Editing 320: 28-Hour Day

{{comic
| number    = 320
| date      = September 24, 2007
| title     = 28-Hour Day
| image     = 28_hour_day.png
| titletext = Small print: this schedule will eventually drive one stark raving mad.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{W|Circadian rhythm#Enforced longer or shorter cycles|28-Hour Day}} is a modified sleep schedule proposed to accommodate the discrepancy between the earth's day-night cycle and certain people's preferred sleep schedules. It discards the traditional notion of sleeping at night and replaces it with sleeping when it is more convenient for weekend parties and mid-week insomnia. It is one of the alternative day lengths that will sync with the widely accepted and practiced 168-hour week (168 = 7×24 = 6×28), with another option being eight 21-hour days. Underneath the weekly timeline, [[Cueball]] describes the schedule's selling points to his friend, who apparently has difficulty sleeping.

Cueball's friend shows little interest in this idea, and instead he resorts to low-quality "your mom" jokes. Cueball merely bides his time, and in the end successfully trumps the jokes with a response that impugns his friend's sexual stamina, leading him to concede defeat.

The title-text uses "{{w|Fine_Print|Small print}}" to mean "Disclaimer" and relieves the idea's creator of any responsibility in the case that it is tried and the tester finds the schedule to be a really bad idea. As he states, if you live by this schedule, chances are you will be driven stark raving mad. Given that Cueball gives his friend with the bad mom jokes this advice, it could be another way to try to punish him for the jokes. Although Randall makes several [[:Category:Your Mom|Your Mom comics]], he has also in some comics shown that he dislikes these kind of jokes, especially when used too much in real life (see [[366: Your Mom]].)

==Schedule==
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
!colspan=5|28-Hour Day Schedule
|-
!Day
!Time
!28-Hour Schedule
!Normal 24 hour day
|-
| rowspan=12|Sunday||style="text-align:right;"|12:00 AM||
|rowspan=3 nobreak|Normal night from 6 PM to 6 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|12:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night from 6 PM to 6 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 PM||
|-
| rowspan=12|Monday||style="text-align:right;"|12:00 AM||
|-
|style="text-align:right;"|2:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 AM||||
|-
|style="text-align:right;"|8:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|12:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 PM
|rowspan=6|Normal night from 6 PM to 6 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 PM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 PM||
|-
| rowspan=12|Tuesday||style="text-align:right;"|12:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|12:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|rowspan=6|Normal night from 6 PM to 6 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 PM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 PM
|-
| rowspan=12|Wednesday||style="text-align:right;"|12:00 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|12:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night from 6 PM to 6 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|-
| rowspan=12|Thursday||style="text-align:right;"|12:00 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|12:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night from 6 PM to 6 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 PM||
|-
| rowspan=12|Friday||style="text-align:right;"|12:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 AM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|12:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night from 6 PM to 6 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 PM||
|-
| rowspan=12|Saturday||style="text-align:right;"|12:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 AM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|12:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|2:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|4:00 PM||||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|6:00 PM||
|rowspan=3|Normal night from 6 PM to 6 AM
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|8:00 PM||
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|10:00 PM||
|}

==Transcript==
:[Above the panels of the main comic, there is a ruler-like time line diagram that shows the hours in a week. It has 6 black sections labeled "bed" in white text, at the top and 7 black sections labeled "night" in white text, at the bottom (the first and last sections are split in two as it goes from the end of the week to the start of the (next) week. So there are 8 night sections, but they only cover 7 times 12 hours). The night sections always go from 6PM to 6AM. But the bed sections are only 8 hours long and they only stay fully over the night sections two times, and two times they are not above the night sections at all. Above the ruler, the bed times are shown. These labels are over the relevant ticks on the ruler. The ruler has small ticks for every two hours, longer ticks at noon, and a line that goes all the way through the ruler dividing each day. The ruler begins on midnight as Sunday starts and ends as Saturday finishes at midnight. Below the ruler each day are labels with the three-letter abbreviations in a much larger font. Here below the rulers, text is transcribed with the day first, then night or bed according to which comes first, and the time interval for bed given after each bed. The first and last night will only be a partial word and only the first time will there be a (ni)ght to start.]
:<big>Sun</big>
:ght
:Bed
:10AM 6PM
:Night

:<big>Mon</big>
:Bed
:2PM 10PM 
:Night

:<big>Tue</big>
:Bed
:6PM 2AM 
:Night

:<big>Wed</big>
:Night
:Bed
:10PM 6AM

:<big>Thu</big>
:Night

:<big>Fri</big>
:Bed
:2AM 10AM 
:Night

:<big>Sat</big>
:Bed
:6AM 2PM 
:Nig

:[Below the ruler are five panels. In the first, two Cueball-like guys are talking together. Cueball is addressing his friend with one hand raised.]
:Cueball: You have trouble sleeping right?
:Friend: Only when your mom is over.

:[Cueball is now standing next to a an easel with a large version of the chart shown above the panels. Cueball is pointing to the chart while his friend is looking at it.]
:Cueball: Since your work is flexible-
:Friend: -Like your mom-
:Cueball: -you should try the 28-hour day - 20 awake, 8 asleep (or 19/9 if you prefer).
:Friend: I prefer your mom.

:[Cueball moves forward toward his friend, with the chart behind him. He holds both hands, held together, up in front of him. The easel with the chart can now be seen to have three legs, as opposed to only two shown in the previous panel.]
:Cueball: It synchs up with the week - you spend weekdays awake normally, then on weekends you can go out all night.
:Friend: Just like your mom.

:[In a frameless panel, only Cueball is shown from the torso up. He gestures with both arms raised on each side of him.]
:Cueball: It means four extra hours daily. You can stay up until you're exhausted every day and then spend a full 9 hours asleep each night!

:[Back to both again, but without the chart. Cueball leans toward his friend as his friend lifts a hand to his chin.]
:Friend: But how much time can I spend doing your mom?
:Cueball: You? I'm guessing three or four minutes, tops.
:Friend: ...Well played.

==Trivia==
For a system with an integer number of hours in an integer number of days (thus not invoking fractions while keeping both the basic hour and the week consistent with current usage), you could distribute each of the prime factors of both 24 and 7 (i.e. 2, 2, 2, 3 and 7) to either the baseline "hours in a day" ''or'' "days in a week" value to produce a 'valid' week-synchronous scheme in sixteen unique combinations: [zero to three '2's] × [zero or one '3's] × [zero or one '7's] factored into the value of one, and all remaining options applied to other. This includes the extreme possibilities of a single '168-hour day' or 168 'one-hour days'.

Aside from the usual 24×7 itself, 21×8 and 28×6 are the closest possible distributions to our habitual {{w|circadian rhythm}}s and some research indicates that daylight-active creatures (such as ourselves) can adapt more to periods ''slightly'' longer than 24 hours better than those that are correspondingly shorter, especially with compatible cycles of light. Whether any such plan is sustainable may be another matter.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Charts]]