In the face of so many unprecedented changes in our environment, the pressure is on scientists to lead the way toward a more sustainable future. Written by a team of ecologists, Monitoring Animal Populations and Their Habitats: A Practitioner’s Guide provides a framework that natural resource managers and researchers can use to design monitoring programs that will benefit future generations by distilling the information needed to make informed decisions. In addition, this text is valuable for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses that are focused on monitoring animal populations. With the aid of more than 90 illustrations and a four-page color insert, this book offers practical guidance for the entire monitoring process, from incorporating stakeholder input and data collection, to data management, analysis, and reporting. It establishes the basis for why, what, how, where, and when monitoring should be conducted; describes how to analyze and interpret the data; explains how to budget for monitoring efforts; and discusses how to assemble reports of use in decision-making. The book takes a multi-scaled and multi-taxa approach, focusing on monitoring vertebrate populations and upland habitats, but the recommendations and suggestions presented are applicable to a variety of monitoring programs. Lastly, the book explores the future of monitoring techniques, enabling researchers to better plan for the future of wildlife populations and their habitats. Monitoring Animal Populations and Their Habitats: A Practitioner’s Guide furthers the goal of achieving a world in which biodiversity is allowed to evolve and flourish in the face of such uncertainties as climate change, invasive species proliferation, land use expansion, and population growth.
This book is a great lesson to all CEO's and to anyone who wants to lead with wisdom, compassion and vision. Ben Beckhart has beautifully articulated what we all instinctively knew; that leadership is about finding the best in human beings. Leadership without morals is just a scream in the dark. Now, full disclosure. Ben is my best friend. We've known each other since high school. But he's also a wonderful, smart and thoughtful person. My life has been better thanks to him. And with this book you can learn from him too.'' ---Jorge Ramos, Author-Senior News Anchor/Univision News “Ben’s words are a call to leaders and aspiring leaders to follow the difficult path of doing the right thing. In his book, Ben shares the traits that make Character Leaders and separates them from the crowd of appointed leaders in different fields that show competencies but have not earned our trust. His book is an invitation to impact by reaching within our innate humanity to serve others and stand for goodness.” ---Bill Perez, former CEO of Wm Wrigley Jr. Company and S.C. Johnson & Son “Ben Beckhart has written a leadership book that stands alone among the books in that genre — highlighting character as the basis for the most successful leadership seems both logical and rare. The virtues that make up character — recognition of dignity in others, observance of decorum, kindness, and respect are much in need in today’s world, and Beckhart’s book is an exposition of their value. This book provides a much-needed guide for those seeking success at the highest levels in the corporate sector, and in governance— I highly recommend it!” --- Gloria Tarpley, Trustee of Rice University and Chair of the Dallas Planning Commission “Ben’s book is ‘an undeniable call to action that resounds in an era where many have learned not to trust those who stand in the roles as leaders.’ Ben Beckhart shows that what is needed is the catalyst of the heart to claim and use these necessary leadership skills. It is time to promote the spirit of human evolution based on dignity, grace and kindness underpinned by the bright intelligence of the human spirit.” ---David McKenzie, CEO of WisdomRX “It’s a very inspirational and refreshing read that examines the importance of values in the corporate world, written by a seasoned professional. Ben’s wide-ranging experience with top multinationals gives him the authority to scan through the missing values vital to the corporate world, and how “the means justify the end” has become part of today’s corporate culture. This book is a great read for young professionals and future leaders who can gain insight from a great professional and human being.” --- Roberto Pradilla/ Managing Partner Equitum
