Lateral with Tom Scott - 53: The criminal caught by a toy

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

Corry Will, Luke Cutforth and Jack Chesher face questions about Chinese curios, perilous Perspex and dynamic drinks. 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: Tim, Steve Piers, Yifan, Noson Daitchman. 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 German supermarkets and restaurants, what can be bought in varieties marked loud and quiet? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. Welcome to a very special show, as it's our first birthday! Hey! Happy birthday! birthday! Hey! Happy birthday! Unfortunately,

due to an administrative error, the caterers sent the party food to the Literal with Tim Schott podcast, so if you're listening, Tim, please do enjoy the vol-a-vonts. Meanwhile, joining me to share a plate of slightly out-of-date biscuits, please welcome a first-timer on the show from Living London History, Jack Cheshire. Hello!

How are you doing, Jack? Yeah, I'm very well, thank you. How are you? I mean, we're a long way into this recording block now, and I'm told by the producer, this is the part where I start getting competitive. So I'm going to try and reign that in a little. How are you feeling, first time here? Yeah, I'm good. A little bit nervous.

I don't know. Obviously, I don't know what to expect, really, with these questions. But no, looking forward to it. I don't think I have any questions coming up, unfortunately, about London history, but that is your specialty, right? That is my specialty, yeah. I'm a London sort of tour guide and blogger and content creator, so yeah, that's a shame then. Also joining us on the podcast this week, we have one half of the Sci Guys podcast, Curry Will. Hello! The best half of the podcast, if I do say so myself. Rude. Without wanting to spoil the joke that I tried to set up,

which hasn't worked there, there might be someone taking issue with that later. Now, this is a return to the show for you. How was it last time? It was very fun, actually. And one of my favorite parts is when it suddenly comes up and I see it online. Little videos. Oh, I did that. That's me! That's a thing! And also joining us from the

SciGuys podcast, the other half of the show, Luke Cutforth. Hey, the best half, if you ask me. I mean, I'm not going to put you two in a duel to the death here. You do sort of bring different things to the show. Thank you. As one of our subscribers put it, Corey does the research and Luke... It's not untrue. Best of luck to all three of you with today's questions.

Just because it's our birthday doesn't mean the show is any different. We'll be blowing out candles while igniting the spark of creativity. Or alternatively, just getting a big sugar rush from all the frosting on the cake. So, I'm going to help you to a generous slice of question one, which goes like this. At the Tokyo Hand Store in Shibuya, a step on the staircase has the number minus 1.260 written on it. The step above reads minus 1.365. Why?

I'll give you that one more time. At the Tokyo Hand Store in Shibuya, a step on the staircase has the number minus 1.260 written on it. The step above reads minus 1.365. Why? I'm going to apologise to everyone in Japan for my pronunciation

of Shibuya. Honestly, it's a department store in Japan for my pronunciation of Shibuya. Honestly, it's a department store in Japan. Okay. We'll just go with that. That helps a lot. There are 365 days in a year. I know that. That's immediately what I thought as well. They correlate to a day, the particular day in the year possibly, or a significant date in the history of the company? Or is there something to do with coordinates?

It's slow shoppers. That's how long it takes to get up the steps because there's just so many people. Maybe that's it. That's it, right? Not quite. Yeah. Not exactly. Oh, minus one point is, oh dear, this is tough.

And do they all have numbers on them? Is it just... Yes, they do. All of those steps have numbers. I've just given you a couple of examples of them. Do the numbers relate to a floor in the building, possibly? It would be sort of one point something something, two point something something relating to different areas.

Like it's on floor negative one, but you're on the way down to negative two. So you're on part of the way there. Is that what you mean that that is sort of what i mean yeah i think so i don't know that might work if the numbers were the other way around but in this case as you go up the numbers get lower now tom can i ask a question here i may be mishearing what you're saying here but you're saying you say hands store, like a store that sells hands. If there's anything I've learned about this show, it's that every piece of information is crucial. So I thought I'll check that because it sounds like a shop that sells hands. As far as I understand it, they might sell gloves or things like that, but it is a

fairly upscale department store. or things like that, but it is a fairly upscale department store. And the numbers, the second was minus 1.365, and the first was minus 1.260. I wouldn't necessarily say first or second, but those are two numbers on the steps. So do the numbers relate to the steps specifically, or could I take one of the numbers and put them on any other step and it would still work? No, in this case, you would have to put that number on each step and the steps are sequential so there would presumably be another step with a higher number after the highest the higher number and a lower number with the okay after the lower number do they go below one or above two oh yes they do okay but

