Get the RSS feed or search “Lateral” on your podcast app
| Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode |
Episode 12: The most-kissed woman in history
Published 30th December, 2022
Trace Dominguez, Nahre Sol and Jordan Harrod face questions about crafty candidates, protective parking and goofy glasses.
HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. RECORDED AT & EDITED BY: The Podcast Studios, Dublin. EDITOR: Julie Hassett. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Josh Halbur, Ben Justice, Lewis Tough, Arun Uttamchandani, Eglė Vaškevičiūtė. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott.
Transcript
Transcription by Caption+
Tom:
What is the hottest thing in the known universe? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral.
Joining me for their second appearance today, we have: working on her PhD in medical engineering and medical physics, and casually running a YouTube channel on the side about AI, Jordan Harrod.
Jordan:
Hey, thanks for having me.
Tom:
From his own YouTube channel and from the Theory of Awesome, Trace Dominguez.
Trace:
Hello, yes, I am from those things.
Tom:
And musician, composer, pianist, and YouTuber, Nahre Sol.
Nahre:
Hello, happy to be here.
Tom:
We have another set of tricky questions for our players today to give them the best exercise their brains can find, outside some kind of mystical brain gym that I don't wanna think about too hard. Very best of luck to you all. We start with this:
After Helen finishes work, everything she sees turns slightly purple for a few minutes, even though no one else around her is affected the same way. What is her occupation?
I'll say that one more time.
After Helen finishes work, everything she sees turns slightly purple for a few minutes, even though no one else around her is affected the same way. What is her occupation?
Jordan:
For a minute there, I thought Helen had like a brain tumor, something, but it doesn't seem like that's what it is.
Tom:
There spoke the medical engineering student.
Jordan:
Yeah. I was like, Helen should go see a doctor about that.
Trace:
I mean, just in general, Helen should go see a doctor like everybody should once in a while.
Jordan:
Yep, get your annual physicals. Get your checkups.
Trace:
Yeah, it's important. It's important things.
Jordan:
Have a PCP.
Tom:
I don't know what a PCP is. I only know that PCP is a drug.
Jordan:
Not— well—
Trace:
Oh yeah.
Jordan:
Under the guidance of your doctor, maybe. Primary care physician. Your point person is easier.
Tom:
We'd call that a GP, alright.
Jordan:
Yeah.
Trace:
Yeah.
Nahre:
Is it because she's wearing those 3D glasses? And the screen turns off, so now the red and the blue, it looks purple?
Tom:
You're not quite there, but it's certainly along those lines. It's certainly about the perception of colour, rather than the colour itself.
Trace:
Yeah. My first thought was when you look at bright things or like at, you know, when you're looking through, say, I don't know, like you're a gemologist or something, and you're looking at bright lights, or you're looking at a light panel, and then you look away from it. It does look kind of, your vision goes all funny. And part of that is, you know, I have always perceived it as purple, but I never assume anybody works the same way, 'cause humans are messy. But that was what I thought is like, oh, she was looking at a really bright light all day, and then she turned away from the bright light, and everything was kind of purple.
Tom:
You are certainly along the right lines here. I'm not gonna give you more hints at this point, 'cause you're definitely closer than you might expect already.
Trace:
No one else is affected, 'cause it's just her perception. So we definitely got that nailed down.
Tom:
Well, it's more, there's no one else with— There's no one else around her at this point.
Jordan:
Okay.
Trace:
What's the opposite of purple on the color wheel? You were looking at something that was...
Nahre:
Yellow?
Trace:
Yeah, green? What's the opposite of purple?
Tom:
You are right there, Trace. The opposite thing on the colour wheel is green.
Trace:
Oh, well I'm impressed with myself. If nothing else, I've won that. So...
Jordan:
What would she be looking at that is green?
Trace:
Right, 'cause when you ever done those visual tricks where you're like, look at the American flag and then look at this white piece of paper, and now you see like the opposite colors.
Jordan:
The inverted, yeah.
Trace:
She's looking at something that's green all day, and then she turns away and she sees purple things. What could she be looking at all day that's green? Trees? Grass? Does she have a scythe?