A look into the covert influence billionaires wield in American politics and the actions citizens can take to hold them more accountable. In 2016, when millions of Americans voted for Donald Trump, many believed his claims that personal wealth would free him from wealthy donors and allow him to “drain the swamp.” But then Trump appointed several billionaires and multimillionaires to high-level positions and pursued billionaire-friendly policies, such as cutting corporate income taxes. Why the change from his fiery campaign rhetoric and promises to the working class? This should not be surprising, argue Benjamin I. Page, Jason Seawright, and Matthew J. Lacombe: As the gap between the wealthiest and the rest of us has widened, the few who hold one billion dollars or more in net worth have begun to play a more and more active part in politics—with serious consequences for democracy in the United States. Page, Seawright, and Lacombe argue that while political contributions offer a window onto billionaires’ influence, especially on economic policy, they do not present a full picture of policy preferences and political actions. That is because on some of the most important issues, including taxation, immigration, and Social Security, billionaires have chosen to engage in “stealth politics.” They try hard to influence public policy, making large contributions to political parties and policy-focused causes, leading policy-advocacy organizations, holding political fundraisers, and bundling others’ contributions—all while rarely talking about public policy to the media. This means that their influence is not only unequal but also largely unaccountable to and unchallengeable by the American people. Stealth politics makes it difficult for ordinary citizens to know what billionaires are doing or mobilize against it. The book closes with remedies citizens can pursue if they wish to make wealthy Americans more politically accountable, such as public financing of political campaigns and easier voting procedures, and notes the broader types of reforms, such as a more progressive income tax system, that would be needed to increase political equality and reinvigorate majoritarian democracy in the United States. Praise for Billionaires and Stealth Politics “Incredibly important. The authors provide—for the first time—a clear sense of the politics and political activity of the top one hundred billionaires in America, matching what billionaires have said with what they’ve done and showing the troubling transparency gap that is critical to the evolution of policy. Billionaires and Stealth Politics is a key addition to understanding our current political reality, focused on it most significant lever.” —Lawrence Lessig, author of America, Compromised “The wealth held by American billionaires exceeds the Gross Domestic Product of dozens of countries. They exercise tremendous influence over society, the economy, and politics. Yet their impact is not well-understood. Page, Seawright, and Lacombe have given us a compelling and original piece of work on an important topic.” —Darrell M. West, Brookings Institution
This book argues that American democracy is in crisis. The economic system is slowly subjecting Americans of nearly all income levels and backgrounds to enormous amounts of stress. The United States lacks the state capacity required to alleviate this stress, and politicians increasingly find that if they promise to solve economic problems, they are likely to disappoint voters. Instead, they encourage voters to blame each other. The crisis cannot be solved, the economy cannot be set right, and democracy cannot be saved. But American democracy cannot be killed, either. Americans can’t imagine any compelling alternative political systems. And so, American democracy continues on, in a deeply unsatisfying way. Americans invent ever-more elaborate coping mechanisms in a desperate bid to go on. But it becomes increasingly clear that the way is shut. The American political system was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it.
We are often expected to trust technologies, and how they are used, even if we have good reason not to. There is no room to mistrust. Exploring relations between trust and mistrust in the context of data, AI and technology at large, this book defines a process of ‘trustification’ used by governments, corporations, researchers and the media to legitimize exploitation and increase inequalities. Aimed at social scientists, computer scientists and public policy, the book aptly reveals how trust is operationalized and converted into a metric in order to extract legitimacy from populations and support the furthering of technology to manage society.
