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Episode 160: Pumpkin?
31st October, 2025 • Michelle Wong, Dani Siller and Bill Sunderland face questions about mobile materials, Swedish signage and anonymous athletes.
Transcription by Caption+
Tom:
Why are concertgoers often given some building construction material to carry?
The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral.
Good morning and welcome aboard Lateral Tours, your one-way trip through the winding roads of wit, wisdom, and unnecessary tangents. We'll be making several stops on the way, assuming that the brakes hold out.
On your left you'll see Misinformation Towers. At least that's what the internet told me, so it must be true.
Coming up on your right is Panic Roundabout. Last time we went there, it took the driver 30 minutes to find the exit.
Please retain your ticket for checking, although no one's sure what we're checking for, and do kindly refrain from flash photography. It startles the producer.
Today we have (laughs) three fabulous guests along for the ride, here with their rain poncho and a thermos of lukewarm coffee.
First we have returning to the show, they were here on our very first episode. It is the folks from Escape This Podcast, and we will start with Dani Siller. How are you doing?
Dani:
Great! I don't do organised tours. I like my sleep too much, and they start early.
Tom:
(laughs) They really do. God, I remember backpacking round Australia and just being on a lot of buses that departed at like seven in the morning.
Dani:
And Australia, we noticed from our recent trip to the UK, Australia is worse than most places about the early morning starts.
Tom:
(laughs)
Bill:
We're famous for getting up really early here. It's weird.
Tom:
Also from Escape This Podcast, Bill Sunderland.
Bill:
Hi, I'm glad to be back. I'm excited. Yeah, I'm— I feel like it's been a long time. I don't think it has.
Dani:
Feels that way.
Bill:
But it feels like it's been a long time.
Tom:
We were meant to record something in London when you all were over here, and it didn't work out.
Dani:
That's true.
Tom:
So it is lovely to have you back. You should plug the podcast. What are you doing? What's going on at the moment?
Bill:
Yeah, so we have two shows: Escape This Podcast, full of audio escape rooms with guests coming and playing. We recently, at the time of recording, less recently, by the time you're listening to it... released a special video episode on YouTube with four members of the cast of ITV's The Genius Game. One of whom has been on Lateral before. Charlotte.
Tom:
Yes. Yes, she has.
Bill:
We just put her through a casino-themed escape room on YouTube. So there's a special video version over there, which was a lot of fun.
Dani:
And right now, I believe we're playing... we're playing through a bunch of guests' rooms by the time this episode does come out.
Bill:
Oh, and I think I did prep that as being two. We also do Solve this Murder. It's full of murder mysteries. You can check that out as well.
Tom:
Well, best of luck to both of you on our tour around trivia today. We're also joined by a brand new player. From the channel, Lab Muffin Beauty Science, Michelle Wong, welcome to the show.
Michelle:
Thank you for having me. Slightly nervous.
Tom:
(laughs) I think if there's anyone here that a first time player can be paired with, it is Bill and Dani. You have nothing to worry about.
Dani:
Yes!
Tom:
What have you been working on? Because beauty science, I feel like doesn't quite cover what your channel's been doing lately.
Michelle:
Oh, I've been working on sunscreen mostly. I don't know if you've seen all the sunscreen conspiracies.
Tom:
Yes.
Bill:
Oh yeah.
Dani:
That's been a big deal here lately!
Michelle:
It's been wild, like... There's been, oh, there's been, in the last couple months, there's been like four Australian sunscreen news stories. And it's, well, at time of recording, it's been the middle of winter, so it's very, very weird.
SFX:
(Tom and Dani chuckle)
Tom:
What sort of conspiracies? More importantly, what are you debunking?
Michelle:
I guess the biggest ones are always like "sunscreen gives you more cancer than the Sun." Which is strange, since all the white people in Australia get skin cancer, and not the black people and not the people who stay indoors. So yeah, there's a bit of that. And yeah, there's a bit of, just... There's something I'm working on, which I shouldn't talk about. Which is why I'm like...
Tom:
(laughs) Okay, okay.
Michelle:
Which has taken up all my time.
Tom:
Okay, we will stop that there. That is the best possible teaser, 'cause it's gonna be a couple months before this comes out. Maybe that video's out. Maybe...
Michelle:
Maybe?
Tom:
Maybe the conspiracy theories got to you. We just don't know.
Dani:
(laughs) Oh god!
Tom:
Okay, I could've phrased that better!
Dani:
(laughs uproariously)
Bill:
I will say I learned about sunscreen conspiracies when I was accosted by a sunscreen hater who saw me putting on sunscreen and gave me a good 20-minute explanation of the fact that the Sun has never caused cancer.
Tom:
There are sunscreen conspiracy proselytisers? Did I pronounce that one—
Michelle:
Sunscreen truthers.
Tom:
Wow!
Bill:
There are conspiracy theories for everything all over the world. You see it whenever you travel.
Tom:
Well, if you get your cameras ready
Dani:
(applauds)
Tom:
– Thanks, Bill.
Bill:
There you go.
Tom:
We're coming up to a local landmark that we like to call question one.
Thank you to Adrian Martin for this question.
How would identifying the location of an attraction in a Swedish campsite help some people to print a document?
I'll say that again.
How would identifying the location of an attraction in a Swedish campsite help some people to print a document?
Bill:
If I hear about, like, I'm talking about locations and documents and printing, and I've— I'm just getting a flash to being in university. And I'm— I don't know if anyone else had this same problem that I did, which is: I'd like to print a document. Alright, which printer would you like to use? And they're connected to every printer in every building. And it's, you just have to sort of guess and just say... Lab Room 2-7?
Dani:
You know, Printer B-8.
Bill:
And then you just hope— Well, and you hope that they have good names for the various printers you're connected to. 'Cause otherwise you're just running around being like, "Please! Where have I printed this?"
Tom:
My university fixed this problem, at least, you know, when I was there nearly 20 years ago by having a central server. You sent the print job to the mainframe somewhere, and then you walked over to any printer anywhere in the university and you typed your username into this 1980s-style text terminal. And it would print on that printer, and they were very proud of it.
Michelle:
That's brilliant.
Tom:
And I imagine it no longer works.
Dani:
I've never heard of something simultaneously so fancy and unfancy at the same time. That's beautiful.
Tom:
Right?
Dani:
When I heard about, oh, how would identifying an attraction, I went straight to, oh, identifying something in a location? We're in Geoguessr territory. I know we've been there before.
Tom:
(chuckles)
Michelle:
I'm thinking IKEA.