is there anything specifically interesting about these two that you've decided to tell us about? No, no, the question rises just being jokes. There's some numbers on some steps. Okay, God. I was thinking possibly something to do with the altitude of the steps or the heights of the steps, possibly, the sort of difference in heights between them. Oh, sea level, sea level. Sea level, yeah. That's closer to it. Is it distance from a peak

of some sort? There are mountains in Japan. Not quite. No. I'm hesitating with that. Again, I don't want to just immediately no but you here as opposed to yes and,

but I can't. You're starting to head the right way. Hmm. Oh, is it like a ratio of the height of the building? So, for example, if you're on a floor on the way down, you're below the building by 1.01 whatever a building's worth. Is the one a quantity of something?

Is it relative to a height? It is a quantity of something. It's not height. Okay. Okay. It's certainly related to the height. The numbers do get steadily more negative as you go up, but it's not telling you how high you are. Steadily more negative as you go up. Okay. Ooh. And if there were to be an underground area of this

building, would the numbers get steadily higher as you went down? No. You'd have to move where the zero point was. Ah, okay. So let's try and figure out where the zero point is then. Okay. So where could the zero point be? Could it be...

It's not sea level. Is it important that this is in japan i have actually seen this in a few places in japan and i've never seen it outside there um but it's more uh a social thing it's intended to kind of nudge human behavior a little i was it must be there for a reason to sort of provide! Is it to do with getting exercise in some way? Like you're climbing up stairs and that is exercising you? Ah. Yep. So what might those numbers represent? How many calories you're burning?

Oh, calories! Yes! You got it, you got it. Well done, Jack. So what would the zero point be? The bottom of the stairs, really. Yeah. Yep. It starts at zero at the bottom of the stairs. As you step up, there is just a marker on each step showing how many

calories, in the colloquial term, kilocalories, you have burned going up. It's not much. It's a fraction of a calorie per step, but they mark them out for you. I've seen this in a couple of train stations in Tokyo when I was there. There's a few places that just tell you how many

calories you burn going up the steps in an attempt to encourage that. I feel like it might be more discouraging having to look at it and see, ah, I've walked up all these steps and I've burned exactly three calories. Yeah, sort of a chocolate biscuit or something. It's like 100 calories, isn't it?

I feel like that's particularly interesting because as far as I recall, now you'll have to fact check me on this, but I think that calories were invented by, sorry, the idea of 10,000 steps, for example, was invented by a Japanese pedometer maker. And so maybe this is just the idea of fitness every day, as opposed to always working out all the time, but just generally incorporating fitness into your day might be more of a general government policy or cultural thing in Japan than it is over in the West? I think it is, but it also sort of had the opposite effect on me in that I was coming up to, I think it was Tamachi Station which has this. I looked at the steps and it told me it's going

to be about three calories and I thought, I'll just take the escalator, it doesn't make that much difference. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. As if the only point of exercising is to burn calories. I actually do have one single fact about Japanese pedometers, which is a very me fact I have. I want a jingle for this, I want like, Corrie's Japanese Pedometer Fact jingle to go in here. Corrie's Japanese Pedometer Facts. So,

for the release of Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, there was a PokeWalker. And it was basically a pedometer that you catch little Pokemon on it, but it was such a good pedometer that all of the pedometer companies were like, oh, we should try and copy this. There have been studies on this pedometer because it was more accurate than anything else on the market, but it was just made to get kids to

buy more Pokemon stuff and walk around. So there you go. That has been Corrie's Japanese pedometer fact. Each of our guests has brought a question along. I don't know the question. I definitely don't know the answer. And we're going to start today with Luke. What have you got for us? OK, so my question has been sent in by Ifan, and it is that in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC,

Chinese generals were given a three-inch flat-backed talisman featuring a tiger facing to the left. How were they used to keep the peace? I'll give you that again from the beginning. In the fourth and third centuries BC, Chinese generals were given a three-inch flat-backed talisman featuring a tiger facing to the left. How were they used to keep the peace? You've just got three baffled people on that one. Is the tiger significant in kind of Chinese...

Does it symbolise something, the tiger? That is a very good first question. And I'm going to ask it back at you. Does it symbolise something? Gosh. It's one of the signs of the zodiac, I think. The Chinese zodiac, unless I'm very much mistaken.

