This magnetic plate does nothing

[@lateralcast]

BOOK OUT NOW!: www.lateralcast.com/book FULL EPISODE: www.lateralcast.com/episodes/112

[@ymeynot0405]

HURRY! MATT IS ON THE SHOW!

[@JVSkellington]

We are half the way towards getting a Lateral Difficulties episode.

[@nanardeurlambda]

the reversed lateral podcast

[@hairyneil]

That'd make a great Christmas special, even more so if they put the whole video up on youtube

[@lazprayogha]

LATERAL NEEDED!!!

[@stefanotassi3964]

Now, *that's* something I really doubt they can keep PG. I'm definitely in

[@advanceringnewholder]

​@@nanardeurlambda Reverse Lateral is Citation Needed

[@lazprayogha]

wait matt grey in lateral? oh i have to watch this

[@jordansean18]

​@@ArkOfTheShadow Somehow I don't recall him ever being on this show!

[@x9x9x9x9x9]

I wish they'd just release the full.podcast as a video. Id watch/listen to the podcast that way. But now I only watch some clips every now and then which is probably why they do it. They probably make more money this way even though they could make these as shorts instead and have the full length podcast.

[@jubbetje4278]

Next time: Chris Joel and Gary Brennan. One of these people is telling the truth.

[@lazprayogha]

@@jubbetje4278 imagine a lateral episode but just after the intro it becomes reverse trivia again. That would be very funny

[@RoelAdriaans]

None Of These People Are Lying!

[@random832]

lmao the "i've got something funny but i don't quite think i should say it" and then Matt with the steel chair "truck nuts!"

[@92xsaabaru-]

Matt has read through the Ofcom rules and knows exactly what he can and can't say, and I guess truck nuts is allowed, though the quick cut after in the full podcast makes me wonder if following conversation wasn't. (Tom is not on British TV, so while not bound to Ofcom rules, he has previously mentioned using them as his guidelines.)

[@nodrance]

Matt knows exactly what he can get away with

[@Archgeek0]

@@92xsaabaru- He can probably get away with USian "truck nuts", but not translating it to "lorry bollocks".

[@CwMGameplays]

Halfway to having the full Technical Difficulties crew on (1/3 if you don't count Tom since it's his podcast and he is always there)

[@dexteritymaster]

Still half, as I'm sure we would not say full crew if everyone except Tom have a get-together in Matt's video.

[@leumas75]

Oh now, nobody counts Tom, even on TD!🤪

[@songofshadow5043]

As someone who has gone somewhere specifically for their charging station, only to find a gas car parked there, and have to wonder how I'm going to get home now, this annoys me. Greatly.

[@adamsbja]

Yeah, it's a good way to get keyed.

[@adamsbja]

I am not condoning vandalism (that's what it is, pain in the hind to deal with), I'm pointing out the flaw of using one of the most expensive things you own specifically to piss people off.

[@Nixitur]

Is that _the_ bounciest man on the internet, Matt Gray?

[@jamespusey7186]

"is the (2-inch) tube floppy" i'm too immature not to laugh at that

[@IceMetalPunk]

Only if it doesn't like you very much! 😂

[@shohamsen8986]

yeah its an archaic floppy disk. Oh wait.... Sorry too immature to not make this joke.

[@cannot-handle-handles]

@@shohamsen8986 Not a hard drive then? Okay, got it.

[@IceMetalPunk]

@@cannot-handle-handles "My drive is in a solid state when you're around, baby." ~Pickup lines that have a 50% chance of working on a tech nerd, and a 0% chance of working on anyone else

[@roecocoa]

​@@IceMetalPunk See my first thought was it's a floppy disk eraser, and it "does nothing" because nobody needs to rapidly erase floppy disks anymore.

[@lkh511981]

I'm right there with Abby, as a fellow Midwesterner I had no idea that's what an EV plug looks like. I assumed they were inside a little door like the gas cap.

[@xipalips]

They are, but there's no way to plug the EV charger into the hole for gas. So this is to enable a way to fake doing so, but you put it on the outside of the door so you arent venting gas fumes all day. Petty childish nonsense ofc.

[@cheekychappy1234]

They are which makes this thing even more useless.

[@edopronk1303]

​@@xipalipsoh! They're there to put the charger in. Now I understand. Thank you

[@akuthia]

I love that Matt knows the audience of Tom and is completely comfortable saying "truck nuts"

[@christopherfaytvlarknsassi9013]

Matt Gray it's good to see you with Tom again.

