Michael Smith

Book One: Sojourn The Earth year 2401 finds the N. S. Phoenix still adrift two hundred years after a failed Earth mission to Saturn's moon, Dione. Disabled by radiation from a massive solar flare, the artificial intelligence, AI Jhenna, steadfastly adheres to hope that it, and the one surviving crewmember, the sleeping Captain Terry Dankin, will somehow survive. Meanwhile, from the planet Darlon, the D. S. Classtoria and crew arrive at Earth to find a grim reality, yet another planet destroyed by environmental collapse. But not all is lost as a shocking discovery is made on Earth's moon. Book Two: The Parakon Captain Terry Dankin is assigned his first research mission, but what was supposed to be a simple mission to explore biological and geological aspects of the planet Varasay, Phoenix runs headlong into an ancient enemy and planetary harvesters, the Parakon. Captain Dankin on Phoenix, with the aide of Captain Narell aboard the Heraway, fight off a Parakon scout ship, but then are suddenly faced with the massive and powerful mothership, the Kloose. Despite being greatly outgunned and outsized, Captain Dankin and his crew aboard Phoenix must insure the Kloose is destroyed before the Parakon find, and harvest, his new home, Darlon. Book Three: The Red Sector A routine mission for Captain Terry Dankin aboard the D. S. Clivett, turns out to be anything but. Sent to recover a derelict, rogue satellite, the Clivett barely escapes a kidnap attempt by the Ixet ship, Loquest. The Loquest's plan for the Captain? Trade him to the Parakon for star-drive power. But after being rescued by Phoenix and Acting Captain Jhenna, it is discovered that the recovered satellite, the Corr Torri, has its own secrets, including a way to take down the Parakon Empire once and for all. Now Captain Dankin must take Phoenix into the heart of Parakon space, the Red Sector, wherein lies the secret to their star-drives, the Kaepec anomaly. But what is supposed to be a quick, efficient mission quickly goes awry as Phoenix is suddenly faced with twelve of the Parakon's most deadly warships, the Warlons. Now Phoenix is faced with the most deadly threat it has ever faced, and not everyone will make it out alive.

The central theme of Competition and Cost Accounting is that strategic considerations may make it desirable for a firm to have divisions and Product managers internalize something other than their true costs. In the case of transfer Prices, a high transfer Price serves as a means of promoting tacit collusion. When transfer Prices are not observable to the rival firm, decentralization, motivated by the superior knowledge of divisions about their own costs, can promote tacit collusion. In the case of Product cost Measurement, an inferior cost allocation system that just spreads costs evenly can promote tacit collusion. The authors show that it may not be an equilibrium for firms to adopt a more accurate cost system or compete in multiple markets. The strategic nature of their interaction with their rivals may influence their cost and cost accounting choices in surprising ways. After an introduction, the authors analyze the strategic value of transfer Prices in both Bertrand and Cournot Settings. They demonstrate the importance of observability and commitment, and show that even in the absence of observability and commitment, decentralization to exploit the private information of upstream managers can have strategic consequences through double marginalization. These strategic effects become stronger with observability and commitment. They also analyze the strategic value of cost allocation systems in both Bertrand and Cournot Settings before concluding the monograph.

Here's the story: a reverend and a rabbi start a blog. In 2008, Baptist minister Michael Smith and Jewish rabbi Rami M. Shapiro began a virtual conversation via blogspot.com. Called "Mount and Mountain," the blog recorded a long-running dialogue between Mike and Rami in which the pair interpreted, argued about, and interrogated two key texts drawn from the canons of their respective religions: the Ten Commandments from the Torah, and the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of St. Matthew. This book, focused on the Sermon on the Mount, represents the second half of Mike and Rami's dialogue. In it, Mike and Rami explore the text of Jesus' sermon cooperatively, contributing perspectives drawn from their lives and religious traditions and seeking moments of illumination. They are, like all of us, audience members, contemplating the words of Jesus together in the hope that we can discern Truth not only through revelation but also through conversation. As readers, we are a part of their conversation. We think and respond, we question and wonder, we entertain doubt and affirm faith. Reading their discussion, we are encouraged to begin our own.

Bletchley Park, known to those who worked there as Station X, was the scene of one of the greatest Allied triumphs of the Second World War. The breaking of the Nazi Enigma cyphers by Britain's wartime code-breakers continues to fascinate, with well over 100,000 people visiting the scene of their successes every year. Bletchley Park provided the intelligence that ensured Allied victories in the Battle of Atlantic, the war in North Africa and, most crucially, the D-Day invasion of Europe, and it was also the birthplace of the modern computer. The code-breakers were led by men like Dilly Knox and Alan Turing, but also included thousands of 'ordinary' people, the vast majority of them young women. This book contains previously unpublished photographs showing them at work and play. It not only explains how their work influenced the battle against Nazi Germany and its Italian and Japanese allies, but also describes how they lived and loved.

