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| peak stupidity: Full Retard: The Dumbest Just Got Dumber Ranty McRanterson, 2018-02-07 On Planet Dumb, every day is a stupid day. On Planet Dumb, everyone in power is a dunce. On Planet Dumb, the dumber you are, the better. Reason and logic are treated like diseases. Smart people are quarantined in universities in case their contagion of knowledge affects the benighted masses. No need to travel to Planet Dumb. You're already there. Don't worry about applying for your Dunce Passport. It's your birthright. You get it as a matter of course. You can never check out of Planet Dumb. You can never leave. You're here for the duration. Planet Dumb has only one direction - down … down, down, down to ever greater dumbness, to the apotheosis of Dumbery, the nadir (or should that be zenith), of dim-wittedness. Dumb, Dumber, and Dumberer. All the way to the Dumbocalypse, the uttermost conflagration of duncery. The unbearable denseness of being a dope. The rise of the Moron, the triumph of the Cretin. Look on my idiocy, ye silly ones, and despair. |
| peak stupidity: More of Me Paarth Dubey, 2025-02-13 After 18yearold Luke Page gets switched with his parallel universe’s version due to a spacetime glitch on his very first day of college, there’s only one way out – to team up with his parallel self to reach the Sanctum of Light, a place which can save the multiverse from an allout collapse, before he starts switching with trillions more of his parallel versions. The catch? He has to decipher cryptic prophecies and undertake a perilous journey of multiple quests that pushes him to his limits; while he is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to live his entire life with his dead parents, who are alive in another universe though the prophecies warn him that it’s a path filled with immense pain, betrayal, and an imminent sacrifice of what's dearest to him. Join Luke as he navigates his way through this highoctane mission, while battling with his own inner demons. |
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| peak stupidity: The Ownership Wars: Who Owns You? Joe Dixon, 2018-02-07 The world is ruled by the rich elite, the 1%, the Ownership Class. How do these people manage to make the 99% do their bidding? That is the greatest magic trick of all. The German philosopher Hegel gave the best explanation. When the 99% submit to the 1%, it's a reflection of what Hegel called the master-slave dialectic. Hegel imagined the occasion of the first encounter of two self-conscious beings. Given the savagery of Nature, he imagined they would engage in a struggle to the death. However, it would not play out all the way to the end … one would submit to the other. The one who surrendered would become the slave of the other, who would be the master. The poor love being ruled by the rich. They believe the rich are on their side. They couldn't be more wrong. The only side the rich are on is their own. That's the First Law of the Human Race. |
| peak stupidity: Think in 4D Erica Heinz, 2023-10-10 Think in 4D, a book about digital product experience design, shows readers how to think holistically, creatively, and critically to create savvy, successful sites and apps. It pushes the tech industry to think beyond 2D designs and 3D experiences to 4D impacts. Over five hundred illustrations and forty exercises help any student, professional, or entrepreneur level up. Erica Heinz shares evergreen principles and refined methods drawn from twenty years of experience as a digital design consultant and as a teacher of a variety of undergraduate and graduate design courses in New York City. Think in 4D unites behavioral psychology, business strategy, visual principles, research methods, and human-centered design practices to provide a pithy, visual cheat sheet for hundreds of design ideas. It is an essential handbook for any digital citizen. PLEASE NOTE: Due to the complex design of this book, the ePub is delivered as a fixed layout (print replica) file. The text is not reflowable. Part I, FRAMEWORK outlines the easy-to-remember 4D thinking model. Four phases (threads, impressions, interactions, and memories) and three dimensions (2D, 3D, and 4D) split the complexity of digital product design into manageable yet integrated parts. The method has seven key tenets — prototype, lower the fidelity, work backwards, work in circles, use principles, use metrics, and co-create — that focus and speed work. Part II, PRACTICE, provides guidelines for putting the model into action. The four phases and three layers yield twelve chapters spanning 2D (words, layouts, symbols, and images), 3D (inclusivity, flexibility, usability, and personalization), and 4D (relationships, patterns, paths, and moments) focus areas. Each chapter includes key questions, cognitive principles, examples, exercises, and user research tips. Each phase ends with a larger design challenge and critique outline for a key deliverable (concepts, flows, screens, or links). Part III, CRAFT, refines the practice with ways to advance both creative and conceptual skills. Prototyping is the tangible craft, so the book shares ways to sketch, wireframe, and play more effectively. Thinking is the invisible craft, so the book shows readers how to deconstruct, frame, research, diverge, converge, differentiate, and think in 4D. [A]n erudite, savvy book that communicates difficult, technical ideas with accessible, largely jargon-free prose. For both the seasoned veteran of interactive design and the unpolished newcomer, this is an invaluable resource. An impressively thorough and clear introduction to a still-new discipline. —Kirkus Reviews “You could choose to work on a digital product without reading Think In 4D, but that would be a mistake. Heinz has brought together the best methods, perspectives, and lessons to form the best guide to applying design principles today.” —Randy J. Hunt, CPO at Morning “I’ve never felt more confident in being able to start from nothing. This book totally changed my communication tactics, moved ambiguous product conversations forward, and got stakeholders aligned and inspired about what we’re building and why.” —Erin Nolan, Product Design Lead at Coinbase |
