Been there, done that, but only once. I think it was about 1966. I was doing something useless in a Cal Poly Pomona dormitory, when someone from the state forestry service arrived asking for volunteers to fight a fire. This was in the days when it was fashionable to empty the colleges, instead of the jails, to fight forest fires. We were soon on our way to do battle with a brush fire burning in the bottom of the San Gabriel River (now known as the 605 freeway) near El Monte. It's not every day that a dry river catches fire, and I wanted to be part of the experience. Our job was mostly to haul cut brush away from the river banks, so the adjacent houses would not burn. The bulldozers just couldn't work among the rubble on the river bottom. There were no fatalities or major injuries. We did loose a few due to exhaustion from being out of shape and not drinking enough water. We were at it for about 12 hrs, with erratic breaks, until another motley load of student arrived to relieve us.
True. I haven't worked much with explosives, but I came close. Pollack-Benedict(?) construction was building the Simi Valley freeway between the north end of the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley. The connecting pass was plagued with large granite boulders, typically about the size of a large 2 story house. This was too much for the earth movers, so blasting contractor was hired to break them apart. Everyone assumed that during blasting, that the 2 lane highway, next to where the freeway was being built, could be closed to traffic. Nope. In provide the illusion of safety, some traffic control was needed. What better use for expendable students.
A desperate call was made to San Fernando Valley State College (now known as Cal State University, Northridge) for anyone with RF experience. Of course all the ham radio operators immediately responded. 4 of us were hired to direct traffic, but more importantly, to yell at anyone with a 2-way radio in their vehicle to turn it off or risk having their transmitter cause a premature explosion. Signs highlighting the danger of radio transmissions in the area were installed at key locations, and generally ignored. It seemed that the local public service, public safety, and VIP drivers didn't really like the idea of driving for about 20 minutes without their radio. I had to settle for having them unscrew their microphones or promise not to transmit until clear of the area. There were no explosions, but I was genuinely concerned. Many years later, I discovered that a radio was unlikely to cause a blasting cap to explode, but at the time, it was generally accepted that it was possible.
I have no idea. Googling for "exploding corset" yields only one possibility:
My father's factory (Tosca Lingerie) did not make corsets. It made womens night wear, commonly known as lingerie.
However, I did work for a company that made corsets, which were designed to contain an exploding waistline. I got a summer job in shipping and receiving at Foundation Garments in Smog Angeles. The bulk of their sales were male girdles offered for sale in the military PX stores. At the time, the military was downsizing well after the Korean War, and was using every excuse possible to retire overweight and out of shape officers. The only quick solution was to redistribute the flab with a male girdle. My employment was uneventful, although I did obtain a new proficiency with profanity, that has remained with me to this day.