http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html

Neat New Stuff I Found This Week

chosen by your
"librarian without walls,"
Marylaine Block

marylaine at netexpress.net


This Week------ Previous Weeks




How Does a Site Qualify?

The sites I include are usually free sites of substantial reference value, authoritative, browsable, searchable, and packed with information, whether educational or aimed at answering everday questions. I'll also include one or two sites that are just fun. To read an article about how I choose the sites, go to http://marylaine.com/
exlibris/xlib19.html or, on this page, About NeatNew.

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Order My Books

  • The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times;
  • Net Effects: How Librarians Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet,
    and
  • The Quintessential Searcher: the Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint.

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    Drop me a Line

    Want to comment, ask questions or suggest sites? Send e-mail to: marylaine at netexpress.net


    Please Visit My Other Sites

    My Word's Worth

    http://marylaine.com/myword/index.html
    my occasional column on books, words, libraries, American culture, and whatever happens to interest me. The complete archive (some 300 columns) is available at http://marylaine.com/myword/archive.html

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    Observing US: a Column about America

    The column I wrote For Fox News Online from 1998-2000. http://marylaine.com/observe/archive.html.

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    Ex Libris:

    http://marylaine.com/exlibris/index.html
    my Weekly E-Zine for Librarians, which I published from 1999-2008.

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    BookBytes

    http://marylaine.com/bookbyte/index.html My pages on all things book-related.

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    Book Proposal

    Land of Why Not: an Appreciation of America. Proposal for an anthology of some of my best writing about America, drawn from both "Observing US," the column I wrote for Fox News Online, and "My Word's Worth." An outline and sample columns are available here.

    * * *

    New Site
    Announcement
    Services

    http://marylaine.com/netnew.html
    the sites I check when I'm putting together NeatNew

    * * *

    My resume

    http://marylaine.com/resume.html
    To view outlines of presentations I've done, click on http://marylaine.com/handouts.html. For a list of my published writings, click on http://marylaine.com/resume2.html

    * * *

    My personal page

    http://marylaine.com/personal.html



    • January 27, 2011

    Note: My second surgery worked, and I have better than 20/20 vision (though I now need reading glasses to see anything up close). Thanks for your good wishes.

  • The 25 Most Valuable Blogs in America, 2011 - 24/7 Wall Street
    http://247wallst.com/2011/10/31/the-twenty-five-most-valuable-blogs-in-america-2011/
    That's not the value of the information in the blogs, but 24/7’s analysis of what a blog would sell for, based on audience size, advertising revenues, subscription sales, and conference businesses. It includes some you'd expect (Gawker, BoingBoing, Drudge Report, etc.) and some that may surprise you (Cheezburger Network, Funny or Die, Pitchfork Media, etc.).

  • Best Science Pics of 2011 - Discovery News
    http://news.discovery.com/history/best-science-picture-photo-2011-111221.html
    A cross-eyed opossum, the greatest Dane ever, the eye of a giant Squid, a space shuttle parked at the International Space Station, the lost emperor penguin on a New Zealand beach, and more.

  • Humorous Cat Poems
    http://www.dennydavis.net/poemfiles/travel/catpoem2.htm
    I found this by accident while trying to find the name of a book of cat poems I read to my son years ago. I'm especially fond of Richard Shaw's "Squatter's Rights," Rosalie Moore's "Catalog," and Ann Kilmer's "Convenient."

  • Infographics - GOOD
    http://www.good.is/infographics
    Arresting infographics cover topics like America's evolving taste for booze, the state of Muslim America, the world of megachurches, and more.

  • Most Expensive Colleges for 2011-2012
    http://www.campusgrotto.com/most-expensive-colleges-for-2011-2012.html
    You might want to have your kids check this out before they send in their college applications.

  • New Bill Would Put Taxpayer-Funded Science Behind Pay Walls
    http://www.propublica.org/article/new-bill-would-put-taxpayer-funded-science-behind-pay-walls
    I try to avoid the soapbox, but this is an issue librarians understand and members of Congress, do not. The Research Work Act <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3699:> would make taxpayer-funded funded research - now automatically available for free one year after publication at the NIH Digital Archive - the permanent property of journal publishers who charge libraries thousands of dollars for each subscription. (See Sticker Shock <http://engineering.library.cornell.edu/about/stickershock_1>, from the Engineering Library of Cornell University, to see the luxuries you could buy for the price of just one journal.) For another overview of this issue, see the article in Chronicle of Higher Education, <http://chronicle.com/article/Who-Gets-to-See-Published/130403>. If you believe that taxpayers should not be forced to pay extortionate prices to see the research they paid for, you might want to mention this to your Congressional representatives.

  • State of the Union Address, 2012
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/24/remarks-president-state-union-address
    In case you missed it, here's the transcript and a link to the video. For the official Republican response see <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/state-of-the-union-2012-mitch-danielss-response-excerpts/2012/01/24/gIQAq79ZOQ_blog.html>.

  • Techmeme
    http://www.techmeme.com/
    A computer algorithm sorts through hundreds of tech news sites and blogs throughout the day to identify up-to-the-minute news, which is then arranged here on one page. It also has a Who's Hiring in Tech feature.

  • What To Do If Your Identity Is Stolen
    http://www.mint.com/blog/credit-2/what-to-do-if-your-identity-is-stolen-122011/
    It seems like hardly a day goes by when we don't hear of yet another business whose customer information files have been breached, so it's a good idea to know how to proceed if your data has been stolen.

  • Why Our Clothing Sizes Make No Sense
    http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/design/2012/01/
    clothing_sizes_getting_bigger_why_our_sizing_system_makes_no_sense_.html
    A historical overview of women's clothing sizes in America explains a mystery women have long wondered about: how we can get bigger while our clothing sizes get smaller.
    You're welcome to copy and distribute this listing for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit me and provide the link to NeatNew.

    Neat New Stuff I Found This Week
    http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
    Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2009.
    [Publishers may license the content at reasonable rates.]

    		•


    Previous Weeks' Picks

    January 13 -- January 6 -- December 16 -- December 9 -- December 2 -- November 18-25 -- November 11 -- November 4 --October 28 -- October 21 -- October 14 -- October 7 -- September 30 -- September 23 -- September 16 -- September 9 -- September 2 -- August 26 -- August 19 -- August 12 -- August 5 -- July 22-29 -- July 15 -- July 8 -- July 1


    I will keep the most recent 6 months worth of sites on file here.

    For those who would like to know what I look for when I select these sites each week, click HERE.



    January 13, 2011

  • 9 Essential Books on Reading and Writing - Brain Pickings
    http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/09/best-books-on-writing-reading/
    Writers and would-be writers may want to invest in some of the books described in loving detail here. Yes, Strunk & White is here (is it required by law that any such list must start with The Elements of Style?), but the practical advice from writers like Anne Lamott, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Hemingway may be more useful. (For writers of nonfiction I would add William Zinsser's On Writing Well to this list.)

  • 11 Sounds That Your Kids Have Probably Never Heard
    http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/106713
    And given how rapidly technology has changed, maybe even some of you have never heard some of these sounds either, like the carriage return of the manual typewriter or the clicking of the manual channel selector knob on your TV.

  • The Best and Worst-Run States in America
    http://247wallst.com/2011/11/28/best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-an-analysis-of-all-50/
    As measured by state debt per capita, percentage of the population without health insurance, percentage of population below the poverty line, and unemployment level. Check here to see if your state is on the list of Best Run States, or Worst Run states, or the States Doing the Most (and Least) to spread the wealth.

  • Cochrane Reviews
    http://www.cochrane.org/cochrane-reviews
    How do you decide whether to pursue a treatment your doctor recommends? Cochrane Reviews offer "systematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy, and are internationally recognised as the highest standard in evidence-based health care. They investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation." The free abstracts are searchable, and browsable by broad categories (cancer, genetic disorders, heart and circulation, mental health, etc.).

  • Friday the 13th - Wikipedia
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th
    And a happy Friday the 13th to you. This is as good a summary as I've seen on the history and mythology surrounding Friday the 13th.

  • Geocurrents: The Geography Blog of Martin W. Lewis
    http://geocurrents.info/
    In which he offers intriguing "Map-Illustrated Analyses of Current Events and Geographical Issues." Among the geographical issues: border disputes, the geography of crime and punishment, insurgencies and protest movements, imaginary geographies (he has written one such novel, Terranova, described here), and lots more.

