Friday's Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award

Fingers are important. We do a lot with them. They figure prominently in many of our idioms. Pointing a finger, wrapped around a little finger, working fingers to the bone...and that is just scratching the surface. (Insert rim shot here.)

The classic 60's/70's comedy sketch show "Laugh In" used to present an enormous finger trophy: the "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate" award. Wikipedia states:

The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award, salutes actual dubious achievements by the government or famous people, such as the announcement of a new Veterans Administration hospital to be erected in Southern California shortly after another such facility was destroyed in the Sylmar earthquake of 1971. The trophy is a gilt, outstretched finger atop a square base.

I am resurrecting the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate as a way of recognizing the crazy world of political financing which has so many of my friends clicking "refresh" in order to sort out the monetary pecking order of the current candidates. I just can't stand this. Yes, I'm told it is just a part of the deal but that doesn't make it any more sensible to me. So I'm giving it the Finger.

We all do things that don't make sense. Speaking of fingers, I realized recently that I had developed a rather odd habit when using the iPad. Once I had pressed the screen to "copy" something, I found that I was keeping my pointer finger elevated until I "pasted" the item somewhere else. Something in my brain had decided that once I had performed that action, the information was then in my index finger until I completed the task. I realized to what extent I had internalized this ridiculous assumption when I found myself protecting my index finger on the way upstairs after my ipad had run out of charge--was I really thinking I could transfer the information from my finger to my husband's iPad?

I wasn't consciously thinking at all, of course. Once I realized what I was doing I had a good laugh at myself.

While it's true that I am "poking" fun at political fundraising today, I am also offering up a VG/TS HoCo Holler to candidate Tom Coale, who is running for State Delegate in 9B. Despite the crazy demands of campaigning and political fundraising, he is giving you a chance to do something meaningful with your finger today.

A "share" or a "like" today will mean a donation of his own money to the Community Action Council of Howard County. Go here to read all the details. I love this because it is a true expression of Tom's core values: a desire to help others, support non-profits, engage the community, and put a sense of humor and fun into civic participation.

So take your finger and click for the CAC. First though, make sure there's no information leaking out of it...

Posted with Blogsy

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

Columbia Chance Connection

Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!” We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog