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Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures
by Benjamin Radford Joe NickellFun facts, folklore, and scientific studies about what really lurks in the cold, murky depths: &“A most enjoyable read.&” —John Kirk, author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters For centuries, eyewitnesses around the world—from America to Africa, Argentina to Scotland—have reported sightings of dark, mysterious creatures that surface briefly from local lakes, only to quickly disappear. While the most famous lake monsters, those living in Loch Ness and Lake Champlain, have gained international notoriety, hundreds of lakes around the world are said to shelter these shadowy creatures. Lake Monster Mysteries is the first book to collectively approach these widespread mysteries from a scientific perspective. By using exhaustive research and results from firsthand investigations to help separate truth from myth, the authors foster our understanding of what really lurks in the cold, murky depths. Benjamin Radford and Joe Nickell, among the top lake monster authorities in the world, now share unique insights into many of the world&’s best-known lake monsters. They interview dozens of people and discuss the different types of sightings, delve into possible explanations, and examine hoaxes, evidence claims, and legends surrounding the monsters. The authors have conducted groundbreaking fieldwork and experiments at lakes, examined photographic evidence, and analyzed the most current sonar readings. Incorporating newly revealed information and up-to-date developments, the cases in Lake Monster Mysteries are in-depth, firsthand investigations that will inform and entertain both avid lake monster researchers and lovers of unexplained mysteries. Includes photos and illustrations
The Big Book of Bisquick (Betty Crocker Big Books)
by Betty Crocker175 of the best, most delicious and easiest recipes from America&’s favorite baking mix! Bisquick can do so much more than make pancakes. Since 1930, home cooks have relied on it to make delicious, home-baked treats and meals in a snap. This new collection brings together 175 classic and contemporary recipes you&’ll love, like Thai Chicken with Spicy Peanut Sauce, Overnight Blintz Bake, Triple Cheese Flatbread, and Banana S&’mores. Included are delicious appetizer, breakfast, bread, dinner, and dessert recipes, so there&’s something for every occasion. Also featured are the much-loved Impossibly Easy Pies, which makes their own crust during baking; families will want to try Easy Barbeque Chicken Pie for a fun twist on dinner. All Bisquick varieties are here—classic, Heart-Health, and Gluten-Free—so everyone can enjoy these special dishes. With 125 stunning photos, this collection is both inspiring and infinitely useful.
Baking Hacks: Fun and Inventive Recipes with Refrigerated Dough (Pillsbury Cooking)
by Pillsbury EditorsOver 125 easy recipes from the baking experts at Pillsbury that let you skip the hard part—and get to the delicious part! Refrigerated dough—crescent rolls, pizza crust, biscuits, pie crust, cookie dough, cinnamon rolls—is already a baking hack, as it allows cooks to make classic recipes quickly and easily. Now, the experts from the Pillsbury Kitchens show how to take dough basics and create even more recipes that "hack the hack." Sheet Pan Grilled Cheese from pizza dough and Brown Butter Peach Crumble Bars from refrigerated sugar cookies are just two examples of the more than 125 easy recipes in this cookbook. Special features call out specific product hacks, and icons throughout note 30-minute recipes and recipes made with three ingredients or less. For anyone who loves the ease and versatility of refrigerated dough, this book is a must-have.
