Lateral with Tom Scott - 6: Solve a 13th Century murder!

Episode Date: November 18, 2022

Trace Dominguez, Nahre Sol and Jordan Harrod face questions about profitable collisions, familiar flags, and knotty problems. 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. In which 1972 film does an elderly man go to sleep in Hollywood but wake up next to cartoon? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott

and this is Lateral. The guests on Lateral are drafted at random from a computer database of eligible adults aged 18 or over, today serving their civic duty in the name of panel games. It's the turn of, from his own YouTube channel and from the theory of awesome now streaming, it is Trace Dominguez. Hello.

Musician, composer, pianist and YouTuber, Nare Sol. Hello. Hi. And working on her PhD in medical engineering and medical physics and casually running a YouTube channel on AI as well, Jordan Harrod. Hi, I'm very curious about this algorithm that randomly selected us now. I'll be honest, the introduction scripts just keep getting more unhinged the longer this series goes on, and I'm just, I'm here for it, frankly. Today's guests are here to work their way around a range of tricky riddles and puzzles. Think of it as soft play for the mind, but with less vomit and somehow more tantrums.

We start with this question. Good luck. A real 13th century mystery. A body is found in a rice field with the throat cut. Many field workers own sharp tools. When asked to lay down their scythes, which all looked identical, the murderer soon knew that the game was up. Why? I'll give you that one more time. A real 13th century mystery. A body is found in a rice field with the throat cut. Many field workers owned sharp tools. When asked to lay down their sides, which all looked identical, the murderer soon knew the game was up.

Why? Full marks to Trace, who has clearly brought a pen and paper and is quietly making notes as that question went on. That's a good idea. I wish I'd done that.

I was like, okay, got it. 13th century, throat cut. You know know just the important details yeah we are starting with with quite a grisly question here to start the episode is someone missing a scythe scythe i don't know how that word's pronounced i'm guessing at this point i'm to be it may well be scythe or scythe, and it occurs to me I didn't actually know that. I don't know either, but I know what they look like.

They're like the big, long thing with the blade. The thing the Grim Reaper holds. Yeah, the thing you used to slash through the fields and forests and whatnot when you're on an adventure in Lord of the Rings, I guess. Yeah. Can we ask for clues? You can. I'm probably not going to give them this early though i'm trying to think of like why the why would it if you laid down your

tools why would the that give it away and they're all identical if they're all identical i mean my first thought is like one has blood on it actually Actually, my first question is, do they all have blood on them? Do any of them have blood on them? Because scythes are for cutting like grass. Or you can see how sharp it is. You can see how sharp a tool is. Was one person missing a scythe? It does say in the question, they did all look identical.

Yeah, yeah. So we can assume did all look identical. Yeah, yeah. So we can assume they all look identically sharp as well. Maybe it has to do with how they flipped it? Everybody has one. Nobody threw away the murder weapon or anything. Well, that was my thought. Like, ten guys put down their scythes, and then there's the 11th person who's just like,

Oh, my scythe disappeared into the river. Oh, sorry. My dog ate my scythe and then there's the 11th person who's just like oh my scythe uh disappeared into the river oh i'm sorry my dog ate my scythe sorry i see i watch a lot of content that comments on body language so i'm just thinking maybe it has nothing to do with the scythe but the way that someone is reacting physically scythes are typically used for like cutting long, like grasses and stuff like wheat. I don't know if that's helpful. I just wanted to express that I know something about sides. That's how the show works.

You come out with a fact about sides and someone else uses that to solve the mystery. Absolutely. And it's in the field. Yeah. there is nothing suspicious with the naked eye here i feel like that in and of itself is probably suspicious yeah like everything's fine everything's fine but that guy's dead sorry guy that's also fine i guess there's nothing suspicious okay let me rephrase that there's nothing suspicious with the sides with the naked eye there is still a guy with his throat cut yeah okay sure that's pretty suspicious it has to do

with the height of the people oh interesting because it depends on how tall you are or how big you are what you can do with that scythe, right? Maybe the guy with the throat cut is really tall. The really short people couldn't reach. It is definitely something to do with the scythes. Okay. With the scythes. Even though they look identical.

