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Cross Country Past State Champions - Girls
2018-7A-Auburn; 6A-Homewood; 5A-Scottsboro; 4A-Montgomery-Catholic; 3A-Westminster-Oak Mountain; 1A-2A-Cold Springs
2017-7A-Auburn; 6A-Fort Payne; 5A-Scottsboro; 4A-Randolph; 3A-T.R. Miller; 1A-2A-Westminster-Oak Mountain
2016--7A-Huntsville; 6A-Homewood; 5A-St. Paul's; 4A-Randolph; 3A-Pleasant Valley; 1A-2A-Westminster-Oak Mountain
2015--7A-Mountain Brook; 6A-John Carroll Catholic; 5A-Lawrence County; 4A-Wilson; 3A-Pleasant Valley;
1A-2A-St. Bernard Catholic Prep
2014--7A-Mountain Brook; 6A-John Carroll Catholic; 5A-Lawrence County; 4A-Wilson; 3A-American Christian;
2013--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 4A-UMS-Wright; 3A-Bayside Academy; 1A-2A-Montgomery Academy
2011--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 4A-UMS-Wright; 3A-Montgomery Academy; 1A-2A-American Christian
2010--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 4A-UMS-Wright; 3A-Rogers; 1A-2A-American Christian
2008--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 4A-Rogers; 3A-Montgomery Academy; 1A-2A-American Christian
2007--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-Lawrence County; 1A-2A-American Christian
2006--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-Montgomery Academy; 1A-2A-Cold Springs
2005--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-UMS-Wright; 1A-2A-Bayside Academy.
2004--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-UMS-Wright; 1A-2A-Altamont.
2003--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-Lawrence County; 1A-2A-Altamont.
2002--6A-Austin, 4A-5A-Scottsboro, 1A-3A-Altamont.
2001--6A-Mountain Brook, 4A-5A-Scottsboro, 1A-3A-Speake.
2000--6A-Mountain Brook, 4A-5A-St Paul's, 1A-3A-Speake.
1999--6A-Murphy, 4A-5A-Scottsboro, 1A-3A-Briarwood Christian.
1998--6A-Pelham; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-St. Paul's; 1A-2A-Randolph; Freshman-Vestavia Hills.
1997--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-St. Paul's; 1A-2A-Pleasant Valley; Freshman-Mountain Brook.
1996--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-St. Paul's; 1A-2A-Randolph; Freshman-St. Paul's.
1995--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-St. Paul's; 1A-2A-Shades Mountain Christian; Freshman-McGill-Toolen.
1994--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Scottsboro; 3A-4A-St. Paul's; 1A-2A-Shades Mountain Christian; Freshman-Mountain Brook.
1993--6A-McGill-Toolen; 5A-Cullman; 1A-4A-St. Paul's; Freshman-Mountain Brook.
1992--6A-Grissom; 5A-Scottsboro; 1A-4A-St. Paul's; Freshman-Mountain Brook.
1991--6A-McGill-Toolen; 5A-Fort Payne; 1A-4A-St. Paul's; Freshman-McGill-Toolen.
1990--6A-Mountain Brook; 5A-Cullman (tie broken by best sixth place finisher); 1A-4A- St. Paul's; Freshman-McGill-Toolen.
1989--6A-Huntsville; 1A-5A-St. Paul's; Freshman-Grissom.
1988--6A-Grissom; 1A-5A-St. Paul's; Freshman-Mountain Brook.
1987--6A-Huntsville; 1A-5A-St. Paul's; Freshman-Walker.
1986--6A-Grissom; 4A-5A-Cullman; 1A-3A--St. Paul's; Freshman-Huntsville.
1985--6A-Grissom; 4A-5A-Cullman; 1A-3A-St. Paul's; Junior High-No Competition.
1983--4A-Grissom; 3A-J.T. Wright; 1A-2A-St. Paul's; Junior High-Mountain Brook.
1982--4A-Grissom; 3A-J.T. Wright; 1A-2A-Hokes Bluff (tie broken by best sixth place finisher); Junior High-Mountain Brook.
1981--4A-Vestavia Hills; 3A-J.T. Wright; 1A-2A-Altamont; Junior High-Simmons.
1980--4A-Grissom; 3A-J.T. Wright; 1A-2A-Randolph; Junior High-Mountain Brook.
1979--4A-Grissom; 3A-J.T. Wright; 1A-2A-Randolph; Junior High-Grissom.
1978--4A-Grissom; 3A-Cullman; 1A-2A-Randolph; Junior High-Grissom.
1977--4A-Mountain Brook; 3A-Cullman; 1A-2A-J.T. Wright.
1976--3A-4A-Grissom; 1A-2A-St. Paul's Episcopal.
1975--Mountain Brook
1973--Tuscaloosa
7A--Hannah Dyal, Auburn, 18:16.30
6A--Lainey Phelps, Homewood 18:22.51
5A--Bailey Lansdown, Scottsboro, 19:08.83
4A--Amaris Tyynismaa, Montgomery Catholic, 17:44.21
3A--Presley Miles, St. James, 17:49.94
1A/2A--Breia Smith, Cornerstone, 20:57.82
7A--Grace Jensen, McGill-Toolen Catholic, 18:00.51 (5K)
6A--Mary Clair Ridgeway, Florence, 18:20.05 (5K)
5A--Olivia Andrews, Faith Academy, 18:59.40 (5K)
4A--Amaris Tyynismaa, Montgomery Catholic, 17:14.37 (5K)
3A--Olivia Blackmon, T.R. Miller, 18:56.99 (5K)
1A/2A--Leahrose Mami, St. Bernard, 19:24.33 (5K)
7A—Anna Grace Morgan, Mountain Brook, 17:46.01 (5K)
6A—Lainey Phelps, Homewood, 18:02:13 (5K)
5A--Isabel Valenzuela, St. Paul's, 18:21:33 (5K)
4A--Amaris Tyynismaa, Montgomery Catholic, 18:07:76 (5K)
3A—Allie Nelson, T.R. Miller, 18:53:29 (5K)
1A-2A—Hannah Tarwater, Whitesburg Christian, 19:18:73 (5K)
7A--Frances Patrick, Mountain Brook, 18:18.78 (5K)
6A--Mary Grace Strozier, Pelham, 18:36.38 (5K)
5A--Isabel Valenzuela, St. Paul's, 18:23.14 (5K)
4A--Amaris Tynismaa, Montgomery Catholic, 17:52.25 (5K)
3A--Tara Katz, Montgomery Academy, 18:46.73 (5K)
1A-2A--Ivy Edge, St. Bernard, 19:30.61 (5K)
7A--Abbey Weitenbeck, Huntsville, 18:41.66 (5K)
3A--Kaitlyn York, American Christian, 18:45.63 (5K)
6A--Veronica Lyle, Hewitt-Trussville, 18:06.40 (5K)
5A--Olivia Thurman, Ft. Payne, 19:19.10 (5K)
4A--Cele Moon, Wilson, 18:0.47 (5K)
3A--Karisa Nelson, T.R. Miller, 17:55.18 (5K)
1A-2A--Sara Baugh, Woodville, 19:27.30 (5K)
6A--Carmen Carlos, McGill-Toolen, 17:20.34 (5K)
