Lateral with Tom Scott - 24: The coins buried with Sinatra

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Mark Rober, Jabrils and Virginia Schutte face questions about football faults, soil secrets, and educational eats. 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://www.lateralcast.com. HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. RECORDED AT: Podcasts NZ Studios. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett at The Podcast Studios, Dublin. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Norman Liang, Vishy Iyer, Lewis Tough. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why did Elvis Presley's manager sell badges that said, I hate Elvis? The answer at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. Welcome to the show that turns people into politicians, because for the next 45 minutes or so, they're going to have to answer questions they have no idea about. Joining us this time, we start from her isolation

before going to Antarctica, science communicator Virginia Schutte. Hello, Tom. Hello. How are you doing? How is preparation for the big trip? It's great. It's very eye of sorrow on this trip. Like, nobody thinks about it until all of a sudden everything needs to happen immediately and it's the only focus so it's exciting also joining us from his magical studio of wonders in california mark roba hey you've been to my magical studio good i have i have been to the magical studio and uh the anecdote i want to tell about it, I cannot tell in public. So let's just say I had a great time.

I fired a ball from a tennis ball cannon and got it in the hole, just not on the shot that would have won me $10,000. That's true. I'll take that brag. That's true. And finally, joining us from what I can only assume is some mysterious AI-assisted base. Jabrils, how are you doing? What's up, Tom? How you doing? Thanks for having me. Can you talk about what you're working on right now?

Because I don't know if your video we collaborated on will have gone out by the time this show airs. It's top secret. Top secret. I can't talk about it. Sorry. No, I'm working on a... I made an AI game where you play spot the fake, but you're spotting the AI generated image. And it's a lot of fun. Thank you for guest appearing on that. I look forward to definitely not being the best person in that group. You might be surprised. You might be surprised. Our guests are going to face a series of weird and wonderful questions that they have no clue about, but our diabolical question writers definitely do.

So I'll start you off with this. In an advert from 2001 that was later banned, a young boy is seen buying three cans of soda, but only taking the third one away with him. What is the plotline? I'll say that again. In an advert from 2001 that was later banned, a young boy is seen buying three cans of soda

but only taking the third one away with him. What is the plotline? Good luck, folks. Off you go. Mmm. Here we go. I wonder if 2001 matters. What's the plot? Like, some

significant things happened in 2001 um like early to mid just before we go to a dark place on the first question like my job right now is to shut up and let your uh experiment with this but i'll tell you right now this is not about news events in 2000. Are you sure it's not Y2K soda, Tom? So is it like a pressed for time plotline where oh, I don't have time to grab Yeah, but it was later banned.

So it's like, what's the offensive thing about it, right? I was thinking like Al-Qaeda cola. Tom already sued his story. I was thinking like Al-Qaeda, COLA. Tom Hardy's students are away from that. I was thinking charity soda, but they were trying to give it away and that wasn't allowed. Different tracks here. Mark, you went there, you went there. I'm just going to take it, I'm going to take it. I'm going to go a little over the edge.

Out of the gate. If we put this up as a highlight on YouTube now, I now have to tick the box saying, does it have fleeting mentions of terrorist attacks? So thank you for that. You're welcome. I'm just going to try and get this demonetized as much as possible for you.

Let's see. So he took the third one, but didn't take the first two, you said, right? Yeah. And it was later banned. Hmm. And he bought all three? Yes.

Um, does the setting matter? Like, the fact that this is just a grocery store versus a vending machine, the setting is probably pretty important, right? Yes, absolutely right. And it was one of those two. Oh. store versus a vending machine the setting is probably pretty important right yes absolutely right and it was one of those two oh uh what the what the cashier potentially influence the kids decision to take all three oh man if you knew the answer that you would know just how oh i can't i can't give you an answer to that I can't give you an answer to that Without giving away too many clues Yes, something about the way it was bought

Is relevant here Like, was it with cash? Maybe it was like stolen money Let's see, he Yeah, I'm still on this charity soda line And so I'm thinking like I'm thinking vending machine and like Robin Hood gives to the poor. So like the money for the buying is stolen, which is bad and banned later. But the deed is good.

