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Speaker 1: Guess what, Mango, what's that? Well, so, I know I've

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Speaker 1: told you about this before, but when I was six

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Speaker 1: or seven, I used to sneak into my sister's room

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Speaker 1: and listen to her latest albums on her fancy double

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Speaker 1: cassette playing Boom boss It. I have told you about

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Speaker 1: this definitely, and she was in high school at the time,

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Speaker 1: so I was introduced to all the important stuff this way.

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Speaker 1: It was Michael Jackson's Thriller. I think that was my

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Speaker 1: favorite that we did come out a few years earlier.

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Speaker 1: We were talking nineteen eighties six and some of the

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Speaker 1: biggest hits there was Madonna's Papa Don't Preach, Janet Jackson's

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Speaker 1: what Have You Done for Me Lately? Bon Jovis you

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Speaker 1: give love a bad name, Cyndi Lauper's True Colors. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the list goes on and on, and you're playing to

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Speaker 1: name them all. I'm guessing I could. I could. And

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Speaker 1: we're not talking about any of that Lionel Richie stuff

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Speaker 1: that I had to listen to in my mom's Toyota Cressida.

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Speaker 1: This was the good stuff. That's so much revolutionary music

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Speaker 1: at such a young age. I know, I know, well,

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Speaker 1: one of them that I haven't mentioned yet is the

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Speaker 1: Bengals manic Monday, And if you remember, Susanna Hass was

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Speaker 1: clearly frustrated because she was having this dream about Kiss

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Speaker 1: Valentino and then her stupid alarm goes off and of

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Speaker 1: course it's just another man Monday. I mean, she she

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Speaker 1: wished it was Sunday because as as you know, that

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Speaker 1: that's her fun day. But no, it was. It was Monday.

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Speaker 1: It was Monday. Tragic. I mean, I learned so much

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Speaker 1: from my sister's music collection. We might even have to

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Speaker 1: do an episode on this at some point, but the

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Speaker 1: lesson was clear. She did not like Monday. She wasn't alone.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they're obviously days that we learned to like

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Speaker 1: and just like pretty much universally. And when one of

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Speaker 1: our brilliant researchers, Autumn Whitefield Madrono, asked the question a

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Speaker 1: few weeks ago, what are the best and worst days

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Speaker 1: of the week, I thought, well, I know what the

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Speaker 1: Bengals would say, but what does science say? And how

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Speaker 1: did the whole seven day week come to be in

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Speaker 1: the first place. So these are just a couple of

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Speaker 1: the things we're going to talk about today. Hei Their

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Speaker 1: podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson,

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Speaker 1: and as always I'm joined by my good friend man guest,

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Speaker 1: and on the other side of that soundproof glasses, our

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Speaker 1: friend and producer Tristan McNeil. Not today, we're asking the

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Speaker 1: question what's the best day of the week, you know,

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Speaker 1: according to science? And maybe we'll throw in a few

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Speaker 1: opinions here and there as well. Yeah, this one could

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Speaker 1: turn into a heated debate. Well, we'll see. But before

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Speaker 1: we get started, I wanted to recognize a few winners

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Speaker 1: from our Weirdest College Courses episode, you know, where we

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Speaker 1: ask listeners to tell us the weirdest college classes they've taken.

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Speaker 1: You remember this all right? Here the top three, all

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Speaker 1: of whom will be getting Part Time Genius t shirts.

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Speaker 1: The first one comes from Alicio Martinez. Uh. The class

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Speaker 1: was called Math in Square Dancing. Yeah, I thought this

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Speaker 1: is awesome. It's taught at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know how anyone hadn't really thought about

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Speaker 1: how to combine to universally love things, you know, math

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Speaker 1: and square dancing. It's pretty great, all right, I like that,

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Speaker 1: So you'll be getting one Alicio. Now Yvonne Jones a

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Speaker 1: class called Goldberg's Cannon Making Whoopee at Baits College. This

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Speaker 1: is great. It's about all about the lifetime work of

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Speaker 1: Whoopee Goldberg. That's such a good class, alright. And then

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Speaker 1: the third one from Rachel Shine, a class called snow

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Speaker 1: Skiing at Texas A and M. Now, that doesn't seem

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Speaker 1: that weird of a class, right, but as she explained,

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Speaker 1: there was no snow and there were no mountains or hills.

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Speaker 1: It was taught on astro turf and it was usually hot,

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Speaker 1: so they wore shirts and T shirts and shorts. Yeah. Great, alright,

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Speaker 1: So those are our top three. It's so much fun

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Speaker 1: to hear from you guys. Congrats to our winners. Remember

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Speaker 1: to keep the interesting facts coming to part time Genius

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Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com or find us on

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Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter. You can also call our seven fact

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Speaker 1: hotline one eight four four pt Genius. All right, let's

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Speaker 1: dive in. You know, I think we need to start

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Speaker 1: by acknowledging what a strange thing a week is. So

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Speaker 1: what do you mean by that? I mean, well, it's

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Speaker 1: one of those things that, honestly I hadn't thought that

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Speaker 1: much about. Before one of our terrific researchers, Autumn, pointed

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Speaker 1: it out. And that's the fact that a week is

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Speaker 1: this imperfect human created unit of time that falls in

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Speaker 1: between two units of time that nature dictates. So you

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Speaker 1: have the day dictated by Earth's rotation on the shorter side,

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Speaker 1: and then you've got the month that's roughly dictated by

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Speaker 1: the lunar cycle on the longer end. Yeah, it's definitely

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Speaker 1: weird and doesn't pretty much the whole world us a

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Speaker 1: seven day week now. Yeah, even in places that don't

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Speaker 1: use the Gregorian calendar, you find that they're using this too,

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Speaker 1: and and it's something that we'll talk about in a bit.

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Speaker 1: And that's how contemporary weeks are built around pivotal days.

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Speaker 1: And even though you might find the pivotal days being

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Speaker 1: different from one society to another, there's still some peak

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Speaker 1: that's constant and the rest of the week is built

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Speaker 1: around that. Well, we should definitely talk about why the

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Speaker 1: world settled on a seven day week, but first can

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Speaker 1: we look at why creating a unit of time that

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Speaker 1: functions between a day and a month is so problematic?

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Speaker 1: I mean, the fact is there's no way to divide

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Speaker 1: up that time evenly in a way that it recurs regularly.

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Speaker 1: A lunar cycle is twenty nine point five days long,

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Speaker 1: meaning that if we made all months thirty days leading

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Speaker 1: to you know, ten day weeks, we'd still be off.

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Speaker 1: It's just such a strange thing. No matter what you

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Speaker 1: propose as a replacement for the seven day week, there's

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Speaker 1: gonna be some irregularity. Yeah, and the ten day week

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Speaker 1: thing has definitely been tried plenty of times. Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: was interesting to get a refresh on this during our

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Speaker 1: research and to see how earlier societies tried to address

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Speaker 1: the irregularities. In some they just solve the issue, kind

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Speaker 1: of how we do with leap ears, Like the ancient

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Speaker 1: Greeks had these ten day periods and occasionally they just

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Speaker 1: be nine days long to make the adjustments. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: at first glance, you think that using a ten day

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Speaker 1: or a five day week could more closely pull off

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Speaker 1: an even division of the lunar month, you know, more

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Speaker 1: so than our seven day weeks. And and that's true,

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Speaker 1: but then you have another problem. Oh yeah, this is fascinating.

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Speaker 1: You're talking about temporal regularity. Yeah, exactly, so. Evianta Zerobabel

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Speaker 1: he's the author of a book called The Seven Day Circle,

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Speaker 1: and he talks about how temporal regularity is such an

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Speaker 1: important part of the development of human race. And as

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Speaker 1: he puts it, quote, imagine, for example, having to cancel

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Speaker 1: regular Sunday family gatherings or Tuesday classes every month or

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Speaker 1: so due to the lack of a Sunday or a

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Speaker 1: Tuesday on that particular week. I guess it's kind of

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Speaker 1: similar to what leaplings have to deal with, you know,

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Speaker 1: those people who are born on February twenty nine, except

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Speaker 1: it would happen far more regularly, and it also be

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Speaker 1: so much more inconvenient. Oh definitely. I mean, imagine how

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Speaker 1: difficult it would be to coordinate activities that should happen

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Speaker 1: more than monthly, but less than daily. I mean, right now,

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Speaker 1: it's just so easy to remember something like, you know,

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Speaker 1: I've got soccer practice on Tuesdays or something like that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there'd be some clear adjusting there. But as

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Speaker 1: Zara Babo points out, it's one thing to think about

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Speaker 1: the weekdays tethered disport or hobby, but it gets even

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Speaker 1: more important when you're thinking about it for basic survival.

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Speaker 1: Like let's say you have to ride to town A

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Speaker 1: couple of times a month just to get provisions from

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Speaker 1: the farmer's market. If it takes you two hours to

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Speaker 1: get to town, you definitely want to be sure that

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Speaker 1: when you get there the market's open. So knowing that

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Speaker 1: the markets on Wednesdays takes care of that and and

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Speaker 1: allows you to make plans. Yeah, I mean it makes

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense, and it's weird that we don't

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Speaker 1: often stop to think about it. I mean, the week

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Speaker 1: is the longest unit of time that's not at all

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Speaker 1: dependent on nature. So it's pretty significant as far as

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Speaker 1: a philosophical shift in our development. And in a way,

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Speaker 1: it's like our way of saying that we're ready to

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Speaker 1: stop solely depending on nature and instead begin to establish

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Speaker 1: our temporar rhythms around a unit that we created. And

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Speaker 1: it is worth noting that there's no compelling evidence of

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Speaker 1: any major seven day biological processes in nature. I mean,

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Speaker 1: there does appear to be a form of algae that's

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Speaker 1: used to study circadian rhythm because it has exhibited signs

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Speaker 1: of some seven day biological rhythms, but it's a bit

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Speaker 1: of a stretch to think that it's played into how

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Speaker 1: we think about time in any real way. Yeah, that

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Speaker 1: definitely sounds like a stretch. Al Right, well, let's talk

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Speaker 1: about the creation of the seven day week. I know

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Speaker 1: you did some digging into this with a ton of

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Speaker 1: great help from our research or autumn, So tell us

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Speaker 1: what you know. Sure, well, this can actually be its

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Speaker 1: own episode because it's an interesting history. But to boil

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Speaker 1: it down, it was really the result of early Jewish

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Speaker 1: cultures and Babylonian astronomy thinking up. So let me plane.

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Speaker 1: As you know, Judaism was focused on a seven day cycle,

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Speaker 1: as depicted in the Torah, you know, seventh day of

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Speaker 1: rest and all that, and and the other six days

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Speaker 1: were really just days leading up to the Sabbath. Then

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Speaker 1: you have the Babylonians, who had come up with the

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Speaker 1: idea that the seven celestial bodies that moved across the sky,

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Speaker 1: that they had certain effects on everything humans did. Five

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Speaker 1: of these were planets as we know them now, and

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Speaker 1: and the other two were the sun in the moon,

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Speaker 1: but still seven. So the Babylonians they also had a

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Speaker 1: seven day cycle. No, I mean, at least there's no

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Speaker 1: evidence of that. But here's how they came together. In

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Speaker 1: the second century b C. The Alexandrians brought together three

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Speaker 1: beliefs that were pretty firm at that point. The first

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Speaker 1: was you've got these seven planets which came into particular order,

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Speaker 1: and then you had the twenty four hour day. And

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Speaker 1: third there's this idea that the planet that ruled the

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Speaker 1: first hour of each day ruled the entire day. It

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Speaker 1: didn't take too long for the set of beliefs to

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Speaker 1: run smack dab into Judaism, and the two sets of

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Speaker 1: beliefs sanked up by the end of the first century

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Speaker 1: see the Sabbath again, the only day that really mattered

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Speaker 1: to the Jewish cycle, and the day of Saturn, just

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Speaker 1: one of the seven planets in Babylonian astrology, were one

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Speaker 1: and the same, And by the third centuries the week

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Speaker 1: was pretty widespread. Yeah, and the and the seven day

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Speaker 1: cycle stuck and was gradually adopted by pretty much everyone.

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Speaker 1: Though this isn't to say that there weren't a couple

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Speaker 1: of pretty big attempts to implement different systems. I was

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Speaker 1: actually curious to see who tried to come up with

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Speaker 1: better systems over time, and found a couple of good

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Speaker 1: stories that, to be honest, I had actually forgotten about

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Speaker 1: from history class, Like what, all right, well, let's start.

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Speaker 1: Let's start with the French Republicans after the French Revolution.

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Speaker 1: During the revolution, assembly members decided to come up with

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Speaker 1: a new calendar, still with twelve months, but they wanted

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Speaker 1: to make the other time units as close to metric

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Speaker 1: as they could. So each month had three ten day weeks.

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Speaker 1: Each day would have ten hours divided into a hundred

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Speaker 1: minutes each, and each minute would have a hundred seconds.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's actually so confusing to think about this.

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Speaker 1: Then there would be five or six days left at

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Speaker 1: the end of the year that would be reserved for

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Speaker 1: a celebration. It is interest thing to note that this

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Speaker 1: system is very similar to what the Egyptians had created

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Speaker 1: when they became the first civilization to create weeks, which

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Speaker 1: is all super interesting and I so want to get

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Speaker 1: into time machine and witnessed the celebrations. It sounds really fun.

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Speaker 1: But you can see how that structure it could make

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Speaker 1: sense if it's what people have been used to. But

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Speaker 1: given that they were used to a seven day calendar

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Speaker 1: with twenty four hours per day, it was probably pretty

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Speaker 1: confusing why they even attempt this. But there were a

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Speaker 1: couple of reasons. I mean that the Biggie beyond just

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Speaker 1: being a more rational system. As they saw it, it it

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Speaker 1: was that they wanted this very real new beginning, you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of a break from the past. And obviously that

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Speaker 1: didn't last forever. So how long did it last? Round

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Speaker 1: honestly find it surprising that it lasted as long as

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Speaker 1: it did. It was around twelve years, and it was

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Speaker 1: just too confusing for everyone, especially because so many refused

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Speaker 1: to stop keeping track of the old calendar. Even find

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Speaker 1: reports that when newspapers were required by a lot equipped

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Speaker 1: publishing the old date alongside the new one, people were

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Speaker 1: still using the old calendar to keep track of certain

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Speaker 1: important dates, and of course to observe their holy days,

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Speaker 1: and many of them would take that day of rest

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Speaker 1: along with the scheduled day of rest, and ultimately there

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Speaker 1: were just too many days with little significance in between

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Speaker 1: these anchor days, and so finally it was scrapped. I

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Speaker 1: still confused that I lasted over a decade, and it

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Speaker 1: makes me think about the attempts over the years to

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Speaker 1: get Americans to convert to the metric system, like a

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Speaker 1: system that actually makes a lot of sense, but it's

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Speaker 1: just way too hard to get people to move from

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Speaker 1: something they're used to especially if they don't see it

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Speaker 1: as broken. And obviously that change was like politically loaded.

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Speaker 1: But um, you were talking about the French, but you

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Speaker 1: said there was another attempt. Yeah, that's right. So they

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Speaker 1: were also the Soviets, and they tried to change things

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Speaker 1: up in nineteen nine. And this was really more of

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Speaker 1: an effort to increase production from the workforce. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you know this, but the Soviets were kind

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Speaker 1: of big on this idea of getting more out of

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Speaker 1: the workfloor. I heard that. And as they saw at

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Speaker 1: the regular seven day week left machines and workers idle

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Speaker 1: for two out of every seven days. And that's just

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Speaker 1: not efficient as they saw it. I'll warn you it

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Speaker 1: is pretty crazy what they tried to do. I'm ready

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Speaker 1: for all right. So they created these five day weeks

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Speaker 1: and sets of six to get these thirty day months

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Speaker 1: and months that had thirty one days. Well, they just

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Speaker 1: made that another work day, which is so Soviet, and

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Speaker 1: that part so far you can follow. But the workers

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Speaker 1: would have one out of every five days off. And

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Speaker 1: here's where it gets a little crazy, all right. So

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Speaker 1: instead of having some big anchor day like the sabbath

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Speaker 1: or a weekend, they just assigned one of the five

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Speaker 1: days to each person as their personal day off. Each

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Speaker 1: day was then assigned a color, and then people were

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Speaker 1: assigned a color and a number, and the corresponding color

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Speaker 1: was your That sounds so confused. I told you it's crazy.

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Speaker 1: So did uh? Families are groups of friends, like, did

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Speaker 1: they all get the same day off? No? And that

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Speaker 1: was a big problem. If you look at people's address books,

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Speaker 1: you'd see people having to keep up with when their

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Speaker 1: loved ones days off were, and they have to write

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Speaker 1: their colors next to each of their names. It was

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Speaker 1: just so, so so confusing. Yeah, I'm not that organized,

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Speaker 1: and it's not surprising. Why why this wouldn't have lasted?

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Speaker 1: I mean people couldn't have their worship days together, which

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Speaker 1: I guess matters less to the Soviets, but also you

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Speaker 1: know what about just getting your family together and playing sports? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you're right, it was. It was a big problem. So

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Speaker 1: even though a year after it launched, the state was

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Speaker 1: claiming that nearly three fourths of the workers were on

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Speaker 1: this continual production week, it still didn't sit well with

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Speaker 1: people because their families and social circles they were being

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Speaker 1: broken up. But did it meet their goal like, did

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Speaker 1: it increase production? Well, that was one of the nails

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Speaker 1: in the coffin to it. It actually didn't really increase production,

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Speaker 1: or at least not by much. Machines were wearing out

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Speaker 1: and they couldn't be fixed because they didn't have off days,

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Speaker 1: and it was tough on workers. So Stalin then decided

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Speaker 1: to put the plan on hold until all the issues

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Speaker 1: could be worked out. And you know, you think they

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Speaker 1: would just go back to the seven day week, but nope,

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Speaker 1: not the Soviets. They they couldn't accept the idea of

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Speaker 1: going back to that, so they decided on a sixth

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Speaker 1: day week instead, and everyone had the same day off

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Speaker 1: at least, but it was still nearly impossible to get

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Speaker 1: everyone in rule areas to follow this new calendar. So

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Speaker 1: by around nineteen or so, the Soviets were back to

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Speaker 1: the seven day week, which sounds exhausting and try explaining

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Speaker 1: and I actually think I need a break for a quiz.

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Speaker 1: But we decided to do this episode on the best

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Speaker 1: day of the week. We were both reminded of this

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Speaker 1: terrific book by Melissa Hecksher. It was called Be Safe,

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Speaker 1: Simple Strategies for Death Free Living, and we were fortunate

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Speaker 1: enough to get Melissa on the line to answer a

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Speaker 1: few questions about our favorite parts of her book. Melissa,

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Part Time Genius. Hi, thanks for having me on. Awesome. So, Melissa,

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Speaker 1: before we dive into specifics, I was curious, how did

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Speaker 1: the book idea come to you? Were you always just

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Speaker 1: worried about the possible ways you could die? Actually kind of,

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Speaker 1: I'm sort of one of those people that worries about everything, So,

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Speaker 1: you know, when when it came to me, I was

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Speaker 1: living in New York City at the time and doing

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Speaker 1: a lot of driving and traveling by train and subway,

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Speaker 1: and I just was always wondering every time I got

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Speaker 1: on the subway what car I should get onto. Should

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Speaker 1: I be in the back of the subway or middle

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Speaker 1: of the subway, you know? Or when I was driving

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Speaker 1: to and from Philadelphia, where my parents live, I always

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Speaker 1: wondered whether I should be in the middle lane or

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Speaker 1: the right lane, or these small choices that we make

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Speaker 1: every day to stay safe. And I was always thinking

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Speaker 1: about it. So I wanted to do a little more

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Speaker 1: research to find out the answers to those questions. And

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Speaker 1: wasn't it Salvador Dolly that used to like to ride

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Speaker 1: in the front car so that he would get there earlier,

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Speaker 1: get there first. The front car actually is the safest

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Speaker 1: because it's where usually the conductor is. All right, well,

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Speaker 1: you know this episode is on the best day of

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Speaker 1: the week, or asking the question what is the best

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Speaker 1: day of the week. And of course we thought about

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Speaker 1: you because several of your your entries in this great

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Speaker 1: book have to do, you know, with the best day

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Speaker 1: of doing certain things, so we thought we'd ask you

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Speaker 1: about a few of those. So, I know you mentioned

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Speaker 1: in the book the safest time to go to the bank,

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Speaker 1: So tell us when that is. The safest time to

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Speaker 1: go to the bank? Is really between Tuesday and Thursday, um,

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Speaker 1: in the afternoon, because historically bank robberies seem to happen

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Speaker 1: on Fridays, and people think that's because that's pay day.

