Billionaire businessman Raymond Barksley is privy to a startling secretthat the earths core is heating at a rate that will result in the destruction of the planet. A deeply religious man, Barksley fears the destructive societal forces that will be unleashed when news of the catastrophe is broadcast around the globe, and he formulates a plan to allow mankind to end its days with faith and dignity. His vision widens into a global effort, drawing in political and religious leaders, community activists, and common citizens as they frantically scramble to provide food and security to people of faith and hope. And The Swan Died asks the question What would you do if you knew you had four months to live? and answers it in hundreds of ways. As mankind struggles with its final days on earth, powerful forces move toward reconciliation, seeking to end ancient enmities before it is too late. Raymond Barksley sets those forces in motion in his effort to ensure that people of faith have the food and security they need to face their final judgment and to live out their lives with dignity. It is a daunting task to enlist the religious and secular leadership needed for such a vision.
Chip, a screenwriter, just wants to cure his writer's block with an impromptu drive to a small town outside of L.A. But his vehicle is smashed within minutes of his arrival,and then he's beaten in his room atop the strange town's only diner. This poignant and moving noir novella will stun you with, not one, but TWO satisfying twist endings worthy of Mickey Spillane. And this is just the first of eight stories included in this collection. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride: Jack Halliday is a major new talent!
This book is a chronology of major events and characters in the Old and New Testament of the Bible witnessed by God and Jesus his Son. With each such encounter, we learn a little more about the true nature of God and Jesus. God acknowledges that he is the creator of heaven and earth and all of mankind, retaining the right to destroy some or all of it, with or without cause. God does as he pleases and can be judged by no one. Although he espouses righteousness, he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and compassion upon whom he will have compassion. By his own admission, he is a jealous God, condemning anyone who worships false idols. To disobey him is to have a death wish. In comparison, Jesus is the humble servant of God, sacrificing himself to save mankind. He has nothing but disdain for priests who cloak themselves in raiment to demonstrate their own holiness. The only valid reason for accumulating wealth is to share it with others. aEURoeLove thy neighbor as thyselfaEUR is the most important commandment and one should love his enemies. The Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses should work for man and not vice versa. In any given situation, it should be changed, modified, and even ignored to achieve fairness. Parties should work complaints out for themselves and use courts as a last resortaEUR"forgiveness as a first resort. The Bible contains zero humor, but plenty of fodder to create some: six-hundred-year-old Noah and his family on a Disney cruise with seven pairs of every animal species in the world aboard a 450-foot Ark; LotaEUR(tm)s two daughters getting him drunk and having their way with him; Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II under GodaEUR(tm)s spell as a farm animal for seven years, training as the first Sasquatch.
Survival Roping: Emergency Survival Roping, Knots and Rock-Climbing Whether you are in a true emergency situation or simply trying to pass the weekend through a round of rock climbing
Survival Ropes and Knots: Beginner's Guide on Making Emergency Survival Ropes and KnotsBook 1The Knots Book: 27+ Most Practical Rope Knots Knotting has been around for quite some time. When you hear people speak of knots in regard to their camping trips and other such excursions, there is a lot that you can learn. And with a little time and effort, the practice of knotting can quickly transform from dull and boring, to rich and rewarding. And as you read this book you will learn all about the skills and tactics that can make knot making such an enriching experience. Book 2Survival Roping: Emergency Survival Roping, Knots and Rock-Climbing Whether you are in a true emergency situation or simply trying to pass the weekend through a round of rock climbing
Survival Paracord Collection: Cool Projects For Paracord, Survival Knots and RopesBook 1Survival Roping: Emergency Survival Roping, Knots and Rock-Climbing Whether you are in a true emergency situation or simply trying to pass the weekend through a round of rock climbing-survival roping will endow you with the skills you need to come out on top. What is survival roping? It's a wide range of roping skills that can be effectively utilized in survival situations. If for example, you need to cross a raging river, there is a specific set of survival roping skills you can learn for that express purpose. If you need to haul items, again there is a roping skill for that. And most importantly, if you ever need to render aid to an injured companion, there are plenty of roping techniques such as the "man harness" that can help you carry your friend to safety. This book goes over all manner of such useful skillsets, showing you how you can make the most of your rope! Book 2The Knots Book: 27+ Most Practical Rope Knots Knotting has been around for quite some time. When you hear people speak of knots in regard to their camping trips and other such excursions, there is a lot that you can learn. And with a little time and effort, the practice of knotting can quickly transform from dull and boring, to rich and rewarding. And as you read this book you will learn all about the skills and tactics that can make knot making such an enriching experience. Book 3Paracord: Cool Paracord Projects With Easy-to-Follow Instructions and Pictures It's a fun hobby to have-but paracord is more than just a way to pass the time. Knowing the ropes of paracord is a survival skill that could very well save your life. Used since the days of World War Two paratroopers, dropping down on the shores of Normandy, the tensile strength of paracord is extraordinary. This book brings to you several great examples of paracord projects that you can do on your own time. It demonstrates just how simple yet effective this material can really be. Here in this book you will learn how to make outdoor supplies as well as endearing knickknacks, and even wearable paracord clothing. This book walks you through several great paracord projects and explains everything in an easy to understand manner that allows you to work at your own pace.