And so. I can't get off the charity soda idea. I'm stuck there. Your jump to vending machine is correct. Oh, well, good. I can't get off the charity soda idea. I'm stuck there. Your jump to vending machine is correct. Oh, well, good. The rest, unfortunately not, but it was from a guy.

Tom, I'm offended by that. I think you cannot be right. Yeah. I have to ask, are they all the same branded cans? No, they're not. That is a very good question. By the way, I feel like through this, I need to be stroking my chin the whole time, as is Jabril.

For those of you listening, I feel like I'm going to be doing that for two hours, and my chin is going to be raw by the end of the day. I didn't even realize it. Yeah, it's like, the question is, why would it be banned? But it's like, he was just trying to get the thing he wanted so it's like oh it gave me you know diet pepsi diet pepsi then coke and maybe there was didn't there used to be laws or something where it's like you can't slander other brands

you know i remember when um burger king or someone came out with a commercial and it was like she actually got sued whoever whoever was in it. I don't know the story here, but there's some story of like an actor was in a commercial, a six year old, and they featured McDonald's and were like trashing on McDonald's. And she got sued as like the child actor. I think that's like a thing. So maybe this is like the time period where it's like that hadn't been breached. And so the fact that it was like another brand is the thing that was banned. You have nailed almost all the points of this.

You've nailed almost all the right points. You're absolutely right. That's why it was banned. And you've even guessed the brands involved. It was Coke, Colder, and Pepsi. But you're missing one key bit here, which is what was the plot line? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So why would you need to buy two? cold and pepsi but you're missing one key bit here which is what was the plot line yeah yeah yeah exactly so why would you need to buy two does it have to do with the different because

they're at some i can't remember when but when did people start doing like i remember there was zero and light and like the fake sugar and the you remember all those varieties of like not the real soda there were is there is there a commentary there on or is that too specific or i think it's the mechanism though of like why so maybe it was in a thing where it's like you know how the ones that curl and come forward and there was like two pepsis and a coke was the third in line so you bought pepsi pepsi and now the third one was up in line the corkscrew, and then it was Coke or something. There's something with the mechanism of the vending

machine, maybe. I have a Hail Mary. I have a Hail Mary. Here we go. Alright, hear me out, okay? It's a father and daughter, okay? They're at a vending machine. Here's the plot, okay? And the daughter simply says, Dad, I want the good drink.

And he says, okay, I'm gonna get you Pepsi. He gives to her and says, Dad, I want the good drink. And he says, okay, I'm going to get you Pepsi. He gives to her and says, this is not the good drink. She gets mad. She throws it on the ground and bursts open. He says, okay, let me try again. He does another one. Coke comes out, gives the dollar. She's like, this is not the good drink. Throws it down, bursts open.

And then he goes for a third try. The third one in his Mountain Dew. Gives it to his daughter, and she's like, Yeah! And the commercial ends just like that. You would make an excellent advertising exec. And that's great. It's a great pitch for an advert.

There are a couple of words in the question that you all have skipped over, which is that it was a young boy buying three cans of soda it's for his girlfriend a young girlfriend which was banned later because it was creepy yeah that's interesting yeah he's a young boy so was it was it... You said we got the brains right of Coke and Pepsi. Otherwise, I would say he bought two cans of alcohol or something because he was young. What was that?

Also, Mark, I've seen that kind of fake front office that you have in your studio. You have a vending machine in there. Admittedly, you pull it open, and it's actually a secret chute to get to the upper floor of your office. But have a think about a kid standing there. Young kid standing there.

Oh, I see. I think I got it. So the button to hit the soda he wanted was too high, so he bought two of the cruddy ones lower, stood on the cans to hit the third one. Absolutely right. And Virginia, I saw you were like half a second behind there.

I saw your eyes light up. Oh, sorry, Virginia. Sorry. No, you got there before me. It's all good. We're a team. Are we a team? Are you competing?

Yeah, we're competing. Never mind that, Matt. No, I'm trying to beat Mark. I want to beat Mark. I'm always wary when Never mind, I'm mad. No, I'm trying to beat Mark. I want to beat Mark. I'm always wary when the players realize that they can team up against me. That's always a weird moment for me. I've seen that from the start, Tom. Yeah, same.

