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Profiles in ignorance : how America's politicians got dumb and dumber / by Borowitz, Andy,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Andy Borowitz, "one of the funniest people in America" (CBS Sunday Morning), brilliantly examines the intellectual deterioration of American politics, from Ronald Reagan to Dan Quayle, from George W. Bush to Sarah Palin, to its apotheosis in Donald J. Trump. The winner of the first-ever National Press Club award for humor, Andy Borowitz has been called a "Swiftian satirist" (The Wall Street Journal) and "one of the country's finest satirists" (The New York Times). Millions of fans and New Yorker readers enjoy his satirical news column "The Borowitz Report." Now, in Profiles in Ignorance, he offers a witty, spot-on diagnosis of our country's political troubles by showing how ignorant leaders are degrading, embarrassing, and endangering our nation. Borowitz argues that over the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge, and mass media have encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking. Starting with Ronald Reagan's first campaign for governor of California in 1966 and culminating with the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, Borowitz shows how, during the age of twenty-four-hour news and social media, the US has elected politicians to positions of great power whose lack of the most basic information is terrifying. In addition to Reagan, Quayle, Bush, Palin, and Trump, Borowitz covers a host of congresspersons, senators, and governors who have helped lower the bar over the past five decades. Profiles in Ignorance aims to make us both laugh and cry: laugh at the idiotic antics of these public figures, and cry at the cataclysms these icons of ignorance have caused. But most importantly, the book delivers a call to action and a cause for optimism: History doesn't move in a straight line, and we can change course if we act now.
Subjects: Politicians; Politicians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Lethal prey [text (large print)] / by Sandford, John,1944 February 23-author.;
"Doris Grandfelt, an employee at an accounting firm, was brutally stabbed to death ... but nobody knew exactly where the crime took place. Her body was found the next night, dumped among a dense thicket of trees along the edge of an urban park, eight miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite her twin sister Lara Grandfelt's persistent calls to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the killer was never found. Twenty years later, Lara has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Confronted with the possibility of her own death, she's determined to find Doris's killer once and for all. Finally taking matters into her own hands, she dumps the entire investigative file on every true-crime site in the world and offers a $5 million reward for information leading to the killer's arrest. Dozens of true-crime bloggers show up looking for both new evidence and "clicks," and Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to review anything that might be a new lead. When one of the bloggers locates the murder weapon, Lucas and Virgil begin to uncover vital details about the killer's identity. But what they don't know is the killer lurks in plain sight, and with the true-crime bloggers blasting every clue online, the killer can keep one step ahead. As the nation maneuvers the detectives closer to the truth, Lucas and Virgil will find that digging up Doris's harrowing past might just get them buried instead."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Large print books.; Novels.; Davenport, Lucas (Fictitious character); Flowers, Virgil (Fictitious character); Bloggers; Cold cases (Criminal investigation); Government investigators; Murder; Sisters; Twin sisters; United States marshals;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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We believe you : survivors of campus sexual assault speak out / by Clark, Annie E.; Pino, Andrea L.;
Includes bibliographical references."From young activists at the forefront of the movement to end sexual assault on college campuses, a collection of survivor stories that will connect with students and inform and inspire us all Across the U.S. student activists are exposing a pervasive cover-up of sexual assault on college campuses. Every day more survivors come forward. But other survivors choose not to. We Believe You elevates the stories the headlines about this issue have been missing--more than 30 experiences of trauma, healing and everyday activism, representing a diversity of races, economic and family backgrounds, gender identities, immigration statuses, interests, capacities and loves. More than 1 in 5 women and 5 percent of men are sexually assaulted at college, a shocking status quo that might have stayed largely hidden and unaddressed but for the two authors of We Believe You. In 2013, Annie E. Clark and Andrea L. Pino, then 23 and 20, building on the work of earlier activists, outed themselves as assault survivors and filed a federal complaint against the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) for mishandling such crimes; within a month, the U.S. government began to investigate UNC. Within a year, dozens of colleges were under federal investigation. But Clark and Pino rightly see themselves as two among many. Students from every kind of college and university--large and small, public and private, highly selective and less so--are sounding alarms and staking claims to justice by filing complaints, by pressing charges, and by simply living beyond the effects of assault and the betrayals of their schools. A sampling of their voices speak out in this book"--Provided by publisher.LSC
