LuoPan
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May 17, 2012
12:03 AM
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CHICAGO: Henry Ford would have hated 2009, and not just because its been a tough year to sell cars. Matt Flynn Jersey. This July 1942 file photo shows automobile manufacturer Henry Ford. Ford, as the story goes, refused to do business on Friday the 13th, and this week marks the third time this year that the 13th will fall on a Friday, the most times it can happen in one year. [Agencies] Ford, as the story goes, refused to do business on Friday the 13th, and this week marks the third time this year that the 13th will fall on a Friday - the most times it can happen in one year. Its a day when people rearrange travel plans, delay surgery or just pull up the covers and stay in bed until Friday the 13th turns into Saturday the 14th, convinced that even stepping out of the house would cause bad luck to find them the way an anvil finds the head of Wile E. Coyote. Theyre afraid something tragic or ominous would happen, said Donald Dossey, a North Carolina behavioral scientist and author who said he named the fear - paraskavedekatriaphobia - proof that he does not suffer from hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, the fear of long words. Some feel theyre just being cautious the way Ford, Napoleon and President Franklin Roosevelt were said to have been. Elizabeth Lampert, a consultant in Alamo, Calif., said she doesnt avoid everything on the 13th, but would absolutely, absolutely delay something like surgery. There are only a few Friday the 13ths, so why test fate? Lampert said. Related readings: Dental phobia: doctors blamed after 8-year-olds death Passengers phobia puts flight on hold The phobia around the 13th is a cousin to triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13. Even today, the Otis Elevator Company knows better than to include a button with a 13 on it in elevators all over the world, said spokesman Dilip Rangnekar. The supposedly unlucky number, triskaidekaphobes say, is the reason behind the explosion of Apollo 13, which took off at exactly 1:13 pm (1313 military time) on 41170 (digits that add up to 13, naturally). Its also the number that prompted FDR to alter his own travel plans on any day of the week that landed on the 13th. FDR would not depart on a (train) trip on the 13th, said Thomas Fernsler, a University of Delaware mathematician who has studied the number enough to earn the moniker Dr. 13. He recounted a story that originated with FDRs personal secretary, Grace Tully, who said the former president would order the train to leave the station before midnight on the 12th or after midnight on the morning of the 14th. In a final act, FDR died in 1945 on April 12. Thursday, April 12. He avoided traveling to the beyond on the 13th, joked Bob Clark, head archivist at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. The origins of all this fear of the number 13 and Friday the 13th are open for debate. Some say it has to do with a particular Friday the 13th in the 1300s, when some particularly unlucky knights were burned at the stake. Fernsler suspects it may have something to do with Jesus Christ, who was crucified on a Friday after a Last Supper attended by 13 people, one of whom was Judas Iscariot. Dossey has his money on Norse mythology when Loki - referred to in the Encyclopaedia Britannica as a cunning trickster - crashed a party of 12 gods at Valhalla. Thats really when the number 13 became unlucky, he explained. It is impossible to tell just how many people out there are changing their plans. But one person who has made a living getting inside peoples heads - The Amazing Kreskin, who bills himself as the worlds foremost mentalist - said hes seen for himself how seriously people from all walks of life take Friday the 13th. There are many, many people in the business world who do not fly on Friday the 13th, said Kreskin, who legally changed his name from George Kresge Jr. But in Chicago, for example, neither OHare International Airport nor United Airlines has noticed any drop in the number of people flying on Friday the 13th. Its an old wives tale, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski in an e-mail. The same goes for two of the biggest hospitals in the city - Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the University of Chicago Medical Center - where it appears people are just as likely go to go under the knife that day as any other, and arent rushing to the doctor, either. When its Friday the 13th, you wonder if it is going to be busier ... but people arent coming into the ER panicking, saying I just realized its Friday the 13th, give me Xanax or Valium, said Dr. Pedro Dago, a Northwestern psychiatrist. Not only that, but if Wall Street is any indication, Friday the 13th may actually be a lucky day. The stock market, it turns out, tends to do better on Friday the 13th, rising by an average of .04 percent on each of the past 185 Friday the 13ths, according to the Bespoke Investment Group, a Harrison, N.Y.-based investment research firm. Thats double the average .02 percent gain, but a little worse than other Fridays, which are generally good days for stocks. And Friday the 13th might be just the thing to prompt people to go ahead with their plans. Lampert, the same consultant who said she would not have surgery on that day, said she originally had reservations about agreeing to a first date this Friday night, but now thinks calendar can work in her favor. I look at the calendar and say its a 50-50 shot Id like him and if I dont its not my fault, she said. As for Dr. 13, while he loves to point out things like how Fidel Castro and Butch Cassidy were both born on Friday the 13th and notices when he checks into a hotel if his room number adds up to 13, he doesnt want people to misunderstand. I dont buy any of this, Fernsler said. Im just a math guy. Elton Brand Jersey. [PhotoAgencies] Canadas Michael Gilday (front) is pushed by his teammate Charles Hamelin as they skate during the mens 5000 meters relay final at the ISU World Cup Short Track speed skating competitions in Quebec City, Oct 31, 2010. 