Lateral with Tom Scott - 3: Why did 1959's album charts vanish?

Episode Date: October 28, 2022

Jade Tan-Holmes, Corry Will and Luke Cutforth face questions about missing album charts, an evasive painter and a flaw in 'Lord of the Flies'. 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

maple syrup we love you but canada is way more it's poutine mixed with kimchi maple syrup on halo halo montreal style bagels eaten in brandon manitoba here we take the best from one side of the world and mix it with the other and you can shop that whole world right here in our aisles find it all here with more ways to save at Real Canadian Superstore. Why are Swiss army knives red? The answer to that at the end of the show. I'm Tom Scott and this is Lattery. Joining me today are three folks who I've asked to play here because, well, frankly, we've got some good questions to ask

and the show is going to be very boring without them. Jade Tan Holmes from Up and Atom. Hey! You are not Jade Tan Holmes, Luke. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but that was not your cue. I'm not cheering myself, Tom. From Up and Atom, Jade Tan Holmes. Hi, good to be here. From up and at them, Jade Danholmes. Hi, good to be here. From the SciGuys

podcast, we have Corey. Hello. And we have Luke. Hey. There we go. Yeah, on cue. Some people would reshoot that intro. Luke, sorry. We're just gonna keep rolling. I've got some clever questions

here that need unwrapping. Our panel have to remove the layers of mystery one at a time, like some weird game of intellectual pass the parcel, but hopefully with less tears and shouting at the end of it. First question then. This one's from me to you three. Good luck. From your seat, you can see a salt shaker and a sea slug inside a circle.

Why? I'll give you that one more time. From your seat, you can see a salt shaker and a sea slug inside a circle. Why? I hated saying that question. There were so many S's in that question. I'm thinking something to do with a submarine. Why do you say that? Well, because we've got a sea slug for one and a salt, like a salt shaker, you said, right? Yeah. So you're like dry inside somewhere. And then a circle because a submarine window is like a circle.

Oh, this is one of those things where I get to say it's a lovely answer and it's completely a little bit wrong. It's great though. Like something in your head connected that to submarine, possibly just all the S's I along the lines. It's great, though. Like, something in your head connected that to submarine. Possibly just all the S's I had to say. Unfortunately, no, this is on dry land. Oh. Sea slug.

Oh, aquarium. What did you say, Luke? No, I was just owing at the fact that we're on dry land because I hadn't got that. And I wondered why Jade thought we were dry. I guess because of the salt shaker. But it might be empty. Oh, yeah.

Doesn't necessarily need to be. Well, what's the circle made of? Is the circle made of salt? Because you make salt circles to keep ghosts, I guess. You've picked up on these questions very well. That's a good start. Now, the circle, it is a physical circle. That's not a metaphor.

It's not made of salt, but the salt is definitely used within it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's not a standard seat in the way that I would assume it's a seat. In this case, yes, but it's not the only one around. Okay, that made things worse. You have a seat. There are lots of other seats around you, and this one is yours. Like, I'm thinking like an audience, like, seated in the round looking at something.

Yes, absolutely. So would that be the circle? Hmm. Oh, absolutely. So would that be the circle? Hmm. Oh, okay. So people sitting around in a circle, and there's a sea slug and some salt shaper. Is the sea slug a sea slug, or is it a person dressed as a sea slug?

Oh, that's an excellent question, Luke. It is not a literal... You have successfully worked out that some parts of this question are very literal and some aren't. The sea slug is not literally a sea slug. Oh, it's not? So we're watching some kind of play, potentially. A performance, certainly. Like a performance of something like The Tempest or something.

Oh, lovely Shakespearean reference. Wrong part of the world for that. I don't remember the sea slug as a character in The Tempest, but I'm thinking laterally. Wrong part of the world. Is it kind of like a gladiator type scenario? It's competitive, definitely. You've got a big competition.

You've got a big physical competition going on here. A big physical competition. Like a war've got a big competition. You've got a big physical competition going on here. A big physical competition? Like a war? Or like a competition? What is a war but a big physical competition? Oh, we've gone on to philosophy very quickly here. This is making me think of... Do you know those shows that are sort of challenge shows?

