didn't think anyone would seriously do that. I've had that as a stupid get-rich-quick scheme since I was like 10 years old. Like, oh, the stamps have gone up in price, but they just have

first and second on them. So, oh yeah, you know, I could just buy these and then in a few years... You're telling me someone actually did that? Yeah. I mean, and it was

the British art dealer Jeff Salmon. He stole your 10-year-old get-rich-quick scheme. He got to first. But yeah, he bought them just before the price of postage was about to rise. In 2012, the Royal Mail announced that the price of stamps was going to rise by an average of 35%. And he basically bought them at a lower price when they were still available.

And then when the deadline had passed, he just sold them to businesses at a 10% discount. Everyone makes money. So, you know, if you have... That seems like a massive arbitrage opportunity. Why don't more people do that? This is what 10-year-old me was thinking. Yeah. more people do that this is what this is what 10 year old me was thinking yeah i mean you know if you so you know sabrina if you want to spend your quarter of a million pounds on on british stamps then feel free that's something you can do i'm curious how does like postage work in the uk

because like in canada there's a price and then the postage just represents like 10 cents 50 cents and you put it on what is this first second class we have those but we also have some in hindsight realizing this was a question being asked by the one British person on the team to the people who aren't I should have just kept my mouth shut because that's the key bit of information you need to know to solve this question is that British stamps uh for just the regular first and second class stamps just have first or second on them because it was judged too much hassle that if the price went up you'd have to buy an extra penny stamp and put it on so it was like these will these will always be honored um and i didn't realize that north america didn't do things that

way so that's on me that's yeah that's definitely on me can i ask what a first class stamp gets you tom isn't it true that you can take a first class stamp and you get a first class flight it's true the queen said so it's true queen the queen traditionally when i was a kid it was that a a first class stamp would be like priority service so it would be your letter will arrive next morning and second class was we'll get it there in like maybe two days maybe three days um yeah these days the services between like less people using the post and covid and everything like that it's kind of the services degraded a bit more but it's still like the difference between priority

and this can get there whenever. I'm going to be honest with you. We might do that in North America. I don't find myself sending a lot of packages. I was going to say, I don't remember the last time I sent physical mail to somebody else. For the most part, if I've ever had to mail anything, it's just like you pay online,

you get a little thing that you could tape onto your package and then you just drop it off. I've never interacted with a stamp in years. If he's got any stamps left now from that deal, he has to trade them in because we just switched to stamps with a QR code on them now. So they're still honoring them, but you have to send them in to trade off for the new fancy ones. But yeah, in theory, if you find a stamp from like 1972 with first on it that's never actually been used, you can just put it on a letter and it would still be on it or trade it in for one of the new ones. I'm certain that's the best use of that stamp.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think that the first and second class system is quite whimsical. I think it's great. Hmm? Exp great. Hmm? Expand. Citizens? Okay, not the first and second class stamp system.

There we go, okay. There we go. Mr. Salmon. Mr. Salmon. The smartest fish in the sea. Our next question was sent in by a listener. Thank you very much to Samuel. Adopted in 1912, Australia's coat of arms is supported by a kangaroo on the left and an emu on the right.

Why were these specific local animals chosen to represent the emergent country? I'll say that one more time. Adopted in 1912, Australia's coat of arms is supported by a kangaroo on the left and an emu on the right. Why were these specific local animals chosen to represent the emergent country? I just need to remember what an emu looks like. Isn't it ostrich-esque? Okay,

yes, that's what I thought. It's a bird. Yeah, it's a big, tall bird with a long neck. And it can beat you up as evidenced by the emu war. The emu war. So what I'm thinking is that initially the coat of arms was two kangaroos, but then Australia lost the emu war,

and so they had to honour the emu. How close am I? Thankfully, for once in this show, not close at all. Okay, so it has to be the hit film Kangaroo Jack. This is such a niche guy. Props up the Australian economy and they had to honor it. It was a licensing deal. In 1912.

Yep. The novel of Kangaroo Jack. Okay, so what animals, like why do we put animals on coats of arms? I think in Canada, we've got like narwhals, we've got beavers. I think some places got like unicorns. Is it representative of like culture? What does, to you, what does a unicorn represent culturally? Whimsy.

A land of high fantasy and hope. Alright. Weirdly, I think it's a Scottish coat of arms that has the unicorn on it, so... Ah. Well, in my head, I don't know where else you find emus and kangaroos. Yeah.

So, obviously you would put those on the coat of arms because the British who came over to Australia were like, these are the new ones. These are the Pokemon we haven't seen before. That's true, but that would also be true of the koala, the cassowary. There's a load of other animals they could have picked. Yeah. These are both gigantic.

They're huge. They look cute. I would not want to engage in a fight with these. Yeah, like unassuming, cute, and then... Have you seen a cassowary? No. I don't know what it is. It's basically a very large murder bird.

Imagine an ostrich or an emu, but like vicious. Okay. When you said imagine an ostrich or an emu, but like vicious. Okay. When you said imagine an ostrich or an emu, but like vicious. They're already vicious. In my head, I was like, the emu is vicious. So I just imagined like an emu with a knife. That's basically a cassowary. Like its talons can rip people to shreds.

But why did they put them on there that's the question that is the question that is the question specific to why was it unique is it like is it distinct from the reasons why other countries would put animals on their coats of arms yeah Yeah, there was a definite choice. Were they introduced at the same time? Yeah, they were both put on the coat of arms together in 1912. 1912? Mm-hmm.

That was around World War-y periods, right? Mm-hmm. Were there emus and kangaroos fighting in the war? Not to my knowledge. They got enlisted after fighting in the war. Not to my knowledge. They got enlisted after the Emu War. The Emu War, I've just been told, is 20 years later. So at this point, this predates it. Wow, they were betrayed.

Yeah, this was like part of the diplomacy before the Emu War. Well, it was part of the, it's a little bit early to use the term, but the marketing and branding of this new country is how he described that now. If you were doing the coat of arms now, those are the words you'd use. I imagine in 1912, they used different words for this. So the tourism, maybe.

It's like, look at these really weird animals. Yeah. Look at these weirdo animals. Come and see. Yeah. Come and see. Yeah. Come and see our animals. This is like their TikTok, right? Yes.

Yeah, the 1912 equivalent of TikTok was a coat of arms. Yeah. And they were like, here's five great things to do in Australia. See an English. So find a bird.

The other bit of branding was the motto underneath which at that point was Advance Australia okay that sounds very militaristic yeah I mean

both of these animals seem like very fighting, like combative animals were they just trying to be like we can fight was that why? It is something about how the animals behave, yeah. It's not necessarily fighty, because again, like, cassowary could beat either of them, but it is definitely something about how the animals behave.

Do they jump? Is it, like, the style in which they fight within, like, their own vibe? I don't know if a cassowary can fly, but emus work together, I think. That's how they won the emu war. Maybe kangaroos. They formed a military. We never explain the emu war to anyone. Do we need to?

It happened in the future. It was 1932. Australia went to war against emus and lost. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Tahir, you were really close with what you said a little bit ago. It's how the animals are behaving. And if you see them out in the wild, you would spot this.

Okay. I've never seen... Are they fast? I think... Okay, so the only video I've seen of a kangaroo is when a guy gets in a boxing match with a kangaroo. Which is very funny.

I can't film a kangaroo check. Because the kangaroo will win. Yeah. And then the emu... I think I've seen an emu run and I think they're fast. I know ostriches are fast They're really fast in D&D

That's something they can do What can't they do? Fly I mean I actually don't know But I'm just saying things I mean They can't do taxes A lot of koalas can't fly

Integrals What else can you step up your game emus? What else can't they do? Can they advance? I think that the motto has to be something. They can't help but progress. They can't go backwards. Yes.

That's it, Sabrina. Neither of them can move backwards. If you think about how kangaroos bounce and move, they can't do that backwards. And emus, likewise, they're kind of stuck to going forward. So that was apparently one of the reasons they picked those animals is that both of them are forced to advance. Interesting. And then it became their downfall 20 years later. So, yes, the Australian coat of arms Has the kangaroo and emu on it

Because those are forced to advance And can't go backwards Imagine having to do a three point turn Because you left something in the kitchen You don't need to do a three point turn You're out in the Australian bush You still can't do a three point turn You gotta go backwards in a three point turn, don't you?

Oh yeah This is why Taha is still getting his driving lessons. Roasted! How are you going to put me on blast like that? Roasted! Our last question from our guests comes from Melissa. Whenever you're ready. All right.

A British man performs a service on 10 different occasions for people who are very grateful. However, he is forbidden from doing it an 11th time. What is it? I'll say it again. A British man performs a service on 10 different occasions for people who are very grateful. However, he is forbidden from doing it an 11th time. What is it? A British man. Cutting off one of his own fingers and donating them, because he's only got ten of them. Ten, yeah.

No. She's shaking her head, not perfect. Not that one. Okay. Forbidden for eleventh time. That's what's... Was ten, like, the strict cutoff or was it like at some point

they were like ah don't do it again like did they decide 10 before he even started or was it just after he had done it a couple of times so there's nothing really special about the number 10 but they felt that it that it was like a low enough number was a good idea like that number was a good idea okay so they were just like we've had enough stop please doctor who if only they had if only they had stopped at that hmm what my brain is still like stuck stuck on organ donation or blood donation or something like that. Yeah, me too, because 10 is physically like 10 is fingers and toes.

