Lateral with Tom Scott

165: Donut security

21 snips
Dec 5, 2025
Jack Chambers and Manu Henriot, food history enthusiasts from the Lunchbox Envy podcast, join Tom Scott for a delightful discussion. They explore quirky topics like how nightly fireworks affected mango harvests at World Expo 88. Manu dives into a fun workplace ritual where forgetting to lock your computer results in buying donuts for colleagues. The group also shares amusing stories about a pizza shop's unexpected role in tech and a clever sign flip by Greggs to ensure festive selfies are picture-perfect.
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INSIGHT

Tachograph Tracks Driver Hours And Speed

  • Tom explains tachographs record lorry driving hours and speeds for safety and forensics.
  • The old mechanical discs left a physical graph of speed useful in accident investigations.
ANECDOTE

Fireworks Drove Bats, Causing Mango Glut

  • Jack tells how nightly fireworks at Expo 88 scared away fruit bats that normally ate immature mangoes.
  • Without bats, trees dropped ripe mangoes by the hundreds and residents overfilled bins, creating municipal problems.
ANECDOTE

Pizza Shop Delivered An Emergency Message

  • Tom recounts Justin.tv founders calling a pizza shop to courier a message to an unreachable cofounder on holiday.
  • They sent money to the shop so staff would deliver a note and get their colleague back online to fix the site.
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