Lateral with Tom Scott - 44: TV directing in reverse

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

From 'Jet Lag: The Game', Sam Denby, Adam Chase and Ben Doyle face questions about food fakery, coat calamities and vaccine verses. 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: The Podcast Studios, Dublin. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Thanh Nguyen, The Fullest Circle, Emil, Jarvis. 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

Albert Sabin's polio vaccine inspired which famous song? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. These are the voyages of the starship Lateral, its continuing mission to explore strange new trivia, to seek out new questions and new answers, and to boldly go where no panel game has gone before. Joining us to explore the final frontier of lateral thinking, we have the team from Jetlag the Game returning. Last time I tried to introduce them one at a time and it devolved into chaos. So please welcome Ben Doyle, Adam Chase, and Sam Denby, and one of you, say hello.

Hi. Thank you, Ben. of you, say hello. Hi. Thank you, Ben. We're coming to you. How are you doing? I'm good. I'm good. I'm happy to be back. Are we allowed to reveal that we recorded the last one 10 minutes ago? Or does that destroy... I mean, I think if the audience haven't figured out that we record these in blocks by now, there's something wrong.

I am so glad to be back. That 10 minutes was the worst 10 minutes of my life. And now I'm living again. I'm so happy. Adam, how are you doing? Well, actually, a fun fact about me, Tom, is that I'm quite sick right now. Oh, thank you for turning up

and not leaving us with two thirds of jet lag and a gaping hole where you would have been. I found out, by the way, your last season was in New Zealand, and we missed each other by about two kilometres. Yeah. You nearly got another John Green-style cameo in there.

I was in Rotorua on the day you drove through it at speed. And so, just slightly differently, if I'd have gone to the Zorb centre that day, I could have been Zorbing with you. Not only did you have that near miss, but where they were there was a spot where you had filmed, Tom, Kerosene Creek.

Yes. That was many years ago, though. That was years ago. Not this trip, yeah. If you'd have done the Schwebe instead of Zorbing, we absolutely would have bumped into each other. Yes, that was many years ago, though. That was years ago. Not this trip, yeah. If you'd have done the Schwebe instead of Zorbing, we absolutely would have bumped into each other. We were kilometers apart.

I mean, Tom, this is a sign that you have to keep us updated on where you are in case we go by you so that we can have a fun crossover. Oh, you want to hear a fun fact, though, about this? Is that when we got to new zealand ben got a text from his mom that was like tom scott's in australia not that far yeah because my online presence lags behind the real world one i couldn't figure out how she knew that i was just like how did you know and then she stopped responding now i'm just worried that your mother is stalking me.

I wouldn't put it that way. If you knew Ben's mom, entirely possible. She might do it. Ben's mom is very involved in online fandoms. She's much more involved in the jet lag fandom than any of us are. That's true. We should also introduce the one person whose voice has appeared without introduction so far,

the last member of the jet lag trio, Sam Denby. Hello. Thanks, Sam. I have nothing else to add. Here's plan A for today's show. I'm going to ask our guests a series of thought-provoking questions and hope they don't stare back at me with the deer in the headlights look. I do hope that's okay with everyone because I do not have a plan B. I'm going to start you off with the first question the headlights look. I do hope that's okay with everyone, because I do not have a plan B.

I'm going to start you off with the first question, which is... In the 1990s, the US Postal Service ordered a large number of Subaru Legacy station wagons for their rural routes. Why did they import rather than buy something similar locally? So one more time, in the 1990s, the US Postal Service ordered a large number of Subaru Legacy station wagons for their rural routes. Why did they import rather than buy something locally? Okay, wait, wait. Sam is mouthing that he knows the answer? I'm not going to break the game. I'm going to let you discuss. I am 95% sure.

