Luck ’n love. You’ll need the former today (Friday the 13th) and the latter tomorrow (Valentine’s Day/Iraqi Communist Martyrs’ Day) — and if you have enough charm for both, well, congratulations.   

And then there’s Monday. Perhaps the most important of the next three days, President’s Day is a federal holiday, i.e., grounds to have no classes. But Yale insists on pressing on, so press on we shall (unless we get hit by a lot of snow for the third Monday in a row — keep your fingers crossed, folks).   

For the last-second planners. Naturally, Yalies everywhere will be trying to show off how cultural they are on Saturday. And fortunately for them, there will be no shortage of opportunities to do so: YSO, Yale Ballroom and Shades are all staging Valentine’s events.   

Even more Shades. And if you’re not necessarily trying for sophisticated, there’s the “50 Shades of Grey” movie and Sigma Chi’s parties this weekend. Sorry for throwing shade.   

Romantic ritual. Yesterday, YaleNews took a crack at answering “Why we embrace the ritual of Valentine’s Day” by sitting down with sociology professor Jeffrey Alexander for a Q&A. “It’s a way to liven up a dark winter,” Alexander says. That’s one way to put it.

“Love Actually” in actuality. Apparently, the 2003 rom-com took place in London, which is also where the Yale in London 2015 summer program will take place, believe it or not. If you end up bored enough on Saturday night, could be worth trying your luck across the pond. Deadline is Sunday.

Enough is enough. Yesterday, Ashton Carter ’76 was confirmed by the United States Senate as the next Defense Secretary, a little more than two months after being nominated for the post by President Barack Obama. Don’t worry, we’re not even going to try to spin this one into a Valentine’s Day thing.       

It begins. Today marks the start of Harvard’s inevitable colonization of Yale’s Computer Science Department. Information sessions about CS50 staffing opportunities will take place at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

An alternative. Fortunately, there’s another place to be at 4 p.m.: the Yale Economic Review’s event with economist Jeffrey Sachs, who will be speaking on climate change. Stop by if you would rather not feed the Harvard machine/need material for your PLSC 214 policy memo.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1948 The Whiffenpoofs and Pundits announce “Whoosh!” a collaborative musicomedy.

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