Lateral with Tom Scott 45: Mission to nowhere
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Aug 18, 2023 The podcast discusses clocks that lose 39 minutes a day, mysterious coordinates, using numbers on traffic lights for data visualization, an incident involving breadsticks and bagels, impressions of a song and pizza parlor giveaways, and concludes with thanks to guests and an ad for Woodhouse Ford.
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Clocks Tuned For Mars Rover Time
- NASA buys clocks that intentionally lose 39 minutes per day to keep synchronized with Mars rovers.
- Brian Mumford's Mumford Microsystems supplies these specialized clocks for mission control timing needs.
Popularity Didn't Mean Profit
- Gilbert and Sullivan were popular in the US but gained little income from it due to absent international copyright laws.
- Their works were widely performed in America without the creators receiving expected royalties.
Point Nemo Used To Vague The Enemy
- Top Gun: Maverick shows an enemy base at coordinates that point to Point Nemo, the spot furthest from any land.
- Filmmakers chose it to keep the enemy deliberately vague and avoid offending real locations.