Lateral with Tom Scott - 160: Pumpkin?

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Michelle Wong, Dani Siller and Bill Sunderland face questions about mobile materials, Swedish signage and anonymous athletes. 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: Rhett Buzon, Peter Gould, CherimoyaZest, Chris Clarke, Adrian Martin, Dylan K., Alan Reep. 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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We'd love to talk, business. Why are concert-goers often given some building construction material to carry? The answer to that, at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. Good morning and welcome aboard Lateral Tours, your one-way trip through the winding roads of wit, wisdom and unnecessary tangents. We'll be making several stops on the way, assuming that the brakes hold out. On your left, you'll see misinformation towers.

At least that's what the internet told me, so it must be true. Coming up on your right is Panic Roundabout. Last time we went there, it took the driver 30 minutes to find the exit. Please retain your ticket for checking, although no one's sure what we're checking for, and do kindly refrain from flash photography. It startles the producer. Today, we have three fabulous guests along for the ride, here with their rain poncho and a thermos of lukewarm coffee.

First, we have returning to the show. They were here on our very first episode. It is the folks from Escape this podcast. and we will start with Danny Seller. How are you doing? Great. I don't do organise tours. I like my sleep too much, and they start early. They really do. I remember backpacking around Australia and just being on a lot of buses that departed like seven in the morning. And Australia, we've noticed from our recent trip to the UK, Australia is worse than most places about the early morning starts. We're famous for getting up really early here. It's weird.

Also, from Escape This podcast, Bill Sunderland. Hi, I'm glad to be back. I'm excited. Yeah, I feel like it's been a long time. I don't think it has, but it feels like it's been a long time. We were meant to record something in London when you all were over here, and it didn't work out. So it is lovely to have you back. You should plug the podcast. What are you doing?

What's going on at the moment? Yeah, so we have two shows, Escape This Podcast, full of audio escape rooms with guests coming and playing. We recently, at the time of recording, less recently by the time you're listening to it, released a special video episode on YouTube. with four members of the cast of ITVs, The Genius Game, one of whom has been on Lateral before, Charlotte. Yes, she has. We just put her through a casino-themed escape room on YouTube. So there's a special video version over there, which was a lot of fun.

And right now, I believe we're playing through a bunch of guests' rooms by the time this episode does come out. Oh, and I think I did prep that as being two. We also do solve this murder. It's full of murder mysteries. You can check that out as well. Well, best of luck to both of you on our tour around trivia today. We're also joined by a brand new player from the channel Lab Muffin Beauty Science.

Michelle Wong, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, slightly nervous. I think if there's anyone here that a first-time player can be paired with, it is Bill and Danny. You have nothing to worry about. Yes. What have you been working on? Because beauty science, I feel like, doesn't quite cover what your channel's been doing lately.

Oh, I've been working on sunscreen mostly. I don't know if you've seen all the sunscreen conspiracies. That's been a big deal here lately. It's been wild. Like, there's been, oh, there's been, in the last couple months, there's been like four Australian sunscreen news stories. And it's, well, at time of recording, it's been the middle of winter.

So it's very, very weird. What sort of conspiracies? More importantly, what are you debunking? I guess the biggest ones are always, like, sunscreen gives you more cancer than the sun, which is strange since all the white people in Australia get skin cancer and not the black people and not the people who stay indoors.

So, yeah, there's a bit of that. And, yeah, there's a bit of, oh, just, there's something I'm working on which I shouldn't talk about, which is that I'm like, which has taken up all my time. Okay, we will stop that there. That is the best possible teaser because it's given me a couple months before this comes out. Maybe that video's out.

Maybe the conspiracy theory's got to you. We just don't know. Oh, God. Okay, I could have phrased that better. I will say I learned about sunscreen conspiracies when I was accosted by a sunscreen hater who saw me putting on sunscreen and gave me a good 20-minute explanation of the fact that the sun has never... There are sunscreen conspiracy proselytizers?

Did I pronounce that one? Sunscreen truthers. Wow. There are conspiracy theorists for everything all over the world. You see it whenever you travel. Well, if you get your cameras ready, thank you. Thanks, Bill. We're coming up to a local landmark that we like to call Question 1.

Thank you to Adrian Martin for this question. How would identifying the location of an attraction in a Swedish campsite help some people to print a document? I'll say that again. How would identifying the location of an attraction in a Swedish campsite help some people to print a document? If I hear about, like I'm talking about locations and documents and printing, and I'm just getting a flash to being in university.

And I don't know if anyone else had the same problem that I did, which is, I'd like to print a document. All right, which printer would you like to use? And they're connected to every printer in every building. And you just have to sort of guess and just say, lab room two, seven? You know, printer B8. And then you just hope, and you hope that they have good names for the various printers you're connected to. Because otherwise, you're just running around being like, please, where have I printed this? My university fixed this problem, at least, you know, when I was there nearly 20 years ago, by having a central server.

