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Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet.

As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.

So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. --Lesley Reed.
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The Working Poor examines the "forgotten America" where "millions live in the shadow of prosperity, in the twilight between poverty and well-being " These are citizens for whom the American Dream is out of reach despite their willingness to work hard. Struggling to simply survive, they live so close to the edge of poverty that a minor obstacle, such as a car breakdown or a temporary illness, can lead to a downward financial spiral that can prove impossible to reverse. David Shipler interviewed many such working people for this book and his profiles offer an intimate look at what it is like to be trapped in a cycle of dead-end jobs without benefits or opportunities for advancement. He shows how some negotiate a broken welfare system that is designed to help yet often does not, while others proudly refuse any sort of government assistance, even to their detriment. Still others have no idea that help is available at all.

"As a culture, the United States is not quite sure about the causes of poverty, and is therefore uncertain about the solutions," he writes. Though he details many ways in which current assistance programs could be more effective and rational, he does not believe that government alone, nor any other single variable, can solve the problem. Instead, a combination of things are required, beginning with the political will needed to create a relief system "that recognizes both the society's obligation through government and business, and the individual's obligation through labor and family." He does propose some specific steps in the right direction such as altering the current wage structure, creating more vocational programs (in both the public and private sectors), developing a fairer way to distribute school funding, and implementing basic national health care.

Prepare to have any preconceived notions about those living in poverty in America challenged by this affecting book. --Shawn Carkonen.
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The new ASCE Standard 7-05 Standard (including Supplement No.1) provides requirements for general structural design and includes means for determining dead, live, soil, flood, wind, snow, rain, atmospheric ice, and earthquake loads, and their combinations that are suitable for inclusion in building codes and other documents. A detailed commentary containing explanatory and supplementary information to assist users of ASCE 7-05 is included. This ASCE 7-05 edition is a complete revision of ASCE 7-02. The new Standard includes revised and significantly reorganized provisions for seismic design of structures, as well as revisions in the provisions for determining live, flood, wind, snow, and atmospheric ice loads. The inclusion of Supplement No. 1 into ASCE 7-05 ensures that there is full and complete coordination between the 2006 International Building Code and ASCE 7-05. The updates which comprised Supplement No. 1 are seamlessly integrated into the 7-05 volume, and are not available anywhere else. ASCE 7-05 is an integral part of the building codes of the United States. The earthquake load provisions in ASCE 7-05 are substantially adopted by reference in the 2006 International Building Code and the 2006 NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code. Numerous other provisions of all other ASCE 7-05 sections are also adopted by reference by both model building codes including the provisions for calculating wind loads and snow loads. Structural engineers, architects, and those engaged in preparing and administering local building codes will find the structural load requirements essential to their practice..
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Interest in a wide range of martial arts grows exponentially each year, but few practitioners understand the scientific forces that underlie these arts. The originators of ancient traditional systems intuitively grasped the body mechanics behind their disciplines, and thus were capable of generating uncanny striking force. Contemporary students, on the other hand, often fail to achieve the high levels of technical proficiency they desire because they are unaware of these laws and how they work in a martial arts context.

Drawing on the author’s decades of experience as both student and teacher, Martial Mechanics explains, in humorous, easy-to-understand language, how physics and kinesiology affect martial arts techniques and how readers can best utilize them to make them faster, more powerful, and hence more effective in actual combat. Featuring black-and-white photographs throughout, Martial Mechanics is written for both internal and external martial artists,mixed martial arts practitioners with an interest in competition or self-defense, students of kung fu, karate, taekwondo, muay thai boxing, kickboxing, wing chun, and more. Even many of the traditional grappling arts utilize certain striking techniques, and their disciples as well can improve their percussive skills with this practical guide..
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Diet and fitness books appear at a dizzying rate – and with a wealth of dubious claims – in a culture facing increasing health problems based on a sedentary lifestyle. Ori Hofmekler’s Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat pulls out of the pack by focusing on the biological principles that dictate muscle gain and fat loss. Written for the widest readership–competitive athletes, bodybuilders, trainers, martial artists, sports nutritionists and coaches, dieters, and anyone concerned about their health–the book builds on the concepts popularized in TheWarrior Diet. Author Hofmeklerdescribes in simple, lay terms how under-eating and fasting can trigger an anabolic switch that stimulates growth and rejuvenation; how to reengineer the body at the cellular level to burn fat and build muscles; and how to naturally manipulate the body’s hormones for rapid muscle fusion and faster fat breakdown. Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat offers smart strategies for taking advantage of hunger to stimulate growth, burn fat, and boost brain power; techniques for turning insulin into a muscle builder instead of a fat gainer; and methods for shattering training and diet plateaus–in the process enhancing metabolic function, improving performance, and increasing the capacity to gain, and sustain, prime health..
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The American Dream used to include a white picket fence, 2.2 kids, and a dog. In today's frantic world, it's . . . well, let's be honest-it's quite different But what would happen if you did have the nerve to quit your white-collar job? Prioleau Alexander can tell you:He walked away from a lucrative career as an advertising executive, seeking a life +Ælike that dude on Kung Fu.+ô Over the next year he worked minimum-wage jobs as a pizza deliveryman, ice cream scooper, construction worker, ER tech, fast food jockey, and even cowboy on a Montana dude ranch. In YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?, Prioleau explores life at minimum wage and proves unequivocally that the grass is not always greener on the other side..
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"The Drinking Man's Diet", granddaddy and origionator of all low carb diets, was first published in 1964 and sold 2,400,000 copies in 13 languages It does not encourage drinking but understands that upwards of 60 million people in the US alone enjoy a Carbo-Free cocktail every now and then..
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