v31.9: The Black Friday

Good morning folks,

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It is finally Friday!  Another week of work has come and gone and all we need to do is put on our smiley face for a few more hours and we'll be done for a couple days.  If you work this weekend, I apologize.

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Today is commonly known as Black Friday in the US.  You might know the day as the First Friday after the US Thanksgiving day.  This is the day people shop until they literally drop.  I have read about people being beaten up, murdered and even a lady was trampled over deals and savings.

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Would you trade your life for that perfect gift for someone?  I can't imagine what goes through people's minds sometimes.  I can see if it was a life or death situation and there was a mob of people running for safety, but this was all over a sale.  Meh.

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I did a little bit of research last night on Black Friday as I wanted to get some information on the day and its origins.  I found a LOT of references to Black Friday which I will share with you later but for now I want to focus on the origins of Black Friday related to the first Friday after Thanksgiving in the US.  There are actually two "meanings" to the day, the first dating back to 1966 in Philadelphia.  There were so many vehicles on the road the day after Thanksgiving that the air in the city was thick with black smog.  Of course all cities are like this so it didn't really catch on very well across the country.  The biggest reason it is called Black Friday is because this typically is the day where retailers being to make the most money; thereby changing their retail revenue from "in the red" to "in the black".

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We don't have anything like that here in Canada.  Our Thanksgiving day was last month and for the most part it was fairly quiet.  Nothing to see here.

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So what about all the other "Black Fridays" out there?  Well, rather than try to explain them all, here is a short list of other Fridays also dubbed Black Friday:

- The Wall Street Crash of 1929, The Times also known as the Great Crash or the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

- Black Friday is the name given to September 8, 1978 (17 Shahrivar 1357 AP) and the shooting of protestors by security forces in Zhaleh (or Jaleh) Square in Tehran, Iran.

- September 21, 1951 is known in Brighton, New York as Black Friday. On this day, a natural gas explosion took place within the Meadowbrook, Roselawn, and Bel Air neighborhoods, causing several homes to be leveled or damaged, and two people killed.

- Black Friday, September 24 1869, also known as the Fisk/Gould Scandal, was a financial panic in the United States caused by two speculators.

- Black Friday is the last Friday before Christmas.

- The 1919 Battle of George Square, also known as Bloody Friday and Black Friday, was one of the worst riots on the streets of Glasgow, Scotland.

- The Eyemouth disaster was a severe European windstorm that struck the southern coast of Scotland, specifically Berwickshire, on 14 October 1881. 189 fishermen died; most of them were from the village of Eyemouth. Many citizens of Eyemouth call the day Black Friday.

- Black Friday is used to refer to the air battle waged between German and British aircraft on 9 February 1945. It was the largest aerial clash over Norway during World War II. At the time Germany was in control of Norway. There were over 300,000 German soldiers stationed there.

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Some good information there.  I can't help but wonder why today would be dubbed "Black Friday" in the US when throughout history the name is associated with disasters and death.  Perhaps, subconsciously they are looking for trouble.  Who knows?

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Anyway folks, just a quick one today.  I have a lot of work to complete today and while I had originally planned to work from home today, I decided to head into the office so I could get the job done quicker and maybe head home a little early.  Remember folks, watch where you step today, you never know if your next step may be on someone face.

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Cheers,

Al