Lateral with Tom Scott - 193: The empty-handed winner

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

Sabrina Cruz, Melissa Fernandes and Taha Khan from 'Answer in Progress' face questions about Stuttgart spheres, bruising bodies and ornamental opposites. 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: Katie Waning, Erissa Nussbaum, Patrick Schranz, Joshua and Hannah, LizaBird, Ryan, Fraser Marshall. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When is wet, the opposite of electronic. The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. All right, eyes up. This is the job. We're going in for something high risk, high reward, and legally ambiguous, a full episode of Lateral. Sabrina, you're on Recon.

Case the questions and spot the hidden assumptions. Melissa, you're the distraction. Talk confidently about pasta and candles, while the rest of us are still buffering. And Taha, your demolition. If there's a theory that needs dismantling or a confident answer that needs to be gently exploded, that's your department.

I'll be running point, asking the questions, watching the clock, and pretending this was all meticulously planned. No one panics, no one Googles, and if things go sideways, we regroup and say, I know, I'm sitting out like we meant it. Let's meet the gang, who are hoping to make a clean getaway with the questions today. It is.

The team, from Answer in Progress, welcome back to the show. We will start with Sabrina Cruz. It has been a while. How are you doing? I'm just in awe of that intro. I'm so hyped. What are you working on at the minute? Because it's been a while.

It has been a while. I'm currently working on a video about toothpaste. I have brushed my teeth so many times. Is it possible to brush your teeth too much? Well, you'll find out. Good teaser. Excellent teaser. Also, from Answer in Progress,

Taha Khan, welcome back to the show. What have you been working on in your side of the channel? Well, I've been working on a bank heist, but now I feel like I've been rumbled. Bank heist as YouTube channel. Just the number of things you can convince people to do by just pointing a camera at them and saying it's for filming. Oh, yeah.

Sorry, this is a production while you're putting money in the bag. And Melissa Fernandez, welcome back to the show. Hello. What have you been doing for answering progress? the last few months. Guys, I've been unemployed, so it's okay. I'm a lateral host now. She hired herself.

Have I been usurped? I feel like I've just been usurped. And welcome Tom Scott, the new number of answer in progress. Yeah, thank you. What have you been up to lately? What have you been up to lately? I've been filming an enormous amount of videos that are now going out on my own channel. I never get to plug that. I'm the host.

Thank you for asking. Nice. Well, very best of luck to all three of you. We haven't even second. What the channel's about. You all did a bit. You oops. Well, except for Sabrina.

There we go. Because I'm a professional. All right, well, positions, everyone. Let's drill through the door of the vault that holds question one. Thank you to Liza Bird for this question. During odd moments, Liza puts a button on a string into her mouth and pulls on the string

while keeping the button pressed against her teeth. Why? I'll say that again. during odd moments, Liza puts a button on a string into her mouth and pulls on the string while keeping the button pressed against her teeth. Why? This sounds like something to do with sewing. No? Right? That's just what I assume. Odd moments. It feels like odd is a charged word in that sentence. I'm going full quiz bowl here. What's an odd moment? Is it hourly? Could it be a cuckoo clock?

I don't know why I said that that way. Is Liza a person? Well, Liza has a mouth. Well, this question was sent in by someone with the handle Liza Bird. So my suspicion is that either Liza is a person or Liza is a bird. But do birds have teeth? I think if it were a bird, we would be using the word beak and whatever you call those ridge things that some birds have instead of teeth.

So my suspicion would be that Liza is human. Human. Liza person. Okay. I just want to, I just want all of us to be on the same page as to what Liza is doing, which is button on a string in the mouth. And then pulling. Pulling.

And then the button is on the other side of the mouth. Yeah, button behind the teeth on the back of the teeth. Oh. Threads fitting out is what I'm imagining. Oh, okay, not like button horizontal, like a chip. Hmm. See, this is why we need to be on the same page. Which one is correct?

Is it the chip? Okay, well, one sounds more painful. It's a button. How painful could it be? I don't know if you're like pulling on your teeth. Words said immediately before disaster. Are you trying to get a tooth out with a button? Is Liza a child?

Oh! Yoink! But you just tie it around the teeth. What does the button do? None of you have the correct placement of the button yet. It is not a chit, and it is not behind the teeth. On the tongue? Under the tongue.