5A--Alana Babington, St. Paul's, 19:08.49 (5K)
4A--Kathryn Lazarchick, UMS-Wright, 18:51.29 (5K)
1A-2A--Amy McKelvey, Shoals Christian, 19:42.50 (5K)
5A--Rachel Roberts, John Carroll, 18:08.07 (5K)
1A-2A--Analisa Patrick, American Christian, 19:12.12 (5K)
4A--Claire Kennedy, UMS-Wright, 19:08.74 (5K)
1A-2A--Analisa Patrick, American Christian, 18.50.94 (5K)
4A--Katie Stewart, Rogers, 19:24.21 (5K)
6A--Katie Huston, Sparkman, 18:05.34 (5K)
5A--Caitlin Chitwood, Scottsboro, 18:52.32 (5K)
3A--Maggie Rickard, Montgomery Academy, 19:11.86 (5K)
1A-2A--Palee Myrex, Cold Springs, 20:40.63 (5K)
6A - Jennifer Dunn, Austin, 17:44.04 (5K)
5A – Emily Thompson, Scottsboro, 18:17.81 (5K)
3A-4A - Ari Stephenson, Lawrence Co., 19:35.69 (5K)
1A-2A - Celeste Sullivan, Bayside Academy, 19:47.80 (5K)
6A - Katie Hudson, Sparkman, 18:06.96 (5K)
5A – Lacey Wright, Scottsboro, 18:38.58 (5K)
3A-4A - Elisabeth Molen, Altamont, 18:12.01 (5K)
1A-2A - Palee Myrex, Cold Springs, 20:22.56 (5K)
6A - Laurel Pritchard, Vestavia Hills, 17:57.72 (5K)
5A – Caitlin Chitwood, Scottsboro, 18:24.80 (5K)
3A-4A - Sarah Gilmore, UMS-Wright, 19:12.33 (5K)
3A-4A - Caroline Wool, Montgomery Academy, 19:09.72 (5K)
6A - Laurel Pritchard, Vestavia Hills, 18:11.81(5K)
5A - Tara Lenn, St. Paul's, 18.40.54 (5K)
1A-2A - Elisabeth Molen, Altamont, 18:49.96(5K)
6A- Tara Enebak, Auburn, 18:45.94 (5K)
4A-5A - Tara Lenn, St. Paul's, 18:40.64 (5K)
1A-3A - Tyler Mulkin, Altamont, 20:05.22 (5K)
6A- Jennifer Thompson, Arab, 19:20.24 (5K)
6A - Jennifer Thompson, Arab, 19:20.35 (5K)
4A-5A - Tara Lenn, St. Paul's 19:28.23 (5K)
1A-3A - Tiffany McWilliams, Red Bay, 19:43.37 (5K)
6A - Jennifer Thompson, Arab 19:21.49 (5K)
4A-5A - Margaret Martin, St. Paul's, 19:19.89 (5K)
6A - Amanda Bradford, Arab, 18:59.47 (5K)
5A - Shaveattea Milton, John Carroll, 20:31.42 (5K)
3A-4A - Hallie Blunck, UMS-Wright, 19:51.80 (5K)
1A-2A - Melissa Tanner, Randolph, 21:00.97 (5K)
Freshman - Beth Reed, Hewitt-Trussville, 12:11.57 (2 miles)
6A - Erin Kelley, Hewitt-Trussville, 14:59.09 (4K)
3A-4A - Leann Hannan, St. Paul's, 15:26.04 (4K)
1A-2A - Cason Crosby, Bayside Academy, 16:20.81 (4K)
Freshman - Rebecca Singleton, St. Paul's, 12:12.99 (2 miles)
6A - Erica Braswell, Pelham, 14:37.21 (4K)
3A-4A - Alice Johnston, UMS-Wright, 14:38.30 (4K)
Freshman - Margaret Elliott, Mountain Brook, 12:10.60 (2 miles)
6A - Erin Kelley, Hewitt-Trussville, 15:58 (4K)
5A - Heather Dieperink, Scottsboro, 16:37 (4K)
3A-4A - Megan Curran, St. Paul's, 15:53 (4K)
1A-2A - Heather Tanner, Randolph, 14:48 (4K)
Freshman - April Turner, Hewitt-Trussville, 13:33 (2 miles)
6A - Rachel Hawk, Auburn, 12:41.0 (2 miles)
5A - Hillary Pugh, Erwin, 13:04.0 (2 miles)
3A-4A - Michelle Mullis, Briarwood Christian, 12:46.0 (2 miles)
1A-2A - Heather Tanner, Randolph, 12:26.0 (2 miles)
Freshman - Erin Kelley, Hewitt-Trussville, 13:04.0 (2 miles)
Freshman - Cori Busbee, Murphy, 14:00.0 (2 miles)
6A - Margaret Robinson, Huntsville, 12:27.0 (2 miles)
5A - Abi Smith, Scottsboro, 12:37.0 (2 miles)
Freshman - Kristin Parrott, Mountain Brook, 12:51.0 (2 miles)
5A - Angie Palmer, Erwin, 12:31.0 (2 miles)
Freshman - Abi Smith, Scottsboro, 12:45.0 (2 miles)
1A-4A - Ashley Dodd, St. Paul's, 13:07.0 (2 miles)
Freshman - Emma-Betty Sankoorikal, McGill-Toolen, 13:42.0 (2 miles)
6A-Margaret Robinson, Huntsville, 12:00.00 (2 miles)
1A-5A-Lisa Weinard, St. Paul's, 13:13.20 (2 miles)
Freshman-Charlotte Turnipseed, Mountain Brook, 13:38.00 (2 miles)
6A-Loren Mooney, Mountain Brook, 12:49.00 (2 miles)
1A-5A-Holly Holman, St. Paul's, 12:56.00 (2 miles)
Freshman-Joette Kelley, Walker, 14:50.00 (2 miles)
Freshman-Ashley Patrick, Huntsville, 13:05.00 (2 miles)
6A-Christa Jennings, Huntsville, 12:15.2 (2 miles)
4A-5A-Kate Price, T. R. Miller, 13:44.5 (2 miles)
1A-3A-Holly Holman, St. Paul's, 12:59.1 (2 miles)
Freshman-Julie Steenburn, Huntsville, 13:22.5 (2 miles)
4A-5A-Lori Willingham, Deshler, 13:22.8 (2 miles)
1A-3A-Jane Nettles, St. Paul's, 12:30.5 (2 miles)
Junior High-No competition
6A-Deanne Dahmer, McGill-Toolen, 12:01.0 (2 miles)
4A-Anne Koski, Mountain Brook, 11:57.0 (2 miles)
3A-Elizabeth McPhillips, J. T. Wright, 12:55.0 (2 miles)
Junior High-Loren Mooney, Mountain Brook, 12:34.0 (2 miles)
4A-Ann Koski, Mountain Brook, 12:13.1 (2 miles)
3A-Lisa Savell, J.T. Wright, 12:52.8 (2 miles)
1A-2A-Lanier Scott, Altamont, 13:12.1 (2 miles)
Junior High-Debbie DeHaven, Mountain Brook, 12:58.0 (2 miles)
Junior High-Bridget White, Mountain Brook, 11:54.2 (2 miles)
4A-Claire Townsend, Bradshaw, 12:12 (2 miles)
3A-Lisa Savell, J.T. Wright, 12:08 (2 miles)
1A-2A-Anita Rorex, Stevenson, 13:15 (2 miles)
Junior High-Anne Koski, Mountain Brook, 12:10 (2 miles)
4A-Pam Bice, Grissom, 12:16 (2 miles)
1A-2A-Yutta Shelton, Randolph, 13:18 (2 miles)
Junior High-Cam Sharbel, Vestavia Hills, 12:24.2 (2 miles)
4A-Patricia Donaghey, McGill-Toolen, 11:38 (2 miles)
Junior High-Anne Nurre, Grissom, 12:07 (2 miles)
4A-Lynne Koski, Mountain Brook, 12:35 (2 miles)
3A-Donna Messersmith, Cullman, 13:51 (2 miles)
1A-2A-Lisa Savell, J.T. Wright, 12:38 (2 miles)
3A-4A-Linda McLennan, Jeff Davis, 8:53 (1.5 miles)
1A-2A-Peggy Ellis, St. Paul's, 10:02 (1.5 miles)
Rilly Strona, Bradshaw, 9:45.0 (1.5 miles)
Julie Kent, Mountain Brook, 9:14.5 (1.5 miles)
Theresa Shoulders, Athens, 8:03 (1.5 miles)
AHSAA .


