Perhaps like this author you have a retirement account with savings invested in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds across industry sectors and financial markets. At the encouragement of your financial advisor, you may hold some international securities, including assets in emerging market economies like Hong Kong, which has long been one of the investment darlings of U.S. mutual fund managers. You would not be happy to learn, I suspect, that some of your foreign investment savings might be commingled with overseas money generated from illicit commerce, in particular Asian sex trafficking. That's the discovery of three Americans on vacation in Asia who get caught up in, and find themselves forced to thwart, a Hong Kong-based Chinese crime syndicate scheme to take control of Thailand's economy. The Hong Kong Gambit tells a fictional story based on the very real world of international illicit human trafficking that destroys lives of young girls and threatens the economic stability and progress of countries like Thailand.

For over eighty years the SBS have sailed into the face of danger. Responsible for quick strikes, reconnaissance, and counter-terrorism, they are the world's foremost marine special forces unit. The SBS risk their lives at sea and on land, undertaking the most dangerous missions. 1990s Hong Kong. With Britain about to cede control of Hong Kong to the Chinese, SBS operative Des Cooper is in town, taking part in anti-smuggling operations with the locals. But when rumours of a far-fetched plot to steal nuclear warheads prove true, Cooper and his SBS team must do their utmost to prevent all-out catastrophe.

Conventional wisdom holds that China's burgeoning economic power has reduced the United States to little more than a customer and borrower of Beijing. The rise of China, many feel, necessarily means the decline of the West--the United States in particular. Not so, writes Edward Steinfeld. If anything, China's economic emergence is good for America. In this fascinating new book, Steinfeld asserts that China's growth is fortifying American commercial supremacy, because (as the title says) China is playing our game. By seeking to realize its dream of modernization by integrating itself into the Western economic order, China is playing by our rules, reinforcing the dominance of our companies and regulatory institutions. The impact of the outside world has been largely beneficial to China's development, but also enormously disruptive. China has in many ways handed over--outsourced--the remaking of its domestic economy and domestic institutions to foreign companies and foreign rule-making authorities. For Chinese companies now, participation in global production also means obedience to foreign rules. At the same time, even as these companies assemble products for export to the West, the most valuable components for those products come from the West. America's share of global manufacturing, by value, has actually increased since 1990. Within China, the R&D centers established by Western companies attract the country's best scientists and engineers, and harness that talent to global, rather than indigenous Chinese, innovation efforts. In many ways, both Chinese and American society are benefiting as a result. That said, the pressures on China are intense. China is modeling its economy on the United States, with vast consequences in a country with a small fraction of America's per-capita income and scarcely any social safety net. Walmartization is not something that Asian manufacturing power is doing to us; rather, it is how we are transforming China. From outsourcing to energy, Steinfeld overturns the conventional wisdom in this incisive and richly researched account.

Game On tells the story of how and why the sports media industry grew to become one of the most important and profitable components of the global entertainment landscape.

From party games to legacy games, setting up to hosting a crowd, tabletop game expert Erik Arneson gives you the strategies you need to host an epic game night. Break out the chips and grab a drink! With enthusiasm for tabletop games at an all-time high and exciting new board games and card games hitting Kickstarter every week, game night is more popular than ever. But there’s more to the perfect game night than choosing between classics like Scrabble and Catan or introducing friends and family to games like Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Codenames. Tabletop gaming expert and experienced game night host Erik Arneson is here to help. Organizing his advice by group size, Arneson walks you through everything from selecting the right venue and snacks to managing a game library and bad attitudes, answering questions like: -How can I make the most of a small space? -Am I explaining the rules right? -What should I do if guests show up late? -How do I keep my dog from eating the pieces? -Do I have to invite Sean? Marrying the practicality of Emily Post with curated lists of games perfect for every occasion, Arneson’s humorous, down-to-earth approach will help readers everywhere navigate these fun and rewarding gatherings. Ideal for novice hosts and seasoned players alike, How to Host a Game Night is the perfect book for anyone wanting to up the ante on their hosting game.

As questions concerning nationhood and national identity continue to preoccupy both Canada and Australia, Shaping Nations brings together the work of Australian and Canadian scholars around five core themes: constitutionalism, colonialism, republicanism, national identity, and governance.

Is googly a metaphor for surprises of all sorts? Can hat tricks turn contrarian to transform into a metaphor for successive defeats? Where do you use umpire and referee as metaphors? Are they really two different metaphors? As you sprint towards the finish line, as the start line becomes a mere blur in the circuit of life, on which metaphor should be your focus? Why is your finish line only as good as your start line? How are these two metaphors connected? Is sprint a metaphor for any short and speedy spell of running? When are you likely to short circuit the circuit metaphor? Can stymie be a metaphor for frustrating your initiatives totally, stem and root? When does your food turn into a mulligan stew? How did the common defence strategy of sandbagging turn into a billiards metaphor? Marathon and steeplechase - which is a metaphor for endurance and which is a metaphor for perseverance? Is volley a metaphor for a hail of compliments? Should salvo surprise and sear to be a metaphor? When do you turn gambit into a weasel metaphor? Why should chequered be a metaphor for our basic life philosophy? Which pawn metaphor is extremely negative? When do you run the risk of stalemating the stalemate metaphor? When does stalemate on ground become a diplomatic checkmate? All metaphoric googlies! Springing nasty surprises and visiting you unannounced! Do not get caught off guard!! With Not the End of Metaphoric Madness, you need not feel checkmated. This book is sure to help you out of your metaphoric dilemmas. It will also assist you in upholding metaphoric propriety and ensure you do not commit a serious metaphoric faux pas.