Nahre:
Is she looking at a green screen all day?
Tom:
Why might she be doing that?
Trace:
Oh, is she a video editor or a filmer or something?
Nahre:
She works— she's an anchorwoman?
Tom:
Absolutely right. She's in—
Nahre:
She's a news wo— She's an anchorwoman.
Tom:
Yep, she's in one of those virtual studios that they use for news. Everything around her is painted green. The walls to the side are painted green, because the camera's tracking her, everything. She's the only person in the giant green room instead of a set. So when she walks out that room, everything's purple for just a little while.
Trace:
Wow.
Nahre:
That's so interesting. That really happens. I wanna experience that. That's weird.
Tom:
I would recommend staring at something green for a long time.
Trace:
Yeah.
Tom:
Part of the reason for it, and the reason I wasn't quite accepting any other answer, is it's the studio lighting as well. It's this massive, bright green thing that your eyes get used to. The same way if you walk into a room that is lit with daylight bulbs at night, it'll seem really blue. Your eyes just adjust to what's around you. So, yes, Helen is a— We actually had weather presenter, but anyone who works in a big virtual studio spends a lot of time staring at a green screen. Their vision will go a little bit purple for a little while after they leave.
Which brings us to our first guest question. As usual, I have no idea what the question is. I dunno the answer. I've not seen it before either, so I'm just as much in the dark as everyone else. We're gonna go to Nahre first this time. What have you got for us?
Nahre:
Okay.
A factory made a range of furniture for a particular company that was 20% smaller than full size. The furniture is not for petite people, and in fact, it's unlikely it will receive much use at all. What was its purpose?
And I'll say it one more time.
A factory made a range of furniture for a particular company that was 20% smaller than full size. The furniture is not for petite people, and in fact, it's unlikely it will receive much use at all. What was its purpose?
Tom:
I am tempted to do the thing where I write down a guess and sit out the question, 'cause I think I know this, but I'm not confident enough to actually do that. There... So I'm just gonna go for this. I'm gonna take a punt on this and take a guess, which is that there used to be movie sets that were built at smaller scales. So, like the set for Coronation Street, which is a British soap opera, the outside was at like two-thirds scale or something like that. The actors had to walk more slowly, so it looked right on camera when they were outside. 'Cause it was cheaper and no one noticed. They used to do set tours and everyone was disappointed. So is this like furniture for false perspective stuff in movies or something like that?
Trace:
That's what I was thinking too.
Nahre:
Very close. Very close. The false perspective thing.
Tom:
Okay, I'm glad I didn't gamble on that.
Nahre:
Not for movies, but very close.
Trace:
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. It's 20% smaller. It has to be a little bit in the background, or a little bit further away from you.
Tom:
But it's a range of furniture as well.
Trace:
Yeah.
Nahre:
And it's unlikely it will receive much use at all.
Tom:
And it won't receive much use. So this is why I was thinking movies again.
Trace:
I was thinking like a museum or a theme park, where like the furniture sits there and it's just far enough away. Like you go to a theme park and they want you to, make you feel like the castle is taller than it is, or...
Jordan:
Yeah.
Trace:
the town is bigger than it is. But it's really just getting the force perspective as the buildings get smaller, as you get closer to the castle, or you know, you put them ten feet away, but you make them look with their size like they're fifteen feet away. So you force people to believe things.
Tom:
But is the whole range like exactly 20% smaller that scene? Well, or about 20, like it's not like they've got varying sizes for varying rooms?
Nahre:
It doesn't seem like the percentage is that important.
Tom:
It's just slightly smaller furniture.
Trace:
Slightly smaller.
Nahre:
Slightly smaller.
Jordan:
Slightly smaller.
Trace:
It's just a thing that people can buy. "Slightly smaller furniture. Here, call this number. We'll give you slightly smaller furniture at a 20% discount 'cause it's 20% less furniture."
Tom:
"Confuse your family. Confuse your guests. Give one person the smaller chair, so they think they're really tall."
Trace:
"Excellent for child pictures."
Tom:
Oh, oh, hang on. Oh no, I was gonna say, is it for schools or something like that where there are— but it's not for petite people and it's not gonna get much use. So that was a terrible idea.