They all look the same. One smells different. That's what it is. One smells like blood. They look the same one smells different that's what it is one smells like blood they look the same now they wait what what oh really one smells different okay one smells like pennies wow one is warmer one is warmer because they just used it. Oh, one is wet. Or colder. So the reference that I have on my notes for this is that this is from Val McDermid's book Forensics. So you are very close with smell,

but no one's going up and going at each side, but there's an effect happening there. So something in the side is reacting to the blood that got on it that's my first that's my thought you know like it's rusting how long has it been last yeah yeah like did they the guy's been dead for several days oh the one that was used to murder the man or the person does not smell like grass. And the others do. So this is not something that...

Let's assume we have our 13th century Hercule Poirot here. He's not quite reacting to the smell of it himself. There's one more step involved in solving the mystery. There's a dog. There's a dog nearby. Or an animal of some kind. Flies. Flies are hovering over him.

Nare's got it. Absolutely right. Even though it had been cleaned, it started to attract swarms of flies that could smell just a trace of blood. So goes the story, as handed down from the 13th century. How much of that is true, how much of that is a fable, I don't know. But yes, you absolutely got that right. That's cool.

That brings up such a specific visual and sensual image. It's pretty morbid. Sensual. Sensually, I know. I don't know. Oh man, I can't think what the word of that should be. Yeah. I mean, either way, we're not shaming.

Sensual, right? I mean, I don't know. The senses. Yeah, of the senses would be sensual. I've just got a note through from the producer with the word evocative, which is apparently what we should be using for that. Oh, got it. Very evocative.

Disturbingly evocative. Just to avoid sensual and death. We don't really want those in the same thing. So, yeah, this is a story told as true that is given as the first example of forensics solving a crime. The murder weapon attracted swarms of flies that could still detect a trace of blood. Now the tables are turned.

One of our guests is going to take over as host. As always, I do not know the question. I do not know the answer. I have as much clue as the other two people here. So we're going to start with Jordan. What question do you have for us, please? All right. So I have a question for all of you. My question is, Michelle Knopp bought a secondhand car for $300. A few days later, after a 164 mile per hour collision, she was able to sell the damaged car for $25,000 and make a further $50,000 on top. How? I'll repeat the question.

Michelle Knapp bought a secondhand car for $300. A few days later, after a 164 mile per hour collision, she was able to sell the damaged car for $25,000 and make a further $50,000 on top. How? Wow. I mean. She's going really fast. That's really fast. Does that have to, maybe, maybe the fact that the car can go that fast raise its value?

I mean, it might be like a joint speed, but even like if you're going 82 and the other person's going 82, that's a lethal speed. Yeah, that's really fast. Also, what kind of secondhand car for $300 goes 164 miles an hour? I wonder if it's like for a movie, you know? for a movie, you know? Like, you got, you know what I mean? Like, what kind of car appreciates in value from $300 to thousands of dollars after one event? It's got to be a thing that happened with the car.

Like, the car crashed into somebody. Maybe not a person. This is the car that hit Elvis. Right. At 164 miles an hour. That's not how Elvis went, but. I don't think so. So you're on the right track with an event that happened with the car so the crash the event is so significant to raise the value well one thing I've learned doing this is the questions are are very carefully phrased

and that said after a 164 mile an hour collision i'm not certain that the car would have been involved in that collision just just checking interesting but 25 000 like 25 000 and then a further 50 000 do you sell it is that a lawsuit and a settlement or is that like a collector buying a chunk of metal that used to be a car? And then how would you get the further 50,000? Did you like sell tickets to go see the car that you crashed? Or the collision that was nearby potentially as well? It doesn't say the car was involved, as you say.

