skygal3

Lummy! How the heck are you???

sshhh...no!

My fortune today: "Ask a friend to join you on your next voyage" I'm not that kind of a girl!!!

Although my limited ability to read and understand the French language has made it a little more difficult for me to do my research, I believe the following account to be a true and accurate description of the circumstances surrounding the first parachute jump ever made. It was during the time of the first hot air balloons. A man named Andre-Jacques GARNERIN lived in France and made his living traveling around the countryside doing exhibitions with various fairs. Everyone in his family was involved with his love for aviation, especially his wife Genevieve LABROSSE, and his niece, Elisa, who were the first two women to jump. Genevieve jumped in 1798 and Elisa followed her soon thereafter. Elisa went on to make forty jumps between 1815 and 1836. Before GARNERIN's jump in 1797, a man in London named J. P. BLANCHARD threw a dog out of a balloon with a parachute. I found no further text which addresses the health of this poor animal after the jump, so I might assume he did not survive. The parachute used for the dog was described as conical in shape and probably too small. (like a windsock, maybe?) Also before GARNERIN's jump, there was a guy who jumped from the second floor of a building with an umbrella, but this wasn't taken seriously as a parachute jump. Our man, Andre-Jacques, had been experiencing a little trouble with the law during his traveling show. It seems that he was somewhat of a swindler and he had developed a nasty habit of charging people money to see his balloon fly, and then unable to get the thing off the ground. One spectator complained of his swindling, probably because of his inability to get it up (the balloon), and he was arrested and freed under bond to either perform his promised balloon ascent and parachute jump, or go straight back to jail. He now had a very real psychological incentive to succeed, or else be ruined and returned to jail. When he arrived at the takeoff site, everything was already prepared for his show. The takeoff location was in the Park Monceau. The date was October 22, 1797. The takeoff was at 5:28 PM and the balloon (aerostat)rose rapidly to an altitude of 700 meters. The balloon exploded and Andre-Jacques had to cut the rope sooner than he had planned. There was a crowd of people gathered to witness the event, and many of them turned their heads away when they saw the explosion, fearing it was the end of our friend GARNERIN. But, voila, here comes our hero under his homemade parachute, 10 meters in diameter, with a reported 30 square meters of canopy fabric and 36 suspension lines. There was no vent in the center of the top of the canopy, so his oscillations were horrible. The canopy ride was quite unstable as air spilled uncontrollably around the skirt of the canopy. It was not until 1802 that his friend named LALANDE suggested he leave a hole at the apex. His uncontrolled landing occurred in the Plaine Monceau, about 1 kilometer North of the park, and he quickly got a ride back to his point of departure. When I visited the park a few years ago, there were nicely detailed flowers and water gardens, but it would be impossible to put a parachute into the park nowadays because of the trees and foliage. The only evidence that I had actually found the exact spot of this jump was a very small plaque located down one of the tiny alleyways of the park. The old plaque contained the obliterated name GARNERIN, and claimed to be the exact spot where the GARNERIN took off. At the time of the jump, the park was located outside the city of Paris in the countryside. The city has since grown to engulf the park which can be found in the 17th arrondissement of Paris (Northwest), at one limeter from the Champs Elysees. It might be important to note that the first parachute jumps were made in small detachable gondolas. GARNERIN also made parachute jumps in 1798 in the Jardin Tivoli in Paris, and on September 23, 1800 on the Champs de Mars, where the Eiffel Tower now stands. For the latter jump, which was sponsored by the government as a military demonstration, GARNERIN was compensated by the gift of a golden gun and a letter from a minister. He also made a demo into Grosvenor Square in London on September 21, 1802. GARNERIN was killed by a blow from some wooden rigging of his balloon as he was preparing for a takeoff on August 18, 1823.