Marcella was born on July 1, 1924 and passed away on Friday, March 17, 2017. Marcella was a resident of Clinton, Minnesota at the time of her passing. She graduated from Graceville High School in 1942. She was married to Milton. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday March 21 at 11:00 a.m. at First English Lutheran Church in Ortonville. Rev. David Tonn will officiate and burial will be in Mound Cemetery. Visitation will Monday from 5 - 7 p.m. at Mundwiler and Larson Funeral Home in Ortonville. A prayer service will be held at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue at the church one hour prior to the services.


The Disney Girls UV Sun and Swim Suit 3 to 4 Years is a cute practical suit that is perfect for beaches, gardens and parks. The suit is suitable both in and out of the water as well as providing UV protection, making this a great suit for little girls, featuring their favourite Disney characters.
Suitable for 3 to 4 years.


Cloudfront is the AWS content distribution network (CDN) which uses edge locations all across the globe to serve your content to your users from a location that's geographically close to them – reducing latency and improving load times.
It does this by caching your content on the edge locations. However, it only caches the content after it's been requested by a user. So, let's say user 1 requests an image from your website. Cloudfront will not have cached this image yet, so it'll have to go back to the origin (your S3 bucket) and pull it back for the user. This image will then be cached for user 2, so it will not need to hit the origin.
This can be problematic if you have an edge location from which you serve very few customers. For example, if you run a company in London & most of your clients are from Europe, you may find that those customers in America don't visit your website enough to cache your resources & they may experience slower load times as Cloudfront must request resources from the origin for every request. To counter this issue, you can remove certain edge locations from Cloudfront & re-route the users in America to use the European edge locations.
When you cache an object and want to update that object, you can either re-upload it with a different name or you can invalidate the object in the cache (which does incur a charge) – forcing it to upload the new version.
Performance of Cloudfront can be affected by filesize, file type, slow DNS lookups and query strings on websites (as each query is likely to be unique and therefore the results are less likely to be cached).
You can configure cached items to timeout after a certain period. Longer cache timeouts improve performance.


So your toilet or sink is clogged and the plunger isn't doing the job. Call VIP Plumbing Inc.. We offer complete drain cleaning and rooter service for you entire home or business in Northfield, OH. You can call us 24 hours per day - we'll be there quickly and solve you drain problems quickly.
Clogged drain by dishwasher. All other fixtures are draining good. Three compartment sink and dishwasher were the only thing affected. Grease interceptor is packed with grease, manager is getting it cleaned.
On garage roof which is next to the town hall. There are two roof drains and one is definitely blocked up. Used an extension ladder to get on the roof with a 1/2 drain machine. Ran cable through several times and then brought the hose up on the roof to make sure it was flowing. Both drains are open and flowing. This would normally be priced less but with being on the roof with had additional labor help.
Ran main line sewer machine into main sewer 110ft back and forth several times. Pulled nothing back on the cable. Treated with heavy duty commercial liquid drain cleaner. Flushed with water for several minutes to make sure it was flowing good.
Diagnose drain line with sewer camera. Ran camera from small catch basin behind the bar. At 18 feet the pipe is half filled with water. At 22 feet the pipe is clean. At 33 feet there is another belly. At 48 feet the pipe is clean. Cannot push the camera out any further. Then ran the camera through the ladies room toilet flange. Found several bellies in the line. Located line out side and marked with green spray paint. In the future we could dig up the line outside and install a clean out for snaking and jetting. Labor and camera $344.81 Line outside is 4 feet deep near the building and drops down to 11 feet.
Ran camera from yard drain towards Unit #105. Drain line is clear coming horizontally from the catch basin to the vertical drain line at the condo. The catch basin ties into the downspout line between driveway and the house. This line has mud in it and needs to be dug up and repaired.
Called out to clean catch basins in the garages. Removed two full bags of waste from catch basins. Ran the medium size snake down one of the drains to improve the flow. It was draining slow. All drains are now taking water good.
Was called out for a blockage in the main sewer. Tested and diagnosed possible main sewer backup. After running fixtures thoroughly we could not get the main sewer to backup. Ran the closet auger through 2 toilets in the women's room and 1 in the men's room. Also made adjustments to the water level in the women's ADA toilet and both middle stalls in the men's and women's rooms.


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Following the success of its first 'WONDER PHOTO SHOP' in Chennai, FUJIFILM India today unveiled its exclusive experiential Store in Mumbai – 'Wonder Photo Shop', making it the second concept store of its kind for the ultimate photo printing and brand experience in India.
The WONDER PHOTO SHOP is a one of a kind creative space to bring physical prints and the world of imagination together under one roof. Located at Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla West, the latest WONDER PHOTO SHOP in the country aims to celebrate India's love for photography and offer them the opportunity to experience an engaging and interactive retail space with Fujifilm's state-of-the-art products and services to meet the aesthetic taste of discerning customers especially the youth.
The Indian Photo Printing Business has witnessed an increase driven by professional print demand, particularly from the wedding and family album business. Consumer print demand is also expected to grow further due to increasing consumer inclination towards print backed by the increase in penetration of digital cameras, smartphones and other image capturing devices.
This makes it the right occasion for Fujifilm to take its Photo Imaging Business to the next level by opening its second experiential Store – WONDER PHOTO SHOP in Mumbai. The company also plans to introduce the 'WONDER PHOTO SHOP' to other metro cities as well.
With the theme "Photo Renaissance", Wonder Photo Shop is equipped with creative ways to unleash the power of physical prints. The Fujifilm concept of a "Photo Renaissance" is to bring the wonder and joy of photography back into peoples' lives and help to create a new and prosperous photo industry.
The Wonder Photo Shop embraces the concept of Shooting, Preserving, Gifting and Displaying of images. It is conceptualized in a way to suit the tastes of the internet generation. Visitors will experience a one-of-a kind creative space made specifically to reacquaint them with the joy and wonder of photography, and how they can bring their favorite images from smartphones and cameras to life, through prints, personalized and wall decoration photo products, etc.
The Wonder Photo Shop features various attractions including the Wonder Print Station, Instax Corner, X-Series experience and the Creative Corner. The Wonder Print Station consists of quick print kiosks with connectivity to mobile devices. FUJIFILM provides the tools and technology to access, organize, edit, and print your photos under one roof. Here, visitors can play around and be inspired by the moments they captured on camera, and take that feeling home with them.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Haruto Iwata, Managing Director, Fujifilm India said, "India is an important market for us and we are determined to expand our presence here. We are excited to take another step towards strengthening our imaging business by the launch of our second 'Wonder Photo Shop' in Mumbai. Our flagship store was launched in Chennai, which has received a very positive response from our customers. We are confident that our Mumbai store will also receive the same appreciation and response from our customers. In the next 2-3 years, our aim is to open about 10 Wonder Photo Shops across all the metros".
"The Wonder Photo Shop puts the customer at the heart of the experience and provides a wonderful place for customers to unlock their creativity and develop a refreshing perspective on photo printing. With more than 80 years of history and experience in the photo industry, we are confident that our latest Wonder Photo Shop will strengthen our presence in the country. We are committed to preserving the culture of photography and Wonder Photo Shop will act as a catalyst to achieve that goal," he added.
At the WONDER PHOTO SHOP, the Wonder Print Station – a next-generation kiosk solution will also be available for visitors to print photographs which can be easily done from a smartphone. Visitors can also enjoy editing the pictures through the print station on their own. The focus of Wonder Photo Shop is to create a warm, welcoming environment where guests will want to spend time and discover new ways to enjoy their photos and raise the level of creative output to new heights. A few of the exciting products and services include: Personalized Value Added Printing Products, Wonder Print Station Printings, Photo Related Goods and Accessories
The Wonder Photo Shop will be open from Monday to Sunday from 11:00 AM – 9:30 PM.
← Pioneer India Launched Universal Sound Processor DEQ-S1000A
TECNO launches 'HarSuratKhoobsurat' brand campaign for the new CAMON AI series →
Logitech announced celebrating its second annual 'Work From Home Week'

