A Review of Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

If you are a stock market investor, this is the book you should be reading if you have not done so already. It would have been easier for you had you absorbed what Taleb has to say many years ago, but now you have had a taste of the negative, you can turn your efforts into the positive. I remember attending the lectures of John Kenneth Galbraith who spoke often of stock market crashes. His ideas were based on a thorough reading and analysis of the 1929 crash. Investing in the stock market is gambling, but it may be the only way that the 'small' investor has to get a portion of the capitalist economic pie. The rewards of investing in stocks and shares can be considerable, but the small investor has always to be aware of the sharks and black holes.

What Taleb does very well is show how self deception can dominate stock market and for that matter credit market advice giving to the point where it absorbs most of the capital of investors who lose almost everything. I might add, in one foul swoop. That's the danger, the risk, the eventual out turn from speculation that is completely outside one's control. We see the Donald Trumps of this world and expect that he has some secrets that he can share. The only problem is that a host of Trump wannabees have lost heavily in the property market. What's Trump's secret you wonder?

Well, you need to read Taleb's book and you will begin to understand how those investing also hedge. Hedging is when you take the risk out of investing realizing that you are not an expert investor or adviser, but part of a largely random process that can be terribly destructive of valuation of capital and almost everything else.

In the UK, the individual in the civil service who mailed a package containing a disk with people's private information thought that he knew the mail system, that it was secure. The upshot was that the individual took a risk and almost everyone in the country, almost 25 million people, lost big time. It would have been better for the government to install a fail safe system of auditing so as not to risk people's private information. This is what hedging is all about. Its about making sure that you are not exposed to risk. You carry on your business. You make money. But, you do not take unnecessary risk.

In foreign exchange operations, CLS Bank, does this very task of eliminating certain kinds of risk. FX dealers hedge their currency positions all the time so that their banks are not exposed to unnecessary risk. When I worked in Barclays Bank we were put on courses that showed us how to build a currency book and maturity ladder that got you where you wanted to be, largely without risk taking. That's the way money remains with you.

This is what the IMF SDR valuation is all about. Smart countries follow the SDR valuations of their currencies so as to avoid risk, avoid Asian financial implosion! What do you think China is doing? If it followed the advice of the US authorities it might be taking unnecessary risk so it has to monitor the value of its currency against all the major currencies. This way it avoids the rsik of an implosion and disasterous surprise and gradually moves in the direction it needs to move. Look at the Chinese exchange rate. Is is moving in the right direction? This is a question that you need to ask in a period of wild speculation in oil as a commodity.

Knowledge Creation Using the Internet

The Internet is not just a means for disseminating information, it is also a vehicle of knowledge creation. In our highly scientific world, we need verification of results of studies and experiments before we consider them to be valid. The Internet is a means by which the results of studies can be directly validated. A person in one lab can actually watch another person conduct an experiment. There is no longer a need to wait to see an experiment performed. Everyone can watch it being performed. This is knowledge creation. Its not technology creation necessarily, but it is knowledge creation, and it is occurring very rapidly and it can occur even more rapidly.

When I did my first studies of technology transfer in the early 1970's, the process of knowledge creation was laborious to say the least. Today, what I did then can be performed over the Internet. It is now possible for a researcher to interview heads of research over the Internet. Wow! Now that is a change.

The Cosmic Lantern

The cosmic lantern is a very strange device that has existed through several millenia. It was recently discovered by the author Arthur Lake in London, England in an antique shop. The lantern has inspired a series of books based on Lake's experiences and those of a host of people that have interacted with the people who have possessed lantern through the ages, and around the globe. Lake has researched the story of the Lantern and its association with Tintagel, Wookey, Glastonbury, King Arthur, Lancelot of the Lake and the Knights of the Round Table.

The story of lantern reveals many of the mysteries surrounding the current search an understanding of the mysteries of the Holy Grail, the learned societies of ancient Druids, and several secret Guilds of London formed in the middle ages that influenced the renaissance in Europe. This series is a must read.

An unusual property of the lantern is that it does not obey normal physical laws and endows its possessor with amazing powers. In ancient times, shortly ofter the Romans had invaded South West Britain, the lantern appeared mysteriously in the possession of a peasant boy, son of a fisherman, who lived in a tree house that sat in the dark regions of Wookey Marsh hidden away from the Roman soldiers. But, only for a time because a famous General of the Roman Army named Vespasian came to learn of the lantern through his Commander of the Roman Cavalry, a man called Corellus.

The story of Wuh Lax and the Cosmic Lantern is now selling exclusively by Togwells at Amazon or from the author directly at Togwells Publishing. This is an independent publishing effort. Support your independent writers.

The Psychology of Handwriting

Your handwriting can reveal many things about you that you are probably unaware. The science of handwriting analysis has progressed significantly. Practitioners of analytical techniques offer their services at a price, so the science has grown up from a past time to a full fledged approach to seeing within human personality. The fact is that everything that we do can be analysed forensically. The results may not be accurate or they may hit spot on in ways that get to the deeper sources of illness and physical conditions as well as personality traits. One has to be careful with claims that handwriting analysis is all powerful. It is still a very young science.

I remember my father, a minister of religion, who visited the sick in a local insane assylum telling me in the 1960's that handwriting analysis was being used to understand mental illness. He said that they were experimenting with a therapy to reach the deeper parts of the brain by training 'mentally ill' people how to improve their handwriting. Apparently, just the training in handwriting arts could result in more organized thought and behaviour at very deep psychological levels.

A french Canadian student of psychology who I worked with in a summer job at Weston's Bakery in Longueuil, Quebec who would tease me that every motion I made could be analysed by a trained psychologist and that I was forever giving off clues about my weaknesses that a trained person could understand and use to recommend therapy, i.e. that I was strange and need help.

Your handwriting does let others know whether you are under stress or likely to be ill.

You too can Draw and Paint Pictures

As a post graduate university level teacher, I am only too aware that everyone should learn how to draw and actually do drawings and sketches on a regular basis. There are many places to learn and you cannot begin too soon. Drawing, like singing or public speaking, may actually save your life or enable you to live longer, so don't ignore it. This is because drawing requires certain parts of your brain to think. Not only do you have to visualize, but you have to link that visualization to motion in your hand, nose or foot, if you draw with your toes.

Strings In Cosmic Space - Are They For Real?

Scientists are pondering the irregularities of what they see as space and time. The notion of a big bang still has many followers, but there are new ideas. One of these ideas has to do with cosmic strings that are enormous entities created in the earliest period of the formation of the universe. The concept of cosmic strings derives in part from the theory that matter is ultimately made up of extremely tiny strings, string theory. Much of cosmic science is based on educated guesses and hypotheses that have yet to be proven.

Scientists work from what they can see through powerful telescopes and observe in their laboratories. If they observe patterns, they try to imagine what these patterns might mean scaled up to the full size of the universe, or scaled down to the tiniest level conceivable of the theoretically small elements of the universe's matter or energy. They also try to imagine what it could have been like had the cosmos emerged from the very tiny to the very large in an event such as the big bang. Astrophysicists, such as Jacqueline Hewitt, tend to start from what they refer to as the standard cosmological model. They work from that to examine the possibility that the standard cosmological model is incorrect and that they understood almost everything wrong.

The point is that they really do not know as yet when the universe actually began. They have a theory, but that is all it is, a very good theory. Such centers need our support for surprisingly enough the churches of religion aren't interested for the most part in doing this form of study.

Religious study centers instead tend to look at the cosmos very differently. They are primarily interested in conserving evidence of the past as it relates to discoveries made by individuals using very different technologies from what scientists use.

Both approaches to understanding the cosmos are very logical approaches. One asserts that it is possible to understand the cosmic universe by means of messages that are around us and that we can tap into using our brains, or that the active elements of the universe are trying to communicate to us with messages in dreams and visions, and other worldly signs and events that we need to interpret.

Both science and religion require faith either to base your logic on what evidence can be proven by means of visible testing and reproduction of tests independently, or on what you understand about the spiritual or communications process between the cosmos elements, such as God, and the faith practitioners, the religious prophets, saints, and savants, the spiritual leaders that tell us what has been their experience and experiences of predecessors.

Both approaches are valid despite both groups claiming what other groups do is bunk, like the notion history is bunk. We can ignore such inter group skirmishes because we know better. There is a role for science and religion in our cosmos and we would be poorer without the squabble between them. However, both approaches need to recognise that they are just that, approaches. In the modern world we tend to like science more because it gives us nice toys to play with, but in reality they are just nice toys and our real enjoyment comes from our relationships with other nice people and with the living 'natural' creatures of our universe, such as dogs and cats.

What we really want to avoid is outright war between the two approaches. This occurs when one or other of the approaches assumes too much about its role in defining what approach people should take. It becomes a problem if religious leaders do not keep to their turf which is only a partial element of the truth as we know it. Neither of the groups has the whole truth, and that is a very real fact. They both look silly in the face of ordinary observation when they claim supremacy and want to assume the political reigns of authority forcing people to conform to one approach or the other.

The great 'British' historical theorist and economic thinker, Karl Marx, said religion was only to be seens an opium of the people and something to be ignored or feared when it came to the dynamics of economic forces and the social struggles of people that were exploited in the name of profit. We know that approach of eliminating religion from the equation was patently false and we know that those people who fostered that approach to have commited many crimes. And, so to have religious leaders claiming to have the truth and nothing but the truth. Both athiests and religious leaders have a tendency to misguide, so treat them with respect, but do a wide circle around those that don't show you are valid way to establish the veracity of what they are claiming. Don't be misled. Drink your coffee and think about it, seriously!

In Search of the Miraculous - Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke

The path I took to PD Ouspenski many years ago is somewhat circuitous. I begins with my reading a book by Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke on Cosmic Consciousness. It is strange to read now in the Google write up on the book that that the book was also one of the favourites of PD Ouspenski and William James. Dr. Bucke's medical research at the London Ontario insane asylum is to find an explanation of insanity occurring in his patients during the 1800's. He suspects that many of his patients are not really insane but that what appears to be insanity is the result of an evolution of the human mind. And, so Dr. Bucke's research begins.

My interest in the writing of Dr. Bucke arose because of father's period of insanity at age 57 in 1963 while he, the Rev. William Reed Lake, was a United Church Minister at the Royal York United Church in Etobicoke, Toronto, Canada. My father's bedroom room was next to mine and so I had almost constant awareness of what was occurring in his room and with his insanity. The results of that period were certainly etched on his mind in an unbelievable manner. My own conclusion became that he was not insane, and in fact, he overcame his period of disability to survive for 40 more so more years.

What Dad experienced was something similar to what Dr. Bucke the psychologist in London referred to as a mental experience of the evolution of 'man's brain. It was not so much the evolution of my Dad's brain that I was witnessing as much as the evolution of the brain of human beings. At least, that was the opinion of Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke of the many people with similar experience that he studied in the mid 1800's. His work is a major opus of scientific research which drew the attention of Walt Whitman, the famous American author of the poetry of 'The Leaves of Grass.'

At issue is the question of whether man is evolving. Both psychologists Dr. Bucke and Dr. Ouspenski came to the conclusion that certainly was the case.

Another idea of mine is that it is not so much evolution taking place but the future calling the present. I tend to think the time arrow is an illusion the mist of which will be lifted just as the mist of the flat earth was lifted. In my mist-less world, we can influence the past as much as we can the future. Although, we may have to figure out the means, but it is there for the asking. One approach is already available through the medium of light, which I have stated in another blog pages does not obey the normal laws of time, as we know them. Seriously, the playing field for this invention or discovery is wide open. My belief arises from personal experience that I have no way of denying. Just as a foreseer is able to see into the future in a dream, we have that capacity lurking within us, as the experimental studies of time by John Dunne may show.

Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke and His Ideas About Cosmic Consciousness

The story for me begins with the book by John Bucke, author and medical doctor in London, Ontario, who has met with Walt Whitman, author and poet. Walt Whitman has no fear of death and willing walks out on to the battlefield to collect the wounded and transport them to safety. Whitman writes of another state of being that he experiences and which inspired him to author 'Leaves of Grass.' I will continue.

The Mythological Bases of Our Respective Realities

Our respective realities are based on internalized mythologies. We are living worlds of dimensions that we hold personally and independently. You don't understand what I am saying do you! Let me explain.

We see evidence of an additional dimension as a barrier that we cannot ultimately cross for whatever reason. Over time, man has broken away at the dimensions impacting on his awareness and has reduced them into known dimensions. Unlike a worm, man has eyes that can see in three dimensions, but unlike a bat cannot see in the dimension of sound. One might ask whether man can see because like a bat man emits light that returns with an image of what forms a dimension out there, outside the brain.