Jordan:
I don't know, I was thinking like a model showroom or something. I was also thinking the set deck realm of ideas.
Nahre:
I think I'll take that answer.
Jordan:
Oh wait, really?
Trace:
What?
Tom:
Wait, do IKEA just have smaller things in their showrooms or something?
Nahre:
The model showroom.
Jordan:
Oh!
Trace:
The model showroom. Wait, what?
Nahre:
It's to be placed in the show homes of new housing estates.
Tom:
So they look bigger.
Jordan:
Oh.
Trace:
So the room looks bigger?!
Nahre:
Exactly.
Tom:
Wow!
Nahre:
It's the illusion.
Jordan:
Huh.
Trace:
That's shady. That's some shady stuff.
Jordan:
Also kind of a con.
Nahre:
Yes. It's a somewhat dishonest reason.
Jordan:
Between that and like a wide angle camera.
Trace:
I like it and I hate it.
Nahre:
Sneaky, sneaky.
Tom:
'Cause no one's gonna lie down in the bed, in the show home you're being shown round by the realtor. They're just gonna... They say, "Oh yeah, no, this room looks massive." And then suddenly you get your bed in there, and it's not.
Trace:
When I worked at a museum, they had beds in the exhibits, and we would always crawl over the exhibit walls and sleep in the beds, but they were three quarter length beds. So they made the room look normal size, even though there was a walkway in the room. So that totally makes sense. Also, the beds were very uncomfortable.
Jordan:
I can only imagine.
Nahre:
Now we know.
Trace:
Now we know.
Nahre:
So a factory makes slightly smaller furniture than usual to be used in show homes of new housing estates.
Tom:
For the next question, it's back to me. So, good luck folks.
How did the face of an unknown young woman from the 1880s become the most kissed woman in history?
I'll say that again.
How did the face of an unknown young woman from the 1880s become the most kissed woman in history?
Nahre:
Who is the most kissed woman in history?
Jordan:
Is this like one of those... Rosary isn't the word, but like, some woman who was a like—
Trace:
Ooh, I like where you're going.
Jordan:
Revered figure, and so her face got printed on everybody's religious thing, and part of that was that you had to kiss the face whenever you... prayed or something.
Tom:
You are right in a couple of the details in there. It's not a religious thing, but yes. This is definitely something that's been preserved and copied.
Trace:
So my thought from that, that makes me think of: Oh, this woman was a model or hired to do something. You know, they took her picture or they sculpted something, and then they made a bunch of those. And the point of it is that people kiss it. And so they put it all over the place, but she's just some model, or some woman who was hired or some, you know, somebody who, somebody's sister or something.
Tom:
Very much along the right lines.
Nahre:
Do people kiss her for good luck? Superstition.
Jordan:
What year was it again?
Tom:
An unknown young woman from the 1880s.
Jordan:
Do we know where she was from?
Tom:
France.
Trace:
Unknown French woman... in the 1880s. So what thing gets kissed a lot? You know, like that's a very specific action.
Tom:
Yeah.
Trace:
Kissing something.
Tom:
The question might be playing a little bit fast and loose with the definition of kiss, but she's known as most kissed woman.
Trace:
Her face is on the inside of a mask that everyone wears during COVID, so she's been kissed millions of times.
Jordan:
God.
Trace:
All over the world.
Jordan:
Her face is on the inside of everyone's KN95s.
Tom:
So it's actually in the EU specifications. Just the face has to be— No. I gotta stop saying things in my authoritative voice that are jokes. I can't do that.
Trace:
So we're on the right track, but I don't know what...
Tom:
Yeah, kiss is a very— Kiss is being used very loosely here.
Jordan:
Was this... Were people kissing loosely to find her face as part of some sort of event?
Trace:
So yeah, I was thinking like a carnival or money. (gasp) Money? No. Is somebody— Do they kiss money? We're always told not to put money in our mouths 'cause it's dirty.
Tom:
I'm gonna rephrase the clue. Like kiss is very vaguely defined here. Like the common saying, yes, most kissed women in history. It's more that lips are being pressed together. It's not, I wouldn't call this a kiss.
