Balls and Stripes is a collection of stories about Alaska's most popular sport, basketball — and more. The title comes from my many experiences playing, coaching, and broadcasting Naismith's game; as well as refereeing the sport and also wearing the stripes of a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Basketball has taken me all over Alaska, with radio gear or whistle in hand. From Barrow to Petersburg, from Dutch Harbor to Tok, it has been a marvelous journey, with countless amusing experiences as well as dramatic moments. Much of the action occurs in my hometown, Cordova. A small fishing town of 2500 located on Prince William Sound, its denizens are passionate about their hoops, and also their rivalry with Valdez, located just 70 miles away. In many ways, sports transcend location. Small town basketball is the same anywhere; yet Alaska, with its vast spaces and dramatic climates, offers unique experiences. In northernmost Barrow, I watched Inupiat cooks shut down a high school cafeteria so they could glimpse the sun for the first time in 67 days; on the way to Dutch Harbor, I heard a pilot announce the reassuring words that he would land the small prop plane “whenever we can”, to load on fuel necessary to complete the flight; in Petersburg, I learned about “julebukking” and Men's Night Out. Refereeing, always a source of potential controversy, has provided its share of highlights. How many officials can claim fame for calling a technical foul on a curtain; or playing the first minutes of a championship game with the wrong size ball? Football and baseball are also included. Guess who brought Oregon State's mascot Benny the Beaver to Cordova's Iceworm Festival; and dodged barbed wire while tracking down a fly ball in Korea? And, like so many others, who can not recall in vivid detail a last second shot that didn't go in? People, places, moments. Sports - drama, tears, and cheers. It's all here.

Create beautiful striped blankets in timeless color combinations Haafner Linssen, author of Crochet Mandalas, reinvents the classic stripe pattern with her collection of vibrant blankets and afghans. Striped patterns are relaxing to create, work up quickly, and—best of all—don’t have too many ends to weave in. With clean, simple designs and subtle color combinations, these beautiful patterns will inspire you to create a modern heirloom. Striped Crochet Blankets includes twenty projects, all of them made using basic crochet techniques and stitches, making the book perfect for beginner crocheters or more experienced crafters looking for a relaxing project. Each afghan includes a written pattern, chart, and advice on selecting colors to guide readers through every step of the process. In addition to the patterns, the book also includes thorough explanations of basic crochet techniques, so even a complete crochet beginner can confidently tackle their first afghan. Nothing can compare to the comfort and warmth of handmade blanket, so grab your yarn and make something beautiful!

Here in a single, compact handbook are all the rules for the myriad forms of pocket billiards. Billiards: The Official Rules and Records Book is complete with detailed instructions on how to play everything from Basic Pocket Billiards to Cut-Throat, together with the rules for tournament games such as Nine Ball and Rotation, and Snooker and Carom games. These are the official rules of billiards from the Billiard Congress of America, the governing body of professional billiards in the United States. A very helpful chapter for the beginner includes professional tips on basic techniques and strategies. Also included are a glossary of billiard terms and a summary of BCA billiards champions.

From eminent biologists like Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin to famous authors such as Rudyard Kipling in his Just So Stories, many people have asked, “Why do zebras have stripes?” There are many explanations, but until now hardly any have been seriously addressed or even tested. In Zebra Stripes, Tim Caro takes readers through a decade of painstaking fieldwork examining the significance of black-and-white striping and, after systematically dismissing every hypothesis for these markings with new data, he arrives at a surprising conclusion: zebra markings are nature’s defense against biting fly annoyance. Popular explanations for stripes range from camouflage to confusion of predators, social facilitation, and even temperature regulation. It is a serious challenge to test these proposals on large animals living in the wild, but using a combination of careful observations, simple field experiments, comparative information, and logic, Caro is able to weigh up the pros and cons of each idea. Eventually—driven by experiments showing that biting flies avoid landing on striped surfaces, observations that striping is most intense where biting flies are abundant, and knowledge of zebras’ susceptibility to biting flies and vulnerability to the diseases that flies carry—Caro concludes that black-and-white stripes are an adaptation to thwart biting fly attack. Not just a tale of one scientist’s quest to solve a classic mystery of biology, Zebra Stripes is also a testament to the tremendous value of longitudinal research in behavioral ecology, demonstrating how observation, experiment, and comparative research can together reshape our understanding of the natural world.

With three balls of wool and lots of ingenuity, this mother gets down to work and sparks a small revolution.

Our country and the world is changing fast, and a knowledge of history helps us understand the hows, whats, and whys of modern civilization. Fully revised and updated, this new edition of The Handy History Answer Book answers over 1,000 how-what-why questions. A concise guide to all things historical, this feast of facts and compelling stories recounts the revolutionary ideas, acts, and inventions that have changed the world from the Stone Age through the 21st century. Open the pages of this historical guide and get ready for an exciting journey. From Neanderthal Man to sports, from the Trojan War to the Arab Spring, from the Hippocratic Oath to the Internet, this is the perfect companion for history buffs of any age and a resource for learning—and brushing up on—the events, terms, and history makers. A concise guide to all things historical, this feast of facts and compelling stories recounts the revolutionary ideas, acts, and inventions that have changed the world. Beginning with a section on historical eras, this popular reference source tracks history and organizes information in 13 specific subject sections, ranging from politics and war to science and religion. It tackles exploration and settlement, technological advances, legal fireworks, financial and business events, social movements, natural and man-made disasters, medicine and disease, and art and culture. From the Stone Age to sports, from the Trojan War to the Arab Spring, and from the Hippocratic Oath to the internet, this is the perfect companion for history buffs of any age.