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Speaker 1: Guess what, Mango?

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Speaker 2: What's that will?

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Speaker 3: So?

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Speaker 1: I know I've told you about this before, but when

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Speaker 1: I was six or seven, I used to sneak into

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Speaker 1: my sister's room and listen to her latest albums on

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Speaker 1: her fancy double cassette playing Boom bofe. I have told

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Speaker 1: you about this, definitely, and she was in high school

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Speaker 1: at the time, so I was introduced to all the

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Speaker 1: important stuff this way. It was Michael Jackson's Thriller. I

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Speaker 1: think that was my favorite, though it did come out

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Speaker 1: a few years earlier. We were talking nineteen eighty six,

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Speaker 1: and some of the biggest hits there was Madonna's Papa

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Speaker 1: Don't Preach, Janet Jackson's what have You Done for Me Lately?

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Speaker 1: Bon Jovies, You give love a bad name, Cindy Lauper's

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Speaker 1: True Colors. I mean, the list goes on.

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Speaker 2: And on, and you're playing to name them all. I'm

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Speaker 2: guessing I could.

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Speaker 1: I could. And we're not talking about any of that

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Speaker 1: Lionel Richie stuff that I had to listen to in

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Speaker 1: my mom's Toyota Cressida. This was the good stuff.

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Speaker 2: That's so much revolutionary music at such a young age.

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Speaker 1: I know, I know, well, one of them that I

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Speaker 1: haven't mentioned yet is the Bengals manic Monday, And if

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Speaker 1: you remember, Susannah Haas was clearly frustrated because she was

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Speaker 1: having this dream about Kiss Valentino and then her stupid

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Speaker 1: alarm goes off and of course is just another man Monday.

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Speaker 1: I mean she she wished it was Sunday because as

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Speaker 1: you know, that that's her fun day. But no, it

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Speaker 1: was it was Monday. It was Monday. Tragic. Yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I learned so much from my sister's music collection. We

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Speaker 1: might even have to do an episode on this at

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Speaker 1: some point, but the lesson was clear. She did not

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Speaker 1: like Monday. She wasn't alone. I mean, there are obviously

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Speaker 1: days that we learned to like and dislike pretty much universally.

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Speaker 1: And when one of our brilliant researchers, Autumn white Field Madrano,

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Speaker 1: asked the question a few weeks ago, what are the

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Speaker 1: best and worst days of the week, I thought, well,

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Speaker 1: I know what the Bengals would say, but what does

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Speaker 1: science say and how did the whole seven day week

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Speaker 1: come to be in the first place. So these are

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Speaker 1: just a couple of the things we're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about today. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius.

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Speaker 1: I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my

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Speaker 1: good friend mangesh Hu Tiketing, and on the other side

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Speaker 1: of that soundproof glass is our friend and producer Tristan McNeil.

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Speaker 1: Now today we're asking the question what's the best day

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Speaker 1: of the week, you know, according to science? And maybe

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Speaker 1: we'll throw in a few opinions here and there as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this one could turn into a heated debate.

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Speaker 1: Well, we'll see. But before we get started, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to recognize a few winners from our Weirdest College Courses episode,

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Speaker 1: you know, where we asked listeners to tell us the

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Speaker 1: weirdest college classes they'd taken.

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Speaker 2: You remember this, Yeah, definitely?

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Speaker 1: All right. Here are the top three, all of whom

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Speaker 1: will be getting Part Time Genius t shirts. The first

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Speaker 1: one comes from Alicio Martinez. The class was called Math

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Speaker 1: in Square Dancing. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I thought this is awesome.

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Speaker 1: I was 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 two universally love things, you know, math

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

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Speaker 1: that so you'll be getting one Alicio Now, Yvonne Jones

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

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

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Speaker 1: of Whoopy Goldberg. That's such a good class, all right.

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Speaker 1: And then the third one from Rachel Shine, a class

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Speaker 1: called snow Skiing at Texas A and M. Now, it

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem that weird of a class, right, but as

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Speaker 1: she explained, there was no snow and there were no

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Speaker 1: mountains or hills. It was taught on AstroTurf and it

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Speaker 1: was usually hot, so they wore shirts and t shirts

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Speaker 1: and shorts. That great, all right. So those are our

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Speaker 1: top three. It's so much fun to hear from you guys.

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Speaker 1: Congrats to our winners. Remember to keep the interesting facts

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Speaker 1: coming to part time Genius at HowStuffWorks dot com or

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Speaker 1: find us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also call

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Speaker 1: our twenty four to seven fact hotline one eight four

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Speaker 1: four pt genius. All right, let's dive in. But you know,

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Speaker 1: I think we need to start by acknowledging what a

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Speaker 1: strange thing a week is.

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Speaker 2: So what do you mean by that?

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Speaker 1: I mean, well, it's one of those things that Honestly,

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Speaker 1: I hadn't thought that much about before one of our

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Speaker 1: terrific researchers, Autumn, pointed it out. And that's the fact

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Speaker 1: that a week is this imperfect human created unit of

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Speaker 1: time that falls in between two units of time that

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Speaker 1: nature dictates. So you have the day dictated by Earth's

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Speaker 1: rotation on the shorter side, and then you've got the

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Speaker 1: month that's roughly dictated by the lunar cycle on the

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Speaker 1: longer end.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely weird and doesn't pretty much the whole

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Speaker 2: world uses seven day week now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, even in places that don't use the Gregorian calendar,

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Speaker 1: you find that they're using this too, And it's something

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Speaker 1: we'll talk about in a bit. And that's how contemporary

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Speaker 1: weeks are built around pivotal days. And even though you

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Speaker 1: might find the pivotal days being different from one society

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Speaker 1: to another, there's still some peak that's constant and the

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Speaker 1: rest of the week is built around that.

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Speaker 2: Well, we should definitely talk about why the world settled

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Speaker 2: on a seven day week, but first can we look

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Speaker 2: at why creating a unit of time that functions between

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Speaker 2: a day and a month is so problematic. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the fact is there's no way to divide up that

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Speaker 2: time evenly in a way that it occurs regularly. A

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Speaker 2: lunar cycle is twenty nine points five days long, meaning

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Speaker 2: that if we made all months thirty days leading to

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Speaker 2: you know, ten day weeks, we'd still be off. It's

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Speaker 2: just such a strange thing. No matter what you propose

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Speaker 2: as a replacement for the seven day week, there's gonna

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Speaker 2: be some irregularity.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and the ten day week thing has definitely been

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Speaker 1: tried plenty of times. Yeah, it was interesting to get

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Speaker 1: a refresh on this during our research and to see

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Speaker 1: how earlier societies tried to address the irregularities. In some

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Speaker 1: they just solve the issue kind of how we do

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Speaker 1: with leap ears, Like the ancient Greeks had these ten

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Speaker 1: day periods and occasionally they just be nine days long

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Speaker 1: to make the adjustments. Yeah, and at first glance, you'd

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Speaker 1: think that using a ten day or a five day

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Speaker 1: week could more closely pull off an even division of

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Speaker 1: the lunar month, you know, more so than our seven

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Speaker 1: day weeks. And that's true, but then you have another problem.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, this is fascinating. You're talking about temporal regularity.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, so eviantar Zera Babbel. He's the author of

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Speaker 1: a book called The Seven Day Circle, and he talks

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Speaker 1: about how temporal regularity is such an important part of

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Speaker 1: the development of human race. And as he puts it, quote, imagine,

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Speaker 1: for example, having to cancel regular Sunday family gatherings or

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Speaker 1: Tuesday classes every month or so due to the lack

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Speaker 1: of a Sunday or a Tuesday on that particular week.

