Lateral with Tom Scott - 96: The king of everywhere

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

Ella Hubber, Caroline Roper and Tom Lum from 'Let's Learn Everything!' face questions about roundabout routes, mysterious messages and devillish doorbells. 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://lateralcast.com. HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett at The Podcast Studios, Dublin. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Xavier B., Cory Anderson, Alex Rinehart, Violet Moon, Lucas Neumeyer. 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

Hannah takes off a wrapper and sees the message because then it would be a foot. Why? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Latter-day. You fall down the well into a dingy room lit by a single flaming torch. The only door is to the north. There is a soft grunting noise from the darkest corner Examine the corner of the room with sword drawn you don't have a sword

Okay, make a sword first you take out your portable Ford and make a sword three hours later It has called into a wonderful scimitar. I'll fire an arrow into the corner Why didn't you tell me you had a bow Tom? the corner. Why didn't you tell me you had a bow, Tom? It's been in my knapsack the whole time. You fire the arrow, a goblin falls over, clutching the arrow in its chest. Oh, open the chest with the silver key. No, not a treasure chest, like his actual chest. Oh, sorry, I'm new to this, I've got it. Can we examine the door? The door is made from iron and seems sturdy.

There appears to be a keyhole at the top, but it's too high to reach. Ooh, ooh, stand on the chest! There's still no treasure chest. It's an actual chest. Right, okay, yes, sorry. Attach the key to an arrow and fire it from the bow towards the door. Ooh. I can roll for that if you want, but there's no way in a million years that's... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can roll for that if you want, but there's no way in a million years that's...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and he mutters the words, Welcome to the show! We have all the team from Let's Learn Everything! Welcome back, everyone! How are you doing? Wait, wait, have you been recording this whole time? I thought we were just playing a game of D&D! Oh, man.

This is how you always get us on! You trick us! It is lovely to see you all again. The last time we talked, I was on your podcast. So, Caroline, do you want to introduce who you are, where you're all from? Absolutely, yes. So we are Let's Learn Everything, Caroline, Ella and Tom. We are a podcast that talks about literally anything and everything that we find interesting. Ella, what did I come on to talk about a little while ago? You came on to talk about human acceleration, the fastest you can accelerate a human, a

normal human can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour. There were a lot of twists and turns in the episode that I don't think even you were expecting. Yeah. Yeah. And Tom, why can't you say what's coming up? Because we don't know and we don't want to spoil it for each other. That's part of the joy of it, is each of us brings in a topic to share to the rest of us. And yeah. Well adventurers from Let's Learn Everything, it's time to progress on to the next dungeon. Have your weapons of quick wit and guile to hand as we venture forth to question one.

I'm so glad we can use our weapons for these. That's so nice, that's so much easier. Our first question has been sent in by Violet Moon. Thank you, Violet. In a 1961 TV advert, the cartoon character Fred Flintstone says, Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. The successful campaign made Winston the number two cigarette brand in the US. Why was the American public appalled? I'll give you that one more time. In a 1961 TV advert, the cartoon character Fred Flintstone says Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. The successful campaign made Winston

the number two cigarette brand in the US. Why was the American public appalled? You mean besides the normal reasons? I have an idea which I think is so absurd that I think it could be right. So... Oh right. Havoc. Wow. What year did you say it was? 1961.

Okay, so it's after World War II, but still within the memory of people. So my guess is that the previous number one cigarette brand was called Uncle Sam or something, and everyone's really annoyed that it's called Winston after Winston Churchill now. Oh, that specifically. Even though we were on the same side of World War II, there was still like, yeah, but this is position number two, right? You said that this moved up to not even first place. Yeah, it was fifth. It went up to second place. Right.

I don't know if that would be part of it. It bumped down like some real popular... America's best. Yeah. So okay, not that then. But I thought that was really good lateral thinking. And I just like everyone to acknowledge that. Oh, no. Yeah, that was great. That was lovely.

That was wonderful. Could it be the reverse of our modern sensibilities? Could it be that maybe he, Fred was like making fun of the cigarettes rather than actually endorsing them. And so that was interesting. It was like a reverse boycott. Yeah. And so they were like, no, we love Winston's and actually in the clip, he's being sarcastic or something like that.