You've clearly found this at some point in your research and also given the number of videos you've done about logistics. Tom, I want credit. I have never heard this fact, but I am 95% sure that I immediately know the answer. All right, so you get to do the thing where you sit back and you hope it's right, because otherwise you will get roundly mocked at the end of it. Oh yeah, you're going to look like an absolute fool

if you wait a little while and then you come in with your right answer and it's wrong ben adam this one's on you i don't know anything about cars but i had a car for five months when i was living in colorado and it was a subaru it was a bright orange subaru and i liked it very much so maybe they felt similarly about the only thing that I know about I know two things about Subarus one is that love is what makes a Subaru a Subaru that's um and and the second thing that I know about Subarus is that um they're very very popular among lesbians uh because there was like a big marketing campaign in i want to say the 90s or something where like subaru was having a lot of trouble selling like its cars and uh they figured out that like their

sort of unique you know like the advantages of those cars was like, for whatever reason, focus groups like worked really well for American lesbians. And so they were like one of the first brands ever to sort of try to subtly market themselves to like lesbians in America. And there were like ads for Subarus, like in America that had like subtle hints that if you were a lesbian, you would understand that it was trying to talk to you. But like a person who was not a lesbian would not realize that that was like the intention of the ad. Is that the answer? Unfortunately not. Neither of those fun facts about Sub Subaru is relevant to this one. To be fair,

there is another thing about Subaru which you'll probably know that would be a first clue about this. They're like SUVs, right? They're like sport utility vehicles. They're good on like an off-roading. Is that connected to it? It would have been one of the reasons, but they could have bought something like that locally. Okay, wait, wait. Let's gain some information here. Sorry, can you clarify the question one more time? What was it they were using them to do? They were using them for their rural routes,

but they imported when they could have bought something locally. Was it cheaper to import? Probably not. Also, it's the US Postal Service. They'd buy American if they could. Was it like a was there like a legal loophole or quirk at play here? Not really, no.

You said like they could have bought something similar locally. Like, just to be clear, like... I regret saying that now. I'm not sure they could have easily bought something like this locally. There is a reason they went for the import. Okay, so like, did the import have some quality or ability that they could not easily get locally? Yes.

Okay. Oh, here's one. Do I have it? Maybe I have it. I don't know, but I love the light bulb moments. You're so enthusiastic when it's like, oh, that's a thing that's connected. Duh. Is it because they're fueled by diesel?

Oh, and I also hate it when the light bulb moment turns out to go nowhere. That is not it, unfortunately. Does it have something to do with driving on the left side of the road? Yes, it does, Ben. Oh, so that they can get out and do the mailboxes. Yep, talk it through, Adam. Like, just for those who haven't come along... Actually, you know what? We'll let Sam, because I think you got this very early. I think that was your answer. Yes.

Cause like it's the only, so male postal vehicles in the U S are the only vehicles that have the driving, the, the, the steering wheel on the opposite side as normal. Um, and the reason why is because, you know, you drive on the right side of the road in the US and the steering wheel is on the left. But if you're delivering, you know, to a to a to a mailbox, which is like hanging outside the road, you just want to reach over your outside of your window. So you want to be seated on the right side of your vehicle. So you want a vehicle that is made for driving on the opposite side of the road as the side that you actually drive on. And so you import, you know, a UK built, a UK spec version or something. Yep. And Subaru is Japanese who also drive on that side, who also have their wheels on that side.

So yes, the USPS imported Japanese cars because the wheel was on the right. All of our guests have brought a question along with them. I don't know the question. I definitely don't know the answer. And we start this time with Sam. All right. Well, this listener question has been sent in by The Fullest Circle. So the website colornames.org allows users to suggest names for over 16 million colors.

What does the color cheap mattress look like? So I'll repeat that. The website colornames.org allows users to suggest names for over 16 million colors. What does the color cheap mattress look like? Okay, I know this website. I don't know the answer to the question, but I know the website because I have had the same like brand color for, it's coming up on it must be coming up on nearly 20 years now and at some point that particular color someone has put in that database as my color because no one had yet named it and i like i appreciate the gesture that's still kind of weird what color is it is the color of your red shirt It is a particular color that I sampled

from a completely different red shirt about 20 years ago and used as like the building block for my website back then. And that happened because I happened to use that picture for the header. So I happened to use that pixel and happened to use that color

and everything. It is nearly two decades later and that is still the brand color that i have on everything because of a decision i made almost at random 20 years ago attention lateral audience please name a color after me i want one also that's a request what color do you want something not comparable to old mattress or whatever that is. Let's get into that. Cheap mattress.

