A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators. However, everyone is welcome to subscribe to one of the mailing lists (plain text or HTML). Subscription instructions are included at the end of each report.
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Two Reports from the US State Department
Index: Significant Incidents of Political Violence Against Americans [.pdf]
http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/incidents_index.html
Index: Patterns of Global Terrorism
http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/gt_index.html
In the wake of recent terrorist threats to the US, security is on the minds of many Americans planning international trips. These reports, published by the US State Department, may help put the potential risks into perspective. The first examines incidents of political violence and terrorism-related acts affecting US citizens. It divides the globe into five major geographic regions and briefly summarizes each of the year's notable incidents chronologically, by region. Unfortunately, the most recent report available is from 1996. The second report is submitted annually by the State Department to Congress. It contains regional and country overviews, information on state-sponsored terrorism, a review of the year's incidents, and an introduction to US anti-terrorism policy. Reports from 1995-97 are available.
[MD]
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Mineralogy Database
http://web.wt.net/~daba/Mineral/
Created by David Barthelmy, a petroleum geology consultant, this site offers over 5,000 pages of mineral data with information on all known mineral species. Users can browse the database of 3,968 individual mineral species data descriptions by crystallography, chemical composition, physical and optical properties, Dana's New classification, Strunz classification, and alphabetical listings. Additional resources include selected mineral definitions, related links, and photos from the author's collection.
[MD]
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Resources for the Future (RFF)
http://www.rff.org/
Based in Washington DC, Resources for the Future (RFF) is an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to the economic aspects of environmental issues. RFF scholars examine topics such as government regulation, risk, biodiversity, climate, Superfund policy, technology, and outer space in a variety of freely available discussion papers, articles, project summaries, and reports [.pdf]. An archive of the RFF quarterly publication Resource dating back to 1995 [.pdf] is also available in addition to an on-site glossary and list of up-coming seminars.
[MW]
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Early Day Motions--House of Commons
http://edm.ais.co.uk/
The British House of Commons has recently unveiled an online database of Early Day Motions (EDM). EDMs are motions introduced by Members of Parliament (MPs) that are generally not debated but are rather used to draw attention to a particular issue or gather support for it by having other MPs add their signatures. Despite this, EDMs are often noted by the press, and some use them to interpret opinions on wider issues. Users can search the database of the 1997/9 Session by EDM number or description or browse the current list, which displays Title, Primary Sponsor, and the Number of Signatures. Parliament is currently on summer recess until October 19 (with the exception of a brief special session to introduce new security measures for Northern Ireland), but when it is in session, the database will be updated daily.
[MD]
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1998 Candidate Profiles
http://www.crp.org/1998elect/index.htm
The Center for Responsive Politics (discussed in the April 21, 1998 issue of the Scout Report) provides the 1998 Congressional Candidate Profiles database for users to determine from whom and from where this year's candidates are getting their campaign money. This exhaustive database--updated monthly until the elections--tracks campaign contributions for every state and congressional district in the US. Voters can compare and investigate their candidates "by the size and source of their contributions, the industries and interest groups that are supporting them, where the money is coming from geographically, and much more."
[AO]
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Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools [.pdf]
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html
Text of the President's Remarks at the Safe Schools and Communities Event--August 27, 1998
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19980827-17865.html
Released last week and announced by the President yesterday, this new guide is designed to help teachers, parents, and community members detect the warning signs of potentially dangerous student behavior and respond appropriately. Created in response to a recent wave of school violence, the report is based on the research "of an independent panel of experts in the fields of education, law enforcement, and mental health." Sections include Early Warning Signs, Getting Help for Troubled Children, Developing a Prevention and Response Plan, and Responding to Crisis. Users can browse an online version of the guide or download it and an Executive Summary in .pdf or HTML formats.
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Two From American Memory--LOC
The Leonard Bernstein Collection (Preview)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/lbhtml/lbhome.html
American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/mhsdhtml/aladhome.html
The US Library of Congress American Memory site has added two more features to its burgeoning digital historical collection. The first new offering is a preview of the online Leonard Bernstein collection. With over 400,000 items, the Bernstein collection is one of the largest held by the LOC Music Division. This preview offers 85 photos, a complete Finding Aid (SGML viewer required), a Chronology, and a Bibliography. The second new addition to American Memory is a collection of approximately 2800 lantern slides of American buildings and landscapes constructed between 1850 and 1920. Users can view slides of cities, specific buildings, public and private parks and gardens, as well as plans, maps, and models. Special features include a history of Boston's Park System, an exhibit on New York City Parks in Use in 1912, and a history of Lantern Slides. Users can search the photo database by keyword or browse by subject, state, or name.
