Bits and Pieces tells the story of chiptune, a style of lo-fi electronic music that emerged from the first generation of video game consoles and home computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Through ingenuity and invention, musicians and programmers developed code that enabled the limited hardware of those early 8-bit machines to perform musical feats that they were never designed to achieve. In time, that combination of hardware and creative code came to define a unique 8-bit sound that imprinted itself on a generation of gamers. For a new generation of musicians, this music has currency through the chipscene, a vibrant musical subculture that repurposes obsolete gaming hardware. It's performative: raw and edgy, loaded with authenticity and driven by a strong DIY ethic. It's more punk than Pac-Man, and yet, it's part of that same story of ingenuity and invention; 8-bit hardware is no longer a retired gaming console, but a quirky and characterful musical instrument. Taking these consoles to the stage, musicians fuse 8-bit sounds with other musical styles - drum'n'bass, jungle, techno and house - to create a unique contemporary sound. Analyzing musical structures and technological methods used with chiptune, Bits and Pieces traces the simple beeps of the earliest arcade games, through the murky shadows of the digital underground, to global festivals and movie soundtracks.

Traditionally, network security (firewalls to block unauthorized users, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) to keep attackers out, Web filters to avoid misuse of Internet browsing, and antivirus software to block malicious programs) required separate boxes with increased cost and complexity. Unified Threat Management (UTM) makes network security less complex, cheaper, and more effective by consolidating all these components. This book explains the advantages of using UTM and how it works, presents best practices on deployment, and is a hands-on, step-by-step guide to deploying Fortinet's FortiGate in the enterprise. - Provides tips, tricks, and proven suggestions and guidelines to set up FortiGate implementations - Presents topics that are not covered (or are not covered in detail) by Fortinet's documentation - Discusses hands-on troubleshooting techniques at both the project deployment level and technical implementation area

Author Ken McAlpine stands in his front yard one night in Ventura, California, trying to see the stars. His view is diminished by light pollution, making it hard to see much of anything in the sky. Our fast-paced, technologically advanced society, he concludes, is not conducive to stargazing or soul-searching. Taking a page from Thoreau's Walden, he decides to get away from the clamor of everyday life, journeying alone through California's Channel Islands National Park. There, he imagines, he might be able to "breathe slowly and think clearly, to examine how we live and what we live for." In between his week-long solo trips through these pristine islands, McAlpine reaches out to try to better understand his fellow man: he eats lunch with the homeless in Beverly Hills, sits in the desert with a 98-year-old Benedictine monk, and befriends a sidewalk celebrity impersonator in Hollywood. What he discovers about himself and the world we live in will inspire anyone who wishes they had the time to slow down and notice the wonders of nature and humanity.

At the age of seventeen, Kenneth McAlpine ran away from the Repton school to join Churchill's new elite special force, the Royal Marine Commandos. As the youngest member of the youngest commando force, after three months he found himself fighting on the beaches of Normandy. In We Died With Our Boots Clean, McAlpine tells his own unique story of World War II and his highly eventful military career. From an unusual encounter with Montgomery and Patton, a concerted attempt to kill a sergeant major and his best friend's arrest for swearing at the Queen of Holland, McAlpine paints a fascinating picture of commando life and the harsh training that prepared soldiers for frontline combat in an elite unit. Full of absorbing anecdotes such as his time in a military prison and a rescue operation at a concentration camp, this book is an essential part of a World War II enthusiast's library.

McAlpine traveled the East Coast from Key West, Florida, to Lubek, Maine, during what he calls the "forgotten season"--the period from Labor Day to the first day of spring--in order to discover the places and people that embody the heart and soul of America.