Are you considering alternatives to your traditional cable plan, but don’t know where to start? Cord-cutting, as it’s become known, has many potential cost benefits, but it’s important for you to do your research before severing ties with your cable provider. The library has many free tools to help you make a decision based on your household’s enjoyment of movies and TV shows.
High-Speed Internet Connection
Before going the cord-cutter route, you need to check the speed of your home’s internet connection and wireless router. You’ll need an internet speed of at least 8 megabits per second (Mbps) for standard high quality video. Additionally, Consumer Reports recommends investing in a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) router so that your high-speed internet is efficiently broadcast throughout your home. The most direct method of confirming your internet speed and router model is to call your internet service provider.
Streaming Media Devices
Next, you’ll want to examine the type of device you’ll be using to stream movies and TV shows. Perhaps you already have a television with built-in Wi-Fi, also known as a smart TV. If so, that may be all you need to get started. Continue reading “Is Cord-Cutting Right for You?”
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“The Farewell”
Website / Reviews
Playing earlier this year at Ragtag Cinema, this fictional film follows Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi as she reluctantly returns to China to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell her. To assure her happiness, they gather under the joyful guise of an expedited wedding, uniting family members scattered among new homes abroad. Continue reading “New DVD List: The Farewell & More”
Rinker Buck purchased a team of three mules and a wagon to travel from Missouri to Oregon with his brother … in 2011. While traversing dangerous terrain, dodging interstates and chasing mules in slippers, Rinker brings the early Oregon trail pioneer’s stories to life in the book “The Oregon Trail” by describing his own modern challenges, and then comparing them to the challenges that the pioneers faced. Woven throughout the book are his memories of his father, giving the book a personal touch I was not expecting. While much of the book is serious, humor is sprinkled throughout, making it an entertaining read.
Three words that describe this book: Entertaining, educational, personal
You might want to pick this book up if: you enjoy American history, travel, or enjoy reading about unusual adventures.
-Julia
On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made their first successful airplane flight on a beach in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It lasted a mere 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. There would be three more flights that day, the longest totaling 59 seconds and covering 852 feet. But Wilbur and Orville Wright were certainly not the first humans to dream of flight, or even to attempt it. Wilbur Wright put it best:
“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who…looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space…on the infinite highway of the air.”
Long before the Wright brothers had ever dreamed of a flying machine that would carry a person into the air, the first aeronauts had already left solid ground behind. In “The Balloonists” L.T.C. Rolt reveals the story of another pair of brothers who had their hearts set on flight. The Montgolfier brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne, made history in 1783 with the first hot air balloon flight; others soon followed them into the skies. Rolt draws from journals and contemporary accounts to recount the lives and exploits of these early balloonists who paved the way for the Wright brothers. Continue reading “Literary Links: A Brief History of Human Flight”
A growing number of people find the idea of bringing a child into the world a fraught decision, because of both the world the child might inherit, and their potential impact on a struggling world. A recent spate of articles on the subject of childbearing in the context of a climate crisis reveals how widespread this feeling has become. Terms like “anti-natalist,” and groups like BirthStrike, are becoming more mainstream. Yet, children like Greta Thunberg are also being applauded for their leadership and held up as symbols of hope. So much so that Ms. Thunberg felt compelled to chastise the older generation for this at the United Nations. It is not uncommon for people to burden children with hopes and fears for the future. As anxiety about the future increases, so does this burden. Continue reading “Know Your Dystopias: The Hard Tomorrow”
As we approach the end of the year, the list of books by debut fiction authors continues to shrink, but there are still some gems coming out in December. And as always, please visit our catalog for the complete list.
“All That’s Bright and Gone” by Eliza Nellums
I know my brother is dead. But sometimes Mama gets confused.
There’s plenty about the grownup world that 6-year-old Aoife doesn’t understand. Like what happened to her big brother Theo and why her mama is in the hospital instead of home where she belongs. Uncle Donny says she just needs to be patient, but Aoife’s sure her mama won’t be able to come home until Aoife learns what really happened to her brother. The trouble is no one wants to talk about Theo because he was murdered. But by whom?
With her imaginary friend Teddy by her side and the detecting skills of her nosy next door neighbor, Aoife sets out to uncover the truth about her family. But as her search takes her from the banks of Theo’s secret hideout by the river to the rooftops overlooking Detroit, Aoife will learn that some secrets can’t stay hidden forever and sometimes the pain we bury is the biggest secret of them all.
Driven by Aoife’s childlike sincerity and colored by her vivid imagination, “All That’s Bright and Gone” illuminates the unshakeable bond between families — and the lengths we’ll go to bring our loved ones home.
Continue reading “Debut Author Spotlight: December 2019”
Welcome to the last nonfiction roundup of 2019. Publishing has slowed down for the end of the year but there are still several interesting new nonfiction titles that you should consider checking out! For a more extensive list of what’s coming out this month check our catalog. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: December 2019”
Tim Scherrer is a Columbia, MO author who just came out with his debut book, “Crashed the Gate Doing Ninety-Eight: The Citizens Band Radio and American Culture.” Scherrer recently gave a talk about the book at the Columbia Public Library back in September. Citizens band (CB) radios created America’s first form of electronic social media, where strangers created virtual communities with shared purposes and unique “slanguage.” The book covers the creation, boom and decline of CB radio use as well as the pop culture manifestations of the phenomenon. I recently emailed some interview questions to him, and he was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to write back some answers. Continue reading “Author Interview: Tim Scherrer”
Just say the word “essay” and many people are immediately transported back to high school and the trauma of having to write a paper. I have certainly had those traumatic moments but I have lived enough (or read enough?) to get to the point that I now adore reading the format. Reading a book of essays is like having a really great magazine with interesting articles but without the annoying commercial advertisements. Continue reading “Essays: A Woman’s Perspective”
We’re fast approaching the time of year when people all across the country engage in the long-observed holiday tradition of gathering family members together and bickering with them. Most of us are familiar with the stereotypical dinner scene. Your cousin refers to the dish you’re passing as yams, and your sibling insists the correct term is sweet potatoes. Then tempers flare over whether marshmallows should be put on top of root vegetables. Meanwhile at the other end of the table, your dad and your uncle are feuding over capital gains tax rates. Continue reading “Harmonious for the Holidays”
