First Black Friday, Then Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is a dday that many people wait for because it means they do not have to fight crowds at the local stores to get a good deal.  I hate going into town on Black Friday, I usually wait till Cyber Monday to do all my shopping.

The term "Cyber Monday" was first coined in 2005 by Ellen Davis at the National Retail Federation.

People at the National Retail Federation noticed a spike in sales the Monday following Black Friday.  They theorized it was because once people got back to work, they could shop online without distractions and modem speeds had increased to a point where it was easier to shop online. Based on this observation, the National Retail Federation released a statement declaring the Monday after Black Friday as "Cyber Monday" because 77 percent of the  retail businesses noticed a significant increase on that day.

The New York Times published the information and it was noticed that sales that year hit just about half a billion, an increase of 26 percent from the previous year.  It took several years for the public to accept it as a regular shopping day and many retailers didn't see it as anything special until 2014 when sales hit two billion dollars that day, making it one of the biggest sales day in history.

The line between Black Friday and Cyber Monday have blurred to the point that sales occur beginning on Thanksgiving and ending on Cyber Monday. Furthermore, due to heavy competitions between companies such as Wal-mart and Amazon, Cyber Monday became Cyber Week which is now quite standard

The latest statistics say in 2015, sales for Cyber Monday were $2.98 billion while it jumped to $6.59 billion two years later.  Many companies deeply slash desirable items to jump start everyone's purchases.  Many companies deeply discount clothing, laptops, and gaming systems to get people shopping. The idea is for this strategy to get shoppers thinking of what they can get others for Christmas.

Since then, the idea of Cyber Monday has caught on in other countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada. 

If you are wondering?  Yes I do shop the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales online because the closest store to my house is not much bigger than a convenience store.  I can't visit stores at 5 AM to check out the television, underwear and socks so his is the best I can.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear from you.  Have a great day.

More

Days After

Black Friday But Not What You Think!

  I'm sure the minute you read the words "Black Friday", dreams of bargains popped into your head.  If you are like an aunt of mine, you'll have scoured the papers, figured out which store opens at what time, and you've got your time table set, the GPS loaded, ready to head off for all the bargains.

As you know, the term "Black Friday" as we know it, began in Philadelphia back in the 1950's to describe the onslaught of shoppers who descended on the city for two days after Thanksgiving to shop. The same day when the police department had to make its officers work 12 hour days to handle the crowd.

Today's column is not about this.  Its not about the history of the sales day.  Its about the term meaning of "Black Friday" that predates this use.  The term was first applied to September 24, 1869, when two men tried to take over the gold market at the The New York Gold Exchange.

The two men, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, headed the Erie Railroad and quite a lot of financial clout.  They were known on Wall Street as being ruthless and cutthroat.  They were known for issuing worthless stock while bribing judges and politicians to stay out of jail.  In fact, they were known for their ability to add to their fortune while ripping people off.

Early in 1869, Gould got the idea of going after the gold market it was still the official currency for international trade even though the United States no longer used gold as currency.  They issued "Greenbacks" during the civil war but after were willing to buy them back at a set price, thus the government controlled the price of gold.

He decided that if someone with enough money could buy enough gold out there, they could hoard it, cause the price to go up before selling gold at a significant price but to keep the government from selling off enough gold to keep him from succeeding he paid President Grants brother-in-law a cool 1.5 million to influence Grant from doing that.

The brother-in-law managed this by getting someone into the Treasury department who would listen to Gould and support him.  This new Treasury employee offered a $1.5 million share in the scheme and given a $10,000 loan.  Then he suggested that keeping gold prices high would help the farmer who sold product overseas and arranged for a meeting between Grant and Gould to discuss the issue.

By September, after everyone had a chance to speak to Grant, he decided the Treasury department should not release any gold for sale over the coming month.  Gould and others were thrilled because they'd begun stockpiling gold the previous month.  With this decision, they began buying more gold by using brokers and others such as Jim Fisk to make the actual purchases.

This caused the price of gold to increase to the point that a $100 began selling for $132 and then rose to $141 in greenbacks.  Suddenly, investors who were short sellers found themselves in trouble and called for the Treasury to sell its gold reserves. In addition, rumors began spreading that people were trying to drive the gold market up.  Gould and Fisk stayed quiet because by this point they had gathered $60 million in gold which was three times the public supply in New York.

At about the same time, Grant became suspicious when his brother-in-law kept after him to remain firm and not let the treasury flood the market.  Gould was told this on September 23rd but he didn't bother sharing the information with any of his cohorts yet he took steps to protect himself by secretly selling off his personal gold supply.

On September 24, 1869, people were getting upset.  They congregated on Wall Street because gold closed at 144 1/4 the night before and opened at 160.  Fisk kept purchasing gold, confident it would get to $200 soon but he was unaware that the president and the head of the Treasury were in communications.

It was announced that the government would sell off $4 million in gold the next day and prices started dropping immediately from $160 to $133. The stock market itself dropped 20 percent at the same time causing many Wall Street firms to go bankrupt or become unstable and many investors were left ruined. 