Certainly, we can imagine man emitting light within the brain to create the dimension of dreams and inner visual thoughts like projections on a canvas within the brain. We even know the times of day and conditions when we can do this best. We know that we project light into inner regions of our brain and into the very fibers of our reality, but we don't know how this happens or even where this happens in time.

We think of our dreams as occurring in present time, in the now, but we only know for sure that the machinery of our brain is active in the present in the now. we do not know whether our inner vision crosses into past or future time. The dimensions of the mind thus entrap man into thinking that his reality is structured in a predictable way, but that is only because we have learned how to record events of the past and learned how to project series into the future.

We know the past and the future do not exist, or we think that they don't exist because we have a mythology of our reality that tells that we cannot be effective in the past and that we can only guess at our effectiveness in the future. But, is this just a mythology, or is it really our reality.

No! It is the mythological basis of our respective reality. We live within our mythologies and rarely get in touch with our realities. Our technologies, however, and our innovations in particular break away at our dimensions and enlarge them, so that they are increasingly unified as a single dimension. We think of our present reality as occurring in three dimensions, but we are now increasingly sure that it occurs in one dimension. What has happened?

Man thought of the earth as being flat and having regions that were unreachable. We now know that the earth is spherical and that all regions are reachable.

The mythology of the flat earth has disappeared as we grapple with the mythology of the universe, a world in which we are alone. But, we have clues that man on the earth is not alone and, in fact, man is crowded into a bigger world that we are accelerating towards at an alarming rate. The culture shock of the next mythology is tearing apart our current mythology of a single universe. The single big bang mythology is being replaced by a new mythology of billions and billions of reoccurring big bangs. We are becoming part of another dimension that we never knew about, or even imagined, a century ago.

Losing weight and regaining strength - A Physical Art

Very recently, I have been losing weight, and while many people around me are sick or cold vulnerable I have never felt better. The physical art of losing weight is not a simple art. I don't assume responsibility for any of the consequences of the exercises or steps shown below. You do them at your own risk, but if you are already reasonably healthy, they will probably help you further your goes of weight loss and strength building, and possibly your sex life, as well. It has taken me many years to figure out some of the rudiments of these physical arts, and I will share them free, gratis, with you. But you do the things at your own risk and use your judgment wisely as you may not be ready if you have an existing physical problem or weakness that is lurking below the surface. Get a health checkup first, if you need one:

1. Your weight is a very physical matter that has a mental origin. To lose weight permanently, you need to significantly alter your tastes and preferences for your tastes away from what is sweet to what is savoury. Not only do you have to like sweet less, but you have to like savoury more. This is a real challenge for most people, especially people like me who are addicted to carbohydrates and consume loads of beverages. In order to lose weight permanently, you need to address the mental processes that unconsciously direct your appetite towards sweetness. The way I did this was to come off sweeteners, cold turkey! For several days, you are uncomfortable drinking coffee and tea without anything sweet to trigger that part of your brain the like sweet stuff. Eventually, you will begin to like the savoury taste of coffee, the taste that was always there, but that you probably covered with sweetener or sugar stuff. Don't even use honey for sweetening your drinks, just get used to the savour taste of your beverage and you will be surprised that it becomes enjoyable and eventually your preference. If you succumb to sweetener by lying to yourself that you are doing yourself a favour or rewarding yourself, you are probably not going to lose weight. It is as simple as that.
2. The second physical art that comes with weight loss is that of maintaining or building up muscle mass. You don't want to be too muscular, and you want some muscles or fleshy parts to perform as if they are muscular, such as the penis, or vagina. You can build up the muscle mass of your limbs through the lifting of hand or other weights while maintaining your balance. One thing that you should remember when lifting weights is to eat a little protein, a little water and stretch first in order that your body can both feed, fluid and prepare itself for your muscle building. Afterwards, you should again eat a little protein, drink a little water, and stretch a little. I say a little, but you can increase the amounts over time gradually as you see actual progress. The lifting of weights helps strengthen your muscles, but do it gradually. What I have found is that it does matter, in the case of hand weights, which direction the weights are pointing. Each direction: forward, sideways, up, down, backwards, at an angle, etc. will tend to strengthen a slightly different part of your muscle structure. When I lift hand weights, I sometimes hear a clicking sound at the elbow. Often if I adjust the direction the weights are pointing, I can reduce the clicking sound. Use you judgment as to how many times you lift, but you should realize that just holding a weight can have a strengthening effect, especially the further away from your body, you hold the weights. Now, as regards strengthening the penis, men need to massage the top end of the penis closest to the boddy until it is less than floppy. By causing the dangly part to flop around it breaks tiny blood vessels that in most men heal into stronger penis sacks for the carriage of blood. Men can often increase the length of their penis by several inches over a period of a month with persistence. In the case of women, I am not going to make comment as I don't know.
3. Calorie reduction with modest exercise such as walking two miles each day will not only help you lose weight, but increase the chances that you will live longer. The walking is very important, but before and after you walk, you should eat a little protein, drink a little water, and stretch. This is only for people who are already in reasonable health. What you do is stop drinking milk as your only beverage for cereals and hot drinks. If your doctor advises it, you could switch entirely over to a soy milk-like beverage for coffee and tea. You will probably not want to move over totally, and a mix of soy and cows milk may not be all that bad for you. If you think that you have a cancer risk then seek advice from your doctor. Soy has estrogen that may or may not be good for you in largish amounts. As alternatives you may wish to try rice, oat or hemp milk. The next step is to work yourself away from wheat and flours. I have come off wheat cold turkey because it aggravates my digestive system. By not eating wheat and products with any wheat flour in them, I have been able to reduce my calorie intake significantly. You must judge for yourself how far you can go, but if you are serious about losing weight then by not eating anything containing processed flour, you are probably doing yourself a favour. Eat vegetables and fruits instead. Lastly, consume a small amount of wine or alcoholic beverage as an occasional treat. Remember that if you don't want to feed yourself with estrogen, you probably need to avoid beer altogether, especially if you have a breast cancer risk where estrogen is implicated.

Disclaimer to the above: The advice above is for healthy people only seeking to improve their health. Consult your specialists. You need to read what I say with a grain of salt. I could be wrong in your case. There are so many varieties of vulnerability to any methods of weight loss that I cannot assume responsibility in your case, only my own. All I can say is that I feel better myself and you should treat what I says as you would treat an old wives tale, with great suspicion. I am still waiting for those warts to disappear completely.

