Product Description
In 1987, the Japanese government inaugurated the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program in response to global pressure to "internationalize" its society. This ambitious program has grown to be a major government operation, with an annual budget of $400 million (greater than the United States NEA and NEH combined) and more than six thousand foreign nationals employed each year in public schools all over Japan.How does a relatively homogeneous and insular society react when a buzzword is suddenly turned into a reality? How did the arrival of so many foreigners affect Japan's educational bureaucracy? How did the foreigners themselves feel upon discovering that English teaching was not the primary goal of the program? In this balanced study of the JET program, David L. McConnell draws on ten years of ethnographic research to explore the cultural and political dynamics of internationalization in Japan. Through vignettes and firsthand accounts, he highlights and interprets the misunderstandings of the early years of the program, traces the culture clashes at all levels of the bureaucracy, and speculates on what lessons the JET program holds for other multicultural initiatives.This fascinating book's jargon-free style and interdisciplinary approach will make it appealing to educators, policy analysts, students of Japan, and prospective and former JET participants. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Good Background Knowledge
While at times this book is a bit more of an academic read (it is, after all, basically a case study), I found it very useful in learning about the background of the JET program.As an incoming JET participant myself, I've found it very informative in understanding why and how the JET program was formed, as well as the snags it encountered in its formative years.It also gives a very good perspective on the JET program through the Japanese eyes, such as those of the Japanese Teachers of English, as well as some of the bureaucrats involved in its running.I'm definitely glad I read this book and hope to share it with fellow JET participants as well.

Importing Diversity - A Good Inside Look at the JET Program
McConnell's book gives you a good behind the scenes look at the JET Program during its early years. It would have been nice if McConnell would have provided more depth than breadth, but his research does give you a good look at the program through the eyes of the national government, local officials, and JET participants. I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a study of the JET Program from an anthropoligical perspective.

In The Beginning...
First, as many reviews may point out - this is a history book.It deals with the creation of JET, the goals it started with, what it developed into and what it can teach us. The Japanese government brought it into existence to respond to global pressure to become more international.The Japanese school system and language teachers saw it as a chance to help their students pass their exams and, maybe, learn a little about the outside world.The American and English and German and other teachers saw it as many things - a way to learn about Japan, a way to force Western values and methods onto the Japanese, a way to bring change to Japan.There were problems with Jet in the form of different goals, cultural barriers and, yes, a language barrier.By reading this book, and trying to understand the many sides of the problems and solutions, we can learn a lot about what the future holds for JET and other international initiatives.

A resource I refer to constantly!
My research interest has become team-teaching in Japan's high schools, and there simply isn't that much out there which is unbiased, well-informed and detailed. More than any other book, I always recommend this to ALTs, whether they're JET teachers or not.

Why? Because though much of the book is devoted to the origins of the JET program (which started in 1987) , it's not difficult to extrapolate to the present in terms of Japanese attitudes toward English, toward foreign English teachers, and to what they value in both.

The more I learn about Japan's educational system, the more I can see that ALT are not necessarily discriminated against; in many JTEs (Japanese teachers of English) situations are intense versions ALT situations.

Whether you're coming to Japan, are here now, whether you're a JET teacher or a businessman, you will find plenty to apply to your situation. Don't look at this as a how-to or an expose; it's not meant to be either. View this as good journalism, take everything you can from it and run!Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program

Rings true for me
As far as I have seen, this is probably the one essential book that anybody needs before embarking on a year (or longer) of teaching English in Japan. I certainly wish I had found it in advance of my own teaching adventure to the country. Although I wasn't in the JET program, much of its content applies to Westerners regardless of the exact nature of the teaching situation. As I haven't been back to Japan for a few years now I can't comment on those who say some of the information in the book is out of date, but it certainly rings true for me.
A strange companion piece to this book for anyone (guys especially) thinking of making the leap to Japan might be Josh Muggins' "How to Pick Up Japanese Chicks and Doom Your Immortal Soul"-a highly readable cautionary tale about all that can go wrong with a young male gaijin's social life.
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Product Description
All-New revelations About Brett Favre

