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Episode 117: Dull white powder
Published 3rd January, 2025
Sophie Ward, Julian Huguet and Tina Huang face questions about peculiar pirouettes, popstar pages and passport problems.
HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett at The Podcast Studios, Dublin. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Adam, Jane Doe, Nate, Oscar, Ghrian. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott.
Transcript
Transcription by Caption+
Tom:
Why does Graeme regularly go to Beyoncé's Wikipedia page, even though he's not a fan of her music?
The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral.
Welcome to our patisserie of puzzles, where our clever chefs have been baking up a fresh batch of brain teasers. Our questions are like croissants. Twisted, multi-layered, and sometimes pretty flaky.
But the more puzzles you try, the more you'll get butter and butter.
Here to brush away the crumbs, we start with...
SFX:
(group giggling)
Tom:
data scientist talking about AI, tech, and self-learning on her own YouTube channel.
Welcome back to the show, Tina Huang.
Tina:
Thank you so much for having me.
Tom:
Welcome back. This is your second appearance. How was the first one?
Tina:
The first one was, in the beginning, I was like, what are these questions?
Tom:
(laughs)
Tina:
And now, I think I'm kind of getting the hang of it. Maybe. I don't want to say that now. Not— and not know what's happening.
Tom:
I think last time we talked to Soph, who's also on this show, about setting expectations low and exceeding them.
Tina:
Yes, yes, yes. I think I've expected the unexpected.
Tom:
Always. What sort of stuff are you working on at the minute? What can people expect to see from you?
Tina:
I'm just continuing on talking about AI and tech stuff, basically how to self-learn, using AI technologies, and how to help people get careers that they love. All on the YouTube channel.
Tom:
Very best of luck on the show today.
Also joining us, we have: science communicator from her own channel, Soph's Notes, and at this point, a veteran of this show.
Welcome back, Sophie Ward. How are you doing?
Sophie:
I'm doing very well, Tom. I feel mixed emotions about being called a veteran, but I'll take it.
Julian:
(guffaws)
SFX:
(Tom and Sophie laugh)
Tom:
Yeah, it actually doesn't feel right to use the word that we use for people in combat, to be on the show, but...
Sophie:
I don't know. It's getting pretty feisty in here. Getting pretty feisty. (titters)
Tom:
Last time you were on, we said that you were working mostly on stuff that does not appear on the internet.
Is there anything that is heading internetwards from you, or are you just like, "I have my private life right now and I'm happy with that"?
Sophie:
I don't know, if you'll keep— if you want to know, you can look on my Instagram and YouTube, and things might pop up there, but we'll see. (laughs) Yeah, there's a couple things in the pipeline, but I think, yeah, just watch this space, I suppose. I like Tina's thing of helping people find jobs they like, though. Maybe I should do that.
Tom:
Well, the third member of our panel, I think has a job that he likes:
Julian Huguet, science communicator, and from That's Absurd Please Elaborate, welcome back to the show.
Julian:
You sound like my family. "I think Julian has a job, I'm not totally sure."
Tom:
I'm not going to assume!
Julian:
(laughs) "I don't know how he pays rent."
But yeah, I do love science communicating and the podcast, That's Absurd Please Elaborate. I do that with Trace Dominguez. And we goof around a lot too and try and answer the silliest questions that we can get from listeners. It's a good time.
And thanks for having me back.
Tom:
What questions have you been working on lately?
Julian:
We had one, well, with you, Tom.
The one I still think about was... What if the moon was actually made of cheese? And we really got into the origin of that saying, and then what that would imply for the moon, and it was quite fun. And listening it back, I was so blown away, because you had a couple jokes and references that were so quick that I missed them, like when you called it a "cheese thaw cycle" as a freeze thaw cycle pun.
Tom:
I— You know what? I wasn't gonna toot my own horn, but I thought that was underappreciated in the moment. So thank you very much.
Julian:
That was. That was. Because I went back and listened to it later, and I was like, this man just came up with the best cheese science pun I have ever heard, and none of us acknowledged it, and I come here to humbly apologize for that.
Tom:
Un-brie-lievable.
Let's move on. Let's swiftly move on.
Julian:
Oh, this is getting cheesy.
Tom:
Yeah.
Julian:
Tom, as we've mentioned, by the way, is very hungry at this moment in time.
Tom:
And not only that, my script is about baking. Like we have the croissant pun, and I now have to do the second part of that.
Sophie:
How can we forget about the baking puns, yeah?
Tom:
Our bakery is now open for business, and I've tried to make the first question fairly easy, so... Donut worry.
Tina:
Donut! (wheezes)
Sophie:
Bro. Oh, Christ.
Julian:
(drums table)
Sophie:
Plus you said it like cross— You said it the American way, Tom? A croissant, or whatever it was?
Tom:
Croissant, I... My dialect is always halfway over the Atlantic.
Sophie:
You should talk like transatlantic, kind of, '20s, "Our bakery is now is open for business, and I gotta say... You gotta prove yourself, big stuff."
Tom:
Only one of us in this call can do a transatlantic accent. It is, unfortunately, from a 1920s femme fatale.
SFX:
(guests laughing)
Tom:
No, 1920s was silent. Never mind, moving on, moving on. Question one, folks. Good luck.
Tins of tiny dolomite, cotton, and cellulose particles can be purchased. The contents are spread out in a thin layer. This helps to determine what?
I'll say that again.
Tins of tiny dolomite, cotton, and cellulose particles can be purchased. The contents are spread out in a thin layer. This helps to determine what?
Julian:
Dolomite, cotton, and cellulose. So cellulose being like the plant material, right?
Tom:
Yeah.
Julian:
The plant wall stuff. The stuff that gives plants their actual structure.
Tom:
Mhm.
Julian:
And shape.
Sophie:
And dolomite cottons. Like dolomite as in from the dolomite.
Julian:
Not the blaxploitation film from the '70s, the... Pretty sure there was a movie called Dolemite.
Sophie:
Is it, what is it rock? Is it dolomite rock? Because it isn't there an area called the Dolomites, or...
Tom:
There is. In this case, it's the rock.
Sophie:
Okay. *0They are not specific—
Tom:
It's only dolomite if it comes from this region of Italy, otherwise it's just sparkling rock, no.
SFX:
(guests laughing)
Sophie:
Quartz, yeah, sparkling rock.
Tom:
In this case, I've just looked it up. It is an anhydrous carbonate material. It is calcium magnesium carbonate.
Sophie:
Ah, anhydrous.
Tom:
Yup.