| peak stupidity: Liars' Legacy Taylor Stevens, 2019-12-31 They were born in the shadows. Schooled in espionage. Taught to kill and trained to disappear. In this captivating masterwork from bestselling author Taylor Stevens, elusive twins Jack and Jill take the global spy game to electric levels. The assassin broker is dead. The power void has left the network he controlled without restraints, and the world’s deadliest killers free to pursue their own vendettas and political agendas. The United States government, unwilling to risk upheaval and global chaos, has mobilized killers of its own to preemptively hunt down and destroy each potential threat. Among the most dangerous on that list are Jack and Jill. Often estranged—always connected by a legacy they can’t escape—the siblings have eluded many who want them dead. As they board a flight to Berlin hoping to meet the father they’ve never known, they suspect a trap. What they can’t predict is how far a high-level Russian operation will go to secure their skills, or how hard the U.S. operatives sent to stop them will fight to assassinate them first. For the twins, resistance and cooperation both mean death. Caught between two superpowers with unlimited resources and unable to trust each other, brother and sister will match wit against skill in a life-threatening chase across Europe, back to the United States, and into an unholy alliance that could change the balance of global power forever. Filled with pulse-pounding tension, blistering action, and intense human drama, Liars’ Legacy is world-class intrigue at its best. |
| peak stupidity: American Happiness and Discontents George F. Will, 2021-09-14 Examine the ways in which expertise, reason, and manners are continually under attack in our institutions, courts, political arenas, and social venues with this collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist. George F. Will has been one of this country’s leading columnists since 1974. He won the Pulitzer Prize for it in 1977. The Wall Street Journal once called him “perhaps the most powerful journalist in America.” In this new collection, he examines a remarkably unsettling thirteen years in our nation’s experience, from 2008 to 2020. Included are a number of columns about court cases, mostly from the Supreme Court, that illuminate why the composition of the federal judiciary has become such a contentious subject. Other topics addressed include the American Revolutionary War, historical figures from Frederick Douglass to JFK, as well as a scathing assessment of how State of the Union Addresses are delivered in the modern day. Mr. Will also offers his perspective on American socialists, anti-capitalist conservatives, drug policy, the criminal justice system, climatology, the Coronavirus, the First Amendment, parenting, meritocracy and education, China, fascism, authoritarianism, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, and the morality of enjoying football. American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008-2020 is a collection packed with wisdom and leavened by humor from one the preeminent columnists and intellectuals of our time. |
| peak stupidity: Mastering the Triumph of Suffering Conrad Riker, Are you a redpilled man seeking guidance amid chaos? Struggling to navigate the challenges of the Fourth Turning? Tired of the progressive march aimed to emasculate men? Discover the ultimate redpill survival guide: * 8 evidence-based strategies to navigate the Fourth Turning's trials. * Understand the causes and consequences of inflation on your wealth. * Learn how to counteract rising geopolitical tensions and preserve your power. * Master the art of defending Pax Americana and the future of global peace. * Discover how climate change and technology disrupt the Fourth Turning era. * Empower yourself to lead during the Great Reset and embrace the change. * Share in the personal experiences and challenges of the Fourth Turning generation. * Understand the rise of populism and the impact on cultural norms. * Embrace the masculine journey to thrive in the post-pandemic world. Don't lose hope! Get your copy today and take control of your life during the Fourth Turning. |
| peak stupidity: The Wrath Gena Showalter, 2024-02-06 New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter returns with a new book in the tantalizing Rise of the Warlords series, featuring a brutal Hell king and the irresistible beauty who upends his world. For centuries, Rathbone the Only, King of Agonies, has existed for one purpose: recovering the enchanted bones of his slain wife to bring her back to life. He’s never been closer to success. But a new enemy has risen. A band of deadly war gods who have thirty days to destroy her or suffer the consequences. With time running out, Rathbone hires a maddening harpy-oracle, unaware she has an agenda of her own. Neeka the Unwanted is a fierce warrior on a mission: stop Rathbone and the gods. She’s seen the future if either is victorious, and it’s horrifying. She’ll do whatever proves necessary to forge a new path, even seduce the ruthless royal from his purpose. What she can’t predict? How the intense male will shatter her hard-won defenses along the way. As Rathbone battles unexpected betrayals, cunning foes and the wild temptress he craves with every fiber of his being, he knows he must choose: hold on to a cold dream or embrace a new flame. Rise of the Warlords Book 1: The Warlord Book 2: The Immortal Book 3: The Phantom Book 4: The Wrath |
| peak stupidity: Next Time I Fall Scarlett Cole, 2021-11-16 Jase Love sucks. Especially when your own brother and fellow band-mate stole the woman you were in love with. Sitting in a Michigan recording studio with him, singing lyrics he wrote about her, is a special kind of torture. The only thing more frustrating might be the producer’s daughter who radiates sunshine and has more motivational quotes than a greeting card company. Cerys Love rocks. Heavy guitars, a voice with the burn of pure single malt, and lyrics that distil the meaning of love are the greatest things. If only the man singing didn’t have a temperament as foul as the Michigan winter. Jase sitting in her car while yelling at her to get him out of there is a surprise. Why she hits the accelerator and takes him to her father’s cabin on the lake is an even greater mystery. How was she supposed to know they’d end up snowed in for days? Or that when they got out again, their relationship, and her views on love, would be changed irrevocably? |
