Lateral with Tom Scott - 29: The passenger going nowhere

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

Emily the Engineer, Wren Weichman and Kip Heath face questions about right-handed roads, tea taxonomy and broken bikes. 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: Raz Binyamin. 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

In the Afrikaans language, what is known as a Papier Vampyr? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. Welcome to today's episode, where the first question my six guests have to answer is whether I've had my eyes tested recently. First of all, we have from the Corridor crew. I was going to introduce you as Ren Whiteman, but you have put your name on the call we're all sharing here as just Ren with an exclamation mark at the end. So please welcome from the Corridor crew, Ren! That's me, what's up?

Welcome back to the show. Since you were last on, you have made the ants video. How did that go? Because you visualized every ant in the world in one ball and then showed that to the researchers who'd written the paper counting the ants. Yeah. How was that like actually working with scientists this time? Oh, it was great. I realized with the types of videos that I want to do, the important thing is to make the nerds happy.

And so that was like what I wanted to do for that video. So I actually reached out before I even started and just to get some collaborative information from them so I can actually like kind of do it accurately. Of course, now my dog decided to go crazy. Um, yeah, no, it was great. Uh, just 20 quadrillion ants is a lot of ants in the world and no one seemed to be able to quantify that. So I thought I'd give it a shot and I wanted to be able to do it accurately and truthfully. So getting their help was cool. Next up, also returning to the show, science communicator Kip Heath. Hello again. Hello. Thank you for having me back.

Well, thank you for being here. Thank you particularly because we are currently, I think, 13 time zones different and it is quite late for you. So thank you very much for stepping up for this one. How was it last time? Because you did one episode here, and I think you did pretty well on that, as I remember. Yeah, I think so. I hope so. People tell me it was.

Most of my friends apparently know you, Tom. They got lots of messages. Oh, that's worrying. And the cat will just be a pit. Yeah, there may at some point just be meowing in Kip's microphone and that is one of the two cats that appear to be dancing around there.

Either that or your cats can be in two locations at once. I'm not quite sure what I'm seeing. And different colours, which would be very impressive of them. And finally, someone new to the show from making her own Iron Man suit and more recently,

and how I found your channel, making a tie cannon to put ties onto Colin Furze. Emily the Engineer, thank you for joining us. Hey, thanks for having me. Can you describe what you're working on now? What's the next thing that's going to be out by the time this episode releases? That's a really good question um i am building another iron man suit um so i'm building another one just with different paint like methods and stuff that i've found are a lot better so

hopefully it looks kind of cool um i'm working on that so hopefully that'll be out and then i'm also working on funny you mentioned the cats i also have two cats i'm working on a uh giant cat wheel for my cats so uh when you say giant yeah like uh i don't know maybe maybe a meter in diameter or something like that um but i'm gonna try to use that obviously i don't know if it's gonna work but uh i'm gonna try to use it to like power some things like a little hamster wheel would get my cats to power my uh my home home but um we'll see how that goes well good luck to all three of you it's not a contest there are no points there's nothing other than bragging rights but good luck to you all anyway. Playing this quiz is a little bit like Dungeons and Dragons, it's an adventure into unknown realms with the outcome never certain, at least until the D20

rolls under the sofa. So I'm going to start you off with the first question. Here we go. Every year until she died, the American comedian Steve Harvey sent a television to his sixth grade teacher for Christmas. Why? I'll give you that one more time. Every year until she died, the American comedian Steve Harvey sent a television to his sixth grade teacher for Christmas. Why? Was she particularly accident prone? Needs a new TV every year. I love the idea that two weeks before Christmas, somehow, she just smashed the TV. Steve, hello. i mean i've been in a and e four times just from cooking so you know it could happen how how recently i mean over the last

few years i'm dangerous with sharp objects and hot objects and flat objects and objects my wife can relate well steve harvey uh i guess he's on family feud. Maybe there's some feuding sixth graders in her class. Maybe he's donating it to her so that she could donate it to someone. But I have a feeling the answer is probably more obvious and subtle. Obvious and subtle. What if it's just like, this sounds, I don't know, this sounds kind of morbid, but like, what if she only lived one year and he just sent one TV every year until she died? Oh, I think you're onto something there.

Maybe. The TV was cursed and fell on her. No, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, that is not what happened here. There were several years and several televisions involved. I do appreciate that you've come in as a new person here and immediately drilled down on the idea

that some of these questions may have some subtle tricks in them. You've got that right away. Skeptical. Did he intend to send the same, a new television every year? Or was it accidental? Oh yeah, this was deliberate. This wasn't just some order

that his personal assistant happened to get wrong. Do we know the make and model of the TV? Was it like a new TV every year? Or was it just like, oh, I found a new TV at Goodwill? It wouldn't be relevant to the question. I don't know how much it was, but he's certainly a man who can afford

to give a tv away it does seem a bit over the top to send one every year though maybe it's like a smart tv and he loaded up some sort of like photo album on it for for her it's like instead of a christmas card she gets a christmas tv well he might have put some sort of album together or said she should watch certain things on it yes it makes it sound like he was like storing like something on the tv and sending it but that doesn't make sense i don't know it's more like i think he'd stored something up himself there what did he buy the TV every year to send to her or had he already

pre-purchased all the TVs? I don't actually know the answer to this question, but I believe he just, he caused one to be delivered to her house. So it's not some weird like television stockpile

that he got going on? No, but Steve Harvey's television stockpile is coming to NBC this fall, so. And she wasn't like returning it to them every year? She could have done. She could have donated it.

It's not actually recorded here what she did with it. She probably wouldn't have wanted to have kept it. I mean, that's quite a lot of televisions. It's far too many televisions. Why would you do that?

Of course, my brain just goes straight to, like, yeah, she's going to stack them all together and make a giant jumbotron or something. That's, like, unfortunately the first thing my mind goes to, but that's gonna stack them all together and make a giant jumbotron or something like that's like unfortunately the first thing my mind goes to but that's obviously not right and i want to do that now i don't know emily's an engineer what would you make with 20 televisions

20 television oh man kind of gaming setup would that be right i'm like surrounding semi-circle televisions. That'd be kind of cool. I've seen one of those rigs with Google Earth attached to it. It was a Google demonstration of the thing. They had like 20 flat panel TVs to make a full 180 degree and then just a big controller for Google Earth. So it sort of felt like you were flying in a way that would have been a lot cheaper

if they just put a VR headset on it. But it's not as fun to talk about later. So the teacher didn't really want these televisions. In fact, I think she was probably getting pretty tired of them. Was she like using a part of the TV or something? Like taking them apart? I don't know. I don't know if she was using any of it.

I think she could have probably just taken the box and gone and given that away immediately. So he wants to show her something and he's doing it in a really inefficient way, perhaps out of spite, I wonder. Like, is he doing this specifically because she doesn't want to? Oh, you know what? I bet she never had any TVs when he was in sixth grade. And he was like, this is the worst class ever.

All of our classmates get TVs in their classrooms and we're not getting anything. I wanted to watch Bill Nye today, but no. You are 90% of the way there, Ren. It is spite. It is definitely a point being made, but that wasn't quite the point. What might have stuck in Steve Harvey's head for so long that he's sending a television to his sixth grade teacher every year? Was it like the teacher didn't believe he would be anything so he keeps sending

her TVs to be like look I'm on TV? What specifically might she have said? Kip you look like you've got this. I assume it's that he would never make it on television. Yep. The teacher said to him in 6th grade you will never make it on television and

thus his adult revenge for this is to send a television to her every year. That is the level of spite that I aspire to. I love it. All right. All right. My notes here say he had a stutter at school. So he wanted to be on television. He wrote that as part of a school assignment. His teacher thought it was ridiculous enough to phone home and ring his parents to say that he was a smart aleck. And his revenge for that, many years later, is to send a television every year to that teacher. As usual, all of our guests have brought a question with them. I don't know the questions,

