Gift Ideas

Internet Fraud Casebook – The World Wide Web of Deceit

Internet Fraud Casebook: The World Wide Web of Deceit is a one-of-a-kind collection of actual cases written by the fraud examiners who investigated them. These stories were hand-selected from hundreds of submissions and together form a comprehensive, enlightening and entertaining picture of the many types of Internet fraud in varied industries throughout the world.

• Each case outlines how the fraud was engineered, how it was investigated, and how perpetrators were brought to justice
• Topics included are phishing, on-line auction fraud, security breaches, counterfeiting, and others

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The Lunatic Express

Travel and technology journalist Hoffman (Hunting Warbirds) had two motives for penning this tour of the world’s most life-threatening modes of transportation, including trains in India, buses in South America, and trucks in Afghanistan: to expose the “parallel reality,” obscured by the tourism industry, of millions for whom “travel was still a punishing, unpredictable, and sometimes deadly work of travail”; and for thrills.

By the first measure-showing how much of the world gets from place to place-Hoffman is commendably fascinating: his depiction of the horrors people endure just to see family members or get to work is unforgettable.

Unfortunately, Hoffman’s secondary motive dominates much of the ruminating prose, and it’s hard to sympathize with his middle-aged family-man angst when he’s subjecting his teenage daughter to a 24-hour ride across South American mountains in a bus with no bathroom. Elsewhere, a powerful description of the Indian train system segues into a tepid quasi-love affair. Readers with the patience to avoid some self-indulgent side-tracks will find much to reconsider during their next tough commute.

The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Blum (Ghost Hunters) makes chemistry come alive in her enthralling account of two forensic pioneers in early 20th-century New York. Blum follows the often unglamorous but monumentally important careers of Dr. Charles Norris, Manhattan’s first trained chief medical examiner, and Alexander Gettler, its first toxicologist. Moving chronologically from Norris’s appointment in 1918 through his death in 1936, Blum cleverly divides her narrative by poison, providing not only a puzzling case for each noxious substance but the ingenious methods devised by the medical examiner’s office to detect them.

Before the advent of forensic toxicology, which made it possible for the first time to identify poisons in corpses, Gettler learned the telltale signs of everything from cyanide (it leaves a corrosive trail in the digestive system) to the bright pink flush that signals carbon monoxide poisoning. In a particularly illuminating section, Blum examines the dangers of bootleg liquor (commonly known as wood, or methyl, alcohol) produced during Prohibition. With the pacing and rich characterization of a first-rate suspense novelist, Blum makes science accessible and fascinating.

Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii Game)

Journey into the blue once again with this Wii game where players get to explore the ocean and interact with its sealife.

Endless Ocean: Blue World builds on the ocean experience first introduced with Endless Ocean. While the last game emphasized relaxation, this one is designed with more adventure in mind. Divers might find themselves escaping from or calming down attacking sharks, exploring shipwrecks or finding treasure. Endless Ocean: Blue World also has more creatures and improved graphics designed to fully immerse players in an ocean environment that they can freely explore at their own pace.

Key Game Features:

• The ocean is teeming with life. Hundreds of real-life species are there to be discovered, from seahorses to giant whales.
• Are the local fish sick or agitated? Players can view their health status and then use a tranquilizer-like tool to zap the ones in need of rehab with healing energy.
• The game also includes a storyline that players can follow as they choose. The plot involves Oceana, a woman who investigates the “Dragon’s Song,” which her father, a prominent ocean explorer, was searching for just before his death.
• While at Nine Ball Island, players can become friends with a dolphin and teach it some new tricks. When ona dive, players can even bring along the dolphin, which players can hold onto for extra fast swimming.
• For the first time in the series, friends who have broadband Internet access can connect and dive with one another via Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection, while using the Wii Speak™ microphone to converse.
• Players: 1, 2 via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

Gameplay and Opening Video