Good question…

…from Lee.

How long will it be before people start treating Black Friday like an American version of Pamplona, where people dash into a Wal-Mart at 5am not to buy stuff, but solely for the thrill of surviving the stampede?

My sole errand today was an emissions test for my pick'em up truck (passed on the first try this year), and the journey involved the briefest brush with mall traffic. Personally, I can't imagine what possesses people, but they seem to find the efforts of advertisers (and willing accomplices in news departments everywhere) to gin up a retail frenzy with planned shortages on the most attractive bargains compelling.

I'm sure there'll be more deals next week. Maybe better ones that don't involve 4:00 am alarms.

Or, hopefully, fatal injuries.