Goodbye 'sticks and stones', hello something more valuable
936294
I became a fan of Steven Covey's "7 habits of highly effective people" a few years ago. Not because he says anything new or groundbreaking, but because he simply formalizes what you already know to be true in a fashion which is repeatable and you can make habit forming. This book is the children's version of habit 1 - "be proactive". In it the protagonist, Pokey the porcupine, is teased because of his quills. He decides to be proactive, and takes control of his own life. Rather than let the bully dictate his feelings, he decides to shine and show off his quills. Steven Covey, (paraphrasing Viktor Frankl), would have said that this is a demonstration of the fact that between stimulus and response is a space which is called free will, and we need to exercise that will to be truly free. While the lesson may be complex, the book presents a simple implementation in a fashion that children can emulate and relate to.

The book also includes discussion questions and a few recommended "baby steps" in the back in a section called "Parents' corner". These questions are probably good starting points for how to communicate with a small child on these issues, especially after reading this book.
4287614
I was thoroughly impressed with this thoughtful, substantive, and important read by Joshua Becker. From schedules, artwork, photos, and sentimental items, to screens, clothes, collections, gifts, and toys, not only does Mr. Becker interrogate the culture of consumerism (an important inclusion), he invites us to evaluate our own lives, as he has done his own. His direct style of conveying the counterculture message with clarity, and even urgency, is what makes this book a highly worthy investment.

While this topic is a consolidation of many principles and ideas that were not new in my thinking, I found Clutterfree with Kids to be simply said, direct, and filled with gems from the get go. It has left a lasting impact since having read it. One of my favourite - "Don't Just DeClutter, De-Own". This is stuff we need to hear and to think about as we move through our daily lives. I cannot say enough good things about this book - I highly recommend it both to the reader who is new to the topic of minimalism and/or simplicity parenting and to the reader who is well read on these topics.
2403266
Over a decade I've owned some six of these portable DVD gizmos, for home use only and daily screenings of mint-condition DVDs and CDs. Planned obsolescence seems to be engineered in; all brands--save Sony--quite predictably fail on schedule in the seventeenth month of the standard eighteen-month warranty period. Panasonic is marginally acceptable but will ultimately break down. Sylvania players were marginally acceptable but current production models balk at playing brand-new DVDs. RCA players are a regrettable joke, shoddily manufactured and barely functional.

Some thought has gone into the engineering of Sony players, although the AC power cord is ridiculously short and may necessitate some furniture jockeying in your viewing area as it did in mine. Sony is committed to delivering, with its big crisp pixels, exactly what is inscribed on the disc, and that means Original Aspect Ratio. If you insist on "full frame" presentation (a tragic marketing misnomer if ever there was one), look elsewhere. Sony delivers--if the DVD distributors have been doing their element restoration and print sourcing correctly--precisely what the director and cinematographer intended for us to experience, nothing more nothing less.

The sound quality is adequate and much improved by using headphones (not supplied by Sony), the picture quality superb: bright, sharp, excellent resolution. The touchpad controls are sleek and very responsive if not ideally viewer-friendly. The unit is sturdily constructed (cf. RCA) and fits comfortably in the viewer's lap, short power cord notwithstanding.

The Sony is very fairly priced and represents good value in an offshore manufacture. It is clearly superior to its would-be competitors and will outlast them. If you appreciate Original Aspect Ratio and crisp visual imagery, the Sony player is the most reliable way to get visual authenticity out of your DVD library. Inexplicably a major big-box retailer based in Chicago which used to feature this brand can no longer do so, and I worry that the portable DVD player may become obsolete hardware (along with our cherished DVD software). Fortunately, Amazon and its third-party vendors continue to market the ideal Sony player fairly widely, and we must hope Sony sees fit to keep it in production since it fulfills a real need admirably and affordably.
4125575
Awesome. The cardboard tube of 1000 sticks and accessories fit in my back pocket. The value is superb.