You could sell tickets to see the collision. They used to do that for trains in the old west. There was like several times when you could pay and two old locomotives would just get smashed into each other and that was a ticket event. People got hurt by flying shrapnel. And all the Victorians

would just go, oh my. No, this was old American west. This was like cowboy hats and yeehaws. Yeah, more yee-hoos then yee-haw and you still have to pay the 20 ticket master fee but it is it is just literally it's a guy in a hat who calls himself the ticket master maybe something in the car that's not the car itself, maybe some part of it increased in value because of the collision?

The engine or some mechanism? She just found a brick of cocaine that was being smuggled somewhere. And then even more cocaine. Yeah, they crashed it and then a bunch of cocaine fell out of it. Yeah. I feel like we should ask if the crash was deliberate. Like, was this a thing that was meant to do it? Or was she just driving at 164 and happened to come off a wall?

The crash was not deliberate. Uh-huh. Well, that rules out a load of my theories. Like, it's not for a movie. It's not for a... Right, same. Hmm. So it's a secondhand car.

It was 300 bucks. It was involved in a collision. Accidental. And now it's worth... hand car it was 300 bucks it was involved in a collision accident now it's worth yeah an accidental collision and now it's worth money so it must have been something about the collision like it collided into something it collided uh into a plane it collided into what else goes what if it fell out of a plane? No, it would go faster than that. Wouldn't it? What's the terminal velocity of a second-hand car? Give us a hint, please.

She was at home when the collision happened. She was at home. So she wasn't driving. She bought a car. Oh, I think I got it. So she bought a car. Someone ran into the car at 164 miles an hour oh but she was at home and the car was in her driveway and then when she got hit uh

i think i think the terminal velocity thing it was a meteor hit it that's what i'm thinking a toilet that when the toilet things like when they fall out of the plane A meteor hit it. That's what I'm thinking. A toilet. The toilet things, like when they fall out of the plane. A meteor hit it. A meteor hit it! Yes! Ah! Oh, wow.

Look at that. That's so interesting. Because that makes the car valuable, because it's the car that got hit by a meteor, so that's going to a science museum somewhere. And then, presumably, this is America, so she gets to sell the meteor. Yep. That's awesome. In 1922, a 26-pound meteorite fell in Peekskill, New York, breaking through the rear corner of the car. Both the damaged Chevy Malibu car and the meteorite itself were sold for large sums

to interested collectors. That's a heck of a lottery to win, isn't it? Wow. A $300 Chevy Malibu. Like, that's a really low-level Chevy Malibu. What's the probability of a lottery to win, isn't it? Wow. A $300 Chevy Malibu. Like, that's a really low-level Chevy Malibu. What's the probability of that happening? Very low, I have to imagine. Lottery would be higher.

And also, this is a lottery where if it's a few meters different, you're dead. So that's having a meteor land is a big deal. Having one hit your car and then selling it for a profit is wonderful. Good job, Michelle. Way to go. People were also actually filming local football games. It was a Friday night. And so the meteorite was caught on film in 16 different places. And today, specimens of the meteorite sell for about $150 per gram. So I hope she's, you know, got some sort of contract set up where she also gets

a cut of that coming forward. That's fine. She's just got an NFT for the meteor these days. It's fine. Exactly. Yeah. The next question is back to me. Good luck to you all. What is the very specific connection between the flags of Turkmenistan, the USA, and Brazil? Give you that one more time. What is the very specific connection between the flags of Turkmenistan, the USA, and Brazil? I don't know. I know nothing about this topic. I mean, vexillology is pretty cool. He knows the word for it. That's a good start. Wow. I listened to a podcast and a TED Talk about it. The same guy, Roman Mars. I mean, presumably you know some stuff about the USA flag,

at least for those of you who are from that part of the world. I don't know why I said that like that. I do know that the United States flag has weird stars on it. It's weird. For the time it was designed, the five-pointed star was unusual because it was hard to make. A six-pointed star was much easier to make because you just fold it and you got six points. Whereas a five-pointed star has a different symmetry. I know Brazil, because my wife is Brazilian, has stars on their flag as well.