Cheap mattress. All right. Here's my strategy on how to answer this question. I'm going to start naming colors. Pink, yellow, blue, red, green, white. I'm going to reject this on principle. We are speed running this game. Wait, wait. I'm sorry.

I do have to ask the obvious question, right? Like, I don't know. What did it look like? I don't know. Did it look like a sort of off-white, you know, like a brownish off-white? That's what I would imagine cheap mattress would look like, right? Like that kind of color stain you get on pillows and mattresses after someone's sweated into them for many years. That kind of color stain you get on pillows and mattresses after someone's sweated into them for many years. That kind of color.

Nope. Because I feel like I have never seen a mattress of any other color. My first thought on this is that it's like hexadecimal color names. So if you do web development, every one of those 16 million colors is given a six-character code. And each of those characters is between 0 and F. So you've got 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F. And for mathematical reasons, that's where you get the 16 million from. There are 16 million possible codes there.

And those have been used to spell stuff out in the past. There's a limited number of words you can get with them, but like cheap mattress. If it was like dead bees. No, that's still, that's still too many characters. Somebody go right now into the color naming thing and name something dead bees.

No, it's gotta be a six letter one as well. It's just gotta be like dead bee, bees. No, it's got to be a six-letter one as well. It's just got to be like dead bee. No, I was assuming dead bee was spelled D-E-D-B-E-S. Dead bees. But that can't be cheap mattress. You've got an M in there and a T. That doesn't match anything like that.

You're definitely on the right track, Tom. Does it have to do with hexadecimal codes? Yeah. Yeah, no, it absolutely does. Tom is absolutely on the right track, Tom. Does it have to do with hexadecimal codes? Yeah. Yeah, no, it absolutely does. Tom is absolutely on the right track. So it has nothing to do with what a cheap mattress looks like in real life? No, no, I never said that then. It could also have something to do with what the mattress could look like.

Oh, okay. Because I was thinking, like, is there, where would you buy a cheap mattress? Somewhere like Ikea or something like that? But again again that doesn't map to codes okay wait a minute here is this is probably wrong but just throwing it out here what if the name of a cheap ikea mattress was a hexadecimal code like a six-letter name of a mattress you know like uh what's like a cheap mattress brand like good luck with some fake ikea names here right right but but like you know like serta or whatever like if that is a hexadecimal code is sam is it the name is does the hexadecimal code of the of the color spell out the name of a specific brand or type of mattress nope sorry could it be like a visual thing like the the numbers look like a cheap

mattress when you put them on their side i don don't know where I was going with that. It makes a visual thing. I don't know. You were closer to it a couple minutes ago. You've gone a little bit off track. Well, I will say, though, Tom, I liked the idea that it made it look like

a mattress, because it's like the way the chair looks like a chair. It's a synonym thing. Bed. B-d is a valid uh hexadecimal thing so it's it's a synonyms it's synonyms for cheap and mattress it's going to be something bed what's a three letter bad bed bad bed but that's not so i'll confirm that that is correct but that's not the answer to the question the question is what does the color what does it look like so i do wonder do any of you have any idea how to translate that yes and i can do this in my head which is really annoying because now i have to work it out so it's going to be b oh you can do this in your head yes i've been

web development for nearly 25 years yes of course i can do this in my head. Oh, great. All right, I'm going to sit back and relax. Because the first two characters go from 00 to FF, and that is your red. So is it bad bed, Sam? Yes. Okay, the first two is BA. So that's the red channel, those first two categories. And BA is like maybe two-thirds of the way up there.

The next two are the green channel. That is DB. So that's really up there. Like you're a DF, you're at the end of it. So that's, there's more green. And then B is ED, which is even further up there. So there's more blue than green and more green than red, but they're all really high up there. So it is a really, really pale blue with a hint of green. Wow, that is very impressive. Yes, you're correct. It's kind of light blue or turquoise. Come on!

That was crazy! That was like, you know, in The Hangover when he goes to the casino and it does the thing with all of the like, all of the like equations and stuff floating across the screen in his head.

That's what that was. I was going to say it's like the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock thing where he's got like the things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tom went into his mind palace and he had words.

Because 25 years ago when I was first building websites I was not designing them in Photoshop or like Dreamweaver or anything like that I had a text editor open I had notepad open and you literally just trial and error

to this because you were just writing really basic HTML code it's like oh I've just copied and pasted this in from view source on another site oh I guess how do I change this colour you were just writing really basic HTML code? It's like, oh, I've just copied and pasted this in from view source on another site. Oh, I guess, how do I change this colour? You had to learn it. I mean, it was never useful past then, but just this once. Just this once. Wow.

That rocked. That's one of the coolest things anyone's ever done. That is the exact opposite of cool, but I'll take it. Thank you. Okay, good luck, folks. Next question's from me, and it was sent in by Jarvis. Thank you very much. In the TV series Stargate SG-1, the character Major Wood appears in over 20 episodes. Why is he often filmed with his back to the camera to make things easier for the director? I'll give you that one more time. In the TV series Stargate SG-1, the character Major Wood appears in over 20 episodes.

Why is he often filmed with his back to the camera to make things easier for the director? I mean, my first impulse is that this has something to do with like ADR or like you shoot people from the back when you want to like dub them over for some reason. I was thinking continuity maybe kind of on similar lines my first thought was like makeup or uh cgi like if this is like a cgi character then it would be cheaper to not have to animate their face or whatever did you see that video

from i think it was nando versus movies about the artemis fowl resots. No. Disney had a kid's movie called Artemis Fowl and it got panned and it had clearly been rewritten a lot. And if you look at it, like he broke down the editing in it, there's a whole plot device that really isn't mentioned in vision for the whole first half hour of the movie.

There's just a lot of ADR work and a lot of convenient cutting away from people's mouths when they mention it. So there's clearly some massive rewrite that went on and they just kind of patched it up with ADR the cheap way. That's funny. Is that you confirming that that is right? No, that was just a relevant anecdote

because unfortunately, all three of those guesses were wrong. Like you came in with really strong guesses. And normally at this point like there's there's one right one in there and i get y'all to pick which one it is but in this case no none of those which given you all know about production is saying something i'm gonna i'm gonna be honest with you tom is i when you asked it got worried because i was like the's going to be too short because we're about to nail this one immediately. Yeah, sorry. Absolutely not.

None of those three. It's not ADR. It's not continuity. It's not makeup. But it's to make the director's life easier, you said. Oh, and now I'm going to get made fun of because i did the thing where i got excited and i but i'm gonna be wrong again i'm gonna i'm gonna be super wrong and embarrass myself did the director play that character so it was easier for him to not have to go be on camera

because you could use the stand-in yes he did major wood is martin wood who is the director of about 20 different episodes so he likes putting himself in as a cameo, but he also likes watching what's going on on set. So he gets his cameo and he keeps his back to the camera so he can actually still direct. If anyone has seen enough Stargate, he is the guy with the comically large wrench that is frequently just adjusting stuff in shot. I have never seen an episode of Stargate. I frankly have never heard of that. Nor do I know what that is. But I'm thrilled to have gotten the question right.

It's set in Colorado, Sam. Have you ever seen it? Wait, isn't this Star Trek? No, Stargate, Sam. Oh, um, no. I'm too old. We've got three people who are too young for Stargate SG-1. This is another one of those questions where I just feel very old very quickly. Fine.

Fine. Yes, Major Wood is Martin Wood. He is also the director. Ben, we're going to go to you next, whenever you're ready. Okay, here is the question. In 2019, an American company took out an advert in UK newspapers. It featured shop fronts from 25 of its much smaller rivals. Which company was it?

And I'll read that again. In 2019, an American company took out an advert in UK newspapers. It featured shop fronts from 25 of its much smaller rivals. Which company was it? I am going to be honest. I'm almost certain that I know it. All right, you back off then, Adam. You back off if you're certain about this one.