On the roof of the mouth. Where else do you put it in the cheek? I just listed all the places. Front of the teeth. Front of the teeth. But how do you keep it pressing? I guess you could do it your finger. Okay, I'm assuming it has something to do with some.

sewing. Because like you do a weird amount of mouth stuff with sewing. Do you? That's what I thought, but is that weird? But is that weird though? Is that an odd? Lick the string to put it in the... You have to wet the thread. There's a lot of like you'll, you could bite stuff to cut it. Yeah. There's a lot of mouth stuff. Yeah. I'm with you. I'm with you. But is that odd? Do people have button devices? Uh, so by odd moments, it's whenever she has some spare time. A hobby? I love to put buttons and strings in my mouth. Oh, God, a vet's worst nightmare. How are you imagining that she's holding this in?

Because like I say, button on string, button in front of teeth. Either her lips are closed, or she's using her fingers to keep the button pressed against her teeth. Or string is attached to the back of the throat. Oh, no. Oh, quick loop around the dangly bit at the back there. Oh, no. Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. We're waiting.

What if the string is a safety precaution, okay? What if you need to put the button on the strings that you don't accidentally swallow the button, okay? There's holes in the button, right? What if it's a breathing exercise? That is close, Melissa. Wait, what? Is it a whistle?

Oh, my gosh. What? What was that about whistling? Who said that? I said, like, is it like a whistle? Because, like, they're, like, holes. That's close. It's a musical instrument.

It's something to do with the music. You know how, like, wind instruments have those, that you have to, like, suck on a little bit of wood for some reason? Mm-mm. You know, the reeds? Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's like, you've just got to do some weird stuff to play instruments sometimes. And this is just one of those things.

So, is it a harp? You were so close other than harp. Why would it be a harp, Taha? Why do you play the harp with your mouth? I don't... Listen, I'm not a harpist. Any other brass... Is it a brass instrument?

Yes, it is a brass instrument. Well, like a clarinet? Or a tuba? Saxophone. I mean, Lisa's actually a French horn player. Okay. A French horn. Yes.

No, no, no. She is French and she's a horn player. So why would a French horn player put a button between their lips and teeth and pull on the string while trying to hold it in? Lip strengthening. Oh, is she training her lip strength to be able to hold... Wow. So it's like weightlifting for the mouth!

Yes, it is! What? Is the string attached to weights? That would be crazy. The string she's just pulling on it and essentially fighting. I don't think you need a weight. I think you can probably use your strength. your hand. She's fighting her own lips by pulling the string away and trying to strengthen her

emboucher. That's so cool. Which is the mouth shape that woodwind players, brass players, floutists will use to play their instruments. That's so cool. That is so cool. And you asked adult or child, this is question sender Liza, says, I trained this way when I was learning French horn in middle school. Wow. Dedicated. That is the most committed 12 year old. She did Ambershore training during performing seasons as a break from actual playing or as a way to get my lip back after taking some time off from playing. I didn't know that you had muscles in your mouth. What? Like a muscle that you can strengthen, you know?

Like, do you have muscles in your hands that you strengthen? Every muscle you can strengthen. Like, can you strengthen your fingertip pads? Yes. Raw climbing. Yeah. I have... This is the thing to train.

your fingertips strength. No, I don't like this. What's that, Sabrina? You're holding up a thing, I'm immediately to, like, audio describe that. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm holding, I think it's called an ergo pill, and it's like basically a portable hangboard, a portable mini hangboard that you use for rock climbing. This is used for rehab for your finger strength.

So it's like a, it's wood with stuff carved into it, and you can just, it's a grip hold for wherever you happen to be. Yes, exactly. So you can rock climb. performatively. Exactly. You have a grip that you can be like...

There's a little piece of string attached to it. I could wrap it over a door frame and just hang out. Wow. So yes, Woodwind and brass players may sometimes put a button on a string into their mouths, pull on the string,

to strengthen their embouchure. Let's go to the first question from our players. We will start with Melissa. Okay. This question has been sent in by Patrick Shrans. Why is it important that an employee in Stuttgart, Germany, walks around with a billiard ball, particularly because he works at a hospital?

One more time. Why is it important that an employee in Stuttgart Germany walks around with a billiard ball, particularly because he works at a hospital? Okay. Particularly. German man. Hospital. We are saying words in the question. Exactly.

