Birdie Draper
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Birdie Draper
Birdie Viola Draper (1916-2005) was a parachutist and stunt performer who made her first jump on June 6, 1937."My First Jump" Memoir by Birdie Draper, Birdie Draper Collection, The San Diego Air and Space Museum. She traveled around the country as a member of the Thrill Day Performers and became known as the "Queen of the Daredevils." Early life Draper was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1916. In 1937 at the age of 20, Draper began her training as a parachutist with Stub Chrissinger, an instructor for Hincks flying service and one of two licensed parachute riggers in Minnesota. Career After her training, Draper joined the stunt group Thrill Day Performers traveling to State Fairs. She was paired up with Captain F. F. "Bowser" Frakes who was best known for his daring plane crashing stunts and was known as the "Monarch of the Air." Draper was recognized for crashing through sixteen sticks of dynamite with her car, as well as solid masonry walls, a stunt for which she r ...
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Birdie Draper
Birdie Viola Draper (1916-2005) was a parachutist and stunt performer who made her first jump on June 6, 1937."My First Jump" Memoir by Birdie Draper, Birdie Draper Collection, The San Diego Air and Space Museum. She traveled around the country as a member of the Thrill Day Performers and became known as the "Queen of the Daredevils." Early life Draper was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1916. In 1937 at the age of 20, Draper began her training as a parachutist with Stub Chrissinger, an instructor for Hincks flying service and one of two licensed parachute riggers in Minnesota. Career After her training, Draper joined the stunt group Thrill Day Performers traveling to State Fairs. She was paired up with Captain F. F. "Bowser" Frakes who was best known for his daring plane crashing stunts and was known as the "Monarch of the Air." Draper was recognized for crashing through sixteen sticks of dynamite with her car, as well as solid masonry walls, a stunt for which she r ...
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Parachuting
Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For human skydiving, it may involve a phase of more or less free-falling (the skydiving segment) which is a period when the parachute has not yet been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal velocity. For cargo parachuting, the parachute descent may begin immediately, such as a parachute-airdrop in the lower atmosphere of Earth, or be significantly delayed, such as in a planetary atmosphere where an object is descending "under parachute" following atmospheric entry from space, and may begin only after the hypersonic entry phase and initial deceleration that occurs due to friction with the thin upper atmosphere. History Common uses Parachuting is performed as a recreational activity and a competitive sport, and is widel ...
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Stunt Performer
A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed to a daredevil, who performs for a live audience. When they take the place of another actor, they are known as stunt doubles. Overview A stuntman or stuntwoman typically performs stunts intended for use in a film or dramatized television. Stunts seen in films and television include car crashes, falls from great height, drags (for example, behind a horse), and explosions. There is an inherent risk in the performance of all stunt work. There is maximum risk when the stunts are performed in front of a live audience. In filmed performances, visible safety mechanisms can be removed by editing. In live performances the audience can see more clearly if the performer is genuinely doing what they claim or appear to do. To reduce the risk of injury ...
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Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins in timber and as the flour milling capital of the world. It occupies both banks of the Mississippi River and adjoins Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota. Prior to European settlement, the site of Minneapolis was inhabited by Dakota people. The settlement was founded along Saint Anthony Falls on a section of land north of Fort Snelling; its growth is attributed to its proximity to the fort and the falls providing power for industrial activity. , the city has an estimated 425,336 inhabitants. It is the most populous city in the state and the 46th-most-populous city in the United States. Minneapolis, Saint Paul and the surrounding area are collectively known as the Twin Cities. Minneapolis has one of the most extensive public par ...
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Parachute Rigger
A parachute rigger is a person who is trained or licensed to pack, maintain or repair parachutes. A rigger is required to understand fabrics, hardware, webbing, regulations, sewing, packing, and other aspects related to the building, packing, repair, and maintenance of parachutes. Military parachute riggers Militaries around the world train their own parachute riggers to support their airborne or paratrooper forces. These military riggers also pack parachutes for aerial delivery operations, through which military supplies and equipment are delivered by aircraft to combat zones. Australian Defence Force Parachute riggers in the Australian Army are responsible for the preparation, maintenance and supply of parachutes and other aerial delivery components. Prior to commencing the parachute rigger course, all trainees must be static-line parachute qualified. Parachute riggers frequently make parachute jumps, and at any time may be required to jump with any parachute they have pa ...
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Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed, and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation. Roughly a third of the state is covered in forests, and it is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" for having over 14,000 bodies of fresh water of at least ten acres. More than 60% of Minnesotans live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, known as the "Twin Cities", the state's main political, economic, and cultural hub. With a population of about 3.7 million, the Twin Cities is the 16th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Other minor metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the state include Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and ...
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State Fair
A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in their categories at the more-local county fairs. State fairs began in the nineteenth century for the purpose of promoting state agriculture, through competitive exhibitions of livestock and display of farm products. As the U.S. evolved from a predominantly agrarian society, agrarian to an industrial society in the twentieth century, and the more service economy of the 21st century, modern state fairs have expanded to include carnival amusement rides and games, display of industrial products, automobile racing, and entertainment such as musical concerts. Large fairs can admit more than a million visitors over the course of a week or two. The first U.S. state fair was that of Great New York State Fair, New York, held in 1841 in Syracuse, New ...
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Airplane
An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometersMeasured in RTKs—an RTK is one tonne of revenue freight carried one kilometer. of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones. The Wright brothers invented and flew the first airplane in 1903, recognized as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight".
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Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germany, and patented in 1867. It rapidly gained wide-scale use as a more robust alternative to gun powder, black powder. History Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel in the 1860s and was the first safely manageable explosive stronger than black powder. Alfred Nobel's father, Immanuel Nobel, was an industrialist, engineer, and inventor. He built bridges and buildings in Stockholm and founded Sweden's first rubber factory. His construction work inspired him to research new methods of blasting rock that were more effective than black powder. After some bad business deals in Sweden, in 1838 Immanuel moved Nobel family, his family to Saint Petersburg, where Alfred and his brothers were educated privately under Swedish and Russi ...
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Masonry Wall
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building stone such as marble, granite, and limestone, cast stone, concrete blocks, glass blocks, and adobe. Masonry is generally a highly durable form of construction. However, the materials used, the quality of the mortar and workmanship, and the pattern in which the units are assembled can substantially affect the durability of the overall masonry construction. A person who constructs masonry is called a mason or bricklayer. These are both classified as construction trades. Applications Masonry is commonly used for walls and buildings. Brick and concrete block are the most common types of masonry in use in industrialized nations and may be either load-bearing or non-load-bearing. Concrete blocks, especially those with hollow cores, offer vari ...
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Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who can exit from an aircraft at height and descend safely to earth. A parachute is usually made of a light, strong fabric. Early parachutes were made of silk. The most common fabric today is nylon. A parachute's canopy is typically dome-shaped, but some are rectangles, inverted domes, and other shapes. A variety of loads are attached to parachutes, including people, food, equipment, space capsules, and bombs. History Middle Ages In 852, in Córdoba, Spain, the Moorish man Armen Firman attempted unsuccessfully to fly by jumping from a tower while wearing a large cloak. It was recorded that "there was enough air in the folds of his cloak to prevent great injury when he reached the ground." Early Renaissance The earliest evidence f ...
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United States Department Of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for business and government decision making, and helping to set industrial standards. Its main purpose is to create jobs, promote economic growth, encourage sustainable development and block harmful trade practices of other nations.Steve Charnovitz, "Reinventing the Commerce Dept.", ''Journal of Commerce'', July 12, 1995. It is headed by the Secretary of Commerce, who reports directly to the President of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The Department of Commerce is headquartered in the Herbert C. Hoover Building in Washington, DC. History Organizational history The department was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903. It was subsequently renamed the Departme ...
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