A novel about the bond between a farmer and his black-and-white border collie that James Herriot called “beautiful [and] as gripping as any thriller.” On Christmas Day, Virginia livestock farmer Lewis Burkholder and Nop, his black-and-white border collie, go out to feed the sheep. But the holiday is shattered when Nop fails to return home. Stolen by two hardened criminals who see in the young stock dog a $300 payday, Nop suffers abuse and brutality as he courageously adapts to his new life, which holds no shortage of surprises. At the same time, Lewis refuses to believe that his beloved dog is gone for good. His determination to be reunited with Nop—and Nop’s own unswerving loyalty—reveals the depth and strength of the bond that can exist between humans and dogs.
A young widow travels the competition circuit with her border collie in this novel by the author of Nop’s Trials, “a great writer” (James Herriot). After her husband and daughter are killed in a car accident, Penny Burkeholder leaves her Shenandoah Valley home with her eighteen-month-old border collie, Hope, the only friend she has left in the world. Together, they make their way across the country in a battered pickup, earning money by doing ranch work and competing in sheepdog trials. One dream keeps the grieving young widow going: to compete at the national finals in Wyoming and turn Hope into a winner. Filled with fascinating detail about sheepdog trials and the uncanny closeness that develops between canine and human team members, Nop’s Hope evokes the quiet beauty of the back roads and ranches of the American West and brings to life unforgettable characters, both human and canine, including Hope’s sire, Nop.
This story comes from the wise and ancient language of the First People of the Western Australian south coast. A boy goes looking for his uncle. He discovers family and home at the ocean's edge, and finds himself as well. Ngaawily Nop is a story of country and family and belonging. (Series: Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project, Vol. 5) [Subject: Aboriginal Studies, Anthropology, Australian Studies, Art Studies, Linguistics, Noongar Language Studies]
A heartwarming picture book from award-winning author-illustrator Caroline Magerl about two unlikely loners who forge a forever friendship. Nop is a scruffy kind of bear. He sits on a dusty armchair in Oddmint's Dumporeum surrounded and ignored by the other heaping heaps of goods. At night, they are magically transformed by the beaders, knitters, patchers and stitchers and the next day go on to 'someplace wonderful'. Nop watches the heap tumble until, armed with a new bow tie, he has an idea that will change his life forever. A tale about finding the magic that lives inside even the scruffiest of bears.
Hacking is the art of creative problem solving, whether that means finding an unconventional solution to a difficult problem or exploiting holes in sloppy programming. Many people call themselves hackers, but few have the strong technical foundation needed to really push the envelope. Rather than merely showing how to run existing exploits, author Jon Erickson explains how arcane hacking techniques actually work. To share the art and science of hacking in a way that is accessible to everyone, Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition introduces the fundamentals of C programming from a hacker's perspective. The included LiveCD provides a complete Linux programming and debugging environment—all without modifying your current operating system. Use it to follow along with the book's examples as you fill gaps in your knowledge and explore hacking techniques on your own. Get your hands dirty debugging code, overflowing buffers, hijacking network communications, bypassing protections, exploiting cryptographic weaknesses, and perhaps even inventing new exploits. This book will teach you how to: – Program computers using C, assembly language, and shell scripts – Corrupt system memory to run arbitrary code using buffer overflows and format strings – Inspect processor registers and system memory with a debugger to gain a real understanding of what is happening – Outsmart common security measures like nonexecutable stacks and intrusion detection systems – Gain access to a remote server using port-binding or connect-back shellcode, and alter a server's logging behavior to hide your presence – Redirect network traffic, conceal open ports, and hijack TCP connections – Crack encrypted wireless traffic using the FMS attack, and speed up brute-force attacks using a password probability matrix Hackers are always pushing the boundaries, investigating the unknown, and evolving their art. Even if you don't already know how to program, Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition will give you a complete picture of programming, machine architecture, network communications, and existing hacking techniques. Combine this knowledge with the included Linux environment, and all you need is your own creativity.
