Author: Ken Benton
Publisher: Andrew Kasch
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Homeland Security Agent Harlan Welk is a man used to responding to our nation’s most covert domestic threats. But even he must admit no one saw this one coming. When a new type of terrorist attack targets a growing psychological weakness among the American population, our enemies are revealed as becoming ever-more resourceful. Harlan is visiting his conspiracy-plagued cousin Avery in Houston during a heightened period of civil unrest. Just as the frazzled nerves of law enforcement and protesters come to a head, twelve African-American teenagers simultaneously commit “suicide by cop” in the twelve U.S. cities most vulnerable to racial tension. None of the victims are found to be in possession of a real weapon. As a result, mass rioting erupts across our once-great country, which intensifies until our society can no longer function. From information acquired in an unexpected romance, Harlan believes he can gather the evidence to fully expose the plot as having come from foreign-based terrorists—and by so doing, possibly reunite America under the cause of a common enemy. But he must get to Memphis so he can interrogate the lone surviving terrorist. Traveling is now difficult. He finds himself bugging out of the city with his cousin’s family, facing a treacherous and uncertain path. Avery’s outright distrust of all things government only adds to their plight. Harlan discovers he must not only survive the hazards of criminal opportunism on the road, but the contagion of civil strife within his own family. And time is not on his side...
Rational Collapse
Author: Ken Benton
Publisher: Andrew Kasch
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Homeland Security Agent Harlan Welk is a man used to responding to our nation’s most covert domestic threats. But even he must admit no one saw this one coming. When a new type of terrorist attack targets a growing psychological weakness among the American population, our enemies are revealed as becoming ever-more resourceful. Harlan is visiting his conspiracy-plagued cousin Avery in Houston during a heightened period of civil unrest. Just as the frazzled nerves of law enforcement and protesters come to a head, twelve African-American teenagers simultaneously commit “suicide by cop” in the twelve U.S. cities most vulnerable to racial tension. None of the victims are found to be in possession of a real weapon. As a result, mass rioting erupts across our once-great country, which intensifies until our society can no longer function. From information acquired in an unexpected romance, Harlan believes he can gather the evidence to fully expose the plot as having come from foreign-based terrorists—and by so doing, possibly reunite America under the cause of a common enemy. But he must get to Memphis so he can interrogate the lone surviving terrorist. Traveling is now difficult. He finds himself bugging out of the city with his cousin’s family, facing a treacherous and uncertain path. Avery’s outright distrust of all things government only adds to their plight. Harlan discovers he must not only survive the hazards of criminal opportunism on the road, but the contagion of civil strife within his own family. And time is not on his side...
Publisher: Andrew Kasch
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Homeland Security Agent Harlan Welk is a man used to responding to our nation’s most covert domestic threats. But even he must admit no one saw this one coming. When a new type of terrorist attack targets a growing psychological weakness among the American population, our enemies are revealed as becoming ever-more resourceful. Harlan is visiting his conspiracy-plagued cousin Avery in Houston during a heightened period of civil unrest. Just as the frazzled nerves of law enforcement and protesters come to a head, twelve African-American teenagers simultaneously commit “suicide by cop” in the twelve U.S. cities most vulnerable to racial tension. None of the victims are found to be in possession of a real weapon. As a result, mass rioting erupts across our once-great country, which intensifies until our society can no longer function. From information acquired in an unexpected romance, Harlan believes he can gather the evidence to fully expose the plot as having come from foreign-based terrorists—and by so doing, possibly reunite America under the cause of a common enemy. But he must get to Memphis so he can interrogate the lone surviving terrorist. Traveling is now difficult. He finds himself bugging out of the city with his cousin’s family, facing a treacherous and uncertain path. Avery’s outright distrust of all things government only adds to their plight. Harlan discovers he must not only survive the hazards of criminal opportunism on the road, but the contagion of civil strife within his own family. And time is not on his side...
The Imminent Collapse of America and of the Whole Western Civilization
Author: Angelo Bertolo
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1475949820
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185
Book Description
In the 5000 years of the history that we know, great empires grew and fell according to certain patterns that repeat themselves like laws of nature. The USA rose and grew to prominence in the world, reached its zenith in 1945 with the military victory and with the atom bomb, but is not destined to stay there forever. The book tries to draw the attention to the signs of decadence that match the patterns of the decadence of previous empires in history, and the patterns of growth, of progress - in other cultural milieus: very few pundits in America, and in the western media in general, seem to be aware of this fact. The birth rates keep diminishing in America, and are very low in Europe. In other civilisations the birth rates have been high, and those countries count more in the world today, politically and economically, than a few generations ago. In addition, the irrational and passionate attitude of those peoples, including the aggressive suicidal attitude with religious and political connotations, is a sign of progress for them. Those people who are in favour of family planning programs and of a more relaxed morality - are acting against the general interests of their countries.
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1475949820
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185
Book Description
In the 5000 years of the history that we know, great empires grew and fell according to certain patterns that repeat themselves like laws of nature. The USA rose and grew to prominence in the world, reached its zenith in 1945 with the military victory and with the atom bomb, but is not destined to stay there forever. The book tries to draw the attention to the signs of decadence that match the patterns of the decadence of previous empires in history, and the patterns of growth, of progress - in other cultural milieus: very few pundits in America, and in the western media in general, seem to be aware of this fact. The birth rates keep diminishing in America, and are very low in Europe. In other civilisations the birth rates have been high, and those countries count more in the world today, politically and economically, than a few generations ago. In addition, the irrational and passionate attitude of those peoples, including the aggressive suicidal attitude with religious and political connotations, is a sign of progress for them. Those people who are in favour of family planning programs and of a more relaxed morality - are acting against the general interests of their countries.
Bursting the Bubble: Rationality in a Seemingly Irrational Market
Author: David F. DeRosa
Publisher: CFA Institute Research Foundation
ISBN: 1952927110
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 206
Book Description
The presence of speculative bubbles in capital markets (an important area of interest in financial history) is widely accepted across many circles. Talk of them is pervasive in the media and especially in the popular financial press. Bubbles are thought to be found primarily in the stock market, which is our main interest, although bubbles are said to occur in other markets. Bubbles go hand in hand with the notion that markets can be irrational. The academic community has a great interest in bubbles, and it has produced scholarly literature that is voluminous. For some economists, doing bubble research is like joining the vanguard of a Kuhnian paradigm shift in economic thinking. Not so fast. If bubbles did exist, they would pose a serious challenge to neoclassical finance. Bubbles would contradict the ideas that markets are rational or work in an informationally efficient manner. That’s what makes the topic of bubbles interesting. This book reviews and evaluates the academic literature as well as some popular investment books on the possible existence of speculative bubbles in the stock market. The main question is whether there is convincing empirical evidence that bubbles exist. A second question is whether the theoretical concepts that have been advanced for bubbles make them plausible. The reader will discover that I am skeptical that bubbles actually exist. But I do not think I or anyone else will ever be able to conclusively prove that there has never been a bubble. From studying the literature and from reading history, I find that many famous purported bubbles reflect inaccurate history or mistakes in analysis or simply cannot be shown to have existed. In other instances, bubbles might have existed. But in each of those cases, there are credible rational explanations. And good evidence exists for the idea that even if bubbles do exist, they are not of great importance to understanding the stock market.
Publisher: CFA Institute Research Foundation
ISBN: 1952927110
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 206
Book Description
The presence of speculative bubbles in capital markets (an important area of interest in financial history) is widely accepted across many circles. Talk of them is pervasive in the media and especially in the popular financial press. Bubbles are thought to be found primarily in the stock market, which is our main interest, although bubbles are said to occur in other markets. Bubbles go hand in hand with the notion that markets can be irrational. The academic community has a great interest in bubbles, and it has produced scholarly literature that is voluminous. For some economists, doing bubble research is like joining the vanguard of a Kuhnian paradigm shift in economic thinking. Not so fast. If bubbles did exist, they would pose a serious challenge to neoclassical finance. Bubbles would contradict the ideas that markets are rational or work in an informationally efficient manner. That’s what makes the topic of bubbles interesting. This book reviews and evaluates the academic literature as well as some popular investment books on the possible existence of speculative bubbles in the stock market. The main question is whether there is convincing empirical evidence that bubbles exist. A second question is whether the theoretical concepts that have been advanced for bubbles make them plausible. The reader will discover that I am skeptical that bubbles actually exist. But I do not think I or anyone else will ever be able to conclusively prove that there has never been a bubble. From studying the literature and from reading history, I find that many famous purported bubbles reflect inaccurate history or mistakes in analysis or simply cannot be shown to have existed. In other instances, bubbles might have existed. But in each of those cases, there are credible rational explanations. And good evidence exists for the idea that even if bubbles do exist, they are not of great importance to understanding the stock market.
Cultural Collapse
Author: Rob Weatherill
Publisher: Rob Weatherill
ISBN: 9781853433207
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
"What we have lost, writes Rob Weatherill in this wide-ranging meditation on contemporary culture, 'is our sense of, and a necessary respect for, the unconscious, for otherness, for mystery, for death'. We are preoccupied with survival and gratification at the expense of human suffering and concern. This is the denial of the psyche: a levelling-out of meanings and values." "The central paradox explored in Cultural Collapse is that while we enjoy greater freedom and abundance than ever before, at least in the rich parts of the world, we can't help noticing a corresponding inner weakness and loss of control. We are also alarmed by the prevalence of sex abuse, rape, hard porn, and violence. There is nothing new in these concerns; they have been voiced throughout the modern period. But psychoanalysis can and must make some comment on this severance of meanings, and this Weatherill sets out to do." "Cultural Collapse is not an academic study of psychoanalytic thought about culture. It proceeds from direct experience of a schizoid culture. The analytic space, from which Weatherill writes, gives people the freedom to be listened to properly, and because of this it has learnt something about the human condition and contemporary culture. Weatherill looks with an analytically informed eye at the loss of a religious dimension and the rise of new forms of utopianism; racism; addiction; the crisis in parenting and education; feminism and the collapse of male narcissism; and the loss of private space under capitalism." "At a time when the relations between morality, the social fabric and the inner world are causing distress throughout the world, Rob Weatherill provides a searching study of the growing impoverishment of life in Western society."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Publisher: Rob Weatherill
ISBN: 9781853433207
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
"What we have lost, writes Rob Weatherill in this wide-ranging meditation on contemporary culture, 'is our sense of, and a necessary respect for, the unconscious, for otherness, for mystery, for death'. We are preoccupied with survival and gratification at the expense of human suffering and concern. This is the denial of the psyche: a levelling-out of meanings and values." "The central paradox explored in Cultural Collapse is that while we enjoy greater freedom and abundance than ever before, at least in the rich parts of the world, we can't help noticing a corresponding inner weakness and loss of control. We are also alarmed by the prevalence of sex abuse, rape, hard porn, and violence. There is nothing new in these concerns; they have been voiced throughout the modern period. But psychoanalysis can and must make some comment on this severance of meanings, and this Weatherill sets out to do." "Cultural Collapse is not an academic study of psychoanalytic thought about culture. It proceeds from direct experience of a schizoid culture. The analytic space, from which Weatherill writes, gives people the freedom to be listened to properly, and because of this it has learnt something about the human condition and contemporary culture. Weatherill looks with an analytically informed eye at the loss of a religious dimension and the rise of new forms of utopianism; racism; addiction; the crisis in parenting and education; feminism and the collapse of male narcissism; and the loss of private space under capitalism." "At a time when the relations between morality, the social fabric and the inner world are causing distress throughout the world, Rob Weatherill provides a searching study of the growing impoverishment of life in Western society."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Rationality: The Critical View
Author: J. Agassi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400934912
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 469
Book Description
In our papers on the rationality of magic, we distinghuished, for purposes of analysis, three levels of rationality. First and lowest (rationalitYl) the goal directed action of an agent with given aims and circumstances, where among his circumstances we included his knowledge and opinions. On this level the magician's treatment of illness by incantation is as rational as any traditional doctor's blood-letting or any modern one's use of anti-biotics. At the second level (rationalitY2) we add the element of rational thinking or thinking which obeys some set of explicit rules, a level which is not found in magic in general, though it is sometimes given to specific details of magical thinking within the magical thought-system. It was the late Sir Edward E. Evans-Pritchard who observed that when considering magic in detail the magician may be as consistent or critical as anyone else; but when considering magic in general, or any system of thought in general, the magician could not be critical or even comprehend the criticism. Evans-Pritchard went even further: he was sceptical as to whether it could be done in a truly consistent manner: one cannot be critical of one's own system, he thought. On this level (rationalitY2) of discussion we have explained (earlier) why we prefer to wed Evans Pritchard's view of the magician's capacity for piece-meal rationality to Sir James Frazer's view that magic in general is pseudo-rational because it lacks standards of rational thinking.
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400934912
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 469
Book Description
In our papers on the rationality of magic, we distinghuished, for purposes of analysis, three levels of rationality. First and lowest (rationalitYl) the goal directed action of an agent with given aims and circumstances, where among his circumstances we included his knowledge and opinions. On this level the magician's treatment of illness by incantation is as rational as any traditional doctor's blood-letting or any modern one's use of anti-biotics. At the second level (rationalitY2) we add the element of rational thinking or thinking which obeys some set of explicit rules, a level which is not found in magic in general, though it is sometimes given to specific details of magical thinking within the magical thought-system. It was the late Sir Edward E. Evans-Pritchard who observed that when considering magic in detail the magician may be as consistent or critical as anyone else; but when considering magic in general, or any system of thought in general, the magician could not be critical or even comprehend the criticism. Evans-Pritchard went even further: he was sceptical as to whether it could be done in a truly consistent manner: one cannot be critical of one's own system, he thought. On this level (rationalitY2) of discussion we have explained (earlier) why we prefer to wed Evans Pritchard's view of the magician's capacity for piece-meal rationality to Sir James Frazer's view that magic in general is pseudo-rational because it lacks standards of rational thinking.
Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science, London, 1965
Author: Imre Lakatos (ed)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521096232
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521096232
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
The Collapse of Communist Power in Poland
Author: Jacqueline Hayden
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134208014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
Based on extensive original research, including interviews with key participants, this book investigates the sudden and unforeseen collapse of communist power in Poland in 1989. It sets out the sequence of events, and examines the strategies of the various political groupings prior to the partially free election of June 1989. This volume argues that the specific negotiating strategies adopted by the communist party representatives in the Round Table discussions before the elections was a key factor in communism’s collapse. The book shows that on many occasions, PZPR decision-makers ignored expert advice, and many Round Table bargains went against the party’s best interests. Using in-depth interviews with major party players, including General Jaruzelski, General Kiszczak and Mieczyslaw Rakowski, as well as Solidarity advisors such as Adam Michnik, the text provides a unique source of first-hand accounts of Poland’s revolutionary drama.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134208014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
Based on extensive original research, including interviews with key participants, this book investigates the sudden and unforeseen collapse of communist power in Poland in 1989. It sets out the sequence of events, and examines the strategies of the various political groupings prior to the partially free election of June 1989. This volume argues that the specific negotiating strategies adopted by the communist party representatives in the Round Table discussions before the elections was a key factor in communism’s collapse. The book shows that on many occasions, PZPR decision-makers ignored expert advice, and many Round Table bargains went against the party’s best interests. Using in-depth interviews with major party players, including General Jaruzelski, General Kiszczak and Mieczyslaw Rakowski, as well as Solidarity advisors such as Adam Michnik, the text provides a unique source of first-hand accounts of Poland’s revolutionary drama.
The Decline of Therapeutic Bloodletting and the Collapse of Traditional Medicine
Author: K. Codell Carter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135148396X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 147
Book Description
Over the course of a single generation, without significant discussion or debate, a key practice of traditional medicine was almost completely abandoned in mid-nineteenth-century Europe. K. Codell Carter's book describes how and why bloodletting was abandoned, noting that it was part of a process in which innovation was required so that modern scientific medicine could begin. This book is a masterful study on the collapse of a traditional medical practice. Bloodletting had been a prominent medical therapy in early nineteenth-century Europe and can be traced back to Greek and Roman physicians. The Hippocratic corpus contains several discussions of bloodletting. Galen, the most famous physician in classical antiquity, wrote tracts explaining and defending the practice. It was employed in ancient Egypt and is the most commonly mentioned therapy in the Babylonian Talmud. Indeed, it was practiced in virtually every part of the ancient world. Even though the practice abruptly ceased, there was little argument against it or reason to believe it ineffective. In reality, bloodletting actually worked. However, the rise of modern medicine required not just a change in how disease and causation were conceived, but also a change in the role of medicine in society. It has been claimed that the collapse of traditional medicine was a precondition for the rise of modern medicine, but there has been little support for this assertion before now. Carter provides this missing support. The result is a fascinating study in the history of medical practice and social expectations.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135148396X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 147
Book Description
Over the course of a single generation, without significant discussion or debate, a key practice of traditional medicine was almost completely abandoned in mid-nineteenth-century Europe. K. Codell Carter's book describes how and why bloodletting was abandoned, noting that it was part of a process in which innovation was required so that modern scientific medicine could begin. This book is a masterful study on the collapse of a traditional medical practice. Bloodletting had been a prominent medical therapy in early nineteenth-century Europe and can be traced back to Greek and Roman physicians. The Hippocratic corpus contains several discussions of bloodletting. Galen, the most famous physician in classical antiquity, wrote tracts explaining and defending the practice. It was employed in ancient Egypt and is the most commonly mentioned therapy in the Babylonian Talmud. Indeed, it was practiced in virtually every part of the ancient world. Even though the practice abruptly ceased, there was little argument against it or reason to believe it ineffective. In reality, bloodletting actually worked. However, the rise of modern medicine required not just a change in how disease and causation were conceived, but also a change in the role of medicine in society. It has been claimed that the collapse of traditional medicine was a precondition for the rise of modern medicine, but there has been little support for this assertion before now. Carter provides this missing support. The result is a fascinating study in the history of medical practice and social expectations.
