Strange scientific facts and real answers to gross questions are presented in this amusing and slightly disgusting fact-filled book for young readers, from the author of Why is Snot Green?

In the latest installment of Nancy Krulik's popular George Brown, Class Clown series, George is preparing for picture day, and his friend Alex is preparing to break the Schminess World Record for the largest ABC (Already Been Chewed) gumball. While George is selecting his outfit, Alex is busy becoming famous. Can George learn to be a supportive friend, despite the jealousy he feels, or will the super burp ruin his best friend's chances of fame and his own fourth grade reputation?

How loud can you burp? Could we use animal poo to make electricity? Why is water wet, and is anything wetter than water? What's the deadliest disease in the world? What are clouds for? What's the difference between a brain and a computer? This is a wonderfully funny and informative book which helps us take a fresh look at the world (and universe) we live in, with no boring bits and an abundance of fascinating facts!A doodle-filled book of questions and answers from the author of the bestselling Why Is Snot Green?, Glenn Murphy

An "elegant and eloquent" (New York Times) exploration of the frontiers of noise and silence, and the growing war between them. Between iPods, music-blasting restaurants, earsplitting sports stadiums, and endless air and road traffic, the place for quiet in our lives grows smaller by the day. In Pursuit of Silence gives context to our increasingly desperate sense that noise pollution is, in a very real way, an environmental catastrophe. Traveling across the country and meeting and listening to a host of incredible characters, including doctors, neuroscientists, acoustical engineers, monks, activists, educators, marketers, and aggrieved citizens, George Prochnik examines why we began to be so loud as a society, and what it is that gets lost when we can no longer find quiet.

Introduction to Loudspeaker Design is written for students, technicians, engineers and hobbyists seeking an overview of the technology of loudspeakers. Starting with a brief history of audio developments the book begins by introducing the concepts of frequency, pitch and loudness and proceeds to develop the idea of a loudspeaker as a system. The book covers such topics as loudspeaker design tradeoffs, spatial loading, diffraction loss, cavity effect and enclosure construction. A complete chapter is devoted to the subject of crossover design including design equations. The second edition adds a new chapter on simulation and analysis which includes design equations for closed and vented type speakers. The appendices contain technical references, design aids, glossaries and a chart depicting 18 different loudspeaker enclosure types. The author is a physicist/audio design engineer with over 35 years experience in the research and development of audio products spanning both hardware and software. His WinSpeakerz, TrueRTA and DATS software applications are widely used throughout the audio industry as tools for simulating and measuring loudspeaker performance. Captain Murphy served as a space systems analyst for NORAD during his military career. Changes for the Second Edition: The second edition brings new material and polishes the first edition with many new or improved illustrations. Chapter 2 was expanded with the second half split into a new Chapter 3 titled "Speaker Response Functions." The discussion of Thiele-Small parameters has been expanded and now covers small-signal parameters vs. large-signal parameters as it explores the role of the test signal level in parameter measurement. The crossover design chapter has been expanded to include formulas for calculating component values for the most popular crossover types. Equations have been added for calculating impedance compensation and attenuation networks. The old Chapter 7 FAQ material was integrated into other chapters as appropriate. A new Chapter 8 titled "Loudspeaker Simulation" has been added and introduces loudspeaker equivalent circuit analysis with equations for calculating the magnitude and phase responses of closed and vented loudspeaker systems. Additional design equations are introduced and then examples are given for calculating the responses of a closed box and a vented box loudspeaker. Detailed design equation summaries are given for closed and vented boxes. Appendix C was added to provide a glossary of symbols and a glossary of terms. The box type charts were moved to Appendix D.

Introduction - What is a sound effect? - The science of sound - The microphone - Mocrophone models and applications - Microphone accessories - Recorders - Building a field recording package - The ten recording commandments - Sound effects gathering - Building a Foley Stage for a home studio - The art of Foley - Digital audio - Studio equipment - Designing your own studio - The ten sound editing commandments - File naming and metadata - Sound design - The sound effects encyclopedia - The future of sound design - Resources.