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Last night, quintessential Cancer Ariana Grande turned 25 years old.
To mark the occasion, she and fiancé Pete Davidson kicked it at a private karaoke lounge inside NYC's Frames Bowling Alley. Turns out, Grande has not only found love but also a perfect duet partner in Davidson. The couple joined together to sing Evanescence's hit song "Bring Me to Life" (she obviously has a thing for the band) at the party. We know, it's amazing!
The performance was captured on Grande's Instagram story, and the singer's friend Doug Middlebrook posted videos of their performance with the caption, "Some children had therapists, some children had this song in their CD Walkman." Also on the setlist was Beyoncé's "Love on Top," and Eminem's "Superman" that Davidson showed off his rap skills to.
With a group of 28 friends, including the singer's brother Frankie and Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski, they sang their hearts out for three hours and ate a birthday cake featuring a picture of Grande as a baby. There was also a 40-pound piñata cake filled with rainbow candy and sprinkles. After everyone sang happy birthday, the gang moved to a private VIP bowling area and chilled until 1 am, drinking and eating pizza and sliders. And, of course, they bowled.
Check out a highlight of the celebration, below.


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Hawaiian Tropical Theme Baby Nursery Décor. Cruiser Art Hawaii Hawaiian tropical decor baby nursery theme. Decorate kids room with surf surfing theme.
We offer two attractive frame choices - Hawaiian Koa veneer (above) and Tropical Bamboo (left). Frames are available in two sizes. The smaller frame features an 11x14 inch matted version of our VW Flower Bus open edition laser art print. The larger frame features a 16x20 inch matted version of the VW Flower Bus, which has the added attraction of being printed on Linen Weave textured paper (details below). The outer mat is white while the inner mat forms a black border accenting the print's vibrant colors. You may select a custom inner mat color at no additional cost. The link to the left shows the color options.


Join your host Alex Matsuo as she talks to Ryan Sprague about UFO's and government conspiracies. Since both host and guest have a theatrical background, it will truly be the melding of minds with thoughtful discussion and tough questions raised. This isn't the show to miss!
Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist specializing in the topic of UFOs.
He has written for numerous publications, including Open Minds Magazine, Phenomena Magazine UK, and UFO Truth Magazine. Speaking on the UFO topic, he has been featured on ABC News, Fox News, and The Science Channel. He is also the co-host for both the Into the Fray & UFOmodPOD podcasts.
His first book, Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon, will be published by Richard Dolan Press in 2016. Ryan is also working with authors, Peter Robbins and Larry Warren, on a stage play about the 1980 Rendlesham Forest Incident. It's companion film, In a Forest, begins filming in late in 2016.


The unorthodox life journey of artist Joshua Yeldham will be laid bare when he gives a free talk at Tweed Regional Gallery in Murwillumbah on Sunday 27 August.
The unconventional Sydney-based artist will speak about his exhibition Endurance, on display at the Gallery until 10 December, and his story of a "sensitive boy" who endured bullying, a literacy challenges and an unsympathetic school system to become one of Australia's most original artists.
Yeldham giving a previous talk at Tweed Regional Gallery.
Yeldham draws from a deep spiritual affiliation with the land and a love of nature, creating art that entwines narrative and myth, imagination and experience.
Working across painting, photography, drawing and sculpture, he has developed a singular aesthetic that combines various mediums such as his pierced and carved photographs, his characteristic oil paintings, and large-scale paper works.
Yeldham is also an enthralling and humorous storyteller and will share his learning journey - from the heart-breaking to the bizarre.
A small boy struggling with undiagnosed dyslexia, he was a boarder at an exclusive Sydney school from the age of eight and was regularly taunted and tormented by his "big-boned" fellow students.
He seized an opportunity to reinvent himself when he was 14, moving with his mother to Switzerland and studying at the prestigious Aiglon College.
Yeldham was inspired by his "mountain men" teachers who were "strong men but they weren't aggressive" and he threw himself into physical challenges.
It was another chapter in his unorthodox approach to physical and academic challenges and introduced him to skiing, navigation, mountain climbing and caving, throwing him into nature.
A succession of great art teachers throughout his education was also telling and he went on to study at the Rhode Island School of Design, then became an award-winning film maker.
Endurance is the product of Yeldham's term at the Gallery's Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence Studio in February, when he was invited to explore the waterways and surrounding scenery of the Northern Rivers.
His free talk will be held in the Withey Family Gallery from 2pm.
For further information, visit artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au or phone (02) 6670 2790.


Unique to Alpine Ascents, each scheduled climb is led by a professional mountain guide. In many cases, guides have been in the field for 10+ years, and in addition to their expertise on Kilimanjaro, also lead expeditions to great peaks around the world. Most of these guides have climbed 8,000 m peaks and have 25–50 Kilimanjaro trips under their belts and have vast medical experience (all are Wilderness First Responder certified). You will benefit greatly from the leadership, experience, and teaching your western guide will offer on this challenging adventure.
Our lead Tanzanian guides are selected exclusively based on experience and training. They must meet strict standards for proven leadership, mountain experience, medical training, client care, and English language skills. Each lead guide has a minimum of 15 years personal experience, and minimum five years and 25 trips working with Alpine Ascents groups, alongside one of our professional western guides from North America. They understand and practice our high standards for safety, leadership, and teaching, one-to-one client care, and high success rates.
Assistant guides have a minimum four years experience and demonstrate the ability to become lead guides while mentoring over several years, gaining invaluable experience.


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WhatsApp Updated to Send Multiple Photos, iCloud Backup for Chat History [u]
by Gary Ng – Tue, July 16, 2013
WhatsApp for iOS has been updated today to enable users to send multiple images at the same time within chats, URL schema support for third party apps to integrate better with the app and iCloud support for backup and restores of your chat history and media.
What's New in Version 2.10.1
2.10.1:
– multi-send UI: can send multiple photos at the same time
– URL schema support for 3rd party apps (see our blog for more info)
– iCloud chat history backup and restore:
WhatsApp > Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup
As you can see from the image below, your Chat Backup has options to work automatically plus it will also save your pictures (not videos) to iCloud. The company says they spent six months working on implementing iCloud backups:
Let us know how you like this update and the new iCloud backup feature.
Click here to download WhatsApp–it's currently free but normally $0.99. [Update: WhatsApp is currently free!]
Update: WhatsApp has noted the app is now free and moving to its planned 99 cent per year subscription-based model:
First, we are updating our business model for new iPhone users going forward. As you know, we used to charge iPhone users a $.99 one time payment, while Android and other platforms had free service for the first year and paid $0.99 a year after that. From now on, we've simplified our business model so that all users on all platforms will enjoy their first year of WhatsApp service for free, and only pay $.99 per year after that. We feel that this model will allow us to become the communications service of the 21st century, and provide you the best way to stay in touch with your friends and family with no ads getting in the way. The good news for all current iPhone users is that WhatsApp will be free of charge for the rest of your life.
Rogers to Launch 2-Year Term Pricing "Shortly", Just Like TELUS and Bell
Tue, July 16, 2013


Something has just clicked in Aisha's brain, and she can now perform somersaults with ease. (I wonder if it's also because she was watching David's antics at the pool last Friday.) She throws herself over with her head hardly touching the ground.
Ah – just love the new look of your blog – especially the header with the girls – fantastic!
… haven't forgotten re. op shop thing… just struggling to work out when and how at the moment… waiting for the magic moment/day….
enjoy your time in Perth! Never been there myself… would you mind posting a couple of pickies that give a feel of the place??


Welcome to the Human Resources Management Subject Guide!
Here you will find a selection of the human resources management research resources available at the library. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your subject librarian, Martina King.


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Bush administration ready to release revised Real ID regs
By Ben Bain
OMB reviewing revised Real ID standards
The Bush administration will release Jan. 11 a revised set of minimum federal standards that states must meet when issuing driver's licenses and identification cards as mandated by the Real ID Act of 2005, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
DHS reviewed approximately 21,000 comments received after first proposing Real ID standards in March 2007. The department submitted the revised rules to the Office of Management and Budget in late November.
Chertoff said DHS had worked closely with states to come up with a cost-effective plan for implementing Real ID, describing it as a "very important success" and one that is key to carrying out recommendations of the 9-11 Commission.
It's "a win-win," he told members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council today.
Privacy advocates, however, have expressed concerns about the program, particularly about how Real ID-related data will be stored and shared. The American Civil Liberties Union has planned a press conference tomorrow to discuss the new standards.
Ben Bain is a reporter for Federal Computer Week.


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Australia & New Zealand to Host 2023 World Cup
FIFA have announced that the next women's World Cup, will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2023
By Adnan Ilyas@Adnan7631 Jun 25, 2020, 9:38am PDT
Share All sharing options for: Australia & New Zealand to Host 2023 World Cup
Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images
FIFA has announced that the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand following a vote by the FIFA council.
The competition to host the tournament was originally very competitive, with additional bids from Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia, and an odd proposal for a joint tournament shared between North and South Korea. However, by the time of the vote, the bids had been reduced to between Colombia and Australia/New Zealand. None of these three bidding nations has hosted a Women's World Cup in the past. Indeed, the tournament has never been held in either South America, Oceania, or, even the Southern Hemisphere before. Neither have any of these nations previously held the Men's World Cup (though Colombia was originally slated to host in 1986 but was forced to abandon the bid and FIFA moved the tournament to Mexico). This will be the first women's tournament co-hosted by two nations, and the first tournament for either men or women's football to be co-hosted by nations from two different federations (Australia is in the Asian Football Confederation, while New Zealand is in the Oceania Football Confederation).
The 2023 tournament will be the first to be expanded to 32 teams. The 2019 tournament, hosted in France, featured 24 teams. The 32 team format is the same as the current men's team format: 8 groups of 4 with two teams from each group advancing to a series of single elimination rounds through set brackets.
The tournament will be held in 7 cities in Australia and 5 in New Zealand, with 13 stadiums total. In Australia, the cities of Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, New Castle, and Launceston will each host a stadium, while Sydney will have two stadiums. While these stadiums are spread across the country, 3 of these cities are in the province of New South Wales. In New Zealand, matches will be hosted in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, also spread across the country. The final is set to be hosted in Stadium Australia in Sydney. It can be reasonably expected that matches will be organized so that both Australia and New Zealand play mostly in their respective home nations.
The tournament brings several challenges, including shortened daylight hours (it's winter in July in the Southern Hemisphere), travel distances, and the time zone difference. Australia and New Zealand are both experienced World Cup teams, with the nations going to 7 and 5 tournaments, respectively. While New Zealand haven't managed to get out of their group, Australia has had runs to the quarterfinals. Australia in particular is considered a decently strong team, at times included as a dark-horse to win tournaments, with a number of good players. In particular, the Matildas have Sam Kerr, widely considered one of the best strikers in the world.
I expect this to be an interesting World Cup. The United States are the reigning world champions after winning the last two consecutive tournaments, though the team still has to go through qualification. The schedule for Qualification has yet to be announced.


