Lateral with Tom Scott - 108: A very helpful beach

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

Sophie Ward, Julian Huguet and Tina Huang face questions about moving monuments, passed-over paintings and easy exams. PRE-ORDER THE BOOK: https://www.lateralcast.com/book 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: Gemma, Manuel Omil, Mauricio Herrera, Bryce, Daniel Rogers. 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

The Wedding Feast at Cana by Veronese is the largest painting in the world's largest museum. Yet most people stand with their back to it. Why? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. As always on this show, I have a script full of very difficult questions, and today's panelists really have the work cut out for them.

So that origami skill is going to come in handy. We start today with Science Communicator, formerly of Seeker, and now the other half of That's Absurd, Please Elaborate, after I say other half because Trace Dominguez was just on the show the other week. This week we have Julian Hewgett. Welcome to the show. Hi Tom, thanks for having me. How did my boy do last week? Was he good? Did he do me proud?

Absolutely fine. We have a lot of plugs for your podcast right now, but go ahead, tell me about that. That's absurd. Please elaborate. Well, Tom, you were a guest on one episode that was fabulous, of course. It is a science and boy, we sure do try and do comedy, and one day we'll get there, podcast where we take the most outlandish absurd questions that we can solicit from audience members, and then we do our very best to find an answer

and follow that ridiculous rabbit hole wherever it may go. Did Trace give you any tips for the show? None whatsoever. He told me I was on my own and he hoped I failed. We have a healthy working relationship. Very best of luck to you. There are no points here, but I do fully expect you to be keeping score against Trace somehow anyway. Oh, I will.

Second member of our panel is returning to the show, Science Communicator, from her own YouTube channel, Soph's Notes. Sophie Ward, welcome back. So nice to be back. I'm so chuffed I've been invited back. That's absolutely lovely. Welcome back. How did you feel last time? I had a great time last time. I feel like I came in quite worried that I was going to absolutely do terribly.

And it went okay. So I'm worried now because I've got confidence. So I feel like this time it's going to go terribly. So I'm just easy breathing ithing it right now, you know. Set the expectations low, you'll be fine. Exactly. That's my philosophy of life. What are you working on at the minute? Honestly, a lot of things that aren't on the internet.

Oh, that's really nice. I know, isn't that lovely? But if you want to keep an eye, yeah. Well, no, I'm going to leave that there, actually. Just things that aren't really on the internet, which sounds a bit suspicious. But just, yeah. Things in my to leave that there, actually. Just things that aren't really on the internet, which sounds a bit suspicious. But just, yeah. Things in my life that you can't see. I can recommend it as just a good attitude for life, that really stuff on the internet.

So secretive, what are you working on? You're never going to know. I mean, the YouTube is still there, it's still mulling over, but right now, it's just Sophie stuff. And the third member of our panel today, another new player, data scientist talking about AI, tech and self-learning on her YouTube channel, Tina Huang, welcome to Lateral. Thank you for having me. Did you get any advice from anyone before coming on here?

I didn't even know what this was. To be honest with you, I still don't really know what this is. The best advice, don't listen to the show, that's all. It is lovely to have you on here. What are you working on at the minute? Yeah, what am I working on? I'm still working on my YouTube channel. I am, I'm just going to say, I think I'm actually going to start a podcast very shortly. Welcome to the club. Yeah.

So just mostly internet stuff, maybe the opposite of self. I'm doing all the internet stuff these days. Well, very best of luck to all three players. I'm just gonna get my papers in order. So let's see who's going to be Imperial, and who'll be wearing the fool's cap. Fool's cap. It's a paper-sized joke. They can't all be winners.

Here's question one. Thank you to Mauricio Herrera for sending this question in. The Angel of Independence is a famous monument in Mexico City. When it was built in 1910, there were nine steps at the base. These days, visitors need to climb 23 steps. Why? I'll say that again. The Angel of Independence is a famous monument in Mexico City.

When it was built in 1910, there were nine steps at the base. These days, visitors need to climb 23 steps. Why? And it was built in 1910. That seems like a long time after Mexico became independent. Right? Is that relevant? I feel like 1910 in there is a clue. Yeah, my thought with independence was, it's like a build your own statue. You've got to do it yourself, which is why some people are deciding to put more steps into it. It's like my way of building a statue and being independent is to put more steps in. I like the idea of a statue that you order as LEGO.