I definitely don't know the answers, unless I'm very, very lucky. We will start today with Ren. Take it away. All right. Roughly 90% of the population of the US is right-handed. However, relatedly, there is one road where the majority of residents is left-handed. What is it? Roughly 90% of the population in the United States is right-handed. However, relatedly, there is one road where the majority of the residents are left-handed. However, relatedly, there is one road where the majority of the residents are left-handed. What is it? Like, what is the road? Yeah. And I guess from there we can work out the reason, but I don't think this is relevant, but it's a lovely story. So I'm throwing it in anyway. There is a wonderful graph of left-handedness over time. And if you compare the numbers of

people who are left-handed in 1920, 1930, 1940, it starts to rise and rise and rise and then plateau at about 10%. And it's because they stopped literally beating it out of kids in school that you were taught to be right-handed, and it was insisted that was the only way. So now that that's accepted, the numbers have stabilised somewhat at a higher level. But I feel like that's not strictly relevant

to what we're talking about here. I'm just trying to find anything to grasp on with this. Is this to do with the fact there's a genetic link and certain sports people are statistically more likely to be left-handed? Because there's certain sports where being left-handed is an advantage. Oh, like fencing, isn't it? Is it fencing or is it? So cricket, they tend to alternate left-handed, right-handed. I'm not American, but I'm guessing

baseball has a similar issue. I don't know why I thought it was fencing because I don't think you hold the sword in the other hand. I got fencing and cricket confused, which may be the first time that anyone has ever said that. So it's a location, right? We're looking for a road here and it is a world famous road. Is it a road that only one person lives on? Is this something really weird, like where Mount Rushmore is and that the presidents on Mount Rushmore are all left-handed or something? I mean, they don't have hands. They were meant to, I think. I think at one point the plan was to cut the entire bodies out. They're not really handed at all.

It's something like, it's mirrored. Because there's no reason, and I'm going to ask this at Kip, who's the left-hander. There's no reason why left-handers would flock together or anything like that, is there? No, because there's no... As I said, there's certain professions where there's a benefit,

and there's mostly in sport. So you have a higher percentage than the average. But there's... In theory, it's supposed to mean you're more intellectual. I'm going to stick with that one, personally. So I'm going to restate the question one more time here. Roughly 90% of the population of the US is right-handed. However, relatedly, there is one road where the majority of the residents are left-handed.

There's a relationship between the first and the second sentence. Relatedly. Okay. So it's something to do with... I feel like you're on the right track, but not. It's not Sesame Street, is it? Because the puppeteers are all right-handed, and we're

looking at them through the camera, and thus all the puppets are left-handed, and it's Sesame Street. You nailed it! You nailed it! Oh! What? I was like okay

yeah yeah no that's totally it yeah sorry that that was a bolt from the blue and it was literally

I was trying to think why you would mirror something or flip something or anything like that and literally I am looking into the camera

and up on the screens and monitors I see myself reversed. And my brain went, hang on a minute. It's like, where is a famous road on television? My brain connected that. I'll take that point. We don't have points, but I'll take that point.

The reasoning is that most puppeteers, they tend to operate the puppets with their dominant hand. And 90% of people are right-handed. So they would operate the puppet with their dominant hand and 90% of people are right-handed. So they would, they would operate the puppet with their right hand. And then the hands of the puppets would be with their left hand. So the majority of the residents on Sesame street are left-handed. That's lovely. You came out of nowhere with that. We were so far. I don't know where that came from. I was like, this is going to take a minute. Here we go. Nevermind. All right. You got it. One thing I do love is that came from. I was like, this is going to take a minute. Here we go. Never mind. All right. You got it.

One thing I do love is that of all the Muppets, only one of them has human hands, and it's the Swedish chef. And the Swedish, purely because I think they just forgot to put gloves on the character, or the first time they needed to hold kitchen equipment and things like that. So that is the only Muppet with human-looking hands.

