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Minggu, 22 April 2012

Free Ebook The Battle for Investment Survival

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The Battle for Investment Survival

The Battle for Investment Survival


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The Battle for Investment Survival

Product details

Paperback: 188 pages

Publisher: Wilder Publications (March 25, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9781617200557

ISBN-13: 978-1617200557

ASIN: 1617200557

Product Dimensions:

6 x 0.5 x 9 inches

Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.3 out of 5 stars

61 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#249,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

This is a must read book. Most people really do not understand how hard it is to keep their money safe. Many of the threats to money are almost invisible, nibbling here and there. But by the magic of compounding, these "tiny" nibbles can cut your money in half over time. e.g., a 2% inflation (what the Fed calls "no inflation") will cut your money in half in 36 years. So if you're 50 and live to be 86, you will live your last year on half the money you have now. Just a tiny 1% increase in the sales tax? Over time, it will impoverish you if your money doesn't grow more than 1%.Loeb travelled the world as part of his investment business. He saw everything-- earthquakes, wars, revolutions, ravening inflations. People fleeing with all they could rescue of their lifetime savings on their backs. This led him to a great insight: There is no way to keep money safe from all the threats to it. The only way to keep your money "safe" is to grow it faster than it is nibbled away. So this book is about how to grow your money.This book was first written a long time ago, but the lessons are still important. These are things most people don't know and most investment books don't cover. In fact, a lot of the standard investment advice-- the kind a "financial advisor" will be swarming you with-- will not grow your money and will not keep it safe from all the tiny, invisible erosions.Please, read this book and think it all thru again. Do you really want to have all your money in a residence and rental property in earthquake and tornado country the way one hard saver I know does? Do you want to have 5 typed pages of load mutual funds to be properly "diversified" the way my sister did when she died? Do you want to keep your money "safe" in bonds now that you're retired the way my doctor is being advised to do? Do you really want to vote for that sales tax increase that's "only" 1% the way my aunt did?

The Battle for Investment Survival is referenced in The Zurich Axioms, an excellent book I read earlier. As such I was curious to read it. This is a second edition of this book that was published in 1957. I don't know when the first edition was written. The author is a 35 years, seasoned, stock broker who lays out his experience and advice in this book. It is broken down to 96 short chapters, followed by (in the second edition) notes and lectures that the author made after writing this book. I liked it for the useful and interesting information, some of it contrary to main stream investment status quo. I felt at times that some of it could be cut a little shorter to convey the same idea. I, personally, had somewhat of a hard time with the language or writing style of the author. It might be the style of writing at the time or just his own style, I don't know which. He is using long run-on sentences that are becoming hard to follow sometimes. Also, the use of terms in ways that are not used in present day, had me stop and re-read and think before I could continue. All on its own it is not a bad thing except for slowing me down. I don't feel that this book taught me anything ground breaking but I'm very pleased for having read it. Some of my favorite quotes:"There is no line of endeavor in the world where real knowledge will pay as rich or as quick a monetary reward as Wall Street.""There are three ways of making money. One is to sell your time. The second is to lend your money. The third is to risk your money."And my favorite of them all:"people who invest money for others have legal and moral responsibilities which often hinder the use of investment practices most likely to succeed."

This is a book that will increase your understanding of the world of money and what you have to do to protect your future. Loeb travelled all over the world and saw *everything*-- war, revolution, economic collapse, earthquakes, inflation, starvation, people losing everything, fleeing for their lives. He also lived a long time and saw many changes in US laws and taxation. His basic point is that money is never safe. Never. You think you can keep it safe in a bank, or under a mattress, or in government bonds, but even when it is not being outright confiscated or stolen, the purchasing power it is supposed to preserve is being constantly chipped away by inflation, taxation, regulation.In his view, the only way to keep money safe is to invest it in a way that will return enough to make up for what is eroded and chipped away. Liquidity matters. Don't have it all in one location-- i.e. don't have a lot in real estate in the same location you have your business in. e.g. California before the real estate bust and economic crash.I happen to believe his investment style is correct: don't invest it all, be very selective about your buys, have only a few A+ ideas, and watch them carefully. When opportunity presents, go after it 100%. Keep losses small.But even if you don't agree with everything Loeb says, this book is full of investment *wisdom*, and it will increase your wisdom enough so you will recognize and avoid the "advisor" who comes at you slinging jargon and investment "facts" hoping to fool you into thinking he knows anything.

