I had a friend in high school who, when his purchase at a convenience store totaled $6.66, would always throw in a piece of bubble gum to avoid the offending number. And because he was superstitious about it, it happened to him a lot. I could never quite convince him that he should put something back because the $6.66 was still in his total of $6.68.

This year, hundreds, nay thousands of pregnant women are going to clinch their legs together and avoid giving birth on 6/6/6, afraid their child might be the anti-jebus.

Rest easy, ladies. First of all, the number 666 referred to Caligula. Second, only idiots and Satanists would write it 6/6/6. It should be written 6/6/06. We didn't write 6/6/6 to refer to 1976 (omitting the seven since it would have been understood in context), or 1966. Actually, the only date 6/6/6 could possibly refer to is June 6, 6 AD.

So relax your muscles and let your little curtain climbers arrive when they want. It's uneducated superstition to worry about next Tuesday being of any more significance than last Wednesday, when that chunk of comet crashed into the Atlantic and caused that tsunami.