Showing results by narrator "Barrett Leddy" in All Categories

In August 2012, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was clinging to power in a vicious civil war. Concerned that Assad might resort to chemical weapons, the international community warned that any such use would cross 'a red line', warranting a military response. When a year later Assad bombed the Damascus suburb of Ghouta with sarin gas, killing hundreds, global leaders were torn between living up to their word and becoming mired in another unpopular Middle Eastern war. So when Russia offered to store Syria's chemical weapons, the world leaped at the solution.

Good capital allocation is the secret sauce of business success and investment returns. How could what you spend money on inside a business not be of utmost importance? I looked for a business person's guide to effective capital allocation for years. I thought, "What a nice gift to send to the CEOs of my portfolio companies!" as visions of outsized returns danced in my head. To my dismay, the search came up dry. I decided I'd have to write my own. I started at the individual customer transaction level and built all the way up to M&A, share buybacks, and beyond.

It’s been nearly twenty years since Ron Burgundy burst into movie fans’ lives, reminding San Diego to “stay classy” while lampooning a time gone by—although maybe not as far gone as we might think? In Kind of a Big Deal, comedy historian Saul Austerlitz tells the history of how Anchorman was developed, written, and cast, and how it launched the careers of future superstars like Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and Paul Rudd, also setting the stage for a whole decade of comedy to come and influencing films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Superbad, and so many more.

Reframing Organizations provides time-tested guidance for more effective organizational leadership. Rooted in decades of social science research across multiple disciplines, Bolman and Deal's four-frame model has continued to evolve since its conception over 25 years ago; this new sixth edition has been updated to include coverage of cross-sector collaboration, generational differences, virtual environments, globalization, sustainability, and communication across cultures.

Meet the writers’ room of the kid’s show Rooty Root Vegetables, which struggles to find humor in carbon emissions and climate change. Then things get punny.

William hates reading. It’s so boring! Word after word, page after page, chapter after chapter, ugh. So when his local library starts stocking something called a brame - a combination of a book and a game in a jar - he’s intrigued enough to give it a go. He has to nibble the brame pieces, which taste like cardboard and only give a hint to the story, which is fun at first. Who, or what, is Madison? What does “Thursday at Midnight” mean? Chewing the pieces is slow and tedious work - how will William ever get through all the pieces and figure out what this story is about?

A robot returns from a deep space mission and struggles to find someone who cares about its findings after two centuries. Society has changed, but surely someone still cares about science?

Welcome to Pearl, a town obsessed with Halloween: the spooky decorations, the costumes, the candy. No one seems to notice that every October 31st, a kid goes missing. Mason Miller does, though. Somehow he’s the only one who has any memory the person existed at all. When Mason’s sister, Meg, vanishes while they’re trick-or-treating, Mason and his friends are pulled into an underworld where monsters roam the streets. They need to fight the evil taking over Pearl, but none of them know the true danger they're facing.

After a heated argument, Clara's fiancee stormed out of their apartment, but before they have a chance to reconcile, he died a tragic accident. It's been two years, but she's still paralyzed with grief, and her friends are worried about her. So, to try to say what was left unsaid, she start's texting his old phone. What she doesn't realize is that the number has been reassigned.

How do you stop an invasion force that just defeated the most powerful person on the planet? Chances are, you don’t. But the world’s greatest heroes and villains are going to team up and make their best attempt. After the Tuldarians—a race of dinosaur-like aliens—invade the Earth with overwhelming numbers of ships and soldiers, the world’s governments finally repeal the Anti-Vigilante Acts. Now, the masked crimefighters and criminals who haven’t been allowed to use their powers are being asked to fight to save humanity. And to think, I was just put in prison for just trying to be a good guy.

They are voices lost to time. Beginning in the late 1970s, five veteran airmen sat for private interviews. Decades after the guns fell silent, they recounted in vivid detail the most dangerous missions that made the difference in the war. Ed Haydon dueled with the deadliest of German aces - and forced him to the ground. Robert Johnson racked up 27 kills in his P-47 Thunderbolt, but nearly lost his life when his plane was shot to ribbons and his guns jammed. Cigar-chomping Curtis LeMay was the Air Corps general who devised the bomber tactics that pummeled Germany's war machine.

Crimefighting is illegal, punishable by life in prison at the bottom of the ocean. It sucks. But that won't stop me from doing what I was born to do: uphold justice and stop good people from being hurt. Even if everyone I once called a friend is against me, I'm not bowing down to the Counter Vigilante Taskforce.

How do you imprison the world’s most powerful supervillains and make sure they can’t escape? The Trench, a supermax prison at the bottom of the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean—toss them in and throw away the key. “Inescapable” doesn’t even begin to describe this place. Even if I could get past the power dampeners and multiple layers of security, where am I going to go? Oh yeah, did I mention I am now the Trench’s newest inmate because I refused to give up being a masked crimefighter?

Beak-a-boo, it sees you! Cooper Klavan and his sister Anna are fishing with their parents at a woodland pond when they come across an injured bird. Anna, a huge animal lover, insists on taking it home to rehabilitate. But the bird really does not want to be rescued. It bites Anna, and scares Cooper. Soon, Anna is behaving very strangely. She's perching high up in trees, gathering sticks to hide in her room, and refusing to eat eggs-- once one of her favorite foods. Cooper doesn't want to jump to any conclusions, but his sister seems to be going to the birds.

Dave is spending his final summer before college working at Frightmares House of Horrors, a struggling haunted house attraction held together by malfunctioning killer clown mannequins, a cheap replica Annabelle doll, and a lot of improvising. After a particularly disastrous shift ends in an employee walkout, Dave reluctantly takes over a role for his friend, however, he makes a horrifying discovery—a real dead body, hidden on set. But when Dave returns with help, the body is gone. Dave realizes the killer must know what he saw. Could he be their next target?

Eight nights of horror! In this audio drama, a Brooklyn family is haunted by ghosts over Hanukkah.

Jen did not want to leave the city. She did not want to move to a farm with her mom and her mom's new boyfriend, Walter. She did not want to leave her friends and her dad. Most of all, Jen did not want to get new "sisters", Andy and Reese. As if learning new chores on Peapod Farm wasn't hard enough, having to deal with perfect-at-everything Andy might be the last straw for Jen. Besides cleaning the chicken coop, trying to keep up with the customers at the local farmers' market, and missing her old life, Jen has to deal with her own insecurities about this new family.

The American boxing champ and vocal civil rights activist Muhammad Ali is the 27th hero in the New York Times best-selling picture book biography series for ages 5 to 8. Muhammad Ali was the leading heavyweight boxer of the 20th century and a charismatic, beloved public figure. His objection to the military draft during the Vietnam War made him an icon for a generation, and his impact in sports and the Civil Rights movement is still felt today.

After accidentally injuring his neighbor, Matt Sprouts thinks he has "the Curse,” a hometown myth that ruins middle schoolers’ lives. To defeat the Curse, Matt decides he needs to solve the mystery—and FAST!—but that’s not easy to do when you’re entering middle school, keeping track of your little brother, trying to defeat the best soccer team, and oh yeah, not breaking any more toes.

Researchers were mystified by the boy from Des Moines born without retinas. Strangers and friends were mesmerized by his luminescent, aquamarine eyes. Retina Boy grew up to be a carefree teenager. He played amazing lead guitar in an awesome, classic rock cover band. His girlfriend, Marcy, though unable to walk, was the smartest kid in their school. They were a perfect pair - she was his eyes, and he was her legs. Never did Retina Boy imagine he was from another planet, and that he and Marcy would be called upon to save the Earth.