[EMAIL PROTECTED] (William J. Foristal) writes:
This is actually only a double whammy because a Lunar Eclipse can only
occur during the full moon. So that counts as only one event and we are
actually 50% luckier than we thought we were. :)
Bill
On Fri, 13 Mar 1998 12:18:41 -0800 Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
>Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
>
>Superstitious? Today's Your Unlucky Day
>
>That's Right It's A Triple Whammy: Full Moon, Lunar Eclipse
>And Friday The 13th
>
>
>WARNING: The superstitious may want to stay inside
>this evening. In a spooky confluence, this Friday the 13th
>coincides with a full moon and a lunar eclipse.
>
>"You put those together and you will have a triple whammy,"
>said Donald Dossey, founder-director of The Phobia Center in
>Asheville, N.C. "It can be just mild anxiety or just a
>nagging sense of doom and the symptoms go up to full bloom
>obsessive behavior. Some people won't even get out of bed."
>
>Nonsense, according to Matt Nisbet, who is part of a group of
>professional skeptics who boldly planned to spend today
>passing out chain letters and throwing them away, walking
>under ladders and smashing a large mirror.
>
>"Our message, in a nutshell, is you have nothing to fear,"
>said Matt Nisbet, whose group publishes the Skeptical
>Inquirer, a magazine dedicated to debunking claims of the
>paranormal, UFOs and psychic predictions. "We advocate
>rational thought based on reason and evidence and logic."
>
>One Friday the 13th, Nisbet's phone
> went dead after he was asked to go
>on the radio to discuss the illogic of fearing the date.
> Still he holds firm.
>
>"Some say that's bad luck, I say it's me having a faulty
>phone," he said.
>
>This morning's eclipse -- known as a "prenumbral eclipse" --
>was hardly noticeable because direct sunlight still reached
>all daytime portions of the moon, unlike in partial or total
>eclipses. But it still could be seen through much of the
>world, from western Asia to North America.
>
>Full moons last appeared on Friday the 13th in February 1987,
>July 1984 and May 1970, said Jack Horkheimer, executive
>director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium.
>
>The unease associated with full moons and Fridays
>the 13th has a long history. Early Christians
>believed worshipers of the Moon-goddess Luna were crazy,
>hence the term "lunatic," said Phillip Stevens Jr., an
>associate professor at the University of Buffalo who studies
>religion and cults.
>
>"The Lunar Effect," a 1978 book by psychiatrist Arnold
>Lieber, claimed the moon influences human "biological tides"
>and contended homicides increased in Miami and Cleveland near
>both the new and full moon.
>
>"There will be a lot of negative energies," said Patricia
>Marks, who has told fortunes from her roadside home in Miami
>for 23 years. "There should be more boating accidents. I
>would stay away from the water because the moon is a dominate
>ruler of water."
>
>The taboo of Friday the 13th arises out of the Christian
>story of the Last Supper, where Jesus Christ was the 13th
>guest among his 12 apostles, the night before the Friday when
>he was crucified, Stevens said.
>
>The ancient Norsemen used 13 knots in their hangman's noose.
>
>[13] In the 19th century, Lloyds of London refused to
>insure any ship sailing on Friday the 13th. The U.S.
>Navy still will not launch a ship on that date.
>
> The ill-fated Apollo 13 space mission was launched at 1:13
>p.m. (13:13 military time) from pad 39 (the third multiple of
>13) and had to be aborted on April 13, 1970.
>
>For years, many hotels and office buildings have not labeled
>a 13th floor.
>
>But Nisbet points out the end of the work week is Friday,
>inspiring the motto of "Thank God It's Friday." A baker's
>dozen is usually a good bargain. The "Friday the 13th" movies
>brought anything but bad luck to their creators. And Dan
>Marino, who has thrown for more yards and touchdowns than any
>quarterback in National Football League history, wears No. 13
>(although he hasn't won the Super Bowl). So relax, but not
>for too long.
>
>On Sunday, as the Soothsayer told Julius Caesar, "beware the
>Ides of March."
>
>
>--
>Two rules in life:
>
>1. Don't tell people everything you know.
>2.
>
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