Anne McKenzie is missing.But whether she fled a life she was tired of living, got snatched off the street, or suffered something truly awful like a bus ride home to the MidWest, no one knows, because no one noticed Anne had gone, until the least likely detective in Baltimore found out and decided to investigate.Beck was always searching for something.As an alcoholic, his mornings began with a hungover hunt for his keys, wallet, and occasionally the name of the woman in his bed. What he really wanted was a purpose, but that was harder to find than a drink, so each day was a degraded copy of the one before, until Anne came into his life. He met her at a party the night she disappeared. They bonded over stolen beers and broken dreams, but then Anne left, so Beck bonded with her roommate about not wanting to sleep alone instead. A week later, he took her roommate home, heard discovered the front door was open, the house was empty, and there was a pool of dried blood on the floor of Anne's room. Drunks make good detectives.Beck vows to find out how the blood got there and where Anne went. Her roommate gives him a lead and soon he's chasing Anne's ghost through Baltimore's underbelly, where cultists, pornographers, collegiate con artists, and his addictions try to thwart his search. But quitting isn't one of Beck's strong suits so he presses on, confident that he'll either find Anne McKenzie or end up back on barstool drinking himself into an early grave. DRUNK is a contemporary detective story filled with diverse characters, absurd humor, and heart. A semi-autobiographical novel penned by a sober aging hipster who survived alcoholism, DRUNK, will appeal to anyone who has ever struggled to find meaning, sobriety, or the next cool bar.
Over the past few years, Hardwick, Vermont, a typical hardscrabble farming community of 3,000 residents, has jump-started its economy and redefined its self-image through a local, self-sustaining food system unlike anything else in America. Even as the recent financial downturn threatens to cripple small businesses and privately owned farms, a stunning number of food-based businesses have grown in the region. The Town That Food Saved is rich with appealing, colorful characters, from the optimistic upstarts creating a new agricultural model to the long-established farmers wary of the rapid change in the region. Hewitt, a journalist and Vermonter, delves deeply into the repercussions of this groundbreaking approach to growing food, both its astounding successes and potential limitations. The captivating story of an unassuming community and its extraordinary determination to build a vibrant local food system, The Town That Food Saved is grounded in ideas that will revolutionize the way we eat and, quite possibly, the way we live.
Should be required reading for all policy makers.” —Warren Buffett From the three primary architects of the American policy response to the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression, a magnificent big-picture synthesis--from why it happened to where we are now. In 2018, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, and Hank Paulson came together to reflect on the lessons of the 2008 financial crisis ten years on. Recognizing that, as Ben put it, "the enemy is forgetting," they examine the causes of the crisis, why it was so damaging, and what it ultimately took to prevent a second Great Depression. And they provide to their successors in the United States and the finance ministers and central bank governors of other countries a valuable playbook for reducing the damage from future financial crises. Firefighting provides a candid and powerful account of the choices they and their teams made during the crisis, working under two presidents and with the leaders of Congress.
This book defines, uncovers, dissects, and arranges the economic groups in Roman Palestine in the first centuries CE. It shows that, alongside the rich and poor, there were significant middling groups that constituted the backbone of Jewish society.
One man stands in the way of global war. A group of the most powerful people in the military and private sector has begun a brutal plan to take over the reins of government. Once in power, they will start a brutal war on an unimaginable scale. Meanwhile the Secretary of State is going to Paris for secret talks. Dewey Andreas is to be an extra layer of security. But what should be an easy mission goes horribly wrong. The cabal send in a hit man to take out the Secretary of State, throwing suspicion onto Dewey. He must go on the run, desperately trying to unravel the plot before millions of innocents are slaughtered. An unputdownable thriller perfect for fans of Mark Greaney and Lee Child.