Like Takeshi's Castle? Can I say that? Can I reference that? You definitely can for this question. Okay, oh, really? Because, okay, if we're thinking sea slug, I'm thinking, like, do you know the sort of Japanese mascots? I'm thinking that mixed with some kind of Takeshi's Castle-style competition. On your list of Japanese stereotypes,

you've nearly got it the circles the circles about five meters across the circles about five meters across the sea slug wrestling there we go wrestling salt because you you sprinkle salt in the oh there we go why do you sprinkle salt uh to is it not to cleanse the ring yeah purify themselvesify themselves in the arena. The first thing they do, one of the first things sumo wrestlers do traditionally, they throw out salt into the arena. So the salt shaker is literal. Also, there is a sumo wrestler called the salt shaker.

That's his nickname. I love how this does require thinking laterally, but it also requires detailed knowledge of Japanese culture. Well, the sea slug is the nickname of Asahi Fuji. I'm probably mispronouncing or misemphasizing that. Who became Japan's grand champion of sumo at the age of 30. Brilliant. So the sea slug is one of the wrestlers.

The salt shaker is either one of the wrestlers or literally the salt shaker. And the circle is the sumo ring. I see. Wow. Ins wow insane what an introduction you really did get thrown in ironically at the deep end given how dry that question turned out to be from submarine to japanese sumo culture love that yep like i'm just glad that being a weeb finally paid off for me. Now it's time for one of our guests to bring a question. As always, I haven't seen it. I don't know the question. I don't know

the answer. I'm going to be playing along with everyone else. We're going to start with Corey. This one's on you. What's your question, please? Why does a list of number one albums for the official UK music charts have no entry for the year 1959? Because the charts didn't exist yet.

It wasn't soon before that. I think it was the early 50s the charts started, actually, Luke. OK, well, I do happen to know that the charts didn't used to be charts of music. They used to be charts of sheet music. I don't know if that the charts didn't used to be charts of music they used to be charts of sheet music i don't know if that's relevant in any way uh maybe there was a paper shortage i do you know what i'll say that sheet music is somewhat on the right track i i think like tangent very tangentially was there some kind of, like, general strike of musicians? Like, there are screenwriter strikes in Hollywood. Is there a musicians' union?

I feel like there should be a musicians' union. Well, there's, like, Performing Rights Society. That's not really a union, but it's kind of representative of sorts. Actually, yeah, there is. And I'm also thinking, so the charts... I mean, the charts are meaningless these days. This is harsh to the charts i mean the charts are meaningless these days this is this is this is harsh to the charts right i don't think they've really meant much since buying records got replaced with streaming well did you see josh peter's new video in which he um successfully bought his way

into the uk top 40 by just getting like 5 000 downloads on a rubbish song he made oh i'm glad someone's finally done that i've had that idea in my head for ages and I didn't want to be that much of a jerk, but I know Josh has no problem with irritating people. I would be too awkward to pull that off. Wait, Corey, can you say the question again? Yeah, so why does a list of number one albums for the official UK music charts have no entry for the year 1959? Now that's incredible because the charts are every week and so that's 52 weeks where there were no charts so that's particularly wait did you say like did you say albums albums yes oh because though because it was an album it was sheet music already no no okay don't let the sheet music confuse you when i say tangential i mean so incredibly tangential

i probably should not have mentioned it so this is what i've had to learn over the last few episodes jade jade was it you who's or is it tom who said um everyone and said um did you say albums well i was just wondering like uh is it is it always an album that needs to be on the list no there's there are songs in the uk top 40 maybe it was a single is it always an album that needs to be on the list no there's there are songs in the uk top 40 maybe it was a single or it was an instrumental and that's what he meant by sheet music i'm wondering what about the sheet music thing i feel so bad about the sheet music thing like it's so unrelated it's unrelated so it's it is definitely about albums and the albums were were bought and sold entirely normally throughout that entire time.

Corey, were there any entries for the year 1958? Yes. So, there are a number of albums that were listed for both 1958 and 1960. It's just 1959. For the entire year? Yeah, so on this list of number one albums, for the entire year, so on so on this list of number one albums for the entire year there is no entry for 1959 cory thinking laterally here as is the assignment um were there chart recordings for albums in the year 1959 they're just not on the list that you have yeah absolutely so so okay the albums were compiled entirely normally during 1959 it's just on this list of number one albums for the official uk album charts there is no entry

for 1959 was the album controversial no no it's it's the album was not controversial at all none of well none of the none of the number one albums for that year were controversial at all. So there should have been a set of results every week, right? There should have been an album chart. Is this like best album of 1959? It was recorded normally every single week, yeah. So it's not just one album for the entire year. There would have been 52 separate times that it was recorded.

Does anyone know anything significant that happened in 1959? I don't know. Let me run through the entire lyrics of We Didn't Start the Fire. It'll be in there somewhere. One of the verses is 59. Is it like when you have a magazine? This dates me. When you used to buy magazines in actual shops, and you would, like, November's magazine would be on sale from, like, October the 5th, because they wanted to make it last for as long as possible, and look as

I wanted to have as long a shelf life as possible. And, like, they just decided that the 1959 albums were in – that was stupid as soon as I started it. It wasn't stupid. I think I was thinking something similar,

that maybe it's written across some pieces of paper or something and I don't know when the cutting got cut out or something. So what I say is to do with the way that the list is written. I mean more in the way that entries for the list are made, rather than literally what it's written on. And if it was an annual chart and they decided to slip by one or something like that, that would make sense. Like you had a 1958 chart and then decide to like slip by one or something like that that would make sense like

you had a 1958 chart and then they were like oh that's that's actually turns out that's actually for 1957 because we compiled them at the end of the year or something like that but they sort of slipped by a few days and missed a year or something like that it's that's i would say that's almost on the right track it's it in a similar, a similar vein to the actual reason. I can give you another, another hint, but this might really, really give it away. I mean, at this point, like, unless, Jade, have you got anything? I'm so lost right now. I'm thinking like, is it to do with computers or typewriters or handwritten?

Like, I'm pretty lost. Okay, so I'll just i'll do the question again and i'll add a little sort of hint into it so on a list of number one albums for the official uk music charts there is no entry for the year 1959 and that has to do with the way that they write the list and when they decide to add new entries onto that list. Oh, were there no... Were there only 1958 albums popular in 1950? Like, did no one release any good music in 1959?

And so they just... There were too many good albums? The exact opposite of that. Every single one was a draw. Every single one was a draw. Connect the dots. Just connect the dots. This is... No good music was sold in 1959.

The exact opposite of all of the albums were good is that none of the albums were good Is that none of the albums were good There was one good album In that for the entirety of the year There was only one album That was number one on that chart And it came into the charts It came to number one on the charts

In the year 1958 So since there were no new albums That were number one for 1959 There was no entry for 1959 Oh, so there had were no new albums that were number one for 1959 there was no entry for 1959 oh so there had to be new albums because it was just number one for like 60 weeks starting at the end of 1958 and ending at the start of 1960 yeah so the soundtrack to the musical south pacific was number one for that entire year it came in yeah it came in on there just wasn't any other number one no it came in on november 2nd 1958 and then it was knocked off on march 6th 1960 so for that entire year then a

couple months there was no new album at number one so there were new albums they went into the charts they just didn't make it to number one so you. So you can't put a definition of number one album in there because it was number one from 1958 on. Oh, 50, 60 weeks of the same album at number one. People just kept buying that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was because it was from a really popular musical. So everyone just really loved it.

But it's also up against every album ever so I think that does qualify for there was no very good music in 1959 see I was thinking that there was just one such a good piece of music that everything else just paled in comparison you know well that's the optimistic way of looking at it

so there was only one particular album the soundtrack to South Pacific, that was number one for the entirety of the year 1959. So you couldn't add a new entry to that list because there was no new entry for 1959. Right, the next question is from me. Good luck. In 2019, people who were looking to improve their drinking habits went to a section of an Asda supermarket in Britain. However, around a third of the people who went were confused, or at best, amused, when they saw this sign.

What was on the sign? I'll give you that again. In 2019, people who were looking to improve their drinking habits went to a section of an Asda supermarket in Britain. However, about a third of people were confused, or at best amused, when they saw this sign. What was on the sign? So first, can I ask, what is an Asda shop?

They are owned by Walmart. So it's like a Walmart, okay. It is a big box supermarket store. And I'm going to apologise, This is quite a British question. So you may be at a disadvantage here, Jade. Sorry about that. That's OK. So I'm guessing from what you've said that, OK, you've said separately,

people who are looking to improve their alcohol habit go to this area, but one third are disappointed or find it funny. So there's something about the sign that can be misconstrued, which means that about a third of the people who go towards that sign aren't actually intending to reduce their alcohol intake um but they were intending to get something else so i find it i find this fascinating you've picked up i said improve their drinking habits and you have translated that to reduce their alcohol intake and here here's the thing. It's absolutely correct. You just steamrolled over a whole load of red herrings that we put in that question. Okay.