It is, yeah. You can have a year of the tiger. What would tiger symbolize? Strength. Power. Independence or something? Cats. Holding your child up above a giant precipice

as part of a ritual. That's lions. That's lions. That's lions. It's in the name, Tom. It is as well. It is. That's a complete blunder there. Tiger King is very different to Lion King,

and I've only just realized how similar those names are in my head. Also, how has it been three years since Tiger King king and i've never made a connection to lion king before in my head like the whole internet must got to that joke before me oh my gosh yeah you know i hadn't thought of that either that's obviously why they called it that was it i don't know or maybe not i think it's just because he was the king of the tigers really yeah you know much like in the lion king simba was just the king of the lions. Some spoilers, sorry. Well, he can't wait to be the king of the lions, more precisely, Corey.

No, so you said third and fourth century. I said the fourth and third century BC. BC. BC. That's why it's the fourth and third, because the lower it gets, the closer you get to Jesus. Looking left is significant as well. Okay. Would you use it for something, the medal possibly,

other than just hanging around your neck to stamp something? I don't know, like a seal? No, it's not a seal. It's a tiger. Hi, today I'm in crap pun mode, apparently. I've got nothing else to hang on to with this question. You said it was to keep the peace, Luke. Yes, it was used to keep the peace. I did say that, or I asked you how

it was used to keep the peace, so I suppose, by extension, it was used to keep the peace. You got me there. But you were pretty warm straight away by asking, what does a tiger represent? So I think sort of dabble around in that area. Okay, and avoid any and all stereotypes

and offense to anyone Chinese. Cool, here we go. Absolutely. We're playing Cancel Tom Scott Bingo. How will it end? It's been a long time coming. That's why the channel's ending at the end of the year. He's getting cancelled.

It doesn't sort of remind them. It's not a symbol of kind of the royalty or something. It reminds them who's in charge and it keeps the peace. Very, very warm. Very warm. Almost on fire. So is it royalty or is it maybe something more spiritual? Is it reminding people of a person?

It's reminding people of a person. The king? The emperor? The emperor. The king indeed. The king. Okay. And they're all facing left.

Is it like a reminder they're all trying to go in the same direction? They're all working together? That's an interesting question, Tom. I don't know the answer to that um one of the one of the kind of clues i've got here is um what would a left and right facing talisman talisman give you oh oh hold on wait hold on is it to stamp something is that what this is about? Because if it's facing left, if you stamp it, would it then face right? Is my brain working? No, you're right. It'd be a mirror image if you stamp it.

Because I feel like left is usually evil and bad, right? No, I don't think that, but others have thought that throughout history. I think that's mostly a Christian thing. Oh, so it is, yeah. I think that would be later. It would be. Yeah, because the Latin for left and right is sinister and dexter, or sinister and dexter, something like that,

which is where we get those word roots from. But I'm not sure that would be 4th, 3rd century BCE in China. So it represents the king. It's looking, is it looking, well, it doesn't mean it's always looking in the same direction, does it? Presumably they'll be wearing it they wear it did the king have

like a right hand pointing tiger and they could like link the two up as a power rangers by our powers combined

kind of thing there okay so you're getting towards the right direction that actually is a clue a right direction I want you to think about what would

happen when you joined a left and right facing tiger talisman, for example. They would kiss. Everyone has a right facing one, and then the left ones, they kiss. And the king loved tiger kissing.

Yes. They could lock into each other. If you have a design, one left, one right, you could connect them face to face. Correct. Now, I'll introduce a new sort of idea here for you, which is I want you to think about how something similar might be used in modern day, in, for example, nuclear launches.

Right. So nuclear launches have what's called the two-man rule. Oh. But you need two keys in order to activate something, and the keyholes are far enough apart that one person can't operate both. You need two people with two keys turning at the

same time. So is this more an authentication thing of proving you are who you say you are by being able to lock this in yes um this was basically a system to stop coups so basically generals could only move their army if the left and the right sides were clipped together to form a complete 3d tiger so it is a sort of authentication system to say these two things have come together, they've clipped together to make one

full tiger, and now the army can proceed with whatever orders you're trying to give it. The king or someone authorized by the king had the right-hand side, the general had the left-hand side, and so only when they're together. Only when they make the decision together and combine

the tigers. Exactly. Who do they show this to like the army it's like okay we're going guys see there you go that's the point if you're the general you say yeah absolutely got the talisman what you're gonna do about it i've got the army yes you're absolutely right there um basically the king holds the right hand side and the and the left hand side is is held by a general. And when combined, they can move the army. So I suppose in that sense, the king is kind of the arbiter.

