Pete's BLOG-Day 26,355. The number 13 - Be prepared.

Today is Monday, January 14, 2013. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes of lifting weights and 55 minutes of walking = 3.0 miles for a Jauuary total of 28.5 miles. My weight was 162.6 pounds.

QUOTE from Charles M. Schulz: "Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use."

My THOUGHTS today: This year of the 21st century ends in the number 13. The Sunday paper had an interesting article about the number 13. The title was: "PROCEED WITH CAUTION -Will we survive the entire year of '13?"
Fear of the number13 is called triskaidekaphobia. National Geographic once estimated that on Friday the 13th the economy loses more than $800 million from consumers avoiding travel, movies, dinner, weddings, and more. You have to wonder: How much more will be lost in a whole year branded with the number 13? The biggest problem this year will be in September and December, months harboring the year's most ominous dates - Friday the 13th, 2013. The author said that on Friday the 13th some people won't even get out of bed. He went on to say that even when nothing happens some people will still believe the same old thing about Friday the 13th the next time. It is so big a big fear that hundreds of hotels and office buildings choose not to have a 13th floor; hundreds of airports don't have a Gate 13; and developers bypass 13 when numbering new homes. Fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekaphobia.
Where did this fear of 13 come from? Researchers hypothesize as follows:
-Jesus had 13 people at the Last Supper and he was crucified on a Friday.
-In Norse mythology Loki, the 13th guest at a dinner party, had Balder the Beautiful shot with a mistletotipped arrow, plungung Earth into darkness.
-In 1772 B.C. in Babylon, Hammurabi's Code of Laws omitted the number 13 in its list of laws.
-Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Jack the Ripper had 13 letters in their names.
-And did something happen 100 years ago in 1913 that was really terrible/bad? Well, you decide - on February 3, 1913, the states ratified the 16th amendment to the Constitution, giving the government the power to impose and collect income taxes!!.
MAYBE THERE IS SOMETHING TO THE NUMBER 13.

HUMOR for today: Grandmothers are just antique little girls and Grandfathers are just antique little boys.