While "economic forces" are often cited as being a key cause of language loss, there is very little research that explores this link in detail. This work, based on policy analysis and ethnographic data, addresses this deficit. It examines how neoliberalism, the dominant economic orthodoxy of recent decades, has impacted the vitality of Irish in the Republic of Ireland since 2008. Drawing on concepts well established in public policy studies, but not prominent in the subfield of language policy, the neoliberalisation of Irish-language support measures is charted, including the disproportionately severe budget cuts they received. It is argued that neoliberalism’s antipathy towards social planning and redistributive economic policies meant that supports for Irish were inevitably hit especially hard in an era of austerity. Ethnographic data from Irish-speaking communities reinforce this point and illustrate how macro-level economic disruptions can affect language use at the micro-level. Labour market transformations, emigration and the dismantling of community institutions are documented, along with many related developments, thereby highlighting an issue of relevance to communities around the world, the fundamental tension between neoliberalism and language revitalisation efforts.
21st Century Monetary Policy takes readers inside the Federal Reserve, explaining what it does and why. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve deployed an extraordinary range of policy tools that helped prevent the collapse of the financial system and the U.S. economy. Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues lent directly to U.S. businesses, purchased trillions of dollars of government securities, pumped dollars into the international financial system, and crafted a new framework for monetary policy that emphasized job creation. These strategies would have astonished Powell’s late-20th-century predecessors, from William McChesney Martin to Alan Greenspan, and the advent of these tools raises new questions about the future landscape of economic policy. In 21st Century Monetary Policy, Ben S. Bernanke—former chair of the Federal Reserve and one of the world’s leading economists—explains the Fed’s evolution and speculates on its future. Taking a fresh look at the bank’s policymaking over the past seventy years, including his own time as chair, Bernanke shows how changes in the economy have driven the Fed’s innovations. He also lays out new challenges confronting the Fed, including the return of inflation, cryptocurrencies, increased risks of financial instability, and threats to its independence. Beyond explaining the central bank’s new policymaking tools, Bernanke also captures the drama of moments when so much hung on the Fed’s decisions, as well as the personalities and philosophies of those who led the institution.
This book is a study of shame in English society in the two centuries between c.1550 and c.1750, demonstrating the ubiquity and powerful hold it had on contemporaries over the entire era. Using insights drawn from the social sciences, the book investigates multiple meanings and manifestations of shame in everyday lives and across private and public domains, exploring the practice and experience of shame in devotional life and family relations, amid social networks, and in communities or the public at large. The book pays close attention to variations and distinctive forms of shame, while also uncovering recurring patterns, a spectrum ranging from punitive, exclusionary and coercive shame through more conciliatory, lenient and inclusive forms. Placing these divergent forms in the context of the momentous social and cultural shifts that unfolded over the course of the era, the book challenges perceptions of the waning of shame in the transition from early modern to modern times, arguing instead that whereas some modes of shame diminished or disappeared, others remained vital, were reformulated and vastly enhanced.
When professional baseball returned to Brooklyn in 2001, fans were jubilant and the media swarmed. After losing the Brooklyn Dodgers to California 44 years ago, Brooklyn baseball fans could once again claim a team of their own: the Cyclones, a Class A affiliate of the New York Mets. The Brooklyn Cyclones: Hardball Dreams and the New Coney Island recounts that first season of the Cyclones. From the construction of the incredible Keyspan Park at Coney Island to their improbable successes on the field, Ben Osborne tells the story of the Cyclones' delicate first year of operation. We see the story up close and personal through the eyes of two very different young men. The first is Anthony Otero, who was raised in a Coney Island housing project and loves baseball, but has never seen a game in person until the Cyclones land in his neighborhood. The second is Brett Kay, a young man from California who has never been to New York, until he becomes the catcher for the Brooklyn Cyclones. From the plans of politicians like Rudy Giuliani and Howard Golden, to the poverty of Coney Island's citizens, The Brooklyn Cyclones reveals the stories behind the headlines to show that the reality of creating a new sports team often involves broken promises and shattered dreams. Osborne includes chapters on the Cyclones' rivalry with the Staten Island Yankees, the Cyclones' chances of capturing the New York-Penn League title, and an epilogue updating Kay's, Otero's, and the Cyclones' progress through the 2003 season. Ultimately, Ben Osborne shows how, for these two young men, the Brooklyn Cyclones created dreams the same way the Brooklyn Dodgers allowed the boys of Flatbush to dream about one day playing in the Big Leagues.
