Happy Friday the 13th!

[lillian13]

Yes, it's that day, the "unlucky" day...Friday the 13th!

As you can tell from my user name, I've always had a soft spot for the number 13. Whenever I've had to pick an "employee number", or a team number, I've always taken 13. Plus, it looks like a capitol "B", and my last name begins with B....

Fun facts:
The fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia. 

Paraskevidekatriaphobics are  people afflicted with a fear of Friday the 13th.

A period of 13 years is called a tridecennary, although that word is hardly ever seen in print, and only appears in one dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary.

Most hotels don't number their 13th floor, so if you're on the 14th floor (in the US) of a hotel with no 13 button in the elevator, you're staying on the 13th floor. 

It is the atomic number of aluminum. (So is aluminum foil more or less unlucky today?)

The ASCII and Unicode value for carriage return.

The number of Plutonium slugs in Fat Man, the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

Someone who reaches age 13, is officially a teenager and remains there until 20.

The original number of members of The Thirteen Club. 

The number of loaves in a "baker's dozen" .

The expression, "A year and a day" refers to 13 28-day lunar months plus 1 day.

The number of Popes named Innocent, for which an honor society containing 13 members at the University of Nebraska is named ("The Society of Innocents").

The number of cards in a single suit of a standard deck of playing cards.

The number of players in a rugby league team.

At the Last Supper, counting both Judas and Matthias, there were 13 apostles.

13 was once associated with the Epiphany by Christians, the child Jesus having received the Magi on his 13th day of life. 

In Judaism, 13 signifies the age of maturity (bar mitzvah) for boys.

The number of principles of Jewish faith according to Maimonides.

According to the Torah, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy.

In modern day Wicca, 13 is considered the maximum size of a coven, and in some traditions is the ideal number of members, and there are also 13 goals of a witch.

13 is the number of steps, according to Egyptian lore, between life and death. 

In Sikhism, the number 13 is a number devoted to the remembrance of God, therefore it is also considered lucky by people who practice the Sikh faith. 

Most race car drivers consider 13 a very unlucky number, as a car carrying that number has never won the Indianapolis 500 or a NASCAR Nextel Cup race, and most all Formula 1 teams opt out of carrying the number 13 when car numbers are given out to teams on basis of points. Only once in recent years (1991, Ricky Johnson) has an AMA Motocross rider chosen #13 instead of #14. Some NASCAR tracks refuse to have a pit stall #13.

The career of Alex Rodriguez has taken a notable turn for the worse since donning the #13 for the New York Yankees. (Frankly, it's because he's playing for the Yankees! Go Sox!)

There is no stall 13 at the Santa Anita Park (horse racing).

Several successful athletes have worn the number 13. 
Dan Marino, an American football player known for passing more yards than any other quarterback in NFL history, wore the number 13. 
Wilt Chamberlain wore the number 13 on his jersey throughout his NBA career. Also, FIBA rules require a player to wear the number in international competitions (only numbers from 4 to 15 could be worn, and as there are 12 players, one must wear 13); Chris Mullin, who wore #20 in college and #17 in the NBA, wore #13 for both (1984 and 1992) of his Olympic appearances. Shaquille O'Neal wore #13 in 1996, Tim Duncan wore #13 in 2004. 
Mats Sundin wears 13 in NHL. 
Alex Rodriguez also wears 13 for the New York Yankees.
Former professional wrestler Tazz used the number 13 in his ring gear, merchandise, and Titantron video, signifying the 13 years he wrestled in the independent circuit and ECW before being signed by WWE.

The number 13 on a Hells Angel's, Ton-Up or other biker patch or tattoo refers to the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, M, which signified a marijuana smoker. 

13, or "X3", is the number of the Mexican street gang Sureños. It refers to the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, M, for Mexico.

The number of original colonies of the United States: 13.

The original flag had 13 stars, one for each state. New stars have since been added whenever a new state joins the union, but the idea of adding stripes for new states was soon dropped, so the American flag to this day has 13 horizontal stripes: 6 white ones and 7 red ones.

The Great Seal of the United States has:
13 levels of the truncated pyramid,
13 letters in "E Pluribus Unum", which appears in the banner running through the eagle's beak on the right side of the bill's reverse.
13 letters in the phrase "Annuit Coeptis", which appears over the pyramid on the left side of the bill's reverse.
13 stars above the Eagle,
13 leaves on the olive branch,
13 olives on the olive branch,
13 arrows held by the Eagle, and
13 bars on the shield.

The number of guns in a gun salute to U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps Major Generals, and Navy and Coast Guard Rear Admirals Upper Half: 13.

The Naval Jack of the United States has 13 stripes, 7 red and 6 white, the rattlesnake has 13 buttons on its rattle, and the motto "Don't Tread on Me" has 13 letters.

Today's birthdays:
William Sadler, Ron Perlman, Lyle Waggoner, Tony Dow, Rick Schroder, Garry Kasparov.

Guy Fawkes, fabled in song and story, was born on this date in 1570.

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743.

James Ensor, a Belgian painter I only know from the They Might be Giants song "Meet James Ensor" , was born April 13, 1860.

Both Madalyn Murray O'Hair and Jack Chick were born on this day, proof that the Universe has a weird sense of humor.

Butch Cassidy was born in 1866! Happy birthday Butch!



Good articles:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/friday_the_13th.htm


And tomorrow, April 14, Sarah Michelle Gellar turns 30. Have fun, kiddo...