Julian:
So there's no H₂O in it.
Tom:
It's a bit like marble.
Julian:
Is it having anything to do with the wind? Which way the wind is blowing? I'm imagining throwing these things into the air... and it would tell you something about the strength of the wind and where— That's the first thing that comes to mind.
Sophie:
Yeah, spread out in a thin layer, and then if it blows... Because it's giving— It's got dusty vibes, so I feel like...
Tina:
(snickers) Dusty vibes.
Tom:
Dusty Vibes is a 1940s femme fatale from a movie.
Julian:
(laughs)
Sophie:
"Oh, it's me again, I'm Dusty Vibes, and I'm just putting my dolomite, cotton, and cellulose on the ground. What's gonna happen?"
Julian:
I knew she was trouble when she spread her dolomite out in my office.
SFX:
(Tom and Tina laugh)
Sophie:
"I don't just spread my dolomite for anybody."
Julian:
(guffaws to hearty laugh)
Tina:
(giggles)
Sophie:
Anhydrous is getting me. (chuckles)
Julian:
Yeah.
Sophie:
Anhydrous, right? So... Without water? Like the water's been... So then maybe when— if water touches it, something happens, if it get— if it would soak up the water, I don't know. This is me trying to dig out my old chemistry knowledge.
Julian:
Is it a scientific application, or agriculture, or military?
Sophie:
Yeah, do we have to know scientific knowledge? Which we should do, as a bunch of science communicators.
Tom:
No, absolutely not.
Sophie:
Okay, great.
Tom:
Although... what is helpful to know is that those are all fairly neutral, inactive ingredients. When you said dusty vibes, actually yeah.
Sophie:
(snickers)
Tina:
(wheezes) Dusty vibes.
Julian:
Dusty vibes.
Sophie:
Okay, so it's pretty nothingy. So, it's to work out...
Tina:
Do we mix them together?
Tom:
They arrive mixed.
Tina:
Oh they— Oh so they're together already. And the ratio of it.
Sophie:
Yeah, they would cling to a thing or...
Julian:
Yeah, do we put them in water? Or is it in the air, or just on the ground?
Tom:
It's in a thin layer. That was in the question. It's spread out in a thin layer.
Tina:
On what? Thin layer on what, is the question.
Tom:
If I tell you that, it will kind of give it away.
Sophie:
Okay, okay, but that's good. That's good, that's good.
Tina:
So we care about where we're spreading it out, okay.
Julian:
On a croissant.
SFX:
(Tom and Tina crack up)
Tina:
Does it cling to things? 'Cause is it a flat surface...
Tom:
Yeah.
Tina:
Or is it kind of like a cl...
Tom:
Yeah, you're just spreading these out on a flat surface.
Sophie:
Oh, is it is? No, but why would you do that? I was like...
Julian:
Just say it, say it.
Sophie:
If you wanna make sure something's really clean, maybe it's like, you spread it out and stuff will cling to it.
Julian:
Put a buncha dust on it.
Sophie:
But I was like, it doesn't make any sense. But it's to find out if something is... Or if it's really smooth, to find out... It's to determine if something's really, really smooth, and then it'll just slide off, I don't know.
Tom:
When you say whether something is clean, actually that's much closer than you might think. For a guess you nearly didn't say, Soph, that's nearly there.
Julian:
Does it help determine some material contaminant? I'm thinking of like at an airport, when you go through, and they swab your hands with the cotton things, is it looking for some sort of chemical?
Tom:
No, it's just inert stuff.
Julian:
Inert stuff.
Tom:
You've hit quite a few things. I think you just haven't quite put them together. So let me sum up what you've got. It is dusty vibes...
SFX:
(guests crack up)
Tom:
And it is used to determine and test something.
Julian:
Yeah, but that's part of the question, Tom. That's not that helpful.
Sophie:
Yeah, I know.
Tom:
Well, you also said which way the wind is blowing. And that's not... technically right. But it's a lot closer than you think.
Sophie:
Ooh, okay.
Tom:
Blowing is the wrong word in there, to be honest.
Julian:
Is it relative wind on an airplane wing, what?
Tina:
(wheezes) Relative.
Julian:
You ever see wind tunnels where they tape a bunch of pieces of string to the wings?
Tom:
Depending on your perspective, the wind is absolutely blowing here.
Julian:
(cracks up) Oh, no.
Tom:
But you and I would not describe this as blowing.
Julian:
It sounds like something is moving through the air instead.
Tom:
There's a lot of air moving. There's definitely a lot of air moving.
Julian:
(stammers thru giggle) You're so cryptic.
Tom:
I'm being very cryptic because there's one keyword that you've not quite got. We're not testing blowing here.
Sophie:
Sucking.
Julian:
Sucking. Dusty vibes, blowing. It tests vacuums.
Tom:
Yes, it does!
Sophie:
Yes, it is vacuums.
Julian:
You're determining if your vacuum works!
Sophie:
Ohh.
Tina:
Ohh!
Julian:
Oh, that was painful.
Sophie:
You put a thing— Oh my gosh, wow.
Tom:
When you said, which way the wind is blowing, I'm like, that is— that's technically right. But...
Julian:
Grrr! I'm going to be honest, Tom. That question sucks.
Tom:
Eyy!
Julian:
Eyy!
Tom:
Yes, dolomite, cotton, and cellulose are the ingredients of DMT Test Dust Type 8. And so it is a synthetic dust that you buy.
Sophie:
So it's literally used as dusty vibes?
Tina:
It's dust.
Tom:
Yeah! This is why I kept going on. You were basically there.
Sophie:
Oh my gosh.
Tom:
It is synthetic dust used as a standard test for vacuum cleaners.
Julian:
Mmm. I get, yeah. That does make sense, right? The different densities and air resistance in the material. So you can tell, oh, if it's sucking up the cotton, but not the dolomite, it's not as powerful, and they're not affected.
Tom:
Yeah.
Julian:
They're not magnetic or anything. You don't worry about any other confounding things. That's, you know, I never thought of vacuum testing being a necessity before. But it makes sense. I get it now.
Tom:
Each of our players has brought a question along with them. We are going to start today with Tina. Whenever you're ready.
Tina:
Alright.
In recent months, David will pass something between his hands, sometimes more than once, when walking in the street. He does a pirouette on the spot occasionally too. How has his life changed, and what do these actions do?
I'll say that again.
In recent months, David will pass something between his hands, sometimes more than once, when walking in the street. He does a pirouette on the spot occasionally too. How has his life changed, and what do these actions do?
Tom:
My first thought... (snickers) is that this is a question written by David the producer.
Sophie:
This is what I thought!
Tom:
And it's about something that he is doing.
Sophie:
Or that it's a thing that he'd had to put a random name in, and he was like, "What's a name I know?"
Julian:
David moved to a dangerous part of town, and now he carries a club with him.
Tom:
And occasionally he just swings it 'round, does a pirouette.
Julian:
Spins around carelessly.
Sophie:
People can come up behind you, Tom. You've got to spin around.
Tom:
(laughs)
Julian:
Yeah, you got to be ready.
Tina:
To be fair, in San Francisco, I've talked to people when they walk at night, in order to prevent people from, you know, jumping them, they kind of act in interesting ways to prevent— (wheezes)
Julian:
You gotta move unpredictably.
Tina:
Move around.
Sophie:
It's like I've seen that thing, where if you're on a bus or a train, and you don't want someone to sit next to you, but it's getting busy, everyone who walks past you, you should tap your seat and be like, "Sit here, sit next to me." And then no one will sit next to you.
Julian:
Yeah, I've been to SF, and if I saw a guy randomly pirouetting, I would avoid him.
Tom:
(laughs)
Tina:
Very effective.
Julian:
Yeah, it would work on— I would keep my distance. Regardless of what was in his hand.
Tina:
Don't think on that track, though. That is incorrect.
Sophie:
(chuckles)
Tom:
Okay.
Julian:
Oh, okay, thank you. Thank you for walking us down that path and then telling us it's a dead end.
Tina:
I just had to tell you that anecdote.
Julian:
Okay.
SFX:
(Tina and Sophie laugh)
Julian:
Is David walking with anyone?
Sophie:
Mm.
Julian:
Is he, I mean, you wouldn't say holding somebody's hand is passing— switching hands with the hand holder is... passing something between your hands and doing a— I don't know.
Sophie:
My thought was, as well, passing bacteria across his hands. He's just got his hands together, and it just so happens that his bacteria's going from hand to hand.
Tina:
Science communicators.
Julian:
Yeah.
Sophie:
Well, yeah.
Julian:
Yeah, we think too granularly.
Sophie:
Pirouette, classically a ballet word. It could be a ballet. He's just carrying his ballet diploma, and then showing it off.
Julian:
I do this thing when I walk my dog, where when I come to another person with a dog on the leash – or a lead, as they would say in the UK – I hate it, because I always have to do the dumb leash dance. You know what I'm talking about? Where we all have to zigzag and cross, because my dog wants to be as inconvenient as possible and smell the other dog, and then the legs, and then come back, and... Do you know what I mean?
Sophie:
Yeah, no, it's like cat's cradle, but with leads.
Tina:
You got that.
Julian:
Yes!
Sophie:
Wait, it's a dog? Wait.
Tom:
I have this vague thing in my head... that David the producer has actually got a dog recently.
Sophie:
Oh, so it is about David the producer. So he passes the lead between his hands, and then he has to do a pirouette.
Tom:
He has to do a pirouette because the dog will run around and tangle up the lead.
Tina:
Yeah.
Julian:
Yeah, and it's just easier. Every time I do it, crossing the street in front of a card, I'm like, I look like such an idiot. "Whee, my little dog spin!" 'Cause my ten pound chihuahua is running the show.
Sophie:
(chuckles)
Tina:
I am so impressed.
Sophie:
I know! Tom, you know David really well, Tom. Right from the beginning, you were like, this is a real, IRL situation.
Tom:
He wouldn't have put that name in the question otherwise, but I did not remember the dog thing until Julian put that together. Yeah.
Tina:
There's the name David, and it's, yeah. When dogs sniff each other upon meeting, they circle around each other. They all get tangly. And then you gotta swap your hand around, do a pirouette. I mean, that seems a little excessive. Do you really do that? You just...
Julian:
Well, when the dog runs on the other side of you, yeah, it's easier, especially if you're carrying something, to just spin yourself around to untangle the lead, right? But then when it meets another dog, yeah, you have to do the leash shuffle with the other person, and I hate it.
Sophie:
Yeah, proper pirouette where you spot and everything. You spot it while you're spinning that.
Julian:
I do. My head is locked in. I pick a spot on the horizon, bam, and then twist at the last second.
Sophie:
Nice.
Tina:
I did think that was an interesting choice of word, like pirouette. I feel like I still can't pronounce that correctly. It's not just a very British thing, like you're like, "Let me just do a pirouette over there." Is that what you do these days?
Julian:
Yeah, is that what they all say?
Tom:
It sounds fancier than 'spin on the spot', you know?
Sophie:
Yeah.
Julian:
Yeah.
Tina:
Okay, okay.
Sophie:
Yeah, we also say, oh yeah, I just did a rond de jambe the other day, a rond de jambe or whatever it is.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Tom:
I absolutely know what that is. Absolutely, 100%.
Julian:
I dropped something on the ground, and I assumed second position and did a plié to pick it up.
Sophie:
Exactly, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll see me waiting for you on the corner. I'm just in first position.
SFX:
(guests laughing)
Julian:
We all describe how our feet are pointing.
Tom:
Thank you to Oscar for this next question.
If a professional GeoGuessr player was standing still in a real-life location, they'll find it easier than the game in several ways. In what major way is the opposite true – that being there for real is harder than GeoGuessr?
I'll say that again.
If a professional GeoGuessr player was standing still in a real-life location, they'll find it easier than the game in several ways. In what major way is the opposite true – that being there for real is harder than GeoGuessr?
Julian:
Do any of you play GeoGuessr?
Tina:
What's GeoGuessr?
Julian:
Oh, what about you Soph?
Sophie:
I don't play it, but I know of it.
Is that the one where you're dropped in a random location, and then you have to work out exactly where you are?
Julian:
Yeah, you get... you know, you try and estimate... how far you are from the actual location. It's just based on Google Maps. It'll plop you down, and you can move around a bit, but you have to guess based on the original location that you were dropped. Where are you?
Tom:
It's a Google Street View image. You're shown a 360 panorama of Google Street View, and you have to pinpoint it on a map.
And sometimes you can wander around, sometimes it's locked in one place, but that is— that's the basic game there.
Julian:
Some people are incredible, too. They have a world championship series, and the best at it can guess locations within 20 seconds. It's insane.
And they pick up on all these little things, like... I was watching an interview with a guy, where he says, "Okay, I see this telephone pole, and it's got these three horizontal yellow bars on it, which 99% of the time means I'm in California." Stuff like that.