Collects the best of a series of lectures that U.S. Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave about the financial crisis at George Washington University in 2012, offering insight into the guiding principles behind the Fed's activities and the lessons to be learned from its handling of recent economic challenges.
In Advanced Transact-SQL for SQL Server 2000, authors Itzik Ben-Gan and Thomas Moreau explore the powerful capabilities of Transact-SQL (T-SQL). Ben-Gan and Moreau offer solutions to common problems encountered using all versions of SQL Server, with a focus on the latest version, SQL Server 2000. Expert tips and real code examples teach advanced database programmers to write more efficient and better-performing code that takes full advantage of T-SQL. The authors offer practical solutions to the everyday problems programmers face and include in-depth information on advanced T-SQL topics such as joins, subqueries, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined functions (UDFs), indexed views, cascading actions, federated views, hierarchical structures, cursors, and more.
Food recalls have become so ubiquitous we hardly even notice them. The massive peanut salmonella contamination of 2008–2009 alone killed nine and sickened an estimated 22,500 people; only a few weeks later, contaminated frozen cookie dough sent 35 people to the hospital. These tragic, inexcusable events to which no one is immune are but a symptom of a broader food system malaise. In Making Supper Safe, Ben Hewitt exposes the vulnerabilities inherent to the US food industry, where the majority of our processing facilities are inspected only once every seven years, and where government agencies lack the necessary resources to act on early warning signs. The most dangerous aspect of our food system isn't just its potential to make us acutely ill, but the ever expanding distance between us and our sources of nourishment. Hewitt introduces a vibrant cast of characters and revolutionaries who are reinventing how we grow, process, package, distribute, and protect our food, and even how we protect ourselves. He takes readers inside a food contamination trace-back investigation, goes dumpster diving, and talks to lawyers, policy makers, and families who have been affected by contaminated food. Making Supper Safe explains why we should worry, but it is also a quest to understand how we can learn to trust our food again.
With the advent of advanced hand-held technology and the widespread nature of the Internet, the world of animated filmmaking is more exciting and accessible than ever. Due to this cultural and technological development, the success of independent animated film makers is on the rise. Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films, Second Edition showcases some of the greatest, most innovative giants in the field and helps guide readers through the artistic process and production techniques. Story development, casting, color theory, distribution and the intimidating aspects of production are elucidated using various examples of acclaimed, viral and award-winning animated films from all over the world. Readers will also explore the changing nature of audiences, festivals and distributors’ relationships with animation and be granted first-hand guidance in navigating the diverse fields of animated filmmaking. Key Features: Covers the entire process of creating an independent animated film from story development and casting to editing and distribution Presents a comprehensive array of classic and contemporary case studies covering all manner of production methods from traditional pipelines to avant-garde, auteur and experimental approaches Features input and exclusive insight into the working processes of some of the industry’s most noteworthy indie animation talents, including Signe Baumane, Adam Elliot, Don Hertzfeldt, Kirsten Lepore, Robert Morgan, David OReilly, PES, Bill Plympton, Rosto, Chris Shepherd and dozens more Additional resources and interviews are available through a special section of Skwigly Online Animation Magazine.
Amidst "alternative facts" and "post-truth" politics, news journalism is more important and complex than ever. This book examines journalism's evolution within digital media's ecosystem where lies often spread faster than truth, and consumers expect conversations, not lectures. Tthe 2016 U.S. presidential election delivered a stunning result, but the news media's breathless coverage of it was no surprise. News networks turned debates into primetime entertainment, reporters spent more time covering poll results than public policy issues, and the cozy relationship between journalists and political insiders helped ensure intrigue and ratings, even as it eroded journalism's role as democracy's "Fourth Estate." Against this sobering backdrop, a broadcast news veteran and a millennial newshound consider how journalism can regain the public's trust by learning from pioneers both within and beyond the profession. Connecting the dots between faux news, "fake news," and real news, coauthors Madison and DeJarnette provide an unflinching analysis of where mainstream journalism went wrong—and what the next generation of reporters can do to make it right. The significance of Donald Trump's presidency is not lost on the authors, but Reimagining Journalism in a Post-Truth World is not a post-mortem of the 2016 presidential election, nor is it a how-to guide for reporting on Trump's White House. Instead, this accessible and engaging book offers a broader perspective on contemporary journalism, pairing lively anecdotes with insightful analysis of long-term trends and challenges. Drawing on their expertise in media innovation and entrepreneurship, the authors explore how comedians like John Oliver, Trevor Noah, and Samantha Bee are breaking (and reshaping) the rules of political journalism; how legacy media outlets like The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and The New York Times are retooling for the digital age; and how newcomers like Vice, Hearken, and De Correspondent are innovating new models for reporting and storytelling. Anyone seeking to make sense of modern journalism and its intersections with democracy will want to read this book.
