This week an appropriate Friday fun: facts and jokes about Friday the 13th

Whether it's avoiding black cats, whistling past graveyards, or taking extra precautions on a Friday the thirteenth, there are some people out there who are of such a superstitious bent that they take such things seriously, sometimes even to the degree that they alter their daily routines with rituals or avoidances to accommodate them.

So when a Friday the thirteenth rolls around, it's a safe bet that these folks will be on high alert to do the things that they feel will assist them in escaping the consequences of not paying proper attention to the supposed (by some) dark powers of that fateful day.

And when a Friday the thirteenth occurs near Halloween, as it does this year, does that make it even more ominous?

Well, be that as it may, for the rest of us there is likely some fun in learning some of the facts about the day, and its place in our culture.

Some fun stuff about Friday the 13th, gathered from various websites:

ORIGIN:

The origin of fears surrounding Friday the 13th is unclear. There is reportedly no written evidence of Friday the 13th superstition before the 19th century, but superstitions surrounding the number 13 date back to at least 1700 BC. In the ancient Babylon Code of Hammurabi, dating to about 1772 BC, the number 13 is omitted in the list of laws

TRADITIONAL BELIEFS:

Thirteen guests were at the Last Supper.

The day Adam and Eve ate the apple, as well as the day Cain slew Abel.

The day Noah's ark set sail

The day the Temple of Solomon fell.

There has also been a longstanding myth that if 13 people dine together, one will die within a year. The myth comes from both the Last Supper, when Jesus dined with the 12 Apostles prior to his death, and a popular Norse myth, in which 11 close friends of the god Odin dine together, only to have the 12-person party crashed by a 13th person, Loki, the god of evil and turmoil.

FACTS:

Three is the the maximum number of Friday the 13ths that can occur during a calendar year. There will be at least one Friday the thirteenth in every year.

Being afraid of Friday the 13th is technically called friggatriskaidekaphobia.

In the U.S., an estimated 17 to 21 million people suffer from a fear of Friday the 13th.

The number 13 has always been seen as an outlier. For example, there are 12 months of the year, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 hours of the clock, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 Apostles of Jesus, 12 Descendants of Muhammad Imams, among many incidences of the pattern historically. But the feeling developed over the centuries that there was something "wrong" with 13.

Thirteen is so disliked that many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue, many high-rise buildings avoid having a 13th floor, some hospitals avoid labeling rooms with the number 13 and many airports will not have a gate 13. (Makes me wonder if there have been some superstitious patients who have refused to stay in a hospital's room 13).

Wall Street has fostered a fear of Friday the 13th for decades. On October 13, 1989, for example, Wall Street saw what was at the time the second largest drop of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in history. The day was nicknamed the Friday-the-13th-mini-crash.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was especially superstitious of the number 13, avoiding 13 guests at meals and not traveling on the 13th day of any month.

The heavy metal band Black Sabbath released an album on Friday, February 13, 1970.

HOWEVER,

Many studies have been conducted to investigate the risk of accidents on Friday the 13th. According to research completed at the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) in 2008, there were " ... fewer accidents and reports of theft or fire on Friday the 13th than on other Fridays ... (possibly because) people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th, CVS statistician Alex Hoen told the Verzekerd insurance magazine ... According to a 1993 study in the British Medical Journal, however, there is a significant level of traffic-related incidences on Friday the 13th as opposed to a random day, such as Friday the 6th, in the UK ... (and) The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52%. Staying at home is recommended, the report concluded."

JOKES:

Which pasta dish do Italians avoid on Friday the 13th? Fettuccini Afraid-o.

Why was Fright Day the 13th a happy day? Because no one was struck by lightning on Thor's Day the 12th!

I'm not superstitious about Friday the 13th. Just a little stitious.

In an effort to avoid trouble on Friday the 13th, John stayed at home. And he ended up breaking a mirror.

With today being Friday the 13th, I just wanted to let you know that I don't believe in superstitions. I'm an Aquarius, and that's not in our trait profile.

What's a scary thing to sing on Friday the 13th? “Voorhees a jolly good fellow. Voorhees a jolly good fellow.” (In reference to the film series "Friday the 13th" if you don't get it)

Where's the scariest place in California on Friday the 13th? Mali-boo.

Well, anyway, here's to a safe and lucky Friday the 13th for everyone! (Hmmm ... if I'm not superstitious, why did I just say that?)

Yes, crows are very intelligent birds! I know from personal observations of them that I have made while watching them frequent the bird pole feeder and concrete birdbath in my yard.

There's a flock of six of them that fly into my yard on a random basis. Large, sleek, black shiny bodies, yellow beaks and feet. I identified them as American crows, from a birder book kindly given to me not long ago.

Here are three instances I saw of just how smart they showed themselves to be.

First, they are very observant. If I would walk out into the yard when they were around, and I was carrying nothing, they would just stare at me. But if I walked out carrying the small clear-plastic seed bottle, full of seeds to replenish the pole feeder, and it's not that big a bottle, they would have to look carefully to see it, they would all let out a CAW! CAW! CAW! announcing that it was lunchtime!

I then noticed another time a remarkable group-intelligence they have. I had noticed for some time that whenever they would fly down to the ground to eat the seeds I had just sprinkled out for therm, there would be one of them who would remain behind on a branch of the large tree over the area, sitting there and watching the others eat.

At first I thought "Well, that's odd, but maybe he isn't hungry." But then I would see, after a while, one of the others on the ground fly up to the branch, land, and then the one that had been there would fly down to the ground and begin eating.

Then it hit me what they were doing. They were posting a sentinel, a guard, to watch for danger, such as a neighborhood housecat on the prowl, and if he were to see one, he would CAW! CAW! CAW! and all the others would fly off! How they were communicating when to change sentinels I don't know, but they were doing it. I later read in the birder book that they do indeed do this.

But the most impressive example came one day when, in effect, one of the crows was actually smarter, or at least more observant, than I was.

I have a regular routine that I run through when it's time to do it:

1. go to area with bird seed bottle and bottle of fresh water
2. add bird seed to feeder and sprinkle some on ground
3. change birdbath water
4. leave area.

Well, one day I went out to the area to perform these steps, in that order, as usual. One of the crows was watching me as I went through the above steps.

However, I was distracted that day, thinking of other things to be doing, and I put out the seeds and then started to walk away.

Then the crow went CAW! CAW! CAW!

I looked around at him and actually said "What's your problem, fella?" But then I looked and saw the still full water bottle sitting at the base of the birdbath, and realized that I had forgotten to change the birdbath water! The crow had caught that, and was cawing to me, saying, in effect, "Hey, big guy, change the water like you usually do!"

So crows are indeed pretty smart, and can show it!