Lateral with Tom Scott - 67: The colour sequence secret

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Ella Hubber, Caroline Roper and Tom Lum from 'Let's Learn Everything' face questions about confectionery companies, Covid conditions and culinary choices. 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: Nota, Ólafur Waage, Donald Honeycutt, Ivo, Sergi Monserrat Mascaró. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Peloton. Spring is a great time to start a new workout routine. With the weather warming up, it feels easier to get into the rhythm of things. Whether you have 20 minutes or an hour for a Pilates class or an outdoor guided walk, Peloton has everything you need to help you get going. Get a head start on summer with Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Which candy company was started by Hans Riegel in Bob? The answer to that at the end of the show.

My name's Tom Scott and this is Lateral. On the show today, I am ever so slightly nervous because the team from Let's Learn Everything, the podcast, have returned and there is a certain end of term chaos energy going on here. I mean I say return, they just haven't left the Zoom calls from the last time they were here. Please let us go Tom, please. Oh see that switched from friendly to dark very quickly. This is what I'm worried about. Oh, see, that switched from friendly to dark very quickly. This is what I'm worried about.

First up, Caroline Roper. Hello! Welcome back. I'm bringing the dark energy straight off the bat. I'm here for it. Okay, so I've worked this out. Caroline, tell us what the podcast's about. Oh, it's about a little bit of everything.

We cover one big science topic every single week. We cover one question topic that one of the other hosts brings. And we cover a miscellaneous topic, but none of us know what we're going to be talking about that episode. It's really, really fun. And one of those people who doesn't know what the others are going to be talking about is Ella Hubber. Hello. How are you doing? Welcome back to the show. I'm so good, Tom. I'm just ready to, yeah, finally finish this.

Again, it just sounds like there's a Highlander thing going on there. So for your side, what have you been talking about recently? What have you been learning? We just did our two year and 50th episode anniversary special thing. And we talked about the Ig Nobel prizes, which obviously everyone loves, but we do a real deep dive into it. And it was the most joyful experience ever. So I really recommend it.

And the final third of Let's Learn Everything, Tom Lum. Hi, I've been enjoying Zoom imprisonment. It's pretty nice, actually. That now sounds like something from a superhero film, or a Doctor Who episode, where it's just the box that you're trapped in. So from you, Tom, where can people find the podcast? You can find us, hey, you're listening to a podcast right now. Use that thingy. It's called Let's Learn Everything. We have letslearneverything.com, and you can find all our socials and stuff there.

It was a great time. And I also got to say, a lot of folks from the show have found us and have said very nice things in our Discord and we appreciate it a ton. And just a reminder to all of you to listen out for our mystery prize competition. If you think you've spotted the secret word,

just stand up and yell the words, I'm a cuckoo at any time. Don't ask me what the prize is. It's a mystery. I'm going to start you off with the first question, which was sent in by Ivo. In 1925, locals at Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, New York, threw stones at the newly installed stoplight. After three years of vandalism, the local authority did something that placated the locals. What was it? I'll say that again. In 1925, locals at Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, New York, threw stones at the newly installed stoplight.

After three years of vandalism, the local authority did something that placated the locals. What was it? Get rid of the stoplight and let people drive wildly through a junction, smashing into one another. This is, well, I was about to say this is infuriating because um very soon i'm going to go see hank green do stand-up in syracuse and i was about to be like oh i definitely would have heard it there and then i would have known i was like what

i'm not gonna like why would i learn that fact hey by the way did you see that old stoplight they placated us. That's great. There was a British comedian, well, there still is, as far as I know, he's still around, called Mark Steele, who did a show for radio in the UK where he went and did a custom stand-up set for small towns. He would turn up, spend a few days talking to locals and researching the town, and then do just hyper-loc local stand-up specifically for there

and honestly i i can see hank doing that i can see hank looking up facts about syracuse just so you can always heckle him with this fact tom you're right it's it's not a it's a gift what you've given me time and i appreciate it and of course the answer is you've given me time and I appreciate it. And of course, the answer is... Nice try. Nice try.

Not so much. Wasn't that... I'll get you one day. It wasn't a nice try. Okay. So just to be clear, this is a traffic light. Yes.

Yeah. Brits would call it a traffic light, yeah. Fine. Sorry. They were throwing stones at it? Yeah.

It was the wrong colours. It was just like... It was three reds. No one ever went anywhere. What year was this? Was this 1925? 1925. How many traffic lights existed before that?

Great question, Caroline. It was the devil's work. I can't believe this is it. Oh, Caroline. It was the devil's work. Oh, Caroline. It was too bright. I'm just thinking, were they angry that it was their full stop? Was it like a jaywalking law was then put into place or something? And with the traffic light being there meant that it was more enforceable.

So they were really mad at it and were like, no, I want to get hit by a car by walking across the road when I shouldn't i mean that that does sound american it made noise it made noise like a like a mario kart start line thing this stop line is being dangled by a little guy on a cloud it's just not not helpful they were taking umbrage at something you're right they were they were mad Just not helpful. They were taking umbrage at something. You're right. They were mad at something about this light.

So I'm just like throwing out everything. It went too fast. It was too slow. It's... No. In terms of placating the people around them, was it something that they physically did to the traffic light to change it? Or was it something...

Yes, it was it something... Yes, it was. Okay, interesting. And earlier, Ella, you were saying colours. You were throwing out everything, and I'll give you colours. Thank you. I'm wondering, is this something that was with early traffic lights? Was Caroline on something with that?

Was it like a fumble like our first draft of what traffic lights were was it like a regional thing or a specific thing the traffic light stands there to this day and even if it's been replaced they've done the same thing to all its successors oh okay so is this something that's uniquely about this traffic light that other traffic lights don't have yes interesting so this wasn't like oh we've put a traffic light that other traffic lights don't have. Yes. Interesting. So this wasn't like, oh, we've put a traffic light in for the first time ever. Oh no, we found a horrible issue with it. Let's change it.

This is like just for this traffic light. Okay. It was a flag. The colors was like, it represented a flag of a state or a town that they didn't like. It was like a Yankees flag. I'm sorry, it was like a Red Sox flag. Was it a country they didn't like? Like, because it's the 20s, so war, I'm thinking. So the German flag, for example.

So I'll give you the first bit of the question again. In 1925, locals at Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, New York. Tipperary. Tipperary. Like, Ireland? Ireland. Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, New York. Tipperary. Like... Ireland? Ireland. It was the Irish flag.

It wasn't. It was the British flag colours. Red, green, yellow. This was a regular traffic light. You got red at the top. You got yellow in the middle. You got green at the bottom. Red, yellow, green is not the Irish flag. So they wanted the Irish flag. They were like,

how dare this not be the Irish flag? The Irish flag was invented in the 19th century, but the design doesn't matter here. Green is Ireland's colour. There's some history here, and I'm recording this in a studio on Ireland with an Irish technician watching me so I'm saying absolutely nothing more about this. So it's not

so it's not about it being oh no you said it's about it being that temporary being Irish so

it was about it was when did Ireland split into the Republic and Northern Ireland? Does that matter? Maybe the flag, when they were. You've basically got everything at this point.

You've pretty much got it. What might the locals of Irish descent be angry about? I assumed it was like the Union, something about the Union Jack. Oh, is it? Yep. So the red. The red is Englandland's color is it above green oh is that like uh yeah no keep talking they wanted green at the top because it was

no way yep oh my goodness so what do they do to fix it? They swap it around. Yeah, they've turned the lights upside down. Turn it upside down. Yep. Wow. The locals who were all Irish immigrants or Irish descent did not like the symbolism of this new traffic light that the English red was on the top and the Irish green was on the bottom.

So they kept breaking it and the local council was like, we're just going to fix it, they'll give up. And they did not give up, and the traffic light was turned upside down and remains upside down to this day. Oh my gosh! Wait, I've got to find it!

I want to see if I can get a picture of it, that's amazing! Oh my god, yes please! Also, great teamwork on that one, y'all. I feel like... It's the fact that it was like a newish thing because that it was um teamwork sorry sorry teamwork did i just come up with all of the ideas i did i was the one who said the correct answer at the end so you're right it is mine each of our guests has brought a question with them.

We're going to start today with Caroline. This question has been sent in by Oliver Woge. In June of 2020, two people arrived in a country with strict COVID screening protocols. Even though they had travelled there directly from another country, they were not put through any kind of COVID check. Why? I'll say that again. In June of 2020, two people arrived in a country with strict COVID screening protocols. Even though they had traveled there directly from another country, they were not put through any kind of COVID check. Why?

They were dead. That's a good classic riddle answer. Yeah. Like nine times out of ten. I know it's not this because it was only one person, but there was someone during lockdown in the UK who wanted to get to the Isle of Man, which just had the strictest lockdown. I think they didn't get COVID for about 18 months or something like that

because they had these single... It's an island. They check everyone who came in and went out. They just didn't get it. But there was one guy who saw like 20 miles of ocean and was like, my girlfriend is on the Isle of Man. I am taking a jet ski. 20 miles on a jet ski to the Isle of Man, I am taking a jet ski. 20 miles on a jet ski to the Isle of Man.

Yeah, someone spotted him. Like, he didn't get away with it, but it was a wonderful story. Like, technically, he was not put through the COVID protocols, but also he was then arrested. So there is that. Off the back of that,

is it something like they came from a place where there was no other people like they're from an island where they were the only two so they can't have possibly have gotten covid no but the jet ski thing isn't like super far off okay wait you said they flew did i oh did you not oh wait my hunch might have been wrong can i car wrong. Caroline, so it's not from like an isolated place that they were coming from? No, it's not. Okay. I thought that was really clever.

I thought it might be like from Antarctica or something. No. People in Antarctica had to stay there. So if they were working down there on like a temporary contract, they had to stay. A colleague of mine at work used to work in Antarctica and she had to stay out there for like a temporary contract they had to stay so my my a colleague of mine at work used to work in antarctica and she had to stay out there for like 18 months or something yeah even though she's only meant to be there for six so no it's not because of that you'd think they don't have covid in antarctica they were taking it really really seriously because to

get back again you'd have to interact with a lot of people so it was best to keep them safe rather than like right yeah so it's not to deal with isolation and swimming was close and they didn't fly they were people right that was definitely in the question that they were people they were it was two people human people human beings were involved in this story yes should they have gone through the COVID protocols? Were they doing the end run around it with the jet ski? Or was the government just like, no, you've been in space. You've been somewhere, you clearly don't have it. Oh, so they weren't in space, but there was a reason why.

Were they in low Earth orbit? No, Tom, they weren't in low Earth orbit. They were deep underground. They weren't deep underground. Just the opposite. No, they weren't

deep underground. They had traveled up from the Earth's core. They had drilled a hole all the way through from New Zealand to Spain. Just right through the center. Just, just evacuated it of all air, and just kind of plunged down, grabbed on the other side.

Was there something special or in particular about the people? Like, were they... Could they have been... I'm trying to think of... Dead. They might have had, like, antibodies or something. You've said that, Ella. No, no, I'm just going to keep on doing it. Did they have potentially like, something about them that my thought might be relevant to like finding a vaccine or something like that, or...

Any other people who are in the same situation as them probably would have also not had to go through the COVID test. Okay. Were they famous podcasters? What, like you, Tom Lamb? You said it, you said it, you said it. I will say, what measures could people take to, or what was happening to people when they were entering countries that had?

Have you ever had a covid test administered by someone else? Right at the start, yeah. I went into Iceland just after it opened and i was like first or second off the plane and they had 200 people to go through and oh that was oh no buy me dinner first that was like i sat down it's like right put your head back. Okay, thanks. Thanks. Next morning, you get a text message, all clear. Thank you for that. And also, you have a lot of great brain cells that they analyze.

So, had they been in isolation through something else? Like, COVID protocols were generally you had to isolate. That is so clever. They isolated just by virtue of

where they were, who they were. Their job required isolation. Was it the Mr. Beast challenge? It wasn't what their job was. Is this the folks who were rowing the Atlantic or something like that? They'd been so isolated for so long they arrived and they'd been away from the world

because they were just on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic trying to get across. Yeah, really, really close. So they had travelled from Sweden to Iceland on a type of boat called a schooner. And that journey had taken them 16 days, so they didn't have to go through any of the isolation in the country that they were going to. Oh, that's lovely. There go that makes sense yeah so they had spent 16 days by sea by themselves so effectively they had already quarantined sufficiently for the country they were going into which was iceland and someone still stuck a swab up their nose on entry.

So yeah, there you have it. The reason that they didn't have to go through any COVID checks was because their journey from Sweden to Iceland had taken them 16 days on a schooner. Good luck, folks. Here's the next one. In a well-known industry, these can change colour on a daily or even hourly basis to avoid confusion. They start white, but then turn blue, pink, yellow, green, goldenrod, buff, salmon and cherry. What are they?