The growth of the economy & the spread of prosperity are increasingly seen as problematic rather than positive. Prosperity is accused of encouraging greed, damaging the environment, causing unhappiness & widening social inequalities. The author argues that society benefits from greater affluence.
The Pixies have had a career unlike any other in alternative rock, disappearing as not-quite-the-next-big-things only to become gods in absentia. Doolittle is their knotty masterpiece, the embodiment of the Pixies' abrasive, exuberant, enigmatic pop. Informed by exclusive interviews with the band, Sisario looks at the making of the album and its place in rock history, and studies its continued influence in light of the Pixies triumphant reunion.
Where does consciousness fit into biology? How did life evolve? What makes us human? These are just a few of the deep and universal questions that the new science and philosophy of epigenetics may be able to answer. Epigenetics ("above and beyond genetics") is an exciting new field, but it remains relatively unknown, even as genetics has been saturating scientific news since the early 1990s. Whether it was through the Human Genome Project, the heritability of a disease, or DNA ancestry testing, most people have likely heard of genetics. But, despite its popularity, very few truly understand the scope of genetics or what in fact constitutes a gene. Genetics is often thought of as the study of inheritance, or how biological traits are passed from parent to child. Some scientists consider genes to be the only vehicles by which information travels from generation to generation. In this view, we are defined by our genetic blueprints, our paths determined by our lineage. But the growing field of epigenetics is poised to revolutionize this paradigm. Epigenetics suggests that our genetics is not the foundation of inheritance and life. In this book, Ben Callif walks us through the history of evolution and modern biology, the basics of genetics and genes, and the complexities of cells and inheritance, and proposes that epigenetics can provide a new perspective on identity, consciousness, and the origins of life itself. In "Organumics," living things are not discrete, isolated units (organisms). Instead, life is an inseparable and interconnected fractal that emerges through the cooperation of self-directed and self-contained individuals-organa. As organum, we each play a vital role in the direction of evolutionary progress through our thoughts, feelings, and intentions. What we do changes who we are, and who we are influences what our descendants might one day become.
Light on a people's forward path comes from behind - from the past. Because Cumberland Presbyterians are eager for illumination for their ongoing mission this set of books have been written. In ÒA People Called Cumberland PresbyteriansÓ three writers have endeavored to directly and effectively present the convictions, dedication and purpose that formed this Presbyterian denomination on the American frontier and have impelled it through more than 160 years to the present. The books illuminate some of the most distinctive traits of the church. Many persons and events come to life in it. Not only the better known heroes and heroines of the movement are presented, but also many of the lesser known who play colorful and significant roles, and details typical of the ongoing life of the church are here, along with accounts of the stirring hours of its history.
This book brings together two important fields in the study of international politics and policy: climate change adaptation and mitigation (climate action) and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Both have attracted strong scholarly attention in each of their respective research silos, but there is yet to be a strong research push that explores the relationship between the two. Filling this gap, Ben L. Parr argues that the climate action and the R2P agendas share a common goal: to protect vulnerable human populations from large-scale harm. To substantiate this argument, Parr reveals where the historical, conceptual, and operational parallels exist between the two agendas, and where and when researchers and practitioners from both camps might work together in practice to achieve their common goal in the challenging years ahead. Notably, the book builds on recent efforts by Western governments in the UK, US, and EU to integrate climate action policies into conflict prevention and response policies. To achieve this, the volume situates a variety of climate action policies alongside the 46 policy options found in the R2P operational framework (commonly known as the R2P toolbox) across its prevention, reaction, and rebuilding phases. Climate Change Action and the Responsibility to Protect will be of significant interest to policy-orientated students and scholars, those working at the academic-policy interface in the NGO community, as well as those working in government and international organisations.