The king decides what... The king is the one who sees it and also has the other seal. Thank you to Nelson Deitchman for sending this one in. In 2018, a common criminal used a child's toy to assist in shoplifting some expensive electronics. While fleeing the scene, he left behind the toy, which also allowed police to charge him with attempted theft. What was the toy, and how was he caught?

One more time. In 2018, a common criminal used a child's toy to assist in shoplifting some expensive electronics. While fleeing the scene, he left behind the toy, which also allowed police to charge him with attempted theft. What was the toy and how was he caught? So my immediate thought is a child's lockpicking set, but I don't think they sell those outside of Scotland. So next time.

I'm glad you've got that accent, Corry. That saved me for that joke. My immediate thought is less racist. And it is that I know that, for example, it is it's illegal to pretend to have a gun, even if it's not a real gun. So I'm going to take a guess that this is like a child's replica gun or some kind of water pistol. And when they left behind the toy, the fingerprints are on the gun. And so they know that the gun was from the shop itself. Does that make sense?

Am I anywhere close? There was a key word in there. It wasn't gun or water pistol or anything like that, unfortunately. There is the offence of going equipped in Britain as well. Or at least that's the slang for it. If you have a lockpicking set with you and do not have a reasonable excuse for having a lockpicking set with you, I think that is a crime in the UK.

Like with knives? Yeah, if you're carrying knives and are not a chef on the way to work or something similar, that is an offence. In this case, nothing quite so ominous. So I thought possibly, well, no, my immediate kind of, I was trying to think of toys and I thought of like an Etch-a-Sketch. So maybe like drawing out the map of the building how they know how to get in and how to get around where the goods are so that he could you know so it's not suspicious carrying an etcher sketch necessarily

maybe it is if you're an adult i don't know um and then just for different reasons as he's leaving the idea would have been to know, erase it with the side thing and destroy all the evidence. But he forgot to do it and drops the Etch-a-Sketch. That would suggest that he was walking out very calmly, because if he was running, that Etch-a-Sketch would have been gone. You know, like you just shake it. Yeah, that's true. My mind is going to, like, radio-controlled cars.

So not like running one inside the building or whatever, but I feel like you could, if there's a per security system, I don't know anything about electronics. If there's a per security system, I feel like you could use some kind of radio controller to

get into there. I think he is trying to get around security systems you're right there but just having the radio controlled car or the etch a sketch or whatever wouldn't let the police link him to the crime did you say when this happened 2018 that's when kids were playing with like phones and whatnot like you have electrical toys for children as opposed to plastic things and whatnot. It's not sort of like Play-Doh or something like that. And he's left his fingerprints. Play-Doh?

Yes. Yes, it is. I remember seeing this. Yes. He used Play-Doh to like, something to do with a lock. He like forced it into something or he like covered it over CCTV cameras

or something like that. He covered it over CCTV cameras or something like that? He covered it over the speaker on the alarm on the stuff he was stealing to try and muffle the sound. Oh, yes! Yes! That is genius. I love that.

Brilliant. Flash, not genius because he left his fingerprints all over it. If you're going to commit a crime, wear gloves, obviously. That's like rule number one. But yeah, that is a good idea. Other than the fingerprints.

He left behind some of the Play-Doh when he was startled and fled the scene, and it had a perfect impression of his fingerprints, which were already on file from previous arrests. So that was an almost perfect connection to the crime.

I feel like you're asking to be caught at that point. You know what I mean? If you know that you've got your fingerprints on file and you're not even... Wear gloves, everyone. Please wear gloves for crime. You've chosen the exact children's toy

that leaves an exact replica of your fingerprint. You know, someone also using my first DNA analysis kit in order to just break into something. Leaving the result. The same year, apparently, police in Wales identified a drug dealer because he sent a WhatsApp photo holding the drugs, and

camera phones are clear enough that you could see the fingerprints in the photo. And that was enough to identify him. That's terrifying. Yeah, it is. Ken, wear gloves for crimes. I'll say it for the third time please wear gloves next question comes from jack take it away okay so my question is four friends henry heidi hamid and hazel walk into an unfamiliar bar and notice that there is a table

shuffleboard game however the bar manager advises Hazel that she mustn't play, but the others can. Why? Four friends, Henry, Heidi, Hamid and Hazel walk into an unfamiliar bar and notice there is a table shuffleboard game. However, the bar manager advises Hazel that she mustn't play, but the others can.

Why? Is this a true story? Because it sounds kind of like one of those... It doesn't feel like a true story. It feels like something that Question Riker has made up as a word puzzle somewhere, but okay. It feels like a GCSE exam question, yeah. As far as I'm aware, a hypothetical situation.