Subjects: Rape in universities and colleges; Women college students; Rape victims;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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They knew : how a culture of conspiracy keeps America complacent / by Kendzior, Sarah,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The truth may hurt-but the lies will kill us. In They Knew, New York Times best-selling author Sarah Kendzior explores the United States' "culture of conspiracy," putting forth a timely and unflinching argument: uncritical faith in broken institutions is as dangerous as false narratives peddled by propagandists. Conspiracy theories are on the rise because officials refuse to enforce accountability for real conspiracies. They Knew discusses conspiracy culture in a rapidly declining United States struggling with corruption, climate change, and other crises. As the actions of the powerful remain shrouded in mystery-like the Jeffrey Epstein operation-it is unsurprising that people turn to conspiracy theories to fill the informational void. They Knew exposes the tactics these powerful actors use to placate an inquisitive public. In Kendzior's signature whip smart prose and eviscerating arguments, They Knew unearths decades of buried American history, providing an essential and critical look at how to rebuild our democracy by confronting the political lies and crimes that have shaped us"--
Subjects: Conspiracy theories; Social conflict;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The big short [videorecording] / by Bale, Christian,1974-actor.; Carell, Steve,1963-actor.; Gosling, Ryan,1980-actor.; McKay, Adam,1968-screenwriter,film director.; Pitt, Brad,1963-actor.; Randolph, Charles,screenwriter.; motion picture adaptation of (work):Lewis, Michael(Michael M.).Big short.Videorecording.; Paramount Pictures, Inc.,publisher.;
Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Marisa Tomei, Jeffry Griffin, Finn Wittrock, Karen Gillan.Originally produced as a motion picture in 2015.The financial meltdown from the perspective of a number of players: Michael Burry, a bizarre autistic-like stock-picking genius, and the first to realize that the market's housing boom is based on a "house of cards" sham; Mark Baum, self-loathing fictional character whose firm picks up insider trading information from a wrong number phone call; Jarred Vennet, a smart-aleck broker who confirms the ominous suspicion; and Charles Gellar and James Shipley, small-time players who hit it big.Canadian Home Video Rating: 14A.Blu-ray disc (requires Blu-ray player for playback) ; anamorphic widescreen format (1.85:1 aspect ratio); DTS:X, DTS Headphone:X ; Dolby digital 5.1.
Subjects: Feature films.; Finance; Financial crises; Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009; Video recordings for people with visual disabilities.; Video recordings for the hearing impaired.;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A woman of intelligence / by Tanabe, Karin,author.;
"From "a master of historical fiction" (NPR), Karin Tanabe's A Woman of Intelligence is an exhilarating tale of post-war New York City, and one remarkable woman's journey from the United Nations, to the cloistered drawing rooms of Manhattan society, to the secretive ranks of the FBI. A Fifth Avenue address, parties at the Plaza, two healthy sons, and the ideal husband: what looks like a perfect life for Katharina Edgeworth is anything but. It's 1954, and the post-war American dream has become a nightmare. A born and bred New Yorker, Katharina is the daughter of immigrants, Ivy-League-educated, and speaks four languages. As a single girl in 1940s Manhattan, she is a translator at the newly formed United Nations, devoting her days to her work and the promise of world peace-and her nights to cocktails and the promise of a good time. Now the wife of a beloved pediatric surgeon and heir to a shipping fortune, Katharina is trapped in a gilded cage, desperate to escape the constraints of domesticity. So when she is approached by the FBI and asked to join their ranks as an informant, Katharina seizes the opportunity. A man from her past has become a high-level Soviet spy, but no one has been able to infiltrate his circle. Enter Katharina, the perfect woman for the job. Navigating the demands of the FBI and the secrets of the KGB, she becomes a courier, carrying stolen government documents from D.C. to Manhattan. But as those