| peak stupidity: Disaster Lessons Conrad Riker, Uncover the Hidden Truths Behind Humanity's Worst Accidents and Disasters Are you tired of feeling like every crisis is just another random event? Do you believe knowing the facts helps us be better prepared for and less fearful of the next catastrophe? Disaster Lessons: Past, Present, and Future will help you understand how technology, human actions, and natural events have led to some of the most devastating incidents in history. This book will answer your questions about accidents, wars, and pandemics, as well as provide lessons learned that we can apply in our daily lives and future planning. Here's what you'll learn in this revelatory book: - The causes of mass extinctions, such as asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions, and how they shaped Earth's history - How nuclear, biological, and chemical accidents have shaped our understanding of safety protocols and disaster prevention - The consequences and lessons of warfare throughout history, from the ancient world to modern conflicts - The impacts of disease and famine, and how they have shaped the course of human history - The role of technology in both creating and solving disasters - How we can learn from past mistakes to prepare for and mitigate the effects of future calamities If you want to become more informed and less frightened about the world's dangers, then buy Disaster Lessons: Past, Present, and Future today. |
| peak stupidity: The Guarded Gate Daniel Okrent, 2020-05-19 NAMED ONE OF THE “100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE YEAR” BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW From the widely celebrated New York Times bestselling author of Last Call—this “rigorously historical” (The Washington Post) and timely account of how the rise of eugenics helped America keep out “inferiors” in the 1920s is “a sobering, valuable contribution to discussions about immigration” (Booklist). A forgotten, dark chapter of American history with implications for the current day, The Guarded Gate tells the story of the scientists who argued that certain nationalities were inherently inferior, providing the intellectual justification for the harshest immigration law in American history. Brandished by the upper class Bostonians and New Yorkers—many of them progressives—who led the anti-immigration movement, the eugenic arguments helped keep hundreds of thousands of Jews, Italians, and other unwanted groups out of the US for more than forty years. Over five years in the writing, The Guarded Gate tells the complete story from its beginning in 1895, when Henry Cabot Lodge and other Boston Brahmins launched their anti-immigrant campaign. In 1921, Vice President Calvin Coolidge declared that “biological laws” had proven the inferiority of southern and eastern Europeans; the restrictive law was enacted three years later. In his trademark lively and authoritative style, Okrent brings to life the rich cast of characters from this time, including Lodge’s closest friend, Theodore Roosevelt; Charles Darwin’s first cousin, Francis Galton, the idiosyncratic polymath who gave life to eugenics; the fabulously wealthy and profoundly bigoted Madison Grant, founder of the Bronx Zoo, and his best friend, H. Fairfield Osborn, director of the American Museum of Natural History; Margaret Sanger, who saw eugenics as a sensible adjunct to her birth control campaign; and Maxwell Perkins, the celebrated editor of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. A work of history relevant for today, The Guarded Gate is “a masterful, sobering, thoughtful, and necessary book” that painstakingly connects the American eugenicists to the rise of Nazism, and shows how their beliefs found fertile soil in the minds of citizens and leaders both here and abroad. |
| peak stupidity: Crypto Confidential Nathaniel Eliason, 2024-07-09 THE WILD INSIDE STORY OF CRYPTO'S GET-RICH-QUICK UNDERBELLY Nat Eliason had six months to make as much money as possible before his first child was born. So, he turned to where countless others did in 2021: Crypto. Within a year, he'd made millions writing code holding hundreds of millions of dollars of other people's money. He'd been hacked. He'd sold a picture of a monkey for two hundred grand. He'd become an influencer, speaking at conferences, and writing a weekly newsletter to tens of thousands of fans. Best of all, Nat had amassed a small fortune. But how much of this money was even real? And how many times can someone double down before they eventually lose everything? Crypto Confidential is Nat's unfiltered, insider's account of the hyperactive, hyper-speculative, hyper-addictive, nearly unregulated, completely insane world being built on the blockchain. A behind-the-scenes exposé of the bull runs and breakdowns, revealing exactly how the crypto-sausage gets made. A story of getting rich, going broke, scamming and getting scammed— and how we can all be more educated participants during the inevitable next bull run. |
| peak stupidity: High up in the Rolling Hills Peter Finch, 2013-04-22 In his youth, Peter Finch wove his way through a series of exploits and adventures. Travels took him to Canada, where a fateful encounter in the Rocky Mountains opened up new horizons. In midlife he and his wife Gundi made the shift to country living, ushering in a new phase in their life, as they set down roots in the hills and settled into a deliberately simplified lifestyle. Peter relates how he and Gundi immersed themselves in ways guided by nature. As she created and sold glass sculptures, he sunk his hands and tools into pure glacial-till soils, sowing, planting, and growing culinary and medicinal herbs, heirloom vegetables and salad greens to take to farmers markets and restaurants in and around Toronto. Invigorated by the pleasures and health benefits of growing, selling, and eating fresh organic food, Peter reveals how he became a passionate advocate of traditional, small-scale, chemical-free farming. High Up in the Rolling Hills shares the personal journey of an independent couple as they explore the vital role of nature, creativity, and healthy food in life. |