So the answer isn't something like sexism, you know? Oh, we've got Heidi in there as well. That's a fairly gendered name. Oh, you're allowed one girl. It's no girls allowed, you see. So one is fine. No, we've got Henry, Heidi, Hamid, and Hazel. And Henry.

Two girls, two boys. Okay. Okay, what do we know about shuffleboard nothing okay so shuffleboard basically um you have it's sort of like um curling that you see at the olympics where you like throw a little um weighted disc along the ice and then someone quickly sweeps the surface to make it go really fast but this instead happens on like a a sort of long table um that you might see in a bar sort of like the kind of thing you might see in medieval times people having a banquet around um and like

the the table in that in that painting of um of the last supper with jesus um and you basically throw your weighted disc from one end to the other There's some sort of sandy stuff along the surface to make the disc sort of travel better. And you're trying to get it as far down the table without falling off the sides or off the end. You got that? And the next day, one of the people at the table betrays you. Got it.

They all play the game of shuffleboard after the dinner. I think it's on the floor as well, usually, right? They're just kind of pushing stuff along with a, pushing the discs along with a stick. Shuffleboard is usually with your hand. Yeah. And you want to land, try and land them in, you know, you get most points for landing it in the end.

Yes. Sort of section. So I'm going to start out trying to think laterally and ask, is there something called hazel involved in shuffleboard? Is that what the sand, the dusting on the table's called? So every time it's Hazel's turn, someone goes, Hazel, and then some shuffleboard attendee comes and puts loads of stuff all over the table, and you're wasting all your Hazel.

And so you're just like, Hazel can't play. The table shuffleboards are made of Hazel wood, and so she's not allowed to play because her name is the same as... I don't know where I'm going with that. We'd keep sliding stuff on her face if she played shuffleboards, so she can't play shuffleboards. So you're actually, weirdly, sort of very close. That's a complete shot in the dark answer.

Sort of then went down the wrong routes by saying you're sliding pucks over her face. Do we know everything we need to know about these four people? Is there something special about these that hasn't been mentioned in the question? Or is Hazel just a person?

Yes, there is something about them that would help you answer this question about the people well about hazel okay so i'm gonna guess there's something in the shuffleboard game that is called or is referred to as hazel so is the scoring system is one of the areas on the board called a Hazel point, a Hazel score, a Hazel area. And then when you're trying to top up the points, it's Hazel's turn. You say, Hazel, you think you've just scored the jackpot and get a hundred points? Actually, it's just Hazel's turn. So she has to leave. It's not really anything to do with her name, to do with her name,

but her name is a clue. Okay, so think back to what you said before about how you play shuffleboard and what you would use to play shuffleboard. Your hands. Hazel doesn't have any hands. And so we're leaving her out.

That's not very nice. Ableist, Jack. Apparently ableist, yes. Yeah. You did say it earlier, actually. Did I? Yeah. So Hazel is...

The name, it's... Her name isn't important, but Hazel is important. Her name... You could get it without her name. It's the name isn't really relevant, but the question writer has put that name in as a bit of a clue. Okay, well, Tom was talking about wood.

Tom was talking about Hazel wood. So let's go there. Hazel is also not just a type of wood it's also the color of marge simpson's eyes fun fact there you go another one for me oh hazel is not a type not just a type of wood hazel sand so that is what you said earlier that is a lot closer to the answer okay so. So it's a sort of dusting. Oh, gosh. Is it what the discs are made from?

Or is it to do with sand? No, it's not what the discs are made of. No, it's what the table's made from. Not what the table's made of. It's what the sand is. It's the sand that you sprinkle, the sort of stuff that you lubricate the table with. Is it like an oil?

An oil? Hazel oil? Hazel oil. That sounds like a oil? An oil? Hazel oil? Hazel oil. That sounds like a thing. Very close with hazel oil, yeah. Like a sap. It's like a sap. Oh, like you're like smearing hazel sap

or something like that on the table. Oh, gosh. Yeah, so sometimes they do use other things, but so this particular thing they use for the sand means that Hazel can't play shuffleboard. Because every time they say, Hazel, it's your turn and they call Hazel, they're

going to do something to do with the shuffleboard. Okay. Is Hazel allergic to something? And this is what they use for shuffleboard? Yes, exactly. What on earth do they use in shuffleboard that a person's going to be allergic to? Hazel. Pollen. Hazel?