Richard Holmes, biographer and travel writer, is a Fellow of the British Academy and author of celebrated works on Shelley, Coleridge and young Dr Johnson. His latest book, The Age of Wonder, is an examination of the life and work of the scientists of the Romantic age who laid the foundations of modern science. It was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, and won the 2009 Royal Society Prize for Science Books.
NEWTON'S THEORIES IMPRESSED THE INTELLECTUALS, BUT THE MASS APPEAL OF BALLOONING REALLY SPREAD THE IDEA THAT A NEW AGE WAS DAWNING. THE ROYAL SOCIETY MAINTAINED A PROPER SCIENTIFIC SCEPTICISM. BUT AS RICHARD HOLMES REVEALS, ITS PRESIDENT WAS A GOOD DEAL MORE INTRIGUED THAN HE LET ON IN PUBLIC.
On 6 November 1783, the recently elected President of the Royal Society, the botanist Joseph Banks, called a special meeting of the Fellows at their splendid new premises in Somerset House. The subject up for discussion was a controversial one: the extraordinary phenomenon of the French 'aerostatique Machines'.
Banks had received two long and confidential 'papers' from Benjamin Franklin, the American Ambassador in Paris, describing the experiments of the Montgolfier brothers with hot-air balloons; and of Dr Alexander Charles with hydrogen balloons. Franklin prophesied – correctly – that the first manned flight in history was about to occur. A balloon would inevitably 'carry up a Man'. Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes duly took to the air on 19 November 1783. So what, Franklin wondered mildly, did the British intend to do about it all?
After the meeting, Banks wrote back thanking Franklin for his 'Philosophical amusements', but playing down any notion of Anglo-French competition in balloon technology. Instead he sounded a note of ironic caution. 'I think I see an inclination in the more respectable parts of the Royal Society to guard against the Ballomania which has prevailed, and not to patronise Balloons merely on account of their rising in the Atmosphere, till some Experiment likely to prove beneficial either to Society or Science, is proposed to be an next to them.' Banks's witty coinage – 'ballomania' – was destined to float quite as far as the balloons themselves.
It is usually said that the Royal Society subsequently – and wisely – made little attempt to sponsor, fund or even foster rival British balloon experiments. Its Fellows were gently discouraged by Banks, who continued to dismiss 'ballomania' as a typically French craze for novelty and display. It was a passing fashion that could have no scientific outcome. Like the exactly contemporary French craze for Mesmerism (also reported by Franklin), it would soon dissipate and be utterly forgotten.
Certainly, all the early balloon ascents made in England in the following months, unlike those in France, were privately funded through commercial exhibitions or subscriptions. There was no official sponsorship from the Society or the Crown, or from any university or public institution – unless one counts the glamorous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire as a public institution. Moreover nearly all the successful British ascents were in fact made by foreign aeronauts and showmen, such as the young Neapolitan Vincenzo Lunardi, the Italian Count Francesco Zambeccari, the Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and the American Dr John Jeffries.
Banks' views appeared to express a mixture of sensible scientific scepticism, combined with a somewhat aloof disapproval of French excitability. Patriotically, he always insisted that the science of ballooning had been originated by the British, in the 'inflammable air' experiments of Henry Cavendish, Joseph Black and Joseph Priestley. Only the French, he joked, would have turned Cavendish's elegant soap bubbles of hydrogen into the seventy-foot monster of 'Montgolfier's flying Medusa' (appropriately powered by hot or 'rarefied' French air).
The ballomania which ensued over the next two years is often remembered in terms of the sudden rage for balloon fashion accessories which seized Paris (and to some extent London). This might now be termed Montfgolfier merchandising. Both the Musée de l'Air at Le Bourget and the Blythe House section of the Science Museum, London, are crammed with a wild selection of these astonishing, and sometimes rather beautiful, artefacts. They include popular prints, paintings, satirical cartoons, fans, snuffboxes, teapots, chinaware, lampshades, tobacco pipes, ladies' garters, milk jugs, hair clips, coat buttons, desk handles, parasols, pen-holders, and even (at Le Bourget) a ceramic toilet bowl with 'Bon Voyage' glazed on the interior.
Blagden enjoyed passing on comic or frankly scabrous material. He obtained a French satirical pamphlet purporting to recount 'the supposed conversations between the three animals which went up in [Montgolfier's] globe' at Versailles. The cockerel (symbol of France) seemed somewhat subdued on its return to earth, and 'all the animals' complained about the novel experience of air-sickness.
A year later, in September 1784, he was happy to pass on the opinion of his friend, the distinguished French chemist Claude Berthollet. 'Aerostatic globes and Animal Magnetism have, during the whole of this past year, so filled people's heads in this country that useful research has been utterly neglected.' Blagden added pointedly that this now expressed the view of 'the soberer part' of the French Academy.
The swarm of people was itself an incomparable sight, so varied was it, so vast and so changing. Two hundred thousand men, lifting their hands in wonder, admiring, glad, astonished; some in tears for the intrepid philosophers should they come to harm; some on their knees overcome with emotion; but all following the aeronauts in spirit, while these latter, unmoved, saluted, dipping their flags above our heads. What with the novelty, the dignity of the experiment; the unclouded sun, welcoming as it were the travellers to his own element; the attitude of the two men themselves sailing into the blue, while below their fellow-citizens prayed and feared for their safety; and lastly the balloon itself, superb in the sunlight, soaring aloft like a planet, or the chariot of some weather-god! It was a moment which can never be repeated, the most astounding achievement the science of physics has yet given to the world.
Yet such wild enthusiasm could strongly appeal to a British physician and inventor like Dr Erasmus Darwin. Though Darwin was a Fellow of the Royal Society (elected in 1761), he was also part of a radical and nonconformist network of provincial philosophers, and a leading light of the Lunar Society based in Birmingham and Derby. Moreover he was a poet.
Watch, as it rises, the diminish'd sphere.
And now the fleeting rack obtrudes between!
We found our imaginations warmed by the gigantic idea of our penetrating some day into the wildest and most inhospitable regions of Africa, Arabia, and America, of our crossing chains of mountains hitherto impervious, and ascending their loftiest summits, of our reaching either of the two poles and in short, of our extending our dominion over the creation beyond any thing which we now have conception.
It was exactly this kind of ballomania and unscientific speculation that Joseph Banks is reputed to have dismissed out of hand. Yet the recent publication of Banks' Scientific Correspondence,1 and a re-examination of the Royal Society archives suggests a more complex and intriguing state of affairs.
First, it turns out that no fewer than fifty letters on the subject of ballooning were exchanged between Banks and his scientific correspondents between 1783 and 1786. Not only Banks himself, but several other Fellows of the Royal Society (besides Darwin) were evidently fascinated by ballooning, and became far more closely involved than has been previously assumed.
It is also clear that the latest balloon news, including extensive cuttings from the French newspapers, and many 'a parcel of pamphlets and journals', was regularly supplied to Banks not only by Charles Blagden, but also by Banks' personal assistant and librarian at Soho Square, the Swedish botanist Jonas Dryander.
Banks continued to receive such detailed reports of all the French balloon ascents throughout the rest of 1783 and 1784. He was informed that the French Academy of Sciences, under his opposite number the Marquis de Condorcet, had appointed an official commission to investigate 'aerostation', and were funding further ascents by Pilâtre de Rozier. He also received various communications from Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, a geologist and official from the Jardin du Roi, who had set himself up as a commercial promoter of ballooning in France. Saint-Fond published one of the earliest books on the subject, Descriptions des Experiences des Machines Aerostatiques de MM Montgolfier; Banks had obtained his own copy by the end of November 1783.
Apart from Blagden, Dryander and Saint-Fond, Banks' most important source of balloon information was Benjamin Franklin, by then in his seventies and wise in the ways of both men and machines. It has not been appreciated how significant this contact was. Franklin's 'two papers', submitted to the Society in November 1783, were in reality just part of an extensive exchange of confidential letters and ballooning documents between him and Banks, amounting to no fewer than sixteen items, which continued virtually unbroken from July 1783 to April 1785.
