When Michaels Met the Unusual

When Michaels Met the Unusual PDF

Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2022-01-27

Total Pages: 101

ISBN-13: 1665550538

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In the earlier days of bridge, a direct cue bid of the opponent’s opening bid was traditionally played as a ‘strong cue bid’, a hand too strong for an ordinary take-out double, and forcing to game. A typical hand was any 4-4-4-1 hand with 18 – 19+ HCP. These occurred so seldom and players found they could be handled by starting with a take-out double anyhow that the direct cue bid was finally put to better use. The most popular use is to show some form of a two-suited hand. The Michaels cue bid is one of the most popular conventions among players in the United States. You pick up your hand in second seat and you have a nice hand. You have eleven HCP but nice distribution, 1=5=2=6. And of course, you are going to open your long suit first. But hey, wait a minute. Your RHO is pulling something out of his bidding box. That’s not fair. This isn’t going to be so easy. But we have lots of tools to describe 2-suited hands. The two most popular are the Michaels Cue Bid, and the Unusual Notrump. The parameters for both conventions are the same. One should have at least 5-5 distribution to start. Some partnerships restrict their use of both for hands that are either ‘weak’ or ‘strong’ but not in the ‘middle’ range. This idea however has been losing favor with most expert partnerships who rightly feel shape trumps strength. The more modern feeling is that the distributional nature of their hand outweighs any disadvantage. They prefer entering the auction as soon as possible regardless of strength. That can be worried about later. We will discuss this more in later chapters

Unusual Creatures

Unusual Creatures PDF

Author: Michael Hearst

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2012-09-26

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13: 1452104670

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"Introduces the reader to a wealth of extraordinary life forms"-- P. [4] of cover.

The Book of Strange New Things

The Book of Strange New Things PDF

Author: Michel Faber

Publisher: Hogarth

Published: 2014-10-28

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 0553418858

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A monumental, genre-defying novel that David Mitchell calls "Michel Faber’s second masterpiece," The Book of Strange New Things is a masterwork from a writer in full command of his many talents. It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter’s teachings—his Bible is their “book of strange new things.” But Peter is rattled when Bea’s letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea’s faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter. Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us. Marked by the same bravura storytelling and precise language that made The Crimson Petal and the White such an international success, The Book of Strange New Things is extraordinary, mesmerizing, and replete with emotional complexity and genuine pathos.

What a Strange Little Man

What a Strange Little Man PDF

Author: Michael Straessle

Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing

Published: 2008-10

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1606931946

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The Aurelius' live a predictable life; they like it that way. Michael is a prison guard for the Roman Empire and Mary is a homemaker wishing for children. For the past two years, Michael has been guarding a strange little man who has caused their comfortable lifestyle to be anything but. Conversations garnered questions for which there seemed to be no answers. Questions about the existence of God, the reaity of a resurrected Savior, the appearance of the supernatural; these were things that brought Michael to the brink of madness. Read this account of a journey from a little prison in Rome to a future prison that no one could predict!

Rare Air

Rare Air PDF

Author: Michael Jordan

Publisher: Collins Pub San Francisco

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13: 9780006382560

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Complete before his resignation from basketball, Jordan discusses his love of the game, his family, and his competitiveness

Where Two Worlds Met

Where Two Worlds Met PDF

Author: Michael Khodarkovsky

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9780801425554

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During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the expanding Russian empire was embroiled in a dramatic confrontation with the nomadic people known as the Kalmyks who had moved westward from Inner Asia onto the vast Caspian and Volga steppes. Drawing on an unparalleled body of Russian and Turkish sources--including chronicles, epics, travelogues, and previously unstudied Ottoman archival materials--Michael Khodarkovsky offers a fresh interpretation of this long and destructive conflict, which ended with the unruly frontier becoming another province of the Russian empire.Khodarkovsky first sketches a cultural anthropology of the Kalmyk tribes, focusing on the assumptions they brought to the interactions with one another and with the sedentary cultures they encountered. In light of this portrait of Kalmyk culture and internal politics, Khodarkovsky rereads from the Kalmyk point of view the Russian history of disputes between the two peoples. Whenever possible, he compares Ottoman accounts of these events with the Russian sources on which earlier interpretations have been based. Khodarkovsky's analysis deepens our understanding of the history of Russian expansion and establishes a new paradigm for future study of the interaction between the Russians and the non-Russian peoples of Central Asia and Transcaucasia.

Approaching the Qur'an

Approaching the Qur'an PDF

Author: Michael Sells

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2023-10-05

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0861546792

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Approaching the Qur’an presents brilliant translations of the short, hymnic chapters, or Suras, associated with the first revelations to the Prophet Muhammad. These early Suras contain some of the most powerful, prophetic, and revelatory passages in religious history, offering the vision of a meaningful and just life that anchors the faith of one fifth of the world’s inhabitants. In addition to these translations, Michael Sells provides an introduction to the Qur’an, commentaries on the Suras, a glossary of technical terms, and discussions of the auditory nature and gender aspects of the Arabic text. An ideal resource for students and interested lay readers, this third edition also includes a new full Sura and associated commentary, a new preface, and a thoroughly updated bibliography.

Untouchable

Untouchable PDF

Author: Randall Sullivan

Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

Published: 2012-11-06

Total Pages: 577

ISBN-13: 0802195652

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The investigative biography of Michael Jackson’s final years: “A tale of family, fame, lost childhood, and startling accusations never heard before” (ABC Nightline). When Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, millions of fans around the world were shocked. But the outpouring of emotion that followed his loss was bittersweet. Dogged by scandal for years and undone by financial mismanagement, Jackson had become untouchable in many quarters. Untouchable pulls back the curtain Jackson’s public person to introduce a man who, despite his immense fame, spent his entire life utterly alone; who, in the wake of a criminal trial that left him briefly hospitalized, abandoned Neverland to wander the globe before making one final—and fatal—attempt to recover his wealth and reputation. The Jackson that emerges in these pages is both naïve and cunning, a devoted father whose parenting became an international scandal, a shrewd businessman whose failures nearly brought down a megacorporation, and an inveterate narcissist who craved a quiet, normal life. Randall Sullivan delivers never-before-reported information about Jackson’s business dealings, his relationship with his family, and the pedophilia allegations that derailed his life and mar his legacy today, as well as the suspicious nature of his death. Based on exclusive access to Jackson’s inner circle, Untouchable is an intimate, unflinching portrait of the man who continues to reign as the King of Pop. “A dishy Michael Jackson biography that makes the exhaustively covered King of Pop fascinating all over again.” —People

The Lines We Cross

The Lines We Cross PDF

Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Published: 2017-05-09

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1338118676

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A remarkable story about the power of tolerance from one of the most important voices in contemporary Muslim literature, critically acclaimed author Randa Abdel-Fattah. Michael likes to hang out with his friends and play with the latest graphic design software. His parents drag him to rallies held by their anti-immigrant group, which rails against the tide of refugees flooding the country. And it all makes sense to Michael.Until Mina, a beautiful girl from the other side of the protest lines, shows up at his school, and turns out to be funny, smart -- and a Muslim refugee from Afghanistan. Suddenly, his parents' politics seem much more complicated.Mina has had a long and dangerous journey fleeing her besieged home in Afghanistan, and now faces a frigid reception at her new prep school, where she is on scholarship. As tensions rise, lines are drawn. Michael has to decide where he stands. Mina has to protect herself and her family. Both have to choose what they want their world to look like.