So we're winning one to zero versus Tom. That's what this comes down to. My producers also told me, Mark, that after some research, that child actor was Sarah Michelle Gellar, who went on to play Buffy. Not doing the vending machine, but the one who was sued by McDonald's. She was aged five at the time. Wow. So that was true. So is the band element like a commentary on how Coke and Pepsi are basically trash to just stand on to get what you want? I banned for legal reasons rather than any sort of government intervention.

Yeah, I don't think that's true anymore, right? But like, I think you can put competitors in your thing, or at least maybe they tried to sue them and maybe it didn't hold water. Because now people put other people's companies in their commercials right they do in america i think that's still not a thing you can do in the uk because i've seen i can't remember what it was i i can't remember what the company was or what they did i just remember seeing adverts on the tube that were like advertising some office building or something like that and sorry name of other company in a speech bubble in there like deliberately calling them out and then i remember seeing a couple of months later

exactly the same ads but with a fake piece of tape over the name so someone had clearly got involved and angry about it so i think that's the only thing you can't do well i mean there was just a super broke commercial that did this where it was like two beers, Budweiser and Miller or something. And it's like, what is this a commercial for? And in the end, it was like Blue Moon. And it's like, they literally, this is just a Super Bowl. And this is kind of the point of it, is you thought it was one of these two companies.

And in the end, it was like a third beer company. And now they're getting me talking about it. So it worked. It was effective advertising. Go drink Blue Moon, everyone. If you're Anheuser-Busch or one of the big beer companies and one of your rivals says, we'd like to use your name in a Super Bowl commercial, they'll probably say yes anyway. Yeah, that's true. That's true.

Little did you know, they all split the budget. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yes, in an advert from 2001, a boy buys two cans of Coca-Cola from a vending machine so he can stand on them and get to the Pepsi button. The next question comes from one of our guests. As ever, I don't know the question. I certainly don't know the answer. So, Jabrils, we're going to start with you.

What have you got? Okay, three metallic items in a row with rubber symbols for pause, stop, and play on them. However, they do not operate anything to do with media. What are they? I'm going to say it one more time. Three metallic items in a row have rubber symbols on them for pause stop and play however they do not operate anything to do with media what are they interesting well i think the biggest the first time you read i was in my head i was thinking buttons and i think the fact that it says items and not buttons is very important here. Oh, you're getting good at metagaming this immediately.

I do love these kind of like lateral thinking puzzles. I love, it's fun to work through. So yeah, items. That's good, you're on exactly the right show for it. Yeah. Items. I feel like if we crack that, I bet we've got it. What could the items be?

Metal with rubber makes me think of old-timey stamps. So I'm thinking like some king at a jousting tournament is like, pause, I need to pee. And then stop, someone died. And then like play, we're all good to go anyway that's that's where i'm going with the rubber on the metal and why so the king is hang on so he's kind of holding them up to to stop the action or yes i haven't thought this through that far but now that i'm going with this i'm thinking like those signs where you rate people by holding up like 10 out of 10 only it's like pause the king's peeing or something like that that's i like that and it's like the reason

he would need to do that is because not everyone i those are universal symbols right so there could be a thing here where not everyone speaks the same language which like in the jousting tournament if they're all from different places right like that's those are those are icons that everyone knows so i wonder there's an element here where you need it to be kind of universal which is why it's i'm assuming you mean like medieval times the restaurant jousting tournament that like this is this is not something that magically happened in the 17th century with that they happen to have our current play and pause button i was absolutely going there i was going all the way there but sure we could do medieval times that's also good tom though you

don't know when those symbols that's where they originated from this tournament and it's just held over to this day that's the real question i've see the thing is, I could believe that. If you had your music in the background of the video, Mark, and you were at a medieval time saying, these symbols actually go back four centuries, you know what, I would just believe that. You would believe it, yeah. With the right background music and the right voice.

These symbols originally came from the YouTube voice. Oh, I could hear you switch the voice on. Are these symbols actually intended to mean play, pause, and stop? Or are they just symbols? They are symbols that are close enough. They're correlated enough to its actual functionality. And the metal items, are they bigger than a bread box or smaller than a bread box? Smaller.