Oh, and people going out and buying it is like an act of rebellion against the Flintstones basically. Okay. I don't know. an act of rebellion against the Flintstones, basically? Yeah, I don't know. I love hearing about these old versions of cartoons getting cancelled or causing a stir. It's like, ah, we've always been insufferable with our media. The Flintstones was originally a cartoon designed for adults. The original show had a life track. It was an animated sitcom. I mean, family is probably a better term than adults,

but it was deliberately not a kid's cartoon. It was framed as just a regular sitcom that happened to be animated. Oh! I didn't know that. Was that a clue? Well, I feel like we should get the obvious out of the way here. Like, someone fall on the sword here and suggest why the American public might have been appalled at a cartoon character selling cigarettes. Because it's a cartoon character selling cigarettes to children.

That's not a good thing. Yeah, nothing to do with that. Cartoons selling cigarettes, absolutely fine in the 60s, particularly given that it was pointed at adults. If another brand had run the same campaign, it would have had the same effect. Got it. Yeah, okay. Good to clear the air, just to be crystal clear on that, though. Well, clear the air. Okay.

Hail. My other thought was, is Winston the name of another character? Isn't there a dinosaur that's meant to be the family dog, and's like implied that they killed the family dog and then like did something to it. And smoked him? Well yeah, you know. What? Winston, I immediately go to, that's a dog's name. So maybe they like killed their dog

and now have led to this advert. I don't know, that's just where my brain went. I think their dinosaur is named Dino and that's their pet, I believe. Oh was it? Okay. For all the fl Flintheads out there. Not that then. Is that the genuine name for Flintstones fans? I don't know, but I believe it. Yeah.

What would they be upset about? Yeah, is it to do with the cigarette brand that was bumped down to third place? Is there some weird, like... Okay. Could the, could maybe like what they drew for the cigarette versus the actual name of it be different? Like could it look like a Marlboro logo when actually it was supposed to be advertising Winston? It's interesting because it's the public that's outraged, not like the company. So I'm curious. It's weird that it's like both public outrage, but also its sales got bumped

up like both of those things. Yeah, right? How can it be both? Yeah. That implies to me that there was something negative about the cigarettes in the cartoon that meant people were like, I'm going to go and buy this now to kind of screw you. Yeah. Did he like cough a ton as a joke when he was using the cigarette or something like that? It was a regular ad read. That Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. Was it not a cigarette? Is a Winston a cigarette brand, definitely?

Are they trying to start false advertising almost? Not that, but... They don't taste good. So everyone just bought them, and they were like, these are horrible. Like cigarettes are. This is the sort of complaint that you would still get today. The wording would be different,

but what sort of thing does some people like to complain about? The things they see or hear on TV? Like false advertising? Like maybe like when cereal boxes say enlarged to show scale, like was it cartoonishly big or something like that? And they were like, aw man. Or it's like when cartoon food looks so good, you know? Like when a steak on Tom and Jerry looks so good or any other...

Oh yeah, this cigarette did not make me lift off my feet and waft through the air towards it. You went, AOOGA! If it had been a different cigarette brand, would there have been the same outrage? If the slogan was the same, yes. Oh. Oh. Oh. Interesting.

Oh, it tastes good like a cigarette should, right? Is the slogan? With the implication that you were eating them? You had to eat the cigarette? I'm stumped. We're all such good Samaritans who would never smoke a cigarette, so it's tricky for us, Tom. No, of course. — It's shrieky for a pal. — Yeah. — Hmm. — The same complaints, and I don't know where this is going to land, but as a clue, but the same complaints were heard about the narration of Star Trek, that opening sequence,

that same sort of complaint. — What's the opening of Star Trek? Does anyone know? Like, the original... — To boldly go where no one has gone before. — Oh, it's, like, grammatically incorrect? Like the original... To boldly go where no one has gone before. Oh, it's like grammatically incorrect? Yes, it's grammatically incorrect. No way! Well done, Ella! Oh my goodness!

Oh wow! And truly, what's killing more Americans? It's really grammar, not cigarettes, that's killing Americans. That's really the issue we should be focusing on. At that point, the world had not fully switched over to using like instead of as in a comparison. Oh, so it's like an odd time. Quote-unquote correct way of doing it would be Winston tastes good as a cigarette should.

