threaded xiii foreword
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7/30/2019 Threaded XIII foreword
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Threaded isse nmbe 13! Fo some people, spestitios ol, aaid o thei own
shadows, that might sond nlcy. Bt not ond hee! (Hee being the vaios
Acland, San Fancisco (and, tonight, Bdapest) oces oThreaded magazine.)
Well, when we stated ot, we scacely thoght we wold mae it to a second
edition, let alone that wed be seeing the yea 2013 in with o 13th.
Yo might say we have made o own lc and, i we did, we havent nished,
not by a long chal. As a matte o act, wee jst waming p.
Bt what do we eally now abot 13, this potent nmbe loaded with so mch
baggage? Accoding to Wiipedia, its a natal nmbe, between 12 and 14,
which, we say, is bette than any o those cononded nnatal nmbes!
We vastly pee o nmbes pe and oganic, and ae slightly sspicios o
the nmeically synthetic.
O cose jst the vey nmbe 13 has had a vey bad ap o a vey long time.
It is a nmbe with geat signicance in seveal wold eligions. In Jdaism o
instance, 13 is the age at which a boy o gil mates and becomes a Ba Mitzvah,
o a ll membe o the Jewish aith. At Jess o Nazaeths last sppe, thee
wee 13 people aond the table, conting Jess and the twelve apostles. In Wicca
meanwhile, 13 is said to be the age that adepts stat to lean Witchcat. And
taditionally, thee ae meant to be 13 witches in a coven. O, at least, thats what an
old Hngaian village wise woman told me once.
The nmbe 13 was consideed not only bad lc bt stictly evil in the ancient
clt o Zooastianism. This was a eligion based on the teachings o the pophet
Zooaste (who else?) and was omely among the wolds lagest eligions. It was
pobably onded some time beoe the 6th centy BCE in the easten pat o
ancient Geate Pesia. To this day in Pesia, now Ian, the 13th day o each new
Ianian yea is called Sizdah Beda. Its the day pon which evil spiits and da
oces ae believed to be at wo. People deset ban aeas o the day and head
o the contyside.
Hello! 13! What the hell is p with yo? A siniste ai still clings to the nmbe lie a
Velco shod. Thats nless yo happen to be on the socalled Threaded editoial
team, in which case yo will be totally nafected. Ate all, it taes 13 tns to mae
a taditional hangmans noose. Anything less isnt stong enogh to snap a pesons
nec. Bt hee at Threaded, we wee given jst enogh ope to hang oselves.
Instead, we bced the odds and l ived to tell the tale. Scaed o 13? Pah! Yoll nd
no one who sfes om tisaideaphobia aond the Threaded oce(s). (Thats
ea o the nmbe 13: a phobia categoised bac in 1911.)
Bt 14? Stictly between yo, me and the gatepost. We can hadly wait.
Foreword by Scott Alexander Young
THE LuCkY-FOr-SOME ISSuE