Yeah. They are coming out with a lot of sets lately. It wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, I do love that idea. Like you're a strong independent kid now. Like go build the monument. Yeah, exactly. It's like a rite of passage in Mexico City.

An earthquake. That's kind of what I've, something changed the height of it is what my mind goes to first. So something pushed it higher, which means the extra steps. It was either that or people got short. The average size. They had to make a lot of little steps in between the larger steps.

You might be onto something there actually. Which one? The first part or the second? The second part, right? Like what is 1910, there were like the safety hadn't been invented yet, right? So what if it was like really, really steep steps and people were like getting injured and then they were like, maybe we put little itty bitty steps in between. Interesting.

Yeah, because the ninth year, it's right, Julian, 1910. What do we all know about the year 1910? Anyone got any ideas about what happened that year? Uh... uh... When did independence in Mexico happen? 1821. I don't know that. Producer David just sent that to me. Which is coincidentally nine decades earlier, right? That's like about 90 years earlier.

And now there are how many steps, Tom? 23 now. 23 steps. steps, Tom? 23 now. 23 steps. That's an extra 14 steps. It hasn't been 140 years. It wasn't symbolic, unfortunately. Dang it. Okay. Tina was actually quite close with the first of the two guesses.

Of the first not-not-of-the-people-getting-true. Geological event took place? Yeah, okay. Hmm. So it's either something that's pulled the ground below or pushed the statue upwards. Earthquakes. Is there a fault line in Mexico? Yeah, if there's a... There's not a specific fault line there, but you've basically said it, Soph.

What, that something... Oh, it broke. Yeah, and then pushed the statue up? Up, upwards. You know how you made two guesses, Soph? Or the ground went downwards. Is it just erosion? Is it just the ground got eroded down? I think that's close enough, yet Mexico City is sinking.

Oh, really? Okay. So Mexico City is steadily descending. It sits on top of Lake Texcoco. Again, apologies to Mexico. I'm probably mispronouncing that. But why isn't the statue moving? Did they anticipate this happening,

and they, like, anchored it with a bunch of, like, piles in the ground? I mean, basically, yeah, they didn't anticipate it, but it's just built on really solid foundations. They just selected a really good site for it. Yeah, I think between the three of you, you've got that. Since the monument was inaugurated in 1910, Mexico City has sunk by almost three meters. And the statue has not. Wow.

Wow. Three meters? That's a lot, crikey. I'm not one to buy into symbolism, but if my statue of my country's independence seemed to be rising ever higher above me, I would think our country was definitely ordained by some higher being. That's how I would take it. Yeah. It is an angel, so...

It is an angel. Yeah. Yes. Oh my gosh. Each of our guests has brought a question along with them. Yeah. It is an angel, so... It is an angel. Yes. Oh my gosh. Each of our guests has brought a question along with them. We're going to start today with Julian, whenever you're ready. All right, panel.

When making a Poo's Cafe cocktail, you need obviously a glass, spirits, but what other basic piece of equipment is needed, and why is it necessary? When making a Pou's Cafe cocktail, you need a glass and spirits, obviously, but you need another basic piece of equipment. What is needed and why is it necessary? How do you spell that? No, no cheater, Tina, no. Maybe it's a French word that I may know of. That's what I knew.

Exactly. Can you say the letters in French, please? P, E, U, S. I don't even know what... No. Pouz café. If I knew... I'm assuming it's P-O-U-S-S-E. Correct. Like push. Yeah, that's push coffee. Push coffee.

Correct. That is the literal translation. It's giving cafetiere, surely. Why does it need spirits if it's coffee? Well, it's a cocktail. Oh, it's cocktail. Okay. Well, a French press?

Yeah. But run the liquor through a French press? Ew. You run the liquor through a French press? Eww. It's a French coffee, right? Wait, wait, it's a Pousse Cafe? Like, so there's coffee in it, because it's a cafe. And it's a French press. So it must be a French press.

I think you're getting too literal on the name, and maybe need to think elsewhere. French press, one of those things like French fries where it was actually named after Mr. French? I absolutely believe that. I have no idea why the name is what it is, and I can tell you that if that's the route you're going to pursue, you're not going to get to...