Dumbing down - A Verbal Art

I was at last year's London Book Fair and had sat down for a coffee and was talking to a printer from California who claimed that his paper was being used around the world and could be found in almost every book store. "You see," I said, "I am an artist, and I like to think on paper pencil in hand, and I don't like any of the papers of notepads that I am currently seeing in England. The paper is too heavy for me and not smooth enough. I once bought three notebooks in the States and they were perfect for me. I have tried high and low to find those notebooks again, but have had to give up." The man just looked at me and did not say much. "He thinks I'm a looney toon," I thought to myself.

Just then a woman asked whether she could sit at our table and I nodded affirmatively. After a while she began to chat, and asked me who I was and what I was doing at the London Book Fair. I told her that I was a former economist, who had lost his loved one to cancer, had retired, and was trying to re-invent himself by writing books, painting, and sketching. I told her that I had come to the London Book Fair as an independent publisher and had written and published my first novel as part of a series. I told her that I was a veracious reader and consumed books like cups of coffee, and that my favourite books were the forgotten tales of the sea, such as had been written by Defoe. I told her that my favourite author was Captain Frederick Marryat. I mentioned that I enjoyed his social comment which came before the really famous writers such as Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. I commented that Charles Dickens was a good writer but that I really did not enjoy his writing, possibly because I was too dumb to understand it.

She changed the subject suddenly. "Where can I see your paintings?" she asked.

"Well, I have done hundreds, but they are not normally for exhibition," I replied, adding, "Many of them are copies of famous works by famous artists, and a painted them so that I could enjoy them personally.

That's what motivated me to paint in the beginning. Now I like my paintings more than the works of famous artists and I am not letting them go."

She looked puzzled, and asked, "Why not? You could make money."

She looked persistent, so I gave her a thoughtful reply, "Yes, I could sell my paintings, but right now they make me feel rich. If I sold my paintings, I would not make enough from them to make me feels as rich as I presently feel. I don't have the ability to paint masters and their value comes from rarity and age. The value of my paintings comes from my knowledge that I painted them. I struggled to paint them and I admired the original artist enough to attempt to do a copy."

The lady intrigued me so I asked of her, "What are you doing here?"

She replied, "I have a school of good writing and I am a critique of writing. I read an author's work for the schools and advise them, and I try to get the quality of writing improved."

My mind immediately flew to shades of Miss Ronald, my Toronto English teacher with the two mastiffs. I responded, "I once had an English teacher in high school at Royal York Collegiate Institute in Toronto. It does not exist any more, but is an art school now. Anyways, she taught me English grammar. I shall never forget the pain that I went through. Now everyone is teaching me grammar and I hate it. All my employers told me that my writing sucked. They used it as an excuse not to do things they should have done. If I wrote well, they said that it was this,and if I wrote badly they said it was that. What a con!"

The woman sensed that my hackles had been raised and said out of the blue that she did not like the writing of JK Rowling and that it dumbed down the reader.

Its always the inclination of a writer to say that they do not dumb down the reader, so I said, "I don't think that I dumb down the reader with my writing in my book 'Wuh Lax and the Cosmic Lattern'"

She replied, "Would you like me to read it?"

I said, "Yes! I would like to know whether I dumb down my readers, and perhaps you could help me. Would you be prepared to comment on my book?"

I gave her my card which was made with a hard durable plastic about the size of a London transport ticket, and I gave her, for free, a hard copy of my book.

She smiled, "I would love to read your book, and I will write back and tell you what I think of it, and whether you are dumbing down your readers. I must go!"

She left the table with my book and I have not heard from her since, so I still don't know whether in her opinion I am dumbing down my readers. Let me say this, however, that one of my favourite writers is Joanna Rowling and she certainly did not dumb me down. Perhaps, it is because I am so dumb already! Her books are the best ever, and deserve to be read by millions more readers. Roll on .... Joanna!

As for whether I really dumb down my readers, I have had some response that suggests that my books are not really for children even though they have so many pictures. My feeling is that writing has not been dumbed down by authors such as JK Rowling for the very simple reason that they contain many of the new elements of the modern age of writing, which is a lot of action, humour, and many characters of different types. Kids these days can learn many more characters that I ever could when I was young. I think my limit was about six. Kids now can deal with 30 or more different characters in all sorts of social context. The problem is that we need to raise the reading capacity of our older readers who are struggling to keep up with the children.

Do you agree?

Taking a Bite From the Apple - Literally

My local grocery has started selling apples by the bag, but three types of apples within each bag, a bit of an apple deli. "My! They look nice," the check out lady exclaimed as I put them through, and added "I think I'll get some of those too!" Yes! They did look very pretty. Several were green, some were bright red, and some were a soft yellow. "I will start on the yellow ones first," I thought to myself."

Four yellow apples were eaten in a row during the next two days. Inevitably, there were only bright red and green apples left. I opted for a red apple and bit into it eagerly. What happened next was a major surprise. It started as a pain just about where one's stomach is. I was typing my blog at the time, and had to stand up. The pain had grown much sharper and was excruciating. Suddenly, I felt the pain rising up my throat and a major burst of air popped out my mouth, "UUUuuuuuuuuppppp" or something to that effect. The pain in my stomach subsided a little, but another "Uupppp" occured and then another. I sensed that the saliva in my mouth was foaming, so I rushed to the kitchen sink and spat out everything several times, all the while I was hiccuping "Uuupppp", "Uuupppp." About ten hiccups later and having spat out everything I could about a dozen times, I felt much better. "What the hell! I wondered to myself

The fact was that the apple tasted really good, but for some reason I had reacted badly to it. My stomach knew something that I did not. This time I thought, "I want to eat more apple, but I don't want to burp. What do I do? I didn't have the same problem with the yellow apples. What is going on?" The fact was that the red apples looked prettier than the yellow apples, but I recalled having had problems with red apples before, but not so obviously. "What do they put on the apples," I wondered.

My thoughts are that different apple growers treat their apples differently. Its not just the apples that the store is selling but apples that have been treated in some way by growers. My thoughts are that apples should be labelled in some way, and sure enough they are. You peel off a tiny label telling you who grew or who is distributing the apples. The final stage of the retailer is somewhat interesting because the retailer can bag apples to appeal to buyers and they can mix apples from different growers.

