The Scout Report

October 10, 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.

Scout Reports For Social Sciences and Business & Economics, August-September 1997 Scout Report Bimonthly Compilations
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/socsci/
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bus-econ/
Scout Report Bimonthly Compilations--August-September 1997
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bimonth/
The second Scout Reports for the Social Sciences and Business & Economics are available. Each annotates more than 20 new and newly discovered Internet resources. The Scout Report Bimonthly Compilation for August-September 1997 is also available. This entire compilation, going back to last October-November, has been reorganized to be accessible by subject and then date. The latest compilation includes most resources from the new Subject-specific Scout Reports, as well as all content from the general Scout Report. [JS]
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Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History
http://www.english.udel.edu/lemay/franklin/
As part of the compilation of source documentation for a planned biography of Benjamin Franklin, J.A. Leo LeMay, Professor of Colonial American Literature at the University of Delaware, has made this exhaustive, partly finished chronology available. The chronology is divided into seven parts: Printer; Rising Citizen; Soldier, Scientist, and Politician; American; Unofficial Ambassador to England; The Oldest Revolutionary; and Elder Statesman. Of these, only the first two are complete, and they reveal the author's vast knowledge of the man exemplified in the almost daily accounting of Franklin's life in certain portions of the chronology. Documentation is exhaustive and there is a large bibliography at the end of the Rising Citizen section that covers 1706-1748. Sections from 1748 on are works in progress at this time, with each year containing a brief summary. [JS]
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IDEAS Economic Working Paper Information--University of Quebec at Montreal
http://ideas.uqam.ca/
Christian Zimmerman of the Center for Research on Economic Fluctuations and Employment (CREFE) at the University of Quebec at Montreal, recently established the IDEAS (Internet Documents in Economics Access Service) site as a new end user interface to the RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) project at the well known NetEC (discussed in the January 10, 1997 Scout Report) meta resource. IDEAS is an attempt to organize the RePEc information about research papers and make it more easily available to the end user. IDEAS contains information about an astonishing number of working papers, including BibEc, WoPEc, and EconWPA, among others. This resource may include descriptive and/or abstract information about the papers, JEL (Journal of Economic Literature) classification, and the full text of the papers themselves (in various formats). Paper information can be browsed by series or searched via an Excite engine. Users should consult the FAQ to understand the differences between this new service and other NetEC bibliographic services. [JS]
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National School Locator--NCES
http://nces01.ed.gov/ccdweb/school/school.asp
The National Center for Education Statistics has unveiled a prototype search tool for locating US public elementary and secondary schools. Only a limited amount of information is necessary to conduct a search and users can modify their search by School Name, District Location, County, and School Characteristics. Data returned includes number of classroom teachers, total students, student/teacher ratio, and school population by grade and race/ethnicity. [MD]
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Atlas of United States Mortality--CDC [.pdf]
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/other/atlas/atlas.htm
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have made this publication (Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only) available. It graphically illustrates eighteen causes of mortality in the US from 1988-1992. Mortality is broken down geographically (by CDC Health Service Areas) for such causes as heart disease, various cancers, stroke, motor vehicle injuries, and homicide, among others. Interested users should study the introductory chapter (particularly the Reader's Guide) for a full explanation of how the maps work. These are color graded maps, so a color printer is crucial to those users who wish to print sections of the atlas. [JS]
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Franklin's Forecast--Weather Exhibit from the Franklin Institute [QuickTime]
http://www.fi.edu/weather/
The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia has recently added this online weather exhibit to its collection. Aimed at younger users, the site contains sections on making a weather station (with instructions on constructing a barometer, rain gauge, and weather vane, as well as on keeping a weather journal). Other sections include weather events such as hurricanes, tornados, snow, rain, weather fronts (selectively accompanied by QuickTime videos), and brief sections on lightning, radar, and weather satellites. The site also contains selected, unannotated pointers to other weather activities and current weather sites. [JS]
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Flowerbase
http://www.flowerbase.com/main_frame.asp
Flowerbase, a collaborative effort between Flowerweb, Glasshouse Business Networks and Pictura Nobilis (a reference book about flowers and plants on CD-ROM), is a database offering over 7,000 pictures of flowers, plants and garden plants. Users can search for pictures using either botanical names, English, Spanish, French or Italian names to obtain a preview picture--a clickable thumbnail image (less than 1K)--and a corresponding botanical name for each entry found in the Flowerbase. Click on the thumbnail or name for a larger image. The site also provides for a no-preview-picture option for faster downloading. [JS]
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University of Michigan Documents Center
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/
University of Michigan Documents Center Coordinator Grace York provides this site, one of the best and most comprehensive gateways to US and international government information. The site is arranged both geographically (international, foreign, federal, state, and Michigan), and thematically (statistics, politics, and documents in the news). Sites are also available alphabetically and the entire site is searchable. Specialized materials such as congressional and gubernatorial directories and email addresses are also provided. This is an indispensible bookmark for anyone interested in government information. [JS]
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University Web Design Mailing List
UWEBD (University Web Design) addresses the topics of Internet design and development for education. With the massive growth of the Internet, educational institutions are scrambling to develop an effective electronic presence. UWEBD will focus on techniques and strategies for using the Internet to market educational institutions effectively as well as on using the Net as a tool for internal communication and services. Note that discussion should be restricted to web design and development only. [JS]