So they have that in common. I don't know the Turkmenistan flag because I grew up in the U.S. and we have terrible geography lessons here. Yep, same. Ditto. Also in that boat. I was just thinking about the stars

and the colors. I don't know. Yeah, my first thought was the stars. My second thought was if they like, I don't know. Yeah, my first thought was the stars. My second thought was if they, like, I don't know, were originally printed on the same fabric or something. I'm sure they weren't originally made by the same person. Betsy didn't make them all. They had the same number of revisions, maybe?

I will tell you that the reason I say very specific is that there are a lot of flags with stars on. And this is about the stars. You're absolutely right. You've made that connection. I need a little bit more than that. There are a lot of flags with stars on. True.

Are there stripes on the other two? Brazil has a circle, a diamond, well, I have it right here, actually. It's a circle, it's a diamond, and it's a line. Sorry, for those listening in audio, Trace is pointing to his bicep where he has a tattoo of the Brazilian flag. Well, that's a useful reference.

It is nice, right? Yeah, so it doesn't have any color, but it's a circle with the, it says, or Jimmy, put a grace, which which is like, I don't know, order and progress, which most Brazilians find very funny. And then there are stars, and it's yellow, green, and blue. Man, being married to a Brazilian, didn't know it would come into such play in this podcast. It's very helpful. I feel like the problem that i'm running into is

that i know absolutely nothing about the flag of turkmenistan like i don't even know i don't i don't know what the connection there is you can work this out purely from knowing the u.s flag i will tell you that so america's got the 50 stars we got 50 of them how many does brazil have i'm out of my day counting on you i have no idea they have i know it has constellations on it and we don't so those are different so that doesn't fit the stars represent states they represent an amount of land or region yeah you you've basically got it there. That's absolutely right. And for the person who knew the least about the flags to suddenly come up with that, you're absolutely right.

I'll leave it on just a little bit more, like on the US flag, what do they represent? 50 states. Yes. And if I tell you that there are 27 stars on the Brazilian flag. There are 27 states. Yes, there are. And they've also updated that flag over time. There used to be 23, then 22.

And Turkmenistan has five of them for exactly the same reason. They all use the word state? Five regions. I mean, Turkmenistan is not going to use the same thing. But each star on the flag represents a different region of the country. And at least for two of them,

it gets updated over time as that changes. So yes, I love it when someone just casually says a thing and it turns out to be the answer. Like there was no sudden eureka moments. Just yeah, yeah, that was the fact we needed. I'm looking up the Turkmenistan flag right now. It's really pretty. It looks really nice.

It's green. It's got like a thing on it. It's got a moon and then it's got five stars. Yeah, that's green. It's got like a thing. It's got a moon. And then it's got five stars. Yeah, that's cool. That's a cool flag. So yes, the Turkmenistan, US, and Brazilian flags all have stars that represent regions. Which means we go over to Trace for the next question.

Trace, what have you got for us? Okay, everyone, you ready? This is good. This is exciting. What does a 10-pin bowler achieve by rolling a spare, then three strikes, then another spare across five consecutive frames? I'll read it again. What does a 10-pin bowler achieve by rolling a spare, then three strikes, then another spare across five consecutive frames? Wow. Okay.

So I have knowledge of 10-pin bowling scoring. I know how it works, which is that a spare gets you 10 plus the value of your next ball. plus the value of your next ball. So, like, if you do a spare and then a four, you end up with 14 plus the four for the next one. If you get a strike, you have the value of your next frame added to it. So, like, both balls. If you roll a spare, then knock down four and another one,

you'd get 15 and then the five for the actual one you got. So it basically doubles your next one. So give me a minute, talk amongst yourselves, I'll do some maths, because I can give you the technical answer to the question, it's probably not what we're looking for. I was about to say, I feel like, I assume that it was something like a turkey

or whatever the word's for. Yeah, three strikes in a row is a turkey, but we've got a spare on each end as well here. I know nothing about bowling. Have you ever been bowling? A handful of times. Okay. Well, I won't talk about why I don't go bowling anymore.