I hate that I keep repeating this advertising slogan, like, please, please don't smoke kids. Also, don't smoke kids. Um... It should have been as, rather than like. I'm a linguist, should is in scare quotes there, but the sort of people who get angry about pedantic things like that, like the opening direction of Star Trek,

wrote in to complain. That was the frac fracas about that slogan. Not that cartoon characters were selling cigarettes, not even the idea that there was cigarette advertising, but that their words should have been slightly different. Caroline, over to you for the next question. This question has been sent in by Corey Anderson. In 2016, the new King of Poland was declared in an official ceremony attended by the country's president.

This King reigns over more people outside of Poland than within. How? I'll say that one again. In 2016, the new King of Poland was declared in an official ceremony that was attended by the country's president. This King reigns over more people outside of Poland was declared in an official ceremony that was attended by the country's president. This king reigns over more people outside of Poland than within. How?

I didn't even know that Poland had a monarchy, for a start. I don't think Poland has a monarchy. What was the year again, Caroline? 2016. Okay. Is it because Poland doesn't have a monarchy? So it technically does not reign over anyone inside of Poland. So it's like,

I feel like it's the Polish Republic. I might be wrong there. Well, yeah. And the country's president was there as well. Was there. Not to highlight that fact. Oh, that's a good, that's a very good point. Yeah. Highlight that fact. Oh, that's a good, that's a very good point. Yeah. My thought was this was one of those is some sort of trick.

It's like the two books that's like what you learn in Harvard Business School and what they don't teach you in Harvard Business School. Where it's like you have the king of the Poland and the king of not Poland. And so it's like they subsume the rest. Is it like Poland is a republic, the actual country of Poland, but Poland has overseas territories that are still not republics, they still have the Polish monarchy? I mean that was true for the British Empire for a long time. There were more people who were British subjects, who were subjects of the monarch, outside the United Kingdom than

they were inside. Just because we'd take a lot of stuff, you know? Yeah. But I don't think the Polish Museum is as extensive as the British Museum, so I don't know if that... No, Poland never really had a colonial era, at the time, than I know of. Yeah, I didn't think so. No, strictly speaking, this kingship is more symbolic than legal. Okay. Is it the king of the brand Poland Springs?

Is there some normality here that... I mean, if it was Iceland, then I could absolutely believe that the supermarket chain Iceland had just decided to elect a king as a publicity stunt. Oh, that would be... Could it be something that, like, something in the old wording of the kingship of Poland is something that, like, wherever a Polish citizen is on the world, like, technically that counts as the kingdom of Poland, right?

Like the symbolic kingdom of Poland is wherever a pole is in the world or something like that. Well, and that then like in turn takes over every single person in that area so that there could be more people ranked outside of Poland than within. Okay, yeah, that's fun. I like that. Yeah, if it's symbolic at this point, you can just be like, yeah, technically this is within the kingdom of Poland. Are you within five meters of someone from Poland? You are now a subject of the King. That's how it works.

The wording was that it's a territory larger than the actual country? Or what was the wording of that again? Rules over more people outside Poland, right? This King reigns over more people outside of Poland than within. Why did you peddent me on reign over rule? There's something there. Yeah, it's a cloud! Is it spelled R-A-I-N-S and he's owned some kind of cloud-busting machine? No, it is the spelling R-E-I-G-N-S, reigns. People, not horses. I'm thinking out

reigns like horse reigns. I love it! So are we right? Is this at all related to an older lineage of kings, or is this like a brand new thing that came up in 2016? I will say that his reign is more than just a royal connection. Have we established this is the country of Poland? Because I feel like this might be like Poland, New Jersey, or Poland, Queensland, Australia? No, this is 100% the country of Poland. Oh yeah, because you said there was a president as well. All right.

Yes. Yeah, there's a president of Poland, New Jersey. New Jersey, yeah. Jeff, I know him. We're good friends. He's always at the diner. So you're saying rain in a different sense of the word rain. Does it mean like just being above, like physically above? So you're surveying more people because

you're high up? It's more than that. It is still in like the sense of like raining over, but not necessarily royalty as such. Think of other people who have been said to reign over someone. God? Ella? Ella? Wait, sorry, he's God? Oh my God is the King of Poland? You are so, so close. It's not God. Jesus. Huh?

Jesus is the God. — Jesus? Huh? — Yes, it is. — Jesus is the king of Poland! — Jesus is Jesus. — I'll let that sink in for a second. — Yeah, because Polish politics was becoming much more conservative and much more religious in 2016. I was in Poland just after the last election, just as it started to swing back. — Oh, gosh, yeah. — I remember some of the folks I was talking to saying, yeah, no, things are changing again.