To subscribe send email to:
LISTSERV@MIAMIU.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU
In the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE UWEBD YourFirstName YourLastName
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Hubble and Cassini
Hubble Identifies What May Be the Most Luminous Star Known
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/97/33.html
Cassini: Voyage to Saturn [.pdf]
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/
The Space Telescope Science Institute and National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory contain sites of current interest related to the stars and planets this week. A UCLA-led team using cameras recently installed aboard the Hubble Space Telescope has identified a massive star approximately 25,000 light-years from Earth. Named the "Pistol Star" for the pistol-shaped nebula surrounding it, it is believed to be one of the largest ever discovered, releasing up to ten million times the energy of our sun and spanning the diameter of the Earth's orbit. Astronomers claim that the Pistol Star "unleashes as much energy in six seconds as our sun does in one year." This site offers the official press release and a caption for photos of the star, which are available in five resolutions and three formats (JPEG, GIF, .pdf). The Cassini flight system, containing a launch vehicle and the Huygens probe orbiter which will explore Saturn's moon Titan in the year 2004, is set to launch October 13, 1997. At this JPL site, interested users can follow launch activity. It features a large section explaining the mission, and includes a section on the controversial nuclear safety issues involved. Users can read both the Cassini Final and Supplemental Environmental Impact Statements issued by NASA (in 1995 and 1997 respectively). There is also an image section and a kids page, among other features. [MD, JS]
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America's Top HMO's 1998--US News Online
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/nycu/health/hetophmo.htm
US News and World Report has published this ranking of 223 Health Maintenance Organizations, based on information provided by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), an HMO accrediting organization. Users can browse state rankings in fifteen categories (unfortunately, these cannot be sorted), under the subject headings of prevention, physicians, members,and care. There is an "honor roll" of the top 37 HMO's. The US News site provides related articles, and links to relevant resources. Users are encouraged to read the methodology section carefully in order to determine for themselves the value of these rankings. [JS]
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Africa Recovery--UN
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/
The Library and Publications Division of the United Nations Department of Public Information has recently begun providing major excerpts of its quarterly periodical Africa Recovery via the web. The publication tracks economic and social development issues in Africa. The latest issue (July 1997) contains articles on Congolese reconstruction, the 33rd Summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the recent G-7 Summit, and the recent Africa Governance Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (UN Special Initiative). Articles are mostly concise news summaries. There are also sections on upcoming and recent conferences and pertinent books, as well as the features Africa in Brief and Under the Baobob Tree, which highlights a single African issue. [JS]
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Info Source: Canadian Directory of Federal Government Enquiry Points
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/gos-sog/infosource/Info_4/Enq-Pnts_e.html
The Directory of Federal Government Enquiry Points is developed by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat as a source for addresses and phone numbers of 270 Canadian federal departments and agencies. Each listing contains general enquiry and fax numbers and, if available, "numbers for Telecommunications Devices for the Hearing-and-Speech-Impaired communications and publications units, departmental libraries, personnel enquiries, Internet sites and E-mail addresses." The only drawback to this no-nonsense information resource is that it is composed of one 157K page. [THN]
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Race to the Fall Classic--Postseason Baseball [NetShow, ShockWave, RealPlayer]
http://www.msnbc.com/news/FallClassic_Front.asp
[Note: When last checked by the Internet Scout team, this site URL was no longer available.]
MSNBC Sports, Major League Baseball, and NBC Sports, provide this site to supplement baseball fans' enjoyment of the 1997 Major League Baseball playoffs and upcoming World Series. There are, of course, sections on the AL and NL playoffs, highlighted by results, play by plays, and box scores (including extended box scores that include individual putouts and assists). There are also club pages, highlights of past World Series (NetShow plug-in required), scouting reports, and a history section. This site is very browser intensive and can be difficult to access at peak times. [JS]
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The Castles of Wales
http://www.castlewales.com/home.html
This terrific site, created by Jeff Thomas, has something for everyone interested in castles or medieval Welsh history. Much more than a collection of photos (although the photos are quite lovely), this site has detailed information on over 170 different Welsh castles, as well as abbeys and religious monuments. Users can search an alphabetical listing of the castles or simply visit the Castle Photo Gallery. The site features historical essays and perspectives on a variety of topics, including the different types of castles, the people who built them, castle siegecraft and defense, and the fate of Welsh castles after the Norman conquest. There is also information on reference materials, castle terminology, a bibliography, and a collection of annotated links. Anyone planning to visit Wales will especially appreciate the first-hand accounts of visits made to many of the featured castles. [MD]
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RepatNewsletter--The Experience of Repatriation Integrated Resources Group
http://www.expat-repat.com/
RepatNewsletter, created by Dr. Robert E. Scott, is a free publication of Integrated Resources Group. It is dedicated to those who have left their culture of origin, lived and worked in a host culture, then gone through the "coming home" experience of repatriation. It provides repatriates with resources to ease the re-entry process and readapt effectively to their home culture. Further information about IRG can be found at the above URL. [JS]