VORWORT Weil ihr Sohn auf der kubanischen Plantage ______ entbehren muss, erklärt ihm Zarah Leander das Wetterphänomen als ‚Engelstränen“, in La Habanera (1937). Als das neue Automobil im ______ stecken bleibt, gibt es eine schöne Gelegenheit zu singen in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Um den Kriegswinter 1807 im Kriegssommer 1944 drehen zu können, fuhr man 100 Eisenbahnwagons Salz nach Pommern, als ______ersatz in Kolberg (1945). Bei den Dreharbeiten zu Queen of Spades (1949) kamen als ______flocken Plexiglas-Splitter zum Einsatz, gewonnen aus abgeschossenen deutschen Flugzeugen. In Ophüls Madame de (1953) verwandelt sich ein zerrissener Liebesbrief in ______treiben. In Day Of The Outlaw (1959) ist ______ das Mittel der Wahl, die Gangster ins Verderben zu führen. Ein Gutteil des „______sturms“ in McCabe and Miss Miller (1971) geht auf einen Kopierwerkseffekt zurück, dessen regelmäßige Drehung Schwindel erregt. In Fargo (1996) verschmutzt der ______ durch die Zweckentfremdung einer Häckselmaschine. Die Redaktion
Jacaranda Humanities and Social Sciences 7 WA Curriculum, 2nd Edition learnON & Print This combined print and digital title provides 100% coverage of the WA Curriculum for Humanities and Social Sciences. The textbook comes with a complimentary activation code for learnON, the powerful digital learning platform making learning personalised and visible for both students and teachers. The latest editions of Jacaranda Humanities and Social Sciences for Western Australia series include these key features: Content is completely revised and updated, aligned to the WA Curriculum, and consistent across all platforms - learnON, eBookPLUS, PDF, iPad app and print Concepts are brought to life with engaging content, diagrams and illustrations, and digital resources including interactivities, videos, weblinks and projects Exercises are carefully sequenced and graded to allow for differentiated individual pathways through the question sets Answers and sample responses are provided for every question HASS Skills are explored and developed through new SkillBuilders with our much-loved Tell me, Show me, Let me do it! approach Brand new downloadable eWorkbooks provide additional differentiated, customisable activities to further develop students' skills Enhanced teaching support including teaching advice, lesson plans, work programs and quarantined assessments For teachers, learnON includes additional teacher resources such as quarantined questions and answers, curriculum grids and work programs.
This book argues that American democracy is in crisis. The economic system is slowly subjecting Americans of nearly all income levels and backgrounds to enormous amounts of stress. The United States lacks the state capacity required to alleviate this stress, and politicians increasingly find that if they promise to solve economic problems, they are likely to disappoint voters. Instead, they encourage voters to blame each other. The crisis cannot be solved, the economy cannot be set right, and democracy cannot be saved. But American democracy cannot be killed, either. Americans can’t imagine any compelling alternative political systems. And so, American democracy continues on, in a deeply unsatisfying way. Americans invent ever-more elaborate coping mechanisms in a desperate bid to go on. But it becomes increasingly clear that the way is shut. The American political system was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it.
A look into the covert influence billionaires wield in American politics and the actions citizens can take to hold them more accountable. In 2016, when millions of Americans voted for Donald Trump, many believed his claims that personal wealth would free him from wealthy donors and allow him to “drain the swamp.” But then Trump appointed several billionaires and multimillionaires to high-level positions and pursued billionaire-friendly policies, such as cutting corporate income taxes. Why the change from his fiery campaign rhetoric and promises to the working class? This should not be surprising, argue Benjamin I. Page, Jason Seawright, and Matthew J. Lacombe: As the gap between the wealthiest and the rest of us has widened, the few who hold one billion dollars or more in net worth have begun to play a more and more active part in politics—with serious consequences for democracy in the United States. Page, Seawright, and Lacombe argue that while political contributions offer a window onto billionaires’ influence, especially on economic policy, they do not present a full picture of policy preferences and political actions. That is because on some of the most important issues, including taxation, immigration, and Social Security, billionaires have chosen to engage in “stealth politics.” They try hard to influence public policy, making large contributions to political parties and policy-focused causes, leading policy-advocacy organizations, holding political fundraisers, and bundling others’ contributions—all while rarely talking about public policy to the media. This means that their influence is not only unequal but also largely unaccountable to and unchallengeable by the American people. Stealth politics makes it difficult for ordinary citizens to know what billionaires are doing or mobilize against it. The book closes with remedies citizens can pursue if they wish to make wealthy Americans more politically accountable, such as public financing of political campaigns and easier voting procedures, and notes the broader types of reforms, such as a more progressive income tax system, that would be needed to increase political equality and reinvigorate majoritarian democracy in the United States. Praise for Billionaires and Stealth Politics “Incredibly important. The authors provide—for the first time—a clear sense of the politics and political activity of the top one hundred billionaires in America, matching what billionaires have said with what they’ve done and showing the troubling transparency gap that is critical to the evolution of policy. Billionaires and Stealth Politics is a key addition to understanding our current political reality, focused on it most significant lever.” —Lawrence Lessig, author of America, Compromised “The wealth held by American billionaires exceeds the Gross Domestic Product of dozens of countries. They exercise tremendous influence over society, the economy, and politics. Yet their impact is not well-understood. Page, Seawright, and Lacombe have given us a compelling and original piece of work on an important topic.” —Darrell M. West, Brookings Institution
We are often expected to trust technologies, and how they are used, even if we have good reason not to. There is no room to mistrust. Exploring relations between trust and mistrust in the context of data, AI and technology at large, this book defines a process of ‘trustification’ used by governments, corporations, researchers and the media to legitimize exploitation and increase inequalities. Aimed at social scientists, computer scientists and public policy, the book aptly reveals how trust is operationalized and converted into a metric in order to extract legitimacy from populations and support the furthering of technology to manage society.