Huh. Kitchens are a dangerous place. As we've established. Next one's from me. Good luck, folks. Nearly every day, a woman went to Embankment Station on the London Underground. She sat until the next train arrived, but didn't get on it. She then left the same station contentedly without speaking to anyone. Why? I'll give you that one more time. Nearly every day, a woman went to Embankment Station on the London Underground. She sat until the next train arrived,

but didn't get on it. She then left the same station contentedly, without speaking to anyone. Why? So I once read a book on the history of every single underground station, and I know this, so I'm going to let the Americans go for it first. Oh, oh, that's, so I love that you know this, Kip, but I also hate that we've now left the two Americans with a London Underground question. This could be tricky

and it's going to depend on how much knowledge you've got. One of these Americans barely even been out of the States, so I don't know. I'm inclined to think this is a kind of a trick question. So she goes into the Underground,

watches the train roll into the station, watches it leave without talking to anyone, leaves contentedly. So like, happy? Like, satisfied? And we don't know what she actually did.

So I would say as an American, what is the most famous thing about the tube? Let him stew for a while, Kate. Let him stew for a while, Kate. Sorry, it's the teacher in me. I have to help. Yeah, you're right. If she's not speaking, she still might be doing something.

And we did see a train come into the station and leave. So the train was operational. Yes. Because I'm inclined to guess something like she was hiding from a bombing run back. And I don't know how old the tube is, but was she going down underground during World War II or something? They absolutely did do that. The tube was used as bomb shelters, but she's the only person doing this. And this is fairly recent.

Okay. You will almost certainly have this thing about the tube in the back of your mind somewhere. You will probably have heard it. If you haven't, then you don't stand a chance on this one, and we'll let you go through for a while. But talk through, let's say you're on the underground. Even if you've just seen it in the movies, let's talk through that process of going down to the platforms

and what you might see as the train comes in. So it's busy in the underground, right? Isn't there also like a phrase about, it's like keep calm, carry on or something like that? That was from the World War II. That was a poster campaign in World War II. But you're coming along the right lines there. I don't know how to come back to World War II.

I don't know. The keep calm, carry on posters were never actually put out. They were sort of the emergency reserve for, I think it was if Germany invaded and Britain was under occupation, that was one of the posters that was going to go up. So they were just held in reserve until someone found them about 15 years ago now. And because they're out of copyright, they just kind of started making merch. It became this thing that caught on. ago now and because they're out of copyright uh they just kind of started making merch it became

this thing that that caught on uh in this case it's not it's not that phrase but there is a famous phrase is it mind the gap it is oh okay okay um i was gonna say something but if you're on the right track and i'm probably well i'm curious like i have nothing else i i have come up with the phrase apparently i was sitting here thinking the lady worked there or something like that go go with that okay with that thought okay oh go with that i was thinking like i don't know if they i know nothing about the tube no nothing okay but like do people monitor people that go in and go out or something like that maybe she works down there

maybe she just sits there sort of getting colder colder okay she didn't work there it's an adorable story i love it adorable maybe was she going down there to observe whether or not people were not tripping onto the plane or the onto the train like just be like, yes, no one got injured. My day has been made. I'm going to leave. You are dancing around the correct answer. It's like a statistics person, like, counting something, how many people are dead. I don't know.

Like, people that just watch things. She went down there to watch the train arrive and hear that announcement. Hear the announcement. That's why she waited until the train arrive and hear that announcement. Hear the announcement. That's why she waited until the train came in. Find the gap. Was it her husband is the voice of the narrator on the thing sort of thing? She's like, all right, I want to see him work today or hear him work and shows up. Here's it.

No. Oh, OK. She it was live. Oh, okay. She, it was live. His voice was live over the intercom, so she knew that he had to have been at the microphone at work or whatever, so she knew where to find him. She just had to check the underground first. I hate to say this, Ren. I hate to say this, Ren, but it is

the exact opposite of that story. Oh, no! It's tragic, isn't it? Is it like the husband is dead, and she goes down there to hear his voice, and then... no it's tragic isn't it is it like the husband is dead and she goes down there to hear his voice and then and it's the only yeah it's the only station left that has it and they kept it for her so every other station has changed it's really cute that's so sad yes her name is margaret mccollum and she was once married to the man who recorded the phrase Mind the Gap for the Northern Line of the London Underground.