Billiard ball. Billiard ball. Yep. Think laterally. Specifically a billiard ball, not snooker or pool, and I don't know what the difference is. They're different colors, I think. I thought billiards and pool were the same thing. Oh, no. Very different rules.

That was intense. It wasn't meant to be intense. You just got cancelled on R-slash billions. And R-slash-pool. A pool is a body of water. Is it, are we in the modern day? Can you give us that? Yes, it is modern day.

I can't remember the colors of billions. And I feel like if this was snooker, you would have all sorts of colors. I thought it was yellow and red. Yeah, I think Paul has either stripes or dots or yellow and red, depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on. But I think billions is like a couple of specific colors. I think I can tell you that the color of it doesn't matter. Home alone, if there are people attacking the hospital,

Home Alone style, you throw the billiard ball underneath their feet so they trick and fall. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then they generate more business for the Nationalized Health Service. Yeah. And that's, everyone knows Germany, they love their, I actually don't know anything about the German healthcare system, but like, I assume as Europeans. I think it's a single payer system, but I'm not sure on that.

And I'm also not sure that the billiard ball would be covered by anyone's insurance. I will, I can throw you one small bone here. Is that another ball could work? have to be a billiard ball, but a ball can work in this... A ball can work. Is it a medical device? Is what a medical device? The ball?

The ball. No. No. It's actually very functional. Well, because I found out recently that in some places, in the modern world, they still use maggots. So like... Well, wait to why.

That makes sense. And by the modern world, sorry, in the Western world, I mean, like, some places in the NHS from my friends accounting of it. Wound cleaning. They go specifically for necrotized or dead tissue. So it's awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

Are you a maggot? Okay. Are you a, are you a maggot? That was like, yummy. It's like, yummy. The thing that's throwing me off is that it's particularly in a hospital. So they can be in other areas and still be, it still be important. Out of nowhere, I am going to say the words, pneumatic tubes.

My God, you put a billiard ball in a pneumatic tube. That's going high velocity. Is that the thing that sucks the... Yeah. Is it to unstuck things? That's what I just wrote, because hospitals tend to be one of the places that still use those because they need to send samples around big campuses at speed.

So I'm like, okay, the system's blocked. Here we go. high-speed billiard ball. Can you imagine if it's like a urine sample and you sent Billy Crystal heartling it. Now you say it like that, actually terribly, terrible plan,

not medically safe. You know, that's a creative use case. Creative use case. Creative use case, but you know what? The ball is doing something. It's doing something. But the ball is not going vertically. I'm kind of going.

off scripty. There is a clinic in London that uses pneumatic tubes for delivering samples. And there is a specific thing that says, please ensure the sample it's inside the carrying case

before putting it in. I know I've mentioned that on the show before, but it rarely has there been a better time to use a urine-based pneumatic tube anecdote, you know? I wasted that one

on whatever previous show it was. Okay, so you said... Not vertical, Melissa. Not vertical. So they are rolling the billiard ball. Mm-hmm. Testing the level. Oh.

Of a floor. So they are rolling the ball. You're right. So make sure the floors are level. Nicely done. Why? Because. If a scalpel.

Because if a scalpel goes flying across and slices somebody. Well, no, if it drops, you don't want it rolling around, I guess. Okay, what else shouldn't be moving around? Hospital beds. Patients on stretches. Ah, hospital, yeah. Hospital beds with roly feet. Yeah.

Roli feet? Wheels. That one more. Everyone knew what I was talking about. Yeah, yeah, to be fair, we did. It's to ensure the floors are level so that the beds with the roly feet don't move. Why is it supposed to hold? Wait a dang second.

Why specifically does this need to be in Stuttgart, Germany? Did they not invent the level there? So the Deacchony Clinic undergoes regular renovation and reconstruction work. And so to inspect the construction sites, the head of the building services uses a billiard ball to check whether flat surfaces have been constructed correctly. They also check at the floors in the older part of the hospital, which dates back to the mid-19th century,

since the building has subsided in places over the years due to Stuckert's hilly terrain, level floors are extremely important in hospital so that anything that runs on casters, such as patient beds, casters, that's the roly thing. That's the roly thing. Must not roll uncontrollably across corridors, because danger. Because danger. Can I say that the reason I thought of this is I learned that the floors in my apartment aren't level, because I dropped a stress ball and then it rolled out of my reach.

