How was 'Black Friday' for you? <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/">Mark Morford</a> takes an amusing look at shopping in <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2001/11/28/notes112801.DTL">Red, White And Banana Republic</a>. <span class="quote"><q>Tis apparently the season that right about this time a decidedly bitter and lugubrious media offers up the murky declaration that Thanksgiving weekend retail sales were not quite the all-out mind-blowing ass-spanking high-fiving wallet- draining Visa-maxing orgiastic bonanza retailers had hoped and man oh man aren't you the guilty one, oh heartless unspending consumer.</q></span> Instead of shopping, you could take part in <a href="http://www.breathingplanet.net/whirlmart_statement.html">Whirl-Mart: ritual resistance</a> at your local superstore. <span class="quote"><q>The ritual consists of interested humans arriving at a predetermined Wal-Mart at 12 noon on the first Sunday of every month and proceeding to push empty shopping carts slowly and silently through the aisles. ...</q></span> There's photos, flash videos and some <a href="http://enough.enviroweb.org/enough02.htm">documentation on spending and shopping</a> ... "Our silent energy and empty carts subtly invade the cathedral of capitalism". On the bright side, <a href="http://www.satirewire.com">SatireWire</a> points out <a href="http://www.satirewire.com/news/0111/shopping.shtml">With More Time to Shop, the Unemployed Should Boost Holiday Sales...</a> <span class="quote"><q>In Washington, President Bush is not taking any chances. During his weekly radio address on Saturday, he urged America's unemployed to do their "patriotic duty" and not to seek full-time work until January.</q></span>