Due to financial wrangling, neither Gould nor Fisk served any time in jail and it appears they both survived the episode relatively intact financially but the economy suffered for many years afterwards.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Oswald The Rabbit! Disney's First Cartoon Character.

  Before Disney became an independent business owner and film maker, he produced a cartoon for Universal Studios.  His creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, predates Mickey Mouse by one year.  Oswald resembles Mickey's character but with a rabbitish face and ears. 

Way back in the early 1920's when Walt Disney worked with Ub Iworks, they created a version of Alice in Wonderland with a live action girl integrated into a cartoon background with cartoon characters.  This process was the basis for Mary Poppins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and others.

This Alice was never commercially released but used to attract investors who began producing the 56 "Alice Comedies" which were then released.  In 1927, the distributor of these films negotiated an agreement to make 26 shorts starring the Disney created Oswald the Rabbit because Universal wanted to re-enter the cartoon market.

As per instructions, Disney and his partner began creating the first short "Poor Papa" but no one was happy with that first movie, so Disney redesigned Oswald to be sleeker with a personality of his own to set him apart from other cartoon creatures of the time.  He wanted Oswald to be Oswald rather than a string of gags.  The redone short came out two weeks later and they'd succeeded.  They created a movie with a character who was much more entertaining and the short received rave reviews.

The man who set up this opportunity, renegotiated the contract with Universal to produce more Oswald shorts without using Disney but instead, hiring many of his staff to do the work.  Unfortunately, this caused Disney to loose the rights to his creations but on the train trip back to California from New York City, he came up with Mickey Mouse

In addition, many of the animators who'd left Disney's employment, returned within a year to work for him once again.Universal kept Oswald and continued to make 26 shorts through the 1920's and 30's, up until 1943.  Many of the later ones were done by the man who created Woody Woodpecker but they were not of the quality as those produce by Disney and his crew.

If you get a look at one of the shorts, you'll see how much like Mickey, Oswald appears.  Over time, these Oswald movies became more gag heavy and lost the elegance Disney infused so Oswald disappeared into the annals of history. Within the last year,  one copy of "Neck n Neck", an early Oswald cartoon was discovered in Osaka Japan in the possession of a Japanese man who acquired it over 70 years ago.

Unfortunately, Disney was unable to get the rights back to Oswald during his life time but back in 2006 when sports commentator, Al Michaels, wanted to move from Disney owned ABC studios back to NBC,  the company took advantage of this and made returning the rights to them as part of the deal.  No one knew anything about Oswald at NBC but they researched, found the character and agreed to return Oswald and his rights back to Disney.

Once Disney had the rights, the could bring Oswald back in the form of a video game and they could begin selling merchandise to the public.  When Disney lost Oswald, he made sure he'd protect all his creations so no one could take them from him and never again lost anything.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.

Billy, Billie, and more Billies, Curses, and Other Delights.

Billy is a word we hear quite frequently in the English language.  Without hearing the context of the sentence, we  don't know which meaning is required. 

The first meaning is the shortened version or nickname for William - Billy or it could be the feminine version - Billie as in Billie Holiday the famous blues singer.

There is a theory that back in the middle ages, people swapped letters around and Will became Bill.  King William the 3rd of England who ruled in the late 17th century  was called King Billy.

It could also refer  specifically a male goat.  We often think of the billy goat from that story we read as children Billy Goat Gruff. Apparently, there is also the "Curse of the Billy Goat" laid against the Chicago Cubs Baseball Team, lading from 1945 to 2006.

The curse originated in 1945 when the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern was asked to take his goat away from Wrigley field due to its smell.  When he left during the fourth game of the championship, he declared the Cubs would never win another game.  The cubs promptly lost the series and did not win another game until 2006, on the 46th anniversary of the owners death.

Billy can also refer to a Billy Can which can be used to carry water and then heat it over a fire..  This version is Australian in nature and the Billy Can ranges from an empty can to something fancier such as a pot or kettle.

In addition, Billy or roving billy referred to a roving machine in the United Kingdom.  A roving machine turns wool into long strands of material that can be spun into yarn.  According to several articles, small rolls of fiber were taken to the apron of the billy where they were pressed together before being fed through the billy where they came out in rovings.  From the billy, the roving was taken to the cops on the Jenny which then spun it into yarn.

It can also mean a club used by the police or a wooden stuck that can be used as a weapon, also known as a cudgel.  Billy clubs date back to 1829 London when Sir Robert Peel established the first
 police force.  He believed that police officers should not carry lethal weapons so he outfitted his men with billy clubs.  The billy club, made of wood,  ranged between 14 and 36  inches depending on what it was needed for.  In Victorian times, officers decorated their clubs so they were individualized.

Finally, according to the Urban Dictionary, a billy can refer to a really nice guy.  Someone who is caring, takes good care of people, and is liked by his friends. I did hear someone say that a billy was some sort of measuring implement but I couldn't find any references to that.