Search results for ""author stan"

Setting Aside All Authority is an important account and analysis of seventeenth-century scientific arguments against the Copernican system. Christopher M. Graney challenges the long-standing ideas that opponents of the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus and Galileo were primarily motivated by religion or devotion to an outdated intellectual tradition, and that they were in continual retreat in the face of telescopic discoveries. Graney calls on newly translated works by anti-Copernican writers of the time to demonstrate that science, not religion, played an important, and arguably predominant, role in the opposition to the Copernican system. Anti-Copernicans, building on the work of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, were in fact able to build an increasingly strong scientific case against the heliocentric system at least through the middle of the seventeenth century, several decades after the advent of the telescope. The scientific case reached its apogee, Graney argues, in the 1651 New Almagest of the Italian Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli, who used detailed telescopic observations of stars to construct a powerful scientific argument against Copernicus. Setting Aside All Authority includes the first English translation of Monsignor Francesco Ingoli’s essay to Galileo (disputing the Copernican system on the eve of the Inquisition’s condemnation of it in 1616) and excerpts from Riccioli's reports regarding his experiments with falling bodies.

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ON MICKEY SPILLANE’S 100TH BIRTHDAY-- A BRAND-NEW NOVEL FROM THE MASTER When legendary mystery writer Mickey Spillane died in 2006, he left behind the manuscript of one last novel he’d just completed: THE LAST STAND. He asked his friend and colleague (and fellow Mystery Writers of America Grand Master) Max Allan Collins to take responsibility for finding the right time and place to publish this final book. Now, on the hundredth anniversary of Spillane’s birth, his millions of fans will at last get to read THE LAST STAND, together with a second never-before-published work, this one from early in Spillane’s career: the feverish crime novella A BULLET FOR SATISFACTION. A tarnished former cop goes on a crusade to find a politician’s killer and avoid the .45-caliber slug with his name on it. A pilot forced to make an emergency landing in the desert finds himself at the center of a struggle between FBI agents, unsavory fortune hunters, and members of the local Indian tribe to control a mysterious find that could mean wealth and power – or death. Two substantial new works filled with Spillane’s muscular prose and the gorgeous women and two-fisted action the author was famous for, topped off by an introduction from Max Allan Collins describing the history of these lost manuscripts and his long relationship with the writer who was his mentor, his hero, and for much of the last century the bestselling author in the world.

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Teach your child the importance of embracing their uniqueness, celebrating the differences in others, and having a positive outlook with Stand Beautiful. International speaker, TEDx speaker, and anti-bullying author Chloe Howard shows kids that they are perfect in their own imperfect ways.With humor and heart, Chloe and her friends take a road trip to encourage others who are struggling with loving themselves. After learning about their issues, Chloe and her friends spread positivity with easy-to-remember affirmations: Be proud of who you are. Stand up and accept yourself. Boldly face your beautiful self. Rock your differences. I am the best me there is. Stand Beautiful features colorful and adorable illustrations by Deborah Melmon. This picture book will help children ages 4 to 8 who struggle with issues stemming from anxiety, bullying, self-esteem, confidence, and acceptance.Born with a clubfoot, author Chloe Howard had five major operations by the time she was fifteen. Through her hardships, she learned that each of us is perfect in our own imperfect way. Chloe wants to help your child stand beautiful too!

