Golden parachute

A sunflower pulls the ripcord, unfurls its petals and hurls itself into the world.

Parachutes both literally and figuratively signify soft landings. The first recorded concept of the parachute appeared in the writings of Leonardo da Vinci. It was not until a century later that someone built a parachute based on da Vinci's drawings and tried it out. A Frenchman invented the foldable silk model in the late 1700s. Until then, parachutes had rigid frames. Jumps were made from hot air balloons. The first parachute accident fatality was recorded in 1837.

Parachutes followed into heavier-than-air craft, although initially it was considered "unmanly" to wear a parachute in an airplane. Apparently enough manly men died to convince pilots that parachutes might not be such a bad idea.

Our sun-like friend will rely on its "'chute" to attract enough insects to pollinate its seeds and insure the soft landing of another generation of its species.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph copyright 2007 James Jordan.