I recently downloaded "The Battle for Investment Survival" into Kindle.I had first read this book at an Army post in 1969.I read it and reread it many times to get the major points by G.M Loeb.It opened my eyes to the most common sense, intelligent adviceabout the stock market that has followed me through today.to quote the book:"It is absolutely futile to get results except to buying into anticipatedlarge gains. It is far better to let cash set idle than to invest just tokeep invested or for income. It fact it is really vital ........ one of thewidest differences between the successful professional and theloss taking amateur."I believe this book offers the best investment advice a 72 year oldhas ever read.

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Sabtu, 21 April 2012

Ebook Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation, by Charna Halpern Kim Howard Johnson

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Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation, by Charna Halpern Kim Howard Johnson

Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation, by Charna Halpern Kim Howard Johnson


Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation, by Charna Halpern Kim Howard Johnson


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Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation, by Charna Halpern Kim Howard Johnson

Amazon.com Review

Who would have ever thought that learning the finer points of improvisation could be such fun? The "Harold," an innovative improvisational tool, helped Saturday Night Live's Mike Myers and Chris Farley, George Wendt (Norm on "Cheers") and many other actors on the road to TV and film stardom. Now it is described fully in this new book for the benefit of other would-be actors and comics. The "Harold" is a form of competitive improv involving six or seven players. They take a theme suggestion from the audience and free-associate on the theme, creating a series of rapid-fire one-liners that build into totally unpredictable skits with hilarious results. The teams compete with scoring based on applause. The "Harold" is a fun way to "loosen up" and learn to think quickly, build continuity, develop characterizations and sharpen humor.

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From Booklist

The brain wave of three improv gurus, this book is a complete guide to improvisation for both novice and professional actors and comics. An outgrowth of the successful curriculum initiated by two of the authors at the ImprovOlympic, it describes improvisational tools and techniques, from the "Pattern Game" and "The Hot Spot" to the innovative and sophisticated "Harold." Far from an ordinary how-to handbook, this clearly composed authority on comedic improvisation stresses intuitive thinking, listening skills, continuity, characterization, and, most important, teamwork. Numerous testimonials from reputed actors strengthen the text's credibility, already secured by the expertise of its authorship. Sample scenes and games take hilarious twists while illustrating the inevitability of connections and the importance of justification among team members. The authors' primary focus is the achievement of the group mind, and the book's chapter construction necessarily culminates with that creative misnomer known as the Harold. The manual is flexibly designed to allow for easy performance in both acting classes and professional settings and will prove a valuable reference source to actors and directors alike. Kathleen Chrysler

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Product details

Paperback: 160 pages

Publisher: Meriwether Pub; 1 edition (April 1, 1994)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9781566080033

ISBN-13: 978-1566080033

ASIN: 1566080037

Product Dimensions:

5.8 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.6 out of 5 stars

132 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#23,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

This is the gold standard for learning about Improv comedy. For additional appeal, there are stories are from the legends in modern comedy. Surprisingly, 'Truth' is easy to read, and organized. The first half is dedicated to scenes and basics of short form, the second half builds to performing a Harold. Harold is the 'format' for long form Improv which is the grand contribution of the authors to comedy. All of the Improv instruction that I have read, refer to this book and/or Del Close.