Dani:
Oh yeah, other things. What do we know about Sweden, and how offensive can we get?
Michelle:
Meatballs?
Dani:
They invented a lot of elements there. Or invented, found?
Bill:
Yeah, they keep coming up with new elements.
Dani:
It is the Ytterby Museum, the attraction, and it's about printing periodic tables.
Tom:
Oh, good reference!
Dani:
I think we're running out of Sweden that I've got.
SFX:
(Tom and Bill laugh)
Bill:
IKEA and Ytterby. The only two things in Sweden. An attraction in a campsite helps you print.
Dani:
What attractions might be in a campsite? 'Cause that doesn't sound very rollercoastery.
Michelle:
Well, finding the bathroom's important. Because you wanna get a warm shower.
Dani:
That is attractive.
Tom:
Yes, this would be a point of interest within a campsite.
Bill:
Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way 'round. Let's ignore Sweden. Like we usually do.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Bill:
And let's... And let's think instead, what problem... What would stop you printing a document? How— Why would you ever be like, "Oh, I need, I need help printing a document. Better start looking at Swedish campsites." What's the initial problem?
Dani:
No ink.
Bill:
No ink. Yeah, that's true.
Dani:
Is it the campsite's famous octopus?
Bill:
Yeah, that's probably it.
Tom:
Where did the octopus come from?
Bill:
We need ink!
Dani:
To give you ink.
Bill:
From squid.
Dani:
Okay, a squid.
Tom:
Right, yeah, no, sorry, that— That took me too long.
Bill:
What's a problem... that with— like—
Tom:
There's not necessarily—
Bill:
Not being able to know where a printer is.
Tom:
There's not necessarily a problem. It just might make it a bit faster.
Michelle:
I wanna say Wi-Fi sounds Swedish, but it's Australian. It's like one of the few things they keep on bragging about.
Tom:
(cackles softly)
Bill:
Mhm. So you'd find it, or you'd know where it is. And now, printing is faster, easier. You can print a document. Does it— Is it more about— Is it— Are the people who would look this up, right... And this is not a question for you, Tom. This is for my fellow contestants. So don't you jump in with an answer. Is the issue more, do you think... not about being in Sweden or being at this campsite, but some reference? Like if you know where that is, it gives you some piece of information that is relevant worldwide. It doesn't matter. It's a little mnemonic for the phone number for the Brother printer company. Like... (cracks up) Is it— Does it help you know some other facts?
Dani:
That's interesting.
Michelle:
Is it just the Wi-Fi password? Is that the point of attraction?
Dani:
Yeah, is it the printer password for the central mainframe?
Tom:
With all of those guesses, you're getting closer. Identifying the location is important, but not finding it in real life. Absolutely right. It might also help you save a document.
Dani:
Right, okay. So that feels like we're talking about— you can do it from afar.
Tom:
Mhm.
Bill:
Control-S.
Dani:
Ooh, that's interesting. Is it a part of the campsite called Control-P?
Tom:
What was that, Bill?
Bill:
Yeah, I said Control-S. Is Control-P print?
Dani:
What?!
Bill:
How does this have anything to do with the nature— the campsite?
Tom:
That tells me something about how Bill and Dani use computers and what they have. Michelle—
Dani:
We don't have a Mac.
Tom:
Yeah.
Dani:
Do you have a Mac, Michelle?
Michelle:
Command S?
Bill:
Command—
Michelle:
I'm new to Macs.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Bill:
Command-P, yeah. C— Is it 'CMD' on a—
Michelle:
Option, con— It's Function, Control, Option, Command. Literally had to read that out. (snickers)
Tom:
Is there anything else on that keyboard?
Dani:
On the screen, I would press File + Print.
Tom:
Yeah.
Dani:
Does a Mac do something different from that?
Michelle:
Command centre? System settings?
SFX:
(Tom and Michelle chuckle)
Bill:
Those little coloured circles?
Tom:
Ah, Bill, you said little coloured circles there. What do you mean?
Bill:
The extent of my experience with Mac computers is wandering around, looking at people using them, and being, "I'll use my PC, thank you very much."
Tom:
(laughs)
Bill:
For no reason, but that's just— It's going into an art room in my school and them being like, "Macs are better at art." I mean, like, alright, that seems a strange distinction, but I feel like every— they don't have the— where I would expect there'd be minuses and squares and Xs in the tops of windows, they just have little coloured buttons.
Tom:
Oh, yes. We are—
Bill:
But is this a general theme across Macs, of a lot more coloured buttons?
Tom:
There is a certain thing on some Apple keyboards. It may not be on yours, Michelle.
Dani:
Aw man!
Michelle:
Is it the flower button?
Tom:
It is that flower button!
Dani:
Flower button?
Tom:
Describe what you're seeing there on the command button.
Michelle:
It's a flower button.
SFX:
(group laughs heartily)
Michelle:
I'm great at com-puters.
Tom:
This is a particular symbol that could... I dunno. It looks like a... The best example I've got, which is an even nerdier reference, is perhaps like a drone from above, like a quadcopter drone. You've got four circles connected by a square in the middle.
Bill:
Is this same symbol used in the context of campsites in Sweden? They use the same symbol to represent a campsite? And if you go to sym— like the area that is in like labeled 'Area P' with that symbol. You're like, well, remember that. That's the print one.
Tom:
That is also the symbol that Swedish maps and a few other countries use for point of interest.
Dani:
Ohhh.
Michelle:
Ohhh.
Bill:
How fun.
Tom:
Yes. Originally Apple's designers were going to use the Apple symbol. Steve Jobs thought it diluted the brand. And so artist Susan Kare looked through an international symbol dictionary, found that Swedish place name symbol, and was like, yeah, that's generic enough. That is a place of interest sign. We're gonna use it for Command. So.
Dani:
How 'bout that?
Tom:
Swedish place of interest sign, plus P, would help you print a document.
Dani:
Remember that time a few episodes ago when we got a question about Digimon? I like that one.
SFX:
(group laughs heartily)
Dani:
I felt safe there.
Tom:
Bill, we will go to you for the next question.
Bill:
Alright. This question has been sent in by CherimoyaZest.
A website suggests these solutions: a drill, a bicycle wheel, a delicate tree branch, a metronome, or your dog. What could you earn as a result?
A website suggests these solutions: a drill, a bicycle wheel, a delicate tree branch, a metronome, or your dog. What could you earn as a result?
Dani:
To my understanding, this is what AI tells you to put into recipes.