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2019 Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award? An exquisitely written, uplifting middle grade debut by acclaimed author, Erin Bow, about a young girl who defies her family's expectations in order to save her brother and become an eagle hunter, perfect for fans of PAX. It goes against all tradition for Aisulu to train an eagle, for among the Kazakh nomads, only men can fly them. But everything changes when Aisulu discovers that her brother, Serik, has been concealing a bad limp that risks not just his future as the family's leader, but his life too. When her parents leave to seek a cure for Serik in a distant hospital, Aisulu finds herself living with her intimidating uncle and strange auntie - and secretly caring for an orphaned baby eagle. To save her brother and keep her family from having to leave their nomadic life behind forever, Aisulu must earn her eagle's trust and fight for her right to soar. Along the way, she discovers that family are people who choose each other, home is a place you build, and hope is a thing with feathers. Erin Bow's lyrical middle grade debut is perfect for fans of original animal-friendship stories like Pax and Because of Winn Dixie. AGES: 10 to 12 AUTHOR: Erin Bow was trained as a physicist, though she now spends her days writing poetry and fiction in a tiny (though heated) garden shed in Ontario, Canada. Her books - which include fairy tale Plain Kate, the thoughtful horror Sorrow's Knot and science fiction duology The Scorpion Rules and The Swan Riders - have won a fistful of awards.

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The War of 1812 has been regarded by many historians as a ""small naval war"" of little importance. Not so to the Indian tribes of the Old Northwest, who joined the British attempt to hold off the expansionist American armies in a desperate effort to retain their tribal lands, promised to them by the British in return for their alliance. The Indian force numbered some sixteen hundred warriors-Shawnees, Winnebagoes, Kickapoos, Potawatomis, Sacs, Ottawas, Muncey Delawares, Ojibwas, and Senecas among them.In September and October of 1813, after holding the frontier against the United States for more than a year, a small force of British and Indians under General Henry Procter and the Shawnee chief Tecumseh was driven from Amherstburg after the Battle of Lake Erie. They retreated to the River Thames. The succeeding engagement at Moraviantown, on October 5, 1813, was the most decisive American victory won on British soil in this war. The death of Tecumseh, who was killed while valiantly defending the field after the British had fled, cost the British-Indian alliance its most effective leader.The story of the campaign has never been fully told from the point of view of the Indians and the British, but innumerable legends have persisted about it, many of them contrasting the courage of the Shawnee chief with the alleged cowardice of Procter. In attempting to dispel the myths, John Sugden searched for surviving records in Britain, Canada, and the United States. He found a major source of information in the little-known minutes of General Procter's court-martial, filed in the Public Record Office at Kew, England.From this and many other sources, both published and unpublished, the author has comprehensively reconstructed the retreat and tackled the major questions: why was Procter compelled to withdraw from Amherstburg after the loss of his squadron on Lake Erie; why and how did Procter and Tecumseh fight at Moraviantown; how was Tecumseh killed; and how did the engagement affect the fortunes of the British, the Indians, and the Americans in the remaining months of the war.Sugden further enhances our knowledge about the great Chief Tecumseh in the definitive account of the circumstances surrounding his death.

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This important new work by Roy Wagner is about the autonomy of symbols and their role in creating culture. Its argument, anticipated in the author's previous book, The Invention of Culture, is at once symbolic, philosophical, and evolutionary: meaning is a form of perception to which human beings are physically and mentally adapted. Using examples from his many years of research among the Daribi people of New Guinea as well as from Western culture, Wagner approaches the question of the creation of meaning by examining the nonreferential qualities of symbols—such as their aesthetic and formal properties—that enable symbols to stand for themselves.

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'I love [Rachael's] comics - human, humane, funny and always surprising.' Chris Addison, comedian and director of VeepAfter going through a breakup and attempting to get on with her new, single life, award-winning comic-creator and author of Quarantine Comix, Rachael Smith, found solace in documenting her experiences through comic strips.Stand in Your Power, which follows on from where Wired Up Wrong left off, takes on the universal yet highly personal topics of loneliness, friendship, depression, love, figuring out who you are and moving on, among many others.Always extremely relatable, this collection, which was previously shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print award, has Rachael's trademark warmth, honesty and humour.

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"What do you get when you combine a 7th grader, a gerbil, a package of ground beef, and an alien space ship on a chase across the universe? David Lubar's latest masterpiece, of course!"-Dan Gutman, bestselling author of the My Weird School series, on Emperor of the Universe Nicholas, Jeef, and Henrietta the gerbil face their most existential crisis yet when the universe is attacked by beings from a parallel universe intent on conquering every other parallel universe. If Nicholas fails in his mission to defend the universe, it'll mean the end of life itself.. The Empire's Last Stand is the third and final intergalactic Emperor of the Universe adventure.

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In response to the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, central banks have used all available instruments in their monetary policy tool-kit to avoid financial market disruptions and a collapse in real economic activities. These actions have expanded the size of their balance sheets and altered the composition of the asset-side. This edited book highlights how these assets are managed, providing an intellectual and practical contribution to an under-researched field of central bank responsibilities. It first reviews the sources and uses of domestic and international assets and how they complement—or possibly conflict with—the implementation of monetary policy goals. Next, the book examines the asset management mandate in a balance sheet context before turning to the investment decision-making process from strategic and tactical asset allocation to investment strategies, risk management, governance, reporting and control. Finally, it presents new developments in the field of managing assets at central banks. The individual chapters are written by central bankers, academics, and representatives from International Financial Institutions, each representing a particular aspect of the asset management practice.Practical and powerful insights from a hall of fame of investors, central bankers and scholars, are packed into this one volume. If you could have only one book on central bank asset management, this would be it. —Peter R. Fisher, Clinical Professor, Tuck School of Business at DartmouthJacob Bjorheim draws on his long experience in sovereign asset management to pull together a rich collection of insights from a broad range of expertise. Asset management at central banks has evolved and expanded considerably over the past decade. This book is a timely source of information and guidance. —Guy Debelle, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of AustraliaCentral bank balance sheets have grown at a tremendous pace over the last decade and a half. Drawing on contributions from scholars and experienced central bankers from around the world, this timely and insightful book sheds light on how central banks are, and should be, managing their growing balance sheets. —Kjell G. Nyborg, Chaired Professor of Finance, University of Zurich, Author of Collateral Frameworks: The Open Secret of Central BanksCentral banks and monetary authorities are charged with, and being held accountable for, managing portfolios of foreign currency assets of unprecedented size. The essays in this admirable book, written by some of the worlds most highly experienced officials, cover the full range of why and how this is currently being done and how new developments are affecting old practices. Interesting conceptually and immensely useful practically. —William White, Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute, former Head of the Monetary and Economic Department with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee at the OECDAn excellent and timely review of modern international reserve management, which ought to be read by everyone working with, or simply interested in, international asset management and finance as well as monetary and economic policy. The spectrum of authors is broad and their combined insight is very valuable. —Tom A. Fearnley, Investment Director, Norwegian Ministry of FinanceWith “Asset Management at Central Banks and Monetary Authorities”, Jacob Bjorheim has achieved an editorial tour de force. The book assembles the insightful views of the leading experts in the field, both from an academic and practitioners’ perspective. It bridges the gap between the macroeconomics of central banks and the financial management of their reserves. A must read to understand how central banks are special in the group of institutional investors. —Eric Bouyé, Head of Asset Allocation and Quantitative Strategies, Treasury Department, The World BankThe balance sheet is a large and important toolbox for any central bank and specifically the foreign exchange reserves constitute one the more powerful of these tools. This book provides excellent insight in the various perspectives of managing reserves at a central bank. —Heidi Elmér, Director of Markets Department, Severiges RiksbankThe world of international reserves has changed since the global financial crisis. In this volume, Jacob Bjorheim has assembled a stellar cast of experts to explain how and what that means for reserves management. With chapter authors like Andrew Ang, Jennifer Johnson-Calari, Robert McCauley, Ravi Menon, Simon Potter and Philip Turner, it is a book that every reserve manager must read. —Eli Remolona, Professor of Finance and Director of Central Banking, Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT SloanJacob Bjorheim has succeeded in bringing together a first-class team of experts, and organising their contributions in an articulated journey from the central banks’ policy mandate to their asset management practices. An indispensable post-crisis update of the subject and a a required reading for anyone professionally involved with central bank’s asset management, or simply curious about a topic benefitting otherwise from limited research. —Louis de Montpellier, Former Global Head, Official Institutions Group, SSGA, and former Deputy Head, Banking Department, Bank for International Settlements (BIS), BaselAt last, a book that shares with a wider audience, deep insight in a unique, challenging and ethical approach of asset management developed and implemented in the secretive world of central banks. If you wonder how to manage funds that stand ready for use at short notice in times of stress then this book is for you. Two features make it such a valuable read and a must-have reference: First, the very comprehensive list of themes covered from a rich diversity of angles. Second, the very impressive list of prominent institutions and authors that have contributed and shared their analysis and practical approaches of the issues presented. What is better than to get the information directly from first-hand practitioners, experts and managers themselves in their own words? —Jean-Pierre Matt, Former Head of Financial Analysis at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and founder of QuanteisThis book holds the promise to become the go-to guide for anyone wishing to learn more about the management of official foreign exchange reserves. Central bankers in particular, but also those providing services to central banks, will find benefit from the broad scope in subject matter and varied perspectives being presented. I am yet to see a compendium on official reserve management with similar reach in subject matter. —Leon Myburgh, Former Head Financial Markets Department, South African Reserve Bank (SARB), PretoriaThis is an immensely timely book at a time when central bank operations, and their balance sheets, remain “larger for longer”. Following the Financial Crisis 10 years ago, and with the Covid-19 Recession about to break, central bank balance sheets are at the forefront of the authorities’ response to economic issues as never before. Yet the management of their now large-scale assets remains a little known and little studied area. The authors of this book combine extensive technical and practical experience, and their observations will fill an important gap in the literature at a critical time. —Freyr Hermannsson, Former Head of Treasury, Central Bank of Iceland, Reykjavík