I've taken two improv classes and I really enjoyed it! The problem is that sometimes you might not understand what an instructor is trying to get across to you because you are so nervous. The class environment is high- energy and if you have anxiety in this kind of a situation, like I do sometimes, then this book is a must when you are away from the class. I have the UCB comedy workbook, which I highly recommend. I would recommend getting this manual, if you buy nothing else. 'Truth in Comedy' simply,and clearly, heads you in the right direction right away; at least it did for me. Actually you are probably better off in buying whatever combination of improv guides which you choose. If you are planning on taking an improv class; get this book and read it first or in conjunction with the class. The more of the book that you get through while you are in the early stages of the class, the better. I had an "idea" of what improv was before I took the class, and I ended up being wrong about what I thought. This will act as a kind of compass for you; so that if you have an instructor who is not so good, or she or he is simply working against the time constraints of the class, you can get the most out of it. Believe me, I am a somewhat introverted person, and I thoroughly enjoy improv. I can't explain why I would like being up on a stage making an ass out of myself in a fun way, more than I would having attention paid to me in any other situation. Give improv a shot, it is exhilarating and rewarding!

Although there are a lot of great points in here for anyone doing improv, it fell a bit short for me in expectation. Now I have run improv extensively in my life for the last 24 years and this book, it does have good value. There is a lot of commentary of who the movers and shakers were back in the day and why the Herald is so great. These things are all good but I was looking for something sharing the spotlight with many different insights to the improv world. After all there are many great things out there to explore! This is a decent book to have in a collection but by no means should be the only one in the collection!

This book was a quick, entertaining and interesting read. Lots of interesting vignettes, perhaps too many name-dropping anecdotes. It is well written section by section, but not well organized, the flow of argument is not so clear. Perhaps it it deliberately written in the style of a Harold?I did not read it to learn how to do improv comedy, I read it for insights into group improvisation that might transfer to playing music. In this it was somewhat disappointing. Compare to say, Zen and the Art of Archery, which is a book about archery the lessons of which transfer to other activities.Improv games contained therein may be good fodder for amusement on long car journeys - better than "I spy".

Truth in Comedy starts off with a rather immodest amount of name dropping and self congratulating, but after those first few chapters, things take off.The book is intended to be a rough guide to teaching and performing "Harold," the signature improvisation form of the Improv Olympic theater in Chicago. While the text focuses heavily on the structure of the form, it also holds page after page of advice and tools for any improviser or actor. The lessons in agreement, trust (in yourself and others), and teamwork can be used in any improv form (shortform or longform). And it definitely can teach us actors a thing or two about performing a scripted show.One of my few complaints about the book is it lacks concreteness. The author alludes to the phenomenon of group mind, the beauty of connections, and the wonder of "finding Harold." Despite giving examples, the reader is left with a "you had to be there" feeling, which, unfortunately, I don't think there's a way around. Harold is very much a "you had to be there" experience for both audience and performer. It's difficult to capture in words and in print the joy of seeing a spontaneous occurrence that takes both the performer and audience by complete surprise. I've found myself frequently recounting shows I've seen to uninterested or confused expressions, while the night before I was doubled over in laughter.So, to sum it all up, if you're interested in learning Harold (especially if you're a student at the Improv Olympic) or picking up some very useful improv tools, give this book a gander. And if you have an old copy lying around, take another look. It's rare that I open this without finding something to inspire me or pull me out of an improv rut.

I've just begun Improv Classes here in NYC with Armando Diaz. He recomended this as a sorta read along textbook for our class. It does drop a lot of names in a very proud fashion, which is annoying, but it has all the games you'll need to begin. It contains a very solid wholistic concept to "The Harold". . .Improv's leading long-form style. So, if you are an actor, improver, beginner or just wanna get a group together in class or office to play games. Pickup this book and learn the basics. Then get in class and have a pro temper you towards the next level. . .but I recommend IMPROVISE by Mick Napier, as a much better solid book.

Great short guide for improv. Read it before you take a class. Then read it again after.... It's a smaller book.

I found a slight tinge of name-dropping throughout the book, "You should try these techniques used by successful people!" However, the book had good information on techniques really used in improv schools, and more than a few philosophical twists, as the techniques are put to the test. A good read for the student or writer of theatrical comedy.