He passed away in 2007. She visited the station to hear his voice. And when they changed to a new set of announcements, they kept just that one station with his old voice in his memory. Awesome. Yeah, that is sweet. Emily, your question next. Take it away. All right. The question is, in Dutch, Afrikaans and Maori, it is known as V or T. In the Middle East, China and Russia, it is called Shea Chai and Che respectively what caused this

popular beverage to have two names worldwide I'll say it again in Dutch Afrikaans and Maori it is known as B or T in the Middle East China and Russia it is called Shea Chai and chai respectively what causes popular beverage to have two names worldwide the last section of your question i was already saying what that's tea the answer is tea those are the names for tea there are two of them and then you said why does it have a mark? I have no idea. Yes, let's ask the American about tea. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, the Brits aren't looking too good on this either. It's fine. My grandmother always said that I couldn't attract a man and be a proper adult if I didn't drink tea. And apparently she was right. There's black tea and green tea, right? Is that? It's not that easy, is it? No, I don't think.

No, it has nothing to do with the type. And also, tea can be anything where you steep some leaves in some water. You can have mint tea, jasmine tea, anything like that. This isn't some kind of colonisation question, is it? Where it depends who... I wouldn't say so. I was thinking it might be about trade routes or something like that. But I don't know.

I'm just remembering that Dutch and Afrikaans are very closely related. Yeah. But I don't know how that connects to Maori, which is... That's New Zealand. So Maori which is that's New Zealand oh wait, New Zealand the clue's in the name, Zealand that's also Dutch I've only just made that connection in my head

that those are all connected to the Netherlands what were the other three countries? China, the Middle East and Russia and that's because we traded obviously we call it tea in English and we traded a lot with the Netherlands. Okay.

There is this thing in my head that I cannot remember the details of and I don't know if anyone's heard of, which is somewhere in Japan, there is a Dutch themed theme park and it's called something like Huis Den Bosch or something like that and it is just a replica of a Dutch town does anyone else know what I'm talking about am I just making this up I mean isn't this kind of your shtick to know this sort of thing

I'm just struggling. It's something to do with the fact that Japan only let the Dutch in to trade in one port for a limited amount of time. I know that because of Bill Wurtz's History of the World video. Japan, I think, only let the dutch into trade and only let them into one town so there's that connection between them right and dutch afrikaans and i i don't know like maori as a language isn't connected but that's new that's a new zealand language and that's got a connection to the dutch is it about the dutch i'm rambling a lot is it

about the dutch all right i'll give you a hint you the Dutch. Is it about the Dutch? I'm rambling a lot. Is it about the Dutch? All right. I'll give you a hint. When you were talking about trade routes, that was kind of... On the right track there? Yeah, it was on the right track. On the right trade route? Because I was thinking maybe it's just like

the pronunciation of the word didn't translate and it's just pronouncing that in a different language just comes out that way, like phonetically or whatever. Oh God, if this turns out to be a linguistics question about phonotactics, I just missed an open goal. That's what I studied.

I also... Is there something about the fact that the Dutch traditionally traded via boats and Russia, China and the middle east because russia was a lot bigger in those days were attached by land and may have gone that way yes that's right basically uh it says tea traveled from china by land was named after the mandarin or cantonese word cha and tea sent by sea, it's called tea. So it's like,

it says the saying, tea if by sea, cha if by land. And that I suppose works because in India, they call it chai as well, don't they? Which would be because it came from local.

Came by land. But what if it was delivered by hot air balloon? You'll need a new word. Next one's a listener question. Thank you to Francesco Falcone. When the game Among Us gained popularity in 2020, it was discovered that it had been in violation of the Geneva Convention for two years.

Why? I'll say that one more time. What? When the game Among Us... What? When the game Among Us gained popularity in 2020, it was discovered that it had been in violation

of the Geneva Convention for two years. Why? Remind me exactly what the Geneva Convention was and Among Us and what it is. Okay, I can explain Among Us. So it's a video game.

