24 November 1778 Tuesday
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24 November 1812 Tuesday
A most tremendous storm in the night; it did much damage, blew down many new homes and high chimneys of old ones, in the direction of S to SSE, and the storm continued from near that direction till about 3 am when it whi... by SW and W to NW, in which direction it did much other damage. Capt. Maffetts Schooner, said to be built and laden[?] by the plunder of his privates[?] Atlas, was ov.... below New Castle, 14 or 15 persons drowned, himself narrowly escaped. Much damage along the wharves. Morning wind abated, moderate from NW and about 10 o'clock sun broke and a fair day followed. I rode to G. Jamison's[?] to talk about King's Road. Did not find him, thence to W. Rawles about ... ... vs. Hurst and gave him my ......... to the specifications which he approved. I called and delivered to O. Jones a letter from Miers to him, and to Rett...... another to him read with 2 to myself and 4 to my daughter last evening. I went to my brother's wh.... drew a check I and M.G. in m. f.... for $1000 intended to assist in paying my son Samuel's debts. I placed in BNA and drew there 800 to Philadelphia Bank care of M.F. Adm. and Company hoping that may be sufficient. Delivered T. Gilpin a long letter from Miers to him. He and Benj. Warner spent some time at 4th Street Store examining papers and accounts. Evening calls at Jos, Reeds about ... ... vs. Hurst, the Dr. not being there we adjourn to meet at W. Lewis's 1/2 past 3 tomorrow afternoon. In the evening R. Haines brought his letter to Mulberry Street for my perusal, sent my carriage home M
24 November 1999 Wednesday before Thanksgiving
Taking flights from Philadelphia to Chicago to Brussels; crazy long flight over all, but only cost around $420. It gets me to Brussels the morning I'm to present my paper shortly after noon.
24 November 2002
Re: what a difference 250 years make
You're kind of exactly right when you suggest that maybe there are too many places of "historic" significance in Philadelphia, and it is interesting that you bring to mind Piranesi and his map of the Campo Marzio because that map/plan indeed records so many of ancient Rome's historic sites even though almost none of them still existed in Piranesi's time. Moreover, it is worth also keeping in mind that Piranesi was delineating a place/city more than 1400 years after the fact. It seems almost impossible to even speculate whether, for example, the old "Indian" trail of Ridge Avenue will even still exist in 3402. Then again, it would be fun to imagine what some future Philadelphia Renaissance or Baroque period might be like. Note Franklin and Piranesi are near contemporaries; Piranesi died 1778 while Franklin was in France.
24 November 2007
When Black Friday Comes
from wiki:
Origin of the name "Black Friday"
Stress from large crowds
The earliest uses of "Black Friday" refer to the heavy traffic on that day, an implicit comparison to the extremely stressful and chaotic experience of Black Tuesday (the 1929 stock-market crash) or other black days. The earliest known references to "Black Friday" (in this sense) are from two newspaper articles from November 29, 1975, that explicitly refer to the day's hectic nature and heavy traffic. The first reference is in an article entitled "Army vs. Navy: A Dimming Splendor," in The New York Times:
Philadelphia police and bus drivers call it "Black Friday" - that day each year between Thanksgiving Day and the Army-Navy game. It is the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year in the Bicentennial City as the Christmas list is checked off and the Eastern college football season nears conclusion.
The derivation is made even more explicit in an Associated Press article entitled "Folks on Buying Spree Despite Down Economy," which ran in the Titusville Herald on the same day:
Store aisles were jammed. Escalators were nonstop people. It was the first day of the Christmas shopping season and despite the economy, folks here went on a buying spree. . . . . "That's why the bus drivers and cab drivers call today 'Black Friday,'" a sales manager at Gimbels said as she watched a traffic cop trying to control a crowd of jaywalkers. "They think in terms of headaches it gives them."
Both articles have a Philadelphia dateline, suggesting the term may have originated in that area.
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The first time I heard the term "Black Friday" was the day after Thanksgiving 1974. I had to drive out to somewhere in West Philly to some 'special' plumbing supply store--I used to help Dad do plumbing at home--to hopefully find some odd part, and they had it. It was raining that day and I told the man behind the counter that traffic was "nuts out there." "Yeah, they call it 'Black Friday'." "Black Friday?" "The day after Thanksgiving. Traffic's real heavy; they say everybody's going shopping." "You mean like shopping for plumbing supplies?" Laughs and good-bye.
I figured out that it was 1974 because I remember hearing a solo George Harrison song on the car radio and it went exactly with the windshield wipers. Then the DJ said Harrison's new solo album was coming out the end of December. According to wiki, Dark Horse was released December 20, 1974, and I got the album that Christmas.
The Peter Eisenman effect
Everything You Wanted To Know About Architecture, But Sorry You Ever Asked, the movie.
24 November 2012
For the past two days I've been exploring Lorimer Park for the first time. It's also part of the Pennypack Creek watershed, but within Montgomery County (as opposed to Philadelphia). The western-most entrance to Pennypack Park (Philadelphia) and the eastern-most entrance to Lorimer Park (Montgomery County) are literally across the street (Pine Road) from each other. What I've come to find out is that Fox Chase Farm is essentially sandwiched between Pennypack Park and Lorimer Park, and there's a (very high) point of Lorimer Park that runs along the back edge of Fox Chase Farm. From this point is a magnificent view of practically the whole of Fox Chase Farm complete with cows in the fields, right down to Pine Road about a mile away (which is just within Philadelphia's border. Just as old as the settlement of where I live, Fox Chase Farm's land has been 'settled' since the late 1600s, and maybe one reason the land has remained unchanged is because it is in both Philadelphia and Montgomery County.) Without trees, I think I could even see the location of my house over something like a mile and a half away. Anyway, being at that point is like stepping back in time, seeing the difference that over 300 years did not make.
24 November 2018
page painting 050
24 November 2022 Thursday Thanksgiving
A nice, relaxing day.
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