This will come as no surprise to worshippers of the Norse pagan goddess Frigga, but today is Friday the 13th, and people who suffer from a fear of calendrical calamity on this day are known as friggatriskaidekaphobes.

That alone might be a reason to spend the rest of the day in bed, but this Friday the 13th is only the frigga'n beginning of the bad news.

As if the year weren't already off to a painful enough start - with the economy in ruins, post-partisan politics in a post-partum depression, and pitchers and catchers set to report for their first human growth hormone shots of the season - 2009 is shaping up as the unluckiest year in more than a decade. Following February's freaky Friday the 13th comes another one in March. And then again in November!

The last time there were three Friday the 13ths in one year was 1998, and the triple witching won't occur again until 2015. By which time your 401(k) may actually be back where it was in the Carter administration.

Statistically, this year is off the charts. And not in a good way. During an average 400-year calendar cycle, in any given year there should be only 1.72 occurrences of the 13th of a month falling on Friday.

Friday was named for Frigga, who apparently prepared for the weekend by hosting a party on that day for 11 of her closest witch friends and the devil - 13 evil spirits in all, and that's not counting the vodka.