Based on interviews with dozens of players and significant team personnel, including owner Woody Johnson, long-time New York Post columnist Steve Serby brings to light juicy new information about Brett Favre's season with the New York Jets. This powerful account reveals:

• Behind-the-scenes details of the negotiations, including key correspondence, that brought Favre to the Jets
• Woody Johnson's thoughts on the ineffable appeal of Namath, Favre, and top draft pick Mark Sanchez
• That Favre kept trying to convince himself that he had made the right decision to play in New York
• How Favre tried to fit in, but also resisted team rules
• The pranks Favre would play, even on his coaches
• How Favre elevated Woody Johnson?s expectations for the team, which ultimately doomed Head Coach Eric Mangini
• Woody Johnson's admission on why Mangini was fired
• The tackle that hurt Favre's arm, as described by the player who made it, and how the team didn?t adjust to his weakening arm
• That Favre, over the last 4-5 weeks of the season, threw the ball sparingly in practice; instead, he often handed off to rest his arm as Kellen Clemens made most of the throws
• How discarded Jet quarterback Chad Pennington handled his signing with the archrival Miami Dolphins and his final showdown against the man who replaced him with the division title on the line

With scores of black-and-white photos and a color insert, No Substitute For Sundays shows why Favre can?t give up the game or give up on himself.Amazon.com Review
Product Description

One of New York's top sports columnists chronicles the ups and downs of Favre’s bold, brief tenure with the Jets, a cautionary tale for Viking fans, a told-you-so tale for Packer fans.

When future Hall of Famer Brett Favre came out of retirement and the Packers traded him to the Jets on August 7, 2008, it was one of the biggest stories in sports annals-and the most exciting news championship-starved Gang Green fans had to cheer about in a long time. Favre's record is unparalleled: he holds records for everything from the most career touchdown passes and the most consecutive starts among NFL quarterbacks to the most career victories as a starting quarterback. This book captures the ups and downs of his bold, brief tenure with the Jets and what seemed to be the swansong season of Favre's legendary NFL career.

Photo and Caption Excerpts from No Substitute for Sundays

Favre soaks up the sights and sounds in warm-ups before his first - and only - Jets-Giants preseason game.	Favre awaits the start of the Jets-Giants preseason game with rookie offensive tackle Nate Garner.	Favre uncorks one over the middle during the 28-24 victory over the Chiefs.
Favre rolls right before hitting Laveranues Coles across the field against the Patriots in Foxboro.	Favre celebrates a touchdown pass to Laveranues Coles to give Jets 6-0 lead against the Dolphins.	Favre's stunning 27-yard naked bootleg sets up the first Jet score against Bills.

Customer Reviews (3)

Substitute a better book
As a die-hard New York Jets fan I hoped that this book would give insight and unknown information about a season that started so well and ended so drastically horribly.Unfortunately the book is nothing more than a simple play-by-play review of each game and Favre's post-game press conferences written into story form.Critically little new or surprising details are revealed and I didn't feel as if I knew the "characters" involved any more because athletes tend to be somewhat guarded during press conferences.

On a positive note, the book is considerably better in the early chapters before the season begins as the details of Favre's trade to the Jets is interesting.The book also is a very easy read.

Great in some aspects, lukewarm in others
This book talked about Brett Favre's 2008 with the Jets (which didn't go so well for him).

Pluses- The buildup to the trade was top notch and had plenty of quotes from insiders. Also talked about his injury to an extent and how it limited him.

Negatives- Didn't really discuss game plans week by week and was more a narrative of the game. Also underdiscusses Mangini getting canned. The author missed the point about saying Favre needed to quit (like many other critics).

Overall- If you are a hardcore Favre fan, read it for the insight on last year. If you are a casual fan, pass. Favre's legacy continues on this year with an MVP year in Minnesota.A ultimate Favre bio is due when he FINALLY decides to retire.

Thorough in capturing Favre
I was eager to read this book since I wondered about the inside story of Brett's year in New York. Serby is a New York reporter. He relies mostly on Favre's press conferences for a narration of how the year is going. I am a big Favre fan and I think had already heard each press conference so I was not surprised by anything, but it was interesting to read it all in one place. Confirms that Favre believed he was being traded to the Bucs when the trade to the Jets appeared on TV. He made the best of it and warmed to his teammates and did the best he could in a foreign offensive system. Favre speaks highly of Jet management and coaches, as well as players, but confesses the move was harder than he expected it to be. He had right of refusal but did not want to create even a bigger scene so went ahead to the Jets. Woody Johnson was eager to show him New Jersey was not the city and this helped Favre with his transition. The book does not have extensive interviews with players or management so there is not the insider information that might give the book more meat.We do get the public statements Favre made throughout the year. Interesting read but not groundbreaking news. ... Read more

Product Description
Jets and plumes are shear flows produced by momentum andbuoyancy forces. Examples include smokestack emissions, fires andvolcano eruptions, deep sea vents, thermals, sewage discharges,thermal effluents from power stations, and ocean dumping of sludge.Knowledge of turbulent mixing by jets and plumes is important forenvironmental control, impact and risk assessment. Turbulent Jets and Plumes introduces the fundamental conceptsand develops a Lagrangian approach to model these shear flows. Thistheme persists throughout the text, starting from simple cases andbuilding towards the practically important case of a turbulent buoyantjet in a density-stratified crossflow. Basic ideas are illustrated byample use of flow visualization using the laser-induced fluorescencetechnique. The text includes many illustrative worked examples,comparisons of model predictions with laboratory and field data, andclassroom tested problems. An interactive PC-based virtual-realitymodelling software (VISJET) is also provided. Engineering and sciencestudents, researchers and practitioners may use the book both as anintroduction to the subject and as a reference in hydraulics andenvironmental fluid mechanics. ... Read more

Product Description

Results of experimental research of aerodynamic and acoustic control of subsonic turbulent jets by acoustic excitation are presented. These were originated by authors, when it was established, that by acoustic irradiation it was possible not only to intensify mixing (at low frequency irradiation), but also notably to ease it (at high frequency irradiation). The book presents the updated results of the authors supplemented by investigations performed in USA, Germany and Great Britain. The examples of practical usage of the effects: reduction of turbojet engine noise and acoustic control of self-sustained oscillations in wind tunnels are reviewed. The methods of a numerical simulation of subsonic turbulent jets under acoustic excitation are described. ... Read more

Product Description
As processes and materials used in aircraft engine production change and new information on aircraft engine technology becomes available, cost-estimation techniques must be updated. The authors present the results of a RAND research project to develop a new methodology for estimating military jet engine costs. They focused principally on adding new observations to the cost-estimating database from earlier RAND studies and updating the parametric relationships for engine costs and development time. Their results indicate that rotor inlet temperature, full-scale test hours, and whether an engine is new or derivative are significant measures. ... Read more

Product Description
US Army, Technical Manual, TM 5-1940-277-34, BOAT, BRIDGE ERECTION, TWIN JET, ALUMINUM HULL, MODELS USCSBMK-1 (NSN 1940-01-105-5728) AND USCSBMK2 (NSN 1940-01-218-9165) {US Army, Technical Manual, TM 5-1940-34/3}
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Product Description
This book is an exposition of what we know about the physics underlying the onset of instability in liquid sheets and jets. Wave motion and breakup phenomena subsequent to the onset of instability are also carefully explained. Physical concepts are established through mathematics, accurate numerical analysis and comparison of theory with experiments.Exercises are provided for students new to the subject.Researchers interested in topics ranging from transition to turbulence, hydrodynamic stability or combustion will find this book a useful resource, whether their background lies in engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine or applied mathematics. ... Read more