Smaller. Back when you first read the question, my thoughts went to jewelry for some reason. I went much, much smaller. I was thinking it was some like little bracelet or necklace and I don't know why my brain went there, but like metal thing with rubber on it went to like something on your body rubber seems like it matters too right otherwise why not if it's jewelry or something why not just it's painted

on or it's engraved right i'm trying to think of things made of metal and rubber and all i've got are like tires but i don't know why you would put that was clearly a stupid idea but never mind all right i have another i have another story we can run with so the other reason to put rubber on metal if you're not stamping things with it is to protect someone who might smash into it to provide a little buffer so now i'm thinking that like you know those game shows where people just throw themselves into things and it's like a

big obstacle course? What if there's some kind of yeah, where you have to hurl yourself against the play button to start a timer or pause it for yourself and stop it for someone else or something like that. And then the rubber is the padding.

So you don't just conk yourself out on the metal. So, yeah, so that's a great, I love that. So Jabril is the, is the rubber there as a protective measure? Is that why there's there in rubber?

Okay. So it's actually, it's not actually rubber padding, but, but Tom, you're in the right direction when you mentioned rubber tires. So is it, I wonder if it's a traction element. Oh, is it maybe?

Is it? So the rover on Mars has a unique feature in the wheel. In fact, it's actually JPL spelled in Morse code. Long story, fun story, actually. Good one for this podcast. But basically it's an odometry i knew that you had to get you had to get the mars rover in there somewhere that you worked on just just just a slide that did i work on that did i mention i here nor there

so so basically as it rolls in the sand it's an odometry you just you can look at the prints and say oh if i see seven of that unique feature, you know there's a curvature of the wheels, you know how far the rover went. All that's to say, Jabril, is there some... Going back to Virginia's thing of it being like a stamp, is this so that it leaves behind

some mark because it's on some kind of wheel or anything like that? No. No. Okay. Allow me to drop a hint. Allow me to drop a hint, okay? It's a really simple hint. These items,

a large percentage of the population interacts with almost on a daily basis. But he says it doesn't have to do with media i mean there's a lot of things that um is it something in a car then or is it something around transit yes what has it's metal it's got rubber symbols on it for play pause and stop and it's somewhere near a car the audience is going to be screaming at us. I know. Does it modify the car in some way? Like, are we talking sunroofs and mood roofs or convertible top things?

It's a very important feature to the car. Let's try narrowing in on the location. I bet that would help. Is it, if you're sitting in the car in the driver's seat, are these within reach, these buttons? Yes. It's not the turning on button for the car in the driver's seat are these within reach these buttons yes it's not the turning on button for the car right the new ones where you just push the button no if you take those symbols and you put them some other direction or something like can you make a different symbol out of them am i on the right lines there i would stop. All right. Fine.

It doesn't have to do with media. You can touch it from your car seat, like your seat adjustment. Yeah, but most people don't interact with that. Does it have to do with the comfort of the driver where it's like, hey, if I push these, my experience is better in some way? Not directly. No.

This is infuriating. Yeah, this feels like... You guys are so close. You are so close. Someone's listening in their car right now like touching the thing being like,

it's right here. Someone's listening to this podcast. If you're driving, please keep your eyes on the road. Please do not look around for weird play symbols

on metal and rubber. Is there like a final hint you can give us or something? Okay. Okay. Here's the a final hint you can give us or something? Okay. Okay. Here's the final hint. This should give it to you.

Okay. So the rubber symbols, their purpose is to stop from slipping. Yeah. So it's like a grip thing. Did you say that should give it to us? This is maddening. Do you touch it with your feet instead of your fingers?

That's correct. I mean, do the pedals have these symbols on? Tom, you got it. It's just on the pedals? Tom, you got it. I'm confused. It's on the pedals. What?

Tom, you got it. I'm confused. It's on the pedals. What? So from the image that I see, it is a image of three pedals, pause, stop, and play. Play is obviously accelerate.

Pause is brake. I'm sorry, stop is brake. I assume that pause is clutch in this image. Is this just one guy's video game car? We were assuming it was all cars. This is just one person's car, isn't it? Someone said Americans interact with this every day. I said a large population. Oh, come on.

