Fencing

Touché! Ongaurd! When I think of two dudes fighting it out with swords, I either think of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or two Brits fencing. I’m not sure if that’s a normal identification process but fencing is one of the most honored forms of swordsmanship.

Man he's a sexy beast!!!

What many people don’t know is that fencing is actually a collection of sports that feature weapons such as swords, knives, pikes (long spears), bayonets, batons, and clubs. There are three categories of competition which are featured in the Olympic Games. They include:

• Foil- A lightweight thrusting weapon. Acceptable targets include the chest, torso, shoulders, and back.

• Epee- A heavy thrusting weapon. Any part of the body can be targeted.

• Sabre- A cutting and thrusting weapon. The only targets are the saddle line, which extends across the hip, as well as the head.

Rather than described the rules of each category, I’ve decided to dedicate the rest of this article to describe the foil method, which is the style most think of.

Did you know?- Wheelchair fencing, also known as jousting, is a Paralympics sport. Minor modifications to the rules allow disabled fencers to fence all three weapons. Footwork is replaced by torso or arm movement, depending on the fencer's disability. The proximity of the two fencers tends to increase the pace of bouts, which require considerable skill.

Like a lot of sports, if you’re new to watching fencing you’ll probably have no idea what’s going on. Just as with the majority of American athletics, in fencing a winner is chosen upon a point system. Specifically in foil, score is kept by counting the number of hits which land on the opponent’s target area. These hits are called ‘touches’. When a player has been struck, the judge will yell “Halt!” signaling the end of the round. Bouts are scored to either five or fifteen touches.

Now it gets complicated….There are rules that govern the priority of a hit when opponents strike one another simultaneously. This guideline is referred to as the “right of way.” When a person is attacked, the opposite fencer must either avoid or defend against the attack to be awarded a touch. If the opponent ‘parries’, or blocks, the attack, he/she has the right to ‘riposte’ or counter-attack. Counter-attacks only score if the attacker misses. Even if the attacker’s strike misses its target, it still takes priority over the opponent’s valid hit.

Below is a list of all the protective equipment required in professional fencing.

breeches

gloves

jacket

mask

plastron

Did you know?- As fencers’ strikes became quicker judges were having a difficult time scoring bouts by eye. This problem was eliminated with the invention of electric fencing equipment. It works by sending an electric current through the sword which when striking the target area completes the circuit causing a light on the end of the sword to light up.

Fencing is a great sport to build muscle speed and hand-eye coordination. To ensure no one gets hurt in your learning process, it’s recommended you start with a practice weapon which is considerably cheaper than electric models. Two websites that offer practice foils starting at $25 are blade-fencing.com and shop.fencing.net.

The Wiener's Circle

WARNING: The following post is rated PG-13 and may not be suitable for children!

When you’re at a fancy restaurant, service is extremely important. You feel you should be treated with respect and that you always “know what’s best.” Of course, the lower the quality of the establishment, the lower the quality of service. I don’t enjoy eating out that much because I feel guilty looking at all the young waiters hustling around doing a job you know they don’t enjoy. Plus, whenever I go to a restaurant like Applebee’s I feel sooo white. I think we would all like to see a waiter just let their customer(s) have it someday. In some places, if you’re not being called a motherf***** you’re not getting what you came for.

Chicago is a city known for many historic eateries, and The Wiener’s Circle is no different. This hot dog stand is known for its char-grilled food and verbal abuse between customers and employees. (They also have delicious chili fries.) Their most ordered item is the ‘chardog’ with “the works”; a grilled Vienne beef hot dog on a warm poppy seed bun topped with mustard, onions, relish, dill pickles spears, tomato slices, and sport peppers with a dash of celery salt.

The profanity exchanged between employees and customers only happens during late-weekend hours where they are often open until 5:00 a.m. During the day it’s a typical hot dog stand but when the party crowd comes to grab a bite after the bars close, the insults start flying.

