Friggatriskaidekaphobia

[CajunCenturion]

I hope everyone has a fearless Friday, the 13th.

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[fumei]

Cool factoid #2 - Sept 13, 1752 never happened.

Except of course for those countries (Russia for example) that did not switch until much later. For them, it was dates as usual and September 13 1752 did happen. Your "cool factoid" is hot and steamingly full of western/Anglo-centricities.

Correct. That was when we changed from The Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar. Cal has the correct dates for September.

As long as "we" (and Cal) ignore other parts of the world.

Gerry

 

[fumei]

I guess I should say that I am not trying to be catty, I just think it is better to be explicit. There may not have been a September 13 1752 in British history, but there WAS a September 13 1752, so stating there was not is incorrect.

Gerry

 

[Annihilannic]

While we're on the subject of dates and policital correctness I noticed an article in Wikipedia recently talking about 36,000 years BP (Before Present). Sacrificing a fixed reference point (BC/AD), no matter how theologically debatable, in favour of a moving target seems ludicrous to me! I vote for Unix time since the epoch... ;-)

Annihilannic
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[CajunCenturion]

Please, let's not let this thread turn into something that is not appropriate for MAI.

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[tcsbiz]

On 7/13/12:

* My work computer crashed.

* A neighbor's ladder fell with him on it. He's OK.

* The mail carrier's delivery truck had a failure in from of my mailbox.

* I saw a black cat at 11:59PM. It walked right in front of me as I sat outside enjoying the summer weather. I know it was 11:59PM as I glanced at my watch.

I am not a superstitious person but it was an interesting day...

I keep trying to do something about my procrastination but I keep putting it off until tomorrow.

 

[MakeItSo]

Although it did not happen on a Friday, let us for a moment remember the "most successful failure in history" and its mind-boggling accumulation of thirteens:

- The 13th Apollo moon mission was launched at 13:13 hours Central time from pad 39.
- The first names of the three astronauts (James, Fred and John) had a total of 13 letters.
- On April 13, an oxygen tank exploded.
- The resulting pressure inside the compartment popped the bolts attaching the 13-foot Sector 4 outer aluminum skin panel.
- Mechanical shock forced the oxygen valves closed on the number 1 and number 3 fuel cells.
- The leaking relief valve caused the oxygen tank contents to leak out into space over the next 130 minutes.

According to unconfirmed rumours the crew had managed to connect the cube-shaped air filter canisters to the lifeboat's cylindrical canister-sockets using the freshly skinned hide of a black cat that had hidden under the entry ladder [citation needed].

Text combined from information gathered at Wikipedia and NPR.



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[kwbMitel]

This is another 13 stat I bring out sometimes:

Argument for 13² being the most perfect square

13² = 169
13² = 12² + 5²
1+6+9 = 4²
1, 16, and 9 are all squares
31² = 961 (this one I find the most interesting)

There are more but they get a little too sketchy in connections. e.g. 3²*4²+5² is just a rehash of 12²+5²

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[2ffat]

According to unconfirmed rumours the crew had managed to connect the cube-shaped air filter canisters to the lifeboat's cylindrical canister-sockets using the freshly skinned hide of a black cat that had hidden under the entry ladder [citation needed].

James P. Cottingham
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

 

[JCreamerII]

Just to dispel the notion, I went to the dentist and I had no bad news!

Jim C.

 

[SamVimes]

Found this thread and thought I would share.

Friday 13th July - The day my tire had a blow out on the motorway.




"I'm worried and confused. So the first rule in the book is to spread it around.

 

[Annihilannic]

Did you manage to get off the road safely?

Annihilannic
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[SamVimes]

Luckily, was just exiting the motorway and the front left tire blew, pulling me in the direction of (and up the slip road) got to the top of the road and stopped in a safe place.

I was only driving for 1 month at this point; not the best experience for a new driver! There was a hole the size of a ping pong ball in the tire.

"I'm worried and confused. So the first rule in the book is to spread it around.

 

[SamBones]

Well, that's what you get for driving on Friday the 13th! What were you thinking?!?

 

[mscallisto]

I've always had the fear of pronouncing Friggatriskaidekaphobia without it sounding like a nasty word.

sam

 

[Olaf Doschke]

SamBonmes,

the greogorian calender repats every 400 years, every inexactness betwen it and the astrological position of earth is accounted for by leap seconds, but they don't affect the statistics for Friday, the 13ths. That is your data on the 800 year interval should have double the counts of your 400 year run, but your 400 years run is incorrect.

For any span of 400 years you should get the following counts:

Sun: 687
Mon: 685
Tue: 685
Wed: 687
Thu: 684
Fri: 688
Sat: 684

I counted this for different periods of each 400 years (1600-1999, 1700-2099, 1613-2012) and always got the same statistic.

This 688 does not differ much from your finding, it is the insignificant higher number of fridays at the 13th than other 13ths. But the point is, the distribution doesn't get even over higher periods, because the calendar repeats, so this distribution is what also repeats and is multiplied, if you take into account 800,1200, etc. years.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

>astrological position
That of course should be the astronomical position.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[SamBones]

I attribute any inaccuracies to the "cal" utility from which I pulled my data. I was just collating what it reported.