Trace:
Is a trumpet, she is a trumpet. And thus every trumpet... is played.
Tom:
This is a 3D representation of her face. This is a mask.
Trace:
Is it one of those masks that you wear at a carnival with the feathers and all of the thing, like at New Year or something like that?
Tom:
It did become a widespread design. It may have been used for other things. It's not this particular face that you normally see for that though.
Trace:
Those wax lips? Do they have those in the UK or in— They're really gross. I put wax... They're like wax lips that you put over, in your mouth. I don't know. We had them growing up and I hated them.
Tom:
Does anyone know? Does anyone other than Trace know what that is? Cool, we're just gonna move on from that. Trace's childhood lip trauma.
Trace:
Yeah, I don't like it.
Tom:
Alright, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you a bigger clue here. There is a situation where you might touch lips with someone that you might have to train for.
Jordan:
That you might have to train for?
Nahre:
CPR.
Tom:
Yes.
Trace:
(gasp)
Nahre:
She's the face of a CPR doll.
Tom:
She is the face of many CPR dolls. Yes.
Trace:
Annie, Annie, are you okay?
Tom:
Resusci-Annie, yes. Resusci-Anne, that's her name. Was that a reference to a thing you...?
Trace:
Yeah, we had to take CPR. Annie, Annie, are you okay? That's like Eagle Scout stuff.
Tom:
I've only heard that in the context of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal.
Nahre:
Yeah.
Trace:
Also true, yes.
Tom:
But yes, this is the body of an unknown woman who was pulled out of the Seine in the late 1880s. No one knew who she was. The pathologist thought she was beautiful, and made a plastic cast of her face. That became a common design that was used for masks. So when a toymaker was asked to make a full-size CPR doll, that's the mask he used. It can still be used to this day and it is known as Resusci-Anne, and no one knows what her name was.
Trace:
That pathologist was creepy.
Nahre:
Very interesting.
Jordan:
Yeah, that was weird.
Trace:
"Hey, I got this lady. We just pulled her out of the river. Oh, she is a looker. Let's make a mask of her face." Nope. Nope, Greg. Greg. Don't do it, Greg. Don't do it.
Tom:
I dunno why he's called Greg, but... you're absolutely right. It feels like he should be called Greg.
Jordan:
Yeah. That feels appropriate.
Tom:
So yes, the face of an unknown young woman from the 1880s became the most kissed woman in history because her death mask was used as the template for CPR dolls.
Next up, we have a guest question, and this one's from Trace. Whenever you're ready.
Trace:
Okay, here we go. This is clearly a pre-pandemic question.
A person drives to work in their car. After hearing something on the radio, they leave their car at work and drive home in something else at the end of their shift. They park in a school yard some distance from home, and walk the rest of the way. Why?
I'll read it again.
A person drives to work in their car. After hearing something on the radio, they leave their car at work and drive home in something else at the end of their shift. They park in a school yard some distance from their home, and they walk the rest of the way. Why?
Tom:
The price of gas has just gone up 50 times.
Jordan:
Inflation.
Nahre:
Well, what would you take home? I mean, it's either...
Tom:
They drive home in something else, right?
Trace:
It does say drive home. It does say drive home in something else.
Tom:
Okay, things you can drive. Trains. Motorbikes.
Nahre:
Bus?
Jordan:
Wait, so they hear something on the radio?
Trace:
Mhm. After hearing something on the radio, they leave their car at work and drive home in something else.
Jordan:
Okay.
Tom:
Wait, did you say bus?
Nahre:
I did say bus.
Tom:
Because I'm thinking school bus. I'm thinking it's a snow day. Like they hear the forecast for the weather coming in, and it's snowing, and so they— I dunno why you'd leave your car at work. This doesn't add up, now I say it, 'cause you wouldn't drive the school bus home. But you'd leave it... I dunno, maybe the bus can get through the snow drifts. Trace is not nodding at me, so I'll just leave this one on the side.
Trace:
I'm just letting you guys figure this out a little bit, before I give you some hints! But you know what, that's, I would say to use a phrase, you're in the ballpark. There's, you've got some details that I think are important there. I'll leave it at that. Just leave it there.