STANIS BENJAMIN, Director of Centre for Communication and Sales Training (CCST), has had experience in different levels of the insurance business starting as an agent and has spent almost 30 years in the insurance industry working with various clients from individuals to corporations. Strategies And Skills for prospecting is a guide to fundamentals of sales prospecting. This book gives you an insight to how sales people in similar environments can end up with different sales results while offering a creative and magical solution in prospecting clients for a thriving insurance sales career. The sales prospecting philosophy shared here is everything that any sales professional can practice to rise above the crowd by doing ordinary activities with extraordinary enthusiasm. Learn the secrets of his effective skills and techniques mixed with his light sense of humour to catapult your career at a speed you have never imagined.
From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce White supremacy and deepen social inequity. Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen discrimination while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to the racism of a previous era. Presenting the concept of the “New Jim Code,” she shows how a range of discriminatory designs encode inequity by explicitly amplifying racial hierarchies; by ignoring but thereby replicating social divisions; or by aiming to fix racial bias but ultimately doing quite the opposite. Moreover, she makes a compelling case for race itself as a kind of technology, designed to stratify and sanctify social injustice in the architecture of everyday life. This illuminating guide provides conceptual tools for decoding tech promises with sociologically informed skepticism. In doing so, it challenges us to question not only the technologies we are sold but also the ones we ourselves manufacture. Visit the book's free Discussion Guide here.
Economic arguments favoring increased immigration restrictions suggest that immigrants undermine the culture, institutions, and productivity of destination countries. But is this actually true? Nowrasteh and Powell systematically analyze cross-country evidence of potential negative effects caused by immigration relating to economic freedom, corruption, culture, and terrorism. They analyze case studies of mass immigration to the United States, Israel, and Jordan. Their evidence does not support the idea that immigration destroys the institutions responsible for prosperity in the modern world. This nonideological volume makes a qualified case for free immigration and the accompanying prosperity.
ONE OF AMAZON’S BEST BUSINESS BOOKS OF 2018 ONE OF THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOKS OF THE MONTH ON RELEASE ONE OF BUSINESS INSIDER’S BEST BUSINESS BOOKS TO READ THIS SUMMER A guide to the early morning habits that boost your productivity and relax you—featuring interviews with leaders like Arianna Huffington, General Stanley McChrystal, Marie Kondo, and more. Marie Kondo performs a quick tidying ritual to quiet her mind before leaving the house. The president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Ed Catmull, mixes three shots of espresso with three scoops of cocoa powder and two sweeteners. Fitness expert Jillian Michaels doesn't set an alarm, because her five-year-old jolts her from sleep by jumping into bed for a cuddle every morning. Part instruction manual, part someone else's diary, the authors of My Morning Routine interviewed sixty-four of today's most successful people, including three-time Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Soni, Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, and General Stanley McChrystal–and offer timeless advice on creating a routine of your own. Some routines are all about early morning exercise and spartan living; others are more leisurely and self-indulgent. What they have in common is they don't feel like a chore. Once you land on the right routine, you'll look forward to waking up. This comprehensive guide will show you how to get into a routine that works for you so that you can develop the habits that move you forward. Just as a Jenga stack is only as sturdy as its foundational blocks, the choices we make throughout our day depend on the intentions we set in the morning. Like it or not, our morning habits form the stack that our whole day is built on. Whether you want to boost your productivity, implement a workout or meditation routine, or just learn to roll with the punches in the morning, this book has you covered.