Oh, no, you can't drop that into the conversation and not tell that story. Come on. So when I was probably six or seven i was in like first grade um one of my friends had a bowling birthday party and so at the party we were all bowling everyone was having fun um and at one point when i went to bowl basically what happened was that my my thumb got stuck in the bowling ball so So when I went to let go, it like pulled me forward. And so I fell.

And so I start like sliding down the like bowling lane and the ball comes off my hand. But then in the process of me like sliding down and having this momentum already, my thumb gets stuck in the gutter, like in the mechanical parts of the gutter. And so it basically rips my thumbnail halfway back. And then when my parents came to get me to like get me out of it, it basically rips my thumbnail the rest of the way off.

So then I'm just like bleeding all over the bowling alley. I had to go to the ER. They covered it in hydrogen peroxide, which made it like red and foamy blood. Okay. No, we're good. We don't need the blood details. Thanks. That's enough.

And now I don't bowl anymore. And now I don't bowl anymore. I have a new thing to be afraid of. I've realized I'm going to change the subject again. I've just realized I can't calculate the points because a spare is based on first ball, not frame. So it can't be the number of points or something like that. I mean, you could calculate how much this would add, but that's not actually relevant to the question.

A spare is when you hit only one. A spare is when you knock everything down in two throws. And strike is when you knock everything down in one throws. And strike is when you knock everything down in one throw. So it's not a spare turkey. Trace? Oh, hang on. We've got a face from Trace here. I mean, you're close with the turkey parts.

There's some turkey involved here. So I was surprised you got there as quickly as you could. Okay, there's got to be a slang name for this. Because I was looking at how it was written down, which would be like a slash and then three crosses and slash. But is it something like roast turkey or something like that? You're very close. You're very close.

So, I mean, what other... Boiled turkey? I'm going to keep naming turkey preparation sliced turkey it's sort of a mix of how you're like take take the ideas that you're playing with now and kind of mix them together and i think you'll get there thanksgiving leftovers leftovers keep it going sandwich yes oh a turkey sandwich of course of course it is Leftovers. Leftovers. Turkey sandwich? Yes! Oh! A turkey sandwich! Of course.

Of course it is. It's a slash, and then a turkey, and then another slash. Yep. And the slashes look like the slices of bread at the... Oh, that's lovely. Yes, yes, yes. That is so funny. I love that. All right.

These are tricky questions. I see what... I see it. And you're getting the answers to them all. Yeah, you're really good at this. And I didn't know any much about bowling. So just to recap, what does a 10 pin bowler achieve by rolling a spare, then three strikes, then another spare across five consecutive frames? They achieve a slash and then a turkey and then another

slash or a turkey sandwich. Back to me for the next question then. Good luck, folks. In the 1830s and early 1840s, why did British third-class train carriages have holes in the floor? I'll say that one more time. In the 1830s and early 1840s, why did British third-class train carriages have holes in the floor? Was third-class for the animals? It was for people. It was for people. But that is a lovely guess. It is a good guess. I was

thinking something similar, like holes in the floor for excrement. I mean, that is still in use on some trains? Yeah. Admittedly, that hole is in an actual toilet in a bathroom but there are still some trains that just let it out onto the tracks

and it's not pleasant if you're a track worker near there it just feels like the most human thing ever it's just like okay cool we're moving really fast so I'll just drop it onto the ground and i won't be there it's like very very very like oh well i'm fine but all those kids walking on the train tracks in the movies in an effort to keep this podcast for immediately going down a lot of of obvious joke roots say that this is not for that obvious reason you're thinking of. Got it.

