Carey Books

To be fair, I am not a fan of the Thompson Course Technology books in general. But this is the first one that actually drove me to write a negative review to spare some innocent XML programmer-to-be the confusion this book will likely cause.

Our local community college unfortunately requires this text (a fair percentage of the classes seem to use Course Technology books because of the pre-fab quizzes, Powerpoints, and online supplements available to the instructors who can't be bothered to make their own).

The good: The Chapters are called "Tutorials" and in general, if you can read and copy the tutorials line for line, you will be able to get them to validate. However, you probably won't understand why in many cases.

The ugly: Like most of the Course Technology textbooks I've seen, there are significant typos and the explanations are very poor and awkward. There is little or no rigor in defining terms, the author often uses a tangential example as an adequate explanation for the entire concept.

Many explanations are as clear as mud. Case in point p. 199 (which is only partially understandable to me because I've taken a few computer classes (including C++ object oriented programming) and the concept of scope is familiar to me, even if the word is never mentioned here):

"In XML Schema, any element or attribute that is declared globally has to be entered as a qualified name in the instance document. The reason is that global elements and attributes are added to the target namespace, while local objects are not. Local objects are interpreted based on the namespace affiliation of the object in which they're nested. Because global objects are attached to the namespace, they have to be qualified in the instance document with a namespace prefix. The target namespace applies the document validation through the qualified elements in the instance document using them as the starting points for the validation process. You can't go down the hierarchy and validate only the local elements and attributes."

And that was a relatively clear passage. Even if you understand the concept, you are unlikely to get the syntax exactly correct. This book has singlehandedly caused me to consider a campaign to our department dean to stop using Course Technology books, and search for a decent textbook substitute. This book is of little use in class, and will be even less useful as a handy reference.

This is a good book don't get me wrong. But I wish that sue would use her powers as more than just deffense. The whole beginning of the story is that Sue is on a business trip and is P.O. that Reed wouldn't come with her, during her fight the plane in shot down. And who has to save her? well the mne of the Fan. F, duh. If Sue would just learn to control her powers so that she could kill with ie. put a force field in someones body and expand it causing them to explode. Easy, and then she would be able to leave in a force feild bubble. But no sue is always shown as the weak link of the Fan. F. and that is B.S. I have read about her and have found out that if she wanted to she could make knived and bat tons of stuff. But she only uses these powers when her family is in danger but never when her life is in danger. In the normal Fan. F story line Sue is branching out and since civil war she is realy showing her real power but in these ultimates she is not doing this. If you are just starting this series don't complete it, but if you'er like me that you've collected since the beginning then buy just to collect.

One of the resources we had picked out for Church History this year was YWAM's Heroes for Young Readers series (we bought the set), and so far it is the one choice that I feel borderlines on an actual mistake.

To begin, let me say that I find missionary stories to be very beneficial for children: the stories can really wow you & they let kids know that even when their problems seem huge to them, when you compare them to the amazing testimonies of missionaries around the world and throughout history, problems no longer seem too vast for God and miraculous goodness no longer seems like something relegated to Bible times. For my now 17-year-old, reading biographies on William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Eric Liddell, Jim Elliot and Brother Andrew (among others) made a huge impact on his faith. I also feel there is a large gap in Christian education today where the church as a whole (not all individuals) is lacking in the history of its own faith: both history and practice. That said, it seems never to early to begin learning the names and stories of those who have gone before us as our children begin living the stories of their own testimonies. That's the reason for buying the YWAM Heroes for Young Readers. So why am I disappointed?

YWAM for some reason chose to tell these stories in rhyming verse - sort of like the Cat in the Hat only on a more serious topic. I know that children love rhyme, but too much of these wonderful stories is lost because rhyme doesn't allow more than the barest telling of the tales. Simple prose could have told the miracles of transport to new places, explained better who the Hindus are and what they believe, talked about what was so different from their lives in their home countries. Instead, we get the bare facts. With William Carey that means your child will know he went to India, learned languages and translated the Gospels, had his printing shop burn down, taught at colleges, and had a hard time getting initial converts. Written out like that it doesn't seem so bad, but I haven't found the rhyming verse in this case to be as memorable as a well told story.

