The Weekender | March 21st-23rd

Surprisingly, pelicans are not a huge part of literature, but we have quotes on pelicans and a GoPro camera on a pelican. We read about the Maori Battalion, photos of Ali, and the music of Aloe Blacc.

By Seth C Mar 21, 2014, 3:01pm CDT

The Weekender

The Weekender is your guide and open thread for the weekend, presented by the fine folks at Viva The Matadors. Things to quote, read, look, watch, and listen to for the weekend. Let's do this.

Quote

Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (via GoodReads).

"Life insurance pays off triple if you die on a business trip. I prayed for wind shear effect. I prayed for pelicans sucked into the turbines and loose bolts and ice on the wings. On takeoff, as the plane pushed down the runway and the flaps tilted up, with our seats in their full upright position and our tray tables stowed and all personal carry-on baggage in the overhead compartment, as the end of the runway ran up to meet us with our smoking materials extinguished, I prayed for a crash."

Daniel Davis (via GoodReads).

"I invented the pelican, but probably not the acorn or unicorn."

Read

I am somewhat fascinated by ethnic groups that are part of much larger army, like the Buffalo Soldiers, or the Code Talkers in World War II, and I was very interested in the Maori Battalion, which was an infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army from World War II. The Maori Battalion ended up receiving more individual decorations than any other New Zealand battalion and the reason this battalion was formed was essentially the Maroi people wanted to support their country and show what great warriors they were.

To back up a bit, the Maori people are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, like the Aboriginal people of Australia.

There is a whole website that's incredibly detailed about the Maori Battalion's journey through World War II and they also have something called "memories" where those that knew of these men who faught can leave their memories who their grandfather and father and things like that, which is really sorta cool to read these personal bits about these people. There's also Wikipedia that has a terrific summary as well. The other thing that made me think about this is having V.J. Fehoko on the team, who I would guess is Polynesian and there is this really cool photo of the Maori Battalion doing their Haka dance in North Africa in 1941. I also don't know if this was normal, but this Battalion saw a ton of miles during World War II, starting in Greece and Crete, to North Africa, to Italy. And this was a group of men that was 3,600 strong.

Look

Just love the short little explanations behind these photos of Muhammad Ali (via Victory Journal).

THE GREATEST: In 1966, and again in 1970, photographer Thomas Hoepker was granted almost-unprecedented access to Muhammad Ali. The results added up to a full-bodied portrait of one the 20th Century’s most iconic athletes.

Watch

GoPro on a pelican? Yep.

Abandoned by his flock, Bigbird the pelican stumbled ashore after a storm and was taken in by the staff of Greystoke Mahale in Tanzania. Watch as Bigbird learns to fly for the first time.