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Speaker 1: So I guess the bank robbers assumed the bank is

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Speaker 1: going to have so much more money on Friday. That's

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Speaker 1: that's just when most bank robberies happen. So if you

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Speaker 1: want to avoid them, to stay away from the bank

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Speaker 1: on Friday morning because they also usually happen in the morning. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: how about the best day to order sushi? I love sushi,

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Speaker 1: so this one was important to me, especially because I

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Speaker 1: around when I was writing the book is when I

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Speaker 1: got pregnant, so I was extra careful with things like sushi.

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Speaker 1: Um So, the best time to get sushi is on Friday,

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Speaker 1: and that's because most fish markets are closed on Sundays.

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Speaker 1: So you definitely don't want to get sushi on a

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Speaker 1: Monday because the chances are that it hasn't it's not

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Speaker 1: a fresh delivery, so you're not getting the freshest fish

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Speaker 1: that way, which means that you have a greater chance

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Speaker 1: of possibly getting sick from that fish. Oh that's interesting.

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Speaker 1: It makes a lot of sense though when you say that. Well,

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Speaker 1: here's one that wasn't on a specific day, but you

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Speaker 1: addressed in a book the safest month to get elective surgery,

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Speaker 1: and I thought this one was super interesting. It is interesting,

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Speaker 1: um the safest most most residents graduate in June, and

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Speaker 1: so they start at their new positions at a hospital

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Speaker 1: in July. Um So, the safest month is actually June

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Speaker 1: because the older residents that have been there all year

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Speaker 1: and they know the system, they know the routine, they

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Speaker 1: know their peers, they've been there all year. Whereas in July. Um.

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Speaker 1: They're new and so not to say that they can't

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Speaker 1: do their jobs, but they maybe don't know that they're

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Speaker 1: not used to working together. There might be a few

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Speaker 1: more mistakes or errors that happened in July than than

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Speaker 1: happen in June. So if you can help it, schedule

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Speaker 1: your surgery closer to you know, maybe May or June

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Speaker 1: and not July or August. There are a few parts

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Speaker 1: of the book that weren't related to specific days, but

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Speaker 1: we're just so fun that we want to ask you

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Speaker 1: about them. So he tells what's the safest room in

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Speaker 1: a hotel? This one was a personal one for me too,

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Speaker 1: because I did a lot of traveling by myself, so

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Speaker 1: I always was a little bit worried. Is to the

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Speaker 1: safest place to stay, especially as a woman alone, And

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Speaker 1: the answer to that question is between the fourth and

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Speaker 1: seventh floors, if you have a choice, if it's a

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Speaker 1: high rise hotel, and in no matter what kind of

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Speaker 1: a hotel, near the elevator. And that's just because there's

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Speaker 1: more foot traffic and so you're safer being around a

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Speaker 1: lot of people, because if someone's going to break into

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Speaker 1: your hotel room or approach you as you're entering your room.

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Speaker 1: It's less likely to happen where there's a lot of traffic.

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Speaker 1: And then as far as the floors, most fire ladders

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Speaker 1: don't reach above seven floors, So if you had to

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Speaker 1: be evacuated in the case of emergency, if you're on

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Speaker 1: a really high floor. First, it's obviously it's going to

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Speaker 1: take you longer to get down if you're doing stairs.

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Speaker 1: But um, if you had to be evacuated by fire ladder,

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Speaker 1: be harder because the ladders don't always go that high.

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Speaker 1: So fourth and seven floors near the elevator, and that's

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Speaker 1: pretty much the safest place you can be. I think

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Speaker 1: I need to change my strategy. Actually, when I get

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Speaker 1: to a hotel, I often request a room away from

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Speaker 1: the elevator just because it's noisy there. But I didn't

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Speaker 1: realize how unsafe it was. Well, you know, it's a

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Speaker 1: trade off. So you want a quiet room and you

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Speaker 1: might not be as safe, but you can sleep better. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: all right, Well, there was one other that I that

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Speaker 1: I saw here that I thought was just really interesting,

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Speaker 1: and so, so, what is the safest stall in a

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Speaker 1: public restroom? What's interesting about this question is that there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of studies that have looked at this question. Um,

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Speaker 1: there's scientists that have actually collected samples from bathrooms to

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Speaker 1: just to figure out which stall is the dirtiest. And um,

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Speaker 1: the safest stall has been determined to be the first

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Speaker 1: one or the one closest to the door, and that's

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Speaker 1: because most people like a little bit of privacy when

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Speaker 1: they go to the bathroom, so they go a little

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Speaker 1: further from the door. Um, the dirtiest one turned out

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Speaker 1: to be the middle stall. Um, which if you think

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Speaker 1: it would be the furthest from the door, but it's

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Speaker 1: actually the middle and the safest, least jermy room stall

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Speaker 1: is um, the one closest to the door, and it's

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Speaker 1: usually also the one with the most toilet paper, so bonus.

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Speaker 1: It's not surprising that there would have been several studies

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Speaker 1: on this because I think it is something that everyone

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Speaker 1: who's walked into a restroom has thought this before, right, right,

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Speaker 1: besides that jerk that walks out without washing his hands. Well,

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Speaker 1: this is terrific. You know, this has always been a

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Speaker 1: book that we've we've enjoyed flipping through and reading, even

429
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:19,359
Speaker 1: though it's been out for some time now. So I

430
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:21,639
Speaker 1: hope all our listeners will check out be Safe Simple

431
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,159
Speaker 1: Strategies for Death Free Living. Melissa, thanks so much for

432
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:26,520
Speaker 1: joining us on part Time Genius. Thank you so much

433
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:43,480
Speaker 1: for having me. Welcome back to part Time Genius. Before

434
00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,280
Speaker 1: the break, we were talking about the attempts by the

435
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,159
Speaker 1: French and Soviets and others in history to move away

436
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:50,840
Speaker 1: from the seven day week to other systems that we're

437
00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,560
Speaker 1: seen is maybe more logical. It's really interesting to see

438
00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:55,560
Speaker 1: how they all failed. I mean, what would you say

439
00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:57,880
Speaker 1: is the baseline reason none of them panned out? Well,

440
00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:00,080
Speaker 1: there was obviously a big problem with the reason in

441
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,440
Speaker 1: these new systems were put in place to begin with.

