POINTING IS RUDE


Book Description

Five-time Emmy Award-winning television producer Digger O'Brien gets to the heart of being a dad in his brave debut memoir, Pointing Is Rude. When his son Frederick was diagnosed with Autism, Digger embarked on an exhausting, emotional, and often comical journey to find a cure, visiting several prestigious hospitals and a long list of specialists-including one who referred to himself as -The Poop Whisperer.- Digger's poignant and occasionally outrageous adventures hit multiple dead ends before taking off in a surprising new direction with the adoption of an infant boy from Ethiopia. Pointing Is Rude chronicles how one person beat back despair and, in doing so, opened up endless possibilities. It's a book that will make you laugh and cry, often on the same page. *******-An honest, riveting work...told with wry wit...that will enlighten and offer hope to readers.- --Kirkus Reviews******* ******* -The story within Pointing Is Rude breaks your heart, as a father or just as a human being. But then Digger O'Brien and his family lift you up, with their strength, their love, and their good humor about the challenge at the center of their lives. This extraordinary book is less about autism than it is about the beautiful power of family.- --Willie Geist, Host of NBC's TODAY and Morning Joe******* ******* -People know me as the longtime Dallas Cowboys quarterback and now a FOX broadcaster but my most important job is dad; Pointing Is Rude provides a great playbook for any parent on how to handle life's ups and downs with humor and grace.- --Troy Aikman, 3-time Super Bowl Champion, Pro Football Hall of Fame 2006******* ******* -Pointing Is Rude illuminates the challenges, triumphs, heartbreaks and joys of parenting a child with autism with such candor and wit that every reader will feel they have lived the O'Briens' remarkable journey... and feel lucky to be a part of this extraordinary family.- --Ron Suskind, author of Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes and Autism******* ******* -As a father, grandfather and sporting icon who has always tried to use my fame to help children all over the world, I can appreciate Pointing Is Rude and the lessons it offers people everywhere. All children are a gift from God. I celebrate this family as they fully embrace their life journey by welcoming a young boy from Africa--a part of the world that has always been close to my heart--to take their journey with them. I encourage everyone to read this wonderful story.- --PelE, Soccer's only 3-time World Cup winner, FIFA's -Football Player of the Century, Time Magazine's -Top 20 Most Important People of the 20th Century- *******




The Lewd, the Rude and the Nasty


Book Description

In addition to thin concepts like the good, the bad and the ugly, our evaluative thought and talk appeals to thick concepts like the lewd and the rude, the selfish and the cruel, the courageous and the kind -- concepts that somehow combine evaluation and non-evaluative description. Thick concepts are almost universally assumed to be inherently evaluative in content, and many philosophers claimed them to have deep and distinctive significance in ethics and metaethics. In this first book-length treatment of thick concepts, Pekka Väyrynen argues that all this is mistaken. Through detailed attention to the language of thick concepts, he defends a novel theory on which the relationship between thick words and evaluation is best explained by general conversational and pragmatic norms. Drawing on general principles in philosophy of language, he argues that many prominent features of thick words and concepts can be explained by general factors that have nothing in particular to do with being evaluative. If evaluation is not essential to the sort of thinking we do with thick concepts, claims for the deep and distinctive significance of the thick are undermined. The Lewd, the Rude and the Nasty is a fresh and innovative treatment of an important topic in moral philosophy and sets a new agenda for future work. It will be essential reading to anyone interested in the analysis and the broader philosophical significance of evaluative and normative language. "Väyrynen presents an extremely well researched, highly innovative, and yet very careful and highly polished treatment of an extremely hot area in philosophy. The book is tightly argued but engagingly written. I would hold it up as a model philosophy monograph. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that this book will be widely influential and admired. Indeed, it could easily become a classic." - Brad Hooker, University of Reading "For the past few decades thick concepts have received much attention in metaethical discussions, but Väyrynen's book is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject. Väyrynen skillfully uses tools from philosophy of language in order to sharpen and advance the discussion of thick concepts. The book will be essential reading not only to anyone interested in the specific topic of thick concepts but also to anyone who is concerned with the analysis of normative language generally. It is a very good paradigm of linguistically informed metaethics." - Matti Eklund, Cornell University




Michelangelo’s Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence


Book Description

A renowned British public intellectual illustrates how our unique ability to point the index finger has shaped our amazing evolutionary pathway as humansIn this startlingly original and persuasive book, Raymond Tallis shows that it is easy to underestimate the influence of small things in determining what manner of creatures humans are. He argues that the independent movement of the human index finger is one such easily overlooked factor. Indeed, not for nothing is the index finger called the “forefinger.” It is the finger we most naturally deploy when we want to pry objects out of small spaces, but it plays a far more significant role in an action unique to us among primates: pointing.Tallis argues that it is through pointing that the index finger made a significant contribution to the development of humans and to the creation of a human world separate from the rest of the natural world. Observing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the hugely familiar and awkward encounter between Michelangelo’s God and Man through their index fingers, Tallis identifies the artist’s intuitive awareness of the central role of the index finger in making us unique. Just as the reaching index fingers of God and Man are here made central to the creation of our kind, so Tallis believes that the seemingly simple act of pointing, which is used in a wide variety of ways, is central to our extraordinary evolution.




How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain


Book Description

Historian and popular BBC TV presenter Ruth Goodman, author of How to Be a Tudor, offers up a history of Renaissance Britain - the offensive language, insulting gestures, insolent behaviour, brawling and scandal of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - with practical tips on just how to horrify the Tudor neighbours.




Pointing


Book Description

Pointing has captured the interest of scholars from various fields who study communication. However, ideas and findings have been scattered across diverse publications in different disciplines, and opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange have been very limited. The editor's aim is to provide an arena for such exchange by bringing together papers on pointing gestures from disciplines, such as developmental psychology, psycholinguistics, sign-language linguistics, linguistic anthropology, conversational analysis, and primatology. Questions raised by the editors include: *Do chimpanzees produce and comprehend pointing gestures in the same way as humans? *What are cross-cultural variations of pointing gestures? *In what sense are pointing gestures human universal? *What is the relationship between the development of pointing and language in children? *What linguistic roles do pointing gestures play in signed language? *Why do speakers sometimes point to seemingly empty space in front of them during conversation? *How do pointing gestures contribute to the unfolding of face-to-face interaction that involves objects in the environment? *What are the semiotic processes that relate what is pointed at and what is actually "meant" by the pointing gesture (the relationship between the two are often not as simple as one might think)? *Do pointing gestures facilitate the production of accompanying speech? The volume can be used as a required text in a course on gestural communication with multidisciplinary perspectives. It can also be used as a supplemental text in an advanced undergraduate or graduate course on interpersonal communication, cross-cultural communication, language development, and psychology of language.




Life, Animated


Book Description

Now an award winning motion picture! Imagine being trapped inside a Disney movie and having to learn about life mostly from animated characters dancing across a screen of color. A fantasy? A nightmare? This is the real-life story of Owen Suskind, the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind and his wife, Cornelia. An autistic boy who couldn't speak for years, Owen memorized dozens of Disney movies, turned them into a language to express love and loss, kinship, brotherhood.The family was forced to become animated characters, communicating with him in Disney dialogue and song; until they all emerge, together, revealing how, in darkness, we all literally need stories to survive. This edition has been updated with additional material from the Suskind family.




Rude Hand Gestures of the World


Book Description

With this illustrated guide, discover what hand gestures can offend others around the world—and whether you avoid making them or not is up to you. A hand gesture is arguably the most effective form of expression, whether you’re defaming a friend’s mother or telling a perfect stranger to get lost. Learn how to go beyond just flipping the bird with this illustrated guide to rude hand gestures all around the world, from asking for sex in the Middle East to calling someone crazy in Italy. Detailed photographs of hand models and subtle tips for proper usage make Rude Hand Gestures of the World the perfect companion for globe-trotters looking to offend. “If you’ve resolved to make the most of your travels, a copy of Rude Hand Gestures of the World to know what gestures you should avoid while abroad. Better safe than sorry!” —Buzzfeed




Born Just Right


Book Description

From tween advocate for limb difference and founder of Project Unicorn Jordan Reeves and her mom, Jen, comes an inspiring memoir about how every kid is perfect just the way they are. When Jordan Reeves was born without the bottom half of her left arm, the doctors reassured her parents that she was “born just right.” And she has been proving that doctor right ever since! With candor, humor, and heart, Jordan’s mother, Jen Lee Reeves, helps Jordan tell her story about growing up in an able-bodied world and family, where she was treated like all of her siblings and classmates—and where she never felt limited. Whether it was changing people’s minds about her capabilities, trying all kinds of sports, or mentoring other kids, Jordan has channeled any negativity into a positive, and is determined to create more innovations for people just like her. Her most famous invention, aptly called Project Unicorn, is a special prosthetic (that shoots glitter!) made with the help of a 3-D printer. A real-life superhero, Jordan is changing the world with her foundation, Born Just Right, which advocates and celebrates kids with differences, and helps them live their best possible life—just like Jordan is today!




Do Not Open


Book Description

Psst! Want to know a secret? Do you dare open me up? Because inside you'll find the incredible TRUTH about mind-boggling confidential stuff 'they' don't want you to know! And wanna know something else? Now, my New York Times-Bestselling self is an ebook!! Find out where the Bermuda Triangle is, whether alien abductions actually happen, and the truth about crop circles. Explore lost worlds, unravel secret codes, marvel at mysterious places and meet spooks, spies, secret keepers and scandal makers of the world. When you've finished riddle solving, close me up in my funky cage so no one else can get at my secrets! But ssh! Don't tell a soul.




Rude Bitches Make Me Tired


Book Description

In this always sensible and mildly profane etiquette manual for the modern age Celia Rivenbark addresses real-life quandaries ranging from how to deal with braggy playground moms to wondering if you can have sex in your aunt's bed on vacation to correctly grieving the dearly departed (hint: it doesn't include tattoos or truck decals). Rude Bitches Make Me Tired will provide answers to all your mannerly questions as Celia discusses the social conundrums of our day and age, including: Navigating the agonies of check splitting ("Who had the gorgonzola crumbles and should we really care?")The baffling aspects of airline travel (such as "Recline Monster" and other animals)The art of the visit (always leave them wanting more . . . much more)Gym and locker etiquette (hint: no one wants to talk to you while you're buck naked)Office manners ("Loud talkers, cake hawkers, and Britney Sue's unfortunate cyst")And much more! Good manners have never been so wickedly funny!




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