How Stuff Works: A Resource for the Curious

Maybe you wanted to know more about the bidet craze since the pandemic began or maybe you are looking to get more informed about Healthcare.gov since that deadline is soon approaching – either way How Stuff Works has you covered!

How Stuff Works allows you to search whatever topic you choose, or you can choose from their provided topics along the top of the page as you explore. Once you choose your initial topic the field will narrow again, and you can again choose a more specific topic. How Stuff Works will provide you with a range of articles to choose from as you navigate through the results page.

How Stuff Works also offers unbiased and reliable reviews in five categories (including life insurance and mortgage refinance) if you would like some free reviews on these important topics click on Reviews on the main page.

If you prefer to have a little more fun and games with your learning rather than a cut and dry article you can check out the Quizzes option on the main page of the website. This will redirect you to the How Stuff Works Play subsite where you can take fun quizzes while learning along the way.

Maybe you are thinking I would really like to learn something new, but I just do not have time to sit down and read through a bunch of articles! Don’t worry How Stuff Works understands and that is why they have many podcasts to choose from and if you choose the Podcast option on the Main Page you can look through all the podcasts How Stuff Works has to offer.

This year has been stressful but sometimes learning something new and exciting can give you a great positive boost! The Allegheny County Libraries hope we can help you learn something new and give you that great positive boost.

-Adrianne

Northland Public Library

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October is Cookbook Month!

Celebrate by checking out a new (or new to you) cookbook from the library. Not sure what cookbook to get – vegetarian, cookies, bread, grilling, baking, fermenting, vegan?  Don’t worry we have many cookbooks to pick from.

There are over 13,000 cookbooks in our Library Catalog, over 2,000 cookbooks in our OverDrive collection, and over 1,000 cookbooks in our hoopla collection.

Enjoy!

Hilary Lewis, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

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Back to School Resources with Gale

Navigating the school year is a lot more challenging for many students this year. With so many schools employing distanced learning, having trusted educational resources and tools available is more important than ever. Luckily, students with a library card from an Allegheny County library have access to Gale’s suite of educational databases.

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Find a Grave

“Find a Grave’s mission is to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present final disposition information as a virtual cemetery experience.”

Whether working on your family’s history or just curious, Find a Grave is sure to delight! This web site boasts being the largest international graving community in the world. Millions of contributors have submitted names, dates, photographs, GPS locations, and countless other nuggets of information about the final resting place of your family and friends as well as the rich and famous.

Find a Grave was started by Jim Tipton in 1995 giving him a way to share his interest in visiting the graves of famous people. It eventually became a subsidiary of Ancestry and is available as an app for both android and iOS devices.

Where will your search take you and what will you learn?

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