This "symposium on superstition" is from last year, but it also seems fitting for the present Friday the 13th. It's amusing to read stolid conservatives such as Ward Connerly admit to bursts of irrationality:
I was taught, however, that superstitions need not be all negative, and that one can be superstitious in a positive way. One example is what my Aunt Bert called the “rule of three.” She believed that good things or bad things happen in threes. I still believe in this “rule” and when something bad happens, I find myself being more cautious about what I do in order to avoid the second and third events.
When I was a child, every time I knew I was going to get something I never had before, like a bike or a BB gun, I began to suspect I would not get it because I was not meant to have it. So I put it completely out of my mind and refused to think about it, which, I became convinced, was the magic trick ensuring I would get it. I'm happy to say I'm completely over such nonsense these days. Now, if I could just learn to stop sleeping with all the lights on.