Oh, my goodness. That was just the stress bowl. The stress goal was just like, all right, I'm actually done with this. Sorry, too much stress. Hey, y'all's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca.cair, every style, every home. Thank you to Ryan for this next Next question. In 2013, a body was suddenly found 20 miles from Chelybensk, a small city in Russia. As a result, 1,500 injuries were caused soon afterwards. Even though no one was blamed, it inspired reform worldwide. What happened? I'll say that again. In 2013, a body was suddenly found 20 miles from Chellabinsk, a small city in Russia.

As a result, 1,500 injuries were caused soon afterwards. Even though no one was blamed, It inspired reform worldwide. What happened? Worldwide. Mm-hmm. So I weirdly know about the things that you need to do when trying to bury a body at sea, because I was curious one day.

And there's like a lot of global regulations about like what a body... This is to do with our bank heist. Of course. What do we do with... Anyway, so I gave up on the... Playing along with the joke. Anyway, like a body cannot be altered in any way. Like, it can't be embalmed.

It can't have any, like, diseases before you try and bury it at sea because, like, there are health ramifications. Like, if you might, you're basically polluting the ocean with your body. So you can't do that. And I wonder if, like, we have, like, the body that appeared, potentially human. potentially not because we didn't say it, had something super gross going on with it. Like, wasn't an irradiated body that, like, it ended up poisoning somebody, 1,500 somebody's.

But it was injuries, right? Yeah, injuries. Illness. I'm not sure why you've gone with the ocean here other than burial at sea. Unfortunately, Chelybens is very much inland, a long, long way inland. Wow. My North American geography skills. showed up there.

Okay. So body was found, and then lots of people took damage. Yes. Now that we're playing a video game. Is this like permafrost stuff? I think too far south for that. It's near the Kazakhstan border. Okay, now we're getting there.

We're getting the geography of the place. But why are people getting injured? Some people with very specialized occupations had been looking for this body. A very special set of skills. Liam Neeson. filming taken two. Okay, was this person, this person must have been,

were people like upset that this person had died or were they like, and it was like a big thing when they found the body and then they revolted. It's giving like the race for King Tut, you know,

like everyone was trying to find this body. Hmm, but also we found King Tut. There's a lot of words in here that you haven't really drilled down on and this is one of those lateral questions where I think you may have some issues with how it's phrased. Okay, wait, one more time.

Can we hear it one more time? You know, we'll start with the first bit. In 2013, a body was suddenly found 20 miles from Chellibinsk. Suddenly. Suddenly. It's not entirely clear that the body is dead. It's not entirely clear that a body was a living being. Keep thinking that way, Sabrina.

Ooh. A body of water. Of what? A body of... Not lava, Sabrina, but again... Not lava. Close. I don't know what a body of lava is, but whatever it is, it's kind of like this thing. Gas, natural gas, I don't know, fracking, Rupal. I'm doing a full work.

Okay, so... Oh, this would make a lot more sense. Whatever this body is, it then interacts with people who get injuries from... the body. Not directly. Is this the sinkhole? No, it's probably not the sinkhole. It's not, but you're starting to think more outside the idea of human body here.

Oh. Geological body. Yes, I would say that's a fair thing. This is actually the correct term. Like, this isn't just an obscure word that the question writers come up with. This type of thing is called a body. The only bodies I know is body of water.

Me too. And no. No. Body. Anyway. Oh, boom. You fell right into my trap. All right, Odysseus.

Body suddenly found, what's the next sentence in the question? As a result, 1,500 injuries were caused soon afterwards. Is it a geological injury? Not directly, but I think you could call it that. It's not a medical injury, is it? Oh, no, it's absolutely a medical injury. All of them pretty minor. But also, 7,200 buildings damaged.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. New information. 33 million dollars worth of damage. I don't know what that translates to in roubles, but that's the estimated cost. This is not a meteor? This is a meteor. Where did that come from?

I was thinking of, well, I was like, if it's not a human body, what other bodies exist in nature, I've never once actually called a meteor a body, but I'm like, maybe just, let me, let me just say it. Let me just say it. That really is our strategy on lateral. Let me just say it. An asteroid, a celestial body.

