Contains the complete text of both Secret of the Clans and Code of the Clans . Welcome to the world of ThunderClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and SkyClan. . . . Here, the secrets behind the Clans are revealed. Find out how apprentices learn to fight, hunt, and help their Clans. Explore the territories with an insiders-only tour. Discover the origins of the warrior code, which governs how Clan cats live side by side in times of war and peace.

Get started with Amazon S3 for virtually unlimited cloud and Internet storageAbout This BookFamiliarize yourself with the concepts of Amazon S3Understand basic operations of bucket, folders, and objects using Amazon S3 SDK JavaLeverage the power of Amazon S3 to effectively store and retrieve data Who This Book Is For This book is intended for System Engineers/ Developers, Software Architects, Project managers, and users who want to explore Amazon S3 SDK Java. If you want to learn about Amazon S3 quickly, then this book is for you. Basic knowledge of Java programming is expected.What You Will LearnStart with the basic concepts of Amazon S3 to get you goingUse Copy Object and Multipart Copy Object for objects of different sizesUnderstand how to use the amazon management console for Amazon S3Learn how to use the AWS SDK of Java and consume the Amazon S3Get to grips with managing the bucket life cycleConfigure CORS to share resources to a different domainDiscover how to develop and deploy the static website on Amazon S3 using different services of Amazon In Detail Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), provides developers and IT teams with secure, durable, and highly-scalable object storage. Amazon S3 is easy to use, with a simple web services interface to store and retrieve any amount of data from anywhere on the web. S3 is automatically web scalable and responds to the requirements of your application and traffic, and therefore offers a key element to help companies deal dynamically with any spike in traffic for their application (such as a free e-book offer). This book starts with the basics of the Amazon S3 and its features, and you will quickly get an understanding how to use the Amazon Management Console for Amazon S3 which is the simplest way to manage Amazon S3. Next, we will cover basic operations on bucket, folder, objects. Once the basic operations are understood, you will know how to use Amazon S3 using Java SDK. Following that, you will learn about Copy Objects and Multipart copy objects for large objects size. You will also learn to manage the life cycle of bucket and how to share resources to the different domain by configuring CORS. The book will then guide you through the development and deployment of a static website on Amazon S3 using different services of Amazon. By the end of the book, you will be able to create a scalable application using Amazon S3.Style and approach This fast-paced book is a pragmatic guide to writing Amazon S3 applications. Each chapter is blended beautifully with lucid concepts and pertinent examples.

Small-time stoolie, Jake " The Spinner" Jablon, made a lot of new enemies when he switched careers, from informer to blackmailer. And the more "clients", he figured, the more money -- and more people eager to see him dead. So no one is surprised when the pigeon is found floating in the East River with his skull bashed in.And what's worse, no one cares -- except Matthew Scudder. The ex-cop-turned-private-eye is no conscientious avenging angel. But he's willing to risk his own life and limb to confront Spinner's most murderously aggressive marks. A job's a job after all -- and Scudder's been paid to find a killer -- by the victim...in advance.

The conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Crash trilogy, never before published in any format! A football fantasy. A giant diamond. The modern-day Romeo and Juliet are taking their relationship to the next level. . . . Jude and Lucy are happily engaged, but that doesn't mean life a bed of roses. Once again, the hottest couple around is torn apart, this time by football training and a summer job. Now it Jude with the trust issues. Will Lucy life-changing news bring them back together or end their relationship for goodCan love triumph foreverFind out in the best installment yet in Nicole Williams racy and romantic Crash trilogy!

The Professor and the Madman , masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- and literary history. The compilation of the OED , begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.

Bernie Rhodenbarr is a personable chap, a good neighbor, a passable poker player. His chosen profession, however, might not sit well with some. Bernie is a burglar, a good one, effortlessly lifting valuables from the not-so-well-protected abodes of well-to-do New Yorkers like a modern-day Robin Hood. (The poor, as Bernie would be the first to tell you, alas, have nothing worth stealing.) He's not perfect, however; he occasionally makes mistakes. Like accepting a paid assignment from a total stranger to retrieve a particular item from a rich man's apartment. Like still being there when the cops arrive. Like having a freshly slain corpse lying in the next room, and no proof that Bernie isn't the killer. Now he's really got his hands full, having to locate the true perpetrator while somehow eluding the police -- a dirty job indeed, but if Bernie doesn't do it, who will?

