Worst Cases

Worst Cases PDF Author: Lee Clarke
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226108600
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Al Qaeda detonates a nuclear weapon in Times Square during rush hour, wiping out half of Manhattan and killing 500,000 people. A virulent strain of bird flu jumps to humans in Thailand, sweeps across Asia, and claims more than fifty million lives. A single freight car of chlorine derails on the outskirts of Los Angeles, spilling its contents and killing seven million. An asteroid ten kilometers wide slams into the Atlantic Ocean, unleashing a tsunami that renders life on the planet as we know it extinct. We consider the few who live in fear of such scenarios to be alarmist or even paranoid. But Worst Cases shows that such individuals—like Cassandra foreseeing the fall of Troy—are more reasonable and prescient than you might think. In this book, Lee Clarke surveys the full range of possible catastrophes that animate and dominate the popular imagination, from toxic spills and terrorism to plane crashes and pandemics. Along the way, he explores how the ubiquity of worst cases in everyday life has rendered them ordinary and mundane. Fear and dread, Clarke argues, have actually become too rare: only when the public has more substantial information and more credible warnings will it take worst cases as seriously as it should. A timely and necessary look into how we think about the unthinkable, Worst Cases will be must reading for anyone attuned to our current climate of threat and fear.

Worst Cases

Worst Cases PDF Author: Lee Clarke
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226108600
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Get Book Here

Book Description
Al Qaeda detonates a nuclear weapon in Times Square during rush hour, wiping out half of Manhattan and killing 500,000 people. A virulent strain of bird flu jumps to humans in Thailand, sweeps across Asia, and claims more than fifty million lives. A single freight car of chlorine derails on the outskirts of Los Angeles, spilling its contents and killing seven million. An asteroid ten kilometers wide slams into the Atlantic Ocean, unleashing a tsunami that renders life on the planet as we know it extinct. We consider the few who live in fear of such scenarios to be alarmist or even paranoid. But Worst Cases shows that such individuals—like Cassandra foreseeing the fall of Troy—are more reasonable and prescient than you might think. In this book, Lee Clarke surveys the full range of possible catastrophes that animate and dominate the popular imagination, from toxic spills and terrorism to plane crashes and pandemics. Along the way, he explores how the ubiquity of worst cases in everyday life has rendered them ordinary and mundane. Fear and dread, Clarke argues, have actually become too rare: only when the public has more substantial information and more credible warnings will it take worst cases as seriously as it should. A timely and necessary look into how we think about the unthinkable, Worst Cases will be must reading for anyone attuned to our current climate of threat and fear.

Worst-Case Economics

Worst-Case Economics PDF Author: Frank Ackerman
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 1783087080
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Worst-case scenarios are all too real, and all too common. The financial crisis of 2008 was not the first or the last to destroy jobs, homeownership and the savings of millions of people. Hurricanes clobber communities from New York to Bangladesh. How bad will the next catastrophe be, and how soon will it happen? Climate and financial crises are serious events, requiring vigorous responses. Yet public policy is trapped in an obsolete framework, with a simplistic focus on average or likely outcomes rather than dangerous extremes. What would it take to create better analyses of extreme events in climate and finance, and an appropriate policy framework for worst-case risks? ‘Worst-Case Economics: Extreme Events in Climate and Finance’ offers accessible and surprising answers to these crucial questions.

A Bad Case of Stripes

A Bad Case of Stripes PDF Author: David Shannon
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 1338113151
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description
It's the first day of school, and Camilla discovers that she is covered from head to toe in stripes, then polka-dots, and any other pattern spoken aloud! With a little help, she learns the secret of accepting her true self, in spite of her peculiar ailment.

Worst-Case Scenarios

Worst-Case Scenarios PDF Author: Cass R. Sunstein
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674033531
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Nuclear bombs in suitcases, anthrax bacilli in ventilators, tsunamis and meteors, avian flu, scorchingly hot temperatures: nightmares that were once the plot of Hollywood movies are now frighteningly real possibilities. How can we steer a path between willful inaction and reckless overreaction? Cass Sunstein explores these and other worst-case scenarios and how we might best prevent them in this vivid, illuminating, and highly original analysis. Singling out the problems of terrorism and climate change, Sunstein explores our susceptibility to two opposite and unhelpful reactions: panic and utter neglect. He shows how private individuals and public officials might best respond to low-probability risks of disaster—emphasizing the need to know what we will lose from precautions as well as from inaction. Finally, he offers an understanding of the uses and limits of cost–benefit analysis, especially when current generations are imposing risks on future generations. Throughout, Sunstein uses climate change as a defining case, because it dramatically illustrates the underlying principles. But he also discusses terrorism, depletion of the ozone layer, genetic modification of food, hurricanes, and worst-case scenarios faced in our ordinary lives. Sunstein concludes that if we can avoid the twin dangers of overreaction and apathy, we will be able to ameliorate if not avoid future catastrophes, retaining our sanity as well as scarce resources that can be devoted to more constructive ends.

Proceedings of a Symposium on Worst Case Analysis

Proceedings of a Symposium on Worst Case Analysis PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forests and forestry
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description


Worst-Case Scenario?