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Speaker 2: I guess it's kind of similar to what leaplings have

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Speaker 2: to deal with, you know, those people who were born

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Speaker 2: on February twenty ninth, except it would happen far more regularly,

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Speaker 2: and it also be so much more inconvenient.

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Speaker 1: Oh definitely. I mean, imagine how difficult it would be

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Speaker 1: to coordinate activities that should happen more than monthly, but

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Speaker 1: less than daily. I mean, right now, it's just so

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Speaker 1: easy to remember something like, you know, I've got soccer

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Speaker 1: practice on Tuesdays or something like that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there'd be some clear adjusting there. But as

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Speaker 2: Zara Bavo points out, it's one thing to think about

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Speaker 2: the weekday's tethered to sport or hobby, but it gets

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Speaker 2: even more important when you're thinking about it. For basic survival. Like,

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Speaker 2: let's say you had to ride to town a couple

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Speaker 2: of times a month just to get provisions from the

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Speaker 2: farmer's market. If it takes you two hours to get

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Speaker 2: to town, you definitely want to be sure that when

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Speaker 2: you get there the market's open. So knowing that the

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Speaker 2: markets on Wednesdays takes care of that and allows you

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Speaker 2: to make plans.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it makes a lot of sense, and

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Speaker 1: it's weird that we don't often stop to think about it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the week is the longest unit of time

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Speaker 1: that's not it all dependent on nature. So it's pretty

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Speaker 1: significant as far as a philosophical shift in our development.

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Speaker 1: And in a way, it's like our way of saying

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Speaker 1: that we're ready to stop solely depending on nature and

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Speaker 1: instead begin to establish our temporal rhythms around a unit

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Speaker 1: that we created. And it is worth noting that there's

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Speaker 1: no compelling evidence of any major seven day biological processes

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Speaker 1: in nature. I mean, there does appear to be a

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Speaker 1: form of algae that's used to study circadian rhythm because

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Speaker 1: it has exhibited signs of some seven day biological rhythms,

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Speaker 1: but it's a bit of a stretch to think that

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Speaker 1: it's played into how we think about time in any

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Speaker 1: real way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that definitely sounds like a stretch.

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Speaker 1: All right, well, let's talk about the creation of the

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Speaker 1: seven day week. I know you did some digging into

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Speaker 1: this with a ton of great help from our researcher Autumn,

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Speaker 1: So tell us what you know.

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Speaker 2: Sure, well, this can actually be its own episode because

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Speaker 2: it's an interesting history. But to boil it down, it

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Speaker 2: was really the result of early Jewish cultures and Babylonian

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Speaker 2: astronomy thinking up. So, as you know, Judaism was focused

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Speaker 2: on a seven day cycle as depicted in the Torah,

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Speaker 2: you know, seventh day of rest and all that, and

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Speaker 2: the other six days were really just days leading up

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Speaker 2: to the Sabbath. Then you have the Babylonians who'd come

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Speaker 2: up with the idea that the seven celestial bodies that

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Speaker 2: moved across the sky, that they had certain effects on

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Speaker 2: everything humans did. Five of these were planets as we

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Speaker 2: know them now, and the other two were the Sun

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Speaker 2: and the moon, but still seven.

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Speaker 1: So the Babylonians they also had a seven day cycle.

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Speaker 2: No, I mean, at least there's no evidence of that.

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Speaker 2: But here's how they came together. In the second century BCE,

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Speaker 2: the Alexandrians brought together three beliefs that were pretty firm

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Speaker 2: at that point. The first was, you've got these seven

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Speaker 2: planets which came into particular order, and then you had

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Speaker 2: the twenty four hour day. And third there's this idea

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Speaker 2: that the planet that ruled the first hour of each

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Speaker 2: day ruled the entire day. It didn't take too long

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Speaker 2: for the set of beliefs to run smack dab into Judaism,

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Speaker 2: and the two sets of beliefs sanked up. By the

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Speaker 2: end of the first century CE, the Sabbath again the

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Speaker 2: only day that really mattered to the Jewish cycle, and

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Speaker 2: the day of Saturn, just one of those seven planets

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Speaker 2: in Babylonian astrology were one and the same. And by

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Speaker 2: the third century see the week was pretty widespread.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and the seven day cycles stuck and was gradually

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Speaker 1: adopted by pretty much everyone. Though this isn't to say

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Speaker 1: that there weren't a couple of pretty big attempts to

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Speaker 1: implement different systems. I was actually curious to see who

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Speaker 1: had tried to come up with better systems over time,

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Speaker 1: and found a couple of good stories that, to be honest,

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Speaker 1: I'd actually forgotten about from history class. Oh yeah, like what,

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Speaker 1: all right, well, let's start. Let's start with the French

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Speaker 1: Republicans after the French Revolution. During the revolution, assembly members

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Speaker 1: decided to come up with a new calendar, still with

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Speaker 1: twelve months, but they wanted to make the other time

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Speaker 1: units as close to metric as they could. So each

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Speaker 1: month had three ten day weeks. Each day would have

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Speaker 1: ten hours divided into one hundred minutes each, and each

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Speaker 1: minute would have one hundred seconds. I mean, it's actually

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Speaker 1: so confusing to think about this. Then there would be

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Speaker 1: five or six days left at the end of the

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Speaker 1: year that would be reserved for a celebration. It is

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Speaker 1: interesting to note that this system is very similar to

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Speaker 1: what the Egyptians had created when they became the first

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Speaker 1: civilization to create weeks.

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Speaker 2: Which is all super interesting and I so want to

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Speaker 2: get into a time machine and witness those celebrations. It

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Speaker 2: sounds really fun. But you can see how that structure

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Speaker 2: could make sense if it's what people had been used to.

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Speaker 2: But given that they were used to a seven day

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Speaker 2: calendar with twenty four hours per day, it was probably

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Speaker 2: pretty confusing. Why they even attempt this.

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Speaker 1: Well, there were a couple of reasons I mean that

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Speaker 1: the Biggie beyond just being a more rational system as

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Speaker 1: they saw it, it was that they wanted this very

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Speaker 1: real new beginning, you know, kind of a break from

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Speaker 1: the past.

