When inexperienced entrepreneurs ask my advice about their idea for a tech startup, they often worry "What if Google decides to compete with us? They will crush us!" I respond that far more startups die of suicide than homicide. If you can avoid hurting yourself, then you are already better off than most of your competitors. Startups are a chance to build something entirely original with brilliant and ambitious people. But startups are also dangerous. Limited money means there is little room for mistakes. One bad decision can mean bankruptcy. The potential payoff attracts capital, which in turn attracts scam artists. The unscrupulous often lack the skills needed to succeed, but sometimes they are smart enough to trick investors. Even entrepreneurs who start with a strong moral compass can find that the threat of failure unmoors their ethics from their ambition. Emotions matter. We might hope that those in leadership positions possess strength and resilience, but vanity and fragile egos have sabotaged many of the businesses that I’ve worked with. Defeat is always a possibility, and not everyone finds healthy ways to deal with the stress. In this book I offer both advice and also warnings. I've seen certain self-destructive patterns play out again and again, so I wanted to document one of the most extreme cases that I've witnessed. In 2015 I worked for a startup that began with an ingenious idea: to use the software techniques known as Natural Language Processing to allow people to interact with databases by writing ordinary English sentences. This was a multi-billion dollar idea that could have transformed the way people gathered and used information. However, the venture had inexperienced leadership. They burned through their $1.3 million seed money. As their resources dwindled, their confidence transformed into doubt, which was aggravated by edicts from the Board Of Directors ordering sudden changes that effectively threw away weeks' worth of work. Every startup forces its participants into extreme positions, often regarding budget and deadlines. Often these situations are absurd to the point of parody. Therefore, there is considerable humor in this story. The collision of inexperience and desperation gives rise to moments that are simply silly. I tell this story in a day-to-day format, both to capture the early optimism, and then the later sense of panic. Here then, is a cautionary tale, a warning about tendencies that everyone joining a startup should be on guard against."

    Ruggles, instead of celebrating, continued running, ball in hand, into a passageway that led under the field. He was never seen again.His disappearance had mystified the community for decades until another player, brilliant physics major, Merlin North, turns detective and becomes fixated on discovering what happened to Herschel Ruggles.As North’s investigation deepens, he uncovers evidence which suggests that dark forces played a hand in Ruggles’ fate, revealing a truth even more extraordinary than he could ever have anticipated."David Baldacci is one of the all-time best thriller authors"—Lisa Gardner"Sinewy, and written with Baldacci’s consummate skill, this is a thriller from the top drawer"—Daily Mail on Walk the Wire"A mile-a-minute read that proves once again why David Baldacci has readers the world over flocking for more"—Jane Harper, bestselling author of The Dry, on Long Road to Mercy

    Four wishes. One wild adventure.When Sylvie’s husband passed away, she’d barely hung her black dress back in the closet when three widows on Wilder Lane showed up on her doorstep. Who had time to properly mourn when an adventure spanning the globe awaited her?After putting their own needs on the back burner to raise their families, Sylvie, Doris, Alice, and Marge struggle to find purpose now that their children are grown, and their husbands are gone. Loneliness pushes them together while they knit away the rest of their days. Then one night, a whiskey-filled pact catapults these ladies onto the adventure of a lifetime.Each widow gets one wish, one wild adventure, she’s dreamed of doing her whole life. With their wishes tucked away on notes inside their knitting basket, they pull them out, one at a time, vowing to do whatever it takes to help each other fulfill their wildest desires.Hilarity ensues as these four diverse women stretch their boundaries to go where no widows have gone before. They stare death in the face, have cops hot on their tail, and shed away the responsibilities they’ve shouldered their whole lives. The Wilder Widows soon find out their lives aren’t over... in fact, in this second act, their lives are just beginning.

     A shark like me.She doesn't remember me. It's been a long time but I never forgot her. Hello to curvy, sexy Melanie, fresh out of College. She's got talent but she needs my help. Sure, I can help her. I can teach her a thing or two about the world of high finance. But, who am I kidding? I want her in my bed... under me and screaming my name. I'm crossing every boundary getting involved with her. There's billions of dollars at stake but I won't stop until she's mine. Shark is a 180 page romantic suspense novel. No cliffhanger. No cheating. HEA. WARNING: 18+ Only. Contains mature themes and language.

    But it can be even trickier to use than either Unix or Linux, and harder still to master.Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition is your complete guide to FreeBSD, written by FreeBSD committer Michael W. Lucas. Lucas considers this completely revised and rewritten second edition of his landmark work to be his best work ever; a true product of his love for FreeBSD and the support of the FreeBSD community. Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition covers installation, networking, security, network services, system performance, kernel tweaking, filesystems, SMP, upgrading, crash debugging, and much more, including coverage of how to:Use advanced security features like packet filtering, virtual machines, and host-based intrusion detection Build custom live FreeBSD CDs and bootable flash Manage network services and filesystems Use DNS and set up email, IMAP, web, and FTP services for both servers and clients Monitor your system with performance-testing and troubleshooting tools Run diskless systems Manage schedulers, remap shared libraries, and optimize your system for your hardware and your workload Build custom network appliances with embedded FreeBSD Implement redundant disks, even without special hardware Integrate FreeBSD-specific SNMP into your network management system. Whether you're just getting started with FreeBSD or you've been using it for years, you'll find this book to be the definitive guide to FreeBSD that you've been waiting for.

    Stuck at a boring family party, on an awkward date, in a below-par job interview, or any number of other situations in which conversation has become more of a trickle than a flow. Well, fear the excruciation no more, as Richard Herring's Emergency Questions is about to change your life. Containing 1,000 conversation starters from one of our most cherished comedians, along with plenty of answers from the many household names who've appeared on his hundreds of podcasts, this book is virtually guaranteed to remove any social anxiety from your life, and will raise your repartee-game to new heights.

    If you want to leverage OpenGL 2.1's major improvements, you really need the Fourth Edition. It's a comprehensive tutorial, systematic API reference, and massive code library, all in one. You'll start with the fundamental techniques every graphics programmer needs: transformations, lighting, texture mapping, and so forth. Then, building on those basics, you'll move towards newer capabilities, from advanced buffers to vertex shaders. Of course, OpenGL's cross-platform availability remains one of its most compelling features. This book's extensive multiplatform coverage has been thoroughly rewritten, and now addresses everything from Windows Vista to OpenGL ES for handhelds. This is stuff you absolutely want the latest edition for. A small but telling point: This book's recently been invited into Addison-Wesley's OpenGL Series, making it an "official" OpenGL book -- and making a powerful statement about its credibility. Bill Camarda, from the August 2007 href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/newslet... Only

    Foremost on that list is mobility, since going wireless frees you from the tether of an Ethernet cable at a desk. But that's just the tip of the cable-free iceberg. Wireless networks are also more flexible, faster and easier for you to use, and more affordable to deploy and maintain.The de facto standard for wireless networking is the 802.11 protocol, which includes Wi-Fi (the wireless standard known as 802.11b) and its faster cousin, 802.11g. With easy-to-install 802.11 network hardware available everywhere you turn, the choice seems simple, and many people dive into wireless computing with less thought and planning than they'd give to a wired network. But it's wise to be familiar with both the capabilities and risks associated with the 802.11 protocols. And 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition is the perfect place to start.This updated edition covers everything you'll ever need to know about wireless technology. Designed with the system administrator or serious home user in mind, it's a no-nonsense guide for setting up 802.11 on Windows and Linux. Among the wide range of topics covered are discussions on:deployment considerationsnetwork monitoring and performance tuningwireless security issueshow to use and select access pointsnetwork monitoring essentialswireless card configurationsecurity issues unique to wireless networksWith wireless technology, the advantages to its users are indeed plentiful. Companies no longer have to deal with the hassle and expense of wiring buildings, and households with several computers can avoid fights over who's online. And now, with 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition, you can integrate wireless technology into your current infrastructure with the utmost confidence.

    In the manner of the author's William Hill-shortlisted The Far Corner, Slipless in Settle mixes travelogue and sports history with witty match reports, observations on spectators, reminiscences of the author’s own low-grade playing career, and whole heap of pastry-based snacks.

    

    Raise my son. Keep moving to stay ahead of my abusive ex. Last thing I need is some arrogant jerk making my day worse. Reid is so hot. Big, muscular, built like the soldier he was until an ambush claimed the rest of his unit leaving him to live with the guilt. Maybe that’s why he has such a short fuse. That doesn’t explain why I can’t tell him no. Why I keep letting him peel off my clothes and make me scream. I can’t resist him, until he has a PTSD nightmare and frightens me. I’ve never felt this way. But it’s hard to trust after what my ex did to me. Now my ex is back, stalking us, threatening us. He’ll take my son. I might never see my little boy again. Reid is the only one I can turn to. He can keep us safe. I need him now like I’ve never needed anyone before. Can I trust him with our lives? With my heart?

    But she's getting pretty close. So when she has a chance to take part in a four-week clinical study that involves a pill that makes the taker attractive to the opposite sex, Ellie doesn't waste any time signing up. After all, she has nowhere to go but up, right?

    Head First Ajax gives you an up-to-date perspective that lets you see exactly what you can do--and has been done--with Ajax. With it, you get a highly practical, in-depth, and mature view of what is now a mature development approach. Using the unique and highly effective visual format that has turned Head First titles into runaway bestsellers, this book offers a big picture overview to introduce Ajax, and then explores the use of individual Ajax components--including the JavaScript event model, DOM, XML, JSON, and more--as it progresses. You'll find plenty of sample applications that illustrate the concepts, along with exercises, quizzes, and other interactive features to help you retain what you've learned.Head First Ajax covers:The JavaScript event modelMaking Ajax requests with XMLHTTPREQUEST objectsThe asynchronous application modelThe Document Object Model (DOM)Manipulating the DOM in JavaScriptControlling the browser with the Browser Object ModelXHTML FormsPOST RequestsXML Syntax and the XML DOM treeXML Requests & ResponsesJSON -- an alternative to XMLAjax architecture & patternsThe Prototype LibraryThe book also discusses the server-side implications of building Ajax applications, and uses a black box approach to server-side components.Head First Ajax is the ideal guide for experienced web developers comfortable with scripting--particularly those who have completed the exercises in Head First JavaScript--and for experienced programmers in Java, PHP, and C# who want to learn client-side programming.

    

    Ever since, she's been surrounded by couture clothes, glittering celebrities—and the constant glare of the paparazzi. She's become muse to designer Luis Navarro, who christens her Butterfly. Now, at thirty-three, Seneca wants the only thing that seems out of reach—a husband, children and a normal life.When her agent offers his secluded villa as a hideaway, Seneca finds both tranquillity and Dr. Eliot Rollins, a renowned plastic surgeon who is quickly captivated by the intelligent woman behind the breathtaking face. But when Seneca decides to retire from modeling, there are repercussions she never expected. Some people want Butterfly to stay trapped in the spotlight, even if it destroys her. Surrounded by tabloid scandal, grasping relatives and friends with hidden agendas, Seneca wonders if anything can be trusted—even her own heart….