closest to her lose their covers, and their lives, Katharina's secret soon threatens to ruin her. With the fast-paced twists of a classic spy thriller, and a nuanced depiction of female experience, A Woman of Intelligence shimmers with intrigue and desire"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Historical fiction.; Spy fiction.; United Nations. General Assembly; Translators; Women spies;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The paper birds : a novel / by Lynes, Jeanette,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Set in the sweltering summer of 1943 in Toronto, The Paper Birds, is a novel about Gemma Sullivan, who works in a top-secret government codebreaking unit in Mimico, Ontario, during World War II. Gemma is an orphan, who was raised by her elderly aunt Wren after the death of her parents. Her aunt harbors of a deep love of crosswords and Tarot cards and an equally passionate hatred for war since the death of her own fiancée in WWI. While they are barely making ends meet, the last thing Wren would want for her niece is a job that involves anything to do with the war. It's a good thing then that Gemma's new job is top secret. Gemma is hired to work at The Cottage, where she and her female colleagues labour under a lifelong oath of secrecy, breaking codes and administering top secret information during the war. On the shores of Lake Ontario, close to Gemma's workplace, there is also a POW camp where Gemma encounters a prisoner named Tobias. She talks to Tobias through the fence even though she's at risk of losing her job, or worse, if she's caught fraternizing with the enemy. After several weeks of risky conversations, Tobias disappears from the camp. As Gemma is pulled deeper into her cryptology work, she becomes an integral part of the codebreakers' circle. While she loves her work, Gem didn't anticipate the tremendous psychological strain it would take. The job threatens to drive a wedge between Gem and her beloved aunt, as she struggles with the burden of secrecy. When Gemma unexpectedly runs into Tobias outside of the prison, Gemma's world is turned upside down and they are both forced to confront the secrets they've been keeping from each other. The Paper Birds is a love story that reveals the struggles and sacrifices of every day working women during the war and highlights the previously unknown codebreaking work undertaken by women in Canada during WWII."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Cryptographers; Cryptography; Interpersonal relations; Man-woman relationships; Secrecy; World War, 1939-1945; Young women;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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COVID-19 : the pandemic that never should have happened and how to stop the next one / by MacKenzie, Debora,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Over the last 30 years of epidemics and pandemics, we learned every lesson needed to stop this coronavirus outbreak in its tracks. We heeded almost none of them. The result is a pandemic on a scale never before seen in our lifetimes. In this captivating, authoritative, and eye-opening book, science journalist Debora MacKenzie lays out the full story of how and why it happened: the previous viruses that should have prepared us, the shocking public health failures that paved the way, the failure to contain the outbreak, and most importantly, what we must do to prevent future pandemics. Debora MacKenzie has been reporting on emerging diseases for more than three decades, and she draws on that experience to explain how COVID-19 went from a potentially manageable outbreak to a global pandemic. Offering a compelling history of the most significant recent outbreaks, including SARS, MERS, H1N1, Zika, and Ebola, she gives a crash course in Epidemiology 101--how viruses spread and how pandemics end--and outlines the lessons we failed to learn from each past crisis. In vivid detail, she takes us through the arrival and spread of COVID-19, making clear the steps that governments knew they could have taken to prevent or at least prepare for this. Looking forward, MacKenzie makes a bold, optimistic argument: this pandemic might finally galvanize the world to take viruses seriously. Fighting this pandemic and preventing the next one will take political action of all kinds, globally, from governments, the scientific community, and individuals--but it is possible. No one has yet brought together our knowledge of COVID-19 in a comprehensive, informative, and accessible way. But that story can already be told, and Debora MacKenzie's urgent telling is required reading for these times and beyond. It is too early to say where the COVID-19 pandemic will go, but it is past time to talk about what went wrong and how we can do better"--
