Friday the 13th, 2nd ed.

This entry comes to blogspot.com from a post on a different blog (also mine) that has long since gone by the wayside. I don't post there anymore, but I thought this particular musing was appropriate, since my last post here was a rant on the negative "luck" I experienced in 2008.

February 2009 brings us yet another Friday the 13th, as does March and November. There was only one Friday the 13th in 2008 - it occurred in June. There will be only one Friday the 13th in 2010 and 2011, and it will occur in August and May, respectively.

Depending on the superstition, the day may be considered "lucky" or "unlucky." The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, estimates 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. In Scandinavia, Friday the 13th was at one point considered the luckiest day of the year. (Thank you for the info, Wikipedia.)

Some arm themselves with protective amulets for this particular day. Perhaps carrying a lucky coin or a four-leafed clover. Personally, I think the 13th is as good as any other day.

My mom was born on the 13th day of November. Sometimes her birthday falls on a Friday. I'd say the simple fact that she was born makes me pretty lucky. Having her born on the 13th just makes it better.

What's so scary about the 13th anyway? Just because some Hollywood moviemakers decided to put together some adrenaline-pumping entertainment and call it "Friday the 13th" (2, 3, 4-ever), doesn't make the day bad. In fact, the date has done so well for that franchise, they plan to release a remake of the original Friday the 12th movie on February 13, 2009.

Here are some historic 13th's - whether or not the day happened to be Friday, well, my research didn't go that far...:

Januray 13, 1930: The comic strip "Mickey Mouse" made its debut in American newspapers.

February 13, 1966: The Rolling Stones appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show.

March 13, 1881: Alexander II, emperor of Russia, is assassinated by a bomb thrown into his carriage by a member of a revolutionary group, the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will). (Ok, so this wasn't so good for Alexander II, but then again, he probably wasn't carrying his four-leafed clover that day, either.)

April 13, 1964: Sidney Poitier becomes the first African American actor to win an Academy Award, for his performance in Lilies of the Field.

May 13, 1918: The first U.S. airmail stamps, with a picture of an airplane and costing 24 cents, are introduced.

June 13, 1983: U.S. space probe Pioneer 10 passes Neptune, becoming the first human-made object to leave the solar system.

July 13, 1865: Edward Whymper, an English artist and pioneering mountaineer, becomes the first person to climb the Matterhorn, in the Alps. On the descent, four of his companions fall to their deaths. (Ok, It wasn't so easy finding good things that happened the 13th of July...)

August 13, 1942: Bambi, Walt Disney's fifth animated feature, opens at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

September 13, 1916, Roald Dahl was born. He is the author of children's classics Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach.

October 13, 1792: In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the White House is laid.

November 13: My mom was born, and (quite a few years later) my second cousin Abigail was born.

December 13, 1642: Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovers New Zealand. (Was it uninhabited at the time? Seems like the folks who lived there might have had an idea it existed. I'm thinking they didn't call it New Zealand, though.)

Thought for the day:
Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.