A worn pressure cooker and a sweet little pot learn new ways of dealing with difficult feelings Meet the Potts. Holdin Pott grew up learning to keep in feelings of sadness and anger. He is one tough pressure cooker. Little Pott is watching and wants to be just like him, but when you're little and the heat is on really high, it's hard to keep the lid on and hold tough stories and feelings inside. What will Little Pott do? How will Holdin Pott help him? From the team that created Once I Was Very Very Scared and You Weren't With Me, comes a new story to help children and grown-ups start difficult conversations and snuggle in closer together.

Many emerging technologies such as video conferencing, video-on-demand, and digital libraries require the efficient delivery of compressed video streams. For applications that require the delivery of compressed stored multimedia streams, the a priori knowledge available about these compressed streams can aid in the allocation of server and network resources. By using a client-side buffer, the resource requirements from the server and network can be minimized. Buffering Techniques for Delivery of Compressed Video in Video-on-Demand Systems presents a comprehensive description of buffering techniques for the delivery of compressed, prerecorded multimedia data. While these techniques can be applied to any compressed data streams, this book focusses primarily on the delivery of video streams because of the large resource requirements that they can consume. The book first describes buffering techniques for the continuous playback of stored video sources. In particular, several bandwidth smoothing (or buffering) algorithms that are provably optimal under certain conditions are presented. To provide a well-rounded discussion, the book then describes extensions that aid in the ability to provide interactive delivery of video across networks. Specifically, reservation techniques that take into account interactive functions such as fast-forward and rewind are described. In addition, extensions to the bandwidth smoothing algorithms presented in the first few chapters are described. These algorithms are designed with interactive, continuous playback of stored video in mind and are also provably optimal under certain constraints. Buffering Techniques for Delivery of Compressed Video in Video-on-Demand Systems serves as an excellent resource for multimedia systems, networking and video-on-demand designers, and may be used as a text for advanced courses on the topic.

The iconic inhabitants of Larry Marder's unique Beanworld universe are introduced in this complete collection of Beanworld comic-book issues #1-#21! Join Mr. Spook, Professor Garbanzo, Beanish, and many others as they experience adventures in their world that prove, whether friends or adversaries, they are all ultimately dependent on each other for survival. Marder's deceptively simple artwork illustrates a self-contained ecological fantasy realm with its own unique rules, truths, and lingo. Beanworld has delighted readers from grade school to grad school for more than a generation, earning a spot on the New York Times Graphic Books Best Sellers List.

In the 4700 years since its first recorded use, cannabis has been respected as a highly useful source of fibre, food and medicine and vilified as a social menace. Society in the 21st century seems to be of both opinions: doctors spend millions exploiting its medicinal value and thousands of people travel to Amsterdam each weekend to sit in cafes to smoke copious amounts of dope free from molestation, yet taking less than 30g (1oz) back into their own countries is an offence and public figures who admit to smoking cannabis in their youth claim that they did so without inhaling. This Is Cannabis does not preach the benefits or the deficits of cannabis; instead, it aims to provide the facts about cannabis in an authoritative, straightforward way, outlining the history, laws, and culture that have accreted around it, its effects on health, and the booming commercial potential.

When Ping admits that he is the only child in China unable to grow a flower from the seeds distributed by the Emperor, he is rewarded for his honesty.