Sophie:
That's wild, yeah.
Julian:
They're really, really good at it.
Sophie:
Have you ever played it, Julian?
Julian:
I have with some friends on a game night. I'm not particularly good at it because I'm not very worldly, but... it's fun.
SFX:
(scattered snickering)
Julian:
Yeah, you can move around though, is... To me, that's a big advantage, right? You can actually travel huge distances in not a lot of time, and you can find a sign that has the county school name on it or something, and that'll help.
Tina:
Can you look up? If you're... up or down?
Julian:
Yeah, it's, you know, full 360, whatever Google Street View is.
Tina:
So you can't do that if you're physically there, right? Because you— Can you fly?
Julian:
No, you can't fly. You're on street level.
Tina:
Oh, okay, you're on street level.
Tom:
It is just a picture of the world taken from a place.
Sophie:
If you're physically there, you would know what time it was. Maybe it's something to do with time, and where the sun is, and... I don't know.
Julian:
Yeah.
Sophie:
Yeah, I don't know.
Tina:
That makes sense.
Sophie:
Or... Thanks, guys. (giggles)
Julian:
I've seen professional GeoGuessers know the latitude they're at based on the height the sun is in the sky.
Sophie:
On GeoGuessr, can you zoom on things? Is that... If a sign was far away? You can't do that.
Julian:
I mean, there's a limit to the resolution, but...
Sophie:
Oh no, okay, fine.
Julian:
But you can get— You can move closer to it in GeoGuessr. You can click on the road and keep moving.
Sophie:
Okay.
Julian:
I guess if you were there personally, you would know the travel time from whenever you started to have got there. So if it's 15 hours later, even if you were blindfolded, I was definitely on an airplane.
Tom:
But you'd be able to hear languages and all sorts of things as well.
Sophie:
There's so many ways that's easier, yeah.
Tom:
We're looking for something that makes being there for real harder than GeoGuessr.
Sophie:
Harder, yeah.
Tina:
People lying to you.
SFX:
(group laughs heartily)
Tina:
Like, "Where am I?" "You're in Spain."
Julian:
(French accent) "Hey, you are in Boston!"
SFX:
(group laughing)
Julian:
"Boxcar and Harvard Yard!"
SFX:
(group laughing)
Sophie:
The fickle nature of trusting other people. That would make it more difficult, yeah.
Julian:
Make it harder being there in person. Do you have to stay in that one spot? Can you move about?
Sophie:
I mean, you can move quicker in GeoGuessr, probably. You can really zoom around.
Tom:
Oh, let's assume everyone's staying still here. It's a game mode where you're staying still. You've gotta stay still.
Sophie:
Well, in GeoGuessr, if you got dropped in a road, you'd be fine. But in real life, if you got dropped in a road, you'd get hit by a car.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Julian:
Serious risk of vehicular injury.
Sophie:
But that's not the answer.
Julian:
I do like where your head's at, though.
Tom:
You said something earlier, Tina, about looking up and down.
Julian:
Oh, oh, I think we might have been on it where the sun doesn't move in the Google Street View images, because it was taken at a specific time and always stays that way, but...
Sophie:
Mm, yeah.
Julian:
Or your shadow? The shadow's always constant in GeoGuessr, but it's not in real life?
Tom:
No, I don't think that'd help.
Sophie:
You'd get sunburned in real life.
Tom:
(laughs)
SFX:
(Sophie and Tina crack up)
Sophie:
Sorry, I'm just thinking of different ways it's more precarious to exist. (chuckles)
Tina:
Let me try looking up and see how I feel.
Sophie:
Real tiring, isn't it?
SFX:
(Sophie and Tina laugh)
Tom:
How are the Google Street View images taken? What's the process there?
Julian:
On a car with cameras all over it, right?
Sophie:
An immediate thing is you can see what side of the road the car is on. The Google Street View car is on, but then that doesn't really whittle it down that much.
Julian:
I think in person, you'd figure it out.
Sophie:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then in person you'd figure it out pretty quickly.
Julian:
Yeah, it wouldn't take too long.
Sophie:
Okay, the car, but does the car— You can't see the licence plate of the car.
Julian:
But it takes one simultaneous image in 360, right? So everything's frozen in the exact same moment. Whereas if you're looking around, things move about. But how would that make it more difficult?
Tom:
Perhaps phrase it the other way. What might the Google Street View style of image and that car make easier?
Sophie:
What would the car... So cars go on other sides of roads. But you couldn't— They have licence plates.
Tina:
You can't see the ground. Don't know what the weather is like.
Tom:
You can't see the ground. What can you see instead?
Sophie:
The bottom of the car.
Julian:
I mean the license plate usually tells you the country or the state or the...
Sophie:
Yeah, but in— You could see that in real life as well. So what about the Google car?
Julian:
Yeah, as a car goes by.
Sophie:
Well, I was thinking, yeah.
Julian:
If you can see the car itself, if it's like a SUV, you know it's America. And if it's a little Citroën, you know it's Europe, or...
Tom:
Yeah, basically that's it. The car itself is the clue.
Julian:
Oh my god, okay!
Sophie:
Well, Google uses different types of cars?
Tom:
Yes!
Sophie:
Okay. So Google uses different cars for the Google Maps in different countries?
Tom:
It's all subcontracted. It is not the same car everywhere in the world.
So if you'd like to cheat a little bit at GeoGuessr, you can memorise which cars are used in which regions.
Sophie:
Oh, and that's why it's specifically the Google car that's useful, rather than just you being there and seeing any random car.
Tom:
Yes.
Julian:
Right.
Sophie:
Okay.
Julian:
Okay, hot tip. I got something for the next game night.
Tom:
If you look down, you can only see the front tip of the car, it might be Botswana.
If the car is red, it might be Ukraine or Belgium.
If there's a giant tent on the back, it's probably Mongolia.
GeoGuessr pros, and apparently this is a thing, will just have this memorised list of, "Oh I know, it's that country, because that weird feature."
Julian:
I wonder if in any countries, it's just a guy with a selfie stick running around, and you look down and you're like, "Oh, oh, there's Tom over there."
Tom:
There are a few places that cars cannot go, that it's a guy with a backpack, or it's on a trike, or something like that, and they will memorise all of this.
Sophie:
That's so funny.
Tina:
That's a really cool job.
Julian:
Fascinating.
Tina:
How do I get this job?
SFX:
(Tom and Sophie laugh)
Tom:
Julian, over to you for the next question.
Julian:
Okay!
