Subject: Re: It's raining cats and... chickens ?!?!
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2003 20:18:22 -0700
From: Mark Balzer <mbalzer@balloonhq.com>


Here is a link to a story about the hen that came to roost in the 
power lines above a residential neighborhood.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/21/wirehen.DTL

I've been doing more research, and can definitively state that this 
is not the first time a chicken has taken to the air with a little 
help from mankind.

Brothers Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, inventors of 
the hot-air balloon, sent up a sheep, duck and a rooster before they 
let human passengers take the first manned balloon flight, on Nov. 
21, 1783.  Of course, there were no power lines to worry about back 
then...

     http://www.weeonesmag.com/december/weeones/body/wee3.html

We all know the US manned space program began by putting monkeys into orbit.

     http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/cf/exper.cfm?exp_index=907

With Larry's manned balloon sculpture flight just a month away, now 
does seem like the right time frame for this sort of cockamamie 
testing:

     http://www.balloonhq.com/events/eventcomplete.php?id=507


It's beginning to look suspicious.  I'll keep digging and let you 
know what I find out.


Mark

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