The only guide to California Small Claims Court that provides tips by former judges! The definitive guide to California Small Claims Court for more than 25 years, this plain-English guide gives you step-by-step instructions to bring or defend your case – from preparing evidence and lining up persuasive witnesses, to making a presentation in court and collecting the money you're awarded.

This invaluable A-to-Z reference work presents nearly 300 entries that survey the history of prisoners of war and interned civilians from the earliest times to the present, with emphasis on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It explores such themes as famous prisoners of war throughout history, medical conditions, atrocities, escapes, international law, exchanges of prisoners, organizations working on behalf of POWs, and trials associated with the treatment of captives.

The forms and information Californians need to transfer property to someone else. Whenever you transfer real estate in the Golden State – because of marriage, divorce, death or for estate planning purposes – you need a new deed. Deeds for California Real Estate shows you how to choose the right kind of deed, create it, then file it with the county recorder. It has all the forms you'll need, with step-by-step instructions for completing them quickly and accurately.

Anger and hurt tend to figure strongly in divorce, hand-in-hand with resentment, sadness, and fear about your future. And more often than not, these emotional woes all coalesce under the banner of money. Nolo Press is known for its thorough research and user-friendly approach to legal matters, and its book on Divorce and Money is up to its usual high standards of quality. "Think financially–act legally," the folks at Nolo say, and they explain how to do so, in detailed and practical terms, for joint accounts and hidden assets, gifts and insurance, alimony and retirement benefits, marital property and the IRS, net worth and what to do about the house. They also discuss where to seek professional help, how to keep proper records and assemble the facts, why the financial issues are so sticky, in what ways you're at risk, and how to reduce the stress and avoid the bad scenes, when possible. A life-saver of a reference book for when you're at your most vulnerable and disorganized, Divorce & Money offers practical and proactive advice to help you protect yourself and safeguard your financial future. –Stephanie Gold

Everyone needs a will sooner rather than later – and Nolo's Simple Will Book is the all-in-one tool you need. For over 15 years, this bestseller had made it easy to:
*write a legally valid will
*leave property to family, friends or organizations
*name a personal guardian to care for your children
*safely leave property to young children
*arrange for the payment of debts and taxes
*name an executor to handle your affairs
*update your will as needed

Like most small business owners, you probably can't afford to hire a lawyer to draft the legal documents you need in the course of your day-to-day business. Now there's an affordable solution – Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Busines, which provides you with over 60 legal forms and documents and all the step-by-step instructions you need to use them.

Chris Eudaley is a Pot Superstar. His new book is a witty guide to the ins and outs of everyone's favorite controlled substance, from how to choose and prepare it to how to roll a joint, pack a pipe, use a bong, and roll a blunt. He details the appropriate terminology and tells what social faux pas to avoid.

From the beginning in 1935 this attractive book describes the different elements that went into the Panzer-Divisions. It describes how the Germans carefully built up their assault forces utilizing all available reserves and resources into making an effective fighting machine. It depicts how these awesome formations grew to be used four years later in war, and provides much historical information and facts about the vehicles and its components that fought in all the campaigns of the war from the early victorious Blitzkrieg in Poland and France to the last ditch defense in Germany in 1945. Each chapter features unseen photographs of light tanks, main battle tanks, assault guns, anti-tank destroyers, artillery, reconnaissance units, support vehicles, pioneers with their bridge building platforms and the motorized infantry or Panzergrenadiers.

The main function of language is to convey meaning. The question of why language is structured the way it is, Heine here argues, has therefore to be answered first of all with reference to this function. Linguistic explanations in terms of other exponents of language structure, e.g. of syntax, are likely to highlight peripheral or epi-phenomenal rather than central characteristics of language structure. This book uses basic findings on grammaticalization processes to describe the role of cognitive forces in shaping grammar. It provides students with an introductory treatment of a field of linguistics that has developed recently and is rapidly expanding.

Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry is a pretty amiable guy. But lately, he’s been getting a little worked up. What could make a mild-mannered man of words so hot under the collar? Well, a lot of things–like bad public art, Internet millionaires, SUVs, Regis Philbin . . . and even bigger problems, like

• The slower-than-deceased-livestock left-lane drivers who apparently believe that the right lane is sacred and must never come in direct contact with tires
• The parent-misery quotient of last-minute school science fair projects
• Day trading and other careers that never require you to take off your bathrobe
• The plague of the low-flow toilets, which is so bad that even in Miami, where you can buy drugs just by opening your front door and yelling “Hey! I want some crack,” you can’t even sell your first born to get a normal-flushing toilet

Beginning with an overview of renewables (including biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal, tidal, wind, and solar power) this book explores the fundamentals of various renewable energy systems. The main focus is on technologies with high development potential such as solar thermal systems, photovoltaics, and wind power.
This text not only describes technological aspects but also deals consciously with problems of the energy industry. In this way, the topics are treated in a holistic manner, enabling readers to gain a broad understanding of renewable energy technology and its potential.

Facing the Wild is the first serious empirical examination of why people seek out animals in their natural environment, what the desire for this experience tells us about the meanings of animals, nature, authenticity and wilderness in contemporary industrialized societies and whether visitors change their environmental perspectives and behaviour, as the custodians of parks would like them to. The book explores the contradictions and ambivalence that so many people experience in the presence of ‘wild nature’–in loving it we may diminish it and in the act of wanting to see it we may destroy it. Ultimately the book makes a case for ‘respectful stewardship’ of a ‘hybrid nature’ and provides insight for both practitioners and ecotourists alike.

Tourism is the world's largest industry and environmentally sustainable tourism or "ecotourism" has become a major area of interest for governments, the private sector and international lending institutions. It is regarded as a way of allowing economic development whilst protecting against environmental degradation, especially in those countries with fragile ecosystems. However, this may not be the reality. Rosaleen Duffy presents the first critical analysis of "ecotourism"; does it deliver real environmental benefits or is it just a marketing opportunity – "green greed"? By the extensive use of case study and interview material, she shows how ecotourism can work to support conservation and local economies given the right political context and regulation.

In this follow-up to their successful first book, Data Mining Techniques, Michael J. A. Berry and Gordon S. Linoff offer a case study-based guide to best practices in commercial data mining. Their first book acquainted you with the new generation of data mining tools and techniques and showed you how to use them to make better business decisions. Mastering Data Mining shifts the focus from understanding data mining techniques to achieving business results, placing particular emphasis on customer relationship management.

The computer's metaphorical desktop, with its onscreen windows and hierarchy of folders, is the only digital work environment most users and designers have ever known. Yet empirical studies show that the traditional desktop design does not provide sufficient support for today's real-life tasks involving collaboration, multitasking, multiple roles, and diverse technologies. In Beyond the Desktop Metaphor, leading researchers and developers consider design approaches for a post-desktop future.
The contributors analyze the limitations of the desktop environment–including the built-in conflict between access and display, the difficulties in managing several tasks simultaneously, and the need to coordinate the multiple technologies and information objects (laptops, PDAs, files, URLs, email) that most people use daily–and propose novel design solutions that work toward a more integrated digital work environment. They describe systems that facilitate access to information, including Lifestreams, Haystack, Task Gallery, GroupBar, and Scalable Fabric, and they argue that the organization of work environments should reflect the social context of work. They consider the notion of activity as a conceptual tool for designing integrated systems, and point to the Kimura and Activity-Based Computing systems as examples.
Beyond the Desktop Metaphor is the first systematic overview of state-of-the-art research on integrated digital work environments. It provides a glimpse of what the next generation of information technologies for everyday use may look like–and it should inspire design solutions for users' real-world needs.