Bec is working on flipcharts for Makeaway Takeaway again. She also got clothes with geometric shapes and dinosaurs as Christmas gifts.
Matt's 40th birthday was right after they stopped recording the last episode. He's difficult to buy gifts for because he just buys the stuff he's interested in, so he just got a lot of unusual coffees and beers.
They also drank a bottle of port Matt got on his 30th birthday, and Lucie has gotten him new bottles for his 50th, 60th and so on. Bec mentions the phrase "Is there any red port left?": Port is the left side of a ship, and airplanes [Editor's note: and ships] have red lights on their left side.
Catherine wants to know if it's possible to cast shadow puppets on the Moon via their house.
Question 1: If it is possible, how big would their hands and torch have to be to cast shadows?
Question 2: Is there a certain place on the earth that works best? Catherine lives in Cheltenham (UK) and wants to know if she should consider moving.
Question 3: If she is standing on Earth with the right equipment, is the distance too great to cast accurate shapes? Would the shadow puppet just become fuzzy beyond recognition?
Question 4: What's the best time of the month or year to do it?
The Moon is a long way away. Bec theorizes that people judge the Moon's size like they judge Bec's height: Always a little too small (which she previously complained about in problem 008-1).
Answer 1: Since the moon is about 100 times as far away as it is large, puppets would also need to be 100 times as far from the torch as they are large. The torch does not need to be massive. Bec realizes that a solar eclipse is just the Moon playing shadow puppets on the Earth.
Answer 2: Stars twinkle because the atmosphere is like a giant instagram filter. Astronomers choose locations that have the fewest cloudy days per year. Curiously, those conditions also make for great holiday destinations... The less atmosphere the better; ideally Catherine could move above the atmosphere.
Answer 3: Even without the atmosphere, you won't get a sharp image/shadow because light is not just particles. Instead, light is slightly bent around edges. "This is a problem that my wife does have on her spacecraft." — Matt.
Answer 4: Bec theorizes the optimal time is the empty (i.e. new) Moon, Matt confirms. But the Moon is a bad screen because it's not very reflective: The Earth reflects about 31% of the light hitting it, the Moon only reflects 12%. Matt didn't work out how much brightness you would need, because it's just not possible.
In short: The solution is "no".
A "ding" by Bec
In the past several years, I've taken to running road races. From observation and participating in many races, I've noticed that the winners always wear the shortest shorts, think 5 cm inseam. The people who come last tend to wear shorts that are 30 cm or longer. Is there any possible correlation between running speed and short lengths?
Bec suspects longer shorts get in the way a bit more. She also suspects that full-time runners will invest in shorts for running whereas the people at the end of a marathon just use their multi-purpose shorts, which Matt confirms from personal experience. If wearing shorter shorts made you faster, Usain Bold would run naked.
Matt brings up a similar phenomenon from cycling: People who cycle a lot tend to shave their legs. There doesn't seem to be a practical reason, except to show your dedication to cycling. Bec mentions a barista's top knot as another example. Bec goes on a looong leg hair tangent.
A "ding" from Matt
In problem 014-3, the question came up whether lucky people exist.
Bec asked on Twitter whether listeners think that lucky people exist. The split was roughly 50%/50%. The luckiest person Bec knows, comedian Sarah Bennetto, explains her own luck: She's been entering competitions and won loads of different types of stuff, including a car on a game show. She also mentions a book that talks about the statistics of winning cars.
Matt believes there's no such thing as luck, but there are lucky people. Random processes don't consistently turn out better than expected, but some people make more opportunities or are good at capitalizing on them. Notably, this doesn't mean that past success will lead to more success in the future. For example, Matt suspects Bennetto enters a lot of competitions. He also mentions the Dream Minecraft speedrunning drama.
Matt looked for the book, but couldn't find it and is now asking listeners for help. Bec is prepared to ding the problem when the book is found.
People on social media have brought to Bec's attention that they are not the same. Some biscuit companies will also call some crackers biscuits. You wouldn't put cheese on a cookie. Bec has reassessed the problem and has come to the conclusion that there is a spectrum of baked goods and that we should respect the product's label.
According to a tweet, there's a similar naming problem in Brazilian social media.
The website now sends you to a page where you can submit a problem. This doesn't mean that other channels will be ignored, but the form is the preferred solution. Even if you post it somewhere else, you can put the link to the post in the form. The podcast also has a brand new problem curator: Steph Keegan.