It being Friday the 13th and all, I intend to use this pirate-themed candy store (there’s never a black cat around when you need one) as a starting point to say a few words about founded and unfounded superstitions. For instance, the old saw about not rubbing your eye with a hand that has been replaced by a hook is clearly good advice (see the eye patch), as is staying clear of ticking crocodiles. Contrariwise, it is perfectly all right to have a thirteenth row of seats in an airplane, or a thirteenth floor in a building, and skipping that number merely contributes to a general dumbing down of the population. Breaking a mirror is bad luck? Only for the mirror. Come on, people, it’s 2009, and the Mayan calendar notwithstanding, the world will not end on December 21, 2012.