Hard City
by Clark HowardThe searing novel of a brutal boyhood in 1940s Chicago—and a young man walking the knife&’s edge between a life of crime and a brighter future.The son of a single mother addicted to heroin, Richie grows up in poverty and hardship. His adolescence is a constant battle between hope—in the form of a kind boxing coach, a job in a bowling alley where he can sneak a nap, and a determination to track down his disreputable father—and brutality. Desperately lonely, Richie must contend with the criminal justice system, abusive foster homes, and a period of exile with his grandmother in Tennessee.In this gritty, semiautobiographical novel by an Edgar Award–winning author, the fate of this young man hangs in the balance as he finds himself tested by want, war, and the ever-present temptation to give up on the possibility of something better.&“Strongly satisfying [and] frequently compelling.&” —Kirkus Reviews &“Sustains a sense of tension, moving smoothly between flashbacks of the events of Richie&’s early years and the traumatic experiences of his adolescence, then on to his return to Chicago.&” —The New York Times
Fire in the Ocean (Gods Of The New World Ser. #2)
by K.D. KeenanA former PR exec is out to save the world from evil in this paranormal fantasy steeped in Ancient Hawaiian lore by the author of The Obsidian Mirror. After saving the world once, Sierra Carter has earned a little sun, surf, and sand in Hawaii. With her boyfriend away on business, she&’ll make do with the company of her friends Chaco, also known as Coyotl the trickster, and Fred, a mischievous mannegishi with the power to disappear at will. But when the motley crew is swept overboard during a whale watching trip, they are plunged into a new adventure that will test their magical mettle—and suddenly Hawaii is anything but a day at the beach. Pulled ashore on the island of Molokai, Sierra finds hospitality and powerful friends. When she is asked to prevent the construction of a potentially disruptive energy plant, she is drawn into a tangle of supernatural proportions. But the machinations of the ancient gods can be opaque at best—and sometimes downright lethal for mortals.
Immortality of the Gods: Legends, Mysteries, and the Alien Connection to Eternal Life
by Nick RedfernThe author of Bloodline of the Gods explores the theory that ancient aliens shared the secrets of immortality with Old Testament figures. While scientists debate the theoretical possibility of immortality, it may have already been achieved in the distant past. History is filled with accounts of fantastic beings, powerful gods, and half-human/half-alien entities that had extraordinarily long lifespans. Today, these stories are dismissed as mere folklore and mythology. But what if the accounts are all too real? In Immortality of the Gods, Nick Redfern considers the possibility that ancient aliens uncovered the secret to stopping the aging process. Examining the legends of the Anunnaki, Redfern investigates how these ancient deities may have achieved everlasting life, and why they might have shared their secrets with Noah, Methuselah, and other biblical figures. Redfern goes on to explore the saga of Gilgamesh, a long-lived part-human, part-extraterrestrial Sumerian ruler obsessed with immortality. Also in this volume, Redfern studies the claim that an undisclosed motivation for the 2003 invasion of Iraq was to uncover the millennia-old secrets of white powder gold, a manna-like substance that supposedly rejuvenates cells and tissue.
Melia Ridge: A Max Blake Mystery (The Max Blake Mysteries #7)
by William FlorenceIn the thrilling follow-up to Emerald Ridge, a PI and his fiancée head from Oregon to Rome—to find answers to mysteries both personal and political . . . Max Blake&’s fiancée, Caeli Brown, lost her archbishop uncle to gunfire—at least, that&’s what they thought. So they&’re puzzled when they receive another postcard from him. What&’s going on? Is Uncle Jack dead or not? Max and Caeli are soon on the road to the Vatican&’s Secret Archives Building in the heart of Rome, where they meet a mysterious prelate with a fixation for world domination—a man who may well hold the key to determining who actually shot American President John F. Kennedy in 1963—in this gut-wrenching, surprising, and sharply witty tale of international mystery and intrigue.
The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives
by Lisa ServonWhy Americans are fleeing our broken banking system: &“Startling and absorbing…Required reading for fans of muckraking authors like Barbara Ehrenreich.&”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) What do an undocumented immigrant in the South Bronx, a high-net-worth entrepreneur, and a twentysomething graduate student have in common? All three are victims of our dysfunctional mainstream bank and credit system. Nearly half of all Americans live from paycheck to paycheck, and income volatility has doubled over the past thirty years. Banks, with their high monthly fees and overdraft charges, are gouging their lower- and middle-income customers while serving only the wealthiest Americans. Lisa Servon delivers a stunning indictment of America&’s banks, together with eye-opening dispatches from inside a range of banking alternatives that have sprung up to fill the void. She works as a teller at RiteCheck, a check-cashing business in the South Bronx, and as a payday lender in Oakland. She looks closely at the workings of a tanda, an informal lending club. And she delivers engaging, hopeful portraits of the entrepreneurs reacting to the unbanking of America by designing systems to creatively serve those outside the one percent. &“Valuable evidence on the fragility of the personal economies of most Americans these days.&”—Kirkus Reviews &“An intelligent plea for financial justice…[An] excellent book.&”—The Christian Science Monitor
Integrated Formal Methods: 19th International Conference, IFM 2024, Manchester, UK, November 13–15, 2024, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #15234)
by Nikolai Kosmatov Laura KovácsThis volume LNCS constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Integrated Formal Methods, IFM 2024, during 13-15 November 2024, held in Manchester, UK. The 19 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 58 submissions. The conference focuses on all aspects of the design of integrated techniques, including language design, verification and validation, automated tool support, and the use of such techniques in software engineering practice.