SFX:
(Tom and Bill laugh)
Michelle:
Well, a metronome ticks, and a dog has ticks sometimes.
Dani:
(laughs)
Tom:
Oh, that's good!
Michelle:
That's all I got.
Tom:
(chuckles) And a bi— And if you put one of those little flappy things through the spokes of your bicycle wheel.
Dani:
Oh, you'll hear ticking.
Tom:
Yep. A delicate tree branch will make that sort of sound if you snap it and crackle it. And a drill...
Dani:
It's a really bad drill, and it makes a noise, that it shouldn't. Yeah, totally makes sense. You're— There are— We've got some various spinning and moving things going on here. I don't know what a delicate tree branch is doing and why it's delicate.
Michelle:
Waving? So we have a spinny— No.
Dani:
That's motion.
Michelle:
Spinny... Waving, waving.
Tom:
Oh, no, no. Hang on. That's not a bad idea. These are all things that can keep motion going. Like, you've got a drill, which will— which could rotate a thing. A bicycle wheel, which rotates. Like a tree branch rustling in the wind. A metronome ticking back and forth. And a dog, which I guess could be trained to do a thing? Like maybe—
Dani:
Would these like a... a totally patented, totally real form of perpetual motion device?
Bill:
What would you earn? Infinite energy.
Tom:
(laughs heartily)
Dani:
Exactly.
Bill:
It is not perpetual motion, but the motion is important.
Tom:
So, okay. What if this is like... free Bitcoin by pushing a button? No one would do that anymore. That was like early days of Bitcoin. But you rig up a thing that has to regularly push a button, and you attach something to a drill that slowly rotates. You attach a thing to a bicycle wheel that slowly— like it's gotta hit a button a lot at a regular interval.
Dani:
A delicate tree branch could be a poking device.
Tom:
Yeah.
Dani:
And a metronome could tell you how often it's meant to be poking a thing.
Tom:
Oh, I was thinking these were five possible solutions, not one.
Dani:
Oh, okay. Oh, I was putting— I was Rube Goldberg machining these things.
Tom:
(laughs heartily)
Dani:
Okay, if I separate them out, then I'm much more curious about the dog.
Michelle:
So it's like a motion sensor or something.
Tom:
Ooh.
Bill:
You are getting very close. They are all achieving the same... effect. They are all not pushing a button, but they are all affecting something. Some other device.
Michelle:
It's not like a Tinder swiping thing.
Tom:
(cackles)
Bill:
(snickers) No.
Dani:
That's very scary with a drill and very hurtful with a dog.
Tom:
Oh, I am— oh. Someone outsourcing their Tinder decisions to their dog. Which actually... you know what? That sounds like a dating app. Like you just, actually—
Dani:
I believe it.
Tom:
You just— You just get the dog to decide on the matches.
Michelle:
Yeah, dogs are good judges of people.
Tom:
Yeah.
Dani:
TM, TM, TM.
Michelle:
Perfect.
Tom:
(chuckles) I've been assuming these are pushing a thing on a screen. What if it's something else physical you're trying to move? What if you're attaching a physical thing to this?
Bill:
Oh, I'd follow that line of thought.
Tom:
Okay.
Dani:
Interesting. A metronome doesn't feel like it's great at pushing things. They're very delicate from what I understand, but okay.
Michelle:
And you're earning something?
Bill:
I think the earning maybe will help you, but you're very close to thinking, you have something that is moving a lot, constantly, up and down, left and right, but maybe in a circle. And you can attach something to that to... get something out of it. It's not nec— it's not meant to be used this way.
Dani:
Yeah, does it feel like we are using this as a substitute for a normal thing or something completely innovative?
Bill:
You are using it to substitute... I would say effort.
Tom:
Are you earning badges on an app? Or rewards, or some kind of kudos between your friends here?
Bill:
Why do you ask?
Tom:
Because I'm thinking this is something you attach a step counter to.
Bill:
It is something you attach a step counter to. To a— you attach a pedometer to this.
Tom:
Yeah.
Dani:
Oh!
Michelle:
Oh, is it earning those rings? In the fitness app?
Bill:
It's— Now, it's not something as directly tied in. It's not a pedometer app that you earn a reward in, or it's not just kudos. There is a legitimate financial reward to getting a higher number on a pedometer.
Dani:
Okay, who's getting these kinds of rewards? Under what circumstances would that—
Bill:
Well, who might care if you have a higher number on a pedometer? Other than your friends when they say, "Oh my gosh!"
Michelle:
Health insurance company?
Tom:
Oh my god, there is! There's a health insurance company
Dani:
Really?
Tom:
that locks into your... pedometer data and your smartwatch data.
Dani:
Really?
Bill:
Yes.
Dani:
Ah!
Bill:
Yeah, that's it. You got it, Michelle.
Dani:
Amazing.
Bill:
Good jump in.
Dani:
Good thinking.
Michelle:
That was a joke.
SFX:
(Michelle and Tom giggle)
Tom:
I've seen an advert for those! It's terrifying!
Bill:
Mm yeah, the answer to what you can earn is a discount on your health insurance.
Tom:
Oh my god.
Bill:
So yeah, there are some insurance companies that offer discounts to customers who will wear a fitness tracker as a way to encourage them to engage in an active lifestyle, right? Like they don't wanna pay out, so they hope that you are exercising. So they give you a discount if you can prove that you are.
There is a website, this is specifically the website Unfit Bits.
SFX:
(guessers laughing)
Bill:
Which suggest these as methods of cheating at your pedometer, so that you can get the insurance discount but not actually have to do the walking. And yes, it is also noted that the tree branch does have to be properly delicate, so it can sway in the breeze.
Tom:
Thank you to Dylan Kay for sending in this next question.
On 20th of June, Andy is transporting a large amount of water in Seattle. He asks "Pumpkin?" and receives the reply, "2142". What does that indicate, and what is his job?
I'll say that again.
On 20th of June, Andy is transporting a large amount of water in Seattle. He asks "Pumpkin?" and receives the reply, "2142". What does that indicate, and what is his job?
Bill:
Pumpkin, when I'm thinking about transporting a lot of water... is just ma— just has thrown me into an inescapable idea in my head that this is all just some kind of strange Seattle Mad Max.
Tom:
(laughs)
Bill:
Because just picture where you're driving across this vast thing with a huge tanker of water, and then a bunch of people come out to pump the water to places, and they're like, "We are the Pump Kin! We, me and my brothers, the— my kin pump. All we do is pump 100 times a day the pure liquid golden water in this waterless wasteland!" That's— It's very Mad Max, I'm saying.
Dani:
I didn't consider associating—
Bill:
You didn't consider the Pump Kin?
Dani:
Pump and pumpkin. But now I am, and I'm... don't know if I should be or if I should just be mad at you.
Bill:
It's a whole family of Pump Kin!
Tom:
I'm just imagining Mad Max in the Pacific Northwest. And it's not exactly a waterless wasteland, Seattle.
Dani:
It's pretty.
Tom:
It's quite raining.
Dani:
It's nice there.
Tom:
A lot of trees. Very different vibes there.
Dani:
Very relaxed.
Bill:
Oh, you don't know what happened in this post-apocalyptic wasteland. All the rain went away, and now it's just these pump kin and their big tanks. Did I get it?
Dani:
You don't have to dignify it with a no.
Bill:
Please do. Please dignify it with a response.
Tom:
I mean, how do you yes-and character work like that? I can't, I can't.
Bill:
You don't have to yes-and. You can just, you can just, "yes, nice". You can just, "that'll do, pig" and I'll be fine. I'll move on.
Tom:
(laughs)
Bill:
So what do we— Yeah, he's got water in a tanker. He says, "Pumpkin," and they say, "2142"?
Tom:
2142, yes.
Dani:
What could 2142 mean? 42 is double 21. Sure.
Michelle:
It could be a time, I guess, like 9 pm-ish.
Bill:
9:42.
Tom:
It could be a time, yes.
Bill:
When do I pumpkin?
Dani:
Okay.
Bill:
21:42.
Tom:
Yeah.
Bill:
In America, I feel, that time is very exclusively culturally connected to military things. In, like, we, what we would kind of think of as, that's 24-hour time, it's perfectly fine, in America, they'll often refer to it as military time. And you see people reacting online like, "21:42. Thanks, Sergeant."
So... does that mean that the rest of the question ties into that? I see transporting water in a military way?
Dani:
In Seattle?
Tom:
I would say in a military way is what— Certainly, it's not military. But there is certainly a level of professionalism going on here with these questions and answers.
Dani:
We got some strict vibes.
Bill:
And why Pumpkin?
Tom:
And why Pumpkin, yes.
Bill:
And what— and don't think I've forgotten about the pumpkin.
Dani:
He works for Starbucks, and it's th— it's four months away from Halloween when they need their pumpkin spice. Starbucks and Seattle have a connection.
Tom:
They do.
Bill:
That's true!
Tom:
What other references to pumpkin do you know?
Bill:
Charlie Brown. The pumpkin... king.
Michelle:
Halloween.
Bill:
Jack-o-lanterns.
Dani:
Yeah.
Bill:
Pumpkin carving. Pumpkin regattas. Do you know there were pumpkin regatta, where they get the biggest pumpkins, and they carve them out, turn them into boats, and then they take them down the river in Portland?
Dani:
That's a thing in Portland, Oregon.
Bill:
That's fun.
Michelle:
That's near Seattle.
Bill:
Yeah, that's kinda near Seattle. It involves water. I think we're getting close.
Dani:
Apparently, I don't culturally think about pumpkins that much.
Bill:
Also, this is, we've got three Australians on a call, and in Australia, this is a true fact. Like everything's a pumpkin. Like you go into a supermarket, you buy a butternut pumpkin, and everyone else in the world goes, "You mean a squash?" We're like, "Nah, mate, that's a pumpkin."
Dani:
That's a pumpkin.
Tom:
Oh, okay.
Bill:
All squashes, we call pumpkins for some reason. So, so did...
Dani:
So it's, so we have.
Bill:
That's something.
Dani:
So trying to get into a Seattle mindset, we assume we're talking exclusively about big orange ones.
Tom:
We are, and it's actually a... Well, these days, it's a Disney reference.
Dani:
Is it Jack Skellington?
Michelle:
Oh, Cinderella.
Bill:
Cinderella!
Michelle:
Carriage.
Bill:
It's a pumpkin midnight thing.
Dani:
Oh!
Tom:
Yes.
Dani:
Okay.
Bill:
When will my water turn back into a mess?
Dani:
When is something going to stop or cease to function or go bad or close?
Tom:
Yes.
Bill:
Oh, yeah. What's the pumpkin time?
Tom:
Yes!
Bill:
When is this— When's pumpkin time? Oh, today pumpkin time is 21:42. Alright, I'll make sure it's delivered by then. Because at that point.
Tom:
Yes.
Bill:
Pumpkin time.
Dani:
And so now we have to use that fact to figure out what job requires this water to be delivered by 9:42 pm?
Bill:
Yeah, but if he's driving this truck of water, and it's 9:43, he's just gotta turn around and go home.
Tom:
You made some assumptions there, Bill, that may not be true.
Dani:
Wait, what did you just say?
Tom:
You said he was driving a truck. I never said he was driving a truck.
Michelle:
Is this moving, like a tidal thing? Like, or like a...
Tom:
It's not tidal... but yeah, you're getting close there. If he was in Los Angeles, the reply would've been "20:38".
Dani:
So something more like about sunset or—
Bill:
Yeah, is that a sunset time?
Tom:
Yes. That is the— That is... connected to sunset, yeah.
Bill:
Is it when you gotta kick people out of the pool? We close the pool at sunset. Get outta here, kids. That's my tank of water. A pool.
Dani:
He's taking the water away, okay. Oh, alright. Gotta get a good visual of this.
Tom:
It is vital that he knows that time and he follows that time.
Dani:
So when we're talking about things that are this important...
Tom:
Mhm.
Dani:
Are we talking medical or something thereabouts, do we think?
Tom:
Emergency services, definitely.
Dani:
Oh, no, is— Does the water have someone severed limb in it and—
Tom:
(laughs) No, no, no. Large amount of water. Large amount of water.
Bill:
Frozen water. Ice with a heart.
Michelle:
Firefighting?
Tom:
Yes!
Dani:
Ooh!
Tom:
Yes.
Bill:
I was...
Dani:
Okay.
Bill:
But why would firefighting have such a relevant time? Surely if there's a fire, you put it out. And if it's not a fire, you relax. I don't think anyone's like, "I'll put this fire out in 20 minutes."
Tom:
Might be difficult to put this one out.
Bill:
Because it's the Sun!
SFX:
(group giggling)
Bill:
Every time the Sun sets, the firemen celebrate a small victory against the flame in the sky.
Tom:
(laughs gingerly)
Dani:
We need to learn something about Seattle that we don't know. Does it have one of those...
