587's the Number in NJ's Pick 3 Lottery

November 14, 2001 9:04 AM

587's the Number in NJ's Pick 3 Lottery Saw this in the Star Ledger, now linked...wierd...is anyone else on MeFi shamelessly superstitious? Do you have to spit on a broom if it brushes your foot? Throw salt if spilled? Confess!
posted by adampsyche (28 comments total)

More "superstition" from Snopes Recent Additions : CLAIM: NYC firefighter's dare brought about the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. Michael Moran, 38, brought the Rockaways' grief and spirit to a national cable television audience Oct. 20 during the fund-raising "Concert for New York" at Madison Square Garden. Having lost his brother and 12 colleagues in the trade center, Moran said: "In the spirit of the Irish people, Osama bin Laden, you can kiss my royal Irish ass." He added: "I live in Rockaway and this is my face."
posted by Voyageman at 9:09 AM on November 14, 2001

Nothing to do with planes crashing but I'm quite superstitious. I've never heard of spitting on brooms but I do throw salt over my shoulder, avoid the undersides of ladders, say, "white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit." on the 1st of every month, etc...
One thing that has me confused though, I'm English born and raised but now live in America. I recently adopted a black cat (Marmite) and am unsure if he is good luck (England) or bad luck (USA). Anyone have any ideas how that should work?
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger at 9:14 AM on November 14, 2001

TiggleTaggle - that depends on the colour of the cat's eyes, possibly. Or the number of whiskers, or whether it sleeps sitting or curled up.
Incedentally, some chinese legends are fairly anti-cat. Feng-shui advocates claim that cats are drawn to areas of negative chi.

i say good morning sir x3 if i see a single magpie, rather than a couple. a good friend started me, and now i can't stop. i don't know what benefit this is supposed to confer upon myself.
posted by asok at 9:23 AM on November 14, 2001

I was watching the immedfiate aftemath of the plane crash the other morning at a coffee shop. When the flight number was announced, the owner yelled out Play that Number. I paid for my coffee and walked out. The flight number was a "lucky number"?
posted by Postroad at 9:25 AM on November 14, 2001

I wake up every morning and bash a tune out on my meat piano. I find it gets rid of evil spirits and brings me good luck.
posted by Frasermoo at 9:36 AM on November 14, 2001

I'm very fond of walking under ladders, really. I'm not at all "anti-superstitious" for that, but I think I do it "on a dare", really.

On another level, I wonder how many superstitious people are also religious, not-superstitious/not-religious and all the cross-overs. Suffice to say, I'm not religious, and I don't think there is suck thing as Fate (therefore I'm not superstitious).
Apparently, I'm not completely wrong about this : "...The word “religious” in Acts 17:22 (translated in some versions as superstitious)..." (through Google), but still... Oh well, what do I know...

Anyway, being superstitious really is bad luck, isn't it ? =)
posted by XiBe at 9:38 AM on November 14, 2001

tiggletaggletiger: Cats, even black ones, are good luck if treated well, bad luck if mistreated. If I ever get black cat, I'd name her Stealth Kitty in recognition of her low-observable feline technology.
posted by alumshubby at 9:41 AM on November 14, 2001

It's called a coincidence .

Taken in a large enough context, everything that happens is essentially impossible. Consider for a second the actual probability of you existing at all. Millions of your ancestors had to escape death from countless causes through the ages.
posted by quirked at 9:46 AM on November 14, 2001

Millions of your ancestors had to escape death from countless causes through the ages.

It's worse than that, really. Had a different sperm managed to get through to the egg when you or any one of your ancestors were conceived, or had the conception occurred with a different egg, you would not exist. Someone else a lot like you might exist in your place, but they would not be you. Just the number of sperm involved in each conception, multiplied by the number of generations, makes every single one of us astronomically unlikely.
posted by kindall at 9:55 AM on November 14, 2001

*boggle*
posted by andnbsp at 10:07 AM on November 14, 2001

Yes, I wake up every morning and check MetaFilter to see if it's safe to go outside.
posted by fleener at 10:20 AM on November 14, 2001

TMI, Frasermoo, TMI.
posted by jpoulos at 10:20 AM on November 14, 2001

A few years ago, some state lottery -- I think it was Ohio's -- took a big hit when the Pick Three number came up the same as that day's date. Evidently lots of people play the date. I saw it as a righteous payback for all the poor shlubs who will have to wait years for yet another, yes, coincidence.
posted by nance at 10:40 AM on November 14, 2001