Product Description
US Army, Technical Manual, TM 5-1940-277-10-HR, BOAT, BRIDGE ERECTION, TWIN JET, ALUMINUM HULL (MODEL US CSB MK (NSN 1940-01-105-5728) MODEL US CSB MK II (1940-01-218-9165)
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Product Description
The ubiquity of jet phenomena in young stellar objects, activegalactic nuclei, symbiotic stars, planetary nebulae and x-ray binarieshas driven a broad literature on the astrophysics of collimated massejection. One of the fundamental open problems in star formation isthe understanding of the physical mechanisms by which mass is ejectedfrom the protostellar system and collimated into jets. Locally jetswill regulate the system angular momentum and therefore its evolutionduring the first few million years. At large scale jets injectmomentum into the cloud thus affecting its star formation efficiencyand evolution. Many recent advances over the last years in the star formation fieldin both theoretical and observational aspects together with theincreasing availability of computational resources, conveyed for aperfect opportunity to organise a workshop to discuss the jetphenomenon at different astrophysical scales, coveringinterdisciplinary areas such as steady state winds, time-dependentwinds/jets, jet energetics and jet/wind propagation. ... Read more

Product Description

The peculiar and important characteristic of this book is to present numerical simulations and models of both stellar and extragalactic jets, together with review papers outlining the state-of-the-art of the observations of jets.

In fact, other books on jets deal either with stellar jets or extragalactic jets separately but are lacking, until now, a more global view. The authors of these contributions are among the most active scientists in the field of theoretical interpretation of the astrophysical jets phenomenology.

The book is intended for readers that are carrying out research in the fields of accretion and outflow phenomena in astrophysics, star formation, Active Galactic Nuclei, computational fluid dynamics and magneto-hydrodynamics applied to astrophysics.

Product Description
US Army, Technical Manual, TM 5-1940-277-34P, BOAT, BRIDGE ERECTION, TWIN JET ALUMINUM HULL, MODEL USCSBM (NSN 1940-01-105-5728) MODEL USCSBMK-2 (1940-01-218-9165) {TM 1940-34P/5}
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Product Description
US Army, Technical Manual, TM 5-1940-277-10, BOAT, BRIDGE ERECTION, TWIN JET, ALUMINUM HULL, MODELS USCSBMK 1 (NSN 1940-01-105-5728) AND USCSBMK 2 (1940-01-218-9165) {TM 1940-10/1}
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Product Description
US Army, Technical Manual, TM 5-1940-277-20P, BOAT, BRIDGE ERECTION, TWIN JET ALUMINUM HULL MODEL USCSBMK-1 (NSN 1940-01-105-5728) MODEL USCSBMK-2 (1940-01-218-9165) {TM 1940-20P/4}
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Product Description
In recent years, the United States Air Force has found it necessary to perform a number of overseas deployments, many on short notice, in support of a wide range of crises. Toward this goal, the Air Force has begun to reorganize itself into an Expeditionary Aerospace Force that can quickly deploy from the continental United States to appropriate forward operating locations worldwide. This report evaluates the manner in which Jet Engine Intermediate Maintenance (JEIM) shops can best be configured to facilitate such deployments. The authors examine a number of JEIM support options, which are distinguished primarily by the degree to which JEIM support is centralized or decentralized. They then assess the performance of each option for three jet engines: the F100-220, the F100-229, and the TF-34. The report concludes that for the F100-220 and F100-229, the most viable options involve establishing a single JEIM in theater during war. For the TF-34, it is recommended either that the above option be exercised or that a single, centralized JEIM be established in the continental United States. ... Read more

Product Description
Relativistic jets are a powerful, spectacular, yetpoorly-understood phenomenon associated with accreting black holes andneutron stars. The question of the internal structure - matter contentand magnetic field - of relativistic jets is of prime importance forour understanding of the underlying physics. The study of circularpolarisation is both challenging and potentially very rewarding, andwhen applied to relativistic jets has the potential to probe thestructure of the jets in unique ways. This book compiles the contributions, both theoretical andobservational, from a three-day workshop held in Amsterdam in July2002, concerning the study of circular polarisation from relativisticjet sources. ... Read more

