Ian, an accountant, has become embittered and workaholic following his divorce. Sent to Mid-Wales to investigate a small subsidiary company, he is transformed into a caring, spiritually aware person after finding and falling in love with his twin soul, Olwen. Together they come under the mystic spell of the hills and a magical lake, but en-route must deal with the vicious Harry, a psychopath employed by his ex- wife. Olwen mysteriously disappears following personal tragedy and the search for her takes Ian on a spiritual quest in California and only ends when, under psychic guidance, he discovers the keepsake.

A collection of columns and essays that reveal Ralph Nader at his outspoken and prescient best, fighting the good fight against corporate corruption, unbalanced political power, consumer dangers, big pharma, and climate deniers. Features an introduction by Lewis Lapham. This collection is classic Nader—exhorting us to make our world and nation a better place, even when faced with unchecked political and corporate power, and perverse market and regulatory incentives. He starts with the declaration that the national Democratic Party bureaucrats are either inept or bewildered. With its record-setting campaign fundraising, he bemoans how the Party can’t seem to figure out how to go on the offensive against the overtly lying, cruel, corrupt, law-breaking, Wall Street over Main Street, Trumpian Republican Party. In another essay he praises Canada, explaining that the majority of citizens love their health care system—Medicare-for-all, free choice of doctor and hospital , everybody in, nobody out and far less expensive with better outcomes overall. Highlighting heroes like Pete Seeger, Wendell Berry, the journalist Helen Thomas, Nader also celebrates citizens like the lesser-known charismatic George S. Hawkins, general manager of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority who brought immense energy, vision, and ambitious, overdue plans to the forefront for American’s public drinking water. Meanwhile, he doesn’t shy away from enemies—for example Nader slams the evils of Big Pharma’s strength and hold over Congress and infinite greed. Nader also brings American history to the present day with creative twists. “We need to remember Ben Franklin, our frugal forebear, who coined the phrase ‘a penny saved is a penny earned,’” he writes. “Today he would say ‘a trillion BTUs saved is a trillion BTUs earned.’” Ranging from hernia repair to auto safety reports and warnings about lethal super-bugs and global pandemics from 2013, Nader’s essays and newspaper columns will inform and activate his legions of fans.

In recent years, many disciplines have become interested in the scientific study of morality. However, a conceptual framework for this work is still lacking. In The Moral Background, Gabriel Abend develops just such a framework and uses it to investigate the history of business ethics in the United States from the 1850s to the 1930s. According to Abend, morality consists of three levels: moral and immoral behavior, or the behavioral level; moral understandings and norms, or the normative level; and the moral background, which includes what moral concepts exist in a society, what moral methods can be used, what reasons can be given, and what objects can be morally evaluated at all. This background underlies the behavioral and normative levels; it supports, facilitates, and enables them. Through this perspective, Abend historically examines the work of numerous business ethicists and organizations—such as Protestant ministers, business associations, and business schools—and identifies two types of moral background. "Standards of Practice" is characterized by its scientific worldview, moral relativism, and emphasis on individuals' actions and decisions. The "Christian Merchant" type is characterized by its Christian worldview, moral objectivism, and conception of a person's life as a unity. The Moral Background offers both an original account of the history of business ethics and a novel framework for understanding and investigating morality in general.

E. W. Farnsworth's stories, fictions deriving from his personal experiences, explore covert and clandestine operations that always lurk in the shadows. His spies, members of secret societies and government agencies thrive on their invisible, secret powers, menacing each other and occasionally inflicting their horrors on innocent, ordinary people

