Lateral with Tom Scott - 34: Six unnecessary doorknobs

Episode Date: June 2, 2023

Melissa Fernandes, Sabrina Cruz and Taha Khan from 'Answer in Progress' face questions about generous grades, delayed days and spacious sidewalks. 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: Lewis Tough, Arun Uttamchandani, Phil, Joey R., Leonard. 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

According to scientists at a Dresden University, what type of wave travels at 12 meters per second regardless of altitude? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. We've got a wonderful set of guests on today's show, which means that either I have very good producers and guest bookers, or we're very good at blackmail, because returning for another episode, we have the team from Answer In Progress, and we start today with Taha Khan.

Tom does have blackmail on me. The thing is, just for a moment there, for a moment I went, do I? Because we filmed before. I'm like, did I accidentally film? Have I got footage of Taha somewhere, like, kicking a kitten? I don't think so. Just admitting he did tax fraud. And also not admitting she did tax fraud, Sabrina Cruz.

Well, you have the footage now. And finally, also not committing tax fraud, which may be the best introduction I've given anyone, Melissa Fernandez. Hello. I hope I'm not committing tax fraud. You can only hope. You can never be truly certain.

There was too much of a question mark on that sentence, Melissa. But I also don't want to draw too much attention to that because I don't want the tax authorities to suddenly surprise you with that. The questions on the show are like a box of chocolates. You'll never know what you're going to get, but most of them have hard centres, and there's one or two in the set that you're really not going to like. We start with this.

At the 1912 Olympic Games, the final of the men's Greco-Roman wrestling middleweight B event resulted in no gold medal being awarded. What happened? I'll say that again. At the 1912 Olympic Games, the final of the men's Greco-Roman wrestling middleweight B event resulted in no gold medal being awarded. What happened? Okay. They were doing Greco-Roman wrestling in 1912? It was the Olympics. That's kind of their theme. They ran out of oil. The only thing I know about Greco-Roman

wrestling, I know from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. So, that's where my knowledge is at. What did you learn? That's more than what I have. I learned that they do it in schools in America. Wait, is Greco-Roman wrestling just wrestling?

So it is not your WWE style professional wrestling. No, I'm talking about like wrestling. Yeah, wrestling. The unitard? Yeah, wrestling, wrestling, as American high schools would know it, that is Greco-Roman wrestling. Oh. I might be saying Greco, and I think I've just realised it's probably Greco. I've only just realised that, so I apologise to ancient Greece.

I'm sure they'll appreciate the apology. Okay, so the things in the question that I've immediately zoned in on is… It's the B. Yeah. Class B. Yeah. So there's a b it feels like it was like a it's like an event that so did the event run yes so there was a silver medal yes there was okay so

there was a silver because i was gonna say if it's the b one maybe it's just like, they're just the B team. Like it doesn't count. They just sort of come along. You don't get gold. Yeah, you just do it for fun. It's the fun version of the Olympics. Does B mean they've like, it's like the runners up, like you get knocked out. Like I don't actually know what the structure

of the format is, but is it like a, like a double elimination bracket kind of thing? So like you can't go for gold if you lost once, but you can go for silver. In this case, no. It's a category. I actually don't know specifically what the category is, but it is some category of wrestling

that would be eligible for a gold medal. Can you tie in wrestling? Now that's an interesting question. That we're not getting an answer to. What if they knocked each other out, though, you know? Like, true WWE style, twin clothesline. I had a more morbid

answer, which is, did they both die in the ring? It is not that morbid. It's not that morbid. Okay, wait. I want to wipe this answer off of the possibilities. They didn't run out of gold. Oh, no. I want to wipe this answer off of the possibilities. They didn't run out of gold. Oh, no. There would have been a gold medal.

You are actually moving away a little. You are a lot closer with tying. But how does a wrestling event end in a tie? Did they both give up at the same time and it was like an act of like, we're both going for silver, you know? Because you could tap out of a wrestling match. What if none of them tapped out? What if it's the opposite?