It's a social video game where everyone's playing on the same team, except there's like a couple different imposters who are not actually on your team, but you don't know who they are. And so it's, you're trying to go about doing these missions and these tasks, while also trying to suss out who the person trying to backstab everyone is. It's a fun little game to play with your friends or online. the person trying to backstab everyone is. It's a fun little game to play with your friends or online.

It is basically Werewolf or Mafia, just with a few extra clues as to who it is. I spent 2020 as a virologist in a pandemic, so, you know. Wren, however, you wanted to know about the Geneva Convention, so I'm hoping one of the others of the people on your team can fill you in on that. So they are the post-war treaties, and I'm now trying to remember exactly what they cover. I'm not going to lie.

I was kind of also waiting for that answer after he asked it. I just know the Geneva Convention is a big deal. Yes. That's about all I know. Are we allowed to Google Geneva Convention real quick? The Geneva Convention is a lot of rules. And if no one's quite sure what it is, I'll say it is on the regulations for wartime. So it is the rules on the treatment of civilians, of prisoners of war, of anything to do with the world around.

It is the rules of war, for want of a better description. So is this then the game, what happens in the game is a breach of the Geneva Convention or the game itself? The game itself is somehow a breach of the Geneva Convention. Because inside the game, you launch people out the airlock. I mean, I bet that's probably against the Geneva Convention, but it's still just a video game. So a good place to start would be to think about who the Geneva Convention is there to protect.

Who in a war zone might be the people that you're looking out for? Civilians. You want to protect the people and not the... not the soldiers, I guess? The soldiers are... I mean... the innocent bystanders. Minimise collateral damage. Well, people are attacking each other over this, but that would still be... that wouldn't be the game itself. Yeah, so we're not talking about the contents of the game, we're talking about... like just the game.

It's not like a meta level. The characters in the game were not violating this. It was the game it's not like a meta level the characters in the game were not violating this it was the game itself interesting okay and it was one element in there it wasn't the concept of the game it was one part in there maybe it's something where you have to like declare to the other people who you are or something like that maybe some sort of anonymity type thing and uh in among us you don't know who each other who the other players are unless you're playing like locally with friends you started along the right lines there and kind of veered off there are identifications in wartime i was thinking like just because you you talk over it to random people like something to do with the conversation.

But you started to say that, just like conversations with random people that you don't know, like that aspect of the game. I don't... And that happens all the time on the internet. But does the Geneva Convention apply only to Europe or is it worldwide?

That is to every country that signed up for it. But you were sort of along the right lines there, Wren, when you were talking about identifications and things like that. You've played among us, Wren. Run through some of the locations and what you might see there. There's a mess hall where everyone has a meeting around a table when you want to, you know, call someone out for being an imposter. There's the bridge. There's a bunch of... Oh, there's a nuclear reactor

room. No? Okay. Yeah, it's a bunch of just rooms that have jobs for a spaceship. And you've got to coordinate together, work together to solve a problem, which is keeping the ship going.

So is it maybe a miners thing, where kids and adults are working together, and that's like... I'm going to have to give you a different hint here, because I think there's so much to go on. Weirdly, I have nearly violated this myself. So this is a design thing. It's a design flaw? This is a particular thing. It's a design flaw?

This is a particular design that is protected by the Geneva Convention and international law. Oh, are you going to regale us with how you almost broke international law? I will do later. I mean, it can't be about the fact that it's just sort of anonymity of people talking on the internet, because that's what half of social media is built on. We're looking for a specific symbol. Other video games have also violated this. Oh, is this like Escape to Colditz and it's the use of a swastika? Not quite.

And I say not quite because symbolically, very, very different. However, from a sheer, like, design perspective, actually quite close. Oh. Oh. Is it the white flag? Oh, nearly.

Not quite. Is it a first date? Is it a red plus sign? Yes, it is. It is the symbol of the Red Cross. Really? So between you,

Kip and Ren, you got that one. It is the symbol of the Red Cross. It? So between you, Kip and Wren, you got that one. It is the symbol of the Red Cross. It is just a Red Cross. And a lot of game designers in the past, including the folks

from Among Us, have put it on the medical bay or the medical supply in their game. And international law, that symbol must be used for nothing else.