So, was suddenly found 20 miles from Chelleibinsk. That's the next bit of the question. Wait, so how are people injured? Wait, I swear I've seen the YouTube videos of this happening. Yeah. It's 2013 I don't think It's not necessarily radiation

It's just when something comes hurtling out of the sky Around the city It causes damage Yeah it does There's a shockwave That's where the injuries came from Wow So we had like a mini dinosaur moment

20 miles from I keep drilling down on that There's one other thing You haven't spotted where It was suddenly found 20 miles from Charlie Binsk That's absolutely true You haven't quite got

The direction 20 miles from... The scot. 20 miles up, Sabrina, yes, absolutely right. What? Wait, what does that mean? Oh, they looked up. Wait, so it was just doing a flyby and it caused damage?

This shockwave came from the asteroid, entering the atmosphere and exploding 20 miles above Chellibinsk. Whoa! 1,500 injuries, 7,200 buildings damaged. So, no one was blamed, as I said. It inspired reform worldwide. Why might that have been? Because they're like, we need to shoot the meteoros earlier.

Yes. Wait, what? I attend, well, listen, you and I attended, like, this talk with Chris Hadfield, where we were like, I wonder what he's going to talk about. And then his talk was like, we need to point more lasers at space to blow up the space garbage. Yes. Yep. The meteor's path was so close to the glare from the sun that it was not detected earlier.

And so there is this worldwide rethink in how do we detect stuff coming at us that we can't yet see. That's amazing. Everyone used to wear eclipse glasses. Taha, we will go over to you for your question, please. All right, so this question was sent in by Joshua and Hannah. When Elmer C.A. Berger patented his rear-view mirror in 1921, it wasn't promoted as a safety device. Why did drivers originally want it? I'll say that again.

When Elmer CA Berger patented his rear-view mirror in 1921, it wasn't promoted as a safety device. Why did drivers originally want it? Look at themselves. Check the fit. Yeah. The side view mirrors, right? Look at them eyebrows.

I was going to say for makeup mirrors and things like that, but I'm not convinced that there were many female drivers in 1921. Wow, so unprogressive of you. No, no, Taha, so unprogressive of 1921. I'm not taking the blame for 1921. I wasn't born then. It was so easy to go, are you sure about that? Yeah, no, I set myself up for that one.

That was, it's fine, it's fine. Okay, yeah. Okay, wait, if it's not for safety, it's maybe, maybe it makes the car go faster. Maybe it's like a, it's aerodynamic. Interesting. I would love to get a lesson. I need an answer in progress episode where there is no research.

It's just Melissa explaining physics. Oh, boy. There were a lot of odd rules for cars in the early days. Like, in Britain, for the first few years that cars were a thing, someone had to walk in front of your car with a red flag to warn people that the car was coming. Like, that law didn't last long, but they were so... strange, and they moved at walking pace. So you also had to have someone saying,

look out, a car is coming. So I'm wondering if it's something strange that they had to do for that? The rearview mirror was something that drivers wanted. They had a, like, drivers were interested in having it. Drivers definitely found value in it, but the rules weren't mandating rearview mirrors for some reason.

Okay, so it's not a check-your-blind spot. But it's... It's so you can... Actually, I say that... I was going to say this as a joke, but I'm going to put this forward as a serious answer. It's so you can maintain a conversation with your passenger in the back

and you can keep eye contact. Polite. Because you are going to be sat up in the front of your vehicle as the stagecoach driver. It doesn't even have to be a car. It can be a stage coach driver or something like that.

Wait, I hope this is the answer. It's so you can talk to your passenger in the back and maintain eye contact. You are brilliant. But in this case, you are wrong. Oh! I felt for a fake out.

A two-layer fake out, a three-layer fake out. I really thought it. You guys all were like, it's the one. That's great. I mean, it's fantastic. It's the kind of stupid thing that people in the past that have cared about.

Buying one could save you money in some way. All right. I'm going for a second big swing. It's not to try and spot the passenger behind you. It's to spot the thief with a siphon who's going to try and nick your petrol out to the side. Tom, you are bringing.

Are you sure you weren't born in 1921? Okay, I will say there is a piece of what you said. That is correct. You have to look through the mirror. You have to look through the mirror. And you are looking. out of the car for something. Something.

We're looking through it. It's not for safety. We're trying to look at something outside of the car, and it's going to save us money if we see it? Unless they see you first. The police. Yes. The original use was to see police cars behind them.

Oh, it's like, though, it's like the, what's the ways? It's ways. It's like ways. He's crazy. Yeah, because it pops up. You slow down. You make sure you're doing the exact speed. I mean, I don't.