So, this question was sent in by Jane Doe, a surprisingly common name, and Nate. So...
In 1942, the management at BBC Radio decreed that Bing Crosby's jaunty recording of the song Deep in the Heart of Texas should not be played, for the good of the nation. Why?
In 1942, the management at BBC Radio decreed that Bing Crosby's jaunty recording of the song Deep in the Heart of Texas should not be played, for the good of the nation. Why?
Tom:
Steppin' out of this one. It is a legendary British broadcast story, and I am that sort of nerd.
Julian:
Oh, sorry. Sorry, we've lost one.
Sophie:
Oh, gosh. Okay, Tina, it's you and I.
Tina:
Isn't 1942 World War II?
Sophie:
Yeah, so we're in the midst— We're in World War II.
Good of the nation, I feel ties into that as well. "Oh, for the good of the people."
Jaunty is making me intrigued. What about his recording has made this jaunty, and what... Why would that make the nation not be good?
Tina:
Jaunty mean... get someone to find it?
Julian:
It's catchy.
Sophie:
It's a bit like, ooh. It's a bit edgy.
Julian:
It's infectious, you know? You can't help but get into it, it's jaunty.
Tina:
So you're too happy. Can't be happy because it's war. No.
Sophie:
Yeah, maybe it's more like... I think like a hat. You'd wear a hat normally. When it's jaunty, when you put it on an angle, it's like, "Ooh, I'm a bit jaunty." It's a bit like, I don't know, maybe Deep in the Heart of Texas, he sings it a bit differently. So it sounds a bit like he's saying something else. I don't know. Or yeah.
Tina:
Deep in the Heart of Texas. Do we need to know these lyrics in any fashion?
Julian:
No.
Tina:
Okay.
Sophie:
What a waste of my knowledge of Deep in the Heart of Texas.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Julian:
The lyrics are not objectionable. It's not why the BBC took issue with this song.
Sophie:
Is it war related?
Julian:
The reasoning is war related.
Tina:
So how do you say "deep in the heart of Texas" in a jaunty fashion? Is it because of the pronunciation?
Sophie:
"Deep in the heart of Texas."
SFX:
(group laughing)
Sophie:
I don't think that's how Bing would have done it.
Julian:
Yeah, the tune that goes along with it is jaunty.
Sophie:
Mm.
Julian:
There's, you know, trumpets and...
Tina:
Oh, is it because they think that it's time to go fight?
SFX:
(Tom and Tina laugh)
Julian:
You think that would rile them up, but can you imagine a bunch of Brits like, "For Texas!"
Sophie:
Yeah.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Julian:
"This is for the Lone Star State!"
SFX:
(Tina and Sophie wheeze)
Sophie:
Was there something in it that sounded like something else? That sounded like a siren, or a... something that would scare them?
Julian:
(guffaws)
Sophie:
Oh, you know that it sounds like an air raid siren in Deep in the Heart of Texas?
Julian:
Yeah, like with some hip-hop songs that make me think the cops are behind me when they come on.
Sophie:
Yes, yeah.
Tina:
Yeah, exactly.
Tom:
There is actually a little bit in that song, though. There's a particular part of that song... that I would say has something like that. Not sounding like something else, but there's a particular bit of it.
Tina:
Is that relevant in this situation?
SFX:
(Sophie and Tina giggle)
Julian:
It's not going to make everybody turn their lights off during the Blitz or anything, no.
Tina:
Oh, okay.
Sophie:
Right, okay. This is where I show my ignorance. 'Cause at what point were America really getting involved? Is it related to—
Julian:
December 7th, 1941.
Sophie:
Okay
Julian:
is when we started... It was when we joined the war effort.
Tom:
Good trivia knowledge.
Sophie:
Yeah.
Julian:
It's a date which will live in infamy. It's Pearl Harbor.
Tom:
Okay. (cracks up) Good American just general knowledge. Okay, fine.
Julian:
Yeah, we kinda have to know that. We've only got 200 years of history as a country. We better know it.
Sophie:
It's not related to America's involvement?
Julian:
It is not.
Sophie:
Okay. Good of the nation.
Tina:
The good of the nation. What else has been banned for the good of the nation? What is considered not good for the nation? In England, in the UK?
SFX:
(Sophie and Tina giggle)
Tina:
What do you find not good?
Julian:
You've got the actual fighting of World War II, right? But what else is happening in England as part of the war effort?
Tina:
Rationing.
Sophie:
The song doesn't just list a load of delicious meals, and people...
SFX:
(others laughing)
Julian:
Like the top of the show. The lyrics are just "croissant, butter, deep in the heart of Texas."
Sophie:
Loads and loads and loads of butter, yeah. Evacuation. Women working. So is it...
Tom:
A lot of working, really. A lot of manufacturing going on.
Sophie:
Is it encouraging people to be lazy? Is it, is the message behind it like, "Deep in the heart of Texas, put your feet up," kind of thing?
Julian:
Yeah, nobody does anything here. We all relax, and it's great. Nope, not it.
Tina:
Just eat some barbecue.
Julian:
Manufacturing's important to this. And the song is jaunty.
Tina:
What is jaunty? So you put your hat wrong, and then you fall over?
SFX:
(Julian and Sophie guffaw)
Julian:
You've got a completely wrong picture of jaunty.
Sophie:
Yeah, sorry, maybe I've missold jaunty.
Tina:
(laughs profusely)
Sophie:
I just think of a jaunty hat.
Okay, so, well, what if people dance? Would people dance to it, and then they wouldn't be working, because it was such a jaunty tune?
Julian:
Oh, you're very close.
Tina:
Ooh, they just—
Sophie:
They wanna move their limbs in a rhythmic fashion.
Tina:
Oh, and then your hands get chopped off. Your fingers get chopped off, because you're just like, "Oh, whoops!"
Tom:
Honestly, Julian, I think it might be—
Julian:
Do you want to give it to 'em?
Tom:
Well, do you know the song?
Julian:
I do.
Tom:
Or, more accurately... if I was just kind of... I can't remember the tune, but, you know, in certain parts of America, if I were just, you know, shouting to a crowd, "The stars at night are big and bright."
Julian:
(claps rhythmically)
Sophie:
Oh, I see! (claps) So there's a bit where it's encouraged that one would clap.
Julian:
Yes.
Sophie:
And then that would stop people from getting their hands into their work.
Julian:
You are correct, Soph.
The BBC banned it because wartime production was so essential, they were worried if they played it on the radio, people would take those moments for the clap break, and it would impact production for even just those few seconds.
