Today is April 13, 2007... and a Friday.  "Friday the thirteenth" usually brings a well-isn't-that-quaint smile to my face.  Personally I don't believe in bad luck, but I find it interesting that the confluence of two separate beliefs (one that Fridays are bad luck, and two that 13 is bad luck) creates a heightened sense of misfortune on Fridays numbered 13.

Personally I love the number 13.  It's a prime of course, and also a reversible prime, i.e. 13 is is prime and so is 31.  Its multiples pop up in a number of interesting places.  The english alphabet is 26 letters long, that's 2x13.  There are 52 weeks in a year, that's 4x13.  52 playing cards in a standard deck, and so forth.

Today I read a story I hadn't heard before about Friday the 13'th on tridecaphobia.com, I can't vouch for its veracity though:

...The modern basis for the Friday the 13th superstition stems from Friday October the 13th, 1307. On this date, the Pope of the church in Rome in Conjunction with the King of France, carried out a secret death warrant against "the Knights Templar". The Templars were terminated as heretics, never again to hold the power that they had held for so long. There Grand Master, Jacques DeMolay, was arrested and before he was killed, was tortured and crucified. A Black Friday indeed!...

Interesting.