Like, yeah, they officially proclaimed Jesus as King of Poland as a, basically a political stunt, right? You know what, and honestly, 2016 might have been a hint if we had been thinking about just like that period of time. Yeah, that's right. So Jesus Christ has officially been declared the King of Poland. This was part of the Jubilee Act of accepting Christ as our King and Lord, and it was approved in April of 2016. It was read at a special ceremony on the 19th of November that year

with President Andrzej Duda in attendance alongside members of the Polish clergy and thousands of pilgrims. For anybody who's still stuck on that reigning thing that we were talking about earlier, as the King of Kings, Jesus reigns over his believers. And naturally, there are more Christians outside of Poland than within. Okay. I see. That's a good question. I like that. Tom, to your point earlier talking about how Christian the country is, in the 2021 census,

71% of Polish people of the Polish population identified as Roman Catholic. So quite a large percentage of the population. Wow. So quite a large percentage of the population. Yeah, yeah. At 167 feet, Poland has the tallest statue of Jesus. I'm going to try and pronounce the name of the place. It's at Świbodzin. And it had an internet antenna inside its crown until they were removed in 2018, which is just a fun little fact for you! Okay! Alright, good luck with this one, folks.

In 2018, the Nicola Company posted a video of their new electric truck on a long desert highway. The accompanying announcement said Behold! The 1000 horsepower zero emission Nicola 1 semi-truck in motion. What was the catch?

I'll say that again. In 2018, the Nicola company posted a video of their new electric truck on a long desert highway. The accompanying announcement said, behold the 1000 horsepower zero emission Nicola 1 semi truck in motion. What was the catch? 2018. My first thing is, I feel like by calling it the Nicola company, it is a it is a pastiche of Tesla. Yeah. So I don't and I don't know if I've heard of this company. So part of me wonders if this is some kind of publicity stunt to poke fun at them. It's sorry, 1000 horsepower, zero emissions, 1000 horsepower, zero emissions, electric truck. These are the details. It can't move. Yeah, my initial thought went to it was being pulled by something else like a horse. Yeah, that was my thought too.

As I've learned recently, horses are normally more than one horsepower, so it was probably less than 1000 horses. Yes, that's true. And also, because they produce methane, they wouldn't be zero emission. It wouldn't be zero emission. That's such a good point. Oh, that's true. Pulled by a thousand kangaroos, they don't produce much methane. That's the answer, right? We're coming, we're solving this climate crisis together. Smarter. Think smarter.

Not harder. Was it like a, like, you know how trams have to be attached on a rail and like above their head with like a cable to move? Is that, is that what it was? Is it? Yeah, was this like a train? I have actually filmed a setup like that in the past. There's a couple of e-highways being tested in the world.

Oh, cool. I don't know if it's gonna happen. I kinda hope it does, because I think it's a good solution. In that case, they have to build out the same gantries that you'd see on an electric train. Right, yeah. And then you have a truck with a small battery that can just link up for the highway sections.

Not here, this was a long desert highway. Right, right. And is that a clue or not? Was it very—it was very small? It was the only way to get it to power that much? It's very, very tiny. It's a toy car. Was it a toy—or a cardboard car? Or something? Was it not actually a car or truck?

It was absolutely true, really. Really? It was a 1,000 horsepower, zero-emission semi-truck, and it was in motion. Could it have been downhill in the desert? Yes. Absolutely. So they just release, they just let it go? Yes. Oh!

There's some place in the review saying it that way, Ellen, it was really... So they just let it go. I was going to suggest a slingshot, so I guess this is a better solution. Yeah. I love that we went to a slingshot before gravity. I know! Yep. Every time.

Did they just have it just like on top of a dune or a hill and just had it roll down and they were like, look at this thing. And did they then like record it and then tilt it so that it looked like it was going flat? Oh! The reason it was a long desert highway is that you can kind of get away with hiding a very slight gradient there. Wow.

Okay. That's mad. The Nicola One was supposed to use a hydrogen fuel cell. You're absolutely right, they were playing off the Tesla name as well. At the time of that, they did not have a 100% working prototype. The batteries in the gearbox worked, but in 2020 they admitted that the video they put out was just a truck that was rolling down a very long, shallow hill. Hydrogen fuel cells are in use, though, right now.