Also, I'm not sure steamrolling over red herrings is a good metaphor, but you know what? We'll stick with it. So people that wanted to improve their drinking habits, they went to Asda and they saw a sign that was amusing or confusing. For about a third of the people there. Okay, was it something like it said free alcohol rather than alcohol free? Again, Luke, you've just got it.

So. What? Yeah. No, you're steamrolling through this question. It's excellent. You've missed one bit. What? Wow! No, you're steamrolling through this question. It's excellent. You've missed one bit. And there's one bit in here that we've carefully elided in the question here.

When I said it was an Asda supermarket in Britain. You're even right about the words they mixed up. Alcohol free. Instead it was free alcohol. Was it in Wales? And that's the game! Sorry, Jade. Well done.

There was one British person making just incredible deductions there. It was fun to see those deductions. I was like, wow, he's on the ball, this guy. Just straight through, this was, I'm going to mispronounce this. Apologies to any Welsh listeners. I have it as alcohol amthym Which is alcohol free

Literally it means alcohol free It's not free of alcohol The alcohol is just free So is this like a translation error When you see a Chinese shop With a sign that says Translation server not available Well that's actually happened in

wales for road signs as well oh my god are you telling me they put road signs through google translate and that's how they make them uh it actually said i am not in the office at the moment please send any work to be translated uh in welsh because they'd sent the message they'd got the reply they'd put the reply on the sign. It's fine. But wait, if it was in Wales, why were one third of people confused? Because only about one third of people in Wales speak Welsh.

Oh, okay. Brilliant. I see, I see. Or certainly in that region of Wales, because I know someone's going to call me out on the statistics on that one. Yeah, I mean, I got nothing to add on that. We have hit every single note on that question very quickly.

It was a sign in a Welsh supermarket that said free alcohol instead of alcohol free. Which means we roll on to Jade's question. Jade, what have you brought in the lord of the flies by william golding the gang of boys on a faraway island start a fire what's the problem with this scene in the lord of the flies by william golding the gang of boys on a faraway island start a fire what's the problem with this scene okay so i have not seen or read The Lord of the Flies, but I have seen the Simpsons episode Dazbus, in which in which

they use Milhouse's glasses to start a fire. This is like saying, I've not seen Hamlet, but I have seen Toy Story. Actually, it would be The Lion King, which is also Hamlet. I was going to put you on that as well.

I absolutely was. I'm sorry. And I also haven't read Hamlet, but I have seen The Lion King. Toy Story is, of course, based on Titus Andronicus. So I can't say stuff like that because audio listeners will be like, oh, yeah, no, that makes it. No, that was absolutely just, I made that up. That was a lie.

You sounded confident. That's the problem. I've got a British accent and i sound confident it just you can get away with 10 years of being an authority on stuff tom it's not gonna you can't it's not gonna wane away like that is it i'm not gonna lie tom i did believe you when you said that i was clearly sitting there like yeah i believed you as well i believed you i was like of tom of course Tom knows this. With great accent comes great responsibility. Anyway, Corey, you were actually on a really good track. I'm worried I might actually have it.

I'm worried I might have figured this out. Oh, okay. Well, so here's what happens in this case. Corey, if you want to take that gamble, you just step out of this question. If you've got pen and paper, write it down. We'll take your word for it if not. And step out and let the two people

who do not have the classic literature thing here, we're going to try and work this out, Luke. The classic literature thing. The episode of The Simpsons that Corrie has seen. So it's got to be something wrong with the way they made the fire presumably because i wouldn't like i wouldn't be like fire is impossible to make on an island because i'm assuming fire they they made the fire right it's not like they made uh they couldn't have

made the fire i wonder if it's something to do with like humidity like you wouldn't whatever method you're using like rubbing sticks together or like however you might start a fire wouldn't work in the area of the world that lord of the flies is set because it's very humid um no okay we might keep bouncing that back and forth for a little while but uh yeah all right it has nothing to do with where they are in the world all right okay i guess the fire making technique wouldn't work or something like that yeah i guess you're on the right track so i know how do you how do you how do you make a fire luke i've got no outdoors ability you get a magnifying glass and you focus it on an ant that got very speaking from experience look you're vegan are

you not i haven't always been vegan um no i mean i actually haven't ever done that but i don't know if that works so that might be a line of questioning you like you rub two sticks together did they like not have wood on the island did the author like forget that there weren't any trees on the island and then the author, like, forget that there weren't any trees on the island and then just describe them rubbing sticks together? Well, apparently it's not based on where they are. Oh, yeah. And there definitely are trees from my GCSE memory of Lord of the Flies.