Okay. I just wondered if it was like a French name for an espresso martini. But no, it's not. It is not. Okay, so maybe, my other thought, maybe it's really messy. The way that you make it is really, really messy, so you need something to clean it up. You make a big mess, and then you clean up your big mess. It's like those ice cream shops where they just have a frozen slab and they mix ice cream

and stuff together. That just with cocktail, and they just have a frozen slab and they mix ice cream and stuff together. That just with cocktail, and they just have to kind of scrape it into the cocktail glass. Yeah. You pour a shot and then you have to throw it into the glass from across the room. Is that what the French do? It's very French. Yeah, or it's just made in a bin. Like, it's just a horrible, dirty cocktail which just made in a bin. It's just a horrible, dirty cocktail, which is made in a bin.

I went to a cocktail bar once that had a cocktail called bin juice. Oh, wowie. Did you order it? Did you order it, Tom? No, no. I can't even remember what was in it, other than everything. Oh my gosh. Yeah, a little bit. Or it's like, you know when you pour pints and then the drags that are left, some people drink those like all the leftovers from the pour

pints. Or like squeeze out the mat on the bar. No, it's, this is a basic item that unless you're an extreme bachelor, I guarantee you have it in your house. So it requires spirits. Sorry. And what again? A glass. Right? So we're including that as part of the components necessary to make this. Unless you're a bachelor, that I feel like is a little bit. Which makes me think, is it... but it's definitely not cleaning items. It's something that's really common.

I feel like unless you are just straight out of college and surviving on one fork and one knife, you're going to have this somewhere in your house. Yes. This is where it's revealed that I do not have one of these things. Whatever it is. Tom's like, gosh, what do I need to buy in order to make this? I mean, I live from a suitcase, as you can see. So I was like, I would not have this item.

What is something you always pack in your suitcase, like, that you're willing to share on the internet? Underwear. Underwear. Underwear. Underwear. Maybe it's underwear. I mean, maybe a Poos Cafe is strained through a pair of knickers? I don't know.

Disgusting. Also incorrect. Could be clean. I thought clean. I meant clean. Thank you very much. Okay. You use a part of this item in a way that you don't normally use it.

Is it anything to do with coffee? I'm telling you, if you're going for what the name says, it'll mislead you. It might have a coffee liqueur in it, but that's not relevant. So the push has to be relevant. How are you pushing liqueur? And it's an item that you might use, but you wouldn't normally use. Yeah, a bartender would use the back of this item. A plit.

No, no. Yeah, I'm thinking like spoon or something like, yeah. There are cocktails that are poured over the back of a spoon. You got it. You got it. It is a spoon. Oh, right. You pour it over the back of the spoon. Now the second part of the question is, why is that necessary? So the reason you do that for...

I can't remember what it is, but there's definitely a cocktail in English as well, where you pour it over the back of the spoon to avoid two things mixing. It means that you just drizzle the whatever the lighter stuff is, you drizzle it over the back of a spoon and it just sort of steadily eases its way out over the top. So it's to keep two elements separated. Tom, you are correct. How do I have bartender knowledge? How does the non-drinker have bartender knowledge? But hang on a minute, but Tina, do you have a spoon in your suitcase?

I really don't, actually. There we go. You can't make a Poos Cafe? When Tom said, you only have a fork and a knife, I was dying. Because I'm like, you're right there. You're literally right there. It's the one piece of cutlery you're missing. Yes, that's correct.

So, a Poos Cafe, it's a cocktail that's a drink with up to seven different layers and each spirit has a different specific gravity, right, or relative density. There is no standard recipe, you're just trying to find things with different densities. So for example, you might have at the bottom grenadine syrup, then a coffee liqueur, then creme de menthe, triple sec, bourbon, and rum. And so to get those layers, just like Tom says, you pour it over the back of the spoon so it breaks the fall and those liquids don't mix. And it's definitely nicer to look at than to drink, I would say, because some of those

liquors and flavors sound absolutely disgusting taken all at once. I mean, to be fair, Tom, when you said you had bin juice, which was just a mix of everything, this sounds like it's like class. This is like classy bin juice. It's just everything, but it's all layered nicely. So yeah, it's Pubelle. Pubelle juice.

It's not from the bin. It's from the garbage. Exactly, yeah. Big news, I am delighted to say that the Lateral Book is almost out. In just a few days you'll be able to get your hands on a copy and you can pre-order right now at lateralcast.com. Thank you to Bryce for this next question. Noah Lyles won the Men's 100m at the 2024 Paris Olympics. All other things being equal, why would he have lost if the race had been held according to the set-up from the 2008 Olympics?

I'll say that again. Noah Lyles won the Men's 100 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics. All other things being equal, why would he have lost if the race had been held according to the set-up from the 2008 Olympics? I'm so sorry, I'm going to have to ask this question. A hundred meters of what? Of running? You've got how this show works!