This company tradition began in the early 90s when Larry Gold, one of the owners, was dealing with an intoxicated customer who wasn’t making the ordering process any easier. At his breaking point from the large crowd, Larry called the drunk an ass*****. Nowadays, with the majority of staff being black and the stand being located in an upper-class white neighborhood, racist slurs often change the atmosphere from relaxed to unfriendly.

Did you know?- Some customers request a “chocolate milkshake” from one of the female employees which is a request for them to expose their breasts.

Sign Language

The first records of sign language date back to the early 17th century. In 1620, Spanish priest Juan Pablo Bonet published Reduction of Letter and Art for Teaching Mute People to Speak (Boy that’s a mouthful), the first alphabet for the deaf. From his work, philanthropic educator Charles-Michel de I’Epee published his alphabet a century later which has been left largely unchanged since.

Charles-Michel de I’Epee

Did you know?- Just like scientists have a universal system of measurement, the metric system, deaf people have a similar network. Known as International Sign, it is used at the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) as well as the Deaflympics, Olympics held strictly for those of hard hearing where participants compete in many of the same games.

Although widely viewed as being more limited that oral languages, sign language has the advantage of communicating through sight; not only through techniques like facial expressions and body movement but much more. Think of it like this…oral language is linear. What I mean by that is when speaking; only one sound can be made or heard at a time. On the other hand, sign language is visual, meaning a whole scene can be taken in at once. Here’s an example:

Let’s take a look at the phrase, “I went to the park.” Spoken, he/she would need to make the phrase longer to give additional information, such as, “I went to the park while it was sunny. It was beautiful.” In American Sign Language (ASL), details about the day and your feelings about it can be conveyed through with the verb ‘went’ by performing simultaneous gestures like specific hand movements, body posture, and facial expression. I other words, the deaf can shorten the new two word phrase back into its original format, “I went to the park.”

Sign language has five elements. They are:

• Handshape (handform)
• Orientation (palm orientation)
• Location (place of articulation)
• Movement
• Expression (facial expression)

Together they form the acronym HOLME which has become easy to remember when learning the language. If you’re interested in learning sign for whatever reason (So you and your friend have a secret language, or you can insult people without their knowing) watch the video below to see if you can master the numbers 1-20 as well as the English alphabet.

If you still think you would like to learn sign, visit start-american-sign-language.com. While there are countless other software programs to download online to learn ASL, this site is the best compilation of free lessons and tutorials that I could find.

Did you know?- In terms of sentence construction, ASL shares more with spoken Japanese than it does with English.

Yet whether you make a conscious choice to learn sign or not, you may find the language becoming more main stream in popular culture. Recently, there has been a movement to teach and encourage the use of sign language with toddlers before they learn to talk because young children can communicate effectively with signed languages before they are physically capable of speech. There have also been several breeds of primate such as the chimpanzee and gorilla that scientists have taught basic signs to in our hope to communicate with them. Below is part 1 of the 8 part series 1978 documentary, Koko: A Talking Gorilla, which showcases the abilities of a wonderful gorilla by the name of Koko who knows more than 1,000 signs of ASL as well as 2,000 spoken English words.

The Louvre

ornithopter drawing

Leonardo da Vinci was not only a brilliant artist, but an ingenious inventor. The public has been showered with ‘da Vinci’ media these past couple years with the release of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, as well as universities and engineering firms beginning to recreate many of his old ideas that were only left on paper. One can see how much confidence da Vinci had in his own intellect; he never attempted to build any of his inventions because he knew they would work. My favorite design was his ornithopter, a man-powered machine that attained flight with the flapping of artificial wings. While this idea has been proven to work in small scale, humans are still developing a machine that can transport us with the grace of birds.

 

Yet to most, Leondardo is the painter of The Mona Lisa housed inside the Louvre in Paris, France. Properly known as the Grand Louvre, this is the most visited museum in the world. It is also one of the largest museums at 652,300 square feet (60,600 square meters) containing nearly 35,000 objects dating from the dawn our beginning to the 19th century.