“Important and riveting . . . The solution isn’t to redistribute wealth from the have-mores to the have-lesses. It’s to redistribute political power to everyone.” —Robert B. Reich America faces daunting problems—stagnant wages, high health care costs, neglected schools, deteriorating public services. How did we get here? Through decades of dysfunctional government. In Democracy in America? veteran political observers Benjamin I. Page and Martin Gilens marshal an unprecedented array of evidence to show that while other countries have responded to a rapidly changing economy by helping people who’ve been left behind, the United States has failed to do so. Instead, we have actually exacerbated inequality, enriching corporations and the wealthy while leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves. What’s the solution? More democracy. More opportunities for citizens to shape what their government does. To repair our democracy, Page and Gilens argue, we must change the way we choose candidates and conduct our elections, reform our governing institutions, and curb the power of money in politics. By doing so, we can reduce polarization and gridlock, address pressing challenges, and enact policies that truly reflect the interests of average Americans. Updated with new information, this book lays out a set of proposals that would boost citizen participation, curb the power of money, and democratize the House and Senate. “Brilliant, indispensable, and highly accessible.” —New York Journal of Books
From side-hustlers to start-ups, freelancers to small business owners, Americans have a special affinity for people who make it on their own. But the dream has a dark side. “One day I’ll work for myself.” Perhaps you’ve heard some version of that phrase from friends, colleagues, family members—perhaps you’ve said it yourself. If so, you’re not alone. The spirit of entrepreneurship runs deep in American culture and history, in the films we watch and the books we read, in our political rhetoric, and in the music piping through our speakers. What makes the dream of self-employment so alluring, so pervasive in today’s world? Benjamin C. Waterhouse offers a provocative argument: the modern cult of the hustle is a direct consequence of economic failures—bad jobs, stagnant wages, and inequality—since the 1970s. With original research, Waterhouse traces a new narrative history of business in America, populated with vivid characters—from the activists, academics, and work-from-home gurus who hailed business ownership as our economic salvation to the upstarts who took the plunge. We meet, among others, a consultant who quits his job and launches a wildly popular beer company, a department store saleswoman who founds a plus-size bra business on the Internet, and an Indian immigrant in Texas who flees the corporate world to open a motel. Some flourish; some squeak by. Some fail. As Waterhouse shows, the go-it-alone movement that began in the 1970s laid the political and cultural groundwork for today’s gig economy and its ethos: everyone should be their own boss. While some people find success in that world, countless others are left bouncing from gig to gig—exploited, underpaid, or conned by get-rich-quick scams. And our politics doesn’t know how to respond. Accessible, fast-paced, and eye-opening, One Day I’ll Work for Myself offers a fresh, insightful cultural history of the U.S. economy from the perspective of the people within it, asking urgent questions about why we’re clinging to old strategies for progress—and at what cost.
The Revenge of the Real envisions a new positive biopolitics that recognises that how populations govern themselves is literally a matter of life and death. We are grappling with multiple interconnected dilemmas - climate change, pandemics, the tensions between the individual and society - all of which have to be addressed on a planetary scale. Even when separated, we are still enmeshed. Can the world govern itself differently? If so, what models and philosophies are needed? Bratton argues that, instead of thinking of technology as something that happens to society, we must see how it can form the basis of a politics of infrastructure, knowledge, and direct intervention. He urges us to reconsider questions of "surveillance" in the face of necessary testing and care. He asks what did the "mask wars" reveal about the destructive nature of individualism as the basis of sovereignty? The book proposes that it is time to transform how we live, work and thrive. Rethinking governance means rethinking how we interact with each other as a global population, and how we ensure our obligations to each other. For this, we should build a society based in a new rationality of inclusion, care and foresight.
