Lateral with Tom Scott - 161: A railway puzzle

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

Caroline Roper, Ella Hubber and Tom Lum from 'Let's Learn Everything!' face questions about new names, convenient coins and purchasable possessions. 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: Mistmage, ethan, Peter Genoff, Emily and Elika, Andrew M., Estella. 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

Get no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at pceexpress.ca. Why did two people who knew each other change their surname to grey on the same day? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott and this is Lateral. Yeah, yeah, they're here again, yeah.

I can't believe this is happening to us. They just appear every three months, like clockwork. They're like roaches. Yeah, I wouldn't mind, but they make this little annoying sound. It's just like they're sitting there staring and mocking me. Yeah, no, no, my next time start. I'm really smart. No, I've tried that, but they didn't take the hint.

didn't take the hint. You know, they just turn up like they own the place, cause chaos, and leave. So what, that'll get rid of the mosquitoes? Okay. Oh. All right, thank you, Jim. Thanks. Bye. Sorry about that. A warm welcome to the folks from Let's Learn Everything. Wow. A warm welcome, as always.

Yeah, thank you. It's always good to have the three of you back. There's very few guests where our producer feels confident enough to write a skit like that and feel like I can sell it and get away with it. So it is always lovely to have you back. to have you back at me. Caroline Roper, welcome back to the show. How are you doing? Good, thank you. Yeah. Always so excited to be here. Please ignore where I was like, you know, taking the mix out of your mosquito thing. It wasn't me. I was just reacting. That was all about mosquitoes. Yeah, it was

the mosquitoes. I'm just glad it was mutual. I'm really glad it was mutual. How have you been doing? How's the podcast going? It's been really fun. We've been talking about a lot of science and miscellaneous topics, keeping it, you know, really fresh for us. Tom Lump, what sort of topics have you been working on? We have been talking about things like the placebo effect, the science of that, as well as stamps, just how much we love stamps, the evolution of eyes. We had that on with a friend of this podcast, Sabrina Cruz. The most boring element, I don't want to list them all. There's so many, and you can go listen. I did have the thought, Tom, though, where I was like,

You know, this is probably someone's first episode. And so I was like, we should try to be a, we could pretend you can ask me how I've been doing and I'll pretend like it's the first time we've met each other. I mean, I just don't think we could sell that, Tom. We've been getting on each other's nerves for so long now. Let's give it, here, give a try. Ask me how I'm doing. Ask me how I'm doing?

Tom Lum. Hey, how are you doing, you piece of shit? Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, I couldn't. Go on to Ella, go on to Ella, sorry. And the last member of the Let's Learn Everything team, who are, I don't know if there's any schick prepared here. Ella Hubber.

Oh, you're doing, your piece of shit. Oh, we've started badly. You should plug the podcast. You should actually plug where people can find it, and what you'll do. We are the three co-hosts of Let's Learn Everything. And we talk about science, we talk about mislady's topics,

and it's just as chaotic there as it is here. Well, good luck to. all three of you, and while mosquitoes might suck, I hope our questions don't. Let's see if you can swat question. Thank you to Peter Ginnoff for this question. Slayer's third studio album, Rain in Blood, is one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time. When it was released for sale in 1986, why did most fans get two copies instead of one? I'll give you that one more time. Slayer's third studio album, Rain in Blood, is one of the

most influential thrash metal albums of all time. When it was released for sale in 1986, why did most fans get two copies instead of one? This is a very interesting question. These are records at this point, right? I was going to say, 1986, probably vinyl records. Or is this around the time when CDs were starting to? I don't believe so. I actually have no idea. It's crazy. We've talked about the history of music and the sound so many times and I still don't know the answer to that question. You recorded sound, yeah. So I think it's, I mean, it's around, well, and that makes me wonder if that's what the key here is for like two copies, because is it, is it like on the precipice

of a format change? Yeah, it's just as to the changeover from records, from vinyl to CD. Or even like cassette tapes and things like that as well. Cassette tape, Caroline, was the most popular format at that time. Nice. Yeah, LPs were fading away. CDs were still relatively new. Cassette tape. Okay.

Okay. But that's not the answer. It is an important bit of the clue, though. Although I really, really liked the way we did that, guys. Well done. Beautiful. As we continue to learn everything, we'll eventually just smash through this. We'll know all about everything.

It's, I don't know, I'm just going to put like a really wild guess out there. Is there, like, a lyric in there that says, like, rip up your cassettes, kids, something. I thought you were going to say, like... Go on, Tom. Good, because mine was just a joke. It would be one of those, like, I feel like this is the, around the era. I mean, you were saying like slash metal or whatever, that there was like a hidden message played backwards.

Oh, yeah. It's like, you have, yeah, buy two versions of blah. Oh, that's so good, Tom. Oh, sorry. Yeah, that's... Oh, no, I need to join. The Navy. It just occurred to me that even when I was a kid, like, playing something backwards,

you know, it's on a computer. You hit the reverse thing on, like, Windows 3.1 sound recorder. Playing it backwards on a record player involves, like, physically rotating the disc unless you have something... Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, which is a lot more fun. On a cassette tape, you couldn't do that. So maybe that's how more of the rumours spread.

Yeah, because it makes it harder. Whether something's harder to play in writing this down. I don't know for what, but that's not really relevant to the question at all. Just there. Yep. Yeah. It wasn't something, I'm going off the lyric thing that Ella just went. It wasn't so that people could have like a PG version to play in front of their family and the one that they could have in private or something. That's good, Caroline. You know, because we get told on our podcast that Tom Lum specifically

swears too much. So is it like us censoring ourselves? I'm putting two podcast episodes out. That's also, that's a joke because we all famous this. It's weird that they picked me out. Yeah, so is that, is that, I like that idea. Is that... No reaction from Tom's... No reaction from me, I'm afraid.

It's not to do with that. It is, to an extent, to do with the content of it. Could there be a bonus track? I know sometimes records will do, like, bonus tracks for, like, Japan releases and stuff like that. So maybe, can you confirm or not if they are two different mediums or if they're, like, is one a cassette one a record?

No, this was just most fans would get two copies. Most fans? Yes. Not all fans. You're not confirming that, Tom. Well, are the copies identical, or is there a difference? Is my question. And how are they getting them?

Is my other question, are they being posted Or are people going out buying them and then getting two in the packaging? Is one recorded from the radio and one is like an actual copy of the album? I think Caroline's closest there. It was posted. No, not with the posted thing. With the going out and they're just getting two copies. Were they unintentionally?

Thrasher really encouraged people to steal them. Unintentionally is right, Tom, yes. Most fans probably didn't realize they were buying two copies. I'm sorry, what? Were they, like, stuck together or something? Like, the pressings were, like, sticky, and then you'd pick one up, and then you accidentally get two. Kind of? In a very real sense, yes.

Cassette tape, remember, not vinyl. Right. Oh, wait, were they, like... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Was it, like, printed twice on the... the A side and B side or something like that? Yes, it was. Oh!

Yes. Rain in Blood clocked in at only 29 minutes long. Oh, my God. Oh, God. Because it's thrash metal. They had 10 songs in 29 minutes. So they had a bit of spare space on the cassette tape and just put it on both sides.

Fair enough. As always, our guests have brought questions along with them. We will start today with Ella. This question has been sent in by Anonymous California. One evening, a group of people gather around a public health billboard on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Why? I say that again. One evening, a group of people gather around a public health billboard on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Why? I think I know this one. I've seen this video, sorry. Oh, if that's two people. I do not know this and I don't think

I can figure it out on my own. One v. One. One. Normally in a situation like this, we'd throw out the question. We'd start with something else. Caroline, how do you feel about tackling this one solo? Oh, my God, a one-v-one lateral, final destination, no items. You can do this. You can do this. I believe in you.

I practice these on one person. Oh, true. And he did it. You practice these? Okay. Yeah. We love being on the show, Tom. It's an honor.

Yeah. We all put our homework into being here. Okay. So you haven't specified, like, a year for this? Is that important? It's every year. So some sort of public health thing that comes around every single year, specifically in Los Angeles? Nowhere else, just in Los Angeles. I don't know. This billboard might exist in other places, but, like, it's important here. It's an event here.

That makes me think, like, something that travels around, is it? Like, obviously, I'm also thinking about stuff that you might have to have regularly, like, vaccinations or, or is it even something like an environmental thing of like, watch out, this environmental thing might get you? If I remember what this billboard is about correctly, then something you have regularly is actually kind of close. My hints I was going to give, Caroline, that was a little less cryptic, was it's a modern billboard. Can I say that?

that there's something, I believe it, it, it, like... I think you, thinking about what kind of thing is on the billboard is important, and it's definitely, it's a negative thing. Oh, oh, people are like, uh-oh. No, no, no, the people are fine. The people looking at the billboard are happy. The thing on the billboard is negative. The descriptions I've just received makes me think it's, like,

it's talking about something along the lines of, like, sex or something like that, that people are like, no, oh, okay. I got the wrong. A vice would be a way of... I've done it. Oh. So, oh, is it something to do with, like, drinking around, like, a big annual event? Pushing down drinking.

Oh, but keep going with big annual event. Yes. Oh, oh. Three people doing the clues. This feels cruel. This feels cruel. Come on, Carole. Come on.

Yeah, so it's not drinking, but it's, it's a vice like that. A recreation. a recreational vice, nothing too hard, I can't imagine. So is it like smoking or... Yes, it's smoking. Ooh. Oh, okay. Around an event, it's not like trying to prevent wildfires or something like that.

No, no, no. So the billboard doesn't have anything to do with the event. They use the billboard for the event. They use the billboard for the... And is it giving advice of like the impact that smoking... can have on you. It is, yeah, but a very specific impact. But not necessarily on you. Oh, what would it display? And this is to put people off from smoking. Yes, yes. What would it display to put people off of smoking? And it's not necessarily about you. It's

about people around you. And it's to do with an event. Is it like how many, I'm trying to keep going, keep going, keep going. Go see how many. Is it like, I'm trying to just like, If it would say like a cycling event, how many cyclists in the area that could be impacted by your smoking? Is it something like that? I mean, it's not far away. It's not a to do with the event. Forget about the event. It's just an impact of smoking.

Air quality or like... It's actually pretty bleak. Oh, okay. How many? Is it to do with people like passing away or... Yes. Oh. Oh, does it show?

No, does it show? Is it to do with people passing away? Yes. Goz up. Well, actually, our celebration is kind of similar to then the second half of the clip. Yeah, that's a celebration. So is it like the annual celebration of how many people have passed away that year? But like it's gone down?

Where? But when would it go down? In fact, this is, I think, the one time where you can guarantee what the number will be. It happens at a really famous version that happens in, not a version, an event that happens in Edinburgh. at the London eye once a year, once a year. If I tell you the date is January 1st. Wait, is it people like doing their New Year's resolution

or something like that then? What will happen to that billboard? Oh my God, it reset! Oh, it resets! It resets! It goes back to zero. It's been so unfair. It's been so unfair to you.

I hope we all enjoyed this bizarro version, alternate version of Lateral. I feel guilty. We pilot some change. I feel actively guilty about that question. That was so mean. I'm sorry. I feel great. I got there in the end.

With a lot of support. Thank you all. Well done, Caroline. Okay, so the answer is that it's new year when the smoking deaths counter resets to zero. So the billboard says smoking deaths this year with the number and counting. And then obviously the number is increasing as the year progresses. And so the crowd gathers to watch the counter reset to zero, indicating that it's midnight.