I'm sure I saw a bus that said it was in car diff that said it was using them. No, but was it rolling downhill, Ella? That's true. Whenever they roll downhill, they flip the sign and it's using, in Cardiff that said it was using them. Now, but wasn't that rolling downhill, Ella? That's true. It's very hilly. Whenever they roll downhill, they flip the sign and it's like, in use! There are a few places that use hydrogen fuel cells. The Orkney Islands in the UK can use them for some things, but that's because they've got a surplus of electricity. So when they have too much wind power and nowhere to send it, they will just generate hydrogen and then use that to power fuel cells. So it can kind of work as a battery.

It's not very efficient right now. In 2023, Nicola founder Trevor Milton was sentenced to four years in jail for three counts of fraud while CEO of the company. Oh my goodness! Wow! So if you're wondering why we're being slightly less careful than usual with our libel and slander concerns here, it's because the CEO was jailed for fraud. Ah. Fair enough.

Fair enough. I thought you were going to say three counts of fraud while downhill, while rolling downhill. Oh, that does make it worse. Yeah, committing fraud while going downhill absolutely just increases the sense. It adds a year. Yeah. It's all downhill from here. Oh, wow. Yeah, committing fraud while going downhill absolutely just increases the sense. I'd say yeah. Yeah. It's all downhill from here.

Oh wow. Tom, your question. Over to you. This question has been sent in by Alex Reinhardt. In 2022, during an American video game tournament, Omega greeted Sonics saying, I'm a huge fan. To stain the battlefield with your blood will be a huge honor. Sonix requested a lag test, and Omega was duly disqualified. Why? I'll say that again. In 2022, during an American video game tournament, Omega greeted Sonix,

Sonix with an X. Not really relevant, just want to clarify. Saying, I'm a huge fan. To stain the battlefield with your blood will be a huge honour. Sonics requested a lag test and Omega was duly disqualified. Why? For a second I did think you meant Sonic, like multiple Sonic the Hedgehog cosplayers? Yeah, I was thinking that again. The battlefield with their blood? Like, that's really intense Omega. Wow. Omega of course being the godlike villain from Doctor Who, so it's a completely unmatched battlefield here. They're talking to each other. Is this on screen? So one of the people can see that

something is wrong with the way that they're communicating with each other. So I believe they were... this interaction was happening via a text chat. Within the game? Outside the game in like an outside chat chat system, but they were playing the game, you know, together. Is it Smash Bros? It is actually, yeah. I just that's the only game I know that has very regular tournaments. Don't know how that will help you.

I was going to say, is that relevant? Like, ah, it's Jigglypuff! I knew it! Well, I've exhausted my game knowledge. I mean, we've exhausted mine. The last time I had to deal with video game lag, I think... I was like 14, 15. We'd just switch from dial-up to a cable modem, and suddenly the ping was less than 250 milliseconds? Like, this is how ancient my game knowledge is, unfortunately. Yeah, we're not dealing on that scale of lag here. You said Smash Bros. So, that is a game where, like, frame-accurate inputs are important.

Like, the twitch of a button, if it's a fraction of a second earlier or later, will make a difference. And playing online can be difficult because of that, because the code has to deal with everything that might be lagging a little, and the lag will change over time. Right. So, what if the lag was too low? What if the disqualified player was not actually playing over an internet connection? Or, like, they had an advantage because they were actually playing on the console that was hooked in there, instead of, like, they should have been over an internet connection. I'll say that's a great hunch, but surprisingly, that is actually not the factor.

It's actually not the delay affecting the, like, actually not the factor. It's actually not the delay affecting the abilities of the players. It's something else. Is it the text? Is it the texting between them? Like there was, it just took too long to reply between those messages that they exchanged or... Oh! And so, you know, there was some kind of delay between them. Or it's too quick, again. Like, that response was lightning fast.

It must have been pasted from someone. They must have been using something to cheat, because they were just able to, like, paste that response in. But I don't think pasting is cheating, really. No. Yeah, or even, like, maybe using an AI to get those texts in faster. Like, it wasn't actually a person. What year was that?