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A nail-biting, tough-talking classic western from the author of GET SHORTY and JACKIE BROWN.In LAST STAND AT SABER RIVER, a Civil War veteran returns home to find a Yankee's private army living on his land, while another enemy waits to strike...Paul Cable has fought - and lost - for the Confederacy but when he returns home he finds that his own war is far from over. The Union Army and two brothers - and a beautiful woman - have taken over Cable's spread and are refusing to give it back. But Cable is determined that no one is going to take his future away - not with words, not with treachery, and not with guns.

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Stand out like you’re 7 feet tall — how to think and act differently as a K-12 leader Tall people stand out in a crowd. Tall people think and act differently: people like author Steven Bollar. He has spent his career as a principal and administrator creating school cultures that make students excited to learn and achieve their goals. In Stand Tall Leadership, Steven shows you that it doesn't matter what your natural height really is—you can stand tall in everything you do by thinking and acting differently from those around you. Designed for K-12 leaders, this unique and engaging book helps you overcome challenges in your school, manage effectively, inspire your staff, build strong relationships, communicate clearly, and much more. The Stand Tall Leadership philosophy is all about creating the best possible environment at your school. Strong leadership skills are essential for making better decisions, maintaining your focus and priority, and maximizing outcomes with students, staff, parents, and the entire community. The principles and techniques in this book will strengthen your own leadership skills and assist you in developing effective leaders within your school. Providing hands-on tools and real-world guidance, this valuable resource will help you: Connect with staff, understand their needs, and set them up for success Keep your best employees and leaders right where they are, not chasing other opportunities Assessyour leadership skills and make immediate, meaningful improvements Maintain focus in any situation to increase productivity and get outstanding results Repair damaged relationships that slow down progress and impede success Stand Tall Leadership: Stand Tall to Think Differently and Lead Successfully is a must-read for all K-12 leaders and administrators, as well as K-12 educators looking to develop their leadership skills.