We're still using the books. We read them, find the counties on the map, and will tie them into the rest of this year's reading - meaning, as one example, that when we read Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories we will again refer back to William Carey. When we cover Thanksgiving we will note that they left from the same country as William did, and so on and so forth. Not a total loss. In a couple more years we'll be able to move up to the next level of missionary biography and the names will already be familiar. My youngest will be amazed that the stories of these familiar names are so much more incredible than he knew. Growing into a story needn't be such a bad thing, and his curriculum is not lacking in examples of finer writing, poetry as well as prose - and I would add that in reading these simple books to him both my older son and I, who are more familiar with the details of the testimonies, are reminded to be in awe of how God has worked throughout history...

"Young Islam on Trek: A Study in the Clash of Civilizations." Basil Mathews, Friendship Press, NYC, 1926, medium paperback, 224 pgs, some photographs, colored world maps of Muslim populations. After funding from the Young Men's Christian Alliance, this book recounts the author's travels in 1924 to reflect on post-World War I Islam in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Persia, Turkey, India, the Dutch East Indies, Afghanistan, and North Africa. The author observed how women were forbidden to watch movies beside men, they had to watch them at female-only showings -- and then wanted their husbands to buy the type of products worn and used by the Western women shown in the movies. Mathews describes the life of traveling by camel to Mecca to see the Kaaba; but the author doesn't give the 'depth' of smelling the camels while living amongst them. He provides a brief life of Mohammed and his revelation of Islam: "With success came moral decadence. Mohammed married numerous wives, massacred old men and children, slew a man and in a few days added the dead man's wife to his harem."...."The jihad--the Holy War--was degraded to an organized system of massacre and loot." Mathews presents a brief history as to how Islam spread into Africa, the Balkens, India & East Indies. No real depth or analysis of either Muslims or their beliefs, but undoubtedly very interesting in 1926. Not even a really interesting travel guide. Some history of British activities in the Middle East, but really doesn't develop its relevance. Mathews observes the growing nationalism of Arabs for separate and independent countries: "We are watching, then, one of the rarest and most moving vital events in history--a national conversion" of Turkish youths "turned away from the East and its unchanged civilization of futile centuries to the West." Mathews opined: "Their 'spiritual home' is not Mecca or Cairo, but Paris." Surprisingly, there is almost no discussion of Christian missionary work anywhere in Mathews' travels. The author concludes: "Can we have a liberalized Islam? Can Science and the Koran agree?...Conviction grows that the reconciliation is not possible. Islam really liberalized is simply a non-Christian Unitarianism. It ceases to be essential Islam." (p.196) Mathew opined: Islam "...is a fixed system of theocracy....it defies every tendency of modern, democratic, responsible, secular government." Sadly, the author doesn't really explain the philosophical-religious background as to WHY he believes Islam has so many anti-West (liberal) shortcomings; he sees it, but doesn't explain it. Past its prime; now stale-dated.

An interesting book, especially Archivally, but I didn't know until I got it that it had been written in the 1930's.

While Volume 1 was passable and showed small glimmers of promise, this volume degrades over the course of the book, both in terms of artwork and story. The dialogue in particular is horrendous. Awful.

WETWORKS was a 1990s comic book creation of Filipino artist Whilce Portacio. WETWORKS originally centered on the hardcharging exploits of a group of black ops soldiers who become bonded with golden symbiotes. These symbiotes imbued them with superhuman talents, an edge they desperately needed as they went on to combat the vampire nation. That slam bang series was cancelled after 43 issues, in 1998. In 2006 WildStorm Productions and Whilce Portacio decided to revive the title.