Wait, you've actually studied? Okay, I haven't. Oh, good, okay. I mean, I say I've studied. You've got no excuse. Well, I've blocked most of school out of my head to be honest um well that's a damning indictment isn't it you said i've blocked most of school out and two of the other people in here went yeah that's fair um so okay are we on the

right track jabe with the idea of like a magnifying glass or kind of focusing light on a point to create a fire? Yes, that is definitely on the right track. OK, well, does that just not work? It does work. Wait, aren't the kids' glasses broken earlier? Isn't that a plot point? Or am I confusing that with the Twilight Zone? I might be confusing that with the Twilight Zone. An episode which I haven't seen, but also know about from The Simpsons, by the way. Just putting that one out there.

So a magnifying glass would work. But a pair of glasses would not. Unless they were so extreme in their magnification, which nobody wears. I mean... As in nobody wears magnifying glasses on their face. There's different reasons that people wear glasses. Okay.

One of them is short-sighted and they need to be long-sighted, or one of them is long-sighted and they need to be short-sighted. Yes. Yay! I was nowhere near that. Curry, did you get it? I'll just read out my notes verbatim. It says short sight glasses are

Concave not convex Concave can't focus light that way I might have got concave and convex The wrong way around but the glasses can't focus Light if you're short sighted That's it that's the one Nicely done did you get that From the Simpsons

No in the Simpsons they use it like Flint to make sparks So the Simpsons fixed that use it like flint to make sparks. So The Simpsons fixed that problem, you know? They used Milhouse's glasses and they just used it like flint? Yeah, to make sparks and light a fire. That's a Simpsons gag. That's 100% a Simpsons gag.

The problem with the scene was that Piggy was short-sighted, so his strongly diverging lenses wouldn't focus light. So we go back to me for the next question. Good luck, folks. On Sunday, June the 6th, 1841, the famous English painter J.M.W. Turner rode a boat into the Thames and stayed there overnight. Why? I'll give you that one more time. On Sunday, June the 6th, 1841, the famous English painter, J.M.W. Turner, rode a boat into the Thames and stayed there overnight. Why?

I was just going to say he lost his pencil in the water. Someone dumped his entire art supplies just out into the Thames and he's just fishing for brushes and pencils. So when you say he stayed there overnight, he chose to stay there and just sort of sat there. Yeah. Okay. So something must have been happening to the Thames.

Was like the level was changing or something like that? Or it froze. Wait, no, this is in June. Never mind. And the 40s, never mind. I'm not sure Frost Fairs was still a thing by 1841, but I think the Frost Fairs were done by then. Okay, okay.

Was he painting? And he could only get a good view of what he wanted to paint at the time or something. Was this around the time of the Great Fire of London? You are roughly two centuries too late for that, unfortunately. Or fortunately, depending on how you think of it. Fortunately for him, are roughly two centuries too late for that unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you think of it fortunately for him yes centuries too late well i don't know if you're in the middle of the thames yeah that's true uh it is actually not to do with painting he was he was a famous painter that's probably why the story survived but that's not why he was there why would someone take a boat out into the middle of the Thames to stay there?

Probably some kind of like ritual or something. So this is again another thing that I don't know Britain. There's no fish in the Thames, right? If there are, they're not very healthy. Certainly not in 1841. There was once a whale in the Thames actually, Jade. Oh, wow. Very lost, but yes.

Was it in 1841? Perhaps this is related. Was he whaling? Yeah. You did say he took a boat, right? Yes. He's in a boat in the middle of the Thames. And you would have to assume he dropped an anchor or something like that,

so he could just make sure he was there for the whole night. And he was only there for one night. He went back in the following day. Yeah, he was just there overnight. Okay, so I guess we are, at the moment, we're proceeding down the idea that he's on the Thames for a thing. But what if he's actually getting away from something on the land? Oh.

Which is where my, like, Great Fire of London line of questioning was going, but clearly I did not listen in history. I don't know anything about history, so I have no idea what was happening in 1841. You're absolutely right that he was trying to avoid something. And ritual's the wrong word, but it's vaguely along those lines. It's something that happens on a regular basis

and still happens occasionally to this day. Like a holiday. Is it something to do with having to go to church it's an obligation certainly a wedding he was running away from his wedding oh i love that story was it conscription to the army it was not that big an obligation like if it was conscription they would he'd have had to stay out there for a long, long time. This was just... Yeah, he's like, oh, dodged conscription.

Maybe they were more lax in 1841, I don't know. Just swept through that area with the press gang for the Navy and just, no, not here to... Oh, right, well, guess we're never coming back to London. No, in this case, he was absolutely trying to avoid something and it was just on that night. Someone's birthday? Maybe his mum's birthday?

It's an obligation that everyone had that night. On the 6th of June? 6th of June, 1841. Is it something to do with royalty, maybe? No. No, there aren't any mass obligations for royalty. Never mind. There aren't any mass obligations for royalty never mind there aren't any obligations

for no um sorry it's like it's like republican uh republican jokes coming in here oh my gosh so this is uh again a somewhat british question um this has happened every 10 years for a long time. And the last one was last year, 2021. A census? Is it the census? Yes. Yes, absolutely right. Wow.

Oh, okay. It was a protest against the census. He didn't want to be counted. So he rode out into the middle of the Thames so he couldn't be counted as staying anywhere. I feel like if you see a bloke in the middle of the Thames so he couldn't be counted as staying anywhere. I feel like if you see a bloke in the middle of the Thames, he's actually quite easy to count. He's spotted right there.

Yeah. There he is out there. One. For bonus points that we just don't have, 1911, someone tried the opposite. Does anyone know that story? They definitely wanted to be counted in the census.

Oh, did they not go to multiple different houses to be counted multiple times? I feel like I've heard this story somewhere, or a story like this somewhere. She was counted twice. The she is kind of important there as well. Oh, was she counted as her

maiden name and her married name? No, this was Emily Davison, the suffragette in 1911. Oh. Who snuck into the Houses of Parliament so that she could put down on the census that that was where she was on the night of the census in 1911. People have very strong opinions about the census, I'm learning. Yes, apparently so. I mean, I'm assuming there's an Australian one as well, but... Yeah, we have one.

Nothing so dramatic as the British stories, though. I mean, we just had a load of people putting their religion down as Jedi, so... Yeah. Tom, actually, as a practicing Jedi myself I find that incredibly I'm terribly sorry may the force be with you who is one a practicing Jedi because I'm not very good at it yet Luke

yes JMW Turner was trying to avoid the census by rowing into the middle of Thames on the night of June 6th, 1841. And he did avoid the census, but he did not avoid that story, putting him in the middle of Thames in 1841 on a podcast 100 and something years later.

Very much on the record. Yeah. Luke, the last guest question of the show is yours. ahead okay this is what i got for you so a phd student got two tattoos one in the middle of each inner forearm they were circles of different sizes why uh i'm gonna guess when you put them together, they make an eight. So which PhD? I'm immediately trying to work out if this is like a physics thing. And then I remember I didn't really do physics.

So like, because I remember going into physics exams and trying to remember what the left hand and right hand rules were. And thinking that that's an aid memoir you take in. But like, I feel like you can't cheat by getting things tattooed on you in an exam. Also for a PhD, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And also just like two circles as well.

Like how much is that going to tell you? Yeah, there's not a lot of information. What information is there in a circle, though? I mean, the radius and the diameter. I mean, there's pi, but that's in every circle, no matter its size. Luke, could you just give us the question again, quickly? Okay, yes, it was. A PhD student got two tattoos, one on the middle of each forearm.

They were circles of different sizes. Why? I don't know why my brain went to the elbow, which would just be a really painful tattoo. So it's kind of there and there. Yeah, yeah. I would, yeah. So I will give you that it is not

on the elbows. It's sort of on the forearm, on the soft side of the forearm. Where you can feel your veins. So you can look at it then? So you can look at it. Yes. And they were just circles.

Circle isn't like something else. It was just circles, yes. Literally circles. Corrie, you'd said so she could look at it, but her looking at it was not the purpose of it. Right. Someone else looking at it. Or comparing them against something.

I realise that I may have sent it the wrong direction because i said phd uh so i i heard phd and just went oh there must be a physicist putting formulas down we don't even this could be a liberal arts phd for all we know good yeah you're totally right oh well but wait tom you've said you said um something about the sizes but we we've we've got the the only difference between them is the size and then tom you just said comparing maybe it's to compare the size of two different circles as in to use as a reference for like real world circles hold on wait i'm sorry yes when i say two different circles i mean two different circles in the real world oh okay we're all kind of holding our arms up now so yes hold your arms up and imagine you can see i was gonna say i wanted to guess maybe like a medical phd

and she's um circling some important place in the vein or something like that i mean people do get tattoos sometimes on things that are about to be amputated they're like oh it goes here like the needle goes here are we talking like big circles little circles do we know what what size these things are well uh they are two different sizes uh i would say one is little relative to the arm and one is fairly big relative to the arm so So maybe like you said, Jade, they're comparing it to something in the real world. Is it a physics degree? Or have we just made that up?

I will give you that it is relevant to physics. Okay, I'm going to say the Earth and the Moon. Oh, well, oh, well, that's, yeah, Jade, you got it. Oh, oh, wow. I was going to say the Earth and the moon oh well oh well that's yeah jade you got it oh oh wow i was gonna say the earth and the moon because people are really surprised at how far away they actually are from each other so maybe it was kind of like well when she held out her arms um it was like the exact distance from the earth to the moon relative to their sizes jade you've absolutely nailed it oh absolutely nailed it that's such a good tattoo idea it is pretty good right then you can show people hey this is actually how far away they are isn't that amazing that's amazing that is so cool so yes the sizes the size difference

between the two circles is the relative size between the earth and the moon and exactly like you say when you hold your arms out aside from each other that is the relative positions of the earth and the moon so you nailed it jade one last bit of business before we're done then at the very start of the show i gave the audience a question which was why are swiss army knives red very quickly for the panel does anyone know this one or have any guesses? To hide the blood. That's exactly what I was thinking, Luke. What did you say, Jay?

I said something to do with the flag, but they weren't invented in Switzerland, right? It's not just... I mean, it is partly, I think, a patriotic link to Switzerland. They could have picked a few colours for this, but it's not just that. Is it to fit the uniform, if it's a Swiss army knife? Is that silly? I don't think the Swiss army have big red uniforms. That would be dreadful camouflage. Is it so it's easy to find?

Because red is quite eye-catching. You're on the right lines. Good to find in what sort of... In the dark. Not quite sure that's how colour works. No. Oh, on grass. Nearly.

It's Switzerland. On ice. In the snow. On ice, yes. You're both right. Jade, Corrie, you both got that. Yay! Swiss army knives are red,

so you can find them in the snow. So that is our show. Jade, let's start with you. What have you got going on? Where can people find you? Yeah, so I run a YouTube channel called Up and Atom. We talk about math, physics and computer science. And you can just find me on YouTube at Up and Atom.

Corey, go. I'm Corey. You can find me at NotCoreyEverywhere or you can check out my podcast with Luke, SciGuys, at SciguysPodEverywhere. Which brings us to Luke. And I am Luke. Yes, I do the podcast Syguys with Corey.

You can also find me at Luke Cutforth, and you can watch my first feature film, if you like, called The Drowning of Arthur Braxton. Hey, congratulations. Thank you. How long has it been? It's been six years. You're really stabbing that Swiss Army knife in there.

Yeah, I couldn't resist the joke. Sorry. Just twisting it. Oh, Lord. It wasn't red enough. First time I met you, you were talking about it. That's partly sarcasm and partly I'm just really proud to actually see it out and winning awards. Seriously, congratulations, man.

Thank you. That is our show for today. Congratulations to all of you. If you want to know more about the show or you want to submit an idea for a question, it's lateralcast.com. We are Lateral Cast pretty much everywhere. And you can catch video highlights at youtube.com slash lateralcast. Thank you very much to Jade Tan Holmes. Thanks, Tom.

To Corey Will. Thank you. To Luke Cutforth. Thank you. I'm Tom Scott, and this has been Lateral. you very much to jay tan homes thanks tom to curry will thank you to luke cutforth thank you i'm tom scott and this has been lateral