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Speaker 2: And obviously that didn't last forever. So how long did

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Speaker 2: it last around?

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: find reports that when newspapers were required by a law

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: Many of them would take that day of rest along

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

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

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

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Speaker 2: I still confuse that it lasted over a decade, and

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Speaker 2: it makes me think about the attempts over the years

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Speaker 2: to get Americans to convert to the metric system, like

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Speaker 2: a system that actually makes a lot of sense, but

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Speaker 2: it's just way too hard to get people to move

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Speaker 2: from something they're used to, especially if they don't see

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Speaker 2: it as broken. And obviously that change was like politically loaded.

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Speaker 2: But you were talking about the French, but you said

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Speaker 2: there was another attempt.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. So there were also the Soviets, and

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Speaker 1: they tried to change things up in nineteen twenty nine.

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Speaker 1: This was really more of an effort to increase production

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Speaker 1: from the workforce. I don't know if you know this,

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Speaker 1: but the Soviets were kind of big on this idea

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Speaker 1: of getting more out of the workfloor.

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Speaker 2: I heard that.

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Speaker 1: And as they saw it, the regular seven day week

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Speaker 1: left machines and workers idle for two out of every

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Speaker 1: seven days. And that's just not efficient as they saw it.

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Speaker 1: I'll warn you it is pretty crazy what they tried

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Speaker 1: to do. I'm ready for all right. So they created

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Speaker 1: these five day weeks and sets of six to get

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Speaker 1: these thirty day months, and months that had thirty one days. Well,

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Speaker 1: they just made that another work day, which is so

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Speaker 1: Soviet of them, and that part so far you can follow.

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Speaker 1: But the workers would have one out of every five

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Speaker 1: days off. And here's where it gets a little crazy,

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Speaker 1: all right. So instead of having some big anchor day

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Speaker 1: like the sabbath or a weekend. They just assigned one

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Speaker 1: of the five days to each person as their personal

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Speaker 1: day off. Each day was then assigned a color, and

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Speaker 1: then people were assigned a color and a number, and

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Speaker 1: the corresponding color was your day off.

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Speaker 2: That sounds so confusing. I told you it was.

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Speaker 1: It's crazy.

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Speaker 2: So did families or groups of friends, like, did they

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Speaker 2: all get the same day off?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 1: And that was a big problem. I mean, if you

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Speaker 1: looked at people's address books, you'd see people having to

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Speaker 1: keep up with when their loved ones days off were,

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Speaker 1: and they'd have to write their colors next to each

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Speaker 1: of their names. It was just so, so so confusing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not that organized, and it's not surprising. Why

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Speaker 2: why this wouldn't have lasted. I mean people couldn't have

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Speaker 2: their worship days together, which I guess matters less to

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Speaker 2: the Soviets, but also, you know what about just getting

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Speaker 2: your family together and playing sports.

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: because their families and social circles. They were being broken up.

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Speaker 2: But did it meet their goal, like, did it increase production?

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Speaker 1: Well, that was one of the nails in the coffin too.

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Speaker 1: It actually didn't really increase production, or at least not

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Speaker 1: by much. Machines were wearing out and they couldn't be

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Speaker 1: fixed because they didn't have off days, and it was

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Speaker 1: tough on workers. So Stalin then decided to put the

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Speaker 1: plan on hold until all the issues could be worked out.

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Speaker 1: And you know, you think they would just go back

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Speaker 1: to the seven day week, but nope, not the Soviets.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't accept the idea of going back to that,

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Speaker 1: so they decided on a six day week instead, and

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Speaker 1: everyone had the same day off at least, But it

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Speaker 1: was still nearly impossible to get everyone in rural areas

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Speaker 1: to follow this new calendar. So by around nineteen forty

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Speaker 1: or so, the Soviets were back to the seven day.

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Speaker 2: Week, which sounds exhausting.

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Speaker 1: I try explaining it. I actually think I need a

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Speaker 1: break for a quiz. Well, we decided to do this

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Speaker 1: episode on the best day of the week. We were

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Speaker 1: both reminded of this terrific book by Melissa hecksher. It

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Speaker 1: was called Be Safe, Simple Strategies for Death Free Living,

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Speaker 1: and we were fortunate enough to get Melissa on the

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Speaker 1: line to answer a few questions about our favorite parts

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Speaker 1: of her book. Melissa, Welcome to Part Time Genius.

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Speaker 3: Hi, thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Awesome.

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Speaker 2: So, Melissa, before we dive into specifics, I was curious,

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Speaker 2: how did the book idea come to you? Were you

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Speaker 2: always just worried about the possible ways you could die?

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Speaker 3: Actually kind of, I'm sort of one of those people

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Speaker 3: that worries about everything, so, you know, when it came

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Speaker 3: to me. I was living in New York City at

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Speaker 3: the time and doing a lot of driving and traveling

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Speaker 3: by train and subway, and I just was always wondering

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Speaker 3: every time I got on the subway what car I

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Speaker 3: should get onto. Should I be in the back of

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Speaker 3: the subway or middle of the subway, you know? Or

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Speaker 3: when I was driving to and from Philadelphia, where my

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Speaker 3: parents live, I always wondered whether I should be in

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Speaker 3: the middle lane or the right lane, or these small

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Speaker 3: choices that we make every day stay safe. And I

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Speaker 3: was always thinking about it. So I wanted to do

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Speaker 3: a little more research to find out the answers to

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Speaker 3: those questions.

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Speaker 1: And wasn't it Salvador Dali that used to like to

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Speaker 1: ride in the front car that car so that he

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Speaker 1: would get there earlier, get there first.

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Speaker 2: That's funny, that's pretty great.

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Speaker 3: Well, the front car actually is the safest because it's

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Speaker 3: where usually the conductor is.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, you know this episode is on the

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Speaker 1: best day of the week, or asking the question what

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Speaker 1: is the best day of the week. And of course

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Speaker 1: we thought about you because several of your your entries

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Speaker 1: in this great book have to do, you know, with

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Speaker 1: the best day of doing certain things, so we thought

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Speaker 1: we'd ask you about a few of those. So I

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Speaker 1: know you mentioned in the book the safest time to

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Speaker 1: go to the bank, So tell us when that is.

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Speaker 4: The safest time to go to the bank.

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Speaker 3: Is really between Tuesday and Thursday in the afternoon, because

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Speaker 3: historically bank robberies seem to happen on Fridays, and people

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Speaker 3: think that's because that's payday. So I guess the bank

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Speaker 3: rubbers assume the bank is going to have so much

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Speaker 3: more money on Friday. That's just when most bank robberies happen.

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Speaker 3: So if you want to avoid them, to stay away

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Speaker 3: from the bank on Friday morning because they also usually

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Speaker 3: happen in the morning.

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Speaker 2: Ah yeah, how about the best day to order sushi?

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Speaker 3: I love sushi, so this one was important to meet today,

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Speaker 3: especially because I around when I was writing the book

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Speaker 3: is when I got pregnant, so I was extra careful

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Speaker 3: with things like sushi. So the best time to get

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Speaker 3: sushi is on Friday. And that's because most fish markets

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Speaker 3: are closed on Sundays, So you definitely don't want to

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Speaker 3: get sushi on a Monday because the chances are that

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Speaker 3: it hasn't it's not a fresh delivery, so you're not

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Speaker 3: getting the freshest fish that way, which means that you

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Speaker 3: have a greater chance of possibly getting sick from that fish.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's interesting. That makes a lot of sense though

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Speaker 1: when you say that, Well, here's one that wasn't on

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Speaker 1: a specific day, but you addressed and book The safest

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Speaker 1: month to get elective surgery, And I thought this one

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Speaker 1: was super interesting.

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Speaker 3: It is interesting the safest most residents graduate in June,

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Speaker 3: and so they start at their new positions at a

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Speaker 3: hospital in July. So the safest month is actually June

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Speaker 3: because the older residents that have been there all year

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Speaker 3: and they know the system, they know their routine, they

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Speaker 3: know their peers, they've been there all year, whereas in

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Speaker 3: July they're new and so not to say that they

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Speaker 3: can't do their jobs, but they maybe don't know. They're

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Speaker 3: not used to working together. There might be a few

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Speaker 3: more mistakes or errors that happen in July than happen

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Speaker 3: in June. So if you can help it, schedule your

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Speaker 3: surgery closer to you, maybe May or June and not

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Speaker 3: July or August.

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Speaker 2: There are a few parts of the book that weren't

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Speaker 2: related to specific days, but we're just so fun that

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Speaker 2: we want to ask you about them. So can you

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Speaker 2: tell us what's the safest room in a hotel?

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Speaker 3: This one was a personal one for me too, because

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Speaker 3: I did a lot of traveling by myself, so I

408
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Speaker 3: always was a little bit worried. Is to the safest

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Speaker 3: place to stay, especially as a woman alone, And the

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Speaker 3: answer to that question is between the fourth and seventh

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Speaker 3: floors if you have a choice, if it's a high

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Speaker 3: rise hotel, and no matter what kind of a hotel

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Speaker 3: near the elevator, and that's just because there's more foot

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Speaker 3: traffic and so you're safer being around a lot of

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Speaker 3: people because of someone who's going to break into your

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Speaker 3: hotel room or approach you as you're entering your room.

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Speaker 3: It's less likely to happen where there's a lot of traffic.

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Speaker 3: And then as far as the floors, most fire ladders

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Speaker 3: don't reach above seven floors, so if you had to

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Speaker 3: be evacuated in the case of emergency, if you're on

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Speaker 3: a really high floor. First, it's obviously it's going to

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Speaker 3: take you longer to get down if you're doing stairs,

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Speaker 3: But if you had to be evacuated by a fire ladder,

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Speaker 3: would be harder because the ladders don't always go that high.

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Speaker 3: So fourth and seven floors near the elevator, and that's

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Speaker 3: pretty much the safest place you can be.

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

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Speaker 1: I get to a hotel, I often request a room

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Speaker 1: away from the elevator just because it's noisy there. But

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Speaker 1: I didn't realize how unsafe it was.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, it's a trade off. You want a

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Speaker 3: quiet room and you might not be as safe, but yeah,

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Speaker 3: you can sleep better.

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

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

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Speaker 1: And so what is the safest stall in a public restroom.

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00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:19,240
Speaker 3: What's interesting about this question is that there's a lot

438
00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:22,159
Speaker 3: of studies that have looked at this question. There are

439
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,399
Speaker 3: scientists that have actually collected samples from bathrooms just to

440
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,000
Speaker 3: figure out which stall is the dirtiest and the safest

441
00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:32,359
Speaker 3: stall has been determined to be the first one or

442
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,280
Speaker 3: the one closest to the door, and that's because most

443
00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:37,639
Speaker 3: people like a little bit of privacy when they go

444
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:39,880
Speaker 3: to the bathroom, so they go a little further from

445
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,119
Speaker 3: the door. The dirtiest one turned out to be the

446
00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,479
Speaker 3: middle stall, which you think it would be the furthest

447
00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:48,600
Speaker 3: from the door, but it's actually the middle and the

448
00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:53,320
Speaker 3: safest least jerney room stall is the one closest to

449
00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:55,800
Speaker 3: the door, and it's usually also the one with the

450
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:56,639
Speaker 3: most toilet paper.

451
00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:02,639
Speaker 1: So it's not surprising that there would have been several

452
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,360
Speaker 1: studies on this because I think it is something that

453
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,600
Speaker 1: everyone who's walked into a restroom has thought this before

454
00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:10,080
Speaker 1: and wants to know, right, right, besides that jerk that

455
00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:11,960
Speaker 1: walks out without washing his hands.

456
00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:14,160
Speaker 2: Right, Well, this is terrific.

457
00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:15,720
Speaker 1: You know, this has always been a book that we've

458
00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,239
Speaker 1: we've enjoyed flipping through and reading, even though it's been

459
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:19,879
Speaker 1: out for some time now, so I hope all our

460
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,600
Speaker 1: listeners will check out Be Safe Simple Strategies for Death

461
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:24,720
Speaker 1: Free Living. Melissa, thanks so much for joining us on

462
00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:25,680
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius.

463
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:38,440
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me.

464
00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:43,919
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Part Time Genius. Before the break, we

465
00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,560
Speaker 1: were talking about the attempts by the French and Soviets

466
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,800
Speaker 1: and others in history to move away from the seven

467
00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:51,600
Speaker 1: day week to other systems that we're seen as maybe

468
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:52,360
Speaker 1: more logical.

469
00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:54,720
Speaker 2: It's really interesting to see how they all failed. I mean,

470
00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:56,840
Speaker 2: what would you say is the baseline reason none of

471
00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:57,520
Speaker 2: them panned out?

472
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,000
Speaker 1: Well, there was obviously a big problem with the reason

473
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,440
Speaker 1: and these new systems were put in place to begin with.

474
00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:06,120
Speaker 1: I think they all underestimated just how disorienting the new

475
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,679
Speaker 1: structures would be. I mean, think about it. When you

476
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,280
Speaker 1: change up the length of a week, you throw off

477
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,400
Speaker 1: someone's social rhythm. I mean, what day of the week

478
00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:15,439
Speaker 1: do I go to the market. You throw off their

479
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,000
Speaker 1: personal rhythm. So you know, they were working six days

480
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,400
Speaker 1: in a row and then got a day of rest,

481
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:21,240
Speaker 1: and now they have to work nine before they get

482
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,720
Speaker 1: a day of rest. And then maybe most importantly, you

483
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:25,960
Speaker 1: throw off their religious rhythm. You know, people were used

484
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:28,920
Speaker 1: to worshiping on Sundays and now suddenly Sundays don't even

485
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,399
Speaker 1: really exist anymore. So it's just way too confusing and

486
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: frustrating and frankly upsetting for these people.