It was to Franklin, rather than to Blagden, that Banks wrote so warmly on 28 November 1783, immediately after the Montgolfiers' first manned flight.
It was after this flight that Franklin was reported to have made his famous remark, when asked what was the use of a balloon: 'I replied – what's the use of a newborn baby?' Perhaps he was inspired by Banks' earlier reference to 'the Infant Knowledge'.
The new Art of Flying … makes such rapid advances in the country you now inhabit … Charles's Experiment seems decisive, and must be performed here in its full extent. I have hitherto been of the Opinion that it is unwise to struggle for the honour of an invention that is about to be Effected. Practical flying we must allow to our rivals, Theoretical flying we claim ourselves … When our Friends on your side of the water are cooled a little … they shall see that we will visit the repositories of the Stars and Meteors.
The question now became, what were the realistic applications of 'Practical flying', as opposed to theories and fantasies?
According to Saint-Fond they might, for example, provide observation platforms: for military reconnaissance, for sailors at sea, for chemists analysing the Earth's upper atmosphere, or for astronomers with their telescopes. It is notable that most of these applications were based on the notion of a tethered balloon. In fact many of the Montgolfiers' early experiments were made with tethered aerostats, held to the ground by various ingenious forms of harness, guy ropes or winches.
Despite his poetical effusions, Erasmus Darwin's first practical idea of balloon-power was paradoxically that of shifting payloads along the ground. He suggested to his friend Richard Edgeworth that a small hydrogen balloon might be tethered to an adapted garden wheel-barrow, and used for transporting heavy loads of garden manure up the steep hills of his Irish estate. This convenient aerial skip would allow one man to shift ten times his normal weight. Indeed it might revolutionise manual labour.
Similarly, Banks himself had the initial idea that balloons could increase the effectiveness of earth-bound transport, by adding to its conventional horsepower. He saw the balloon as 'a counterpoise to Absolute Gravity': that is, as a flotation device to be attached to traditional forms of coach or cart, making them easier to move over the ground. So 'a broad-wheeled wagon' normally requiring eight horses to pull it, might only need two horses with a Montgolfier attached. This aptly suggests how difficult it was, even for a trained scientific mind like Banks', to imagine the true possibilities of flight in these early days.
Franklin, 'the old fox' as Blagden called him, was quick to suggest various menacing military applications, perhaps deliberately intended to fix Banks' attention. 'Five thousand balloons capable of raising two men each' could easily transport an effective invasion army often thousand marines across the Channel, in the course of a single morning. The only question was, Franklin implied, which direction would the wind be blowing from?
His other speculations were more light-hearted. What about a 'running Footman'? Such a man might be suspended under a small hydrogen balloon, so his body weight was reduced to 'perhaps 8 or 10 Pounds', and thus made capable of running in a straight line in leaps and bounds 'across Countries as fast as the Wind, and over Hedges, Ditches & even Water…' Or there was the balloon 'Elbow Chair', placed in a beauty spot, and winching the picturesque spectator 'a Mile high for a Guinea' to see the view. Then there was Franklin's patent balloon icebox. 'People will keep such Globes anchored in the Air, to which by Pullies they may draw up Game to be preserved in the Cool, & Water to be frozen when Ice is wanted.' This contraption would surely have appealed to that twentieth-century illustrator Heath Robinson.
Finally even Professor Martyn succumbed to aerostatic fantasy, by fixing an astonishing frontispiece to his pamphlet. It showed a huge, beautiful dream-balloon soaring magnificently amidst the clouds, carrying beneath it a solid, wooden ocean-going 'air-ship', with square-rigged sails, large sea-going rudder and elegant anchor on a chain, evidently ready to circumnavigate the entire globe.
The great emerging scientific question became this: could an aerostat be navigated? Was it truly an 'air-ship'? Could a balloon be steered against the prevailing air current, to a previously chosen destination? Could it ever, quite simply, provide a sure method of getting from A to B? Throughout 1784 Banks closely followed the British balloon flights of Lunardi and Blanchard with this navigation question in mind. Several distinguished Fellows of the Royal Society were sent to observe them. Blagden and Cavendish, together with the astronomers Herschel and Aubert, stationed themselves at various rooftop vantage points in London, equipped with telescopes and quadrants. They carefully sent back their data to Banks, and made a special point of observing the effects of wings, oars and rudders on the balloon's horizontal flight-path. Could it be diverted against or across the wind, however marginally? Lunardi favoured simple wooden oars for this task, while Blanchard proclaimed his faith in silken wings, cotton rudders and a complex propeller-type device known as a moulinette ('a sort of ventilator that could be turned by means of a handle'). Despite their repeated claims, none of this equipment produced the least observable effect.
These negative observations were significant, because aeronauts in France had been claiming that they could produce a slightly diverted flight-path across the line of the wind, using sails and rudders. During an impressive 150-mile flight made from Paris to Artois on 19 September 1784, the Roberts brothers, who had helped design Dr Charles' original balloon, stated with pseudo-scientific precision that they had achieved a 'deflection of 22 degrees', and 'might have obtained 80 degrees'. This, they argued, was almost as efficient as a close-hauled sailing ship moving through the comparable medium of water. Banks now had reason to believe that they were deluded.
The one scientific instrument which proved effective in balloon navigation was the mercury barometer. It was already established that air pressure dropped with an increase in altitude. In some sense, not entirely understood, the air got 'thinner' the higher one went. So as a balloon rose, an onboard barometer would give a steadily lower reading; and conversely, as the balloon descended, the barometric reading would rise. So an appropriately calibrated barometer (with an adjustable scale set at zero immediately before launching) could act as an altimeter, indicating a balloon's changing height above the ground.
Banks was therefore particularly scathing when he learned that Lunardi had forgotten to take a barometer on his first historic ascent in September 1784, and had pretended to calculate his maximum altitude from the length of the icicles formed on the lower edge of the balloon canopy. He concluded that the pilot was a brilliant charlatan. Banks feared that Lunardi, having entranced the fashionable and susceptible Duchess of Devonshire, would go on to ensnare the gullible Prince of Wales, and even King George III (already rather less than stable) with his 'balloon madness'.
But there was an alternative to Lunardi: the Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard. In the autumn of 1784, two Fellows of the Royal Society decided to purchase private passages aboard Blanchard's hydrogen balloon, making proper observations and taking appropriate equipment with them. The first was John Sheldon, Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy, who flew from Chelsea in October 1784.
Despite much anticipation, Sheldon's flight was largely abortive from a scientific point of view. 'The balloon was so loaded at first,' recorded Blagden dryly, 'that it fell down in a neighbour's garden.' Alarmed by the whole experience, Sheldon broke his barometer shortly before take-off, while Blanchard threw overboard the rest of his equipment immediately after. Blanchard mercifully off-loaded the terrified Sheldon at Sunbury, in Middlesex. He then claimed that he had successfully navigated with his wings and rudder some seventy-five miles into Hampshire.
But the first half-hour of the ascent was observed by Blagden and Cavendish from the roof of a house at Putney Heath 'with instruments', triangulating their observations with another observer from a house in Earls Court. Their meticulous calculations showed that the balloon 'floated along with the wind uniformly and regularly, seeming to pay no regard to the operation of the machinery they had taken up'. There was still no indication that a balloon could be navigated.
The next philosopher to purchase a flight with Blanchard was the American physician Dr John Jeffries, in November 1784, ascending from Grosvenor Square. In fact, Jeffries was not yet a Fellow of the Royal Society, but hoped to be elected on the strength of his ballooning experiments. Accordingly, he carefully prepared a suite of scientific instruments to take with him: a mercury barometer, a thermometer, a hygrometer and an electrometer, to measure the much-feared electrical charges in clouds. In addition he packed maps, a compass and special note-making equipment. He also strapped aboard special air flasks, to sample the upper atmosphere at different altitudes, which he promised to give to Cavendish for analysis.