  • The Longform Journalism Renaissance - GOOD
    http://www.good.is/post/the-longform-journalism-renaissance/
    If you're a fan of thoughtful analysis and argument, check out the resources here that select and display some of the best in the genre. I would add to that list The Browser: Writing Worth Reading <http://thebrowser.com/>.

  • Minute Physics Channel
    http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics
    In these brief videos, watch the hand draw cartoons that explain things like Schrodinger's Cat, what fire is, the hairy ball theorem, how to break the speed of light, and more.

  • Top 25 Weirdest Stories of 2011 - Discovery News
    http://news.discovery.com/human/weirdest-stories-2011-111209.html
    2011 qwas marked by a glow-in-the-dark beagle, a dog food commercial with a pitch only dogs can hear, a poop-scooping robot, an amusement park inside a nuclear reactor, and other ew-inducing stories.

  • Why Doing Nothing Would Reduce Deficits by $7.1 Trillion
    http://www.offthechartsblog.org/why-doing-nothing-would-reduce-deficits-by-7-1-trillion/
    If this analysis by the Vice President for Federal Fiscal Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is correct, you might want to ask your legislators to read this before making the drastic cuts in Medicare, military spending, and other programs they're now contemplating.


    January 6, 2012

  • 20 Life-Changing Questions
    http://www.thefinancialblogger.com/20-life-changing-questions-for-2012/
    Thinking about your answers to these questions might lead you to re-examine the time you devote to the things that don't really matter to you - and might also make you exceedingly grateful for the good things in your life that you take for granted.

  • The Best Data Visualization Projects of 2011 - Flowing Data
    http://flowingdata.com/2011/12/21/the-best-data-visualization-projects-of-2011/
    The visualizations are neat, and the data and relationships are fascinating. I especially liked the comparison of the measurements for size 8 in various brands of jeans, and the visual demonstration that on Wikipedia, all articles' footnotes ultimately lead you to philosophy.

  • Best Government Ideas of 2011 - Governing
    http://www.governing.com/idea-center/The-Best-Government-Ideas-of-2011.html
    And yes, government officials DO often come up with good solutions to problems. Some of the year's top ideas include allowing 911 by texting, taking job service agencies to poor, rural areas with satellite internet-equipped buses, and political boot camp to give new government leaders an understanding of how government works and how to get things done.

  • Extreme Weather, 2011 - NOAA
    http://www.noaa.gov/extreme2011/index.html
    If it seemed to you like 2011 had a lot of freaky weather, you're right. NOAA details the 12 extreme weather events that each caused a billion or more dollars in damage, not to mention the lives lost.

  • Finding Out-of-Print Books
    http://marylaine.com/bookbyte/getbooks.html
    I've updated these strategies and resources for finding out of print books to include free downloads of digital books as well.

  • Grocery Sale Cycles - When Do Things Go on Sale?
    http://www.livingrichlyonabudget.com/grocery-sale-cycles-when-do-things-go-on-sale
    A month by month guide to products that go on sale with seasonal and holiday demand, as well as seasonal produce.

  • Hoax? Scholarly Reserarch? Personal Opinion? You Decide
    http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/11605_12006.cfm
    UCLA librarians challenge students to evaluate web sites on the basis of authority, accuracy, objectivity, advocacy, currency, and coverage - a useful corrective to students' tendency to assume that whatever sites turns up in the first page of Google results must be correct.

  • Ingredient Substitutions - Joyofbaking.com
    http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html
    This is a wonderful resource that may save harried cooks an emergency trip to the grocery store for a missing ingredient.

  • Must-See Science Videos of 2011 - Cosmic Log
    http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/29/9805608-must-see-science-videos-of-2011
    Watch an octopus walking on land, a robot dog, two chatbots talking to each other, and more.

  • Parent Hacks
    http://www.parenthacks.com/
    Community-submitted tips to help you "simplify family life, save money, and have fun." Searchable, and browsable by age and by topics like "poop and pee," sleep, fun projects, mealtimes, etc. The subtext of many of these articles is how parents can relieve their own stress and retain their sanity.


    December 16, 2011

    NOTE: I'll be having cataract surgery next week. Assuming all goes as well as expected, Neat New Stuff will return on January 6. Have a great holiday! Here's my Christmas card for you <http://marylaine.com/myword/catcard.html>.

