On Fri, Feb 14, 2020 at 4:19 PM Tom Lane <t...@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote: > Not sure how serious Andrew is being here, but it does open up an > important point: there are varying opinions on which numbers are unlucky. > The idea that 13 is unlucky is Western, and maybe even only common in > English-speaking countries.
I would wager that this superstition is the main reason why Oracle 12c was followed by Oracle 18c rather than Oracle 13c. I have no evidence for this -- I take it on faith. I feel that I should take the proposal seriously for at least a moment. The proposal doesn't affect anybody who isn't into numerology. At the same time, it makes the superstitious people happy (leaving aside the icosaphobes). Airlines do this with row numbers -- what's the harm? There is a real downside to this, though. It is a bad idea, even on its own terms. If we take the idea seriously, then it has every chance of being noticed and becoming a big distraction in all sorts of ways. That might happen anyway, but I think it's less likely this way. ISTM that the smart thing to do is to ignore it completely. Don't even try to preempt a silly headline written by some tech journalist wiseacre. -- Peter Geoghegan