Actually, the kitty would be more stealthy at night if it were a pastel color, like pink or light blue, but I've yet to see one that color. I'm still looking though.
posted by fluxcreative at 10:45 AM on November 14, 2001

My soccer-mad brother believes his team loses if he as much as blinks and misses a nanosecond. Then his team loses and he tortures himself by not going to the match or even watching on TV. Eventually it loses and he goes back to the former superstition. This has been going on for over 30 years and he still maintains it works; just that he hasn't yet figured out which strategy applies to each particular game. The proof, he says, is that it's always either one or the other. But more probably the not blinking.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:00 AM on November 14, 2001

I like to think that I am complete free of superstition. But if one of the Mariners' pitchers is a few innings into a no-hitter, I certainly won't be the one to mention it.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 11:27 AM on November 14, 2001

I am superstitious as hell. I admit it. But not about normal things, like salt, ladders, black cats, etc. I believe it is bad luck to listen to a band on the day you are to see them in concert.

Also bad luck for me to wear my team's jersey (Detroit Red Wings) on the day of a game, or to predict the score.
posted by adampsyche at 11:57 AM on November 14, 2001

i believe it's bad luck to touch anything previously touched by a certain someone, which i believe could lead to a contraction of leperousy, halitosous, and scabies (warning on the links). actually, it's not so superstitous as it is inevitable, as she is a walking cdc war-zone.
posted by mich9139 at 12:10 PM on November 14, 2001

My only "superstition" (if you can call it that) is that I must eat the entire Fortune Cookie before reading the Fortune. Otherwise, the Fortune will not come true (not like they ever do...).
posted by internal at 12:24 PM on November 14, 2001

Dave is referring to this person. Just so the rest of you know.

Funny, I had Chinese buffet for lunch, and I am still waiting for the fortune cookie to say: "Help. Political prisoner used as slave labor to produce cookies."
posted by adampsyche at 12:35 PM on November 14, 2001

If you put a hat on your bed, really bad stuff is going to happen.
I'm a pretty reasonable individual -- at least as long as soccer is not concerned, I perfectly understand MiguelCardoso's brother -- but the hat on the bed thing really really spooks me. Never did it -- baseball caps, whatever. I wouldn't even do that for money, I know it's a dumb thing to fear, a hat on your bed, and it makes no sense and all.
Still, I don't know why, it's supposed to bring bad luck and I don't do that.
I have no problems with the other stuff, salt, stairs and all
posted by matteo at 12:45 PM on November 14, 2001

Yes, the hat on the bed is very bad. Never put a hat on a bed.
posted by Dean King at 1:06 PM on November 14, 2001

It's called a coincidence. Coincidence is what synchronicities are called by those who don't believe in universal connectedness. Or is it... Synchronicity is what coincidences are called by those who don't believe in randomness? *grin*
posted by thunder at 1:13 PM on November 14, 2001

If I see any low-hanging fruit by my head, I hit it with a baseball bat.
posted by hellinskira at 3:12 PM on November 14, 2001

Sigh.
posted by rushmc at 4:01 PM on November 14, 2001

i used to live in singapore, and their version of the lotto called 4D has the whole country searching for good numbers .. tales of people noting down registration numbers of car's in crashes .. taking down all kinds of dates and even asking old relatives on their death beds if they can forsee any good numbers are common place.
posted by mrben at 8:45 PM on November 14, 2001

The only thing I'm superstitious about is saying things that cause people to knock on wood. I prefer not to say them at all.

This is because of several instances, the most notable being driving through a shitty redneck BC town on the way to Edmonton and the (speeding) driver boasting that she had never been caught speeding. Thirty seconds later we were pulled over. Another thirty seconds later the cop smelled pot. Another fifteen minutes and all the passengers in the vehicle but one had been divested of a total of 2 ounces of pot and a lot of e. We had to walk along the highway and call another friend to pick us up and the first friend (who knew what we had--we were heading into the bush for several months of silviculture work) was forbidden to let us in her car again.

The upside? The dumb cop, in living out his tv fantasies, took liberties with legal protocol and had to let us go without charging us.

Nonetheless, I always avoid having to knock on wood.
posted by ludicdruid at 9:29 PM on November 14, 2001

fortune favours the stoners.
my mate was seen by a cop stuffing a couple of wraps down his shoe. the cop stuck her hand in there and never found them. go figure.

i have about a hundred of these stories. none about me though, coz i am at work at the mo.
posted by Frasermoo at 3:14 AM on November 15, 2001