Hi!

Today is Friday the 13th, and it’s also my half-birthday. The second half of that sentence isn’t important — 40-somethings don’t really care about half-birthdays (unless they’re looking for life insurance policies), but it also means that my real birthday is also on the 13th of a month, and therefore, can fall on Friday the 13th. Honestly, it never really bothered me when it did, as I’m not particularly superstitious.

And, thankfully, I don’t remember any of my classmates giving me a hard time about it as a kid. But that’s not everyone’s reality. Kids say dumb things to other kids all the time, and I’m sure there are many out there who have teased others, calling them unlucky or cursed, for being born on the 13th of the month. I’m not alone in belief. So did Mr. Rogers.

That’s Mr. Rogers, above right. And with him is one of his puppets, King Friday XIII — and his birthday is Friday the 13th. I shared the story about King Friday in my June 24, 2015 email (which was a Wednesday, in case you’re wondering), and I try to remember to resurface it on Friday the 13ths. Here’s what Fred Rogers told the Emmy’s website back in 1999:

His name was King Friday XIII. We just thought that was fun because so many people are so superstitious about Friday the 13th that we thought, let’s start children out thinking that Friday the 13th was a fun day. And every Friday the 13th would be his birthday. So we would celebrate his birthday every time a Friday the 13th came. And that was so wonderful about [broadcasting a live TV show] — when a Friday the 13th came, you knew it.

Brilliant — especially for kids who were also celebrating their birthdays that day.

The Now I Know Week In Review

Monday: Can a Flying Potato Read This Email?: Probably not, but they do have eyes and Wi-Fi!

Tuesday: The Ancient Roman Pee Tax: I think the bonus fact here should have been the main story, and vice versa. Oh well.

Wednesday: The Family Feud French Fry Fiasco: I still do not think this is the right ruling, the rules themselves notwithstanding.

Thursday: How to Watch Golf During a Basketball Game (Maybe): Get yourself in trouble, if they let you.

Long Reads and Other Things

Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:

1) “How One Woman Lost $75,000 to an MLM” (The Cut, 20 minutes, May 2025). This site has a paywall; sorry if it snares you. (I think you get three articles/month free.) This is the story of an Air Force vet turned Mary Kay salesperson, except that she was the one doing most of the buying. (To be clear, she’s the victim here.)

2) “Creed Bratton Has a Story to Tell” (Esquire, 27 minutes, April 2025). Thanks to Matthew J. for suggesting this one. I don’t usually share celebrity profiles, but the Author Note topping this one was a great hook:

I believe what I’m setting down here to be true. I fact-checked, reported out, and cross-referenced what was possible to verify, what hadn’t been eroded by 65 years and cocaine. I tracked down and emailed cold an old flame. “This might seem like an odd question,” I wrote to her. Did you have a brief affair in the Greek islands with a man named Chuck Ertmoed around 1965? Yes, she said, she had. Why was I asking about Chuck? And why did I also call him Creed? She had no idea. The few inconsistencies I found amounted to misremembered details. I have no reason to doubt anything Creed’s told me, but I’ve also not forgotten the time he stopped me during a line of questioning and said, “We don’t want the truth to get in the way of a good story, do we?”

3) “How a Creepy, Cuddly Toy Became the Hottest Accessory of the Season” (Harper’s Bazaar, 6 minutes, June 2025). One of these appeared in my house (one of my kids purchased one, they’re not magic) and my first reaction was “what is that thing?” I am glad I am not alone.

Have a great weekend!

Dan