Tom:
Weather forecast. So if it's not snow, could it be flooding? Like rising waters or something like that? The road is closed, so you can't go that way?
Trace:
I really like where you guys are going with this. There's definitely, you know, the thing that they can hear on the radio is important. And I think you kind of got there a little bit.
Tom:
Weather forecast? It's gotta be the weather forecast.
Trace:
Yeah. Definitely.
Tom:
So it's wind. Or rain or snow or fog. Like what means you leave your car at work?
Trace:
Where did you all grow up? This is, I think, an important part of this question.
Tom:
Middle of the UK.
Jordan:
The suburbs.
Trace:
The suburbs, like in... what part of your... In a more warm weather or more cold weather? What kind of—
Jordan:
Northern Jersey.
Nahre:
Warm.
Trace:
Okay so. Jordan, you definitely would've experienced something like this. I grew up in Michigan, so we definitely did.
Tom:
It's gotta be a snow day or something like that then, surely.
Nahre:
It's an ice day. The roads are too icy.
Trace:
The snow day is definitely related.
Jordan:
So does he hear something on the radio... and it's like...
Nahre:
Below freezing?
Jordan:
I don't know what this is called, but like the people who salt the roads.
Tom:
The gritter?
Jordan:
Or plow the roads.
Tom:
Or the snowplow.
Jordan:
Yeah.
Trace:
You guys got it. That's it.
Jordan:
Yeah.
Trace:
Yeah. So the bad weather is coming, and they are the driver of the snowplow. So they have to drive the snow plow so they can do that in the morning. That's great.
Tom:
That's lovely.
Trace:
You guys are so smart. You had it right away with the radio and the weather stuff. That's, you already were, like already in there. It was great. So let me recap the question. A person drives to work in their car. After hearing something on the radio — in this case it's the weather report — they leave their car at work and they drive home in something else, the snowplow, and they park in a schoolyard some distance from their home and walk the rest of the way. So the snowplow is there.
Tom:
Because you don't wanna park your snowplow directly outside your house.
Trace:
Yeah, so that way when they wake up in the morning, they can go walk to the snowplow, and they can start the great job of plowing all the streets to make sure that they're not snowed in, and neither is anyone else.
Tom:
The last question from me, then. We have one remaining from our guests, one for the audience. But this is the last big question from me.
In January 1990, two men from Seattle hit on an idea for a new design of eyeglasses. After selling a million pairs, they closed down their company in 2009, after which time their designs would hit a problem. What were they selling?
I'll say that again.
In January 1990, two men from Seattle hit on an idea for a new design of eyeglasses. After selling a million pairs, they closed down their company in 2009, after which time their designs would hit a problem. What were they selling?
Trace:
I wonder if it's related to somebody just shut down recently. Some computer company just shut down and unexpectedly in the smart home area. And so then all of their smart home stuff stopped working. So what if this is a smart—
Jordan:
Wait, what were the years?
Tom:
1990 to 2009. Much as I like the idea of smart home glasses.
Trace:
Yeah.
Jordan:
I think I know this.
Nahre:
Go for it.
Jordan:
Were they... New Year's glasses?
Tom:
Yes, they were. Straight in there, Jordan. Absolutely right. 1990 was the first year they came up with the idea. Obviously you could have done it in the '80s, but that that was when they came up with the idea. They sold a lot of them and 2009, after that, you start getting a '1' in the way. And that just covers up your— It hasn't stopped other people doing the design. This was Richard Sclafani and Peter... gonna hope I'm pronouncing it right, Cicero, who hit on an idea for novelty glasses after a music jam in January 1990. The market became oversaturated with knockoffs, so they left the industry in 2009, and after that, there wasn't really a hole in the numbers to look through. So Jordan, straight in there. You're absolutely right. It was novelty glasses.
Trace:
Wow! That's great.
Nahre:
That is so funny.
Trace:
Do you wear a lot of novelty glasses, Jordan? Are you a big novelty glass wearer? I've known you for a while. I don't feel like you are.
