This & That, Ceci et Cela

Crank factoid of the day: fact that most Lithuanians have never seen Black people before sells a lot of flowers!  Hence the “black hussar” marketing gambit:
“The flower shop in question, Tarp Geliu (Between Flowers), was advertising a Valentine’s Day offer, charging 40 litas (12 euros or 8pounds) for its black delivery man dressed up as a hussar to deliver a bouquet of flowers. However, the same flowers delivered by a white man wearing a similar uniform only cost 25 litas. The “black hussar” is a Somali man called Thomas Amaikar, who moved to Lithuania six years ago and has been working at the shop for the past four years. In that time, the owners say he has become well-known in Kaunas, as a symbol for their firm: he is featured in all the shop’s advertising and even pictured on the company calendar. The flower shop says it charges more for Mr Amaikar’s celebrity and because he is in high demand, not simply because he is black”. … “Lithuania’s population of nearly 3.5 million people is almost exclusively white. Black people are a rarity even in Kaunas, the country’s second largest city.”