Utilize ServiceStack as the rock solid foundation of your distributed systemAbout This BookTake advantage of the various data providers to access authentication and authorization, sessions, cache, and databaseLeverage asynchronous processing for decoupling components to ease scalingMonitor and tune the performance of your distributed system Who This Book Is For Mastering ServiceStack is targeted at developers who have already implemented web services with ASMX, WCF, or ServiceStack and want to gain more insight into the possibilities ServiceStack has to offer to build distributed systems of all scales.What You Will LearnDesign a prudent and resilient API, following the RESTful designUnderstand the internal processing chain and utilize the provided hooksIncorporate ServiceStack as a full service provider to your existing distributed systemLeverage the power of asynchronous processing and add message queues to your architectureAnalyze and tune the performance of your service In Detail Mastering ServiceStack covers real-life problems that occur over the lifetime of a distributed system and how to solve them by deeply understanding the tools of ServiceStack. Distributed systems is the enterprise solution that provide flexibility, reliability, scaling, and performance. ServiceStack is an outstanding tool belt to create such a system in a frictionless manner, especially sophisticated designed and fun to use. The book starts with an introduction covering the essentials, but assumes you are just refreshing, are a very fast learner, or are an expert in building web services. Then, the book explains ServiceStack's data transfer object patterns and teach you how it differs from other methods of building web services with different protocols, such as SOAP and SOA. It also introduces more low-level details such as how to extend the User Auth, message queues and concepts on how the technology works. By the end of this book, you will understand the concepts, framework, issues, and resolutions related to ServiceStack.Style and approach A step-by-step approach that follows the natural requirements of a distributed system in a conversational style.

At the heart of this book is a carer's story. However, it is much, much more than that. It is a book about being human, about the ups and downs of life, about loving, about trying to make sense and work out, and around the things that life throws at you how you have to find a way of living without ever forgetting your loved one. Beautifully written with love and confidence about a poignant time in the life of a family. The Struggle to retain the self of a beloved husband and father and the harsh reality of living with dementia is all too clear.

As a young man from a loving, middle class family living in a small English village, Ben Rogers appeared to have it all….but then he found drugs. As his life descended into chaos and despair, Ben began to chronicle his daily struggles with the aid of a video camera. He was hopeful that one day his experiences could be used to educate others. Ben lost his battle against addiction and died when he was 34 as a result of medical withdrawal. His family decided to release the tapes in the hope that other families could benefit. The result was the highly acclaimed, award winning SKY documentary, ‘Ben, Diary of a Heroin Addict’ which was shown on national television 27 times and ultimately across the world. Ben’s mother, Anne, received hundreds of letters and messages, not only from addicts but also from families saying that the documentary had helped them realise that they weren’t alone. The film took Ben’s mum to the Home Office, with interviews on national television, radio and the press. She has spoken with many young offenders desperate to educate other youngsters about addiction and to honour her son’s wishes. The book includes writings and drawings by Ben which give a unique insight into the chaos surrounding drug addiction. His brother and sisters contribute too to the story of a family living on the edge. ‘Ben, Diary of a Heroin Addict – A Mother’s Fight’ is both an attack against the government’s tolerance of addiction and a powerful and moving depiction of one family’s love.

If you have ever wondered 'What is a Zen garden?' then this 50 page new publication for 2013 will tell you. Zen gardens are beautiful Japanese gardens steeped in history, religious meaning and a visual simplicity. There are many styles and many ingredients, Stones, Rocks, Moss, Sand, Gravel, Plants and Shrubs,Lanterns and Ornaments. Japanese Zen gardens is a book that introduces the reader to the subject and presents the options available for anyone wishing to build their own garden space at home - however large or small. Zen gardens are becoming more and more popular around the world and building one is not as difficult as you may think. With a little knowledge and following our step by step instructions with pictures you will discover how straight forward it is to build a Zen garden in your yard or garden. Japanese Zen gardens are serene havens of tranquil beauty and the perfect antidote to a stressful world. The author Russ Chard has written and published Japanese garden books, articles and videos for the past 10 years.

