Hot New Thing

Lily finds out that acting success in Hollywood comes at a price she may be unable to pay.

"Starting a new organization is risky business. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, most startups fail; half of them do not reach the five-year mark. Protestant churches are not immune to these trends. Most new churches are not established with denominational support-more than 50% are actually non-denominational-and, therefore, have many of the same vulnerabilities other infant organizations must overcome. Research on both congregants and congregations has shown that millions of Americans are leaving churches, half of all churches do not add any new members, and thousands of churches shutter their doors each year. These numbers suggest that American religion is not a growth industry. Yet, more than 1000 new churches are started in any given year. What are the forces that move people who might otherwise be satisfied working for churches to the more risky role of starting one as a religion entrepreneur? In Church Planters, sociologist Richard Pitt uses more than 125 in-depth interviews with church planters to understand their motivations. First, he uncovers themes in their sometimes miraculous, sometimes mundane answers to the question: "why take on these risks?" Then he examines how they approach three common entrepreneurial challenges-recognizing opportunities, marshalling resources, and framing success-in ways that reduce uncertainty and lead them to believe they will be successful. The book combines their evocative stories with insights from research on commercial and social entrepreneurship to explain how these religion entrepreneurs come to believe their organizational goals must be accomplished, that they are capable of being accomplished, and that they would accomplish them over time"--

Vinnie Miller is a successful drug importer on the Costa del Sol. He lures his son John into the firm, although he didn't want anything to do with the gang. Due to the hatred John has for Vinnie, he plans the takeover of the business with the help of a gang member. John tracks down his long lost brother, and between the three men, they con Vinnie into believing that a load of cannabis has been seized by the Spanish police. In a fit of anger, Vinnie kills two of his mules, but doesn't tell John what he's done. John perpetuates the illusion that the police are onto them. Vinnie disappears to his villa in Barbados. In a drink and drug binge, he beats up his new Barbadian girlfriend and leaves her scarred for life. With the help of Troy, a local man, John and his brother plan the horrific death of their father. Troy's friend is arrested for another murder and informs on him. Troy informs on the brothers, and the whole thing falls apart when arrests are simultaneously made in Spain and the UK.

Software Telemetry is a guide to operating the telemetry systems that monitor and maintain your applications. It takes a big picture view of telemetry, teaching you to manage your logging, metrics, and events as a complete end-to-end ecosystem. You'll learn the base architecture that underpins any software telemetry system, allowing you to easily integrate new systems into your existing infrastructure, and how these systems work under the hood. Throughout, you'll follow three very different companies to see how telemetry techniques impact a greenfield startup, a large legacy enterprise, and a non-technical organization without any in-house development. You'll even cover how software telemetry is used by court processes--ensuring that when your first telemetry subpoena arrives, there's no reason to panic!

It started two decades ago with CompStat in the New York City Police Department, and quickly jumped to police agencies across the U.S. and other nations. It was adapted by Baltimore, which created CitiStat—the first application of this leadership strategy to an entire jurisdiction. Today, governments at all levels employ PerformanceStat: a focused effort by public executives to exploit the power of purpose and motivation, responsibility and discretion, data and meetings, analysis and learning, feedback and follow-up—all to improve government's performance. Here, Harvard leadership and management guru Robert Behn analyzes the leadership behaviors at the core of PerformanceStat to identify how they work to produce results. He examines how the leaders of a variety of public organizations employ the strategy—the way the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services uses its DPSSTATS to promote economic independence, how the City of New Orleans uses its BlightStat to eradicate blight in city neighborhoods, and what the Federal Emergency Management Agency does with its FEMAStat to ensure that the lessons from each crisis response, recovery, and mitigation are applied in the future. How best to harness the strategy's full capacity? The PerformanceStat Potential explains all.

Three novels in the acclaimed series starring an author whose itinerary often leads him to crime scenes . . . The Festival Murders Bryce Peabody is ready to give a talk at the annual literary festival in the pretty English town of Mold-on-Wold—until he’s found dead in his hotel room. Soon, author Francis Meadowes is drawn into a role he knows only from his own fiction—that of amateur detective . . . “A marvellous set of unsavoury suspects . . . good, nasty fun with a ring of truth.” —The Mail on Sunday, Thriller of the Week Cruising to Murder Francis has landed a job lecturing aboard a luxurious liner as it cruises down the West African coast. His fellow passengers include an eclectic mix of characters. But when two of them die, the sleuthing crime writer discovers he may be out of his depth . . . “[An] entertaining mystery.” —Publishers Weekly Murder Your Darlings Francis is soaking up the sun in Italy, running a creative writing course at a villa in the Umbrian countryside. But what should have been a magical week turns sinister when a body is found in the sauna . . . A Mail on Sunday Book of the Year “A neat twist on the classic English-country-house formula.” —Kirkus Reviews

Joyce and Bev are longtime neighborhood-mom friends. Their husbands were friends, their kids were too. Getting ready for work one day, Bev hears bombshell news from Joyce: Her husband is leaving her. Bev, herself a recent widow, immediately calls into work to comfort Joyce. Holding each other, the two women alternately laugh, cry, and rage. In one of the quieter moments, things take a steamy turn as Joyce invites Bev past the boundaries of their intimacy. Bev follows, lovingly--until fear and confusion push her back. Now their relationship is in uncharted territory. Joyce feels rejected. Bev resents Joyce springing this on her. Bev wants to salvage the relationship while Joyce doesn't seem interested. But what is their relationship? Are they friends, with a one-off in their past? Friends with benefits? Lovers? And what next? Move in? Marry?

Libraries today provide a wider variety of services, collections, and tools than at any time in the past. This book explores how reference librarianship is changing to continue to help users find information they need in this shifting environment.