The proof of the pudding does not effect your statuary rights

[robinbloke]

Numbers make the world go round¹, and the number thirteen is of particular note for it's unluckiness.
Now, I'm not sure if it got kicked as a kid or kept falling off of walls or something, but whatever thirteen got up to it's left a legacy of reference to it that means it's been tarred and feathered with the mark of bad karma, luck or pot noodles - take your pick.
Friday the 13^th thanks to a certain film franchise is itself seen as particularly bad, but why? Ignoring the hapless victimisation of thirteen for a moment (give the poor thing a rest you heartless brutes) lets instead vent our hokey superstition at the days of the week; now Friday, if anything, should be the day for saying "Huzah" as the weekly grind ends and the weekend looms inviting before us like a giant chocolate cake.
Mmmmm chocolate.
But Why Monday? I say Wednesday 13^th (Incidentally, yesterday, oooOOOOOooooo²) should be the nasty day of the week, well, the hokey ultra bad day anyway.
"But Why?" You say. (I have borrowed one of those alien mind control devices and can read your brain and no, you do not need another cup of coffee)
"Well now," I reply conversationally, whilst leaning against a wall in a casual manner and lifting a cigarillo holder to my mouth for effect as much as anything else, "you see Monday, the traditionally considered day of badness is not altogether so bad?"
"Why is this?"
"Well, let us first abandon this quasi conversation style and I will tell you."
"Sure."

Monday you see, still has something going for it, bare with me here, Monday has the memories of the past weekend to prop you up, the possibility of jawing with co-workers about this film, that football match or that vat of custard you finally got to swim in.
So Monday itself isn't that bad, I think.
Now, Tuesday, Tuesday still has a vague hint of Monday to it, you can still drag up a bit of conversation but by the time you've reached Wednesday you're equidistant from both prior and coming weekends and the mid-week malaise has set in like a three inch icing on a stale old cake.

Thus Wednesday should be the day of doom and despair, not Friday, let Friday rejoice for today we poke Wednesday with sticks and waggle our fingers at it from our ears in comedy fashion.





1 Actually, current best guess is a heady cocktail of mass, inertia, gravity, dark matter and alien mind control devices, but that's no way near catchy enough.
2 Spooky noises licensed by an authorised dealer.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stormknight_/]

Of course, the vikings thought that the number 13 was EXTRA lucky! They loved it. I'm with them - of all the prime numbers that cross my path, on a semi-regular basis, it's my favourite.

Then again, I like walking under ladders and dropping salt on the floor ....

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

The number 13 has been considered unlucky since the Sumerians, who used a base-12 system of counting. They would count on their fingers counting each joint with their thumb allowing them to count to 12 with one hand. having thirteen of something, forcing you to go onto your 'unlucky' left hand, was considered a sign of misfortune.

Strange but true.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Well, thats a reason for 13 being unlucky that I hadn't heard before!

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

You're just goading fate by poking it with a stick, aren't you?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stormknight_/]

A fairly blunt stick, but if you use it consistently and without prejudice, I'm certain that fate just gets used to it.

Last accident I saw involving someone walking under a ladder was a woman who was talking on her mobile then realised she was just about to walk under the ladder of a guy who was window cleaning. She stopped suddenly and the big fat construction worker guy behind her, eating his McDonalds, walked straight through her, sending her flying.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Heh, now thats somewhat comical :)

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

Another reason, why it has also survived into Christian dominated cultures as an unlucky number is that Judas was the 13th- Jesus + 12 apostles = 13, of which 12 were good (well, 11 good, 1 God...) and Judas was AAAAAARRRGHH- TRAITOR...

Friday, of course, was the day when Jesus got nailed to a tree

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Yep, but conversely if Judas hadn't betrayed Jesus he wouldn't have got crucified and we'd have never had been saved, in the Christian sense of the word.

So what does this teach us about Traitors, well, apart from the fact they then go mad and hang themselves?

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't get me wrong- I'm not one of those who believe that Judas is eternally sizzling on Lucifer's giant Barbecue. He did indeed have a vital role to play, and without his betrayal Jesus would not have been crucified at that point in time. Add to this that it was already foretold that the messiah would be betrayed by one of his friends, Judas never really had a chance.

Furthermore, of course, it was Jesus who picked him- which means that, as Jesus is God, God is omniscient & all powerful etc., and the prophecy needs to be fulfilled, not only did Judas have no choice in the matter (unless he wanted to dash God's plans and was actually able to do so, in which case God would no longer be all powerful...), but he was also selected by Jesus in the full knowledge that he would betray him, and not only that, but the reason that he did have to betray him was to fulfill the prophecy given to some prophet by Guess-who at some point earlier ("Here's one I prepared earlier..."), who thereby determined that in the future Jesus would select someone who would then have to betray him and.....


Well, if you bring logic into it, then we must just accept that God's ways are mysterious, or something.

Alternatively, the far more logical explanation of the above is simply that God does not like the number 13 and for that reason the above storyline was concocted, so that a popular superstition would arise that 13 is an unlucky number.


So what does this teach us about Traitors, well, apart from the fact they then go mad and hang themselves?
Depends on which account you read- in one account he hangs himself (as picked up by St Andrew of Lloyd-Webber in his gripping and entirely historical account "Jesus Christ Superstar") in another account he buys a field with the 30 silver pieces, and while ploughing it stumbles, lands on the plough and has his guts spilling on to the field, thereby fulfilling yet another prophecy

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Then again you can get into some pretty tangly theological debates regarding all-powerfulness and free will, as Jesus, being as part of the whole triumvirate (but still monotheistic, of course) of God knew what Judas would do, as God is all knowing, but that kind of puts a cramper on poor old Judas having any of this much vaulted free will we're all meant to have in the first place....

...lands on the plough and has his guts spilling on to the field

Indeed, either way, he's not having a fine time, and despite Jesus forgiving those who have lynched and had him nailed up when he is crucified Judas seems to have slipped past this particular forgiveness despite his important role in this whole proceeding.

Or you could just conclude from this from another much earlier Bible story that God really doesn't like farmers.

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

Judas seems to have slipped past this particular forgiveness

I disagree- at the last supper, Jesus clearly knows and tells his disciples "one of you is going to betray me". They all ask him "is it me? etc." and he tells Judas that yes, it is him. Nevertheless, at the last supper he does not say take this and eat it my eleven loyal followers, and as for YOU Judas, hop it, he breaks bread & drinks the wine with all of them. Similarly, it is made clear that he dies for the forgiveness of sins of mankind, not just a select few (one of the reasons I get so irritated by fundamentalists...), which clearly must include Judas.

The fact that Judas dies in a rather messy way, should not be seen to indicate that he is not forgiven. Jesus comes to a pretty sticky end himself, and if one were to say that those who suffer in this life must have done something wrong and are being punished by God, then we have a tricky theological point that just doesn't hold water.

Or you could just conclude from this from another much earlier Bible story that God really doesn't like farmers.
Well, Cain springs to mind, as does Job...

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Good point on the forgiveness, then again my bible studies have been somewhat lacking for the past few decades...

Cain was indeed who I was referring to, I mean with the inference that some people manage to drag from the Bible about much more obscure things you could take this to mean that God hates Vegetarians...

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

YES

[nina321.livejournal.com]

I was told by a book that Friday the 13th, specifically, was deemed unlucky because some knights who were protecting something were due to meet somewhere, or something, and then news got out saying they were bad knights, when they really weren't, and they got attacked and a bunch of them died, and they weren't bad knights. Unlucky.
So yeah, that's what the book told me, and I BELIEVE IT!

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Well you've posted it on the net now, so it must be true!