Sophie:
Oh my gosh.
Julian:
It's just a brief:
♪ The stars at night are big and bright ♪
SFX:
(Tom and Julian clap rhythmically)
Julian:
♪ Deep in the heart of Texas ♪
And that's repeated six times in the song. And that was deemed unacceptable by the BBC. So they banned it.
Sophie:
Wow, oh my gosh. What a great story.
Julian:
Yeah.
Tina:
Great trivia.
Julian:
It's said you can still spot a Texan anywhere by doing this.
SFX:
(others laughing)
Julian:
Just like Tom did, which is funny. I've heard stories of wartime spies being caught 'cause they're American, 'cause when they cut their food, they didn't— they would switch hands 'cause that's a very American thing to do. So it's like that, but for Texans.
Tina:
Would they ban tea? Did they ban tea during the war?
Julian:
Never.
Tom:
No.
Julian:
In England?
Tom:
No.
Julian:
Why would they even fight if they had banned tea? You know, what's left for them at that point?
Tom:
Tea was rationed in the UK, but there was a particular part of the wartime government dedicated to keeping tea supplies going, because it really was seen as that important for morale.
Sophie:
And isn't that just the most British thing you've ever very bloody heard?
SFX:
(group giggling)
Tom:
This question was sent in by Ghrian. Thank you very much.
Max Mustermann hails from Quakenbrück in Germany. Often he has a lot of explaining to do when phoning for a doctor's appointment or flying out to a different country, for example. Why?
I'll say that again.
Max Mustermann hails from Quakenbrück in Germany. Often he has a lot of explaining to do when phoning for a doctor's appointment or flying out to a different country, for example. Why?
Julian:
So it's something to do with his name and his documents, right?
Tom:
Mhm.
Julian:
It must be.
Tom:
Yes.
Sophie:
So Mister Mustermann in German would be Herr, right? Herr Mustermann.
Tom:
Mhm.
Sophie:
Maybe it's something to do with what that— But then it's— But then he's going in— The doctors is in Germany, right? So it's not going to be anything... Yeah, it must be a documents thing.
Julian:
Max Mustermann.
Tina:
Mustermann. Quakenbrück. Quakenbrück.
Julian:
Yeah, is the— Is his— Is the city of where he's from important?
Tom:
The city isn't important. I think the question writer just liked the name Quakenbrück.
Julian:
Yeah, it's a red herring. I do the name Quakenbrück.
Sophie:
So, Max, potentially short for Maximillian, or Max... Maybe there's a little...
Julian:
Maximillian Mustermann. It's so long.
Sophie:
Yeah, or Max... I don't know, Maxwell, or Max...
Julian:
What was the exact phrasing? He has to do explaining when he goes to the doctor, or it makes it awkward, what was it?
Tom:
Yeah, both of those things, really. It's just, his life is more difficult.
Sophie:
Does it mean something in German then, Mustermann?
Julian:
Right.
Tina:
Maximizing something. 'Cause max, a maximum of something.
Julian:
Yeah.
Sophie:
(chuckles)
Tina:
Maximum cholesterol. Yeah, yeah, something like that, yeah.
Julian:
I feel like it would be hard when ordering a schnitzel, and they'd be like, "Oh, you want max mustard on it?" And he'd be like, "No, I..."
Tom:
(laughs)
SFX:
(Sophie and Tina giggle)
Julian:
That's, but at the doctor's. They don't have schnitzel at the doctor in Germany, right? I don't know how healthcare works in other places.
Tina:
No idea.
Sophie:
Not to my knowledge.
Tom:
You were talking about documents. And I'd hone in on that. It's awkward situations where he has to show documents.
Julian:
Is it 'cause the name is transposed on documents, where it's like, "Mustermann, Max"?
Tom:
He is often slowed down at airports, but not outside Germany.
Tina:
Oh, not outside Germany?
Tom:
No.
Sophie:
Is he just famous?
Julian:
Is the name of a supervillain that's on the loose in Germany. And he's... his arch nemesis...
Tina:
is Min Masterman.
Julian:
Yeah.
Sophie:
Min, yeah. Min Miniminimus.
Julian:
Min Curryman.
Sophie:
Yeah. Min Min Minin Woman, yeah.
Julian:
Hmm. Max Mustermann in Germany. Nobody here speaks German, huh?
Sophie:
No, no. My partner does, but obviously that's not allowed.
Julian:
Yeah, what are the odds?
Sophie:
(chuckles)
Tom:
I mean, if your partner has spent long enough in Germany to have some cultural knowledge there... it's going to be easy. Any Germans listening to this will have got it immediately.
Sophie:
Yeah, but I'm not my partner, I'm afraid, Tom.
Tom:
No, no.
Sophie:
She's half German, so I really could use that right now.
Tom:
But it's not about language. It's about that name.
Sophie:
Yeah, so that name is— Is it a cartoon char— Is it the name of a cartoon character? Or the name of a criminal? Is it the name of someone...
Julian:
Yeah, it looks like a joke when he presents documents, and they're like, "Come on."
Tom:
Yeah.
Sophie:
They think it's fake documents. Because Max Mustermann is the name...
Julian:
That was the name Bing Crosby performed under in Germany.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Tina:
Is it the president? No, I'm kidding.
SFX:
(Julian and Tina laugh)
Sophie:
Yeah. Deep in—
Julian:
Except, twist, he is the president. ♪ Deep in ze heart of Dusseldorf ♪
SFX:
(Tom and Julian clap rhythmically) (group laughing)
Tom:
Soph, you've got every aspect of this, apart from that key bit at the end. What might it be about the name? What is he being accused of or accused of doing unfairly? Because people are like...
Sophie:
Forging documents.
Tom:
Yeah, sometimes.
Julian:
Is it like the German version of Jane Doe, where it's just the stand-in name?
Tom:
Julian, on the previous question when you said "this was sent in by Jane Doe," I had this moment of going, "Oh no. Oh, that's going to be a giveaway."
Julian:
I think David's doing this intentionally. He set all these things up brilliantly. There's a meta to the show flow here.
Tom:
You are absolutely right. Max Mustermann – and Erika Mustermann, for women – is the German equivalent of John Doe or Jane Doe.
Unfortunately, there really is someone called Max Mustermann, and he really does have trouble in Germany, because he will call up and do the German equivalent of asking for an appointment for John Doe.
Julian:
Right, and they're like, "Yeah, sure thing, 14-year-old who got a hold of a cell phone."
Tom:
Yep.
Sophie:
Aww. Poor Max Mustermann.