What we have here is a failure to communicate something to the buyer, me, the guy that sits down thinking all apples are the same. "What a mug I am!" I thought. I decided that from then on I would skin the red apples, but eat the yellow apples unskinned. What do you think I should do with the green apples? To peel or not to peel! I will try eating a green apple with the skin on. What do you think will be the result?

Relax with Wuh Lax

Give yourself and your children a chance to escape with a good book. As the author of the Wuh Lax series, I can think of no better way to relax than to read the Wuh Lax story and learn what the Cosmic Lantern is all about. You will be able to sit quiety in your arm chair in the evening with a soft light over your left shoulder sipping a mug of coffee or cup of tea transported back to another period of history.

As you read, you will be challenged to piece together the mysteries that the Wuh Lax series present. Wuh is a human being, but you will learn that he has been invited to join the world of the night as a ghost or an apprentice ghost, but no ordinary circle of ghosts, but the highest circle possible, a circle that we all eventually must join, the circle of the waves of light.

The Wuh Lax series is no light read, but challenges us to think with each chapter. You and your children will begin to appreciate many of the challenges that have faced peoples in earlier times when there were no easy answers to the invisible veil separating our world from the hidden world of the ethereal that all sense, but cannot adequately define.

Weathering the Financial Storms Yet to Come

There are storms of many kinds: snow storms such as covered the Eastern portions of North America and financial storms that cover the globe. You might ask why the US economy when it is producing so much in the way of armaments has such a slow growth relative to other countries. The means that armaments could be taking a largish share of the productive capacity. Is military spending government spending, and who pays for it? When? And, obviously, who dies for it?

Let no one underestimate the present costs of the 'war' on terror. They are very high, and produce little in the way of actual commodities, unless one thinks of security as a commodity. Well, one way to think of it is that security assists in retain what we have.

In the next decade, our costs for energy have to rise to make it attractive to invest in alternatives without a CO2 creating effect. Companies that have not already invested in such technologies do not see them as business opportunities, but as unwanted business costs.

When we grow plants to create fuel that is one thing, but if we grew plants to sweeten our environment that would be another. It is important that we learn from our mistakes and redirect people towards using the soil in their neighbourhood more effectively as they invest in planting around their homes and in creating areas near homes that will attract clouds and rainfall, then use the water more effectively and cleanly without run off to pollution. Don't let your home be a source of pollutant. Capture your water and use it for your plants. Grow gardens and trees. Reduce your grassland and replace them with forest and long term slow growing trees like oak. If we do that we can have our cake and eat it too.

The Law of Three Forces

Rev. William Reed Lake

of Lowville, Ontario

Gurdjieff, the thinker and teacher of philosophy, refers to the Law of Three Forces. His work is discussed in the various issues of the Gurdjieff Review. Other books can be bought at Fields Bookstore, or if you wish, a visit to Foyles in London, England. Foyles, was once the world's largest bookstore, but is now the world most famous bookstore.

The Law of Three Forces is a very ancient belief tradition. The Holy Trinity is the Christian expression of the law of three.

The law of three is but one aspect of the teaching of some very ancient schools, which Gurdjieff summarized as 'the work.'

My father, the Reverend William Reed Lake was a devout Christian, who lived to be 94 years of age and served as a missionary in Chapelton, Jamaica. His predessor was Rev. S.A Selby. Dad worked along side Rev. Lawrence Squires, of Lymington, England. He would say how important it was to begin your day properly, that the thoughts of one's waking hours defined the way you lived your life. He believed in the work, as did his father, and his grandfather.

What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate

So often, we say things that others hear and interpret in entirely different ways from what we intended. So it is with artists that seek to be creative. When artists speak, they often do it through their paintings or pictures. Each viewer interprets the image seen in a different way. Speakers say something, but by the time it reaches the region of understanding, the content has been adjusted by uncious parts of our mind that do things at speeds that would make us shudder. And, they do things behind our back, literally, quickly, and quietly. Such is the processing that goes on in our brains that we are really lucky if we understand anything properly. Ever take classes at university and try to reconstruct a lecture?

I don't think that many of my readers understand what I am actually saying, or as my brother told me they form a view of me that says to themselves that I am a bit of a buffoon and that they know better. That is not what my writing is all about. And, when I say that I want you to think about things and what you read, I am probably saying something that you do not understand in the same way that I do. So let me explain.

I do not have the answers that you seek. You have the answers. The challenge is that although you have the answers, you may not realize that many of them are more directional, than technical. You may be heading in the wrong direction and can not find what you are seeking because you are aiming at the wrong things. In order to gain the best direction for you, it is important to allow your brain to form new thought patterns and awareness's that did not formerly exist.

This is almost impossible without some technique. As a wonderful thinker and the author of the Tertium Organum: A Key to the Enigmas of the World, P. D. Ouspenski would say, a key to creativity and discovery of the miraculous is the process of remembering yourself. If you forget yourself, you become yourself and forget that you are being driven by the many chemicals churning around inside your head that try to deliberately make you forget yourself, namely the habit chemicals, the addictive chemicals, the old ways that are automatic and do not let you understand who you really are and what you are really capable of being.

Pour vous

Ces instructions sont pour les utilisateurs de Microsoft Internet Explorer. D'abord charger le Panneau de configuration en utilisant l'option de menu de votre "Menu Démarrer". Trouvez le 'Options Internet' icône. Dans la première entrée dans la boîte de type: http://woohs.blogspot.com/. Enregistrer les résultats.

C'est tout ce que vous devrez probablement faire. Que Wooh espère pouvoir faire au cours de la prochaine année est de fournir une mine d'informations unique en son genre, un éclairage sur les royaumes cachés de la conscience et des réalités qu'on ne voit pas normalement, les interprétations de l'environnement des paysages, des impressions d'artiste verbes, images, sons, et du mouvement. Ce que je dis dans mon blog sera original, raisonnablement bien informé et plein d'opinion personnelle basée sur une lecture et d'une eclectical esprit.
Utiliser mon blog endroit pour commencer vos recherches, trouver des informations économiques, et faites une pause café à penser de façon créative. Il ya beaucoup plus sur le chemin, et je suis heureux d'être au service de vous. Si vous avez des suggestions sane s’il vous plaît à les transmettre à mon égard.

Arthur

How to MakeThis Blogspot Your Home Page

These instructions are for Microsoft Internet Explorer users. First load the Control Panel using the menu item on your 'Start Menu.' Find the 'Internet Options' icon. In the top entry box type in: http://woohs.blogspot.com . Save the results. That's all that you probably have to do.

What Wooh hopes to do over the next year is provide a wealth of unique information, insights into hidden realms of consciousness and normally unseen realities, interpretations of environmental landscapes, artist impressions of verbs, images, sounds, and motion. What I say in my blogs will be original, reasonably well informed and full of personal opinion based on widespread reading and of an eclectical mind.

Use my blog spot to begin your searches, find economic information, and have a coffee break to think creatively. There is much more on the way, and I am happy to be of service to you. If you have any sane suggestions please forward them to me.

Arthur

How much will the US Fed Lower Interest Rates?

I can remember a time when the SDR value of the US dollar was above 1.00! What we have is desperate measures for desperate times. But, don't despair. What the Fed may do is responding to an opportunity provided by the Bank of Canada which lowered interest rates so as to slow down the rise in the Canadian dollar. Its one thing to have your currency appreciate by almost 30 percent, but think what that does to your competitiveness.

I am not sure whether this amounts to a series of competitive devaluations, but isn't that what the IMF was set up to limit in the post war period? Or, just maybe this is the opportunity for American investors abroad and all those international investor abroad to bring their money back to the US dollar. We used to think of it as speculation. But, what if the dollar is expected to rise with the election of Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama in a coming election. Maybe, I am reading behind the lines here, but is this a policy that is supposed to help the economy or worsen it.

Will this policy of lowering interest rates lead to a more even distribution of incomes or will it create an opportunity for speculators? I wonder what you think. What I do think is that whoever wins the US election in the fall, it does not matter that much because it represents a sea change from the oil interests dominating the US economic scenery. Sure the oil interests will be making money, but, perhaps, the policies that need to be put in place to protect our environment will finally have an opportunity.

Read About it - Your country is a member of the IMF

Reading about economics and economy is both interesting and may be critical to your comfort and survival. Get the Economist magazine (for an expert view), the Christian Science Monitor (for a balanced view), or the Wall Street Journal and read about what is going on in the messy economic environment that our world leaders have under the Bush administration managed to drag up. Now is not the time to have your head in the sand like an ostrich waiting to be a lion's next meal. The time is now to become well informed about those critical economic statistics that get published each month and that mean something to the well informed in energy and economy.

The IMF is an organization that brings together the government financial leaders of the countries making up the globe. It is important to be informed about what goes on in the world's energy and financial worlds as these drive all other segments and sectors of the world economy for better or worse.

Investing Wisely as Exchange Rates Move Using the IMF's SDR Index

You might have guessed that we have entered a period of financial and economic adjustment. Central banks have lowered interest rates and will lower them further as they seek to minimize the impact of unwise investments by the public and by banks. These unwise investments are imploding in value as people react suddenly to bad news.

Indices

There are a number of things that you can do to help yourself avoid the worst of the financial storm occurring around you. You know that when a mathematician advises investors to do something specific with their money, this can form a feedback loop and the process can be self defeating. More than ever, it is important to work with the financial mathematics and let them help you. My approach is that there are two mathematical averages that you need to master.

These mathematical tools depend on you having access to price information of the investment opportunies that you wish to invest in. You need to gather price information and analyse it for clues. Price data is historical data so you need to think that it relates to a series of events and flows of information, sometimes the impact of which is moving in different directions and individual prices may not be following the general flow. Watch out for such prices and analyse them separately. Almost everything has a price and with the internet it is easier than ever to find that price, construct a comparative index and make a wise decision based on what you know.

Gather as much information about the forces driving the prices that you are researching. Economists use sophisticated econometric models to do this. Because of non-linearities in world financial events, you may need to re-estimate your models every day! We are very far from understanding all the forces affecting economic data! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The average
The first tool needed is the ordinary weighted average for which you construct an index.

The logarithmic average

The second tool is the logarithm of that average by which you construct another index.

The first index tells you the weighted average of value, while the second index tells you the weighted average of change in value.

Use these indices to guide your actions. Either create them yourself or buy them from someone who has the mathematical know how of creating them. Stock market indices are weighted indices and are useful for investing in the stock market. You can create your own stock market index and use it. You logarithmic average index you can use by set each data entry to its absolute value. From the resulting index values you can devise a further index of individual or group volatility.

Relative position of indices and of volatility indices help you decide whether you wish to move into or out of a specific sector or economy or your own chosen group of investment opportunities based on the mathematics alone.

Use Microsoft excel or a similar spreadsheet to organize your information initially. You may be an expert in data organization or have a familiarity with php some other programming language. If so you can create your own web pages of financial information based on averages and logarithmic averages for the prices that you have to deal with.

The SDR

The SDR is a weighted average of exchange rates. The IMF, International Monetary Fund, publishes the value of the US dollar in SDR term each day. The reason it does this is so that people around the world can see a 'real' value of the US dollar and not just its nominal value. The real value or the SDR value of a currency is just one index that you can use to assess where to invest your money wisely.

The importance of the 'real' SDR value of a currency is that it compares a currency value against the performing and largest contributors to the world financial scene. The SDR is an index comprised of the US dollar, the Euro, the Yen, and the UK pound. There is also an index for the interest rates of the four major currencies called the SDR interest rate. These indices are weighted indices calculated on business days and published through the IMF website.

Thinking behind the SDR

The IMF is probably the most critical organization in the world on a day to day basis if we are to avoid a world economic crisis. Some leaders don't believe in long term investments and just manage investments for the short term swinging with public opinion and their own budgets that they have managed to screw up. The IMF is a long term investment having the expertise that the world needs to avoid major economic slumps. The IMF research people like those people who are researching key energy projects are under threat from short sightedness an opportunism of today's leaders. What about tomorrow? Will you know what investments to make tomorrow?

The SDR is a well constructed index that gives one a way of foreseeing the future of the world economy and of national economies. That I will discuss at a later date.

The Canadian Identity - Does One Exist?

Au Canada, l'idéal est que des personnes soient capables de parler les deux langues couramment. Je suis coupable de pouvoir parler couramment une seule langue (anglais), et les autres langues moins couramment (français). Ce n'est pas parce que je n'ai pas essayé de parler français. J'ai vécu au Québec pendant une bonne partie de ma vie, et pendant que j'étais là, je parle français la plupart du temps. C'est avec regret que j'ai quitté le Québec après avoir obtenu son diplôme de l'Université McGill, mais l'impact du Québec sur ma façon de penser est incomparable, même aujourd'hui.