You sent the print job to the mainframe somewhere, and then you walked over to any printer, anywhere in the university, and you typed your username into this 1980s-style text terminal, and it would print on that printer. And they were very proud of it, and I imagine it no longer works. I've never heard of something simultaneously so fancy and unfancy at the same time. That's beautiful. Right. When I heard about, oh, how would identifying an attraction, I went straight to, oh, identifying something in a location, we're in geogessor territory. I know we've been there before.

I'm thinking IKEA. Oh, yeah. Other things, what do we know about Sweden and how offensive can we get? Meatballs. They invented a lot of elements there or invented found. They keep coming up with new elements. It is the Itterby Museum, the attraction. And it's about printing periodic taste.

Oh, good reference. I think we're running out of Sweden that I've got. Ikea and Itterby, the only two things in Sweden. An attraction in a campsite helps you drink. What attractions might be in a campsite? Because that doesn't sound very rollercoastery. Well, finding the bathroom is important because you want to get a warm shower. That is attractive.

Yes, this would be a point of interest within a campsite. Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way around. Let's ignore Sweden. like we usually do. And let's think instead, what problem, like, what would stop you printing a document? Like, why would you ever be like, oh, I need help printing a document? Better start looking at Swedish campsites. What's the initial problem?

No ink. No ink. Yeah, that's true. Is it the campsite's famous octopus? Yeah, that's probably it. Where did the octopus come from? We need ink. To give you ink.

Okay, a squid. Right. Yeah, no, sorry. That took me too long. What's a problem Like not being able to know where a printer is There's not necessarily a problem It just might make it a bit faster

I want to say Wi-Fi sounds Swedish But it's Australian It's like one of the few things they keep on bragging about So you'd find it or you'd know where it is And now printing is faster, easier You can print a document Is it more about Is it, are the people who would look this up

Right And this is not a question for you, Tom. This is for my fellow contestants. So don't you jump in with an answer. Is the issue more do you think, like, not about being in Sweden or being at this campsite, but some reference, like, if you know where that is, it gives you some piece of information that is relevant worldwide. It doesn't matter.

It's a little mnemonic for the phone number for the brother printer company. Like, does it help you know some other facts? That's interesting. Is it just the Wi-Fi password? Is that the point of attraction? Yeah, is it the printer password for the central mainframe? With all of those guesses, you're getting closer. Identifying the location is important, but not finding it in real life. Absolutely right. It might also help you save a document.

Right. Okay, so that feels like we're talking about, you can do it from afar. Control S. Oh, that's interesting. Is it a part of the campsite called Control P? What was that, Bill? Yeah, I said Control S. It's Control P print. What? How does this have anything to do with the nature book campsite? That tells me something about how Bill and Danny use computers and what they have. Michelle?

We don't have a Mac. Do you have a Mac, Michelle? Command S? I'm new to Macs. Come on a P. Yeah. Is it CMD? Option? It's function control, option, command. Literally had to read that out. So anything else on that keyboard? On the screen, I would press file print. Does a Mac do something different from that? Command center?

System settings? Those little coloured circles? Oh, Bill, you said little coloured circles there. What do you mean? The extent of my experience with Mac computers is wandering around, looking at people using them and being, I'll use my PC, thank you very much. For no reason.

But that's just, it's going into an art room in my school and then being like Macs are better at art. like, all right, that seems a strange distinction. But I feel like every, like, they don't have the, where I would expect there to be minuses and squares and X's in the tops of windows. They just have little colored buttons. Oh, yes. But is this a general theme across Macs of a lot more colored buttons?

There is a certain thing on some Apple keyboards. It may not be on yours, Michelle. Oh, man. Is it the flower button? It is that flower button. Describe what you're seeing there on the command. button. It's a flower button. I'm great at computers. This is a particular symbol that could, I don't know, it looks like the best example I've got, which is an even nerdyer reference,

is perhaps like a drone from above, like a quadcopter drone. You've got four circles connected by a square in the middle. Is this same symbol used in the context of campsites in Sweden? They use the same symbol to represent a campsite. And if you go to the area that is in like labeled Area P with that symbol. You're like, well, remember that. That's the print one. That is also the symbol that Swedish maps and a few other countries use for point of interest.

Oh. Fun. Yes. Originally Apple's designers were going to use an Apple symbol. Steve Jobs thought it diluted the brand. And so artist Susan Kerr looked through an international symbol dictionary, found that Swedish place name symbol. I was like, yeah, that's generic enough.

That is our place of interest sign. going to use it for command. So, Swedish place of interest sign plus P would help you print a document. Remember that time a few episodes ago, when we got a question about Digimon? I like that one. I felt safe there. Bill, we will go to you for the next question. All right.

