Lateral with Tom Scott - 60: The world's longest ship

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

Molly Edwards, Becky Stern and Jenny Draper face questions about pet permutations, infant images and rope ruses. 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: The Podcast Studios, Dublin. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Jonathan, Chris L.. 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

Why might you put a photo of a random baby in your wallet, even if you've never been a parent? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. Perchance it's the popular puzzles podcast, playing particularly pleasing problems for your pleasure. Please partake in our poses parallel to our panel. And the producer can pee right off for that script. First, we have London tour guide from the London History Show. Welcome back to the show, Jenny Draper. Hello, good to be here.

Good to have you back. How are you doing since last week? We crossed wits on this channel. Yeah, last time it was, I had a lot of fun. But yeah, this time I've purposefully not been looking up any lateral puzzles. So I'm coming for this totally fresh. We try to make sure they're original. I'm told our producers get a lot of questions sent in

that may have been taken from elsewhere and have to watch out for them. So feel free to rehearse. It probably won't help. Also returning to the show, a maker who most recently made a robot companion backpack, which looks adorable, Becky Stern. Hello, lovely to be back.

Thanks, Tom. Tell me about the backpack. It holds a robot. My friend Jay makes companion robots that sit on his shoulder, but he's not a sewer, sewist, so I do all that stuff. So I made him a backpack.

I've been making purses since I was a kid. It was really fun. So it's like one of those things of taking your dog on the subway or something like that, but it is just a robot sat in the back. Yeah, it's a bespoke, you know, Becky Stern brand luxury handbag. And how are you feeling about being back on the show? Oh, good. I slayed last time.

So I'm like, I'm pumped. You've set yourself up for fall there. Very, very best of luck. Finally, for the first time on Lateral, we have a botanist and science communicator who, when we tested the microphones earlier, as her loud and enthusiastic shout to check that everything was working, just used the words, I really love plants.

Molly Edwards, thank you very much for being on the show. Thanks for having me, Tom. Tell the audience a bit about yourself. Yeah, I am a botanist. I have a PhD in flowers. I love plants, like you said. And yeah, I help scientists tell their stories to the world. So I host Science IRL and bop around to different labs and explore really cool research projects. How are you feeling about being on here for the first time? I'm so excited. Well, good luck to all three of you. The questions on the show are a paradox. They contradict themselves, but also make sense. And while you're trying to work that one out,

I'm going to start you off with the first question, which is this. In 2012, Dr Jack Burdy offered a programme of Botox and facial fillers that could be personalised. It wasn't for vain people nor potential models, but it could help his patients to earn money. Who was the target market? I'll say that again. In 2012, Dr Jack Burdie offered a programme of Botox and facial fillers that could be

personalised. It wasn't for vain people nor potential models, but it could help his patients to earn money. Who was the target market? Was it humans? Like, this isn't for animals, is it? We've had a question on here a long time ago about Botox for camels. Oh, God!

What? What? What? So they don't spit more yeah spoilers for a much earlier episode of this of this podcast it was for a camel beauty contest oh yeah the camel beauty contest is a real thing i've seen that on amazing race yeah they have such nice eyelashes so so lovely well 2012 like they've already been using but i mean make like celebrities, famous people like make money by looking young, by getting Botox. But that seems too obvious. Can you can you inject fillers like in a, you know, like have a have a logo or a brand like, you know, people who do like forehead tattoo advertising? Is that how you make money from Botox?

Oh, wow. Who's buying that ad space, Molly? I can tell you who bought some of that ad space. There was someone, we're talking relatively early days of eBay and the internet. I don't know if it was eBay. It was something like that where they sold off their forehead as a space to get a tattoo. Yeah. And it was some casino.

It was a really like web 1.0 thing. It was like Bing or something, wasn't it? I think it was some casino. It was a really like web 1.0 thing. It was like Bing or something, wasn't it? I think it was a casino. I'm sure our producer is rapidly researching this in the background. But they just had a giant forehead tattoo of a casino's URL. And I don't know if you could do that with Botox and facial fillers. I'm sure someone will try. Yeah.

if you could do that with botox and facial fillers i'm sure someone will try yeah botox also used for migraines but i don't see how that like could relate to making money except that it keeps you from like losing out on work time like it also sort of freezes your face a bit right i think yes so is it something to do with not moving, like paralysing some part of you on purpose? Yeah, you're thinking in the right area there. Bigger models, they have to stay really still while you're drawing them. Just Botox the entire series of joints. Just formaldehyde them. Are they being injected in their face?

