JUNE 4th - Wanye's World Minerva



On this day in 1784, Elisabeth Thible, a French Opera singer, became the first woman to fly in an untethered Montgolfier hot-air balloon over Lyon, France. This was a mere eight months after the first manned flight, and supposedly Mme. Thible was dressed as the goddess Minerva and sang two duets from a celebrated opera at the time--which is all quite impressive. In fact, I'm sure Gustav III of Sweden, who witnessed the flight, found it thus. But guess who else was in France at that time? One Thomas Jefferson. There's no record of his actually being there, but if I know old TJ, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd been sitting right next to Gustav disguised as a French poet. You can rest assured that he would not have been impressed. TJ once saw George Washington start a fire by causing intense friction on some logs with his wooden teeth to keep his troops from freezing to death while simultaneously trapping a squad of British soldiers by shooting a tree branch in the exact right spot causing it to fall on the advancing enemy. No biggie, TJ said. In any case, Mme. Thible had a pretty wild day. Dress up like a goddess? Check. Sing some opera? Yep. Float in a big ass balloon over France? Boom. You exchange Mme. Thible for Zach Galifianakis and you've got a scene in The Hangover IV. But let's hope that doesn't happen. It would be a cool re-enactment in a Wayne's World sketch though--Garth being Thible of course. Now there's an idea. TJ still not impressed.

So next time you're dressed up like Minerva and flying in a hot-air balloon, just remember you weren't the first one to do so.

This day has been Marked.

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