2022. So that was a good one. Oh, okay. Yeah. I'll say, you're right that it is something about the message, but you are incorrect that it is something to do with sort of like a lag test in the traditional way that you guys are thinking where like they have some unfair advantage by being too fast or too slow. Although maybe the lag test did come back being laggier or taking longer than you would think. So if anything, maybe Omega would have a disadvantage. But that's not what's going on here. That's not the reason for the disqualification. Did calling a lag test activate something that then looked at the chat logs and there was a keyword in there like, what was the specific phrasing of that message? Like mentioning

blood then automatically meant that you got disqualified or something? Caroline, you are getting very, very close. I'll read their message one more time and I'll also say this clue, which is that this podcast is Our podcast is is very Specifically equipped for this kind of of a detail And this kind of problem. I was so excited when we got this question. So I'll read it again I'm a huge fan to stain the battlefield with your blood will be a huge honour. Did he spell honour the British way? Did he put a U in there?

He sure did. And then the lag test is maybe he's just in the wrong region and thus disqualified, or maybe it's actually someone playing for him who's in a different location and he's just in the wrong region and thus disqualified. Or maybe it's actually someone playing for him who's in a different location and he's put a ringer in. It's simpler as that. It truly was a person from the UK playing in an American tournament trying to kill an American. No way!

It's amazing. It was also... So the player is more commonly known as Darkstalker and he was using an alias, I believe, for this tournament. So there is some of that. Oh, okay. Interesting. And there is, there existed a clip of the chat log that was very funny that I can only

get a few words from, but you can see one of the moderators say, hold the f-ing phone. My man, my brother in Christ, where do you hail from? And the guy goes, London RN. And it's really, you can, it's in the chat log, you can see Sonic's say, he says, I've seen you play Peli too much to know what you play like, brah. And then Omega goes, damn you. And then Sonic goes, if you hadn't then Sonics goes, if you hadn't said what you said in the beginning, I wouldn't have thought much of it. It's a real Columbo

moment. It's amazing. So yeah, they used the British spelling of honor with a U, which tipped off Sonics, who called for a lag test. And then the moderators confirmed that they were not in America. The next question was sent in by Lucas Neumeyer. Thank you very much, Lucas. During the American Civil War, Confederate General John Magruder ordered his soldiers to march in a long elliptical route for a while. Or route, I guess.

Why? I'll say that again. During the American Civil War, Confederate General John Magruder ordered his soldiers to march in a long elliptical route for a while. Why? An elliptical is like a...credits shape? An oval, right? Oh, an oval.

An oval? Okay. Yep. My brain first went to like some, they were like, that's the best route to like watch the eclipse or watch some astronomical phenomena is in an ellipse. Is this the era of warfare where people just like stand in a line and like shoot across a field at each other? And so is this sort of like, this is the earliest strategy of warfare is like now walk in an ellipse and they'll be illusioned by us.

So what was that last bit, Tom? I said illusioned. Is this actually some sort of like zebra phenomena? Oh, you see, my brain goes to like, is it kicking up like dust or something to create like a shield to hide? My initial brain went to this is a punishment for them doing something wrong because I'm glad it's not that. Oh, I have like 50 ellipses, let's go! Hey, watch the fogeye! That's not an ellipse!

Yeah, is it like they're walking back and forth in an ellipse, right, but in two lines and one lot is wearing like white and one's wearing black. So like Tom saying, it's like giving some kind of... Fave blending. So you're like, whoa. Dazzled camouflage in the single horn. Oh, it's like, it's like one of those magic pictures. It's like one of those magic pictures, like when you pull it away from your eyes, something appears and it just says like, go

away, leave us alone. Abe Lincoln can suck it or something. Let us win. Is it like when animals try to make themselves look bigger to seem more scary, like all these people going backwards and forwards to try and look like a big army or something? Yeah. Yeah. I said that as a joke. I said that as a joke! This could be stupid. Is it because, like, because an ellipse is like a squashed circle, right?

And so is the idea that, like, it creates the illusion that they have, like, a full circle of a much bigger one that's actually a squished ellipse? Maybe that's how we're thinking it, but... It's much simpler than that. You're right. They were trying to make the army look bigger. I'm going to ask you to connect how that might work. Like, there's something about the battlefield and the region around it that made this possible.

Oh! Oh, maybe there was lots of tree cover, so they could only see one section. So it looks like loads of people going through. Oh, goodness! I'm on a roll right now! Commander General Caroline! Looks like loads of people going through. Knock it out here! Oh my goodness, I'm on a roll right now. Commander General Caroline! Well done. Part of the oval route was obscured by trees.