Yeah, it's true. In this case, it is the 100m sprint. It's the standard trial and field event. Oh, Tina. Oh, I know this. I know this one. Okay, Julian. I'm gonna refrain. I'm gonna refrain. You sit out. This is on Soph and Tina.

Oh, no. Tina, mate, we've lost one of the brains. We can do this. Okay. Is it... I'm wondering if it's due to, like, technology. I feel like there was a lot of chat this year about like, you know, ultimately what makes someone win isn't based on them. It's based on the tech that's used to measure who, who actually wins, right? And the time measurement and stuff. So I wonder if it's something about the technology that was used then versus now.

You're a tech person, Tina. What are your thoughts? Wrong kind of tech. I do software. Okay. No, no, no, I do AI. No exercise for me. Okay. Software? I am wondering, does it have anything to do with the 2008 Olympics being held in Beijing? Mm-hmm. It's not. Sophie's actually quite close with technology, to the point that I'm not really going to

say anything more yet. Okay. Okay. It's a good job I've got a lot more to say about technology then. So it's something to do with the shoes, perhaps? More bounciness of shoes. Or like with the shoes where it's like measured, like what point they're in the second finish, where do they measure the finish point from?

Is it the toe or is it the average of the foot? But I feel like it's probably always been the toe, hasn't it? In running it's the chest. If you watch when they spread they'll stick their torso forward right at the end. Oh, is it? I thought you were all just really proud. Yeah, for country! Say it with your chest.

I had one more question. If it were, was it Lyle? Is that his name? Yeah. Lyle? Noah Lyles. Oh yes, Noah Liles. Oh yes, Noah Liles. If it were not Noah Liles, would it still be different? Does it have anything to do with this person?

Or not really? Not specifically. There was only a tiny difference between the two who were at the front. If Liles had been even slightly slower, he would have come second. Think about all the technologies that is used. So there's the gun, right? When they start, what is that thing that they bounce off of when they run? The starting block?

The starting block. And then there's shoes, and then there's the finish line. So one of these things, I think, must have changed. Yes. And when I say all other things being equal, I did say if it was held according to the set-up from the 2008 Olympics. I think then, yeah, but then it's not where they measure it, because they measure it from the chest. So then, it's like VAR, it's like with football, there's certain, you know, offsides that won't be

allowed since VAR. And so it must be something like the technology, if it had been done with the tech from 2020, 2008, he wouldn't have won. Tina, Tina mentioned another component besides the shoes and starting block. What was it? The gun. Yeah, 2008, they used a gun. I mean, they used a gun in 2024 as well.

Yeah, but in 2008 was it like a bang smoke gun, and now it's like an E-gun, you know? Yes, yes. Okay. So talk me through it. Okay. What's that going to change? Well, I wonder, well, with the bang gun. But then it's because it's the exact same race, and my first thought was, oh, there's a subtle

difference in like when people hear and see the smoke and stuff. But with this, with an e-gun, I mean... Wait, no, I... What might that e-gun do? How might that work? Well, I think the e-gun goes, and then it's timed between when the e-gun starts. There's, like, a time between when the e-gun starts when the person crosses, and is that how the time is measured? No. Your face is saying no. There's something... You are so close. You've got even the technology that's changed.

It's changed from a bang gun, as you put it, to an electronic starting pistol. How does that even... What does that do? Does it just go, beat, beat, begin? Like what... Yeah. The gun is not independent in itself then. Does it relate somehow to the starting block or anything else? What does an E gun do that is different from the bang gun except for make sound?

So the sound comes from directly behind them, is it? Yes. The gun triggers a sound behind each person individually to tell them to go, versus a smoke gun, a bang gun, sorry to give it its proper name, where it depends where everybody's standing. Yes. There's a subtle difference there, but sure, that would have been an issue back then. Why is there a subtle difference there? Because obviously the further you are, you'll have a slight delay.

Right, so the delay that one has with the bang gun from the people who are near it versus far from it was enough to make up the difference between the two front runners in the 2024 Olympics. You have nailed it. Okay, okay. In my head I was like, that's an issue, right? The bang gun, but I guess it's a problem they've solved with the digital gun. Lyles was in lane seven,

Thompson, who came second, was in lane four. They were separated by five milliseconds. And that is less than the sound travel time between those two lanes. So if they had run in 2008, the runner in lane seven who came first would have heard that bang more than five milliseconds later, would have started more than five milliseconds later, and would have come second just because of that difference

between a physical bang in the air and a trigger that means they all hear the same sound at the same instant. So cool. Wow. Science. That is wild. Wow. That is really cool. Speed of sound.

