Friday the 13th by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

 

 https://www.bookswelove.com/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

Friday the Thirteenth

There is only one Friday the Thirteenth in 2021 and it fell in August. Here are some interesting facts about Friday, 13, and Friday the Thirteenth.

The Number Thirteen

     The fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia taken from the Greek words tris, for the number '3', kai meaning 'and', deka for the number '10' and phobos which means 'fear'.

     The number 13 has been much maligned over the centuries and maybe with good reason. In the Christian religion there were 13 guests at the Last Supper. Some believe that Judas was the thirteenth one to sit down, although it is not mentioned in the Bible. He betrayed Jesus and later took his own life. This led to the belief that if there are thirteen people at a table, one of them will die within a year.
     There used to be 13 steps up to the gallows.
     At one time a coven had 13 witches.
     In Tarot, the number 13 card is the death card.
Some superstitions around the number 13:
     In Ireland the first two digits on vehicle licence plates represents the year of registration such as 10 for 2010. In 2012, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry thought that for many people the prospect of having '13' on their licence plates might discourage them from buying new cars. The government introduced a system where vehicles bought in 2013 would have '131' on their plates instead of '13'.
     Very few buildings have 13th floor, the elevator going from twelve to fourteen. Strange, because we all know thirteen comes after twelve no matter what name you give it. Is there a thirteenth floor that the elevator passes?
     Most hotels don't have a room 13.
     If you book a table for thirteen people at the Savoy Hotel in London, England, it will be set for fourteen and a sculpture of a black cat called Kasper will occupy the fourteenth chair.
     Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a professional 14th guest.
     In Formula 1 car racing, there is no car with the number 13.
     It is believed that if you have 13 letters in your name you would have Devil's luck. Charles Manson and Theodore (Ted) Bundy are just a few.

Here are some examples in history where the number 13 has led to misadventures.

     Phillip II was king of Macedonia from 359BC to 336BC. He led many wars and eventually ruled over much of Greece. During a procession through a Greek town, Philip II placed his statue beside those of twelve Greek gods making his the thirteenth statue. In 336 he was the leader of the invading army against the Persian Empire. In October of that year his daughter was getting married in the Macedonian capital of Aegae. He was entering the town's theater when he was assassinated by his body guard.
     In Canada, the Seven Years War took place between Britain and France from 1756 and 1763. On September 12, 1759, British troops climbed a steep footpath from the St Lawrence River up to the unfortified Plains of Abraham, named after its original owner, Abraham Martin, who was a ship’s pilot in 1645. The plains were west of Quebec City and the path was guarded by three French militiamen.
     “Who goes there?” one asked.
     “We are a group of French relief soldiers,” an Englishmen answered in French.
     “Pass on by,” the militiaman said.
     And they stood back to let the British troops walk in pairs past them. By morning of September 13th four thousand British troops and their field artillery were assembled on the plains waiting for the French. The French mustered a combination of four thousand regular French militiamen and civilians and faced the British troops. The British had the advantage because their troops were all trained.
     The battle lasted about thirty minutes with the British winning.
     Apollo 13, which was launched from NASA on April 11, 1970 at 13:13 Central time, was halfway to the moon when an explosion disrupted some of its instruments on April 13. It did manage to make it back to earth.
     The Space Shuttle Columbia exploded on the 113th flight of the Space shuttle.
     Princess Diana's accident occurred at the 13th pillar of the Pont de l'Alma tunnel.

 Friday

     In pagan Rome Fridays were execution days. This was later called Hangman's Day in Britain because that was the day that public hangings took place.
     In some marine circles many sailors did not want to set sail on a Friday.
     In Biblical times the Great Flood, the destruction of the Temple of Solomon, and God tongue-tying the builders of the Tower of Babel supposedly happened on a Friday.

 Friday the Thirteenth

     The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia from the Greek word for Friday, or friggatriskaidkaphobia named after the Norse goddess, Frigg, from whom the English got the name Friday.
     Friday the 13th is the most widespread superstition in western countries. About eight percent of the people believe that Friday 13th is unlucky. Again this could goes back to the Bible where Eve ate the apple from the serpent on Friday 13th and Jesus died on the cross on Friday 13th.
     On Friday Oct 13th, 1307, Philip IV of France ordered the arrests and assassinations of the Knights Templar.
     In modern times Friday the 13th is called 'Black Friday'. One of the earliest examples of the name was used to refer to the collapse of the United States gold market on Friday, Sept 24, 1869.

 Some Friday the 13th superstitions are:

     Seeing a black cat on Friday 13th is a bad omen.
     If you leave your house by one door you should make sure you enter by that same door to avoid misfortune.
     Some people won't go to work on that day and others will not dine out.
     Many refuse to purchase a house, fly, or even act on a hot stock tip.
     A study in Britain showed that while many people stayed home on Friday 13th, of those who did go out, more people were hospitalized from accidents on that day than on the previous Friday.

      In the 1800s, in order to dispel the fears of superstitious sailors who would not sail on a Friday 13th, the British Navy commissioned a ship which was baptized the H.M.S. Friday. The crew members were picked on a Friday and it was launched on Friday 13th. Unfortunately, it was never seen or heard from again. Some call this a myth while others say that the navy wiped out all record of the voyage.

 The Flip Side:

     In some cultures Friday is considered a lucky day for sowing seeds and planting potatoes.
     The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday.
     In the United States the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year. It has been given the term Black Friday because that is when retailers begin to see a profit.
     Most workers like Friday because it is the last work day of the week and signals the beginning of the weekend.
     Thirteen is a prime number, which means it cannot be divided by any number other than itself. Hence, it symbolizes qualities of incorruptible nature and purity.
     In ancient Greece, Zeus was considered  the thirteenth and most powerful god. He was associated with totality, completion, and attainment.
     In Hindu mythology, Maha Shivratri was celebrated on the thirteenth night of the Magha month, which is a very sacred and holy night for all Shiva followers.
     The Thai New Year (Songkran Day)  begins on April 13th. It is a time to wash away all the bad omens by splashing water on friends and relatives.
     This one can be taken either way: our children become teenagers on their 13th birthday.
     My name, Joan Donaldson, has 13 letters in it but, unlike Theodore Bundy, I haven't killed anyone except in my mystery novels.

Making It Perfect by Victoria Chatham

AVAILABLE HERE

Question: Do you have any character habits or favourite words that always crop up in your writing?

Oh, boy! Do they ever. But – that is why we write first drafts. Once I have started writing, I try to keep going. I say try because I am a Virgo, and if you know anything about astrological signs and their characteristics, you’ll know that Virgos are perfectionists. I like the first sentence, first paragraph, first chapter to be perfect – except there is no such thing as perfection.

I learned by trial and many errors to get on with the story, taking Nora Roberts’ advice to keep writing as you can’t edit a blank page. Quite apart from those niggling fillers like had, was, just, really, very—I could go on but won’t—I find that I have a different ‘crutch’ word with each book I write.

In one of my books, my hero grinned so much I’m not sure that he would ever have straightened his face out if I hadn’t taken myself in hand and did a painstaking search to rewrite practically every instance of where I had him grinning. Another hero groaned—a lot— and a Regency heroine was forever sighing. I’ve had my moments with ‘however,’ ‘especially,’ ‘nevertheless,’ and many more.

Then there are the phrases that crop up everywhere like weeds, the unconscious shorthand if you will, of many Regency novels. A hero’s hair may be ‘slightly longer than fashionable’ (a phrase of which I have been guilty) or ‘curl over his collar,’ and a heroine’s toes may ‘her curl in her boots,’ plus my pet peeve of romances in general ‘she shattered.’ As writers, it behooves us to find the words to create the emotion and the moment to satisfy our readers fully.

But this is where self-editing comes in. Being aware of the nuances of what you’re writing means you can go over your work and search out those offending words, which are often repetitious. The editing process gives authors a chance to weed out those wretched stumbling blocks, and in that process, make their writing more powerful by rewriting sentences and phrases for more of an impact. (this is an example of redundancy. It means much the same as ‘more powerful’ so it has to go.)

Writing a book is not usually a solo effort. It starts with the author’s idea, building on the original concept by brainstorming with writing buddies to create a setting, characters, plot, and conflict. (Wine is frequently involved!) However the book comes into being, the first revision will include (or should) a thorough search for repetitions and redundancies, and those words ending in -ing (gerunds) and -ly (adverbs.)

The next stage will be beta readers who, if they are doing their job, will point out any character or plot holes and often pick up a ‘crutch’ word the author may not have been aware they were using. Early in my efforts to become a published author, a wise writing tutor warned me to ‘learn to love rewriting,’ and she was right.

Getting the idea down in the first draft and then editing and editing some more, and likely more after that, is the grist of learning the craft of writing.

​Victoria Chatham

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The DNA swab you submitted to find your heritage is now public information

 

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 A Minnesota man was recently charged in a 1980s murder after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. The breakthrough came when the local sheriff's department contacted Parabon, a company specializing in forensic genealogy, asking them to look at the old DNA evidence. Like the case of the Golden State Killer, Parabon was able to construct a family tree for the unknown suspect using public DNA databases. That tree pointed out three possible suspects. The police collected DNA evidence from the garbage of each suspect, and were able to link one suspect's DNA to the crime scene evidence, leading to his arrest. A judge ruled that Parabon didn't have to divulge their proprietary methods to the defense, stating that Parabon was no different than a confidential informant who points the police in the direction of a suspect, but who's information is not part of the trial evidence. These forensic DNA techniques are going to open a lot of cold cases (and add twists to many new mysteries).

Using Forensic genealogy correctly in a mystery is no small matter. To be credible, a goal we all strive for in our books, you have to do your homework and understand the science and terminology of both forensics and genealogy. While researching a DNA plot twist for a future book, I emailed one of the noted forensic genealogy practitioners and asked for guidance. After two emails it became clear my 20th century college genetics class was no longer state-of-the-art information but also left me woefully unschooled in the language of forensic genealogy.

My resource, a distant cousin who located me through common ancestors listed on a genealogy website, has collaborated with several Canadian police departments. She explained that she uses DNA testing information from numerous resources to build the criminal's genetic family tree.

Whoa! What's the difference between a genetic family tree and a public record family tree? A genetic family tree is constructed using the DNA passed through generations from the biological parents to their children. A traditional family tree lists the parents on birth certificates, family Bibles, and family trees passed from one generation to the next.

 

Isn't that the same? Most often the answer is yes. But people are discovering new cousins when they submit their DNA samples for analysis. Some of those cousins don't show up on their family trees. Through a number of circumstances, including artificial insemination, infidelity, adoption, rape, and more, there are biological parents who aren't reflected in many family trees.

 

I questioned that, and the response I got astounded me. There's a whole category of NPEs considered by genealogists. Those non-parental entities are (usually) men who contributed DNA to the family tree, but aren't listed as parents. According to my resource, a few years ago the genealogical experts thought that number was roughly 0.1% of the families. They now estimate that 10% of families have an NPE within three generations. That being the source of the newfound cousins with often unfamiliar last names.

 

An unnamed friend, gave her two siblings DNA kits for Christmas. Their gift was the knowledge that only one of them carried the DNA of the father listed on their birth certificates. One sibling was told she was the half-sibling of several children fathered by their small-town pharmacist. The oldest child found out the person who'd raised her, had married her mother after she was pregnant. Her mother assumed her husband was the father but was uncertain who her biological father had been.

 

My resource now warns people who hire her to create family trees that there is a good possibility that they'll discover a relative previously unknown, sometimes notorious, and often uninterested in acknowledging them.

My personal surprise was many generations back. A great great (keep adding greats here) grandfather, on my paternal grandmother's side was listed as the bastard child of an English Earl. A little more digging revealed that my ancestor was actually the legitimate heir to the Earldom. But, his mother died and to remarry, the Earl had his first marriage annulled, making my ancestor a child born out of wedlock, in the eyes of the church and British royalty. The oldest son of the Earl's new wife became the Earl. The next son was the Archbishop of Canterbury. The third son became the Steward of Scotland. Where does that leave me? I'm an untitled mystery author with an interesting genealogical tree.

If you decide to submit your DNA sample, be prepared for a surprise. And, be aware that your information is NOT private and may be used in a criminal investigation or future genetic medical research.