Lateral with Tom Scott 166: A severed sleeve
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Dec 12, 2025 Join Caroline Roper, a witty podcaster, and Ella Hubber and Tom Lum, both co-hosts of Let's Learn Everything, as they dive into quirky questions. They unravel the clever loophole that allowed banned light bulbs to be sold as heaters, and discuss why silly string was shipped for military use. Discover the passionate origin of 'cut sleeve' and learn about the March spike in vasectomies coinciding with NCAA madness. Plus, explore a pencil that preserves prime numbers and the amusing mix-up at Louisville's famous bat.
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Selling Bulbs As Heaters
- Two German entrepreneurs sold 75W and 100W incandescent bulbs as heating devices named Heatball to bypass an EU ban on inefficient light bulbs.
- They framed sales as art and donated part of proceeds to rainforest protection while selling 4,000 bulbs as heaters.
Silly String To Detect Tripwires
- Marcel Shriver, a concerned mother, bought 80,000 cans of Silly String and shipped them to Iraq for US soldiers to detect tripwires safely.
- Soldiers sprayed Silly String to see if it hung in the air on tripwires without triggering IEDs, and the shipment took months due to aerosol shipping rules.
Cut Sleeve Symbolizes Devotion
- The Han story of Emperor Ai cutting his sleeve means deep devotion: he cut a sleeve so his sleeping lover would not be awakened.
- The phrase translates to "the passion of the cut sleeve," symbolizing selfless love in Chinese lore.