Tom:
Oh no, I think you definitely know this in Australia.
Dani:
Ooh... ooh?
Bill:
That—
Dani:
Okay, so—
Bill:
Is it just that when there's like a... I don't know, is it just like, you're not gonna be able to put out this huge bushfire while the Sun is out? 'Cause it's just gonna keep catching fire. We've gotta wait till that goes down and then put it out?
Tom:
I mean, really the opposite of that. But you've identified huge bushfire. There is one leap you haven't made here.
Dani:
Yes, there's something particularly challenging. Nay, nigh impossible to do when it is dark and firefighting.
Tom:
Yes, yes, absolutely. You assumed, Bill, that this is a truck filled with water.
Bill:
It's a plane.
Tom:
It's a plane!
Dani:
Ohhh!
Bill:
It's a plane for— And you just can't do that at— when it's at night?
Tom:
You cannot do that at night. This is a wildfire aviation pilot. So, put it all together. Why is he asking "Pumpkin"? Why is he getting the reply, "2142"?
Bill:
Because that's when the Sun goes down, and it's too dark, and you have to ground the plane. You're not allowed to fly that at... that dark.
Tom:
Yes. Pumpkin time specifically is half an hour after sunset. So, sunset is at 9:12 pm. And so the code word for "when is half an hour past sunset?" is "pumpkin" or "pumpkin time". This—
Dani:
Right.
Tom:
This is actually a firefighting helicopter. This is the Washington State Helitack crew. Our question writer—
Bill:
When you said yes to that being a plane, they got so insulted. That helicopter guy.
Tom:
Dylan, the question writer says, this is universal throughout wildfire aviation. For safety reasons, they can't operate during the night. They must be back on land half an hour after sunset. That is pumpkin time.
Dani:
That's good to know here.
Tom:
So the pilot asks "Pumpkin?" and gets a time back, by which they must be on the ground.
Dani, we will go to you for the next question, please.
Dani:
Alright.
This question has been sent in by Peter Gould. Thank you so much.
At a New York City hotel, the first room on the 8th floor is popular with romantic couples. Room 006 on the 3rd floor is a good choice for lawyers. Why is this, and what special feature can you find in every room?
One more time.
At a New York City hotel, the first room on the 8th floor is popular with romantic couples. Room 006 on the 3rd floor is a good choice for lawyers. Why is this, and what special feature can you find in every room?
Bill:
That's kinda weird.
Tom:
(laughs)
Bill:
Did anyone do the same thing I did? Right, where as soon as Dani was like, the first room on the 8th floor, I was like, ah, you're trying to hide the fact that that's room 801. That'll be important. And then we got to the room on the 3rd floor is 006?
Tom:
006?
Bill:
And no, I got no— Who organised the hotel this way?!
Michelle:
Well, all the rooms have numbers. Is that it?
Bill:
But like— Yeah, yeah, that's the common feature. You can sit— They've all got a bed. Haha, gotcha.
Michelle:
Do they?
Bill:
Actually, that's a good point. Maybe they don't.
Michelle:
That's why the lawyer's gonna sue.
Tom:
(laughs)
Bill:
Yeah. Yeah. It's 006 on room three. I mean, it could be, they start from one every, you know, it's like, this is room six on three, and this is room six on four, et cetera, et cetera. But the numbering is throwing me off. And yeah, one is for lovers, and one's for lawyers.
Tom:
Which sounds like a song lyric.
Bill:
Oh yeah.
Michelle:
It does.
Dani:
♪ One for the lawyer ♪
SFX:
(others laughing)
Dani:
♪ One for the... pair ♪
Bill:
It's actually 3...006 for the lawyer. I thought you'd pay attention.
Dani:
Sorry, sorry.
Bill:
Presumably, do we think you can extrapolate this out, and like, well, there's a room for a baker that's, you know, floor four, every, you know... Or if you're old, if you've lo— old, long-term couple, get to level six. Or is it only these two rooms that we think have anything relevant? It's not like a rule of the hotel, it's just like, happen to be.
Dani:
No, you are right in this assumption that there will be other people that might have preferences.
Bill:
What are young lovers like in their hotel rooms?
Tom:
(laughs)
Michelle:
Loud.
Dani:
Do we— I don't know if we wanna go there.
Bill:
Let's talk about this for a while.
Michelle:
So they're on the eighth floor, which means the seventh floor is gonna be noisy, supposedly. From the squeaking.
SFX:
(Tom and Dani laugh)
Bill:
Sure, yeah.
Michelle:
But the lawyers can't sue for lack of sleep.
Bill:
'Cause they're all the way down in three. That's it.
Michelle:
They're in, yeah.
Bill:
I think we've cracked it. Is this— Is that what's written on the answer section? Have we got it?
Dani:
Oh, it has very little to nothing to do with their sleep ability.
Tom:
I've just been trying to permute all these numbers. Because that's the way my brain goes. It's like 8001, that, but... that doesn't spell anything. Like you can't convert that to anything. You can't make a... (growls)
Dani:
Yeah. Trying things like this is not a bad idea. Like messing around with the numbers in those sorts of ways and... It's not terrible.
Michelle:
Sixth letter is F.
Tom:
Yeah, I was trying to figure out. But zero, what do you translate that to?
Michelle:
Yeah.
Dani:
I have a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't on the door say 8001. And 3006.
Bill:
Oh, it— would they possibly have Roman numerals that matter? Does that— That's always a classic little puzzle thing.
Michelle:
I've never been in a hotel with that though.
Tom:
I've been in a hotel once where they put the room numbers on the wall as like, 'three' the word, zero, and then the number '6' or something like that. It's the most confusing— They have bold face in different fonts. And when you are tired and just trying to get to your room, it's infuriating.
Michelle:
And then you can sue, 'cause you're a lawyer.
Tom:
Yes, and you're in room 3006.
Bill:
Everyone knows lawyers just love to sue.
Tom:
I mean, this is America. Like, we're talking New York City.
Dani:
There is absolutely something unique about the way they format these room numbers.
Tom:
Ooh, okay.
Bill:
Okay. Where one is... for lovers (cracks up) and one is for lawyers.
Michelle:
Is that that thing in America where like, the third floor, is that like, they don't have a ground floor?
Bill:
Yeah, they start on floor one. So the third floor would be the second floor, if you live in a civilised country.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Dani:
Thankfully, if that comes into play, you won't need to worry about it for your answer.
Bill:
I feel like I gotta get a pen and paper out to start writing six over and over again, like it's gonna help me.
SFX:
(both laugh)
Dani:
Yeah, it was definitely specifically 006, and not just six. That would've been very different.
Tom:
I've been trying to convert these to clocks, to times, to... PIN numbers that you have to type in. I... Ugh.
Bill:
Yeah, 006. How could you format 006? You could write the words zero, zero, and six.
Dani:
On the third floor, specifically.
Bill:
On the third floor. It's a third floor.
Dani:
Definitely important. For example, another example that I've got for you is, we know someone on the sixth floor, room 005 on the sixth floor. A computing fan might enjoy that room.
Bill:
Now, when you say a computing fan...
Dani:
A computing fan.
Tom:
(laughs)
Bill:
Do you mean somebody who likes computers, or just like a literal fan inside your desktop computer?
Dani:
An enjoyer of the computing arts.
Tom:
You can say nerd. It's okay.
Dani:
(guffaws)
Michelle:
This is kind of, this is definitely not it, but like, if you have '8001', and you look at it backwards, and you convert it to digital letters, it turns into 'LOOB'.
Dani:
(sputters laugh)
Tom:
(laughs) ...Yes.
Bill:
It's all coming together now.
Dani:
This is my favourite episode so far.
Bill:
(snickers)
Dani:
(cackles)
Tom:
And if—
Michelle:
It's not it, is it?
Dani:
The banned episode.
Tom:
Well, if you turn '3006' upside down in a calculator, you get... 'goo—' No, you don't.
Dani:
'gOOE'.
Tom:
'gOOE'.
Bill:
Yeah, 'gOOE'! We've done— We're not gooey.
Dani:
Yeah. My big swing clue here is that you have not— you do not have— it is all in digits. You do not have the correct number of digits that you're thinking about right now.
Michelle:
03006?
Dani:
You're getting on the righter track by thinking about things like that and different variations. Like the 006, absolutely. Ways that that three could be—
Bill:
They just write the full 006, three times. So you know you're on level three.
Dani:
Oh, it's thankfully not that horrible.
Bill:
Aagh! And how would it make it for a lawyer or a lover?
Dani:
That is true. How would we come up— How do we come up with distinctions using numbers?
Bill:
Dewey Decimal numbers? These are Dewey Decimal... they've written li— This is a hotel in New York above the New York Public Library, and all of the rooms are written out as if they are Dewey Decimal codes. And if you interpreted the level, and then the number, 3006 is gonna be what you would put in the Dewey Decimal System for law, legal things, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And 8001 is romance. It's a Dewey Decimal hotel, and I won't take no for an answer!
Tom:
Come on!
Dani:
And what special feature might you find in rooms that are designed in such a manner?
Bill:
An entire library! An entire reference section! A chart for the Dewey Decimal System or something.
Dani:
Oh no, you were closer the first time. 100% giving it to you.
Bill:
Books that match that categorisation?
Dani:
The rooms are themed with Dewey Decimal System in mind. So rather than 3006, it's 300.006, and inside each room is a fully stocked bookcase on your topic of choice.
Tom:
Wow!
Bill:
That's so good!
Dani:
The room's topic of choice.
Michelle:
That's so cool.
Dani:
This is a place in New York called the Library Hotel. And actually, they were sued over this by the Online Computer Library Center for a while, the owners of the Dewey Decimal System.
Bill:
How—
Tom:
Who owns—
Dani:
It was— yeah, apparently it was owned.
Bill:
Let's get 'em.
Dani:
It's okay. They settled. They now have permission to do this.
Bill:
Imagine being the Dewey Decimal System and being like, "Are you using the Dewey Decimal System? We don't want anybody to use that system! It is verboten!"
Dani:
It's like when you're typing up a story, and then you find out that the font that you used was copyrighted, and you go, "Nobody ever told me that this was a thing!"
Bill:
(sighs) Jeez.
Dani:
Yeah, so... If we know the Dewey Decimal System, the way that the classification works, that the 300, that will have all of the different rooms that are about social sciences. The 600 floor— the 600, so the sixth floor: technology.
And then the room numbers are the digits that come after the decimal points that make the topic, that get into the specifics of which topic you're looking at.
Bill:
Beautiful.
Tom:
This question is from Alan Reep. Thank you very much.
Crowds cheered as Tiangong, wearing an orange singlet, ran through the finishing tape at a Beijing half-marathon in 2 hours and 40 minutes. An Ethiopian runner, who won in just 62 minutes, was not mentioned in the extensive press coverage. Why?
I'll say that again.
Crowds cheered as Tiangong, wearing an orange singlet, ran through the finishing tape at a Beijing half-marathon in 2 hours and 40 minutes. An Ethiopian runner, who won in just 62 minutes, was not mentioned in the extensive press coverage. Why?
Michelle:
That's a very big difference.
Bill:
Yeah.
Dani:
It's an impressive time!
Tom:
Which is an impressive time?
Dani:
Yes! All of it.
Michelle:
We all look like runners. I'm sure we all run a lot.
Bill:
Have you done the City2Surf?
Michelle:
The what?
SFX:
(group laughing)
Tom:
I mean from context, I can work out what that is, Bill. I'm assuming that's like a marathon.
Dani:
It is a third-marathon.
Bill:
Yeah, it's only a third-marathon.
Dani:
Not half-marathon, a third-marathon.
Bill:
It's a big race that people do in Sydney. I've done it... once?
Dani:
Maybe twice?
Bill:
Maybe twice?
Dani:
I've done it twice.
Bill:
Three times a runner.
SFX:
(scattered snickering)
Michelle:
How long would that take? As a non-runner who barely knows where the surf is?
Dani:
My brother was very good at running, and he did the City2Surf, 14 kilometers, in somewhere between 60 and 75 minutes.
Bill:
Mm, so thrice the distance in the same time seems—
Dani:
It was a half-marathon, wasn't it?
Bill:
Oh, one-point whatever the distance.
Dani:
1.5 the distance. That's pretty amazing. So something's weird about it.
Tom:
Yes.
Dani:
Is some— I feel like 62 minutes, something's weird about that time. That feels too good.
Michelle:
Is it? I feel like it's like, I mean, Ethiopians, they tend to do really well in the Olympics in long distance, so...
Bill:
if a good runner can do... a third of a marathon in about an hour, I can imagine a very good runner could do a half-marathon in an hour. But I'm now— I'm more shocked at the cheers for someone doing it. And how long was the other person? It was much longer, right?
Tom:
So, Tiangong: 2 hours, 40 minutes. The winner: 62 minutes.
Bill:
62. Yeah.
Tom:
So one hour and two.
Michelle:
Is he a turtle?
Bill:
Yeah, was it not for a hu— Was it not for people? Was it not a race for human beings to run?
Tom:
Now... we're drilling in very quickly here. Yes.
Dani:
Ooh, okay.
Tom:
Turtle is not correct, but non-human... you've got to very quickly.
Bill:
(gasps) Was it... Was it an Ethiopian rabbit?
Tom:
(laughs)
Bill:
And then a big turtle. And it was a Tortoise and the Hare.
Tom:
Oh!
Dani:
Awh!
Bill:
And they raced 'em, and the rabbit turned it in an hour, and it was like, okay, whatever. Let's wait for the turtle, we'll clap. 'Cause we— 'Cause that's the real hero of the story.
Tom:
You are metaphorically correct. You do not have
Bill:
Well, that's all you need!
Tom:
the correct details there.
Michelle:
It's not like a Zodiac race... Or maybe this is just my dream, like the Chinese Zodiac. That would be awesome.
Bill:
That'd be pretty good. And then a bunch of people in the— doing the dragon dance the entire way. 'Cause they couldn't get a dragon for, right.
Michelle:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, true.
Tom:
They did both run.
Dani:
Okay, so we need to think of something where one thing doing incredibly well doesn't make us feel anything, but the other animal? Oh, that fills our hearts with joy.
Tom:
Ah—mm. I'm not sure joy would be right for everyone here.
Dani:
Interesting.
Bill:
It was a rat race.
Tom:
I'm sure that the winner would still have got applause, would've had people around there, but wasn't mentioned in the press coverage.
Bill:
Yeah, not mentioned in the press coverage.
Tom:
To the point where I just had a quick look, and I can't actually find the name.
Bill:
Wow.
Tom:
The reports just say, yep, won by an Ethiopian runner. Haven't even bothered to find the name for that. But Tiangong, two hours, 40? Name checked, loads of stories.
Dani:
Did the first animal survive? Did the Ethiopian creature survive this endeavour?
Tom:
The Ethiopian runner was human.
Dani:
Oh, okay.
Bill:
So the Ethiopian runner was human.
Tom:
Yep.
Bill:
But we don't care about the human.
Tom:
That's a standard half-marathon winner. I'm sure they got applause. They got the prize. Absolutely fine.
Dani:
That's standard? Wow, that's really fast!
Tom:
Well, it's very fast. It's not a world record, but it's very fast.
Dani:
Wow! Okay.
Bill:
So, great. Humans are running the race. One of them did well. Nobody cares, But there was—
Dani:
Was he being chased? (giggles) Is it a— Did they just put a lion after him or something?
Michelle:
We're just gonna start naming animals. Panda. Robot.
Dani:
Robot?
Tom:
Robot!
Bill:
Robot is your second example of an animal?!
Tom:
Robot!
Dani:
Wait, what? Oh, come on!
Bill:
It is cool, 'cause it was a robot. It was a robot running the race.
Tom:
Yes! This was
Dani:
What?
Tom:
a half-marathon course set up for robots to compete against humans.
Dani:
(cackles)
Michelle:
And a human won?
Tom:
Yes, the human won.
Bill:
Human won.
Dani:
How did you get to that, Michelle?!
Bill:
Yeah. We got this question on the back of Michelle's second example of an animal being a robot.
SFX:
(group giggling)
Michelle:
I don't know why I ran out of animals after panda.
Bill:
You just— It was clearly in there somewhere. You knew what was going on.
Dani:
It was unbelievable.
Tom:
Yes, absolutely right. The winning robot was Tiangong Ultra, who was able to complete the course in 2 hours, 40 minutes. The only robot to actually beat the human cutoff time.
Bill:
Ah, fun.
Tom:
Of three and a few hours.
Dani:
I see!
Tom:
Yeah, the— An Ethiopian man and woman won their class in just over an hour each. But their names weren't in the press reports. I don't like the fact that I can't name them, but I can't name them because none of the press reports named them.
Not all the robots were as successful. The shortest of the humanoid robot competitors, at only 30 inches, called Little Giant, stopped in its tracks with smoke emerging from its head.
Dani:
Oh dear.
Tom:
But Tiangong Ultra was the very first robot to complete a half-marathon. Michelle, we will go over to you for your question, please.
Michelle:
Okay.
This question was sent in by Rhett Buzon.
For a 2018 Marvel video game, voice actor Yuri Lowenthal recorded most of his lines twice. Why?
I'll repeat that.
For a 2018 Marvel video game, voice actor Yuri Lowenthal recorded most of his lines twice. Why?
Dani:
This is the first— This is the best possible position to be in, where I know what you're talking about. I'm a huge Yuri Lowenthal fan. I love the game. I have no idea what the answer is.
Bill:
Yeah, Dani and I can both supply the game that Yuri Lowenthal was doing the voice for.
Tom:
Okay, what's the game?
Dani:
This is Marvel's Spider-Man, 2018. He played Spider-Man.
Bill:
He— Yeah. Yuri Lowenthal played Spider-Man. He does very well.
Tom:
Okay.
Bill:
Yuri Lowenthal always does very well. He's a very talented voice actor.
Dani:
I met him at a convention once. He was lovely.
Tom:
That blows up my first suggestion, which is that Yuri plays the sidekick, the other character, and that the main character can choose male or female. And so you have to record like "she", "he", "her". But that doesn't...
Bill:
Yeah.
Tom:
That wouldn't be most of the lines. Like I don't refer— I don't use gendered pronouns every single time I'm talking to everyone in this call.
Dani:
Yeah, and I was thinking, well, he plays Peter Parker and Spider-Man, but he never has to, as far as I can remember, deliver the same line in a Spider-Man-y way and a Peter Parker-y way.
Bill:
No, there's also, famously in that game, it was released with one character model that looked like a particular character.
Dani:
You're right!
Bill:
And then they went... So this is how Spider-Man looked. Peter Parker looked in a particular way. He had black hair.
Dani:
Dark hair.
Bill:
Or dark hair. He was a bit taller, a bit taller of face. And that was the character model they used. And then... a little— at the same sort of time, Tom Holland's Spider-Man became very popular, and they went, why don't we re-skin Spider-Man to make him a completely different looking guy with blond hair? And no, no, no, it's not because of Tom Holland. We're just gonna make him kind of shorter of face, a little bit more Tom Holland-y. He's got blond hair. It's— Don't worry, it's not— This was actually the model we wanted to use all the time, and we just didn't for no reason. And so they— But... That is a true— So they swapped out the entire character model, and they cha— so they changed the face.
