The conditions for our second were not bad for an afternoon race — there was a slightly stronger tailwind and there was a little more chop as a result.  However, this didn’t prevent us from shaving a bit more time off, giving us a 2:18.  Overall, the boat felt better than the first race and we are all very happy with the results.

This means that we’re advancing to race on Sunday, with out first race at 10:00.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m the steersman on the Algonquin College Singapore Slings dragonboat team. This weekend is the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival and our first race took place at 10:30. Our goal was to race 500m in 2:20, which we felt was attainable based on our past years’ performance. I’m happy to report that we completed the race in 2:19.

The conditions were perfect — no waves and a slight tailwind. Since then, the wind has come up a bit, so it’s entirely possible our next race at 4:30pm will be a little faster.

If you’re one of those people with paraskevidekatriaphobia, perhaps you should consider moving to Holland.

According to a story carried by Reuters, the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics crunched the numbers and found that there are actually fewer accidents, thefts and fires on when a month has a Friday the 13th than on other Fridays. (If you can read Dutch, here’s the story on the Verbond van Derzekeraars website.)

There are something like 7,800 traffic accidents in Holland on a typical Friday. However, on Friday the 13ths there are only 7,500 accidents , or almost 4% fewer accidents, which is a statistically significant difference.

On the other hand, you probably don’t want to go to Britain because a 1993 study found that although there were consistently fewer vehicles on a major highway in Britain on Friday the 13th compared to Friday the 6ths, the number of admissions to hospitals due to traffic accidents was significantly higher. The abstract for the article included the following:

CONCLUSIONS–Friday 13th is unlucky for some. The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52%. Staying at home is recommended.

Hmm.

There’s a bit of British navy folklore about this auspicious day, with one story about HMS Friday getting a lot of mention on the ‘net. The story goes that the British government wanted to put and end the belief among seamen that setting sail on Fridays was unlucky. To this end, they commissioned the construction of HMS Friday. They laid her keel on a Friday, selected her crew on a Friday and hired a man named Jim Friday to be her captain and, of course, launched her on a Friday. Naturally, she disappeared, never to be heard from again.

The Royal Naval Museum released a press release on July 13, 2007, which said…

A Museum spokesperson commented that sailors certainly are superstitious – something to do with being at the mercy of such an unpredictable element as the sea and who would want to give up a weekend ashore. But we can confirm that there has never been a Royal Navy ship named HMS Friday – or after any other day of the week for that matter.

So, it seems HMS Friday never existed. Or that’s just what “they” want you to believe.

But why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky? According to about.com, it seems to be a relatively new phenomenon, rather than something that’s believed for thousands of years.

There are lots of Bad Things that happened on Fridays:

• It was lucky for the heathens, so it had to be considered unlucky by the early Christian church
• The Great Flood that Noah built the Ark for started on a Friday
• Friday was Execution Day in Pagan Rome (particularly unlucky for the executionees)
• Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden
• Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday
• Prime Minister Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow program on a Friday

And there’s a lot of superstition surrounding the number 13 and it even has it’s own special phobia, Triskaidekaphobia:

• There were 13 disciples at the Last Supper, one of whom betrayed Jesus
• A witches’ coven has 13 members
• If 13 people dine at a table, one of them will die in the next year
• many buildings don’t have a 13th floor
• some airplanes don’t have a 13th row of seats

Friday the 13th being considered unlucky may be a result of the combination of two unlucky things — Fridays and the number 13 — combining in a particularly unlucky manner, such as what happened to the Knights Templar who were slaughtered in a collaboration between King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V that finished with the burning at the stake of Jacques De Molay.

Personally, I was born on January 13th, though I wasn’t born on a Friday. I’ve celebrated my birthday on a Friday, however, and I don’t recall anything bad happening to me. Yet.

According to a story on CTV’s website, a waitress in Owen Sound was fired after she shaved her head for a local cancer research fundraiser, raising in excess of $2,700 in the process. Now, she’s not bald like Lt Ilia from the first Star Trek movie — she has a buzz cut. But the owner of Nathaniel’s restaurant, Dan Hilliard, effectively fired her, though apparently she’s still on the payroll and she can return to work when her hair grows back.

This smacks of a human rights violation and I hope that she files a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Personally, I will never spend a penny in Nathaniel’s or any other restaurant Dan Hilliard may own and I encourage you to do the same.

First, it was April, a tiny black Goeldi’s monkey who was stolen from the Cherry Brook Zoo in New Brunswick around April 23rd. Fortunately, whoever stole her called in an anonymous tip to the police telling them where she could be found.

Next, it was Mia, a spider monkey at the Vancouver Zoo who was stolen during a break-in on May 7th which saw her mate, Jocko, killed. Unlike April, Mia hasn’t been returned.

This week it’s cownose stingrays in the Calgary Zoo. These little fish, about a foot or so across, started dying suddenly May 11th. As of Wednesday afternoon, 39 40 out of 43 had died. Though they haven’t been able to confirm it yet, it looks like they were poisoned. Hopefully, the remaining four three will survive, but the odds aren’t in their favour.

I suppose I can understand someone stealing the monkeys because they probably have a black market value, so I guess they think they can make some money. But why the stingrays? There’s no profit to be made in killing them and it’s not like they were hurting anyone, nor is it likely they were suffering (before someone poisoned them anyway).

Is there a bunch of animal rights activists out there who are targeting Canadian zoos for reasons that escape explanation? If there is, how exactly is this furthering their cause?

Or is there a bunch of sadistic bastards who get their jollies by doing things like this? Or more likely several bunches of unimaginative sadistic bastards who get their jollies by imitating sadistic bastards who get their jollies by doing things like this?

Of course, it could equally be something inadvertantly introduced into their tank on someone’s hands because they were in some sort of interactive display where people could touch them, but I fear that’s unlikely though it’s what I’m hoping for.

I shudder to think what next week will bring for Canadian zoos.

There’s a group of houses in Gatineau that were built at the foot of a hill where they shouldn’t have been built.  Somehow the builder(s) obtained permission where it now appears older geologic assessment reports said nothing should be built.  Hydro workers inspecting something at the top of the hill noticed a large crack in the ground and alerted the province who immediately ordered the evacuation of the homes.  Since then it’s been determined that they can’t ever be reoccupied.

Hindsight is 20-20, isn’t it?

So, the home owners who bought the houses in good faith are now faced with the prospect of losing their homes.  The Quebec government is offering up to $100,000 in compensation.  The City of Gatineau is offering an additional $75,000, but only if the owners agree to give up their right to sue.  (For reference, at least one of the homes was reportedly worth almost twice that total amount.)

Basically, the home owners are screwed because someone didn’t pay attention to a map that said “don’t build here” or something similar.

CBC reported on Thursday that the City is looking for lots that the houses can be moved to.  Now, moving a building is a non-trivial task that can costs thousands of dollars.

I haven’t seen an in-depth discussion of the geology in that area in any of the reports, but chances are it’s similar to what’s found on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River: leda clay.

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Today is the 28th Earth Day. Ok, some people would argue that every day is Earth Day, but that’s not the point.

Or is it?

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