With the exception of team leader Colonel Jackson Dane and the android Mother One, new writer Mike Carey and Whilce opted to people the reformed Wetworks team with new members and thus introduced the werewolf policeman Sebastian Ashe, the pseudo-lifeform Ab-Death (who navigates the line between the living and the dead), and the vampiress Persephone (or Red), formerly of the vampire royal court. Of the three new members, only Red had been featured in the original WETWORKS. Nothing's changed, with regards to Wetworks' primary mission objective. As per norm, the team is pitted against the rampaging undead. So stomping bloodsuckers is again very much on the menu. Supersoldiers vs. the supernatural. For a gorehound like me, this is a nifty, can't miss premise. But, thing is, not even a cool concept is bulletproof and can be sabotaged by weak storytelling, which is what happens here. So, while it's nice to see Whilce reunited with his pet project, poor sales would eventually dictate that this second incarnation only last 15 issues. This trade paperback, WETWORKS Vol. 2 (or Book 2), collects issues #6-9 and #13-15.

Plot SPOILERS now.

Issues #6-9 ("The Scapegoat Effect") finishes off the story arc begun in Wetworks, Vol. 1 as Colonel Dane, Mother One, and Sebastian Ashe attempt to foil the vampire Simon Vascar's convoluted scheme, even as Ab-Death and the grim vampiress Red step into Deadworld and confront the mystical Blood Box, which, after having been the receptacle for the blood and soul of three thousand executed vampires, has attained sentience and now thirsts for genocide. The odds are steeply stacked against Wetworks. Good thing that help is on the way...

The publisher then does us a shabby by skipping issues #10-12. So, for one thing, readers don't get to see Mother-One's second turn at dying and being resurrected. No, instead, it's on to issues #13-15 ("Unholy War"), which closes out the series. At this stage, vampires - those from Dane's world and those formerly imprisoned but now escaped from the parallel earth, Thea Mater - are running amok in Eastern Europe. As it currently stands, the vampire hierarchy is in shambles, and various bloodsucking factions are vying for the vampire throne. The U.S. military is making a last stand, but is rapidly being overwhelmed. Even the efforts of the Wetworks team seem to hardly make a dent in containing the rampant vampire infestation. And, with options fading fast, Dane and Mother Box find themselves knowingly walking into a trap.

SPOILERS end.

To cut to the chase, I was okay with "The Scapegoat Effect." Mike Carey, even though again turning in what I feel is another stint of lazy writing, actually did enough to keep me invested in the story, and in wanting that dangerous nutjob Simon Vascar get his just desserts. Plus, Carey ends up rewarding longtime fans of the classic WETWORKS. Then there's the second story arc "Unholy War" as Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis take over the narrative but, disappointingly, don't improve on Mike Carey. Turns out, "Unholy War" doesn't do it for me. Giffen and Dematteis plug in their trademark humor, but, the thing is, this comic book isn't the JUSTICE LEAGUE they polished their brand on. As such, while they didn't really go overboard with the humor, the little that they did inject was jarring and ineffective...and just not funny. I cringed every time I read the weak banter between Dane and Mother One, which, I'm assuming, is what passes in these pages as character development. And, even when there's no attempt at humor, the characters engaged in way too much cliche-driven dialogue. There's also a rushed feeling to the story, a bit of incoherence, which undermines the epic tone the writers were going for. The ending had a tragic element in it, but since the writers hadn't done a good enough job of making me care for the characters, the impact was less than it should've been. Giffen and Dematteis, what happened here?

And a pox on the artwork. Creator Whilce Portacio graces issue #6 with interior pencils but, from then on, provides only cover artwork. Instead, a cavalcade of artists take over, starting with issue #7. Too many artists, if you ask me, which lends an inconsistent look to these pages.

Coming down to it, WETWORKS is ultimately one example of a comic book not reaching its potential. However, having said that, I'm so into this horror/sci-fi/military action premise that, if there were to be a third regular series, I'd probably come on board. And I still count Whilce Portacio as a pretty darn good illustrator. I wish him well; he seems to be a cool dude. And, hopefully, his health improves to the point where he becomes more prolific, or at least, more steady in his work output.

And those jonesing for more WETWORKS action should check out the forthcoming Wildstorm: Armageddon, which features WETWORKS, along with other WildStorm titles (THE AUTHORITY, GEN 13, WILDCATS, STORMWATCH, and WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY).

By the way, if the vampire infestation in Eastern Europe was so alarmingly out of control, I would've thought superhero teams like the Authority or Stormwatch would've stepped in. Just a thought.

since of course there is no such thing as messianic judaism, merely christian cults oriented towards converting jews by disguising christianity with some jewish words and rituals like 'yeshiva', such a book is merely a how-to guide to perpetuating an offensive cult and a philosophy of converting jews that legitimate christian groups including the catholic church have long since abandoned.

my advice when it comes to Messianic Xtianity or any other cult is....DON'T DRINK THE KOOL AID

Hey Christians, did your parents once believe that they were Jewish? Were you Jewish before you snorted too much cocaine and then found Jesus in a drunken stupor? Well then you can be a "Messianic Jew". No one will believe that you are anything but a Christian but if you can find the right amount of other fools such as yourself you can start your very own "congregation" and try to get other Jews into your pagan idolatry. This book offers nothing but the same warmed over guides for missionaries trying to figure out how to dumb down the rest of Jewry. With a few of the same old arguments, long discredited, the authors give their ideas which are all about how to get money out of your congregants and how to get other people to become your congregants. If you have a child who might be getting into this kind of mind control cult, read this so that you know what the enemy thinks, and then get help for them. Mark Powers at Jews for Judaism(http://www.jewsforjudaism.org) could help, so can a book entitled The REal Messiah by Aryeh Kaplan. Don't allow these people to carry away the Jewish youth of today

I am a recently retired acoustical engineer who has worked with both the military and the government. The CD "OM" claims to possess 4D technology. In all of my 41 years of experience, this is not possible. There is 3D, Q-sound, RSS, Binaural and Surround Sound. 4D is marketing hype. As far as the recording goes, it is just rehashed "semi-sync". This music didn't make me "leave my body". It made me leave the room. Sorry. By the book instead.

As a student of meditation for 30 years, I was hoping this CD would facilitate Out-of-body. I found it to be a little irritating and not effective. I find that listening to "real" East Indian music is much more effective than this particular CD.

this book is really nonsens

This book on African-American political leaders is a disappointment, and inconsistent with the academic excellence normally associated with Facts on File products. This reference work, with short biographical entries listed in alphabetical order, focuses on those blacks who were either elected to office or ran for office; famous black leaders, such as Martin Luther King, are excluded. There are inconsistencies though. For instance, there is an entry for Jesse Jackson, who ran for the presidency but has never held elective office, but no entry for Al Sharpton, who meets these same criteria. Jesse Jackson, who is controversial for more than his political stances (see Kenneth Timmerman's The Real Jesse Jackson), is accorded kid glove treatment; his misdeeds are almost completely ignored. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Thurgood Marshall are also omitted-a serious oversight considering the legislative power wielded by the modern judiciary. When the entries for Cynthia McKinney and J.C. Watts were compared, bias is undeniable; it ruins the educational value of this work. For instance, this book entirely ignores Representative McKinney's irresponsible statements (i.e., completely unsubstantiated allegations) that Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks and her subsequent refusal to offer a real apology. This bit of information is very important, as it was a major factor in the loss of her congressional seat. In the entry on J.C. Watts, the author discusses his role in promoting the 1994 Republican Contract with America. The author states as fact that the Contract with America stipulated tax cuts only for the rich. The fact is that the Contract with America only called for tax cuts. The author is certainly entitled to his opinion, but he should not substitute his opinion for the facts. As a work of this type is needed, this book is recommended only in the absence of more inclusive, balanced works.