I'm with you on the crass commercialism. "Black Friday" used to be 
Friday 13th, or in Australia's case, any Friday on which bushfires 
caused major damage (we also have Black Saturdays, Black Mondays, 
etc. Oddly, I can't remember a Black Sunday, but Brian the Ferg might 
correct me there.)

Here in Oz, since we don't have Thanksgiving to put a kind of hurdle 
there, the Christmas stuff has been up and running for a month or two 
now. They'll start selling Hot Cross Buns for Easter some time in 
January.

Cheers, geoff

At 11:46 AM -0700 26/11/11, Andrus wrote:
>That would be the "black Friday" that just passed... the day 
>following Thanksgiving owing to the degenerate gambling-induced 
>shopping practice that has become rampant in the US.  They put deep 
>discounts on a very limited quantity of enticing items so that the 
>hoards are lining up at the door for opening time in hopes that in a 
>mad dash they may be the "lucky" person to get the ultra-bargain to 
>start t heir frenzied Christmas shopping.
>
>Sorry if I seem negative, but I recall when we thought it tacky 
>commercialism to put up Christmas decorations and ads the very day 
>after Thanksgiving! :-)   Now the media seems ironically proud to 
>call the practice "black Friday", and too many people go along with 
>the term and the practice.
>
>Thinking the silent majority has been too long silent,
>	Ben Andrus
>__________________________________________________
>On 2011 Nov 24, Thu, at 3:43 am, Geoffrey Heard wrote:
>
>>This just came up on the Wizaerd's Canvas forum. I don't know what 
>>"black Friday" they are talking about, but . . .
>>
>>http://sites.fastspring.com/macware/product/gdsdownload?coupon=GDSESD10BF
>>
>>Mac Graphic Design Studio
>>
>>Best regards
>>
>>Geoffrey Heard
>>The Ad-Doctor-Online
>>http://www.ad-doctor-online.com