Jordan:
No, I'm not. I was just trying to think of what kind of glasses would run into a problem, and I was like, well the first thing that came to mind was like when hard contacts were a thing, but that's not glasses. And then it was like bifocals, but I feel like that hasn't run into a problem. So then I was like, I don't know. Let's think a little bit outside of the box.
Tom:
So with that success, Jordan, it's onto your guest question. Last big one of the show. When you're ready.
Jordan:
So my question is:
In 2015, Canadian politician Sheldon Bergson completely changed his name to trick people into voting for him. What unusual name did he use?
And I can repeat the question.
In 2015, Canadian politician, Sheldon Bergson completely changed his name to trick people into voting for him. What unusual name did he choose?
Trace:
He wanted to trick people into voting for him. So it's a name that people would want to vote for. And he changed his name to whoever was... the person he was running against. Or something where it's just like, oh yeah. His original name was Sheldon Berg—
This reminds me of a thing I heard on the radio once. It was in the '90s, and I was driving in Detroit, and this guy came on the radio and said, "If you legally change your name to Mace Windu, the baddest Jedi in the galaxy, we will give you $5,000. Just come with your paperwork to the radio station." I don't know if anybody ever did it, but I think about it a lot.
Tom:
That feels like the sort of thing where there we're gonna have five or six people turn up, and there's gonna be lawsuits. Because only the first Mace Windu gets the money.
Trace:
Yeah.
Tom:
I don't know.
Trace:
Yeah, or they have to split it.
Tom:
Back when...
Trace:
Poor guy.
Tom:
Back when I was at university, we had a voting system where it was... some complicated version of ranked choice. And so you would have all the candidates and then you would have one called re-open nominations or RON. And every single year, some jackass would run a campaign for RON. There would be a photo of some famous Ron. There would be a big "Vote Ron" banners everywhere. Someone would take it upon themselves to... As students do, as frankly I did, to waste everyone's time with a completely useless campaign. Can you tell that I've got a bit more cynical over the years since then? So...
Trace:
They're like, someone would do this.
Tom:
It was absolutely what it is, yes. It was 100% me.
Trace:
Somebody would do this crazy thing.
Tom:
Yeah, yeah. But to be fair, every year, someone took up that mantle, whoever it was. And you would see like first choice was someone, second choice was someone, and then when you didn't want any of the other candidates, you would put reopen nominations in there. So was it like RON or...?
Trace:
Yeah, none of the above. I've always wanted to be on the vote for none of the above.
Jordan:
Closer. Pretty close.
Tom:
Oh, okay. So is there something that's like a valid name that like...
Trace:
Yeah. No-name Bergson.
Nahre:
Other.
Tom:
A.N. Other.
Jordan:
No, but you're thinking in the right way.
Nahre:
Because Canadians are indecisive. I'm kidding.
Tom:
"Sorry."
Nahre:
Vague. Sorry.
Trace:
This was recently too, wow. 2015.
Tom:
That's dedication to a joke to actually change your legal name so it shows up on the ballot.
Trace:
Yeah. I mean if you put Mace Windu, the baddest Jedi in the galaxy, I would vote for that guy. I dunno who that guy is, but.
Jordan:
I feel like that would get cut off on the ballot like.
Tom:
"Please, please. My— please. My father was Mr. Windu, baddest Jedi in the galaxy. Call me Mace."
Trace:
It's a long name.
Jordan:
You're almost exactly right. You just need to swap things around.
Trace:
What did I say? I don't even remember now.
Tom:
Oh, because the names on the ballot are surname first.
Trace:
Oh!
Tom:
So he had to change his name to "Above Noneofthe"
Trace:
"Name No."
Tom:
or something like that or...
Jordan:
Very, very close. You're... missing a letter.
Trace:
Above, Above None? None of. Above none of.
Nahre:
Above All.
Jordan:
The name was Above Znoneofthe.
Tom:
So he wanted his name to be at the bottom of the ballot for people who picked none of the above. So Tom was on the right track with the Ron thing.
Trace:
Yeah.
Tom:
So he had to put the Z there first. The Zed there first, he's Canadian.
Nahre:
Yeah.
Tom:
He had to put the Zed there first, so he is on the bottom of the ballot. So it's like Zed...
