13 is Today's Number

Charlie Brown, Charles M. Schulz

It was fun compiling interesting facts about the number 7 when it fell on July 7 last week.
Now, a week later, there was another interesting number for the same mont  — Friday the 13th is today.

Here's how many Friday the 13ths there are from 2010 - 2020. There was 1 in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016. There was/will be 2 in 2017 through 2020. There were 3 in 2012 and 2015. 

Fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia and also friggatriskaidekaphobia. I don't know who came up with these names. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13. I don't know who came up with these names.

Some Interesting/Unusual Stuff About the Number 13 . . .

• The first mention of the day was found in a biography of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, who died on Friday the 13th.
• The number 13 is a prime number, which means it cannot be divided by any number other than itself.
• At the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, there were 13 at the table, Christ and 12 apostles. One of the 13 there, Judas Iscariot, later betrayed Christ.
• Many hotels and tall buildings skip the 13th floor and go to 14. A lot of hospitals have no room 13. Some airline terminals omit Gate 13. 
• There is no row 13 in planes. (Some Lufthansa airliners also skip row 17. Lufthansa cites superstitions about 17 in both Italy and Brazil as the reason for the omission. Yet the airlines Alitalia (Italy) and Varig (Brazil) have a row 17 on their planes.)
• Several powerful leaders have feared the number 13. President FDR didn't travel on the 13th day of any month and wouldn't host 13 dinner guests. Napoleon and President Herbert Hoover also feared the number 13.
• Mark Twain was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. Later Twain said it was bad luck as "They only had food for 12." 
• Composer Richard Wagner wrote 13 operas.  He  was banned from Germany for political reasons for 13 years and died on February 13, 1883. His name contained 13 letters. 
• Microsoft has Office version 14 after version 12, there's no 13.
• Formula 1 racing has no car with the number 13.
• Apollo 13 was an unsuccessful launch at 13:13 on 4/11/70. It was crippled by an explosion on 4/13.
• An assembly of witches is called a coven consisting of 13 witches.
• Age 13 is transitional for children; it's when they officially become teenagers.
• The US flag has 13 stripes representing the union of 13 colonies to fight British rule. The 13 colonies became the first 13 USA states.
• There are 13 baked goods in a baker’s dozen. 
• A standard 52-card deck of cards has four suits of 13.
• Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise with 12 slasher movies, a TV show, novels, comics, video games and associated merchandise. The franchise focuses on a fictional character, Jason Voorhees, who as a boy drowned at a summer camp.
• Well-known personalities born on Friday the 13th include: Butch Cassidy, Alfred Hitchcock, Margaret Thatcher, Fidel Castro, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Marco Andretti.

Internet source

If you plan a dinner gathering at the Savoy Hotel in London, England and book a table for 13, the table is set for 14. The 14th place is occupied by the sculpture of a black cat. Here's why: in 1898 Woolf Joel, a South African mining magnate, hosted a dinner at the hotel, a cancellation left 13 at the table. There was talk that the first to leave would have bad luck. Joel, who believed it was nonsense talk left, and was killed upon returning to Johannesburg.

Afterwards, the hotel opted not to allow 13 dinner guests. In 1927, designer Basil Ionides sculpted a wooden black cat and named it Kaspar. It occupies the 14th dinner chair, a napkin around its neck. Winston Churchill reportedly was fond of Kaspar and seated the sculpture at his table no matter how may guests were dining.

These lists are far from complete — you can add more in a comment below.

Snoopy & Woodstock, Charles M. Schulz

Wishing all a lucky day today and always

Enjoy your weekend, Everyone.