487
00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,159
Speaker 2: Well, and when you consider the Soviets, it feels like

488
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 2: there was something even bigger going on. By dividing time

489
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,000
Speaker 2: into five different calendars, they were really creating five different societies,

490
00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:45,720
Speaker 2: all randomly assigned.

491
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:47,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, and all of this really threw off that temporal

492
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,480
Speaker 1: harmony that Zaarababbel talks about. And we can't underestimate the

493
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,520
Speaker 1: role of religion here. Think about how important a designated

494
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,399
Speaker 1: weekly holy day is for each of the major religions.

495
00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:00,359
Speaker 1: You know, the Jews set themselves apart by establishing the

496
00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 1: Sabbath early on. Christians were actually observing both as they

497
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,880
Speaker 1: were Jews and Christians, and they were observing the Sabbath

498
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:10,400
Speaker 1: on Saturdays and then their own day, which became Sunday,

499
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,199
Speaker 1: and eventually they just focused on Sunday in order to

500
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:14,440
Speaker 1: differentiate themselves.

501
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we see this with Muslims as well, with

502
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,000
Speaker 2: Mohammed choosing Fridays as the Muslim Holy Day exactly.

503
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,800
Speaker 1: And with all that set so firmly and stone, it's

504
00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,080
Speaker 1: hard to see ever moving away from the seven day

505
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:27,520
Speaker 1: week at this point. All right, well that is some

506
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 1: fascinating stuff, but I think it's time that we fast

507
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,639
Speaker 1: forward several centuries and get to the big question of

508
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:34,520
Speaker 1: the day, and that is, you know, what are the

509
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,800
Speaker 1: best and worst days of the week?

510
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:38,800
Speaker 2: Well, why don't we start with the worst? And it

511
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,120
Speaker 2: didn't take Garfield telling us to guess what day most

512
00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:42,640
Speaker 2: people think was the worst day of the week.

513
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, Mondays? But why Mondays? And what does science have

514
00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,440
Speaker 1: to say about this? You were reminding me earlier about

515
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,879
Speaker 1: that great Kathy Benjamin piece over at mental Flaws, and

516
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,360
Speaker 1: I think it was called something like six scientific reasons

517
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 1: why Mondays are the worst? So why don't we start

518
00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,119
Speaker 1: with that? Why don't we talk about that one for

519
00:22:58,200 --> 00:22:58,639
Speaker 1: a minute?

520
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,600
Speaker 2: Sure? Well, one big that shouldn't shock us is if

521
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:04,600
Speaker 2: we think back to our sleep episode, weekends really throw

522
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 2: off our sleep patterns. I mean, it's funny because every

523
00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,160
Speaker 2: time we go through a daylight savings time change, everyone

524
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,960
Speaker 2: complains about our body clocks being thrown off, but most

525
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,680
Speaker 2: of us are doing this to ourselves every single weekend.

526
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 2: Like we think we're doing ourselves a favor when we

527
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:19,920
Speaker 2: catch up on sleep, but in fact, we're just making

528
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 2: it that much harder to wake up on Monday morning.

529
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,719
Speaker 2: Our body clocks are much more sensitive than we realize,

530
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,000
Speaker 2: and staying up a couple hours later and sleeping a

531
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,200
Speaker 2: couple hours later like that all throws us off a little.

532
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 1: Once again, sleep is so annoying? All right, Well, what

533
00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:34,720
Speaker 1: else did Benjamin say? Well?

534
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 2: She also talks about the fact that because we often

535
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,640
Speaker 2: eat and drink and generally indulge more over the weekends,

536
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,400
Speaker 2: people tend to feel worse about themselves on Monday. There

537
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 2: have even been studies of women to confirm that they

538
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 2: feel less attractive on Mondays because of the weekend indulging,

539
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,159
Speaker 2: and it's part of why people are more likely to

540
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:51,960
Speaker 2: start dieting on Mondays than any.

541
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 1: Other day, which does make sense.

542
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,560
Speaker 2: And what's also interesting is that people actually are less

543
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,840
Speaker 2: healthy on Mondays. As Benjamin writes, scientists have found that

544
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 2: even people who generally maintain their weight weigh the most

545
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,399
Speaker 2: at the beginning of the week. Mondays are also the

546
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 2: most common day for people to suffer heart attacks and strokes.

547
00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:10,479
Speaker 2: Even if you don't end up in the hospital, your

548
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 2: blood pressure is higher on Monday, as is your chance

549
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:14,280
Speaker 2: of getting sick in general.

550
00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:16,920
Speaker 1: Wow, and doesn't she talk about people just not liking

551
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:18,000
Speaker 1: their jobs as well.

552
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, there have been a lot of polls showing that

553
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:22,720
Speaker 2: the strong majority of people are not big fans of

554
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,719
Speaker 2: their jobs, or at least not that inspired by them.

555
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,199
Speaker 2: This is why you often see people experiencing feelings of

556
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,200
Speaker 2: depression or anxiety on Sunday evenings. They just don't want

557
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 2: to go back to work.

558
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,320
Speaker 1: Oh, so the evidence really is stacking up against Mondays,

559
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:37,119
Speaker 1: and I guess we shouldn't be shocked by this.

560
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:39,480
Speaker 2: Well, that may be true, but there's another part to

561
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:41,720
Speaker 2: it that may be the most interesting, and that's the

562
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 2: fact that if you actually study people's moods throughout the

563
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 2: work week, you don't necessarily find that they were feeling

564
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 2: that much worse on Mondays than you know, Tuesday, Wednesday,

565
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 2: or Thursday. But then if you ask them to recall

566
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 2: their moods and their stress levels, they'll almost always report

567
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,680
Speaker 2: Mondays as being consistently worse. So a big part of

568
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 2: it is that we're telling ourselves Mondays are the worst.

569
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 1: That is interesting, and I've actually been reading a little

570
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: about this too. And that's where because we believe that

571
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 1: Mondays are harder and more stressful and generally bluer than

572
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 1: other days, we then retrofit our memories of Mondays to

573
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 1: fit that expectation. So we mentally exaggerate some of the

574
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 1: worst things we remember about Mondays to represent the entirety

575
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,000
Speaker 1: of Mondays. Our brains are pretty tricky, and as our

576
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:24,679
Speaker 1: research or Autumn said in one of our conversations, the

577
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: Monday blues are a form of social organization.

578
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:29,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, And just to be clear, it's not as though

579
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,159
Speaker 2: there aren't bad things about Monday. We talked about some

580
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 2: of those. It's just that there's definitely a bit of

581
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,719
Speaker 2: a placebo effect going on here, and we exaggerate and

582
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 2: we generalize certain memories and expectations about Mondays.