[@altosanon]

My favourite phrase of today "dinosaur fuelled vehicles"!

[@CharlesGregory]

In Norway the English translation of "petrol or diesel cars" is "fossil cars" (and in Norway where 96% of new sales are electric, it's mainly fossils buying the fossil cars!)

[@stinenthings]

Who else had to google it because the description made no sense to them? I hope amazon won't start assuming that I want to buy one of those things.

[@Alnakar]

I was right there with Tom. I was trying to figure out how you could place a 2-inch magnetic tube to convincingly look like an exhaust pipe.

[@IceMetalPunk]

"I don't know if I should say it, f it's PG enough..." Matt, nodding with glee: "TRUCK NUTS!" 😂

[@anotherone5235]

Is it just me or does Iszi have big Sue Perkins Energy?

[@cannot-handle-handles]

Apparently, @TheGreatSteve also thinks so. Interestingly, for me, the two comments showed up right after each other.

[@anotherone5235]

@@cannot-handle-handles To be fair, I didn't check the other comments to see if anyone else made that connection :)

[@meh6718]

that's exactly what i was thinking!

[@SeanSMST]

I thought that 100% too. I couldn't help see her as straight up a slightly different Sue Perkins

[@FrankiePeanuts]

Funnily enough, Ford actually makes electric F-150s now.

[@michaelocyoung]

Tom has entered his lumberjack phase.

[@michaelocyoung]

"This is buffalo check, peasant!"

[@robertjarman3703]

I am at the Schwartzwald and this is a chainsaw.

[@elisam.r.9960]

I was waiting for a sartorial comment.

[@DerekMacColl]

All we need now is he who who reads books and everybody's favourite... Consider this a suggestion for the new format that TechDiff were looking for, please!

[@ecchikitty1395]

"I don't know if this is appropriate." Matt: *shouts a guess*

[@Haights]

My first thought (which brought to mind one of those demagnetizing widgets until I realized those aren't big enough for a "2-inch tube") was whether "it does nothing" was doing a lot of heavy lifting, and the tube actually negated or erased something. Related to an older Lateral question (the "errant pen mark on a playing card" one), I'm reminded of the flavor text for Null Rod in Magic: the Gathering (a card that prevents card abilities from being activated). "But it doesn't *_do_* anything!" "No, it *_does_* nothing." You occasionally see discussion among players over whether a card "does powerful nothing" or "does nothing, powerfully".

[@ExplicableCashew]

Wow, I could barely recognize Gary and Chris

[@meh6718]

wow chris is taking his drag to a whole new level

[@GimpyChinaman]

Love to see one if the Tech Diffs in Lateral! Maybe we get Chris or Gary on a future episode of Lateral?

[@ryanclark6402]

I definitely guessed the reverse- a sweet-looking monster “exhaust pipe” for your Tesla.

[@RAFMnBgaming]

kinda imagining someone bolting one of those big rig flaming exhaust pipes onto the side of a cybertruck and for once it kinda sounds cool.

[@Quasihamster]

I swear one day somebody'll get fined because they've put this on a clearly very much vintage car and then wonder how any cop could tell it's fake.

[@sourcererseven3858]

In Germany (probably all of EU), electric cars get an " E" at the end of their license plate (our plates otherwise always end in numbers). I don't know if that's mandatory though... And I have absolutely no idea what about hybrid cars. I think "plug-in hybrid" are the ones that can also be charged electrically, so maybe those get the "E" suffix? Depends on what it's intended for.

[@sourcererseven3858]

Oh, and it all falls apart anyway: All the charging stations I've seen have an indicator light (available, currently charging, plugged in but fully charged...), so the Ordnungsamt won't be looking at plates, nor cables. Presumably there's also a color code for "has been fully charged for more than x hours", I believe the max parking time after 100% charge is three hours.

[@Becky_Cooling]

@@sourcererseven3858 and in Britain all electric cars get a green band on their numberplate

[@CharlesGregory]

The funny thing is many people are converting vintage cars to electric.. so it could be real!

[@edopronk1303]

It's magnetic. If the officer thinks it's fake they can test by pulling on it. And the charger won't go as far in as with a real socket I think? I assume this thing will fall apart (not literally) upon closer inspection by someone with a faint knowledge of car charging.

[@Darkkrebs]

I knew it was only a matter of time before one of the TechDiffs made it onto this podcast. 😆

[@JasonMaggini]

You know the people using that also park across multiple handicap spaces.

[@hebl47]

This Matt guy... he looks like the sort who could sit with Tom on a bench and they could talk for hours.

[@ripopol]

0:19 Making my guess: So a 4 inch plate with a 2 inch long tube. (im assuming the colour isn't truly relevant) That seems like its just an instantaneous coathanger if you're arround metal stuff. Work on a place with a bunch of metal frames or girders, and need to hang up your coat, slap the square onto a beam, hang your coat off the cilinder/tube thing.

[@IVIaskerade]

But then the tube has a function

[@CineSoar]

Now I know that “PrankPort” is a thing.

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

You can get all sorts of fake stuff for cars, including air intakes (that are just stickers, there's no hole in the bonnet under them), fake exhaust pipes that connect to nothing and are just there for show... So I am actually not really surprised that there are fake electric sockets.

[@Slikx666]

I'd love to say "i can't believe something like that exists." Unfortunately i know there's things that are for sale that are worse.... 🤔

[@Zichqec]

I wasn't paying attention to the video when I first started it, I was just listening while I work on something else, and the way I gasped when I heard Matt's voice 😂 so glad to see him here!

[@BigDavie2000]

My initial thought was that it was a magnetic number, in this case 0. The 'does nothing' being very literal.

[@Furiends]

What a great device to get towed!

[@hanneken4026]

My first thought was a pin holder for people who sew, the metal plate is the base, the tube is where you put the pins, and because it's magnetic the pins don't spill. It doesn't actively do anything, just sits on your sewing table and gives you a place to put your pins. I was very wrong!

[@SlipShodBob]

If they are in Minnesota (west central) they should do a collaboration on the science behind tile drains and some of the special outflows with Randy the Master Pipelayer. He uses the dangling add on as a depth gauge on the machine so they have a visual guide outside as well as the electronics inside to show they are at the right depth and are balls deep.

[@ahreuwu]

amazing group of guests, always nice to see Matt but Abby and Iszi are great!! love it

[@lunalovegood2093]

hi lszi i saw you perform at my uni's comedy night and i asked if your book was pedantic :D really like you

[@aixtom979]

Well, I have a 20 year old car that runs on petrol, which has a plug socket on the front for the electric motor heater. ;-)

[@hammerth1421]

Literally my first thought was "blanking plate" I wasn't right, but I wasn't really wrong either.

[@TheGreatSteve]

I ordered Sue Perkins off Wish.

[@xipalips]

"Resistant to change" ohh i know this one.

[@The_Farwall]

I think I wanna be Iszi Lawrence when I grow up :D

[@DanTheCaptain]

Petition to have a Lateral episode with the original Tech Diff crew!

[@GordonHugenay]

How had Matt not been on this show before?

[@Hdtjdjbszh]

first guess was either semi conductors or some sort of electric field detector

[@really-quite-exhausted]

At first I thought this was a vibrating plate for demonstrating standing waves. Any stationary points would be "doing nothing" 😊. Couldn't figure out why it would be magnetic though...

[@VinnieBartilucci]

Similar to this item, I had a sticker on my car reading "Hydrocarbon-powered Eco-Vehicle".

[@Gzeebo]

Matt's statement about art is correct. To be art, it cannot have a function. It may however have an intention, purpose, reason etc.

[@stapler942]

I don't think I've seen an EV up close, so I basically have no concept of what this thing looks like, other than "tube attached to a magnet."

[@michaelmcchesney6645]

I would like to know where I could buy one of those 4" square magnetic plates with a 2" metal tube because I am having trouble picturing it. I mean I can picture it, but I can't imagine how that would make a gasoline-powered car look like it had an electric charging port. Every electric charging port I have seen was internal to the car. I can't think of any that had a 2" tube extending from the side of the car.

[@Tahgtahv]

Same, I am totally confused. We have a hybrid, which I get isn't exactly the same, but the charging port just has a door that looks exactly like any gasoline door.

[@therookiegamer2727]

I think, based on what other people are saying, you attach it to the port cover, and then it lets you put the charge cable in it (tube is there to hold the end of the cable in place, and, from a distance at least, it looks like the cable is attached to your car

[@michaelmcchesney6645]

@@therookiegamer2727 What an incredibly useful product that must be. How did the human race progress from the Stone Age to today's civilization without such a product to aid us? That it was a miracle is clearly the only possible explanation. Has the inventor's wealth caught up to Elon's yet? It's ridiculous, but I'd still like to see pictures of the thing.