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); Coronaviruses.; Coronavirus infections; Communicable diseases; Communicable diseases; Epidemics; Emerging infectious diseases;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Navigating life with Parkinson's disease / by Parashos, Sotirios A.,author.; Wichmann, Rose L.,author.; American Academy of Neurology.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."It is hard to believe it has been only 7 years since the publication of our first edition. In this short time, so much has changed in what we know about Parkinson's disease and how to treat it. As I read through the first edition, I found much information was already out of date within 4 years from publication. New knowledge about the role of protein misfolding and how it leads to nerve cell damage in Parkinson's, about when and where the disease may be starting, about how it may progress and spread through the brain, about how it affects almost all aspects of body functions, about how all this new knowledge is shaping the quest for a cure, about how important exercise is, and about how the multidisciplinary approach to disease management changes the quality of life of people with Parkinson's has been accumulating at a dizzying pace. More than 200 years after the publication of Parkinson's An Essay on the Shaking Palsy and just over 50 years after the implementation of levodopa in Parkinson's treatment, it looks as though scientists are poised to make a breakthrough toward effective treatments of the disease itself, not just the symptoms, and paths that may eventually lead to a cure are now visible. Such progress would be impossible without the hard work of many researchers; the financial support of the corresponding government agencies; the advocacy of national and international Parkinson's organizations and the philanthropy of their donors; and the tireless efforts and open minds of the doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers caring for people with Parkinson's and their families. Above all, none of this progress would be possible without the active participation of people with Parkinson's and their families through advocacy, community engagement, and participation in clinical trials. To them we would like to extend a great "thank you"."--
Subjects: Parkinson's disease; Parkinson's disease; Self-care, Health.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Outrage machine : how tech amplifies discontent, disrupts democracy--and what we can do about it / by Rose-Stockwell, Tobias,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Over the last two decades, there has been an inescapable rise of anger and aggression across our planet. Hate speech has become increasingly prevalent online, Western governments are turning towards authoritarianism and populism, and extremist groups are rising across both the left and the right ends of the political spectrum. Every day, it seems, we're hearing more angry voices and fearful opinions, we're seeing more threats and frightening news, and we're reacting faster and less rationally. The cause is hidden in plain sight: for the first time, almost all of the information we consume as a species is being controlled and curated by algorithms designed to capture our emotional attention. This, media researcher and strategic advisor Tobias Rose-Stockwell argues, is the outrage machine. It is the wide-cast net of social media that is propelled by tech, has been exploited by all of us, and which has been allowed to steadily replace our newspapers, emergency communication systems, town halls, churches, and more. In the vein of The Righteous Mind and Factfulness, Outrage Machine is a big-think book that explores the unintended consequences of this alarming shift in today's smartphone era--and shows us how to navigate the world we now live in. First, he explains how and why we've become addicted to not just technology, but outrage itself. Since social media algorithms now favor the most inflammatory content because it gets the highest engagement, the levels of righteousness, certainty, and extreme judgment in our daily interactions have increased as well. Next, he shows us why we're more prone to panic, and how the immediate dispersion of our panic can be more dangerous than the threat itself-and can bypass necessary confirmation of the accuracy and potential harm of this information. Rose-Stockwell also explores how the original intent of many of our social tools has been compromised, from improving click-through rates for charitable causes to catalyzing our current culture of click-baiting and sensationalism on an unparalleled scale. Fortunately, Outrage Machine is not just a warning--it's also a critical guide that clearly explains the underlying machinery that has come to control us, and a compass to help guide people toward reflection rather than reaction. The culmination of 15 years of research and inquiry, this book gives readers a language with which to comprehend what is happening to society, and offers new mental models for how to manage our time, our technology, and our attention. It also offers big-picture recommendations for how to redesign these platforms, as well as methods for fixing this broken system before it "fixes" us"--
Subjects: Democracy.; Information society.; Social media; Social media.; Hate;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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