Yeah, it's Botox and facial fillers. Yeah, mime is my best guess so far i think would you need to like hold a really weird expression for a certain amount of time like if you're modeling for a dreamworks poster and you just you need to have your eyebrow constantly have one eyebrow constantly arched. Was it a staring contest that you could earn money? And if your eyes were frozen open, you would win the staring contest? Yes, like a gurning contest. Yeah. Oh, now, getting closer. Very, very far away still, but definitely getting closer in the contest.

I remember reading a story once about like oh no i tell you what it wasn't a story it was the simpsons episode where he goes to the chili cook-off and he lines his throat with wax so that he didn't eat the hottest chili can you do that with botox oh it it's, you are all circling. Oh yeah, could you like parallel, like for a hot dog eating contest, you could like paralyze your throat

so you could just like shove it down more. Is it an, is it an eating, is it an eating contest of some kind, Tom? It's, it's not eating.

It's another part of the face, but it's... Smelling. It's your, is it your gag reflex? I don't know if you can Botox that. Can you use Botox to cancel your gag? No, you can't.

But you're crying? Is it no crying? Onion cutting contest. I don't know. Whatever contest this is, I've never heard of it. I love that. That must exist. You name the thing, humans will turn it into a competition.

Closest so far is staring contest. Certainly people will be looking very closely at your face during this. It's Marina Abramovich, and she's really having trouble maintaining her famous art installation where she stares at you the whole time. I have never heard of Marina Abramovich, who clearly everyone else in this conversation has. Is this just an artist who stares at you as art? The artist is present, Tom. The artist is present.

That's what the art is, okay? Yes, she sits there and she stares at you, and she makes you cry. You probably recognize her if you looked up a picture of her. It's really famous. Thank you to our producer for pointing out we are steadily running through

a lot of spoilers for all shows here. That's the artist who walked half of the Great Wall of China, apparently, to meet up with someone. Oh, right, because someone else is coming the other way. So there are two loose threads here that if you combine them should answer this. And one half is there's money involved. This will help you earn a lot of money if you can keep your face under control poker poker face there we go oh what what oh my god run me through it so if you if if you're doing poker and um you have a really bad tell like your

eye twitches or something when you get a good hand, then you get Botox injected in you so that you don't give it away when you've got an ace. Absolutely right. This is Dr. Jack Birdie, who offered a program called Poker Tox. It is Botox for poker players. Now, how much of that is him getting good PR and how many of these were actually given to poker players, how many poker players actually had this done, couldn't tell you. But yes, that was the plan. Yeah, other people did point out that it wouldn't prevent tells like a throbbing vein or becoming more or less chatty. There is also a quote from World Series of Poker main event winner, Chris Moneymaker, apparently that is his actual name, who said that the worst poker tell he ever saw wouldn't have been helped by this at all.

It was someone who would shake their head when they got a bad hand and nod their head when they got a good one. You could get the Botox in the back of your neck. So yes, Dr. Jack Birdie offered Botox for poker players. Each of our players has brought a question and an answer. I don't know the question. I definitely don't know the answer. We hope. So we will start with Jenny.

Over to you. Why did a Canadian company send a mail shot of scratch and sniff card to thousands of households that hadn't ordered it? I'll read it again. of households that hadn't ordered it. I'll read it again. Why did a Canadian company send a mail shot of scratch and sniff cards to thousands of households that hadn't ordered it? You don't really see snatch and, snatch and griff. I swear, I swear that wasn't deliberate, okay? Also, that's not even a decent spoonerism. I didn't even say scryph, I said cryph.

Also, you don't see them. You don't smell them either. I got the sense wrong. You can see and smell them. You just don't smell like you used to. Can you clarify mail shot? Does that mean like mass mailing? Yes. So like sending it out to a whole load of people.

It's just some Britishism. Okay. It's not, they don't shoot you with a cannon. They used to be a lot more common as a publicity stunt for a few things. I know the BBC did a charity telethon once where they had like little sections of various shows and film bits for it and they had specifically written the scripts to have a you know you could go go to the shops buy a scratch and sniff card that they made and the profits went to charity you know you'd see him for things like that but oh i loved scratch and sniff stickers when i was a kid and like obsessed with the wallpaper and willy wonka has anyone done a scratch and sniff youtube video yet because i feel like someone must have done.

Get the cards ordered out to your Patreon subscribers or something like that. Yeah, I don't know who still makes them. I think it might be two years ago. Oh, okay. If it's two years ago, then it's to try to test if you can smell anything. It's a COVID test. Oh my God, that's definitely it. Honestly, that's what I thought as well,

but I'm afraid it's not that. Did you see the scented candle reviews? Yeah, the candle reviews. And also the Reddit thread about nostalgia tastes and everyone saying Reese's peanut butter cups don't taste the same anymore. And it's like, it's because you all have long COVID. Oh no. Yeah. Yeah, whenever people got covid they would start buying like yankee candles and and go oh this is rubbish don't work

anymore and no it's just because you've got covid you can't smell it you could actually plot i say you could someone actually plotted the average reviews of yankee candles versus the covid waves and they do kind of go inversely proportionate. Beautiful data viz right there. Amazing economic ripples that are happening. Like never would have, you know, like, wow. Look forward to the next year and a half of Business Insider content. I mean, that is going to be a lateral question in like five years, right?

Which business? Candles. So it wasn't candles? No, so it's not a good smell, but it is a specific smell. If it was COVID, it could just be any smell. Is it the smell of natural gas to remind you what natural gas smells like in case of the natural gas? I was just thinking that. Yes, it is.

I'm a safety nerd. I got another safety question right last time. Yeah, absolutely. That's it. Yeah. So it's from a Canadian gas company and they sent out leaflets saying if you smell natural gas gas this is what it smells like apparently gas leaks are a really big problem in rural canada specifically um so they sent them out so that you could um yeah so you could tell if you were having a natural gas leak i once got an invitation to film with one of the gas distribution companies or you know an exploratory email like is there anything we can work on together? And we spent a few minutes going back and forth.

Oh, man, you could visit the place where they inject that smell into the gas supply because that's not what natural gas smells like. It's just added so you can smell gas. No, it doesn't smell like anything. And we got a few minutes into it before realising that a video where I go, yeah, that smells of something really does not work in a visual medium.

You've got to send out scratch and sniff to your patrons, Tom. That's actually not a bad idea now. This is the new era of your channel, just sending out corresponding scratch and sniffs for all your episodes. You know what? I'm not ruling it out. I'm going to single-handedly revive the scratch and sniff economy. But also, that means that somewhere there was a warehouse

with like 100,000 scratch and sniff cards that smelt like natural gas. And I just wonder if people kept wandering in there and thinking there's a gas leak. Jesus. I mean, it is weird. So like the companies that make the smells like are generally,

I mean, I don't know about natural gas, but air freshener companies do have this sideline of making like bad smells on purpose. So I used to work at a museum where they had a recreation of this historical street and they would pump out smells and they were just regular air fresheners that they would get bespoke from the company to smell of like burning or you know poop or things like that and yeah you just get a plug in just like and you i don't know who if they got it from Glade or what. The immersive experience at the Living History Museum. Yeah, I got a tour around a haunted house once.

And the same thing, that you can just order the smell of death. They had a little vaporizer or something like that. But you can order basically whatever smell you want for haunted houses or attractions or whatever other weird purpose you might have for it. I love it. Like Mayflower card storage. You're working at the lovely smells factory and you're like, oh, they've put me on burning wood duty today. The manager doesn't like me. We had a flavor factory in New Jersey have an incident a couple of years ago

that made all of New York City smell a certain way for about a day. Sorry, the phrase flavor factory is what? That's what I took out of that sentence. It's inside Flavortown. It's downtown in Flavortown. Hard day down the lemon mines. Newark, New Jersey. Yes, absolutely. So the answer is that the company that was sending out scratch and sniff mail shots were a natural gas company, warning you what to be on the lookout for if you smelled a natural gas leak. Next one's from me, sent in by Chris L. Thank you very much.

Due to a rather arbitrary design choice in the past, the American Kennel Association only allows 37 dogs of the same breed to be registered with the same name. Why? In their filing cabinets, have they only got one sheet of A4 for each name or for each dog? And they can only fit 37 dogs on there? I'm going to keep my mouth shut at this point because it's not that. But you are already sort of vaguely going... It's that kind of technological limit sort of thing that might be...

Like physical limits, space limits. Yeah, some kind of database thing. Yeah, space limit. But it's not... 37 is not a computer number. Is it like a trophy? Like where they put the names on the trophy and they can only fit a certain...

Yeah, but 37 of the same, right? Like only 37 Amstaffs named Buster. Is that what we're talking about here? I agree. Yeah. Is this why fancy pedigree dogs all have really weird names, like the Tang of the Mountain or something? You need to be unique yeah but it's it's like you've got to get really specific because buster's been taken like back in 1902 that was already taken oh i'm just reminded of the horse called patoo yes there's a there's a racehorse quite famous for its name which is just uh p-o-t and then eight o's because i think it's just a pun on potato and it's just it's just called patoo which has always amused me it's a great horse name um i i'm imagining like they have like a plaque on their wall that you like physically

paint the name on and they get to the bottom um i i remember once going inside um london county hall which was the headquarters of london's fairly short-lived mayor back when it was like the 80s and we had ken livingston and they'd obviously planned like a lot of mayors. Sorry, short-lived in terms of like... No, yes, he didn't die. Like they scrapped the position and they obviously planned to have a lot of mayors and they'd only written like two before the position was scrapped and then there's just a long blank plaque forever now

because they're not in that building anymore. And I'm imagining kind of the opposite, but for dogs. So in the American Kennel Association, they've got like a plaque that says, here are all the busters and they've run out. You can't have any more. Is it, sorry, is it 37 ever or at one time?

Like once one buster dies, are you allowed to register a new buster? Oh, you know what? I don't know. I could not tell you on that because it's not in my notes. Let's go with, it's like it's SAG and ever. Okay. Right?

Like if it's like SAG. I think it's forever. I think it's forever. So there's a finite number of busters in the world. Sorry, SAG there is Screen Actors Guild, right? Like British equivalent would be Equity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like there can only be,

if you have the same name as any other previous actor in SAG, you have to change your name to enter SAG. Yeah, which is why Anthony Head is known in the US as Anthony Stewart Head for like Buffy and things like that is because Equity did not have an Anthony Head, but the Screen Actors Guild did. So he changed his name when he went over there.

You're now getting a bit closer there. And I think Becky, you said database earlier and then we kind of got distracted by other things. Well, it's just that 37 is not a computer number, right? It's not 512. It's not 128. Why is it 37? Although is it 37? Although it's 37 prime.

Like what about 37, right? You're right. It's a limit of some sort, but that's not a traditional. Yeah, it's not a power of two. It's not a computer number. There is something else about that number, though. Oh, God. Does that mean this is a maths question? about that number though? Oh God. Does that mean this is a maths question? Oh no. No, it's not.

I'll promise you we did not sneak in a maths question. We don't actually have to work out it's factorials or anything. It's is that 37 like you can't make a grid of 37, right? Pretty sure 37 is a prime number, but that's not it here.

Actually, the problem is with 38. 37 is just fine. You can have number 37. Right. You can't have number 38. But once you have 38, oh, is that? Oh, no, you said it was a weird design choice. So it's not because like if you have 38 dogs all named the same thing,

they all have to be related or something. because if you have 38 dogs all named the same thing, they all have to be related or something. No, but if you have people who are related or dogs who are related, how might you distinguish those names? So is that at the point where you're statistically going to get them in the same room? Oh, you said you didn't want the maths-y stuff and then you come up with a birthday paradox reference. said you didn't want the mathsy stuff and then you come up with a birthday paradox reference it's it's not that but again it's there being too many of them yeah was it like a roman numeral

thing like if it's buster the 38th the roman numerals get weirder or something after yes i need something a little bit more specific than weirder you're so nearly there. Too long? Too long. Like it doesn't fit in their tiny little text box? Yeah, it's literally, there is not enough space on the form for the number 38 in Roman numerals. It is XXXVIII, and that is too long for the box. 37 is fine. Ironically, 39 would be fine, but you can't have 38. So that's where it cuts off. That's rubbish. Just put another box or just write it out with numbers. Wow. And if you would like a very in-depth investigation into that,

I said it wasn't a maths thing, but yes, Matt Parker has an extensive video on this. Great. Mollie, over to you for the next question. Okay, this question has been sent in by Jonathan. The USS Pittsburgh was launched in February 1944. Despite only being a heavy cruiser, it was given the epithet of the longest ship in the world for a few weeks when sailing in the Pacific the year after. Why? Read it one more time. The USS Pittsburgh was launched in February 1944.