| peak stupidity: Strange Hate Keith Kahn-harris, 2019-06-11 Keith Kahn-Harris argues that the controversy over antisemitism today is a symptom of a growing selectivity in anti-racism caused by a failure to engage with the challenges that diverse societies pose. How did antisemitism get so strange? How did hate become so clouded in controversy? And what does the strange hate of antisemitism tell us about racism and the politics of diversity today? Life-long anti-racists accused of antisemitism, life-long Jew haters declaring their love of Israel... Today, antisemitism has become selective. Non-Jews celebrate the good Jews and reject the bad Jews. And its not just antisemitism that's becoming selective, racists and anti-racists alike are starting to choose the minorities they love and hate. In this passionate yet closely-argued polemic from a writer with an intimate knowledge of the antisemitism controversy, Keith Kahn-Harris argues that the emergence of strange hatreds shows how far we are from understanding what living in diverse societies really means. Strange Hate calls for us to abandon selective anti-racism and rethink how we view not just Jews and antisemitism, but the challenge of living with diversity. |
| peak stupidity: Not Exactly Rocket Scientists and Other Stories Jr. Gilbert E. "Bud" Schill, 2017-07-11 From Not Exactly Rocket Scientists and Other Stories: “We were goofballs, and magnets for mischief. Pinheads, really. Boys who managed to screw up just about everything, everywhere: scouts, camp, school, dancing lessons, church, vacations, team sports, bowling, first dates, and summer jobs. You name it...” In these stories of misadventures from small town mid-20th century America, three lifelong buddies celebrate the fragile magic of youth, the enduring miracle of friendship, and the gift of fondly remembered tales told with laughter and tears. The zany, wondrous and sometimes bittersweet journey of their youth rested squarely on the broad shoulders of the Greatest Generation, grown-ups who really did know best, and whose patience and grace allowed their offspring to grow up gently. About Not Exactly Rocket Scientists and Other Stories: “What fun! It was like I was hanging out with Lumpy, Eddie and the guys from our show again. Every adult will be able to see something of themselves in these great stories of youth. They are a must read for anyone who longs for the simple, innocent fun of growing up with the spirit of the 50’s and 60’s. I feel like I know these three lovable goofballs and wish I could have spent more time being with them. NOT EXACTLY ROCKET SCIENTISTS should be a television series itself, underscoring the sweetness, innocence, and simplicity that have passed us by.” - TONY DOW (“Wally” on Leave It To Beaver TV series) “A great book about friendship, growing up in the fifties, and a lost America that will never come again.” - PAT CONROY, novelist, The Great Santini, My Losing Season, The Prince of Tides “Between the parenting prowess of the Greatest Generation and the luck that allows us to eventually recount our childhoods, NOT EXACTLY ROCKET SCIENTISTS reveals a world of innocence and adventure. As a reader who grew up in a world more often animated on screens than schoolyards, these stories bridge a distinct past with a present readership that—fingers crossed—will inspire future generations to look up from their screens and seek adventures of their own design.” AMANDA FORBES SILVA, essayist |
| peak stupidity: The Psychology of Stupidity Jean-Francois Marmion, 2020-10-06 We need books like this one. --Steven Pinker At last, stupidity explained! And by some of the world's smartest people, among them Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely, Alison Gopnik, Howard Gardner, Antonio Damasio, Aaron James, and Ryan Holiday. And so I proclaim, o idiots of every stripe and morons of all kinds, this is your moment of glory: this book speaks only to you. But you will not recognize yourselves... Stupidity is all around us, from the coworker who won't stop hitting reply all to the former high school classmate posting conspiracy theories on Facebook. But in order to vanquish it, we must first understand it. In The Psychology of Stupidity, some of the world's leading psychologists and thinkers--including a Nobel Prize winner and bestselling authors--will show you... why smart people sometimes believe in utter nonsense; how our lazy brains cause us to make the wrong decisions; why trying to debate fools is a trap; how media manipulation and Internet overstimulation make us dumber; why the stupidest people don't think they're stupid. The wisdom and wit of these experts are a balm for our aggrieved souls and a beacon of hope in a world of morons. |
| peak stupidity: 2020: Every Column Ben Shapiro Wrote During an Insane Year Ben Shapiro, 2021-04-27 Ben Shapiro was a voice of sanity in the totally insane year of 2020. As he sees it, crises exacerbate underlying issues; they rarely create them. The global pandemic was the first in a catastrophic chain of crises that brought everything that’s wrong with America to a head. What began as a national emergency devolved into pandemic politics, with lockdowns as a cover for government power grabs. Following the George Floyd protests, Democrats began to manipulate charges of racism to achieve and maintain a hold on the country. When Joe Biden was elected, woke culture cried victory, but record-breaking millions of Trump voters proved that America still rejects demographics as destiny. This collection of syndicated columns from 2020 is for diehard Shapiro fans—and anyone who wants to talk some sense into America. |
| peak stupidity: The Resilience Shield DAN & PRONK PRONK (BEN & CURTIS, TIM.), 2021 Life is hard. Rocketing rates of physical and mental health issues are testimony to the immense pressures of our complex world. So how do we become tough and adaptable to face life's challenges? The Resilience Shield provides that defence. In their groundbreaking guide to overcoming adversity, Australian SAS veterans Dr Dan Pronk, Ben Pronk DSC and Tim Curtis take you behind the scenes of special operations missions, into the boardrooms of leading companies and through the depths of contemporary research in order to demystify and define resilience. Through lessons learned in and out of uniform, they've come to understand the critical components of resilience and how it can be developed in anyone, including you. The Resilience Shield explores the hard-won resilience secrets of elite soldiers and the latest thinking on mental and physical wellbeing. This book will equip you with an arsenal of practical tools for you to start making immediate improvements in your life that are attainable and sustainable--Publisher's description. |