Rights and Wrongs of Children's Work, authored by an interdisciplinary team of experts, incorporates recent theoretical advances and experiences to explore the place of labor in children's lives and development. This groundbreaking book considers international policies governing children's work and the complexity of assessing the various effects of their work. The authors question current child labor policies and interventions, which, even though pursued with the best intentions, too often fail to protect children against harm or promote their access to education and other opportunities for decent futures. They argue for the need to re-think the assumptions that underlie current policies on the basis of empirical evidence, and they recommend new approaches to advance working children's well-being and guarantee their human rights. Rights and Wrongs of Children's Work condemns the exploitation and abuse of child workers and supports the right of all children to the best quality, free education that society can afford. At the same time, the authors recognize the value, and sometimes the necessity, of work in growing up, and the reality that a "workless" childhood, without responsibilities, is not good preparation for adult life in any environment.
The growth of the economy and the spread of prosperity are increasingly seen as problematic rather than positive - a trend Daniel Ben-Ami has termed 'growth scepticism'. Prosperity is accused of encourage greed, damaging the environment, causing unhappiness and widening social inequalities. Ferraris for all: A defence of economic progress is a rejoinder to the growth sceptics. Using examples from a range of countries, including the US, the author argues that society as a whole benefits from greater affluence. Action is needed - but to increase abundance and spread it worldwide, not to limit prosperity, as the sceptics would have it. The lively and provocative hardback edition was published to widespread coverage in 2010, and triggered debate and dissent in equal measure.
A technological revolution is driving capitalism toward crisis and collapse. Can our society evolve in time to rescue the future? Radical advances in automation, robotics, and computer technology have thrown millions out of work and will only continue to do so in the years to come. At the same time, cheap, individually-accessible machines will wrestle for primacy with both gleaming highly-automated factories and sweatshops alike, ultimately eroding the dominance of industrial production. Economic growth is slowing down, and it is not going to speed up again. The pressures fueling today's global unrest will not go away and are only going to get worse as wages stagnate in many countries, solid employment becomes harder to find, and cuts to social benefits continue. Competing radical and reactionary ideologies will clash as political consensus crumbles and the world's peoples search for answers to these challenges. In its opening decades, the 21st will be a century of war and revolution. By the end of the 21st century, capitalism will be consigned to the history books. Despite the seeming darkness of our era, our future is filled with incredible possibility. If working people join together, we can create a world of freedom, beauty, and abundance, where poverty and tyranny are merely distant memories for our grandchildren. This is the story of The Coming Revolution.
Ben Bernanke's history of the Federal Reserve and its response to the 2008 financial crisis In 2012, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, gave a series of lectures about the Federal Reserve and the 2008 financial crisis, as part of a course at George Washington University on the role of the Federal Reserve in the economy. In this unusual event, Bernanke revealed important background and insights into the central bank's crucial actions during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Taken directly from these historic talks, The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis offers insight into the guiding principles behind the Fed's activities and the lessons to be learned from its handling of recent economic challenges. Bernanke traces the origins of the Federal Reserve, from its inception in 1914 through the Second World War, and he looks at the Fed post-1945, when it began operating independently from other governmental departments such as the Treasury. During this time the Fed grappled with episodes of high inflation, finally tamed by then-chairman Paul Volcker. Bernanke also explores the period under his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, known as the Great Moderation. Bernanke then delves into the Fed's reaction to the recent financial crisis, focusing on the central bank's role as the lender of last resort and discussing efforts that injected liquidity into the banking system. Bernanke points out that monetary policies alone cannot revive the economy, and he describes ongoing structural and regulatory problems that need to be addressed. Providing first-hand knowledge of how problems in the financial system were handled, The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis will long be studied by those interested in this critical moment in history.
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