[@CharlesGregory]

i think the kind of people who buy and use such a thing aren't the kind of people who know what an electric charging port looks like!

[@Speedster___]

2:43 magnetic pole???

[@francisboyle1739]

If it's wider than it's long I don't think it counts as a tube.

[@charliedobbie8916]

I work IT-adjacent. I'm very suspicious anytime someone says something "does nothing". What do you mean by that? It if exists, at the very least it's exerting a gravitational force on things around it. It's clearly reacting to the electromagnetic spectrum, or else you couldn't see it. Someone who says something "does nothing" has drawn a line between literal vacuum and, say, a spanner, and 99.999% of the time that person isn't qualified to specify where that line should be in the context of the problem you're dealing with, so should have no say on what side of the line some thing sits.

[@whocares2277]

It clearly does something here. It makes the object it's attached to look like something it's not.

[@techno1561]

Guessing, I wonder if it was a sign or something, like for children to learn arithmetic. The tube and sign technically does nothing, but can be used for something.

[@recurvestickerdragon]

my initial thought was pseudoscience. "put this resonance tube on any vehicle to improve your mpg by half!!1!"

[@brookewestonctc]

Who put in the effort to rotoscope iszi's hair for the thumbnail?

[@Kumimono]

Magnetic food?

[@loddude5706]

Not sure mounting a fake nose-bag on your Mustang's front grill will fool them . . . well, not for very long : )

[@robertk1701]

Abby not sure it'd be appropriate to say a thing. Matt says it anyway. Wouldn't expect anything less.

[@alan2here]

"More convenient, cheaper, less maintenance, cheaper, better for the environment, more range per top-up, and cheaper, nah I'll just be a complete hole and fake it so I can be old fashioned for the sake of being old fashioned"

[@panda4247]

You listed pros of both types of vehicles but it looks like all are pros of EVs... Range and price are definitely in favour or dinousaur-powered cars. Also, please bear in mind that if everybody switched to EVs, the electrical grid would collapse. (and for the record, i don't own either type, i use public transport to work, which is the best option)

[@alan2here]

@ Public transport (even if petrol) is the best, also at least here (as makes sense) that's electric too.

[@ptrknvk]

Well, that's an interesting park bench you got here ngl.

[@JudithOpdebeeck]

we need a TechDiff special...

[@peperoni_pepino]

>"4-inch square" So 4 inch by 4 inch, or 2 inch by 2 inch for 4 square inch? 😅

[@helenbaumander3953]

Is Matt no longer the bounciest man on the Internet?

[@drakorez]

Matt Gray!

[@Artaxo]

I see Matt subscribes to the idea of ars gratia artis

[@Epinardscaramel]

Matt Gray!!

[@tonhueb]

Matt!!!

[@advanceringnewholder]

Oh my god how old is Tom?? His hair is turning Gray now

[@Archgeek0]

Dratblades, here I thought it was those dumb fake exhaust manifolds for people with small cars but a need to compensate for some ...other ...thing.

[@erinwojcik4771]

Camera lens

[@Alexis-lt3zy]

you know, I would wish for a techdif lateral episode... but I'm not sure that would be PG

[@thewackerly]

Eeeyyyyy it's the Matt one

[@edopronk1303]

I don't know how I feel about Matt being there. It feels a bit weird. Thougts about him knowing Tom too much in game mode, as a unfair advantage. Or, it becoming too much technical difficulties. I hope it's just something he and Tom thought to be fun, instead of the show running out of original guests?

[@MountainHawkPYL]

Chap Stick wall mount.

[@ChrisWar666]

Oh, silly people 🙄

[@ChrisWar666]

I was thinking of exhaust well before Tom said it, but I guess I was going in the wrong direction...

[@CharlesGregory]

I didn't get this one until the very end, which is embarrassing seeing as I live and breathe EV content...

[@martinkf]

So happy to see Matt and Abby - am I the only one astonished at how she keeps getting prettier and prettier each time?

[@myladycasagrande863]

So weird for me to see Abby here - it's like my YT interests are colliding!

[@tubatim]

You should do a Tech Dif reunion episode of Lateral. You’re halfway there now.