The Scout Report

May 16, 1997

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Science Department, University of Wisconsin

A Project of 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). Subscription instructions are included at the end of each report.

Net-happenings Anniversary
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/net-hap/index.html
Happy Birthday to Net-happenings! I'd like to congratulate Gleason Sackman on four years of continuous, daily publication of the Net-happenings mailing list, over three years of the newsgroup, and over two years of the Web site. The mailing list delivers 50-60 announcements daily to almost 10,000 readers, and another 15,000 people visit the Web site each day.

As many of you may know, Gleason produced Net-happenings as a volunteer for over two years, and only in the last 18 months has become an employee of the Internet Scout Project and the InterNIC. We're proud to have him and his work, and wish him many more years of continued success.
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NAEP 1996 Science Report Card for the Nation and the States [.pdf, 125p.]
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/96report/97497.shtml
This National Assessment of Educational Progress report (available in Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only) "evaluate[s] and report[s] the educational progress of students at grades 4, 8, and 12... provid[ing]... students' science achievement at each grade and within various subgroups of the general population." For 8th graders, selected state data is also available. Major assessment findings include: 4th and 8th grade scores by gender were similar, but by 12th grade, males had higher scores; higher levels of parental education were associated with higher student performance at all grade levels; and non-public school students had higher average scores than public school students. This report has a similar format to 1996 Mathematics Report Card for the Nation and the States (discussed in the March 14, 1997 Scout Report). [JS]
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The Collection--National Gallery of Art [RealAudio]
http://www.nga.gov/collection/
The National Gallery of Art offers virtual tours through selected works in 44 of its collections, including painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and works on paper. Each work may be accompanied by descriptive information, links to full screen images, an exhibition history of the work, and its provenance. A highlight is the 19th Century French section; each of its five tours contains selected paintings accompanied by RealAudio expositions. Artists include Stuart, Copley, Vermeer, Fragonnard, Poussin, Manet, Renoir, van Gogh, El Greco, and Goya, among many others. NGA also provides a searchable index of data on over 100,000 objects in its collections, with images of over 3,000 of them. [JS]
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Conservation Databases--WCMC
http://www.wcmc.org.uk/cis/index.html
The World Conservation Monitoring Centre, whose purpose is the "location and management of information on the conservation and sustainable use of the world's living resources," provides five searchable databases. Users can search by country for threatened animals and plants (plants are available for Europe only), protected areas of the world, forest statistics and maps, marine statistics and maps, and national biodiversity profiles (twelve countries only at present). Information is drawn from several sources, and database documentation varies from resource to resource. [JS]
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A Comparative Chronology of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/amser/chrono.html
This site, provided by Roy Davies and based on Glyn Davies' book A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day (U of Wales Press, 1996), is divided into eighteen chronological sections. As might be expected, the scope of each section tightens as the chronology approaches the present (100 years by the 16th Century, 50 by the 18th, and 20 by the 19th). Each year (or range of years), contains an international monetary highlight, and most contain short annotations. In addition, citations to page numbers guide those who wish to refer to the printed book. The site also links to a page of essays related to the book. Glyn Davies is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Wales. [JS]
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Two Math Resources for Liberal Arts and Business Students
Calculus Applied to Probability and Statistics
http://www.hofstra.edu/~matscw/cprob/cprobintro.html
Trigonometric Functions and Calculus
http://www.hofstra.edu/~matscw/trig/trigintro.html
Stefan Waner and Steven R. Costenoble of Hofstra University have created two online mathematics resources designed to help liberal arts and business majors apply calculus and trigonometry to real life situations. Calculus Applied to Probability and Statistics contains four major sections: Continuous Random Variables and Histograms; Probability Density Functions; Mean, Median, Variance and Standard Deviation; and You're the Expert. Trigonometric Functions contains sections on modelling, the individual functions, and derivatives and integrals of trigonometric functions. Most sections are accompanied by exercises (answers are provided to odd numbered exercises). Note that users must click on the blue bullets, rather than their accompanying text, to navigate each site. [JS]
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National Library Catalogues Worldwide
http://www.library.uq.edu.au/ssah/jeast//
This site, provided by John W. East of the University of Queensland (Australia) Library, offers pointers and login instructions to national library catalogs in 38 countries. As the national library catalog is the "best guide to publications issued in the country in question," this site is a very useful pointer for researchers. Note that coverage is limited primarily to European and North American countries at this time. [JS]
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ACM Washington Update
http://www.acm.org/usacm/update/
ACM Washington Update is a biweekly electronic publication of the US Public Policy Office of the Association for Computing Machinery (USACM). The Association for Computing Machinery is an international professional society whose 75,000 members (60,000 in the US) represent a critical mass of computer scientists in education, industry, and government. The USACM provides a means for promoting dialogue on technology policy issues with US policy makers and the general public. The Washington Update reports on activities in Washington that may be of interest to those in the computing and information policy communities and will highlight USACM's involvement in many of these issues. [JS]

To subscribe send email to:
listserv@acm.org
In the body of the message type:
subscribe WASHINGTON-UPDATE
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Holocaust Assets Page and Preliminary Report--US Department of State [.pdf, 205p.]
http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/holocausthp.html
Foreword and Executive Summary to State Department Report
http://www.ita.doc.gov/media/assets1.htm
The State Department has released US and Allied Efforts To Recover and Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During World War II: Preliminary Study (Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only). "The report documents one of the greatest thefts by a government in history: the confiscation by Nazi Germany of an estimated $580 million of central bank gold--around $5.6 billion in today's values--along with indeterminate amounts in other assets during World War II. These goods were stolen from governments and civilians in the countries Germany overran and from Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Nazis alike, including Jews murdered in extermination camps, from whom everything was taken down to the gold fillings of their teeth." Among the report's conclusions: this plunder was "essential to the financing of the German war machine"; and "the fact that [neutral countries] pursued vigorous trade with the Third Reich had the clear effect of supporting and prolonging Nazi Germany's capacity to wage war." It calls for "justice for the surviving victims," economic, moral, and political. The Foreword and Executive Summary of the report are available in HTML. A .pdf version of "Finding Aid to Records at the National Archives at College Park" is also available. [JS]
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Two Searchable International Databases
US Census International Database
http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/ipc/www/idbnew.html
United Nations InfoNation [Frames]
http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/
The US Census Bureau and United Nations provide excellent, interactive searchable databases of international statistical information. The Census Bureau's IDB is highlighted by IDB Online Access, which allows the user to select one of 26 demographic, ethnic, and economic variables and any or "all [of] the countries in the world," and receive a table for that variable for the latest year, selected individual years, or a range of years. Selected variables are available by urban/rural residence. Data can be displayed as text, spreadsheet, or in user-configurable format. IDB is a product of the Census Bureau's International Programs Center. InfoNation data, gleaned from the United Nations Statistics Division, allows the user, through a frames-based interface, to select up to seven of 185 countries and four of 37 variables. Retrieval is for the latest year available only, providing a snapshot view of country information. InfoNation provides geographic and social indicators as well as demographic and economic. Together, IDB and InfoNation are a formidable resource. Note that because of the use of different sources, data may vary for the same variables across the two databases. [JS]
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International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/
The International Herald Tribune, which advertises itself as "the world's daily newspaper," offers in its electronic edition selected stories from the front page, editorials, finance, and sports for the last week, as well as selected past stories by various writers. It is owned by the New York Times (discussed in the January 26, 1996 issue of the Scout Report) and the Washington Post (discussed in the June 21, 1996 Scout Report), and is a good place to start for international news coverage. [JS]
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Alternative Health News Online
http://www.altmedicine.com/
This informational resource is provided by Alternative Health News Online, Inc. The latest health news and resources are sought out and organized in an easily accessible fashion. Each of the numerous sections contains a substantial quantity of information and resources. For the latest in heath news try What's New, Health News Bulletins, Wellness News, Heath News, and Healthy Living. Many of these sections are updated daily. Health questions can be addressed to Dr. Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing. Other topics addressed are diet, nutrition, longevity, alternative medicine, mind/body control, and manual healing. [TB]
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Veggies Unite!--Vegan recipe database
http://vegweb.com/
Online since April 1996, but with new recipes added daily, this vegetarian/vegan resource now offers over 2,000 vegan recipes contributed by its members. While the quality and detail of the recipes vary, the organization of them into a frames-based hierarchy (a no-frames version is available) means that users can easily select a recipe to their liking. There is also a simple search interface. Members of Veggies Unite! can link recipe choices to an automatic grocery list maker and weekly meal planner, and can use the recipe bulletin boards. Membership is $15, but users who cannot afford this fee are still welcome to join. Also available on the site is information about related issues such as the ethics of veganism, book reviews, and a composting guide. Whether you are a long-time vegan, or just want to cook like one, the site will be a solid resource. [ML]
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HIFITECH--Discussion on hi-fi technique mailing list
The HIFITECH list was formed to in order to discuss Hi-Fi Audio technique at home. Suitable topics are reviews and discussion on amplifiers, digital audio/video equipment, Dolby Surround equipment, home theaters, speakers, and home acoustics, among others. [JS]