So knowing that the opposing general had a habit of overestimating the enemy's manpower and didn't really like attacking if they weren't sure, Confederate General John McGruder just said, just march past the trees a lot. In an over-route. And they will think there are far more than there are. And it did work. You were also right about noise.

McGruder's men were ordered to make as much noise as possible. Shouting fake orders, kicking up dust. Just to create as much of an illusion of people as possible. Oh man, how are we going to feed our 100,000 soldiers over in the tree? There's a guy in the back of the trees handing them like mustaches so they would look like different people when they came around. You get a pair of glasses this time, you get the fake nose. Ella, over to you for the next question.

This question has been sent in by Xavier B. In a 2022 game against the Texas Rangers, the public address system of the Tampa Bay Rays started to play doorbell noises as it was a theme night. Why? I'll say that again. In a 2022 game against the Texas Rangers, the public address system of the Tampa Bay Rays started to play doorbell noises as it was a theme night. Why? Not why was it a theme night.

Was the theme the Book of Mormon musical and they were playing the beginning song where they pressed the bells over and over again? In a reference that will be lost for multiple reasons on all the people in this call, it was a Knowles House Party theme night, and they just had a man in a big wig and a beard repeatedly opening the door to celebrities. I've seen Knowles House Party, Tom Scott, I'm not that... I'm so sorry. Yeah, she's seen Knowles House party. Yeah.

And that collectively means all of us have. Yes. Was the theme doors? Knowing the theme will help you. Yeah, damn right it will. Wonderful. I'm so glad. Just want to throw out some, I thought I just threw out some really useless clues this time

around. Okay, no, Tom. You had a similar thing earlier where you were like, I haven't said anything wrong in the thing I said. And it's like, yeah, because you said that. Okay, so the hint was you didn't lie to us. That's fair. Oh, come to that.

Me and Ella's shoes. Can I ask, was it trick or treat themed? No. Oh, I thought I was so clever with that. The Tampa Bay Rays. Yeah, is it relevant to the team? Could it be related to either the team, the Rays or the Rangers? As far as I'm aware, the theme is not related to either of the teams.

Interesting. Ding dong. Yes, listeners, that was me imitating a doorbell to see if that would help me at all. We've gotten to, yeah. Okay, I'm racking my brain for like terrible sport theme nights that have existed. Oh yeah. There was like Tencent Beer Night at one baseball stadium which ended so badly that there were riots. Oh wow.

Oh yeah, it was really bad. There was disco demolition night that also ended in riots. Turns out with context, also not great. Yeah, not good. Sorry, I retract that then. Disco demolition sounds really... You made it seem... Ella, I'm sure you thought it was like for Disco, it was like Disco demolition. Yeah. No, no, it was- No, there's history to that. Oh, okay.

Was this themed around the podcast Las Culturistas, where they go ding dong? Wow. Some listeners that resonated. That worked as well as my Noel Townes party reference game. So there's that. I guess think about when you would be playing the ding-dong noise. Ella, was this a Zoom ding-dong? Like a Zoom call? Zoom for the calling software? Zoom?

No, it's just a normal doorbell. I thought I was so clever because like 2022, 2022, people are still using Zoom a lot. I thought it might be someone who, every time a new player enters the field... Actually, we haven't established what sport this is. I'm assuming it's baseball? It is baseball. It is baseball. Yeah. Every time a new player enters the field from the dugout, they play a doorbell noise? Maybe there's a doorbell attached to the bat and every time they swing and hit it... Well, no way.

Ella? It's not attached to the bat. Every time there's a home run because the doorbell's going and it's home? No. No. So this is in the Tampa Bay Rays ballpark and it's played whenever the Rangers do something. Do something? Hit the ball? Yeah, whenever they bat. Is it just to be annoying? Yeah, is it just as a distraction method?

So yes, it is a distraction method, but the doorbell isn't enough to give a distraction. It was the theme night that came with the doorbell that added an extra element of distraction. Oh, there's more. So the doorbell is directly linked to the theme. It's not just like a random thing that was also put in there to be distracting. The theme isn't just doorbell is what you're saying. The theme is not doorbell.

Everyone has to bring a door from home and they just slam it in people's faces. Could it be like's faces. When? Could it be like pizza delivery or something? They start throwing pizzas onto the field. Oh no, I went every time there's a pizza delivery guy on the field just walking through getting in the way. To run to home they have to be holding a pizza also. Is this specifically targeting some player who's had a news story?

