For lovers of facts, students of popular culture, history buffs, and science enthusiasts, the fascinating stories behind 500 everyday items, expressions, and customs--from Kleenex to steak sauce, Barbie Dolls to honeymoons.

    

    

    

     Welcome to a very flapper holiday! Are you ready for the roaring twenties? For spunky young women crafting their own lives? If so, you’ll love Violet, Rita, Edwina, Julia, and Lola. Inside, you’ll find several short stories with adventures, cocktails, kisses, and fun. With stories from The Violet Carlyle Mysteries, The Piccadilly Ladies Club Mysteries, the Lola Rose series. For fans of Carola Dunn, Jacqueline Winspear, Georgette Heyer, and Lee Strauss. A light, cozy mystery with a fun peek into a an evening with bright young things.

    Every case brings her one step closer to ending the nightmares for those families who are left with more questions than answers. When a young girl goes missing in Tarpley, Texas she hopes this is the case that will finally close the cold case she’s been assigned. What she doesn't expect is the help of a rugged firefighter who awakes emotions long buried.
Two things happen to Michael "Big Mack" McEvers that change his life from simple to complicated—he begins full-time work with Bandera County and Tarpley VFD, and Amanda arrives in town. He's not looking for love but if she'll have him, he's all hers.Racing against the clock they must work together to catch a killer. Can they save the girl and each other, or will one have to be sacrificed?

    And now, to my surprise, it's where I go too, thanks to surprise tuition the celebrity father I just found out I have sent me after my mother died. I thought dealing with grief was enough to nearly kill me. But now I also have to deal with the most popular and elite students who make up Brentmoor's infamous "Council" relentlessly bullying me because they don't think a poor girl like me belongs here, no matter who my father is.But three of the Council guys are hot, and I swear they have a crush on me. Scruffy but studly Sebastian is a rebel from old money, nerdy-cool Braxton didn't even need his billionaire dad to get him in because his grades were so stellar on their own, and handsome Harrison is the musical bad boy son of a rock and roll star.These three guys might look down their noses at me, but I can't help noticing that they're staring at my curves while they do it. And even though they kind of take part in the cruel jokes, it seems to be in a teasing way. Or is it that they're even trying to help me?It's hard to know what's really going on since Brentmoor and its elite lifestyle are like a whole new world to me and I'm not part of these guys' inner circle. But it starts to become abundantly clear that they want to be in my, um... inner circle... all three of them, at once, in fact.I decide to use one of them to get back at the rest of the members of the Council, especially the mercilessly catty female students. But it's hard to decide which one of the three guys to choose, and from the way they're all fawning over me together, I'm starting to wonder if I even have to. Am I doomed to live alone in the hell that is Brentmoor forever?Or can I get revenge, pleasure and maybe even love, with 3 bad boy bullies at once? This box set contains the complete Bullies of Brentmoor series: Dirty Deeds, Dirty Secrets, Dirty Lies and Dirty Love. Note: These books are about three damaged alpha males and the feisty, curvy female student who stands up to them until they're all on their knees begging to please her! The set contains mature language and scenes, including high heat steam, and potential triggers related to bullying. Although there are some cliffhangers in the individual books, everything is resolved by the end of this complete series collection, for your binge-reading pleasure.

    It's a book for pastors who want the truth about the state of our churches. It presents a clear-spoken, hopeful vision for a future of sharing our faith in Christ. It gives us a way to get there?without formulas, but hand-in-hand with God! Easy to read, witty, thoughtful and genuinely spiritual, Unbinding the Gospel is based on a four-year research project on superb evangelism. Author, pastor, and lawyer Martha Grace Reese interviewed over 1000 people in some of the most successful evangelistic congregations in the country. Grounded in thorough research, the book sparkles with practicality. It is enthusiastically endorsed by Brian McLaren, John Thomas, George Hunter, Todd Hunter, Sharon Watkins, Wes Granberg-Michaelson and Cliff Kirkpatrick. Richard Peace, professor of evangelism at Fuller Seminary says, This should be required reading in all mainline churches. Our continued existence may depend upon it!

    Think like a customer for a moment. We’re talking about design as a total concept—not just about how a product looks, but how the product operates, how it sounds, and how it feels. Also included in this idea of design is the quality of your purchase experience, of what happens when you actually open up the box, how you start to feel, and what all this communicates to you. And of course, there is the chain of events through which you became aware of the product. This is part of the design connection too—what all those touch points mean to you as a customer.The stark reality is that very few companies actually understand how to create great design, and even fewer know how to use design as a complete strategy starting with the ideal customer experience, and then building an internal supply chain to deliver in a way that exceeds expectations. When you do this, you will create products, services, and experiences that truly matter to your customers’ lives and thereby drive powerful, sustainable improvements in business performance.Delivering great design takes awareness, creativity, diligence and determination. The secret to doing it: build a truly design-driven business from top to bottom, in which design is central to everything you do.Do You Matter? shows how to do precisely this. Renowned industrial designer Robert Brunner (Former Apple Industrial Design Director) and corporate consultant Stewart Emery (Success Built to Last) begin by making an incontrovertible case for the power of design in making emotional connections, deepening relationships, and strengthening brands. You’ll learn what it really means to be “design-driven” and how that translates into action at companies like Nike, Apple, BMW, IKEA and many others. You’ll learn techniques for managing your entire experience supply chain; how to define effective design strategies; and learn how to manage design from the top, encouraging “risky” design innovations that lead to creating entirely new markets.The authors show how (and how not) to use research; how to extend design values into marketing, manufacturing, and beyond; and how to keep building on your progress, truly "baking" design into all your processes and culture.Read this book and put the principles to work. Do this and you will be able to not only play the game, you’ll be able change the game, your company, your life and make a difference in the lives of others—really!Even if you are not in the business of creating products and services per se, this is a book everyone can enjoy (even your mother). It is a great read filled with stories of triumph, serendipity and missed opportunities. In addition to expanding the way you think about the role of design in your life, it will help you to be a delighted consumer.

    Amidst pain and chaos, we "can" turn the tide of evil in our lands. With excitement and profound insight, seasoned prophetic leader Lou Engle shows how: through bold faith and aggressive, passionate prayer and fasting. Here he equips you with the dynamic, practical tools you need to answer the call of countercultural consecration. Using Jesus as the role model, he reveals that 40 days of prayer and fasting always precede breakthrough, revelations of God's glory, breakage of demonic hindrances, and more. As we join together in fasting and intercession, we'll see victory in the critical issues of our day--and we'll awaken the nations for Christ. Global revival and transformation is imminent. Will you answer the call?

    A celebration of Superman's life and history—in time for his 75th birthdayHow has the Big Blue Boy Scout stayed so popular for so long? How has he changed with the times, and what essential aspects of him have remained constant? This fascinating biography examines Superman as a cultural phenomenon through 75 years of action-packed adventures, from his early years as a social activist in circus tights to his growth into the internationally renowned demigod he is today.Written by NPR book critic, blogger, and resident comic book expert, Glen Weldon

    

    Nor is it sufficient merely to critique culture or to copy culture. Most of the time, we just consume culture. But the only way to change culture is to create culture. Andy Crouch unleashes a stirring manifesto calling Christians to be culture makers. For too long, Christians have had an insufficient view of culture and have waged misguided "culture wars." But we must reclaim the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators that God designed us to be. Culture is what we make of the world, both in creating cultural artifacts as well as in making sense of the world around us. By making chairs and omelets, languages and laws, we participate in the good work of culture making. Crouch unpacks the complexities of how culture works and gives us tools for cultivating and creating culture. He navigates the dynamics of cultural change and probes the role and efficacy of our various cultural gestures and postures. Keen biblical exposition demonstrates that creating culture is central to the whole scriptural narrative, the ministry of Jesus and the call to the church. He guards against naive assumptions about "changing the world," but points us to hopeful examples from church history and contemporary society of how culture is made and shaped. Ultimately, our culture making is done in partnership with God's own making and transforming of culture. A model of his premise, this landmark book is sure to be a rallying cry for a new generation of culturally creative Christians. Discover your calling and join the culture makers.

    In this e-book you will learn what exactly is needed to run a successful Design Thinking Workshop which is fun and at the same time generates great results. In this e-book Pauline Tonhauser, founder of designthinkingcoach.de, shares her best practices.

    But her spirit lives today.Jezebel was the most wicked woman in the Bible, a powerful seductress who killed the prophets, led Israel into idolatry and immorality, and emasculated men. She was seductive and determined to snuff out the voices coming against her, because these voices were calling out for repentance.In twenty-first-century America, Jezebel is not a person. But it’s as if the spirit of Jezebel is alive again today. The influence of the same demonic force is being felt in the massive increase of pornography and sexual temptation, the militant spirit of abortion, the rise of radical feminism, and most importantly, in the attempt to silence prophetic voices. Just as Jezebel clashed with strong men almost three thousand years ago, the demonic spirit of Jezebel is powerful in America, and it is going after the church.This eye-opening book not only unveils the satanic plot to destroy America, beginning with an all-out assault on the church, but it will equip every believer with tools to defeat the enemy in their own personal lives as well as in the nation. This book will show you how the spirit of Jezebel is active in America today and teach you how to protect the church.OTHER BOOKS BY MICHAEL L. BROWN, PHD:Playing With Holy Fire (2018) ISBN-13: 978-1629994987The Power of Music (2019)ISBN-13: 978-1629995953Breaking the Stronghold of Food (2017) ISBN-13: 978-1629990996