2018** The Bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy were among the most stunning moments of the 20th Century. Imagine that there was evidence proving the United States, at its highest levels, knew the intent of both events--ahead of time.On the heels of his most successful novel, Final Mission: Zion, in which he tackled the horrors of the Holocaust, Chuck Driskell now takes on Pearl Harbor and the JFK Assassination as only he can, with a decidedly unexpected twist.Enter Max Warfield, a man who supports himself by raiding heroin dealers for their cash. Max's crimes make him the target of a shadowy network. The network takes him by force and gives him a choice: steal the aforementioned evidence for them, or die. While the network has accounted for every single facet of the mission, they've made one critical error: they've grossly underestimated Max Warfield.Once again on the run, and this time in possession of history-altering evidence, Max finds himself in a position to turn the tables on the network. But, by doing so he could decimate the United States and cause significant loss of life.Combining historical fiction, espionage, crime, and intrigue--with a memorable cast of characters--Fringe Theory delivers thrills and chills all the way to its explosive climax in the snowy French Alps.

    She was constantly reminded of how her time was running out. Single, Again, and Again, and Again ... follows Pateman and her quest to find her happily ever after. Convinced all the good men were taken, she continually reassessed her aspirations to accomplish her life plan. Feeling defeated after a string of failed relationships and frustrated with her inability to find her soulmate, she reexamined her priorities and played the cards she was dealt. Finding inner courage, she discovered ways to create extraordinary experiences out of her perceived failures.

    Work at your own pace through a series of lessons and reviews that fully cover each exam objective. Then, reinforce what you’ve learned by applying your knowledge to real-world case scenarios and labs. This official Microsoft study guide is designed to help you make the most of your study time.Maximize your performance on the exam by learning to:Use system types, collections, and generics to help manage data Validate input, reformat text, and extract data with regular expressions Develop services, application domains, and multithreaded applications Enhance your application by adding graphics and images Implement code access security, role-based security, and data encryption Work with serialization and reflection techniques Instrument your applications with logging and tracing Interact with legacy code using COM Interop and PInvoke Practice TestsAssess your skills with practice tests on CD. You can work through hundreds of questions using multiple testing modes to meet your specific learning needs. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers—including a customized learning path that describes how and where to focus your studies.Your kit includes:15% exam discount from Microsoft. (Limited time offer). Details inside. Official self-paced study guide. Practice tests with multiple, customizable testing options and a learning plan based on your results. 450 practice and review questions. Case scenarios and lab exercises. Code samples on CD. 90-day evaluation version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition. Fully searchable eBook. A Note Regarding the CD or DVDThe print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to booktech@oreilly.com.

    Don’t get me wrong—I read that literature myself. Why not? It is usually entertaining, if not suspenseful. In The Perennial Wanderer: An American in the World, however, it is my intent to demonstrate that life is indeed stranger than fiction, and I, not unlike the escapist writers, have invested much time and energy in bringing these life experiences to the reader. After working in so many countries—including war torn and conflictive countries such as Viet Nam, Colombia, Perú, Mozambique, Sudan and El Salvador—I have seen more than my share of violence, murder, mayhem, public corruption and chicanery. And none of my observations have taken place as a military man—my military experience, by the way, was in the peacetime Air Force in the beautiful Hawaiian Islands.

    Proceed step-by-step through five progressively more complex web applications: from a "Hello World" app all the way to a robust Newspaper app with a custom user model, complete user authentication flow, foreign key relationships, and more. Learn current best practices around class-based views, templates, urls, user authentication, testing, and deployment. The material is up-to-date with the latest versions of both Django (2.0) and Python (3.6). TABLE OF CONTENTS: * Introduction * Chapter 1: Initial Setup * Chapter 2: Hello World app * Chapter 3: Pages app * Chapter 4: Message Board app * Chapter 5: Blog app * Chapter 6: Forms * Chapter 7: User Accounts * Chapter 8: Custom User Model * Chapter 9: User Authentication * Chapter 10: Bootstrap * Chapter 11: Password Change and Reset * Chapter 12: Email * Chapter 13: Newspaper app * Chapter 14: Permissions and Authorizations * Chapter 15: Comments * Conclusion

    This little bird does NOT want to be an enchanting creature. Will Sammy come to accept that he is a unicorn? Read the book to find out! About the Sammy Bird Series This is a picture book series about a quirky bird named Sammy and his amusing misadventures. Readers will discover that Sammy is a little red bird who has a BIG personality. The books in this series are humorous, engaging and sometimes deal with common childhood issues like bullying, fear of the dark, patience and friendship. The books are interactive and engages young readers to participate in the story. There are over 90 Books in the series and counting! From the Author I like to think of myself as a storyteller who brings families together through the medium of picture books. Whether it is between a parent or child or a grandparent and child. These stories are intended to be light-hearted and funny and most importantly the stories engage young readers to be a part of the story itself. My hope is that these books will help build upon a child's love for reading and allow families to laugh and enjoy spending time together. As a reader, you can look forward to many more adventures with this silly and fun-loving red bird! -V. Moua About the book: I Am NOT a Unicorn! This is a read aloud kids book. The target age range audience is appropriate for preschool and young children who are at the following stages of reading: I can read level 1, I can read level 2, I can read level 3 and I can read level 4. This is a book that any child will love, especially at bedtime. It is suitable for parents to read to their children. Also, grandparents will enjoy reading this book to their grandchildren. This series is part of the short bedtime stories for kids. Read this children's book FREE as part of your PRIME or Kindle Unlimited membership!

    Along with a clear introduction to asynchronous programming, you get an in-depth look at how the async feature works and why you might want to use it in your application.Written for experienced C# programmers—yet approachable for beginners—this book is packed with code examples that you can extend for your own projects.Write your own asynchronous code, and learn how async saves you from this messy choreDiscover new performance possibilities in ASP.NET web server codeExplore how async and WinRT work together in Windows 8 applicationsLearn the importance of the await keyword in async methodsUnderstand which .NET thread is running your code—and at what points in the programUse the Task-based Asynchronous Pattern (TAP) to write asynchronous APIs in .NETTake advantage of parallel computing in modern machinesMeasure async code performance by comparing it with alternatives

    If you are serious about developing with the C# language, you need this book." -Bill Craun, Principal Consultant, Ambassador Solutions, Inc. "More Effective C# is an opportunity to work beside Bill Wagner. Bill leverages his knowledge of C# and distills his expertise down to some very real advice about programming and designing applications that every serious Visual C# user should know. More Effective C# is one of those rare books that doesn't just regurgitate syntax, but teaches you how to use the C# language." -Peter Ritchie, Microsoft MVP: Visual C# "More Effective C# is a great follow-up to Bill Wagner's previous book. The extensive C# 3.0 and LINQ coverage is extremely timely!" -Tomas Restrepo, Microsoft MVP: Visual C++, .NET, and Biztalk Server "As one of the current designers of C#, it is rare that I learn something new about the language by reading a book. More Effective C# is a notable exception. Gently blending concrete code and deep insights, Bill Wagner frequently makes me look at C# in a fresh light-one that really makes it shine. More Effective C# is at the surface a collection of very useful guidelines. Look again. As you read through it, you'll find that you acquire more than just the individual pieces of advice; gradually you'll pick up on an approach to programming in C# that is thoughtful, beautiful, and deeply pleasant. While you can make your way willy-nilly through the individual guidelines, I do recommend reading the whole book-or at least not skipping over the chapter introductions before you dive into specific nuggets of advice. There's perspective and insight to be found there that in itself can be an important guide and inspiration for your future adventures in C#." -Mads Torgersen, Program Manager, Visual C#, Microsoft "Bill Wagner has written an excellent book outlining the best practices for developers who work with the C# language. By authoring More Effective C#, he has again established himself as one of the most important voices in the C# community. Many of us already know how to use C#. What we need is advice on how to hone our skills so that we can become wiser programmers. There is no more sophisticated source of information on how to become a first-class C# developer than Bill Wagner's book. Bill is intelligent, thoughtful, experienced, and skillful. By applying the lessons from this book to your own code, you will find many ways to polish and improve the work that you produce." -Charlie Calvert, Community Program Manager, Visual C#, Microsoft In More Effective C#, Microsoft C# MVP and Regional Director Bill Wagner introduces fifty brand-new ways to write more efficient and more robust software. This all-new book follows the same format as Wagner's best-selling Effective C# (Addison-Wesley, 2005), providing clear, practical explanations, expert tips, and plenty of realistic code examples. Wagner shows how to make the most of powerful innovations built into Microsoft's new C# 3.0 and .NET Framework 3.5, as well as advanced C# language capabilities not covered in his previous book. Drawing on his unsurpassed C# experience, the author reveals new best practices for working with LINQ, generics, metaprogramming, and many other features. He also uncovers practices that compromise performance or reliability and shows exactly how to avoid them. More Effective C# shows how to Use generics to express your design intent more effectively Master advanced generics techniques, such as constraints, method constraints, and generic specialization Use the multithreaded techniques you'll need to work with the .NET framework every day Express modern design idioms using the rich palette of C# language features Successfully mix object oriented and functional programming constructs Create composable interfaces and avoid confusion in public interfaces Use extension methods to separate contracts from implementation Program successfully with C# closures and anonymous types Write more effective LINQ queries Make the most of LINQ Lazy Evaluation Queries and Lambda Expressions Distinguish and convert between delegates and expression trees Efficiently utilize nullable types and partial classes Use implicit properties for mutable, nonserializable data You're already a successful C# programmer-this book can help you become an outstanding one.

    Using a downloadable programming environment developed by the author, Visualizing Data demonstrates methods for representing data accurately on the Web and elsewhere, complete with user interaction, animation, and more. How do the 3.1 billion A, C, G and T letters of the human genome compare to those of a chimp or a mouse? What do the paths that millions of visitors take through a web site look like? With Visualizing Data, you learn how to answer complex questions like these with thoroughly interactive displays. We're not talking about cookie-cutter charts and graphs. This book teaches you how to design entire interfaces around large, complex data sets with the help of a powerful new design and prototyping tool called "Processing". Used by many researchers and companies to convey specific data in a clear and understandable manner, the Processing beta is available free. With this tool and Visualizing Data as a guide, you'll learn basic visualization principles, how to choose the right kind of display for your purposes, and how to provide interactive features that will bring users to your site over and over. This book teaches you:The seven stages of visualizing data -- acquire, parse, filter, mine, represent, refine, and interact How all data problems begin with a question and end with a narrative construct that provides a clear answer without extraneous details Several example projects with the code to make them work Positive and negative points of each representation discussed. The focus is on customization so that each one best suits what you want to convey about your data set The book does not provide ready-made "visualizations" that can be plugged into any data set. Instead, with chapters divided by types of data rather than types of display, you'll learn how each visualization conveys the unique properties of the data it represents -- why the data was collected, what's interesting about it, and what stories it can tell. Visualizing Data teaches you how to answer questions, not simply display information.

    The first female CEO of one of Australia's big four banks, listed by Forbes in 2010 as the 8th most powerful woman in the world, and mother of four (including triplets), Gail is celebrated as one of our finest, most innovative thinkers on leadership and workplace culture.In these personal, practical chapters, Gail Kelly shares what she's learned over her remarkable career, drawing from her personal and professional life. As a leader, she argues passionately for the importance of putting people and customers at the heart of a business; of leading with courage and generosity of spirit; and of resilience. Some of those lessons were learnt at times of high pressure, and Gail takes us into her thinking as she led Westpac through the global financial crisis and the merger with St. George.But Gail's voice speaks to each of us, whatever our role in life. She explores the absolute importance of loving what you do; learning to learn; backing yourself; and most importantly, placing your family above all things.At the heart of Gail's refreshing, authentic, integrated approach is how both individuals and companies thrive when they openly address the meaning of what they do, and understand the need to live a whole life. Live, Lead, Learn is the inspiring story of one of the world's most prominent business people, who started as a Latin teacher and became mother of four and CEO of Westpac - and everything she has learned along the way.

    Abbott and Michael T. Fisher cover everything IT and business leaders must know to build technology infrastructures that can scale smoothly to meet any business requirement. Drawing on their unparalleled experience managing some of the world s highest-transaction-volume Web sites, the authors provide detailed models and best-practice approaches available in no other book. Unlike previous books on scalability, "The Art of Scalability" doesn t limit its coverage to technology. Writing for both technical and nontechnical decision-makers, this book covers everything that impacts scalability, including architecture, processes, people, and organizations. Throughout, the authors address a broad spectrum of real-world challenges, from performance testing to IT governance. Using their tools and guidance, organizations can systematically overcome obstacles to scalability and achieve unprecedented levels of technical and business performance. Coverage includes Staffing the scalable organization: essential organizational, management, and leadership skills for technical leaders Building processes for scale: process lessons from hyper-growth companies, from technical issue resolution to crisis management Making better build versus buy decisions Architecting scalable solutions: powerful proprietary models for identifying scalability needs and choosing the best approaches to meet them Optimizing performance through caching, application and database splitting, and asynchronous design Scalability techniques for emerging technologies, including clouds and grids Planning for rapid data growth and new data centers Evolving monitoring strategies to tightly align with customer requirements "

    Meanwhile, we wade through an unprecedented amount of disinformation and deception. Fake news and Russian-purchased propaganda are woven into our media diets, and anonymity on the internet leaves us ever suspicious.In the face of this, rather than seek privacy where we can, we eagerly offer up our remaining details to social media, craving the surveillance and scrutiny of our peers. We're unsure of how all of this is affecting the moral development of a generation coming of age in this new culture of surveillance, but we continue on. It leads us to wonder if we've reached the end of trust, and if we even care.

    We are in an era where entire businesses are built on Instagram; kids in their bedrooms are racking up tens of millions of YouTube views; bloggers are becoming millionaires from their kitchen tables, and businesses are getting more attention from a viral video than a Super Bowl ad. But in a space that moves so fast, how can businesses keep up - let alone compete? And how do you make sure that your activity is profitable? Whether it’s building a targeted fanbase, selling more of your products & services or serving customers, every piece of your social media marketing campaign should be making you money. Combining the ‘holy grail’ marketing principles from some of history’s most successful marketers with the very latest social media strategies gives savvy businesses of all size a chance to ‘do’ social media in an entirely new way. Gone are the days of fumbling around in the dark. The new era is about testing, measuring and profit. From the psychological triggers that make us buy; employing social proof to stand out; using (and faking) controversy to sell more or just simply demonstrating your true competitive advantage, profitable social media marketing is here. As Head Ninja at Exposure Ninja, Tim Cameron-Kitchen has personally worked with hundreds of businesses of all shapes and sizes, and seen first hand how doing the right things on social media can transform a business. Yvonne Ivanescu came to Exposure Ninja from one of the world’s highest profile marketing agencies, and brought her brand experience to help business on the front line. This book is the distillation of everything that makes a profitable campaign, laid out in step-by-step instructions for you to follow and apply to your own business - whatever your size or market. So whether you’re a local plumber looking to pick up leads from Twitter, or an independent e-commerce site wanting the attention of influential bloggers, the strategies and profitable shortcuts for entrepreneur-run businesses in this book will give you a chance to compete in competitive markets where time and budget is of the essence.

    With both explanation and demonstration, Davey guides you step-by-step through the entire process of generating and validating an idea, setting entry and exit points, testing systems, and implementing them in live trading. You'll find concrete rules for increasing or decreasing allocation to a system, and rules for when to abandon one. The companion website includes Davey's own Monte Carlo simulator and other tools that will enable you to automate and test your own trading ideas.A purely discretionary approach to trading generally breaks down over the long haul. With market data and statistics easily available, traders are increasingly opting to employ an automated or algorithmic trading system—enough that algorithmic trades now account for the bulk of stock trading volume. Building Algorithmic Trading Systems teaches you how to develop your own systems with an eye toward market fluctuations and the impermanence of even the most effective algorithm. Learn the systems that generated triple-digit returns in the World Cup Trading Championship Develop an algorithmic approach for any trading idea using off-the-shelf software or popular platforms Test your new system using historical and current market data Mine market data for statistical tendencies that may form the basis of a new system Market patterns change, and so do system results. Past performance isn't a guarantee of future success, so the key is to continually develop new systems and adjust established systems in response to evolving statistical tendencies. For individual traders looking for the next leap forward, Building Algorithmic Trading Systems provides expert guidance and practical advice.

     It is about business process management (BPM) and Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN 2.0). Truth be told, there are several BPMN books on the market. Some of them are quite good, so why should you care about this one? This book distills the experience the authors accumulated while running Camunda, a consulting company that specializes in BPM. Camunda helped to define the BPMN specification, and during the past ten years, they have applied BPMN in over 1000 customer engagements. These were big businesses, small companies, and public institutions. Now you can benefit from this practical experience. Topics covered: The basics of modeling processes with Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN 2.0) Methods to apply BPMN successfully to real-world problems A practical approach for automating processes with BPMN 2.0 The alignment of business and IT as an attainable goal Advice on introducing BPMN across your company This book explains the notation, of course, but it also delves into the kinds of challenges that process designers face every day. It talks about pitfalls to avoid. It gives dos and don'ts. There are guidelines and best practices. In the 3rd edition we added introductions to the related BPM standards CMMN 1.1 for case management, handling unstructured processes DMN 1.1 for decision management, you might know as business rules management (BRM) This third edition in English is based on the successful fith German edition, which, according to amazon.de, it is the highest-ranked book on BPMN in German. The number of five-star ratings awarded by readers speaks volumes. Also available in Spanish. Note: The resolution of all images for the 3rd edition of the ebook has been increased to improve the digial reading experience.