Yeah. Yeah. Tina, it is over to you for the next question. At the University of Vigo, Spain, some science students are tested by way of an exam each May. For the students that fail, they find a September reset is much easier to prepare for even though the questions are the same. Why? I'll repeat that. At the University of Vigo, Spain, some science students are tested by way of an exam each May. For the students that fail, they find the September reset as much easier to prepare for, even though the questions are the

same. Why? So they fail in May and then they retake it like four months later and it's easier. It's the same questions? Yes. They have time to cheat. They have time to look up all the answers. I mean, yeah. My thoughts are like, what happens in Spain in the season before May? And what happens in, yeah, yeah, in like August? And I wonder if in August... A month-long vacation. Yeah, like... Yeah. Or people don't go out as much because the tourists are a pain, so then they just stay and revise. Hold on, I'm confused, though. Like, if they're getting the same questions a few months later,

like, do they... Surely, have they already seen them? Are they just... I'm confused by the same questions thing. Yeah, that's true. The same questions is quite a specific wording. It's not the same questions, surely. Yeah, so they are the exact same questions. Yeah, that's true. The same questions is quite specific wording. It's not the same questions, surely. Yes. So they are the exact same questions, but there is something that makes it such that it doesn't matter.

Huh? That's fun. You know, it's been a while since I was in school, but I remember coming back from summer break and having forgotten everything. I was useless when I returned, you know, and the teacher would be like, okay, you all remember how to do like integrals. And I'm like, no. Like, why would that break help? Yeah, actually be positive. Well, okay, so what is it? What exam are we talking about here? If it's an exam where the questions can be the same, but it doesn't make a difference.

Is it some kind of practical exam? So, okay, I'm getting nods. So maybe something about what would make it easy to prepare for over the summer or over August? Did they do like an internship over the summer, like an apprenticeship or a work study? Were they hands on the whole summer with whatever field they're in? So it's not because of having extra experience. so for what you're saying, you're on the right track there. And actually going back to what you said in the very beginning, you said, Oh, what's the difference between May and September, right? So those are the those two are big hints.

So maybe it's an outside based thing. And so if the weather's better in August, they can spend more time outside so they can practice this thing more. Or the... we don't know... do we know what subject this was? Was that in the question? It was science, right? Yes. Science. We don't know which science, though.

It's a biology practical, and it's really hot in May, so the proteins denature quicker. Yeah. I don't know. The specimens are all rotting and stinky and they're unidentifiable. What? Is it the days are longer? Is it something to do with… No. No, no, no. Go back to what you were saying earlier about practicals.

It's about something practical. Identification. Something that's based upon that. Oh, so is it looking at species? Is it, yeah, like identifying birds and they're actually back at that time? You have to find a certain number of birds. Yeah, look at these birds. That's actually pretty close.

That's pretty close. Oh, in your face, Tom! Oh, no, this is okay, not other animals or birds. Or insects. Oh! In your face, Tom! Oh, this is okay. Not other animals that aren't birds. Or insects. I thought insects, yeah. There's a different biological population for mysterious reasons in September. What sciences are there?

Great question, wow. You got your physics. You got your biology. No, no, no. I mean, the things that you're talking about. Birds or insects. What else changes? Plants.

It could be a botany thing or a... Hmm... Huh? If the plants in flower are the plants... Wait, do you have to, like, collect leaves and now it's autumn? This seems a bit easy for an exam. Oh, trees. Yeah, trees. You're getting really close.

Remember, it's the same questions and it doesn't matter that they're the same questions. And so practical exams, maybe you have to go out and find leaves or find samples of things. What else is on a thing in which a leaf grows? Flowers. There you go. Yes. Samples of things. What else is on a thing in which a leaf grows? I think we're getting close. Flowers. Flowers. Blossoms.

There you go, yes. There are fewer types of flowers available in autumn. Oh, okay. Okay, so how does that make? So they actually, the test is like in spring, go out and identify a bunch of flowers and they're overwhelmed. And then in fall, when almost everything's dead it's super easy is that it yeah that's so insane there's

i love that they just naturally let you know what you're not so great at this but trust me in three four or five months you're gonna be a rock star rock star. Love and H is going to help you out, yeah. Yeah, we're going to give you an assist. Thanks to the tilt of the earth, you got this. Exactly, exactly it. Are you like a certified half-year biologist then, or like, botanist? Like, yeah, I'm only good in the winter months. It's like taking a driving test when the roads are quiet, you still get the license at the end of it.

