Brain Candy #51 - The Best Rainy Day Brain Candy Site Ever

I occasionally revisit exceptional web sites for Brain Candy. In Brain Candy #31 (March, 2000), I introduced you to "Neat New Stuff on the Net" (NNSOTN) at marylaine.com/neatnew.html. This site is updated weekly by writer, Internet trainer, webmaster and librarian Marylaine Block. I've spent a lot of time here recently and feel that I should again focus on the site - a full column this time. The latest posting on NNSOTN as I write this is September 28, 2001. The previous two weeks' columns have some very powerful and useful links related to the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, and the issues behind them. This week, the focus has mostly returned to other things. You can still access earlier weeks entries - the last six months of columns are always available. Keep in mind that old entries do disappear in time, so save neat sites that you find as bookmarks or on a personal page.

NNSOTN speaks for itself. Great though it may be, I'm going to focus on some of the other superb features at this site. Marylaine writes a weekly column for "librarians and other information junkies" called ExLibris. The archive index for ExLibris is at marylaine.com/exlibris/archive.html. There are many good columns here; one that we as Mensans can especially relate to is "About.com: A Home Base on the Net," which is about the web site about.com and "the private obsessions that absolutely nobody around us cares about at all." Do you sense a kindred spirit here? Other goodies include "Censors and the Books Kids Love," "Altering the Historical Record for Fun and Profit," "An Object Lesson in System Failures," "Building A Quick and Dirty Subject Page," "The Uses of Search Voyeurs," and "How I Find Neat New Stuff." In addition, there are guest columns and book reviews - a lot to look at if you have some time on your hands.

More candy: she has a section titled "Book Bytes," her pages on "all things book-related." Of special note are her annotated lists of "Books Too Good To Put Down." My own personal "to-read" list will really be expanded once I've analyzed the contents of these pages.

There is a weekly column Marylaine writes on "whatever happens to interest me" called "My Word's Worth" which I'm only beginning to explore - there are a lot of them, many with very intriguing titles like "Sensible Lizards" and "The Queen of Touchy-Feely." One I did read and like is "The Dilbertizing of America" - whew! did she ever lay it on the line. Another I recommend is "Something Wicked This Way Comes" - it discusses why Steven King is an important modern writer. Many more neat articles reside here.

A final feature I'll mention: Marylaine provides web versions of some of the presentations she's delivered; there is a list of them on-line at marylaine.com/handouts.html. Some of the ones I thought most useful were "Basic Internet Searching," "Advanced Internet Searching," "Homework Help," and "Building Your Reference Collection on the Net."

In summation, this is one of the best places on the Net for a bored Mensan to spend some time. Visit it and see if you agree.