There is no year without one Friday the 13th, and no year with more than three. This day is considered the unluckiest of days in many superstitions, unless you were born on Friday the 13th, in which case it is your lucky day. “Friggatriskaidekaphobia” is the fear of Friday the 13th. Some people don’t like the number 13, whether it’s a Friday or not. The fear of the number 13 is called “triskaidekaphobia.” Quite a few skyscrapers and hotels do not have a 13th floor (or a room 13, for that matter), and many buildings substitute 12 1/2 for 13 in their addresses. Winston Churchill wouldn’t travel on Friday the 13th, considering it too unlucky.” Discover more fun and freaky facts about Friday the 13th!
Question of the Day
When was the planet Uranus discovered and by whom?
The seventh planet from the sun was discovered by William Herschel in 1781.
Advice of the Day
Harvest and tie up small bundles of dried, woody-stemmed herbs like bay, lavendar, or rosemary to scent your evening fires.
Home Hint of the Day
It can take years for new cedar shingles to weather to match the color of old ones. To make them blend in at once, mix up a solution of 1 pound of baking soda and 1/2 gallon of water. Brush onto the new shingles, and they’ll turn gray in a few hours.
Word of the Day
Vanishing Tide
A mixed tide of considerable inequality in the two highs and two lows, so that the lower high (or higher low) may become indistinct or appear to vanish.
Puzzle of the Day
Emblem of majesty am I, which “shows force of temporal power,” but twist me about and I become a thing which makes even monarchs cower. (What word fits the first clue, but when rearranged, fits the second?)
Scepter - specter
Born
Oliver Evans(inventor)–
Clara Schumann(pianist & composer)–
Milton Hershey(founder of Hershey Chocolate Company)–
Adolf Meyer(psychiatrist)–
Sherwood Anderson(writer)–
Leland Hayward(producer)–
Claudette Colbert(actress)–
Horace Babcock(astronomer)–
Roald Dahl(author)–
Else Holmelund Minarik(children’s author; Little Bear” series”)–
Mel Torme(singer)–
Jacqueline Bisset(actress)–
Peter Cetera(musician)–
Nell Carter(actress & singer)–
Anne Geddes(photographer)–
Michael Johnson(Olympic athlete)–
Tyler Perry(actor and screenwriter)–
Stella McCartney(fashion designer)–
Fiona Apple(singer)–
Ben Savage(actor)–
Died
John Barry(commodore, father of the American navy)–
Richard Merrell(television writer & actor)–
George Wallace(politician)–
Dorothy McGuire(actress)–
Dilhan Eryurt(Turkish astrophysicist)–
Frank Vincent(actor)–
Eddie Money(singer)–
Events
Halford Mackinder’s team became the first Europeans to summit Mount Kenya–
Henry Bliss walked off a trolley and was hit by a speeding driver. The following day when he died from his injuries, he became the first pedestrian to be killed by an automobile–
The Chocolate Soldier opened in N.Y.C.–
Chiang Kai-shek became president of China–
Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress–
IBM introduced the first computer with a disk storage system–
A protester dressed as Batman scaled the front wall of Buckingham Palace–
Weather
Frost hit Albany, New York, ending the shortest growing season ever–