583
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: All right, Well, then if we tend to view Mondays

584
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,280
Speaker 1: as worse even though we don't necessarily actually always feel

585
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 1: worse on Mondays, would you say there's a day that

586
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:49,200
Speaker 1: could rival Monday for the worst.

587
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,120
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely. There have been a couple studies to show

588
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 2: that our moods may actually reach their lower points on Wednesdays.

589
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 2: Part of This might be because we're feeling pretty overwhelmed

590
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 2: at work, and it's when we're the first is the

591
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,320
Speaker 2: way from a weekend on both side, you know, before

592
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 2: or after?

593
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 1: All? Right, well, I feel like that's enough of the

594
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 1: sad talk, so let's get to the best day of

595
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: the weekend before we get to the science of it.

596
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 1: I'm curious, what's your favorite day of the week?

597
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:11,800
Speaker 2: Mango Mon's Tuesday?

598
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: Tuesday? And why Tuesday?

599
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 2: It's because I was We're not a Tuesday, so I

600
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 2: started paying attention to them. But then I don't know,

601
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 2: like all the anxiety of Sunday and Monday is over

602
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,399
Speaker 2: and they're low expectations, and I don't know, there's a

603
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:26,200
Speaker 2: full week ahead.

604
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,159
Speaker 1: It feels like, oh, that's nice. How about you? I

605
00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:32,119
Speaker 1: think I'd probably say Fridays, because you know, I have

606
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,159
Speaker 1: a busy week. We have all our recording do on

607
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:37,160
Speaker 1: Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I love doing that. But Fridays

608
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,240
Speaker 1: is kind of a day where we get to plan

609
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 1: for the weeks ahead, think about future episodes, and then

610
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,360
Speaker 1: of course the weekend is ahead, you know, So it's nice.

611
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:46,159
Speaker 1: I think those are my favorites, But but what do

612
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:47,160
Speaker 1: the studies say.

613
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 2: Well, several studies shows Saturday is the winner. It's a

614
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 2: day where people feel they're free to do, you know,

615
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:54,360
Speaker 2: what they want with their time, at least more than

616
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 2: other days, and they know they've got a whole other

617
00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 2: day of weekend ahead of them. Except for the most part,

618
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 2: people tend to experience outdays is better, both in terms

619
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,280
Speaker 2: of their actual moods and how they remember their moods.

620
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:06,440
Speaker 1: Well, I mean that said, don't you think there's still

621
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:08,720
Speaker 1: a little bit of the reverse Monday effect going on

622
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:09,640
Speaker 1: with Saturdays?

623
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,560
Speaker 2: Definitely. So while we do tend to actually feel better

624
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,479
Speaker 2: on Saturdays, we also tend to look back at our

625
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 2: weekends with rosier glasses than we do our working time,

626
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,120
Speaker 2: and we tend to underestimate how rewarded we are by

627
00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:22,720
Speaker 2: our work if we enjoy what we do. So, yeah,

628
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:24,640
Speaker 2: there's a bit of cultural bias going on there.

629
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 1: All right, Well what about Fridays?

630
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is probably why Fridays bring the highest mood

631
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 2: of the work week. We're excited about the weekend, which

632
00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 2: we believe will be better than the work week. I mean,

633
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:36,240
Speaker 2: there's an entire restaurant chain named after the concept. Tji

634
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 2: Fridays oh my god, with some of those chicken fingers. Well,

635
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,359
Speaker 2: before you go running off for some honey mustard covered chicken,

636
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 2: we should probably play a quick quiz, and then I

637
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 2: want to hear about the facts you found about the

638
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:47,160
Speaker 2: days we haven't said much about.

639
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 1: All right, I think I can wait for that. And

640
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: so who do we have on the line today, Mango, Today.

641
00:27:57,800 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 2: We've got a very special guest, the owner of a

642
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 2: one comic book store in Baltimore, Gorilla King Comics, Ian Sayer.

643
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 2: Welcome to Part time Genius.

644
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:06,560
Speaker 5: Hey, thank you.

645
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:08,600
Speaker 1: Well, just before we get started, we wanted to say

646
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:10,879
Speaker 1: we love the intro to your store on your site,

647
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:13,040
Speaker 1: and I'm just going to read it here for our listeners.

648
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,679
Speaker 1: It says here at Gorilla King Comics, we believe that

649
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 1: sequential art is the highest form of storytelling. We believe

650
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,359
Speaker 1: that gaily clad musclemen should pummel each other in the

651
00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 1: streets with lamp posts and other large objects. It's their

652
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,160
Speaker 1: right and it's their privilege. We believe that if comics

653
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 1: are religion, then your friendly local comic book shop should

654
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,280
Speaker 1: be like a church. We want to be your weird

655
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 1: comics church. It's just such a warm and welcoming intro.

656
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:44,440
Speaker 5: Well' that's how I feel about comics. It's as simple

657
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 5: as that, you know. I mean, comics are they're kind

658
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 5: of a religious experience for me, and like Wednesdays might

659
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:52,760
Speaker 5: have it, you know.

660
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 2: So today's show is about days of the weekend. Comic

661
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 2: book stores have Wednesdays of super special day. Can you

662
00:28:57,920 --> 00:28:59,240
Speaker 2: tell us what happens on that day?

663
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:03,120
Speaker 5: Yeah? I mean Wednesday is New Comic book Day. If

664
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,640
Speaker 5: you love comics and look forward to reading the next

665
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 5: one after you just read the last one, Wednesday is

666
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 5: your day. Imagine if you can only watch TV like

667
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:14,440
Speaker 5: one day week, you know what I mean, Like it

668
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 5: would be like you're awesome TV day. Like it's that

669
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 5: way for comics.

670
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 2: So is there anything unusual or super fun about the

671
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:22,479
Speaker 2: rhythm of the day.

672
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 5: There's a lot, I mean, you know, it's it's it's

673
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 5: the busiest day. There's a lot of prip forward on Tuesday.

674
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 5: Most people that are regulars, they keep they keep a

675
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 5: pull list with us, meaning we take all their books

676
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 5: every week and set them aside and baging board them

677
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 5: for them and they can just come in and they

678
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 5: won't sell out. I see the same people every week

679
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:43,600
Speaker 5: and that I love these people, Like we have this

680
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 5: one guy. Have you ever seen that whole Chris Parley

681
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,960
Speaker 5: routine where he's interviewing people and he asked them like

682
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 5: a simple yes or no question, Like he's interviewing Paul

683
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:53,960
Speaker 5: McCartney's like, Rember that part of the song where you

684
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,440
Speaker 5: said the love sake is people to the love you made.

685
00:29:57,560 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 5: Mcty's like yeah, I mean's like, oh that was great.

686
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,480
Speaker 5: All of his like answers are like yeah, it was great.