Worst-Case Scenario? PDF Author: Doctor Stuart Price
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1780321376
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
In this original and provocative new book, Stuart Price identifies the existence of a practice that lies at the core of the western security regime - the worst-case scenario. This consists of the projection of a significant material threat, made by an authoritative or executive power, used to bolster the security agenda of the neo-liberal state. This in turn has altered the conduct of military and police operations, which are increasingly directed against any substantial expression of dissent. Using a wide range of official sources and case studies, from 9/11 to the Stockwell shooting, Price analyses the paramilitary, political, economic and cultural manoeuvres of the security regime as it attempts to reproduce a 'command structure' within civil society. In doing so, he demonstrates that, unlike the openly totalitarian states of the past, bureaucratic rule is favoured over charismatic leadership, and the ostentatious display of coercive authority is characterised as a temporary measure. It is, he argues, a process that must be recognised and resisted.

Worst Case Bioethics

Worst Case Bioethics PDF Author: George J. Annas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190452994
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
"Carefully reasoned, clearly articulated, and pulls no punches...Boldly tackles the most contentious issues in bioethics and public policy....Worst Case Bioethics is certain to provoke strong responses across disciplines and ideologies on issues of great importance."- Mark Rothstein, Journal of Legal Medicine "Annas persuasively argues in Worst Case Bioethics that basing policy on extreme nightmare possibilities leads to a distortion of fundamental ethical principles and legal protections." - Arthur L. Caplan, The Lancet "Worst Case Bioethics offers a valuable consideration of how public health policy is sometimes shaped by fear in a counterproductive manner. The book is well-written, well-reasoned, and persuasive." - Thomas May, Science

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Junior Bundle

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Junior Bundle PDF Author: David Borgenicht
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452102694
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
This three-book bundle includes: The Original Junior Edition, the Extreme Junior Edition, and the Weird Junior Edition. The phenomenally successful Worst-Case Scenario series provides kid-friendly, hands-on, step-by-step instructions for outwitting a nosy sibling, surviving a school dance, cleaning your room in a snap, dealing with an irritated parent (recognizing the tell-tale signs!), and more. Braces. Bullies. Chores. Childhood is chock-full of perils--but finally here's something to come to the rescue.

In the Courts of the Conquerer

In the Courts of the Conquerer PDF Author: Walter Echo-Hawk
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
ISBN: 1555917887
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
Now in paperback, an important account of ten Supreme Court cases that changed the fate of Native Americans, providing the contemporary historical/political context of each case, and explaining how the decisions have adversely affected the cultural survival of Native people to this day.

A Worst Case Scenario

A Worst Case Scenario PDF Author: J. Lynn
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1440157774
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Lynn, a Baltimore Surrealist artist, reviews her unusual life without any knowledge that Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism, exists. Her life and circumstances certainly are the result of something. She has always been different. It is impossible to explain herself or confide in anyone, even the closest friends and family. Depressed, overwhelmed, and not knowing how to describe what she's going through to anybody, she tries to figure out things on her own. Can she find some clues in her dreams? Nothing she tries works, and she is ready to give up. She looks back, going deeper and deeper into her past. What is it, the thing that makes her different? Has it prevailed throughout her entire life? Maybe; so, does it have patterns? She begins to see there are. Are they responsible for things turning out so badly? Does whatever "It" is make it possible to dream of the future and possibly travel through time? The Last Exit before The Toll: Art, Death, Asperger's, and Dreams is the story of her journey to find out the truth of the mystery. The story is told in an unusual timeline; it is told backwards (in decades), a timeline never used in books, but the usual way we get to know each other in real life. The book also features pictures of her singular, highly-detailed art. One chapter spotlights her epic painting, "Poe's Last Supper." The large. (4'x 6') oil painting depicts Poe on his deathbed in a hospital, but he hallucinates he's in a Fell's Point bar drinking with his characters. See more on the book and art (in vivid color) @ lynnbarnes.net A passage from "What Kind of Kid Were You?": In earlier childhood, I could be a handful. I don't know what happened. It was as if something would take over. I'd persistently asked questions and would make comments out loud or sounds. The other kids would crack up. I understand now, they didn't think I was stupid, although it felt so at the time. I would ask outrageous questions, whether the teacher acknowledged my raised hand or not. They sometimes wouldn't. Many times what I asked, or my comments, made me sound like a smart-ass. Right after the words left my mouth, it sounded different than what I was trying to say. This would drive the teachers up a wall, right out of their minds. My third grade-teacher, the elderly Mrs. Mitchell, got so fed up; she separated my desk from the other kids by sitting me up front, next to her desk. Bad move. I already had everybody's attention up front. Everybody could then hear everything I said. I did it one time too many. I said something, and the whole class shrieked. She went ape-shit. She went over the edge. She would have hit me if she could have gotten away with it, if it weren't for my mother. The best she could do was throw a cartoon-like tantrum. She jumped up and down with her knees a little bent. She stopped writing on the blackboard and made tight fists, clutching the chalk. SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! she screamed. It was almost the same as the tantrum Mozart would throw at the costume party in Amadeus, when he wanted his penalty (except more aggressively). I did shut up, for then. The image stunned me. I had no idea I got to her that badly. A note was sent home. Another note; one of many. Let me tell you, I got away with nothing at home. I got whipped. My mother was strict. The only-child-spoiled-brat wasn't correct. That wasn't it. The same basic kind of behavior got me whipped at home, but whipped or not, it would come out. I know my mother was driven crazy sometimes. She would practically lose her mind. I was also hardheaded and wouldn't back down if I thought I was right. I would face my punishment, such as staying out of the woods. I wasn't going to stay out of the woods. We played our roles in that one. At school, I don't know exactly what happened, because most of the time I was so sincere. I really did want to know something, or I would make a comment about something. It wasn't appreciated. Most of it w