Cruising utopia

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Alison Kent

"Transforming the old Caffey property into Hope Springs's new community arts center won't be easy for celebrated weaver Luna Meadows, but she sees it as a labor of love. The center will honor Sierra Caffey, the best friend Luna lost years ago in a car crash. But when Angelo Caffey--Sierra's older brother and Luna's first love--returns to his family's former home demanding answers, Luna must also face her long-buried feelings for him. Angelo left Hope Springs--and Luna--eight years ago. Handsome and headstrong, he suspects the beautiful Luna harbors a secret about the accident. Yet despite his best efforts, he can't resist the heat that still simmers between them. Will the untold truth shatter their future? Or could a new beginning lie within the tangled threads of their past?"--Page [4] of cover.

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Walter J. Karplus

Each day we are bombarded with news of a new catastrophe of worldwide proportions promising to obliterate a part, if not all, of humankind. Confronted with these warnings of impending doom, our best defense is to understand how valid--or invalid--these predictions of calamity are. By perceiving these threats in a wise and sagacious way, we can best meet future challenges by not earmarking precious resources for wrong or misleading reasons. Walter Karplus, a professor of computer sciences at UCLA, in his 35 years of experience has made predictions for all kinds of phenomena by generating models and computer simulations. His decades of experience have taught him what we can and cannot predict with any accuracy. Dr. Karplus surveys the most hotly debated catastrophes that many scientists have predicted will imminently endanger the lives of countless people all over the globe.^ These catastrophes include the depletion of the ozone layer, the Greenhouse Effect, nuclear radiation, acid rain, the AIDS epidemic, the population explosion, another Great Depression, and earthquakes. Drawing on his superb background, he assesses the strengths and weaknesses of arguments propounding the seriousness of these calamities. All the while, he never allows us to lose sight of the profound shortcomings of scientific prediction. In his singularly engaging manner, Dr. Karplus traces the fascinating art of prediction from our earliest ancestors to today. He pronounces at what point prediction, even within science, becomes a black art. He elucidates the problems that computer simulations have in predicting events and goes on to pinpoint when and where these models lapse into the area of pure conjecture. Through reason and wit, Walter Karplus teaches us how to bring a trained eye to the predictions of disaster that unceasingly assault us.^ The Heavens Are Falling is an illuminating and entertaining work that bestows on us the wisdom to make informed judgments before taking arms against a sea of troubles.

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Peter C. Phan

The author presents an easily understood study of what eternal life means from a Catholic/Christian view. Drawing heavily from the Christian tradition, he identifies sections of Holy Scripture that are relevant to eschatology, which is the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and humankind. He is able to connect Scriptural representations of the afterlife with the ramifications of eternal life in our present everyday life.--

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Christiane Paul

Digital technology has revolutionized the way we produce and experience art today. Not only have traditional forms of art such as printing, painting, photography and sculpture been transformed by digital techniques and media, but entirely new forms such as net art, software art, digital installation and virtual reality have emerged as recognized artistic practices. Christiane Paul surveys the developments in digital art from its appearance in the 1980s to the present days, and looks ahead to what the future may hold. Drawing a distinction between work that uses digital technology as a tool to produce traditional forms and work that uses it as a medium to create new types of art, she discusses the key artists and works. The book explores themes addressed and raised by the art, such as viewer interaction, artificial life and intelligence, political and social activism, networks and telepresence, as well as issues such as the collection, presentation and preservation of digital art. This revised and expanded edition investigates key areas of digital art practice that have gained in prominence in recent years, including the emergence and impact of mobile and site-specific media, social networking and virtual worlds such as Second Life.