The 2005 bicentenary of Hans Christian Andersen's birth is an opportunity to re-evaluate the achievement of one of the great figures of the fairy tale and storytelling tradition, a beloved writer famous for The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling and The Red Shoes and many other now classic tales. Jack Zipes broadens our understanding of Andersen by exploring the relation of the Danish writer's work to the development of literature and of the fairy tale in particular. Based on thirty-five years of researching and writing on Andersen, this new book is a welcome reconsideration of Andersen's place and of his reception in English-speaking countries and on film.
The fairy tale is arguably one of the most important cultural and social influences on children's lives. But until the first publication of Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, little attention had been paid to the ways in which the writers and collectors of tales used traditional forms and genres in order to shape children's lives – their behavior, values, and relationship to society. As Jack Zipes convincingly shows in this classic work, fairy tales have always been a powerful discourse, capable of being used to shape or destabilize attitudes and behavior within culture. How and why did certain authors try to influence children or social images of children? How were fairy tales shaped by the changes in European society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Zipes examines famous writers of fairy tales such as Charles Perrault, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and L.Frank Baum and considers the extraordinary impact of Walt Disney on the genre as a fairy tale filmmaker.
A comprehensive guide to effective strategic management of health care organizations. Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations provides essential guidance for leading health care organizations through strategic management. This structured approach to strategic management examines the processes of strategic thinking, consensus building and documentation of that thinking into a strategic plan, and creating and maintaining strategic momentum – all essential for coping with the rapidly evolving health care industry. Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations fully explains how strategic managers must become strategic thinkers with the ability to evaluate a changing industry, analyze data, question assumptions, and develop new ideas. The book guides readers through the strategic planning process demonstrating how to incorporate strategic thinking and create and document a clear and coherent plan of action. In addition, the all-important processes of creating and maintaining the strategic momentum of the organization are fully described. Finally, the text demonstrates how strategic managers in carrying out the strategic plan, must evaluate its success, learn more about what works, and incorporate new strategic thinking into operations and subsequent planning. This strategic management approach has become the de facto standard for health care management as leadership and strategic management are more critical than ever in coping with an industry in flux. This book provides heath care management students as well as health care administrators with foundational guidance on strategic management concepts and practices, tailored to the unique needs of the health care industry. Included are a clear discussion of health services external analysis, organizational internal analysis, the development of directional strategies, strategy alternative identification and evaluation, and the development and management of implementation strategies providing an informative and insightful resource for anyone in the field. This new eighth edition has been fully updated to reflect new insights into strategic thinking, new methods to conceptualize and document critical environmental issues, practical steps for carrying out each of the strategic management processes, industry and management essentials for strategic thinkers , and new case studies for applying the strategic management processes. More specifically, readers of this edition will be able to: Create a process for developing a strategic plan for a health care organization. Map and analyze external issues, trends, and events in the general environment, the health care system, and the service area. Conduct a comprehensive service area competitor analysis. Perform an internal analysis and determine the competitive advantages and competitive disadvantages. Develop directional strategies. Identify strategic alternatives and make rational strategic decisions for a health care organization. Develop a comprehensive strategy for a health care organization. Create effective value-adding service delivery and support strategies. Translate service delivery and support plans into specific action plans. The health care industry’s revolutionary change remains ongoing and organizational success depends on leadership. Strategic management has become the single clearest manifestation of effective leadership of health care organizations and the strategic management framework’s strengths are needed now more than ever. The Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations provides comprehensive guidance and up-to-date practices to help leaders keep their organizations on track.
