Amazing how many people love to network socially on sites such as Facebook and Myspace - millions of you. John Cassidy nails this trend - and the companies it supports - in his article "The Online Life: Me Media: How hanging out on the Internet became big business," in the May 15 issue of The New Yorker magazine. Read this article - virtually - from General Reference Center Gold electronic database, or actually from the actual May 15 issue of The New Yorker magazine at the library.

Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research

FirstSearch provides access to databases and full text articles for academic research in the humanities and sciences.

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A fantastic site for the curious, How Stuff Works sheds light on inner workings of daily life, from the complex to the mundane. Wonder how your cell phone works, or how it got its name in the first place? Perhaps you’re curious about the new hybrid car sitting in your neighbor’s driveway.

The entries aren’t limited to the electronic, however. Satisfy your desire to learn how coffee and chocolate are produced, and find practical information about health insurance and not-so-practical overviews of facelifts and liposuction.

Finally, after your own desires for explanations have been quenched, check out the questions other people have asked. Should that leave you craving more, there’s always a trip to the library for the classic, The Way Things Work.

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