Lateral with Tom Scott 89: Smashing products
Jun 21, 2024
Simon Clark, Alec Steele, and Rowan Ellis discuss red resources, radioactive readings, and unconventional marketing strategies. Topics include high altitude training, Minecraft pig design errors, and historical incidents like the USS Los Angeles flip.
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Marie Curie's Radioactive Lab Remains
- Marie Curie's Paris laboratory remained radioactive a century later and was nicknamed "Chernobyl on the Seine."
- The site had an exclusion zone and high radioactivity counts, despite no public tragedy occurring there.
The Zeppelin That Flipped At Lakehurst
- The USS Los Angeles was not a boat but a Zeppelin given as WWI reparations and based at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
- A gust flipped its tail 180 degrees while moored, but the 25 crew hung on girders and survived unharmed.
Perfume Sample Smashed Into Success
- In 1904 Francois Coty smashed a perfume sample on a Paris department store floor after a buyer refused to stock it.
- Customers liked the scent and bought it, and Coty possibly planted people to encourage purchases.