Make an original!

There is a myriad of benefits to be reaped from doing things yourself. You can hone a new skill, ponder and appreciate the end result, and often save a lot of money in the process. Plus it is very satisfying to reply to compliments with, "Thanks, I made it!" Below you will find a few books in our collection to walk you through a wide range of tasks and projects.

Image courtesy of Flickr user asterix611

John Lennon released the popular song Happy Xmas (War is Over) in December 1971 with the Harlem Community Choir singing back-up vocals. Now a well-known Christmas song, it was ostensibly written in protest to the Vietnam War and serves as a reminder of this turbulent time in American history. Thirty years ago, John Lennon was assassinated in front of The Dakota apartment building in Manhattan while on his way home from the recording studio with his wife. After the jump, you will find a list of books about this prolific singer and activist as well as historical accounts of the Vietnam War and  America during the 1960s.

Photo courtesy of flickr user Okinawa Soba.

On Tuesday, November 30th at 7 p.m. Mark Schenker of Yale University will present:

"As Webster Is My Witness": Language, Lies and Laughter in Mark Twain

More information is available here.

In the meantime, enjoy these absorbing works by or about the late Samuel Langhorne Clemens, more commonly referred to as Mark Twain.

Native Americans were living in North and South America for thousands of years before Christopher Columbus reached the so-called "New World." At this time, Connecticut was inhabited primarily by the Mahican, Mohegan, and Pequot tribes.

In support of Native American Heritage Month, EBSCO is providing complimentary access to their Native American Archives for the month of November. Whether tracing your heritage or learning about Native American history, original records shed new light on the people and events of the past. Over 1.5 million images are available for the first time on the Internet.

In addition, the library has a broad collection of books on Native American crafts, food, religion, history, and titles written by contemporary Native American authors. Check out the list for these fascinating reads.

The cycle goes around and around...each generation has to eventually assume the role of caregiver for the one before. For many of us, that means watching out for aging parents (and even grandparents), often while raising our own families. Health and housing, money, transportation, and eventually end-of-life decisions are all difficult topics, but there is help and hope out there.

We have a special display of Elder Care books available on the 2nd floor this week and would be happy to help you choose titles that fit your needs, whether you're in the midst of a transition time now or are looking ahead to the future. Included are books on choosing a nursing home, Alzheimer's, exercise, family dynamics, macular degeneration, and many more issues specific to older adults and their caregivers. The books are all part of our nearby Body & Soul section, just as seniors are part of our families and commmunity as a whole. See our list of recommended titles below or stop by to browse the larger selection of Elder Care resources at Darien Library.

Photo by Flickr user marymuses.

Privacy concerns are nothing new to Facebook users, but the latest changes to the FB site are causing quite a stir. The FB blog responded to the most commonly asked questions, but concerns linger.

Why the fuss? The social sharing features (also called plug-ins) introduced last week open up personal information far beyond the FB site, expanding its network throughout the web. By not changing your account settings, you are automatically opting in to the new "Open Graph" social sharing service. What does this mean? FB has partnered with Pandora, Yelp and Microsoft Docs to create instantly personalized sites that cater to your personal likes.  Are you a fan of Ben Folds? Pandora will create playlists based upon his style of music, whether you ask for it or not. If you prefer to keep your information private, here are some great articles from PCWorld that will walk you through the process of tightening up your account infomation.

Facebook Safety: A Primer: Friends aren't all bad and this article provides easy-to-understand explanations with a step-by-step guide on how to make friends safely.

Facebook: 5 Privacy Settings You Must Tweak Now: The essential information regarding the latest changes with easy-to-follow instructions for protecting your personal FB information.

Facebook's New Features and Your Privacy: What You Need to Know: An in-depth description of the five new features introduced by FB, along with an explanation of how they impact your privacy.

Websites for cooks and foodies abound. There's one for every niche, to be sure, but here are some of our favorites.

Big recipe sites offer variety and lots of reviews and commentary.

www.epicurious.com - recipes from Gourmet &Bon Appétit and a good weekly e-mail newsletter

www.allrecipes.com -recipes submitted by both corporations and home cooks, with lots of commentary and reviews.

www.cooks.com - this site doesn't have reviews, but it does offer a huge number of recipes and helpful articles with cooking techniques.

Cooking magazines have great websites. Often, you must be a subscriber to the magazine to get access to all of the information and features, but what is freely available can still be very helpful!

www.finecooking.com- easy to use site, with great navigation

www.marthastewart.com/food - as you might expect, Martha Stewart's website offers a very thorough recipe search engine. 

www.vegetariantimes.com - the biggest vegetarian magazine out there, this site is a great place to look if you're a vegetarian, are feeding vegetarians or just want a delicious meat-free dish!

Food blogs are everywhere and we could get lost clicking around the wonderful recipes, food writing and mouth-watering photography created by professionals and amateurs alike.

simplyrecipes.com- great tips and tricks section.

www.101cookbooks.com - the author is known for her food photography and the site is largely vegetarian, with an emphasis on natural and organic food.

bitten.blogs.nytimes.com - Mark Bittman’s food blog at the New York Times.

www.seriouseats.com - fun video section with “best of” videos from the web that feature celebrity chefs, food-related news stories and goofy parodies.

thepioneerwoman.com/cooking - step-by-step photos of wonderful recipies.

www.pinotandprose.blogspot.com - a children's librarian who loves to cook!

bakerella.blogspot.com - baking and sweets!

www.kitchenography.typepad.com - a Baltimore-based food blogger

www.doriegreenspan.com - Dore Greenspan lives in CT and Paris and is a professional food writer and recipe maven.

melissamccart.wordpress.com - Counter Intelligence. Articles, recipes and commentary.

 www.dessertfirst.typepad.com - more pastry from someone who teaches baking classes.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have celebrity chefs. You know them and maybe you love them.
www.foodnetwork.com
www.mariobatali.com
www.rachaelray.com
www.giadadelaurentiis.com
www.barefootcontessa.com
www.bobbyflay.com
www.nigella.com

Other yummy sites for cooks and foodies.

 www.cookthink.com - weekly postings on ingredients- think you know couscous? wondering what's the deal with rhubarb? Find out here.
 

www.winewebcentral.com/winepairing - pair food and wine effortlessly with this cute tool.

video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/style/the-minimalist/1194811622323/index.html - video cooking tips and instruction from Mark Bittman

www.jbfawards.com  - James Beard Foundation gives awards for cookbooks, design, cooking and food media.

www.ez-calculators.com/measurement-conversion-calculator.htm - how many teaspoons in a cup? find out with this food conversion calculator

www.foodbuzz.com - a very social cooking site, like facebook for foodies.

www.cookingforengineers.com - hilarious cooking tests that require a lab coat and goggles.

www.yelp.com - reviews of everything, but strong on restaurants
 

chowhound.chow.com - chatty reviews and recipe boards
 

www.chow.com - parent site to chowhound with recipes, videos and blogs
 

• Town of Darien
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• Academic OneFile - Provides articles from leading journals and reference sources. Covers the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other academic subjects.
• America's Obituaries and Death Notices (NewsBank)- The largest and most comprehensive collection of newspaper obituaries and death notice
• Biography and Genealogy Master Index - Biographical entries contained in more than 1,000 volumes and editions of important current and retrospective biographical reference sources. Citations that point to over 15 million biographies on nearly 5 million people, living and deceased, from all time periods, geographical locations, and fields of endeavor.
• Biography Resource Center - Biographical profiles and images of individuals from antiquity to the present.
• Business Insights: Essentials - Accurate, up-to-date company and industry intelligence of more than 300,000 companies with company profiles, industry rankings, products and brands, stock prices, investment reports, industry statistics, and more.
• Boston Globe- Search the full text of the Boston Globe from 1980 to the present.
• Career Crusing - This is the place to start if  you are looking for direction in your job search. Easy access to hundreds of career profiles, personal assessment tools to identify your strengths, and a career matchmaker that  unites skills with potential careers.
• Christian Science Monitor - Search the full text of the Christian Science Monitor from 1988 to the present. 
• Columbia Granger's Poetry Database (Ebsco) - Find works of poetry found in anthologies, and volumes of collected works and selected works for individual poets.
• Connecticut Historical Newspapers (NewsBank) - This extensive online collection offers nearly 80 newspapers published between 1756 and 1914 in the State of Connecticut.
• CultureGrams- Concise and current country and state reports which include maps, statistics, and time lines. Reviews of daily life and culture, including the history, customs, and societies of 181 cultures of the world.
• Darien News-Review and The Darien Times -Search full-text of local, national, and worldwide newspapers. The Darien News-Review (2001-current), The Darien Times (2003-current), the Hartford Courant (1991-current) and the Connecticut Post (2001-current) are among the newspapers available.
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online - An online version of the entire print encyclopedia. The encyclopedia is updated daily and has special added features including Internet links.
• Expanded Academic ASAP - Search this premier database for research in all the academic disciplines. Contains 1,000 full-text and 6,000 indexed periodical titles.
• General Reference Center - Contains 1,200 full-text titles in general interest magazines, business and industry journals, and reference books.
• GreenFILE (Ebsco) - Offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments, and what can be done at each level to minimize these effects.
• Hartford Courant  - Search the full text of the Hartford Courant from 1992 to the present.
• Hartford Courant Historical - Search the full text of the Hartford Courant from 1764 - 1922.
• Health & Wellness Resource Center - Contains articles from health/medical journals, pamphlets, and general interest periodicals. This database also contains medical dictionaries and encyclopedias and a searchable directory of health organizations.
• HeritageQuest - Trace family history and American culture using searchable images of U.S. federal census records along with the UMI Genealogy and Local History collection catalog.
• History Resource Center: US - Provides articles from magazines, journals, reference and non-fiction books; biographies, documents and speeches; maps and photographs.  Also includes film and video clips of social, political and cultural historical events of the 20th Century from 1893 to 1985.
• History Resource Center: World - Moves chronologically from antiquity to the present and geographically around the globe, the events that define, inform and shape world history are covered with a sense of balance.Includes articles from journals, magazines and newspapers; reference works; primary sources; a graphical timeline, research guide, historical maps and images.
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• iConn Newsstand (Proquest) - Full-text of the Boston Globe (since 1980), The New York Times (since 1995), Christian Science Monitor (since 1988), Hartford Courant (since 1992), the Los Angeles Times (since 1985), Wall Street Journal (since 1982) and Washington Post (since 1987).
• JobNow - JobNow provides a host of services to help in every step of the job search process, including real-time resume assistance and interview coaching.
• LegalTrac - Indexes law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals and international legal journals. Also contains law-related articles from business and general interest titles. 
• Literature Resource Center -Find author biographies and literary criticism.
• Lynda.com - Online technology courses. Please call 669-5238 to register.
• Los Angeles Times - Search the full test of the Los Angeles Times from 1985 to the present.
• Mango Languages - An online language-learning system teaching conversation skills for a wide variety of languages. Create an account to track your progress.
• National Newspapers Expanded (Proquest) - Access articles from major national newspapers.
• NewsBank: World Newspapers - Search local, and national and worldwide newspapers. The Connecticut Post (since 2001), the Darien News-Review (since 2001) and the Hartford Courant (since 1991) along with other local papers are available in full-text. The Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor are also available here.
• NewsBank: World News Magazines - U.S. and international news, business, lifestyle, entertainment, sports, and science and technology from familiar magazines.
• New York Times - Search the full text of the New York Times from 1995 - present.
• New York Times Historical - Search the full text of the New York Times from 1851 - 2002.
• NoveList - Search over 70,000 fiction titles to find new books to read based on your interests. Besides locating books to read, users can learn more about books and authors through feature articles, book discussion guides, and book talks.
• Obituaries & Death Notices - NewsBank boasts the largest and most comprehensive collection of newspaper obituaries and death notices.
• Reference USA - Companies can be located by type of business, regional location, size and a variety of other criteria. Personal phone numbers and addresses can be found by using the Residential Database.
• Science Resources from the State Library - Web resources from the Connecticut digital library (iConn.org).
• Science Resource Center - Focuses on key concepts taught in school classrooms including biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, math, environmental science, life science, medicine, space science, computer science, technology, history of science, science and society, science as inquiry, science-related biographies and more.
• The Street.com Ratings: Stocks, HMOs, Banks and Mutual Funds - Search the Weiss Investment Ratings and Reports for stocks by ticker symbol, company name, or industry sector. Get the most up-to-date reports at your convenience, from the library or from home.
• ValueLine - Information on stocks or mutual funds, including ValueLine Investment Survey Standard;  ValueLine Investment  Survey Expanded Edition; Mutual Fund Survey; ValueLine Daily Options Survey; ValueLine Special Situations Service; and ValueLine Convertible Survey.
• Wall Street Journal - Search the full text of the Wall Street Journal from 1982 to the present.
• Washington Post - Search the full text of the Washington Post from 1987 to the present.
• World Book Encyclopedia - Find all the encyclopedia entries from the print World Book as well as current events and research articles. Sections include Today in History, Search the Ages and Special Reports.
• World Newspapers- Search local, and national and worldwide newspapers. The Connecticut Post (since 2001), the Darien News-Review (since 2001) and the Hartford Courant (since 1991) along with other local papers are available in full-text. The Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor are also available here.
• World News Magazines - U.S. and international news, business, lifestyle, entertainment, sports, and science and technology from familiar magazines.