I'll say that again. In a well-known industry, these can change colour on a daily or even hourly basis to avoid confusion. They start white, but then turn blue, pink, yellow, green, goldenrod, buff, salmon, and cherry. What are they? Karate belts. On an hourly basis? Yeah, speedrun, of course.

If you hadn't mentioned the fact that it was to avoid confusion, I would say something like in diagnostic radiography, where isn't it like some practitioners or nurses have to have like colour changing tags on them to like show how much radiation they're being exposed to.

But that's very much like a safety thing rather than avoiding getting confused. But doesn't it add a bit of like fun if you have to guess how much radiation you've been exposed to? Ooh, is that huffing the confusion ante? I feel like... Ooh, salmon, am I about to die?

What's going to happen here? I feel like those tags are also like, have I got too much radiation? Yes, no. Probably too many colours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had a chartreuse amount of radiation today.

Because I'm wondering if, because if it was daily i would you know there's tons of things that do stuff like that like uh the museums will do that for like little tags and then like theme parks or uh like festivals concerts will do color changing stuff so that's what my where my brain goes to but knowing this podcast i'm gonna promptly delete all that how many different colors were there sorry i mean i'll say a lot uh a lot okay they start white and then we've got a sequence of colors blue pink yellow green golden rod buff salmon and cherry will people will one person like use, or is it to distinguish throughout the day different people? I'm trying to wonder. Could one person have something that changed color throughout the day? Yes.

Interesting. Okay. Also the phrase, well-known field, is what's... Yeah! Well-known. Lawyer. Doctor. Lawyer. Oh no, we're not playing guess the industry here. There's too many.

I feel like at least once an episode that we've done with you, we just list everything and then you just give up and say, yeah, it's one of those. It's not one of those. I'll tell you, it's not lawyer or doctor. It's a

fairly low tech solution to a problem that might be confusing. Okay, so let's go through everything that could be confusing. The thing that's changing colour, is it like a tag or an accessory that somebody wears that's visible to other people? Or is it something that they have for themselves to a tool personally yeah that's a very difficult question to answer because it's kind of neither of those things it is um it's certainly not worn it's not worn but you would be able to see it if someone else had it does it have to do with like food production at all i'm trying to think that's like a thing that might be require like an hourly like you might need to tag animals or um

oh if you're sorting and you need to i i kind of wish you'd completed that thought there, Ella. It was... Okay, so if you're... Say you're on just an assembly line and there's like batches of things coming in. It would have been my thought. And so every time you finish a batch, you go into another colour. Is the specific colour relevant to the tat?

The specific colour isn't relevant. You don't need to know what the sequence is, although a lot of people do know this sequence Where else might you have heard the words Goldenrod and buff Those colours are used in very specific contexts My brain went to Making crayons

And like The colour production Isn't it like they use the same Infrastructure to make it Or they just change the specific color of the batch and therefore you'd need something to indicate what color is being produced at that time you are close in the sense that i think the best way i can phrase this is that you are in the world of stationary and that okay that's a big kind of narrow down that I can give you there. Oh, delightful! Okay.

Oh, Ella, do you want to start listing out different types of stationery? Oh god, yeah! I was already doing it in my head! The way we approach this like a DDoS attack, we're just constantly buffeting Tom with answers. I'm now looking around my desk being like, what stationery do I have here that could change color? Paper, wrapping paper. Paper. Golden rod and buff are colors that stationers particularly use for colors of paper.

Santa's factory. Next question. Golden rod is kind of a golden yellow, and buff is kind of this brownish yellow like it hasn't been bleached properly. So they're printing on the paper at different times of day or something like that.

But for whatever reason, the job means that they're changing. They need to keep the times really separate. So how might this avoid confusion? Like a schedule? menu oh it's a thing something's being printed onto it and is it that thing which is then like avoiding confusion yeah interesting okay and they each they each represent a different time perhaps is it a different step in the process or is it a different like a set of instructions that somebody has to follow oh yes i'll go i'll let you have a set

of instructions it's in a very weird sense it's a set of instructions that people have to follow oh thank you tom um that get updated as time goes on and this is a well-known profession of some sort yep one that needs to regularly update text on paper and hand it out to everyone around. We're so stumped on this one. This one's hard. Yeah. Or is it not?

News reporters? Journalists? Just going to rustle my paper a little here. Lines. Scripts. Scripts. What's going on? Oh.