But you might. You might be doing a little bit over the speed limit and get a notification that's a police car coming. I'm surprised there were even, like, traffic laws in 1921. Exactly. This is so unintuitive. Wow. Wow.

And I guess, was that the only way we were able to tell? They had to be behind you, if they're already behind you. Can't you see or hear? So, when Elmer, A. Bjer patented the rearview mirror in 1921. It was marketed as the cop spotter, a device that allowed drivers to detect if police vehicles were behind them because at the time there were no radar guns. So to catch a speeder, an officer had to follow the car and match their speed using a speedometer, or using their own speedometer. So what was about not getting tickets?

They have the speed in order to know your speeding? No, no, that still happens sometimes. If you see, like, dash cam footage from police chasers on, like, highways, the police officer will be like, well, I'm doing 80, and it's on the dash, on the GPS thing, and he's still accelerating faster than me. So we know that he's doing at least 80. Wow. So if a driver spotted the patrol car early enough,

they could reduce their speed before the officer had gathered the evidence, and the mirror, therefore, functioned less as a safety innovation and more as an early warning system. Like ways. Like ways. Thank you to Fraser Marshall for this question. At the Green Lakes Endurance Run 50K in August 2019, ultra-runner Richard Ellsworth finished ahead of everyone in his category,

yet he still didn't receive a prize. Why? I'll say that again. At the Green Lakes Endurance Run 50K in August 2019, ultra-runner Richard Ellsworth finished ahead of everyone in his category. yet he still didn't receive a prize. Why? Either didn't run 50K or there are no prizes, because ultra-endurance running is just... It's a mental battle.

I think I know this. Then tell us the answer. I think I know this. All right. Here's the thing, Taha. After that fake out earlier, we could just go for this and I'll just run you through a gortlet of yeses and knows. Do you want me to just, I mean, I think I know it. I have a good guess.

My guess was cheating, so your guess is probably better than mine. He followed every rule. Should I try? Go for it. There is, in the edges of my brain of knowledge, there is a vague memory of there is an ultramarathon race that you have to complete within a certain time in order to complete it within the timeframe and be considered. a finisher. So he could have been the first person to finish the race, but still outside of the time window that's acceptable for the race. Taha? No. Not even close.

The reason he beat everybody else is because he fought them. He knocked them out. They're all dead. Oh, I just said he knocked them out. And then he knocked them out. And then he, he knocked them out. He finished the race, and then he was like, can I have my medal? And they were like, you just punched a bunch of people. You can't do that. Wait, no, they followed the rules. They forgot to write a rule that says don't punch people.

Like the air bud thing, there's no rule that says you can't punch the, I'm pretty sure there is a rule that says you can't punch the other runners. Somewhere in there. Darn. Was it a, I'm just trying to continue to configure new rules that could be in this ultramarathon. Could it be a team average and. So he was first, but his team are bad. No, it's a 50K run. It is just a very, very long ultramarathon.

Is that a long ultramarathon? I'm sorry to say this. 50K is the baseline of what an ultramarathon is. That's fair. I think I was just describing anything over about two miles as very, very long, to be honest, Sabrina. Yeah. Because there are like these monstrosity ultramarathon. that's like run until you can't run anymore for people who are very good at running.

Yeah. But so he runs the race, finishes ahead of everyone else in his category. Yep. Doesn't get a prize. No, and they did hand out prizes. One runner even got two of them. Wait. Wait.

Oh, okay. Melissa first. Okay, wait. Maybe it's not that he didn't get one or that they didn't offer him one, but maybe he didn't want to accept it because he donated it to, like, somebody else? Taha, what were you going to say? I was going to say maybe his category was not

allowed to win because it was like he was in the like positive for doping category or something. Okay, not quite, but that's getting closer. The organisers had made an assumption. Did he use them robot legs? I think that might count as doping, were you? True.

They've made an assumption. Have a think about what the categories might be. Oh, wrong age. Lied about their age. Okay, so there's the groups. There's the over 25s. There's... That's the X factor.

I was like, how long do I have to do this before someone realizes? Sorry. So, Taha, you have registered for the London Marathon. Haven't run it yet. But you have registered. Probably won't. What group would you have been? in?