Start developing applications with Oracle PL/SQL-fast! This integrated book-and-Web learning solution teaches all the Oracle PL/SQL skills you need, hands on, through real-world labs, extensive examples, exercises, projects, and a complete Web-based training site. Oracle PL/SQL by Example, Third Edition covers Oracle 10G and all the fundamentals: Master PL/SQL syntax, iterative and conditional control, scoping, anchored datatypes, cursors, triggers, security, tables, procedures, functions, packages and Oracle-supplied packages-plus powerful new techniques for working with exceptions, cursors, collections, and records. Your free Web-based training module includes a Virtual Study Lounge where you can interact with other learners, work on new projects, and get updates! Totally integrated with a FREE, state-of-the-art Oracle 10G learning Web site! Every Prentice Hall Oracle Interactive Workbook is fully integrated with its own exclusive Web site, giving you all this and more: "Test Your Thinking" project solutions and detailed explanations Additional self-review exercises with instant feedback and explanations An exclusive Virtual Study Lounge where you can interact with other students! Just the facts! No endless, boring discussions here! You'll learn hands on, through practical exercises, self-review questions, and real-world answers. Exclusive "Test Your Thinking" projects guarantee you'll go beyond rote knowledge to really master the subject! It's an integrated learning system that's proven to work!
You have something great within you if you are passionate about realizing your inner uniqueness. If you think you deserve to live a life of love, peace, abundance, wealth and purpose, then this book is for you, to empower yourself knowledge and self belief. Self-Ignorance is your Problem. Self-Awareness is Your Solution will help you to discover your inner voice, become limitless and elevated, reach you to your dreams and enliven them to be more become creative. You will become a powerful and better person, committed to your goals and that of the society. What this book will do for you: ? Identify your goals and motivate you to achieve them in simple ways ? Boost your unshakable confidence and self image and improve your relationships, which will help you lead a better life. ? Choose the career that will make you happy for the rest of your life ?There are only a few books that can ?literally? move your life to ?the next level.? Luckily, this book is one of them. If you?re looking to grow your success, happiness & prosperity, then do yourself a favour and read this book. Not only I am reading this book, but I am getting bulk copies so I can have my family members & clients read this book. WOW-it?s AMAZING.? -Bishal Sarkar, World Authority on Practical Public Speaking and Author of I Love Public Speaking
This systematic analysis of everyday life inside a tech startup dissects the logic of venture capital and its consequences for entrepreneurs, workers, and societies. In recent years, dreams about our technological future have soured as digital platforms have undermined privacy, eroded labor rights, and weakened democratic discourse. In light of the negative consequences of innovation, some blame harmful algorithms or greedy CEOs. Behind the Startup focuses instead on the role of capital and the influence of financiers. Drawing on nineteen months of participant-observation research inside a successful Silicon Valley startup, this book examines how the company was organized to meet the needs of the venture capital investors who funded it. Investors push startups to scale as quickly as possible to inflate the value of their asset. Benjamin Shestakofsky shows how these demands create organizational problems that managers solve by combining high-tech systems with low-wage human labor. With its focus on the financialization of innovation, Behind the Startup explains how the gains generated by these companies are funneled into the pockets of a small cadre of elite investors and entrepreneurs. To promote innovation that benefits the many rather than the few, Shestakofsky compellingly argues that we must focus less on fixing the technology and more on changing the financial infrastructure that supports it.
The Bitcoin Bible "Gold Edition" is probably the next level of the "Bitcoin Bible" , the most comprehensive book on Bitcoins on the market. In over 400 pages the book describes easy to understand, but in depth all the wide-ranging aspects of Bitcoins. Contributers are: Alec Liu, Motherboard.com Vitalik Buterin, Bitcoin Magazine Danny Ashton, bitcoinexaminer.org Daniel Stuckey, Motherboard.com Elizabeth Ploshay, Bitcoin Magazine, Citizentekk Jonathan Stacke, Blockchain John Biggs , Techcrunch Ryan Broderick, Motherboard Greg Thomas, Motherboard Pater Tenebrarum at acting-man.com Jake Maxwell Watts, Quartz
A two-part discussion for responsible citizenship, voter accountability, power positive leaders and participation in the aspiring Republic in dire need of a Third Party and independent leadership.