Four points need to be more clearly determined. First, the power of ascending or descending at pleasure, while suspended or floating in the air. Secondly, the effect which oars or wings might be made to produce towards this purpose, and in directing the course of the Balloon. Thirdly, the state and temperature of the atmosphere at different heights above the earth. And fourthly, by observing the varying course of the currents of air, or winds, at certain elevations, to throw some new light on the theory of winds in general.
On this trip, going across the Thames into Kent, Jeffries made the first truly scientific record of a balloon ascent. He meticulously recorded a mass of data – height, direction, air temperature, electrical charges, appearance of clouds, horizon line – at regular time intervals. One of the details which emerged was a 'profile' of the characteristic flight-path of a hydrogen balloon: not a single smooth parabola, as had been supposed, but a series of looping ascents and descents, as the balloon moved above and below its 'equilibrium point'. It was also clear to Jeffries that wind directions often changed at different altitudes. But on the crucial question of navigation, Jeffries could observe no controlled alteration of flight-path, for all Blanchard's 'heroic' rowing and flapping and spinning.
Jeffries went on to take part in the most significant of all the early balloon ascents in Britain, the first crossing of the English Channel with Blanchard on 5 January 1785. He wrote an outstanding account, which exists in at least three versions. The first was sent as a private letter to Banks from Paris shortly after the flight on 13 January 1785, the second as a formal paper published by the Royal Society in the Philosophical Transactions for January 1786, and the third as a retrospective diary.
Despite its apparent triumph, both sporting and diplomatic, the main scientific significance of this flight was that it proved conclusively that a balloon was not navigable, either over land or sea. As Jeffries expressed it privately in his diary, he could only 'thank God' and a favourable wind for his survival. He never flew again.
By the end of 1785, Banks too was rapidly losing interest in ballooning. His correspondence with Franklin tailed off into a courteous exchange of medals and compliments. His doubts could be summed up succinctly: balloons were not navigable, and – as he had originally thought – they should be left to the French. Yet at the last Banks may have encouraged a book by a younger Fellow of the Royal Society that would inspire a new generation of aeronauts.
In 1785 Tiberius Cavallo FRS published A Treatise on the History and Practice of Aerostation. Cavallo was a brilliant Italian physicist who had moved to London at the age of twenty-two, and had already written extensively on magnetism and electrical phenomena. Elected a Fellow in 1779, he quickly turned his attention to ballooning. He had some claims to be one of the first to inflate soap bubbles with hydrogen as early as 1782. Although a handsome portrait is held by the National Portrait Gallery in London, he is now largely and unjustly forgotten. Yet his study emerges as the most authoritative early treatise on the subject, either in English or French. The copy of Cavallo's book held by the British Library is personally inscribed 'To Sir Joseph Banks from the Author' – in firm, black, racy ink.
Besides the Romantic observations which might be naturally suggested by the Prospect seen from that elevated situation, and by the agreeable calm he felt after the fatigue, the anxiety, and the accomplishment of his Experiment, Mr Lunardi seems to have made no particular philosophical observation, or such as may either tend to improve the subject of aerostation, or to throw light on any operation in Nature.
Yet for all this, Cavallo was a passionate balloon enthusiast. He recorded and analysed all the significant flights, both French and English, made from the Montgolfiers' first balloon at Annonay in June 1783 to Blanchard and Jeffries' crossing of the Channel in January 1785. He distinguished carefully between hot-air and hydrogen balloons, and their quite different flight characteristics. He looked in detail at methods of preparing hydrogen gas, noting that Priestley had come up with one that used steam rather than sulphuric acid. He also examined the different ways of constructing balloon canopies from rubber ('cauchouc'), waxed silk, varnished linen and taffeta.
In a longer perspective, he stressed the astonishing speed of aerial travel over the ground – 'often between 40 and 50 miles per hour' – combined with its incredible 'stillness and tranquillity' in most normal conditions. This he thought must eventually revolutionise transport and communications, even if the moment had not yet arrived. He pointed out that in achieving altitudes of over two miles, balloons opened a whole new dimension to mankind's observations of the Earth beneath. Man's growing impact on the surface of the planet became visible from the air for the first time, as did the vast tracts of the Earth – mountains, forests, deserts – yet to be traversed. Above all he stressed that the full potential of flight had not yet been remotely explored.
The philosophical uses to which these machines may be subservient are numerous indeed; and it may be sufficient to say, that hardly anything of what passes in the atmosphere is known with precision, and that principally for want of a method of ascending into the atmosphere. The formation of rain, of thunder-storms, of vapours, hail, snow and meteors in general, require to be attentively examined and ascertained.
The action of the barometer, the refraction and temperature of air in various regions, the descent of bodies, the propagation of sound etc are subjects which all require a long series of observations and experiments, the performance of which could never have been properly expected, before the discovery of these machines. We may therefore conclude with a wish that the learned, and the encouragers of useful knowledge, may unanimously concur in endeavouring to promote the subject of aerostation, and to render it useful as possible to mankind.
It was largely due to Cavallo's book that, a decade later, ballooning received a signal acknowledgment and consecration. The third edition of the hugely influential Encyclopaedia Britannica, published in 1797, for the first time recognised the existence of 'Aerostation'. It described it with all due formality as 'a science newly introduced to the Encyclopaedia', and gave it a comprehensive article of fourteen pages. This included two full spreads of diagrammatic illustrations, showing every known kind of aerostats that would actually fly. Almost all the material was drawn, unacknowledged, from Tiberius Cavallo.
The editors of the great Encyclopaedia made one symbolic gesture. They placed as the frontispiece to the opening volume of the new edition a prophetic engraving. It showed a traditional gathering of 'natural philosophers' in a Roman forum, arrayed in classical togas and surrounded by pillared Doric temples. (Could they have intended a sly reference to the Royal Society?) They then introduced one striking anachronism. High overhead, a hydrogen balloon (complete with wings) sails imperiously into some unknown future.
1 See the wonderful new edition, The Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Banks 1765–1820, edited by Neil Chambers, 6 vols (London, Pickering & Chatto Ltd, 2007). Further sources are given in my bibliography on page 486.
2 The idea that the 'Prospect' itself – the free ascent, the magnificent views, the whole 'aerial experience' – was the real point of ballooning, only truly arrived with the sporting, propane-powered hot-air balloons of the late twentieth century. However, one early pioneer of this existential attitude was Thomas Baldwin, whose remarkable Aeropaedia (1786) was an entire book dedicated to a single flight, made from Chester on 8 September 1785. It contained the first ever paintings of the view from a balloon-basket; an analytic diagram of the corkscrew flight path projected over a land map; and a whole chapter simply given up to describing the astonishing colours and structures of cloud-formations. One typical observation reads: 'The river Dee appeared of a red colour; the city [Chester] very diminutive; and the town [Warrington] entirely blue. The whole appeared a perfect plane, the highest buildings having no apparent height, but reduced all to the same level, and the whole terrestrial prospect appeared like a coloured map.' [p. 204].
3 The supremely impractical suggestion of balloon mail was to be strangely vindicated by the French some ninety years later. During the Prussian siege of Paris in 1870–71, no fewer than sixty-six hydrogen balloons, each carrying 125 kilos of domestic mail and government despatches, sailed successfully over the Prussian lines, landing as far afield as unoccupied Brittany, whereupon the mail was rapidly distributed by horse across the nation. The first balloon, the Neptune, carried a letter from the photographer Felix Nadar to The Times. Subsequent balloons, with that touch of French genius, teased the Prussians by having patriotic names emblazoned on their canopies in huge letters – the Victor Hugo, the George Sand, the Armand Barbès.


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