IMO there are no harmless ones (by that I mean dictionary definition superstitions - not just things like traditions and adages that have a logical reason or basis), if a person truly believes in actual magical thinking no matter how silly it’s a doorway to accepting the rest.
Horoscopes, homeopathy, faith healing, yearning for eschatological prophecies…
If someone says something bad, knock on wood. Like “Well X thing could happen” where X is like. A storm, the cats learning how to tap dance, a river exploding. Knocking on wood to make that not happen.
Thou shalt not deploy anything to production on a Friday.
Actually, in some industries this is actually a good thing
If you can have a bumpy first day on Friday, and e.g. the warehouse is closed on the weekend, you can fix all the things you’ve seen on Friday during the weekend. And don’t have to suffer through a real rough week with in-production patching
True, and I’ve worked in corp IT for retail and we did actually do updates to the system on Fridays (or sometimes Saturdays) for exactly that reason.
So it’s more a rule-of-thumb than a prime directive, I guess lol.
you can fix all the things you’ve seen on Friday during the weekend
Just how I love spending my weekends.
Well, that’s how my business trips usually look like.
Work outside of usual production, but still somehow watch and verify your changes during production the next day, maybe producing hot-fixes, and trying to get some sleep until you can do your tests of changes at night, after you hopefully have swallowed all the fucking log data with a beer - and sometimes 2 and something stronger.
Then you go to bed with an unresolved issue, wake up during the night with some kind of wacky dreamed up solution.
Without any other option you hack it in, and it miraculously works.Then you go home and sleep - until some support call disturbs your Zen and you’re helplessly confused again …
Good one!
The absolute first non-food thing I ever bought in China was a jade “bi” pendant. This is what they look like:
(To be clear, this is not mine for reasons which will become obvious in a moment.)
I was told by the seller that you should never take it off as she strung it on red silk for me, because it’s to “protect your health”.
Since 2001 I’ve taken this off only five times, all but one of which was because the string frayed through and it had to be restrung. I don’t believe in the slightest that it has any impact on my health, but as a minor, neurotic superstition it stays on. (Which is why I couldn’t share a photograph of mine: I’d have to take it off.)
Have you had health situations that resolved themselves or did you do something to resolve it or did you not change anything because the the pendant protects you?
I have a ram pendant so Satan protects me.
I do not believe in Satan.
The overwhelming majority of people are paid actors whose job is to stand in my way when I want to go home after work.
It’s about harmless beliefs, not not being crazy.
That might make it more Truman show /fun to interact with them.
Never put shoes on a table, mostly just because it’s dirty but I think it’s something to do with bad luck?
Edit: fat thumbs
Picking up pennies.
Fun memory I just had: My dad was a penny picker and would empty his pockets at the end of the day into one of those blue 5-gallon water jugs that he kept right at the front door by the stairs. One time when it was full, I was trying to be slick and take a lil, and knocked the jug down the stairs where it broke and pennies cascaded down them like a waterfall of copper. Dad was pissed at first but then found it funny. Whats even more funny, is that we didn’t clean it up for months, we just had penny stairs, and I swear he would come home and just throw his new pennies right on the stairs. He probably would have kept it that way forever but I cleaned it up as a surprise while he was gone one day.
Reminds me.
I was not there, but a buddy of mine worked as a moving man. That day’s client had done something similar, except he’d put the coins in a glass 5 gallon bottle, the kind that were used for water coolers. The client decided to show off for the movers and made to hoist the bottle up onto his shoulder. Bottom came out and coins went everywhere.
Hadn’t thought of that story in a while. Thanks
That’s what ours was too, the kind that goes into water coolers but it was plastic, not glass. It still exploded when I dropped it though LOL
Building off that: If you find a penny on heads its good luck. Finding on tails is bad. But, if you flip over a penny on tails for the next person to find it heads, you walk away neutral
Do it? Don’t do it? People who do it turn into dinosaurs? 37 years good luck? Tell us, man!
It’s bad luck to rest your chopsticks inside the bowl.
If your right palm itches, you’re going to receive money.