Oh. Because if they start seeing it there, it might get used on more products and more products and more products. And the law of that symbol is you don't shoot someone in a war zone if they're wearing the Red Cross symbol

or the Red Crescent or the Red Diamond. Any of those symbols are protected because they are for medics in war. I've nearly violated this because I had a second channel called Tom Scott Plus and my colour is red. And I got all the way through the design phase of the logo of that with a big geometric plus symbol where everything lined up in my color.

And I just got all, this is great. It's going to look brilliant. And someone went, you are violating the Geneva Convention. Oh. As you do. You're not wrong. I can't use that symbol. Now, is it specifically red

and all shades of red, like burgundy or maroon? Anything close enough that could be mistaken for the Red Cross is protected in almost every country's law when they put the Geneva Convention. Wow. I didn't realize that extended to video games.

You will get a cease and desist from the Red Cross and they will say, yeah, this is the law in your country. It is that extended to video games. You will get a cease and desist from the Red Cross, and they will say, yeah, this is the law in your country. It is that serious to them. And you'll see video game developers go, this is ridiculous, this is not something we're... No, they don't want anyone else using that because it is that important worldwide.

This is also the reason that the nurse's hat on the Blink-182 album Enema of the State was removed, because it had a red cross on it. Other video games, Theme Hospital changed from a green cross to a green asterisk, just to be safe. All sorts of logos. The red cross will call up and go,

could you not? Last guest question then. Kip, what have you got for us? So this is a listener question from Razbin Yamin. And I apologise many times if that was a mispronunciation. So the Dutch company VanMoof shipped its bikes in big flat cardboard boxes for self-assembly. However, when shipped to the USA, many arrived damaged. A trivial change to the packaging caused a 70% drop in damages. What was it? I'm just going to read that again.

The Dutch company VanMoof shipped its bikes in big, flat cardboard boxes for assembly. However, when shipped to the USA, many arrived damaged. A trivial change to the packaging caused a 70% drop in damages. What was it? I'm stepping back from this one

because a friend of mine has a VanMoof bike and I have seen this packaging. Yeah, I actually knew it as well. I'm stepping back from this one because a friend of mine has a VanMoof bike and I have seen this packaging. Yeah, I actually knew it as well. So it's for self-assembly, so it's not shipping as a full bike somehow. Or at least writing it out of the box, at least. I don't know what degree of assembly it's already been pre-assembled. It could be mostly like the and maybe like the the handlebar is not on or something like that so it could fit in like a flat package you hooked up so much on the phrase vanmoof well i know the bike yeah okay do i love

anything that's an electric personal vehicle like trust yeah i've seen your instagrams of like one-wheel trips down like ridiculous trails that one wheel should not go on. It's just it's just impressive. Oh, I literally just raced in San Diego over the weekend. I cracked a rib. Oh, wow. OK. That that sounds bad.

It's actually I overstated. I bruised the rib. It hurts a lot. I can't sit up, but it's not actually cracked. I will. Oh, thank you for coming on the show anyway and laughing occasionally and hurting yourself in the name of entertainment thank you very much so van move bikes probably shipped in a cardboard box of some sort they were getting damaged and so a trivial change reduced the damage to those bikes by a huge amount. It could be something as simple as, like,

this way up, or don't stack, or fragile. You know, something along the lines of maybe that. Perhaps not specifically that. You said it was a flat box? Yes, it's a flat box. And just sends all the parts in separate boxes? I don't know. No, it's still sending it in the one cardboard box.

One box. Okay. And it was a change to the packaging and not the product. So the contents of the packaging have not changed. Okay. So it's not like they loosened any of the bolts or anything like that on the bike so that it can take some stress. I'm thinking because he says, Oh, Tom, you said I had a friend that had a bike. And I know how it was packaged. So that makes me feel like it stood out to you. The way it was packaged for some reason stood out to you. So I know it's not as simple as like, they shoved bubble wrap in there or something like that. I don't know. I wonder if it was like a color.

