Anti-Science

Friday! THE THIRTEENTH!

Today, as if you didn’t know, is Friday the 13th. Everyone knows that this is an extremely unlucky day. The previous one was back in January, and while I can’t recall exactly what happened that day, I’m sure it was full of perils and death!

To prove the evil that is today, I’d just like to take a quick look at key memories I have about the past 9 months of non-13th days and compare them with how my morning has gone thus far.

Non-Friday the 13th Days (no particular order):

Hurt my back playing football

Dissolved relationship, multiple times

Fell off bike, multiple times

Locked out of apartment, multiple times

Lost hostel reservation in Paris at 3am, slept in car

Accosted by scary Parisian pervert

Missed plane, stranded in London

Found a dead mouse in the apartment

Bathroom ceiling caved in, forced to move

Drank too much and threw up, multiple times

Couldn’t get phone/DSL to work at new apartment

Hit forehead on pointy corner in the new shower. Multiple times.

Today:

Made some toast for breakfast

Big project due at work got extended a few more days

Ate some peanut butter out of a jar with a spoon

Planning to receive free chips and beer later at work (to be fair, this occurs every Friday)

So there you have it. Conclusive proof that Friday the 13th is . . . well, sort of boring, actually. But at least it’s not as bad as the other 363 days of the year.

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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14 Comments

  1. Hmm…should I admit that I read that earlier sentence as "I’m sure it was full of penis and death!" ? It's times like this you want anonymous posting… (although I'm sure that would have been an interesting day…)

    Quick! A distraction! Here're some Friday the 13th Zombies!

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/0,2106,…

  2. Hmm, well the burn on my hand is blistering really badly today, does that count? Though honestly, I think Tuesday, when I got the burn, would still have to be worse.

  3. I'm fine!!! I feel let down that I didn't have any crazy Friday 13th adventure. Maybe to increase the chances of a crazy Friday 13th adventure we could introduce days numbers modulo 13. There'd be about 28 13ths, rather than the usual 12. Still only 52 Fridays though. It may get a bit confusing. So maybe there could be double the number of months. But half the size. Nah. Bad idea. Don't think about numbers post midnight Saturday. It's unlucky. It'd do wonders for the Friday 13th movie franchise.

  4. I totally field-goal kicked a black cat under a ladder into a giant mirror. And I'm fine. This anti-triskaidekism is so ridiculous. There's nothing unlucky about Friday the 13th.

    Now, astrology, there's a sound science.

  5. Every time I go to the pictures and see theres no number 13 theatre (as in it goes 11, 12, 14, 15….), I weep a little inside.

  6. I actually live on the thirteenth floor of my building, and it's actually called that. But there is one stupid way in which the designers of the building did succumb to the superstition. You see, in our building, the elevators only stop between pairs of floors (for some stupid cheap reason). So, by the buttons on the elevator are the numbers for each floor. Each, that is, except the thirteenth. Only the twelfth floor is noted by the button. This has to be the stupidest exercise of superstition I've ever seen.

  7. Durng my time at university, I was in house 13. I was in room 16, but the guy who was in room 13 (yes, there was one and it was numbered as such) once, when he came back from having a shower, FOUND HE WAS LOCKED OUT! Proof, if ever it was needed, that 13 is unlucky. Explain THAT.

  8. It should have been really bad day for you call because as someone(moron) pointed out in the local paper 10/13/2006 -> 1 + 1 + 3 + 2 + 6 = 13. Double trouble.

    Can anyone confirm the continued existance of Rebecca? She hasn't posted since Friday.

  9. But I though with numerology you were meant to keep adding until you got to a single digit? So really the number is 4 which doesn't seem ominous (but I can't really say for sure since this exhausts my knowledge of the subject).

    I like the 13th – one of them is my birthday and another is my husband's birthday.

  10. Rebecca hasn't posted… Phil (Bad Astronomer) hasn't posted… draw what conclusions you will…

  11. Either something terrible happened or something terrible will happen when Mrs. BA finds out. ;)

  12. >Dissolved relationship, multiple times

    >Drank too much and threw up, multiple times

    >Hit forehead on pointy corner in the new shower. Multiple times.

    And three months of the year left to go … How unlike the home

    life of our own dear Queen.

  13. You know, the superstitious never bother to explain where all the luck that people lose by seeing a black cat, walking under a ladder, waking up on Friday the 13th, goes to? It has to end up somewhere? It can't just disappear?

    I think it ends up going to the non-supserstitious, which is why only superstitious people appear to be the target of so much bad luck …

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