Fan Death

It has been brought to my attention by a friend who is teaching English in Korea (hifire.blogspot.com) that Koreans believe that having a fan blowing on your face while you're sleeping will kill you. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death)

I was so excited to hear about this, because my mom had warned me to never let the fan constantly blow on my face at night. She was so afraid of the consequences, she wouldn't let my sister and I to use a fan at night. She eventually gave in and let us use one as long as it was oscillating. I thought my mom was nuts and made this all up, but now I'm glad to know she has a whole nutty country to keep her company. :P

I grew up with a lot of these urban legends and superstitions. Just to mention a few no-no's:

1. Photographs with 3 three people should not be taken
2. You should never measure you height while lying down.
3. The number 8 is lucky, even if you have to do some arithmetic to get the eight. For example, the number 179 could be considered lucky because 1+7+9=17 and since the digits of 17 add up to 8, 179 is lucky.
4. It is bad to have a house where there is straight path from the front door to the back door. I have family that have constructed walls just so this isn't true in their house. Sure, this may improve the chi of the house, but how is your personal chi going to be when you have to navigate through the maze just to get to the kitchen from the living room?

This last item belongs to a long list of beliefs commonly referred to as Feng Shui. Don't get me started.