Recent realizations that prehispanic cities in Mesoamerica were fundamentally different from western cities of the same period have led to increasing examination of the neighborhood as an intermediate unit at the heart of prehispanic urbanization. This book addresses the subject of neighborhoods in archaeology as analytical units between households and whole settlements. The contributions gathered here provide fieldwork data to document the existence of sociopolitically distinct neighborhoods within ancient Mesoamerican settlements, building upon recent advances in multi-scale archaeological studies of these communities. Chapters illustrate the cultural variation across Mesoamerica, including data and interpretations on several different cities with a thematic focus on regional contrasts. This topic is relatively new and complex, and this book is a strong contribution for three interwoven reasons. First, the long history of research on the ""Teotihuacan barrios"" is scrutinized and withstands the test of new evidence and comparison with other Mesoamerican cities. Second, Maya studies of dense settlement patterns are now mature enough to provide substantial case studies. Third, theoretical investigation of ancient urbanization all over the world is now more complex and open than it was before, giving relevance to Mesoamerican perspectives on ancient and modern societies in time and space. This volume will be of interest not only to scholars and student specialists of the Mesoamerican past but also to social scientists and urbanists looking to contrast ancient cultures worldwide.

Rider, a man born with the gift of the Imminence, the ability to know where and when imminent danger lurks. With this gift he feels drawn, compelled, driven to interfere with those who would violate the innocent. After leaving the military, and the death of his father, he sets out on the highways of Florida on Lady T, a Triumph motorcycle his father rebuilt when Rider was a child. For twelve years he pulls asphalt under his tires, seeking out bad guys and always trying to find a restaurant that serves the best bowl of grits with shrimp and cheese. But then with the rescue of Dara, a young girl on the run from Darian Bock, Rider comes to understand that he's not the only one with the gift of the Imminence. Through Dara he learns that Bock also has the gift, but uses it for personal gain through violence. The Overseers, who control the Imminence, make themselves known to Rider, promoting him to Principle and gifting him with Seer orbs, a weapon he must now use to track down and destroy Bock. But Bock has his own plans, plans that involve the deaths of thousands of people in New York, and Rider is the only one who can stop him. An epic battle lurks on the horizon, a battle that could cost Rider his life, or rather, his first life.

A reverend and a rabbi start a blog... (stop us if you've heard this one before). As it happens, not long ago Baptist minister Michael Smith and Jewish rabbi Rami M. Shapiro actually did initiate the blog conversation "Mount and Mountain." The blog recorded a long-running dialogue between Mike and Rami in which the pair interpreted, argued about, and interrogated two key texts drawn from the canons of their respective religions: the Ten Commandments from the Torah, and the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of St. Matthew. This book, focused on the Ten Commandments, represents the first half of that dialogue. In Mount and Mountain, Volume One, Mike and Rami discuss the nature of divinity, the power of faith, and the necessity of doubt. From the beauty of myth and story to the achievements, failings, and future of religion, above all they both wrestle with the struggle to live ethically and in harmony with the way of God. Reading along, we are invited to take part, to add our own voices and experience to the task of interpretation, and to craft our own meanings from the text of Exodus. And if, as readers, we take that text in our own directions, we move toward a richer understanding not only of Scripture but also of God and godliness.

Dilworth Coup was only thirteen when his sister December, was brutally murdered at summer camp. Seven years later, he returns as a counselor at the behest of his best friend, Patrick. Attempting to move on, he sets his site on being the type of counselor he loved when he was growing up. That was until he begins to see his little sister once more. Hearing her warnings to run only focuses Dilworth on discovering the truth about the night of her murder. As Dilworth draws closer, he is thrown In-Between the world of Angels cursed to protect humanity from the Demons they meddle with. Unbeknownst to Dilworth, he will discover his role in the war, and the choice he made before time began that set him on this path - the choice to be silent. With the night of a New Moon approaching, worlds will blend, and Demons will roam free at the reciting of a spell. Enemies are closer than they appear, and help is in disguise. With time running out, Dilworth must accept the choice he made and who he was always been. A Silent Angel. The Purger.

When Captain Ridley's shooting partyA" arrived at Bletchley Park in 1939 no-one would have guessed that by 1945 the guests would number nearly 10,000 and that collectively they would have contributed decisively to the Allied war effort. Their role? To decode the Enigma cypher used by the Germans for high-level communications. It is an astonishing story. A melting pot of Oxbridge dons maverick oddballs and more regular citizens worked night and day at Station X, as Bletchley Park was known, to derive intelligence information from German coded messages. Bear in mind that an Enigma machine had a possible 159 million million million different settings and the magnitude of the challenge becomes apparent. That they succeeded, despite military scepticism, supplying information that led to the sinking of the Bismarck, Montgomery's victory in North Africa and the D-Day landings, is testament to an indomitable spirit that wrenched British intelligence into the modern age, as the Second World War segued into the Cold War. Michael Smith constructs his absorbing narrative around the reminiscences of those who worked and played at Bletchley Park, and their stories add a very human colour to their cerebral activity. The code breakers of Station X did not win the war but they undoubtedly shortened it, and the lives saved on both sides stand as their greatest achievement.

The first book about SEAL Team Six and Bin Laden

This revised pictorial biography celebrates the life of Tom Crean, a great Irish hero of Antarctic exploration in an age of epics of endurance and survival against the odds. Tom ran away from his Kerry farm at 15 to play an outstanding role in three expeditions with the legendary Shackleton and Captain Scott. His incredible story was largely forgotten until the publication of the best-selling An Unsung Hero in 2000. Only then was the modest, unassuming Irishman given due recognition. The extraordinary highlights of his adventures in the ice were captured in exceptional photographs taken under extreme conditions. Assembled here they present a photographic record of a truly astonishing man, with other rare and previously unseen pictures. These photographs illustrate his early life, the incredible feats in the Antarctic and a peaceful retirement in Kerry. Supported by complementary text, diary extracts and maps plus new information on Tom Crean's life, this is a lasting celebration of a true hero.

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