escargot1 said:It is also said that a lost item will only be found in the last place you look for it.
Why this belief came about, I cannot say.
A Thai restaurant in London changed sites the other day, and marked the occasion by calling in Buddhist monks to bless the new venue. This practice is apparently de rigueur in Thailand: the chanting, incense and holy water, the romance and ritual, are thought to imbue a business with good fortune and the prospect of success.
It turns out, in fact, that religion, superstition and a belief in the paranormal are surprisingly common among restaurateurs.
Artist tests superstition on the stock market with robot analyst
August 6th, 2012 in Technology / Software
(Phys.org) -- Shing Tat Chung, a designer, artist and graduate of the Royal College of Art, has partnered with Jim Hunt, computer programmer with a British trading group, to create what appears to be the world’s first computer controlled investment fund buyer/seller program that uses superstition to make its choices, rather than math, or science. Called Sid the Superstitious Robot, the program is the result of The Superstitious Fund Project, which Chung started to raise interest, and funds, for his initiative.
Chung has a lifelong interest in superstition; his mother was a big influence (and one of his investors). Growing up he became fascinated by the decisions people make that have no real basis in science, such a fear of black cats, or walking under a ladder. After graduation, he started a blog detailing his ideas and thoughts on the topic which included his musings following the Flash Crash of 2010, which was when worldwide stock markets took a dive, apparently because of issues with the automated buy/sell programs now used routinely throughout the world by large investment companies. This got him to wondering if such a program built on algorithms that followed superstition, rather than logic, might turn up some surprising results.
Not being a programmer himself, Chung partnered with Hunt, and together the two of them decided on the kinds of superstitious events that might impact stock purchasing decisions, i.e. Friday the thirteenth, full moons, new moons, etc. Hunt then coded those along with other standard stock trading procedures into an open source investment program and then the two turned to the internet to see if anyone would be willing to add real money to their cause. There were, they managed to garner £4828.88 via 144 investors, just prior to their official start date of June 1st, which was deemed an appropriately superstitious “good” day, by a fortune teller Chung consulted.
Thus far, the fund hasn’t done very well, it’s down about five percent, but Chung has been diligent in reminding investors that the project could result in total loss of an investment. The point is, after all, he says, to see if stock market purchasing and selling decisions are as susceptible to suggestion as are many of the other financial decisions people make on a daily basis. He also points out that the program Hunt wrote is designed to learn as it goes, thus making it potentially smarter at recognizing good and bad days, and in the end, finding out if it’s possible to make money in the stock money, using superstition as a guide.
© 2012 Phys.org
"Artist tests superstition on the stock market with robot analyst." August 6th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-08-artist-sup ... alyst.html
Yith posted a longer version of this story here:ramonmercado said:A novel approach to examining superstition and how it affects markets.
Artist tests superstition on the stock market with robot analyst
August 6th, 2012 in Technology / Software
...
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-artist-sup ... alyst.html
rynner2 said:Yith posted a longer version of this story here:ramonmercado said:A novel approach to examining superstition and how it affects markets.
Artist tests superstition on the stock market with robot analyst
August 6th, 2012 in Technology / Software
...
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-artist-sup ... alyst.html
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... 14#1244914
Peanuts, Blackjack and Pee: Strangest Space Mission Superstitions
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/ ... rstitions/
By Tanya LewisEmail Author August 10, 2012 | 4:07 pm | Categories: Space
The tension was palpable in the control room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the minutes leading up to the Aug. 5 landing of the Mars rover Curiosity. Rows of headset-clad flight controllers in matching pale blue polo shirts huddled over their computers, awaiting the rover descent’s ”seven minutes of terror.” Then, seemingly from nowhere, bottles of peanuts started to appear, and soon all the engineers and scientists were munching on handfuls of the proteinaceous snack.
It’s just one of a slew of superstitious NASA traditions, and the Russian space program has its own share. So much for scientific rationality.
“We all have our rituals, and we create values associated with them,” said space historian Roger Launius of the National Air and Space Museum. “Over a period of time, institutions adopt mores that acculturate individuals into the group or define the organization. I don’t think they’re consciously created for that purpose,” he said, but “people tend to find themselves a part of this culture and want to perpetuate these traditions.”
The peanut tradition started in the 1960s during JPL’s Ranger missions, which were spacecraft designed to fly into the moon and take pictures of it. The first six Ranger spacecraft failed during launch or while leaving orbit, but on the 7th launch, someone brought peanuts into mission control, and the mission succeeded. It’s been a tradition at JPL launches and landings ever since.
These are some of the other timeless traditions of the world’s space-exploring elite:
NASA Traditions
On the day of their launch, many NASA astronauts eat scrambled eggs and steak, as a tribute to astronaut Alan Shepard, who ate this breakfast before his Mercury Freedom 7 flight in 1961.
Before a launch, the commander must play cards (supposedly either Blackjack or 5-card poker) with the tech crew until he loses a hand. The tradition’s origins are a mystery, but it may have begun during the two-man Gemini missions.
The suit-up room, where astronauts must wait an hour while purging their bodies of nitrogen, contains the same recliner chairs as it did during the Apollo era.
After the shuttle orbiter was successfully transported from the Orbital Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building, the managers would provide the team with round donuts and bagels. It may have to do with the fact that these foods are round like the wheels of the shuttle transporter.
After a successful launch at Kennedy Space Center, the launch controllers enjoy a hearty meal of beans and cornbread. The tradition started when Former NASA Test Director Chief Norm Carlson brought in a small crock-pot of beans after the first space shuttle launch, STS-1. Here’s his recipe (.pdf).
Dating back at least to the Apollo missions, astronauts have awoken in space to music chosen by mission control, such as Dean Martin’s “Going Back to Houston.”
Gene Kranz, the famous mission controller of Apollo 13, had his wife make him a new waistcoat for each mission. As Kranz worked to save the crew of Apollo 13, he was wearing a white vest, as depicted in the 1995 film. The vest is now displayed in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
After a launch at Kennedy Space Center, it is customary for rookie launch directors, test directors and engineers to have their neckties cut (an aviation tradition following a pilot’s first solo flight).
Russian/Soviet Traditions
Before leaving the Star City training complex near Moscow, Soyuz flight crews leave red carnations at the Memorial Wall in memory of first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, and four other cosmonauts. They visit Gagarin’s office, sign his guestbook, and supposedly ask his ghost for permission to fly.
As the train that carries the Soyuz rocket booster approaches the Baikonur Cosmodrome, people place coins on the tracks to be flattened into good-luck charms.
The crew are forbidden to attend the rollout of the Soyuz rocket to the launchpad because it is said to be bad luck; instead, they must have a haircut on this day.
The night before launch, cosmonauts attend a mandatory screening of the 1969 cult movie “White Sun of the Desert.”
On launch day, the cosmonauts have a champagne breakfast and autograph their hotel room door.
At the hotel, a Russian Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz crew and sprinkles them with holy water. This is a post-Soviet tradition, started by cosmonaut Aleksandr Viktorenko, who requested a blessing before the Soyuz TM-20 crew’s launch to Mir.
As the crew leaves the hotel, the Soviet-era rock song “The Grass Near My Home“ is played by the band Zemlyane (“The Earthlings”).
The cosmonauts travel to the launchpad in buses outfitted with horseshoes for good luck.
On their way to the launch, Russian cosmonauts are known to urinate on the right rear wheel of their transfer bus, an act supposedly performed by Yuri Gagarin. Female cosmonauts are excused, but certain women have been known to carry vials of their urine to spill in solidarity.
The Soyuz capsule carries a small talisman hung from a string, chosen by the crew commander, which signifies when weightlessness is achieved.
After the shuttle orbiter was successfully transported from the Orbital Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building, the managers would provide the team with round donuts and bagels. It may have to do with the fact that these foods are round like the wheels of the shuttle transporter.
Poke around in enough Chinese and Korean restaurants and there's a fighting chance that you'll turn up a golden pig.
Looks like bronze. Has a happy vibe.To expand on this, a lot of new businesses buy or are given a metal pig as a good luck omen. Many then conceal or inconspicuously place the pig on the premises. Pigs are associated with money in Chinese folklore and mythology and are thought to 'attract' money to their owner.
By chance, I was poking around in a bric-a-brac store in China town on the very week I started my own business. Most of the stuff on sale was junk, but, never one to miss a good story, I had to buy the chap below when I spotted him. He was rather grimy for the ten quid or so I paid, but he cleaned up well enough and has a pleasantly dull patina. He's about the correct size to fit comfortably in one palm, and although I don't know what metal he is made of he is heavier that you'd imagine and pleasantly smooth and round when held.
The business has thrived, and while I'm not convinced he is the cause I shall not be parting with him!
View attachment 9390
Looks like bronze. Has a happy vibe.
Pigs are associated with money in Chinese folklore and mythology and are thought to 'attract' money to their owner.
A superstition of my wife's. Whenever she salted food while cooking, she used to throw a pinch of salt over her left shoulder. Anyone know what that's about? ...
Yep, that's it.Aren't you supposed to be throwing the salt in the face of the Devil, who has crept up behind you hoping for salt-spillages for reasons best known to himself?
Presumably the Devil then dies from a high blood-pressure related illness. Eventually.Yep, that's it.
Presumably the Devil then dies from a high blood-pressure related illness. Eventually.
Sure, the powerful Lucifer Morningstar, ex-archangel, ruler of Hell and all its dominions, stopped in his tracks with a bit of a stinging eye. Makes sense.Isn't that salt supposed to go in the Devil's eyes?
Sure, the powerful Lucifer Morningstar, ex-archangel, ruler of Hell and all its dominions, stopped in his tracks with a bit of a stinging eye. Makes sense.