Fundamentally, computers just deal with numbers. They store letters and other characters by assigning a number for each one. There are hundreds of different encoding systems for mapping characters to numbers, but Unicode promises a single mapping. Unicode enables a single software product or website to be targeted across multiple platforms, languages and countries without re-engineering. It’s no wonder that industry giants like Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM andMicrosoft have all adopted Unicode.

Containing everything you need to understand Unicode, this comprehensive reference from O’Reilly takes you on a detailed guide through the complex character world. For starters, it explains how to identify and classify characters – whether they’re common, uncommon, or exotic. It then shows you how to type them, utilize their properties, and process character data in a robust manner.

The book is broken up into three distinct parts. The first few chapters provide you with a tutorial presentation of Unicode and character data. It gives you a firm grasp of the terminology you need to reference various components, including character sets, fonts and encodings, glyphs and character repertoires.

The middle section offers more detailed information about using Unicode and other character codes. It explains the principles and methods of defining character codes, describes some of the widely used codes, and presents code conversion techniques. It also discusses properties of characters, collation and sorting, line breaking rules and Unicode encodings. The final four chapters cover more advanced material, such as programming to support Unicode.

You simply can’t afford to be without the nuggets of valuable information detailed in Unicode Explained.

Download: Unicode Explained

The Ubuntu distribution simplifies Linux by providing a sensible collection of applications, an easy-to-use package manager, and lots of fine-tuning, which make it possibly the best Linux for desktops and laptops. Readers of both Linux Journal and TUX Magazine confirmed this by voting Ubuntu as the best Linux distribution in each publication’s 2005 Readers Choice Awards. None of that simplification, however, makes Ubuntu any less fun if you’re a hacker or a power user.

Like all books in the “Hacks” series, Ubuntu Hacks includes 100 quick tips and tricks for all users of all technical levels. Beginners will appreciate the installation advice and tips on getting the most out of the free applications packaged with Ubuntu, while intermediate and advanced readers will learn the ins-and-outs of power management, wireless roaming, 3D video acceleration, server configuration, and much more.

Download: Ubuntu Hacks: Tips & Tools for Exploring, Using, and Tuning Linux

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is a memoir by President of the United States Barack Obama. It was first published in 1995 after Obama was elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, but before his political career began. The book was re-released in 2004 following Obama’s keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (DNC); the 2004 edition includes a new introduction by Obama, then a Senator-elect, as well as his DNC keynote address.

Narrative

The autobiographical narrative tells the story of the life of Obama up to his entry in Harvard Law School. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Obama, Sr. of Kenya, and Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas, both students at that time at the East-West Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Obama’s parents separated when he was two years old and divorced in 1964. Obama formed an image of his absent father from stories told by his mother and her parents. He saw his father only one more time, in 1971, when Obama Sr. came to Hawaii for a month’s visit. The elder Obama died in a car accident in 1982.

After her divorce, Ann Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, an East-West Center student from Indonesia. The family moved to Jakarta. When Obama was ten, he returned to Hawaii under the care of his grandparents (and later his mother) for the better educational opportunities available there. He was enrolled in the fifth grade at Punahou School, a private college-preparatory school. Obama was one of three Black students among the majority Asian-American population at that school, and he first became conscious of racism and what it means to be an African-American.

Obama attended Punahou School from the 5th grade until his graduation in 1979. Obama writes: “For my grandparents, my admission into Punahou Academy heralded the start of something grand, an elevation in the family status that they took great pains to let everyone know.”

Upon finishing high school, Obama enrolled at Occidental College, where he describes living a “party” lifestyle of drug and alcohol use. He transferred to Columbia College at Columbia University, where he majored in political science. Upon graduation, he worked for a year in business. He then moved to Chicago, working for a non-profit doing community organizing in the Altgeld Gardens housing project on the city’s South Side. Obama recounts the difficulty of the experience, as his program faced resistance from entrenched community leaders and apathy on the part of the established bureaucracy. It was during his time spent here that Obama joined Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ.

Before attending Harvard Law School, Obama decided to visit relatives in Kenya. He uses part of his experience there as the setting for the book’s final, emotional scene.

As well as relating the story of Obama’s life, the book includes a good deal of reflection on his own personal experiences with race and race relations in the United States.

Download: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Tricks of the Microsoft Windows Vista Masters | 384 pages | PDF | 8.91 MB
Publisher: Que | ISBN: 9780789736895 | J. Peter Bruzzese (Author)

Tricks of the Microsoft Windows Vista Masters! Bruzzese has interviewed top Windows professionals, instructors, and power users; scoured the Web (so you wont have to); and rigorously tested every single tip. Only the most valuable tips tecnhiques and tips made the cut to improve your efficiency, take total control of your digital media and data; use Internet Explorer 7, Windows Mail, and Calendar; configure Windows Defender and Firewall; avoid, troubleshoot, and fix problems; make Windows Vista work better, faster, smarter, safer, and more fun too!

Download [9MB]: Tricks of the Windows Vista Masters

The first book to unlock the true power behind Gmail, Hacking Gmail will immediately appeal to Google and Gmail fans This is serious, down-and-dirty, under-the-hood, code-level hacking that will have readers eliminating the default settings, customizing appearance, disabling advertising, and taking control over their Gmail accounts Covers turning Gmail into an online hard drive for backing up files, using it as a blogging tool, and even creating customized Gmail tools and hacks Shows readers how to check their Gmail without visiting the site; use Gmail APIs in Perl, Python, PHP, and other languages, or create their own; and maximize Gmail as a host for message boards, photo galleries, even a blog.