I still call a BS on this. Hold on a second. So is this a regulation in some countries where you have to have that on the pedals? The actual source is a guy in Russia. He modded his car to add the pause, stop, and play button to his pedals. You did good, though.

You did really, really well. I feel like you should have told us at some point that it's one guy's car. Yeah, I agree. I realise you never said it was everyone's car. We just kind of assumed that. So yes, a guy in Russia modified his car so that his pedals read, pause, stop and play.

The next question is from a listener. Thank you to Vishy Iyer. After a serious incident that happened in 1963, singer Frank Sinatra always kept a roll of dimes with him. He was even buried with them. These days, they wouldn't be necessary. What's the story? One more time. After a serious incident that happened in 1963, singer Frank Sinatra always kept a roll of dimes with him. He was even buried with them. These days, they wouldn't be necessary. What's the story?

It's a payphone. He got stranded. And he needed to, like, make a call. And so... Sometimes, someone comes in immediately with most of the right answer and you have just done that, Mark. You've skipped through most of the hints I've got.

Yep, absolutely for a payphone. But I didn't ask what he was going to put them into. I asked, what's the story? Oh no that ruin it i'm sorry not at all you still got a lot to work out okay um uh he had some medical condition he always needed to have money for the payphone oh well what kind of serious this depends on who's serious we're talking about here. I was thinking like, oh no, his love was going to the airport and there was a miscommunication and he had to stop them from leaving. Serious.

You are closer there, Virginia. It was a serious incident that involved someone else. And it was someone close to him. How much do you know about Frank Sinatra's life story here? Yeah, not much. I know so much. I'm a historian. He was a singer.

I know that. So, Tom, though, is it fair to say it's for safety reasons? Like, he needed the ability to make a call if needed right for safety so someone had a medical condition it was a medical condition Tom's nodding his head or he was on safety oh no no no no no I know it condition I think I might know this wasn't his son abducted or something and taken ransom oh my gosh yeah i don't know where that came from in my brain but yeah like his son was abducted and they held him ransom and i forget the rest i think i listened to a podcast narrated by john stamos about this or something uh but why would he need the dimes? In case, um, but why would he need it?

It happened once, so it scarred him so much. And in case he ever had to call someone to make a call to free them, he would be able to do that. Or if he was kidnapped himself or anything like that, kidnappers use the payphones to communicate. So he always kept the dimes on his person for that reason. Wow. Mark, he really carried this one.

You just busted right in. You caught it all up. This is incredible. Yeah. I do like how these are. I thought I was a Frank Snatcher. I was going to say, I do like how these are based in real-life stories.

If you did remember a fact from way back when, it can help you in the things, you know, as opposed to just being completely obscure. Also, the reason there's a podcast about the whole thing is that it's a bizarre set of events. The kidnappers rejected $1 million and it sent back a counteroffer of $240,000. They sent back a lower offer for some reason.

All the money was recovered because, as he was about to drop off the money, one of the kidnappers got nervous and released Frank Sinatra Jr. anyway. The whole thing was a disaster start to finish. They got most of the money back. But yes, Frank Sinatra always kept a roll of dimes on him, just in case. Frank Sinatra always kept a roll of dimes on him just in case. Yeah, from what I recall, they weren't necessarily the sharpest tools in the tool chest. These guys who kind of cooked up this kidnapping plot. It was pretty wild. You're completely right, Mark.

Frank Sinatra always kept a roll of dimes on him just in case he needs to use a payphone for being kidnapped or other emergencies. Our next question comes from Virginia. When are you ready? This question has been sent in by Norman Liang. On certain days, kids in Hong Kong are given a breakfast, such as two eggs with a sausage or sweet corn with a couple of dumplings. Why? I'm going to give it to you one more time. On certain days, kids in Hong Kong are given a breakfast such as two eggs with a sausage or sweet corn with a couple of dumplings. Why? Did you say on certain days? Sorry.

