what about the plastic animals?

Three from Syracuse

For a bit of variety on this trip I got off I-81 and drove down North Salina Street to downtown Syracuse.  Syracuse is an interesting city.  It was an Erie Canal boomtown and has a rich history.  The old downtown area is densely built and has a big city feel to it.  I visited the Erie Canal Museum.  It is small but comprehensive and includes lots of Syracuse artifacts.  One highlight is the foot-measuring Brannock Device.  Invented in Syracuse by Charles Brannock in 1925, the device standardized foot measurements and greatly reduced the incidence of ill-fitting shoes.

Black Friday

On Disarranging Mine, Marie asks when did Black Friday become Black Friday, the moniker that needs no explanation.  That same question occurred to me while watching endless videos of people rushing into stores at 6 a.m. on television.  I did a quick search yesterday and left a comment on Marie's site.  The research was pretty slapdash so I repeated it, this time being more careful.

I searched the Lexis-Nexis general news database (major newspapers, phrase had to be in headline or lead paragraph) for occurrences of the phrase "black friday" in November and December of each year back until there were no occurrences (1991).  Looking at the results I tossed out anything that was not related to holiday shopping (i.e. "she wore black Friday", the Australian metal band Black Friday, etc.).   As you can see in the graph use of the phrase "Black Friday" has skyrocketed in the past few years.  Keep in mind that this year's data is only through November 27th. 

One unknown I didn't control for is the number of major newspapers included in the Lexis-Nexis database.  I'm assuming that while there may be more newspapers in the database since the early 1990s, the number of major newspapers probably hasn't changed all that much since then and probably hasn't changed at all in the last five years.

The earlier articles I skimmed all referred to Black Friday as the name retailers called the big, make-or-break, shopping day after Thanksgiving.  None mentioned Black Friday without that explanation. 

Where did the retailers come up with that name?  I didn't find any explanation.  Then again, I wasn't looking for an explanation.  As someone commented on Marie's site, a received wisdom is that the name refers to the day retailers go into the black for the year.  For example, the Wikipedia entry on Black Friday states "Black Friday is the day many retailers are thought to become profitable."

Jason, the commenter on Marie's site, and others point out this doesn't make much sense.  For one, what is the "year" in question?  Calendar year?  Fiscal year?  If the latter when did that fiscal year start?  Wouldn't it be borderline magical if all or many retailers, whose products (shoes, jeans, computers, dishwashers) have different profit margins went into the black on an annual basis (fiscal or calendar) on the very same day?

The "into the black" explanation is easily dismissed.  Another chestnut often mentioned is that Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year.  This explanation is more popular and, when you see the frenzied shoppers on CNN, seems very compelling.  Luckily, the retail industry keeps actual data on sales by day.  In 2004 and 2002 the busiest shopping day has been the Saturday before Christmas.  In those years Black Friday was second.  The reverse was true in 2003, with Black Friday leading the way.  This is also quite a change from just a few years ago.

I found two Washington Post articles, one each from 1996 and 1998, in which they debunk the myth that the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year.  Their source is the International Council of Shopping Centers.  According to the articles the Friday after Thanksgiving was the seventh busiest shopping day of the year in both 1995 and 1997.   The 1998 article points out that the day after Thanksgiving "hasn't been the biggest shopping day of the year for decades" and that the Saturday before Christmas is typically the busiest shopping day in terms of both sales and foot traffic.

Could this be a positive feedback?  That is, does the trend toward more shopping on the day after Thanksgiving increase the popularity of "Black Friday", which encourages retailers to capitalize on the Black Friday buzz, which, in turn increases consumer desire to shop on the day after Thanksgiving?

I'll leave Cyber Monday to someone else.

Thanksgiving 2005

A few flurries

Two turkeys

Dad, Mark, Tom, Halina, Krystyna

I went up to my Dad's for Thanksgiving.  We had a very simple dinner this year, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, mixed vegetables and cranberry sauce.  There was chocolate cream pie for dessert.  On the drive up I detoured to Ithaca to get my fill of vegetables at the Moosewood Restaurant. 

There was a bit of snow on the drive but nothing too bad.  Thanksgiving night we had about a foot of snow at my father's place.  I should have taken pictures.  Watching football on television seemed like a much better alternative.

Osage Oranges

whole

half

no match for a car tire

I always thought the osage orange was a tree common to the Great Plains not the east coast.  Also known as hedge apples, farmers planted the oranges as windbreaks and fence rows.  Turns out there are plenty osage orange trees in New York.  There's one, this one above, in Central Park near the Lenox Avenue entrance.  Another in the park is near 100th Street and Central Park West.  There are a couple in Morningside Park as well.  Some farmers at the greenmarket sell them for a dollar apiece.  The oranges are said to be cockroach repellents, and the wood is good for making bows (warning: site contains a photo of a dead, bloody deer). 

That's not the only unexpected living thing in New York. What kind of beast do you think this is that is running around forever wild in Central Park?  Is that the Harlem Meer version of the Loch Ness Monster?  Is it an aquatic dinosaur?  It must be a shy creature, I've never seen anything like it in the park.

That's it for me until Sunday at the earliest.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Kitchen Faucet in the Dark

I couldn't sleep last night.  At 2:22 a.m. I got out of bed to get a drink of water.   Even though I didn't turn the lights on I could see the stream of water in the glow of the oven and microwave clocks.  Not having anything better to do at 2:22 I took a 15 second exposure photo.  A couple of tiny white streaks show up in the unaltered photo.  Performing the equalize, or histogram stretch, let the details show up, albeit fuzzy.  That done, I finished reading the Sunday paper before turning in at 5:00.  Was I refreshed and ready to go when my alarm rang an hour later!

More long-exposure photos of a different subject coming soon. 

Newtown Pippins

Walking by the greenmarket at Tompkins Square Park yesterday I noticed that Red Jacket Orchards has Newtown Pippin apples.  Newtown Pippins!  If you ever see Newtown Pippins buy them.  Tart and delicious they are apple royalty.  They were Thomas Jefferson's favorite apple.  He grew them at Monticello.  In fact, the Newtown Pippin has won the Monticello apple tasting contest four of the last ten years. 

Where do they acquire their deliciousness?  Why, from the sparkling waters of Newtown Creek in Queens.  Well, it was sparkling in the 18th century when the variety was developed.  The Newtown Pippin is the only apple variety native to New York City.

Sky Blue Friday

Digging around the photos taken in the last month I noticed several that were very blue.

Another Young Artist

Bowl of Fruit by Zoe, age 4

Orange by Zoe, age 4

In a previous post I mistakenly labeled a work of art by Emma as being done by her younger sister Zoe.   I'm pretty sure these works are both by Zoe.

The Always Mysterious Lower East Side

Lismore Hosiery

Blue

Until this past week I hadn't been to the Lower East Side for a long time.  Boy, have I missed some exciting happenings!  A couple of the leg models have been moved in the scary Lismore Hosiery Co., window display revealling a dust-free spot.  Somebody actually goes into the store.  Very scary indeed.  (More Lismore Hosiery photos from DavisMcDavis.)

Also scary, Blue is a luxury apartment building being built on the site of the now-defunct Ratner's Deli parking lot.  Since the neighborhood has many residents who admire clever stickers posted on lamp posts, are the stickers part of their sales campaign?  Or, since the neighborhood has many residents who place clever stickers on lamp posts, are the stickers a commentary on the building?

Unrelated:  If any placers of clever stickers, or anyone else, knows where in town I can get rolls of holographic or iridescent, 3-inch wide mylar ribbons please email me.

Young Artists

Cherries and Strawberries by Zoe, age 4, Emma, age 7

Untitled Autumn Scene by Emma, age 7

My nieces Emma and Zoe sent me a sampling of their recent artwork.

Update:  Emma pointed out that I had misattributed one of her works to her sister.  Zoe's artwork will be posted later.