Timrous Beastie

An essential resource for any designer, crafter, artist, or historian, The Complete Pattern Dictionary is the most comprehensive, practical, and beautiful directory of patterns throughout history, covering all periods, styles, and cultures. Throughout history, patterns have come in countless permutations of motif, color, and scale. From the first rhythmic marks pressed onto clay vessels, to the latest digital design, pattern-making has been an essential part of the decorative arts since time immemorial. With 1500 illustrations of patterns from all ages and cultures, The Complete Pattern Dictionary is not only a visual feast, it is the most comprehensive resource available on the subject. The book is arranged thematically according to pattern type, with chapters on Flora, Fauna, Pictorial, Geometric, and Abstract designs. Each pattern includes the name of the pattern, the year of its creation, and a brief description. The categories are supplemented by in-depth features highlighting the work of key designers including William Morris, Sonia Delaunay, Charles and Ray Eames, Lucienne Day, and Orla Kiely, as well as sections detailing the characteristic motifs of key period styles from Baroque to Art Deco.

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Adventurous opossums, subway rats. Questing canines, hellbound sows, and sentimental spiders—Tim'rous Beastie is a collection unlike any other, inspired by the literary tradition of brave and imperiled critters defying their size and place in the natural order.

This unique book provides a comprehensive introduction to the most popular syntax-based statistical machine translation models, filling a gap in the current literature for researchers and developers in human language technologies. While phrase-based models have previously dominated the field, syntax-based approaches have proved a popular alternative, as they elegantly solve many of the shortcomings of phrase-based models. The heart of this book is a detailed introduction to decoding for syntax-based models. The book begins with an overview of synchronous-context free grammar (SCFG) and synchronous tree-substitution grammar (STSG) along with their associated statistical models. It also describes how three popular instantiations (Hiero, SAMT, and GHKM) are learned from parallel corpora. It introduces and details hypergraphs and associated general algorithms, as well as algorithms for decoding with both tree and string input. Special attention is given to efficiency, including search approximations such as beam search and cube pruning, data structures, and parsing algorithms. The book consistently highlights the strengths (and limitations) of syntax-based approaches, including their ability to generalize phrase-based translation units, their modeling of specific linguistic phenomena, and their function of structuring the search space.

“I’d rather be an optimist and a fool, than a pessimist and right” (Albert Einstein). It’s the summer of ’61 and fifteen-year-old Firpo has escaped the sweltering Bronx and gone up the lake to spend his vacation. He’s decided to find a girlfriend, a steady, just like the cool guys on American Bandstand dance with in South Philly. He figures it will be a cinch. What Firpo doesn’t figure on are the confounding consequences that result from mixing teenage hormones with young and stupid mental states. Journey back to a more innocent time as Firpo and his merry band of friends set out on a quest for love and the answer to life’s sweet mystery in the land of foolish optimists.

This ultimate guide to Scotch whisky offers an insider's look into one of the world's beloved spirits—its history, production, and traditions—along with tasting notes for more than 200 common bottlings. “Scotch whisky [has an] uncanny ability to transform a mundane moment into something special and memorable.” —Margarett Waterbury Scotch whisky is beloved around the world. But for the uninitiated, its diversity can be bewildering. This comprehensive guide to Scotch whisky history, production, and appreciation will help you navigate the world of Scotch with confidence. Along with an overview of its intricate production process and tips for visiting your favorite distillery, Scotch features profiles of more than 200 whiskies, from popular blends to coveted single malts, with a special focus on bottles you’re likely to find with ease. You’ll also find recommendations for matching the right whisky to the right occasion, from great values for everyday imbibing, to worth-the-splurge options for marking life’s biggest moments. Whether you're a whisky newbie, a die-hard fan, or simply malt-curious, Scotch will be your go-to resource for demystifying the greatest of whiskies.

Malta Magnificent, written by Major Francis Gerard and first published in 1943, tells of the siege of Malta, one of the epic incidents in the world’s history. For two years, the Luftwaffe was hurled against the island day and night, but Malta and its people stood indomitable and unshaken throughout, and the “George Cross Island” held. A gripping account.