Taking Flight

Four hours from now, I am set to take flight.

Rather, I've booked a ride in an engineless glider plane this afternoon. I've been intrigued by the thought of unpowered flight for awhile, and have been considering the pursuit of a hobbyist pilot's license. Of course, I'll never be able to afford such a hobby, but who wouldn't want the bragging rights? You never know when you'll need to fly a plane to escape a secret military installation.

Seriously, though; this is some cool shit.

Glider Aerobatics

Oh, and happy May Day, you yanks.

Bush Booed

In what must be an unprecedented event in American history, President George W. Bush was openly booed when he appeared at the Washington Nationals baseball game on Sunday (3/30/08). The President appeared to throw the ceremonial first pitch of the season - a remarkably good pitch, I understand, where Presidents are concerned.

President Bush appears to what could generously be called a mixed reception.

It's remarkable how everyone involved manages to ignore the crowd.

And I thought I wouldn't have anything else to post about this month.

One Foot Football

Every once in awhile I'll come across something by chance that just blows my mind away. Despite having spent much of my youth engaged in the game, soccer just isn't one of those things. At least that's what I thought, until I was made aware of the existance of the Sierra Leone amputee football team, an african soccer team composed entirely of one-legged amputees (many having lost their limbs in landmine accidents) based, not surprisingly, out of Sierra Leone.

The Amputees in Action

The Sierra Leonean squad, called the Single Leg Amputee Sports Club (SLASC), competed in the 2003 'Play4Hope' tour in England, generating a measure of positive feedback and leading to the formation of two additional amputee teams. The teams consist of 6 one-legged players and 1 one-armed goalie. Nic Bothma of the European Pressphoto Agency has been recognized for his photography of the sport, and Bob Jones has written an article on the growth of the SLASC. Read the article here, or you can watch more of them in action.