At New Year, one person ironically called it the Los Angeles version of the ball drop in New York City. I love it. I love how morbid this is. Thank you to Emily and Elyke in New York City for this question. Bobby and Beth are bored while sitting at Washington Square Park in New York City. They decide to see if they have $4.76 between them, and soon they literally do. Why? One more time, Bobby and Beth are bored while sitting at Washington Square Park in New York City.

They decide to see if they have $4.76 between them, and soon they literally do. Why? Sorry, the phrasing of this is just so lateral. Yeah, literally. I really enjoyed saying Bobby and Beth are bored. It's really, it's a really pleasing. Okay, so let's go really, like, literal with it, because you said literally do.

There's, in Washington Square Park, in some paving stones, they have, like, old money, like, pressed into the paving stones. And so when Bobby and Beth walked a certain distance between each other, that's how much the monetary value between them added up to. I love that as an idea. But no. And that's the answer. But you are right to pick up.

This is literally the money is between them. Yeah. If you put $4.76 worth of like notes and pennies, like what that distance would be in between. It's sort of similar to what Ella said actually. Yeah. Oh yeah. Does the amount in like, is it all in pennies? Is that relevant?

Is this going to be? Or is this going to be like, because it can't just be like, I don't know, they like go busking, and then they get the change. Is this, maybe this is like a famous moment where, or like they're doing it for a specific, like, a charity where you have to like line up pennies, I don't know. There's a sculpture made of pennies in Washington Square Park. You're right that the money is all coins.

And it's physically, literally there. It's not a sculpture. Is Washington Square Park important? Is it like something that is... Yes. I don't know why that would help me because I'd never been there. Well, I'm close.

It's like a 25-minute bike ride, so I'll just be right back. Well, I mean, if you've been there, Tom, wait, is Tom committing to the bit? Tom has actually left the call and is actually, okay, no. Just go with a bike helmet, all right, yep. Oh, I have an idea. There's a fountain, there's a fountain there that you can throw coins in to. Oh, yeah.

There are some other things there, as well. Tom, if you've been there, you will probably have seen this. Washington Square Park. There's the arch, right? Am I thinking of the right one? Mm-hmm. Then there is the fountain. Um. Is this the one where everyone busks and does like a performance art? I mean, there's a lot of shops. There's a lot of people, yeah. Yeah, it's mostly there's like a, like a fake look. I don't know the history of it, but it sort of looks like a smaller Architriam. I don't believe that's the, we're going to be relevant. Maybe.

Maybe it is. It is? No, it's not, sorry. Okay. And then, yeah, it's a pretty big fountain, and sometimes people, like, hop in there on a hot day, which you should show that it, but... Bobby and Beth are bored, and sitting down in the park. Is there, like, a synonym for bored was supposed to get here, or they are, like, they're being waterboarded? But yeah, they're looking for something to do, and this is the thing that they end up. Yeah, they're sitting down, although there are tables where they're sitting as well.

Oh, is there, um, chess? Keep going. Because the one thing, Tom Lum, you didn't remember about Washington Square Park is the chess boards there. Oh, they're using the change as the pieces. Yes. And the different values add up, so pennies are the pawns and then, I don't know the maths, but ultimately the stacking. Yes. absolutely right. This is a personal anecdote from Emily who sent the question in. Yeah, 16 pennies

as pawns, four nickels, four dimes, four quarters as bishops, knights and rooks, two half dollars as queens, two dollar coins as kings, and that is $4.76. Brilliant. How did they tell all the pieces apart? Heads or tails? Correct. Yes. Spot on, Tomlin. I'm not saying it's a good way to play chess, but it is a according to Emily, a way to play chess if you're bored in Washington Square Park and you don't have chess pieces. But you do have, for some reason,

just a lot of coins. Yeah. Caroline, after that last question that you took on Solo, I think it's only fair that we go to you next for your question whenever you're ready. And torment us.

Give us nothing. In 1347, in Azerbaijan, Instead of reading it twice, I'm going to read half of it. In 2015, an eBay user in Germany was selling off their possessions, including a car, sofa, phone, and bike. On the modified Apple MacBook for sale, it was possible to type stewardess, but not most of pilot. Why?

