Lateral with Tom Scott - 137: Straw vehicles

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

Sabrina Cruz, Melissa Fernandes and Taha Khan from 'Answer in Progress' face questions about sage sayings, suspicious swatters and shrill sounds. 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: Nova, Mike Canter, Josh Mott, Ruby, Aaron Lurie, Riz. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Value is for illustrative purposes only. Complete this wise saying. Better to be alive and late than... The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott and this is Latin. is Latin. One of Agatha Christie's famous whodunnits was dial M for murder. What a lot of people don't know is that you could use the adjacent button to dial L for lateral.

Apparently, it was a really handy model of a telephone. You could dial C for caviar, T for taxis, and J for a jacuzzi. So if you do have one of those phones, feel free to order in a Zebra or an X-Ray, just leave the M alone, please. Hoping that they will slay you the questions today, we have back, and it is a joy to have them as ever, the trio from Answer in Progress are here for another episode. Let's start this time with Melissa Fernandez, welcome back to the show.

Hello, excited to be here. Let's answer some questions. Why do you sound like an athlete? Excited to be here. I was going to cry on yes and that, and then you just sort of got heckled by your compatriots. How are you doing, Melissa? I'm good. I'm excited. That's...

The thing is, we always talk about what you're working on, on recordings, on the channel, everything like that. What else are you up to at the minute? What else is going on in your life, Melissa? Besides work? My whole life is... no. I am... what am I... actually, what am I doing right now? I'm sorry, actually, your past two months have just been work. Outside of work, I've been hanging out with my little dog and playing in the snow with her, and life's good. That dog is not little.

She is little! It's the size of two sacks of potatoes, and shaped just like it. Why did you sound like a Chicago mobster when you said that? Also, part of the trio from Answer in Progress, Sabrina Cruz. Hello! Not generally sounding like a Chicago mobster, just that one sentence. It's a specialty. My thing that I'm working on is juggling.

Also not related to work, actually. Just decided that this is the year I learned to juggle. How far have you got? Surprisingly far. Juggling is not as hard as I thought it was. Right? Have you cured the going-forward disease yet? Oh, yes. I forced myself to sit in my chair and juggle, because otherwise I just keep walking across the room. Everyone throws forward, and you just end up walking around the room juggling.

Also, for answer in progress, and in a newly repainted room, Taha Khan. Woo! Let's go painting and plastering. You have had a blue splodge on your wall for so many episodes of this show, like, just in the background of the video call. You now look like you're in a white void. Congratulations.

Don't worry, the blue splodge will go back. We're gonna be putting it back up. Have you just saved it and framed it? Yeah, yeah, we're going to be splotching it again, and then, you know, it's going to be a perpetual cycle. Between the three of you, you should at least plug the YouTube channel just a little. What is Answer in Progress?

Oh yeah, we make YouTube videos. Where we ask questions you never know that you needed answering. Such as... Guys, we can't just keep doing this. I don't know, I managed it for ten years. Okay, alright. If you liked Tom Scott, come over here. We've got questions.

Well, good luck to all three of you on the show today. Let's see how your little grey cells cope with question one. Thank you to Ruby for sending in this question. According to a study of March hospital admissions in Michigan State, there was an average 24% rise in heart attack cases on a particular day that month on Monday compared to the average day. Why?

I'll say that again. According to a study of March hospital admissions in Michigan State, there was an average 24% rise in heart attack cases on a particular day that month, a Monday, compared to the average day. Why? Football! Sabrina, why football? Um, the Super Bowl, right? It happens in February.

It's March, Nick. Yeah, but like, February goes into March, you know? Could be like the first Monday of February? and had heart attacks on Monday. February 14th, the next day, March 1st. Alternatively, Michigan has a big college football following, right? They have a big state school. Probably something happened there. Did they win? Did they lose? Oh my gosh, did the athletes take too much pre-workout? And they're like, oh my goodness, my heart's beating too fast. Why do you think it's the young people? I mean, there's been a rise. Sorry, that's a bummer. I mean, you're not wrong, there has, but no, this is very much one particular day, on Monday in March.

