Nicknamed “America’s Pastime,” baseball is a favorite sport for many people. With little leagues, school teams, community recreation clubs, farm teams, and Major League Baseball, it is no wonder the game is so popular. When Craig Barnes and his friends broke a window in their neighborhood as a result of their lively game of baseball, the group of youngsters invented miniature baseball. This breakthrough version of their favorite game could be played in a smaller space and utilized a ball that wouldn’t break any windows! Small Ball: The Blessings of Miniature Baseball introduces you to the game of miniature baseball and provides you with a complete set of rules and instructions for how to play the game. Unlike traditional baseball, the unique scoring system of miniature baseball allows you to play the game with as few as two people. And with handicaps for advanced players, both young and old rookies can enjoy playing alongside those with more experience, thus mentoring and sharing the love of baseball with all generations, including those who live with handicaps.

Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail, Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds Pour a whole flood, and yet, its flame unquenched, Th’unconquerable lightning struggles through. Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls, And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. Black from the stroke, above, the smould’ring pine Stands a sad shattered trunk; and, stretched below, A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie. James Thompson, “The Seasons” (1727) have been investigating ball lightning for more than two decades. I published a ball lightning report in Nature in 1976 that received worldwide publicity and I consequently many people wrote to me with accounts of their own experiences. Within a very short time, I had accumulated about 200 firsthand accounts, and the file has continued to grow steadily since then. Several things impressed me. Few of those who wrote to me had any detailed foreknowledge of ball lightning at the time of their observation. Nonetheless, once reports of other phenomena such as St. Elmo’s fire had been eliminated, the remaining descriptions were remarkably consistent. Furthermore, nearly all who contacted me were keen to have an explanation of what they had seen and seemed entirely sincere.

The intelligent sports analysis of a soccer ball (also known as football, football ball, or association football ball) requires accurately simulating its motion and finding the best design parameters. Employing classic mechanics, this book establishes a fundamental framework for the soccer ball multi-body dynamics modeling, virtual prototype simulation and optimization design. It presents 3D virtual prototypes to predict the soccer ball trajectory for soccer players and trainers. Five typical case studies have addressed in the kinematics and dynamics simulations of soccer ball projectile motion, free kick, and corner kick in the virtual environment. The research on multi-body dynamics models provides a useful method for engineers and scientists to investigate the spatial kinematics and dynamics performances of various balls, such as soccer ball, gulf ball, American football, etc. The book is significant to guide undergraduate and graduate students from multi-disciplines to study system dynamics and optimization design.