You are correct, Sir. Every year MUST have from one to three Friday-the-13ths.
The way I figured it was with a simple computer program that generated a perpetual calendar. Ignoring leap years, once you know the day of the week that Jan 1 falls on, you can compute the DOW of all Fri 13ths for that year. Generate 7 calendars, starting on Sun…Sat, and tally the number of F13ths found for each.
Then run the same routine again, but only for leap years. You will now have 14 possible day/year configurations. Checking the results shows that each one has at least ONE Fri13, some have TWO, and some have THREE, but that’s it.
Something interesting: only months where the first of the month falls on Sunday have Friday 13ths!
Might be a brute-force algorithm, but it works for me. Next I might tackle the Jewish calendar, oy…
I’ve heard that there have been a couple documented cases of autophobia (fear of yourself), but I don’t know how reliable my source is…
Bizarre fears I’ve run across myself – I’ve known at least a couple people who are terrified of balloons. (They both explained that you could never tell when they might pop. Evidently being startled is highly traumatic for them.)
I also once met this chick who was terrified of soap. Most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen. I barely knew her, but wherever we were, she kept asking “does that look like soap to you? Doesn’t it look like it’s foaming???” Whitewater rafting, she was convinced the river was contaminated with Tide. Explaining to her that water foams naturally when it’s very turbulent was useless. Then I ended up living in the same building as her for the entire summer. Every time she cooked, she was convinced that dishsoap residue was leaching off into her cooking water. (I’d given up trying to explain anything by then.)
Chrematophobia- fear of money. Sufferers, rejoice! Relief is at hand! Send all your money to me, in a plain wrapper, and you need never know fear again!
(The above was paraphrased from The Superior Person’s Guide To Words)
I’m creeped out by clowns, and it started when I was little. I vouldn’t figure out why a grown-up would be dressing up, hiding his/her face behind makeup, and pretending to be a little kid. It seemed sinister.
I have a fear of my belly button, or anyone elses. Most specifically, of anything entering or exiting through it. I know it can’t really happen, but that doesn’t make me less nervous about it. I was watching David Letterman about a week ago, and the Stupid People Tricks segment, and a guy said he’d open a beer bottle with his bellybutton. I turned away, but glanced back too soon - they were showing a replay - and I seriously sceamed and was shaking for a good 15 minutes! It’s just so CREEPY!!!
I also hate anything touching my knees. Kneecaps creep my out - the idea of them moving, or becoming damaged scares me.
I have no reason that I know of to be afraid of either of these things.
mnemosyne, may nothing bad ever happen to your kneecaps. I dislocated my knee a year and a half ago and I still have problems with it. I figure I’m singlehandedly supporting the Tensor company.
Oh, yeah, to creep you out even more, (maybe)(:D) a few dance classes ago we were trying to undulate so quarters would slide down our tummies and into our abdomens. It was for practicing muscle control.
I am afraid of the large crowds at Wal-Mart. Large crowds at other places don’t bother me as much, but I loathe all the people coming at me every time I get to the end of an aisle at Wal-Mart. It is truly scary. I go about 3 times a year, and always alone, because I have left in the middle of the excursion. It is extremely difficult for me to go there. Malls don’t bother me but I hate Wal-Mart. I guess because you can never go when it isn’t busy. Wal-Mart is truly a scary experience indeed. Is there anyone who knows a name for this fear?
You can go to Wal-Mart at about 2 a.m., it’s pretty dead about that time.
Does anyone remember the episode of The Tom Green Show where Tom dumps a bunch of pennies on his friend Glen because Glen is scared of pennies? I didnt particularly like that show but this thread just reminded me of it.
What’s the word for fear of topiaries? Probably Zorkophobia, because that’s exactly where mine comes from. I hate the thought that I’m in a garden around midnight and I get eaten because I was looking out for the tigers and the tiger-shaped topiary came to life and ate me.