So this was a real thing that happened? This is a real thing, a real study. I feel weird about being whimsical about heart attacks. There have been other similar studies. But not all US states would have this phenomenon. Ooh, that is interesting. Temperature change. People start running more, because it gets warmer.

They start going outside. March is still snowy in like Michigan. Especially in Michigan, that's like by the water. So it's going to be freezing. Could it be heart attacks from shoveling snow? No. Yeah, no. So if there's a snowfall and no one can get to the hospital, everyone has the heart attacks over the weekend.

And then when everyone comes back on the Monday, they're all recorded as heart attacks as of Monday. Oh my god, Tom's face makes it seem like Tom's right. I'm so scared. He's not. He's not. Oh. What basic needs might cause or reduce heart attacks? Aspirin.

I actually have no idea how heart attacks happen. So, I know the technical, right? So it's like there is an artery in the heart that can be clogged, and then your heart has to beat faster or harder, and then if it clogs completely, then you have a heart attack. Does it matter the gender of the affected patients? No it doesn't. No it doesn't.

If I tell you there was a corresponding fall on a day in September, that's quite a big clue. I've got it. I think what it is, is that people take their medicine at a certain time, and then it's the time zone shift. It's the one hour forward and backwards. And so they're taking their medicine at the wrong time, which is dysregulating their body. Thoughts? Taha? Maybe are you cooking?

So you've sort of gone one step too far there, Taha. Time zone. A pacemaker. Because of the time zone. You're right with daylight savings time. Ah. But you are slightly overthinking it, if anything. The heart doesn't want daylight savings time.

I've underthought it now. It's when you have a heart attack thinking, I woke up late. Um, yeah. Yeah, basically. No! yeah. Yeah, basically. No! Stress. Oh my gosh!

People got less sleep due to daylight savings, woke up an hour early, and that is enough to cause a 24% rise in heart attacks the day afterwards. What the heck? Get rid of it! Throw it out! Here's the catch. There's a corresponding drop in September,

but it only happens over the day. Once you average it over a week, no signal in the noise. The same number of heart attacks happen, they just happen earlier or happen later, depending on how much sleep people got. Wow! Wow, that's so sad.

Yeah, there was a similar study found an 8% increase in ischemic strokes in Finland. So basically, all sorts of things that can be brought on by stress, that extra hour of sleep reduces them, minus an hour of sleep increases them. Melissa, it is over to you for the next question. Alright, this next question has been sent in by Mike Cantor. In a 1949 NBA game, a player, Don Otten, did something that would usually get him disqualified, yet he did it another time, and another time, and was still allowed to play. What did he do, and why was he let off?

And one more time, in a 1949 NBA game, player Don Otten did something that would usually get him disqualified, yet he did it another time and another time and was still allowed to play. What did he do and why was he let off? 1949, this is old NBA. Yeah. This is like when they're like the basics.

Here's what I know. Here are a few things that I know that I can offer up. And I also have a crazy theory to offer up. I'm going to offer up the crazy theory first. Okay. He kissed the referee because the referee was his wife. Oh. Whimsical.

No. But the thing that he did wasn't like really serious, I will say. So like, wasn't super serious. Number two. Late Michael Jordan would get fined every single time when he wore his shoes because they were the wrong color. But he continued to do it and it's how he built up the mystique of the Jordan brand. So was it a uniform related infraction? No, it was not related to the uniform.

So it's something that would have gotten him disqualified and yet they didn't. And so my thought is like, you know, when people are showing, especially in like the early days, poor sportsmanship was taken a lot more seriously than it is nowadays. And my thought is just like, he was dunking on him. Yeah, we love this guy. We love the dunks. Maybe hanging from the hoop was not allowed. Oh, I think hanging from the hoop is still not allowed. So to clarify, this rule that he broke is not an old rule, it's still something that you use in games today, so that's an important clue. It's just for some reason he was allowed to get away with it time after time. So things you cannot do in basketball, you cannot travel with the ball, you can't take too many steps, you can't...

I mean, I've got a very different answer, Taha, you can't deck the ball, you can't take too many steps. You can't... I mean, I've got a very different answer to that. You can't deck the referee. You can't just punch him out if you don't like me. Did it have to do with the actual fundamentals of the gameplay? Or was it more like, because they're technical fouls and such, where it's like, we didn't like your vibe, get out of here. Just kept deflating the ball.

Just kept getting it. The new deflating the bowl. Just kept, just kept, just, just, pshhhhhh. The new deflate gate. Yeah, yeah. Say that one more time, Sabrina. So, like, does it have to do with, like, the rules of basketball, like, oh, you can't travel? Or is it more to do with, like, I don't know,

style points, like bad vibe, technical foul things? Like, you can't swear or fight? Well, it's something that you can't do in the game. You're on the right track in terms of... Am I on the right track with vibes? Yes. There's two halves to this question. We've got to work out what he did, and then why he was allowed to get away with it.

Yeah. Exactly. So you're getting warmer, Sabrina, with what he... You're in the right line of thinking. If it's not, like, a technical thing, it's not some weird complicated basketball rule, it could be that he's just a jerk, he's just tripping people up, or he's just fouling people. Are you allowed to heckle people?

Are you allowed to literally be like, you're so bad at this game, no one will sign you for another season? More sports need stadium chants like British soccer has. Oh, fully agree. Fully agree. They keep trying to do that with baseball here, it's not working. You need like 2,000 people all in unison chanting You're Not Singing Anymore at the other team after they've gone down. And much more profane things than that.

So I want to confirm something here. It's not a technical foul. But it here. It's not a technical foul. But it... So it's not a technical foul. So what's the other one? I'm trying to wink. Personal foul. Personal foul. OK.

So you... you... insulted someone's mother. Is this something that if you did normally in, like, life, it would be rude? So this is a weird thing about basketball that confused me. A technical foul is kind of like the fouls where it's like, ah, you were just being a jerk, you're not allowed to say that. You throw the coach a technical for when he's complaining too much. That's not technical at all. A personal foul is when you're breaking the technical rules of basketball.

Oh, okay. Fine, it's very simple and interesting. Okay, so what are the personal fouls? rules of basketball. Very simple and interesting. So what are the personal fouls? You could be too violent, you could hurt somebody, you could trip someone. It's the one where you block, but you push them. I just like the questions have never heavily relied on sports knowledge up until now. I just feel like it has to be something obvious. This one does require a little bit of sports knowledge. I feel like. Okay. Is this a double travel? I'm just going to say rules that I know.

Double travel. Okay. We don't need to get too hung up on like the specific what the personal foul was, but remember like why was he allowed to keep doing it? Because it was cool. Because he was basically built different. Because usually after a certain amount, they can't play anymore. So why was he allowed to keep playing? Could it be that the referee just forgot about him?

That he's just got a really forgettable face. And he just kept fouling. And he wasn't given whatever the basketball equivalent of the red card is. No. That's very Kuroko Nobaskin of him. That's for the anime fans out there, guys. None of them are on this call. But this one's for you.

No. No, keep, keep him. Okay, so wait, how many times was he allowed to get away with it? Yes, he committed a personal foul, and he committed his sixth personal foul. And he was still allowed to play. And he was still allowed to play. So why would that... No one's noticed it. He was allowed to do this because of something else that was happening in the game

outside of him. Like, he could only do this because other players did something. They just blocked the referee's view? They just lined up around the referee and just like, yeah, we're just just to stop the referee seeing anything here. Also, is it un-piral referee? I'm not sure. Referee. Okay, so usually when a player commits a foul or they've hit their max number of fouls, let's say, they need to be replaced. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I think I know that. So after six fouls, you're supposed to be

ejected from the game. What if the team didn't have enough players? No. We're getting really warm. Think more. We're going hockey rules now. Power play. Let's go. No, you're not allowed to substitute after an ejection. I think at that point you're just a player down. Yeah, no, but I think what it is, is that maybe there was too many players in that game that had already been ejected,

so there was nowhere to put the ejected players, like maybe there's a little timeout zone that was full. No, you just get stuck on the bench. Stop, keep going. But there was no more players? Was he the only remaining player on the, whatever you call, I was going to say field, and then I was going to say pitch, court? That's the word?

My guess, and I think I speak for all of us, I'm claiming that, is that there was a player who was supposed to be ejected from the game after committing six personal fouls. However, because so many other players on their team had already fouled out, they needed to keep him in the game or else there would be no one on the team left to play. Or no one on the court even.

Pretty much. So I need to clarify here, but it's actually not six, it's five. So in basketball players are only allowed to commit five personal fouls. And Otten committed his sixth foul, which would normally get him kicked out of the game or disqualified from the game. But five of the 10 players had already committed six fouls. So there was no one left to replace him. Surely you lose the game. Elite Olympic strategy, guys. Surely you're just down a player.

Yeah. No, we don't play by soccer rules here, Tom. Yeah. It's kind of hard to play basketball without a player. Okay, so basically in the rulebook it states that if a player in the game receives his sixth personal foul and all substitutes have already been disqualified, said player shall remain in the game. So on end of the game with eight fouls in total, this record has been matched one other time in 1953. What a record!

Wow, that personal foul felt so many people. Power play rules. Let's go. So basically there's five people on the court at one time. And if he got kicked out, there'd be four people. And that is simply not allowed in basketball. What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue?

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A YouTube video consisting of an extremely annoying, high-pitched noise has almost four million views. Rather than being used as a practical joke, commenters leave effusive words of thanks. Why? I'll say that again. A YouTube video consisting of an extremely annoying, high-pitched noise commenters leave effusive words of thanks. Why? I'll say that again. A YouTube video consisting of an extremely annoying high-pitched noise

has almost four million views. Rather than being used as a practical joke, commenters leave effusive words of thanks. Why? Oh my god, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Guys, is it like a sound that only dogs or something can hear? Or like some sort of animal can only hear so it calms them down? If my dog was going crazy and there was a sound that I could play

to get her to zzip! Eternal thanks in the comments. I think those sounds tend to annoy dogs, rather than anything else. I know there's a Beatles album that, on vinyl, ends with a... just a long, high-pitcheditched noise just to annoy your dog. That's just the reason they just absolutely end up as they could. So based of them. I think I know this, but now that...

I think it's a noise that makes bugs go away. Oh! Like mosquitoes! Yeah, I think it's like a mosquito thing. Like a pest thing. Oh! Like mosquitoes. Yeah. I think it's like a mosquito thing. Like a pest thing. Yeah. Keep the rats away.

The roaches. All of them. There's also the version of that that's meant to keep young people away, which is arguably illegal. That is just a high-pitched noise that as you get older, your hearing doesn't get anymore.

I remember this because that happened to me once. There was a very grumpy neighbour. Wow. Oh my gosh. That's wild. I know this from a 30 Rock bit. Didn't I know this? Interesting. I'm just going to tell you that's not it,

because you can't actually get sounds that high into a lot of YouTube videos. You might get it right in the groupoking hearing with good speakers and good headphones, but often high sounds just get cut out completely. It's annoying and it's high-pitched. It's not that high-pitched. It's ASMR, guys. People can find enjoyment out of anything. There's chewing ASMR, guys. This is something I learned about. Thank you for telling me this. I hate it. I'm running through the Rolodex of different times

that I have played high-pitched noises. And the only time that is left in my mind is there is water in my speaker. And you play it, and it ejects the water. You're so right for this. Oh my God. Wait, is that it? I don't care what Tom's answer is, this is the right one.

Surely. I'm gonna physics you on that. I think that might be base frequencies more than treble. I don't think the frequency matters that much. Okay. Man, okay. I thought I— Although, to be fair, I'm not sure the frequency matters that much on this one either. So, you know what, sometimes we get valid alternate answers. I'm not going to rule that out, but that is not this particular video.

And how long is the video? Oh, a good few minutes. Fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes. Mm-hmm. Loud, uninterrupted, high-pitched noise. Is it like a consistent tone? Or is it like the screaming goat montage?

Like, ahhhhhh! I'd is it like the screaming goat montage? Like, ahhhh! I'd describe it like a siren. It repeats every couple of seconds, but it's just very loud and annoying. Like a beep, beep, beep, like that kind of thing? I mean, more like a... More like a beep. Here we go, I'm going to try and make the noise. It's more like a whoop, whoop, whoop, just higher than that.

Like a car alarm? Yeah, a very, very high-pitched annoying. When students are doing their at-home exams and they realise, oh man, I'm not ready for this, I gotta leave. Time for me to play some fake fire alarm noises. I can't go. No! People are, as you've suspected, searching for this intentionally.

This is not something that you get tricked into watching. This is a very deliberate choice. Sampled for music. Yeah. A bunch of Soundcloud DJs, they're like, give me the noise! Annoying. Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, wop. Taha, you were close with water.

It's not that. But it's a similar kind of unfortunate situation. Unfortunate. Have you dropped your phone down the toilet? How would a high-pitched noise help with that? When you try and find the high-pitched noise. Keep thinking that way, Sabrina. Oh, you have your Bluetooth headphones,

and then you lost your Bluetooth headphones, so you connect to them, and then you play the noise. Yes! Melissa, you should do this! Oh my, because I lose stuff? This is a YouTube video that is, find your lost headphones, and it just plays a really uncomfortable, loud,

it's not a constant tone, it's the kind of thing your ear tunes into, and it plays it for 15 minutes uninterrupted so you can find that damn headphone that you've lost. That's incredible! Send Melissa the link. Yes, send me the link. Let me tell you, every single one of those comments is an Android user without AirPods.

Because that is a native feature. Taha, it is over to you for the next question. Alright, this question has been sent in by Josh Mott. In September 2022, a West End audience was told that tonight's show will be performed as usual and as written. What musical were they about to watch, and why was this announcement necessary? So here's the thing. I know this!

I know this. Oh wait, do we all live? Okay. Well, I don't know this. Welcome to Lateral, featuring Tom Scott. Okay, so normally in this situation, normally we would drop the question and we would replace it with a spare,

but this is answer in progress, and the three of you are now teaming up against me on the assumption that Sabrina and Melissa have both got the answer here. I think this fun fact went viral on TikTok recently. Yeah, I was going to say it. Which explains why I haven't seen it. Alright, good. I'll give you some embellishment just for fun. Well, actually, I'm going to come back with one straight away. Okay.

I know this isn't the announcement they had, but I remember that something similar happened in the Billy Elliot musical the day after Margaret Thatcher died, which is about ten years ago now. Because Billy Elliot is set in the north of England, and it has a musical number, I think it opens Act Two, called Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher, something like that, and it is just an excoriation of her prime ministership, of the government at the time, of everything it did to the north. And the day after, they took an audience vote on whether they were still going to perform that song,

and the audience almost unanimously were like, yes, we would like to hear this song about Margaret Thatcher, now she's dead. But that is not the right year. And that is not the right musical. You're on a... The vibes are correct. The vibes are correct.

I think the reason this went viral on TikTok is because of our generation and our ability to just... never take anything seriously. Who died in September 2022 that has a musical about them? Yeah. It's not The Queen. They wouldn't have... they would have not dared do something like that for The Queen. The West End just shut down.

