Black Friday & FINGERHAKELN by Mark Hatmaker

T’is the Season for such commercial offers, so celebrating in the mercantile spirit—

Every order in our store gets 1 free RAW DVD with each $10 bucks spent.

Your order of $10 to $19 bucks earns a free RAW DVD,

$20 to $29 two freebies,

Et cetera.

The Deal expires midnight [sounds ominous, don’t it?] Monday, November 26^th EST.

To snag your freebies, first place your order-hit me with a message saying, “Captain Mark, I want the following RAW DVD[s] on the house!”

[BTW-I am a Captain, says so right on my unwisely issued sailing license.]

You can access the store via this here linky-poo.

And we will make it happen.

Three More Things—

ONE-Whether you buy or not, thank you for your friendship and go enjoy your family and other loved ones!

TWO-To a stellar year for each and every one of you.

THREE-So it ain’t all commerce, here’s a mini-bit of historical fun:

FINGERHAKELN

Fingerhakeln (also: Hagglziegn and Steirisch-Hackelziehen) was an Alpine wrestling hybrid that seems to have been competed primarily in the Austrian Alps. This unusual grappling game is sure to be of interest to grip-strength aficionados. The two competitors would sit across a table from one another in chairs and place one hand behind their backs. The other arm would be extended across the table with the middle finger extended. The competitors would then hook each other’s middle-fingers together and the game commenced.

The object of the game was to extend your opponent’s middle-finger causing him to lose his grip. Variations of the game include the fingers hooking a rubber-coated steel loop, or a leather strap; while some variations demanded that you not merely break your opponent’s grip but, using only the single finger grip, pull your opponent’s head or body across a centerline drawn on the table.

Josef Marcher, a native of Kirchdorf born in 1863, was the foremost champion of this sport in the 19^th century. His success was attributed to his unusually thick fingers.

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