442
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 1: I think they all underestimated just how disorienting the new

443
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,679
Speaker 1: structures would be. Let me think about it. When you

444
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,240
Speaker 1: change up the length of a week, you throw off

445
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,360
Speaker 1: someone's social rhythm. I mean, what day of the week

446
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,440
Speaker 1: do I go to the market. You throw off their

447
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,000
Speaker 1: personal rhythm. So you know, they were working six days

448
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,400
Speaker 1: in a row and then got a day of rest,

449
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:21,240
Speaker 1: and now they have to work nine before they get

450
00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:23,880
Speaker 1: a day arrest. And then, maybe most importantly, you throw

451
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 1: off their religious rhythm. You know, people were used to

452
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,160
Speaker 1: worshiping on Sundays and now suddenly Sundays don't even really

453
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,160
Speaker 1: exist anymore. So it's just way too confusing and frustrating

454
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 1: and frankly upsetting for these people. Well, and when you

455
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,880
Speaker 1: consider the Soviets, it feels like there was something even

456
00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,000
Speaker 1: bigger going on. By dividing time into five different calendars,

457
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,040
Speaker 1: they were really creating five different societies, all randomly assigned. Yeah,

458
00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:48,240
Speaker 1: and all of this really threw off that temporal harmony

459
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,679
Speaker 1: that Zaibabel talks about. And we can't underestimate the role

460
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,960
Speaker 1: of religion here. Think about how important a designated weekly

461
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 1: holy day is for each of the major religions. You know,

462
00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:01,760
Speaker 1: the Jews set themselves apart by established the Sabbath early on.

463
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,280
Speaker 1: Christians were actually observing both as they were Jews and Christians,

464
00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,560
Speaker 1: and they were observing the Sabbath on Saturdays and then

465
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,720
Speaker 1: their own day, which became Sunday, and eventually they just

466
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,080
Speaker 1: focused on Sunday in order to differentiate themselves. Yeah, and

467
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,760
Speaker 1: we see this with Muslims as well, with Muhammad choosing

468
00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,520
Speaker 1: Fridays as the Muslim holy day exactly. And with all

469
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 1: that set so firmly and stone, it's hard to see

470
00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:25,920
Speaker 1: ever moving away from the seven day week at this point.

471
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: All right, well that is some fascinating stuff, but I

472
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 1: think it's time that we fast forward several centuries and

473
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,760
Speaker 1: get to the big question of the day, and that is,

474
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 1: you know, what are the best and worst days of

475
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:38,560
Speaker 1: the week? Well, why don't we start with the worst?

476
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:40,639
Speaker 1: And it didn't take Garfield telling us to guess what

477
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:42,359
Speaker 1: day most people think was the worst day of the

478
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:46,000
Speaker 1: week Mondays? But why Mondays? And what does science have

479
00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:48,560
Speaker 1: to say about this? You're reminding me earlier about that

480
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,840
Speaker 1: a great Kathy Benjamin Peace over at Mental Flaws, and

481
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,359
Speaker 1: I think it was called something like six scientific reasons

482
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 1: why Mondays are the worst? So why don't we start

483
00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,159
Speaker 1: with that? Why don't we talk about that one for

484
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,080
Speaker 1: a minute? Sure? Well, one big that shouldn't chock us

485
00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,080
Speaker 1: is if we think back to our sleep episode, weekends

486
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,800
Speaker 1: really throw off our sleep patterns. I mean, it's funny

487
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: because every time we go through a daylight savings time change,

488
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,639
Speaker 1: everyone complains about our body clocks being thrown off, But

489
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,640
Speaker 1: most of us are doing this to ourselves every single weekend.

490
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 1: Like we think we're doing ourselves a favor when we

491
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,920
Speaker 1: catch up on sleep, But in fact, we're just making

492
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:21,960
Speaker 1: it that much harder to wake up on Monday morning.

493
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,720
Speaker 1: Our body clocks are much more sensitive than we realize,

494
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:26,919
Speaker 1: and staying up a couple of hours later and sleeping

495
00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:29,440
Speaker 1: a couple hours later like that all throws us off

496
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,200
Speaker 1: a little once again, sleep is so annoying? All right, Well,

497
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,560
Speaker 1: what else did Benjamin say? Well? She also talks about

498
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:37,679
Speaker 1: the fact that because we often eat and drink and

499
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 1: generally indulge more over the weekends, people tend to feel

500
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: worse about themselves on Monday. They have even been studies

501
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,720
Speaker 1: of women to confirm that they feel less attractive on

502
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 1: Mondays because of the weekend indulging, and it's part of

503
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,360
Speaker 1: why people are more likely to start dieting on Mondays

504
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,200
Speaker 1: than any other day, which does make sense. And what's

505
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,520
Speaker 1: also interesting is that people actually are less healthy on Mondays.

506
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,680
Speaker 1: As Benjamin writes, scientists have found that even people who

507
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,639
Speaker 1: generally maintain their weight way the most at the beginning

508
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,120
Speaker 1: of the week. Mondays are also the most common day

509
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,919
Speaker 1: for people to suffer heart attacks and strokes. Even if

510
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,119
Speaker 1: you don't end up in the hospital, your blood pressure

511
00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 1: is higher on Monday, as is your chance of getting

512
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,280
Speaker 1: sick in general. Wow, and doesn't she talk about people

513
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 1: just not liking their jobs as well. Yeah, there have

514
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 1: been a lot of polls showing that the strong majority

515
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:23,359
Speaker 1: of people are not big fans of their jobs, or

516
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 1: at least not that inspired by them. This is why

517
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 1: you often see people experiencing feelings of depression or anxiety

518
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 1: on Sunday evenings. They just don't want to go back

519
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 1: to work. So the evidence really is stacking up against

520
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 1: Mondays and I guess we shouldn't be shocked by this. Well,

521
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:39,639
Speaker 1: that may be true, but there's another part to it

522
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:41,960
Speaker 1: that may be the most interesting, and that's the fact

523
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 1: that if you actually study people's moods throughout the work week,

524
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,440
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily find that they were feeling that much

525
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: worse on Mondays than you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

526
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 1: But then if you ask them to recall their moods

527
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 1: and their stress levels, they almost always report Mondays is

528
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,919
Speaker 1: being consistently worse. So a big part of it is

529
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 1: that we're telling ourselves on Mondays are the worst. It

530
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,440
Speaker 1: is interesting and I've actually been reading a little about

531
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,880
Speaker 1: this too, and that's where because we believe that Mondays

532
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,359
Speaker 1: are harder and more stressful and generally bluer than other days.