| peak stupidity: Bunch of Snake Freaks! A Brit's Take on Dead Pets, Sleazeballs and Other Fun Movie Stuff Dave Franklin, “You like movies because you’re one of life’s great watchers.” So says Woody Allen’s irked, soon-to-be-ex-wife in Play It Again, Sam, obviously having had enough of his sedentary lifestyle. Hmm, I think she would have left me, too. But, hey, do a female’s myriad charms really stack up against the corny delights of Cocktail, the vicious cynicism of The Sweet Smell of Success, the dark ferocity of The Thing, the fantastic imagination of Westworld, the perverted milieu of Happiness or the heartbreak of Kes? For these are just some of the films covered in the fifth part of this lewd, politically incorrect guide to the treasures of twentieth century cinema. Author Dave Franklin also throws in a bevy of bitches, the worst-ever holidays and a tribute to old men feasting on teenage flesh. |
| peak stupidity: The Invisible People of the Pikes Peak Region John Stokes Holley, 2021 John Stokes Holley’s The Invisible People of the Pikes Peak Region: An Afro-American Chronicle, published in 1990, presented the first comprehensive history dedicated to the local African American community. Co-published by the Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District and the Friends of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, the book brought to light a history of accomplishments and struggles often ignored by popular local history books. This reprint presents the original publication in its entirety with an expanded index and new images, as well as new content not available in the original. It is our hope that this reprint will further illuminate the stories of the Invisible People of the Pikes Peak region and enlighten readers with a more complete and representative history of our community. -- Back Cover. |
| peak stupidity: The Book of General Ignorance John Mitchinson, John Lloyd, 2007-08-07 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A shockingly counterintuitive book of trivia that cuts through the misconceptions that most of us call “facts” to show how wrong we are about . . . well, everything. “Trivia buffs and know-it-alls alike will exult to find so much repeatable wisdom gathered in one place.”—The New York Times Think Magellan was the first man to circumnavigate the globe, baseball was invented in America, Henry VIII had six wives, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain? Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Challenging commonly held assumptions in areas like history, literature, science, nature, and more, The Book of General Ignorance is a witty “gotcha” compendium of verifiably true answers to seemingly easy questions, like: Who was the first American president? Peyton Randolph. How long can a chicken live without its head? About two years. How many legs does a centipede have? Not a hundred. How many toes does a two-toed sloth have? It’s either six or eight. Check out The Book of General Ignorance for fun entries and complete answers to these and many more questions. You’ll be surprised at how much you don’t know! |
| peak stupidity: Super Rich George Irvin, 2013-04-26 In the past 25 years, the distribution of income and wealth in Britain and the US has grown enormously unequal, far more so than in other advanced countries. The book, which is aimed at both an academic and a general audience, examines how this happened, starting with the economic shocks of the 1970s and the neo-liberal policies first applied under Thatcher and Reagan. In essence, growing inequality and economic instability is seen as driven by a US-style model of free-market capitalism that is increasingly deregulated and dominated by the financial sector. Using a wealth of examples and empirical data, the book explores the social costs entailed by relative deprivation and widespread income insecurity, costs which affect not just the poor but now reach well into the middle classes. Uniquely, the author shows how inequality, changing consumption patterns and global financial turbulence are interlinked. The view that growing inequality is an inevitable consequence of globalisation and that public finances must be squeezed is firmly rejected. Instead, it is argued that advanced economies need more progressive taxation to dampen fluctuations and to fund higher levels of social provision, taking the Nordic countries as exemplary. The broad political goal should be to return within a generation to the lower degree of income inequality which prevailed in Britain and the US during the years of post-war prosperity. |
| peak stupidity: Charlie Wilson's War George Crile, 2007-12-01 The bestselling true story of a Texas congressman’s secret role in the Afghan defeat of Russian invaders is “a tour de force of reporting and writing” (Dan Rather). A New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller. Charlie Wilson’s penchant for cocktails and beauty-contest winners was well known, but in the early 1980s, the dilettante congressman quietly conducted one of the most successful covert operations in US history. Using his seat on the House Appropriations Committee, Wilson channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to support a ragged band of Afghan “freedom fighters” in their resistance against Soviet invaders. Weapons were secretly procured and distributed with the help of an outcast CIA operative named Gust Avrakotos, who stretched the agency’s rules to the breaking point. Moving from the back rooms of Washington to secret chambers at Langley, and from arms-dealers’ conventions to the Khyber Pass, Wilson and Avrakotos helped the mujahideen win an unlikely victory against the Russians. Adapted into a film starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War chronicles an overlooked chapter in the collapse of the Soviet Union—and the emergence of a brand-new foe in the form of radical Islam. “Put the Tom Clancy clones back on the shelf; this covert-ops chronicle is practically impossible to put down. No thriller writer would dare invent Wilson.” —Publishers Weekly “An engaging, well-written, newsworthy study of practical politics and its sometimes unlikely players, and one with plenty of implications.” —Kirkus Reviews |