This book is designed to explore the social demands, challenges and imperatives associated with conducting business operations across national borders. Its content is predicated upon the following basic premises:Cross-border business operators have a moral obligation to seek socially beneficial results along with economically beneficial results in their policies, decisions and actionsCross-border business operations need to be conducted in ways that are consistent with host countries' commonly honored ethical standardsCross-border business owners and managers, like their host-country counterparts, have an express duty to comply with existing laws, rules and regulationsCross-border business operators need to be responsive to the needs, rights, concerns, and expectations of customers in all the countries where their operations are undertakenCross-border business operators have a moral obligation to conduct their operations in ways that have negligible or no potential to exacerbate the depreciation of the quality of the natural environment in their host countriesThe need to develop sound relations with all the external groups in their host countries which have a stake in their corporate policies, programs, and overall existence is an imperative cross-border business entities can shirk or slight only at their own peril.Mr. Kyambalesa is an adjunct member of the MBA faculty in the School for Professional Studies at Regis University, and an independent Business and Management researcher and consultant. He is the author of several other books on business innovation and competitiveness, small business management and entrepreneurship, general management, marketing management, technological development, and economic development.

The Spookshow series, book 6

A New Orleans haunted house, a killer ghost, and a long-lost comic book come to life in this blend of mystery and comics by the author of I Am Princess X. Denise Farber has just moved back to New Orleans with her mom and stepdad. They left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and have finally returned, wagering the last of their family’s money on fixing up an old, rundown house and converting it to a bed and breakfast. Nothing seems to work around the place, which doesn’t seem to weird to Denise. The unexplained noises are a little more out of the ordinary, but again, nothing too unusual. But when floors collapse, deadly objects rain down, and she hears creepy voices, it’s clear to Denise that something more sinister lurks hidden here. Answers may lie in an old comic book Denise finds concealed in the abandoned attic: the lost final project of a famous artist who disappeared in the 1950s. Denise isn’t budging from her new home, so she must unravel the mystery—on the pages and off them—if she and her family are to survive . . . Open this book and dare to enter The Agony House, another spectacular mix of novel and comics form Cherie Priest. Praise for The Agony House “Priest pairs with O’Connor to neatly weave together the history of comic books and contemporary concerns about gentrification into an eerie ghost story set in a ramshackle house that’s as much a character as the people living in it . . . At its heart, though, this is a ghost story, and Priest excels at building palpable atmosphere . . . Dynamic characters and a surprising mystery round out this sharp, satisfying, and engrossingly spooky story.” —Booklist, starred review “Priest ably weaves contemporary issues and a feminist strand into this fantasy . . . A wonderfully melodramatic climax . . . Conflicts, ectoplasmic and otherwise, laid to rest in a deliciously creepy setting.” —Kirkus Reviews

"This biography explores the many talents of the young Peter Jackson and the making of Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, Braindead, Heavenly Creatures, Forgotten Silver, The Frighteners, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Pryor looks at the story behind the Rings, explaining how Jackson got the rights and funding to make three films rather than collapsing the story into just one or two films. He also includes interviews and other behind-the-scenes material from the making of those landmark films. In addition to looking at the director's past achievements, the author also considers Jackson's remake of King Kong, as well as other possible future endeavors." "From casts of zombies, traumatized puppets, and murderous teenagers to deal-making in Hollywood, this book is about following one's visions wherever they might lead."--BOOK JACKET.

Stricken by the recent death of her mother, 33-year-old Alexandra Gortchakova moves from Washington to the secluded Calabrese Estate in Sorrento, Maine. She needs time to put behind her mother's lifelong animus towards her and to weigh the odds of resuming life with her boyfriend, John Hefner, currently under contractual obligations in Brazil. Despite its idyllic splendor, Alex soon learns that the estate has been plagued by a series of tragedies. On her first day at the estate, Alex also makes the acquaintance of a ruggedly handsome man, Jason Faulk, who helps her move into the lodge the morning of her arrival. But dark clouds are gathering over her secluded paradise. Within a week of settling in, Alex is confronted by a series of disturbing events. In the end and after many surprises, it is the death of a close friend which--at the risk of their own lives--will become the catalyst for Alex and her childhood friend Tina St. James to uncover the true secret of the Calabrese Estate.

Concerning application layer DDoS attacks, Bureau 121, camfecting, cyber attack threat trends, ECHELON, Fifth Dimension Operations, Intervasion of the UK, Military-digital complex, PLA Unit 61398, Stuxnet, and more