Friday The 13th

 Weekend Edition

Happy Friday the 13th! Careful out there. And please, please wear your masks. Just not hockey masks.

Friday November 13, 2020 – what a great time for a bad luck day. Perhaps today will bring good luck, don’t count on it.

Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. For example, 2015 had a Friday the 13th in February, March, and November; 2017 through 2020 had two Friday the 13ths each; and the years 2021 and 2022 will both have just one occurrence each.

Friday the 13th occurs in any month that begins on a Sunday.

The irrational fear of the number 13 has been given a scientific name: "triskaidekaphobia"; and on analogy to this the fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia, from the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή, meaning "Friday"), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς, meaning "thirteen").

According to folklore historian Donald Dossey, the unlucky nature of the number "13" originated with a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party in Valhalla. The trickster god Loki, who was not invited, arrived as the 13th guest, and arranged for Höðr to shoot Balder with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Dossey: "Balder died, and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day." This major event in Norse mythology caused the number 13 to be considered unlucky.

The superstition may have also arisen in the Middle Ages, "originating from the story of Jesus' last supper and crucifixion" in which there were 13 individuals present in the Upper Room on the 13th of Nisan Maundy Thursday, the night before his death on Good Friday. While there is evidence of both Friday and the number 13 being considered unlucky, there is no record of the two items being referred to as especially unlucky in conjunction before the 19th century.

This Friday in November, we continue to be in division, in a health risk, and wondering what has happened to University of Michigan football. Of which this writer has no explanations or solutions.

MARKET WEEK - Still riding high from Monday's vaccine news? Don't get too ahead of yourself, because "with the virus now spreading, the next few months could be challenging," Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned at a European Central Bank event yesterday.

New cases and hospitalizations have risen in almost all 50 states, and Texas just became the first to pass 1 million confirmed cases.

Parts of the economy are steadily recovering, but as a growing number of state and local governments reimpose restrictions on business activity and social life, "people may lose confidence that it is safe to go out," Powell said.

Yesterday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked residents to go virtual this Thanksgiving and only venture out for essential needs. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said if the positivity rate reaches 3%, schools will go remote.

In Europe, several governments have reinstituted lockdowns. Early data in Germany, France, Belgium, and Spain shows they're reducing transmission.

Flattening the curve is made even harder by widespread pandemic fatigue. Many people are reluctant to go through lockdowns again and are relaxing health safeguards

There have been positive updates: Yesterday, we learned that jobless claims were down for the fourth straight week to 709,000, and unemployment fell to 6.9% in October—signs that workers are being called back or finding new roles. And Pfizer's big vaccine reveal (90% effectiveness in late-stage clinical trials) was a boon for value stocks and industries hit hard by the pandemic, like travel.

A passenger on the first cruise ship to sail in the Caribbean since the pandemic started has tested positive for Covid-19.

Disney+ had more than 73 million subscribers as of October, the company revealed yesterday.

Apple released its macOS 11 Big Sur to the public yesterday.

The Weeknd will headline the Super Bowl halftime show. The Steelers should have it wrapped up by then.

HISTORY 101 - For the history books: AP-US-APNewsAlert Nov 07, 2020 11:26AM (GMT 16:26) — 8 words WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden elected president of the United States.

The big task for the incoming Biden administration is reconfiguring, revising and rethinking what's possible in light of divided government.

The new Senate reality forces Biden officially to the center. It validates the incoming administration's view that the country isn't that progressive, while giving them some political cover to cut deals.

3 realities for President Trump:

CNN and NBC joined Fox and AP in calling Arizona for President-elect Biden. The two uncalled states, Georgia and North Carolina, together couldn't flip the winner.

China — after at first holding back, along with Russia — congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Harris.

The U.S. cybersecurity agency (part of Homeland Security) said: "The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. ... There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."

 

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Kathleen Jenrich …one of the best administrators, Carrie Lewis …truly a voice for common sense and compassion, Al Michaels (76), Chris Noth (“Mr. Big”) (66) Prince Charles (Prince of Wales) (72).

 

WORD OF THE MONTH - duplicitous

[ doo-plis-i-tuhs, dyoo- ]

Adjective - marked or characterized by deceitfulness in speech or conduct, as by speaking or acting in two different ways to different people concerning the same matter.

“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is the man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another” (Iliad, book 9) is one man’s reaction to duplicity. That man is Achilles, and he is talking about his lord Agamemnon, but Achilles is addressing Odysseus, who himself knows a trick or two about cunning speech. Duplicitous “deceitful in word or deed, as by behaving in different ways with different people about the same affair” is a derivative of the noun duplicity, ultimately from a noun of Latin origin, duplicitās (stem duplicitāt-), formed from the adjective duplex (stem duplic-) “twofold, double, folded double; deceitful.” Duplex is a compound of duo “two” and the Latin adjective suffix –plex (stem –plic-), which has the same function (and same Proto-Indo-European origin) as the English suffix –fold (as in twofold). The first recorded meaning of duplicitous in English is in U.S. law: “including two or more offenses in one count, or charge, as part of an indictment, thus violating the requirement that each count contain only a single offense”; the more common meaning “deceitful” occurs in the late 1950s. Duplicitous entered English in the early 1890s.