What? Oh my gosh. Whatever hazel is, that's what they use. You're going to be allergic to crustaceans? Pollen? What else? Oh my gosh. No, it's something that's crushed that's used as the sand or the sort of

lubricant on the table. Oh, wait, is she gluten intolerant or something? Is she like celiac and she can't touch? She's not gluten intolerant. What is a common allergy? Peanuts. Oh, peanut oil. They use peanut oil. So she's allergic to nuts and they use

nuts on shuffleboard. Oh, ground up nuts as the... Oh, they use ground up like, walnut or peanut... Hazelnuts! Hazelnuts! Hazelnuts! Oh my god! Brilliant. She's named after the thing she's allergic to? That's so cruel. We're gonna seem really stupid, but promise you when you when you're sitting here and the and the questions asked your brain just does not connect the word hazel and the word nut to the word hazelnuts all right for some reason but for some reason that just did not did not connect in the last time we were on the show tom there were all these comments going i

was screaming at the screen the whole way through. How did these idiots not get it? That's going to be one of these clips. We're going to get screamed at. You try sitting here, all right? If you're watching, you try sitting here and just, just, you know what I'm going to take away from this question is the fact that thousands of people have just been listening to this and just yelling the word nuts out loud repeatedly for the last two minutes.

And you were so close right near the beginning. I thought we were going to get it in about two minutes. Then you went, you're sort of dancing around the answer. They use hazelnut oil or hazelnut. They sometimes use different materials, but that's the sort of rough sand that obviously helps the puck sort of slide along the table and protects the polish of the table. And there's a brown version of this sand that they use crushed up walnut shells, actually, usually. But she is allergic to nuts. The bar manager would have asked them if they had a nut allergy, and so she couldn't play.

You can't play some types of table shuffleboard with a nut allergy that's amazing there's there's another um apparently another type that uses dry cornmeal and silicon beans so uh silicon beads so if you're allergic to nuts you can use that type of shuffleboard topping good luck folks here we go A clear Perspex box of around 100 similar items is on view in a public place. Some people have described this as basically a bomb, even though it's there for a safety reason. Where has the box been installed? And one more time.

A clear Perspex box of around 100 similar items is on view in a public place. Some people have described this as basically a bomb, even though it's there for safety reasons. Where has the box been installed? Okay, firstly, where are you having something for safety reasons that's also on display somewhere? Lots of places. Airports, you have all those people standing there.

They're on display. They're not doing much, but they're there for safety reasons on display. So it's a clear prospect box with 100 armed policemen inside sideburn on the on the ustsa there for some reason they're not entirely unjustified but still my mind jumps immediately to knives but knives and bombs aren't they're not the same thing to my understanding. It must be sort of wires and electronics for it to be perceived as a bomb, surely. Well, it's basically a bomb.

It could also be like TNT or something, you know? Oh, come and drop, if you've got any bombs, come and drop them off in our big box. Oh yeah, the bomb amnesty box. Yeah, exactly. Okay, i like that lateral thinking there cory of it's it's there for safety reasons is to get the get the bomb the tnt into the box as opposed to it being safety itself um that is some nice lateral thinking it doesn't sound like it's right but it sounds like it i like it so the fact it's perfect perspex must mean that people need to be able to see it see inside of it to check everything's there and to check it's all kind of

in place where we are i feel like we're along the right lines with an airport or something like a train station or uh something to make sure that everything's running okay there's certainly a lot of people around here so So like an art museum, um... Yeah, it's just an installation down at the Tate, you know. I'm feeling something like... I say this. If it's a bomb, it doesn't necessarily need to be wires and whatnot. It could also be something like manure. Just anything that, you know, when put inside of a Perspex box...

100 cesium atoms! I don't think that's quite enough! In a box! It's an amnesty box for your cesium! Bring your cesium down, guys, and hand it in! Don't get it wet, though! Oh no, it's raining! Close the box! Really should have put a lid on that box, you know? Can somebody put something in the box? Is there like a little slot or some kind of opening there?

No, it's just on display. So it's a sealed box. Okay. Yeah. Switches or something like that with lights on. You need to be able to check the lights are on. They're flashing. You need to check that all the lights are flashing

so it looks like it's counting down. It's got a timer on it, maybe. In this case, it's only basically a bomb. It's not deliberately a bomb. It's explosive in some way. Yeah, a bomb is something that explodes very easily. You've got a Perspex box with a load of 100 similar items inside it. Similar, but not the same.

So... About 100. So are these items inherently, shall we say, explosive? Or is it a reaction between them and each other? Or just you leave them over time and they become more dangerous? If these degrade in just the right way, yeah, you could have something explosive here. Or just you leave them over time and they become more dangerous? If these degrade in just the right way, yeah, you could have something explosive here. Batteries.