Lean, louche and loaded, Dan is boss of his own multi-million pound computer tech company at the tender age of thirty-six. A charmed life, you might say… except that someone wants him dead. He’s been shrugging off the hate mail that keeps appearing in his inbox. After all, you don’t get to the top without making a few enemies – disgruntled former employees, business rivals, the husbands and boyfriends of his many lovers… Oh, and there’s the small matter of that Sicilian deal in which he seriously upset the Mafia… The Police are getting nowhere with the case – but when he’s introduced to beautiful Financial Analyst Holly, Dan finds he’s met his match. Her incisive mind is piqued as Dan’s hate mail evolves into death threats and a passionate romance develops as it dawns on them both that Dan’s been flirting with fate in the form of a sinister and deadly cabal of Middle Eastern terrorists.

Over 50 recipes to help you build dynamic and powerful real-time Java Hibernate applications About This Book Learn to associate JDBC and Hibernate with object persistence Manage association mappings, implement basic annotations and learn caching Get to grips with Hibernate fundamentals from installation to developing a business application with this step-by-step guide Who This Book Is For This is book for Java developers who now want to learn Hibernate. Good knowledge and understanding of Java is preferred to allow efficient programming of the core elements and applications; it would be helpful if readers are familiar with the basics of SQL. What You Will Learn Set up and install Hibernate on your system and explore different ways in which Hibernate can be configured Learn the basic concepts and fundamentals of Java Hibernate Define mappings without a use of XML file using Annotations Persist collection elements such as list, map, set and array Explore the various mapping options and learn to work with Hibernate associations Understand advanced Hibernate concepts such as caching and inheritance Develop an engaging and robust real-world hibernate application based on a common business scenario Integrate Hibernate with other frameworks to develop robust enterprise applications In Detail Hibernate is a database independent technology, so the same code will work for all databases. It helps a Java developer write a query by mapping Java bean to database tables and help create tuned queries that boost performance. Even with limited SQL knowledge one can easily perform database operations. This makes the development faster and more accurate than JDBC. Hibernate supports useful features like connection pooling, caching, and inheritance etc. This book will provide a useful hands-on guide to Hibernate to accomplish the development of a real-time Hibernate application. We will start with the basics of Hibernate, which include setting up Hibernate – the pre-requisites and multiple ways of configuring Hibernate using Java. We will then dive deep into the fundamentals of Hibernate such as SessionFactory, session, criteria, working with objects and criteria. This will help a developer have a better understanding of how Hibernate works and what needs to be done to run a Hibernate application. Moving on, we will learn how to work with annotations, associations and collections. In the final chapters, we will see explore querying, advanced Hibernate concepts and integration with other frameworks. Style and approach This book is a practical guide filled with carefully organized step-by-step instructions. All recipes are arranged in an easy-to understand and clear manner allowing you to apply the solutions to other situations.

Build real-world computer vision applications and develop cool demos using OpenCV for Python About This Book Learn how to apply complex visual effects to images using geometric transformations and image filters Extract features from an image and use them to develop advanced applications Build algorithms to help you understand the image content and perform visual searches Who This Book Is For This book is intended for Python developers who are new to OpenCV and want to develop computer vision applications with OpenCV-Python. This book is also useful for generic software developers who want to deploy computer vision applications on the cloud. It would be helpful to have some familiarity with basic mathematical concepts such as vectors, matrices, and so on. What You Will Learn Apply geometric transformations to images, perform image filtering, and convert an image into a cartoon-like image Detect and track various body parts such as the face, nose, eyes, ears, and mouth Stitch multiple images of a scene together to create a panoramic image Make an object disappear from an image Identify different shapes, segment an image, and track an object in a live video Recognize an object in an image and build a visual search engine Reconstruct a 3D map from images Build an augmented reality application In Detail Computer vision is found everywhere in modern technology. OpenCV for Python enables us to run computer vision algorithms in real time. With the advent of powerful machines, we are getting more processing power to work with. Using this technology, we can seamlessly integrate our computer vision applications into the cloud. Web developers can develop complex applications without having to reinvent the wheel. This book will walk you through all the building blocks needed to build amazing computer vision applications with ease. We start off with applying geometric transformations to images. We then discuss affine and projective transformations and see how we can use them to apply cool geometric effects to photos. We will then cover techniques used for object recognition, 3D reconstruction, stereo imaging, and other computer vision applications. This book will also provide clear examples written in Python to build OpenCV applications. The book starts off with simple beginner’s level tasks such as basic processing and handling images, image mapping, and detecting images. It also covers popular OpenCV libraries with the help of examples. The book is a practical tutorial that covers various examples at different levels, teaching you about the different functions of OpenCV and their actual implementation. Style and approach This is a conversational-style book filled with hands-on examples that are really easy to understand. Each topic is explained very clearly and is followed by a programmatic implementation so that the concept is solidified. Each topic contributes to something bigger in the following chapters, which helps you understand how to piece things together to build something big and complex.

In the two and a half years since the first edition appeared (April 2005), events have unfolded as predicted. Then the consensus among forecasters was that the boom in house prices would cool to an annual 2 or 3% rise over the following years. In fact, in keeping with the ‘winner’s curse’ phase of the cycle described by the author, prices rose by more than 10% per annum in Britain. Harrison’s first book, The Power in the Land, predicted the early 1990s recession. Boom Bust, warned that investing in property is not always a safe bet, because the housing market is subject to a sharp downturn at the end of a remarkably regular 18-year cycle. The crash of 2007/8 occurred exactly as predicted. His forecast was based on a careful study of the evidence from property markets in many countries over the last 200 years. Gordon Brown’s claim, last made in his 2007 Budget speech, that ‘we will never return to the old boom and bust’ has been proved false. The reason for the instability, Harrison explains, is not the housing market itself but the land market on which all buildings stand. Land is in fixed supply ‘ as Mark Twain noted: ‘They’re not making any more of it’. Therefore, as the demand for land for new homes and offices rises with population growth and economic expansion, market forces, which normally increase supply to reduce prices, have the reverse effect: prices rise. This encourages speculation, with banks lending more against escalating asset values and reinforcing the upward spiral. Under existing government policies, the only way land prices can be brought back to affordable levels is a slump, undermining the banking system and causing widespread unemployment and repossessions. This is exactly what happened in America with the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market. The run on Northern Rock showed the UK economy is not immune. The author reveals that the government’s monetary policy only has a marginal impact on land speculation, but as the Bank of England raises interest rates to curb house price inflation, the main victim is the first-time buyer and the productive economy, especially small businesses. The only way to neutralise the boom bust cycle in the housing market is through a reform of taxation, he claims. ‘This book is an important contribution to an overdue debate.’ Martin Ricketts, Chairman of the Academic Advisory Council of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor of Economic Organisation, University of Buckingham. Endorsing the thrust of Harrison’s argument, Prof. Ricketts goes on to acknowledge ‘that insufficient attention has been given by policymakers to the rent of land as socially the most efficient source of public revenue’, and that that will ‘have important practical consequences … for the stability of the economic system’. Economic stability is the objective of Gordon Brown and most governments around the world. Harrison explains how this may be achieved.

St Claire Bullock - a Professor of Philosophy, no less - in the intervals between pondering the great questions of life, turned his hand to penning light verse in the manner of Hilaire Belloc, Ogden Nash and Edward Lear. In rhyming couplets these wry and witty poems ponder the foibles and vanities of mortals. Some of these are captured in pen and ink drawings which caricature the subject of the poems. Each character is given an amusing name, beginning with Master Cecil Abercorn, through Clarence Castle, Serena Huff, The Marchioness of Mal de Mer, Major Houghton Reid and Thomas Tinkham Tattersall to Roland Washburn White. There are 70 poems in all of which 10 are illustrated. The illustration on the front cover relates to Rupert Ashe: 'The greatest pride of Rupert Ashe was his luxuriant moustache. He took great care to keep it groomed, And even, with restraint, perfumed. He brushed it upward every day, and it made such a grand display, that people who were not the wiser, imagined that he was the Kaiser.'

Arguing that an efficient economic system can be compatible with a fair share for all, this novel centers on a United States president who changes his mind about his policies. A deliberate parable about today’s political wars, the novel illustrates the reforms posed by a real 19th-century figure, the American economist Henry George. Accordingly, this fictional reelection campaign provides a convenient stage for speeches and debates when the incumbent president goes missing—and returns with a platform for social justice that enrages those with vested interests and confounds his party operatives.

When her father, the Grand Duke, tells the lovely young Princess Tora of Radoslav that she is to marry the aged King of Salona, she is appalled and horrified. But no amount of pleading by her will change her father's mind. So Tora decides that she must find a way to see her prospective husband without his being aware of her presence and then try to find a way to escape her awful Fate. Since she is a talented musician, she has little difficulty in persuading her dear friend, Professor Lazar Srejovic, the nation's greatest musician, to allow her to join his famous quartet for a concert at the King of Salona's Palace. She devises a cunning plan to escape from the Palace of Radoslav, so that her father cannot stop her and joins up secretly with the Professor's quartet to travel by carriage to Maglic, the Capital of Salona. But on arriving at an inn on the way disguised in peasant dress, she is terrified to unexpectantly overhear a sinister plot to murder and violently overthrow the King of Salona and seize his country by force. Her life is now in danger, but, when a dashing and handsome stranger comes to her rescue when she is hiding in a wood near the inn, she loses her heart to him utterly in a moment and just as quickly loses all hope that they can ever be together. And her future is sealed for ever with no hope of love and happiness.

Bereft and penniless after the death of their father, the local Vicar and Private Chaplain to the Earl of Chadwood, the beautiful Olivia Lambrick, her younger brother Tony and her five-year-old sister Wendy are desperate for the new Earl to arrive at Chad Hall. Having inherited the title after his two cousins drowned in a sailing accident, it has taken the Earl a year to travel home from India. And meanwhile, with no one to pay the estate’s workers and pensioners, the entire village is almost starving. Olivia hopes that the Earl will honour the allowance her mother received as the late Earl’s cousin, but to her chagrin, he is a handsome but hard and unsympathetic man. Refusing Olivia’s pleas and those of his half-brother, Gerald, who faces the debtors’ prison because of his high living in London, the Earl has a very unpleasant solution – he will pay Gerald’s debts only if he marries Olivia! But Fate intervenes unexpectedly when the Earl is attacked by a vicious mob of youths from the village and, almost fatally injured by a knife thrust, is then carried to Olivia’s home. While Gerald uses a Power of Attorney to save the village, pay off his debts and look after the pensioners, Olivia saves the life of the man she hates and prays with all her heart that somehow love will save the day.

When the father of headstrong young beauty Vita Ashford announces that she is to marry the wealthy and influential Lord Bantham, she is crestfallen for he is middle-aged and dull. More importantly she does not – cannot ever – love him! Using the completion of her education as an excuse, Vita cajoles her father into allowing her to travel to Italy. Little does he know that her real intention is to journey on to Syria to seek the advice and assistance of her beautiful and controversial cousin Jane Digby, Lady Ellenborough, who, after several marriages to wealthy Europeans, followed her heart into the desert to marry a Sheikh and is now Queen of a Bedouin tribe. Failing to find her cousin at home, foolhardy Vita follows her into the desert and a tumultuous adventure, in which she is kidnapped by a vengeful Arab Sheikh. Escaping on a fine Arabian mare, she is helpless under the cruel desert sun until the despised Sheikh comes to save her and, with a savage kiss, she has her own epiphany on the road to Damascus.

A story of courage, fear and defiance based on the authors own personal experience. A Pack Horse Called Rachel is the remarkable tale of a young woman, half Jewish, caught in the extraordinarily brutal world of France in 1944. Rachel moves through the pages of the book with her faithful dog Nourse, touching lives as her work with the Maquis based in the Auvergne takes her perilously close to danger on a day to day basis.The story is based on personal experience, the de*ion of historical events is as true as memory will allow, it is an elegantly written story capturing first hand Kellermann’s painful and lonely life as a resistance fighter within the ‘Maquis’, amidst the harsh beauty of the Auvergne. Beset by the freezing cold climate prevailing in winter, the Vichy traitors amongst the normal French Population and the hostility of ordinary people afraid for their own lives. Rachel overcomes the initial animosity and mistrust of the lecherous and alcoholic farmer Raboullet on whom she comes to rely; the wrath of the Gestapo, the betrayal of St Pré, a full and passionate love affair, tragic loss and yet she survives. Marcel Kellermann notes, with de*ive talent, and intricate detail that only someone especially observant could recall. From the opening raid to the closing trial, the book gives an incisive view, as we understand the mind and soul of the resistance better with each page. This is the story of a young woman paralleled with the struggle of a nation as it regains its courage to fight back.

A wealth of restoration tips and techniques covering E12, E24, E28, E34, 5 and 6 Series BMWs built between 1972 and 1995. Covers all models from 518 to M6. Advice is given on acquiring a good 5 & 6 Series model, plus tips on restoring, engines, bodywork, trim, electrics, suspension & much more.