533
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 1: We then retrofit our memories of Mondays to fit that expectation,

534
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,119
Speaker 1: So we mentally exaggerate some of the worst things we

535
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 1: remember about Mondays to represent the entirety of Mondays. Our

536
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,960
Speaker 1: brains are pretty tricky, and as our researcher Autumn said

537
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 1: in one of our conversations, the Monday blues are a

538
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,040
Speaker 1: form of social organization. Yeah, And and just to be clear,

539
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,199
Speaker 1: it's not as though there aren't bad things about Monday.

540
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 1: We talked about some of those. It's just that there's

541
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:35,360
Speaker 1: definitely a bit of a placebo effect going on here,

542
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,200
Speaker 1: and we exaggerate and we generalize certain memories and expectations

543
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,440
Speaker 1: about Mondays. All right, Well, then if we tend to

544
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: view Mondays is worse even though we don't necessarily actually

545
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 1: always feel worse on Mondays, would you say there's a

546
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,720
Speaker 1: day that could rival Monday for the worst? Oh? Definitely.

547
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:51,199
Speaker 1: There have been a couple of studies to show that

548
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 1: our moods may actually reach their lower points on Wednesdays.

549
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 1: Part of this might be because we're feeling pretty overwhelmed

550
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: at work, and it's when we're the first is the

551
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,280
Speaker 1: way from a weekend on both it's you know, before

552
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: or after? All Right, Well, I feel like that's enough

553
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,640
Speaker 1: of the sad talk, so let's get to the best

554
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 1: day of the weekend before we get to the science

555
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 1: of it. I'm curious, what's your favorite day of the week?

556
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:14,240
Speaker 1: Mango months, Tuesday, Tuesday? And why Tuesday. It's because I

557
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: was born on a Tuesday, so I started paying attention

558
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,840
Speaker 1: to them. But then I don't know, like all the

559
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,960
Speaker 1: anxiety of Sunday and Monday is over and they're low expectations,

560
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: and I don't know, there's a full week ahead. It

561
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,320
Speaker 1: feels like, oh, that's nice. How about you? I think

562
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 1: that's probably safe Fridays because you know, I have a

563
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 1: busy week. We have all our recording on Tuesdays and Thursdays,

564
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,600
Speaker 1: and I love doing that. Friday's is kind of a

565
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: day where we get to plan for the weeks ahead,

566
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 1: think about future episodes, and then of course the weekend

567
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,000
Speaker 1: is ahead, you know, So it's nice. I think those

568
00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 1: are my favorites. But but what do the studies say? Well,

569
00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: several studies show Saturday is the winner. It's the day

570
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,399
Speaker 1: where people feel they're free to do, you know, what

571
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,879
Speaker 1: they want with their time, at least more than other days,

572
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: and they know they've got a whole other day of

573
00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 1: weekend ahead of them. Except for the most part, people

574
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:00,919
Speaker 1: tend to experience that to Day's is better, both in

575
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,760
Speaker 1: terms of their actual moods and how they remember their moods. Well,

576
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:06,560
Speaker 1: I mean that said, don't you think there's still a

577
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,120
Speaker 1: little bit of the reverse Monday effect going on with Saturday's? Definitely.

578
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,160
Speaker 1: So while we do tend to actually feel better on Saturday's,

579
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 1: we also tend to look back at our weekends with

580
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: rosier glasses than we do our working time, and we

581
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:20,440
Speaker 1: tend to underestimate how rewarded we are by our work

582
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,040
Speaker 1: if we enjoy what we do. So, yeah, there's a

583
00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,119
Speaker 1: bit of cultural bias going on there. All right, Well

584
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:27,920
Speaker 1: what about Friday's. Yeah, this is probably why Friday's bring

585
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,240
Speaker 1: the highest mood of the work week. We're excited about

586
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,199
Speaker 1: the weekend, which we believe will be better than the

587
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: work week. I mean, there's an entire restaurant chain named

588
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,720
Speaker 1: after the concept, t J I Friday's with some of

589
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,879
Speaker 1: those chicken fingers. Well, before you go running off with

590
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 1: some honeymustard covered chicken. We should probably play a quick quiz,

591
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:45,440
Speaker 1: and then I want to hear about the facts he

592
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 1: found about the days we haven't said much about. All Right,

593
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 1: I think I can wait for that. So who do

594
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,119
Speaker 1: we have on the line today, Mango, Today, we've got

595
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,040
Speaker 1: a very special guest, the owner of a one a

596
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: full comic bookstore in Baltimore, Guerrilla King Comics, Ian Sayer.

597
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:07,399
Speaker 1: Welcome to Part time Genius. Thank you well. Just before

598
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,159
Speaker 1: we get started, we wanted to say we love the

599
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 1: intro to your store on your site, and I'm just

600
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,360
Speaker 1: gonna read it here for our listeners. It says here

601
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: at Guerrilla King Comics, we believe that sequential art is

602
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:21,479
Speaker 1: the highest form of storytelling. We believe that gaily clad

603
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:23,959
Speaker 1: muscle men should pummel each other in the streets with

604
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 1: lamp posts and other large objects. It's their right and

605
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,840
Speaker 1: it's their privilege. We believe that if comics are religion,

606
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: then your friendly local comic bookshop should be like a church.

607
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,000
Speaker 1: We want to be your weird comics church. It's just

608
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: such a warm and welcoming intro. Well, that's how I

609
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 1: feel about comics. It's it's it's as simple as that,

610
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:50,560
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, comics are the religious experience for me,

611
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,760
Speaker 1: and like Wednesdays might samit, you know, So today's show

612
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 1: is about days of the weekend. Comic book stores have

613
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,400
Speaker 1: Wednesdays of super special day. Can you tell us what

614
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 1: happens on that day? Yeah, I mean Wednesday is a

615
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 1: new comic book day. If you love comics and look

616
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 1: forward to reading the next one after you just for

617
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 1: the last one, Wednesday is your day. Imagine if you

618
00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 1: could only watch TV like one day week, you know

619
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like that would be like you're awesome

620
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: TV day, Like this is that way for comics. So

621
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 1: is there anything unusual or super fun about the rhythm

622
00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 1: of the day. There's a lot, I mean, you know,

623
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,040
Speaker 1: it's it's it's the busiest day. There's a lot of

624
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 1: print forward on Tuesday. Most people that are regulars, they

625
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,400
Speaker 1: keep they keep a pullish for us, meaning we we

626
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:34,880
Speaker 1: take all their books every week and set them aside

627
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,160
Speaker 1: and bagging board them for them and they can just

628
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 1: come in and they won't sell out. I see the

629
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,960
Speaker 1: same people every week, and that I love these people,

630
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 1: like we have this one guy. Have you ever seen

631
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 1: the whole Chris party routine where he's interviewing people and

632
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 1: he asked them like a simple yes or no question.

