The essential guide to the entire process behind performing a complete characterization and benchmarking of cameras through image quality analysisCamera Image Quality Benchmarking contains the basic information and approaches for the use of subjectively correlated image quality metrics and outlines a framework for camera benchmarking. The authors show how to quantitatively compare image quality of cameras used for consumer photography. Thi...

The essential guide to the entire process behind performing a complete characterization and benchmarking of cameras through image quality analysisCamera Image Quality Benchmarking contains the basic information and approaches for the use of subjectively correlated image quality metrics and outlines a framework for camera benchmarking. The authors show how to quantitatively compare image quality of cameras used for consumer photography. Thi...

Riparian areas—transitional zones between the aquatic environments of streams, rivers, and lakes and the terrestrial environments on and alongside their banks—are special places. They provide almost two hundred thousand miles of connections through which the waters of Texas flow. Keeping the water flowing, in as natural a way as possible, is key to the careful and wise management of the state’s water resources.Texas Riparian Areas evolved from a report commissioned by the ...

“So many superstar Western authors. So many stunning stories. This one’s a keeper.” —DAVID MORRELL, New York Times Bestselling Author of First Blood and Last ReveilleJustice is never clean. Out here, it’s personal.From the dust-choked trails of the frontier to the shadowed backroads of the modern West, Hard Country portrays the raw, unflinching heart of Western crime, as...

In 1202, zealous Western Christians gathered in Venice determined to liberate Jerusalem from the grip of Islam. But the crusaders never made it to the Holy Land. Steered forward by the shrewd Venetian doge, they descended instead on Constantinople, wreaking terrible devastation. The crusaders spared no one: They raped and massacred thousands, plundered churches, and torched the lavish city. By 1204, one of the great civilizations of history had been shattered. Here, on the eight hundredth ...

From an internationally renowned expert, here is an accessible and utterly fascinating one-volume history of the Crusades, thrillingly told through the experiences of its many players—knights and sultans, kings and poets, Christians and Muslims. Jonathan Phillips traces the origins, expansion, decline, and conclusion of the Crusades and comments on their contemporary echoes—from the mysteries of the Templars to the grim reality of al-Qaeda. Holy Warriors puts the past in a new perspective ...

The Second Crusade (1145-1149) was an extraordinarily bold attempt to overcome unbelievers on no less than three fronts. Crusader armies set out to defeat Muslims in the Holy Land and in Iberia as well as pagans in northeastern Europe. But, to the shock and dismay of a society raised on the triumphant legacy of the First Crusade, only in Iberia did they achieve any success. This book, the first in 140 years devoted to the Second Crusade, fills a major gap in our understanding of the Crusad...

This gripping account follows the crucible of a young marine unjustly tried and convicted by General Court Martial only to be awarded full honorable discharge and medical retirement for combat distinction and wounds sustained in combat. After two years in Marine Prison, ten months isolated in complete solitary confinement with no fresh air or sunlight, he fought back against the cover-up reaching The Pentagon and the controversial Bush Administration during the height of The I...

The Second Crusade (1145-1149) was an extraordinarily bold attempt to overcome unbelievers on no less than three fronts. Crusader armies set out to defeat Muslims in the Holy Land and in Iberia as well as pagans in northeastern Europe. But, to the shock and dismay of a society raised on the triumphant legacy of the First Crusade, only in Iberia did they achieve any success. This book, the first in 140 years devoted to the Second Crusade, fills a major gap in our understanding of the Crusad...

An engaging biography that offers a new perspective on one of the most influential figures of the CrusadesIn 1187, Saladin marched triumphantly into Jerusalem, ending decades of struggle against the Christians and reclaiming the holy city for Islam. Four years later he fought off the armies of the Third Crusade, which were commanded by Europe’s leading monarchs. A fierce warrior and savvy diplomat, Saladin’s unparalleled courtesy, justice, generosity, and mercy wer...

This new and considerably expanded edition of The Crusades, 1095-1204 couples vivid narrative with a clear and accessible analysis of the key ideas that prompted the conquest and settlement of the Holy Land between the First and the Fourth Crusade.This edition now covers the Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople, along with greater coverage of the Muslim response to the Crusades from the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 to Saladin’s leadership of the counter-crusade, c...

When Jonathan Talat Phillips experiences a devastating loss as a countercultural media activist, he unwittingly starts on a mystical journey marked by underground ayahuasca ceremonies, kundalini awakenings, prankster spirit guides, extraterrestrial encounters at the Burning Man festival, and miraculous energy healings that reshape his skeptical worldview. Along the way, he chronicles the rise of an international movement that is trailblazing visionary ways to address our current planetary ...