To subscribe send email to:
irg@expat-repat.com
In the body of the message type:
subscribe repatnewsletter YourFirstName YourLastName
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IMS Metdata--Educom
http://www.imsproject.org/metadata/
The Instructional Management Systems Project, an Educom Network Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII), provides this site, which describes IMS metadata for both the general and technical user. Metadata is data about data, and the IMS metadata specification contains "a dictionary of terms, a description of learning resource types, and a system for managing the specification." The point of a metadata system is the development of a specification and software that allows for more effective management of online resources. The IMS metadata specification is "a draft for review by interested parties until December 5, 1997. The final specification will be released [in] early 1998." [JS]
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W3C Issues First Public Draft of Document Object Model (DOM)
http://www.w3.org/DOM/
Press Release
http://www.w3.org/Press/DOM-core.html
First Draft Specification
http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-DOM/
The first draft of the DOM specification (Core Level 1) has been released by the World Wide Web Consortium. The Document Object Model "is a platform- and language-neutral interface that will allow programs and scripts to dynamically access and update the content, structure and style of documents. The document can be further processed and the results of that processing can be incorporated back into the presented page." The site contains explanation of DOM and other pertinent information, a press release announcing the draft, and the draft specification itself. [JS]
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The abc's of CGI--Tutorial on Creating CGI's Using Perl
http://builder.cnet.com/Programming/CGI/index.html
To add extra functionality to a website through a CGI (Common Gateway Interface), users can consult this tutorial. The abc's of CGI is provided by CNET's Builder.com (discussed in the June 13, 1997 Scout Report) and written by Matt Rotter. It will guide users through the process of how to create CGI's to enable them to process a form, use cookies to personalize web pages, use cookies with server-side includes, create a guest book, and add a page counter to a web site. The tutorial assumes a basic understanding of Perl and access to a Unix platform for running the CGIs. The tutorial also provides additional Perl resources. [TB]
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Correction--Adobe Acrobat Capture Mailing List
Last week's Scout Report contained incorrect information about the Adobe Acrobat Capture Mailing List. The name of the list is Capture, not Capture-L. Address information was also incorrect. Below is the correct address information. We apologize for the error. [JS]

To subscribe send email to:
capture-request@lists.emrg.com
In the body of the message type:
subscribe
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Volume 1, Number 24: The Scout Report for October 7, 1994
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/10-7-94.html
The Human Languages Page
http://www.june29.com/HLP/
In, Around, and Online--Seidman's Online Insider
http://www.onlineinsider.com/
Browserwars.com--Compuserve
http://www.browserwars.com/
The Human Languages Home Page, when announced, was a new metapage with 100 links covering forty languages. Today the site, still maintained by Notheastern University graduate student Tyler Chambers, contains over 1,300 resources covering over 100 languages. HLP is organized into seven sections, including languages and literature, linguistics resources, multilingual resources, and commercial resources. Each site is briefly described. HLP is an example of an excellent resource maintained by a dedicated amateur. In, Around, and Online, now known as Seidman's Online Insider, is one of the older computer related weekly ezines. Originally dedicated to the world of online services such as America Online, Compuserve, and Prodigy, Robert Seidman has recently devoted more space to Internet issues. The Insider is still, as always, a fun, informative, and definitely opinionated read. The popular Stock Watch section allows users to see how top technology companies are doing. The Insider has opened an Insider Talk section, ten discussion forums at this time, ranging from Browser Wars (where Compuserve's new Browserwars.com site was recently announced), to Push, to Games and Entertainment. And for those who think this longtime technology writer is nothing but a gadfly, his recent review of Netscape's Netcenter drew a response from none other than Jim Barksdale himself (to which, of course, Seidman gave a typically blunt response). The Insider is available at the above site, and via email subscription. [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
Jeannine Ramsey
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Michael de Nie
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The Scout Report - October 10, 1997

The Scout Report

October 10, 1997

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