This question has been sent in by Keramoya Zest. A website suggests these solutions. A drill, a bicycle wheel, a delicate tree branch, a metronome, or your dog. What could you earn as a result? A website suggests these solutions. A drill, a bicycle wheel, a delicate tree branch, a metronome or your dog. What could you earn as a result? To my understanding, this is what AI tells you to put into recipes.

Well, a metronome ticks and a dog has ticks sometimes. Oh, that's good. That's all I got. And if you put one of those little flappy things through the spokes of your bicycle wheel. Oh, you're ticking. Yep. A delicate tree branch will make that sort of sound if you snap it and crackle it. And a drill.

It's a really bad drill and it makes a noise that it shouldn't. Yeah, totally makes sense. You're right there. We've got some various spinning and moving. things going on here. I don't know what a delicate tree branch is doing and why it's delicate. Waving?

So we have a spinny... That's motion? Spinny. Waving, waving. Oh, no, no, hang on. That's not a bad idea. These are all things that can keep motion going.

Like, you've got a drill, which could rotate a thing, a bicycle wheel which rotates, like a tree branch rustling, in the wind, a metronome ticking back and forth, and a dog, which I guess could be, like, trained to do a thing? Like, maybe... Would these, like, a totally patented, totally real form of perpetual motion device? What would you earn? Infinite energy.

Exactly. It is not perpetual motion, but the motion is important. So, okay. What if this is, like, free Bitcoin by pushing a button? No one would do that anymore. That was like early days of Bitcoin. But you rig up a thing that has to regularly push a button. And you attach something to a drill that slowly rotates.

You attach a thing to a bicycle wheel that slowly... Like, it's got to hit a button a lot at a regular interval. A delicate tree branch could be a poking device. Yeah. And a metronome could tell you how often it's meant to be poking a thing. Oh, I was thinking these were five possible solutions, not one. Oh, okay.

Oh, I was putting, I was Rube Goldberg machine in these things. Okay, if I separate them out, then I'm much more curious about the dog. So it's like a motion sensor or something. Oh, you are getting very close. They are all achieving the same effect. And they are all not pushing a button, but they are all affecting something, some other device. It's not like a Tinder swiping thing. No.

That's very scary with a drill. and very hurtful with a dog. Oh, I am... Oh, someone outsourcing their Tinder decisions, their dog, which actually... You know what, that sounds like a dating app. Like, you just actually... I believe it.

You just get the dog to decide on the matches. Yeah, dogs are good judges of people. Yes. TM, TM. Perfect. I've been assuming these are pushing a thing on a screen. What if it's something else physical you're trying to move? What if you're attaching like a physical...

thing to this. Oh, I'd follow that line of thought. Okay. Interesting. A metronome doesn't feel like it's great at pushing things. They're very delicate from what I understand, but okay. And you're earning something. I think the earning maybe will help you, but you're very close to thinking you have something

that is moving a lot constantly, up and down, left and right, maybe in a circle, and you can attach something to that to... Get something out of it. It's not meant to be used this way. It doesn't feel like we are using this as a substitute for a normal thing or something completely innovative. You are using it to substitute, I would say, effort? Are you earning badges on an app or rewards

or some kind of kudos between your friends here? Why do you ask? Because I'm thinking this is something you attach a step counter to. It is something you attach a step counter to, you attach a pedometer to this. Yeah. Oh, is it earning those rings in the fitness app? It's now, it's not something as directly tied in. It's not a pedometer app that you earn a reward in or it's not just kudos.

There is a legitimate financial reward to getting a higher number on a pedometer. Okay, who's getting these kinds of rewards? Under what circumstances would that? Or who might care if you have a higher number on a pedometer other than your friends when they say, oh my gosh. Health insurance company? Oh, my God, there is. There's a health insurance company

that locks into your pedometer data and looks like your smartwatch data. Really? Yes. Yeah, that's it. You got it, Michelle. Oh, amazing. Good jumping. Good thinking.

That was a joke. I've seen an advert for those. It's terrifying. Yeah, the answer to what you can earn, is a discount on your health insurance. Oh my God. So yeah, there are some insurance companies that offer discounts to customers who will wear a fitness tracker as a way to encourage them to engage in an active lifestyle, right? They don't want to pay out, so they hope that you're exercising, so they give you a discount if you can prove that you are. There is a website. This is

specifically the website, unfit bits, which suggests these as methods of cheating at your or panometer so that you can get the insurance discount, but not actually have to do the walking. And yes, it is also noted that the tree branch does have to be properly delicate so it can sway in the breeze. Now streaming on Paramount Plus, it's the epic return of mayor of Kingston. Warden? You know who I am. Starring Academy Award nominee Jeremy Runner. I'd sway in these walls.

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Conditions and exclusions apply. Thank you to Dylan Kay for sending in this next question. On 20th of June, Andy is transporting a large amount of water in Seattle. He asks, pumpkin and receives the reply 2142. What does that indicate and what is his job? I'll say that again. On 20th of June, Andy is transnational. transporting a large amount of water in Seattle.

He asks, Pumpkin, and receives the reply, 2142. What does that indicate? What is his job? Pumpkin, when I'm thinking about transporting a lot of water, has thrown me into an inescapable idea of my head that this is all just some kind of strange Seattle madmax, because just picture right you're driving across this vast thing with a huge tanker of water,

and then a bunch of people come out. out to like pump the water to places and they're like we are the pumpkin we me and my brothers my kin pump all we do is pump a hundred times a day the pure liquid gold of water in this waterless wasteland that's it's very mad max i'm saying i didn't consider associating pump and pumpkin but now i am and i'm don't know if i should be or if i should just be mad at you it's a whole family of pumpkin i'm just imagining mad max in the person Pacific Northwest. And it's not exactly a waterless wasteland, Seattle. It's pretty. It's quite rainy. A lot of trees. Very different vibes there. Oh, very relaxed. Oh, you don't know what

happened in this post-apocalyptic wasteland. All the rain went away. And now it's just these pumpkin in their big tanks. Did I get it? You don't have to dignify it with a no. Please do. Please dignify it with a response. I mean, how do you yes and character work like that? I can't, I can't. You don't have to yes, and. You can just, you can just, yes, nice. You can That'll do pig and I'll be fine, I'll move on. So what do we, yeah, he's got water in a tanker. He says pumpkin and they say, 2142? 2142, yes.

What could 2142 mean? 42 is double 21. Sure. It could be a time, I guess, like 9 p.m.ish. 9.42? It could be a time, yes. When do I pumpkin? 2142.

In America, I feel, that time is very exclusively culturally connected to military things. In, like, in, what we would kind of think of as, that's 24-hour time, it's perfectly fine. In America, they'll often refer to it as military time. And you see people reacting online, like, 21-42, thanks, Sergeant. So does that mean that the rest of the question ties into that? I see transporting water in a military way? In Seattle.

I would say in a military way, is right. Certainly, it's not military. but there is certainly a level of professionalism going on here with these questions and answers. We've got some strict vibes. And why pumpkin? And why pumpkin, yes. And don't think I've forgotten about the pumpkin. He works for Starbucks and it's four months away from Halloween when they need their pumpkin spice.

Starbucks and Seattle have a connection. They do? That's true. What other references to pumpkin do you know? Charlie Brown the pumpkin king Halloween Jackalands

Pumpkin carving Pumpkin regatta Do you know they're a pumpkin regatta where they get the biggest pumpkins and they carve them out and turn into boats and then they take them down the river in Portland That's a thing in Portland, Oregon

That's fun That's New Seattle That's kind of New Seattle It involves water I think we're getting close Apparently I don't culturally think about pumpkins that much. Also, we've got three Australians on a call. And in Australia, this is a, this is a true fact. Like, everything's a pumpkin. Like, you go into a supermarket, you buy

a butternut pumpkin. And everyone else in the world goes, you mean a squash? We're like, nah, that's a pumpkin. That's a pumpkin. Okay. All squashes, we call pumpkins for some reason. So, so, so, that's something. Trying to get into a Seattle mindset, we assume we're talking exclusively about big orange ones. We are. And it's actually, well, these days, It's a Disney reference. Is it Jack Skellington? Oh, Cinderella. Cineridge.

It's a pumpkin midnight thing. Yes. Okay. When will my water turn back into a mouth? When is something going to stop or cease to function or go bad or close? Oh yeah. What's like the pumpkin time? Yes.

When's pumpkin time? Oh, today pumpkin eyes 2142. All right. I'll make sure it's delivered by then because of that point. Yes. And so now we have to use that fact to figure out what job requires this water to be livid by 9.42 p.m.? Yeah, that if he's driving this truck of water and it's 9.43, he's just got to turn around and go home.

You made some assumptions there, Bill, that may not be true. Wait, what did you just say? You said he was driving a truck. I never said he was driving a truck. Is this moving like a tidal thing, like, or like a... It's not tidal, but yeah, you're getting close there. If he was in Los Angeles, the reply would have been 2038. So something more like about sunset? Yeah, is that a sunset time?

Yes. That is connected to sunset. Yeah. Is it when you've got to kick people out of the pool? We close the pool at sunset. Get out of here, kids. That's my tank of water. A pool.

He's taking the water away. Okay. All right. Got to get a good visual of this. It is vital that he knows that time and he follows that time. So when we're talking about things, that are this important, are we talking medical or something thereabouts, do we think?

Emergency services, definitely. Oh, no, does the water have, like, someone's severed limb in it? No, no, no, large amount of water, large amount of water. Frozen water, ice with a heart. Firefighting? Yes. Ooh. Yes.

Okay. But why would firefighting have such a relevant time? Surely if there's a fire you put it out and if it's not a fire you relax I don't think anyone's like I'll put this fire out in 20 minutes Might be difficult to put this one out Because it's the sun

Every time the sun sets the fireman Celebrate a small victory Against the flame in the sky We need to learn something about Seattle That we don't know Does it have one of those I think you definitely know this In Australia

Ooh Ooh. That... Okay. Is it just that when there's like a... I don't know, is it just like you're not going to be able to put out this huge bushfire while the sun is out because it's just going to keep catching fire. We're going to wait until that goes down and then put it out.

Really the opposite of that, but you've identified huge bushfire. There is one leap you haven't made here. Yes, there's something particularly challenging, nay, not impossible to do when it is dark and firefighting. Yes. Yes, absolutely. You assumed, Bill, that... This is a truck filled with water. It's a plane.

It's a plane. Oh. It's a plane. And you just can't do that when it's at night? You cannot do that at night. This is a wildfire aviation pilot. So put it all together. Why is he asking Pumpkin?

Why is it getting the reply 2142? Because that's when the sun goes down and it's too dark and you have to ground the plane. You're not allowed to fly that. Yes. Pumpkin time specifically is half an hour after sunset. So sunset is at 912 p.m. And so the code word for when is half an hour past sunset is pumpkin or pumpkin time. This is actually a firefighting helicopter. This is the Washington State heli-tac crew. Our question writer has worked with them. They got so insulted. That helicopter guy. Dylan, the question writer says this is, you

universal throughout wildfire aviation, for safety reasons they can't operate during the night. They must be back on land half an hour after sunset. That is pumpkin time. That's good to know here. So the pilot asks pumpkin and gets a time back by which they must be on the ground. Danny, we will go to you for the next question, please. All right. This question has been sent in by Peter Gould. Thank you so much. At a New York City Hotel, the first room on the eighth floor is popular with romantic couples. Room zero zero six on the third floor is a good choice for lawyers. Why is this and what special feature can you find in every room? One more time.

At a New York City Hotel, the first room on the eighth floor is popular with romantic couples. Room zero zero six on the third floor is a good choice for lawyers. Why is this and what special feature can you find in every room? That's kind of weird. Did anyone do the same thing I did? Right, where as soon as standing, like, the first room on the eighth floor, I was like, ah, you're trying to hide the fact that that's room 801, that'll be important. And then we got to the room on the third floor is zero zero six.

And now I got, no, who organized a hotel this way? Well, all the rooms have numbers. Is that it? But, like, yeah, that's the common feature. You can sit, they've all got a bed. Ha-ha, gotcha. Do they? Actually, that's a good point.

Maybe they don't. That's why the lawyer's going to sue. Yeah. Yeah, it's zero-zero-six on room three. I mean, it could be they start from one every, you know, it's like this is room six on three and this is room six on four, et cetera, et cetera. But the numbering is throwing me off. And yeah, one is for lovers and one's for lawyers.

Which sounds like a song lyric. Oh, yeah. It does. One for the lawyer. One for the lawyer. It's actually 3-06 for the lawyer. I thought you'd pay attention. Presumably, do we think you can extrapolate this out and like, well, there's a room for

a baker that's, you know, floor four, you know, oh, if you're old, if you've a long-term couple get to level six, or is it only these two rooms that we think have anything relevant? It's not like a rule of the hotel. It's just like, happen to be. You are right in this assumption that there will be other people that might have preferences. What are young lovers like in their hotel rooms? I don't know if we want to go here. Let's talk about this for a while. So they're on the eighth floor, which means the seventh floor is going to be noisy, supposedly, from the squeaking. But the lawyers can't sue for lack of sleep.

Because they're all the way down in three. That's it. I think we've cracked it. Is that what's written on the answer section? Have we got it? It has. very little to nothing to do with their sleepability. I've just been trying to permute all these numbers, because that's the way my brain goes. It's like 8-0-0-1. But that doesn't spell anything. Like you can't convert that to anything.

You can't make a... Yeah. Trying things like this is not a bad idea. Messing around with the numbers in those sorts of ways, and it's not terrible. Sixth letter is F. Yeah, I was trying to figure out, but zero. Like, what do you translate that to?

I have a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't on the door, say, 8-001 and 3,006. Oh, would they possibly have, like, Roman numerals that matter? Does that? That's always a classic little puzzle thing. I've never been in a hotel with that, though. I've been in a hotel once where they put the room numbers on the wall as, like, three, the word, zero, and then the number six, or something like that. It's the most confusing. They had bold face in different fonts.

And when you are tired and just trying to get to your room, it's infuriating. And then you can sue because you're a lawyer. Yes, and you're in room 3,006. So everyone those lawyers just love to sue. I mean, this is America. Like, we're talking to New York City. There is absolutely something unique about the way they format these room numbers. Oh, okay.