Canada, et le Québec en particulier, m'a appris à penser d'une façon très particulière, combinant la science et la philosophie. Elle a peut-être été les hivers froids quand on a beaucoup de temps pour être seul et réfléchir, mais je ne le pense pas. Je me souviens de mes amis à Longueuil au club de tennis qui ont toléré mon pauvre français. Je me souviens de Jean Beliveux, le joueur de hockey Canadien, qui était un merveilleux voisin. Il a signé une pétition pour l'accès au centre commercial, qui a sauvé de nombreuses minutes nous arriver à des commerces. Je me souviens de mon patron à Westons Boulangerie, qui m'a appris comment utiliser un chiffon brun et bleu, ce qui m'a valu mes frais de scolarité à McGill.

Je me souviens de mes collègues de travail, les francophones eux qui m'ont appris leur philosophie de la tolérance et l'acceptation, ainsi que de la bonne humeur. Je me souviens de la désastreuse St-Jean-Baptiste qui a été celectration struct par un orage féroce et de nombreuses autres ont été blessées. Pour être honnête, j'adore le Québec et son peuple. C'est en partie ce que signifie être Canadien. C'est un pays d'une immense tolérance. Je pense que les Canadiens français tolérer beaucoup de Canadiens anglais, probablement plus que les Anglais réalisent. Il est important pour les Québécois parlent anglais et français. Pourquoi? Parce que, en parlant les deux langues, elles peuvent montrer à tous ce que les bonnes gens qu'ils sont vraiment.

L'identité canadienne - t-on exister?

Les Canadiens posent souvent la question de savoir si ou non une identité canadienne existe. Ayant vécu à Québec pendant près d'une décennie, comme j'étais jeune. Ayant vécu aussi en Ontario pendant de nombreuses années. Ayant vécu au Royaume-Uni depuis de nombreuses années. Et, ayant vécu aux États-Unis depuis de nombreuses années, je crois que je suis assez qualifié pour répondre à cette question en l'envisageant sous plusieurs points de vue.

Mon intérêt est dans les livres qui racontent une bonne histoire et de développer notre philosophie, et c'est pourquoi j'ai fondé Togwells Publishing.

Togwells

Un judicieux endroit pour en apprendre davantage sur quelques-uns des meilleurs livres à lire sur science, la philosophie, la religion, la connaissance, la mythologie et de l'apprentissage
Un site inspiré par la visite d'éthéré et de présences et de fantômes de l'Ordre de la Lumière.

Bienvenue aux amateurs de livres!

Togwells favorise livres éducatifs et inspirants films qui engagent le lecteur à une réflexion indépendante sur les nombreuses variations et orientations de la science et de la religion. C'est à travers la lecture de livres et visionner des films que l'on peut acquérir des connaissances dans la multitude des voies supérieures à un mode de vie positif qui, autrement, Être manquée.

Togwells fournit des passerelles supérieur à la pensée, de détection et de raisonnement.

Pennydrop se réfère à une tradition d'ouverture et de processus dans lequel le novice acquiert à ethereal idées notions clés de la vie d'extension et de transformation. Pennies que La chute du Wu vous donner un aperçu de la mystères de votre être. AW Lac vous accueille pour étudier avec lui Le monde de l'inconnaissable Wu magicien de la danse et de la pensée taoïste unreacheable royaume de Wu-wu, l'état de néant.

Togwells Publishing a sa propre série de livres et de films complémentaires à l'élaboration de populaire web blog écrit par AW Lake, l'auteur de la Wuh Lax série de livres et productrice de la série de Lax Wuh Films.

Wooh ou Wu est une très vieille mythologie associée en partie, avec le taoïsme, mais également utiles pour ceux qui s'intéressent à la physique et à danser avec Dieu notre créateur. Unreacheable Elle représente une force qui transends notre être. On peut seulement deviner l'intervention de Wu dans Notre existence mondaine. Wooh vient du monde embrassant tous de la lumière et des ténèbres cherche à bannir de notre pensée.

Wuh Lax et les personnages de la série Lax WUH de livres sont copyright (c) 2007 by AW Lake, Tous droits réservés.

Wooh embrasse enseignements de nombreuses philosophies taoïsme, le bouddhisme, le christianisme, l'islam, l'hindouisme, le yoga, le confucianisme, le judaïsme, le soufisme, la Quatrième Voie, le stoïcisme, Druidism et une longue liste d'autres. Out of an unknowable singularity is our sentient world created over and over again again. Sur une singularité est inconnaissable doués de notre monde créé, encore et encore.

English

Canadians often ask the question whether or not a Canadian identity exists. Having lived in Quebec for almost a decade as I was growing up. Having lived also in Ontario for many years. Having lived in the UK for many years. And, having lived in United States for many years, I think that I am fairly qualified to answer this question looking at it from many points of view.

In Canada, the ideal is for people to be able to speak two languages fluently. I am guilty of being able to speak only one language fluently (English), and the other language less fluently (French). This is not because I have not tried to speak French. I lived in Quebec for much of my life and while I was there I spoke French much of the time. It was with regret that I left Quebec upon graduation from McGill, but the impact of Quebec on my way of thinking is unmistakable, even today.

Canada, and Quebec in particular, taught me how to think in a very particular way combining science and philosophy. It may have been the cold winters when one had lots of time to be alone and ponder, but I don't think so. I remember my friends in Longueuil at the tennis club who tolerated my poor french. I remember Jean Beliveux, the Canadien hockey player, who was a wonderful neighbour. He signed a petition for access to the local mall, which saved us many minutes getting to the shops. I remember my boss at Westons Bakery, who taught me how to use a brown and blue rag, which earned me my tuition at McGill. I remember my work colleagues, the French speaking ones who taught me their philosophy of tolerance and acceptance, as well as of good humour. I remember the disasterous St. Jean Baptiste celectration that was struct by a ferocious electrical storm and many were injured. To be honest, I love Quebec and its people. That is partly what being Canadian means. It is a country of enormous tolerance. I think the French Canadians tolerate a lot from English Canadians, probably more than the English realize. It is importance the Quebecers to speak both English and French. Why? Because by speaking both languages, they can show everyone what good people they really are.