One more time. In 2015, an eBay user in Germany was selling off their possessions. including a car, sofa, phone, and bike. On the modified Apple MacBook for sale, it was possible to type stewardess, but not most of pilot. Why? It would be really funny if we all knew this immediately.

Is it a regional keyboard? That's my assumption, my first guess, because you wouldn't be able to type a certain thing and it's Germany. I'm pretty sure Germans have the same keyboards as. Germany has most of those letters. Yeah. Also, most of pilot is quite a wording.

Oh, wow, they're really giving us nothing. Yes. Oh, yeah, I'm giving you nothing for a little bit, at least. Well, I mean, at least on a QWERTY keyboard, all of stewardess is on one side and all of the other, like they don't have a, they don't overlap at all. Stewardess is left-handed, isn't it? Oh, great, great shout, left and right side. That's a fantastic shout, Ella, and is very along the right lines.

Left-handed, like you say, maybe it's a... Maybe the MacBook has just been sliced in heart. No, that's not. Hey. Tom? No. Hey. That's exactly the answer.

No. That was a comedy answer. No one's... Okay. So, cool. I've got some of that. We still need to work out one. What? Oh, hold on. Wait. I'm trying to wonder.

Oh, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Is this like, I'm wondering if this is like a specific person in Germany, like a YouTube channel that cuts stuff in half or anything like that? It's not a YouTube channel, but it is a specific person in Germany did this. And I'll let you try and figure out why. Like an artist? No, not an artist. It wasn't artistically done. Can you tell us, are the other things they sell relevant here? Cut in half? All of the other things were cut in half as well. Cut in half, okay. Something to do with the Berlin Wall. Is this for like commercial work?

Because I know sometimes folks need to like do like a bisection of a thing or like they do all kinds of stuff to like do these effects to. No. When else would you need to divide things? In a divorce? Yeah. This person, Ella. We have got to stop joking. instead of makes it real.

It wasn't a divorce, but it was a really bad breakup. Wow. That spite. Right. It's so good. So a German man had broken up with his girlfriend after 12 years of being together. He made a video showing himself cutting all of their possessions in half.

This includes mobile phones, chairs, beds, the mailbox. and, of course, this heavily modified Apple Macbook. And, of course, as you guys said, on a quirky keyboard, all of the letters for stewardess are on the left-hand side. And most of pilot, except for the T, are on the right. I have a really great quote from that man. Sorry, for audio listeners, mouth just agape from me. The German man in the caption of the video,

which was called for Laura. Oh, wow. Wow. Oh, that little detail has made me really not like this guy. It seems sinister. Well, it would. It's the left side of it. Oh, my God. Ella, I think it is maybe a little bit more left-handed. He said in the caption,

Thank you for 12 beautiful years, Laura. You've really earned half, which is brutal. Wow. I wish upon every listener to never have, to feel so much spite, you end up in a lateral question. To never have that level of spite in your soul. Yeah. The next question is from Andrew M. Thank you very much. Two trains are at either end of a straight, single track.

They both set off towards the opposite end and make it safely without crashing into each other or derailing. How? I'll say that one more time. Two trains are at either end of a straight single track. They both set off towards the opposite end and make it safely without crashing into each other or derailing. How? I think your wording makes this impossible,

but just double-checking real quick. It's not like they were facing a way to begin with and then they just kept going. Oh, no, I think the wording would make that impossible. No, they are facing each other. Yeah, I just love that. I just want to make sure it wasn't something like that. I just love that after however many episodes,

we've finally got a question that is two trains depart at the same time. When you started saying it, my brain immediately started shutting down, like, this is math, this is math, this is math, it's gone. Amy has two apples, and Bob has three. Okay, as per usual, I will throw out my immediate thought, which is that one of the trains were divorced. One of the trains has a track on its base. back leading up its nose.

