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Apparently, there’s been an underground, cold war going on, not noticed much by humans, between “good” vampires—those who have altered their biological needs and can use synthetic blood—and “bad” vampires—Rogues who actively enjoy hunting, draining and butchering humans. Now Sheriff Hudson and his friends are in the middle of the war, which has gone above-ground and hot. The chase to catch and stop—kill if necessary—the Rogues consumes Hudson and his crew, as they struggle for their lives on the platform. The good vampires help as they can, but Hudson’s not sure he trusts them completely either. The war spills over, involving Earth and the Navy Space Force, as the hordes of Rogues and their Servants come forth openly, killing hundreds of humans as they try to obtain the materials they need. Hudson and his friends—Doctor Holly Marten, an old Navy friend from “back in the day”; Max, Hudson’s former platoon corpsman; Cal, Max’s boyfriend; Helga, Doc Marten’s assistant—have to first get their minds around the almost unimaginable, then deal with the crisis as it spreads from the mining platform to a solar system war. ...

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“Man, I’ve never seen anything like this,” I mutter to the screen in front of me. The stale smelling air in the office circulates slowly around me as the electronics hum in the background. “You know? I’ve been in this business a damn long time and never…” Max grunts as he looks over the vid I’ve sent him. “Spirit! Me neither. What the hell happened? Someone making some crazy juice up there? Found any?” He glances back to me from the other screen, grimacing. He’s been in the cop business longer that I’ve been so my instincts were right—if it upsets him, it’s gotta be as bad as I thought it looked. I’m no fainting pansy myself but jeeze…I shudder. “Nope. Doc says no trace of drugs. There was some grass in the compartment, but it was only the company-issued crap they give out for anxiety. The little green pellets. Nothing else. Nothing but this.” I look down at the vids myself, displayed on my desk. They show… They show what used to be a human, although you’d be hard pressed to guess that at first. There are parts everywhere in the compartment; the man was literally pulled limb from limb and then the limbs were, well, destroy...

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Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest is a narration of his life story by Abel, a Venezuelan, to a comrade. Once a wealthy young man, he meddled in politics to the extent of provoking a revolution... which failed. Escaping into the tropical forests of Guyana Abel takes up gold hunting, then journal-writing, and fails at both. Now with no aim for his life, he drifts until he takes up residence with a remote Indian tribe. Soon he learns of a wood the Indians avoid, as it is inhabited by a dangerous Daughter of the Didi, who, they say, slew one of them with magic. The fellow was in fact hit with a poisoned dart by accident, but his dying belief that she had caught the dart and hurled it at him survived him. Intrigued, Abel visits the wood repeatedly, and eventually encounters Rima. She indeed is something magical. She seems to have a pact with nature: animals don't molest her, she speaks in a melodious birdsong (as well as Spanish), and she even makes her garments of spider silk. When Abel is bitten by a venomous snake that acts protective of her, she and her grandfather Nuflo nurse Abel back to health. Both Abel and Rima ar...

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Romance

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A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, government, military history, science, philosophy, sports, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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History, Nature, Philosophy, Religion, War stories, Science, Politics

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In this biography for young adults, Mary A. Hamilton gives a British person’s perspective on the 16th President of the United States. A glowing tribute to “Honest Abe”, the author traces Lincoln’s ancestral roots and recounts his birth in Kentucky, his youth in Indiana, his adult life in Illinois and his years in the White House. She also provides a good background on the causes and course of the American Civil War. Hamilton is not always historically precise. For example, she erroneously names Jefferson Davis as the Southern Democratic candidate for president running against Lincoln and Douglas in 1860 rather than John C. Breckinridge. However, overall “The Story of Abraham Lincoln” is a good summarization and interesting account of the life, values and politics of Lincoln. Cautions: Chapter 7 contains a single use of an epithet for African-Americans in a quotation from a British magazine. Chapter 8 ends with an example of a stereotypical Southern black dialect which many may find offensive. (Summary by John Lieder.)...

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History, Children, Biography

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On preservation of the Western rights, freedoms and quality of life in 21st century and beyond

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Systemic approach to life of the highly cultured people provides them with higher level of happiness simply because their lives are better organized, risks are covered, reserves are maintained, dangers avoided, contacts established and so on so forth. Culture is not something that comes only with DNA, but genetic pre-disposition towards culture exists without doubt. Otherwise there would be no examples of people raising themselves above the scum they were born in and reaching high levels of society. Understanding of the elements of high culture, its systemic approach to organizing one’s life, can be practiced by virtually everybody. One just needs to want to elevate themselves and work towards that goal, which may involve getting better training and education, moving to a different neighborhood, getting a different job, spending time on more important things rather than on leisure, quitting drinking and smoking, refusing drugs, taking care of health, concentrating on the upbringing of the children and helping them in their adult life, babysitting grand-children, watching over quality of food supply and keeping the family ...

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Table of Contents Introduction iii Table of Contents iv About this book ix Who should not read this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Who is this book for? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Response to our critics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x About the authors xiii I What do we want to preserve and why? 1 1 Foreword 3 2 Measuring the quality of life 5 2.1 Individual happiness and self-fulfillment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.2 Individual rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.3 Social harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3 Checks and balances 11 3.1 Acceptable personal risk and responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 4 What is worth to fight for? 15 4.1 Security of the person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 4.2 Personal and societal wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

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Etymologically, aphorism + floral = aph(L)orism, which is a short reflection written on a floral design, or a short poetry accompanied by an artistic background. They are colorful contemplations. Maximus in minimis (Lat.) means very much in very little [max in min], or condensed thought, or ideating essence. They are actually maxims, adages, sayings mostly in one line (uni-stich) with a title, as a metaphoric statement, a breathing momentum that oils our soul....

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Nonchalantly : The wind with its mantle steps lightly. Skin Condition : The Sun has spots too. At what time? When it rains, God cries. Atmosphere : Blue, as the sky dirtied by clouds. Bright : A balcony full of Sun. Natural disaster : The swans look drunk on the fetid lake. Surprisingly : The crow is a beautiful black. Elegant woman : A bird high on her legs. Most powerful chess piece : You are a queen but only in the dark. Medicinal plant : You’re a flower but amongst weeds. Force that attracts food : The stomach’s gravitation pulls me to food....

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Passion.......................................................................23 Worthless.....................................................................23 Tired of you....................................................................23 Tittle-tattle....................................................................23 Talk is cheep...................................................................24 Give the man what he doesn’t have.................................................24 Novel for (non) writers...........................................................24 Desolate......................................................................24 Did I have the pleasure...........................................................24 Sloppy work....................................................................25 Despicable.....................................................................25 Wanted.......................................................................25 Talking in vain..................................................................25 Use caplets.....................................................

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Let's be honest. No other parenting books even try to show you how to make your son or daughter a great American. We do. Thirty-one (31) great men and women from across many professions, genders, politics, religions, and walks of life--the products of extraordinary parenting and mentoring. This book offers the exact techniques, words, phrases, mantras --to propel your offspring to incredible success -- toward rich, vivid lives. They worked for those parents and mentors. They can and will work for you too. Mantras are the 21st Century way to lock your ideals, standards, ethics, and principles into formative minds. By definition they demand repetition. The phrasing may stay the same or almost the same. The stories, the elaboration, the background, the colors may bob and weave. But the cores of the mantras stay fixed. Stars to remember and guide one through life. MANTRAS. The exact words used to motivate and guide those great future Americans. Distilled from over 500 biographies. These techniques, these words and phrases, WORK! This book uniquely brings you the best parenting and mentoring advice. Straight up. No bull. The EXACT, SPECI...

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Introduction An easier childhood? There is a deep-seated river that contrarily runs through most American parenting. The belief that “my children” should have it easier than we, as parents, had it — when we were growing up. That is the worst mantra of parents! Spoiling your kids is the worst curse you can bestow upon your kids and yourself. It will come back to haunt you. Over and over and over. And then it will be too late. An old adage. Well, maybe we’ve grown up a little and are now more accomplished at avoiding corporeal punishment, except in the most egregious situations. But we continue to spoil them in other ways. Excess money. Excess toys. Excess time on their hands with nothing constructive to do. Excess trivia in their lives....

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Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................. 10 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 11 An easier childhood? ........................................................................................ 11 Parenting has changed? .................................................................................... 11 Mantras are the past and the future .................................................................. 12 About the Author ....................................................................................................... 15 VOLUME I–THE ART OF PARENTING................................................................ 17 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ................................................................................................ 17 Who is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? ............................................................................... 17 Parenting Techniques .........................................................................

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The long-awaited third edition of the Atlas of Hawai'i is entirely revised in content and design. It is divided into six sections, five of which are abundantly illustrated. The first contains detailed reference maps with place names for towns, mountains, bays, harbors, and other features; geographical descriptions of the state and the main islands; and an introduction to Hawaiian place names. This is followed by four sections on the physical, biotic, cultural, and social aspects of the Hawai'i environment. Geology, climate, the ocean, water, soils, and astronomy are among the topics discussed in "The Physical Environment." Next the special character of terrestrial and marine ecosystems is described in "The Biotic Environment." "The Cultural Environment" considers the people of Hawai'i. The diversity of the state's cultures is treated in chapters on history and languages as well as archaeology, religion, and the arts. "The Social Environment" treats such elements as the economy, government, and tourism. The sixth and final section comprises a statistical supplement, bibliography, and gazetteer for the reference maps. Readers of th...

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Eo e ku'u lei mokupuni o na kai 'ewalu- I call to you, acknowledge O my lei islands of the eight seas. Located between 19 and 22 degrees north latitude, Hawai'i is the southernmost state in the United States and has the same general latitude as Hong Kong and Mexico City. It is situated almost in the center of the Pacific Ocean and is one of the most isolated yet populous places on Earth. The west coast of North America, for example, is 2,400 miles (3,900 kilometers) from Honolulu, and Japan is 3,800 miles (6,100 kilometers) away. Six time zones separate Hawai'i from the eastern United States. This means that 9:00 A.M. (eastern standard time) in Washington, D.C. and New York City is 6:00 a.m. in Los Angeles and 4:00 a.m. in Hawai'i....

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Preface -- ix -- Acknowledgments -- xi -- Introduction -- xiii -- Kaua'i and Ni'ihau -- 3 -- O'ahu -- 7 -- Moloka'i and Lana'i -- 11 -- Maui -- 14 -- Hawai'i -- 17 -- Northwestern Hawaiian Islands -- 23 -- Hawaiian Place Names -- 26 -- Mapping and Geodesy -- 29 -- Geology -- 37 -- Geothermal Resources -- 47 -- Climate -- 49 -- Hawai'i and Atmospheric Change -- 60 -- Paleoclimate and Geography -- 64 -- Natural Hazards -- 67 -- Earthquakes -- 69 -- Volcanic Hazards on the Island of Hawai'i -- 72 -- Hurricanes -- 74 -- Tsunamis -- 76 -- Coastal Hazards -- 79 -- The Ocean -- 82 -- Water -- 87 -- Soils -- 92 -- Astronomy -- 97 -- Biogeography -- 103 -- Evolution -- 107 -- Marine Ecosystems -- 111 -- Terrestrial Ecosystems -- 121 -- Birds -- 130 -- Native Plants -- 135 -- Insects and Their Kin -- 140 -- Hawaiian Tree Snails -- 144 -- Alien Species and Threats to Native Ecology -- 146 -- Endangered and Threatened Species -- 150 -- Protected Areas -- 154 -- Archaeology -- 161 -- History -- 169 -- Population -- 183 -- Languages -- 198 -- Religion -- 201 -- Architecture -- 205 -- Museums and Libraries -- 208 -- Culture and the Arts -- 211 --...

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What this Book is About There is a commonly held view that the incidence and scale of disasters is increasing in the modern world although some disagreement on whether the incidence of events, such as Tsunamis, earthquakes, fires, floods etc., that can give rise to disasters is increasing. The view is understandable, both population and their built environment are increasing so more is at risk and this trend of increased risk will continue while populations continue to rise. As the World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) enumerates this: ‘Natural disasters are becoming more costly: in constant dollars, disaster costs between 1990 and 1999 were more than 15 times higher ($652 billion in material losses) than they were between 1950 and 1959 ($38 billion at 1998 values) The human cost is also high: over the 1984–2003 period, more than 4.1 billion people were affected by natural disasters. The number affected has grown, from 1.6 billion in the first half of that period (1984–93) to almost 2.6 billion in the second half (1994-2003), and has continued to increase. Although disasters caused by natural events occur throughout...

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List of figures, table & Abbreviations ix Acknowledgements x What this Book is About 1 Chapter 1 - Key Concepts 7 Disaster Risk Reduction 7 Risk 10 Fast and Slow Onset Disasters 11 Resilience 12 Systems Thinking 13 Self-organising Systems 18 A System for Disaster Risk Reduction 21 Evaluation of Natural Disasters 22 Chapter 2 –Components of Disasters and NRM 27 Economic Analysis – Five Forms of Capital 27 The Significance of Context 31 Ecosystems Functional Analysis ...

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Space Force Grunts is a Science Fiction novel playing several generations into the future. After the human race has invented hyperspace flight, thousands of planets are colonised. Those new societies maintain their independence until the human race encounters an alien civilisation that also masters space flight and hyperspace travel. Being so very different from the human race, those aliens are at first not even recognised as an eminent civilisation commanding over impressive, seemingly sheer unlimited means and a proficient use of advanced technologies. When the mistake is discovered, it is too late already for avoiding a clash of civilisations and a violent conflict has already started. The worlds settled by the human race gradually unite ever more under the leadership of a political movement. Conscription is introduced to provide for the military forces’ need for soldiers. People with sufficient means can purchase freedom from conscription and escape the draft. The funds obtained by the administration via that purchase of freedom are used to supply the military with materials means like weapons and to pay the soldiers who get dra...

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Base 18 on Planet DN-DU-144/5 was a place that could only be found on detailed military maps. This planet was circling a sun situated at the border between our Local Bubble of stars in the Milky Way and the much bigger Loop 1 Bubble, another assembly of suns and planets. DN-DU-144/5 was the fifth planet in outward direction, when counted from the local star as centre. Base 18 now consisted of a dozen bunkers, a few deep wells and a couple of cisterns appendant to them, a makeshift front-line spa, and most importantly a maintenance station for fighter robots and combat drones. Base 18 on planet DN-DU-144/5 was in principle a bleak place. Though at that moment it was officially day-time at the location of base 18, there was actually just a little twilight. The far sun, going by the less-than-poetic name of DN-DU-144, illuminated only the abundant clouds enfolding the planet decently. Little light ever made it through to the surface. ‘I just love it’ Master Sergeant Koon had sarcastically said when arriving at this place, together with all the other soldiers of the 5th company. They had taken this base over from a unit that had suffe...

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Not Applicable

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Space Force Grunts (Second, Revised Edition) tells the story of soldiers conscripted to defend the Human Alliance, a civilisation that has spread over thousands of worlds after the invention of hyperspace flight. They are fighting an enemy they don't understand in a war they did not choose. Space Grunts is told mainly from the perspective of the rank and file of the Human Alliance ground forces, who face an eminent foe, commanding over far superior means. Space Force Grunts tells about the feelings and thoughts of these soldiers, reports their talks and the trials and tribulations they have to go through, as well as the little pranks they play to each other and their superiors. - See more at: http://gutenberg.us/wplbn0003468521-space-force-grunts--a-science-fiction-novel-by-potsch-ingo.aspx?#sthash.GxmYw9Wd.dpuf...

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Base 18 on Planet DN-DU-144/5 was a place that could only be found on detailed military maps. This planet was circling a sun situated at the border between our Local Bubble of stars in the Milky Way and the much bigger Loop 1 Bubble, another assembly of suns and planets. DN-DU-144/5 was the fifth planet in outward direction, when counted from the local star as centre. Base 18 now consisted of a dozen bunkers, a few deep wells and a couple of cisterns appendant to them, a makeshift front-line spa, and most importantly a maintenance station for fighter robots and combat drones. Base 18 on planet DN-DU-144/5 was in principle a bleak place. Though at that moment it was officially day-time at the location of base 18, there was actually just a little twilight. The far sun, going by the less-than-poetic name of DN-DU-144, illuminated only the abundant clouds enfolding the planet decently. Little light ever made it through to the surface. ‘I just love it’ Master Sergeant Koon had sarcastically said when arriving at this place, together with all the other soldiers of the 5th company. They had taken this base over from a unit that had suffe...

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Excerpt: Welcome to the fifth volume of Best of Four. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed bringing it to you. The purpose of Best of Four is to bring the best writing produced in English 004 each fall semester to the widest audience possible. Our students have important stories to tell and powerful voices to be heard. The students who read these essays will learn that they too have permission to state what is important to them in a public voice....

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Contents How to Use This Magazine .............................................................................................................. 3 High School to College Andrew Makhoul ........................................................................................ 4 Ignoring Problems Creates More! Ashley Morris................................................................................ 5 Hang in There Brad Hart ................................................................................................................. 6 Nate Brandi Saveri ........................................................................................................................... 7 The Best Birthday Is the Sixteenth Brent Heimbach ......................................................................... 9 Sharing the Bread of Angels Christa Sist ......................................................................................... 10 Tragedy in the Night Danielle Gehman .......................................................................................... 11 My Grandfather David Smith ..............................................