Stupid California
Stupid California

Author: Leland Gregory

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Published: 2010-04-13

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1449400361

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Best-selling author Leland Gregory--who has so entertainingly highlighted humanity's stupidity in the areas of crime, business, love, politics, cruelty, and history--is back with Stupid California. This time, Gregory builds a case for the common suspicion that Californians, from movie moguls to beach bums, have a special affinity for idiocy. Culled from print, online, and broadcast sources, Stupid California is a hilarious collection of true stories, trivia, and factoids about the Golden State, such as: * "California's state animal is the California grizzly bear, which is also on the state flag. The bear was honored in 1953, a full 31 years after the last known bear in the state was killed." * "During the 1980s, in a bold stroke against terrorism, the Chico City Council banned nuclear weapons, enacting a mandatory $500 fine for anyone detonating a nuclear weapon within city limits." Silly, shocking, weird, and amusing, Stupid California is ideal for both kinds of people--those who love California and those who hate it.

California Crackup
California Crackup

Author: Joe Mathews

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2010-08-04

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 0520947088

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Is California beyond repair? A sizable number of Golden State citizens have concluded that it is. Incessant budget crises plus a government paralyzed by partisan gridlock have led to demands for reform, even a constitutional convention. But what, exactly, is wrong and how can we fix it? In California Crackup, Joe Mathews and Mark Paul provide clear and informed answers. Their fast-paced and often humorous narrative deftly exposes the constitutional origins of our current political and economic problems and furnishes a uniquely California fix: innovative solutions that allow Californians to debate their choices, settle on the best ones, hold elected officials accountable for results, and choose anew if something doesn’t work.

State of Resistance
State of Resistance

Author: Manuel Pastor

Publisher: The New Press

Published: 2018-04-03

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1620973308

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“Concise, clear and convincing. . . a vision for the country as a whole.” —James Fallows, The New York Times Book Review A leading sociologist's brilliant and revelatory argument that the future of politics, work, immigration, and more may be found in California Once upon a time, any mention of California triggered unpleasant reminders of Ronald Reagan and right-wing tax revolts, ballot propositions targeting undocumented immigrants, and racist policing that sparked two of the nation's most devastating riots. In fact, California confronted many of the challenges the rest of the country faces now—decades before the rest of us. Today, California is leading the way on addressing climate change, low-wage work, immigrant integration, overincarceration, and more. As white residents became a minority and job loss drove economic uncertainty, California had its own Trump moment twenty-five years ago, but has become increasingly blue over each of the last seven presidential elections. How did the Golden State manage to emerge from its unsavory past to become a bellwether for the rest of the country? Thirty years after Mike Davis's hellish depiction of California in City of Quartz, the award-winning sociologist Manuel Pastor guides us through a new and improved California, complete with lessons that the nation should heed. Inspiring and expertly researched, State of Resistance makes the case for honestly engaging racial anxiety in order to address our true economic and generational challenges, a renewed commitment to public investments, the cultivation of social movements and community organizing, and more.

Memoir of a Stupid Jerk-head Face
Memoir of a Stupid Jerk-head Face

Author: Tom Carmody

Publisher: Parousia Media

Published: 2023-06-29

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13:

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Hilarious, at times touching, but always fun and exuberant, this book tells the story of a life few, if they could, would dare to live. It’s Tom Carmody’s. A life that sprang from talent-fertile ground - a low income Irish/Italian immigrant family in Revere, Mass that then swiveled and shook in his mid-twenties when he began earning what some might say was far too much money for a guy his age. But, with a knack for the stupid and untamed, it was just enough for he and his friends to begin having one great time – one insane time - one spontaneously stupid time that spanned decades and ran madly from coast to coast, and he, alone, from continent to continent. Known as either The Duke of Prunes/Dukey or just plane Duke, for short, he’s left huge footprints on 41 different countries, had the beginnings of a Hollywood movie career, (was beat out by Val Kilmer for the part of Jim Morrison), plays incredible piano and guitar, but can’t read a note, even met a couple angels along the way, one of them in Penny Loafers while he was assaulting the Himalayas at 17,000 feet. Then there’s athletics. Can make a lot of noise playing basketball (still takes two to cover him), baseball, football, hockey and golf just to name a few. A die-hard Celtics fan, once scouted by the Boston Red Sox, attending and pranking one Super Bowl after another (wait till you read the story about the Super Bowl garbage truck). And with all that money, all that stupidity, he’s accumulated lots of true, though stupid, stories that literally trip over one celebrity after another. He was even there when Natalie Wood met her controversial death. This is also the love story between Dukey and Pam, a love that took 13 years to get to the altar. But above all, it's the story of a guy who, through the untamed and the unlimited, learned the importance of the real and disciplined, and started Out Alive Prison Ministry – www.outalivePM.com. Don't miss this Roller Coaster. Buy, read, laugh through, and just savor, Memoir of a Stupid Jerk-head Face.

