Illustrating how a fire alarm detects smoke and what the &“plasma&” is in a plasma screen television, this fascinating handbook explains how everyday household devices function and operate. More than 180 different household technologies are covered, including gadgets unique to apartment buildings and houseboats. Devices are grouped according to their "habitats"—the living room, family room, den, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and basement—and feature a detailed description of what the device does and how it works, as well as a photograph for easy identification. With helpful sidebars describing related technical issues, such as why a cheap dimmer switch can interfere with radio reception, this handbook for curious readers provides carefully detailed descriptions and the history behind many of the older household technologies like toasters and faucets to newer technologies like motion detectors, TiVo, and satellite radio.

Perfect for the do-it-yourselfer, this handy guide to household electronics gives the weekend workbench enthusiast a multitude of ideas on how to salvage valuable parts from old electronics and turn them into useful gadgets once more. This handbook is loaded with information and helpful tips for disassembling old and broken electronics. Each of the more than 50 deconstruction projects includes a "treasures cache" of the components to be found, a required tools list, and step-by-step instructions with photos on how to safely extract the working components. Projects include building a desk lamp from an old flatbed scanner, a barbeque supercharger from a Dustbuster impeller, and a robot from the gears, rollers, and stepper motor found in an ink-jet printer. Now, old VHS players and fax machines will find new life with these fun ideas.

With more than 160 entries detailing everything from the junk buried in desk drawers to that mysterious box blinking away in the coat closet, this practical guide navigates through modern office technology. Each entry includes a functional description of a device (what it is and how it works) as well as particulars on who invented it and how its design has evolved over the years. Devices are grouped according to their habitats—in the conference room, hanging from the ceiling, or connected to a computer—to assist in quick and easy identification. Solving office mysteries, such as why telephone keypads have their ones in the upper left corner while calculator keypads place the ones in the lower left corner, this fascinating resource decodes the often confusing technological landscapes of everyday offices.

Technology and its power are both old and new—as is the wisdom needed to envision, design, and use it well. In this field guide for Christians studying and working in technology, case studies, historical examples, and personal stories encourage readers to ask harder questions, aspire to more noble purposes, and live a life consistent with their faith as they engage with technology.

Nearly a decade later, leading change pioneers in the field have realigned to bring you the second edition of the Change Champion's Fieldguide. This thoroughly revised and updated edition of the Change Champion's Field Guide is filled with the information, tools, and strategies needed to implement a best practice change or leadership development initiative where everyone wins. In forty-five chapters, the guide's contributors, widely acknowledged as the "change champions" and leaders in the fields of organizational change and leadership development, explore the competencies and practices that define an effective change leader. Change Champions such as Harrison Owen, Edgar Schein, Marv Weisbord, Sandra Janoff, Mary Eggers, William Rothwell, Dave Ulrich, Marshall Goldsmith, Judith Katz, Peter Koestenbaum, Dick Axelrod, David Cooperrider, and scores of others provide their sage advice, practical applications, and examples of change methods that work. Change Champion's Field Guide examines the topic of leadership and change within four main topics including: Key elements of leading successful and results-driven change Tools, models, instruments, and strategies for leading change Critical success and failure factors Trends and research on innovation, change, and leadership Guidelines on how to design, implement, and evaluate change and leadership initiatives Fresh case studies that highlight leading companies who are implementing successful change in innovative and inspired ways.

Combining fun and interactive activities, this guide will have kids captivated for hours constructing fantastic racing cars with the basics of only rubber bands, cardboard, and glue. These simple instructions with templates allow budding engineers to gain hands-on experience as they learn not only how to build a basic racer, but how to make modifications such as aluminum foil axle bearings, steering mechanisms, hinges, cam shafts, and wheels made out of old CDs. This helpful resource has step-by-step instructions for making a basic rubber-band model, a railroad push-car, and a high-speed racer. Other unique projects include Oscar the Laughing Clown, which has a jaw mechanism that opens and closes when it moves, and Spot the Dog, which has a moving tail. Children can even learn how to build a rubber band car big enough for a human. Exploring wheels, bearings, and friction, kids will learn not only how to make speedy racers but also the science that makes the process work.

If you've ever wondered how an Etch A Sketch writes on its gray screen, or why a boomerang comes back, or how an R/C car responds to a radio controller, now you'll have your answers. The Way Toys Work explains the technology, history, and trivia behind 50 popular toys, with patent blueprints and photos of the &“guts&” of devices including: * Kaleidoscope * Magna Doodle * Slinky * Nintendo * Super Soaker * Big Mouth Billy Bass * Rubik's Cube * Silly Putty * Video Game Light Gun * Furby * Dunking Bird * View-Master * Yo-Yo * Push 'n' Go Car * Wiffle Ball * Gyroscope * Operation * Hula Hoop You'll also find pointers on how to build your own versions using recycled materials and a little ingenuity, experiments that can be done with certain toys, and tips on reverse engineering old toys to get a better look at their interior mechanics. The only thing you won't learn is how the Magic 8 Ball is able to predict the future--some things are best left a mystery.