Silk Parachute

Silk Parachute
Author: John McPhee
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2011-03-01
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 142998581X

A WONDROUS NEW BOOK OF MCPHEE'S PROSE PIECES—IN MANY ASPECTS HIS MOST PERSONAL IN FOUR DECADES The brief, brilliant essay "Silk Parachute," which first appeared in The New Yorker a decade ago, has become John McPhee's most anthologized piece of writing. In the nine other pieces here— highly varied in length and theme—McPhee ranges with his characteristic humor and intensity through lacrosse, long-exposure view-camera photography, the weird foods he has sometimes been served in the course of his reportorial travels, a U.S. Open golf championship, and a season in Europe "on the chalk" from the downs and sea cliffs of England to the Maas valley in the Netherlands and the champagne country of northern France. Some of the pieces are wholly personal. In luminous recollections of his early years, for example, he goes on outings with his mother, deliberately overturns canoes in a learning process at a summer camp, and germinates a future book while riding on a jump seat to away games as a basketball player. But each piece—on whatever theme—contains somewhere a personal aspect in which McPhee suggests why he was attracted to write about the subject, and each opens like a silk parachute, lofted skyward and suddenly blossoming with color and form.

Stronger Than Steel

Stronger Than Steel
Author: Bridget Heos
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 85
Release: 2013
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0547681267

An introduction to the field of genetics through the story of Randy Lewis and his work with golden orb weaver spiders and his subsequent creation of artificial spider silk that can be used to save and improve lives. Full color.

How to Make a House a Home

How to Make a House a Home
Author: Ariel Kaye
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2020-04-14
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 1984826476

More than just a stylish design book: The founder of Parachute Home teaches you how to design a home that’s not only beautiful but mindful, functional, and uniquely you. A house is a structure that provides shelter. A home tells the story of who you are. How to Make a House a Home guides your discovery of what is most important to you in achieving warmth and comfort as well as a functional space. Explore the possibilities of creating an environment that is uniquely yours—one that welcomes, nurtures, and inspires. Parachute founder Ariel Kaye meets you wherever you are, with actionable tips and advice on how to match purpose with style. Here is everything you need to bring mindful choices into your home to make it completely you, from color palettes to organization, house plants to furniture. Whether you want to update your bedding, redo your living room, or take on the whole house, enjoy the remarkable journey of making your house your home.

Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, Oh My!

Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, Oh My!
Author:
Publisher: Heritage Music Press
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2011-09-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781429121040

Grades K5 What could be better than a resource that will have your students begging to listen to more classical music? Artie Almeida shares some of her most beloved listening and movement-based lessons. Outstanding orchestral tracks, video performances of the lessons, and reproducible visuals and teaching aids are included!

Man Repeller

Man Repeller
Author: Leandra Medine
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2013-09-10
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1455521388

Engage using #manrepeller. Silk parachute pants. A gold lamé jumpsuit. Ankle boots with fringe. Were these fashion-forward items sending men running in the opposite direction? Maybe, but Leandra Medine never cared. Slipping into drop-crotch shorts and a boxed sequin blazer in the dressing room of Topshop in downtown Manhattan, a brokenhearted Leandra had an epiphany. Looking in the mirror, she suddenly realized she didn't have a boyfriend because of the way she dressed. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that such outfits said a lot about her life-romantic and otherwise. Now, in her first book, the acclaimed blogger and fashion darling recounts her most significant memories through the lens of her sartorial choices. With her signature sass, blunt honesty, and some personal photos, Leandra shares details of the night she lost her virginity right down to the pair of white tube socks she forgot to take off, as well as when and why she realized her grandma's vintage Hermès ostrich skin clutch could hold much more than just keys and a cell phone. Through it all, she proves you don't need to compromise even your most repellent qualities to find your way into that big white dress (and an organza moto jacket). See? You can have your yeti and wear it, too. Showcasing the singular voice that has won Leandra millions of fans, this book is a collection of awkwardly funny experiences, a sweet love story, and above all, a reminder to celebrate and embrace a world made for women, by women.

An Investigation of Cotton for Parachute Cloth

An Investigation of Cotton for Parachute Cloth
Author: William D. Appel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 532
Release: 1931
Genre: Cotton fabrics
ISBN:

This is a resume of the work on a cotton parachute cloth for use as a substitute for silk in the event of an emergency curtailing the supply. Cotton yar of high strength in proportion to its weight and otherwise specially suitable for parachute cloth was developed. Cloth woven from this yarn in the Bureau of Standards mill was equal or superior to parachute silk in strength and tear resistance, met the requirements with respect to air permeability, and weighed only a few tenths of an ounce per square yard more than the silk cloth. Practical trials of cotton parachutes carried out by the Navy Department clearly indicate that the cotton parachute closely approaches the silk parachute in performance as to rate of descent, opening time, strength and ability to function when stored in the pack for sixty days. The increase in weight of the equipment resulting from the use within practical limits. A specification for cotton parachute cloth and the way in which the requirements of the specification have been met are given. Cotton yarns suitable for parachute cloth are now being woven commercially in the United States.

The Patch

The Patch
Author: John McPhee
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2018-11-13
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0374717192

The Patch is the seventh collection of essays by the nonfiction master, all published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It is divided into two parts. Part 1, “The Sporting Scene,” consists of pieces on fishing, football, golf, and lacrosse—from fly casting for chain pickerel in fall in New Hampshire to walking the linksland of St. Andrews at an Open Championship. Part 2, called “An Album Quilt,” is a montage of fragments of varying length from pieces done across the years that have never appeared in book form—occasional pieces, memorial pieces, reflections, reminiscences, and short items in various magazines including The New Yorker. They range from a visit to the Hershey chocolate factory to encounters with Oscar Hammerstein, Joan Baez, and Mount Denali. Emphatically, the author’s purpose was not merely to preserve things but to choose passages that might entertain contemporary readers. Starting with 250,000 words, he gradually threw out 75 percent of them, and randomly assembled the remaining fragments into “an album quilt.” Among other things, The Patch is a covert memoir.

Parachute Recovery Systems

Parachute Recovery Systems
Author: Theo W. Knacke
Publisher:
Total Pages: 524
Release: 1992
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN:

The purpose of this manual is to provide recovery system engineers in government and industry with tools to evaluate, analyze, select, and design parachute recovery systems. These systems range from simple, one-parachute assemblies to multiple-parachute systems, and may include equipment for impact attenuation, flotation, location, retrieval, and disposition. All system aspects are discussed, including the need for parachute recovery, the selection of the most suitable recovery system concept, concept analysis, parachute performance, force and stress analysis, material selection, parachute assembly and component design, and manufacturing. Experienced recovery system engineers will find this publication useful as a technical reference book; recent college graduates will find it useful as a textbook for learning about parachutes and parachute recovery systems; and technicians with extensive practical experience will find it useful as an engineering textbook that includes a chapter on parachute- related aerodynamics. In this manual, emphasis is placed on aiding government employees in evaluating and supervising the design and application of parachute systems. The parachute recovery system uses aerodynamic drag to decelerate people and equipment moving in air from a higher velocity to a lower velocity and to a safe landing. This lower velocity is known as rate of descent, landing velocity, or impact velocity, and is determined by the following requirements: (1) landing personnel uninjured and ready for action, (2) landing equipment and air vehicles undamaged and ready for use or refurbishment, and (3) impacting ordnance at a preselected angle and velocity.

Silk Chutes and Hard Fighting

Silk Chutes and Hard Fighting
Author: Jon T. Hoffman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 38
Release: 1999-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780756718497

This volume is a brief narrative of the development, deployment, & eventual demise of Marine parachute units during World War II. It is published to honor the veterans of these special units & for the information of those interested in Marine parachutists & the events in which they participated. Chapters: the jump into parachuting; rendezvous at Gavutu; Tasimboko; Edson's Ridge; recuperation & reevaluation; Choiseul; Bougainville; & the closing shock. Illustrated with black-&-white photographs & maps.

Annals of the Former World

Annals of the Former World
Author: John McPhee
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2000-06-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0374708460

The Pulitzer Prize-winning view of the continent, across the fortieth parallel and down through 4.6 billion years Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the fortieth parallel and, in the process, come to an understanding not only of the science but of the style of the geologists he traveled with. The structure of the book never changed, but its breadth caused him to complete it in stages, under the overall title Annals of the Former World. Like the terrain it covers, Annals of the Former World tells a multilayered tale, and the reader may choose one of many paths through it. As clearly and succinctly written as it is profoundly informed, this is our finest popular survey of geology and a masterpiece of modern nonfiction. Annals of the Former World is the winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction.