iWorld

Thinking about getting a Mac? Want to get the most out of your iPhone or iPod? Pick up one of these books, and you'll be on your way.

iPod: The Missing Manual "As breathtaking and satisfying as its subject, iPod: The Missing Manual gives you a no-nonsense view of everything in the "sixth generation" iPod line. Learn what you can do with iPod Touch and its multi-touch interface, 3.5-inch widescreen display and Wi-Fi browsing capabilities. Get to know the redesigned iPod Nano with its larger display and video storage capacity. It's all right here. The 6th edition sports easy-to-follow color graphics, crystal-clear explanations, and guidance on the most useful things your iPod can do." (amazon.com)

iPod and iTunes for Dummies This beginner's guide in the usual "Dummies" format shows how to set up, acquire, and manage media content; how to play with the iPod, hook it up to other components, and take it on the road; how to use advanced techniques; and how to troubleshoot common problems. Online bonus chapters cover MusicMatch Jukebox and online resources. (Library Journal, January 15, 2007)

iPhone: The Missing Manual Teeming with high-quality color graphics, each custom designed page helps you accomplish specific tasks -- everything from Web browsing to watching videos. Written by New York Times columnist and Missing Manual series creator David Pogue, this book shows you how to get the most out of your new Apple iPhone. (oreilly.com)

Switching to the Mac : the Missing Manual New York Times columnist and Missing Manuals creator David Pogue gets you past three challenges: transferring your stuff, assembling Mac programs so you can do what you did with Windows, and learning your way around Mac OS X. (amazon.com)

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (Peachpit Learning Series) The Peachpit Learning Series brings you the best-selling authors you know and love, on the topics that are near and dear to you, in a format that allows you to learn just what you need to know, and at your own pace. With this book, you can learn in your own way—whether it’s working through the lessons from start to finish, jumping straight to step-by-step exercises about new features, or looking up just what you need to know at that moment. There are hundreds of exciting tools and hidden gems in your Macintosh. And with the gentle yet expert hand of Robin Williams guiding you along the way, you will learn to take full advantage of all that Leopard has to offer. If you are new to Mac OS X, you'll learn to use your Mac with help from a world-renowned teacher. From there, you can move on to customize it to suit the way you work. And if you've been using Mac OS X already, you'll learn to use the new features in Leopard, like Spaces, Quick Look, and Time Machine, and explore all the enhancements to favorites like Mail and iChat. (amazon.com)

Teach Yourself Visually Mac OS X Leopard Do you prefer instructions that show you how instead of telling you why? This book is packed with easy, visual directions and full-color screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 150 tasks with Mac OS X Leopard, including adding applications to the Dock, color-coding files and folders, viewing windows in Exposé, using the QuickTime player, storing files on your iPod, creating your own Web widgets, and more. Succinct explanations walk you through step by step. (amazon.com)

Teach Yourself Visually MacBook If you prefer instructions that show you how to do something and skip the long-winded explanations, then this book is for you. Youll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 160 MacBook tasks. Each task-based spread includes easy, visual directions for performing necessary operations, including using the Dock and Dashboard, managing Exposé and Spaces, video chatting with iChat, and creating albums and photos in iPhoto. Full-color screen shots demonstrate each task so that you can get started using your MacBook today. (amazon.com)

Mango!

Want to learn Spanish? How about Japanese? Now you can learn online with Mango Languages. You can access the program from inside the library or from your home computer, but if you're at home you'll need to have your library card number ready. Mango should run on most modern web browsers, and it offers:

Online Lessons
Each lesson teaches you to engage in a new conversation. The conversations cover a broad range of situations. For example in a travel lesson, you will hear a conversation between a traveler and a hotel front-desk agent. In a business lesson, you will hear a conversation between two business associates discussing the launch of a new product. By the end of each lesson, you will be able to confidently participate in the conversation.

Vocabulary & Grammar
During a lesson, each line of conversation is systematically broken down into its component parts to teach you the relevant vocabulary and grammar. You interact with the words and phrases in your new language to hear native speakers pronounce them either slowly or at a conversational pace. With this method you master speaking and understanding your new vocabulary.

Memory Building Exercises
Learning is not enough. You must remember what you learn. Therefore, during the lessons, you are constantly challenged to draw on what you have learned from memory. Quizzes and tests are strategically and systematically placed throughout the lessons to reinforce your new language in your mind and memory.

High Frequency Vocabulary
Linguistic research shows that over 80% of day-to-day conversation consists of 2,000 high frequency words. The Mango Language courses teach you over 2,200 of the most high frequency words and phrases to ensure that you will be able to fulfill your daily conversational needs.

Available Languages

• Brazilian Portuguese
• Spanish
• Japanese
• French
• German
• Italian
• Greek
• Russian
• Mandarin Chinese
• Angielski dla polskich rozmówców (English for Polish Speakers)
• Inglés para hispanoparlantes (English for Spanish Speakers)
• Inglês para falantes do português brasileiro (English for Brazilian Portuguese Speakers)

Limited Library Services

Due to a planned system upgrade, the library catalog will be unavailable on Monday, October 27th, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. What does this mean for you? While the system is down:

• You won't be able to pay fines or renew your library cards
• New library cardholders must use guest (1 hour) internet access
• It will be difficult to tell if a book is available on the shelf, even for the librarians
• Librarians will be unable to take requests for books from other libraries

Please bear with us as we deal with these limitations. All services should be back to normal by Tuesday morning.

Don't be left in the dark!

Are you ready for the Digital TV transition?

Apply for the coupons online at http://dtv2009.gov/.

Find more information at http://www.dtv.gov/.

Or... come to the Library to get all the facts, and ask any questions you might have.

11/6/2008
7 p.m., Austin Meeting Room
Digital Television Transition: What You Need to Know Before the Big Switch

Find out what DTV Transition is, if your television set will be affected, how to make the switch, and how to get a coupon for $40 off the cost of a digital converter box for your television.

This workshop will prepare you so that you don't lose connection on February 17th.

What we eat

Peter Menzel explored the eating habits of families all over the globe in his photo-essay Hungry Planet, and Time magazine has created a slideshow of selected photos from the collection. (At left, the The Caven family of California. Food expenditure for one week: $159.18; Favorite foods: beef stew, berry yogurt sundae, clam chowder, ice cream.)

More and more people are becoming concerned about the state of the world's food supply and the way we eat in the modern world. Novelist Barbara Kingsolver had a smash success with her nonfiction book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle : a Year of Food Life, detailing her family's attempt to eat only locally grown food for an entire year (see the book's website for more information). Local eating is increasingly popular, although some question the practice's environmental benefits, as seen in this article from the New York Times.

Also in the Times is an ongoing series of articles called "The Food Chain" that explores the social, health, and economic issues surrounding food, eating, and food production.

The Slow Food movement was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy to combat what he saw as an unhealthy and rapidly growing dependence on cheap, not very nutritious food prepared in advance and eaten quickly. The movement has a website, slowfood.com, and Petrini has also published a book presenting his ideas: Slow Food : the Case for Taste. If you're interested, you can find out more in the books Slow Food Revolution : a New Culture for Eating and Living, and Slow Food Nation : Why our Food Should be Good, Clean, and Fair. Local options for enjoying slow food are listed in The Slow Food Guide to Chicago : Restaurants, Markets, Bars.

Perhaps the most vocal critic of the modern table is Michael Pollan. In his book The Omnivore's Dilemma : a Natural History of Four Meals, he discusses a problem uniquely faced by modern humans: the question of what to eat. He expands upon that theme in his latest book, In Defense of Food : an Eater's Manifesto, where he offers a few simple rules for eating well (summarized by Megnut):

1. Eat food. Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

Non-dairy creamer? You're out. You too, breakfast-cereal bars.

2. Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims.
Science keeps changing, so trying to follow fads won't guarantee health. You have a better chance at health by just eating a well-balanced diet.

3. Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number — or that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
All those signs point to food that's been processed. More process = less nutrients and vitamins, never mind the environmental costs of producing the food.

4. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.
Buy food at farmer's markets and you can avoid the foods listed in #3 very easily.

5. Pay more, eat less.
Pay for that grass-fed beef, but reduce your over-all beef consumption and it's not an exorbitant expense. Interesting figure from the article: "Americans spend, on average, less than 10 percent of their income on food, down from 24 percent in 1947, and less than the citizens of any other nation."

6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
You don't have to turn into a bunny, but make sure you're getting greens. They pack a nutritional wallop, but science still can't tell you exactly what inside is so good.

7. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Confounding factors aside, people who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are.
You know, that whole Mediterranean diet, "French Women Don't Get Fat" thing.

8. Cook. And if you can, plant a garden.
Duh. If you cook from scratch, it's unlikely you'll add ferrous sulfate or sodium tripoly-phosphate to your dinner. See #3 above.

9. Eat like an omnivore.
Variety is important, and we've been reducing the diversity in our diets over the years. Plus "biodiversity in the diet means less monoculture in the fields."

Two other rules that didn't make the official list:

10. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
11. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

Are these guidelines feasible? Should we change our lifestyle to accommodate a certain way of eating? Would Americans be better off if they ate according to Pollan's plan? These, and similar questions, will continue to be an issue as the planet's population grows.

Computer tutor has new hours

The one-on-one computer tutor has announced new hours. Assistance with web sites, resumes, and online job applications will now be available:

• Tuesday 3:30-5pm
• Thursday 3:30-5pm

Please stop by with your questions!

Unfortunately, our volunteer will no longer be able to offer personal tutoring at the Library. We're doing our best to find other options to get help for people who need it, so look for announcements here and in the library.

SAM is here!

Today was the first day of our new computer reservations system, SAM. It will no doubt take a few days to work all the bugs out, so please bear with us--and definitely report any trouble you have using the new system. We're working hard to make this transition as smooth as possible for patrons and staff alike. Remember, the major changes you'll encounter are:

• All computer sign-ups are done at the self-service sign-up station in the library. No phone reservations are possible.
• A valid Forest Park library card will be required for sign-up. (Residents who have forgotten their card may be issued a guest pass, which allows access subject to certain restrictions.)
• "Express" computers are now available for 15-minute sessions (an increase of 5 minutes)

For more information, please call the library at (708) 366-7171.

Democracy in Action

If you live in Cook County, today is the last day to register to vote in the Presidential General Election on November 4th, 2008. To accommodate the last-minute rush, the Clerk's downtown office (69 W. Washington, Fifth Floor, Chicago) and the five suburban Cook County courthouse mini-centers will stay open until 8 p.m.

Closer to home, the Forest Park Village Hall is accepting voter registrations until 5pm today. Village Hall is located just down the street from the library, in the complex with the Police and Fire stations. The address is:

517 Desplaines Avenue
Forest Park, IL
60130

You can contact Village Hall directly at 708-366-2323.

Remember:

• Voters who have recently moved must re-register at their current address prior to the deadline. Voters who have changed their name also must re-register.
• Prospective voters should bring two pieces of identification to register, including one displaying a current address (a bill mailed to the prospective voter may serve as one form of ID).
• To qualify to vote, a person must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old by Election Day (Nov. 4) and a resident of his or her precinct for at least 30 days prior to the election.

Those who miss the regular registration deadline will still be able to vote if they register during the 14-day grace period from Oct. 8-21. During grace period registration, voters must sign up to vote in person at the Clerk's downtown Chicago office (69 W. Washington St., Fifth Floor) or at one of the Clerk's five courthouse locations. You must show two pieces of identification to register. Grace period voters must vote absentee immediately after signing up to vote or via a mail absentee ballot completed at home and returned to the Clerk's office before Election Day. Grace period registrants are not allowed to vote at the polls on Election Day or vote at any Early Voting site.

All this information and more is available from the Cook County Clerk's Office. From that site, you can also check and see if you are currently registered to vote, and find your local polling place in Chicago or suburban Cook County.