| peak stupidity: Au Pair Daniel Miller, Zuzana Burikova, 2013-04-17 Many families leave their children for years to be looked after by young people about whom they know next to nothing, from places they have barely heard of. Who are these au pairs, why do they come and what is their experience of this arrangement? Do they, for their part, find that they are treated as one of the family, and would they even want to be? After a year of careful research, this book shows how most of our assumptions and expectations about au pairs are wrong. This is the first book devoted to the lives of au pairs, their leisure as well as their work time. We see this world from the eyes of the visitors, and their unique perspective on what lies at the heart of our family life. The book does not flinch from documenting the realities of the situation Ð the racism and the problematic behaviour of the au pairs themselves, as much as the ignorance and exploitation they can be subject to. The book is a case study in how to come to feel modern life empathetically from the viewpoint of one of those many migrant groups we take for granted and rely on but rarely try to understand. |
| peak stupidity: Heart Beats Joji Valli, 2016-06-20 As you are touched by the melody of the Universal Heart, your HeartBeats become the reflections of the divine. As you are filled with the divine you start asking questions about yourself and your life which in turn motivate you to become happy here and now on earth in this life itself. Unlike other three books of the HeartSpeaks series, HeartBeats is an introspection of your life. Heart is the center of everything and source of all goodness. 101 carefully selected topics illustrate the multi-faceted human life in a day to day basis. Each of these topics conveys the awareness which is forgotten in the routine of a busy life. HeartBeats imparts the wisdom of the ages from various religious traditions and backgrounds, and is the fourth in the series of books on Personal Power, Spiritual Awareness and Human Values. HeartBeats is an ideal present for a person of any age, who searches happiness and contentment amidst the modernization and development. |
| peak stupidity: High Crimes Michael Kodas, 2008-02-05 High Crimes is journalist Michael Kodas's gripping account of life on top of the world--where man is every bit as deadly as Mother Nature. In the years following the publication of Into Thin Air, much has changed on Mount Everest. Among all the books documenting the glorious adventures in mountains around the world, none details how the recent infusion of wealthy climbers is drawing crime to the highest place on the planet. The change is caused both by a tremendous boom in traffic, and a new class of parasitic and predatory adventurer. It's likely that Jon Krakauer would not recognize the camps that he visited on Mount Everest almost a decade ago. This book takes readers on a harrowing tour of the criminal underworld on the slopes of the world's most majestic mountain. High Crimes describes two major expeditions: the tragic story of Nils Antezana, a climber who died on Everest after he was abandoned by his guide; as well as the author's own story of his participation in the Connecticut Everest Expedition, guided by George Dijmarescu and his wife and climbing partner, Lhakpa Sherpa. Dijmarescu, who at first seemed well-intentioned and charming, turned increasingly hostile to his own wife, as well as to the author and the other women on the team. By the end of the expedition, the three women could not travel unaccompanied in base camp due to the threat of violence. Those that tried to stand against the violence and theft found that the worst of the intimidation had followed them home to Connecticut. Beatings, thefts, drugs, prostitution, coercion, threats, and abandonment on the highest slopes of Everest and other mountains have become the rule rather than the exception. Kodas describes many such experiences, and explores the larger issues these stories raise with thriller-like intensity. |
| peak stupidity: Symbolic Misery, Volume 1 Bernard Stiegler, 2016-10-03 In this important new book, the leading cultural theorist and philosopher Bernard Stiegler re-examines the relationship between politics and aesthetics in our contemporary hyperindustrial age. Stiegler argues that our epoch is characterized by the seizure of the symbolic by industrial technology, where aesthetics has become both theatre and weapon in an economic war. This has resulted in a ‘symbolic misery’ where conditioning substitutes for experience. In today’s control societies, aesthetic weapons play an essential role: audiovisual and digital technologies have become a means of controlling the conscious and unconscious rhythms of bodies and souls, of modulating the rhythms of consciousness and life. The notion of an aesthetic engagement, capable of founding a new communal sensibility and a genuine aesthetic community, has largely collapsed today. This is because the overwhelming majority of the population is now totally subjected to the aesthetic conditioning of marketing and therefore estranged from any experience of aesthetic inquiry. That part of the population that continues to experiment aesthetically has turned its back on those who live in the misery of this conditioning. Stiegler appeals to the art world to develop a political understanding of its role. In this volume he pays particular attention to cinema which occupies a unique position in the temporal war that is the cause of symbolic misery: at once industrial technology and art, cinema is the aesthetic experience that can combat conditioning on its own territory. This highly original work - the first in Stiegler’s Symbolic Misery series - will be of particular interest to students in film studies, media and cultural studies, literature and philosophy and will consolidate Stiegler’s reputation as one of the most original cultural theorists of our time. |
| peak stupidity: Party and Society Cedric de Leon, 2014-01-07 Political parties are central to democratic life, yet there is no standard definition to describe them or the role they occupy. Voter-centered theoretical approaches suggest that parties are the mere recipients of voter interests and loyalties. Party-centered approaches, by contrast, envision parties that polarize, democratize, or dominate society. In addition to offering isolated and competing notions of democratic politics, such approaches are also silent on the role of the state and are unable to account for organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the African National Congress, which exhibit characteristics of parties, states, and social movements simultaneously. In this timely book, Cedric de Leon examines the ways in which social scientists and other observers have imagined the relationship between parties and society. He introduces and critiques the full range of approaches, using enlivening comparative examples from across the globe. Cutting through a vast body of research, de Leon offers a succinct and lively analysis that outlines the key thinking in the field, placing it in historical and contemporary context. The resulting book will appeal to students of sociology, political science, social psychology, and related fields. |