Like, did they paint the box differently somehow? And it was like a big, a big box with a big red cross on it. Get rid of it. We don't need it. And then it gets shipped straight to Switzerland. You're closer than you might think there. Not with the red cross part but uh like i wonder if if it was just a regular cardboard box people would just treat it like

crap right but if they if it was like a black box or something like that a very like or a white box something that looks a little bit fancier maybe they uh treat it with a little bit more care because it was the shipping across the ocean that was damaging these bikes. I think it's specifically the shipping to the US that was damaging these bikes. You're on the right track.

They made the boxes look like something that's not a bike. I don't know. Was it the damage because they were being broken into and stolen? Because they're like, oh, look at these bikes. But if they make them look like

big boxes for bananas, no one's taking that. No, Emily's nearly there. You said specifically to the US, was something that people in the US would take care of? I don't know. I feel like I should apologize for the stereotype that's about to arrive. people in the US would take care of? I don't know. Like, what?

I feel like I should apologise for the stereotype that's about to arrive. Yeah. Oh, no. That's why I'm letting the Americans do it. Oh, no. I suppose it's more of an idea of how things, stereotypes about how things are transported

across the US. There's a big clue in the, do you want to just read the bit about the box from the question again, Kip? The Dutch company VanMoof ships its bikes in big flat cardboard boxes for self-assembly. Big flat boxes. Oh,

did they say it had like a mirror in it or something like that? Very close. Like something like where it doesn't say it's fragile, but it says something that is fragile. So everyone takes more care of it. And you wouldn't stack a bunch of maybe glass inside. Maybe there's a window. It's a window box.

There's windows inside of this box. What's the mirror? But electronic. It's a big flat box. So did they put like friggin did they put TV labels on on the boxes? And people are like, oh, there's big expensive TVs in here. We better handle these with care. Yep.

You have it exactly right. I really want to see these boxes now. Are they like VanMoof TVs? If you look close up, it says it's a bike. All the small print, all the shipping labels say it's a bike. And I remember being shown this by my friend in the US who got one. And it's just like, yeah, there's a tiny little bicycle diagram here and it says bicycle but everything else strongly implies this is a television wow so that because they were thinking

that the box contained a large expensive flat screen tv couriers and parcel handlers along the delivery chain were much more careful with the boxes. Overnight, the shipping damages dropped by 70 to 80 percent, and other bike companies have since taken the idea. Dang. Wow. That's smart. That is very smart, yeah. Right at the start of the show, then, I asked in the Afrikaans language what object is known

as a Papier Vampire. I am almost certainly mispronouncing that because my Afrikaans is not good, and I'm not going to try and do that accent so does anyone have any ideas here before i give the answer uh is it a fruit bat oh not not really we've got the words we've got the words for paper and vampire here okay i thought that was maybe like fruit some sort of like fruit not paper and vampire i thought for bat um dracula is it weirdly you're actually thinking slightly too laterally there i'm getting too good at this here paper vampire it's got two sharp teeth and you use it on paper oh stapler stapler it's a stapler yeah the papio vampire again apologies for the pronunciation, but the Paper Vampire is a stapler.

A stapler. I love that. I love that. Congratulations to all our players. You've got through today's gauntlet of questions. Let us know what's going on in your life. Where can people find you? We will start with Kip.

You can find me on Twitter at MiceHeath. And Ren. You can find me on YouTube, Corridor Crew, Corridor Digital, CorridorDigital.com. I make YouTube Heath. And Ren. You can find me on YouTube, Corridor Crew, Corridor Digital, Corridor Digital.com. I make YouTube videos. And Emily.

You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok at EmilyTheEngineer. And if you want to find out more about this show, you can do that at LateralCast.com where you can send in

your own questions. You can see video highlights at YouTube.com slash LateralCast and we are at LateralCast pretty much everywhere. With that, thank you very much.

It's goodbye from Ren. See ya. From Emily. Bye. And from Kip. Goodbye. I've been Tom Scott and that's been Lateral.