Nahre:
Yeah.
Tom:
No, it's the opposite of the trick where you put like loads of As in your company name to be at the start of the phone book. You gotta be at the bottom, and then... Oh, that is dedication to a joke, that is.
Trace:
That is pretty good. And you put an underscore so you can be at the top of the...
Jordan:
Exactly.
Tom:
Did he get any votes?
Jordan:
Well, so he tried to pick up votes from people who thought that they were voting for none of the above. It didn't really work. In the 2021 Canadian Federal elections Znoneofthe stood in the same electoral district as Justin Trudeau.
Tom:
Oh.
Jordan:
Trudeau received 22,848 votes. Znoneofthe received 418. So didn't quite work.
Tom:
I mean, that's still 418 people who were either fooled or were spoiling the ballot. Like that's not bad.
Jordan:
True.
Nahre:
It's a lot.
Trace:
None of the above does appear on some ballots... which is awesome. Like I think it's great that that's an option. In some places, in the US at least, there are pla— there you can vote for none of the above as like an option in an election.
Tom:
Yeah, ranked choice voting is a wonderful thing that Britain turned down many years ago. We were gonna do alternative vote. We had a referendum on it, and it overwhelmingly failed, which is deeply frustrating for those of us who like complicated voting systems.
Jordan:
Also failed in Massachusetts.
Tom:
Yeah.
Jordan:
Woo.
Trace:
We have it here. California.
Jordan:
So yes, the name that he changed his name to was Above Znoneofthe, and his idea behind that was that he wanted to pick up votes from people who thought that they were voting for none of the above in an effort to effectively make use of political apathy. And it did not quite work in his favor as he was not elected.
Tom:
Which just brings the last order of business, which is the question I asked to the audience at the start.
What is the hottest thing in the known universe?
Any suggestions from the panel? Just quickly go round, Jordan?
Jordan:
Star is exploding. Is that what a supernova is? A star exploding?
Tom:
It is.
Jordan:
It's not exploding?
Tom:
It's even hotter than that. Trace?
Trace:
I mean, my first thought is something like a neutron star or the space around a black hole. You know, accretion disc kind of thing, but.
Tom:
It's a lot closer to earth. Last call, Nahre? Anything for you?
Nahre:
Some kind of chemical reaction?
Tom:
Oh, Trace, Trace. I can see Trace putting his hand up. And you know what?
Trace:
It's a physics experiment.
Tom:
You're absolutely right. Do you know which one?
Trace:
Off the top of my head, I don't. It'd probably be at the Lawrence Livermore Lab or IDER.
Tom:
It's the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Nahre:
Oh.
Tom:
It's the Large Hadron Collider. In 2012, they achieved a temperature of 5.5 trillion degrees Kelvin, which is roughly 5.5 trillion degrees Celsius, Which is about 350,000 times hotter than the centre of the sun, and the hottest thing in the known universe.
With that, thank you very, very much to our guests. What's going on in your lives? Where can people find you? We're gonna start with Nahre.
Nahre:
I'm always working on music, and you can find all of my material on YouTube. Nahre Sol. Also on Spotify, but mostly YouTube.
Tom:
Jordan.
Jordan:
I'm making videos about artificial intelligence and machine learning over on YouTube, and then you can follow shorter form stuff on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. All of the above. You can just search my name.
Tom:
And Trace.
Trace:
I make sciencey type videos or education videos on my channel on YouTube. Just look for Trace Dominguez. You can also find me on the Twitters, the socials of all the types pretty much. I don't know what I'm working on now, but it's gonna be fun.
Tom:
Thank you very much to all of you. Congratulations on surviving the show and getting through it. If you wanna know more about this show, or submit an idea for a question, you can do that at lateralcast.com. You can find us at @lateralcast basically everywhere, and you can catch video highlights at youtube.com/lateralcast. Thank you so much. We say goodbye to Jordan Harrod.
Jordan:
Thanks for having me.
Tom:
To Trace Dominguez.
Trace:
Bye-bye.
Tom:
To Nahre Sol.
Nahre:
Bye.
Tom:
I've been Tom Scott and this has been Lateral.
| Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode |