Friday, January 13, 2025: Friday the Thirteenth!

FRIDAY THE 13TH!

triskaidekaphobia \ tris-kahy-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh, tris-kuh- \ , noun;

• fear or a phobia concerning the number 13. 

Origin: Triskaidekaphobia derives from the Greek word for thirteen, triskaídeka and the Greek word for fear, phobos . It entered English in the early 1900s.

topos \TOH-pohs, -pos\, noun:

• a convention or motif, especially in a literary work; a rhetorical convention.

Topos entered English in the 1930s directly from the Greek word meaning "place." It has always referred to a literary motif.

 

gloatgram

• an instagram post that features the user boasting about their life, usually in the form of food or leisure/travel.

person a: "did you see the gloatgram that kevin posted?"

person b: "no."

person a: "he was in tahiti sipping mai tai out of a golden chalice."

person b: "what a dick."

Holiday

• Friday the 13th: No one really knows the origin of the superstition about Friday the 13th, although in Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, he suggested that it started with the arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307.

 

History

• Great Vancouver Fire: most of the Canadian city was destroyed by a fire that killed dozens of people and left only a few buildings standing; within days rebuilding began (1886)
• Boxer Rebellion: peasant uprising began in China (1900)
• Miranda vs. Arizona: the US Supreme Court issued its landmark decision ruling that criminal suspects must be informed of their constitutional rights prior to police questioning (1966)
• Thurgood Marshall: became the first black man to be nominated as a US Supreme Court justice; he served for 24 years (1967)
• Pioneer 10: the space probe flew out of the solar system, the first man-made object to do so (1983)
• Mehmet Ali Agca: would-be assassin of Pope John Paul II in 1981 was pardoned by Italy (2000)

Birthdays

• Gnaeus Julius Agricola 0040 - Roman general
• Winfield Scott 1786 - United States Army General
• James C. Maxwell 1831 - Scottish theoretical physicist and mathematician
• William Butler Yeats 1865 - Poet, dramatist
• Harold "Red" Grange (Harold Edward "Red" Grange) 1903 - Football player nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost"
• Doc Cheatham 1905 - Musician
• Luis Walter Alvarez 1911 - Physicist, inventor
• Ralph Edwards (Ralph Livingstone Edwards) 1913 - Radio and television host, television producer
• Mary Wickes (Mary Isabelle Wickenhauser) 1916 - Actress
• Sy Zentner 1917 - Musician, bandleader
• Ben Johnson (Benjamin Sinclair "Ben" Johnson) 1918 - Sprinter
• Paul Lynde 1926 - Comedian, actor
• Bob McGrath 1932 - Actor ("Sesame Street")
• Christo (Christo Vladimirov Javacheff) 1935 - Artist
• Siegfried 1939 - Magician (Siegfried & Roy)
• Bobby Freeman 1940 - Singer, songwriter, record producer
• Malcolm McDowell 1943 - Actor
• Dennis Locorriere 1949 - Musician (Dr. Hook)
• Jonathan Hogan 1951 - Actor
• Richard Thomas 1951 - Actor ("The Waltons")
• Stellan Skarsgard 1951 - Actor
• Tim Allen 1953 - Comedian, actor ("Home Improvement")
• Ally Sheedy 1962 - Actress
• Hannah Storm 1962 - Television host
• Bettina Bunge 1963 - Tennis player
• Deniece Pearson 1968 - Singer (Five Star)
• Jamie Walters 1969 - Actor, singer
• Steve-O 1974 - Actor
• Ethan Embry 1978 - Actor
• Sarah Schaub 1983 - Actress
• Kat Dennings 1986 Actress
• Ashley Olsen 1986 - Actress
• Mary-Kate Olsen 1986 - Actress