Julian:
Hilarious. And unfortunate.
And those parents, they saw an opportunity, and they took it, and I respect that.
Tom:
Soph, the last big question of the show is on you. Whenever you're ready.
Sophie:
Ooh, big. Okay, here we go. Thanks, Tom.
This question has been sent in by Adam.
In 1999, BBC News reported that drivers of red and black cars in Cornwall and Devon were much more likely to be stopped for speeding than average. Conversely, they claimed that white cars were more likely to be treated leniently. Why?
In 1999, BBC News reported that drivers of red and black cars in Cornwall and Devon were more likely to be stopped for speeding than average. Conversely, they claimed that white cars were more likely to be treated leniently. Why?
Take it away, cutie pies.
Julian:
Oh shucks.
Tom:
(wheezes) Awh.
Julian:
Alright, in... Did you say Cornwall and Devon?
Sophie:
In Cornwall and Devon, yeah. It's another BBC-based question.
Julian:
Yeah, I have no idea what these towns look like, but are they typical English hamlets?
Tom:
Those are counties.
Sophie:
Hamlets.
Tom:
That is...
SFX:
(group laughing)
Julian:
No idea.
Tom:
Yeah, you're right, sorry. I went on to correct him there, and we didn't correctly just drill on hamlets there, was the word.
Julian:
Is that what we call things? I don't know.
Sophie:
I don't know about you. I grew up in a classic British hamlet.
SFX:
(others laughing)
Julian:
That's a type of small town, isn't it? That's a word.
Sophie:
(chuckles) No, it's a cute— yeah, it's a nice word.
Yeah, Cornwall and Devon are counties. They're big, big areas of the country.
Julian:
Okay.
Tom:
Those are regions.
Sophie:
Regions that contain various cities and towns.
Tom:
And they're off in the southwest, kind of, kind of out on a peninsula on their own on the southwest. I don't think it counts as a peninsula when it's that big, but it's a sticky-out bit.
Julian:
I'm just trying to imagine the buildings. Are they white? Are they red and black? Is there—
Sophie:
The buildings?
Julian:
Yeah, the towns. What do they look like?
Tom:
I mean, I've got to describe Cornwall and Devon here, haven't I?
SFX:
(Tina and Tom crack up)
Tom:
The towns look like average British towns.
Julian:
That's typical hamlets. That's what I said!
Tom:
Yeah. But there's a lot of little coastal— They're really coastal counties. There's a lot of little fishing villages and things like that out on the outskirts. But, if you're speeding, you're gonna be going down the big roads, presumably.
Julian:
Okay. It's in 1999, you said, right?
Sophie:
1999, correct, Julian.
Julian:
Is this around the time when... speed cameras started getting installed around the area? You know, radar activated speed traps and that sort of thing, instead of a constable enforcing this law? Is it some technology? Is it related to that?
Sophie:
It is not related to technology, no.
Julian:
Okay.
Tina:
What color are the flags for football or whatever it is that people like there?
Julian:
Yeah, yeah.
Tom:
Cornwall has a black and white flag, and a small independence movement that will spray paint that flag over the English Rose on tourism signs.
Tina:
(wheezes) I see, hmm.
Tom:
But the cars were red and black if they were more likely to be caught, and white if they weren't. So, I can't see that flag... I don't know the flag of Devon, but I doubt it's to do with that.
Sophie:
Your doubt is to be followed, Tom.
Tom:
Alright.
Sophie:
This is not to do with that, but Julian, maybe think more about what you were saying. If it's not cameras... who is in charge of this?
Julian:
It's human beings.
Tom:
Yeah.
Julian:
So, that implies some bias. For some reason.
Sophie:
Good.
Julian:
Mm. Is it... I, you know, a white car is easy to spot compared to a black car. Does a white car just look like it's traveling slower? Is that cliché of motorists? "Oh, this car looks fast when it's standing still"? For a red car, I wonder?
Tina:
I feel like it's cultural. Is, it feels like... it would be some sort of cultural thing that happened. And they're like, "I hate these colors. These people suck."
Julian:
White's alright. But black or red, you're dead.
Tina:
Bad.
Julian:
Yeah.
Sophie:
There is— You're along the right lines there, Tina, with kind of targeting colours, go on.
Tina:
Maybe they hate themselves. Sorry.
SFX:
(Tom and Tina laugh)
Tom:
Is it that they're using... radar guns for this? So they are pointing— They're standing at the side of the road, they're pointing and reading the speed like that, and they're just more likely to hit... black and red cars? They're more likely to point at them because... they think they're going faster?
Sophie:
That's still a bit too much about technology though. It's not about the tech at all. It's about their choice. It's a choice.
Julian:
Yeah, some human biases at play.
Tom:
Yeah.
Sophie:
Mhm.
Tina:
What happened in 1999? In those regions?
Julian:
(cracks up)
Tom:
Might not even be due to the regions. It might just be that's the force they picked. I don't know.
Sophie:
Okay, so, maybe... It seems like from this that being a police officer at the time in that area was a bit boring. Maybe they were trying to make it a bit more fun. Their jobs.
Julian:
Oh, oh, oh! The cops would buy white cars, and they would race them. And so when they got caught by other cops, or the other cops knew the person in the white car was a cop, and they were like, "Oh, that's just, you know, Billy, let him go." Everybody else, they're like, "You're nicked, sunshine." Is that it?
Sophie:
Yeah, we've just blown up the undercover cops taking cars. No, I'm afraid that's not it, Julian, but I like that.
Tom:
Devon and Cornwall share a police force. It's not two regions. It's not specifically these regions. It's just, that's the force. This is tied to one police force doing a thing. And did they make a game out of it? Did you get more points for pulling over a car based on the colour, or something like that?
Sophie:
Mmm, yeah, no, keep going in that direction. Think about the colours again.
Tom:
Red and black.
Julian:
Red and black. Would get ticketed more.
Tom:
Oh, the Americans aren't going to get this, are they?
Sophie:
(giggles) I don't think so.
Tom:
The Americans aren't going to get this.
Sophie:
I don't think there's— Well, I don't know if it's a thing in America.
Tom:
It is, and this is such a quiz question. This is— Did they get one point for a red, and seven points for a black?
Sophie:
Why would that be, Tom?
Tom:
And no points for a white, because those are the values of the colours in snooker?
Sophie:
Correct. It's a snooker-based question.
Tom:
(laughs uproariously)
Julian:
This is— Oh, man! I had no shot.
Sophie:
Is— Do you, Tina and Julian, do you have any— Oh, good point, Julian.