| peak stupidity: A Nose and Three Eyes Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, 2024-06-04 Written by iconic Egyptian novelist Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, this classic of love, desire, and family breakdown smashed through taboos when first published in Arabic and continues to captivate audiences today It is 1950s Cairo and 16-year-old Amina is engaged to a much older man. Despite all the excitement of the wedding preparations, Amina is not looking forward to her nuptials. And it is not because of the age gap or because of the fact that she does not love, or even really know, her fiancé. No, it is because she is involved with another man. This other man is Dr Hashim Abdel-Latif, and while he is Amina’s first love, she is certainly not his. Also many years her senior, Hashim is well-known in polite circles for his adventures with women. A Nose and Three Eyes tells the story of Amina’s love affair with Hashim, and that of two other young women: Nagwa and Rahhab. A Nose and Three Eyes is a story of female desire and sexual awakening, of love and infatuation, and of exploitation and despair. It quietly critiques the strictures put upon women by conservative social norms and expectations, while a subtle undercurrent of political censure was carefully aimed at the then Nasser regime. As such, it was both deeply controversial and wildly popular when first published in the 1960s. Still a household name, this novel, and its author, have stood the test of time and remain relevant and highly readable today. |
| peak stupidity: Is Islam an Enemy of the West? Tamara Sonn, 2016-11-17 New York, Washington, Madrid, London and now Paris Ð the list of Western cities targeted by radical Islamic terrorists waging global jihad continues to grow. Does this extreme violence committed in the name of Islam point to a fundamental enmity between the Muslim faith and the West? In this compelling essay, leading scholar of Islam Tamara Sonn argues that whilst the West has many enemies among Muslims, it is politics not religion that informs their grievances. The longer these demands remain frustrated, the more violence has escalated and recruitment to groups like Islamic State has increased. Far from quelling the spread of Islamic extremism, Western military intervention has helped to turn nationalist movements into radical terrorist groups with international agendas. Islam, Sonn concludes, is not the problem, just as war is not the solution. |
| peak stupidity: I Peaked in Highschool Jacob X Jones, 2020-09-10 Hi, I'm Jacob Jones, a college student who almost certainly peaked in highschool. While you might not think that's particularly interesting, I'm here to show you that even the most boring things can be fun. Read my stories about going urban exploring, smoking too much weed, and almost getting arrested. I'm gonna keep doing stupid stuff until I die, but hopefully I don't die doing stupid stuff, as that would be bad. I hope you enjoy: ) |
| peak stupidity: Alternative and Activist New Media Leah A. Lievrouw, 2013-05-06 Alternative and Activist New Media provides a rich and accessible overview of the ways in which activists, artists, and citizen groups around the world use new media and information technologies to gain visibility and voice, present alternative or marginal views, share their own DIY information systems and content, and otherwise resist, talk back to, or confront dominant media culture. Today, a lively and contentious cycle of capture, cooptation, and subversion of information, content, and system design marks the relationship between the mainstream ‘center’ and the interactive, participatory ‘edges’ of media culture. Five principal forms of alternative and activist new media projects are introduced, including the characteristics that make them different from more conventional media forms and content. The book traces the historical roots of these projects in alternative media, social movements, and activist art, including analyses of key case studies and links to relevant electronic resources. Alternative and Activist New Media will be a useful addition to any course on new media and society, and essential for readers interested in new media activism. |
| peak stupidity: Not Saved Peter Sloterdijk, 2017-05-23 One can rightly say of Peter Sloterdijk that each of his essays and lectures is also an unwritten book. That is why the texts presented here, which sketch a philosophical physiognomy of Martin Heidegger, should also be characterized as a collected renunciation of exhaustiveness. In order to situate Heidegger's thought in the history of ideas and problems, Peter Sloterdijk approaches Heidegger's work with questions such as: If Western philosophy emerged from the spirit of the polis, what are we to make of the philosophical suitability of a man who never made a secret of his stubborn attachment to rural life? Is there a provincial truth of which the cosmopolitan city knows nothing? Is there a truth in country roads and cabins that would be able to undermine the universities with their standardized languages and globally influential discourses? From where does this odd professor speak, when from his professorial chair in Freiburg he claims to inquire into what lies beyond the history of Western metaphysics? Sloterdijk also considers several other crucial twentieth-century thinkers who provide some needed contrast for the philosophical physiognomy of Martin Heidegger. A consideration of Niklas Luhmann as a kind of contemporary version of the Devil's Advocate, a provocative critical interpretation of Theodor Adorno's philosophy that focuses on its theological underpinnings and which also includes reflections on the philosophical significance of hyperbole, and a short sketch of the pessimistic thought of Emil Cioran all round out and deepen Sloterdijk's attempts to think with, against, and beyond Heidegger. Finally, in essays such as Domestication of Being and the Rules for the Human Park, which incited an international controversy around the time of its publication and has been translated afresh for this volume, Sloterdijk develops some of his most intriguing and important ideas on anthropogenesis, humanism, technology, and genetic engineering. |