687
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,040
Speaker 5: Like we have this one guy who'll come in and

688
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 5: just be like, do you remember that time that I

689
00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 5: mean they thought he was sending the stewards and he

690
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:11,200
Speaker 5: came out of the stewards and they killed everybody outside

691
00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,120
Speaker 5: of the stewards and disclosed were all ripped up. It's

692
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 5: like nobody's best schoolvery And they're like yeah, I remember that,

693
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,400
Speaker 5: and he's like yeah, that was awesome, and like and like,

694
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 5: I don't know, it is awesome, Like I missed these

695
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 5: guys over the course of the week, and when they

696
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 5: come in and it's like, oh, I'm saying so fantastic.

697
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 1: And I have to know do you sneak a peek

698
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,560
Speaker 1: at comics that come in on Tuesdays, or do you

699
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 1: wait it out to enjoy it with your customers.

700
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 5: No way, I read them as soon as I go

701
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,520
Speaker 5: home and have an uninterrupted hour. It doesn't really even

702
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 5: feel like sneaking a peek. The way that our orders

703
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 5: are set up, you kind of have to. If you're

704
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,480
Speaker 5: going to reorder comics that's really good, you can only

705
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 5: do it before a certain time on Wednesdays, So you

706
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:51,560
Speaker 5: have to like immediately read them, like you know, if

707
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 5: like they you know, Storm is having a baby and

708
00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 5: you didn't know about it, and everybody's gonna want to

709
00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 5: reorder that book, you got to reorder it immediately. So yeah,

710
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 5: so you kind of have to like read the books

711
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 5: as soon as they're out.

712
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 1: All right. So what's the game called today, Mango?

713
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 2: It's called Name that Day, that's right.

714
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 1: So we'll be providing you with a word bank of

715
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 1: several days of the week. Now. These include Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,

716
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 1: and Sunday. We have intentionally left off Tuesday, so please

717
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 1: don't guess Tuesday. Now, we're going to ask you a

718
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,240
Speaker 1: few questions and see how many you can answer, and

719
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: just so you know, some of the answers repeat all right,

720
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:28,480
Speaker 1: are you ready to get started? Sure? Okay? Question number one.

721
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,840
Speaker 1: The nickname hump Day was allegedly given to this day

722
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:35,120
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty five, when Roy Man coined the phrase

723
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,720
Speaker 1: at a DuPont water cooler. What day are we talking about?

724
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:39,680
Speaker 5: Think Wednesday?

725
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 1: Yay?

726
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 2: One for one?

727
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,920
Speaker 1: Question number two. Nachos went mainstream after Howard Cosell commented

728
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 1: on a tasty news snack he was eating during this

729
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:51,400
Speaker 1: night football. What night are we talking about?

730
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 5: Would Monday?

731
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm?

732
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 2: That's right.

733
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,360
Speaker 1: Number three. This day was the day of the Last Supper.

734
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 1: It's also Thursday. And just in case you're trying to

735
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,000
Speaker 1: picture him, Thor is the one who's chariot is driven

736
00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:04,600
Speaker 1: by goats?

737
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 5: Thursday?

738
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 2: That albem was kind of beginning, But that's right. Three

739
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:10,280
Speaker 2: for three.

740
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 1: Number four. This Adam's family daughter is called Little Wanda

741
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 1: in Brazil. What day of the week are we talking about?

742
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:18,320
Speaker 5: Wednesday?

743
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,640
Speaker 2: Whoa so ian's already four for four. Let's see if

744
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 2: you can get a perfect score here.

745
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 1: Number five. This day gets the dubious honor of both

746
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,040
Speaker 1: having an ice Cube movie and a Rebecca Black song

747
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,280
Speaker 1: named for it. What day of the week are we

748
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 1: talking about?

749
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 5: Definitely Friday five for five and.

750
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 1: The last question number six and because you like comic art.

751
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 1: The Bengals weren't the only chart topping band to sing

752
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 1: about this manic day of the week. The chip Pets

753
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 1: Alvin and the Chipmunks Lady Friends also covered the song

754
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 1: what Day did They sing About?

755
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:53,600
Speaker 5: Monday? Classic?

756
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:55,480
Speaker 1: All right, So, fun want to tell him how.

757
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,600
Speaker 2: He did Mango? So ians Gordon astounding six for six,

758
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 2: He ran the tables and he'll be going home with

759
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,920
Speaker 2: our very top prize, a hand written note singing our

760
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:07,440
Speaker 2: praises to his mom or boss. Congratulations ian O pick

761
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:22,200
Speaker 2: what welcome back to part time genius? All right, So

762
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 2: we've talked a lot about Mondays and Saturdays, and a

763
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 2: little about Wednesdays and Fridays, but I think we need

764
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 2: to show some love to the other days as well.

765
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 2: Why don't you tell us a few facts that you

766
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 2: found about each one?

767
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 1: All right, let's do it. And I know we need

768
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,640
Speaker 1: to talk about the others, but I've got a couple

769
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,600
Speaker 1: more Monday facts here that I wanted to share. All right,

770
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:41,520
Speaker 1: So Monday is the safest day of the week to

771
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,480
Speaker 1: have surgery. Hopefully you'll remember to show up because it's

772
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 1: also the day with the most missed medical appointments. It's

773
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,240
Speaker 1: also the best day to apply for a job, meaning

774
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:53,000
Speaker 1: that a higher percentage of people who submit applications on

775
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,120
Speaker 1: Mondays tend to advance to the next stage than any

776
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 1: other day.

777
00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:00,160
Speaker 2: So Mondays are redeemed a bit. What about Tuesdays, Well,

778
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 2: Tuesday is.

779
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:03,520
Speaker 1: The day for getting stuff done in more ways than one.

780
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 1: It's the most productive day at work, according to multiple studies.

781
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: And this is in spite of, or maybe because of,

782
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 1: the fact that it's also the day with the highest

783
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 1: email volume. It's the most popular day for exercise, and

784
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,360
Speaker 1: it's apparently the best day to day trade. I know

785
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 1: you've been talking about getting into day trading, Mango, right,

786
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 1: so maybe you can stop making Tuesday one of our

787
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:25,320
Speaker 1: recording days. You can just focus on your day trade.

788
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,440
Speaker 2: Okay, good call, All right, Oh.

789
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,360
Speaker 1: But wait, actually, here's another study that showed Wednesdays have

790
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:35,120
Speaker 1: the highest returns and lowest volatility on the stock market.

791
00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:38,000
Speaker 1: So maybe we'll let you focus on your stocks that day. Tube.

792
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:40,319
Speaker 1: And you know, all this despite the fact that, as

793
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:42,800
Speaker 1: we discussed, it tends to be the worst day mood wise,

794
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 1: according to some studies.

795
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 2: And what about Thursdays.

796
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 1: Well, contrary to what most people think, it's Thursdays, not Tuesdays,

797
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,759
Speaker 1: that are best for buying airline tickets. And that's a

798
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 1: big eat. So let's just focus on that for Thursdays.