Despite only being a heavy cruiser, it was given the epithet of the longest ship in the world for a few weeks when sailing in the Pacific the year after. Why? This is how broken my brain is at the moment from watching slightly too much Star Trek. Over the last day or two, you said USS Pittsburgh, and my brain went to Star Trek USS before actual US Navy fleets. I was like, oh, the USS Pittsburgh. Is that Nova class? Was it in two halves? Like, and one half was in the US? Or you said it was in the Pacific? One half was on either side

of the international date line in the Pacific. And they just... I was going to say the computer software, but again, you said 1944. I've just kind of wrapped it around the globe on a map. You're pretty much on the nose there. Oh, what?

That was shockingly quick. So my idea was that the ship is literally in two halves. And for some reason, they've taken the pointy end. I can't call it the pointy end, the stern, the prow. Hold on. Hold on. Those are different things. Yeah, come on. Get them right. My last name is Stern. You better believe I know what end of the book that is. They've taken the prow and they've put that the prow for some reason is in Russia and the stern for some reason is in Indonesia and for repairs or something?

Yeah, the pieces were in different places but not for repairs. We've got to figure out what these places were then, surely. I don't think you need to pick. I can tell you maybe after the full story with the specific locations, but it wasn't in half on purpose. Oh, no.

It got blown up and it landed really far away. No, that can't be right, surely. Really bad at World War Two history. I'm like. Oh, it's not. I think I'm allowed to say it's not specifically to do with World War Two. I don't know why my brain keeps misfiring in this episode, but you said really bad at World War Two history. And my brain just kind of went, oh, yeah, they were just really bad at World War II history. And my brain just kind of went, oh, yeah, they were just really bad at World War II. I didn't hear the rest of it. Like the ships in two pieces. They were just bad at World War II.

They were bad at war. They were, like three out of ten tops. You know how they say middle-aged people are either into World War II history or smoked meats? They're more into smoked meats. How often on average do you think about World War II every day? Three out of ten.

The boat's in two pieces, but both halves are inexplicably still afloat. Yeah. Why would it be in two pieces? Is it meant to split up and one of them got lost? No, it was... See, now I'm back on Star Trek doing saucer separation. Yeah, the saucer separation. Did someone steal a bit of it?

That would be the best heist story ever. I would watch that movie. They'll just wake up and be like, Oh, what a good day on the SS Pittsburgh. We won. And there's like a hole in the side of the boat. And like the Japanese are driving off with it. Like, so long, suckers.

Hard-boiled detective knocks on the door. You've got the back half of the USS Pittsburgh in there. Man crammed up against what is clearly a battleship gray thing opening up. No, absolutely not did you come alone no one followed you did they he opens his coat there's the back half of the uss pittsburgh oh it literally would be oceans 14 oh i'm angry i didn't see that joke. Well done.

Why would it be in two places? I said that both halves were inexplicably still afloat, but some of it must have still been afloat because they wouldn't be saying longest ship if it had sunk. So was it still afloat? Or at least in dock, I guess. Yes, at least a large chunk of it was afloat did it get blown up and they they tipped them upside down and carried on sailing them around it was not a world war ii casualty okay so it just fell apart by itself yes yeah so it's something it's something else

that can happen to boats they can get caught in some really bad weather so yes so it got caught in a typhoon and a big part of the bow fell off and the rest of it stayed the front actually fell off yes fell off was not was stolen by the typhoon and uh it remained afloat enough for them to tow it back to port and then they recovered the bow and towed it to another port and so for the a little while if you're like using the technical definition of uh the boat length being about a stern then it was the longest by a couple hundred miles because they were in different ports. Okay, here we go. In a 2016 psychological study, two random groups of children aged four to six are given a repetitive task to do.