The same way British football champs will be specifically targeted at some player who's had a news story? The same way like British football champs will be specifically targeted at some player who's had an incident? No, no, it's for every Batranger's batter. Interesting. Is it like ding-dong ditch? I'll just say what might react to a doorbell. Oh my god, dogs. A dog?

Oh. A pet? It was Bring Your Dog Day? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. A dog? Oh! A pet? It was Bring Your Dog Day? Was it Pet Night? Yeah. Yeah. Wow! Oh, so that's really sinister!

Every dog in the stadium starts barking. Oh my god. And the running team films you, whichever. They're just distracting with huge amounts of dogs barking. That's incredible. Yeah, that's it. That's so good. Wow.

That's really clever. They run really clever, huh? From the doorbell. Wow. So the Tampa Bay Rays were holding a bark in the park night, where the sports fans were allowed to bring along their dogs to watch. So the announcers decided to have a bit of fun and play the doorbell noises. Whenever the visiting team, the Rangers, were at bat and the doorbell caused all the dogs in the stadium to start wildly barking and tried to put off the hitter, basically.

The aim was to put off the hitter. Nice. And the other team had to wear like a male person uniform and run across. At the top of the show, I asked Hannah takes off a wrapper and sees the message because then it would be a foot. Why? Anyone want to take a punt at that before I give the answer for the audience? Sounds like a Laffy Taffy joke kind of a thing. I was going to say, is it like a penguin bar where like there would be a joke and you would

peel off part of it and it would reveal the punchline. It's certainly along those lines, yes. Right, okay. Is it a Subway sandwich? I feel like I've heard this punchline before. It's like, when is a meter not a meter because then it's a foot or something like that? Yeah, I guess there's two parts to this question.

One is the set-up for the joke, and one is... Yeah! Yeah, you're right, it's a food item. But if you just take off the wrapper and see this, something's gone wrong. Oh! Because then it would be a foot. Is it like a Sherlock Holmes? Like, the game's a foot, what's that? Oh, is it that, like, the name of the food, the end of it is foot, and just part of the

wrapper makes it is foot and just part of the wrapper makes it say foot. No, in time they would see the other half of the message. Is there something written on the bar itself, on the candy or on the food item? We're like obsessed with its candy. Is it even that food or is it something else? It's something sweet. Okay. Is it a drink? Maybe a beverage or I guess not. Oh gosh. Is it, you know how ice lollies sometimes have it on the stick of the thing?

Ohhhhh. Is that what it is? Yep, so what's going wrong? You've eaten part of the stick! Oh is it backwards? Yep. Tom, you've got it. They put the stick in the wrong way round.

Oh no! Oh, okay. This is one of those ice lollies where the handle of the stick has the setup of the punchline and once you have eaten the lollies you get the joke. And in this case it's the wrong way round. Because then it would be a foot. Does anyone want to try for the setup of that? I went to you ate part of the stick, which is just... Who am I going to say is not?

Why do seagulls fly over the sea? Because then it would be a foot. Because then it would be exactly... Why is a hand not in a sock? Why can't a nose be 12 inches long? Because then it would be a foot. The problem is I do not know how many inches are in a foot. Because I...

And with that... What? And on that punchline, thank you very much to the team from Let's Learn Everything for running the gauntlet one more time. Let's plug, where can people find you, what are you up to? We will start with Tom. We are at let'sle everything dot com. Listen to our show. If you like the D and D stuff at the beginning, we've done a role playing game once where we all play rats.

We do a heist as rats. And so if you're into that, it was a delightful time. But we also do other stuff. What sort of other stuff, Caroline? Oh my goodness, we talk about everything from how we make super heavy elements to quantum physics to the history of gossip and chess, literally all sorts. And I promise I do more research then and I know how many inches are in things when we talk on the show. Yes. Okay. I just realized I wasn't selling the science thing very well.

We will do a topic. We're actually, it's on the list to do a topic about the silliness of units across the English speaking world. Ella, where can people find you? Let'sLearnEverything.com and Everywhere You Get podcasts. And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at LateralCast.com. We can also send in your own idea for a question. We are at Lateralcast.com. We can also send in your own idea for a question. We are at Lateralcast basically everywhere.

And there are regular video highlights at youtube.com slash Lateralcast. With that, thank you very much to Ala Huber Woohoo! Caroline Roper Thank you. Tom Lum Ka Chow

I've been Tom Scott and that's been Lateral.