Okay. Why do they... A script that would be changing through the day. Is it for different scenes? So that you know everyone's on the same page? Tom, you've used exactly the right words. It's so that everyone is on the same page. Literal.

Literally. Wait, so going through the script to make sure that you're on the same... So everybody knows that they're on the same page as each other in the script by just looking around at what colour everybody's got. Looking at the colour. And if someone has an outdated script, then the colour will be wrong and obvious to everyone. Oh!

I think I've seen people using these and wondered why there were different colours and just not thought about it past that. That is the pattern. Mostly Hollywood, but if you use Final Draft screenwriting software, it'll use these colours in this order. Really?

You will have the blue, the pink, the yellow, the green, the goldenrod, the buff, the salmon and the cherry, and those are kept in stock so they can say, all right, yeah, here's the pink revision. And everyone around can see every actor is on the pink version that's just changed. We should have gotten that sooner.

That felt like defeat. Tom, over to you. This question has been sent in by Donald Honeycutt. In 1891, undertaker Almond Stroger noticed a drop-off in business caused by a competitor's wife. What did he patent to get his own back? I'll say that again. In 1891, Undertaker Almond Stroger noticed a drop-off in business caused by a competitor's wife. What did he patent to get his own back? Stroger. Okay. okay nothing

I've got nothing the last one was so stressful but we're all just like okay it's a question about death Ella we're finally here this is your time let's go

what was the competitor's wife doing was she making the funeral more comfortable for the mourners uh was she was she dressing up real hot which made more people want to go really exciting because that's like a whole thing in some funeral industries, is putting on huge, almost carnival-esque things for people's funerals. So it could be something along those lines. Is it, Tom? No. No.

That tiny whisper. No. No. No. I just wanted it to be true. No, but no. I appreciate that. to be true no but no I appreciate that it's the safety coffin

that was a Victorian thing that was about that time this was the oh the bell this was the coffin with like a bell attached and a string inside the coffin

so if you were put in the ground prematurely you would pull the string and ring the bell and someone would come to your rescue

yeah so the one swear creepy past just about that ruined ruined my growing up years. Honestly, horrifying. I don't want to think about it. And it happened to the competitor's wife? No, that wouldn't cause a drop off. The competitor's wife said, I will roam the graveyards checking that you're dead.

Oh. Is the competitor's wife alive in this scenario? Yes. Okay. Never mind the safety coffin then, that fell apart. And is it something that she's actively doing? Or is it something like... She is actively doing something.

Is she keeping people alive somehow oh my god maybe she's a really good doctor or something what you know what he painted the gun so i'll i'll give this hint because i feel like you'll still have um some some trouble getting to it for a thing for a question literally about an undertaker it does not the the patent does not have a ton to do with death huh more with the business and I'll say the year would probably give a bit of a hint

1891 now normally when I bring up a year and it's you three on I feel old because it's something for the 1990s none of you all get it but in this case it's 1891 we're all on the same page right

Tom Scott ancient being okay so maybe it's about attracting people to the business i don't know is it like a is it like more aggressive because okay also the whole idea of like having to actually have a funeral is a recently or like having people in coffins before like they were buried is a relatively recent thing is it something to do with like we will store your deceased or we will provide additional services it really doesn't have to do a ton with the undertaking. I will say, Ella has a great question which is sort of like, was this okay? I was like, this... She shouldn't have been doing this. This isn't like,

oh, it's like a clever thing. It's like, there's some insider something happening here. It was interesting. Was she, i don't know baking cakes and taking it to families like i'll give one more sort of hint around the time in that i think the competitor's wife is sort of a hint here because this was something that like was predominantly done by women at this time. Oh, okay. She was giving birth? Did they start doing, I forget what they're called, the little, the, was she a typist of some sort and she was typing up information about the deceased? No, but you're in that ballpark of sort of like

professions that women had at that time. She was a receptionist. She was picking up the phone? Was she the one answering the phone? The answering machine. She wasn't... How would someone use phone technology at the time

to steal business? Cold calling. She was cold calling people. No, no. She was a phone operator. She was the person on the switchboard. She was slugging and unslugging. That's so sneaky! And if someone called up asking for one funeral director,

she just connected them to the other one. That's so good! Honestly, we support women's wrongs. I was going to say, wasn't the second part of this, how was it combated? Yes. So how do you deal with that? He invented the automatic telephone exchange.