On average, one group persevered for 23% longer than the other group. Why? One more time. In a 2016 psychological study, two random groups of children aged four to six are given a repetitive task to do. On average, one group persevered for 23% longer than the other group. Why?

Did they get a reward for going longer? Yeah, that's one of those marshmallow tests. Yeah, right, where the marshmallow is either visible or not visible. Like, we'll give you a marshmallow, it's this marshmallow right here, versus, like, we'll give you a marshmallow, it's this marshmallow right here versus like, we'll give you a marshmallow. It's in the other room. Has the marshmallow test been replication crisis yet or not? I can't remember if that one stood up or whether it got taken out by every other psychological research paper in the wave of the last few years.

Is it? Okay, so they're doing a repetitive task. Is it, okay, so they're doing a repetitive task. If they're trying to do it to get something, were the ones who did it longer, were they shown someone doing it and succeeding? There is a difference. Like they were given hope?

Oh, now, very, very indirectly, yes. But very, very indirectly. Given hope, remember those words? They will come back at the end of the question. But not quite that directly. Is this a Star Wars question? A new hope? Yeah, I don't know if this is a real study or if it's one that's been widely debunked,

but I remember hearing about scientists dropping a rat in a bucket and it would try and swim to stay afloat. And if they took the rat out just before it drowned and then did it again, the rat would actually swim for longer before it gave up. So did they do that with children? I hope he is. Tonight on unethical psychology experiments. You know that every psychology student

has those experiments they want to run, but are utterly ethically prevented from. Right, right, right. Do not bring that conversation, this is like 15 years ago for me now, but do not bring that sort of conversation up with psychology students when they're slightly drunk because they do have some horrible plans

they would love to do if they're ever evil geniuses. Everyone has intrusive thoughts. Yeah, right. Psychology students, intrusive thoughts. 2016, that's relatively recent. So this isn't some kind of like ancient torture study. Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It was probably all above board.

There's probably no electric shocks involved. No. It's a very ethical experiment, this. You're right that it's how the groups were treated. There's nothing in the makeup of the groups or even what the kids were asked to do, but it is something in the way that they were treated. Let's go with that. Was the task pleasant or unpleasant? Repetitive. Or just repetitive. Okay. Were they given praise and encouragement? You have done the thing of hitting exactly one of my notes,

which is that it wasn't anything to do with praise or punishment. Sorry. Oh, okay. So there was something that gave them hope, that made them carry on doing it for longer, but like a surprising thing that isn't good job or

stop, you're awful, your dad isn't proud of you. And this is something that I think would be particularly effective for ages four to six. Were they allowed to do it while watching Star Wars? You're getting closer. It's not Star Wars. They had a distraction,

and they were allowed to put Baby Shark or Blue's Clues or something on in the background, and that meant they could carry on doing it for longer. It's close. Certainly you're dancing around the right sort of thing here. It's not a distraction for them. They still just had the task to do. Doing the task to music versus not?

Yeah, it was either music or smells. That were just brought in from the flavour factory. The flavour factory. They were doing it while exposed to natural gas. Slowed down their tasks. Jesus! Sorry. Yeah, that wouldn't pass IRB.

Just having a quiet laugh about exposing children to natural gas there. No, just a very ethical experiment. Was one of them hungry and the other one got food before? They were given something. It was more of a prop that would make it more fun for them. A stuffed toy? Crayon. Like a teddy bear that had a little thumbs up?

Oh, then the teddy bear would be giving praise. It's more about how they thought of themselves. Oh, they got a little crown. Or a little sticker that said, I'm good. Oh. I'm doing a good job. A costume? A costume?

What sort of costume? An Elsa costume. Yeah. You know what? I'm going to give you it. Whatever their favourite character was. The example they went with was Batman. Oh, cute. It's a job. Whatever their favorite character was. The example they went with was Batman. Oh, cute.

It's a job. They're like at work. Batman would carry on. So I'm going to as well. Batman would flick this switch back and forth. Gosh, I should try that one. I don't want to do my work. Right?

They asked one of the groups to pretend to be their favorite character. It might have been Elsa. The example I got was Batman. And they did the repetitive task for 23% longer because they were thinking of themselves as someone who would do that. That's a huge bump.

That's amazing. Like Elsa would do the washing up right now. Yeah. Elsa would do the vacuuming. There was another group who were just asked to talk about themselves in the third person. So this is what Tom would do now. And because they thought of themselves as being good, they managed

13% longer. Oh! That's really heartwarming. Tom did a really good job. Thank you! And somehow, that still felt really nice. Thank you for that. That was a little boost to my ego there. It still works, man. It helps prove the adult psychology thing of like the power of a positive internal dialogue. So, yes, it's called self-distancing. The kids who persevered for longer did so because they were thinking of themselves as being like Batman.

Last big question of the show then. Becky, over to you. When Europe hosted golf's Ryder Cup competition in 2018, they beat the US team partly thanks to some ropes. How? I'll read it again. When Europe hosted golf's Ryder Cup competition in 2018, they beat the US team partly thanks to some ropes.

How? So I'm guessing they're not cheating and like putting ropes on the fairway. Or just setting up tripwires for the American team. I don't know anything about golf. No rules. No golf rules were broken. That's a shame because like cheating golf, I would definitely watch. Like they're just setting up

traps for the other. You're just allowed to cheat. Like however you can get that ball in the hole, you're allowed to do it. Nudge it with your foot. So only if you notice that you're in trouble. Actually that kind of is how golf works isn't it? Right? If you're just playing golf

casually and no one's watching you can just move the ball. Yeah, just nudge it with your foot. Yeah. That's how all sports work. If you play darts and no one's looking, you just stick it in the ball. Oh, look, I got 21.

Is it something to do with their training? Like they did that thing where you have to wiggle ropes or they did a lot of skipping? Sk you better at golf i guess oh i like that i like that guess but but no it doesn't have to do with their pre-game workout okay and where ropes is what we're thinking like is what we're thinking of ropes. Yeah, regular old ropes. Regular old ropes. Were the ropes for keeping the crowd back? And so because they're the home team,

they let the crowd in closer, so they got more positive reinforcement from the crowd in closer so they got more more positive reinforcement the crowd in closer in golf because like the closer they are the more chance that someone's going to yell something just as you're taking the swing to put you off you're onto something with the crowd but it's the crowds are really quiet in golf right they're like dead silent it's like tennis that you have to be dead silent and then only like tiny claps after they've hit it right um but like still the the presence of people who support you might might make you feel like batman and your batman would get this hole in one yeah they just put the european in superhero costumes. It just made them more determined to get the ball in the hole.

They should do that with all sports. Like just have Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman like running against each other. Yeah. Yeah. I guess if you've got an American team, they're all dressed like Captain America. Especially while they're playing golf.

Jenny, you're onto something with the crowd control aspect of the ropes but not with the positive encouragement like what else like think about what else the crowd is up to is it people crowds is there some like weird local um fauna that they're trying to um to uh keep in or out of the green. You're onto something there. This Ryder Cup was held in North... Oh, wait, it was in Europe. Did you say this was held in Europe

or the US? Yeah, it's held in Europe. When Europe hosted the Ryder Cup. Oh, okay. My extended riff about trying to keep Sasquatch out because it was hosted in the Pacific Northwest.

You know what? We can just imagine that. We can move on. It's not needed anymore. Everywhere has cryptids, Tom. Everywhere has cryptids, okay. But I can't think of a European cryptid off the top of my head, other than the Loch Ness Monster. And that's not really a golf kind of problem there. It's going to be popping up in the lake, like, hello. I hate it. I hate it when Nessie interrupts my golf game.

You said we were on the right track with wildlife so like is this ropes for keeping out wildlife is is is it like a specific kind of wildlife that only happens in europe oh is it like a herd of like deer or sheep that would like graze on the grass and affect the grass length or something like that? You're even closer, but it has nothing to do with other animals besides humans. Yeah, you're on the right track with the length of the grass. Oh, trampling, crowd trampling the grass. This used some intel about the U.S. team. So there's like some... They're terrified of ropes. They're terrified. Everyone knows the U's like some... They're terrified of ropes.

They're scared of ropes. Everyone knows the US golf team is terrified of ropes. No, the team, the US team was known for long shots rather than accuracy. So you want, what does that mean? You want engulfed? Does it mean you want long grass or short grass? Is it legal in golf to deliberately fire a shot

over the crowd? Do they have to avoid the crowd? and so they moved where the rope barrier was so that some particular long-distance shot wasn't available to them? No. Oh. I was really enthusiastic about that, I guess. Oh, that'd be blooming mean. Crowds can't make the grass grow longer, right?

They can only trample the grass yeah and make it be shorter so we so if you're doing like a long drive yeah you you don't you're not that worried about accuracy so you you don't need that short grass right i'm i'm trying to remember microsoft with Windows 95. And it's been a long time. But yeah, is that it? They wanted more short grass? So they let the crowd in to certain places? No. Oh, okay.

Is it about moving the position of the crowd? Yeah, it's definitely about trampling the grass. You just haven't gotten as to why. Like, come on, think about how do you... I don't know anything about golf and I know this about golf. Okay, well, hold on. You have the rough and you have the fairway. So did they somehow manage to make the rough less rough

by sending the crowd over it and that helped the European team somehow? The opposite. Oh, we excluded the crowd over it and that helped the european team somehow the opposite the opposite oh we we excluded the crowd so the grass stayed long and was harder no yes molly's got it oh shoot really okay tell me more molly okay okay uh they they didn't let the crowds go into certain places with ropes so that the grass stayed long and lush and therefore was harder to hit accurately over short distances yeah that's it yeah the europeans worked out that the u.s team often missed the fairway by up to 30 feet to punish bad shots they made sure that any rough beside the fairway was as

long as possible in addition they moved the ropes that the spectators stood behind back to prevent them from flattening down any rough grass with their feet. The plan worked. Big stars like Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods won zero points. Europe went on to win the competition by 17 and a half points to 10 and a half points. It's like getting to choose the terrain in like a battle, right? Yeah, it's like Suetonius Paulinus picking the valley to meet Boudicca. It's like, yeah, we're going to play to our strengths. It's like building a little castle.

I've never really thought about golf like this before. Well, it's playing to your opponent's weaknesses, right? Knowing what your opponent's weaknesses are. It feels like cheating. Is that not cheating? The golf, like, shouldn't a neutral third country

have to design the course? But then it's like a whole course it would take like a year to make. Molly was right. The Europeans worked out that the US team missed the fairway often and were trying to make it

as hard as possible for them to get out of the rough when they missed the fairway with the long grass by keeping the humans away from it with ropes one last thing then at the start of the show i asked the audience why you might put a photo of a random baby in your wallet even if you've never been a parent before i give the answer i want to take a quick shot at that uh is that in case you get mugged you can say don't hurt me i have a i have a kid yeah my brain all smart and really went to like hostage situation it's not quite that much but there's there's something about that compared to other photos give me a discount on this car i have a kid is it for job interviews like hey look let me

tell you about my kid to soften them up a bit? You were closer with the mugging, which is not a sentence I say very often. What else might happen to a wallet other than having it stolen from you? You lose it and it helps you find it. Oh, someone's going to feel more sympathetic if you've lost your wallet. Yep. According to a study by Professor Richard Wiseman in 2008, he dropped 240 wallets around the streets of Edinburgh

and 88% of the wallets with the baby photo were returned compared to 28% for the elderly couple. And even if you think that's a small sample size, 88% to 28% is pretty convincing. So yes, if you have a random photo of a baby in your wallet, apparently people are more likely to return it to you. With that, thank you very much to our players. Let's find out what's going on. Where can people find you? What do you do?

We'll start with Molly. Yeah, you can find me at Science IRL, all over the internet, making videos, visiting scientists, poking flowers, all that good stuff. Jenny. I am at jdraperlondon on TikTok and at jdraper on YouTube. Come find me for London history. And Becky. I am Becky Stern in real life and on the internet.

You can find my YouTube channel and my blog. And if you want to know more about this show or send in a question yourself, you can do that at lateralcast.com. We are at Lateral Cast in the increasingly desperate wasteland that is the social networks. at Lateral Cast in the increasingly desperate wasteland that is the social networks. And you can catch us with video highlights multiple times a week at youtube.com slash Lateral Cast. Thank you very much to Becky Stern.

Bye. Thanks for having me. Jay Draper. Thank you very much. And Molly Edwards. Thanks a million. I've been Tom Scott and that's been lateral