In Iceland, which publication contains 19 ninjas, 44 Jedi, and seven supermaps?

The answer to that, at the end of the show.

My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral.

Sorry, folks, I think this script is from the people who use the studio before us, but it's going to have to do.

Hello, my name's Peter Stockton, and welcome to another edition of Me and by Pencil,

we're the number one podcast for fans of graphite bars encased in wood pulp tubes.

Coming up today, what's the ideal sharpening angle? There's news about new finger

grip patterns, and we have a bumper mailbag in reaction to last week's heated debate, traditional

versus mechanical. Firstly, we have someone who's been using the same pencil since 2007. It's

marine biology PhD, and, in her own words, also a mom that makes stuff for the internet. Welcome back

to the show, Virginia Shutey.

Hi, thank you. I'm very attached to my pencil.

The last time we talked, you were just about to head off to Antarctica,

and we haven't chatted since.

So in the 30 seconds allocated for this in the show, how was Antarctica?

It was amazing. That's under 30 seconds.

There you go. It was so good. What did you get up to out there? It was, we went to the wrong side of Antarctica. Most people go to a very predictable spot near South America because that's where the

continent is closest to like where people usually live. We went way far away from that. And it was like being in a Star Wars episode

every day, a different landscape that just seems unimaginable, but so, so cool. Which also

wonderfully applies to the questions in this show. So very best of luck today. Next up, with a collection of over

200 erasers of various types. It's a PhD in Biomechanics from Draw Curiosity on YouTube and

Twitch. Welcome back in Ace Laura Dawson. It is so great to be back. What are you working on at

...