Full of humor, sarcasm and irony, we are asked to leave behind the ?official history? to take and enjoyable voyage from pre-Columbian times to the 21st Century.

    Featuring programs and resources available throughout the U.S. and Canada"An authoritative and comprehensive overview of the benefits of energy-efficient homes." ---Kirkus ReviewsLive in a Home that Pays You Back lights the way for enjoying a home that is healthier, more comfortable, saves money, and reduces your carbon footprint. Whether you are planning to build, buy, or retrofit a home, award-winning author Anna DeSimone takes you on a virtual tour through the home of the future. A practical reference guide that can be used for years to come, this illuminating book uncovers every part and parcel of the sustainable home, with precise explanations and infographics, plus hundreds of resources for further exploration. You'll have fun exploring the world of renewable energy, such as solar photovoltaics, wind power, geothermal energy, hydro-electric power, and biomass fuels. You'll learn how "positive energy" puts money in your pocket through incentives such as net metering, net billing or renewable energy certificates--a tradeable commodity with cash value.This eye-opening book takes a look at the health benefits of living in an energy-efficient home, and includes guidance about water safety, biological pollutants and environmental toxins. Everything you need to know about energy scores, building certifications, and the home building options for net zero, net zero ready, passive homes, pre-fab, modular, log and timber, and more. Mortgage financing chapter covers down payment assistance, national energy-efficient loan programs, borrower qualification incentives, and how to roll in the cost of an energy retrofit into your mortgage.The path to zero can be taken in small steps. This book prepares you and your household to make informed decisions for implementing energy-efficient technologies according to your needs and budget. And you'll enjoy many kinds of payback, every step of the way.Book includes a directory of rebates and incentives by Canadian province and U.S. state. Available in paperback and e-book.

    The attacks have come not only from traditional conservatives but increasingly from the postmodern left. In this essay, Stephen Hicks presents and dissects the philosophical arguments made by the postmoderns for speech restrictions and responds with a vigorous and updated liberal case for free speech.

    It invites both introductory and advanced students to appreciate the roots and limits of American exceptionalism, and to recognize the profound importance of current debates over the government's role in our everyday lives.

    

    This ride has legions of devoted fans and influenced tributes, spinoffs and an entire entertainment genre: the seasonal haunted house. Why is this?Boundless Realm is a wry tour of the creaky old house on the hill, brushing aside cobwebs, uncovering obscure corners, and prying up the floorboards in search of the answer. Not just an attraction history, this critical appreciation - written with a connoisseur's eye for detail - encompasses American history, popular culture and folklore, and a sharp understanding of design to make a case for The Haunted Mansion as the 20th century's definitive haunted house. Entertaining and opinionated, Boundless Realm will give you a new appreciation for Disney's ultimate cult attraction.

    Kornheiser's collection of columns is the laugh workout for a lifetime. "Pumping Irony is a laugh treat on every page."--Larry King, USA Today.

     The Taj Mahal in Agra is arguably the most iconic image of India and is visited by eight million tourists annually. It was characterized as “pure, perfect and unutterably lovely” by the British Viceroy, Lord Curzon, and in 1983, UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site of “outstanding universal value.” For centuries the world has believed that it was built by Shah Jahan in 1631 to immortalize his love for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Certain mysteries and myths that surround the monument have recently come to the fore in the country, stimulating a public debate about the place it holds as a true representation of Indian culture. Inside you will read about... ✓ The Life of Mumtaz Mahal: The Jewel of the Palace ✓ The Building of the Taj Mahal ✓ A UNESCO World Heritage Site ✓ Myths, Conjecture, and Controversy ✓ The 22 Locked Rooms in the Basement And much more! This book presents the five main historical figures of the Mughal Empire in India during that period as well as many details of how the Taj Mahal was built. It traces the events that have led to the present controversy.

    We currently see no evidence of any kind indicating that extraterrestrials exist outside of our solar system. But at this moment, millions of engineers, scientists, corporations, universities and entrepreneurs are racing to create the second intelligent species right here on planet earth. And we can see the second intelligent species coming from all directions in the form of self-driving cars, automated call centers, chess-playing and Jeopardy-playing computers that beat all human players, airport kiosks, restaurant tablet systems, etc. The frightening thing is that these robots will soon be eliminating human jobs in startling numbers. The first wave of unemployed workers is likely to be a million truck drivers who are replaced by self-driving trucks. Pilots will be eliminated soon as well. Then, as new computer vision systems come online, we will see tens of millions of workers in retail stores, fast food restaurants and construction sites replaced by robots. Unless we take steps now to change the economy, we will soon have tens of millions of workers who are unemployed and seeking welfare because they will have no other choice. Marshall Brain's new book "The Second Intelligent Species: How Humans Will Become as Irrelevant as Cockroaches" explores how the future will unfold as the second intelligent species emerges. The book answers questions like: - How will new computer vision systems affect the job market? - How many people will become unemployed by the second intelligent species? - What will happen to millions of newly unemployed workers? - How can modern society and modern economies cope with run-away unemployment caused by robots? - What will happen when the first sentient, conscious computer appears? - What moral and ethical principles will guide the second intelligent species? - Why do we see no extraterrestrials in our universe? "The Second Intelligent Species" offers a unique and fascinating look at the future of the human race, and the choices we will need to make to avoid massive unemployment and poverty worldwide as intelligent machines start eliminating millions of jobs.

    Drug running. False flag ops. A shadow paramilitary global network. Synthetic wars. CIA-NATO: A darker truth. Operation Gladio Plan B: Murder. OG 68—a k a Greg McPhearson—no longer works for the company. The hunter has now become prey. He knows this beast: what created him and shattered his soul. Until Mai. When he opened the door to her three years ago, he opened what soul he had left. Yet no amount of pride or power, he discovers—too late—can ever replace one precious breath … When a sting is called off at the last minute by his FBI bosses per order of the CIA, Special Agent Ryan Marcello decides to do some digging. He calls in senior analyst Elsie Simon, expert in the Turkey-Central Asian-Caucasus nexus, to help track down the high-level target with ties to ruthless power players in a global narcotics-terrorism ring. Every lead and each new suspect brings them that much closer to home. With Elsie’s help, and at risk to their lives, the two begin their own investigation … The murdered son of a U.S. mogul leads to the hiring of Ryan and Elsie, who are used and then trapped in a byzantine scheme of retribution: of black ops within black ops, trails gone cold, kidnappings, blackmail, unexplained murders … a plot that extends from Russia and Azerbaijan to Cambodia, Vietnam, and deep inside the Deep State. In a world where reality now stands on its head, “my enemy’s enemy is my enemy”—and for his final mission, no one would be spared … the Gladio would be acting alone ...

    He was listed in the Blue Book but joined no clubs. His magnificent dining room at Kragsyde, his house at Lobster Cove, rarely entertained visitors. If George Nixon Black was mentioned at all, it was almost as rumor. His greenhouses boasted rare plants, his collection of antiques and paintings were extraordinary and his patronage of the arts favored unknown female artists. Each winter he quietly boarded a luxury European-bound steamship with a man eighteen years his junior. Despite a privileged youth marred by violence and uncertainty, contrasted with the danger his lifestyle and secrets placed him in, his ability to obtain happiness and be himself was remarkable. While Black was probably content to slip away unnoticed, Kragsyde was to have no such fate. Garnering much attention when it was first built, and adored by architects and scholars ever since, the famous shingle-style house has made it impossible for Black to fully disappear. In The House at Lobster Cove, you will see behind the doors of Kragsyde, the house that sheltered and shaped him, and continued to tell his story long after both were gone. Using characters, letters and events from history, Jane Goodrich's first novel is part family saga and part love story, as well as an engaging personal journey for the author. Although Kragsyde was demolished in 1929, it was later rebuilt, in every detail, by Goodrich and her husband, doing all the work themselves on an island in Maine. A special feature of this edition is the letterpress printed cover and title page, hand printed on 100% cotton paper at the author's studios at Saturn Press in Maine.

    

    

    Never before have we seen such a penetrating view of the inside drama, tensions, and foibles of champaigns, consultants, and campaigners. Comments Doris Kearns Goodwin, an author.

    Created in the 1890s by George Washington Vanderbilt, a member of one of America's wealthiest families, the estate combined a 250-room French Renaissance-style chateau with 125,000 acres of gardens, forests, and working farms. Biltmore House served as Vanderbilt's primary residence for almost 20 years. After Mr. Vanderbilt's death in 1914, life at Biltmore continued for his wife Edith and daughter Cornelia. In 1930, Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil and her husband, Hon. John Francis Amherst Cecil, opened Biltmore House--the largest private home in the United States--to the public, firmly establishing the Asheville area as a major tourist destination.