 

WINTER IS COMING - COVID-19 cut last ski season short, causing Vail Resorts’ fiscal year revenue to drop 67% compared to 2019. Now, ski resorts are working to safely reopen as the coronavirus looms over the start of this season.

Vail issued $600 million in debt in May and believes it has enough cash to survive a 2021-22 shutdown if needed. Smaller resorts and outdoor retailers might not be so lucky: revenue at the family-owned Alpine Shop in Burlington, Vt., sank 50% in March.

Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont has spent $100,000 in an effort to boost online transactions. The family-owned resort aims to sell 90% of lift tickets digitally this season, up from 30% last year. Strict protocols, including masks, will likely be a familiar sight on ski slopes this winter.

Are you planning on skiing or snowboarding this winter?

COLLEGE CHRONICLES -  President Elect Biden must first rescue a system beset by pandemic-induced crises. Deep financial problems stemming from enrollment drops have forced thousands of layoffs and left some colleges teetering on the brink of failure. Biden has called for a sevenfold increase in coronavirus testing — a plan that would provide vital health information to colleges eager for students and professors to return to classrooms. Biden may well also face a Republican Senate, which will hamstring some of his objectives.

Trump’s presidency, predicated on building walls and blocking international collaboration, has been symbolically, if not practically, anathema to the mores and ideals of higher education. The suspicion of intellectual elites, the dismissal of scientific research, and the notion that the nation’s prosperity is threatened by named and unnamed outsiders are hallmarks of a political philosophy that has gone mainstream with a presidential bullhorn. "Trumpism" is intact, whether or not the person behind those ideas occupies the Oval Office.

Despite Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the presidential race, election returns show that Republican domination of most state legislatures will continue. So, not only is Congress likely to remain gridlocked, but campus leaders are presented with some certainties about the political landscape and legislative priorities for the coming year.

Two custodians at Harvard University continued to clean the home of Lawrence Bacow, the president, after Bacow and his wife tested positive for Covid-19.

MLB HEDGE FUND - Steve Cohen put a five-year timeline on winning the World Series during his introductory press conference Tuesday as the New York Mets’ new owner. He also made the commitment to act like a major-market team with a substantial budget to match.

The Mets had the sixth-highest payroll in MLB last season at $81.6 million — $30 million less than the crosstown New York Yankees. The team’s payroll was ranked 13th in the league in 2019.

Cohen cleaned out the team’s front office after the sale was finalized earlier this month and will look to let new hires control baseball operations. He also said he’ll cover the lost wages of Mets employees from the pandemic and contribute $17 million to small businesses in NYC.

Top 2020 MLB Payrolls:

$111.9 million — New York Yankees

$108.4 million — Los Angeles Dodgers

$86.6 million — Chicago Cubs

$84.2 million — Boston Red Sox

$82.5 million — Houston Astros

$81.6 million — New York Mets

CONFUSED? – You know things are upside down when The Masters is on tv instead of hockey.

WEEKEND READS – “Election”. Tom Perrotta. ...

“Slow Days, Fast Company”. Eve Babitz. ...

“Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?” Lorrie Moore. ...

“A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings”. Charles Dickens. ...

“Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel”. Jerome K. ...

“After Claude”. Iris Owens. ...

“A Time for Mercy”. John Grisham

 

SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –

NFL Football Pick of the Week – Sunday 11/15, 1:25 PM (PDT), Fox: Seattle Seahawks (6-2) v. Los Angeles Rams (5-3). Coming off a by week, this is the game of the season for the LA Lambs. LA wins 28 – 24. (Season to date 7-2)

College Football Pick of the Week – Saturday 11/14, Noon (EDT), ABC: 10 Indiana Hoosiers (3-0) v. Michigan State Spartans (1-2). Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, Indiana is 3-0, Hoosiers go to 4-0 win 30 - 20. (Season to Date 4-5).

2020 Season to Date (30 – 20)

Have a lucky Friday 13th!

 

Next Blog: Fall recipes

Until Monday November 16, 2020 Adios.

Claremont, California

November 13, 2020

#XI-16-422

1,992 words, five-minute read

 

CARTOON OF THE WEEKEND – Pandemic

 

 

 

RINK RATS POLL – Anyone know what these mean?

CDPSE, PMP, CISM, CRISC, ITILv3F, MCSE, CGEIT

___ Nope

___ Secret Russian code to influence the November 3 election

___ Professional affiliations of an overpaid bureaucrat

___ Houston Astro’s sign stealing logarithms

 

QUOTE OF THE MONTH – "Let us not despair but act. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” ----- John F. Kennedy

 

 

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Posted at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010

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