WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Tuesday's Great and Wednesday Too! 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:10.600 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.560 Mind Listener mail. My name is Robert Lamb and my 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.160 name is Joe McCormick. And it's Monday. That's the day 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:17.840 of the week where we read back a few of 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.120 the messages that you've sent in over the past cycle 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:22.240 or two and we've got a good mail bag for 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.439 you today. That's right. Um. You know, before we get going, though, 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.760 quick call out to our producer, Seth Nicholas Johnson. A 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.559 couple of things. First of all, he wanted us to uh, 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.320 to to remind everything, to to tell everybody, not remind 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.920 to to tell everyone that he has been enjoying the 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:43.159 hot dog plus kim Chi combo, which was recommended in 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:46.040 the previous listener mail by Jim from New Jersey. How 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.559 could you go wrong? I mean it's like, I know, 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.680 it's perfect without even tasting it. Yeah, it's a matchmate 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.080 in heaven. Uh. And then second, secondly, as I think 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:57.840 we've we've mentioned this before, but Seth Nicholas Johnson has 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.880 his own podcast, Usty Needles Record Club, which you can 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.840 find wherever you get your podcast, and he had an 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.720 episode come out on Friday with a very special guest. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.960 Who's that special guest? Joe? Oh, it's me. I was 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.280 on sets podcast last Friday. We talked about So if 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.920 you haven't heard it, Uh, Seth's podcast is again. It's 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.840 called Rusty Needles Record Club and it's sort of like 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.560 a book club, but four albums, you know, but for 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.840 music and so it's very low key. It's a lot 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.360 of fun. And the album I picked for Seth show 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.920 was the Batman Forever soundtrack from the ninety nineties. I mean, 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.720 what else with Seals kiss from Arose on it? Oh? 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:38.880 You know it is. It's got Seal, it's got a 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:43.160 method man, it's got Nick Cave, it's got the Flaming Lips. 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.240 It's all over the place. You two had a song 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:47.160 in there, didn't they. You two? Yeah, it has a 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:50.880 You two has a song so big it contains universes 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.760 within it. Wow. All right. So if hearing Seth and 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.880 me gab about the Batman Forever soundtrack sounds like you're 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:00.320 kind of thing, look up Rusty Needles Record Club. It 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.840 should be the most recent episode on the day this 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.880 comes out. Yeah, And the podcast has a cartoon dog 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:07.800 on the logo, so you know you're in the right spot. 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:09.880 All right. Well, Rob, if you don't have anything else, 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:11.720 I think I'm going to jump right in with this 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:19.800 message from Virginia. Let's do it, okay. This is in 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:24.200 response to our episodes on The Seven Day Week. Virginia 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.400 rights Greetings. I'm Virginia and I'm Brazilian. This is my 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:30.840 first time writing to you, and I apologize in advance 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.760 for any grammatical errors in this email. First, I need 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.320 to say I love this podcast and I always recommend 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:39.320 it to everyone. It's perfect to practice my English listening. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.240 It's so very well produced and always very fun to listen. Well, 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.840 thank you, Virginia. Virginia says, by the end of part 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:48.960 one of The Seven Day Week, you talked about the 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:53.920 theory about markets and fresh food. I always have this 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.920 on my mind because of my language. In Portuguese, the 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.640 days of the week are separated by work days and 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:03.960 rest days. Monday to Friday is and I think this 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:09.320 is in order. Segunda fara ter safarra quarta farra keen 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.720 to farrah and sex to farrah. Fa in Portuguese is 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.040 often used to describe a fair or an open market, 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:21.679 so we have second fair to sixth fair, and then 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:26.119 we have the rest days Sabodah and Domingo or DS Dominica, 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:28.520 and that's of course Saturday and Sunday. I think those 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.120 are the same names for the weekend days as they 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.800 are in Spanish, or very close. Anyway, Virginia says, maybe 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:36.880 this will add something. I don't know, but I've been 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.280 thinking about writing you for a long time. Hope this 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:43.040 information will be useful. Lastly, I really love episodes that 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:45.960 involves such trivial things that people would never tend to 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.240 think about them. Can't wait for part two. Ps. I 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:53.240 really don't know why we don't have a first fair here. Well, 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.320 thank you, Virginia. Yeah, that's very interesting. So to restate 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:00.760 what she says in the email, Monday in Portuguese translates 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:04.480 to second market and then Tuesday's third market, and it 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.520 goes all the way through until Friday, which is six 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.080 the market. So that would imply to me that Sunday 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.240 is in fact first market or first fair. Though this 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.120 would be kind of weird because of course, you know, 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.360 Sunday is the Christian holy day going back many centuries, 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:23.080 probably including the whole time in the development of Portuguese, 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.320 so I don't know. I wonder what is behind that. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.200 And I also wonder about words for days of the 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.560 week and other languages, and if they shed any light 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.720 on on weird quirks of local cultural history that they 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.120 emerged from. Yeah, this is this is very fascinating. I 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:40.800 always enjoy it when when listeners from the around from 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:45.040 around the world share their own, uh you know, local 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:53.800 and or linguistic take on the topic. Alright, this next 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.279 one comes to us from Will. Will says, Hi, Robert 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.760 and Joe, thanks for the fascinating content. I enjoyed listening 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.119 to the first episode of Seven Days of the Week. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:04.919 You have underlined that different people are likely to have 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.280 different mental representations for days of the week. This made 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.720 me think of my father, who was a recently retired 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.400 Lutheran minister. For my dad, the weekend was a time 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.920 of work, as this was when he was prepared to 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:21.480 lead and leading the Sunday services, including finalizing and delivering 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.120 his sermon. Thus, Sunday, the traditional day of rest, was 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:27.880 for my father, a peak day of work, at least 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.320 until about one pm, when he usually made it back 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.920 to sit with the family for lunch. Because of this 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.640 my father often called Sunday afternoon the quote start of 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:41.080 his weekend. Thanks again for the stimulating material each week, 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:45.159 look forward to part two from Zurich. Will oh, glad 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.760 to hear from Zurich. So we've heard from both Brazil 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.799 and Switzerland already. Yeah, you know, this is interesting because 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.840 maybe this explains why the clubs and music halls are 0:05:55.880 --> 0:06:00.200 not full of of priests and preachers partying on Saturday night. 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.680 They're buckling down to work for the for the Sunday 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:06.560 morning sermon. Yeah, are they better not be partying? They 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:08.479 have they have a big day. Aad though, it is 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:10.839 a reminder that, you know what, you're gonna have a 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.160 particular religious calendar in place. I imagine it's going to 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.680 vary not only from faith to faith, but from denomination 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:19.840 to denomination. You know, is this a is this a 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.640 church where Sunday is the big day or is it 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.880 a church where, oh, also Wednesday is really big or 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.080 or either or there's just something going on pretty much 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.359 every day of the week. So it's always it's always 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.400 interesting to consider a different different models for the week 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:40.040 that are tailored to a specific um line of work. Uh, 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.080 you know, sometimes Monday is the weekend. I would be 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.039 interested to see a study that ranks all of the 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:50.400 Christian denominations by how much prep work on average the 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.160 leader of the congregation has to do to get ready, Like, 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.719 you know, which are the most intensive in terms of 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.200 sermon writing and which are the most seat of the pants. Yeah. 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:03.080 I have fond memories of the episcopal priest at my 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.400 my church when I was when I was a kid, uh, 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.080 putting together I feel like, really well written sermons, Like 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.600 you know, he puts some work into him. They had 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.240 themes and stuff that wouldn't come back and all that. 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.880 I remember. There was one about James Bond, and I 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.360 don't really the moral was, Yeah, somehow I think he 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:20.800 tied back into the Gospel of Matthew. Well, you know, 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:22.920 you gotta connect you It's it's always a struggle, right, 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.720 you gotta find a way to connect with everybody, to 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:29.360 to make the message relevant to today's listeners. And you know, 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.600 and and so sometimes that means reference thing what everybody's 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.800 excited about, being a you know, James Bond film or uh, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:37.560 you know, The Grinch or whatever it happens to be. 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.040 It could be it was some kind of Bible lesson 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.560 that tied into it. Possibly it was a movie tie 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.080 in for the upcoming release of Golden I in the 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:56.440 Night release with Pierce Brosnan, but I'm not sure. Okay. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.280 Next message is from frequent correspondent Jim and New Jersey See. 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.680 Jim says Robert and Joe, I keep having a recurring 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.080 thought about biological reasons for there to be seven days 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.320 in the week. You've danced around the idea several times 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:14.160 in referring to people using the week to mentally organized tasks. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.640 Is there any connection between seven days in the week 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:21.960 and roughly seven short term memory chunks and human brains. 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.640 People in cultures with low literacy would depend more upon 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.560 memory in organizing and tracking short to medium term tasks. 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.520 Most people would be able to manage a week's worth 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.080 of activity in their heads at a time. Add a 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:36.920 few more days to the week and you start to 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.360 lose track. I have no evidence for this, but a 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:43.520 quick Google search didn't reveal any resources confirming or contradicting 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:47.240 this idea. Jim in New Jersey. Uh yeah, Jim, I 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:51.600 would say, like the other biological hypotheses that we've mentioned, 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:52.880 I mean, I feel like it would be hard to 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.680 prove this is the origin of the week, but it's 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.440 it's it's certainly an interesting idea. If you want to 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.319 look up more about the idea of their being sort 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.319 of seven chunks of short term memory, you can check 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.960 out a classic paper in cognitive psychology. It's called the 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.040 Magical number seven plus or minus two Some limits on 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:15.240 our capacity for processing information. This was published in nineteen 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:19.520 fifty six in Psychological Review by the famous Harvard psychologist 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.079 George A. Miller, And if you want to have a full, 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.520 well rounded understanding, you should look up the paper and 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.400 then all the subsequent research adding to and critiquing it. 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:33.360 But the massively abridged and simplified version is that Miller 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.120 used a number of different tests to argue that the 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:41.800 average person can typically hold in working memory about seven 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:46.000 chunks of meaningful information at one time. And this general 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.400 rule shows up in people's attempts to do things like 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:52.440 repeat lists of items or manipulate simple pieces of information. 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.640 But of course all the usual caveats. It's more complicated 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:58.679 than that. In reality, it depends on a number of 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.240 intrinsic and extrin sick factors and so forth. But I 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.720 do think that you could be onto something, Jim, Because 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:09.320 if seven is a good rough approximation of the average 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.200 number of chunks of information that we can manage in 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.840 working memory at one time, would that means seven is 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.440 just a pretty good number of days to have in 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.040 a week, because that's about as many days in advance 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:24.520 as the average person would be able to think about 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:29.120 without consulting written records. Yeah, that that makes sense to me. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:33.000 plus seven is the Holy number, James Bond is double O. 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:38.480 Seven all comes together. Um. By the way, another shout 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.640 out to Seth, our producer. Uh. In one of these episodes, 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:47.120 we were asking the question, well, what are some horror franchises, uh, 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.720 that have seven installments that you could, you know, spread 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:54.800 out evenly throughout the week, and Uh, Seth researched this 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.840 as he was editing the episode and pointed out that, uh, 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.480 there are three that we can look to the as 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:02.840 of this recording. There may be some subsequent films that 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.960 come out of the change this, but he said, Paranormal Activity, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:12.920 the Amityville Horror and Wrong Turn. Wow, all of those 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.400 hilarious wrong They just keep going in those woods. You'd 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:20.240 think after the previous six massacres in the West Virginia woods. 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.720 People would stop taking that wrong turn. They'd be like 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.200 a sign up by that that put us put a 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:29.160 sign up for God's sake. Yeah, I've never seen a 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.240 single I don't think I've seen any of these movies. 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.480 I haven't seen anything from all three of these franchises. 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.360 I saw a number of the paranormal activity movies. They're all, 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.480 you know, they're all demon hauntings. There's a demon possession 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:44.719 and then you you know, like a camera gets set 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.480 up in a room and and you see weird stuff 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.960 happening behind a person's back and they're not aware of it. Yeah, 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.240 and you know, here's another thing that once they put 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:55.960 that sign up, they have to make more of these, 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.400 and they could just call it right turn. It's just 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.960 about a family going on a normal vacation in West 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:06.080 Virginia and uh and just skipping them. I'm assuming cannibalistic 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:10.480 h rural dwellers altogether. That would be an interesting movie. 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.280 It's about a group of backwoods cannibals who are trying 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.880 to get people to come down the wrong term, but 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.200 nobody ever comes, and we just follow them about their 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:27.480 day to day lives. While they're sitting around waiting. All right, 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.720 we have another one here. This one comes to us 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:33.720 from Aiden. Aiden writes, Hi, Robert and Joe, I just 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.200 listened to part two of the Seven Day Week series. 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:40.119 In the episode, you mentioned the study using BART tests 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.520 to look at risk aversion and it's correlation with mood 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.400 throughout the week. Uh. Yeah, Now a quick refresher on 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:48.240 that in case it's been a while since you listened, 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.000 or you didn't listen yet. The BART test that Aiden 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.880 is talking about, that's an acronym. It stands for Balloon 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:58.040 Analog Risk Task and basically it is a simple computer 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.199 game that is used to measure a person and his 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:04.200 willingness to take risks. And also, uh, quickly on the 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.040 results of that one study we looked at. They the 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:11.280 authors found a pattern where people start fairly risk tolerant 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:15.160 on Mondays, and then their risk tolerance goes down each 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:18.720 day after that, reaching its lowest point on Thursdays, Thursdays 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.239 the most cautious day, and then rebounding again on Fridays, 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.360 with Friday looks a little bit more like Monday anyway, 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.239 Aid continues. You point out that the correlation is consistent 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.240 through the week, More sad equals less risk averse, except 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:35.760 for Fridays. On Fridays, we would expect people to be 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.760 happy and for risk aversion to go down, but instead 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:42.200 it goes up. You considered a few different explanations for this, 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.280 which I must admit we're not very compelling. The explanation 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:47.280 that immediately came to mind for me is the fact 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:49.760 that some poor soul had to spend their Friday night 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.960 in a lab clicking a spacebar for pennies instead of 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.040 doing something fun and or relaxing after a long week. 