I wish I had known that the sticks don't come with a union piece on either end. This is something that has to be done by you, one stick at a time. With better preparation this is a minute issue, but I waited until after passing festival security with a sealed tube of glow sticks to find out that they weren't fully ready to be distributed.
4619034
Most of us have those stashs of old report cards, faded photos, locks of hair tied with a ribbon, and yellowing marriage certificates from other generations.  This book gives ideas for pulling those items together in a meaningful album.
The author covers the needed supplies (choice of album, papers, decorative touches) and the pros and cons of each.  Journaling is explained and the ways to present your information, documenting the sources and show off your family heritage.
It's a lovely book to get you started or to give to your family genealogist.  They will be thrilled with the ideas for preserving and presenting your family memorabilia along with this history.
At the back are helpful forms for a family tree and to track your research.  There you also find 3 pages of genealogy resources, 3 pages of scrapbooking resources, a list of websites, and a glossary to help with unfamiliar terms.
2355250
This is the last great book on genealogy that pre-dates internet genealogy, and therein is it's value. I am writing in 2015 about a 2003 edition, so there is no point in comparing it to a "modern book".  What it can do for you is re-connect you with the rudiments of sourcing documents in the pre-digital age, which is still an important skill set in my view. This is a book a sourcing the old fashioned way and until the day comes that everything under the sun has been digitized, books like this, and this one in particular, will have value.
1231607
A bit obsolete, yet tremendously useful gadget. Small, portable, expendable.
Sound is surprizing "big" given the size of the drivers.
Splendid add on to a good Mp3 or a laptop, but not to be seriously considered as a stand alone MP3 player; built in MP3 player lacks adequate controls, the built in 30 mb are just insignificant and the supported Smart Media memory cards are obsolete, large and hideously expensive (hence the four instead of five stars).
Battery life is good.
Shop around, you should be able to get one for about $20 (S/H included)
1871100
You know you are dealing with a book that's overstating its value just a tad when you see this in the introduction:  "... we'll show you how the indicators we've chosen can help you see the turns in the economy before they happen.  With that prescience you can make changes to your investments ahead of time and avoid the suffering you probably felt during the past couple of years."  Now anyone who could actually predict the "turns in the economy" using these indicators -- or any others -- would be reclining on his yacht moored off the south of France, and would be unlikely to divulge his secrets in a mass market paperback.  That said, this book is an entertaining read and can serve as a useful reference to anyone who follows the markets or the broader economy.

Simon Constable writes for the Wall Street Journal and hosts their afternoon "NewsHub" recap of the markets.  Anyone who follows the NewHub will be familiar with his witty -- actually, kind of snarky -- commentary.  He's sort of the Simon Cowell of the Wall Street crowd.  His distinctive voice is evident in this book.  His co-author, Robert Wright, has written extensively on business history and used to be associated with the Stern School at NYU and the Museum of Financial History in Manhattan's financial district, although he apparently now teaches at a college in South Dakota.

The book consists of 50 short chapters devoted to the indicators.  Each chapter has a brief description of the indicator -- usually accompanied by a  quote from an investment analysts on the indicator's importance -- a time series graph of the indicator, and a discussion of possible investment opportunities that might occur when the indicator is unusually high or low.  Each chapter ends with an "Executive Summary" box that explains when data on the indicator are released, where to go to find the data, what to watch for, and so on.  To anyone who follows the financial news even casually, many of the indicators will be familiar, such as automobile sales, durable goods orders, or M2.  To most people, though, other indicators are likely to be less familiar, such as book-to-bill ratio, the Baltic dry index, and the Tankan survey.  I'm a little skeptical about how useful some of the more obscure indicators will be to the average investor, but they make for interesting reading.  The final (tongue-in-cheek) indicator, the "Vixen index," measures how attractive the waitresses are in your local restaurant.  The more attractive the waitresses, the worse the labor market, because in a strong labor market these attractive women would be working at better jobs elsewhere.

All-in-all, leaving aside the somewhat overstated claims the authors make for investment strategies based on these indicators, this is a valuable little reference tool and should be, at the very least, a fun read for most personal investors.
76399
If you use 1 stick and give it a good thin layer over a standard size piece of paper, it gives you about a half a sheet of paper worth of product. I wouldn't recommend it.
1373479
Powerpoint has taking something of a hammering in recent times - it's been accused of 'dumbing down' the nation and considerably more. It's with interest then that Microsoft Press have found it worthwhile to release a new publication that aims to provoke new thought in how such presentation tools can be used (of course, Microsoft - through sheer ubiquity - have again taken much of the heat and accusations that could be fairly aimed at any of the leading presentation software packages.)

The author suggests that we can do away will bullet points by following the example of Hollywood - tell a story. That, in a nutshell, is the theme.

The publication then provides a clear overview of the screen-writing process and how this can be applied to the development of a presentation. And, as can be expected from someone who bills himself as a 'Leading Communications Consultant', the material is refreshingly easy to read while still carrying much substance. Bravo!

Although templates are provided (downloadable as well), the author clearly lists the variations and combinations that can be used to avoid the proposed story format becoming formulaic.

The single biggest issue for me was what I felt was a rather weak story created as part of the key example. This might be just a personal thing but I honestly felt that the worked example didn't work for me as a strong approach to telling the message that was required.

This concern is perhaps aligned with what I still consider two very worth additions to this title to extract a fully rounded approach to the development of presentations: Presenting to Win and the Pyramid Principle. In particular, the Pyramid Principle, to me, adheres to the story telling approach but aligns itself much more with the needs of the printed (or projected) word than does the visual drive of the Hollywood screenplay. In doing so, I believe that it also more clearly addresses the concern of some reviewers that this publication might not 'scale down' to more detailed presentations.

Still, until everyone in the corporate world has read this book it's still worthwhile avoiding most of the presentations out there.
4151966
Over the years I have let a number of swords pass through my hands, keeping one or two and letting some of the others go, until I decided to go into it a bit more deeply and borrowed this book to see if I had let a fortune pass through my hands.

This book gave me the answer to most of my questions, particularly as it has a price guide as well (but this soon becomes dated) and I really only used it as a guide because book prices and what you can actually get on the open market are usually two different things.

What did surprise was the number of different kinds of swords there are and the quality and workmanship that goes into some of them, mostly ceremonial swords, with etched blades and god wire woven into the hilt. Wht did come across loud and clear was the price that some of these weapons are now fetching. A swords that you could have picked up for 10-20 thirty years ago is now in the low hundreds. As an aid to identification the book is a useful tool for the enthusiast, although it is not cheap, but what is these days.
346868
Art may be a symbol of a culture, but its perceived value has been a prize of conquest since before recorded history. The chief distinction between then and now has been the application of the industrial revolution's technology to loot with amazing abandon, a predominantly Western European endeavor. While the author's sympathies are with the exploited countries of origin, as we know them now, the case for the alternative is succinctly made and explored: If rich westerners saw works of amazing art, the locals saw cheap building supplies and raw materials. The builders of these amazing works of art were races and societies apart from those who inhabit those regions today, who more often then not are indifferent, if not actually hostile, to what we might consider to be cultural patrimony. The focus on four western art institutions that have benefited from the plunder, still ongoing, is contrasted with the political entities who are exploiting the western hand wringing with the raw exercise of power for its own sake. Well written if not a bit preachy, the book's 399 pages are organized into 15 chapters within four parts.
2237702
Rather than stick to their guns and carry on with the progression first started with Fragments of Freedom, Morcheeba have instead ducked out, and given the public what they want: a tired and out of date re-tread of the sound that first gave them some exposure. This makes me believe that Morcheeba are nothing more than money grabbing capitalists - not the genuine creative force we so often hear them to be from their overblown press releases. Filling up the CD with 'big name' guests is merely a crafty act to distract from the fact that, boiled down, we've heard all this stuff before - back when it seemed fresh and exciting. That is no longer the case, Morcheeba know it, and before you go dishing out hard cash for this CD, you need to know it too. Stick to the first two CDs - both essential - everything else just points down. It was fun while it lasted.
946330
Frankly, this thing is far better than just a "portable" kit; it should be the standard for the game.  the price is so much saner than the complicated big version, I think this is MORE fun to play; the rubber-tipped sticks and the pads have a nice bouncy firmness to them.  Being able to pack them up to transport them is just gravy, as far as I'm concerned.  I'm very glad I found these instead of buying a complete set!
4242457
I was dubious about "crock stick" style sharpeners until my son told me about his experience with them. I ordered this one to see if I would have the same good luck -- which I have.

These are not designed for a lot of material removal, as when your knife edge needs major re-working, so if you've got a really messed up knife edge I believe you would need to start with something other than these -- like a good sharpening stone or set of stones, where you can apply more pressure and contact more of the edge at once. But as long as your blade is close to being sharp -- no significant nicks that need to be taken out first, and already in the ballpark of having (or STILL having) a cutting edge, I think these are a good investment.

The main advantage of this type of sharpener is that you don't have to be able to hold the blade edge at 12 degrees or 15 degrees, or 20, or whatever, by eyeballing it -- something that's very difficult. Of course, there are other kinds of sharpening devices that'll lock the knife at the angle you want; but if you don't have such tools in the situation you're in, and/or don't want to pay what they cost, these sticks are a reasonable alternative. With crock sticks, you will still have to make an angle judgment by eyeball, but it's a much easier challenge: you just try to hold the edge straight up and down relative to the work surface. Chances are, you'll miss it minutely on every pass; but after several passes, as long you keep TRYING to hold the blade straight up and down, the results seem to work out almost as well as if you really nailed the 90 degrees. (I guess these near misses overlap, and sort of smooth out the result.)

My own statement that these near misses tend to work out okay sounds improbable even to me, but "the proof is in the pudding"; I'm getting my wood-carving knives and everyday carry knives noticeably sharper since I started using the Lansky crock sticks, and doing it quicker.

One minor annoyance or concern kept me from rating these at 5. But bear in mind, these are the only crock sticks I've used, so all the other brands could have the same minor annoyance -- and even have it worse -- and I wouldn't know that.
Here's what bugged me, though: the sticks are not snug in the drilled holes where you stand them up during sharpening, so they can shift around a little bit as you draw the blade across and down them. A solution that works for me is simply to stabilize the stick by holding a finger on the upper end of it, but I would have felt better about the situation/product if the fit had been just snug enough for me not to be concerned with it at all. (Holding the stick still by fingertip isn't perfect, either, because you can also accidentally tip them in the wrong direction and change the angle that way.) It is NOT a big deal, though, as long as I focus on the task at hand -- which is a good idea when handling knives, anyway. So I'm still very pleased with the purchase.
1873296
Face it, there's very little new under the trading sun, strategy-wise, but presumably there are always new investors making their way through an ever growing sea of media, advice, literature, and historical data in search of a solid system to guide them . Sure, plenty will always be searching for silver-bullet programs to achieve fast profits, but Pham is not speaking directly to such an audience, or I suspect he'd do his best to discourage such quixotic thinking.

I'd regard Pham's approach as a sensible extrapolation and refinement of known quant techniques pertaining to price and volume.  The most important ever-obvious-but-so-hard-to-swallow idea he shares is we should abandon the notion that market behavior can in any sense be predicted.

Rather Pham believes markets can best be viewed as interconnected streams of probabilities rather than a treasure map of hidden absolute predictors.

For example, Pham regards the chart pattern matching of technical analysis as a distraction that can fool us into believing we see and know more than we do - an interesting idea he calls `multistability' that explains our response to optical illusions. It's no surprise the resulting false confidence can frequently cost us money.  While fundamental analysis may reveal what fueled past growth honest practitioners will concede it's in no way a firm predictor of future growth.

Pham's approach can be summed up as stripping out as much data noise as possible and focusing on a small set of probabilities and trade setups. Trends and ranges involve interpretation and, like all interpretation, they include the potential for error and multiple viewpoints. Prices and volume are facts and, in the end, the only certainty we have as traders to base our actions upon.

He regards the four known price points (high, low, open, close) as what really matter, particularly opening range that he describes as `a slice of price, not a slice of time' and a source of `high probability trending moves'. He focuses on building a set of small quantitative tools (formula) he believes are more useful than the multicolored dashboards of charts, screens, monitors, and calculators many firms use to appeal to potential clients.

The writing style is refreshing clear-headed and dialed-down emotionally - as Pham believes our trading actions should be. There's none of the faux street guy toughness and macho posing I've read in other trading books - an attitude that often masks unimaginative takes on well-worn trading strategies that can have you looking like a genius, 'part of the time under certain market conditions'.  Nor is Pham trying to sell you on subscribing to his website or newsletter.

I appreciated the author's candor when he says the book isn't just for those who want to trade themselves, but should serve as a guide to communicate with the person actively managing your money.

Remove emotion, unfounded perceptions, and interpretive ambiguity from your trading actions. Simple, but far from simplistic, and requiring a discipline of mind and emotion.

`The Big Trade' will appeal to people with some investing experience who are serious about committing time and resources to tailoring a trading system that works for them - and are put off by so much of the high-energy advice/entertainment industry that's grown up around the markets.
4681144
Some of the information is a bit outdated as there has been a technological revolution since this book's last update. Earthworks has released game changing QTC microphones and ZDT preamps that aren't mentioned here, while many of the recommended microphones and preamps in this book are no longer made and are prized as antiques now costing many thousands of dollars more than they use to cost at the time of this book's publication. A set of 3 recommended M50's is going to cost you over $40k used. An AKG C12, often referred to here,  will cost you over 5 grand, and there are no mentions of better far cheaper mics that have come out recently. Still, having said all that, I saved a lot of money getting turned on to the AT4050 and the sure M57 as a result of reading this book, neither of which come at a prohibitive cost. DAW's and DA interfaces have come a long way since this third edition, and there is no mention of perfectly good digital compressors, EQ plug ins etc. In terms of learning about mic placement and controlling the sound picked up by those mics, this book is still essential reading.