| peak stupidity: Stupidity and Psychoanalysis Cindy Zeiher, 2024-12-31 There is nothing new in thinking that we live in stupid times. Many past thinkers thought about stupidity as a symptom, however, Lacan considered stupidity as immune to the influence of psychoanalysis, saying about himself, “I am only relatively stupid?that is to say, I am as stupid as all people?perhaps because I got a little bit enlightened. Here it seems that stupidity signifies (and is signified by) the absence of any coherent foundation in desire and lack, but instead emanate from the will to jouissance. Here stupidity is inescapable whether it be individual, communal, or ideological. In Stupidity and Psychoanalysis, chapters by internationally respected Lacanian analysts and theoreticians think about how we can understand stupidity as a specific psychoanalytic encounter. This collection draws critical Lacanian attention to considering new ways to approach stupidity and stupor as new contemporary subjective and social forms. Contributors provide various insights into how stupidity might be rethought as contemporary signifiers whose importance lies (for better or worse) more in producing effect than in transmitting meaning. Contributors: Giole P. Cima, Christian Ingo Lenz Dunker, David Ferraro, Luis Izcovich, Adrian Johnston, James Martell, Jean-Michel Rabate, Samo Tomsic, Antonio Viselli, and Cindy Zeiher. |
| peak stupidity: White Freedom Tyler Stovall, 2022-08-23 The racist legacy behind the Western idea of freedom The era of the Enlightenment, which gave rise to our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, was also the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America, a nation founded on the principle of liberty, is also a nation built on African slavery, Native American genocide, and systematic racial discrimination. White Freedom traces the complex relationship between freedom and race from the eighteenth century to today, revealing how being free has meant being white. Tyler Stovall explores the intertwined histories of racism and freedom in France and the United States, the two leading nations that have claimed liberty as the heart of their national identities. He explores how French and American thinkers defined freedom in racial terms and conceived of liberty as an aspect and privilege of whiteness. He discusses how the Statue of Liberty—a gift from France to the United States and perhaps the most famous symbol of freedom on Earth—promised both freedom and whiteness to European immigrants. Taking readers from the Age of Revolution to today, Stovall challenges the notion that racism is somehow a paradox or contradiction within the democratic tradition, demonstrating how white identity is intrinsic to Western ideas about liberty. Throughout the history of modern Western liberal democracy, freedom has long been white freedom. A major work of scholarship that is certain to draw a wide readership and transform contemporary debates, White Freedom provides vital new perspectives on the inherent racism behind our most cherished beliefs about freedom, liberty, and human rights. |
| peak stupidity: Gridlock Thomas Hale, David Held, Kevin Young, 2013-07-11 The issues that increasingly dominate the 21st century cannot be solved by any single country acting alone, no matter how powerful. To manage the global economy, prevent runaway environmental destruction, reign in nuclear proliferation, or confront other global challenges, we must cooperate. But at the same time, our tools for global policymaking - chiefly state-to-state negotiations over treaties and international institutions - have broken down. The result is gridlock, which manifests across areas via a number of common mechanisms. The rise of new powers representing a more diverse array of interests makes agreement more difficult. The problems themselves have also grown harder as global policy issues penetrate ever more deeply into core domestic concerns. Existing institutions, created for a different world, also lock-in pathological decision-making procedures and render the field ever more complex. All of these processes - in part a function of previous, successful efforts at cooperation - have led global cooperation to fail us even as we need it most. Ranging over the main areas of global concern, from security to the global economy and the environment, this book examines these mechanisms of gridlock and pathways beyond them. It is written in a highly accessible way, making it relevant not only to students of politics and international relations but also to a wider general readership. |
| peak stupidity: Peak Roland Smith, 2008-08-01 In this unputdownable, spine-tingling adventure of a lifetime called “a winner at every level,”* fourteen-year-old Peak Marcello attempts to be the youngest climber to summit Mount Everest. After Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, he's left with two choices: wither away in juvenile detention or go live with his long-lost father, who runs an overseas climbing company. But Peak quickly learns that his father's renewed interest in him has strings attached. Big strings. As owner of Peak Expeditions, he wants his son to be the youngest person to reach the Everest summit—and his motives are selfish at best. Even so, for a climbing addict like Peak, tackling Everest is the challenge of a lifetime. It's also one that could cost him his life. This thrilling teen climbing adventure is the perfect antidote for kids who think books are boring (Publishers Weekly starred review). Roland Smith's Peak Marcello's Adventures are: Peak The Edge Ascent Descent *Booklist, starred review |
| peak stupidity: A Fire Upon The Deep Vernor Vinge, 1993-02-15 A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these regions of thought, but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization. A Fire Upon The Deep is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel. |
| peak stupidity: Sloterdijk Now Stuart Elden, 2012 This book represents the first major engagement with Sloterdijk's thought in the English language, and will provoke new debates across the humanities. The collection ranges across the full breadth of Sloterdijk's work, covering such key topics as cynicism, ressentiment, posthumanism and the role of the public intellectual. |
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