Exactly, yes. Londoners who just spend it on the clutch. So biology students are tested on their flower identification skills using real plants and lab equipment so they actually have to go and look at what is available then. So in Spain, most flowers tend to bloom in the first half of the year, so even if the professor is trying really hard, there simply isn't that many flowers that he or she can put for the student to identify. So students need to revise a smaller range of plants than in the Maze test. Thank you to Daniel Rogers for sending this question in. Why would it have been awkward if the actress Jemma Meade became a star on Breaking Bad?

I'll say that again. Why would it have been awkward if the actress Gemma Meade became a star on Breaking Bad? Great show by the way. Classic show. I have not seen Breaking Bad, just a warning. I know broadly what it's about though. Yeah, the failures of the American healthcare system. Could you give us a synopsis?

I have no idea what this show is or who this person is. A high school chemistry teacher is diagnosed with cancer and because he cannot afford the treatment, he does the next logical thing, which is cooking meth. And then of course it leads him down a path where he becomes more and more power hungry and maniacal and at a certain point it's not about paying for the cancer treatment, it's about the power, and it kind of consumes him and his best friend Jesse Pinkman, and they get into all sorts of crimes until, you know, somebody has to die. It's very good. Highly recommended. Julian, if you are the only person here who's seen Breaking Bad, I have...

We are in trouble. We are in trouble. ...the suspicion. There is some pop culture stuff about this that might have sort of seeped into other people's brains through osmosis, though. So the... what was the actress's name again? Gemma Meade. Gemma Meade. Okay, the main stars of Breaking Bad were Aaron Paul, who played like the more street-smart guy, and then Walter White was played by Brian Cranston,

if you saw Malcolm in the middle. Malcolm in the middle, yes. Yes. I know him. Yeah, he has a major heel turn in his career. Is Jenna Meade related to anybody in any way? Is that important, I wonder? I've never heard of Jenna Meade. No, there's no personal relationships or grudges involved here.

My wondering was, is there just something to do with meth? Because I knew it was about meth. So I was like, what's Jena Mead's relationship to meth? Yeah. Is she a recovering meth addict, and she couldn't, like, be on set with all the pretend meth? Which was, by the way, blue rock candy that apparently, uh, Aaron Paul would eat a lot of in between takes.

Oh, wow. No slander on Gemma Mead here. This is very much due with that show. And no one knows who... Sorry, is it Jena or Gemma? Gemma. And none of us know who Gemma Mead is. Is it because Mead is a rival substance and she just didn't want it? You know, mead versus meth. She's very dedicated to mead, you know? You've got your meth dealers and your mead dealers.

Yeah, she walks around with a loot behind her, yeah. I could just see like a sketchy mead dealer on a quarter. I need to pay for my plague treatment. Verily, might I interest thy in some mead. Like... She British. Is mead a British substance? Wouldn't really make a difference.

Think more about the show. And what the designers of that show might have been working on. What, like the prop department specifically? Or costumes? Set deck? Forget about me, does she have a monopoly on red rock candy? And so they used blue rock candy. I'm really grasping here. Blue rock candy.

How would you describe, Julian, the setting of Breaking Bad? It's in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They wanted to film somewhere else, but for tax breaks they went to Albuquerque. I think originally it was LA. And it kind of became this iconic look where the show's very dusty, dry desert. The question says it would have been awkward, right? Yeah, the designers would have had a problem. Not necessarily set designers,

but people with the look of the show. And it's just, people are just in like normal clothes, Julian. It's not like a sort of a... Yeah, normal early 2000s garb. Think in more of the titles. Breaking Bad. Oh! Oh, what's her name again? Jena Mead? Jemma Mead. Well, all I know is that Breaking Bad, it's got the... it's like elemental chemical symbols.

So... gi... gi... I knew there was something that would have seeped in by osmosis. You're right, that is... Well, what chemical elements are in Jemmaade, that would be awkward. Okay, I don't have- Tell me through the titles, Julian. Just for the folks out there who've never seen anything about Breaking Bad, what do the titles look like? The show's opening credits, the motif is there's always

a chemical element in people's names that they put in those parts for the letters instead. So Breaking Bad, the BR of breaking, and the BA are like the chemical elements for beryllium and barium, if I've got that right. And so, and they do that with everybody's names. So Gemma Mead. Well, does she not have a name?