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:58.760 I would be sad too if I had to bar 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:04.160 tie instead of party on my Friday night. To the 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:09.280 based emoticon that that is an illegal pun. As a 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:13.240 side note, your description of the bart test exactly matched 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.480 a personality test I had to do once as part 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.600 of a job application process. There were a series of 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:22.520 similarly simple games and scenarios that seemed to assess various 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.520 personality metrics. I never heard back from the company, so 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:28.960 I will never know if I lacked the right experience 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.520 for the job or if it's simply my personality that 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.000 got in the way. When I was job hunting at 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.800 the time, it was always demoralizing to be rejected by 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.160 a machine. Another online test I had to do automatically 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.560 emailed me within seconds telling me I didn't meet their benchmarks. 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:47.080 I'm not sure which of these outcomes is worse. Anyways, 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:51.040 Thanks for another great episode, Hayden oh Aiden. I feel 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.120 for you there. I mean, on from the employer's perspective, 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.280 I can understand why they might use personality tests to 0:14:57.280 --> 0:14:59.200 to help them find the right kind of candidates, But 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.840 I don't know from the applicants perspective, that's just brutal 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.240 having something feels really awful about having to like play 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:10.120 the balloon inflation test in order to get a job. Now, 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.200 you know, we don't know exactly what job they were 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.040 applying for here, so maybe this wasn't abstract at all. 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.880 Maybe the job was inflating balloons with moneys and uh 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.640 and doing so in a way where the balloon of 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.120 money does not explode, but also is filled enough that 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.840 you're not losing losing money on you know, all those giant, 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.920 you know, balloon rubbers. Were you applying for a job 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:36.480 as a professional gambler? But I agree, and I can 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.560 see where that would be demoralizing too, to be rejected 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:51.560 by a machine. All right. This next message comes from Selena, 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:53.880 and it is also about the same study, with people 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.760 being becoming more risk averse from Monday through Thursday, and 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:02.720 then risk tolerance rebounding on Friday. Um Selena says that 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.560 this pattern of behavior sounds like a pattern called scalloped 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:11.720 responding In applied behavior analysis, this patterned behavior is typically 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.520 produced by a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement. Behavior that 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:19.080 happens closer in time to access to the reinforcer e g. 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.840 Finish the work week slash access the weekend is more 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.760 likely to be strengthened than behaviors that happened farther in 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:30.600 time from the reinforcer. Once someone gains access to the reinforcer, 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.640 it produces a post reinforcement pause in responding. Then, as 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:38.040 the person anticipates access to the reinforcer, as it gets 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.800 closer to the end of the fixed time interval i e. 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.360 The work week, the previously reinforced behaviors start to ramp 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:48.120 up again. Another example of fixed interval schedule of reinforcement 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.440 is studying behavior for weekly tests or monthly exams. Well 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.480 that's interesting, Selena, and I guess if I'm understanding you right. 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.840 I think this would mean that there's a different kind 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.680 of pattern going on than the than the explanation hypothesized 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.600 by the researchers there. So, under this interpretation, if the 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.920 pattern of risk tolerance observed in the study is generally sound, 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.600 it might be explained by proximity to the weekend, you know, 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:18.600 with the weekend offering some kind of behavioral reinforcing mechanism 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.439 that causes us to take risks, rather than you know, 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:25.919 improving mood from Monday to Thursday causing increased aversion to risks. 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:34.480 So maybe it has nothing to do with mood. All right, 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:37.840 here's another one. This one comes to us from Samantha. Hello, Rob, Joe, 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.080 and Seth. I wanted to write in about my experience 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.800 with confusing days of the week with each other. I'm 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.640 a college student and my schedule has a typical division 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.919 into Monday, Wednesday, Friday days, and Tuesday Thursday days. I 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.960 tend to have the same set classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.480 and then a different set of classes on Tuesday Thursday. 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.480 Even within that, I have different labs that happen on 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:02.960 different days. None of my week days are identical. Uh. 