User Experience + Artificial Intelligence: Assessing the Qualities of AI-infused Systems (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Davide Spallazzo Martina Sciannamè Mauro CeconelloThis open access book addresses the thriving trend of embedding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities in products and services reaching the lay public, focusing on the user experience (UX) they prompt from a designerly perspective. It offers a UX evaluation method designed explicitly for AI-infused systems to answer one of the core problems affecting the relationship and interactions people have with such artefacts. The work investigates how people perceive and make sense of systems integrating AI capabilities, trying to understand how their meaning and significance can affect the experience of such products and what design challenges may arise. Given the fundamental premise that current UX methods cannot address AI-infused artefacts, it introduces the results of Meet-AI, a research project exploring specific ways to tackle these problems. The book then presents a comprehensive analysis of current UX methods, and a literature review focused on detecting possible gaps and the most suitable qualities to describe AI-infused systems, and summarizes the findings from all previous investigations into a UX evaluation scale: AIXE (AI user eXperience Evaluation). The book also portrays how the tool has been validated and expanded to become a more comprehensive method. It further describes how the scale has been applied to a comparative study of domestic smart speakers, and introduces a reversed interpretation of the outcomes, framing them as heuristics to inform the early phases of the design process and paving the way for future experimentations in the meta-design dimension.
Building Embodied AI Systems: The Agents, the Architecture Principles, Challenges, and Application Domains (Information Systems Engineering and Management #14)
by Pethuru Raj Alvaro Rocha Simar Preet Singh Pushan Kumar Dutta B. SundaravadivazhaganThis book is primed to demystify the emerging and evolving trend of embodied systems. It explains how these unique systems facilitate establishing smarter environments such as multi-specialty hospitals, manufacturing floors, warehouses, retail stores, defense zones, eating joints, entertainment plazas, etc., in detail for the benefit of our esteemed readers. To get a complete and actionable understanding of any mission-critical environment, we must deploy embodied systems. These systems, such as robots, drones, etc., are physical entities that are embedded and empowered with software systems. They interact with the environment in real time, providing context-aware services. There are chapters exclusively delineating the technologies behind the realization and deployment of such enigmatic systems. The prominent industrial use cases are explained in the latter chapters.
The Role of the Public Sector in Building Social and Economic Resilience: A Public Finance Approach
by Alina HyzThis edited book provides a comprehensive and integrated understanding of the public sector’s role in building economic and social resilience. It focuses on how public finance and economic policy can best support countries’ ability to absorb emerging shocks as well as adapt to evolving circumstances. The experiences of recent years, including multiple fiscal crises and the global pandemic, have shown that most economies are not prepared for rapidly changing conditions where uncertainty is a recurring theme. At the same time, social trust in public institutions has been eroding globally. Through a variety of perspectives, such as the role of taxation, social safety nets, public sector employment, public budgeting, and urban development, the book critically assesses existing weaknesses in the public sector and identifies solutions to foster resilience against future uncertainty. Against a political and economic context of increasing inequality and instability, the chapters demonstrate how public finance can help create the conditions for a stronger economy that supports economic stability and the labour market, encourages infrastructure and innovation, and promotes public health and environmental protection. This book is a fascinating read for academics in public finance, accounting, welfare economics, and labour economics, as well as professionals working in the spheres of public policy and governance.
Big Data and Security: 5th International Conference, ICBDS 2023, Nanjing, China, December 22–24, 2023, Revised Selected Papers, Part I (Communications in Computer and Information Science #2099)
by Yuan Tian Tinghuai Ma Muhammad Khurram KhanThe two-volume set constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Big Data and Security, ICBDS 2023, held in Nanjing, China, during December 22–24, 2023. The 35 full papers and 1 short paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 161 submissions. They are organized in topical sections as follows: Part One: Big Data & New Method and Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Part Two: Data Technology & Network Security and IoT Security & Privacy Protection.