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LEARN HOW TO WRITE AND PERFORM STAND UP COMEDY.A new edition of Be A Great Stand-Up, now fully revised and updated with new material on setting up and running a comedy night and mining almost any subject for jokes.Logan Murray has successfully taught the techniques of stand-up comedy to thousands, and in this book he distills his years of experience into the essential skills for a great and enjoyable performance. He will help you find your creative streak and your funny side, build the confidence to deliver, and explain the finer details of stagecraft, from dealing with hecklers to coping with props. There is a full guide to the practicalities, from finding gigs to securing an agent, with plenty of valuable hints, tips and advice. Drawing on Logan's years of teaching and his own successful stand-up career, with top tips from some of the most well-known people in the business, it is guaranteed to bring a smile to both your face and that of your future audience.As well as full updates throughout the book, this new edition contains fresh material on how to set up and run a comedy night, mine any subject for jokes and advice on festivals.ABOUT THE SERIESThe Teach Yourself Creative Writing series helps aspiring authors tell their story. Covering a range of genres from science fiction and romantic novels, to illustrated children's books and comedy, this series is packed with advice, exercises and tips for unlocking creativity and improving your writing. And because we know how daunting the blank page can be, we set up the Just Write online community at tyjustwrite, for budding authors and successful writers to connect and share.

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Two hilarious best friends create their very own podcast in this feel-good middle grade graphic novel about making the spotlight your own, from the bestselling author of Just Pretend.Lights, Curtains…Podcast!  Best friends Clay and Kyle can’t help but inject fun into everything. Whether they’re goofing off backstage during a performance or making rib-tickling jokes at an open mic, these two are always ready to make people laugh! Now Clay’s hoping to shift her improv skills to the stage in her middle school's production of Gals and Dolls, which means spending even more time with her crush, Dania. But Clay’s boisterous humor doesn’t sit well with the director, who has ZERO tolerance for fun.   Clay, however, refuses to be boring! She and Kyle are eager to bring their comedic talents into the spotlight, but school musicals are too serious, open mic

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This volume illustrates lamps from the Byzantine period excavated in the Holy Land and demonstrates the extent of their development since the first enclosing/capturing of light (fire) within a portable man-made vessel. Lamps, which held important material and religious functions during daily life and the afterlife, played a large role in conveying art and cultural and political messages through the patterns chosen to decorate them. These cultural, or even more their religious affinities, were chosen to be delivered on lamps (not on other vessels) more than ever during the Byzantine period; these small portable objects were used to ‘promote’ beliefs like the ‘press’ of today. Each cultural group marked the artifacts / lamps with its symbols, proverbs from the Old and New Testaments, and this process throws light on the deep rivalry between them in this corner of the ancient world. The great variety of lamps dealt with in this volume, arranged according to their various regions of origin, emphasizes their diversity, and probably local workshop manufacture, and stands in contrast to such a small country without any physical geographic barriers to cross, only mental ones (and where one basket of lamps could satisfy the full needs of the local population). The lamps of the Byzantine period reflect the era and the struggle in the cradle of the formation of the four leading faiths and cultures: Judaism (the oldest), Samaritanism (derived from the Jewish faith), newly-born Christianity – all three successors to the existing former pagan culture – and the last, Islam, standing on a new threshold. Unlike during the former Greek and Roman periods of rule, the land of Israel during the Byzantine period did not really have a central government or authority. The variety of the oil lamps, their order and place of appearance during the Byzantine period can be described as a ‘symphony played by a self-conducted orchestra, where new soloists rise and add a different motet, creating stormy music that expresses the rhythm of the era’. This volume, like the author’s earlier books on this subject, is intended to create a basis for further study and evaluation of the endless aspects that lamps bring to light and which are beyond the capacity of any single scholar.