I didn't know there were groups. Maybe I... Wait. I registered as like a, you know, just like incompetent, right? So like I registered not as like, they don't assume I'm gonna win. Have you actually got a place

in the London Marathon? Because they're really difficult to get. Yeah, but I'm injured so like I don't think I'm gonna feel to run it. But I registered in the general just like I'm just running as just a normal geyser. I don't plan.

to win the marathon. But maybe he wasn't running competitively and then just won. I think out of all those words, Taha, I think Giza is the correct one to go in on. What? Is this like a gender thing? Yes. Wait, who won the race? Do we have their name? Richard Ellsworth.

I was going to say, there's an ultramarathon that was won, like a mixed ultramarathon that was won by a woman. That would be this ultramarathon. Oh, so it was this one. Okay, so she won the Ultramarathon, and so... No, no, Richard, I'm just to read the question again. Ultra runner Richard Ellsworth finished ahead of everyone in his category, yet he didn't receive a prize. Is that because it was like first, second, third,

and they were all women? The winner of the entire marathon was Ellie Pell. Yes. Three hours, 58 minutes for 50 kilometers. Yeah. Dang. Richard Ellsworth, four hours, six minutes. Did Richard start with the wrong group?

Well, there's no gendered starts as far as... There are, for this. These categories were gendered. Oh. So did Richard start with the wrong group? Nope. You should have noticed. Nope, he was faster than every other person in his category.

But his category were all slow? Yes. So what might the prizes have been? First, second and third. No. What? participation participation

marks so the organizers have made a mistake because they assumed that a man was going to win the award yes so they did they do like

man of the year or something oh you were saying you were headed straight for the fastest man not quite Sabrina

ultrist man they had a first place prize and then they had first woman to finish. Yes, they did. And they did not have a first man to finish because they assumed that the first place would be a man. Yes, they did.

Wow. The organisers had prepared trophies for overall winner and first female and had just assumed that those would go to different people. Ellie Pell qualified for both those prizes and Richard Ellsworth, fastest man, one neither of them. It's an elf.

I mean, listen. Wow. Shout out to Ellie Pell. Staple's preferred business membership built for busy business owners because you've got bigger things to think about.

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thing on your plate. Actually, a lot less. Visit staples.ca slash preferred. That was easy. This episode is brought to you by L'Oreal Group. Beauty is a powerful force that moves us. That's why L'Oreal Group has built a business that is inclusive at its heart with 100% of its brands, championing diversity, with 25,000 professional opportunities for people under 30 worldwide, and 54% of leading positions held by women. Diversity is a strength that helps L'Oreal Group create the best beauty products for all people. Visit Loreal.com to learn more. Sabrina, whenever you're ready, your question, please.

Let's do it. This question has been sent in by Arisa Nussbaum. According to an old local folklore, why is it illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket in Georgia on a Sunday? I'll say it again. According to an old local folklore, why is it illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket in Georgia on a Sunday? Well, that just seems like a bad idea.

It's going to get everywhere, you're going to sit on it, it's going to be sticky. I mean, most laws are made to stop bad things from happening, but it's usually like to stop it from happening to other people. Is it because if you sit down, it will get on a seat, and then someone else will have to sit on the seat afterwards? On your church seat. This is Georgia on a Sunday. I'm assuming it's the state of Georgia, not the country of Georgia.

Okay, but a cone. It's a cone of ice cream, right? Is that what she said? I mean, we don't know whether it's just the wafer cone or whether it's like a full ice. If you're carrying a full, like, scoop of ice cream on top of a cone in your back pocket, that feels like a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon series

who's trying to tempt kids away. You know what's funny, Tom? You're not far off. With the... With the church or the Saturday morning villain, Sabrina. Those are two very different things. Which one would be weirder? The villain.

The villain would be weirder. And it would be that one that you're closer with. Right, okay. What? Okay. I'll say this. Like, this is an old-timey thing, right? It's not a problem that currently people are facing now,

which is why it's... this law feels so outdated. But at the time, back in Ye Olden days, it would have, it kind of made sense. Okay, so we're thinking like old-style clothing as well. Sure. I know old-style clothing is nuts, dude. I mean, still have, like, back pockets, I guess.

Yeah, it's no had pockets. So there were still trousers. What happened to the pockets? There are still pockets. We still have pockets now. I'm... Okay, wait, I'm trying to figure out how to get us back on track. Maybe it's not pulling kids away.