On certain days. I see. did you say on certain days sorry on certain days i see so that could mean specific days like it's christmas or it could be saturday and sunday so my first instinct is like this is some kind of like cultural appreciation thing i don't feel like this is functional like they need it for energy for a thing it's like remember our heritage like i feel like if we knew why these things were something that was in holland or you know what i mean something along those lines and eggs and sausage i was thinking it's some it's a very american breakfast um but then we got sweet corn and dumplings i'm not convinced i'm not sure

there's any particular country that that's... My brain went to Holland on that one for some reason. I think that makes no sense. I feel like the exact items matters less than... I bet if we figured out the days and why the days, that maybe would give us more clues. And you had an interesting build, Tom, of like, is it, yeah, Christmas type of days?

Here's a question. Are those days the same every year? Like it's on the 25th of a thing. Do you know what I mean? I do not know the answer to this question, but my guess, no. I'm going to say no, because I think it would be more helpful to you all

if the answer is no. The days are somewhat consistent year to year, I would imagine, but they are not. Hello, we have arrived at this calendar date. Boop. Yeah, yeah. Is there? Okay, so that rules out one thing. Both the breakfasts had two of something and then something else.

I was thinking it might be important it was it was a number two or something like that but you are on a good track i would continue it's not a great track it's not the best track but it might become a best track so the numbers of tom keyed in on the numbers of things, and you're saying that's not insignificant that it's one egg versus two eggs? Correct. Not insignificant is correct. I started so well, and now I've found a thing in the, no, I can't work out what's doing that. And is it fair to say that this is not a typical breakfast in this area of Hong Kong? On most mornings, this is different for them, right? They

may have something similar, but this is a notable breakfast that they receive. It is not the same as the other days. Does that have anything to do with pro-democracy like

Hong Kong. Nope, we're just going to say no to that one and encourage you to move on. We do not need to touch that. Could it be for good luck or something like that, that it's before they are off to do exams or something like that, and the number two is for luck? That's not right. It's the number

eight for luck, I think. Am I even vaguely close to that? You are half correct. You are half correct. So there's a superstitious element to it? Well, so should I tell you which half is correct? I think I should. You just gave it away. You just gave it away. Is this kids like all across the country or is it, does it matter that it's like actually this is a specific school in a specific city. And that's part of the importance of this. More about kids everywhere. Got it.

Is it for good luck? Is it, is it a superstitious thing? Were we, were we right there? It is for good luck, but it's not superstitious thing? Were we right there? It is for good luck, but it's not superstitious. It's not like, because I'm going with like,

I know Mark, you started with like a cultural something. It's not like, if you eat two eggs on this day, then the sun will shine down upon you. There's no like backstory here or anything like that. So it's meant to be for good luck, but there's a very practical. So Tom mentioned the thing about exams. Is it,

does it have to do with, is it tied in some ways to kind of exams and like brain food? Yes. That well, so yes to exams, not to brain food. Oh, is it like there is this one guy,

Albert Einstein, the smartest person in Hong Kong. He aced his, his exams. And these is what he ate on this day. Not at all. Are there numbers in Hong Kong that are considered lucky numbers? And then that goes back to one egg versus two. In that sense, for this story, is it the number of things that matter

and that's tied to the good luck? Oh, it's so they can share it. No. It's so that we get it. Oh, damn it. I had a full light bulb moment there and it went nowhere. Mike, Tom, what just happened there is you just dropped the mic and Virginia's like, go ahead and pick your mic back up.

You were so excited and I just need to shut that down. No. Mark, you are on the right track. It has to do with numbers, but not in the way you're currently thinking. And then you said it's not on like a specific calendar date as well. Correct. Well, I mean, it's on a specific date, but it's not like tied to a calendar of any sort. Right.