But 10 is not enough for something like that, because you get people who've donated blood hundreds and hundreds of times. Yeah, I get emails from the local blood donation society, and it's always just we need your blood so i don't think they're trying to cap that off is it phrased that that bluntly yeah their their slogan in canada they have blood.ca and their slogan is it's in you to give the whole reason you have blood that is crazy That is vampire propaganda. It's a great slogan, in my opinion.

I was also going to say a great name for a band, Vampire Propaganda, but that's just Vampire Weekend and I've just got the... It's the cover band. Yeah. Okay. This is a very random guess. I don't think it's gonna be right but is it that the man in question was a king and it was him um granting like making places cities because i know that's something that the the crown can do is they can

walk into a town and be like this is a city now um just a very something that the the crown can do is they can walk into a town and be like this is a city now um just a very random thing that the crown can do but interesting were they just like stop making everywhere a city milton keynes does not need to be a city no that is very not not it that's all right very not it that would be a heck of a way for a monarch to go slightly unhinged though Wouldn't it They're not going to try And dabble in politics

They're not going to Try and you know Abuse them all City But That's a village of ten people City now Yeah

That's your local pub sir City now I will say It's something only a man can do So A man Oh I thought it was like A donation thing

Because they're like, you're filling up the bank, sir. We can't have this. I was trying to stay away from like too much innuendo here, but.

Lean in. Oh, wait, hang on. Wives. Did he have 10 wives? Was it, was it like Henry VIII,

but like more? Where he was like he had his 10th wife and they were like relax. Is this actually like sperm donation? Was there like

too many children from one source? Yeah. No. Yeah. Yep. It is becoming a sperm donor

to an 11th family. You can't do it more than 10 times. Wait. In what year? Now? How do you have that conversation? How do you say enough is enough? So wait, does was he like dropping them off

at the bank or was he hitting up individual families being like, I have an offer for you. Can we just take a moment to appreciate the phrase dropping them off at the bank? Oh, dear. It's like one of those drive-through banks in the US. There's just a pneumatic tube.

I hate everything about this. So this is only vaguely related, but there's a clinic in London, Dean Street, which is like your sexual health clinic, and they have a pneumatic tube system set up there. So you pee in a cup, you put it inside the little pneumatic cylinder in the wall of the bathroom,

off it goes to get tested. And I was in there once, there's a sign that's saying, please ensure you put the sample inside the pneumatic container. And I just feel like there's a story there. There's always a story behind a sign. I don't like that. So, yeah, this is specific to the UK. Interesting. It's very specific to the UK's very specific to the rest of the world so many things the empire is ending

a man can only donate to 10 families and after that someone was just like no so it's any british man it wasn't a specific one where they were like no more of you well interesting the reasoning that they give is so that it would reduce the likelihood of people marrying their siblings ah and it circles back to the royal family. That's a great button. Apparently there is a Dutch musician who had fathered 175 children. That's a lot of children. So in the UK,

donations from a sperm donor can only be used to create 10 families. After that, no more. The last part of the show then, right at the beginning, I asked the audience this question, which was sent in by Manfred Paul. Thank you very much. Which component must be fitted to commercial airliners but cannot be used legally by passengers? Does anyone want to take a guess at that before I give the answer? The whole plane.

The steering wheel. The entirety of the cockpit. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. This is a single component and you will have seen it if you've been on a flight. It is accessible to passengers. Oh. You can't use it, though? The kitchen.

It's there just in case you feel like you need to break the law. The door to open it. Oh. Is it the door? It's not the in case you feel like you need to break the law The door to open it Oh Is it the door? It's not the door Taha? Is it a small hammer? It's an ashtray

All commercial airliners must still have an ashtray in the bathroom Despite the smoke detectors Despite the warnings Because if someone ignores all of that They still need to step out with a cigarette somewhere safe. Interesting. So that is our show. Thank you to all the team from Answer in Progress

for getting questions so very quickly this time. Someone is going to give the plug for what you'll do. Pick one of you. Good luck. Taha, do it. I need to feed the cat. Oh, no. Yeah, we're Answer in Progress.

We are three nerds who ask questions about the world and then document our journey on trying to figure out the answer. So if you've ever wondered why you walk past the building and it looks like it's abandoned, we have a video for that. If you ever wondered what an AI would think of the trolley problem, we have a video for that too. So anything and everything. That's Answer in Progress. And if you want to know more about this show, or you want to send in a question yourself, the website is lateralcast.com. You

can find us at Lateral Cast on pretty much every social platform. And you can find video highlights every week at youtube.com slash lateral cast thank you very much to melissa see ya ta-ta hello and to sabrina who has gone to feed the cat the cat has been fed thank you very much to all you will see you next time Thank you.