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Red Squirrel Phonics is a new series of decodable readers from Raintree, packed with real stories and non-fiction texts using words that children can read. The programme teaches children phonics skills in a sequential and systematic way so that they can learn the sounds (phonemes) and the letters that represent them (graphemes) and then practise and apply this knowledge through reading appealing, decodable texts that make sense. This ensures that every beginner reader will experience success in their reading from their very first book! This is a Level 5 Set 2c book focusing on adjacent consonants with long vowels. Pam doesn’t like going to the vet. Nothing Nat or Mum do can make Pam stand up so the vet can look at her teeth.

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Jeff Goulding''s Red Odyssey, an epic chronicle of Liverpool FC''s history, continues with more tales of drama and joy, heroes and villains, victors and vanquished.In 2020, Klopp''s Reds captured the club''s first league title in 30 years, completing a remarkable treble of domestic, European and world honours. Jurgen''s Last Stand: Red Odyssey IV is the story of what came next, reliving how Jürgen came agonisingly close to a clean sweep of all available honours in 2022 before carrying off a domestic cup double.Goulding treats us to a supporter''s-eye view of the drama in Paris, which is emotively contrasted with a glorious homecoming that enveloped the team and the city of Liverpool in a blanket of solidarity and celebration.Finally, as a tired Klopp battles to build Liverpool 2.0, supporters are rocked by his decision to step down at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, before their passionate response propels him and the club through yet another hist

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Set in New Mexico, St Agnes’ Stand is a classic story of the American West. Nat Swanson is on the run from a mob of Texas cowboys. He has killed a man in a fair fight, but the man’s friends believe he was shot in the back and set out to string Swanson up for murder. A bullet in his leg slows him down and with the posse closing in, his chances of survival look dim. Trying desperately to get to sanctuary in California, he comes upon two freight wagons besieged by Apaches, and, against his better judgment, stops to help. He kills one of the Indians with his grandfather's antique crossbow, buying time for whoever survives behind the wagons. Thinking he's done his good deed, he continues his flight. One of those trapped, however, is 76-year-old Sister Agnes, who prays to God for a man to deliver her, her fellow nuns and the seven orphans they are transporting. Sister Agnes is convinced that Nat Swanson has been sent by God to rescue them. Swanson is equally convinced that the best they can hope for is not to be taken alive. And for five gruesome days in the blazing heat and dust, faith fights with humanity for the simple right to exist.

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One little question propels both author and reader on a genre-bending quest to find the elusive essence of a Canadian province built on sturdy stereotypes of oil-spoiled, beef-eating, bible-thumping rednecks devoid of class or culture. Through essay, interview, colourful observation, and whatever other exposé it takes to amplify the hyperbolic absurdity of seeking a simple answer to an incendiary question, Geo Takach spotlights the cultural complexity of this perplexing province. Readers will be delightfully edified after a dizzying romp around Wild Rose Country with Geo and a cast of citizens and celebs (alive and dead).

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Logan Murray has successfully taught the techniques of stand-up comedy to thousands, and in this book he distills his years of experience into the essential skills for a great and enjoyable performance. He will help you find your own creative streak and your funny side, build the confidence to deliver, and explain the finer details of stagecraft, from dealing with hecklers to coping with props. There is a full guide to the practicalities, from finding gigs to securing an agent, with plenty of valuable hints, tips and advice. Drawing on Logan's years of teaching and his own successful stand-up career, with top tips from some of the most well-known people in the business, it is guaranteed to bring a smile to both your face and that of your future audience.Be a Great Stand-up includes:Part one - TheoryChapter 1: Where do jokes come from?Chapter 2: Building a jokeChapter 3: Comedy ground rulesChapter 4: What sort of comic are you?Part two - Practical sessionsChapter 5: Unlocking your creativityChapter 6: Emotional exaggerationChapter 7: Creating materialChapter 8: StagecraftChapter 9: Microphone techniqueChapter 10: Hecklers and crowd controlChapter 11: What other comics thinkChapter 12: BusinessChapter 13: Your first gigChapter 14: The futureABOUT THE SERIESThe Teach Yourself Creative Writing series helps aspiring authors tell their story. Covering a range of genres from science fiction and romantic novels, to illustrated children's books and comedy, this series is packed with advice, exercises and tips for unlocking creativity and improving your writing. And because we know how daunting the blank page can be, we set up the Just Write online community at tyjustwrite, for budding authors and successful writers to connect and share.

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Stand is a call to really live. To live out your Christian life - standing on the truth of who God is and who you are in him. Standing on the reality of what he's done. Standing firm in battle. Standing up for others and being prepared to stand out. In the steps of Mere Christianity and The Fight, Karl Martin re-tells and re-frames God's ancient call to discipleship and witness for a new generation, keeping Jesus firmly at the centre.

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There are seven billion-plus humans crowding the surface of 21st-century Earth. It is an age of intelligent computers, mass-market psychedelic drugs, politics conducted by assassination, scientists who burn incense to appease volcanoes ... all the hysteria of a dangerously overcrowded world, portrayed in a dazzlingly inventive style.Moving, sensory, impressionistic, as jagged as the times it portrays, this book is a real mind stretcher - and yet beautifully orchestrated to give a vivid picture of the whole.

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Stand Out is a six-level, standards-based ESL series for adult education, with a proven track record of successful results. The new edition of Stand Out, continues to provide students with the foundations and tools needed to achieve success in life, college, and career.

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It’s summer, and Emma and Izzie are bored and broke. Setting up a lemonade stand is a sweet way to solve both those problems! But running a business isn’t as easy as it seems. Hopefully their hard work will pay off! Emma is deaf and often uses sign language to communicate, and this early chapter book includes additional information about sign language perfect for young readers.

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Multi-award-winning Sylvester Chauke is a self-confessed Madonnacrazy, entrepreneur and founder of DNA Brand Architects. After an illustrious career as the national marketing manager for Nando’s South Africa, Sylvester joined broadcasting giant MTV Networks Africa as its director of marketing and communication. In 2012, Sylvester established DNA Brand Architects, a marketing and brand consultancy that works with some of the most revered brands on the continent including Vodacom, Pernod Ricard, SABMiller, Boardmans and Steers. Being a change leader, Chauke has a unique approach, ‘stand against bland’, which has allowed him to stand out as a powerful creative and marketing force. His track record is undeniable and his reign as the country’s number one marketing maverick keeps teaching the rest of us why we must choose to Stand Against Bland. This book illustrates the colourful career of a man often referred to as ‘the dancing CEO’ – due to his tradition of bringing dancing into the office – and also takes readers inside the mind of a man who has stood out, brilliantly and consistently, from the rest.

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In sixty-eight years, Valeria has never minced her words. Harrumphing through her isolated little village deep in the Hungarian steppes, she clutches her shopping basket like a battering ram and leaves nothing uncriticised - flaccid vegetables at the market; idle farmers carousing in Ibolya's Nonstop Tavern; that gauche chimpanzee of a mayor and his flashy, leggy wife; people who whistle. But one day, her spinster's heart is struck by an unlikely arrow: the village potter, with his decisive hands and solid gaze. Valeria finds herself suddenly dressing in florals and touching her hair, and what's more, smiling at people in the street. The potter makes her the most beautiful vase she has ever seen. The farmers buy a celebratory round. The problem with all this is that Ibolya (herself at least fifty-eight) has been romancing the potter for months and vows to win him back. And then there's Ferenc, the sugar beet farmer, red-headed and married but all the same hopelessly in love with Ibolya. Meanwhile the mayor has his own problems, mostly involving foreign investors and a non-existent railway. And then a roving chimney sweep arrives in the village, to make a quick buck and bring some good luck - or perhaps bad luck; no one can really decide. All anyone knows is, there's never been such a hullabaloo, which just goes to show it's never too late to try something new.

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