The new theme was created by Howard Carter, who also composed the standupmaths and Festival of the Spoken Nerd theme tunes.
What is the biggest thing in Australia based on scale? In other words, what is the biggest in comparison to what the normal thing should be? What is the funniest if you're going solely on "unexpectedly big" on scale?
First, Bec and Matt ramble a long time about unusually sized objects, including a pair of children's size roller skates and a reference to problem 001-1.
Matt found 249 big things in Australia. The most common big thing is apples, the biggest of which is about 5 m tall. Things that are smaller than they should be are the Big (map of) Australia and the Big Ayers Rock.
Contenders for the answer are the Big Ant, the Big Macadamia Nut, the Big Olive, and the Big Redback Spider. They're all about the same scale factor, within rounding and guessing errors. Bec chooses the Big Macadamia Nut, which is in proximity to a Big Pineapple. Listeners are encouraged to send pictures of themselves with a big thing.
A "ding" by Bec
Person 1 asked: If you're an average person, could you win the lottery and retire, or is there not enough money? Person 2 asked: How much do I need to save for retirement? I know what financial people say, what do maths people say?
Matt combines the questions into "If you won a million dollars, would that be enough for retirement?" and interpreted "retirement" as "30 years". That makes $33'000 per year. With inflation, that will be roughly $11'000 after 30 years, so you need some sort of investment that matches inflation.
Legally, Matt can't give financial advice, but he had a look at stamps: In the UK, some stamps don't have a value on them, but their price increases occasionally and they don't expire. The stock market gives a better return on average but is also a lot more dangerous. You could also buy an annuity and not rely on the postal service continuing to exist. Some lotteries also offer an annuity as a reward.
So maths people say "listen to the financial people" and Bec says "give it to me".
A legally distinct "dong" by Bec
Requests have started to come in. The money is going to WaterAid.
Bec's favourite ones: "Draw whatever you miss most about Melbourne" (Shanghai Dumpling House sign). "Draw whatever squiggle you prefer" (a picture of Mr. Squiggle). "Do a drawing of a cock and balls" (a rooster with some sports balls). "A goose honking" (a goose holding a horn and honking it).
She hated "Samurai Senior Snails", but the person at least bought four squares. UK Bricks and Unison West Berkshire bought advertisement squares. Danq.me bought six squares, one per letter. Bec's mum bought four squares ("Every life is a story, every story is a book"). Matt bought 8 squares in a T shape for Bec to draw a 1/7th scale picture of the T-shirt itself.
People have filled out the online form from last episode. There appears to be no pattern. Bec criticises the question order. They discuss the chaos that are the responses. Bec wishes she hadn't embarked on this journey. Instead of drawing conclusions from the mess of data, Bec drew congratulations and thanks for each person who helped with the problem.
Deemed "too ridiculous to solve" by Matt
The patreon has been slightly overhauled: Everyone has early access, and there is an "I'm a wizard" level now. Matt and Bec thank 33 patreon supporters.