Product Description
US Army, Technical Manual, TM 5-1940-277-20, BOAT, BRIDGE ERECTION, TWIN JET, ALUMINUM HULL MODEL USCSBMK1 (NSN 1940-01-105-5728) AND USCSBMK2 (1940-01-218-2165) {TM 1940-20/2}
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Product Description
Why Don't Jumbo Jets Flap Their Wings? offers a fascinating explanation of how nature and human engineers each arrived at powered flight. What emerges is a highly readable account of two very different approaches to solving the same fundamental problems of moving through the air, including lift, thrust, turning, and landing. The book traces the evolutionary process of animal flight-in birds, bats, and insects-over millions of years and compares it to the directed efforts of human beings to create the aircraft over the course of a single century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Thorough treatment of an odd but intriguing question
This is an unusual book with an unusual title, posing a startling question which might never occur to a typical reader -- why don't airliners use the wing-flapping strategy evolved by nature and employed by ancient pterosaurs as well as modern birds, bats and insects?The book's subtitle, "Flying Animals, Flying Machines, and How They Are Different," foreshadows the author's intent to take the question seriously and provide an answer supported by an interesting and wide-ranging discussion drawn from the contrasting (but conceptually related) worlds of biology and aeronautical engineering.

Prof. Alexander, an entomologist by profession, organizes the book into ten chapters dealing with flying animals vs. flying machines, opposing gravity with lift, overcoming drag with thrust, the complex problems of turning and manuevering, the role of the tail, the human need for flight instruments, the art of soaring, vertical takeoff and hovering, predation and aerial combat, and unconventional flight as embodied in ornithopters and human-powered aircraft.A seven-page Epilogue delivers the author's "bottom line" response to the query contained in the title.

The main narrative is enriched with many technical details, historical anecdotes, and bits of biological and aeronautical ephememera which help keep the reader interested.Good quality line-drawing illustrations supplement the text throughout.The material on helicopters, human-powered flight, and ornithopters is more extensive than usually found in popular aviation literature, and of course the author's professional expertise in natural flight lends depth and authority to his analyses of aerial locomotion by insects and animals.I recommend this book to anyone wishing to acquire a broader knowledge of the problem of flight as solved firstby nature herself and again (much later) through the intellectual efforts of Earth's most intelligent species to date. ... Read more

Product Description
Before Namath, before the Heidi Game, before the guaranteed Super Bowl victory, there were the Titans. Remember the Titans? Not many a casual football fan of today would. The New York Titans played to meager crowds and mediocre results in the decrepit Polo Grounds. The organization, one of the charter members of the American Football League in 1960, was in constant danger of bankruptcy. After struggling for three seasons, the Titans would finally be assumed by the league. New owners were found, the franchise was renamed and a new stadium would welcome the team in 1964. The revised edition of this award-winning book covers the turbulent history and eventual crash landing of the team that would become the New York Jets. The early days of the upstart AFL are also explored, as are the league's constant feuds with the Titans' underfunded and overbearing owner, Harry Wismer. Four appendices with team results, rosters and statistics are included. ... Read more

Product Description
A dozen boys were playing ball in a field adjoining the boarding-school of Dr. Pericles Benton, in the town of Walltham, a hundred and twenty-five miles northeast of the city of New York. These boys varied in age from thirteen to seventeen. In another part of the field a few younger boys were amusing themselves. All these boys were boarding-scholars connected with the school.
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Product Description
Horatio Alger, Jr. (1832-1899) was a 19th-century American author who wrote approximately 135 novels. Many of his works have been described as rags to riches stories, illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. He is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals, even though his novels are rarely read these days. After attending Harvard Divinity School from 1857 to 1860, he took a ten-month tour of Europe and produced works of a patriotic nature. Alger's empathy with the young working men, coupled with the moral values he learned at home, formed the basis of the first novel in his Ragged Dick (1867). The book was an immediate success, spurring a vast collection of sequels and similar novels, including Luck and Pluck (1869) and Tattered Tom (1871). Amongst his other works are Five Hundred Dollars; or, Jacob Marlowe's Secret (1890) and The Young Acrobat of the Great North American Circus (1900). ... Read more