Sure did. So he patented the automatic telephone exchange. Shut up. That's how we got that? Are you kidding me? That's good. Wow. Stoner patented electromechanical switches

that could connect callers to the desired number without the need for humans this of course revolutionized uh aside from helping his business revolutionized the telephone industry and made it possible for millions of people to have access to the telephone service and get buried where they wanted to be buried and put his competitor's wife out of a job i was just going to say that! The stroger switch was first installed in La Porte, Indiana in 1892. It quickly became the standard telephone switching technology and remained in use for much of the 20th century.

Nice. Wow. That's a real good one. That's incredible. Thank you to Sergi Monserrat Muscaro for sending the next question in. You're watching a Premier League football match taking place in England. The game hasn't started yet, but the scoreboard already indicates 54-1101. Why?

I'll say that again. You're watching a Premier League football match taking place in England. The game hasn't started yet, but the scoreboard already indicates 54 and 1101 why this is it's not showing the score of that match i would hope yeah i was i was going to say like oh it's it's like a carryover from a different yeah but i i doubt it with that is it something to do with the amount of time that that team has played that season so far? Ooh, yeah. That feels like a lot of minutes. I'm wondering if it's functional, or if it's just like a cute thing

for either to celebrate a person or an event. Ah... I'm really struggling this episode. Then our question editor is doing his job! event. I'm really struggling this episode. Then our question editor is doing his job. Was anyone dead? You're going to hate this one, by the way. I'm just going to say, this isn't a you're going to kick yourself.

You're going to genuinely want to do harm to the question editor for allowing this one through. Congratulations, Sergi. Sergi has written an incredible question here it's wonderful i love it and you're gonna hate both him and our editor oh i'm getting flashbacks to the paris casino question i can't do makes it sound like you went there and like had a horrible time i did have a horrible time is Not the casino! Oh, the lights! I did have a horrible time. Is it something to do with the players?

Not the players, no. The fans. Is it something to do with the referees? Are we just running through everything? Oh no, yeah, we can't do this. Is it measuring time? I know that there's a clock in New York City that displays just a bunch of random numbers, but it's technically a clock that counts

up or down to something or something or another and it always confuses people. They only did this one time, Tom? Was this a special thing, or does this always happen? This will happen occasionally. Once a year, maybe twice a year. I'm not entirely sure of my football legals,

but it'll happen. And is this at every single club that this like it'll happen at each club once per year or is it just like

no so it's just randomly one is that the same club every time it happens yes oh so it's okay so the teams

are important the teams are important I was waiting for you to get round to that one and you we went off to referees okay Premier League

yep about to lose every team done I'm not going to after that one and we went off to referees. Okay. Premier League. Yeah. About to list every team, Tom. The only thing I know is about AFC Wimbledon from John Green. So,

but I don't think that will be helpful. No. Rather than list every team, if I tell you you're watching this match on the television,

that will make a difference. Does it? Does it spell something out? If you turn it upside down, is it one of those... Boobies. Like a calculator show? You're along the right lines, Tom.

It's not turning it upside down, but it's that sort of trick to this question. Is it a more well-known team then, because it's a team that's on the telly? These are very well-known teams, yeah. Okay, yeah. 5-4-1-0-0-1. 54 and 1,101.

5-4-1-1-0-1. No, 54 and 1,101. And so it's displayed on the screen? There is a very specific note on my question that says, please read out the second number as 1101. Because as you suspected, it's on the scoreboard, but it's not the score. 1101. So is it written out like the words one thousand one hundred and one somewhere on the scoreboard? No, but you again, you're thinking in the right area.

What else might be on that scoreboard? Does it represent like the number of teams, the age of the, how long this thing has been around or what year it was founded? What year? No, we said it's always these teams. Yes year it was founded what year no we said it's it's always these teams yes liverpool

was founded in 54 bc and liverpool's one of the teams i wasn't gonna let you scatter all the teams but it's the first one you've mentioned it happens to be one of them so i'll give you that oh great because ella had a lot of jokes lined up for the rest to poke at that um it's a jerk of a question this really is is it like a punny thing with the way the you say the words it makes it sound like the name of a team or something is someone willing to do a little puddling accent because i'd like to hear it i'm not going to i'm definitely not going to have a think about how that might appear on the TV coverage, on the scoreboard, on that little bug in the corner.