Shop fronts, right? S-H-O-P? Shop fronts. Yeah. one shop fronts right shop shop fronts yeah so there are only so many like retail chains that would be in a category that have like 25 smaller rivals i feel like yeah maybe they were entering the uk market and suddenly the big competitor was coming in and stomping all over them but i can't think what year was this, Ben? Ben. 2019. Ben. 2019. Ben. The main one that comes to mind around then was like Chick-fil-A,

and that didn't go very well. Ben. No, I mean, there are a lot of American fast food chains that tried to enter the UK in the last five, ten years. Like about ten years ago, we suddenly got like a landmark five guys in the UK, and then we got 50 of them uh we tried Wingstop we've tried there's there's a few that it was all the fast food chains trying to come in but I can't think of any other big US chain that's tried to enter yeah I live there in 2019 so like knowing American market entries around then should be something that i know about because that's like something that i would have been excited about but nothing again like chick-fil-a is the main one i can think

of from that era they opened up in london for like i didn't even know they tried yeah they it was because of their politics they got basically ran out of town which is kind of hilarious there was taco bell yeah no we've had those for we've had one or two of those for years, and now they've started expanding. Wait a minute. I just want to pop in for one second, because if I don't know it, I want to participate. I have been trying to think of a way to confirm with Ben

that it's what I think without tipping you guys off, and I think I have it. Ben. Yes. Does Patton Oswalt have a bit, a famous bit about this brand? Yes. Got it. All right.

It's what I thought. You have landed on such a good clue there, because both Sam and I are completely blank. Yeah, we're speaking in code here. Yeah. Speaking in comedy writer code. That was like some synergy between you where you just got a reference and neither of us landed that okay so some of the audience are clued in now

are we right with fast food or are we just barking up the wrong tree there ben you are right with fast food okay really and and one thing i will say to try and help you figure out you know what this might have been like what the tack might have been for this advertisement the rivals that it was showing are much much smaller so i'm gonna guess it's like small local versions of what we're talking about like maybe independent versions or something like that? Yes. I mean, I would kind of go in on Wingstop again there because they came in about 2019

and like there are a lot of just local, independent fried chicken places across Britain. Like every town will have like at least one, probably more kebab shop slash chicken place. So maybe they just kind of picked a lot. 25, you said.

25. And that number is important. I was hoping the number wasn't important because... No, the number is important. My first thought was there are a lot of rip-offs of KFC in the UK. Like the independent places will call themselves California fried chicken and Louisiana fried chicken.

Every other, not every other state. Someone did research into this and found the states that, there's no like North Dakota fried chicken in the UK. They pick the states people know. But my thought was like KFC took out an advert with like 25 other ones in there and was saying they're the original. But the number's important, so it's not that.

This frustrates me so much because there's every reason in the world why I should know this, and I don't. Yeah. So 25, if it's a five by five grid, is it five guys and they're doing something to do with that? Five guys have been around for much longer. Tom, I think you were quite close with that reasoning.

With KFC or with five guys? With KFC. I guess I can say KFC is the right answer. You said KFC, so I guess I could say KFC is the right answer. You said KFC, so I guess I can say KFC is the right answer. But the whole point of this ad was that they had shops showing A through Z FC to be like, oh, we see how you're copying us. We're so flattered. And so there were 25.

It wasn't the states. It was the letters of the alphabet. It was letters of the alphabet. Right. Because of course, across the entire country, someone will have taken their branding and changed it. There will be an AFC and a BFC and a CFC,

and they will have just, oh, I was so close. I nearly got it. So the answer is KFC. And it's because they ran an advertisement where they had AFC through ZFC, but they were the only true KFC, and they wanted to say that they were flattered. Next question's from me. Good luck. The reason why dog handlers carry baby powder and soap bubbles is the same reason why skydivers carry toilet rolls. What is it?

One more time. The reason why dog handlers carry baby powder and soap bubbles is the same reason why skydivers carry toilet rolls. What is it? Okay. Here's how I'm going to start. Here's my guess. And the more I think about it, the more wrong it sounds.

And in fact, I almost want to back out of this. But... No, you're committed now. You are absolutely committed to go for this. Okay, well, the first thing that came to mind is if your skydive goes wrong and you're stranded in the wilderness and you got to take a poo,

you want to be prepared. But I'm realizing that there are probably other things you want first. There are. And I'm not sure why dog handlers would use baby powder and soap bubbles for that. I didn't get to that part. I was just, I was working on the other half.

