“You’re mad at me, but I am killing you.”—NBA star Gary Payton “Find the hate.”—NFL star Warren Sapp “Why can’t you be more like Rafi Kohan?”—your mom, probably Whether in basketball, football, or MMA, athletes talk trash to each other—and sometimes to fans—like it’s their job. And in some ways, it is: sports only matter if we decide to care about them. And insulting your opponent, or playing the heel, is probably the fastest route to making someone care. Talking smack is as old as the bible; it’s perhaps the original sport. But until now, there’s never been a book about it. In this lively, often hilarious history, Rafi Kohan interviews some of the world’s top competitors—on the petty rivalries and mind games that fuel them. He talks to point guards and soccer strikers, cricketers and insult comedians, forming a theory along the way about the surprising and influential role that name-calling plays in our world. Brilliantly original and wide-ranging, Trash Talk is a book for sports fans, culture mavens, or anyone looking to get an edge.

An eye-opening, illustrated look at something we often take for granted—our trash, and the systems in place that make it disappear (or not) In a world of mass consumption and busy schedules, taking the time to understand our own trash habits can be daunting. In Trash Talk, the ever-curious and talented Iris Gottlieb pulls back the curtain on the intricacies of the global trash production system and its contribution to climate change. From the history of the mafia’s rule of the New York sanitation system to orbital debris (space trash) to the myth of recycling, Gottlieb will help readers see trash in a whole new way. Complete with beautiful illustrations and several landfills’ worth of research, Trash Talk shines a much-needed light on a system that has been broken for far too long, providing readers with surprising, disgusting, and insightful information to better understand how we affect garbage and how it affects us.

What racist rumors about Barack Obama tell us about the intractability of racism in American politics. Barack Obama and his family have been the objects of rumors, legends, and conspiracy theories unprecedented in US politics. Outbreaks of anti-Obama lore have occurred in every national election cycle since 2004 and continue to the present day—two elections after his presidency ended. In Trash Talk, folklorist Patricia A. Turner examines how these thought patterns have grown ever more vitriolic and persistent and what this means for American political culture. Through the lens of attacks on Obama, Trash Talk explores how racist tropes circulate and gain currency. As internet communications expand in reach, rumors and conspiracy theories have become powerful political tools, and new types of lore like the hoax and fake news have taken root. The mainstream press and political establishment dismissed anti-Obama mythology for years, registering concern only when it became difficult to deny how much power those who circulated it could command. Trash Talk demonstrates that the ascendancy of Barack Obama was never a signal of a postracial America.

I want to talk to you. I mean, I want to really talk to you. There is someone in your life who talks a lot of trash. It could be a friend, a brother or sister, a parent, an enemy, a frenemy, a celebrity, a politician, or some random person who is on your last nerve. This person flies under the radar. Her little comments, suggestions, and gestures get under your skin. You heard it. You know you heard it. It felt like a jab, a crack, a shot, but you cant put your finger on it. When he talks to you, you feel attacked, shamed, uncomfortable, or a little bit smaller. This book will help you spot the trash talk, and even better, this book will help you understand the trash talker. I hope you picked up this book because you are the trash talker in your life. Thats right. You. It probably is you, isnt it? Why? Because, I wrote this book for you. I also wrote it for me. Im a trash talker too. Weve all done our share of trash talking. Trash talk is everywhere. And surprise! Well do it again because no one is perfect.

This book looks at the waste products humans create and how they affect the environment. Young readers learn why what you don’t see can hurt you...and also understand the innovative steps they can take now and in the future to make a difference in meeting the challenges posed by the planet’s garbage crisis.

When the Clash of Two Cultures Turns into a Hilarious Lovefest . . . Football, baseball, basketball, hockey—pro athletes revolt! Too many fights, too many problems, lousy image! The commissioners are fed up and players are angry at mandated, educational seminar attendance! But that's what happened, and the commissioners aren't backing down. All pro athletes have to attend a course or seminar unrelated to sports every year. It looks like dark days for the athletes until one of them sees an ad for the upcoming S.E.S. Trash Talk symposium. How perfect is that? None of the athletes knew, or even cared, what S.E.S. was, but trash talk was their specialty. Word of the meeting spread among the athletes like wildfire. They could not apply fast enough. The annual Environmentalist Society Meeting, hosted by the Sarasota Environmentalist Society (S.E.S.), will be a surprise of a lifetime when the world of professional athletes collides with the world of professional environmentalists in an explosion of laughter. What happens next is worth the price of admission! Perfect for Fans of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey

Six girls and guys are invited to be part of a reality television program in New York but the real drama goes on behind the cameras.

How is society being shaped by the diffusion and increasing centrality of the Internet in everyday life and work? By bringing together leading research that addresses some of the most significant cultural, economic, and political roles of the Internet, this volume introduces students to a core set of readings that address this question in specific social and institutional contexts. Internet Studies is a burgeoning new field, which has been central to the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), an innovative multi-disciplinary department at the University of Oxford. Society and the Internet builds on the OII's evolving series of lectures on society and the Internet. The series has been edited to create a reader to supplement upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses that seek to introduce students to scholarship focused on the implications of the Internet for networked societies around the world. The chapters of the reader are rooted in a variety of disciplines, but all directly tackle the powerful ways in which the Internet is linked to political, social, cultural, and economic transformations in society. This book will be a starting point for anyone with a serious interest in the factors shaping the Internet and its impact on society. The book begins with an introduction by the editors, which provides a brief history of the Internet and Web and its study from multi-disciplinary perspectives. The chapters are grouped into six focused sections: The Internet and Everyday Life; Information and Culture on the Line; Networked Politics and Government; Networked Businesses, Industries, and Economies; and Technological and Regulatory Histories and Futures.

The Global Power of Talk explores the power of negotiation and diplomacy in US foreign policy at a critical juncture in US history. Beginning with the failure of US diplomacy in relation to Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s, it shows how a series of diplomatic blunders has laid the foundations for the uninhibited use of 'gun power' over 'talk power' in the last two decades. It critically examines missed opportunities in America's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. In a provocative conclusion, the authors argue that the United States can and should negotiate with the so-called 'unengageables' like Iran, North Korea, and Al-Qaeda, in order to find ways to defuse underlying tensions in the global system.

The history of cable television in America is far older than networks like MTV, ESPN, and HBO, which are so familiar to us today. Tracing the origins of cable TV back to the late 1940s, media scholar John McMurria also locates the roots of many current debates about premium television, cultural elitism, minority programming, content restriction, and corporate ownership. Republic on the Wire takes us back to the pivotal years in which media regulators and members of the viewing public presciently weighed the potential benefits and risks of a two-tiered television system, split between free broadcasts and pay cable service. Digging into rare archives, McMurria reconstructs the arguments of policymakers, whose often sincere advocacy for the public benefits of cable television were fueled by cultural elitism and the priority to maintain order during a period of urban Black rebellions. He also tells the story of the people of color, rural residents, women’s groups, veterans, seniors, and low-income viewers who challenged this reasoning and demanded an equal say over the future of television. By excavating this early cable history, and placing equality at the center of our understanding of media democracy, Republic on the Wire is a real eye-opener as it develops a new methodology for studying media policy in the past and present.