The Scout Report - September 15, 1995

September 15, 1995

A Service to the Internet Community
Provided by the Info Scout and the InterNIC


The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators, the InterNIC's primary audience. However everyone is welcome to subscribe to one of the mailing lists (plain text or HTML) or visit the Web version of the Scout Report on the InterNIC server:
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sr/

Additional information and detailed access and subscription instructions are included at the end of each Scout Report.

Highlights In This Week's Report:

UPDATE: The Censorship, Freedom of Speech, and Child Safety Web page URL listed in a recent Scout Report has been changed to: http://www.voicenet.com/~cranmer/censorship.html

World Wide Web:

  • The American Academy of Ophthalmology is an international member association of more than 21,000 ophthalmologists, physicians who provide comprehensive eye care, including medical, surgical and optical care. The AAO Web site provides authoritative information about eye care for the public, and serves the professional needs of the Academy's members. Web content includes links to other eye care sites plus educational articles on Refractive Surgery, Nutrition and the Eye, AIDS, HIV and the Eye, and Computers & Eyestrain.
    http://www.eyenet.org/
  • ArtsUSA is the WWW site of the American Council for the Arts (ACA) on the Internet. ArtsUSA provides advocacy information, including relevant Congressional committees, how to contact members, current legislation regarding arts funding, and more. Barbra Streisand's speech promoting the NEA at Harvard University, the ACA Books Catalog, now reorganized and including on-line ordering, the ArtsUSA Cafe discussion group and Arts Education information all can be found on ArtsUSA. Recently added is the National Arts Policy Clearinghouse with more than 4,000 arts policy documents.
    http://www.artsusa.org/
  • The Climate and Radiation Branch of the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center includes discussions on aerosols, clouds and the hydrological cycle, rainfall, and remote sensing. As you dig deeper into individual pages, you can find more detailed information on such things as fractals, GOES and MODIS instruments, and so on. There's a page to search for publications, and many abstracts are included. There's a list of other Web Sites related to Earth's climate, and links to NASA datacenters (DAACs) where you can obtain data for your own analysis, if you wish.
    http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  • Economics and Politics carries the full text of articles and reports on such issues as the federal budget and taxes, labor markets, the distribution of income and wealth, monetary policy, and trade. The first edition of Economics and Policies features items by Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich (on declining real wages); Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Kantor (on the software industry as a model for the jobs of the future); economists Edward Wolff and Barry Bluestone (on widening inequalities between rich and poor); and Robert McIntyre (on what's wrong with the flat tax). Economics and Politics is the second Idea Central page to be released. The first page, Welfare and Families, is already online.
    http://www.epn.org/ideacentral/economic/
    http://www.epn.org/ideacentral/welfare/
    [Note: Site title has changed since the original Scout Report review. Site formerly referred to in the Scout Report as "Idea Central: Economics and Politics."]
  • Great Lakes Environmental Wire (GLEW) provides Great Lakes environmental news, editorials and opinion columns reported in eight Michigan daily newspapers. Produced by Booth Newspapers, and supported by the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN). Both services offer search functions and archives.
    http://www.great-lakes.net/orgs/media/media.html
    http://www.great-lakes.net/
  • The Space Shuttle Monitor combines links from various NASA sites on one page allowing easy, live tracking of the Shuttle. It includes live "snapshots" from NASA-TV, DEMO (Shuttle Tracking at Mission Control), and Current Status of the Shuttle in flight. Other links include, Preflight, Launch, Orbit, Landing, Photo Gallery, Video Gallery, Shuttle Home, and sci.space.shuttle. For those with Netscape 1.1 (or greater, or browser w/ similar extensions) the URL will reload every 90 seconds to show a new "snapshot". On the NASA "snapshot" pages themselves, there's instructions on how to make it refresh in a "real-time" mode as the NASA server updates the frame that is put on the WWW. No new information found here that can't be found at other NASA WWW sites. Links were extracted from the NASA pages and put together in a different format to make it easier for the browsee to do just what is desired. It's an easy way to monitor the space shuttle with the loads of information that NASA makes available on the WWW.
    http://www.prairienet.org/~tgnally/shuttle.html
  • The Writing - Mulitmedia web page provides links to software which may be of interest to students and teachers of college-level writing. FTP links lead to shareware and freeware for DOS and MS-Windows. A brief description is included for each piece of software, and each is given a rating. Links to other software collections are provided.
    http://www.humberc.on.ca/~coleman/cw-soft.html

Gopher

  • The Radcliffe College gopher offers information about the College, its seminars, publishing course, graduate course in women's studies and the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. Radcliffe College is a comprehensive center for advancing society by advancing women.
    http://www.radcliffe.edu/
    [Note: Originally reviewed as a gopher site; gopher site has been replaced by web site.]
  • The Socrates and Youth Master Gopher was created to further the adoption of the SOCRATES and YOUTH FOR EUROPE III Action Programmes by the European Council of Ministers and the European Parliament under articles 126 and 127 of the Maastricht Treaty. The new programme covers a wide range of activities: ERASMUS (higher education), COMENIUS (primary and secondary education), LINGUA (language training), ODL (Open and Distance education), Adult education and Exchange of information. As the programmes evolve, more information (deadlines for submission of applications, selection results, Guidelines for applicants) will be added. This Gopher server is managed for DG XXII, Education Training and Youth by the Socrates and Youth Technical Assistance Office, part of the ETAPE Consortium, which assists the European Commission in the implementation of these programmes.
    http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg22/socrates.html
    [Note: Originally reviewed as a gopher site; gopher site has been replaced by web site.]

Electronic Mailing Lists

  • The Talk 2000 Forum mailing list, 2000ad-l, is an open, moderated academic discussion list on the folklore, festivities and future of the year 2000. Topics include millennial influence on today's culture, millennial books, previous mega-anniversaries, the great calendar, bimillennial groups, proposed mega-events for 1999-2001 and reflections on the advent of the third millennium. The 2000ad-l list will be bidirectionally gatewayed with the newsgroup misc.future.2000-ad, assuming it passes its CFV.
    To receive a more information:
    send email to: LISTPROC@USC.EDU
    in the body of the message type: GET 2000ad-l invite2000
    To subscribe:
    send email to: LISTPROC@USC.EDU
    in the body of the message type:
    SUBSCRIBE 2000ad-l yourfirstname yourlastname
    Or visit the Talk 2000 Forum Web page:
    http://humnet.humberc.on.ca/talk2000.htm
    • The USDA Economics and Statistics System Reports are now available automatically via email. The electronic mailing list provides quick and timely access to the agricultural and economic estimates that are available in the reports section of the Economics and Statistics System. You will receive the reports of your choice within three hours of their publication via email. (Note that delivery time may take longer depending on factors, such as network speed and congestion.) The reports are posted on the gopher server and sent to the subscribers simultaneously. Subscribe to as many reports as you wish. To request a USDA Reports catalog with detailed information on reports, including a short description, publication frequency, and publication date/time for 1995,
      send email to: usda-reports@usda.mannlib.cornell.edu
      in the body of the message type: send catalog
      or gopher to: usda.mannlib.cornell.edu
      http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/emailinfo.html

    NetBytes

    • The Web Search page is another collection of all the major search engines and directories, but with graphic representations which may make it more fun to have in your bookmarks. A text version is also provided which includes even more search engines, resulting in a new feeling of being overwhelmed.
      http://www.web-search.com/
    • The IconBAZAAR Web page offers dozens of graphics for the Web page your building, nicely organized into the categories: Arrows and Pointers, Background Images, Flowers, Punctuation Marks, Symbols, Bars and Banners, Dots and Cubes, and Stars. If you don't find anything you like, links are provided to 40 other sites with icons related to such topics as Hobbes, the X-Files, and pets.
      http://www.iconbazaar.com/
      [Note: Site title has changed since the original Scout Report review. Site formerly referred to in the Scout Report as "Icons & Images Collection."]

    Weekend Scouting

    • The BrainTainment Center- home of the World Brain - receives a daily feed of uplinked Brainpower scores from players of THINKfast(tm)- the new brain-game that claims to grow your brain as you play the game. Bell Curves comparing Brainpower by country, domain, sex, age, profession & special interest groups will be posted as the data streams in. This One-stop Neuro-cog shop also features an on-line 5-minute IQ test, left/right brain analysis, random quotes & koans, a very popular Brain Board & a steady feed of brain booster news on new nutriceuticals, smart drugs, books, machines & games for your brain. The BrainTainment Center also offers the very popular THINKfast brain-game free off the site.
      http://www.brain.com/
    • The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is now open on the Web and seems to be almost as good as being there. So if you missed the official opening in Cleveland or the HBO live special on TV, have no fear --the Internet comes to the rescue again. Hear audio clips of the inductees, vote for the 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll (seems the staff needs your help with this) or express yourself in one of the forums. The real-life building was designed by I. M. Pei looks great in the photos, at least. Oh ya, you can also win "free stuff".
      http://www.rockhall.com/

    About the Scout Report

    The Scout Report is a weekly publication offered by the InterNIC to the Internet community as a fast, convenient way to stay informed about network activities. Its purpose is to combine in one place selected new (and newly-discovered) Internet resources.

    A wide range of topics are included in the Report with an emphasis on resources thought to be of interest to the InterNIC's primary audience, the research and education community. Each resource has been verified for substantial content and accessibility within a day of the release of the Report.

    The Scout Report is provided in multiple formats -- mailing lists for both a plain text and HTML version, and World Wide Web. The World Wide Web version of the Report includes links to all listed resources. The report is released every weekend.

    In addition to the plain text version, the Scout Report is distributed in HTML format allowing sites to post the Scout Report on local WorldWideWeb servers each week. The result is faster access for local users. You are welcome and encouraged to re-post and re-distribute the report. Note that copyright statements appear on all versions of the Scout Report, and we ask that these be included when re-posting or re-distributing.

    If you haven't yet subscribed or told your friends and colleagues, now is the time. Spread the news by word-of-net. Join 20,000 of your colleagues already using the Scout Report as a painless tool for tracking what's new on the 'Net!

    Comments and contributions to the Scout Report are encouraged and can be sent to scout@cs.wisc.edu

    -- Susan Calcari
    InterNIC Info Scout

    Scout Report Access Methods

    • To receive the electronic mail version of the Scout Report each Friday, join the scout-report mailing list. You will receive one message a week -- the Scout Report every weekend.

      send email to: majordomo@lists.internic.net in the body of the message, type:

      subscribe scout-report
      to unsubscribe to the list, repeat this procedure substituting the word "unsubscribe" for subscribe.
      • To receive the Scout Report in HTML format for local posting, subscribe to the scout-report-html mailing list, used exclusively to distribute the Scout Report in HTML format once a week.

        send mail to: majordomo@lists.internic.net in the body of the message, type:

        subscribe scout-report-html

        Resource Addressing Conventions

        After each resource in the Scout Report one or more network addresses are listed. Every attempt is made to use the same convention in each listing for the network address of each resource. It is assumed that users recognize the type of address and know how to use it. However, for those users unfamiliar with the Internet we provide here the order in which addresses are listed (by network tool.) A brief explanation of one tool, WWW is included below.

        The four network tools referenced most often in the Scout Report are World Wide Web, gopher, email, and FTP. Occasionally WAIS and Telnet addresses are also listed.

        After each resource at least one address is listed, and sometimes more. This is because some resources are available using multiple network tools. The network tool addresses are always listed in the same order after each resource:

        • World Wide Web (WWW)
        • Gopher
        • FTP
        • Email
        • Telnet
        • WAIS
        A WWW address is called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and always begins with a string of characters followed by a colon and two forward slashes. For example:

        http://www.internic.net/
        gopher://gibbs.oit.unc.edu:70/11/research.d/grants.d
        ftp://ftp.digex.net/pub/access/hecker/internet/slip-ppp.txt

        To access the resource through the WWW you can use a WWW browser installed on your desktop computer, or a "command-line" WWW client on your local Internet host computer. Web browsers are available for all major computer platforms, including Macintosh, PC, and UNIX. Check with your local support center or your Internet Service Provider for more information about Web browsers installed on the Internet host computer or

        Copyright Susan Calcari, 1995.

        Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice, this permission notice, and the two paragraphs below are preserved on all copies.

        The InterNIC provides information about the Internet and the resources on the Internet to the US research and education community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material.

        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 National Science Foundation, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.