Where one is for lovers and one is for lawyers. Is that that thing in America where like the third floor, is that like they don't have a ground floor? Yeah, they start on floor one. So the third floor would be the second floor if you live in a civilised country. Thankfully, if that comes into play, you won't need to worry about it for your answer. I feel like I've got to get a pen and paper out to start writing six over and over. again like it's going to help me. It was definitely specifically

zero six and not just six. That would have been very different. I've been trying to convert these to clocks, to times, to pin numbers that you have to type in. Yeah, zero zero six. How could you format zero zero six? Like you could write the words zero, zero and six.

On the third floor specifically. On the third floor. It's a third floor. Definitely important. For example. Another example that I've got for you is we know someone on the sixth floor, room zero zero five on the sixth floor, a computing fan might enjoy that room. Now, when you say a computing fan?

A computing fan. Do you mean somebody who likes computers or just like a literal fan inside your desktop computer? An enjoyer of the computing arts. You can say nerd. It's okay. This is kind of, this is definitely not it. But like, if you have 8001 and you look at it backwards, and you convert it to, like, digital letters,

it turns into lube. It's all coming together now. This is my favorite episode so far. It's not it, is it? The band episode. Well, if you turn 3006 upside out on the calculator, you get goo-goo-no, you don't. Gooy.

They're gooey. We've done, we're not gooey. Yeah, my big swing clue here is, that you have not, you do not have, it is all in digits, you do not have the correct number of digits that you're thinking about right now. Oh, 3.006? You're getting on the right track by thinking about things like that and different variations, like the zero, zero six, absolutely.

They just write the full zero zero six three times, so you know you're on level three. Oh, it's thankfully not that horrible. And how would it make it for a lawyer or a lover? That is true. How would we come up with distinctions using numbers? Dewey decimal numbers. These are dewey decimal. They've written like, this is a hotel in New York above the New York Public Library

and all of the rooms are written out as if they are dewy decimal codes. And if you interpreted the level and then the number, 3006 is going to be what you would put in the Dewey Decimal System for law, legal things, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And 8001 is Romance. It's a Dewey Decimal Hotel, and I won't take no for an answer. Come on. And what special feature might you find in rooms that are designed in such a manner? An entire library, an entire reference section.

A chung for the Dewey Decimal System or something. Oh, no, you were close to the first time. 100% giving it to you. Books that match that categorization? The rooms are themed with Dewey Decimal System in mind. So rather than 3006, it's 300.0.006. And inside each room is a fully stocked bookcase on your topic of choice. Wow.

The room's topic of choice. This is a place in New York called the Library Hotel. And actually, they were sued over this by the online computer library center for a while, the owners of the Dewey Decimal System. How close? It was, yeah, apparently it was owned. Let's get them. It's okay.

They settled. They now have permission to do this. Imagine being the Dewey Decimal System and be like, are you using the Dewey Decimal System? We don't want anybody to use that system. It is for Boughton. It's like when you're typing up a story and then you find out that the font that you used was copyright and you go, nobody ever told me that this was a thing.

Yeah. We know the Dewey Decimal System, the way that the classification works, that the 300, that will have all of the different rooms that are about social sciences. The 600 floor, so the sixth floor, technology. And then the room numbers are the digits that come after the decimal points that make the topic, that get into the specifics of which topic you're looking at. Beautiful. This question is from Alan Reap.

Thank you very much. Crowds cheered. as Tian Gong, wearing an orange singlet, ran through the finishing tape at a Beijing half-marathon in two hours and 40 minutes. An Ethiopian runner, who won in just 62 minutes, was not mentioned in the extensive press coverage. Why? I'll say that again.

Crowds cheered as Tian Gong, wearing an orange singlet, ran through the finishing tape at a Beijing half marathon in two hours and 40 minutes. An Ethiopian runner, who won in just 62 minutes, was not mentioned in the extensive press coverage. Why? That's a very big difference. Yeah. It's an impressive time. Which is an impressive time? Yes.

We all look like runners. I'm sure we all run a lot. Have you done the city to surf? The what? I mean, from context I can work out what that is, Bill. I'm assuming that's like a marathon. It is a third marathon. Yeah, it's only a third marathon. Not a half marathon. A third marathon. It's a big race

the people do in city. I've done it once. Maybe twice. I've done it twice. Three times a runner. How long would that take as a non-runner who barely knows where the surf is? My brother was very good at running and he did the city to surfs at 14 kilometers in somewhere between 60 and 75 minutes.

So thrice the distance in the same time. It was a half marathon, wasn't it? one point whatever the distance 1.5 the distance that's pretty amazing so something's weird about it I feel like 62 minutes something's weird about that time

that feels too good is it I feel like it's like I mean Ethiopians they tend to do really well in the Olympics and long distance so if a good runner can do a third of a marathon in about an hour

I can imagine a very good runner could do a half marathon in an hour but now I'm more shocked at the cheers for someone doing it and how long was the other person? It was much longer, right? So Tian Gong, two hours, 40 minutes.

The winner, 62 minutes. So one hour and two. Is he a turtle? Yeah, was it not for people? Was it not a race for human beings to run? Now, we're drilling in very quickly here, yes. Ooh, okay. Turtle is not correct, but non-human, you've got to very quickly.

Was it an Ethiopian rabbit and then a big turtle? And it was a tortoise in the hair. And they raced him, and the rabbit turned it in an hour. It was like, okay, whatever, let's wait for the turtle, we'll clap. Because that's the real hero of the story. You are metaphorically correct. You do not have the correct details there. It's not like a zodiac race.

Or maybe this is just my dream. Like the Chinese zodiac, that would be awesome. That would be pretty good. And then a bunch of people doing the dragon dance the entire way because they couldn't get a dragon race. Yeah, yeah, true. They did both run. Okay, so we need to think of something

where one thing doing incredibly well doesn't make us feel anything, but the other animal, oh, that fills our hearts with joy. I'm not sure joy would be right for, Everyone here. Interesting. It was a rat race. I'm sure that the winner would still have got applause, would have had people around there,

but wasn't mentioned in the press coverage. Yeah, not mentioned in the press coverage. To the point where I just had a quick look, and I can't actually find the name. Wow. The reports just say, yep, won by an Ethiopian runner. Haven't even bother to find the name for that. But Tian Gong, two hours 40, name checked. Loads of stories.

Did the first animal survive? Did the Ethiopian creature survive this endeavor? The Ethiopian runner was human. Oh, okay. So the Ethiopian runner was human. Yep. But we don't care about the human. That's a standard half marathon winner.

I'm sure they got applause. They got the prize. Absolutely fine. That's standard? Wow, that's really fast. Well, it's very fast. It's not a world record, but it's very fast. Wow.

Okay. So, great. Humans are running the race. One of them did well, nobody cares. Is he being chased? Is he just put a lion after him or something? We're just going to start naming animals. Panda, robot.

Robot. What is your second example of an animal? Robot. Wait, what? Oh, come on. It is cool. Okay, so it was a robot. It was a robot running the race.

Yes. This was a half marathon course set up for robots to compete against humans. And a human. one. Even one. How did you get to that, Michelle? Yeah. We got this question on the back of Michelle's second example of an animal being a robot.

I don't know why I ran out of animals after panda. You just, it was clearly in there somewhere. You knew what was going on. That was unbelievable. Yes, absolutely right. The winning robot was Tian Gong Ultra, who was able to complete the course in two hours, 40 minutes. The only robot to actually beat like the human cutoff time.

Of three and a few hours. I see. Yeah, an Ethiopian man and woman won their class in just over an hour each, but their names weren't in the press reports. I don't like the fact that I can't name them, but I can't name them because none of the press reports named them. Not all the robots were as successful. The shortest of the humanoid robot competitors are only 30 inches,

called Little Giant, stopped in its tracks with smoke emerging from its head. Oh dear. Dear. But Tian Gong Ultra was the very first robot to complete a half marathon. Michelle, we will go over to you for your question, please. Okay, this question was sent him by Red Boozon. For a 2018 Marvel video game, voice actor Yuri Lowenthal recorded most of his lines twice. Why? I'll repeat that. For a 2018 Marvel video game, voice actor,

Yuri Lohenthal recorded most of his lines twice. Why? This is the first, this is the best possible, like, position to be in where I know what you're talking about. I'm a huge Yuri Lohenthal fan. I love the game. I have no idea what the answer is. Yeah, and I can both supply the game that Yuri Lohenthal was doing the boss for.

What's the game? This is Marvel Spider-Man, 2018. He played Spider-Man. He, yeah, Yuri Lohenthal plays Spider-Man. he does very well Uri Levinthol always does very well he's a very talented voice actor I met him at a convention once

he was lovely that blows up my first suggestion which is that Yuri plays like the sidekick the other character and that the main character can choose male or female and so you have to record like she he her

but that doesn't that wouldn't be most of the lines I don't refer I don't use gendered pronouns every single time I'm talking to everyone in this call Yeah, and I was thinking, well, he plays Peter Parker and Spider-Man, but he never has to, as far as I can remember,

deliver the same line in a Spider-Man-y way and a Peter Parkery way. No. There's also famously in that game, it was released with one character model that looked like a particular character. You're right. And then they went, so this is how Spider-Man looked. Peter Parker looked in a particular way. He had black hair.

Dark hair. or dark hair, he was a bit taller, a bit like taller of face, and that was the character model they used. And then, at the same sort of time, Tom Holland's Spider-Man became very popular. And they went, why don't we re-skinned Spider-Man to make him a completely different-looking guy with blonde hair? And no, no, it's not because of Tom Holland, but just going to make him kind of like shorter of face, a little bit more Tom Holland-y, he's got blonde hair.