The museum was originally a fortress built in the late 12th century under King Philip II of France. Charles X converted the building into the royal family’s quarters in 1546. After that, it underwent multiple additions and remained the primary residence of the king and queen until 1672 when Louis XIV switched to the Palace of Versailles. Since then, its vast halls have been mainly used to exhibit artwork from the royal families.

Did you know?- During the Second French Empire (Napoleon III ruled from 1852-1870) the museum gained 20,000 pieces of art!

The current collection is divided into eight departments:

• Egyptian Antiquities
• Near Eastern Antiquities
• Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities
• Islamic Art
• Sculpture
• Decorative Arts
• Paintings
• Prints and Drawings

Although not highly publicized, the Louvre is actually owned by the French government. Since 2003, they have required the museum to generate funds for municipal projects. The government currently provides 62% of the museum’s funding with the remainder coming from private contributions and ticket sales.

Did you know?- In order to keep everything running, the museum employs 2,000 people!

One of the Louvre’s main architectural features is the glass pyramid in the central courtyard. Architect I. M. Pei was appointed the task and was completed in October 1988. The second phase of Pei’s plan, La Pyramide Inversée (the Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. Upon reaching the year 2002, the museum’s attendance had doubled due to its completion!

Powered Paragliding

When the idea to travel around the world first appeared in my thoughts, my main question was how I would get around. Originally, I thought of riding a motorcycle but realized that I wanted to see the globe a lot slower than 55mph. Then I considered just walking or hitchhiking my way across the planet. However, because I wouldn’t be able to carry as much on the road, this idea dissolved as well. Finally after some research, I decided on bicycle touring as the perfect solution. (click here to learn more)

Still, I know that someday the intense craving to see the Earth in new ways will resurface again. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see scenery from the ground, but what about the sky? Thus far I’ve written about quite a few ways that I’d like to experience flight someday, but today I want to reveal my ultimate fantasy. To travel across the sky at only 15-20 mph strapped into a powered paraglider.

Also known as paramotoring, powered paragliding is a type of ultralight aircraft where a pilot wears a motor on his/her back (called a paramotor) which creates enough thrust for the parafoil wing to ascend. Takeoff requires no assistance as the pilot simply runs until the desired speed is reached for takeoff.

In the United States, the sport requires no license to fly probably because it is incredibly safe at low altitude and slow speeds. What makes this so appealing to me as well as thousands of other people is that fact that you don’t need a lot of equipment to get started. Also factor in that maintenance costs are low and with no cockpit it gives the rider an incredible free flight feeling where one can view more of their surroundings.

Before I go any further, I think it’s important to distinguish between two commonly mistaken forms of powered parafoil flight. Powered parachuting (PPC) assemblies have easier to control, yet less efficient wings then paramotors, as well as larger engines, slower flight speeds (25-35 mph) and that pilots steer with their feet.

powered parachute

Paramotors can fly between 15-45 mph (25-70 Km/h) at altitudes of up to 18,000 feet (5,400 meters) although the majority of pilots stay under 500 feet (150 meters). The motor weighs between 45-80 pounds (20-36 Kg) and requires only about 10 feet (3 meters) of runway, excluding the parafoil, to take off. Unfortunately, due to the parafoil’s low flight speed and susceptibility to crosswinds, the sport is normally reserved for the summer months.

Did you know?- A complete, new paragliding package can cost between $6,000 to $9,500, while used equipment could run you anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000.

As I said earlier, while you don’t need a license to operate these machines in most countries, it’s still recommended you complete some sort of training course. Most courses take only about a month to complete.

Some paramotor pilots choose to attach lightweight trikes to their motor assembly if they can’t foot launch properly. In some countries, such as England, this modification changes the aircraft’s status and requires a license to fly.

In the U.S., powered paragliding is represented by the US Powered Paragliding Association (USSPA) as well as the US Ultralight Association.

Did you know?- In 2007, world famous adventurer and TV star, Bear Grylls, flew over the Himalayas using a paramotor. Although not officially confirmed, Bear claims to have reached an altitude of 8,990 meters (24,294 feet) where he saw the tip of Mount Everest!