No, it's going to... Is that how the shortened versions of the... Because the teams, it'll say like, oh, I'm trying to figure out how to say this. It'll have the letters that represent the team on that. And this is something, and that... It's S-A because five four

oh so what are the letters that represent Liverpool when you're when they're playing and it's just in the corner of the screen and you can't see the full word Liverpool

it's going to be three letters Solol Sal I've written it out on a piece of paper I'd write out the three letters for Liverpool if I were you

L-V L-V-P? L-I-V. Oh, okay, yeah. Tell me the other one's Manchester City, which is M-C-I. M-C-I. We're all writing now.

Hold on. Wait, the Zodiac Killer is located at... Oh my God. Oh my gosh. We've decoded it okay so MCI okay so it's a date

is it Roman numerals? yeah oh my god wait oh oh is it oh my god does it represent oh my gosh wait so it those that's sorry if you turn those numerals into Roman numerals does it spell MCI and LIV?

LIV. Liverpool is 54 in Roman numerals. MCI, Manchester City is 1,101. That's why I kept correcting you when you were putting the digits out. Oh! Oh my goodness! You know what's so frustrating about this

is at the start I thought, if this is a Roman numeral question, it would be better if Tom Scott was answering this because you would have already figured it out. And I was like, I'm not going to get it because I don't understand it. It's a classic puzzle thing. Like you change the numbers to the letter.

Anytime that you see C or M in a question, your brain goes 100, 1,000, something like that. Yes. At some point, Sergi was watching the game and saw live MCI and was like, those are Roman numerals. Ella, over to you for the next question. So this question has been sent in by Nota.

Having won a competition in 2004, a Raubateller can now be ordered from many German restaurants. it consists of three or four things that are difficult to eat even so it's popular with parents why because it makes their child quiet i'll read that one more time having won a competition in 2004 a raubateller can now be ordered from many german restaurants it consists of three or four things that are difficult to eat even so it's popular with parents why i stand by my answer if you give it to a child they'll be focusing on it for so long trying to eat it that it makes them real quiet or is it like helping children with teething or something like that?

Like it's something that needs a lot of chewing? Or it's just something to keep the kid distracted. It's like a set of cutlery that they cannot possibly destroy or stab anyone with. I have apparently a lower opinion of children. Oh, so do you think the competition was an invention? Oh. Did someone win Eurovision and then because of that, they named something after something?

Can I just clarify here? Is this a Ralbertella or is it a Ralbertella as like a mass thing that can be ordered? No, a Ralbertella. Ralbertella is the name of the thing. Ralbertella, all right. And it's three objects? Three or four things. Raubatella. Raubatella is the name of the thing. Raubatella, all right. And it's three objects? Three or four things.

Three or four things. Okay. It's ordered in Germany. Did it originate in Germany, or is it from... Yeah, I mean, it's a German... If you spoke German, you would probably have got it by now. Yeah, I thought so. Are these dishes that people in in like the uk or america would

eat but just maybe not in the same format that they're eating it in germany or is it entirely regional i mean i'm i'm sure this is done elsewhere in the world okay it can't be something edible like three or four things that are difficult to eat this has got to be something to i think you're right caroline it's got to be to keep the kid quiet or out of the way or uh stop them roaming around and bothering other people and shouting i have a low opinion of children look you're you're along the right lines. Okay. But it's more specific. At Cracker Barrel, they have that little pegboard game. That's a classic. I'm trying to think if it's a... Do they need children to help them cook it?

That would be nice. Wouldn't that be lovely? Is the invention just like a high chair that's just really high up so you don't have to hear them complain? Or you can keep them away? We're being so mean to children. Tom Scott, you mentioned something correct earlier. The way you said that, I thought I was in trouble.

Sorry. Tom Scott, please report to the office. You've mentioned some of the correct answers. Tom Lum, you just said it. Utensils, then. Okay. Oh! Are they just utensils that are, like, big and round so that they're not dangerous?

I mean, I don't think the type of utensils matter here, but they have utensils. Is the food made out of... Is the utensil made out of food? No, that's not it. In fact, it's kind of the... You know, it's not the opposite, but it would help prevent waste, if anything,

than having more food there. Something to stop kids throwing the food on the ground. Fake food, so the kid thinks they've also got something to eat. It's not... You're close. You're in the right lines. I mean, children still need to eat, don't they?

I mean, I guess. Yes, sure. I'll give you a clue this might not be helpful but do any of you play Settlers of Catan yes

there is a character in Catan the robber the robber it's a little black pawn that

gets moved around the playboard what does that have to do with... What? This is so... This clue has like sent you off. Bring it back. So you've got utensils. Right, utensils? What does... In Catan, do you know what the robber is called?

Like... A pawn? No, I don't, because I used to play it with someone who just referred to it as the owl in that voice, because it looks vaguely like the silhouette of an owl. Is that the answer, Ella? You're so close with robber. Think about why I would be bringing that up. Is it the stealing?

They can't steal? It's so the kid can't steal food from other plates. It's a plate for the kid to have, so the kid can steal other people's food? Yes! How is that an invention? That's just if you chirp and don't want to order a meal for your kid, which by the way, is entirely valid. Like, the kid's not going to eat most of it anyway. Or it's really sneaky from the restaurant if you have to pay for that dish still. The idea was devised by a 10-year-old girl who won a prize when a hotel ran a competition for a new menu item.

And this idea then spread to restaurants around Germany. Wait, so it's a bowl? It's a plate? It's just a plate that you put food onto, basically. It's a plate, knife, and a fork for children a it's just a plate that you put food onto basically it's a plate knife and a fork for children that's it robber teller it means thieves plate because robber is what the robber is called in katan which is why i brought it up oh so when you choose this yeah when you choose this menu entry you get a as nerds. Yeah. When you choose this menu entry, you get just a small plate and some cutlery,

and then children can use that to pinch food from what the adults are eating. You know, we really underestimated the children. We were like, oh, little things to distract them, when really it was like, no, tools for them to grow. I've learned my lesson. Just one thing to wrap up then At the start of the show I asked which candy company Was started by Hans Riegel in Bonn

And Tom's eyes sort of lit up When I said that Was it like a Bon Bon? I feel like that's like When you go on QI And you say the really obvious answer And it goes Woo!

That's a type of sweet. It's not a candy company. Hans Riegel in Bon Bon. Okay, so we turn that into Roman numerals real quick. It is some wordplay. I can't just be like

Kit Kats. It's a good idea. Riegel Bon Bon? The biscuit company? I don't know. Keep going. Just keep going. Hans Regal in Bon... Bond...

Re... Bond... Hand... Hans... Royal Hand... What were you doing there, Tom? I was saying words. I was dissociating. Bon...

Bond... Hand... Regal... Wow. Bon... Hand... Regal... Bon... The thing is, you are saying almost the right answer, just not necessarily in the right order. Regal Han Bon. Bon Regal Han Bon Regal. Bon Regal. Regal Bon Regal

This is We are the worst Bon Hand We are the worst But tell me what's a six letter name Does that help? No No

Thank you for asking Oh we're not going to be invited back are we? This is it Hand Bon Bon Hand Oh please put us out of our misery Tom oh we're not going to be invited back are we this is it Hanbon oh please put us out of our misery Tom yeah what was that Tom

ha ha Hanbon ha Rehanbon oh is it like the first two letters of each which would make it

Reba Hans Regal in Bon Haribo Haribo Haribo no way oh I love those oh my goodness oh I know that story wow Hans Regal in Bonn Haribo Haribo Haribo No way Oh I love those Oh my goodness

Oh did I know that story Wow Yep In 1920 Hans Regal Staffed a candy company In Bonn He took those

Three syllables And made Haribo Oh that was so easy man I feel Oh god This is a bad episode There was a reason I was asking

To just keep slurring. And eventually, eventually we got there. Thank you very much to all of our players. At this point, I just hand over, like, plug the show. Someone take it. Well, it's our show. It's Let's Learn Everything. We've talked about, if you like some of the phone stuff,

we've talked about the history of recorded sound we've talked about telephone music we also recently had a friend of this show, Annie Raurda on as a guest to talk about the history of Wikipedia it's a great silly time we learn a lot, we laugh a lot Caroline, where can they find it?

You can find us on basically all streaming platforms but we have a website as well which is letslearneverything.com. So you can find all of the episodes as well as other things like our Discord server. So you can come and say hi to us. Ella, is there anything they haven't covered? No, that's fine.

Cool. If you want to know more about this show, you can go to lateralcast.com where you can also send in your own ideas for questions. You can find us at Lateral Cast on social networks and you can watch video highlights regularly at youtube.com slash lateral cast thank you very much to ala hubba see ya tom long and caroline roper thank you so much for having us i've been tom scott and that's been lateral kiss

ass Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!