A coworker just gave me this funny: An executive was in a quandry. Due to budget cuts, he had to get rid of one of his employees. He narrowed it down to one of two people, Debra or Jack. It would be a hard decision to make, as they were both equally qualified and both did excellent work. He finally decided that in the morning whichever one used the water cooler first would have to go. Debra came in the next morning, hugely hungover after partying all night. She went over tot he water cooler to get some water to take an asprin and the executive approached her and said :"Debra, I've never done this before, but I have to lay you or Jack off". Debra replied "Could you Jack off? I feel like shit."

I can't!!! I'm at work...again!!! I can't down load it, I do not have administrator privleges...

Good Morning Sunshine! How are you this morning???

beautiful post! have a great day~ kate

The Word of the Day for October 12 is: unbeknownst \un-bih-NOHNST\ (adjective) : happening without one's knowledge : unknown -- usually used with "to" Example sentence: Unbeknownst to Katie, the skydivers had secretly recorded her drunken activities at the Tiki Bar Boogie... Did you know? "Unbeknownst" derives from "beknown," an obsolete synonym of "known" that traces back to the days of Old English. But for a word with a straightforward history, "unbeknownst" and its synonym "unbeknown" have created quite a flap among usage commentators. Despite widespread use (including appearances in the writings of Charles Dickens, A.E. Housman, and E.B. White), the two words have been called everything from "obsolete" and "vulgar" to "perfectly acceptable." Our evidence shows that both can be considered standard.

Thank you for that post...best of luck to you, form the bottom of my heart. Fly high, fly strong, never lose focus or that feeling in your heart. We all believe in you and will be sending our best vibes your way...think of us on the plane, think of the best and think of the beginners, like me, who aspire to do what you do...and go out with everything you know how and everything that you have worked so hard for and do it for us! We will all be here waiting for your post, and celebrating and laughing with you.

come up 95 we will play in the city no jumps on sunday

LOL!

Tg, I've got him covered...I know where he lives...$1.25...honey, you don't KNOW what this is worth(and you never will ha ha ha) Sebazz...how you doin'?

don't wink at me, creep... **in her toughest kate voice*** How much money you got bitch?

tee hee...all I would have to do is kick him in the knee and he would be crying like a little girl!!!

sorry for getting here so late...TG, do you need me to kick his ass???

Porn Name according to PLFXpert: Kitty Girl Appleton Porn Name according to Deuce: Leigh Burdick

piffed is one of those fun words that we create that make perfect sense to us but no one else. another example is meld...morph and weld if they were to melt together. I am also one of those that can totally seriously describe a smell as a color, or if my mother says "I smell green" I know exactly what she means. "wow, it does smell green"

how would you know? do you eat your own kind? I thought aliens were supposed to be superior creatures with much further advanced intellect than the human race...wouldn't you all have figured out a better food source than eating your own kind??/ ~katie is a bit piffed at the moment, excuse her anger~

that must be so so comforting...I too believe in that. I believe everything happens for a reason and if I look back through my life and through the course of events that has happened and has gotten to to where I am, there is no way that they are coincidental...I could joke and say "that wasn't you in Firestarter, was it???" but I seriously believe in angels watching over us. I wanna to come to deland and be on your load!!!

amber, he's beautiful!!! do you mind if I share???

what would you pray for and get??

when I was 17 about 7 of us went camping one night. we walked 2 miles into the woods because at the end it came out to this little pennensula on a lake with a huge sweeping view of the mountains. It was an extremely dark night, no lights, no moon, no stars. So anyway, at about 2 in the morning, we looked out over the lake and there were these 3 red lights blinking, and then they went out. ANd then a second later, they were on the other side of the lake, blinking, and then they went out. Then the left side again...then the lights on the left darted over to the right...we were so freaked out...I still to this day insist that they were 2 ufo's, just the way they darted around, it was nothing I had ever seen before, and absolutely no noise what so ever...

So Nate are you saying you wanna share a plane ride down??? (I have no interest in a mile high club membership...sorry)

speaking of...(and this is going absolutely no where...) today is national "come out" day...so I've heard...anyone got anything they want to share?