Crossing California
Crossing California

Author: Adam Langer

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2005-05-03

Total Pages: 516

ISBN-13: 1440628297

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Crossing California is a cinematic and unforgettable look at the end of an era, the turning point when the idealism of the sixties gave way to the pragmatism of the eighties. California Avenue, in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood, separates the upper-middle-class Jewish families on the west from the mostly middle-class Jewish households east of the divide. This funny and heartbreaking novel, which spans the Iran hostage crisis through the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as president, tells the story of three families and their teenage children living on either side of California. It follows their loves, heartaches, friendships, and losses during a memorable and defining moment of American history.

Eccentric California
Eccentric California

Author: Jan Friedman

Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9781841621265

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Jan Friedman's Eccentric America proved that the most unlikely events and landmarks could become tourist attractions. This award-winning title is dedicated to the sheer lunacy of California and her citizens, covering the biggest, the best, the wackiest and weirdest of the state's people and places. From art-car and golf-cart parades to the Valentine's Day Sex Tour at the San Francisco Zoo; from a festival that moons Amtrak to a town with its own language; from obsessed collectors of Pez, yo-yos, and bananas to kitschy theme motels and a man who built a three-storey mountain out of hay, adobe, and old paint. Eccentric California takes an in-depth look at one very peculiar place.

Unusually Stupid Americans
Unusually Stupid Americans

Author: Kathryn Petras

Publisher: Villard

Published: 2007-12-18

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0307417611

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A hilarious collection of lists, statistics, news items, quotations, and facts detailing stupid acts of Americans from all walks of life—by the authors of the bestselling The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said Everyone knows that America is “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” but sometimes that means we’re free to be as bravely stupid as we want! In Unusually Stupid Americans, Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras assemble choice bits of stupidity, U.S.A.-style, including •the top seriously flawed American advertising moments, including Pacific Airlines’ brilliant “You’re scared of flying? So’s our pilot!” ad campaign, which led the airline to bankruptcy within two months of the campaign’s inception •the Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration in Florida, where a plaque was un-veiled that was intended to honor the actor James Earl Jones but instead read, “Thank you James Earl Ray for keeping the dream alive” (an unfortunate slip-up, as James Earl Ray was King’s assassin) •and much more!

Indians of California
Indians of California

Author: James J. Rawls

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9780806120201

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Describes changing white views of native California Indians as Spanish victims, useful laborers, and, finally, obstacles to white expansion

The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World
The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World

Author: Matt Kracht

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2022-01-04

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1797213415

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Let's face it—all birds are fascinating, wonderful, idiotic jerks—no matter where in the world they reside. Following in the footsteps of the bestselling book The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, this hilarious sequel ventures beyond to identify the stupidest birds around the world. Featuring birds from North and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, author Matt Kracht identifies the dumb birds that manage to live all over the freaking place with snarky, yet accurate, names and humorous, anger-filled drawings. This guide book details exactly how much these morons suck with facts about each bird's (annoying) call, its (stupid) migratory pattern, and its (downright tacky) markings. Complete with a matching game, bird descriptor checklist, tips on how to identify a bird (you can tell a lot by looking into a bird's eyes, for example), this profanity-laden book offers a balance of fact and wit that will appeal to hardcore birders and casual bird lovers (and haters) alike. A MUST-HAVE: A must-have sequel to the bestselling parody book The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America. UNIQUE & LAUGH-OUT-LOUD FUNNY: This is a great coffee table or bar top conversation-starting book. And a bonus, while the content is humorous, it is practical and useful! A GREAT PRESENT: This is the perfect gift for the bird lovers and haters in your life. It also makes a great Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthday, retirement, or gag gift. Perfect for: • Birdwatching and nature enthusiasts • Armchair birders (or nonbirders) • Someone who needs a quirky gift for an animal lover friend • People with serious birders in their lives who want something lighthearted

California
California

Author: Edan Lepucki

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2014-07-08

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0316250821

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The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable in the face of hardship and isolation. Mourning a past they can't reclaim, they seek solace in each other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant. Terrified of the unknown and unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses dangers of its own. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust. A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and deep-seated resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love. "In her arresting debut novel, Edan Lepucki conjures a lush, intricate, deeply disturbing vision of the future, then masterfully exploits its dramatic possibilities."-Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad