During the seventeenth century, England was beset by three epidemics of the bubonic plague, each outbreak claiming between a quarter and a third of the population of London and other urban centers. Surveying a wide range of responses to these epidemics—sermons, medical tracts, pious exhortations, satirical pamphlets, and political commentary—Plague Writing in Early Modern England brings to life the many and complex ways Londoners made sense of such unspeakable devastation.
Ernest B. Gilman argues that the plague writing of the period attempted unsuccessfully to rationalize the catastrophic and that its failure to account for the plague as an instrument of divine justice fundamentally threatened the core of Christian belief. Gilman also trains his critical eye on the works of Jonson, Donne, Pepys, and Defoe, which, he posits, can be more fully understood when put into the context of this century-long project to “write out” the plague. Ultimately, Plague Writing in Early Modern England is more than a compendium of artifacts of a bygone era; it holds up a distant mirror to reflect our own condition in the age of AIDS, super viruses, multidrug resistant tuberculosis, and the hovering threat of a global flu pandemic.

There is an outdoor recreation boom sweeping the entire western world and this continent in particular. There has been nothing like it in the past. Yes, the out-of-doors has always had an appeal for some, but they have been a small minority. Two decades ago you could go on a canoe trip in the summer months in the wilderness of Quetico and not see another soul for an entire week. Not today. You are lucky if you see only three or four canoeing parties a day.
high quality!!

MAKE continues to be a leader in the tech DIY movement due to its uncanny instinct to engage the curiosity, vitality, and passion of the growing community of Makers — DIY enthusiasts, hobbyist engineers/designers, and others who like to tweak, disassemble, recreate, and invent cool new uses for technology in amazing projects they undertake in their backyards, basements, and garages.

Modern Carpentry is a colorful, easy-to-understand source of current information on building materials and construction methods. This resource provides detailed coverage of all aspects of light construction, including foundations, framing and windows. Special emphasis is placed on the use of modern materials and techniques. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

figured someone would like to check out someones progress on their garden It includes pictures videos wallpapers and a PDF explaining the situation.

Uniquely arranged as a series of debates, Controversies in Media Ethics, 2/e, offers alternate perspectives on a wide range of media ethics issues. In each chapter, two opposing viewpoints are presented, followed by a commentary by John Merrill. These chapter-ending perspectives identify middle ground between the widely differing perspectives presented and encourage students to think critically about important issues. Provocative topics, such as privacy, violence and pornography, and ethics in advertising provide students with lively and interesting examples of the complex traditional and emerging problems of media ethics.

If find yourself believing that “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for”, or that “this is the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow” or even, tout court, that “yes we can”, the chances are that you are suffering from a severe case of Obamamania.
Tens of millions of Americans and an even larger number of Europeans have fallen victim to the syndrome, which involves a belief that a young black senator from Chicago can cure the world’s ills, in part because of his race, in part because of his obvious intelligence and rhetorical skill; but in no part because of any record of achievement in the past. Fortunately, an inexpensive remedy is at hand.

It comes in the form of a new book by David Freddoso, The Case Against Barack Obama. Unlike the authors of some of the cruder attacks on Mr. Obama, Mr. Freddoso works for a well-respected organization, the online version of the National Review. Although it is a conservative publication and the author makes no secret of where his political sympathies lie, this is a well-researched, extensively footnoted work. It aims not so much to attack Mr. Obama as to puncture the belief that he is in some way an extraordinary, mould-breaking politician.
The Obama that emerges from its pages is not, Mr. Freddoso says, “a bad person. It’s just that he’s like all the rest of them. Not a reformer. Not a Messiah. Just like all the rest of them in Washington.” And the author makes a fairly compelling case that this is so. The best part of the book concentrates on Mr. Obama’s record in Chicago, his home town and the place from which he was elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1996, before moving to the United States Senate in 2004. The book lays out in detail how this period began in a way that should shock some of Mr. Obama’s supporters: he won the Democratic nomination for his Illinois seat by getting a team of lawyers to throw all the other candidates off the ballot on various technicalities. One of those he threw off was a veteran black politician, a woman who helped him get started in politics in the first place.

If Mr. Obama really were the miracle-working, aisle-jumping, consensus-seeking new breed of politician his spin-doctors make him out to be, you would expect to see the evidence in these eight years. But there isn’t very much. Instead, as Mr. Freddoso rather depressingly finds, Mr. Obama spent the whole period without any visible sign of rocking the Democratic boat.
He was a staunch backer of Richard Daley, who as mayor failed to stem the corruption that has made Chicago one of America’s most notorious cities. Nor did he lift a finger against John Stroger and his son Todd….Cook County, where Chicago is located, has been extensively criticized for corrupt practices by a federally appointed judge….

Advances in 3D visualization and physics-based simulation technology make it possible for game developers to create compelling, visually immersive gaming environments that were only dreamed of years ago. But today’s game players have grown in sophistication along with the games they play. It’s no longer enough to wow your players with dazzling graphics; the next step in creating even more immersive games is improved artificial intelligence, or AI.

Fortunately, advanced AI game techniques are within the grasp of every game developer–not just those who dedicate their careers to AI. If you’re new to game programming or if you’re an experienced game programmer who needs to get up to speed quickly on AI techniques, you’ll find AI for Game Developers to be the perfect starting point for understanding and applying AI techniques to your games.

Written for the novice AI programmer, AI for Game Developers introduces you to techniques such as finite state machines, fuzzy logic, neural networks, and many others, in straightforward, easy-to-understand language, supported with code samples throughout the entire book (written in C/C++). From basic techniques such as chasing and evading, pattern movement, and flocking to genetic algorithms, the book presents a mix of deterministic (traditional) and non-deterministic (newer) AI techniques aimed squarely at beginners AI developers. Other topics covered in the book include: Potential function based movements: a technique that handles chasing, evading swarming, and collision avoidance simultaneously Basic pathfinding and waypoints, including an entire chapter devoted to the A* pathfinding algorithm AI scripting Rule-based AI: learn about variants other than fuzzy logic and finite state machines Basic probability Bayesian techniques Unlike other books on the subject, AI for Game Developers doesn’t attempt to cover every aspect of game AI, but to provide you with usable, advanced techniques you can apply to your games right now. If you’ve wanted to use AI to extend the play-life of your games, make them more challenging, and most importantly, make them more fun, then this book is for you.

Insider training for sexy arms. Another gem of an ebook containing invaluable tips for those looking to get those faboulous arms which girls drppl over. To the point precise guidence to execute the workouts perfectly.

From novice to nightclub — without the nightmares. Whether you’re a bedroom DJ looking to improve, or an accomplished amateur making the transition to playing live, DJing For Dummies has the accessible information you need. From what to buy (and what not to buy), mastering the beat, and reading a crowd, to all the tricks, techniques, and flourishes of a pro DJ, you’ll be turning noise into notoriety in no time.

Discover how to:
Buy the essential equipment
Set up your kit
beatmatch seamlessly
scratch with vinyl and CD
make a great demo
Market yourself as a DJ
Explanations in plain English ‘
Get in get out’ information
Icons and other navigational aids
Tear-out cheat sheet
Top ten lists
A dash of humour and fun