Batteries. Right. So it's loads of Samsung Galaxies from about four years ago. They're all hanging out in a Perspect box. And it's like you have to hand in your your samsung galaxies at like airports you're not allowed to like certain one samsung galaxy before you get on a flight you're not allowed to um it's all the confiscated samsung galaxies whose batteries explode and they're not allowed on planes and it's saying don't take this phone on your plane here's 100 of them for some reason

you're surprisingly close it's not a specific brand of mobile phone, but it is a box of 100 damaged mobile phones. That's why it's basically a bomb. Wow. So it's phones that have exploded at some point and it's like showing them off and going, do not be this person. Don't put your phone in the hole. They haven't exploded. Not yet, anyway. That's why it's basically a bomb. It's 100 damaged mobile phones. So why has someone installed a Perspex box of 100 damaged mobile phones next to a queue of people?

Oh my gosh, hold on. This is, it's next to a roller coaster or something. And people have, people have dropped their phones out of it. So it's just a display to show, be careful with your phone or it will fall out. Wow.

This is in a few places, Energylandia in Poland, Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. I've seen it in a couple of places. When someone loses their phone on the ride and it flies off and is shattered beyond recognition, at some point someone will pick it up and it goes in the box as a reminder to those who follow. That is so dangerous and unnecessary.

Oh my gosh! You say that, I've been on a roller coaster and I don't know what it was or what happened, but as we took a high-speed curve, I just saw something out the corner of my eye fly past and go off three metal supports and fly off. So presumably that was someone holding their phone and filming, lost it, and off it goes at like relative

speed of 100 miles an hour to the next coaster. So there is a reason it's there. I wonder if anybody's ever dropped their phone at the top of the loop and then been hit on the head by it on the way out of the loop. I don't know, but that sounds like evil dude perfect. I was going to say, it takes the perfect photo of everyone on the rollercoaster as it fell down, and then you catch it again on the bottom. I mean, you do hold in zero G at a moment there. In theory, you could let it go for just a second,

but I wouldn't advise trying it you could engineer a roller coaster such that i think i don't know actually i don't know how fast the phone would fall but you could probably engineer one where you're able to go around the loop drop it and it arrives at the bottom at the same time as you maybe yeah well volunteered no cory over to you for the next question what have you got for us this question has been sent in by steve pierce after an actress broke her ankle when filming the 1979 film the china syndrome it eventually led to the invention of pizza huts cheesy bites pizza how one more time after an

actress broke her ankle when filming the 1979 film the china syndrome it eventually led to the invention of pizza huts cheesy bites pizza i'm going to start us off here by saying i think that part of the reason the cheesy bites pizzas exist stuffed crust pieces exist is because there's some in immense tax break on dairy that's a hangover from the war in America? Something like that. Is that correct? I mean, no, but it's in the right-ish area, if that makes sense. You're absolutely dead wrong on every single detail. But the vibes are right. You're in the right spot.

Yeah, it's the right vibe. It's tax. It's about tax and money and financial incentives. Was she supposed to be the actress in something else? And she broke her ankle so she couldn't be in it. And that affected, that made someone invent the cheesy bites piece. There's a big leap in there. I mean, it was less about her not being able to be in something else

and more about what she went on to do after breaking her ankle she invented the cheesy bites pizza well done luke you got no okay this isn't like i'm going to drill down on what this pizza is first of all this is like having a tear and share extra bit around the pizza it's not like they've just stuffed the crust they've got a whole rip off the crust here and it gives you something that could have been cooked separately but it's food innovation from the 80s so yeah i mean i guess that the pizza itself isn't all that important to this i mean it might be easier if you know who the actress is so she was in nine to five

on the golden pond or on golden pond and barbarella three films i have never seen is that dolly parton no at nine to five you would think dolly parton but it's not yeah it's not dolly parton all right you've got three men looking on with no idea of film knowledge here yeah yeah look you call yourself a filmmaker so she needed help before she was okay to work again that's kind of key there she had to eat loads of cheese to rebuild her bones because of the calcium in the cheese the And she thought, how do I get more cheese out of this pizza? And so she invented, like I said,

she invented the Cheesy Bites pizza. I think our question writer might be hoping that one of us can identify the actress from that clue. And I feel like we're kind of dancing around in the dark here.

In the early 80s, she became famous for something else. And that's quite important. If you're going into the cheese, she's not really super related to the cheese. Well, she sort of had to be helped in a wheelchair or something by somebody else.

So she was helped by someone else. It wasn't a wheelchair. It was more about sort of rehabilitation after she'd hurt herself. That helps. Who was the physio? I don't have the name of the physio here, but you won't know the name of the physio.

You'll know the name of the actress, who's actually very famous for something else in the 80s that's related to what the physio helped her with. Okay. Did she, for example, do loads of exercise videos? Was she one of those people who sold exercise DVDs? Spot on. Absolutely. So she sold exercise DVDs.

Well, video. VHS is back then. VHS. Yes. VHS. Who was that really famous lady? Oh, that's so annoying. Pamela Anderson?

Not Pamela Anderson. Okay. Yeah. Not Olivia Newton-John, is it? For some reason, I feel like that's closer, but it's also not correct. Not Olivia Newton-John. I'm just naming names from the 80s in my head now, like Gloria Estefan. That's not right.

She's a musician. Her surname sounds like a car brand, if that helps. Bugatti. I guess. Lamborghini. Ford. Betty Ford. Betty Ford, who set up the clinics.

But no, she's not an actress. Sandra Toyota. When I say sounds, it rhymes with a car brand. Sandra Bloyota. Famous exercise woman. Oh God, give us some initials or something. So her initials are J.F. Jane Fonda.

Jane Fonda. Exactly. Okay, we got there. We got there. All right. So you've got Jane Fonda and her exercise videos. How does that then relate to Pizza Hut stuff?

Was she doing like a goop thing where she was saying that cheese is really good for you, actually? It's kind of the opposite of that, actually. So she was saying cheese is very bad for you. So that sort of gave it great press. So yeah, it is about the price of cheese and her advertisements for certain dairy products.

Oh my God. Okay, so she said that cheese is awful for you, which crashed the price of cheese. And cheese became really cheap. And then Domino's were like, hey, the cheese is really cheap. Let's give everyone more cheese. No, so you're spot on.

It is actually about economics. So what happened was Jane Fonda broke her ankle and then she had sort of physiotherapy for that. And she got really into exercise. She made these exercise videos. And in that she was sort of saying, you know, go for semi-skimmed milk, be healthier. And so people started going for semi-skimmed milk. And then what do you do with the rest of the milk that has been skimmed? You make cheese. And so suddenly there was a lot of really cheap cheese and then Pizza Hut bought up that cheese

and put it into their stuffed crust. So Jane Fonda breaking her ankle indirectly resulted in the invention of Pizza Hut's stuffed crust. The last thing then, at the start of the show, I asked the audience, in German supermarkets and restaurants, what can be bought in varieties called loud and quiet? Does anyone want to take a quick punt at that?

Cheese. The only thing I thought was sort of food that you, in the cinema or something, that you don't want to be. Ooh, crisps, popcorn, that kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. But that's probably totally wrong. It is quite literal. One of these options will be louder than the other.

Is it smooth peanut butter and crunchy peanut butter? Something like that. What is a loud food? What's that? Popping candies, things like that. Cocoa pops.

Sorry. Rice krispies. They don't all use this, by the way. There are other words for this But some of the brands choose loud and quiet Is it like popcorn? You have loud corn which is popcorn

And quiet corn which is sweet corn More of a bottle Oh like Coca Cola Oh water Is it still and sparkling water? Still and sparkling water Quiet and loud water for some german brands thank you very much to all you will find out what's going on in your world where can

people find you uh we'll start with jack um so yeah you can find me on my website living london history.com i've got a book out called london a guide for curious wanderers and yeah living london history across the social media networks and when we have two people on from the same show, I never know who to go to first. So, all right. Well, Corey, you are pointing at yourself. Corey, tell us where people can find you. You can find me at NotCorey everywhere

and you can find me also at SciGuys or at my house. Don't encourage people. How about you? You can find me at LukeCut Luke how about you you can find me at Luke Cutforth everywhere you can also find me on the Sci Guys

and if you come to my house I'm not responsible for my actions that's a good threat we've got there that includes you Corey that's a good threat

if you want to know more about this show and definitely not come to anyone's house then you can do that at lateralcast.com where you can also send in ideas for questions. You can find us at Lateral Cast pretty much everywhere, and we have weekly video highlights at youtube.com slash lateralcast.

With that, thank you very much to Luke Cutforth. Thank you, Tom. Corey Will. Thank you very much, Tom. And Jack Treasure. Thank you very much, Tom. I've Treasure. Thank you very much, Tom. I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Lateral. Thank you very much, Tom.