Okay. Is it, maybe that would help us if we narrow in on the exam potentially. Is it like, is it a test that happens once a year or is it like five times a year or that doesn't matter? It's whenever they go in for this exam, presumably. Or are we right with exams? Yes, you are right with exams. I don't have any information

about like how many times a year this exam happens so yes i was i was so happy with sharing i was like oh you have to give one of these to your examiner for good luck or something like that to bribe the to bribe the exam you know as the originator of the charity soda storyline i think you i like where your energy was at but it's just not right for this question okay so it's medieval times there's a medieval times he's holding up egg sides hitting all your storylines virginia okay we're gonna need a hint here virginia we're gonna need going to need something think about the way the food looks on the plate 100 yes yeah your sausage and your chewing or your like dumpling in your corn fritter yeah that's right and good luck inspire the kids by showing them a 100 similar to breakfast let me give you a little

bit more information. These breakfasts literally look like the number 100. It's meant to be motivation to get 100% in your exam. So sort of lucky, but not like a backstory tied to some elaborate thing. There are other presentations too, like a hot dog with two piles of rice or a banana with two donuts. So you can go nuts with the kind of food

just as long as it looks like 100, to give that like, you can do it, kid. That's cool. And just arrange it in the right order. Otherwise, it might be like 10%. Good luck. You're getting 10%. You're going to get a 1%.

You're going to get a 1% on this. A key point. That's critical. That's critical. That's critical. My last big question of the game then. Scottish soccer club Inverness Caledonian Thistle decided to use an AI camera system to live stream one of their matches.

However, viewers were left disappointed when the camera kept shifting its focus away from the ball. What went wrong? One more time. Scottish soccer club Inverdesse Caledonian Thistle decided to use an AI camera system to live stream one of their matches. However, viewers were left disappointed when the camera kept shifting its focus away from the ball. What went wrong? So, Chitra Prills, I feel like this is all you buddy you're the ai master here um i feel it's something like the referee's holding a ball or something like that and so if it's trained to track a ball it is tracking the wrong ball or something in this direction

i was thinking it's going to track a non-ball for this question to be brought up in this setting it's got to be something weird and funny so i'm thinking like a bald head or someone bends over and their pants accidentally fall a little too low and it's round or that's that's where i'm going i mean you've nailed it it was one of those things which one do you think is a, funniest, and B, most likely in a Scottish soccer match? I feel like those are different. I know. Most likely is the bald head. Funniest by far is someone betting on... Yeah, you got there right away.

The linesman's head was bald and the AI system just kept zoning in on that instead of where the ball was actually on the pitch. That's hilarious. Amazing. Amazing performance by the AI there. A statement from the company that provided the camera read, we are aware of the issue with the linesman, and we are already working on improving this for the next game.

We hope this will not happen again. This was while Scotland was under COVID restrictions, so they were minimising the number of people in the stadium. They were using AI systems instead of actual camera operators. And it just didn't quite work well. My question is, are they going to say, it's our fault, we'll fix it? Or do they say, linesmen, you must wear a hat?

Or a toupee. How would you fix this, Jubril? You're the AI person here. How do you fix something like that? I turn into a league of its own where the camera's just distracted by bald heads. Yes, Inverness Caledonian Thistles match was disrupted for viewers

when the AI system tracked the linesman's bald head instead of the ball. Our last guest question of the show then comes from Mark. When are you ready? Okay, the famous Pantheon in Rome was built by filling the space between the walls with earth. Once the dome had been built, how did the authorities encourage the enthusiastic locals to take away the earth for them? And I'll repeat.

The famous Pantheon in Rome was built by filling the space between the walls with earth. Once the dome had been built, how did the authorities encourage the enthusiastic locals to take away the earth for them? Does anyone know what the Pantheon in Rome looks like? I feel like I should. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I don't. Is it a rectangle thing?

It's not the round stadium. The stadium's the Colosseum. Yes. The Pantheon, I don't know. I think it's a rectangle with columns, but that's very generic. But you said dome, Mark. Did I say dome?

Oh yeah, once the dome had been built, that's right. How But you said dome, Mark. Did I say dome? Oh, yeah. Once the dome had been built. That's right. How did the authorities encourage the enthusiasm? Was there only dirt buried between the walls or was there something sprinkled inside the dirt that people wanted to get? You're on the right track. You're definitely on the right track.

Oh, that'd be a great plan, wouldn't it? That'd be lovely. You just throw a load of coins in there and... Oh, man, that's a great idea to get some cheap construction work done, But no, this is the worst because then you're just

paying people. It's like you could have just paid them, I guess. Oh, no, you're paying them less because you're like, you would have had to give them a wage, but instead you're like, well, there might be something there.