To subscribe send email to:
Majordomo@lists.oulu.fi
In the body of the message type:
subscribe hifitech [email address optional]
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Proceedings of 6th World Wide Web Conference
http://proceedings.www6conf.org/
The Proceedings of 6th World Wide Web Conference, held April 7-11, 1997, are now available. Accessing all of the proceedings or selected portions is easy since users may select readings by author or topic or simply search through all of them. Topics are arranged under General Content, GUIs (graphical user interfaces) and Tech(nical materials). The audience for these materials is quite wide: from someone involved in long-term planning to another writing code to someone else considering the structure of information on their own web site. Examples of topics include URNs, web security, design principles, protocols, and a charging and payment model. [ATW]
[Note: Resource(s)/URL(s) mentioned above is no longer available.]
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Fractal Design Detailer--A 3-D paint program
http://www.fractal.com/products/detailer/index.html
Detailer is a product of the Fractal Design Corporation available for both Windows 95/NT and PowerMacintosh. With Detailer, painting can be done directly onto the surface of a 3-D object. A demo version of this commercial product can be downloaded and used for an unlimited amount of time. The only limitation of the demo is that artwork cannot be saved, printed, exported, or copied from it. The demo version comes with plug-ins for import of QuickDraw 3DMF, DXF, OBJ and 3D Studio model formats, as well as sample models and tutorial files. Detailer's creative possibilities are endless, especially for 2-D and 3-D graphic artists. Pricing information is available at the site. [TB]
[Note: Resource(s)/URL(s) mentioned above is no longer available.]
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ColorFinder
http://www.acmetech.com/freewares.html
ColorFinder, a product of Acme Technologies, is an HTML color value tool for Macintosh. It allows you to grab any color from Web pages, images, icons, and even the desktop. The process is as simple as placing the eye dropper over the color desired and clicking. That's all there is to it. Both decimal and hex RGB values are displayed. Better yet, this great little tool is free and can be downloaded at the above URL. With this tool, creating HTML pages can be a bit easier. [TB]
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Volume 1, Number 3: The Scout Report for May 13, 1994
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/5-13-94.html
ArtSpace--Old And New
http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/uniartspace.html
Nelson Mandela Inaugural Address
http://www.polity.org.za/govdocs/speeches/1994/inaugpta.html
Gopher access:
gopher://gopher.anc.org.za:70/00/govdocs/speeches/1994/sp0510.01
gopher to: gopher.anc.org.za
select Government Information/Speeches/1994
ANC (African National Congress)
http://www.polity.org.za/
Gopher access:
gopher://gopher.anc.org.za:70/
The May 13, 1994 Scout Report briefly annotated a new online high school art gallery called ArtSpace, provided by the University Laboratory High School at the University of Illinois. To see how the intervening three years had affected this resource, we had to search a bit, as its original URL had changed. The site claimed at the time to be the "first high school electronic gallery," and has recently relaunched with a new look and feel. What is fascinating is that ArtSpace has retained its old pages along with the new ones, allowing users not only to continue to enjoy all of the art, but also to get a glimpse of the evolution of site graphics and art itself over time. The art at both sites was and is well worth viewing. The issue also mentioned Nelson Mandela's Inaugural Address (Pretoria), given on May 10, 1994. The address was downloaded and placed on the IS (Information Services) InterNIC Infoguide gopher (now defunct) for quicker downloading, but still resides on the African National Congress gopher and web site. Both ANC sites contain mountains of information, and are monuments to present day South Africa's commitment to making government information freely available. [JS]
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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1994-1997. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC provides information about 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 University of Wisconsin - Madison, the National Science Foundation, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.

The Scout Report (ISSN 1092-3861) is published weekly by Internet Scout

Susan Calcari
Jack Solock
Matthew Livesey
Teri Boomsma
Aimee D. Glassel
Amy Tracy Wells
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The Scout Report - May 16, 1997

The Scout Report

May 16, 1997

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