If it makes you feel better, Sam, my first instinct, which I absolutely know is wrong, is I was like, I was like, if your sky, if your, if your skydive goes bad, you could sort of unspool the toilet paper, like hold it, and it would shoot out above you like a flare as a signal to people that you're in trouble. What are they going to do when they see the toilet paper? Yeah, they're just going to see where you went splat.

It's not quite that that but you are right that this is getting unraveled in the air oh here here's here's a cue here's a little cue for you uh and i'm not i again am not at all on the dog handler part yet if i were a skydiver one thing that i might find useful would be if i were trying to figure out exactly what i am above like what exactly is below me if i were to go straight down if i were to hold on to a roll of toilet paper and drop it and hold on to the end of it it would be a straight shot down and i could figure out oh that's what's exactly below me. What about wind? But it would tell you about the wind.

But does it have something to do with, like, telling wind direction or something like that? Yes. Like you unspool? Yes. Okay. Oh, so I chanced into... Okay, awesome. You've chanced into it.

It is to do with the wind. That is why skydivers sometimes carry toilet paper, because you can unspool it, drop it from your plane, and you will be able to tell which way the wind is blowing. Plus, it just looks cool. So why are dog handlers carrying baby powder and soap bubbles to do that? Well, soap bubbles would also follow the wind, right? As would, I imagine, if I threw baby powder in the air, it would be blown by the wind. I guess the question is, why would you as a dog handler want to know which way the wind is?

That's the last thing I'm going to ask you to put together for this. Does it have something to do with like telling where air is coming out of a dog? You put the soap bubbles and then you can see. Oh, oh no, I've got it. I've got it. Wait, wait. I don't think they deflate like a tire, Ben. I don't know how dogs work.

What you said, Ben, is stupid, but don't worry because I figured it out. Perfect. If you're a dog handler, dogs are very controlled by smell, so it would be useful information to you if they were downwind or upwind from something that they would be able to sense by smell. So Ben, the only thing wrong in your answer was you said where air is coming out of the dog. In fact, they're trying to find out where air is going into the dog. Yes, they are tracking the wind direction to make sure they're downwind. make sure they're downwind i like ben's uh world where dog handlers to try to figure out if a dog has farted have soap bubbles and baby powder that they're constantly throwing all over the place to try to determine if it's happened put air can go out of a dog in two directions if you put soap

bubbles all over a dog you would see where air is coming out of the dog. Is it a huge mystery that the dog is breathing? Is this a huge question of where it breathes out of? What if it's not breathing, Adam? That would be a problem. You're right, Ben. You're right. If a dog is dying of suffocation, you should pour soap in its mouth. Adam, time for your question, whenever you're ready.

This listener question has been sent in by Emil. I hope that I've pronounced that correctly. In 1950, businessman Frank McNamara changed jackets before going out to dinner. As a result, $100 billion will be affected this year. How? I'll read it one more time. In 1950, businessman Frank McNamara changed jackets before going out to dinner. As a result, $100 billion will be affected this year.

How? Does this year refer to 2023 or 1950? Yes, it refers to this year, to 2023. Okay. So I know that like investors often try to get clues about action based on like really small things. And like even trying to like microanalyze emotions of like executives at times and stuff like that. I wonder if this hits on something like that i would say not really was there something in the jacket that he left at home that he was

missing when he went out yes okay i was thinking there might be like a pun on jacket or some some weird other jacket but it's an actual physical jacket okay yes you're right ben yes you are right he there was he he had left something at home that he thought was in his jacket i feel like i recognize this name i feel like i recognize this name like he's secretary of the treasury or something like that. He was some important financial figure and now his photo got taken and put on the $20 bill. No, they're presidents. I don't know what that could be. I will say that you are likely thinking of Robert McNamara, who was the U.S. Secretary of Defense. But this is not Robert McNamara. This is, in fact, Frank McNamara. Okay. So what things that could fit in a jacket could correlate to $100 billion, you said?

$100 billion this year, yes, will be affected. That feels like a banking infrastructure thing. Because it doesn't feel like he would just have had a check for $100 billion or something. I'd say it would be shocking if he had a check for $100 billion. Oh, Tom is having a break last. Is this the guy who invented the Diners Club credit card? Tom, you've hit the nail on the head, my friend. I knew I knew that story from somewhere.