Just as contemporary economics failed to predict the 2008-09 crash, and over-estimated the subsequent brief recovery that followed, economists today are again failing to accurately forecast the slowing global economic growth, the growing fragility, and therefore rising instability in the global economy. This book offers a new approach to explaining why mainstream economic analyses have repeatedly failed and why fiscal and monetary policies have been incapable of producing a sustained recovery. Expanding upon the early contributions of Keynes, Minsky and others, it offers an alternative explanation why the global economy is slowing long term and becoming more unstable, why policies to date have largely failed, and why the next crisis may therefore prove even worse than that of 2008- 09. Systemic fragility is rooted in 9 key empirical trends: slowing real investment; a drift toward deflation; money, credit and liquidity explosion; rising levels of global debt; a shift to speculative financial investing; the restructuring of financial markets to reward capital incomes; the restricting of labor markets to lower wage incomes; the failure of Central Bank monetary policies; and the ineffectiveness of fiscal policies. It results from financial, consumer, and government balance sheet fragilities exacerbating each other -- creating a massive centripetal force disaggregating and tearing apart the whole, untameable by either fiscal or monetary means. This book clarifies how the price system in general, and financial asset prices in particular, transform into fundamentally destabilizing forces under conditions of systemic fragility. It explains why the global system has in recent decades become dependent upon, and even addicted to, massive liquidity injections, and how fiscal policies have been counterproductive, exacerbating fragility and instability. Policymakers’ failure to come to grips with how fundamental changes in the structure of the 21st century global capitalist economy—in particular in financial and labor market structures—make the global economy more systemically fragile can only propel it toward deeper instability and crises.
Jack Elliot, QC, worked as a barrister (mainly for defence) in Adelaide for fifty years, acting in many of the State's well-known cases. His stories from the courts will fascinate anyone with an interest in the mysterious workings of our system of justice.
Kawanga, an obscure outback town in Australia, becomes the focus of a quest for a missing ancient document. His Majesty's servant, Lord Conley, must retrieve the stolen paper before it falls into the wrong hands. This fast-paced thriller is a nonstop adventure filled with intrigue, romance, action, and heart-pounding suspense"--Publisher's description.
Emperor Taizong (r. 626-49) of the Tang is remembered as an exemplary ruler. This study addresses that aura of virtuous sovereignty and Taizong's construction of a reputation for moral rulership through his own literary writings--with particular attention to his poetry. The author highlights the relationship between historiography and the literary and rhetorical strategies of sovereignty, contending that, for Taizong, and for the concept of sovereignty in general, politics is inextricable from cultural production. The work focuses on Taizong's literary writings that speak directly to the relationship between cultural form and sovereign power, as well as on the question of how the Tang negotiated dynastic identity through literary stylistics. The author maintains that Taizong's writings may have been self-serving at times, representing strategic attempts to control his self-image in the eyes of his court and empire, but that they also become the ideal image to which his self was normatively bound. This is the paradox at the heart of imperial authorship: Taizong was simultaneously the author of his representation and was authored by his representation; he was both subject and object of his writings.
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