But I cannot imagine that would need you to then be like, oh, we're also gonna get Yuri to re-record the entire thing.
Michelle:
Like a shorter man.
Bill:
Yeah.
SFX:
(Michelle and Dani laugh)
Tom:
You need to sound more blond.
Bill:
Yeah, right. Which, they wouldn't have done it if it required that amount of work. So I can't imagine that that is part of it. But it is a thing.
Dani:
Not unless the mouth movements were really different on this new model.
Bill:
You just fix the model. You wouldn't change the voice surely, right?
Dani:
Hm.
Michelle:
I can confirm it's not because he's blonder or shorter.
Bill:
Okay, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Okay, good. It's just, I had to get the fact out there, 'cause it is an interesting thing... but I... and it did require two models, but I can't imagine. So... Why would you have to re-record it? I know what it is.
Tom:
Oh?
Bill:
It's a Shrek moment. He did the first entire version in a Scottish accent, and then went, "Wait, what if I sounded like I was from New York? It's gonna be crazy. I'll play it that way."
Tom:
Scottish Spider-Man! That sounds like a sketch that a British comedy show would come up with in like the 1990s. Scottish Spider-Man sounds like a recurring gag from a sketch show.
Bill:
Is that it? I don't think so.
Dani:
The only other thing that I could think of would be that there... Was there some substantial script change that halfway through that required a whole lot of change? I don't see how. Was it originally an Iron Man game?
Bill:
Yeah, did he start as Iron Man, and then they went, "Oh, you're Spider-Man now. You gotta do the whole thing again, but say Spider instead of Iron."
Michelle:
I would say think about what Spider-Man does.
Bill:
Oh! I know what it is! I know what it is!
Michelle:
(chuckles)
Bill:
Gah!
Tom:
Okay.
Bill:
Okay, I'm gonna— I'm gonna show you what he had to do.
Tom:
Okay.
Bill:
I'm gonna show you right now.
Tom:
Alright.
Bill:
If you're watching this, please enjoy the visual. If you're not, you can have it described. You might be able to pick it up.
Here we go. I'm gonna give you a random line. I'm gonna say, "Looks like Doctor Octopus is at it again." Okay. (clears throat) Here's take one.
Looks like Doctor Octopus is at it again.
Here's take two. (takes off headphones and stands up)
Tom:
(laughs)
Dani:
He's standing up. He is running across the room.
Bill:
(while distantly mimicking swinging) Ah, looks like Doctor Octopus is at it again!
Tom:
Swinging.
Dani:
That was exactly what I was going to do. Because you can choose to walk or swing however you choose to move.
Bill:
Whenever you want him to. You press the swing button, and he's going off, and he needs to be able to deliver the lines as if he's swinging through the streets. Yelling to be heard over the sound of air rushing past his spider-face.
Michelle:
That is absolutely it.
Tom:
Nice!
Dani:
Amazing.
Bill:
Oh, I hope that sounded okay.
SFX:
(group laughing)
Michelle:
You didn't sound quite as "exerted" as you should have, which was the name of the second version. So there were two versions. it was "resting" and "exerted". And so as you would expect, as he was swinging, they would switch to the exerted version. And apparently all the sequels also did this.
Dani:
Ah, beautiful.
Bill:
It's a really great thing. It makes it feel very immersive. Because when you're swinging around, he sounds like he's swinging around, no matter— And you can do it whenever you want. That kind of control and immersion is really good. It's a very good game, if you haven't played.
Dani:
Well, I can give this the king of unpaid endorsements. I love that game.
Tom:
So there is just the question from the start of the show.
Thank you to Chris Clarke for sending this in.
Why are concertgoers often given some building construction material to carry?
Anyone want to take a quick shot at that?
Michelle:
They didn't build the stadium in time?
SFX:
(others laughing)
Bill:
Yeah, please. We have to finish the stadium.
Dani:
Help us out, guys!
Bill:
If you just take one brick, we'll be done by the time the show started.
Tom:
(laughs softly)
Bill:
Is there some coordinated thing that's like, "Everybody hold up your cinderblocks now!"
Tom:
(laughs)
Michelle:
Is it like a John Cage... modern music, banging, like everyone, all the—
Bill:
42 minutes of plasterboard.
SFX:
(Tom and Dani laugh)
Tom:
There are quite a lot of concerts where this will take place.
Bill:
Oh, are the glowy wristbands technically a piece of construction...
Tom:
The glowy ones aren't.
Dani:
What?
Bill:
Just wristbands in gen— some, some? I don't go to concerts, Tom!
Tom:
Do you know what those wristbands are called? Those ones— Not the glowy ones. Not— Just the ones where—
Bill:
Just the for re-entry.
Tom:
You are allowed to be in here. Does anyone know what those are called?
Dani:
I did not know they had a name.
Tom:
They are called Tyvek wristbands. Have you seen that name anywhere else?
Bill:
Construction sites, maybe?
Tom:
Yeah. Have you ever seen a house halfway through construction, that is covered in something called house wrap?
Bill:
Oh, okay.
Tom:
There is a thing called Tyvek House Wrap, which you can see on construction sites, building sites. A half-completed house will frequently be covered in this stuff. It'll have the name on it. That stuff is light, it's waterproof, it's tear resistant, and so it is also used to make wristbands for concerts.
Dani:
Wild! We're very practical people who absolutely own and have built our own houses.
Tom:
Congratulations to all our players on running the gauntlet. Where can people find you? What's going on for you? We will start with Michelle.
Michelle:
I'm at @LabMuffinBeautyScience on everywhere – YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, yeah.
Tom:
Bill.
Bill:
Why don't you check out Escape This Podcast, including our video special on YouTube with the Genius Game.
Tom:
And Dani.
Dani:
We had another Escape This Podcast room. If you search National Science Week in Australia, we had a special goat genetics themed room.
Tom:
(laughs uproariously) Incredible.
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 weekly video episodes on Spotify.
Thank you very much to Dani Siller.
Dani:
Thank you so much, Tom.
Tom:
Bill Sunderland.
Bill:
It was lovely to be here.
Tom:
Michelle Wong.
Michelle:
Thank you.
Tom:
I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Lateral.
Episode Credits
| 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 | Rhett Buzon, Peter Gould, CherimoyaZest, Chris Clarke, Adrian Martin, Dylan K., Alan Reep |
| FORMAT | Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd |
| EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS | David Bodycombe and Tom Scott |