Are there no elements that like you could put in substitute for her name? Yeah, because GE or JE, whichever way it is, M-E-M, no, M-M, M-A, no, M-E. You could do GE, you're right there, but Gemma Mead, and thank you to Daniel Rogers, who has clearly gone through most of IMDB to find an actor for whom this is true, Gemma Mead is a name with no possible chemical elements into it.

If she had been cast in Breaking Bad, the designers would not have been able to do that gag in the opening titles. Oh my god. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. I can just imagine casting coming in and being like, we found the perfect actress for the strung-out meth head. Jemma Mead, you're gonna love her. They just flash it on screen real quick. They're like, go starring Gemma Mead,

and then it goes away. Boom. Soph, over to you. Thank you very much, Tom. This question has been sent in by Gemma. On a dark and foggy night, a local fisherman comes ashore on the 18 mile long Chesil Beach in Dorset, England.

He's lost and can't identify any lights or landmarks on the 18 mile long Chesil Beach in Dorset, England. He's lost and can't identify any lights or landmarks on the shore. Yet he can very quickly sense which way he needs to sail to return home. How? I'll do that again. On a dark and foggy night, a local fisherman comes ashore

on the 18 mile long Chesil Beach in Dorset, England. He's lost and can't identify any lights or landmarks on the shore, yet he can very quickly sense which way he needs to sail to return home. How? I have an inkling of why? I don't know the answer, but I have a suspicion. All right, I mean go for it. If you nail this in one, knowing, I think, nothing about Chesil Beach. I will tell you this anecdote first, and that is, there was a baseball commentator named Yogi Berra, who's famous for very weird, peculiar, like, sayings of his, and he lived on a loop, and he lived, like, right in the middle of the loop, and to get to his house, like, you'd come to a fork and it would you could go either way and would take the same amount of time to get to his house and so when giving directions to a friend once he said like when you come to the

fork in the road take it this this reminds me of that it's 18 miles long but it doesn't matter which way he goes he's got no frame of reference uh no lights, it's dark, it's foggy, and yet he knows which way to sail. Could it be that it's a loop and it makes no difference? Chesil Beach isn't a loop, but it is definitely like a spit of land. I think it's a long... I don't know if the term is peninsula or isthmus or sandbar or something, but it's... it's definitely a long spit of land, but I don't think there's two possible routes out of it. Am I onto anything there, so, like,

doesn't matter coming or going? Yeah, I enjoyed the lore, Julian, but it's, no, I'm afraid not. Yeah. Um. All that for nothing. So much for yes-anding on that one. So you can go.

No. It's great, occasionally his question must, you just get to go, nah. It's great. Occasionally it's question math. You just get to go, nah. Yeah. Tom, have you been to Che... As the Brit in the room other than myself, have you been to Chesil Beach? I just want to check this.

I think I've been there at some point in my life. I know enough to know it's just a sandbar or a spit or some weird configuration of sand. But I can't remember more details than that. Interesting. I'll let you talk a bit longer before I give my opinion on what you just said. So there, he sailed there, and then he knows where to sail afterwards. To get home. To get home. But it's dark.

Does he live on Chesil Beach, so he's home already? That's what I was thinking. He's done. But it's fine. It's 18 miles long. Like, he doesn't know where along the beach. Yeah, the point is he arrives and then he knows which way he needs to sail. He knows which direction he needs to go in to then get to his home. Is that the tip?

Then you just keep sailing down, right? No, it's like a long parallel bar. I'm going to have to Google what Chesil Beach looks like after this, but it's like a long sandbar that's parallel to the main coastline, I think. It's interesting, Tom, that you keep saying sand. I'm just going to point that out. It's interesting that you keep saying it's sand. Oh, is it because the footsteps are... We can...

And when there was only one set, that was dog carrying him. There were two! No, it's not about footsteps. It's... I... yeah. What else might a beach be made of that isn't sand? Rocks. Pebbles. I don't know why I assumed it was a sand beach. Dirt.

So is there something in the configuration of the pebbles or like... It's made of discarded road signs that all point the same direction. Yeah, those are the three options for a beach, sand, pebbles and road signs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, California, that's not far off. Oh, there is, there's a whole beach. Vanessa Hill, who's been on the show before, did a video a while back. There's a whole beach in New York that is just debris. It's just trash that has washed up over the years. Little bits of it are radioactive.