Religion, Gender and Race in Western European Arts and Culture: Thinking Through Religious Transformation (Routledge Critical Studies in Religion, Gender and Sexuality)
by null Nella van den BrandtThis book examines narratives of individual religious transformation in Western European literature and culture. Religious individuals, themes, experiences and communities are widely represented in diverse literature and culture, including literary texts and visual arts and media. Taking the subject of religious transformation as an angle from which to study constructions of religion, gender and race, this book reveals through various case studies what authors, documentary makers, film makers and playwrights consider to be important (possible) shifts between the old and the new, continuities and discontinuities, and the formation of the self. The chapters demonstrate how individual religious transformations are understood to be shaped by various intersections of difference, and point at the need to consider gender as always related to and co-constructing religion and race. This transdisciplinary and intimate study provides a fresh lens through which to examine pressing questions regarding the place and future of religion, gender and race in contemporary Western Europe.
Playing Dead: A Memoir of Terror and Survival
by Monique Faison Ross Gary M. KrebsThis domestic abuse survivor&’s memoir shares an &“engaging, powerful, and ultimately shocking story" of a bad marriage that ended in attempted murder (Lundy Bancroft, author of The Joyous Recovery). Monique Faison, the daughter of San Diego Charger&’s football great Earl Faison, married her high school sweetheart soon after she discovered she was pregnant with his child. Her relationship with Chris had always been shaky, but his verbal abuse only increased—and then gave way to physical attacks. Eventually, Monique took their children and left. That was when the stalking and serious threats began. Nothing stopped him—not protection injunctions, police warnings, or even arrests. One fateful Monday morning, Chris kidnapped Monique in front of her children. After a nightmarish car ride that involved car crashes and rape, Chris beat her on the head with a shovel and abandoned her brutalized body in the woods, presuming she was dead. But playing dead was what saved her life.
A History Lover's Guide to Detroit (History And Guide Ser.)
by Karin RiskoA traveler&’s guide through the history and historic sites of the Motor City. The auto heritage of Detroit, Michigan, is known worldwide, but this fascinating city&’s history runs much deeper. Step inside the tiny recording studio where Berry Gordy, a young entrepreneur who faced tremendous prejudice, created a music empire that broke down racial barriers. Tour Art Deco masterpieces so spectacular they're called &“cathedrals&” to commerce and finance. Walk in the footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Cobo Hall, where he first delivered his &“I Have a Dream&” speech. Join Karin Risko for an intimate tour of the city that put the world on wheels and discover an amazing history of innovation, philanthropy, social justice and culture.
Journey into the Whirlwind: The Critically Acclaimed Memoir of Stalin's Reign of Terror
by Eugenia Semyonovna GinzburgA woman&’s true account of eighteen years as a Soviet prisoner: &“Not even Alexander Solzhenitsyn&’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich matches it.&”—The New York Times Book Review In the late 1930s, Eugenia Ginzburg was a wife and mother, a schoolteacher and writer, and a longtime loyal Communist Party member. But like millions of others during Stalin&’s reign of terror, she was arrested—on trumped-up charges of being a Trotskyist terrorist counter-revolutionary—and sentenced to prison. With sharp detail and an indefatigable spirit, Ginzburg recounts her arrest and the eighteen harrowing years she endured in Soviet prisons and labor camps, including two in solitary confinement. Her memoir is &“a compelling personal narrative of survival&” (The New York Times Book Review)—and one of the most important documents of Stalin&’s brutal regime. &“Deeply significant…intensely personal and passionately felt.&”—Time &“Probably the best account that has ever been published of…the prison and camp empire of the Stalin era.&”—Book WorldTranslated by Paul Stevenson and Max Hayward
Tantamount: The Pursuit of the Freeway Phantom Serial Killer
by Blaine L. Pardoe Victoria R. HesterA cold case investigation of a notorious serial killer who terrorized 1970s Washington D.C. by the New York Times bestselling true crime coauthors. In 1971 and 1972, a deadly predator stalked the streets of the nation&’s capital. His targets were young girls whose fates included rape and torture before their brutalized corpses were left in plain view along busy roadways. Seven victims raging from the ages of ten to eighteen died in his hands. On one victim he left a note, taunting police and claiming the media&’s name for him: The Freeway Phantom. Then, as abruptly as he started, the Freeway Phantom stopped. Decades later, Washington DC&’s oldest unsolved serial killing spree is pried open with the suspects, the liars, and the evidence laid bare. Father-daughter true crime investigators Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester shed new light and provide tantalizing new clues as to who the Freeway Phantom may be.