Maybe it's because it would tempt dogs or something like that. But I don't know why that would be a Sunday. I think that you did mention that Sundays in the south in Georgia would have something going on. Yes. Church. Church. Yes. Church and luring.

That's what you've got so far. Not luring children. I'll even give you that. Okay. Luring the devil. Into church. With ice cream. You go to a crossroads at midnight with an ice cream cone in your back pocket.

Yeah, that's the, yeah, that's it, right? You're laughing because we're right? Yeah. That's what people do when you're right. Loring the devil into church was the craziest sentence. With ice cream. I think that there is something about it being a little bit like low key. Like you don't really want people to see the ice cream cone because it's, they're not using it for good.

Like I said, there's something. some luring going on. I'm saying luring is so weird. And it's not children. It's not children. Is it something in the physical world? Can I see it? Can I see the thing that they are luring?

Yes. Tom was kind of getting there when he mentioned animals. Bees. I was going to say bees as well, Tom. Would you like to bring a swarm of bees to your church? Well, have I got a method for you? I really can't...

We're not trying to bring the things into church, guys. We're trying to get people out of church. You're luring. We're luring... People leaving church early to go to the ice cream truck that doesn't exist in the 1800s. And that is in someone's back pump. How about this?

When people go into the church to do church stuff, what are they leaving outside? What are you leaving outside? In the 1800s. Horse. Horse! Horse! I don't know.

Everyone was getting excited and yelling horse and pointing at the screen, so I thought I'd join in. You leave your horse outside in Georgia, which is Cowboy Town. Maybe, I don't know. Okay. Sure. What does this have to do with the ice cream? Again, the luring. Think of the luring.

Imagine a... This is a comically villainous scenario. A whole horse. You could rustle horses. people would go to church they would leave their horses outside if you would like a horse to follow you you would need to tempt it with something sweet

in your back pocket and then simply walk and the horse will follow you and you have rustled a horse boom mailed up wow now I know how to steal a horse exactly a little waffle on little chocolate

you're really focused on the specifics of the ice cream also yes I think it's important Is the law about ice cream or is the law about anything sweet in your back pocket? I think it's specifically an ice cream cone. So, like you said, to prevent rustle, this law exists, according to old local folklore, to prevent wrestlers from luring the horses away. On Sundays, horse riders would be in church for part of the day,

and it said that would-be horse wrestlers would put ice cream in their pockets to attract the horses and then lead them away. Other weird laws in Georgia include, in Marietta, it is illegal to spit unless you're in a truck. In Gainesville, it is illegal to eat fried chicken with a fork, and in Quitman, it is illegal for chickens to cross the road.

Hey! Wow. Thank you to Katie Warning for the question I asked at the start of the show. When is wet, the opposite of electronic? Now, when I asked that question, every single one of the answer in progress team just went, what?

So, before I give the audience the answer, So does anyone want to take a quick shot at that? When you really misspell the word wet. I'm going to say, is it something to do with the way music sounds? Sometimes they use words like dry and, I assume, West and electronic. They do, but it's not that industry, I'm afraid. The wet version is often considered more important or trustworthy. A file name? It's not like a file name.

It's some sort of name. Electronic name. Yeah, electronics become more popular than wet in recent years as well. Tom, what are you talking about? It'll make so much sense. When might your name be electronic versus when might your name be wet? Written in ink versus a digital signature. Correct, Sabrina.

Absolutely right. A wet or wet ink signature is a physical one with pen and paper. and in some circumstances you may still need to use that. Thank you very much to all our players. You are all part of Answering Progress. So, Taha, what is Answer in Progress? Answer in Progress is a wonderful YouTube channel where the three of us ask questions about the world

and then document our hijinks as we try to figure out the answer. Sometimes we do it. Sabrina, what sort of hijinks have you been up to? We have looked into a lot of toothpaste. We have looked into... We haven't made a lot of videos, actually. What a toothpaste? And Melissa, where can people find Answering Progress?

You can find us at YouTube.com forward slash at Answer in Progress. And 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 and join the Lateral Producers Club. We are at Lateralcast, basically, everywhere. and there are full video episodes every week on Spotify.

Thank you very much to Melissa Fernandez. Bye. Bye. Sabrina Cruz. Taha Khan. The heist. I've been Tom Scott and that's been lateral. Spotify, it's Jay Shetty.

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