My interest is in books that tell a good story and develop our philosophy, and that is why I founded Togwells Publishing.

Togwells

A sensible place to learn more about some of the best books to read on science, philosophy, religion, knowledge, mythology and learning.

A site inspired by and visited by ethereal presences and by ghosts of the College of Light.

Welcome book lovers!

Togwells promotes educational books and inspiring films that engage the reader to think independently about the many variations and directions of science and religion. It is through reading books and viewing films that one can acquire insights into the multitude of superior pathways to positive living that would otherwise be missed.

Togwells provides gateways to higher thinking, sensing and reasoning.

Pennydrop refers to a tradition and process of initiation in which the novice to ethereal ideas acquires key notions for life extension and transformation. The pennies that drop from the Wu give you insight into the mysteries of your being. AW Lake welcomes you to explore with him the world of the unknowable Wu dancing wizard of taoist thought and the unreacheable realm of Wu-wu, the state of nothingness.

Wuh Lax and the characters of the WUH Lax series of books are copyright (c) 2007 by AW Lake, All Rights Reserved.

Togwells Publishing has its own series of books and films complementary to the development of a popular web blog written by AW Lake, the author of the Wuh Lax series of books and producer of the Wuh Lax series of films.

Wooh or Wu is a very ancient mythology associated in part with Taoism, but also relevant to those interested in physics and in dancing with God our creator. It represents an unreacheable force that transends our being. We can only guess at the intervention of Wu into our worldly existence. Wooh comes from the all embracing world of light and seeks to banish darkness from our thought.

Wooh embraces teachings of many philosophies Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Yoga, Confucianism, Judaism, Sufism, the Fourth Way, Stoicism, Druidism and a long list of others.

Snowed in like Many People in North America

In case you had not noticed, it snowed again! Most people don't like the snow, but as part Canadian, I would be strange if I did not like the snow. There is something very good about snow right now. It tells us that nature can give a helping hand in our concern about global warming and water shortages. This past year, the water has come back to the Great Lakes, and in some places, as in Northern England, there has been too much water. Later today, I will take a walk and photograph a sunset over the very large Lake Huron, which has iced over.

Ruminating - A Verbal Art

Every get that feeling that you are being watched. Well cows like to watch you. They do very little but watch you. There is just a sense of acceptance that you are there and that you are something interesting to watch. After a while, if you do not move, they turn their head away and stop watching you. This, it is important that you keep moving, but not in a way that would alarm. There is something Britney Spears about this. If she keeps moving and doing crazy things, everyone like cows, stop what they are doing and watch her, read about her, just soak up everything they can about her. Its OK if we just watch. The problem arises if we do something.

The cow has little idea what you will do, but it seems to be happy with you there, and when it relaxes it will ruminate. Yes! We know the cow is not very relaxed when it is not ruminating. If you want to watch your stress level, try to observe whether you are ruminating, just chewing your cud very gently. If you are not, then you are probably a bit stressed, or, at least, not relaxed. The reality of it is, the we need to be more like cows. We need to practice the art of ruminating softly by ourselves, relaxed and unperturbed.

Cudding - A Verbal Art

Cudding is what cows do, namely chewing on something verbally. Chewing one's cud is a good way to relax. Just take your time and mull something over as you chew gently. Have you ever seen cows chewing. They take their time, just like you do on the beach. In fact, a very good place to chew one's cut is lying out in the sun on a soft sandy beach with nothing to do other than chew away quietly to yourself.

I live by a field and used to have 16 largish friends, cows. The thing that I enjoyed most about interacting with these cows was the very soft way they accepted me as something that was part of their very enjoyable world. The greatest saddness came when they vanished from the field, along with the badgers, the rabbits and the foxes. The crows remained as did the field mice, but many of the locals just vanished.

Lugubriating - A verbal Art

Don't tell me that you have never heard of lugubriating. Perhaps, you have heard of lugubrious. It's a word that you would save for a politician, n'est-ce pas! I think I have used the term for the first time in history as a verb. Many people lugubriate and I am guilty of it myself. The thing is, life is too short to lugubriate, so be joyful and lift your spirits with music or somethink!

Will Ye No Come Back Again - Books as Old Friends

Books for free - The Gutenberg project offers heaps of reading for young people at the relatively low cost of downloads and re-printing. Remember that it is definitely cheaper, more environmental friendly, and perhaps easier to buy the book off the shelf if you can find a publisher and bookstore with it. Check it out! Your printer uses chemicals and is expensive relative to a published book! Also, check out Google's Books and electronic devices that don't use paper. New ones are on the way that display in colour and eventually technology breakthroughs will give you the ultimate reading experience.

The world of artificial intelligence on choosing books or gnooks.

See Gnooks and the author literature map

The Gutenberg top 100 downloads

Context of some writers

AW Lake's favorite sea yarn authors. Many of their books Lake has on his bookshelves:

Captain Frederick Marryat - McBooks Press - Gutenberg

Patrick Obrien - Amazon - Art work of Geof Hunt - Norton Books -

CS Forrester

Joseph Conrad - Joseph Conrad Society - Study guides

Robert Louise Stevenson -

Painting by Sargeant - Biography

Bjorn Larsson

Farley Mowat

Daniel Defoe

C. Northcote Parkinson

Kenneth Roberts

Raphael Sabatini

W. Clark Russell

V.A. Stuart

Tom Bevan

Tom Connery

James Fenimore Cooper

Julian Stockwin

Jan de Hartog

Alexander Kent

Richard Woodman

Dudley Pope

Adam Nicholson

Jay Worrall

James L. Nelson

Thomas Keneally

Tony Tanner

Jan Needle

Nicholas Monsarrat - Gozo

Herman Melville

Favorite Bookseller = McBooks Press:

Mark Adkin
Michael Aye
John Biggins
Broos Campbell
Jane Clarke
Bernard Cornwell
David Donachie
Gerry Doyle
James Duffy
Ian Fleming
Alexander Fullerton
Iain Gale
Douglas W. Jacobson
Alexander Kent
Dewey Lambdin
Allan Mallinson
Arthur Mercante
James L. Nelson
Dudley Pope
Douglas Reeman
Jeff Shaara
Michael Shaara
Julian Stockwin
Grady Wells
Richard Woodman

Also see Old and Sold:

Earle Lytton Bulwer
Charles Dickens
Thackeray
Benjamin Disraeli
Captain Frederick Marryat
Charles Lever