Happy Friday the 13th Chickenshits!

I’m all about learning stuff, and sometimes it’s fun to write about something other porn. So on this Friday the 13th, I wanted to find out why everyone is so freaked out by this day. And what better place to learn about crap than Wikipedia. If it’s written, it must be true, right? At least that’s what some porn bloggers think. Anyway, I personally couldn’t give two shits, but then again I have a Jinx Proof tattoo of every “bad luck” symbol known to mankind.

But why are a ton of people are so freaked out about this day? Well, according to that Wikipedia entry, the fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia which is a word derived from the concatenation of the Greek  words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή) (meaning Friday), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς) (meaning thirteen), attached to phobía (φοβία) (meaning fear). The term triskaidekaphobia derives from the Greek words “tris”, meaning ‘three’, “kai”, meaning ‘and’, and “deka”, meaning ‘ten’. the whole word means three and ten. The word was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953.

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, NC, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in America  are affected by a fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. “It’s been estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day”.Despite this, representatives for both Delta and Continental Airlines say that their airlines don’t suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays.

Every year has at least one Friday the 13th. No year has had (or will have) more than three Friday the 13ths. Here are 13 bad things that have happened on a Friday the 13th that I found…

1. Benjamin Franklin writes “Everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes” on Friday, Nov. 13, 1789.
2. One of America’s most loathsome historical figures, Confederate general/slave trader/Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest, is born on Friday, July 13, 1821.
3. Anthony Foss, for reasons known only to himself, patents the accordion on Friday, Jan. 13, 1854.
4. The Andes plane crash that was showcased in the film “Alive” happened on Friday, October 13, 1972
5. Spielplatz, generally considered the first nudist colony, opens in Bricket Wood, England, on Friday, June 13, 1930 giving license to ugly people to parade around naked legally.
6. German bombs damage Buckingham Palace on Friday, Sept. 13, 1940.
7. Annoying actress Didi Conn, yes, fucking Frenchy from “Grease,” was born on Friday, July 13, 1951.
8. A huge south Asian storm is estimated to kill 300,000 people in Chittagong, Bangladesh, and create floods that kill as many as 1 million in the Ganges delta on Friday, Nov. 13, 1970.
9. Hurricane Charley made landfall August 13, 2004 in South Florida.
10. The asteroid 2004 MN4 will make its close encounter on Friday, April 13, 2029. That could be bad. NASA scientists then originally gave it a 1 in 233 of impact on Earth when it was first discovered in 2004. Now the odds are sitting around 1 in 250,000, so maybe we won’t have to worry about Bruce Willis and fucking Affleck saving the world.
11. On November 13, 1970, Cyclone Bhola, the deadliest tropical cyclone in history, descended on Bangladesh, claiming up to 500,000 lives.
12. Fidel Castro was born on Friday, August 13, 1926.
13. The Olsen twins are born on Friday, June 13, 1986.

There was a very  significant event that occurred on November 13th, although we’re not sure of the year so we can’t tell you if it was a Friday or not. “On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison’s wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?”

The bottom line here is that on a Friday the 13th you have the ultimate excuse card to play if the shit hits the fan.  You can always tell yourself that there was nothing you could have done and that it was predestined misery. So live a little and start the weekend right. If you fuck up, you can just say, “Oh well, it’s Friday the 13th.”