That's where my brain went. And then when they pass each other, one goes over the other. Ella, have I ever said, you have such a beautiful mind. My brain went to, like, one train goes like, it like splits in half and it goes up. And then the other tree goes through the middle of it. And it goes under. Oh, yeah. Caroline, have I ever told you, you have a beautiful mind?

Ella, yes. No. Yes. We can't do this. Twice in a row. So, I'm going to need a little bit more detail about what might be going on here, but you are right. Both of these trains have tracks up from the nose and across and down the other side.

Like Wiley Coyote style. Yep. Who thought that was a good idea? Who designed that and made it? Now, are these real trains? Are they model trains? These are real trains. Who made this?

I mean, I can tell you that it's Stearns Duplex Railway or the Leapfrog Railroad. Where is this? Did you say? Well, I'm going to ask you to take some guesses at that because that might be a clue to what's going on here. Now, is this a real train but like at an amusement park or something like that? Yes. Somewhere novel to be. Oh, well done.

Yes. I was going to say, is it on the side of a mountain? and therefore it's a really narrow passing, but your suggestion is more sensible. Yeah, this was at the Dreamland Amusement Park at Coney Island in New York in the 1900s. Okay, okay.

Good, I almost got on my bike. And how many people died riding it? So it was billed as the uncrashable train, which is bold. The famous thing horrible, I hate to name something like that. The unsinkable ship. It was quite a short ride, and so passengers would get in, and one of the trains would go over the other. Quite slowly, we're talking like one, two miles an hour here, kind of go over up, across and down,

and then presumably would get to go the other way on the way back. This was also patented, I think, by various inventors in various countries, as the idea of a railway that combined the actual transit and kind of the things. thrill of a ride, and I think they were originally thinking that perhaps this could be used on single rails. But if you are building the Transcontinental Railroad and you only have a single track and you need to have trains meet you don't have modern signalling, maybe that's actually a good idea? Maybe. Did anyone ever tried that? Outside of the amusement park, not as far as I know. Probably for the best.

Yes, this was Stearns Duplex Railway or the Leapfrog Railroad at Dreamland, Coney Island in the 1900s. We are rattling through these questions, so hopefully the next one is a bit of a stumper. Tom, it is over to you. This question has been sent in by Mistmage. In episode 46 of the TV adaptation of the anime Magical Princess Minky Momo, the main character is killed by a truck full of toys. Why did the headwriter choose to do this? I'll say that again. In episode 46 of the TV adaptation of the anime

Magical Princess Minky Momo, the main character is killed by a truck full of toys. Why did the head writer choose to do this? Again, it would be really funny if we all knew this. Big, big Minky Momo heads in the call. There was an old British TV show that would pull pranks on celebrities, you know, bring them in for like fake TV shows, things like that.

or would prank someone who was running a quiz or something like that by having two contestants who knew all the answers or some contest. And just for a moment, I'm like, I'm hoping that never gets pulled on me. It's just like, but if it was ever going to get pulled, it would be by producer David talking to you three.

So... Also, I will say, this happens to us to, every time Tom you, like, pull something off screen or, like, take a bit too long. I'm like, this is a bit, this is a bit. I have nothing on this one. And I've been really killing it this episode, so actually I'd like you just pull your weight a bit.

Ella! Ella! I mean, you have. I did a whole one on my own. Yeah, you're right. This is on me and Tom Lom, isn't it? This is... Yeah, this is your life of your time. Okay, killed by a truck hauling toys.

It wasn't like an anti-consumerism messaging or something crazy like that, was it? Don't do this to us, Tom. Don't do this. It's a bit. This is a bit. He's just waiting for ages to say no. That is a good bit.

I'm writing that down. It's not exactly that, but I mean... Oh, like, maybe the creator... So the people who owned the network were making loads of toys of her or something, and the creator was like absolutely didn't like her commercialization. So, you know, killed her off with a truck. full of toys of her or something.