The match just went on and on until they were just like, all right, guys, I want to go home and we've got to lock up. It's over, bro. It's over. They were just stubborn. It took nine hours to get to that point. Stop it. Nine hours of wrestling? Nine hours of Greco-Roman wrestling. The caretaker was like, all right, we have to that point. Stop it. Nine hours of wrestling?

Nine hours of Greco-Roman wrestling. The caretaker was like, alright, we have to wrap up. Yeah, the Olympic rule is that for a gold medal, you must have defeated your opponent. And so how did it end? So they couldn't have a joint winner, but you could have two joint

second places. You had two joint silver medals in a wrestling match that went nine hours long. So you're telling me, so after the ninth hour, they had to basically end the match. But clearly these two people are like gunning for gold. So in my mind, the two wrestlers are in the ring and then the other the the administrators are like great it's the end of the match and they're like no we're going to continue fighting so then they have to wrestle so they keep they have to wrestle the wrestlers out of the ring they're like let me at him let me at him hold me back hold me back what i'm imagining is like you

know how in wrestling this is sad that it's not a video podcast, but like, I just imagine they were doing this for like nine hours. They weren't touching each other. They were just sort of like prowling the ring. I love that. I have a quote here directly from the Olympic official at the time. The Algren and bowling proved to be such masters of technique and possessed such abnormal bodily strength

that after the contest had been carried on for no less than nine hours, and after the fruitless application of the special regulations made for such cases, the match had to be declared a draw. So they had contingency plans, and they were just, nope, we cannot separate these people.

Possibly literally. So we are declaring it a draw and giving them both silver medals. It is incredible to be described as having, like, I don't know what they said, but like remarkable physical abilities and then still just only be given a silver. Yeah. Wow.

Also, this might not be interesting, but why was nine hours the cutoff? Why was that when they were like, this is enough now? I think it may literally have been closing time for the arena. Yes, there was no gold medal awarded in 1912 for that particular bit of wrestling, because there was no clear victor. Melissa, first guest question of the show goes to you, whenever you're ready. All right, so this listener question has been sent in by Joey R. from Dallas. All right, the question is, between 1960 and 1975, the number of D and F grades awarded at U.S. colleges and universities halved.

During the same period, A grades doubled in number, then dropped back somewhat. How did researchers explain this? So one more time. Between 1960 and 1975, the number of D and F grades awarded at US colleges and universities halved. During the same period, A grades doubled in number, then dropped back somewhat. How did researchers explain this? To clarify, you're saying D and like ampersand F,, not DNF. Yes. Okay. Oh, yeah, DNF. It's not did not finish. It's D grades and F grades. Does the US have E grades?

Is that a thing? Or do they just go A, B, C, D, fail? No, there's no E grade. I think that they took it out because they could be confused with E for excellent. I think, I don't know this, but I don't want to immediately give an answer, but those dates mean something, and I think I can work it out.

So I'm going to let Gen Z just take a couple of stabs at this. The entire generation. Okay. All of us. So 60 to 75. Yeah. That was it.

Yeah. And specifically America. Yeah. What happened in the 60. And specifically America. Yeah. What happened in the 60s? I'm so bad. What world is answering? Oh, yeah. We've got one Canadian and one Brit

asking about American history in the mid-20th century. Like, this is... I mean, Canadians have no choice but to learn about American history. We have no choice but to learn about American history. I learned about the American westward expansion and the Wild west in my history class in the 90s in Britain. But that's the whole American soft power thing right there. Did we learn about colonialism? Absolutely not. It's kind of like, it's kind of like, there were kings and queens, and then hey, should we learn about America now? Yeah, yeah.

and then, hey, should we learn about America now? Yeah. This, I don't know when the Cold War was. I know that it was after World War II and then it just kind of whispered away. So I don't know if it has anything to do with war. When was World War II? It ended in like the fort in 45. 39 to 45, it's a little early for that.