Oh, okay. Are these holes on the side, they're holes for windows because it's third class, they don't have windows, they have holes? These are in the floor. On the floor, oh yeah. All the way? All the way. Is the third class like the lower income cheap

tickets and so they just want to be able to wash out the trains real easily? It's vaguely along those lines. Yes, certainly the third class tickets have very few amenities whatsoever, and that is sort of the key to this. It's not quite hosing down the carriages, but you are quite close with that. That's interesting. So I was thinking like the air comes in and doesn't float to the other carriages you know like maybe third class people are stinky and so they don't

they don't get the second class people don't have to smell them because they're i just feel so classist even when i brought it up was like, how do I say this? Not all third class people are smelly. 1830s and 1840s. I think basically everyone stank at that point. That's probably true. I used to work at a museum. We were representing the 1880s.

And it was the first place in Michigan to have hot and cold running water for the soldiers at this fort. And they took a bath once a week. And they were like, that's a lot. There's a lot of baths, you guys. Normally, they would do like once a month or even like once a year. So yeah, everybody was probably smelly. Is it to get rid of water? Yes. Yes, it is. So when Trace was saying washing out along the right lines, it's to get rid of water. There's one key... When it rains. And that's, yet again, the correct answer. Absolutely right.

I'm just killing it. Third class carriages didn't have a roof. It was just a box with some benches in it. And so that was to let the rainwater escape. You're absolutely right. That is sad. What? Nolre, you're great at this game.

Yeah. Some carriages didn't even have those holes. There was a journey in 1844 where it was recorded that the passengers had their feet in two inches of water. Because it was a box coupled to the back of the train. Well, I guess it doesn't matter if they smell then. Because if anything, they would be the least stinky people on the train after that. Yeah, after that, after the 1844 Railway Act, it was stipulated that third class passengers should have cover. That was the minimum required for a train. Oh my goodness. Yep. I should never complain. No, you know, not too long ago i was on a train ride in germany and i had to stand for a lot of it and

i just thought this is the worst thing ever i'm never gonna say that again at least you could ride a train i miss trains oh yeah you're in california aren't you you've got you've got a high-speed rail line that won't be done for a long time yet. Ever, maybe. Who knows? But yes, in the 1830s and early 1840s, British third-class train carriages had a hole in the floor to let the rain drain away. Which brings us to our last guest question of the show. Narae, this one's from you. Whenever you're ready. Okay. How did the Egyptians use a loop of rope with 12 regularly spaced knots? Again, how did the Egyptians use a loop of rope with 12 regularly spaced knots? I feel like I have to throw a ruler out there. It's just like a, just making sure that's not it. It is not a ruler. Without, without you,

how are we going to answer this question? You've gotten all the other questions. Yeah, I was about to say, we're totally screwed now. I've got something in the back of my head about time measurement. And I think I might be getting this confused with a Greek invention, which was like a water communications thing. I think it was called something like the hydraulic telegraph and you would have two water jugs

with messages marked on the side and you would light a beacon and you would take the corks out at the same time. The water would steadily go down. You douse the beacon, you put the bung back in and whatever the message reads, that's the message. And I that's greek and i don't think that's egyptian but i that's what stuck in my head like it's some sort of communication thing or a tool for for measuring time or something like that and nari is now going to tell me that i'm entirely

on the wrong track here that's such a sophisticated guess but it is not. Jordan was closer. Okay. So it's used to measure something. It is used to measure something, but it has to be specific. That's good because my second guess was going to be hurting people. Yeah, I'm glad it's not for that. The Egyptians were very precise. I think we learned that a lot when I was – I visited years ago, and there was a lot of talk of, like, precision and standards and measures.

Like, they had a lot of – you know, they had a lot of things that were standardized within their society. So that's – my first thought is that you don't make a tool with 12 knots regularly spaced unless you're trying to make some kind of standard but the standard for what so what old measurements are there um it's it's got to be distance or time or like area or what water level the Nile's water level be important? I mean, it would still flood then, because there was no Nasser. Lake Nasser, no dam. I might give a clue.

This would have... It would have been used to help construct things as well. Okay. Twelve... But it's not a ruler. Twelve evenly spaced knots. Incidentally, the Egyptians called rulers pharaohs. No, sorry, that was a crap joke and I apologize.

