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The guest editors of this special issue on leisure and social capital review the seminal perspectives of Pierre Bourdieu, James Coleman, and Robert Putnam on social capital. The review is followed by the authors' interpretations of the theoretical relationship between leisure and social capital, after which the contributions to this special issue are introduced. The aim of this introduction is help readers appreciate not only the relevance of social capital to leisure research but also the potential contributions of leisure research to the continued development of social capital theory.

Scientists have long been interested in measuring external qi (EQ or wai qi) during qigong healing, and have produced a large body of literature over the past 20 years. This paper reviews the major research on measuring EQ in China and tries to help other researchers to get a picture on what has been done so as to eliminate the simple replication of already verified results. Starting with the historical background of EQ studies in China, this paper analytically reviews the major studies of EQ effects from five different categories of detectors: 1) physical signal detectors; 2) chemical dynamics methods; 3) detectors using biological materials; 4) detectors using life sensors; and 5) detectors using the human body. The focus is on the pros and cons of each detector. These studies documented some important correlates of EQ process or qi healing, which cannot be explained by psychological effect or the known biological processes. Even though the extant literature suggests that intent plays a critical role in the effect or characteristics of EQ we know little about its role in EQ effect and its relationship with qigong healing from these experiments. These studies have confirmed the existence of measurable EQ effects from various perspectives; however, none has really revealed the primary nature of EQ or how EQ healing works. Given the fact that qigong therapy is based on the dialectic view of two interdependent spheres, while modern science and medicine is based on the reductionist view of one material world, it is recommended that future studies should use more biological or life-sensor detectors to increase our understanding of the healing potentials of qigong, instead of stay at the level of verification of signals. New methodologies, new theories, and new perspectives are urgently needed for further understanding what qigong is and how EQ healing works.

One striking characteristic of commodity histories, a suddenly ubiquitous genre of popular nonfiction, is a certain overkill in their subtitles. A representative sample might include, say, Corn and Capitalism: How a Botanical Bastard Grew to Global Dominance (Warman), Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization (Gately), The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World (Zuckerman), The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug (Weinberg and Bealer), Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (Kurlansky), and Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World (Garfield). Only slightly less over-the-top than the “changed the world” clause, which also appears in recent histories of vanilla, house cats, Ping-Pong balls, dishwashing liquid, and pocket lint, is the vogue for two-word titles in which an adjective, usually a commodity-identifying color, is paired with the most coveted of precious metals. Some examples are Blue Gold (water [Barlow and Clarke]), White Gold (rubber [Yungjohann]), Black Gold (oil [Woodward]), and Green Gold (tea and marijuana—two books [Bennet; Macfarlane and Macfarlane]). Such titles suggest that all these commodities, even the humblest, have the power to get continents discovered, dynasties toppled, mountains moved. We take some of these commodities for granted, but all of them have changed the world.

Examiners of dissertations regularly have to endure “literature reviews” that consist of extended lists of mini-summaries of books. Indeed, quite often “dissertations” amount to little more than a list of book-summaries masquerading as an argument. While there are excellent courses on qualitative and quantitative methods, most students have learnt how to conduct literature reviews exclusively through the method of learning by doing. Ultimately, there is no alternative to this age-old method. However, this essay is premised on the belief that a brief attempt to understand the general function of a literature review in political science should make learning by doing easier and more productive.

Pitcher examines the appropriateness of Jack London's final choice to the characters and themes of his narrative \"The Sea Wolf.\" In the most recent edition of the book, John Sutherland's appendix 1 obliquely links the use of \"sea-wolf\" to pirate or privateer; he reports London's statement that he had based his \"Sea Wolf character\" on the piratical seal-poacher Alexander McLean.

Critics of community college's emphasis on international programming and, thus, global education, may argue that as community-based institutions, the focus should be on local issues and problems and not global matters. In response, advocates contend that global issues do have an impact locally and, consequently, community colleges have an obligation to lead communities toward a more global focus. Here, Floyd et al describe current, relevant literature and event and discuss issues and challenges facing community college leaders in the new educational imperative of global education inclusion.

This bibliography contains references to papers, conference proceedings, theses and books dealing with finite strip, finite prism and finite layer analysis of structures, materially and or geometrically linear or non-linear.

It came from The 2000 Old Farmer's Almanac: Special Millennium Collector's Edition. I wanted to ask an Almanac editor about that convenient hole --- whose idea was it, has it been there since the first book in 1792? --- but all Almanac editors were busy when I phoned. They promised to get back to me. (And then I'll get back to you.) My grandparents relied on the Almanac. Everybody's grandparents relied on the Almanac. Before TV and 24-hour weather channels and fancy radar, the Almanac was every home's second bible. In it there were country cooking recipes and hints about gardening --- there still are --- plus extended (to say the least) weather forecasts that proved amazingly accurate. (The Almanac claims 80 percent accuracy on weather.)

I have spent a lifetime working my way through a food addiction, swinging from bingeing to anorexia. When I was 40, I gave up mania for muffins and began my search for soul food. I soon realized that the wolf in my dreams was driven not only toward food, but toward fantasies, fun, perfection--in short, everything that would take me away from the miserable reality of life in my own body. That reality I could not make perfect, however much I starved or ran. Nor could I fill its emptiness. I had lived for 40 years hating my feminine body, neglecting my soul and everything I now consider feminine--my own natural rhythms, my body wisdom, my love of paradox, my honoring of the deep wells of creativity within. As I worked with my dreams and paints and clay, I began to take childlike delight in daffodils, doves, ribbons of apricot in the sky at dusk. I began to see and hear and smell the miracle of Earth, and the miracle of my own heart and lungs in my own Earth. I began to live in my own muscles and bones with images out of my own unconscious. Gradually, no more obsession with food! No more emptiness! Drivenness away from life gave way to breathing in the certainty of life.

The Utne Reader, a kind of Reader's Digest for the counterculture, is out with The Loose Canon, an alternative to what academics call the canon, their sacred works. It lists 150 \"mind-altering\" books, movies, plays, musical works, even TV shows. The literary selections include: The Book of Isaiah, \"fieriest of the Hebrew prophets zaps the rich, the greedy and the unjust.\"