Yeah, the dates, I'm not good with dates, but that's good to know. So it's after that, the dates, I'm not good with dates. But that's good to know. So it's after that, civil rights, I'm just naming things that happened. Civil rights, women's suffrage. Women's suffrage was, I think, also a little bit earlier than 60 to 75. You've got to figure out what in the world was happening between 1960 and 1975. I can't tell you what was happening, but something significant was happening in the world at that time That we need to

Remember That's relevant Radio? No, radio was already a thing TV? TV TikTok? Was TikTok out then? Musically Would have been musically back then

You were a lot closer with wars. The moon landing. The space race. 69. The moon. What were the Americans thinking about? The Americans were thinking about space, right? That's true.

So it's not space. Okay, so let's take a step back from thinking about history. Why do you think the grades might have changed? It's interesting that it was like D and F and then going straight to like A's. So my obvious, this is like the obvious one, right? It's like literally the bell curve, right? So it's like they went from grading just like on pure like, you know, thresholds thresholds 40 is a fail to grading on a curve um and that's why you just saw like everything shifts to people getting more positive marks

and then they sort of like normalized again as people got better at doing curves okay yeah that yeah you're on you're on the right track you're on the right track what what would how would students feel um ah or why would students this is a classic why would students care about it yeah this is a classic basically they were like the professors care about something like that i'm with you i'm okay so here's what happened. Let me tell you a story. Students beforehand, students were like, oh yes. Okay. 40% is a fail or whatever. And then they were like, hey, let's grade things on a curve. So the professors and the faculty were all like, let's grade things on a curve because we need to standardize across different years and different tests and all of

that stuff. So then the students were like, oh my God, we all got A's. Wahoo. And then the people from the year above were like, hang on, we had to, if I was just one year below, then I would have been, that's not right. The old guy in the room is going to come in with a bit of history knowledge. I'm pretty sure those are the dates of the Vietnam War or close to it. That is correct. They are the dates of the Vietnam War or close to it. That is correct. They are the dates of the Vietnam War. Was that a draft? I think it was a draft because Muhammad Ali did not want to fight in that war. So all of the men went to Vietnam?

I don't know why I said men in question marks. Do they exist? I don't know. They went to Vietnam. So then the grades went up Was it so that you couldn't go? Okay I'm curious if it was just like Their grades were adjusted and

Inflated to make it easier for them to get Drafted Or they left and so then The grades got higher Because the silly men left They weren't distracting anymore Yeah and so then the grades got higher. Because the silly men left. They weren't distracting anymore. Yeah, that feels less realistic versus... Because the thing is, the jump from D and F to A seems quite drastic.

I think they wanted people to graduate so they could go off to war maybe. Or it could be like a scholarship type situation like they sometimes do where it's like oh we just need people to like get through this um or they need to get an a to like be drafted or something oh you need a high school education to go to war i actually had the opposite thought which is that the professors were trying to protect some of their students because if they failed them out of college, they would be drafted. But both of those explanations work. So the professors didn't want to lose their students.

You're right. That's why they... So they made sure if they gave them too many Ds or Fs, they could drop out of college, they'd be drafted, they'd be sent off to Vietnam. And instead, they kept them in truly i have no concept of the draft or history yeah i didn't mean yeah you don't have any concept

of history that's not what i was agreeing to yeah you are right you should say it we have no concept of history i asked when world war ii was twice in two episodes i think yeah so so teachers didn't want their students to leave to go get drafted in the war so they inflated their grades they would stay in school and not flunk out and get drafted to go to war next questions from me uh good luck with this one. The famously wide pavements of the North and South Parades in Bath, England, also explain why the pipe organ in St Paul's Cathedral didn't sound as good in the mid-19th century. How? I'll say that again. The famously wide pavements of the North and South Parades in Bath, England,

also explain why the pipe organ in St Paul's Cathedral didn't sound as good in the mid-19th century. How? What is the North and South parades? Probably just roads. They're some very wide streets. Oh, okay. Okay. I was imagining, like, inflatable Snoopy. Oh, like a Macy parade?

Not. Snoopy isn't the name. Snoopy's the dog from the name Snoopy is the dog From the thing What is the dog? Are you talking about Like the Macy's parade Where they have a load of Balloons that go through New York

This is my only knowledge Of parades Okay Parade is also a word That can be used Instead of like road Or street Or something like that

It's like promenade Same energy But it's a different word Yes Yeah Can confirm. Okay. So wide streets.

Is it like hilly? I don't know. Bath. What is the geography there like? Yeah, I went to Bath when I was like eight. Let me think. I don't remember. Hope this helps.

Are there baths in Bath? There are. I think, Roman baths, but maybe other empires are also available. Yeah, I think, I mean, is it to do with Roman baths and the Romans building the roads wide? No, not in this case. We're looking for a reason that the pavements were wide that would also explain why a cathedral organ wouldn't sound as good. Okay, so pavements being wide. Interesting.

Yeah, in the mid-19th century. Yeah, I am using road and pavements interchangeably, which might actually be a problem. Because the pavements were wide where people walk. Oh, yeah, that is sidewalk to North Americans, isn't it? Yes, actually, you're right. So wait, I'm lost. I've been misplaced in this conversation. Are we talking about a place where humans walk?

Correct. Yes. are we talking about a place where humans walk? Correct. Yes. This is wide sidewalks and an organ that doesn't sound as good in the mid-19th century. What was the reason for both? I wonder if it's like if something was made poorly on purpose or if it's like the acoustics. Or if it's something about rock.

Something about the rock is weird. I mean, Bath and St. Paul's is in London. Bath is not London. like or if it's something about rock something about the rock is weird i mean bath and saint paul's is in london and bath is not london oh is it not in the same location yeah sorry i'm like there's all these things that i just know that i'm not like sharing um i guess, so the only thing I can think is like, did they make the organ in Bath and then walk it to London? That sounds crazy. Humidity. Humidity. That doesn't feel right.

No, no offense. Okay. You actually gave a little bit of a hint yourself there Taha With promenade Walking? Dancing? Walking Promenading is walking Walking yeah

And specifically it's walking to show yourself off It's a fashionable activity back then That you would be walking So did they try and show off this organ? They were like Look at this This is a boy No the organ never made it to Bath

This is just two things with the same reason. Are they connected to one another? No. I mean, no. Like, St. Paul's is in London. Bath is a different town. But, like, the idea of, like, having the thing made in one place and moved to another, that would seem to, like, they share a single cause.

Like, there's a cause and effect relationship. Or is it, like, a single cause has affected both of these things? No, same cause, two effects. Wide pavements in Bath, and a church organ that didn't sound as good. Does the church organ, like, if the street was

wide to account for, like, a lot of people, or, like, to show something off, was it, like, the organ was designed to account for like a lot of people or like to show something off? Was it like the organ was designed to look good? Like it was structured to look good, but it wasn't the ideal acoustic structuring, you know? The first half of that's about right. The streets were made wide to show something off or to account for people showing something off showing something off whenever i think of a promenade for some reason i think of uh parasols i'm just saying that just to see if that does anything so you don't run into other people you need a lot of

you need a wide there's like you know it's like you take up a lot more space as just one human. And so like with a parasol. So maybe you're just taking up a lot of space on the pavement. And so if you were in St. Paul's Cathedral, you'd take up a lot of space. You are so nearly there. It's not a parasol, but you've got pretty much the rest of that night. They were... A horse. Just like...

Okay. It's the mid-19th century. Mid-19th century. I didn't know what happened in the 60s. Oh, yeah. We have put two history questions back to back here, haven't we, for Gen Z. A car?

Is this... When were cars? Is this, like, during the Industrial Revolution? Is that this time period? Am I wrong? Yeah. Yeah, around then. But we're talking about people taking up a lot of space.

And honestly, with the parasol, like the picture in your head, you've got people walking down the street, big bulky parasol over the shoulder going out for a walk that's the picture you need in your head for this so i heard once before and i don't know how true this is that during like wealthy people would like like being like chubby was like a sign of wealth because you could eat lots so what was were like rich people all really chubby so they took up more room they did take up more room it wasn't them themselves it would it was also some clothes the big the big oh yeah the big clothes you know

what i'm talking about yeah the button i don't know what it's called, but like the thing that makes the truth. It's like the lampshade that they wore as a skirt kind of vibes. Yeah. Yep. The technical term is crinoline dresses. Just those enormous big dresses. So that's why the pavements were built wide. Why did that also make a church organ sound worse?

Is it because like they would be sound dampening? Yes. Like a bunch of egg cartons. What? Absolutely. Are you serious? The dresses were so big that they deadened the sound in the cathedral. That's wild. Whoa.

I'm going to make a suit made out of sound panels and take it to concerts. Just absorb all the sound. Just to mess with the sound engineers? There's this one weird dead spot, so I keep... It keeps moving. Just Taha in his sound dampening suit. I love that. Yes, the wide pavements of Bath and the deadened church organ

in the mid-19th century were both caused by crinoline dresses. We're going to Taha for the next question. Take it away. Okay, so this question was sent in by Phil. There is a building in North Bend, Washington State that is frequented by locals and tourists. There is one doorknob on the outside of the entrance door, but seven doorknobs on the inside. Why? What? So, once more, there is a building

in North Bend, Washington State that's frequented by locals and tourists. There's one doorknob on the outside of the entrance door, but seven doorknobs on the inside. Why? Where are all the elves on the outside of the entrance door, but seven doorknobs on the inside. Why? We're all the elves on the inside of the building.

North Bend, Washington. I feel like I've been there at some point, which is entirely unhelpful because I can remember nothing else but the name North Bend. I may just have seen a sign to North Bend and thought, that's a silly name. I may just have seen a sign to North Bend and thought, that's a silly name. Hmm. So it's a full building. It's straight up for real building. Oh, right. Yes.

I thought you meant like it's a building that's at maximum occupancy. And I was like, I don't know. Sorry, no. Yeah. But it's like a building. It's like a place. It's not just a door. It's like a whole thing. It's a real building. And people like a place. It's not just a door. It's like a whole thing. Yes.

It's a real building. And people go to it. Yes, they do. Locals and tourists. Well, locals and tourists go there. Okay, so is it like a pub or a bar or something like that that would mean the locals keep going back? Or a restaurant?

The only reason that locals and tourists go to somewhere is if it's going to serve food or something like that or it's just famous no no actually no right these are all this is a good like um area to be exploring i wonder if it's like a jungle gym though i don't know there's something whimsical about doors and like having multiple doorknobs i think like oh a child would find this interesting I don't know if an adult would be like, ah, yes, my seven doorknobs. It's like a puzzle doorknob. Like a puzzle doorknob, like a puzzle door.

Yeah, I think- Oh, you don't know which door to leave from. Yeah, you could describe it as a very simple puzzle. All right. It's not just like an escape room that you need seven people to turn the right thing at the right time. Because in my head, when you said this, I was like,

is that like something at Disneyland for like the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs house? But A, that's not in Washington. And B, I don't think you'd need seven people to turn the doorknobs. That's not a great way to leave a house. So there's nothing specific about the number seven. And I will say that only one of the doorknobs is functional. Oh, okay. Because otherwise that would probably violate fire codes

to have to like get seven all over at the same time. There's six people in the house and it's just, yeah. Yeah. It's just done. And the thing is my brain, and if I don't say this, every single pedant listening to this will be, it's like technically you'd only need three people

if they both had two hands. But, sorry, just, if I don't say it, then I will get angry emails. I'm not even the right person to email about things here, but they'll still send them to me. How many hands do you have? What do you mean? Three people, two hands, covers six knobs.

Yes, so therefore if you only have three people, you're stuck inside, you need a fourth to get out. Yeah. Okay. Yep, there we go. Okay. I can just hear someone starting to type and go, well, actually, technically. So commenters, hit the backspace.

We got there before you. I feel like that's just a good guide for life, really. Commenters, hit the backspace. But do all the doorknobs look the same? They all look the same, except for one of them. The functional one? It's definitely like a pub or a restaurant or something like that. Was I right there?

Yeah. And is this the exit door, or is this some kind of challenge where if you pick the right doorknob, you get a free beer? No, yeah, so it was in the question. There's one on the outside of the entrance door, so it is the entrance door. Of course, yeah. Was it like a joke, where it's just like,

oh, it's to confuse you for when you're leaving the pub? It's to confuse the devil! We've had this. Yeah. The devil's doorknob, which I'm pretty sure is a cave formation somewhere in Derbyshire. So it was to confuse you. However,

I don't think... You know, it's not a very confusing thing. Unless you're drunk. Yes. It's to trap people in there so they keep drinking. So they can't leave. Oh, it's so you don't drink and drive.

If you can't work out the doorknob, you shouldn't get your keys back. Yeah, so you've basically got it in that it was to check how drunk people were before they leave the bar. So yes, this is a pub called Mount Sai, which opened 100 years ago, which used a sobriety test, which basically was if someone spends too long trying to use the wrong handle, then it was a warning sign that they might have drunk too much. So I guess it was more of a public health issue 100 years ago rather than drinking and driving. Yeah, drunk in charge of a horse and carriage. Interesting. Yeah, I guess it makes sense that it's not even identifying the right one. It's just like, if you're sober, you should know when a doorknob isn't real.

So there is a pub in North Bend, Washington State, that uses a seven-doorknob door as a test for how drunk people are to check if they're too drunk. My last big question of the show, then. We've got one more guest question after this, and then we've got the one I asked at the start. But my last big question is this. Sometimes people wistfully say, if only there were 25 hours in the day. However, there is somewhere that you can genuinely enjoy five consecutive days of 25 hours each. Where? So I'll give you that again. Sometimes people wistfully say, if only there were 25 hours in

the day. However, there is somewhere you could genuinely enjoy five consecutive days of 25 hours each. Where? Five days. Okay. Five consecutive days. That's right. It's a question about time technicalities. This is right in my wheelhouse. Somewhere near the poles, right? It's always somewhere near the poles. It's always not in this case, unfortunately. I don't think it's on Earth. Interesting.

I think this is like Venus or one of the other ones. They already have whack hours now, right? Yeah, but it could be like, it could spin in a way that means that there's 24 out, 25 hours for five consecutive days, and then it spins out into different amount of days. I will say the question includes the phrase, you could genuinely enjoy. And I feel like you would not be able to enjoy that for an extended period of time with current technology. This is an option that is available to you now. Oh, interesting.

Okay, so are we assuming it's somewhere on Earth? I will let you have that clue immediately. This is somewhere on Earth. Okay. The thing that's perplexing me is that Tom wasn't immediately like, I can't believe I haven't been to this place and made a video on this. So why hasn't Tom already enjoyed? I'm going to open up a YouTube. Yeah. And why haven't I already seen this video from Tom? Like I'm in a place and here's 24,

five hours. So that's throwing me off. Yeah. I think there are like two ways of tackling it, right? Like there's the, there's the technical definition of a day, which is like a full rotation. And then the other one is just like time zones. Yeah. So is it like a weird time zone thing? Hmm. I guess like you don't have, you experience long days if you're on the poles, where it's just like the sun doesn't set.

But if we're not accounting for that, yeah it's probably a time zone thing i feel like the time zone thing is confusing because it means that we need a time zone that would go forward and backwards in time or no just forward in time you would have to go you'd have to you just need an extra one you would need it five times in a day only for five days let's imagine we are at a we are at a time zone crossing yeah right so we're at one spot how do we get we can steal an extra hour right because of the clock they increase by an hour yeah and then they have it's also by daylight savings bet yeah definitely you just hopping back and forth between the two places because it has to be by five days. So it's limited.

So you can't just keep it in perpetuity. So it has to be someplace that adopts daylight savings time in a quirky way. So it would have to be like a place that has like four or five time zones chopping through it. And some of those time zones observe daylight savings and some of them don't. And so you could, you could have an environment where you could always jump to

a zone for five days. You are in the right kind of area. It is about jumping through time zones. It's not daylight savings. Whoa. In fact, daylight savings would screw this plan up. I don't know what days you get there.

I don't want to try and work it out. Okay. But only five days. When we can enjoy it. So is it like a traversal? So we're limited by land then. So it's five time zones. Like Canada.

Does Canada have five? I don't know. How big is the space? Wait, hang on. We don't need five time zones. Do we need five time zones?'t know. How big is the space? 20. Wait, hang on. We don't need five time zones. Do we need five time zones? Do we not just need two time zones?

I'm going to just read one specific bit of this question again. There is somewhere you could genuinely enjoy five consecutive days of 25 hours each. But are you staying still? And that is a really important question. Hmm. I don't think it's possible for you to stay still. I wonder if it's like a cruise ship. A minute ago, you said we're limited by land here,

and you're really not. So what might this be? Okay, so it is a five-day cruise that keeps going to time zones, which add an extra hour every day for five days. So you're going from... Right, which means it has to be... Only one cruise in the world would do this. Yeah, okay. You're going...

Disney Cruise. Spot. Which way do you have to travel for this, east or west, if you're gaining time. Oh, God. East. Oh, God. No, no, west.

It's this way. West. It's this way. You have to go towards Japan. That's what I know. Well, you can go... I think it is west, right? Yeah, you're going west.

They gain daylight. You're doing five days over five time zones westbound. So this has to be... Atlantic. Across... From the UK to... That's Pacific. To New York.

Oh, good going, Arthur. Taha's got it. It is east to west, London to New York, usually on the Queen Mary too. It takes five days to travel the five time zones from the UK to eastern time in the US. And so, follow-up question. Very fun.

Have you made this video already? No, and I would love an excuse to business expense a trip on the Queen Mary 2, but I think that might be pushing it just a little bit. I think I'm going to do it. What's the point of having all those subscribers? I've been wondering about that lately. Um, yes, this is the Queen Mary 2. What's the point of having all those subscribers? I've been wondering about that lately. Yes, this is the Queen Mary 2.

It goes from Southampton to New York, and it is a seven-night cruise, but for five nights in a row, they give you one extra hour in bed. They shift the time zone, so you're already adjusted when you get to New York. The last guest question of the show then, Sabrina, when are you ready?

All right. This is a listener question that has been sent in by Leonard. Thank you, Leonard. In the year 208, military strategist Zhuge Liang was ordered to prepare 100,000 arrows for battle. He was able to do it within three days despite a lack of suitable materials. Instead, he used large amounts of straw, drums, and some fortunately foggy weather. How? I'll say it again. In the year 208, military strategist Zhuge Liang was ordered to prepare 100,000 arrows for battle. He was able to do it within three days despite a lack of suitable materials. Instead, he used large amounts of straw, drums, and some fortunately foggy weather. How? Did he simulate for the illusion of that many arrows by like, uh, uh, basically throwing loads of straw, which made it seem like there was a hail of arrows,

and then using drums to simulate the sound so that the opposing team would run away or be like, we're being shot at too much. Oh, no. VFX. No, he did end up with a bunch of arrows at the end of his endeavour

after three days right three days I love how we've all just let opposing team just sail on by there that's I don't know

what do you call them the enemy opposing army there you go the enemy they're a team I love that the words enemy just did not

come to your mind there, Taha. It's great. I don't want to attach a moral virtue to the opposing team. Maybe they were right. I don't know who was the enemy. You said straw, drums, and fog. The fog is throwing me off. So there were arrows at the end of it.

It wasn't just that he simulated it. That's what Taha said. I'm just stuck in my head of like, oh yeah, they fooled the opposing army. But no, they actually did have the arrows. Did they have help to make this or did they do it all by themselves? You could say they had help.

Was the help the fog? There were many helpful things at this moment. Oh God, okay. Right. So if I was given some straw drums and a convenient fog and tasked with making thousands of arrows what would i do you could hypnotize a crowd with the drums could you hit them with the vibes and enforce them to make you arrows The fog is just a background character.

You just set it to throw us off. It's just dramatic. Someone's let off a smoke machine nearby just for effect. Okay, so I could make thousands of arrows with just straw. They just wouldn't be very good. They were proper battle-ready arrows. What's this fog doing? He's like an expert in origami.

Like, how is he doing this? How many drums does he have? Wait, what is a drum? Oh, now we're getting existential. No, as in like, because you can have like a... I've seen the Auntie Donna sketch. Everything's a drum. But like, what I mean is like,

are we talking about a musical instrument drum? Are we talking about like an oil drum type drum? Oh. Like there's loads of different. It was used to create sound. Right. Wait, what was that drumming machine? Nevermind.

I'm thinking of that drumming machine, but that was a drum. I think it's worth going back to your original concepts of like illusions. So there was an illusion, but the illusion wasn't the arrows because the arrows were battle ready. Yes. I could say that the straw was used to copy something. It just wasn't used to copy arrows. People. Wait, is it a straw man?

I would say that this might have been the ultimate prank. Wait. Is it that he made is this like the original definition of like straw man like did he make like little scarecrows and so the arrows were really tiny and then the fog made it seem like there were loads of people with arrows. You were there and then you weren't there, Melissa. I was going on the same train as a scarecrow. It's like maybe he made a big straw man. But that has nothing to do with making arrows. I don't know how the straw man made arrows.

Well, you do know that they were in battle with people. There was an opposing team. Did he steal the arrows from the opposition? Did he somehow sneak in and just steal all their arrows and ended up with them? I'm not going to say he stole them. Fooled them into giving over their arrows. Oh my god. He set up straw men.

You're right, Melissa. He set up dummies, and then he got the enemy to fire their arrows at the dummies. That's genius. And just collected the arrows. And was like, thank you, thank you. Thank you, that's mine. Yeah, so basically he made human-like figures out of the straw

and put them on 20 different boats. They sailed close to their enemy and feigned an attack, shouting and banging on the drums. So it was used for sound. And the enemy fired through the fog towards the ships and their arrows lodged in the straw men while the sailors were just hiding in the boat. So then guess what? They got the arrows. Wow. It's comforting to know that they didn't hypnotize the crab with the boat. So then, guess what? They got the arrows. Wow. It's comforting to know

that they didn't hypnotize the crab with the drum and force us... They just set a vibe. ...to make arrows. So yeah, on a foggy day, he feigned an attack, enticing the enemies

to fire arrows at them, which he took. A genius. At the start of the show, I asked the audience, according to scientists at a Dresden university, what kind of wave travels at 12 metres per second, regardless of altitude.

And on the call, we were all on to record this, I saw a couple of faces light up. Does anyone want to take a guess? A greeting wave. That's what I was thinking! So, it is to do with people. It's not quite that. It's not just waving at someone.

Ooh! It's this! It's the wave! It is the wave. Yeah. The crowd wave? The crowd wave from stadiums, no matter the altitude, the details, anything like that, it is normally about 12 meters per second wherever you go.

And it is always terrible. Never do the wave. Boo. I disagree so strongly with that, Sabrina. Yeah, I love the wave. But you know what? It's fun just to go wee! You know what?

You have the next few seconds. What are you doing? What's in your life? Where can people find you? And why do you hate the wave? You can find us at youtube.com forward slash answer in progress where we make educational videos um potentially one day about why the wave is bad actually but you'll need to subscribe to ever get my answer melissa i don't know why sabrina

doesn't like the wave but watch our silly little videos. And I love the wave. I think it connects us all as humans enjoying a joyful moment in a stadium together. And you could also watch our videos, which are also about the world and us as humans living in the world. That was a great segue. I'm really proud of that one.

And if you want to find out more about this show or send in a question yourself, you can do that at lateralcast.com. There are video highlights at youtube.com slash lateralcast and we are at lateralcast pretty much everywhere. With that, thank you very much. It is goodbye from Sabrina. Goodbye.

From Melissa. Bye. From Taha. Hello once more. I've been Tom Scott and that's been Lateral