And it's just like, entirely just sea glass and things like that. Reminds me of Blackpool. Yeah. My home sweet home. He measures the half-life of the radioactive elements to know when they were deposited and then orientates. This is a complete shot in the dark. Chesil Beach is a spit of land. It's thick at one end, it's thin at the other. But it's wide enough that you wouldn't be able to know which way.

Do the pebbles sort themselves by size? It's sand at the tip of it, and it's pebbles at the thick end where it connects to land. And you can tell after you've walked a few steps — this is getting away from me as I say more about it. But as you walk, if the pebbles are getting smaller, you're going towards the tip? Tom, you're shot in the dark. Has hit a target. You are correct. So, Chesil Beach. Well done, Tom. That's why we knew it's a sandbar. I was like, hmm, it's no, it's no. Basically, and the key word in the question was sense, right? Because basically, Chesil Beach, something to do with the action of the waves and the

differing erosion rates over time means that on the far west side of the beach, the pebbles are pea-sized and they get larger as you progress towards the east. So even in darkness, the fishermen would be able to feel the size of the pebbles on the shingle to guesstimate where the whereabouts is on the beach and therefore which way he needs to go. And a fun little extra bit is that the location was made famous by Ian McEwen in his novel On Chesil Beach, which was later turned into a 2017 film starring Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howell. So you can check that out. No Jenna Meade though, huh? No. No Jemma Meade. What work has she got recently?

Tragic. We got to get Jemma Meade more work. There was that one part that confused me. It said sailed back home? Yeah, I guess so he would land and then I guess he would go back and then know which way the boat would need to go. That was in the wording. That confused me because I was like, that feels like you're walking back home, right? Grinding the hull into the rocks. And it's like, oh, there's more resistance,

I'm going the right way. Which just leaves me with a question I asked at the start of the show. The Wedding Feast at Cana by Veronese is the largest painting in the world's largest museum, yet most people stand with their back to it. Why? I think I know this one.

It looks like several of you know it. Go for it. No, I, well, I think, let's do it together, Julian. Is the largest museum by any chance the Louvre? Yes, it is. The Louvre? And Julian, why would you think, what do you think, I think we've got to say answer. I think there's one really, really famous painting

in the Louvre. Yesvre that everybody goes to see, and that would be the Mona Lisa. The Poe's Cafe. Oh, sorry. Yes, oh, you're right, yes. Some say the Mona Lisa is the Poe's Cafe of paintings, in that it's pretty to look at, but I don't think it's that great, personally. And I actually, I went, and I remember,

I saw this painting in the Louvre, because it's massive. 22 feet wide, 32 feet high, and it is what the Mona Lisa is looking at. Yes. And everybody's like elbowing each other out of the way to get their dumb little smartphone out and take a crummy picture of something that they've seen on like a bajillion mouse pads and now there's a Lego set of it. We talked about Lego's got a bajillion sets.

Like, and I just remember being like, why is nobody appreciating this? Why? Yep. You heard it here first, guys. Size doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah, unless, well, the thing is,

nobody could steal the largest painting in the world, right? That's why the Mona Lisa's so famous in the first place. I don't know, like, put enough of a heist team together, and that's an important right there. Ocean 75. Thank you very much to all our players. Let's find out where can people find you, what's going on in your lives.

We will start with Tina. Yeah, you can find me on YouTube, just type in my name, Tina Huang, and that will pretty much tell you everything about me. I overshare. Sophie. Yes, you can find me. I overshare. Sophie? Yes, you can find me on Instagram and YouTube and the like at Soph's Notes and whatever I'm doing, you can see it there. That's Soph's Notes.

And Julian? If you like podcasts, I have great news for you. I host one along with Trace Dominguez. It's called That's Absurd. Please elaborate. Thank you very much to all three of you. If you want to know more about this show, or you want to send in your own idea for a question, you can do that at lateralcast.com. You can find us at Lateral Cast basically everywhere, and you can catch video highlights regularly at youtube.com slash lateralcast. Thank you very much to Sophie Ward. Thank you so much. Julian Hugitt.

Oh well thank you for having me Tom. And Tina Huang. Thank you very much. I've Hugitt. Oh, well thank you for having me, Tom. And Tina Huang. Thank you very much. I've been Tom Scott and that's been Lattrell.