  • 10 Tips to Surviving Holiday Travel with Children - Parenting Squad
    http://parentingsquad.com/10-tips-to-surviving-holiday-travel
    Some great suggestions here on how to avoid back seat meltdowns - and even make the trip fun. It's a pity the article didn't mention travel bingo, or word games with license plates and road signs.

  • Best of 2011 - LongForm.org
    http://bestof2011.longform.org/
    Good writing can make virtually any topic fascinating, however little interest you had in it to begin with. Among the selections here: the life and death of a hockey enforcer, how Ireland went bankrupt, how a town disappeared in 45 seconds, what privatized postal services look like, and more.

  • The Best Video of Earth from Space Ever Made
    http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/video-of-the-week/2011/11/16/the-best-video-of-earth-from-space-ever-made/
    See the earth as you've never seen it before in this 5 minute distillation of "a series of photographs taken from the International Space Station between August and October, 2011."

  • Cyberscreen Science Film Festival - Submissions are now open
    http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psi-vid/2011/11/17/submissions-for-the-cyberscreen-science-film-festival-are-now-open/
    Here's a project science students might try over the holidays: make a 5 minute science film or science animation and submit it by the January 10 deadline.

  • Find Made in America Goods - ABC News
    http://abcnews.go.com/WN/page/map-find-made-america-goods-13917383
    If you want to buy American-made goods, click on a state to find out what products are produced there.

  • Proof That Government Can Work
    http://www.governing.com/blogs/bfc/efficiency-innovative-government-programs-awards-public-confidence.html
    Descriptions of the nominees for the Innovation in American Government Award, including Littleton, Colorado's Economic Gardening Project, New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity, and Healthy San Francisco. For a database of information about all award winning programs, see Government Innovators Network Award, <http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/award_landing.html>.

  • Treasures of the Bodleian
    http://treasures.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/discover-treasures
    Oxford's Library has digitized some of the treasures from its archival collections, including the Magna Carta, Handel's conducting score for The Messiah, pages from Jane Austen manuscripts, telegrams from the Titanic, material from the women's suffrage movement, and much more.

  • Voynich Manuscript
    http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/voynich.html
    A 15th century manuscript that has defied all attempts by cryptographers and codebreakers to decipher it. Now you can examine it and see if you can be the one to break its code.

  • What Middletown Read
    http://bsu.edu/libraries/wmr/index.php
    Muncie, Indiana was the representative town in the classic study of middle America first conducted in the 1920s. What might we learn about them by knowing what they checked out from Muncie's public library? Find out by exploring this database of circulation records from 1891-1902. See also the article in Slate in which the author analyzes who was reading what, and starts reading them himself.

  • Why Iowa?
    http://marylaine.com/observe/39.html
    By the time this column returns, the Iowa caucuses will have been held. If you've ever wondered how Iowa, of all places, got to have such influence on presidential candidates, I explained it here. If you want to know what goes on at the caucuses (which I participated in from 1988-2004), you may also want to read what I wrote about them in 2000, "Live from the Iowa Caucuses" <http://marylaine.com/observe/71.html>


    December 9

    Christmas Ideas

  • 31 Great Gifts That Keep on Giving
    http://www.wisebread.com/31-great-gifts-that-keep-on-giving
    I've already mentioned magazine subscriptions, but there are some other wonderful ideas here. I love the idea of giving cooking classes, or a zoo membership to a family with children, etc. See also Inexpensive Experience Gifts <http://www.mydollarplan.com/inexpensive-experience-gifts/>. Remember that psychologists have found that the gifts people value and remember most are experiences, rather than those that come in pretty packages.

  • Healthy Holiday Food and Fitness - WebMD
    http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-holidays-8/default.htm
    Tips on how to avoid packing on the pounds during the food-intensive weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year's day, including recipe makeovers, hot and healthy holiday drinks, exercise tips, and more.

  • How To Make Paper Snowflakes
    http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Snowflakes/
    These beautiful, intricate designs make a fun project for children old enough to have learned a little patience.

  • Read-Alouds
    http://marylaine.com/myword/aloud.html
    A column I wrote about children's books so charming that you'll need to find a child to read them to so you'll have an excuse to read them yourselves. They make great gifts. Since some of them won't be available in bookstores, try my favorite vendor of inexpensive used books, Better World Books <http://www.betterworldbooks.com/>, where every dollar you spend helps to promote literacy.

  • Science Books for Children - Five Books - the Browser
    http://thebrowser.com/interviews/alice-bell-on-science-books-children
    If you want to give your kids good answers to their questions about how the world works, here are Alice Bell's choices of science books written just for them. See also The Giverny Award for Children's Science Picture Books <http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/The-Giverny-Award-for-Childrens-Science-Picture-Books/378>

  • TV Shows on DVD Round-up
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/arts/television/tv-shows-on-dvd-roundup-holiday-gift-guide-2011.html
    The perfect gift for people who love TV shows and want to see them again in order.




    The Regular Kinds of Neat New Stuff

  • BigMap Blog - thousands of huge historical maps
    http://www.bigmapblog.com/
    A terrific resource for anyone who loves maps, or loves what they can tell us about history, military campaigns, exploration, migration, etc.

  • New Video of Incredible Model Railroad in Hamburg
    http://boingboing.net/2011/11/30/new-video-of-incredible-model.html
    Hamburg's miniature railroad is an amazingly complete world, occupying 1300 square meters, with 900 trains traveling 1300 kilometres of track, while miniature airplanes take off and land, little firefighters fight lifelike fires, and more.

  • Produce Workers' Guide to Storing 25 Common Fruits and Vegetables
    http://www.wisebread.com/the-produce-workers-guide-to-storing-25-common-fruits-and-veggies
    If you hate throwing away produce you didn't eat fast enough, you'll be interested in this guide to making it last longer.

  • Winter Weather Emergencies - MedlinePlus
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/winterweatheremergencies.html
    Better late than never, you might check out MedlinePlus' advice on preparing for winter emergencies,


    December 2

  • 100 Notable Books of 2011
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2011.html
    When in doubt, give books. Here are the New York Times' recommendations for the year's best adult fiction and nonfiction. (I would add Ken Jennings' fascinating book about the world of geography geeks, Maphead, to the nonfiction list.)

  • AudioFiles - Share and Discover Great Radio
    http://audiofil.es/
    Books, though, unless read aloud to someone, are a solitary pleasure, but we can listen to great radio together. AudioFiles' editors say "From the big guys like NPR and This American Life to local stations, independent producers and groundbreaking podcasters, storytellers across the world are doing work that deserves to be heard. You can find all of it — but only the best of it — at Audiofiles." Browse by producer picks or by type of program, like humor, interviews, science, storytelling, etc.

  • Best Children's and Picture Books of 2011
    http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/11/21/best-childrens-books-2011/
    Some irresistible-sounding books for kids. And as always, you can browse Anita Silvey's wonderful Book a Day Almanac <http://www.childrensbookadayalmanac.com/archive/> for recommendations by age group, subject, type of book, and author/illustrator.

  • BoingBoing Gift Guide 2011
    http://boingboing.net/2011/11/28/gift-guide-2011.html
    The ultimate source for ideas for your favorite proud, self-described geeks.

  • Car Gadget Gifts - Best Car Accessories Gifts - Popular Mechanics
    http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/products/car-gadgets-gifts#fbIndex1
    If they love their cars as much as they love you, look here for gift ideas.

  • Christmas Decorating and Craft Ideas
    http://www.diynetwork.com/topics/christmas/index.html
    Lots of gift and decorating ideas you can make yourself, as well as ideas for Christmas light displays.

  • Free Christmas Choral Music Sheet PDF MIDI NWC Files
    http://www.cipoo.net/music_xmas.html
    If you're going out caroling, you might want to visit this site for the sheet music and instrumental performances of some Christmas classics.

  • Holiday Survival Guide: 20+ Tools for Family Travel
    http://mashable.com/2008/11/16/holiday-family-travel/
    Mashable's guide to sites that will help you make your travel plans, navigate directions, track costs, schedules, packing, and other important details, and record family memories.

  • The Present Value of One
    http://marylaine.com/observe/23.html
    An old column I wrote about what kids can buy if you give them just a dollar or two, updated with what I have learned from my small, inventive grandchildren.

  • SPIN's 30 Must-Hear Albums of 2011
    http://www.spin.com/articles/spins-30-must-hear-albums-2011
    Some gift ideas for the music-lovers in your life. If they prefer classical, they might like any of the 2011 Classical Music Grammy Award Winners <http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/48thannualgmaclassical/tp/2011-Classical-Music-Grammy-Award-Winners.htm>.


    November 18-25

  • 6 Things in Your Kitchen That Get Rid of Bad Smells Naturally
    http://www.wisebread.com/6-things-in-your-kitchen-that-get-rid-of-bad-smells-naturally
    As one who owns cats and loves onions, I've eagerly tested these products and found that they do indeed eliminate or conceal unpleasant odors.

  • 15 Career Advice Sites You Should Know About
    http://www.wisebread.com/15-career-advice-sites-you-should-know-about
    A guide to sites that help you find jobs, learn about the companies offering them, and advance your career.

  • BookSleuth - AbeBooks Community Forums
    http://forums.abebooks.com/abesleuthcom
    Where members of AbeBooks Community Forums help you track down books you can't remember the authors and titles of. Just post what you DO remember - plots, characters, locale, whatever. You can also browse through the discussions to see if you can help crack somebody else's book mystery.

  • Distracted Driving - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
    http://www.distraction.gov/
    We now know that distracted drivers are as dangerous as drunk ones. This site offers statistics on distracted driving, an overview of state laws on the subject, news stories, and tools people can use in campaigns against it.

  • Does It Really Work? Answers for Concerned Shoppers
    http://doesitreallywork.org/
    Before you call that 800 number, credit card in hand, you might want to check this site to see if the products and services advertised on TV really do slice and dice, help you lose weight or belly fat, give you clear skin in a week, relieve back pain, etc. They examine the claims, the costs, and the hype, and test the products for you. I just wish there was more information about the people who created the site and do the testing.

  • Horror Stories - Ramsey Campbell - Five Books
    http://thebrowser.com/interviews/ramsey-campbell-on-horror-stories
    A popular horror writer explains why these are his five favorite books in the genre.

  • MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
    http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
    Where educators can submit their sites for peer review, and where they can find educational sites, tutorials, games and other learning exercises that have received high ratings from professors in their disciplines.

  • National Outdoor Book Awards
    http://www.noba-web.org/
    If you like reading about outdoor adventure, start here to find present and past award winners in the field. Categories include Children's books, History/Biography, Instructional, Outdoor Adventure Guidebooks, etc.

  • Over the River and Through the Woods
    http://marylaine.com/observe/21.html
    Something to think about as you make your way through crowded airports and crowded highways to make it home for the holidays.

  • Wordorigins.org
    http://www.wordorigins.org/
    A site devoted to the origins of words and phrases, and discovering the truth about popular mythologies about them. Dave Wilton says "While it can be disappointing when a neat little tale turns out to be untrue, almost invariably the true origin is just as interesting." You can browse through the master list of words covered here, follow the blog, and check out the links to additional resources on word origins.


    November 11

  • 55 Great Global Food Blogs
    http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/SAVEURs-Favorite-Global-Food-Blogs?cmpid=hp102011
    The blogs are arranged country by country, so if you've ever wanted to learn to make Brazilian or Thai or Vietnamese dishes or other international cuisines, you'll want to try some of these links.

  • The Best and Worst Things To Buy in November - Wise Bread
    http://www.wisebread.com/the-best-and-worst-things-to-buy-in-november
    Not just deeply discounted Halloween candy but furniture, cookware, HDTVs and more.

  • Brain Pickings
    http://www.brainpickings.org/
    I always like to spend time with eclectic minds like Maria Popova's. She calls this blog "a discovery engine for interestingness, culling and curating cross-disciplinary curiosity-quenchers, and separating the signal from the noise to bring you things you didn’t know you were interested in until you are." Among the things she's curious about: the art of Pixar, historical Halloween postcards, Shel Silverstein on the Johnny Cash Show, books on protest, etc.

  • Christmas All Year
    http://marylaine.com/observe/115.html
    In which I recommend the gift of magazine subscriptions, the gift that yields new gifts throughout the year. I don't usually like to think about Christmas when jack o'lanterns are still on people's porches, but it takes a little time to initiate a subscription, so this is a gift you'd want to start on soon. If you don't know what magazines would appeal to your person's particular interests, ask your librarians or browse through the extensive magazine racks at bookstores.

  • Classic Children's Book Illustrations
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/07/childrens-book-illustrations_n_1080166.html
    A site that may plunge you deep into nostalgic recollections of the best moments in your childhood.

  • EatDrinkDeals - Restaurant coupons, specials, happy hours
    http://www.eatdrinkdeals.com/
    Find out here about new restaurant deals and coupons and special events. If you're a veteran or love one, check out their feature on special deals for veterans on November 11 <http://www.eatdrinkdeals.com/2011/11/restaurant-deals-for-veterans-day-2011/>.

  • Fun Stuff, Games - Kids.gov
    http://www.kids.gov/k_5/k_5_fun_activities.shtml
    Believe it or not, various government agencies have created lots of fun games for kids, as well as educational sites that kids and teachers can browse by grade level.

  • Memeorandum
    http://memeorandum.com/
    Politics junkies will like this site which gathers on a single page "the latest political news and opinion from left to right and back," drawn from blogs and mainstream news sources"

  • National Academies Press
    http://nap.edu/
    Where you can search through the full text of more than 4000 books and reports published by the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. You can then read them online, download them in PDF, or purchase them in print form. You can also sign up for news feeds about new releases.

  • What 8 Years of Writing the Bad Science Column Have Taught Me
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/04/bad-science-eight-years
    Ben Goldacre is about to suspend his Bad Science column for a while so he can finish writing a book, but this summation piece, with links to earlier columns, explains how bad science reveals the way good science is supposed to work.


    November 4

  • The 100 Most Influential African-Americans in 2011 - The Root
    http://www.theroot.com/root-100/2011/list
    The list features only African-Americans between 25 and 45, which probably explains the absence of Barack Obama and entrepreneur Magic Johnson. If you're wondering about the African-American scientists largely absent from this list, you might also want to look at the Library of Congress' resources on African-Americans in Science and Technology <http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/selected-internet/africanamericans.html>.

  • Cheat Sheet: What's Happened to the Big Players in the Financial Crisis?
    http://www.propublica.org/article/cheat-sheet-whats-happened-to-the-big-players-in-the-financial-crisis/single
    Not what many of us would have hoped after they wrecked the world's economy, but the actions that have been taken against them are itemized here.

  • Could You Pass a US Citizenship Test?
    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0104/Could-you-pass-a-US-citizenship-test/Who-signs-bills
    Try it - you might acquire new respect for how hard new Americans have worked to earn their citizenship. You have to get 58 of the 96 questions correct to pass. Warning: the site design makes this take far more time to do than necessary. It took me over half an hour to answer the first 58 questions correctly, even though I clicked each answer almost instantly.

  • Epic Adventures
    http://thebrowser.com/reports/epic-adventures
    If you love true life adventure stories, you'll like this collection of articles.

  • Get the Stuff on This Checklist Before the Winter Storm - Consumerist
    http://consumerist.com/2011/01/get-ready-for-the-winter-storm-to-hit-your-house.html
    And here I was thinking I could safely wait til November to post this. See also Snow Patrol: Winter Driving Safety Kit Must-Haves <http://www.wisebread.com/snow-patrol-winter-driving-safety-kit-must-haves>, and the CDC's What You Need To Know When the Power Goes Out <http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/poweroutage/needtoknow.asp>.

  • National Scorecard on US Health System Performance 2011
    http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Fund-Reports/2011/
    Oct/Why-Not-the-Best-2011.aspx
    The Commonwealth Fund, a "private foundation working toward a high performance health system," "updates a series of comprehensive assessments of U.S. population health and health care quality, access, efficiency, and equity." The good news is the "marked improvement in patient treatment and outcomes." The bad news is the decline in access to health care. The full report may be downloaded here.

  • Occupy Wall Street Timeline from February to Today - Slate
    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/features/2011/
    occupy_wall_street/what_is_ows_a_complete_timeline.html
    This movement has evolved quickly from the obscure and little noticed suggestion on February 2, 2011 that American citizens should follow the path of the Middle East protesters. This timeline, which Slate promises to continue to update, traces how it grew and spread.

  • Royal Society Publishing Archive
    http://royalsocietypublishing.org/search
    The world's oldest scientific publisher, beginning in 1665, has opened its archive of 60,000+ historical scientific papers published more than 70 years ago. These include research by key figures in the history of science, like Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Franklin.

  • Who Left a Tree, Then a Coffin, in the Library? Krulwich Wonders
    http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/10/28/141795907/who-left-a-tree-then-a-coffin-in-the-library
    Robert Krulwich, an infinitely curious man whose blog follows whatever his wondering leads him to, tells us about the mysterious appearance of book-based sculptures in libraries and the attempt to identify the artist.