He went out, he left his wallet behind, and he was some sort of, I don't know if he was an inventor or banking executive or something, but he came up with the concept of the charge card, the credit card, all that off the back of that. Or so the story goes. Like a lot of these corporate birth stories, there might be something more to it, but that's the legend that got passed down, right? Yes. Tom, you've absolutely nailed it. Yeah, so this guy, Frank McNamara, he was out at a restaurant. He realized he had left his wallet in his other jacket.

In this case, his wife was able to bail him out. She paid. But he was like, you know, this is ridiculous. You know, if I don't have cash, there should be a way to convey that I'm good for the money. Right. So he came up with the idea of a credit identification card that you could present instead of cash. He called it the diner's club card. And that eventually grew into the credit card, which is now at about $100 billion. Okay, but here's the thing,

and this is what I've always hated about that story. The credit card does not solve that problem. No, it doesn't at all. It's actually a very funny thing that you could absolutely just leave that in a jacket as well. You put that in your wallet anyway. It doesn't solve the problem. It's a lovely story.

It doesn't hold up. Yeah, it makes no sense at all, but it is, in fact, the right answer. Which means we go back to the very start of the show. I asked this listener question sent in by Tan Nguyen. Albert Sabin's polio vaccine inspired what famous song? Before I give the answer, anyone from the Jetlag team want to give this a quick shout? Was it Bad Blood by Katy Perry?

That's it. Bad Blood is by Taylor Swift and unfortunately not. Oh, it's about her feud with Katy Perry. Yes. Yeah. Oh, wow. We both out-triviated each other on pop music there. Well, this is really frustrating me because I'm like 95% sure that I heard this fact at one point, but just can't remember the answer.

It saved a lot of people's lives. I know. That is good that it did that. We Are the World. Did it inspire that? Wait, wait. Okay. Is it like a modern song from the last 50 years?

1964 from a musical. From a musical? From a musical film. Oh, God. Okay. Wait, wait, wait. Okay. Then I should be able to get it in 1964.

What, like The Wizard of Oz? The poppy seed thing? The poppy, the flower, the poppies, the flowers, and I just keep saying the flowers, the poppies. When they're in the poppy field, right? Is that? All right, I'll give you one last clue. This vaccine is not given by injection.

Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down from mariposas. Correct. Well done, Adam. Taking it away at the last moment. So I'm going to come to you first again. Plug, what are you doing? Let's start with Jetlag. Let me tell you about an incredible experience that you could have today. It's called watching our show Jetlag the Game. It's a travel competition show. It's sort of like a vlog DIY version of The Amazing Race. But instead of traveling in between the games, travel, in fact, is the game.

It's all about, can you get on the right flight? Can you make the right train? Can you plan out your route the right way in order to win? I believe that when this comes out, I think that when this comes out, I, I think that when this comes out, we either will be releasing or we'll have recently released, um, our, um, our sixth season, uh, capture the flag across Japan. Uh, we're very excited about that season. Uh, I think that we think it might be our best one yet. Um, it's played on the Japanese rail network. Uh, Ben and I are a

team against Sam and Scotty from strange Parts, a great YouTube channel. And you can watch the episodes one week early by subscribing to Nebula. So that's a fun thing you can do as well. Sam, I'm going to shout out our other channel, Half as Interesting. Ben works on it, among others, including myself and Amy.

But Ben does a great job. He recently did a field trip to get drunk at a Taco Bell down the street from him. And you can see that on the internet. Ben, last time, I believe you plugged your baking. What are you plugging this time? I have started drinking more water lately. And I think that that's really,

it's really improved my overall disposition and health and i would say that you should do that also and if you want to know more about this show you can do that at lateralcast.com where you can also send in your own listener questions we have video highlights every week at youtube.com slash lateralcast. And we are at Lateralcast pretty much everywhere. Thank you very much to the well-hydrated Ben Doyle. Thank you. To the victorious at the end there, Adam Chase. Thank you very much, Tom.

And the man who is probably grumpy that we didn't plug Wendover Productions, Sam Denby. Thank you. Bye. Thanks, Ben. I've been Tom Scott, that's been Latchel.