Days of Gloom

These are days of gloom. December lurks just around the corner. Today, the sky is dark and full of rain-laden clouds. The air outside is cold and moist. A little bit of drizzle falls constantly. Now and then it strengthens into rain for a while, then falls back to a drizzle. It will be like this tomorrow and the next day. Gloom and drizzle, the perfect connector between November and December. Many trees have shed their foliage and are mostly bare now. Some of the trees that keep their leaves are showing off their winter colors.

With the advent of autumn, my appetite always turns to carbs, and like a squirrel putting on fat for the coming winter, my body starts putting on pounds. In the past two months, I’ve gained 10 pounds. It’s a “winter is coming” thing. Over thousands of years of evolution, humans who put on weight as winter approached had a better chance of surviving winter. So I’m okay with adding a few pounds. I tell myself the extra pounds have nothing to do with will power – it’s all evolution’s fault. It’s out of my control; it’s my DNA. Plus, it’s now too cold to go outside and do the walking and other exercise that I had intended to do during warm weather but never got around to doing.

Yesterday I went to BK and bought a Whopper and fries. Upon leaving the restaurant, I bought their 10-chicken-tenders-for-$1.49 special deal and took it home to eat. What better way to finish off a Whopper and fries than with a bag of chicken tenders?

The day before yesterday, I went to a nearby Chinese restaurant. A banner over their door proclaimed “$5.95 Lunch Buffet” and I took full advantage by eating three plates of Chinese food. It made me happy – and a little bit guilty as the plates stacked up on my table.

Fattening up for winter is the best part of autumn. I just have to remember to avoid mirrors. And to drive to Wally World and pick up a couple more pair of knit pants with elastic waistbands. If I’m overweight and feeling guilty about it, at least I can be comfortable.

Zwette ft Molly

The song of the day is 2015's Rush by German DJ/producer Zwette with vocals by British singer-songwriter Molly (Molly Alice Smitten-Downes). An album, Rush (The Remixes), includes remixes by AirDice, Marcapasos, and Rich Vom Dorf.

Redondo & Bolier

The song of the day is Lvndscape’s remix of 2015's Every Single Piece by Dutch tech-house DJ duo Redondo (Freek Geuze and Johan Jacobse) and Dutch DJ and producer Leon Bolier (Leendert Wouter Bolier) featuring Brooklyn rock band She Keeps Bees (vocalist/guitarist Jessica Larrabee and drummer Andy LaPlant). The original mix is here.

Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday in the US. I thought everyone knew why Black Friday is called that, but I’ve recently realized that many people don’t. So allow me to enlighten those of you who don’t know, and probably don’t care, how Black Friday got its name.

Many retailers operate at a loss, or in the red, for most of the year and they depend on Christmas shoppers for much of their yearly profit. The Christmas shopping season begins on the Friday after Thanksgiving. That is the day that many retailers begin operating in the black.

The phrases in the red and in the black stem from the terms red ink to indicate a loss and black ink to indicate a profit. But where did those terms come from? Why is a loss called red ink, and why is a profit called black ink?

Before there were electronic calculators, there were mechanical adding machines. These adding machines were big and heavy and were filled with gears and cams and levers (I’m imagining here, as I’ve never actually taken one apart). The only operations they could do were addition and subtraction, but that was enough for most business owners, who needed to know how much money they had made or lost. The business owner would enter the amounts of money taken in that day, adding each amount to arrive at a sub-total, and then subtract the day’s expenses, to arrive at the total profit or loss.

Mechanical adding machines had an ink ribbon that enabled printing the numbers onto a spool of paper. The ribbon had black ink on the top half and red ink on the bottom half. Normally, numbers were printed in black ink. However, if the result of a calculation was a negative number, that number was printed in red ink so that it would stand out and not be mistaken for a positive number. So, a loss was printed in red ink, while a profit was printed in black ink. Though mechanical adding machines have been obsolete for half a century, the phrases red ink, black ink, in the red, and in the black, live on.

Sam Feldt & Kimberly Anne

The song of the day is Show Me Love from the 2015 album Show Me Love by Netherlands artist Sam Feldt featuring English singer-songwriter Kimberly Anne.

MS MR

The song of the day is Criminals from the 2015 album How Does It Feel by indie pop duo MS MR (vocalist Lizzy Plapinger and producer Max Hershenow).

Panthers Edge Past Redskins In 44-16 Squeaker

"No fair!" Redskins say. "The other teams keep taking advantage of our interceptions, fumbles, and miscues."

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder was rumored to have summed up the 'Skins frustration this way: "How in the world are we expected to win games if we have to play teams that are better than us?!"

Well said, Danny-boy. For the 'Skins, there's always next week, when the 4-6 Redskins meet fellow division powerhouse, the 5-5 Giants, to determine which team will be runner-up to the second-best team in the NFC East.

Meanwhile, for the Panthers, the game was another dismal showing in which the team's offense again failed to put 50 points on the scoreboard. If this humdrum string of Panthers' wins continues all the way to a ho hum Superbowl victory, the only course of action may be to disband the team. That would be a shame. Let's hope they learn to play better.

Blinkie & Alahna

The song of the day is 2015's Don't Give Up (On Love), the debut single by English producer Blinkie, featuring vocals by Alahna. The dancer is Olivia-Mai Barret, a recent graduate of Italia Conti, the world’s oldest theater arts training school. The video was shot in Barcelona. It begins by exploring heartbreak but turns into an uplifting homage to summer, love, and dancing through the streets.

The Mendicant Issue

Not long ago, I was approached in the grocery store parking lot by a homeless man who wanted money to buy food. HIs name was Roy and he said he was traveling to Miami. I told him that I couldn’t give him money but I would buy him a meal. I took him to the store’s deli and bought him a simple meal: a hoagie, a bag of chips, and a soft drink. He seemed happy.

Today, I was approached in the same parking lot by a young man who said he came to America three months ago and didn’t have a job. He said his name was Isaac and he was from Romania. He was living at the Salvation Army shelter with his wife, his two kids, and his parents. He said he didn’t like living there because many people smoked and drank and it wasn’t a fit place for his family. He reiterated that he didn’t want money but he needed food. He said he was having a difficult time finding work because of the large number of “Spanish” people who were taking all the low-paying jobs.

I took him into the store and bought him a meal: chicken tenders plus a side of something he picked out, and a roll. I wished him luck and told him he should take any job he was offered. I told him not to be choosey if he was offered work, and that he had to start at the bottom and work his way to a better job. He seemed grateful for the food and several times he wished God’s blessing on my family. I didn’t tell him I don’t have a family.

I never feel I know what is the right thing to do in these situations. I don’t give money because I don’t want to enable bad behavior. But I also don’t want to ignore someone who is genuinely in need. Maybe he was telling the truth, and maybe he was running a scam, but I feel sorry for anyone who has to approach a total stranger and ask for food.

Sigala

The song of the day is Easy Love by British tropical house producer Sigala (Bruce Fielder). The video was shot in Los Angeles and features 12-year-old Canadian/Filipino dancing duo Lucky Aces.