Tomorrow's Friday the 13th: First of Three in 2009

The first of three Friday the 13ths in 2009 is coming up tomorrow. That's also the day before Valentine's Day. Maybe there's a connection there, but I'll have to think about it.

Since my Valentine's Day Eve musings may not come up with anything, here's some of what I found out about the lore and legend of Friday the 13th:

• "What's so bad about Friday 13th?"
  The Coffs Coast Advocate (Australia) (February 13, 2009)
  • "N 2009 there will be three Friday the 13th's, bad news for the Paraskevidekatriaphobics (people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th) out there.
  • "Fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day.
  • "There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at...."
• "Don't fear back to back Friday the 13th"
  Houston Chronicle (February 12, 2009)
  • "If bad economic news hasn't already shredded your nerves, how about this:
  • "Today is Friday the 13th. And we've got another one next month, the first time we've been hit back to back since 1998. And the 2009 calendar is darkened by yet another one in November.
  • "Worried? Blue?
  • "Don't go there, says Donald Dossey, an expert on stress, superstitions and phobias...."
• "Humor: On Feb, Friday 13, 2009 Unix time Will Be 1234567890"
  nixCraft (February 10, 2009)
  • "Unix time (POSIX time) is a system for describing points in time, defined as the number of seconds elapsed since midnight Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) of January 1, 1970, not counting leap seconds.
  • "At 11:31:30pm UTC on Feb 13, 2009, Unix time will reach 1,234,567,890...."

I'll let you know if I come up with anything about Friday the 13th and Valentine's Day. Don't count on it, though: I think the notion of a connection has something to do with my wondering if my wife's gift will come in time.