The Porcupine's Quill
Livres Canada Books
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View Rights PortalDer Traum von der Vollbeschäftigung ist ausgeträumt. In der neuen Realität sind die Hiobsbotschaften des Arbeitsmarkts die Siegesmeldungen der Börsen. Milliardengewinne sind kein Hinderungsgrund für Massenentlassungen. Diese Tatsachen haben fundamentale Konsequenzen für Staat und Gesellschaft. Der McKinsey-Kapitalismus von Deutscher Bank, Allianz und BenQ-Siemens stürzt Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in eine Glaubwürdigkeitskrise. Selbst Porsche-Chef Wendelin Wiedeking warnt: »Das kann dazu führen, daß unsere ganze Gesellschaft instabil wird.« Wer heute über Arbeitslosigkeit nachdenkt, darf sich nicht in den alten Streitbegriffen vom »zweiten Arbeitsmarkt«, der »Senkung der Lohnkosten« oder der »Staatsquote« verfangen. Auch ein Turbowachstum wird die gute alte Vollbeschäftigungsgesellschaft nicht wiederbeleben. Ulrich Beck stellt die brisanten Fragen: Wie wird ein sinnvolles Leben möglich, auch wenn man keinen Arbeitsplatz findet? Also: Wie wird Demokratie jenseits der Vollbeschäftigungsgesellschaft möglich?
This is an autobiography of Chinese Kongfu star Jackie Chan. The book is a true recording of this international superstar’s growth and life experience for the last 50 years. It tells us the legendary actor’s stories, and also reflects a fantastic acting age.
Before yesterday's dream car became today's SUV, the reputation of Porsche as a manufacturer of fine sports cars was established. It started with the ideas of Dr Ferdinand Porsche, and a world best seller that spawned a revered line of sports cars. The Porsche 356 and 911 dominated their classes in international racing, leading to more specialized designs that brought glory to the marque, most famously at Le Mans. Porsche's success was based on excellent engineering. The firm's design consultancy has brought automotive innovation. Such excellence has been centered upon Weissach, the go to place for companies needing a high tech helping hand. Commercial achievement is based on image too. Here, Porsche has carefully chosen its models, and the way they have been sold and promoted. The result, is a unique position in public perception and media coverage. Even during the golden air-cooled era, Porsche wasn't afraid to experiment. The Square Porsche and front-engined coupés, all courted controversy. However, Zuffenhausen believed a Porsche was a Porsche, and soon others did too. The company's tremendous influence in design and engineering has even inspired artistic creation. Like the cars, these artworks represent an inseparable combination of style and substance.
News from Zuffenhausen – a hodgepodge Everything has already been said and written about Porsche, you say? Maybe yes or maybe the author Jürgen Pander will surprise you with stories that are hard to believe, exciting facts and anecdotes that will make you laugh. Over the years he has collected a lot about the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer and his models – not only about the well-known 911. Did you know, for example, that the Dutch police owned one of the largest Porsche fleets with over 500 cars? However, only family fathers with special training were allowed to drive, so that the racing policemen would not use the accelerator too ruthlessly. They should also be weatherproof, because even at 2 degrees outside temperature it was necessary to drive “topless”. These and many other stories can be found in "Almost everything about Porsche".
“Closer Than Breathing” is a full length novel which, among the characters, includes gay men and lesbians leading busy lives. It tells the story of Ben, a young gay man new to the metropolis, who is confronted by a series of odd, eccentric people, including drug dealers, goths, psychics, veteran author Loyd Larcher and ageing rock musicians Rick Schwagger and Heath Prityards. Ben survives the dangers of the world of sex, drugs and rock and roll, engaging all comers with goodwill and good humour. Making use of opportunities along the way to achieve success, he ghost writes a rock star’s autobiography, and finds true love with a level headed and down to earth boyfriend. Together they deal with life’s distractions, enticements and challenges. Whilst the ‘straight’ world around them becomes ever more weird and out of control, the couple are determined to be true to themselves and each other.
Hit the Road – and leave your comfort zone behind. Step aboard a four-wheeled home that allows you the freedom to stay wherever you want, whenever you want, and however you want. Watch the passing landscapes, follow the desire to see what is just over the horizon line, and escape from modern monotony. Be it the story of a couple that traveled across Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom in a Volkswagen T4 on a journey to enrich their culinary education to a trek from one tip of Canada to the other behind the wheel of a Honda Element with the aurora borealis as a guiding light to a group of friends who perseveringly drove a Porsche 944 from England to Cape Town: Hit the Road welcomes you to follow these nomads and their journeys with stunning photography and details of their intrepid transportation. Rides range from classic Volkswagen Bullis to refurbished Airstream trailers and unstoppable 4x4s. From the deserts of Africa to the snow-capped mountains of Mongolia: prepare to hit the road.