Julian:
I have seen snooker a few times. On just clips of it, and I'm like, I have no idea what on earth is going on here. It is incomprehensible to me.
Tom:
Yeah, I feel that way about baseball.
Sophie:
If it— (wheezes)
Julian:
Don't worry, same.
Sophie:
If it helps, I knew very little about snooker as well. So when I got presented with this, I did a bit of reading around it. Tina, are you familiar with snooker at all?
Tina:
I have no idea. I feel like I'm such at a disadvantage. Because I have no knowledge of American history, and I have no knowledge of British history.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Julian:
Don't worry, Tina. The next episode is gonna be all about your expertise.
Sophie:
Yeah, where's the AI questions, guys? Come on.
Julian:
Yeah.
Sophie:
Okay, so yes. Police were allegedly playing 'Motorway Snooker'.
It was claimed that Devon and Cornwall police force were playing this game, and allegedly they were trying to... kind of get maximum points, right? Similar to how you would do that in snooker, right? It was called a maximum break. I looked it up.
So yeah, if you got red and black then 15 times, and that would mean you get loads of points. You actually get red then black, then red then black. And then you'd go through the order of the other colours – yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black. So basically their focus is on the red and black cars more than the other colours.
But then, obviously, at some point, you want to get the other colours.
There was one example where this guy, John Emslie, was stopped on the M5, and this is when people started getting suspicious.
The M5 is a road, by the way, guys. And when—
Julian:
Thank you.
Sophie:
It's okay, I can speak American.
Julian:
I appreciate it.
Sophie:
When this guy was asked why he was pulled over, rather than another car that had been driving at the exact same speed, he was told it was because his Alfa Romeo was yellow.
So, literally, these are these people who can't take in the movement.
Tom:
But at that point, they've only got five or six cars to go to get the set.
Sophie:
Yeah, so they're feeling really tense about it. And of course, a white car is equivalent to potting the white, so that would incur a penalty.
So, one driver in the area said that he'd driven his white car for seven years without being stopped.
Julian:
Amazing.
Sophie:
So, well done—
Julian:
He's just—
Sophie:
Yeah, yeah.
Julian:
He's just driving straight over the hump of the roundabout. Carelessly.
Sophie:
Yeah, exactly.
Julian:
It's like, I'm untouchable.
Sophie:
Yeah. So maybe the police did buy the white cars. Because they knew they would then be untouchable.
Julian:
Yeah, that's what I would do.
Sophie:
So well done on making your way to the answer, guys, considering two of you, three of us, if you include me, know nothing about snooker.
Tom:
(laughs heartily)
Julian:
We really needed Tom for that one. He was the linchpin.
Tina:
Oh yeah, and I think that would have been impossible without you, Tom.
Tom:
The very last order of business, then. At the top of the show, I asked:
Why does Graeme regularly go to Beyoncé's Wikipedia page, even though he's not a fan of her music?
Before I let the audience in on that, anyone want to take a quick shot at it?
Julian:
Is he in charge of... a Wikipedia editor who's in charge of Beyoncé's page? Who has to make sure that everything for her is up to date?
Sophie:
I feel like people must change a lot on her page, right? Add 'Queen' and stuff.
Julian:
Yeah. Yeah. And his dedicated job is going in at me, "No, she's not the Queen of Beyastan, or whatever.
Tom:
No, there's other pages he could have used, but Beyoncé is, kind of, one of the more popular ones. This is the one that came to mind.
Julian:
Well, he's not updating when people die on Wikipedia, right? And I'm sure they have a mathematical formula that calculates age. He doesn't just have to go every time and be like, "Now she's 57."
SFX:
(group giggling)
Tina:
Crowdsourced.
Julian:
It's one guy just going through all the birthdays and making sure that nobody's had a birthday since then.
Tina:
I mean, Wikipedia does seem like it needs funding. It keeps telling you that it needs too much.
Julian:
Yeah, it's to pay all the birthday trackers, like Graeme.
Tom:
No, he only stayed on the page for a few seconds.
Tina:
So it was a mistake of some fashion? Is Beyoncé...
Julian:
Make sure the page is still up.
Sophie:
Yeah, still there.
Julian:
The links aren't broken?
Tina:
Is his name Beyoncé?
SFX:
(group giggling)
Sophie:
Graeme Beyoncé.
Tom:
His name is Graeme Coleman, and this is based off just one thing that he tweeted in 2019.
Julian:
Goes to Beyoncé's page regularly.
Tom:
He finds it simpler than trying to remember hold down alt and press 0-2-3-3.
Julian:
Oh, there's a— The accent mark in Beyoncé's name. He goes and copies it.
Sophie:
Oh, getting the E!
Julian:
And pastes it when he's typing.
Sophie:
Oh, of course.
Tom:
Yes.
Julian:
Wow.
Sophie:
Okay.
Tina:
Wow.
Sophie:
But then it would be slightly different for— Oh, it's just stressful.
Julian:
No, I ctrl-shift-V, paste without formatting.
Sophie:
Oh, of course. Of course.
Tina:
Clearly.
Tom:
Quote, "I have a PhD in computing," says Graeme. "I am a senior accessibility consultant, but when I want to type e-acute on a Windows laptop, I go to Beyoncé's Wikipedia page and copy-paste."
Julian:
Amazing.
Sophie:
That's great.
Julian:
Amazing.
Tom:
Thank you very much to all our players. Let's find out, what's going on in your lives? Where can people find you?
We will start with Soph.
Sophie:
Yes, thanks so much for having me, Tom. If you want to find out what I'm up to, you can find me as @SophsNotes basically anywhere.
Tom:
Tina!
Tina:
Thank you so much for having me. If you want to find out about what I'm up to, just type in 'Tina Huang' on YouTube, and I talk about my life there.
Tom:
And Julian.
Julian:
It was a delight, Tom. You can find me, also on other podcasting places on the podcast That's Absurd Please Elaborate with my co-host Trace Dominguez.
Tom:
And if you wanna know more about this show, you can do that at lateralcast.com, where you can also send in your own ideas for questions. We are at @lateralcast basically everywhere, and there are regular video highlights at youtube.com/lateralcast.
With that, thank you very much to Julian Huguet.
Julian:
Thank you very much, Tom.
Tom:
Tina Huang.
Tina:
Thank you very much.
Tom:
And Dusty Vibes!
Sophie:
Thank you so very much Tom for having me.
Tom:
That is Sophie Ward. Thank you very much to all three of you.
I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Lateral.
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