And capitalism is born. There it is. Somewhere in these walls are 10,000 Roman dollars. Oh, gosh. Is that the answer? You guys got it right on. That's exactly. Literally, the answer says, word for word,

they scattered gold coins in the soil. Virginia, drop your mic and leave it dropped. So there you go. That's how you do a mic drop, Tom. That's how you do it. Yeah, no, that's fair. I was like, oh, maybe we do something with the domino. Nope, Virginia just comes in.

I think it, listen, I don't want to dig up any dirt. The only thing that makes me dig up dirt is like money or food. And it's like, you can't put food in there. So how are you going to get me money? I do wonder though, because how would you, how would you get people to take it all the way off site? Because if you did that today and you said, you know, there's, there's gold in them, their walls, people would tear the walls apart and then just kind of leave the debris scattered on the ground until they found the gold coins.

Yeah, the famous, yeah, that's a good... On the other hand, the Roman Empire did have a somewhat different approach to personal freedom, so possibly just pointing spears at people until they took the dirt away. Yeah, maybe it was like, hey, you can't sift it here on site, take all the dirt away, and then once you leave site, then, you know. sift it here on site, take all the dirt away.

And then once you leave site, then, you know. So if we go back to money and food as motivators, maybe there's like a free buffet. If you cart your dirt off site to the buffet, then you get to like sit and eat. I would, that would get me. So I'd have my money, I'd have my food, I'd be good. So that's right. That's the answer. They scattered gold coins in the soil.

One last thing to do then. At the start of the show, I asked the question, why did Elvis Presley's manager sell badges that say, I hate Elvis? Now you may have heard this story. Has anyone heard this one before?

No. I haven't. Mark's going to say he hasn't and he's going to remember at the last minute and then give us the answer. I do have a guess though. I do have a guess, though. I do have a guess, but there's a good chance that... Should I say it or someone else can guess?

Go for it. This is the last question of the show. This is the kick around. I know he was very like... He was very like... I'm very much an entrepreneur. I do know that about him. That's what I've heard.

He basically made Elvis, so he was thinking. So my guess is he was just corner, I'm very much an entrepreneur. I do know that about him. That's what I've heard. Like he basically made Elvis. So he was like thinking, so my guess is he was just cornering the market and he knew someone was going to make this, these kinds of merch. So he's like, why don't I be the guy to make that? And then he wins on the upside.

He wins on the downside. And this time you get to drop the mic Mark, because that was exactly the right answer. It was Colonel Tom Parker who had a very good eye for business and just decided, you know what? Someone's going to sell these, so I will as well.

Nice. Although, honestly, Mark, I think that if you want to sell I hate Mark Rober shirts at some point, that is also an option for you. I was thinking I hate Tom Scott shirts, to be honest. Don't corner the market on my merchandise. I won't tell you which line I'll

be first in. That is our show for today. Thank you very much. We'll start off with Jabrilz. Tell us where can people find you and what's going on in your life? Hello, everyone. My name is Jabrilz. I am on the internet. You can find me at youtube.com slash at Jabrilz, J-A-B-R-I-L-Z. I have a bunch of fun computer science, artificial intelligence stuff over there. Come over and have some fun. Virginia. I am at V-G-W-S-H-U-T-T-E, pretty much everywhere. And I, like you said, I'm going to Antarctica in two weeks. I will be at sea for 60 days.

So if you follow me, I will point you to all the things we are making about that. And Mark. And I'm Mark Rober on Google, I guess. And I started a toy company

to get kids stoked about science and engineering called Crunch Labs. And it's also an actual place. It's like a Willy Wonka factory for engineering. Only with less people dying horrifying deaths. As far as you know.

As far as you know. I just decided to throw in some dark Charlie and the Chocolate Factory knowledge there. If you'd like to know more about our show, or you want to submit, I've got to do that again now. I can't imply that you're breaking

if you want to know more about this show or you want to submit an idea for a question you can do that at lateralcast.com we are at lateral cast pretty much everywhere and you can watch video highlights at youtube.com slash lateral cast thank you you very much to Mark Rober. Good to be here, yo! To Virginia Schutte. Yay, thanks for having me, Tom. And to Javril. You're very welcome, Tom. I'm Tom Scott, and this has been Lateral.