This is the best collection of Black Friday deals I have seen so far. Nothing is really jumping out at me, but I will still partake in the madness. I think I will have to scope-out the 42" Daewoo Plasma at BestBuy for $2300 after rebate.

http://www.spoofee.com/blackfriday/left.htm

Thanks Rob! Now I know I don't have to wake up at 2AM to get to Bass Pro to see what kind of deals I can get. Nothing on that list interests me... I'm going fishing instead! But after I go to Sears for some Craftsman tools...

Don't fall into the trap...

From adbusters.org:

On the busiest shopping day of the year, citizens of the US will join people in over 30 countries around the world to enjoy a holiday from the consumer frenzy.

Now in its twelfth year, Buy Nothing Day is a 24-hour consumer fast and celebration of sustainable living. Over one million people around the world are expected to help BND 2003 break through First World denial about the consequences of overconsumption.

People in the industrialized countries make up just 20% of the world population but consume 80% of the world's resources and produce 80% of the toxic wastes.

"Is our level of consumption moral and ecologically sustainable? I challenge the media to put that question to their communities and their experts," says Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters Media Foundation, the Vancouver-based group that has been promoting Buy Nothing Day since 1993.

For background information, visit: www.adbusters.org

No offense to either party, but:

a) I don't take part in these protest things (sorry, they just strike me as a little silly)
b) I'm not about to hang out with the thousands of other people clammoring for the last box of whatever at the electronics store or wherever

My Friday after Thanksgiving is a "Sit on my ass and don't get run over by 50 people at the mall" day.

My Friday after Thanksgiving is a "Sit on my ass and don't get run over by 50 people at the mall" day.

Mine is "Go to work because I don't have the day off" day, and then the rest of the day is "Sit at home and avoid all of the traffic and other madness."

To make matters worse I happen to live VERY close to the Mall here. Scary I tell you, very scary. :|

Mine is going to be "set up that work PC for Jenny" day, hence the need for that Futurama sound bite.

We may have to go to Staples in order to grab some additional networking equipment for her office, so the link was useful since it listed Staples.

b) I'm not about to hang out with the thousands of other people clammoring for the last box of whatever at the electronics store or wherever

The last 2 years I went to stores in the more rural areas. Same stuff for sale, but there are less people. I don't arrive at 6AM either and still get my stuff.

As for over-consumption of goods, I am probably most guilty of this. If having 7 DVD players and 6 cordless phones in a 1 bedroom apartment is wrong, I don't want to be right.

If having 7 DVD players and 6 cordless phones in a 1 bedroom apartment is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Seems to me the commitee that investigated the cause of the blackouts from a couple months ago may have it all wrong....

Yeah, I admit it. It was all my doing.

It's not like I'm throwing this stuff away either. I still have 2 Betamax, a laserdisc player, and a bunch of other old electronics in my posession (including an MK1).

In my house we put up the Christmas decorations the day after thankgiving and if anything is bought that day by me it's online.

I don't participate in "protests" such as this, but I'm sure my wife will like the idea since it means there will be less people shoppping that day making it easier to find a parking space. I hope 62% of Americans do participate that WOULD be nice. If it gets real popular I may even venture out to the malls the day after thanksgiving (I hate crowds)

I read through the whole list, and the BestBuy deals are the most impressive. No matter how you slice it, $1000 for an RCA 52" rear-projection HDTV is a steal (assuming you're not overcharged for delivery). I'm less sure about the $2300 Daewoo plasma TV. I'd want to take the time to more carefully look at it against other more expensive plasmas to make sure I wasn't compromising too much (newer generation plasmas are much better than older ones). The 19" MAG LCD monitor for $430 also sounds like an impressive deal, and you certainly can't beat getting Pinacle Studio 8 for free (after rebate).

In practice, I don't actually need any of that stuff at all. I'll probably spend Friday sitting at home reading.

I took part in Buy Nothing Day about 4 years ago. I printed up 50 of the flyers they had on the website and stuck them up all over my school. It was pretty neat. I actually got a few people to buy nothing the day after that Thanksgiving.

6 cordless phones in a 1 bedroom apartment

How many ears do you have?

I thought 3 cordless phones in a 3 bedroom house was too many...

I didn't fall into it, I ignored that site you mentioned entirely.

Thanks for warning me away.

> I took part in Buy Nothing Day about 4 years ago.

Don't you know that consumption drives the U.S. economy, and means jobs and growth. Are you some kind of commie loving anti-american traitor?

Keep in mind that plasma is not "HD" TV.

I assume you mean unless it's a high def plasma

Am I right to assume if it supports at least 1024x1024 it's HD?

I have a rear projection HDTV currently, but don't like it. I want to get plasma.

This plasma may be the one onsale. Not HD.

What kind of HDTV do you have, Rob? That's the type I would get if I were in the market.

I have some Panasonic 47" model that is almost 2 years old now. The convergence really sucks. If the middle is in focus, the edges are all messed up and vice versa.

Given a previous comment of his in this thread, I'm predicting that his next answer to this question is "which one? I have 5!"

anyone who waits in line outside of a store in the freezing cold at 6 am the day after Thanksgiving is insane.....Maybe i am just bitter because i work for a discount retail chain and they are making me get there at 5:15 am

Being from this side of the water, obviously Thanksgiving is not any different to any other day, and I guess the same goes for this shopping day thing, but as I hate sales of any type (in fact I hate tourist season, when millions of folk clog the streets by being crap at moving sensibly) I have a jacket I always wear when I have to venture out. It actually has been useful once when I had to get to a shop during the January sales. Normally in a situation like that I would probably end up battered and bruised by a flock of 90-year olds.

Not with this jacket...

Started life as a standard bikers jacket, in thick leather.

Now a high percentage of it is covered with the little metal discs from the top of champagne bottles - affixed with the metal cages from those bottles.

Spiky and solid

Now I can walk forth into the sea of vicious pensioners with confidence that I will return with most of my limbs

Never heard of this Buy Nothing Day either - sounds a bit like New Year's Day, although then it is just due to failing to reach consciousness usually.

In the US, the day after Thanksgiving (which was, supposedly, started by the expatriate English Pilgrims who came ashore at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts in 1620 to give thanks for everything they had, so, therefore, mostly a US/Canada holiday, and a significant one, as most non-retail people get two days off from work) is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. It is absolutely nuts. It's really kind of embarrassing. Ever hear those stories about people ripping products out of each others hands? That fairly accurately describes shopping on that day. I don't need some organization to tell me to stay home. It's just good sense. Other people apparently aren't aware that they can shop other days after work. You'd think that stores closed at 5PM every other day.

I don't need some organization to tell me to stay home.

Me either. It just forces me to go out and shop, when I wouldn't have otherwise.

Well, I'm certainly not that contrary. I actually agree with the idea that conspicuous and mean-spirited consumption is not in keeping with the spirit of the holiday season or with the best of the human spirit, so I tend to avoid it anyway.

In the US, the day after Thanksgiving (which was, supposedly, started by the expatriate English Pilgrims who came ashore at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts in 1620 to give thanks for everything they had, so, therefore, mostly a US/Canada holiday, and a significant one, as most non-retail people get two days off from work) is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. It is absolutely nuts. It's really kind of embarrassing.

If you go and listen to the Indians at Plymouth Plantation, they'll tell you the story of Thanksgiving. I can't remember the exact detail but basically Thanksgiving started as a festival to give thanks for the summer harvest, and held much earlier in the year, ie when the harvest was completed. The reason for it being so late now is that somebody decided that November needed a shopping season and had it moved.

Seriously.

People also seem to forget that there are 8 weekend days between "Black Friday" and Christmas. Perhaps the Friday after Thanksgiving would be better spent at home with all the relatives that have come to visit many people's homes. The whole thing is just ridiculous.

I see my family plenty enough.

Perhaps the Friday after Thanksgiving would be better spent at home with all the relatives that have come to visit many people's homes.

Actually, that may be the reason people do go out.