Chachi Valencia -- Human Cannonball

Chachi Valencia, at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Closing Ceremony (photo: edition.cnn.com)

I don't know anyone who makes a living as a human cannonball. However, there are people who fill out the "occupation" box on tax forms with this job title. Among them is the Chilean specialist Chachi Valencia. A brief, engaging first-person account of the human cannonball's life and work appears in today's online edition of the Financial Times' "FT Magazine."

The piece includes some priceless observations from Valencia:

• "I'm not sure there's a conventional way into becoming a human cannonball."
• His wife is in the same line of work. "It's still pretty weird being responsible for firing your wife into the air several times a month."
• "I travel a lot and passport officers tend to look at me closely when I explain what I do for a living."
• The origin of the human cannonball concept apparently originated during World War I. The Italian army "explored the idea of firing soldiers over enemy lines but soon gave up because of the lack of the safety net!"