Bourbon's Backroads: A Journey through Kentucky's Distilling Landscape
by Karl RaitzThis history of bourbon explores how the shift from home distillers to commercial producers changed the culture and landscape of nineteenth-century Kentucky. As one of the commonwealth's signature industries, bourbon distilling has influenced the landscape and heritage of the region for more than two centuries. Blending several topics—tax revenue, railroads, the mechanics of brewing, geography, landscapes, and architecture—this primer and geographical guide presents a detailed history of Kentucky's distilling industry. Nineteenth-century distilling changed from an artisanal craft practiced by farmers and millers to a large-scale mechanized industry that practiced increasingly refined production techniques. Based on extensive archival research that includes private paper collections, newspapers, and period documents, this work places the distilling process in its environmental, geographical, and historical context.Bourbon's Backroads reveals the places where bourbon's heritage was made—from old and new distilleries, storage warehouses, railroad yards, and factories where copper fermenting vessels are made—and why the industry continues to thrive.
Spaceflight in the Shuttle Era and Beyond: Redefining Humanity's Purpose in Space
by Valerie NealAn exploration of the changing conceptions of the Space Shuttle program and a call for a new vision of spaceflight. The thirty years of Space Shuttle flights saw contrary changes in American visions of space. Valerie Neal, who has spent much of her career examining the Space Shuttle program, uses this iconic vehicle to question over four decades&’ worth of thinking about, and struggling with, the meaning of human spaceflight. She examines the ideas, images, and icons that emerged as NASA, Congress, journalists, and others sought to communicate rationales for, or critiques of, the Space Shuttle missions. At times concurrently, the Space Shuttle was billed as delivery truck and orbiting science lab, near-Earth station and space explorer, costly disaster and pinnacle of engineering success. The book&’s multidisciplinary approach reveals these competing depictions to examine the meaning of the spaceflight enterprise. Given the end of the Space Shuttle flights in 2011, Neal makes an appeal to reframe spaceflight once again to propel humanity forward. &“Neal may be the one person who knows the space shuttle program better than the astronauts who flew this iconic vehicle. Her book casts new light on the program, exploring its cultural significance through a thoughtful analysis. As one who lived this history, I gained much from her broader perspective and deep insights.&”—Kathryn D. Sullivan, retired NASA astronaut and former Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration &“A much needed look at how to create a cultural narrative for human spaceflight that resonates with millennials rather than the Apollo generation. Quite valuable.&”—Marcia Smith, Editor, SpacePolicyOnline.com
Murder & Mayhem in Chicago's Vice Districts (Murder & Mayhem)
by Troy TaylorA trip through the history of the Windy City&’s lawless districts where you could lose your money and your life—from the author of Haunted Illinois. From the very beginning, Chicago thrived on its reputation as a wide-open town. After the Great Fire, no part of the city was rebuilt more quickly than the vice districts, where bribed cops and brutal force emboldened professional wickedness to celebrate itself with gala events like the First Ward Ball, begun in honor of a madam&’s pianist and often so crowded that passed-out drunks couldn&’t even fall to the floor. Randolph Street was nicknamed Gambler&’s Row because men gambled with their lives by visiting it. In Little Hell, guns and knives could be rented by the hour. In these seedy areas only put to sleep by Mickey Finn&’s knockout drinks or Gentle Annie&’s knockout punches, it is no wonder that Detective Woolridge kept seventy-five disguises, made twenty thousand arrests and was shot at forty-four times. Includes photos!