799
00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:57,480
Speaker 1: Friday is the worst day to have surgery and the

800
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:00,319
Speaker 1: likeliest day to get fired. But you know, hey, we're

801
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,239
Speaker 1: excited about the weekend, so who cares. Saturday is the

802
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 1: day you're likeliest to die in a car crash. But

803
00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:07,799
Speaker 1: the good news is that you should just fly because

804
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:11,480
Speaker 1: Saturday sees the fewest flight delays. It's also the likeliest

805
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:14,440
Speaker 1: to inspire songwriting. That is, if you take the Christian

806
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,240
Speaker 1: hymns out of the equation, it has the greatest number

807
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:19,800
Speaker 1: of day of the week songs in the Amazon database.

808
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,799
Speaker 1: And finally, Sundays are the best day to get out

809
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,320
Speaker 1: on one of those long day trip car rides because

810
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,680
Speaker 1: it's the day with the fewest road passengers.

811
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:29,799
Speaker 2: All Right, So there's some really good facts in there,

812
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:31,719
Speaker 2: and it's a shame use so many of them up

813
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 2: because you know what's next.

814
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:35,359
Speaker 1: Oh don't worry, I've got some good ones. Part time

815
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:36,319
Speaker 1: genius fact off.

816
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,200
Speaker 2: Okay, well, why don't you kick us off them all right.

817
00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,600
Speaker 1: Well, when I started the show about a story on

818
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 1: manic Monday, I decided to hold off on sharing one bit.

819
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,920
Speaker 1: Do I need to read the lyrics again? Well? Did

820
00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 1: you know that Prince actually wrote that song? It hit

821
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:03,759
Speaker 1: number two on the charts and the only reason that

822
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,960
Speaker 1: didn't hit number one another Prince written song, one he

823
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:08,399
Speaker 1: wrote for himself. Kiss.

824
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 2: So for the first twenty six years of her existence,

825
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,000
Speaker 2: Wednesday Adams and the rest of her family didn't have names.

826
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 2: The Adams Family creator finally gave the family members names

827
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,400
Speaker 2: for the nineteen sixties TV show, and her name reportedly

828
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 2: came from the nursery rhyme Wednesday's child is full of woe?

829
00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:26,319
Speaker 1: All right? Well, back to the topic of Monday's being

830
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:28,400
Speaker 1: a bummer. We can't have a fact off without a

831
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:31,479
Speaker 1: Garfield fact. So did you not that the syndicated strip

832
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:34,080
Speaker 1: is the Guinness World Record holder for being the world's

833
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,560
Speaker 1: most widely syndicated strip. Oh, it's in more than twenty

834
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,560
Speaker 1: five hundred newspapers and other places around the world.

835
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:43,080
Speaker 2: I've got a great Garfield fact too. Did you ever

836
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,080
Speaker 2: notice as a kid that the voice of Garfield and

837
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:47,560
Speaker 2: all the TV specials in the eighties, was the same

838
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,080
Speaker 2: voice as Peter Venkman from the animated show The Real Ghostbusters.

839
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:53,000
Speaker 1: I did no. I actually I knew it was the

840
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 1: same person because I could hear it. I didn't know

841
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 1: who it was.

842
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's a guy named Lorenzo Music. But that's

843
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,279
Speaker 2: not really my fact. Turns out he's I'm not the

844
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,239
Speaker 2: only one to have voiced both characters. The other one

845
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:05,800
Speaker 2: is a little more famous. Bill Murray, of course, was

846
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 2: the original Peter Venkman, but he was also the voice

847
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 2: of Garfield in Garfield the Movie back in two thousand

848
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 2: and four.

849
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,160
Speaker 1: Oh nice, all right. One of my favorite Rolling Stone songs,

850
00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 1: Ruby Tuesday, was written by Keith Richards about his girlfriend

851
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:21,240
Speaker 1: Linda Keith. Apparently Linda had ditched Richards for Jimmy Hendrix

852
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,040
Speaker 1: and got into some drugs, and he tried to win

853
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,440
Speaker 1: her back and even got her parents involved, telling them

854
00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,000
Speaker 1: that she was not doing well. I think, you know,

855
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 1: when Keith Richards is trying to intervene, it may be

856
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,799
Speaker 1: time to cut out back. But it didn't go well

857
00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:36,399
Speaker 1: and they didn't speak again for many years. And I'd

858
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:38,840
Speaker 1: love to do an interview with her, not about Keith Richards,

859
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:40,680
Speaker 1: because I just want to know how she feels about

860
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:43,520
Speaker 1: the fact that, by the transitive property, there's also a

861
00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:46,359
Speaker 1: giant restaurant chain with a big old salad bar named

862
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:46,799
Speaker 1: after her.

863
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 2: So, speaking of family restaurant chains, did you know that

864
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,400
Speaker 2: TGI Fridays may seem like a family establishment made for

865
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,280
Speaker 2: Middle America? But it actually started out as a singles

866
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,400
Speaker 2: bar in Manhattan's Upper East Side in the mid sixties.

867
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,719
Speaker 2: Fume salesman named Alan Stillman felt like there wasn't a

868
00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:04,719
Speaker 2: good bar in the area that both men and women

869
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:07,280
Speaker 2: felt comfortable at, so he bought a bar on sixty

870
00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:09,920
Speaker 2: third and First and renamed it TJA Fridays, and the

871
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 2: rest is history. We've got to hear this quote. Stillman

872
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,680
Speaker 2: told Edible Geography. My timing was exquisite because I opened

873
00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:19,960
Speaker 2: TJA Fridays the exact year the pill was invented. I

874
00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:22,200
Speaker 2: happened to hit the sexual revolution on the head, and

875
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,160
Speaker 2: the result was that, without really intending it, I became

876
00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:26,719
Speaker 2: the founder of the first singles bar.

877
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 1: Oh wow, is that great? I can't hit that one manga.

878
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 1: The trophy is yours. Congratulations, Thank you, thank you, and

879
00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:35,319
Speaker 1: thank you out there for listening. Listen to you next time.

880
00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:50,680
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production

881
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,200
Speaker 1: of how stuff works, and wouldn't be possible without several

882
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,759
Speaker 1: brilliant people who do the important things we couldn't even

883
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:56,720
Speaker 1: begin to understand.

884
00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 2: Christan McNeil does the editing thing.

885
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 1: Noel Brown made theme so and does the mixy mixy

886
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 1: sound thing.

887
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 2: Jerry Roland does the exact producer thing.

888
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,920
Speaker 1: Gabe Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the

889
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,680
Speaker 1: Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams.

890
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 2: And Eve Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears.

891
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:13,080
Speaker 2: Good job, Eves.

892
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,240
Speaker 1: If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe,

893
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 1: And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe

894
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:19,279
Speaker 1: you could leave a good review for us. Do we

895
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:20,879
Speaker 1: forget Jason Jason who