Christmas Firsts

Apparently, this Christmas was a record-breaker.

For the first time ever, Facebook was #1 on Christmas. On both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Facebook was the most visited website in the United States, beating out both Google and Yahoo, Facebook's frequent competitors. Why Facebook on Christmas? Wishing family members and longtime friends a Merry Christmas, perhaps? Sending messages to find out what kind of sweet presents your roommates got that you can use next semester? Extra time to spend chatting with your best friends? Whatever it is, we know Facebook has worked hard for this moment. Maybe they'll surprise us again in 2010.

Also for the first time ever, Amazon sold more Kindle books than printed books on Christmas. While many people may have received Kindles for Christmas and needed to stock up, it's still a milestone for the Kindle due to the sheer volume of purchases and its increased presence within our society. Much like the younger generation's tendency to flock toward online news rather than print, perhaps we really will start to see the same trend with books in the coming years.

A gate provider's delight

On Monday, the New York City Council decided to ban the use of opaque storefront gates in favor of eliminating graffiti and beautifying city neighborhoods. However, the Council is not supplying funds for new see-through gates, laying the responsibility on store owners to carry out the legislation.

The ban will officially go into effect in 2026, a whopping 17 years from now. I suppose they figure that it will take that long for some of New York City's store owners to save up for a new gate. New meshed security gates can cost thousands of dollars, which is a lot of money for inner city store owners who are already struggling to protect their money and keep their businesses afloat.

And while this is a very bad thing for business owners, it's a very good thing for local gate providers and locksmiths.

With all new storefront gate installations required to be mesh after 2011, the storefront security gate industry will certainly spike overnight. The demand for mesh gates will rise and since currently there are not a significant amount of providers, the costs of gates will skyrocket, making them even more unreachable for small business owners. In an economy as tight as it is now, this law is sending local small businesses into a downward spiral.

Is the elimination of residential expression worth the demise of local economic stimuli?