AWARD WINNING FATHER & SON AUTHORS PRINCE & WESLEY DYKES ARE BACK! Introducing for the first time ever, a fictional children's book offering a kid-friendly peak into the world of credit. When Wesley goes to his uncle Rob's house for summer break, he has no idea he's going to learn about something entirely new to him. Uncle Rob has wanted a new car for a while. When he spots a great deal for one online, he takes Wesley to the dealership with him to check it out. Unfortunately, there is a problem with Uncle Rob's credit, and the deal can't be made. Uncle Rob sadly leaves without the car, and this leaves Wesley confused and perplexed about just what credit is. As he learns the ins and outs of credit, Wesley also comes up with a brilliant idea to help Uncle Rob. Follow Wesley as he learns the lessons of what it means to have, maintain, and restore credit. This children's story shows how one little boy learns about credit, offering a kid-friendly introduction into the world of credit and finance.
"Young Wesley is about to turn eleven years old, and he really wants a new GS4 gaming system. But money doesn't grow on trees, so Wesley will have to work hard and save his money to be able to make that purchase. Wesley's dad helps him out by teaching him the importance of investing and how stocks work"--Page 4 of cover.
"Wesley is getting a ride to soccer practice in his uncle Rob's new car, which Wesley had helped him buy with some great advice about credit. Suddenly, Uncle Rob accidentally backs into a tree! No one is hurt, but Uncle Rob can't afford to fix his car because he doesn't have car insurance ... This children's story, part of a series, follows the continuing financial adventures of Wesley and offers a kid-friendly peek into the world of insurance."--Page 4 of cover
"Give over $100 today and get this personalized state-of-the-art fountain pen free!" "Become a gold sponsor and your name wll be featured on our exclusive Wall of Fame!" "Send in your donation by December 31st and enjoy the benefits of giving on your next tax return!" Who hasn't heard fundraising gimmicks like these? Or, who hasn't used these gimmicks on others? As Wes Willmer writes, generosity is the natural outcome of God's transforming work in individuals when they are conformed to the image of Christ. Fundraising and giving are not simply drops in the bucket. Capital campaigns and raising funds go deeper than the money. They are spiritual activities in becoming more like Christ. A Revolution in Generosity is a work by some of the best scholars and practitioners on the subject of funding Christian organizations. As Willmer writes, "The foundation for realizing a revolution in generosity is understanding the biblical view of possessions, generosity, and asking for resources." With over twenty expert contributors, this book is a must-read for organizations striving to rid themselves of secular, asking practices and gain an eternal approach.
"Learn the most essential money skills before you: Hand over your credit card ; take out a student loan ; sign up for a cell phone contract ; apply for a car loan ; start a job ; buy one more thing online. Practical, no-nonsense ways to manage your money so you waste less and have more. this book offers real-life skills you can use right away, not fake promises to make you rich or to find "easy money". Learn how to avoid the money minefields waiting for you at every turn. Don't waste another dime on fees, sneaky retailer pricing games, and online come-ons. Master the most essential money skills--not therory-- and apply them right away. Use your new, money skills to get the things you want: Computer ; Car ; College education."--back cover
Foundational Hands-On Skills for Succeeding with Real Data Science Projects This pragmatic book introduces both machine learning and data science, bridging gaps between data scientist and engineer, and helping you bring these techniques into production. It helps ensure that your efforts actually solve your problem, and offers unique coverage of real-world optimization in production settings. –From the Foreword by Paul Dix, series editor Machine Learning in Production is a crash course in data science and machine learning for people who need to solve real-world problems in production environments. Written for technically competent “accidental data scientists” with more curiosity and ambition than formal training, this complete and rigorous introduction stresses practice, not theory. Building on agile principles, Andrew and Adam Kelleher show how to quickly deliver significant value in production, resisting overhyped tools and unnecessary complexity. Drawing on their extensive experience, they help you ask useful questions and then execute production projects from start to finish. The authors show just how much information you can glean with straightforward queries, aggregations, and visualizations, and they teach indispensable error analysis methods to avoid costly mistakes. They turn to workhorse machine learning techniques such as linear regression, classification, clustering, and Bayesian inference, helping you choose the right algorithm for each production problem. Their concluding section on hardware, infrastructure, and distributed systems offers unique and invaluable guidance on optimization in production environments. Andrew and Adam always focus on what matters in production: solving the problems that offer the highest return on investment, using the simplest, lowest-risk approaches that work. Leverage agile principles to maximize development efficiency in production projects Learn from practical Python code examples and visualizations that bring essential algorithmic concepts to life Start with simple heuristics and improve them as your data pipeline matures Avoid bad conclusions by implementing foundational error analysis techniques Communicate your results with basic data visualization techniques Master basic machine learning techniques, starting with linear regression and random forests Perform classification and clustering on both vector and graph data Learn the basics of graphical models and Bayesian inference Understand correlation and causation in machine learning models Explore overfitting, model capacity, and other advanced machine learning techniques Make informed architectural decisions about storage, data transfer, computation, and communication Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the governor of Maryland, the “compassionate” (People), “startling” (Baltimore Sun), “moving” (Chicago Tribune) true story of two kids with the same name: One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his. In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen? That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies. Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.
“A swift-paced survival tale that’s a cool blend of Lord of the Flies and Journey to the Center of the Earth.” —School Library Journal “A sharp meditation on the seemingly universal difficulties of being young, smart, and uncertain.” —BCCB “A multifaceted journey from darkness to light.” —Kirkus Reviews Winner of the Red Maple Fiction Award A class field trips turns into an underground quest for survival in the latest middle grade novel from the author of Edgar Award winner OCDaniel. Mr. Baker’s eighth grade class thought they were in for a normal field trip to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. But when an earthquake hits, their field trip takes a terrifying turn. The students are plunged into an underground lake…and their teacher goes missing. They have no choice but to try and make their way back above ground, even though no one can agree on the best course of action. The darkness brings out everyone’s true self. Supplies dwindle and tensions mount. Pretty and popular Silvia does everything she can to hide her panic attacks, even as she tries to step up and be a leader. But the longer she’s underground, the more frequent and debilitating they become. Meanwhile, Eric has always been a social no one, preferring to sit at the back of the class and spend evenings alone. Now, he finds himself separated from his class, totally by himself underground. That is, until he meets an unexpected stranger. Told from three different points of view, this fast-paced adventure novel explores how group dynamics change under dire circumstances. Do the students of Mr. Baker’s class really know each other at all? Or do they just think they do? It turns out, it’s hard to hide in the dark.
This anthology of five full-length plays collectively outlines a cultural history of black America in the post-Civil Rights era, from the late 20th century through the first decades of the 21st. Black Terror looks at the radical politics of the Black Power era; The Sirens, the destabilization of black familial and social life in the early 1970s; The Mighty Gents, the destructiveness of “black macho” in the late 1970s; The Talented Tenth, the midlife crisis and the end of idealism in the black middle class in the early 1980s; and Autumn, the new generational paradigm in black urban politics in the early 21st century. Each of the plays included in this anthology was born out of the idea of the public thinker, and what Arthur Miller would refer to as the importance of an individual conscience – as well as the belief that each generation must give back, must inform and inspire the generation that follows. No people – and certainly not the African Americans still striving and struggling in the 21st century – can thrive if they fail to adhere to that simple idea.
