Lateral with Tom Scott 154: Beware: falling house
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Sep 19, 2025 Ali Spagnola, a creative YouTuber known for her DIY brilliance, joins content creators Evan and Katelyn Heling for a lively discussion. They dive into bizarre criminal capers and share surprising facts about baking and sports. Discover how a family's TV experience with The Wizard of Oz led to unexpected color revelations. They also explore fleeting records, like the title of 'youngest person on earth' and the quirky world of Legoland's 'model citizens.' Packed with laughter and eccentric insights, this conversation is a makers' delight!
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Museum Of Knockoffs
- The Museum Plagiaris pairs original product designs with cheap knockoffs to expose plagiarism in product design.
- Tom explains the museum displays each winning design beside a direct copy, doubling the object count to 700 from 350 exhibits.
Laugh Tracks Shape Laughter
- Adding a laugh track dramatically changes audience reaction to the same footage.
- With no laugh track about four people laughed, but with a sitcom-style track 28 out of 50 found it very funny.
Train Used As Emergency Generator
- During a 1998 Montreal ice storm diesel-electric locomotives were used as emergency generators.
- Canadian National drove a locomotive into town, removed it from the tracks and wired 375 kW to municipal buildings until power returned.