2012 Dallas Cowboys Nike Jersey. Then it ran into Barcelona. Alex Fergusons team went into Wednesdays final as the defending champion, with virtually a full-strength side against a club it had beaten in last seasons semifinal. Reggie Miller Jersey. Liu Shaoyong, Chairman of China Eastern Airlines [File?photo] Mr. Liu told the newspaper that big-name airlines with experience in management will be China Easterns first choice, but also said they welcome financial investors. Tim Duncan Jersey. - Kenny Florian pounded out a second-round TKO over Joe Lauzon in a battle of Massachusetts lightweights Wednesday night on the UFCs Fight Night card. Dwyane Wade Jersey. Houston entered Sundays contest a half-game behind San Antonio, but vaulted atop the Southwest Division after overcoming a six-point deficit late in the game. Ron Artest had 24 points to lead the Rockets, who have won four in a row and picked up a rare win in San Antonio.Richard Petty made his NASCAR debut 50 years ago on a half-mile track in South Carolina, qualifying 13th in a car with the roof cut off. He wasnt wearing cowboy boots. He wasnt walking around in a hat adorned with ostrich feathers. He wasnt even sporting dark sunglasses. He was a tall, lanky, 21-year-old who wanted a chance to drive. He finished sixth - five laps behind the winner - and earned US$200. "I got better," Petty says. Indeed. Petty won an unmatched 200 races in his 35-year career, including seven Daytona 500 victories, and a record-tying seven NASCAR championships. Somewhere along the line, he became "The King," a larger-than-life persona that includes the hat, the boots, the shades and the dark, bushy moustache. It all started at Columbia Speedway on July 12, 1958, when he got behind the wheel for the first time. The sport hasnt been the same since. "Ive survived these years I guess more than anything else," says Petty, recalling the 50th anniversary of his debut. "Ive been there ever since NASCAR started basically, and I just come along at the right time to grow up with NASCAR." Petty spent the better part of his childhood around race cars. He built engines, painted bodies and worked in the pits long before he was old enough to legally drive. When he did reach NASCARs age limit, he asked his father, three-time NASCAR champion Lee Petty, for a chance. Lee Petty pointed to an old car off in a corner and told him to cut the top off it and use it in a convertible series race at Columbia. Richard Petty jumped at the opportunity. No one knew it was the start of something special. "I just think I was a lucky son of a gun to be born at the right place at the right time under the right circumstances with a little bit of talent and a lot of talented people around me to put me in a position to be where Im at today," Petty says. Six days after his debut, Petty made his first Grand National (now the Sprint Cup Series) start in Toronto. He finished 17th in a race his father won. "We went to Canada, and I was running around there getting lapped, and my dad knocked me in the wall, so I wound up in the wall, and he ended up winning the race, so it wasnt all bad," he recalls with a chuckle. He needed less than two years to get his first Grand National victory, but then they started piling up in a hurry. Petty finished second in the points in just his third season and was runner-up two more times before netting his first title in 1964. "When I won my very first rrace, I said nothing will ever be this big," Petty says. Russell Westbrook Jersey "But then you get fortunate enough to win more and more, and over a period of time, it gets diluted. So no matter how happy you are one day in, three or four weeks, youve done forgot about that and youre on another kick." Petty finished outside the top five in points just four times between 1960 and 1983, an amazing run that made him the sports biggest icon. But looking back now, there isnt one moment that stands out. "When I sit around and talk about it or listen to people or whatever, the ones that got away are the ones that you really worry about and you say, We should have done better in this race or that race," Petty says. "So those are probably in your mind more than the ones that you won." Pettys last championship came in 1979. His last victory, fittingly enough, came at Daytona in July 1984. He retired in 1992 and has since dedicated his time to rebuilding NASCARs most storied race team, Petty Enterprises. It hasnt been easy. The organization has been stuck in neutral for close to two decades, falling far behind the success it achieved when The King was driving. The teams last victory came with John Andretti in 1999, and it now has sponsorship problems. But there are signs of a turnaround. The organization signed driver Bobby Labonte to a long-term deal, relocated its longtime race shop closer to the NASCAR hub and formed its first dedicated test team. And maybe most significantly, Petty gave up control last month when he sold majority ownership of the famed company to Boston Ventures, a private equity firm. "Its a new venue for them and a new venue for us," Petty says. "So we have to get our arms around who does what, how do we get our sponsorships in, how do we get our sponsors all lined up, and how do we get the crews all lined up. I dont see us having a major impact on anything outside right now, as far as seeing the car doing better or any of that kind of stuff. "I think its kind of a deal where we have to sort of sit back and look and say, OK, what do we need now to go forward?" And get The King back to his winning ways, a journey that started 50 years ago on a small track outside Columbia. "I came along with a bunch of other guys that helped build the sport," Petty says. "It was sort of like when they ran the very first race. It was like planting a seed and then the tree started growing. I grew with it a little bit and then the branches go out." Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
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