Lateral with Tom Scott 91: A secret base, revealed
Jul 5, 2024
Guests Robert Llewellyn, Bill Sunderland, and Dani Siller face quirky questions about mud mounds, circling canines, and valuable printers. They discuss mysterious escalator labels, historical burial practices, and decoding canine reactions to hit songs. Podcast is a comedy panel game hosted by Tom Scott.
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How Fully Charged Solved Early EV Event Chaos
- Robert Llewellyn described how Fully Charged events evolved from chaotic early shows with insufficient charging to using truck-mounted batteries that let them charge thousands of EVs.
- He recalled the 2018 Silverstone shows where charging was a nightmare and later events used large batteries to support many simultaneous test drives.
Graphite Shortcuts Let Virtual Pets Grow Faster
- Tamagotchi-like handheld toys had debug contacts on their circuit boards you could short with graphite to fast-forward time.
- Connecting two pads with pencil graphite let players skip days, accelerating growth and evolution in devices like Digimon virtual pets.
Cyclist Built Secret Ramp To Beat Rivals
- Bill Sunderland told the story of Giovanni Gervi at the 1905 Giro di Lombardia who built a small mud ramp beside railway tracks to ride through without dismounting.
- The trick saved him 45 seconds, repeatedly giving race-winning leads, and he later used other dubious tactics leading to disqualification.