And we know that for a fact. For The Queen, yes. The shows went dark like that. Also, the Queen wasn't September 22, was she? Everyone's staring at me. It's horrible being the only person not knowing this. This is my favourite. Do we know this for a fact, Tom? Do we know this for a fact? So the West End, for sure, Tom Scott, Is this for a fact, Tom? Do we know this for...

So, the West End, for sure, Tom Scott, Mr. Man that knows things. For sure, 100%, the West End... It wouldn't have dead. All of September, not a single musical. Firstly, I'd have to be misremembering when the Queen died. And second, they kept the West End open? I thought everything shut down that night.

So, I think you're misremembering when the Queen died. That's number one. Okay, it's September 22. This is the Queen's death. Okay. Yeah. So I know this for sure forever because the Queen's funeral was on my birthday. And so I will always know that the Queen died in September. Because that was a monumental day for me. Okay, so maybe this was a monumental day for me. Okay, so maybe this was on the day to the funeral or something like that. The Queen died on September the 8th,

and Buckingham Palace actually requested that public performances should continue as usual. Okay. Yeah. So now the question is, what musical? What musical? Yeah. So, now the question is, what musical? What musical? Yeah. I just have to run through the list of musicals I know in my head, and I'm stuck on Phantom

of the Opera, and I feel like that's not the musical in question here. The Queen musical. I think if you think back to the Margaret Thatcher, Billy Elliot situation. Yeah. The contents of the musical matter. There wasn't a musical about the life of Diana. There wasn't a... That would be a wild musical. The Crown, the musical. The good news is that it's pretty immediate.

Yeah, it's like as soon as the show starts. So they just want it to be like, hey guys, this might be a bit tone deaf, but we're just going to, we're running the show as it is. And it's the first... So think of the opening lines to all the musicals you know, Tom. I don't know that many opening lines to musicals, Sabrina. Okay.

This is... This is a very, like, in-the-zeitgeist musical. Um, okay, it could—oh, was Beetlejuice running in London then? Because that opens with Welcome to a Show About Death. It's actually more tone-deaf than that. Um, oh, no. So let's run through some musicals— This is awful. I hate this.

This is so good. Not only am I the only one answering, I've got the basic facts wrong. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. This is the thing that I loved. I was like, wow, Tom Scott, what are you without your right facts? Just another guy who doesn't remember things. Just like all of us. I'm going to need a hint on what the musical is.

I can't think of any. Okay. Tom, would you say that you're green with envy? Wicked? Yes. Oh! Oh! Oh!

I have not seen Wicked. I have not seen the musical or the film. I've not read the book. But I imagine it opens with something like The Wicked Witch is Dead. Yes, it actually starts with good news, she's dead. She's dead! Oh no!

Okay, yeah, I was never going to get that one. Alright. That was incredible. That night, a member of staff had to walk onto the stage and go reference the recent news and say the show will continue as normal and there will be a minute silence after the curtain call. And then they would walk off the stage, the curtains would open, and they would go, Good news! She's dead.

And then, presumably, pause for laughs. There's no way a British audience did not laugh at that moment. The wickedest witch that ever was. Yeah. Very, very funny. But yeah. That was a fun remix of the show. That was lateral featuring Tom Scott. Thank you to Riz for this next question.

Arriving in Jakarta, Indonesia, you hop into an airport taxi and notice that there's a fly swatter tucked in next to the driver's seat. No insects appear to be in the car, but you soon learn its purpose when the taxi enters the city. What is it for? And again, arriving in Jakarta, Indonesia, you hop into an airport taxi and notice that there's a fly swatter tucked in next to the driver's seat. No insects appear to be in the car, but you soon learn its purpose when the taxi enters the city.

What is it for? Okay y'all, what else are we hitting with the fly swatter? People. Get out of here. I was thinking like maybe you put like money on it and then reach out and like put it in like a toll booth. Oh. Oh, interesting.

That is such a more functional reason than I was just like, taxi driver is like a, it just keeps going straight. You're like, I gotta get off now. It's like the bus off alarm thing where you're like where you're signaling that I need to get off soon. Just take a fly swatter onto the tube and tap people as you go by. — Yeah. — Um, Taha? Yes. Oh!

Yeah! Let's go! That sounds so useful. Now that I think about it, that's great. Like, if you ever are entering a parking garage or something, and you can't reach out of the car window, fly swatter! That's great! I have a friend who has one of those. That makes so much more sense. Yeah, Jakarta has a big network of toll roads. And the machines are frequently out of reach, is how it's phrased there. Whether that is down to the drivers,

or the toll booth management, I couldn't tell you. But to solve this, local drivers tape their cards to the end of a fly swatter, using it as an impromptu extension rod. Ah, wow. Well, that was better than my guess of using it as a fan, to fan the people in the backseat. Sabrina, it is over to you for the next question. Alrighty, folks. This question has been sent in by Nova. During the Vietnam War, soldiers would transport decoy vehicles made of straw down a dirt track

and leave them on a mountainside near their own base. They knew this would attract enemy bombing. Why did they take such a risk? I'll ask it again. During the Vietnam War, soldiers would transport decoy vehicles made of straw down a dirt track and leave them on a mountainside near their own base. They knew this would attract enemy bombing. So why did they take a risk? In other words, they put a car in a place that would get bombed? Why would they do that?

So that they wouldn't bomb themselves? Yeah, this sounds like the old British World War II things, where they just set up decoy towns and... Well, because they were decoys, because they're not in them. Yeah. They don't want to die. Well, why do you want to blow up a car? Well, you don't want to be blown up yourself. Yeah, take the car over the human.

It's a peace offering. Not a peace offering. Whoa. Definitely not a peace offering. This is like a... this is just like a a why does this thing happen? Probably because of the reason. You're right that this wouldn't be a lateral question if it was that straightforward. Okay, so why the car? Why the car? Why the straw? What would it really like? Was straw really important to them? And it was like a... If something was important to you, would you blow it up?

That's what I'm trying to find meaning in this vehicle with straw in it, you know? Wait, vehicle with straw in it, or a decoy vehicle made of straw? So, soldiers would transport decoy vehicles made of straw down a dirt track, and then leave it on a mountainside near their own base. Wait, near their own base? That is still a risk. Like, we were all like, oh, they're trying to move, but if it's near, and it's bombing, which is not the most precise thing during the Vietnam War,

then that is a risk. And you've got to go outside the base as well. I have it, I have it. I think what it is, is that if they blow up the vehicles, they believe that their mobility is impaired. And so strategically, they think that they can't escape or something? Taha's out here playing war games, not right ones. I was gonna say, because it's made out of straw,

it's kind of the opposite thing. So you know when you're like, if you get lost in a forest, you gotta make a fire so that the rescue people can come see you? What if, what if, what if the straw, because it will become a bonfire? I don't know, it'll become like this. It'll become a thing that you see in the distance.

So they didn't have fire starters. So instead, they got the enemy to blow up straw vehicles. Talha's acting like a hater, but Melissa isn't, she's not right. Oh my god, I hate this game. She's not right. I'm so good at this. She's kind of getting there with the idea that the decoy vehicle was an intermediary aim. They're trying to attract bombing or attract something rather than move it away. They're trying to create a target, not just move a target.

Mm-hmm. Do they need the gunpowder? This is not like medieval warfare, where in theory you can pick up the enemy's arrows and fire them back. The Vietnam War does not work that way. I don't know, Tom, I wasn't around. Wait, neither was I! Hey, you're the one that implied it.

I wasn't around for medieval times either, just while we're clearing that up. So I'll just latch onto something you said there, where you said, like, it had something to do with attracting a bombing. Because there's one way in which the bombing was welcome. They needed to make a crater. Oh, they're like, mmm, like for shelter? For like, mm, like for shelter? For like hiding stuff? I mean, it means that the enemy's going to fly over in a plane and you might be able

to shoot at that. That doesn't have quite to do with the bombing, though. Instead of a—so it is relevant that the straw decoy vehicle was—and I'm reading the question again—was placed down a dirt track and left on a mountainside near their base. They are trying to blow up the mountain. They want to flatten the mountain. No, they want the rocks to fall and block or hit someone below. Like, it will block the dirt track or there will be a...

What's the word for an avalanche that doesn't involve snow? There's definitely a word... Rockslide? There will be a rockslide down onto something. I thought it was rock-valanche. You know, you guys are so close. You're so close. Potentially overthinking it.

Potentially. Does it have to do with rock slides? And the mountain being going boom? The primary goal wasn't violence. During the war? That did feel a bit weird for a lateral question, yeah. It's strategic rather than active killing, okay. Does it just block the dirt track? You guys, like, the two of you were working together, you know that the bomb blows up the mountain, creates rocks.

We don't want the rocks necessarily to kill people. Oh, so they're not throwing them at people? So this is the advent of rock and roll. So this is the advent of rock and roll. So, okay, so we got the rocks to weigh something down. The dirt track is a relevant factor. Is it? Why? What's happening to the dirt track? Is it becoming... They're trying to make it cement track.

They're trying to make it a rock cobblestone track. Gravel, they're making gravel. We're there. Why? Why would they want that? Why did they need gravel? Oh, they want to make a paved road. Yeah?

There we go. The bombing released gravel to improve the roads. Incredible. A major factor in the Vietnam War was the transport of soldiers and supplies. Roads were often narrow and made from simple dirt tracks or logs. Soldiers placed the straw decoys near their base on the mountains to encourage enemy bombing raids. The resulting gravel and debris from the explosions was used to build and maintain better roads.

In particular, the Ho Chi Minh Trail established a better logistical route between North and South Vietnam. Well... The grandfather of Nova, who actually sent in this question, was one of the soldiers who set up the decoys. Wow. Is that where gravel comes from? Blowing up mountains?

Kind of, yes. I mean, they call it aggregate extraction these days, but yeah, they basically just get a big old mountain, put some explosives in, and cart away what's left. The day I learned what a quarry was, was a weird day. Ha ha ha! Which brings me to the question asked at the very start. Complete this wise saying, better to be alive and late than what.

Anyone want to have a quick shot at that? Here's it. It's better to be alive and late than dead early. It's better to be alive than late than on time. Put those two together, because dead early isn't a thing, and on time isn't quite funny enough for this. Dead on time. Dead on time is the correct answer in this

surprisingly death-related episode of Lateral. Yes, this... where might you find this? Oh, road signs. Road signs. Absolutely right. It's a warning against speeding that is better to be alive and late than dead on time. Thank you very much to the folks from Answer in Progress. Let's do the plug as ever. We'll start today with Melissa.

Hello, I mean, bye. You can find us on youtube.com forward slash answer in progress. Taha, what can you find there? You can find videos. If you liked Tom's videos, we do videos that are not the same, but are for an audience that would also appreciate them. Videos like Sabrina.

What is a curry? Why your handwriting is ugly and can you fix it? And the third thing. And the third thing. Thank you very much to all of you. If you want to know more about this show you can do that at lateralcast.com where you can also send in your own ideas for questions. You can find us at lateralcast basically everywhere

and there are regular video highlights at youtube.com slash lateralcast. Thank you very much from Answer in Progress. Sabrina Cruz. Thanks. Taha Khan. Taha Khan. You are not a Pokemon, Taha. And Melissa Fernandez.

Bye. Pikachu, bye. I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Lateral.