  • World War II in Photos
    http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/ww2.html
    Originally a 20-part series posted on atlantic.com, these 900 photos, with accompanying essays, were chosen by Alan Taylor "to explore the events of the war, the people involved at the front and back home, and the effects the war had on everyday lives."


    ***************


    ABOUT NEAT NEW STUFF

    I'm going to do something a little different this week: explain how and why I choose the sites I do for Neat New Stuff.

    In 1995, when I was a reference librarian at St. Ambrose University, I constructed a web site for our students and faculty called Best Information on the Net (BIOTN) <http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/>, an annotated guide to authoritative information sources for every academic program St. Ambrose offered, as well as useful resources for faculty and for students (Hot Paper Topics <http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/Hot/hotindex.htm> turned out to be a BIG hit with students). I also created a virtual reference desk to answer questions my fellow librarians and I regularly fielded. Each week, the section on Neat New Stuff pointed out to students and faculty some of the niftiest sites I'd added to BIOTN.

    When I quit my job to become a full-time writer and speaker, my colleagues suggested that since NeatNew was the one part of the site where I let my personality leak through, it was more mine than St. Ambrose's, so I took it with me when I left, and mounted it on my own web site. My audience was now wider than just my campus, but I still saw NeatNew as a tool to share with other librarians sites that answered questions I knew people would be asking them.

    That's why many of the sites I point to provide objective evidence to shed light on current national issues and controversies. When factual misinformation and confusion about an issue abounds, as in the case of the Affordable Health Care Act, I may address it repeatedly, pointing to the text of laws, Congressional testimony, statistics, research reports, and good explanations offered by objective sources. Many of the sites I point you to are sources I encountered in my daily reading; others are sites I scouted for when I needed better background information on a topic.

    Since many people who are in trouble go to the library looking for information and assistance, I've been listing numerous resources to help people deal with unemployment, foreclosures, credit problems, and money management. Since people are always coming to librarians with health questions, I point to any trustworthy health site I come across.

    It has been my experience that in the face of disaster, most of us hate feeling helpless, and want to DO something, be it volunteering or donating. That's why I always point to trustworthy organizations that are assisting in current catastrophes.

    I provide other fodder for anyone's own virtual reference desk in the form of statistical sources, documents, topical news sites, webliographies, map sources, information portals, databases, etc. Since many information requests are seasonal, I always point to resources for things like summer travel, holidays, dedicated months (Women's History, Hispanic Heritage, etc.), and sites to help frazzled parents entertain the kids when school is not in session.

    Reading lists, review sources, and other good sites about books are always welcome to librarians (myself included) and the readers they serve, so I frequently include such sites on NeatNew. Lists not only make great conversation starters, but can also serve as exhibit and program ideas for librarians, so I often tuck in a Top 10 of some sort on NeatNew.

    Librarians and information junkies alike revel in the fact that the interactive, audio, and visual capabilities of the net allow it to provide entirely new kinds of information experiences, so I often point to photography and film archives, oral histories, recorded speeches, illustrated lectures, charts and graphic illustrations of complex topics, discussion forums, mashups of maps and content, etc.

    From that point on, it's a pretty eclectic mix - you might find sites for recipes, auto repair, hobbies of all sorts, blogs, thought-provoking articles, prize-winning work in some field of endeavor, government web sites providing useful information, etc.

    To a large extent I simply follow my curiosity - and there's nothing I'm not curious about. I pick up sites from the books and magazines I'm reading, or I go hunting on the web for more information on something that was mentioned in them. And sometimes I follow my readers' curiosity, when they send me sites they think are pretty neat AND explain why they're special (after one computer catastrophe too many, I do not follow blind links).

    I know my limitations, and stick to recommending things I am qualified to evaluate. I won't include:

  • sites about computers and software - sorry, I only use them, I don't understand them.
  • social networking sites
  • sites that are primarily commercial - I'm after good free information, and plenty of it. Commercial sites can make the cut if, like Amazon and L.L. Bean, they also offer great free information

    I know that many of my readers are not, in fact, librarians, but simply people who enjoy discovering the often hidden treasures of the net; I'm delighted to be of service to you as well.

    And now that you all know what I've been doing on NeatNew, and have every intention of continuing to do, please come back next week to see another dozen sites that I'm already looking forward to showing you.

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