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Inspiration leads to indestructible soccer ball
sfgate ^ | July 18, 2010 | Carolyn Said

Posted on 07/18/2010 7:46:37 AM PDT by smokingfrog

Surrounded by barbed wire, amid hovels made of plastic, cardboard and sticks, children were playing an infectious game of soccer - using trash instead of a ball.

Those images of Darfur refugees on CNN "were heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time," said Tim Jahnigen, a Berkeley inventor, musician and music producer. "I saw children desperate to play, living in a world where nothing makes sense and they've been traumatized by irrational violence. In their innocence, they were willing to play with anything."

A narrator explained that the children's harsh environment meant that balls went flat almost instantly.

Jahnigen had a brainstorm: What if he could create a soccer ball that would last a lifetime, never need pumping and would withstand razor wire, sharp rocks and broken glass?

It took nearly five years and the help of the musician Sting for that vision to become a reality. This month, just as World Cup fever was at a pitch, Jahnigen and his wife, Lisa Tarver, introduced the One World Futbol, an all-terrain, extremely durable soccer ball made of closed-cell foam similar to that used in Croc sandals.

The ball's name is inspired by Sting's song, "One World." The couple's goal is to distribute 1 million balls over the next three years to children in places ravaged by war, poverty and natural disasters.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: oneworldfutbol
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To: TXnMA
Wow! That's a huge accomplishment for a kid. No wonder you went into a life of science.

And I bet everyone wanted you on their side in the "battles."

Kudos to you, dear brother in Christ!

41 posted on 07/18/2010 9:55:13 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: stuartcr

You don’t know what’s been going on in Darfur, correct?


42 posted on 07/19/2010 7:02:04 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

and their country.


43 posted on 07/20/2010 4:28:00 PM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: stuartcr

Why is that?


44 posted on 07/20/2010 5:47:14 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

What is rational about their surrounding violence?


45 posted on 07/20/2010 6:22:35 PM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: stuartcr

There must be driving reason behind it even if the reason is irrational.


46 posted on 07/20/2010 6:29:28 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I’m sure there is, one would probably have to ask the adults that are involved in this violence to find that out.


47 posted on 07/21/2010 6:14:05 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: stuartcr

Since you are unaware of what is going on in Darfur, Sudan I’ll clue you in. It’s called jihad.

The Muslims in the north, with the okay of the Sudanese government, have been at war with and committing genocide against the Christians and the animists in the south of Sudan. That’s where all of this irrational violence is coming from.


48 posted on 07/21/2010 6:25:25 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I agree, it’s the adults.


49 posted on 07/21/2010 6:33:56 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: stuartcr

Yeah, it’s the adults, caused by both the Muslims and the Christians. Children never start wars. They just like to play soccer.


50 posted on 07/21/2010 6:49:46 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Too bad people change when they grow up.


51 posted on 07/21/2010 5:43:46 PM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: stuartcr

Playing soccer is not that much different than any other battle on a field. Just think of a soccer game as a war without bullets.


52 posted on 07/21/2010 5:46:08 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Sure


53 posted on 07/21/2010 5:51:48 PM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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