Don't worry, but this was actually the model we wanted to use all the time, and we just didn't for no reason. But that is a true. So they swapped out the entire. character model, so they change the face. But I cannot imagine that would need you to then be like, oh, we're also going to get Yuri to re-record the entire thing. Like a shorter man. Yeah. You need to sound more blonde. Yeah, right? Which, they wouldn't have done it if it required that amount of work. So I can't imagine that that is part of it, but it is a thing. Not unless the

mouth movements were really different on this new model. You'd just fix the model. You wouldn't change the voice, surely, right? I can confirm it's not because he's blonder or shorter. Okay, wonderful, wonderful. Okay, good. It's just, I had to get the fact out there, because it is an interesting thing, and it did require two models, but I can't imagine. So, why would you have to re-record it? I know what it is.

It's a Shrek moment. He did the first entire version in a Scottish accent, and then went, wait, what if I sounded like I was from New York? It's got to be crazy. I play it that way. Scottish Spider-Man. That sounds like a sketch. that a British comedy show would come up with in like the 1990s.

Scottish Spider-Man sounds like a recurring gag from a sketch show. Is that it? I don't think so. The only other thing that I could think of would be that there was there some substantial script change halfway through that required a whole lot of change. I don't see how. Was it originally an Iron Man game? Did he start as Iron Man? And then he went, oh, you're Spider-Man now. You've got to do the whole thing again. But say Spider-in instead of Iron. I would say, think about what Spider-Man does.

Oh, I know what it is. I know what it is. Okay, I'm going to show you what he had to do. I'm going to show you right now. If you're watching this, please enjoy the visual. If you're not, you can have it described to you. You might be able to pick it up. Here we go.

I'm going to give you a random line. I'm going to say, look like Dr. Octopus is at it again. Okay. Here's take one Looks like Dr. Octopus is at it again Here's take two He's standing up He is running across the room

Look like Dr Octopus is at it again Swinging That was exactly what I was going to do Because you can choose to walk or swing However you choose to move Whenever you want him to You press the swing button And he's going off

And he needs to be able to deliver the lines As if he's swinging through the streets yelling to be heard over the sound of air rushing past his spider face. That is absolutely it. Amazing. Oh, I hope that sounded okay. You didn't sound quite as exerted as you should have,

which was the name of the second version. So there were two versions. It was resting and exerted. And so, as you would expect, as he was swinging, they would switch to the exerted version. And apparently all the sequels also did this. Oh, beautiful. It's a really great thing.

It makes it feel very immersive. because when you're swinging around, he sounds like he's swinging around, no matter, and you can do it whenever you want. That kind of control and immersion is really good. It's a very good game if you haven't played. I can give this the king of unpaid endorsements. I love that game. So there is just the question from the start of the show.

Thank you to Chris Clark for sending this in. Why are concert goers often given some building construction material to carry? Anyone want to take a quick shot at that? They didn't build the stadium in time? Yeah. We have to finish the stadium. Help us out, case. If you just take one brick, we'll be done by the time the show started.

Is there some, is there some coordinated thing that's like, everybody, hold up your cinder blocks now? Is it like a John Cage, like, modern music banging? Like, everyone. Forty-two minutes of plasterboard. There are quite a lot of concerts where this will take place. Oh, are the, are the glowing wristbands technically a piece of construction? The glowy ones aren't. What?

Just wristbands and some? I don't go to concerts atop. Do you know what those wristbands are called? Those ones, not the glowy ones, not just the ones where... But just the for re-entry. You are allowed to be in here. Does anyone know what those are called? I did not know they had a name.

They are called Tyvec wristbands. Have you seen that name anywhere else? Construction sites, maybe. Yeah. Have you ever seen a house halfway through construction? that is covered in something called housewrap. Oh, okay. There is a thing called Tyvec Housewrap,

which you can see on construction sites, building sites. A half-completed house will frequently be covered in this stuff. It'll have the name on it. That stuff is light, it's waterproof, it's tear-resistant, and so it is also used to make wristbands for concerts. Wild. We're very practical people who absolutely own and have built our own houses. Congratulations to all our players on running the gauntlet.

Where can people find you? What's going on for you? We will start with. Michelle. I'm at Lab Muff and Beauty Science on everywhere, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. Yeah. Bill. Why don't you check out Escape This Podcast,

including our video special on YouTube with The Genius Game? And Danny. We had another Escape This Podcast Room. If you search National Science Week in Australia, we had a special goat genetics-themed room. Incredible. And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at Latterned.

where you can also send it in your own ideas for questions. We are at Lateralcast, basically, everywhere, and there are weekly video episodes on Spotify. Thank you very much to Danny Siller. Thank you so much, Tom. Bill Sunderland. It was lovely to be here. Michelle Wong.

Thank you. I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Lateran.