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Rabu, 04 April 2012

Get Free Ebook Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False

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Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False

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Listening Length: 3 hours and 45 minutes

Program Type: Audiobook

Version: Unabridged

Publisher: Audible Studios

Audible.com Release Date: February 4, 2014

Whispersync for Voice: Ready

Language: English, English

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Thomas Nagel, in Mind and Cosmos, reached out to some surprising collaborators, and makes some surprising confessions, in this interesting but underpowered exploration. Nagel starts with a set of presuppositions that he spells out, but does not adequately justify. Due to his providing far too weak a preamble to defend his starting premises, nobody who is not already aware of the concerns he assumes, will bother to engage in the suspension of disbelief needed to explore these questions. As a result, the book is not effective in getting people to consider the questions he is asking.Nagle assumes that the failure of physicalist reductionism about consciousness is a given, and that the challenges that abiogenesis has encountered are reasonably well known. He then engaged Alvin Plantinga and his anti-materialist, anti-Darwinian thinking – and took what is probably the best piece of thinking that Plantinga has offered. This is the observation that a Darwinian sourced “reasoning” skill is not any more reliable or trustworthy than any of our other Darwinian sourced mental toolkit – so our reasoning, from a survival perspective, is no more valid than our intuitions, moral sense, and consciousness. Therefore one cannot from a Darwinian perspective reference reason or science to dismiss any of the others. Nagel then adds reasoning and reasoning and morality (both as a semi-platonist “reality”) to the suite of surprising things that a worldview must explain the existence of.This gives him four challenging things: life, consciousness, reasoning, and morality, that he considers a worldview has to explain. Given that he assumes that abiogenesis research has stagnated, and consciousness is not reducible, he cannot reference reductive consciousness to explain reasoning or morality, and the book serves as an exploration of the alternatives.After dismissing reduction, Nagel then dismisses theistic phenomena as well. Nagel’s primary alternative is “teleology” – that there is some feature of the universe that makes it predisposed to create reasoning and morality, and that life and consciousness are just way stations to get to these further phenomenon. Nagel tries to address this “teleology” concept generically, and considers a variety of structural or logic challenges to the existence of such a feature.This discussion had a variety of weaknesses. “Teleology” assumes a purpose, I.E. intention, and if this is supposed to be an alternative to theist metaphysics, then a “purpose” driven universe does not strike me as a sufficiently neutral term. There is an alternative to telelogy, that he does not discuss, and does nto explain why. A number of other thinkers, including Stuart Kauffman, Christian DeDuve, and Paul Davies, have proposed self-organizational principles that could fall under the characteristics he calls “teleology”, but without the “intention” implication. Self organization, plus a strong (causally open/independent) emergence principle is far more specific than the generic “teleology”, and is specific enough to evaluate its plausibilityagainst the rest of the universe. These two principles could plausibly increase the odds of life emerging, and make abiogenesis less of a mystery. It is less clear why they would lead living things to be conscious, however – functionalism and AI advances show that we could have been meat machines. And getting from consciousness to reasoning and morality – it is not clear that these two principles would at all. So – perhaps that is why he ignored this prior emergence thinking, as he did not consider it sufficiently powerful an assumption set to deal with his four mysteries.Sticking with his teleology then, despite the theistic implication – there is a major set of questions Nagel fails to ask: what would this assumption predict about the universe, and does the universe match this prediction?• IF the universe were trying to create reasoning or morality,• AND these are only achievable with advanced reasoning minds –• THEN the universe would be configured to produce lots of minds.IF the universe were optimized to produce minds, AND minds were emergent from complex matter (Nagel is assuming emergent property dualism relative to consciousness here), THEN the universe would be configured to consist of basically all complex matter. This is manifestly not the case – only some 7% is matter, and that couldn't form complexity until billions of years into the age of the universe after supernova have formed the higher elements then spread them out. Our universe can support life in something like 0.001% of its mass (roughtly the mass fraction in planets and asteroids), and only starting about 5 billion years after its formation. If teleology was at work in our universe, it is a pretty weak teleology. Nagel admits his purely conceptual discussion of teleology identifies enough problems already that he has a weak case for this idea, and when one adds in simple test cases, the entire concept seems absurd.These very apparent flaws with teleologic emergence highlight the primary flaws in this book. The credibility of this implausible concept of teleological emergence depends on it being less obviously wrong than either reductionist or theistic worldviews, but Nagel provides his readers no resources to make this comparison.The most controversial passages in the book are two paragraphs in the introduction in which Nagel defends the Intelligent Design movement. This section is once more underpowered. Nagel admits himself to be not competent to judge the outcome of ID's dispute with Darwinian thinking, but then contradictorily renders a judgment that ID did not lose decisively, credits them for asking good questions, then moves on, leaving readers hanging. Another few paragraphs outlining the something like my own thinking in the following would have done wonders: "In **my** judgment ID lost decisively as a science theory, as ID avoided ever making any predictions, and predictions are a prerequisite for science. What ID DID do was identify test cases for Darwinian thinking. Evolution is an incremental process, and it cannot make steps larger than some TBD size. WHAT IS THAT SIZE, and HOW DO WE MEASURE/TEST FOR IT??? it usually takes an opposing theory to force advocates to answer such test questions, and ID provides such a challenge. ID advocates proposed their own answers: Irreducible Complexity to define what is outside the step size, and Specified Complexity to do the measuring. These may be imperfect terms, and they have been criticized, but if they are flawed it is incumbent on evolutionists to specify what testable alternatives should look like. Intrinsic to the ID thinking is that Abiogenesis will fall outside the range of what evolutionary processes can achieve – and it really is up to abiogenesis advocates to answer why it should be considered a plausible process, and the terms in which such a claim should be made." If Nagel had written some similar supplement, he would have avoided a lot of the flack that he recieved.Nagel reveals much of his personal views here. He notes that he is an atheist, who considers theism to be implausible to the extreme. He also admits to wishing that reductive physicalism was how the universe works. But he considers the rationale against reductive physicalism to be extremely convincing. And given the problems he sees in theism, he felt compelled to try to find some emergentist alternative worldview. This is admirable, however this admirable effort suffers from both a) he does not spell out this convincing rationale to encourage other physicalist-leaning thinkers to follow his lead in pursuing these ideas, and b) the ideas he came up with are so weak.