It was all going so well for Peter Lee’s drug empire. He had a hold on the producers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His receiver network was increasing and the distribution was now being handled by four of the biggest gangs in London. With business so good, he was starting to expand. He was becoming very, very rich.The only small annoyance had come from a little old lady who owned of all things a corner shop. She had refused to accept any of his special parcels and wanted to go to the police, so she’d been given two bullets, the ‘double tap’, both to shut her up and to send a message to everyone else in the network.Unknown to Lee she was married to a specialist, a man who, in a former life killed men for a living. He had two friends, one a gatherer of information, the master in his field, one a breaker of men, who was so vicious that it was rumoured that each time he hit a man he cut him. Each of these three men had spent thirty years and more playing the ‘great game’. Inside the security company called ‘The Firm’ they were legends known only as The Assassin, The Grey Man and The Surgeon.Now living at the edge of the secret world and about to disappear into history, this atrocity had brought them back centre stage but the question is, do they still have what it takes to go up against today’s hard men?
What kind of story is this? What’s the link between souls and anchovies, and a whole school of them?! Welcome in afterlife, where souls and anchovies live peacefully together. Be ready to be surprised, though: afterlife might not be just as you expect: everything is light. And it’s called “life now”. Via Cusani, Milan: Achille has just woken up in his place in Milan, and he’s talking to an illustrious deceased, field marshal Radetzky, who lived in that house – of all places! – in the good (for him) old times of the Austrian occupation. The diverse souls who happen to be nearby – but also elsewhere, far or near – join the conversation too and we find ourselves in an afterworld that is very close to our world. So close, that Radetzky, from his vantage point, has renamed it “life now”.Achille’s soul has moved to a garage in Piazza San Marco, to his son’s friends’ Porsche, where even his cat Ely has long decided to settle. From that moment, encounters, stories, conversations become more and more frequent and, of course, surreal… The stories we find are not only those of Umberto Eco, Andy Warhol, Karl Marx, Woody Allen, Elio Fiorucci or Marshal Radetzky: they are also stories of other souls, normal souls, who only go by their name: Marco, or Lucrezia. Don’t be afraid: the conversations are always ironical, comical at times,even exhilarating. We travel “through” the souls from Dahomey (former name of presentBenin) to the Frankfurt Book Fair, from the Sahara Desert to wedding parties in Buenos Aires. We laugh, hoping that “life now” will be just like that, just as fun, just as varied, with its mysteries so clear. “Life now” is also full of animals flying around, all with a soul. And, of course, it’s full of anchovies, swimming in enormous schools and literally transporting other souls, human souls.
Ariana Skyee has been the center of Zane Anders' world for years. They got together as a couple ten months ago, so Zane finally has the girl of his dreams. Life should be peachy. But it isn't. Haunted by a shared secret that threatens to destroy their relationship and claim their sanity, Zane is on a one-man mission to prevent Ari from falling apart. Then Commander Skyee drops the biggest bombshell of all, and everything Zane has taken for granted about the future is shattered overnight. Always and Forever: That's what Zane has promised Ari. Keeping that promise is about to become the hardest thing he will ever do. THIS IS A NOVELLA - 2.5 IN THE TRUE CALLING SERIES.
In Brittany (western France), near Yeun Elez, a ghosthunter vanishes during an investigation, two childrendisappear and a man is crucified and beaten to death.The prosecutor panics and calls Major Gerfaut as abackup. When the latter learns that this land of legendsis also called the gate of hell, he knows that he will haveto face the impossible, starting with the secret of theFortress of the Cursed.Used to sadistic killers and defying the invisible, Gerfautexpects the worst. Unfortunately, there is always aworse than the worst ...
As far back as 1873, experiments were carried out to see whether the electric trolley system applied to omnibuses could be adapted to ploughing and tilling fields. In 1913, 1,600 trolley/cable ploughs were in use across German farmlands. The arrival of the gasoline tractor relegated the use of electricity to electroculture, short haul farm machinery and lawn mowers. But it is only with the commercial availability of the lithium-ion battery during the last decade, that electrically powered drones and more recently tractors and earth movers are being seen as the way ahead. In this, the sixth in his seminal electric transport history series, Kevin Desmond portrays the life and work of the innovative engineers who perfected these e-tractors and agricultural drones.
In this clear and informed guide to the business model that’s set to dominate twenty-first-century commerce, Adam Levinter makes a compelling case that the phenomenal success of companies like Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and Salesforce wouldn’t be possible without the foundation they all have in common: subscription. A surge of subscription boxes in 2012 earned buzz for offering everything from razors to meal kits to underwear; since then the model has proven to be adaptable, profitable, and resilient, even as many traditional retailers struggle to stay relevant in the digital economy. Levinter takes a close look at the leaders of the subscription economy to pinpoint the essential elements of the model, and prove that while the basic concept may be as old as magazines, the ubiquity of the internet is enabling a new way for businesses to scale and succeed. The Subscription Boom shows that the appeal to both customers and businesses makes subscription a smart play for virtually any business. Author: Adam Levinter is the Founder and President of Scriberbase. He has extensive experience as a founder, operator, and advisor building companies and providing strategic guidance to senior executives. Adam also teaches at the University of Toronto, and is the creator and host of the popular podcast E2: Entrepreneurs Exposed.