Ask Lemmy

Absolutely nothing. I don't believe in ghosts, magic, ju-ju, or karma.

Whenever I buy insurance for a device, nothing happens to it. Twice I've not had insurance (once it was not offered, second time I foolishly skipped it) and both those times, those devices fucking ate it.

Buying the insurance is a magic spell that protects my technology and nothing can convince me otherwise

yeah i do the same thing. i imagine supernatural beings are listening to what i say and making it come true; i suspect it's my own subconscious steering me in a way.

I think that is not uncommon. I do the knock on wood stuff. Not because I actually think it will make a difference but its just kinda a thing. Its like when you have something that is not above the 95th percentile and you are hoping and like "trusting" in luck. Like right now I feel that way about my car. Its also like the "there are no athiests in foxholes". When at deaths door its easy to reach out to supernatural help since its pretty clear your effed natural world wise.

Same here. With my kids, I really struggled to get stuff ready for their birth because it gent like tempting fate. Cue scrambling to get everything ready once the baby was back home.

In smaller stuff, always knock on wood. Fake wood counts as wood.

I have a fear of heights. In fear, I go back to what I was taught during childhood. I pray to God to save me even though I'm an agnostic now.

Does that count as a superstition?

When I plan a trip and I somehow wake up late and for some reason I just feel so tired. I cancel the trip I take that as a sign something bad is about to happen. That saved me from two incidents. Personally I think it probably is just a coincidence.

I have something that I would call a superstition. Sometimes, when I'm preparing for something (like going somewhere, preparing for a test, etc) and I have a weird thought about how something could go wrong, I have to make sure at least 3 times that I have covered against said possibility. So whether it be taking a particular thing with me, or like locking all my windows, or having my phone charged, or whatever, I make sure 3 or more times that I have done what needs to be done.

Surprisingly when I have overrode that feeling, even if I made sure once, I have 100% missed it somehow later on. So I just don't take chances now.

There's a word - starts with Q, ends with T. It is never to be uttered with regard to work conditions, ever.

When unplugging any electrical device from the wall, press the power button to discharge any non power supply capacitors.

I'm the same when it comes to dark jokes like that. There are certain things I will never joke about and I don't want to hear jokes about. I grew up hearing my grandma saying that a lot and now, I've already lost one of my relatives to that. So, I just don't want hear about it at all.

Murphy's Law says anything that can go wrong will go wrong. My more optimistic version is that the way to make things go right is to make it impossible for them not to. This just makes me proactive - for example, I assume that if I set a bag of groceries down next to a wall without thinking, it will lean away from the wall and tip over. So I just always give bags a half turn before I set them down, and Bingpot! they obediently lean against the wall and stay standing up. It might not exactly be a superstition because I don't think mystical forces are involved. Rather I think a perverse part of our own brains subliminally plans these little accidents for amusement. But once you start using the conscious part of your brain to subvert the plan. those little snafus start not happening.

Similar principle applies to looking for things - say like I'm trying to find my tape measure. I've learned that if I can't find it in a very brief time and consciously decide to do something different - like go to the store and get another tape measure - most often within a couple seconds I will look right at the tape measure, or whatever it is. Pretending isn't enough - I have to sincerely decide to give up searching. My theory on this is that deep down I know where the object is, but part of me is enjoying the treasure hunt so it won't let the knowledge rise to the surface. Once that part of me realizes the game is over, it stops hiding the information and I seemingly at random look right where the thing is.

Maybe believing in these little brain functions is the superstition.

Don't split the pole around me.

If and when I transition, I might take a new name.

There are so many good* names from movies, TV series, books and real life mythology that I cannot adopt because they conflict with my mind emotionally if they are in any way affiliated with death, weakness, sadness, anger, curses, darkness, evil and so on.

*good sounding, good mouth feel when pronouncing, good literal meaning, etc.

Hold the Reset button as you power off the NES or you'll lose your save.

If I don’t do my due diligence on literally everything, something will go wrong. I have zero luck points.

I know of one magic spell that really works. It's a curse:

"Nothing can possibly go wrong."