Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for January 21, 2019

King wasn’t the only one… I’ve heard FDR was too (imagine thirteen of your closest friends having it too).

He has written more than 80 books. His 13th book must have been the toughest one to write.

This is funny but I bought my son an expansion pack for Cities: Skylines not realizing he still didn’t have the actual game. This reminded me that I need to purchase the game for him. We totally forgot!! Thanks, RBION for the reminder. Ha ha!!!!

Lucky # 13 !

Sorry, but Stephen is not the “King” I want to think about today.

I’m sure his 14th birthday was a relief.

My grandmother would not sit down to a meal if she was going to make the thirteenth person at the table. When she came to live with us I wonder if she knew that there were thirteen windows in the house?

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I thought it was “obnormal” to have colored dreams. I had them, and thought I was unusual.

Ah, so THAT’S what he’s afraid of. Someone once posed the question what scares him. I consider it a lucky number for me. I’m Catholic and 13 has been considered the Blessed Mother’s number. That makes sense. She appeared to three visionaries on the 13th of each month five out of six times (one had to be postponed to the 19th due to certain circumstances). On October 13th, 1917, there was a great miracle of the sun seen by tens of thousands.

That’s obviously not true for me- I grew up on B&W TV and I dream in color.

13! It’s a number……PERIOD! Nothing more than 1 more than 12and 1 less than 14.

Stephen King scared of 13? I’m shocked! Actually, I don’t know how he sleeps at night!

Over 20 years ago I liked to play SimCity2000. When I had some experience, I tried to model some cities I knew, which was diffcult because of the limitations in squares and other possibilities and because you could not build it upfront, you had to develop it during a normal game. When they upgraded it, this became easier and there were much fewer limitations. But all fun had been gone. It should be more realistic, had much more buildng types etc. etc., but it seemed unnecessarily overcomplicated whithout providing more fun. It was like making a Monopoly game consisting of three “circles” with 120 pitches and the possibility to build 20 houses of 5 different types on each street. Or a chessboard with 20×20 squares instead of 8×8. It’s bigger, but not better, and even tedious. But for city planning, such a tool might be fascinating and helpful.

That’s why he wrote “1408.” Not only does the hotel pretend that the 13th floor doesn’t exist, but 1 + 4 + 0 + 8 = 13.

So, prior to the invention of TV, people only dreamed by sound or smell?

triskaidekaphobia statistics

1. Fifteen percent of Irish citizens carry an amulet bearing the number 31, the numerological antidote. 2. 20.6 million Americans suffer from the disorder, almost one in ten.3. The first recorded outbreak of triskaidekaphobia in a population of dogs occurred in Belgium, 1629.4. Sixteen percent of those afflicted also suffer from arachibutyrophobia, fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one’s mouth.5. Eight million packs of Lucky Strike cigarettes were recalled in 1956 when it was determined that it took exactly the wrong number of drags to finish one cigarette.6. James Madison was the first president to publicly declare that no federal building would have a floor listed as the ordinal between 12th and 14th. The policy is on the books to this day.7. The Triskaidekaphobia Awareness League has over six thousand members worldwide, representing eighty-four countries.8. Triskaidekaphobia was not recognized as a mental illness until the publication of the DSM-IV, the leading manual of neurological and psychic disorders.9. In a recent poll, 87% of Americans could not distinguish triskaidekaphobia from bikaidekaphobia, a rarer variant.10. All references to the unlucky number were expunged from the Newly Revised Modern Translation of the Bible. Editors had to modify or delete over 15,000 entries.11. Electroconvulsive therapy is recommended for 2% of all cases, and is elected in only 1%.12. Napoleon III, Emily Dickinson, Sonny Bono, Judas Iscariot, Cleopatra, and Mr. Ed are all well-known triskaidekaphobes.14.

Triskaidekaphobia (also known as tridekaphobia) is a morbid fear of the number following 12 and preceding 14. It is thought to be genetically heritable from the X chromosome, though some researchers have noted a link between the condition and high levels of aluminum in the water supply. It is treatable with a celeryseed and olive oil poultice applied weekly. Some surprising facts and statistics related to the con

When I was a kid, I read it was more common to dream in B&W than in color. I thought I was lucky because I dreamed in color.

And, yes, B&W TV sets were common then. I thought a color TV was a luxury.

Well, we know he’s gonna’ get scared at least once a month…

I dreamed in black and white for years. Then I realized that someone had turned my “color” control all the way to the left. I fixed that, and then I dreamed with lots of reds and pinks. Then I turned my “hue” control to the right, and since then, I get a pretty realistic picture.

Some people have a serious fear of Stephen King!

What’s black and white and read all over?

I’ve always dreamed in color, even when our TV was a B&W one. In fact, my dreams are so vivid I experience all of my senses and feel like I’m living it. I love it! (Well, unless it’s a nightmare!)