Con Game

Bernard Madoff's financial fraud was global, an enormous amount of money was involved, and thousands of people and hundreds of institutions were swindled. Madoff's con game was a Ponzi scheme—an investment that pays returns to early investors from money acquired from subsequent investors.This case study of the Madoff scheme looks at the effects of his crimes on the victims. Elements from a theoretical framework put forward by Erving Goffman provide a perspective for understanding the development and the aftermath of Madoff's con. For example, as Goffman would have put it, Madoff's marks were not cooled out. Many did not accept the fact that they were victims of a con game and publicly clamored for sympathy, restitution, and for public officials to share their perspective.Inside men, ropers, outside men, and victims are at the core of con games. Lionel S. Lewis emphasizes that it is important to understand a con game's characteristics so as to grasp how it operates. The Madoff fraud includes elements of a variety of con games. For a comprehensive study of this economic crime, the case study must be seen as part of the broader social system. Considerably more is known about the dynamics of con games than about Ponzi schemes, and this fact frames this book's approach. To better understand what Madoff did, who was central in keeping his scheme alive, whom he defrauded, and how they reacted, this work is as invaluable as it is illuminating.

Michael Harris’s book about life inside prison is hard-hitting, hair-raising, and certain to be hugely controversial. Con Game shows us that Canadian penitentiaries are effectively run by their inmates. Behind bars, gangs control the booming drug trade and mete out their own rough justice to inmates who break their rules. Guards sit by, prevented from interfering by a succession of court rulings that have limited their authority. Wardens and bureaucrats at Corrections Canada, intent on keeping their desks clean, allow prison murders to be written off as suicides. In this sorry state of affairs, too many people in charge of the corrections system are happy to see inmates kept quiet by illegal narcotics; too many are fudging the figures on recidivism; too many are doing nothing to break up the violent social order that prisoners have formed behind the high walls and razor wires that separates “them” from “us.” Most Canadians know very little about our prisons and have no idea how they function. Michael Harris believes that the top levels of bureaucrats have systematically concealed what is really going on. As a result of his investigations, the truth is now out – and our penal system may never be the same. From the Hardcover edition.

A compelling investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artistsand the people who fall for their cons over and over again.

This case study of the Madoff scheme looks at the effects of his crimes on the victims. Many did not accept the fact that they were victims of a con game and publicly clamored for sympathy, restitution, and for public officials to share their perspective. Considerably more is known about the dynamics of con games than about Ponzi schemes, and this fact frames this book's approach. To better understand what Madoff did, who was central in keeping his scheme alive, whom he defrauded, and how they reacted, this work is as invaluable as it is illuminating.

Are YOU tired of falling for Mr. Wrong? A guide for quick detection of the New Age Man... the Sex Shark, so you avoid becoming his VICTIM and used by him. Learn the 15 ways guys con women!

The biggest challenge facing many game programmers is completing their game. Most game projects fizzle out, overwhelmed by the complexity of their own code. Game Programming Patterns tackles that exact problem. Based on years of experience in shipped AAA titles, this book collects proven patterns to untangle and optimize your game, organized as independent recipes so you can pick just the patterns you need. You will learn how to write a robust game loop, how to organize your entities using components, and take advantage of the CPUs cache to improve your performance. You'll dive deep into how scripting engines encode behavior, how quadtrees and other spatial partitions optimize your engine, and how other classic design patterns can be used in games.

From reality and trash-talk TV shows to sensationalized "black" relationship books, blacks are bombarded with a daily barrage of negative (and false) information about black-on-black love. On the heels of all this "black love is bad" news comes the mainstream media's manufactured cure for black relationship woes: interracial relationships with whites. What is the real agenda behind the promotion of interracial relationships -- and why are black males and females the main targets? "The Interracial Con Game" will provide some interesting and controversial answers -- and some long overdue food for thought. This politically-incorrect book reveals how interracial sex is used as a weapon of mass mind and body destruction and what black males and females must do to ensure our genetic, economic, and psychological survival.