[MD]
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ADA Online [AVI, Quicktime]
http://www.ada.org/
ADA Online, from the American Dental Association (ADA), includes resources for professionals, patients, and students. The site contains membership information, ADA publications and position papers, research and recommendations on clinical issues, a catalog of handouts and posters for patient education, information for new dentists, factsheets on dental careers, licensing information, directories of accredited education programs, listings of continuing education courses, and more. The section for patients and consumers includes answers to frequently asked questions; information on oral health, disease prevention, and how to deal with dental emergencies; and special sections for parents, children, and teens. A small portion of the site is for ADA members only.
[GW]
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Mark Rothko Web Feature
http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/rothkosplash.html
Not a virtual exhibition, the Mark Rothko Web Feature by the National Gallery of Art is really a reference work, providing context and background information on the artist. The Web Feature was produced in conjunction with the exhibition, Mark Rothko, at the National Gallery from May 3 through August 16, 1998, now travelling to the Whitney Museum of American Art, September 17-November 29, 1998. The resemblance to a reference book is enhanced by the design of the site, which encourages visitors to page through images of over 30 paintings in chronological order. The Gallery has divided Rothko's career into five periods, and a highlighted navigational bar shows visitors where they are in the chronology. Rothko's explanations of the philosophies behind his work and photographs of the artist help to place the work in context. The actual application of the paint on the canvas is important in Rothko's work, as in that of other abstract expressionists, and some of this nuance is not vi!
sible in the Web Feature. In fact, three paintings reproduced as flat black squares, but it is doubtful that these pictures would reproduce any better in the type of art reference book the Web Feature emulates.
[DS]
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GuideStar--Donors' Guide to Charities and Nonprofits
http://www.guidestar.org/
Donors and philanthropists can now more easily compare and monitor organizations to which they may contribute, while nonprofit organizations can perhaps spend less of their resources on fundraising. These are the goals of Philanthropic Research, Inc's GuideStar, a clearinghouse of information on more than 600,000 charities and nonprofit organizations. GuideStar hosts a searchable database, a newsletter, employment and volunteer opportunity listings, and valuable articles in addition to lists of links for both donors and nonprofit organizations. Database information includes brief descriptions of the charities/nonprofits and their programs, funding sources, geographic location(s), and income/asset statements. GuideStar derives its information from 990 tax submissions to the IRS as well as directly from the nonprofit organizations themselves.
[JR]
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The Household Cyclopedia of General Information
http://members.xoom.com/mspong/
This 1881 reference book was designed to help nineteenth-century households stay healthy and productive. Need to know how to winter your bees? Build a barometer? Bleed a patient with leeches? Your answers are here. The site, a part-time project of freelance webmaster Matthew Spong, evokes a time when many households were largely self-sufficient, and the value of a book explaining how to amputate a limb, for example, could be immeasurable. Spong discovered Henry Hartshorne's wonderful compendium in a market in Sydney and has almost completed scanning the text and converting it to HTML. We look forward to the final chapter, Miscellaneous, containing everything from Proof-reading to Dialysis.
[TK]
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Developer.com
http://www.developer.com
Developer.com, created by EarthWeb, offers a wealth of resources and information for software developers. This sizeable site consists largely of Internet-related resources and programming tools, but it also contains numerous general purpose development resources. Among the offerings are over 150 free, online, full-text books with subjects ranging from ActiveX to Website management; a large library of downloadable source code, freeware, and graphics; well-written articles on new development technologies; and much more useful information. The site also offers a weekly newsletter containing recent news and highlights of new resources on the site. Though much of the site is well-organized in a hierarchical manner, the search capabilities could be improved. Nonetheless, Developer.com is a valuable site for a wide range of Internet developers from the novice webmaster to the advanced hacker.
[CL]
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SoftWatcher [frames]
http://www.softwatcher.com/
SoftWatcher, provided by MTN, is a frequently updated listing of the latest software for PC and MAC. The site keeps up-to-date with a very extensive list of software for audio/video, utilities, graphics, gaming, Internet, and more. Users can browse the site by date or category. Each piece of software is thoroughly described and labeled as either beta, commercial, demo, freeware, shareware, or update. Each description includes a link for downloading or ordering the software as well as an option to receive email for any further updates of that particular piece of software. Also at the site is an online software store.
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The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing any portion of this report, in any format.
From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
The paragraph below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing the entire report, in any format.
Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-1998. The Internet Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, is preserved on all copies.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, or the National Science Foundation.
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