633
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:52,960
Speaker 1: Like he's interviewing comic part and he's like remember that

634
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 1: part of the song where you said love to take

635
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 1: people to the love you made? Yeah, and he's like, oh,

636
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: that was great. All of this, all these like answers,

637
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, that was greatful. Like we have this

638
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 1: one guy who'll come in and just be like remember

639
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: that time that me they's always say in the stewards

640
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:10,320
Speaker 1: and he came out of the sewers and they killed

641
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:12,280
Speaker 1: different body outside of the sewers and its closed were

642
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 1: all ripped up. It's like there'll be a best school

643
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,480
Speaker 1: read like, yeah, I remember that and he's like, yeah,

644
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,800
Speaker 1: that was awesome. And he's like and like, I don't know,

645
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 1: it is awesome. Like I missed these guys over the

646
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 1: course of the week, and then they come in and

647
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 1: it's like, I'm saying, so fantastic, And I have to

648
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:28,160
Speaker 1: know do you sneak a peek at comics that come

649
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:30,240
Speaker 1: in on Tuesdays or do you wait it out to

650
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 1: enjoy it with your customers? Don't no way, I read

651
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 1: them as soon as I go home. And have an

652
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 1: uninterrupted hour. It doesn't really even feel like sneaking a peek.

653
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 1: The way that um Our orders are set up, you

654
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 1: kind of have to. If they're going to reorder comics,

655
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:47,640
Speaker 1: it's really good. You can only do it before a

656
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,480
Speaker 1: certain time on Wednesdays. We have to like immediately read them.

657
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: Like you know, if like say, you know, Storm is

658
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 1: having a baby and you didn't know about it, and

659
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 1: everybody's gonna want to reorder that book, you gotta reorder

660
00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,680
Speaker 1: it immediately. So yeah, so you kind of have to

661
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: read the books as soon as they're out. All right.

662
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,440
Speaker 1: So what's the game called today, Mango? It's called Name

663
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 1: that day, that's right. So we'll be providing you with

664
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,360
Speaker 1: a word bank of several days of the week. Now.

665
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,760
Speaker 1: These include Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We

666
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:19,040
Speaker 1: have intentionally left off Tuesday, so please don't guess Tuesday.

667
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:20,920
Speaker 1: Now we're gonna ask you a few questions and see

668
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 1: how many you can answer, and just so you know,

669
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: some of the answers repeat. All right, are you ready

670
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 1: to get started? Okay? Question number one. The nickname hump

671
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 1: Day was allegedly given to this day in n when

672
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:36,720
Speaker 1: Roy Man coined the phrase at a DuPont water cooler.

673
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: What day are we talking about? I think Wednesday? Yea

674
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,560
Speaker 1: one for one question number two. Nachos went mainstream after

675
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 1: Howard Costell commented on a tasty new snack he was

676
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 1: eating during this night football. What night are we talking about? Monday?

677
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 1: M hmm, that's right. Number three. This day was the

678
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 1: day of the Last Supper. It's also Thor's day, and

679
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,480
Speaker 1: just in case you're trying to picture him, Thor is

680
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:07,240
Speaker 1: the one whose chariot is driven by goats. Abe was

681
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 1: kind of a beginning. But if that's right? Three for three?

682
00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 1: Number four, This Adams family daughter is called Little Wanda

683
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,200
Speaker 1: and Brazil. What day of the week are we talking about?

684
00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: What day? Whoa so so? Ian's already four for four?

685
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 1: Let's see if you can get a perfect score here.

686
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 1: Number five. This day gets the dubious honor of both

687
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,040
Speaker 1: having an ice Cube movie and a Rebecca Black song

688
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: named for it. What day of the week are we

689
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:37,280
Speaker 1: talking about? Definitely Friday? Five for five and the last

690
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 1: question number six And because you like comic art, the

691
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: Bengals weren't the only chart topping band to sing about

692
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,400
Speaker 1: this manic Day of the Week. The Chippetts Alvin and

693
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 1: the Chipmunks Lady Friends also covered the song what Day

694
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: did They sing About? Monday? Classic? Alright, so fun want

695
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 1: to tell him how he did Mango? So ians Gordon

696
00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 1: astounding six for six, he ran the tables and he'll

697
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: be going home with our very top prize. A handwritten

698
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 1: note singing our praises to his mom or boss congratulations.

699
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 1: I think what welcome back to part time genius. All right,

700
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 1: So we've talked a lot about Mondays and Saturdays, and

701
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 1: a little about Wednesdays and Fridays, but I think we

702
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 1: need to show some love to the other days as well.

703
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: Why don't you tell us a few facts that you

704
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,080
Speaker 1: found about each one? All right, let's do it. And

705
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 1: I know we need to talk about the others, but

706
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,080
Speaker 1: I've got a couple more Monday facts here that I

707
00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 1: wanted to share. Alright, So Monday is the safest day

708
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 1: of the week to have surgery. Hopefully you'll remember to

709
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 1: show up because it's also the day with the most

710
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:49,080
Speaker 1: missed medical appointments. It's also the best day to apply

711
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 1: for a job, meaning that a higher percentage of people

712
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 1: who submit applications on Mondays and to advance to the

713
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 1: next stage than any other day. So Mondays are redeemed

714
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:01,080
Speaker 1: a bit. What about Tuesday's, Well, Tuesday is the day

715
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: for getting stuff done in more ways than one. It's

716
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 1: the most productive day at work, according to multiple studies,

717
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,160
Speaker 1: and this is in spite of or or maybe because of,

718
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,240
Speaker 1: the fact that it's also the day with the highest

719
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:15,239
Speaker 1: email volume. It's the most popular day for exercise, and

720
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,400
Speaker 1: it's apparently the best day to day trade. I know

721
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 1: you've been talking about getting into day trading, Mango, right,

722
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:22,879
Speaker 1: so maybe you can stop making Tuesday one of our

723
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,680
Speaker 1: recording days. You can just focus on your day trade. Okay,

724
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,760
Speaker 1: good call, All right, Oh but wait, actually, here's another

725
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 1: study that showed Wednesdays have the highest returns and lowest

726
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 1: volatility on the stock market. So maybe we'll let you

727
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 1: focus on your stocks that day too. But you know,

728
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:40,920
Speaker 1: all this despite the fact that, as we discussed, it

729
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:43,319
Speaker 1: tends to be the worst day mood wise, according to

730
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 1: some studies. And what about Thursdays, Well, contrary to what

731
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:50,640
Speaker 1: most people think, it's Thursday's, not Tuesdays that are best

732
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,439
Speaker 1: for buying airline tickets, and that's a big So let's

733
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,319
Speaker 1: just focus on that for Thursdays. Friday is the worst

734
00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 1: day to have surgery and the likeliest day to get fired.