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.920 This this just makes me anxious even reading this, because 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:07.880 I feel like I still have dreams about this sort 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.920 of thing. Oh yeah, So my college classes were organized 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.199 along the same scheme. I mean, with some exceptions. I 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.080 had some of that were just like one long weekly 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.679 Wednesday night class or something. Um, you didn't you have 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:22.399 that mid morning Tuesday Thursday class that you didn't cancel that? 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:25.640 Did you? You? You just stopped going oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:27.720 yeah yeah. Did you have rob? Did you ever do 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:30.680 the thing where I think I tried this at least 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.040 one semester, where you tried to get all of your 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.960 week's classes into the Tuesday Thursday days and you basically 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:43.320 have five days off but Tuesdays and Thursdays are just nuts. Yeah, yeah, 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.960 I think I did something along those lines. Or God, 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.480 it's it's been so long, but I remember sort of scheming. 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.720 I don't know if it worked out, um, but I 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:54.919 can't imagine that would have been a good idea to 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.040 just try and just slam everything under those two days 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:00.480 and thursdays. I think I basically did that one semester, 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:04.119 but it didn't actually work out great because of a 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:05.920 because at the time I sort of had a tendency 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:10.280 to procrastinate, and like, you can't procrastinate if you're if 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.800 you're cramming all of your stuff into being due on 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:15.439 basically the same day. Yeah, yeah, I was. I was 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.800 very much the same way anyway, Samantha continues. Despite it 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.240 being very important that I know what day of the 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.520 week it is, it is not unusual for me to 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:26.800 be getting ready in the morning and have no idea 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.520 what class I will be heading to later. Keep my 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.560 whole schedule in my phone, however, so I can often 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:35.400 check that and know which classes I have that day. 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:37.560 I wonder if this has to do with the fact 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:39.919 that I have my calendar in my phone. Why I 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:41.760 bother to remember what day of the week it is 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:43.920 When I can check my phone at any given moment 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.800 and see that I have chemistry at ten am. My 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.240 classes start at the same time every day, so I 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.879 suppose that helps blend the days together as well. Thanks 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:54.600 for reading. I love your show. You guys keep me 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:59.600 company while I crochet and net Samantha, Well, thanks, Samantha. Yeah, 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.359 it's a good question. Is our perception of time and 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:06.800 calendar consciousness affected by ease of access to uh? I 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:11.760 don't know. Uh date confirming devices. Yeah. I mean, we've 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.480 certainly looked at similar data about our ability to sort 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:17.800 of offload things to other minds and of course machines, 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:26.000 so it seems entirely plausible. All right, Rob, should we 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:28.960 wrap up with one message about Weird House cinema? This? 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:31.040 This one is about snooker, So I feel like I 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.560 must defer to you and let you read it. Okay, Yeah, 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:36.720 we we We heard from at least a couple of 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:41.119 listeners regarding uh ability to kid in the Green Days Vampire, 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.160 So here we go. This comes to us from Kinney, Hi, 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:46.880 Rob and Joe. Growing up in the UK when there 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:49.679 were only four channels, you unfortunately had to endure a 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:53.720 lot of snooker on TV. Scintillating entertainment for a nine 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.040 year old, it was not I did, however, absorb the 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.800 rules pretty well, despite only getting to play once or 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:03.600 two ice in the intervening years. Every time you pocket 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.280 a red you can pocket a colored ball. Since the 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.199 balls all have different values, the best one to go for, 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:11.760 if you can get it, would be the black. While 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.200 there are still red balls on the table, the other 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.520 colors are replaced on their starting spots each time they 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:21.400 are sunk. Once all the reds are gone, the remaining 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.639 colors can be sunk, but this must be done in 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.560 ascending order of value, finishing with the black. This is 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:30.879 why the Green Bay's vampire is repeatedly going for the black, 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.280 and why it's seemingly always being replaced. Also about the 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:39.240 luminous waistcoats, I think you call them vests. In the USA, 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:42.720 the formal attire for a professional match would be spiced 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:44.840 up with a bit of color, and I seem to 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:49.720 remember that the younger, cooler players could be pretty flamboyant. Finally, 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.520 I was confused by the green stamps or tickets reference. 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:55.840 I am not sure it refers to money, as our 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.159 bank notes aren't green. Only the single was green, and 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:01.359 these guys wouldn't think of a one pound note as 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:05.400 being worth singing about. It was also completely withdrawn from use, 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:09.320 at least in England. In anyway, I hope that this 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.320 shed some light on the topic. Kenny Well, Thanks Kenny Well. Okay, 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:15.160 so a couple of notes on the things you bring 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.159 up here. The luminous waistcoats line, if nobody remembers what 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:20.720 that was. That was when the Green Bays vampire is 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:25.520