Oil your credit cards; Black Friday approaches

Published 10:00 pm Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Oil the credit card

Cue the Christmas Muzak: Even before Uncle Walt has had a chance to force down his third helping of pie, retail stores will open Friday, many at midnight, to entice shoppers into a holiday buying frenzy. A few stores will even be open.

And that’s not the half of it; the shopping season has been pushed ahead so far, these are Labor Day sales.

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Gobbling up the paycheck: Thanksgiving is more expensive for families this year, particularly in travel costs for airfare and gas, but also for the traditional turkey dinner, which has increased 13 percent to an average of $49.20.

Congressional Republicans immediately blamed the price increase on President Obama’s planned turkey pardoning program because it kills the jobs of turkey butchers and limits the nation’s supply of turkeys.

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Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1889, the first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco at the Palis Royale Saloon.

Unfortunately the jukebox had to be unplugged later that same evening after some fool pumped it full of quarters and requested repeated plays of C-7, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham!

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Jon Bauer, Herald staff