John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 34 - 08/13/99
Today's not a good day for triskaidekaphobics. Some won't even get out of bed all day for fear of some catastrophic event taking place in their lives.
The ancient Hebrews thought 13 was unlucky because the thirteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is the letter M, which is the first letter in the word mavet, meaning "death."
Thirteen is considered an unlucky number because in ancient Rome, witches gathered in groups of 12 and the 13th member was supposed to be the devil. The 13th guest at the Last Supper was Judas, who eventually betrayed Jesus. The ancient Norsemen used 13 knots in their hangman's noose.
Some theologians believe ancient manuscripts imply that Eve gave Adam the apple on a Friday and many think it was Friday the 13th, when Cain killed his brother Abel.
In more recent times, look at the Apollo 13 lunar mission, which was, aborted en route to the moon in 1970 because of a fuel cell explosion in the service module. The flight left the launching pad at 13 minutes after the hour on April 13
There are, however, those who mock triskaidekaphobia. The Friday the 13th Club, founded 63 years ago in Philadelphia, has gained worldwide notoriety for gathering on the date and breaking mirrors, strolling under ladders and crossing paths with black cats.
One of the drawbacks of living in a large metropolitan area is that many of us face long commutes.
I work in New Jersey, but live in a western suburb of Philadelphia, hence I am faced with about a 45 minute to an hour-long commute to and from work each day. Luckily for me the commute is "against" traffic. As I drive north on I-95 each morning with relative ease, I note the masses of humanity making their way into the city from the Northeast and New Jersey.
The trip home, however, in recent weeks has been terrible due to the construction on I-95 South at Penn’s Landing. However, most part the drive is bearable.
Not so for my friend Sue, who is building a home in New Jersey and currently living in her parents’ non-air-conditioned home at Seaside Park on the New Jersey Shore. I can't tell you how much Sue has enjoyed her summer at the shore. Sue’s ride to work is an hour and twenty-minute ride through the Pine Barrens of Central New Jersey. It has been the subject of several interesting stories in recent weeks. Pull up a seat.
For any of you that have driven through the Pine Barrens, the ride is, to say the least, boring. Sue tells us that she measures the drive by the number of Wawa’s that she passes along the way. I think she says that the number is seven. One day she seemed to find herself in the middle of some massive man-hunt involving the National Guard.
When you make a drive like that every day, you also start to notice individuals both in other cars, as well as waiting for buses or other modes of transport. I remember how on my commute every morning for years I used to encounter a older man driving a very old Dodge who drove on I-95 at about 35 miles per hour, clutching the steering wheel with both hands and with a look of utmost fear on his face.
Sue tells us that she sees a man every morning waiting for his bus and that she has started waving at him as she drives by. Maybe next week, their friendship will have broadened and she can offer him a lift....not!
Yesterday morning Sue arrived at work and announced to all of us that Jesus was coming - or so a sign along the highway announced..
I immediately did some quick searching on the internet to see if I could get any further information. Apparently the sign must have been old, because I came across a site called The Jesus Homepage which claims to be the homepage for one who "works as the Messiah for a major world religion". I can’t even begin to explain this site in more detail - but if you visit it be sure to check out the photo album of color pictures of "Me, My family and My friends."
You can be sure I’ll be sending that link off to Dave Spohn, out About.com Guide to the Worst of the Web, that is once I stop laughing at how funny this site really is.
On a
somewhat related subject did any of you catch the campaign that ran earlier this year on
billboards around Philadelphia, featuring messages from God?
All were very tastefully done and many of them really did make you think. They consisted of simple one line questions or statements. Here are some examples:
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What part of "Thou Shalt Not... didn't you understand? - God
We need to talk. - God
Keep using my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer. - God
You think it's hot here? - God
Apparently the campaign also ran in Broward County, Florida last fall. You can find the full list at www.godspeaking.com.
Well, that's my spin on things. What's yours? Keep cool and have fun this weekend. You can join me in our chat room almost every evening - Philly Chat - or drop me a note at philadelphia.guide@about.com. Also, be sure to check out our new Philadelphia Forum where you can share your comments and feelings, ask questions, post classifieds and much more
If you missed any of our recent columns you can still catch them:
John Fischer's
Philadelphia 08/02/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/02/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/04/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/06/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/09/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/12/99