I'm going to remember that one. Ruler, you can call it some kind of ruler, but it has to be way more specific than a ruler. Like a yardstick measuring tape protractor are they like building pyramids with this somehow can you like divide you can divide 12 into 2 and 3 and 4 and 6 so like that's it's a good mechanism for like measuring halves and quarters so it's like some angle thing with? He says wildly flailing his arm around to demonstrate a pyramid.

Is there some kind of angle thing where you work out where the top of your pyramid is? Yes. Some kind of angle thing. Do you use it to make like right angles for like the stone thingies that they use to build the pyramids and whatnot? Like in a quarry?

Well, just to measure out what an actual cube looks like, I guess, to make sure you're having... But why do you need 12 evenly spaced knots in the rope for that? Jordan's answer is getting closer, getting closer. But why the loop of rope with 12 regularly spaced knots? Oh, a loop of rope. It's a loop. Oh, for columns.

Because you want to make little divots in your columns. Is that? No? Maybe? I don't know. They have a lot of columns. I think that's the Greeks. Shoot.

You're right. So we forgot loop. And I was about to say clock because you've got 12 things in a loop. And I was like, oh, that's a clock. No, the Egyptians did not use our time system. So it's an angle thing. How did they use a loop? It's not like a sundial, is it?

Wait, is it right angles? 12, 3, 4, 5. Yes. Hey! dial is it wait is it right angles 12 3 4 5 yes oh hey they used it to calculate right angles um it's used as a form of set square so one angle has three spaces another one has four spaces and then the last angle has five because Because three plus four plus five equals 12. It's a set square. I don't know what a set square is, but that's cool. It's that triangle-shaped thing you had in school to measure angles. Yeah.

Oh. Yeah. I never knew the name of that. It comes from the Pythagorean triple. Since three squared plus four squared equals five squared. And three plus four plus five is twelve. I did not know this. You're saying it as if you knew it.

No, I didn't. I have the sheet here. One last order of business then, which is the question I asked the audience right at the start of the show. In which 1972 film does an elderly man go to sleep in Hollywood but wake up next to Khartoum? Just before we go, any ideas from the panel on that? That is so not my area. It's not even funny. 1972 films are not the area. It doesn't actually involve teleportation. Not the area.

It doesn't actually involve teleportation. Khartoum was the name of the horse in The Godfather that the guy wakes up next to the head of. Oh. He goes to sleep in Hollywood and he wakes up next to Khartoum. Oh. Oh. Thank you. Thank you for that impression, Trace.

I also haven't seen The Godfather, but I do understand the reference. I'll be honest, neither have I. Oh, it's great. It's great. That scene is quite memorable. It's like, you know what? I would say given that scene versus the bowling scene

that was described earlier, I would go Godfather is less gory. That is our show for today. Well done to all of you, particularly to Nare, who just got question after question there. Tell us what's going on in your lives, where we can find you.

Nare, we'll start with you. If you just put in my name, you'll find a lot of videos related to music. Nare Sol, N-A-H-R-E-S-O-L. You can find all my material on YouTube. Trace, what's going on with you? I'm making a video about why we're getting so many spam texts. That should be out pretty

soon. You can find it on my YouTube channel. You can also watch Theory of Awesome, which is a People Are Awesome project that I helped host and write, and it was really fun. We're about halfway through the season, and that's on the People Are Awesome app. And Jordan? Yep, you can find me under

my name jordan harrod on youtube twitter tiktok instagram these days i'm doing a lot more grad school-y content so if you're interested in learning about what it's like to be a phd student at mit come find my stuff and if you want to know more about this show or you want to send in an idea for a question you can do that at lateralcast.com. You can find us at Lateral Cast pretty much everywhere and you can catch video highlights of the show at youtube.com slash lateralcast. Thank you very much to Jordan Harrod. Thanks for having me.

To Trace Dominguez. Woohoo, that was fun. And Nari Sol. It was a pleasure. I'm Tom Scott and this has been Lateral.