Download [2MB]: Hacking Gmail

Sitting at the foundation of every site is HTML, the only language that is essential to a web site is existence. On the surface HTML may seem simple but there is much more to it than meets the eye. With different versions, many infrequently used elements and attributes, and varying ways that browsers interpret the language, only this comprehensive and up-to-date reference, has it completely covered.

The Ultimate HTML Reference is your definitive resource for mastering HTML. The entire language is clearly and concisely covered, along with browser compatibility details, working examples, and easy-to-read descriptions.
Writeen by Ian Lloyd, one of the worlds most renowned HTML experts, this is a comprehensive reference that you will come back to time and time again.

DOWNLOAD: The Ultimate HTML Reference

PASSWORD: www.dl4all.com

Publisher: Wiley | Pages: 713 | 2007-06-15 | ISBN 0470126302 | PDF | 6 MB

The Financial Risk Management Exam (FRM Exam) is given by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) annually in November for risk professionals who want to earn FRM(r) certification. The Financial Risk Manager Handbook, Fourth Edition is the definitive guide for those preparing to take the FRM Exam as well as a valued working reference for risk professionals. Written with the full support of GARP, and containing questions and solutions from previous exams, this book is a valuable resource for professionals responsible for or associated with financial risk management.

Download: Financial Risk Manager Handbook

Hardcover: 384 pages

Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (September 18, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0385516401

ISBN-13: 978-0385516402

From Publishers Weekly

It’s not laws or constitutional theory that rule the High Court, argues this absorbing group profile, but quirky men and women guided by political intuition. New Yorker legal writer Toobin (The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson) surveys the Court from the Reagan administration onward, as the justices wrestled with abortion, affirmative action, the death penalty, gay rights and church-state separation. Despite a Court dominated by Republican appointees, Toobin paints not a conservative revolution but a period of intractable moderation. The real power, he argues, belonged to supreme swing-voter Sandra Day O’Connor, who decided important cases with what Toobin sees as an almost primal attunement to a middle-of-the-road public consensus. By contrast, he contends, conservative justices Rehnquist and Scalia ended up bitter old men, their rigorous constitutional doctrines made irrelevant by the moderates’ compromises. The author deftly distills the issues and enlivens his narrative of the Court’s internal wranglings with sharp thumbnail sketches (Anthony Kennedy the vain bloviator, David Souter the Thoreauvian ascetic) and editorials (inept and unsavory is his verdict on the Court’s intervention in the 2000 election). His savvy account puts the supposedly cloistered Court right in the thick of American life. (A final chapter and epilogue on the 2006–2007 term, with new justices Roberts and Alito, was unavailable to PW.) (Sept. 18)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Download: The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

Paperback: 408 pages

Publisher: Alpha; 1st edition (October 2001)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0028642333

ISBN-13: 978-0028642338

Product Description

Islam may be the most misunderstood faith in history. Most of us learn little or nothing about Islam in school; in fact, our knowledge of Muslims may be restricted to news reports on the Middle East and Louis Farrakhan. Surprise–the vast majority of Muslims aren’t Arabs, the Muslim Allah is very much the “one God” Christians and Jews believe in, many of the scientific and medical innovations we take for granted were passed on by Muslims, and the popular myths about Muslims often have little to do with the real beliefs of Islam. The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Understanding Islam reveals fascinating facts about Islam; they accept both the Old and New Testaments as holy books and accept Moses and Jesus as prophets. The book offers tips on Muslim culture, actual quotes from the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad, and prominent scholars, and answers to questions regarding everyday life from the Muslim perspective.

Amazon.com Review

It may surprise readers to discover that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, according to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Islam. “However, even more eye-opening is the fact that Islam is the fastest growing religion in North America,” writes author Yahiya Emerick (How to Tell Others About Islam). Paradoxically, Islam is also one of the most misunderstood and maligned religions in North America. Fortunately, Emerick has written a viable antidote to the widespread confusion and ignorance. Using the Idiot’s Guide’s formula of questions and answers, sidebars, and small, easy-to-digest essays, Emerick makes Islam accessible to anyone who is inclined to learn more about this influential religion. Readers have much to glean from this comprehensive and balanced guidebook–primarily that Islam is a prayerful, peace-loving religion that has been misused in the name of terror, just as Hitler and other extremists have misused Christianity throughout history. Emerick devotes an entire section to “Looking at Women in Islam,” in which readers can sort through even more misconceptions. The Idiot’s Guide title belies the integrity of the book, which is an important contribution for our times. –Gail Hudson

Download [5.44 MB]: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam

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Title: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Yoga (2nd Edition)

Author: Joan Budilovsky, Eve Adamson

ISBN: 0028639707

ISBN 13: 9780028639703

Edition: 2nd

Publisher: Alpha

Publication Date: 11/15/2000

This book is for anyone interested in health, fitness, or the healing arts. It teaches you the basics of stretching, breathing, and meditation, with exercises designed to help you relax, become more flexible, more productive, and more self-satisfied.

Download [5.43 MB]: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Yoga

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