735
00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:01,279
Speaker 1: But you know, hey, we're excited about the weekend, so

736
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,399
Speaker 1: who cares. Saturday is the day you're likeliest to die

737
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,759
Speaker 1: in a car crash. But the good news is that

738
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,720
Speaker 1: you should just fly because Saturday sees the fewest flight delays.

739
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,719
Speaker 1: It's also the likeliest to inspire songwriting. That is, if

740
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 1: you take the Christian hymns out of the equation, it

741
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:18,480
Speaker 1: has the greatest number of day of the week songs

742
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 1: in the Amazon database. And finally, Sundays are the best

743
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:24,040
Speaker 1: day to get out on one of those long day

744
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:26,720
Speaker 1: trip car rides because it's the day with the fewest

745
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 1: road passengers. All Right, So there's some really good facts

746
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:31,360
Speaker 1: in there, and it's a shame use so many of

747
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: them up because you know what's next. Oh don't worry,

748
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:35,800
Speaker 1: I've got some good ones for the part time genius

749
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:49,480
Speaker 1: fact off. Okay, well, why don't you kick us off? Then?

750
00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:52,040
Speaker 1: All right? Well, when I started the show about a

751
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:54,840
Speaker 1: story on manic Monday, I decided to hold off on

752
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 1: sharing one bit. Do you I need to read the

753
00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:00,120
Speaker 1: lyrics again, Well, did you know that Prince actually he

754
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 1: wrote that song and it hit number two on the charts.

755
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:05,760
Speaker 1: And the only reason that didn't hit number one another

756
00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:08,879
Speaker 1: Prince written song, one he wrote for himself. Kiss. So,

757
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:11,840
Speaker 1: for the first twenty six years of her existence, Wednesday

758
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:14,040
Speaker 1: Adams and the rest of her family didn't have names.

759
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 1: The Adams Family creator finally gave the family members names

760
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 1: for the nineteen sixties TV show, and her name reportedly

761
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,640
Speaker 1: came from the nursery rhyme Wednesday's child is full of woe. Alright,

762
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,960
Speaker 1: Well back to the topic of Monday's being a bummer.

763
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,400
Speaker 1: We can't have a fact off without a Garfield fact.

764
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 1: So did you know that the Syndicated strip is the

765
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,840
Speaker 1: Guinness World Record holder for being the world's most widely

766
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 1: syndicated strip. It's in more than hundred newspapers and other

767
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,520
Speaker 1: places around the world. I've got a great Garfield fact too.

768
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:44,440
Speaker 1: Did you ever notice as a kid that the voice

769
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:46,760
Speaker 1: of Garfield and all the TV specials in the eighties

770
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:49,760
Speaker 1: was the same voice as Peter Bankman from the animated

771
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,759
Speaker 1: show The Real Ghostbusters. I did. I Actually I knew

772
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:54,160
Speaker 1: it was the same person because I could hear it,

773
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:56,399
Speaker 1: I didn't know who it was. Yeah, it's a guy

774
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,600
Speaker 1: named Lorenzo Music, but that's not really my fact. Turns

775
00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:01,720
Speaker 1: out he's not the only one who to have voiced

776
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,400
Speaker 1: both characters. The other one is a little more famous.

777
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:07,200
Speaker 1: Bill Murray, of course, was the original Peter Bankman, but

778
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,360
Speaker 1: he was also the voice of Garfield and Garfield the

779
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:11,920
Speaker 1: movie back in two thousand four. Oh nice, all right.

780
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,239
Speaker 1: One of my favorite Rolling Stones songs, Ruby Tuesday, was

781
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:19,160
Speaker 1: written by Keith Richards about his girlfriend Linda Keith. Apparently

782
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 1: Linda had ditched Richards for Jimmy Hendricks and got into

783
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,480
Speaker 1: some drugs, and he tried to win her back and

784
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,040
Speaker 1: even got her parents involved, telling them that she was

785
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:29,800
Speaker 1: not doing well. I think, you know, when Keith Richards

786
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:32,000
Speaker 1: is trying to intervene, it may be time to come back.

787
00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:34,839
Speaker 1: But it didn't go well, and they didn't speak again

788
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:37,400
Speaker 1: for many years. And I'd love to do an interview

789
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 1: with her, not about Keith Richards, because I just want

790
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:41,719
Speaker 1: to know how she feels about the fact that by

791
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:44,840
Speaker 1: the Transitive property there's also a giant restaurant chain with

792
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:48,280
Speaker 1: a big old salad bar named after her. So speaking

793
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 1: of family, restaurant chains. Did you know that T G

794
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,400
Speaker 1: I Fridays may seem like a family establishment made for

795
00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:56,240
Speaker 1: Middle America, but it actually started out as a singles

796
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 1: bar in Manhattan's Upper East Side in the mid sixties.

797
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 1: This per fume salesman named Alan Stillman felt like there

798
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:04,279
Speaker 1: wasn't a good bar in the area that both men

799
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,759
Speaker 1: and women felt comfortable at, so he bought a bar

800
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 1: on sixty three first and renamed it T G A. Friday's,

801
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:12,160
Speaker 1: and the rest is history. We've got to hear this quote,

802
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:16,400
Speaker 1: Stillman told Edible Geography. My timing was exquisite because I

803
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:18,680
Speaker 1: opened T J I Friday's the exact year the pill

804
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 1: was invented. I happened to hit the sexual revolution on

805
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,640
Speaker 1: the head, and the result was that, without really intending it,

806
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,320
Speaker 1: I became the founder of the first singles bar. WoT

807
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,600
Speaker 1: I can't hate that one, MAGA. The trophy is yours. Congratulations,

808
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,400
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, and thank you out there for listening.

809
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:49,640
Speaker 1: Listen to you next time. Thanks again for listening. Part

810
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:51,640
Speaker 1: Time Genius is a production of how stuff works and

811
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,319
Speaker 1: wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the

812
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 1: important things. We couldn't even begin to understand. Christa McNeil

813
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,160
Speaker 1: does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the themes long

814
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,120
Speaker 1: and does the MIXI mixy sounding. Jerry Rowland does the

815
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,680
Speaker 1: exact producer thing. Gabeluesier is our lead researcher, with support

816
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: from the research army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and

817
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,680
Speaker 1: Lucas Adams and Eves. Jeff Cook gets the show to

818
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,239
Speaker 1: your ears. Good job, Eves. If you like what you heard,

819
00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 1: we hope you'll subscribe, And if you really really like

820
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:18,240
Speaker 1: what you've heard, maybe you could leave a good review

821
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:20,959
Speaker 1: for us. Do we do? We forget Jason? Jason who