Handbook of Offshore Engineering (2-volume Set)
Author: Subrata Chakrabarti
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080443818
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 645
Book Description
* Each chapter is written by one or more invited world-renowned experts * Information provided in handy reference tables and design charts * Numerous examples demonstrate how the theory outlined in the book is applied in the design of structures Tremendous strides have been made in the last decades in the advancement of offshore exploration and production of minerals. This book fills the need for a practical reference work for the state-of-the-art in offshore engineering. All the basic background material and its application in offshore engineering is covered. Particular emphasis is placed in the application of the theory to practical problems. It includes the practical aspects of the offshore structures with handy design guides, simple description of the various components of the offshore engineering and their functions. The primary purpose of the book is to provide the important practical aspects of offshore engineering without going into the nitty-gritty of the actual detailed design. · Provides all the important practical aspects of ocean engineering without going into the 'nitty-gritty' of actual design details· · Simple to use - with handy design guides, references tables and charts· · Numerous examples demonstrate how theory is applied in the design of structures
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080443818
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 645
Book Description
* Each chapter is written by one or more invited world-renowned experts * Information provided in handy reference tables and design charts * Numerous examples demonstrate how the theory outlined in the book is applied in the design of structures Tremendous strides have been made in the last decades in the advancement of offshore exploration and production of minerals. This book fills the need for a practical reference work for the state-of-the-art in offshore engineering. All the basic background material and its application in offshore engineering is covered. Particular emphasis is placed in the application of the theory to practical problems. It includes the practical aspects of the offshore structures with handy design guides, simple description of the various components of the offshore engineering and their functions. The primary purpose of the book is to provide the important practical aspects of offshore engineering without going into the nitty-gritty of the actual detailed design. · Provides all the important practical aspects of ocean engineering without going into the 'nitty-gritty' of actual design details· · Simple to use - with handy design guides, references tables and charts· · Numerous examples demonstrate how theory is applied in the design of structures
How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind
Author: Paul Erickson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022604677X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
In the United States at the height of the Cold War, roughly between the end of World War II and the early 1980s, a new project of redefining rationality commanded the attention of sharp minds, powerful politicians, wealthy foundations, and top military brass. Its home was the human sciences—psychology, sociology, political science, and economics, among others—and its participants enlisted in an intellectual campaign to figure out what rationality should mean and how it could be deployed. How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind brings to life the people—Herbert Simon, Oskar Morgenstern, Herman Kahn, Anatol Rapoport, Thomas Schelling, and many others—and places, including the RAND Corporation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Cowles Commission for Research and Economics, and the Council on Foreign Relations, that played a key role in putting forth a “Cold War rationality.” Decision makers harnessed this picture of rationality—optimizing, formal, algorithmic, and mechanical—in their quest to understand phenomena as diverse as economic transactions, biological evolution, political elections, international relations, and military strategy. The authors chronicle and illuminate what it meant to be rational in the age of nuclear brinkmanship.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022604677X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
In the United States at the height of the Cold War, roughly between the end of World War II and the early 1980s, a new project of redefining rationality commanded the attention of sharp minds, powerful politicians, wealthy foundations, and top military brass. Its home was the human sciences—psychology, sociology, political science, and economics, among others—and its participants enlisted in an intellectual campaign to figure out what rationality should mean and how it could be deployed. How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind brings to life the people—Herbert Simon, Oskar Morgenstern, Herman Kahn, Anatol Rapoport, Thomas Schelling, and many others—and places, including the RAND Corporation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Cowles Commission for Research and Economics, and the Council on Foreign Relations, that played a key role in putting forth a “Cold War rationality.” Decision makers harnessed this picture of rationality—optimizing, formal, algorithmic, and mechanical—in their quest to understand phenomena as diverse as economic transactions, biological evolution, political elections, international relations, and military strategy. The authors chronicle and illuminate what it meant to be rational in the age of nuclear brinkmanship.