A comprehensive political and design theory of planetary-scale computation proposing that The Stack—an accidental megastructure—is both a technological apparatus and a model for a new geopolitical architecture. What has planetary-scale computation done to our geopolitical realities? It takes different forms at different scales—from energy and mineral sourcing and subterranean cloud infrastructure to urban software and massive universal addressing systems; from interfaces drawn by the augmentation of the hand and eye to users identified by self—quantification and the arrival of legions of sensors, algorithms, and robots. Together, how do these distort and deform modern political geographies and produce new territories in their own image? In The Stack, Benjamin Bratton proposes that these different genres of computation—smart grids, cloud platforms, mobile apps, smart cities, the Internet of Things, automation—can be seen not as so many species evolving on their own, but as forming a coherent whole: an accidental megastructure called The Stack that is both a computational apparatus and a new governing architecture. We are inside The Stack and it is inside of us. In an account that is both theoretical and technical, drawing on political philosophy, architectural theory, and software studies, Bratton explores six layers of The Stack: Earth, Cloud, City, Address, Interface, User. Each is mapped on its own terms and understood as a component within the larger whole built from hard and soft systems intermingling—not only computational forms but also social, human, and physical forces. This model, informed by the logic of the multilayered structure of protocol “stacks,” in which network technologies operate within a modular and vertical order, offers a comprehensive image of our emerging infrastructure and a platform for its ongoing reinvention. The Stack is an interdisciplinary design brief for a new geopolitics that works with and for planetary-scale computation. Interweaving the continental, urban, and perceptual scales, it shows how we can better build, dwell within, communicate with, and govern our worlds. thestack.org
An introduction to the U.S. Congress, from seasoned political historians and teachers In this accessible overview of the United States Congress’s past and present, Ginsberg and Hill introduce students to the country’s most democratic institution. This text surveys Congressional elections, the internal structure of Congress, the legislative process, Congress and the President, and Congress and the courts. Congress: The First Branch offers a fresh approach to the First Branch grounded in a historical, positive frame.
Edited by expert clinicians at Mayo Clinic and other leading global institutions, Echocardiography in Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Disease remains your reference of choice in this fast-changing field. The Third Edition brings you fully up to date not only with all aspects of pediatric echocardiography, but also with multimodality imaging in adult congenital heart disease, making it an invaluable resource for cardiologists, fellows, internists, and radiologists, as well as pediatric echocardiographers and sonographers.
Under increasing pressure to raise graduation rates and ensure that students leave high school college- and career-ready, many school and district leaders may believe that, when students graduate with college acceptances in hand, their work is done. But as Benjamin L. Castleman and Lindsay C. Page show, summer can be a time of significant attrition among college-intending seniors—especially those from low-income families. Anywhere from 10 to 40 percent of students presumed to be headed to college fail to matriculate at any postsecondary institution in the fall following high school. Summer Melt explores the complex factors that contribute to this trend—the absence of school support, confusion over paperwork, lack of parental guidance, and the teenage tendency to procrastinate. The authors draw on findings from fields such as neuroscience, behavioral economics, and social psychology to contextualize these factors. Drawing on a series of research studies, they show how schools and districts can develop effective, low-cost, scalable responses—including counselor outreach, peer mentoring, and using text messages and social media—to help students stay on track over the summer. Summer Melt offers very practical guidance for schools and districts committed to helping their students make the transition to college.
In the bestselling tradition of Restaurant Man and Setting the Table, Front of the House is a revealing and wryly humorous behind-the-scenes look at the gracious art of great restaurant service. Great restaurant service is a gracious art that’s been studied, practiced and polished by Jeff Benjamin, two-time James Beard Award nominee and managing partner of Philadelphia’s acclaimed Vetri family of restaurants. Sagacious and observant, he beckons us behind the scenes for an insider’s look at reserving a table, what your server thinks of you, what it takes to get ejected from a fine restaurant and a host of other revelations.
In Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s “compelling” (The Economist) and “fascinating” (The Wall Street Journal) New York Times bestselling autobiography, the prime minister of Israel tells the story of his family, his path to leadership, and his unceasing commitment to defending his country and securing its future. From their earliest days, Bibi and his close-knit brothers, Yoni and Iddo, were instilled with purpose. Born in the wake of the Holocaust at the dawn of Israel’s independence and raised in a family with a prominent Zionist history, they understood that the Jewish state was a hard-won and still precarious gift. All three studied in American high schools—where they learned to appreciate the United States—before returning to their cherished homeland. The brothers joined an elite special forces outfit of the Israeli Defense Forces known as “the Unit.” At twenty-two, Bibi was wounded while leading his team in the rescue of hostages from a hijacked plane. Four years later, in 1976, Yoni was killed in Entebbe, Uganda, while leading his men in one of the most daring hostage-rescue missions in modern times. Yoni became a legend; Bibi felt he would never recover from his grief. Yet, inspired by Yoni’s legacy and guided by the wisdom of his visionary historian father, Bibi thrust himself into the international struggle against terrorism, ultimately becoming the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history—an honor he further cemented by winning reelection in 2022. In this memoir Bibi weaves together his gripping personal story with the dramatic history of Israel and the Jewish people. Through a host of vivid anecdotes, he narrates his own evolution from soldier to statesman, while providing a unique perspective on leadership, the fraught geopolitics of the Middle East, and his successful efforts to liberate Israel’s economy, which helped turn it into a global powerhouse of technological innovation. Netanyahu gives colorful, detailed, and revealing accounts of his often turbulent relationships and negotiations with Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Trump. With eye-opening candor, he delves into the back channels of high diplomacy—including his struggle against the radical forces that threaten Israel and the world at large, and the decisive events that led to Israel’s groundbreaking 2020 peace agreements with four Arab states. Offering an unflinching account of a life, a family, and a nation, Netanyahu writes from the heart and embraces controversy head-on. Steely and funny, high-tempo and full of verve, this autobiography will stand as a defining testament to the value of political conviction and personal courage.
This book dives headfirst into the contemporary controversy over the limits of free speech. Changing conceptions of what constitutes legitimate harm coupled with the advent of the internet and social media have provided a challenging environment for defining the boundaries of acceptable speech in our contemporary society. This book argues that these problems emerge due to flaws in our free speech framework, leaving the argument for free speech vulnerable to becoming inverted into a justification for censorship. In response, this book argues for a version of free speech based on a framework of toleration. Drawing on the work of the philosopher Rainer Forst, a new justification for free speech is formulated – reflexive freedom of speech – which aims to overcome past issues and justify free speech in a way that is universal, consistent and just.
Environmental law has aesthetic dimensions. Aesthetic values have shaped the making of environmental law, and in turn such law governs many of our nature-based sensory experiences. Aesthetics is also integral to understanding the very fabric of environmental law, in its institutions, procedures and discourses. The Art of Environmental Law, the first book of its kind, brings new insights into the importance of aesthetic issues in a variety of domains of environmental governance around the world, from climate change to biodiversity conservation. It also argues for aesthetics, and relatedly the arts, to be taken more seriously in the practice of environmental law so as to improve our emotional and ethical capacities to address the upheavals of the Anthropocene.
In the face of the most perilous challenges of our time--climate change, terrorism, poverty, and trafficking of drugs, guns, and people--the nations of the world seem paralyzed. The problems are too big for governments to deal with. Benjamin Barber contends that cities, and the mayors who run them, can do and are doing a better job than nations. He cites the unique qualities cities worldwide share: pragmatism, civic trust, participation, indifference to borders and sovereignty, and a democratic penchant for networking, creativity, innovation, and cooperation. He demonstrates how city mayors, singly and jointly, are responding to transnational problems more effectively than nation-states mired in ideological infighting and sovereign rivalries. The book features profiles of a dozen mayors around the world, making a persuasive case that the city is democracy's best hope in a globalizing world, and that great mayors are already proving that this is so"--
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