Base ten and dozens of eggs.

[enipla]

Hah. Good one dropzone.

I have a ruler on my desk. Circa 1972. 13" long. It’s a promotional thing.

We sold mobile homes.

It says —

“Lucky 13! Get a bakers dozen in: Quality, Value, Service…”

Yeah, we sold the business.

[RM_Mentock]

@Mathochist

A lot of our numbering systems are based on 12s (seconds per minute, degree measure, etc), and most of those go back to Sumeria or Babylon. My own take on why that is: 12 is the first abundant number

@Mathochist

=12*5.

but 12*5 is not abundant

[RM_Mentock]

O of course it is. Sorry about that

[Mathochist]

@RM Mentock

but 12*5 is not abundant

I didn’t say it was (though it’s very much so). My point is that 60 and 360 are multiples of 12, so a culture that likes 12s will like them too.

[MaceMan]

@SiXSwordS

Maybe I misunderstood this post. I checked the WIKI article and found nothing about the thirteenth item being for Satan. I would think people would want to avoid thirteen items if they were superstitious.

Yes, I didn’t mean to imply that my anecdotal info was in Wikipedia. I was only trying to link to a more authoritative source. However, I’m surprised I’m the only one who has heard this?

[MaceMan]

I found some sites about the legend of a baker’s dozen: this one seems to indicate that it may have originated in upstate NY, where I’m from. And this one includes the following:

For suspicious customers afraid of evil forces, the baker added an extra loaf as ‘protection money’, giving rise to the sayings ‘Twelve for the baker and one for the Devil’ and ‘Baker’s Dozen’.

I’d love to find out if any others are familiar with this saying. I can’t remember where I first heard it.

[dropzone]

@ggurl

dropzome, we liked all your urban legends! Lol

(perplexed look) What urban legend? I have a friend who says that Duncan Baker was his first cousin twice removed’s father in law. That chain of evidence is good enough for me.