Religious signs

On March, 30th I went to throw my waste paper in the containers a couple of streets from here. Next to them was a big bag. I was curious and peeked inside. Inside were several dishes and a statue. I hesitated for a short moment and then I took the statue and took it home with me. It's about 21.5 cm (about 8.5 in) and weighs a tidy 1.3 kg (about 2.9 lb). No idea who would dispose of something like that. I would suppose that a religious relative died and the other relatives didn't have any use for such a figure and didn't know how to get rid of it in another way or didn't want to sell it. Strange though that this figure was dumped so shortly before Easter. What a timing!

Yesterday I went outside for a short time, walked our street and saw something round, golden and shiny on the sidewalk. I bent down to pick it up, believing it was one of the coins we have for shopping trolleys, although it obviously has a small hook, which those coins usually don't have. When I turned this thing around in my hand, I was baffled. It wasn't a coin, but a religious pendant. Fairly solid, too. I can't bend it. It's not a cheap toy. I put it on my keychain and wondered, why I found such religious things twice in such a short period of time. Me of all people.

I think, I'll hold on to both for a while, until I decided on what to do with them. Sell online?

Friday, 13th

When I was studying inclusive education ages ago, I made one part of an exam as a presentation about phobias, which is a fear that's often very strong and limiting and often tied to specific situations. My presentation also was about how to cure phobias.

Very fitting for this day today there actually is a term for people with the fear of the number 13. Such a fear is called triskaidekaphobia (from the Greek τρεισκαίδεκα, treiskaídeka = thirteen). There are actually places where there are only 12 floors of a building or they skipped the 13^th floor and the buttons on an elevator only shows floor 12 followed by 14.

There is also paraskevidekatriaphobia (from Latin parasceuē or Greek αρασκευή, parascēves = Friday), the fear of Friday, 13^th. Movies like the series of horror movies “Friday, 13th” certainly don't help with that fear.

Fun fact: The fear of long words, maybe like the two phobias mentioned above, is called hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. A made-up word from the wrong spelling of the English “hippopotamus”, the Latin “monstrum” (unusually large; monster), the Latin “sesqui” (= a foot and a half) and “pedal” from Latin “pedālis” (= the foot or part belonging to the foot). One and a half foot probably a figurative way of describing the length of the word. Actually in German the part “sesquipedalio” is spelled with 2 “p”: “sesquippedalio”. Probably a misspelling and through copy and paste people just spread it on.

Jews maybe don't understand such fears very much. Saturday is Shabbat for them, meaning their day of rest at the end of the week. They start celebrating that starting Friday evening. Also Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish coming of age ritual, is typically celebrated on the Shabbat after the boy has had his 13^th birthday. The Bat Mitzvah for girls is celebrated when they're 12 years old.

The Good Friday on the other hand is not really a good day for Christians, since it's the day of the crucifixion of Jesus. Even the economy, which could otherwise probably be called fairly rational, called several bad days “Black Friday”, either specific days of an economy crisis or stock market crash.

Thirteen by itself is often considered as not a good number. Jesus had 12 apostles. The day and the night are structured in 12 hours. The year has 12 months. So thirteen is often considered as “the devil's dozen”. Looking at it from a mathematical point of view, 13 is a prime number. Which means a whole number greater than 1 that cannot be made by multiplying other whole numbers.

These are only a few examples and possible explanations why specifically Friday, 13^th is considered to be such a bad day. Although you can find studies on the internet from insurance companies for example that show that statistically there are no more accidents (material damage or damage to persons) on a Friday, 13^th. The reason could possibly be though, because some are actually so scared of this specific day that they take that day off work and stay home, much like others who reportedly plan their holiday in such a way that they don't go on a Friday, 13^th.

I myself learned from a fairly young age that Friday, 13^th is a normal day and not necessarily something bad will happen on that day. In primary school I was part of the recorder group and once we rehearsed for a play on the supposedly bad day. The rehearsal when without anything bad happening.

When I was studying however there was something funny when one of our professors said good-bye to us on the last lesson before the exam telling us that we'll see each other again on Friday, 13^th for the exam. Cries of shock broke out in class then. Obviously we all knew somehow that the exams would be on a Friday and also that we had exams on the 13^th. But those two bad days were not in our heads together as Friday, 13^th, until the professor said his good-bye!

Fun facts:

1. Each year there is at least 1, but no more than 3 Fridays on the 13^th of a month!
2. If the year is no leap-year and February has a Friday, 13^th, so will March and November!
3. The shortest interval between 2 Friday, 13^th is exactly 4 weeks! Namely when fun fact number 1 applies with the days between February and March, since February only has 28 days.
4. The longest interval between 2 Friday, 13^th is exactly 61 days or 14 months! That's when the day is in August. Then the next bad day is only in October the following year. Or if the day is in June with the next Friday, 13^th only being in September the following year.

How is Friday, 13^th for you? Did something bad happen to you on this day? Or did actually something good happen to you on such a day? Do you think about this date or is it just a normal day like any other for you?

Happy Friday, 13^th everyone!

M&M: The Legend Of 1900

"You're never really done for, as long as you've got a good story and someone to tell it to."

The trumpet player Max Tooney (Pruitt Taylor Vince) tries to sell his trumpet in a shop. The shop owner (Peter Vaughan) actually wants to close the shop at that moment, but grants Max to play the trumpet for one last time. Max plays a melody which sounds familiar to the shop owner, who heard it on a broken matrix he found in an old piano. Max says that this matrix shouldn't actually exist and that's how he starts telling the shop owner the story of 1900.

1900 isn't a number but a man. As a baby he was left by his mother on the Virginian, a ship that was going back and forth between America and Europe. Danny Boodman (Bill Nunn), a worker on the ship, finds the boy in a box and raises him. Since Danny found the boy on the first month of the new century, he calls him that. Danny never registers the boy at any office, for fear they may take him away. When 1900 is eight years old, Danny dies from an accident. After that the boy hides so well that nobody can find him. When he's seen again, he's playing the piano perfectly and moving everyone. So he ends up playing in the band on the ship to earn himself some money. In the first class he is more or less playing from notes, in third class he's playing totally free and his own melodies. Although he's never registered somewhere, more and more people on land hear about his ingenious playing. That's how Jelly Roll Morton (Clarence Williams III) also hears of 1900 and challenges him to a duel. 1900 however has no idea how such a duel works.

One day Max leaves the ship again and loses contact with 1900. But when Max hears they're going to destroy the Virginian in short time, he goes looking for his old friend.

Will 1900 ever leave the ship? Who'll win the duel? Will Max find 1900 again? Those are questions only you can answer to yourself by watching the movie.

It's a bit curious that this movie from the year 1998 runs more than two hours when the book on which the movie is based is only about 80 pages long written by Alessandro Baricco. The book is thought to be a monologue, a one-man-theatre-play, which is why it also includes some directions. The trumpet player is called Tim Tooney in the book and he tells the story as a flashback, similar to the movie.

At first I was sceptical about such a long movie. But I was very positively surprised and the story totally captivated me, so the movie wasn't tedious for me. If you like piano music and/or movies about friendship, you might enjoy this movie.