You've got to admire a guy who stands up against an entrenched, largely mannerless establishment and points out that the emperor, in fact, has no clothes.This book opens a conversation that's long overdue. The book has some great soundbytes:In response to those who say 'the universe requires no explanation, since there are infinite universes and we'd inevitably find ourselves in one of them' he replies:"If I ask for an explanation of the fact that the air pressure in the transcontinental jet is close to that at sea level, it is no answer to point out that if it weren't, I'd be dead."On page 83 he points out that humans value reason above physical circumstances or comforts, and the mystery of how our minds make contact with rationality cannot be explained by survival alone.Nagel uses philosophy to touch scientific questions that have been raised by Hubert Yockey, for example, who shows that the origin of the genetic code is "possible but not knowable," because while it obeys the laws of physics, the laws of physics do not explain how any code comes into being.On page 53 he touches on questions about the process of evolution itself - he argues for "abandoning the standard assumption that evolution is driven by exclusively physical causes." This thinking is very much in line with much of the field of bioinformatics and recent evolutionary researchers such as Jablonka, Shapiro, Kirschner and Witzany.On page 106: "An adequate conception of the cosmos must contain the resources to account for how it could have given rise to beings capable of thinking successfully about what is good and bad, right and wrong, and discovering moral and evaluative truths that do not depend on their own beliefs."I do have some criticisms. At numerous points he drifts into statements that are purely his own conception of how things seem to be. I also think his dismissal of theistic philosophy is unwarranted. At one points he simply states that there is no evidence for God and then moves on with no further justification... as though the matter has long been settled.Inferences to God and philosophical arguments for God are no more easily dismissed than anything else he argues in this book; just read Antony Flew's last work. Philosopher Alvin Plantinga's review of this book is well worth a read, by the way.It is inevitable that an author such as Nagel will be smeared by hardline Darwinists and New Atheists, who generally don't trouble themselves with such inconveniences as civility and dialogue. I give him 5 stars for the courage to take on a cabal of vocal and peevish bullies.I salute him even more for taking a middle position between the theists and materialists, knowing that he will get flack from both sides. Mr. Nagel, thank you for writing this book.

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