Gosh, that's brutal. Wow. You guys, I can't believe this. You're very close. Oh my God. You're not there. And because we're so close, I'm not going to say much more. Fair, okay. Yeah.

Thanks. Being about anti-capitalism and anti-capitalism somehow. So it was only my own time. So really every question's about that, if you think about it. My thinking is the creators of the show producing these toys. these toys produced, they have them in their hand, and they go, ah, shoot, this does not look like the main character at all. We're going to have to kill off the main character

and bring in a different character that does look like the dolls, and therefore, problem solved. No, no, no, no, to be clear, no, that was the bit. I wasn't calling that, no, no, no, no, no, no, that wasn't a bit. I was amazed at Caroline's mind. Um, uh, no, farther. You're getting farther. Tonight on, is it a bit? Um, uh, you're, I mean, the motivations of like selling toys is part of it.

It's definitely a big part of it. Um, we have assumed that the main character being killed off is a bad thing. What if the main character is an anti-hero or the main character is someone the audience is meant to dislike? or it's part of the plot and now they get to ascend to somewhere or they get to return somewhere. Like this is this is anime. This does not have to be realistic. Did this end the show? I love those ideas, Tom, but in this case, Ella is right. This was written because the show was coming to an end.

Not as sort of a hint. there, because you have all the pieces. You just need the... Do we know what year this was? I think it's around the 80s or 90s, that sort of era of the anime. About the time when Pokemon merchandise and everything was starting to become a thing, when merchandise was starting to become important. Ah.

Like when the US children's shows were all kids' toys. Like, just basically toy commercials. Toy sales is a big motivation here. So did killing off the main character create some sort of like scarcity around? around the toy or like, oh, we should go and buy the... Here's a deep children's animation cut, because I know we're running short on this episode. There was a British series called Captain Scarlet and the Mistrons.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, I hate Captain Scarlet. Oh, I hate puppets. Okay, it was a supermarination series, so like marionettes. It is basically the style that Americans will know because Team America parodied it. Oh, that will...

It was one of the shows that was... Spar a Child. For some reason, that really does. I love them, because they put them back on in the 90s. This was back in the 6th. Anyway, the deep cut thing here... I'm with you, Ella. Is that they had the comic book tie-in.

And, like, you could write in, and you could get, like, a pack back, and whichever captain you were assigned was your region of the country. Because it was Captain Scarlet, Captain Oka, captain, whatever. They messed up the allocation. of the regions, and one was way, way more than the others.

They were getting so many in from Captain Purple's region that they killed him off in the comic book so they had an excuse to not reply to the children from that region for a long time. Whoa. That's evil. Yeah. Sorry, that's a deep, irrelevant cut,

but we've answered so many questions so quickly here. Yeah. I'll say to go back to what you were saying, Tom, that, you know, um, the intention was to sell toys with this, with this show. It wasn't a protest against that wasn't, yeah, that wasn't, the headwriters had the anti-intention of that. He was like, we can stop selling as many toys if the toys kill her. I was thinking it was more like, we're being cancelled in favour of Pokemon or whatever is going to sell the merch. So actually, this, he's, this is closer there.

They canceled the show because they weren't selling enough toys. And so, and so the head, it's just bringing what you're saying together. So the head writer, you said the toys killed her. Exactly. So, yeah, the TV show was devised purely as a way to sell toys. However, the toy company, Poppy, wasn't impressed with the series and canceled it. And so the head writer, Takeshi Shudo, heard the series had been canceled while the final episodes were still in production. and so he enacted a preconceived plan

to kill off the main character so that the series could be concluded swiftly and of course the character being killed by a truck delivering toys was a job towards the sponsor and the toy company's incredible I've seen a version and again I think there are multiple versions maybe because some regionalizations

were like this is bad so maybe they changed it I saw one version that was so wild where it's literally like a baseball gets thrown into the street from like a field and then she runs up to get it and then you hear a car go beep beep and you're like oh no and then you realize it's just like a kid in like a toy car and you're just like whew and then a truck goes goes around the corner this is a kid show what it's seven times

yeah um and uh moments later the parents like go to the child's grave it's really like Oh, my God. Wow. That's talk. The truck, I think, tumbles and, like, toys fall out dramatically on the ground, like, Rosebud style. Like, uh, it's really, um, yeah, but you guys got it. We have perhaps unsurprisingly unlocked the shiny bonus question here.

So good luck to you all with this. Thank you to Estella for sending it in. In 2023, a pre-release version of Microsoft Windows referred to non-existent Postcode files. Why? I'll say that again. In 2023, a pre-release version of Microsoft Windows referred to non-existent postcode files. Why? Just AI? Was there some Windows 11? Written that didn't exist? Um, non-existent. I assume that wouldn't be the answer that, you know, it's just some, some, yeah, AI copywriter or something. Um, but copywriter is a good clue there. Post-code files.

It's just an anagram for something, a different thing that is supposed to be there. And there's this thing in science that happens sometimes called tortured phrases, where people who do not natively speak English, they'll write their papers in their own language, and they'll copy quite a lot of it from somewhere else. And they'll put it through a translator, but they'll try and change it enough and the translator will just replace the words. Like, for example, if it was statistics or like it was significant, which is a really important word in science, it would

change it to something like really important instead of significant, right? As like a, you know, just change it just enough to make it seem different and like you wrote it yourself. Instead of like our findings show, it's like, our looking around. Exactly. Yeah. There's a thing in the UK newspaper industry called Popular. orange vegetables, which is where you need to use the word carrots twice in a sentence and you find

some tortured way because you have been told that using the same word twice in a sentence is bad, and you end up with the popular orange vegetables. Like, just use carrots. That's great. The popular, yeah. Once you spot that, you spot it everywhere.

It's like, oh, you've just looked in a the thesis for... You do see it all the time, the popular something, something, constantly So I'm bringing this up along the lines of maybe the word postcode is kind of like very similar to something that actually exists. It really is. And I think you're right with find and replace. You're right with all of this.

You're very, very close here. Zipfiles. Zip files. Absolutely right. Oh, my God. Wow. Slammed dog. This should have been mine.

I'm the computer science guy. Wow. In File Explorer. The menu option compressed to zip file was replaced with compressed to postcode file in the British edition. Wow. I, then this is my computer science brain was tripping me up. I thought this meant like a post, like posting to a database, a code or something like that. That's why, okay, that tripped me up.

No, we just call zip codes post codes. The only thing more cryptic than computer sciences is the British language. Which means we just. Just have that question from the top of the show. Thank you to Ethan for sending this in, and thank you to unashamedly enthusiastic for confirming it. Why did two people who knew each other change their surname to grey on the same day? Before I give the audience the answer, do any of the panel want to take a shot at it? They got married. That is why people change their name, but they both change their name. Well, people can, you can both change your name when you get married.

They're one of them's last name was Black and the other last name was White. Spot on, Tom Lund. Wow. Miss White and Mr. Black got married to each other and they blended their surnames by becoming Mr. and Mrs. Gray. Thank you very much to our players. Where can people find you? What's going on with the podcast?

We will start with Tom Lom. We are Let's Learn Everything. It's a comedy and science podcast where we learn about science and miscellaneous topics on the Maximum Fun Network. Where can people find you, Ella Huber? Let's Learn Everything.com. Baby. That's it. That's all again.

And what sort of topics are you covering? Caroline Roper. Oh my goodness. It is everything from blood and its uses through to digital piracy. We ask questions like Can Trees Talk and what did Shakespeare's accent sound like? All sorts of stuff in this wonderful mix of science and miscellaneous topics. And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at lateralcast.com. We are at Lateralcast, basically, everywhere.

our full video episodes every week on Spotify. Thank you very much to Caroline Roper. Yay. Ella Hubber. It's been a pleasure, thank you, Tomlin. Yay. I've been Tom Scott, and that's been lateral.