Tell Me What to Eat to Help Prevent Colon Cancer: Nutrition You Can Live With (Tell Me What to Eat)
by Elaine MageeFrom a dietician, clear facts and fiber-focused recipes to reduce your risk. In the office, your physician may rattle off rushed information about preventing colon cancer—but in this book, Elaine Magee, known as WebMD&’s &“Recipe Doctor,&” offers clear, detailed answers to all the questions you ever wanted to ask a dietitian about preventing colon cancer. You&’ll find specific recommendations about what to eat, what to avoid, and how to incorporate these changes into your lifestyle. Tell Me What to Eat to Help Prevent Colon Cancer begins with an overview of colon cancer in all its forms. You&’ll get get a comprehensive yet completely understandable explanation of how the cancer begins and how it spreads, based on the latest medical information—and gain a better understanding of what colon cancer is and what actions you can take now to help prevent it. Also included are dozens of healthful, practical, tasty recipes focusing on fiber, and power produce items that anyone can incorporate in their diet.
Haunted Flint (Haunted America)
by Roxanne Rhoads Joe SchipaniA journey into the spirited past of Michigan&’s &“Vehicle City.&” &“Provides unique historical perspective of some Flint landmarks.&”—ABC12 News Home to ancient burial grounds, unsolved murders, economic depression and a water crisis, Flint emits an unholy energy rife with ghostly encounters. Colonel Thomas Stockton&’s ever-vigilant ghost keeps a watchful eye over his family home at Spring Grove, where guests occasionally hear the thump of his heavy boots. Restless spirits long separated from their graves lurk among the ancient stones at Avondale Cemetery. Carriage maker W.A. Paterson&’s spirit continuously wanders the halls of the Dryden Building, and something sinister and unnamed resides in a Knob Hill mansion waiting to prey on impressionable young men. Join authors Roxanne Rhoads and Joe Schipani on a chilling tour of Flint&’s most haunted locations. Includes photos!
About Peace: 108 Ways to Be at Peace When Things Are Out of Control
by Scott ShawThese Zen meditations for modern times can help you find calm amid chaos. Conflict is a part of life. Zen Buddhism was even founded in conflict. No one can give anyone else peace: It comes to those who seek it—in the moment and for the moment only. But even as the pace accelerates and problems escalate, it&’s possible to gain inner peace. The past is gone and the future is unknown—so there&’s no time like the present to use these 108 meditations. They offer a very contemporary respite from internal and external conflict, well suited to the breakneck pace of life today. Their number and their form, however, is steeped in tradition. One hundred and eight is a sacred number in Buddhism, in which there is also the tradition of meditating with malas, strung beads which come in multiples of nine—27, 56, or 108. Their form follows Buddhist tradition as well: They are modern koans, or riddles to ponder, and dharma stories.
Personalmarketing als Vehikel für erfolgreiches IT-Recruiting: Die Analyse der Perspektive von HR-Managern und Recruitern (BestMasters)
by Theresa FissDer Fachkräftemangel an qualifizierten IT-Experten stellt Unternehmen vor die Herausforderung, offene Positionen im IT-Bereich erfolgreich zu besetzen. Theresa Fiss untersucht in diesem Buch, welche Rolle Personalmarketing in diesem Kontext spielt und welche konkreten Maßnahmen zur erfolgreichen Rekrutierung von IT-Fachkräften beitragen können. Anhand qualitativer Interviews mit HR-Managern und Recruitern, die sich auf IT-Recruiting spezialisiert haben, zeigt sie, dass Personalmarketing eine zentrale Rolle im Rekrutierungsprozess einnimmt. Dabei werden sowohl strategische Aspekte wie die Gestaltung der Arbeitgebermarke als auch operative Maßnahmen wie Social-Media-Marketing, Active Sourcing und die Gestaltung von Karrierewebsites beleuchtet. Diese praxisnahe Analyse bietet wertvolle Einblicke für Unternehmen, die ihre IT-Recruiting-Strategien optimieren möchten. Gleichzeitig legt die Arbeit den Grundstein für zukünftige Forschungen im Bereich des operativen Personalmarketings, das bisher wenig untersucht wurde.