The Scout Report - August 27, 1999

Scout Report for Social Sciences and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/1999/ss-990810.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/1999/be-990812.html
The twenty-fourth issues of the second volumes of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics are available. The In the News section of the Social Sciences Report annotates ten resources on the recent deterioration of relations between Taiwan and mainland China. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers nine resources on this week's one day public workers's strike in South Africa. [MD]
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Defense Almanac 1999 - Development Version
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/almanac/
Provided by the Department of Defense (DOD), the development version of the Defense Almanac offers a selection of statistics and information on the organization, staff, funding, and equipment of the DOD. Compiled from various official sources, the Almanac is composed of four sections: Organization, Money, People, and Forces & Weapons. The first section offers biographical information about the key personnel in the three military departments and fourteen defense agencies encompassed by the DOD. The second contains an overview of the DOD's share of the US budget and how that money is spent. The People section provides a wide variety of statistics on the men and women in uniform, including where they serve; the source of officers; numbers in various ranks, ages, and Guard and Reserve; as well as statistics for civilian personnel. In the final section, users will find charts and tables revealing information on the various forces, aircraft, ships, missiles, and ground combat systems deployed by the armed forces. Links to related sites and sources are included throughout the almanac. [MD]
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Debt Initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries -- IMF
http://www.imf.org/external/np/hipc/hipc.htm
A joint project from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the Debt Initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) consists of an outline for adjustment and reform programs sponsored by these two organizations. The Website contains the framework for the project, which targets the 41 most heavily indebted poor countries, and gives examples as to how the initiative will work. Also included are archived documents about the HIPCs dating from 1998 to present, publications on debt relief, and information on the HIPCs from the World Bank. [EM]
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Fossil Energy Website -- USDOE
http://www.fe.doe.gov/
This site serves as a gathering point for US Department of Energy (USDOE) materials related to fossil energy. Well-organized and easily navigated, the Fossil Energy Website hosts a wealth of resources, including fossil energy news, related USDOE budget information, an events calendar, in-depth explorations of selected issues, speeches and testimony, technical reports, statistics, and an overview of fossil energy-related global activities, among others. Additional resources include regulatory information, a news headlines ticker, a free email update service, related links, and professional notices. [MD]
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Virtual Hospital
http://www.vh.org/
Provided and maintained by the University of Iowa Health Care, the Virtual Hospital is designed as a "medical reference and health promotion tool for health care providers and patients." To that end, the site offers current and authoritative medical information for patients and professional and pedagogical information for health care providers. The former includes patient educational briefs browseable by organ system or by a topical list, a collection of peer-reviewed and annotated Web resources, an internal search engine, and archives of a column offering medical advice to middle-aged users. Resources in the health care provider section include several digital libraries aimed at certain specialties (Pediatrics, Pediatric Radiology, Family Medicine, and Medical Student); multimedia textbooks and teaching files grouped by organ system; lectures and publications; and clinical practice guidelines. Additional resources at the site include links to the Virtual Children's and Virtual Naval Hospitals, an internal search engine, and online continuing education courses. [MD]
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National Anthropological Archives (NAA)
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/index.htm
"The National Anthropological Archives collects and preserves historical and contemporary anthropological materials that document the world's cultures and the history of the discipline." The NAA site is an excellent means to accomplish the first stage of anthropological archival research from a remote location. Their online Guide to the Collections of the National Anthropological Archives includes for each entry "a title, biographical data or administrative history, an indication of the type of documents available, and a description of contents (often including lengthy lists of authors, photographers, and correspondents)" as well as assessments of the state of the material and its possible research uses. The site's online exhibits feature substantive reviews of selected collections in the Archives, including photographs and facsimiles. In addition, NAA links to the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) (see the March 26, 1999 Scout Report) and offers a useful discussion of search strategies. The site provides information and costs for ordering photographs and manuscripts from both the NAA and the SIRIS collections. [DC]
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comics research bibliography
http://www.rpi.edu/~bulloj/comxbib.html
Compiled by Michael Rhode and John Bullough, this international bibliography will prove very useful to several constituencies. These include scholars investigating the cultural and political role of comics, students and artists interested in the creative process of comic-drawing, and collectors. The bibliography contains over 5,400 entries on a number of related subjects, including comic books, comic strips, animation, caricature, and cartoons, among others. For ease of use, the bibliography is divided into four large sections: History, Criticism and Education; Features and Reviews; Business and Marketing; and Original Works. Topical bibliographies and an internal keyword search engine are also available. [MD]
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Synchronous Internet Training - Synctrain Mailing List
http://synctrain.listbot.com/
This new mailing list sponsored by InSync Training Synergy and moderated by Jennifer Hofmann, a Virtual Classroom Designer, is designed to serve "trainers, educators, and other people interested in Live Online Learning." Discussions on training techniques, Internet pedagogy, supporting multimedia, new products, and relevant jobs, conferences, and classes are welcome. Users can view the list archives and subscribe at this site. [MD]
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"We'll Sing to Abe Our Song!": Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War -- LOC [JPEG, TIFF]
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/scsmhtml/scsmhome.html
The latest offering from the Library of Congress (LOC) American Memory Project contains over 200 sheet-music compositions "that represent Lincoln and the war as reflected in popular music." Spanning from 1859 (Lincoln's campaign for President) to 1909 (the centenary of his birth), the sheet-music comes from the renowned Lincolniana collection of Alfred Whital Stern, given to the LOC in 1953. The collection may be browsed by title, author, subject, or publisher, or searched by keyword. Music sheets are offered as .gif thumbnails, with links to higher-quality JPEG and TIFF images. Entries also offer links to other works by the same author (when available) and a listing of compositions in the same subject category. [MD]
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University of Washington Digital Library Initiatives
http://content.lib.washington.edu/
The University of Washington Libraries present this collection of a dozen image databases created as part of an ongoing digital library program. There are ten collections of photographs from University of Washington Special Collections that include views of Seattle dated 1891 - 1940, Harriman's expedition to Alaska in 1899, the Klondike gold rush, and a photo album from 1925 promoting Mount Rainier National Park. There are also two image databases created in collaboration with other groups: 26 images of Jacob Lawrence paintings, with the Jacob Lawrence Catalogue Raisonne Project, and the Cities and Buildings Database, 5,000 architectural images, with the University of Washington Architecture Department. All of the databases use the CONTENT software suite developed by the Center for Information Systems Optimization (CISO) at the University of Washington, and so all have the same search interface regardless of the subject. Information about CONTENT is also available at the site. [DS]
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Director of Central Intelligence Annual Report for the United States Intelligence Community
http://www.cia.gov/publications/fy98intellrpt/index.html
Placed online this week by the CIA and originally presented in May 1999, this report to Congress reviews the activities of the US Intelligence Community (IC) in Fiscal Year 1998. After a general overview, the report presents strategic priorities by country, highlights of IC activities by region, transnational issues, counterintelligence efforts, and program accomplishments in specific disciplines. A glossary is also provided. [MD]
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"The Health Care & Y2K Personal Planning Guide" [.pdf, Word]
http://www.healthcarey2kguide.com/
This new online booklet from the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion addresses consumers's questions about the impact of Y2K on health care. Offered in .pdf format, the booklet consists essentially of ten sections, each providing a very brief overview of specific concerns and offering suggestions on actions that users should take for themselves (key suggestions are highlighted in blue). Although this booklet is far from the last word on the subject, its concise summaries and suggestions make it a helpful introduction for users concerned about Y2K and health care. [MD]
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2000 College Rankings -- U.S. News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/corank.htm
U.S. News and World Report has recently added 2000 US College rankings to its .edu Website (discussed in the January 17, 1997 Scout Report). Users can browse rankings of approximately 1,400 universities and colleges, arranged by type and geographical area. Basic information is provided for each, with a pull-down menu offering more detail in eleven categories, including academics, admissions, student body, extracurriculars, financial aid, and campus life, among others. Users can also enter up to three schools for quick comparisons with the selected institution. Ranking methodology information is provided, and hyperlinks to the institutions as well as admissions email addresses are posted when available. [MD]
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Symbiotic Star Blows Bubbles into Space [.pdf, JPEG]
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/32/index.html
Recently released by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSCI), this site features photos taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of the "Southern Crab Nebula," a symbiotic combination of a red giant and white dwarf, creating the effect of an hourglass within an hourglass. Images are provided in .pdf, JPEG, and TIFF formats in several sizes, along with a text caption and annotated illustrations explaining how the symbiotic hourglasses were formed. [MD]
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Gravity 2.12
http://www.microplanet.com/
Gravity 2.12, created by MicroPlanet, Inc., is one of the most powerful and useful Usenet newsgroup readers available. Its features are too numerous to list, but among the more effective are a smart image decoding and storage system, a powerful message filtering system, an excellent off-line message reading capability, and a very sensible and customizable interface. The great features of Gravity come at the cost of some complexity; the novice user may feel initially overwhelmed. Despite this increased complexity, anyone who is an avid Usenet user will appreciate the nigh infinite capabilities of this reader. At $39.95 ($29.95 for educational users), Gravity, which runs on Win95/98/NT, is a good value for any frequent Usenet newsgroup user. [CL]
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The BigHub.com
http://www.thebighub.com/
This site joins an already crowded field of portal/ multiple search engine sites. Like some of its peers, BigHub allows simultaneous searches of numerous engines, in this case nine, and includes several value-added features, such as stock quotes, news, weather reports, and free email. Unlike some of its competitors, BigHub also features a nice collection of specialty search engines in categories such as Arts & Humanities, Education, Government, News, and Science, among others. Search engines in each category are further organized by discipline. Although any such collection is inevitably subjective, users may find the site a useful tool to reduce their search time and gather more relevant results. [MD]
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East Timor Referendum
East Timor: Special Report -- BBC News [RealPlayer]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1999/05/99/east_timor/newsid_340000/340363.stm
Timor Today -- East Timor International Support Center (ETISC)
http://www.easttimor.com/
East Timor Referendum: Indonesia's "Litmus Test" -- USIA
http://www.usia.gov/admin/005/wwwh9825.html
Indonesia: Identity Crisis -- Time Asia
http://www.pathfinder.com/time/asia/magazine/1999/990607/indonesia1.html
The Struggle for East Timor -- Mojo Wire
http://motherjones.com/east_timor/
"Either way, it's a vote for civil war" -- Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/news/9908/27/features/features5.html
The East Timorese capital Dili was once again the scene of protest and violence this week, just days before a UN-supervised referendum. On Monday, East Timor's 800,000 residents will choose whether to remain part of Indonesia as an autonomous province or to establish an independent nation. A Portuguese colony for 400 years, East Timor was independent for about a year before it was invaded and annexed by Indonesia in 1976. After decades of military repression and civil strife (see the April 20, 1999 Scout Report for Social Sciences), the post-Suharto Indonesian government announced it would allow the East Timorese to decide their own political fate. In their strongest showing so far, pro-independence advocates organized a rally of up to 10,000 people in the capital on Wednesday. A counter-rally the next day resulted in the worst violence since April, when dozens were killed by anti-independence militias. Despite the violence and continued threats by these militias, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made it clear that the twice-postponed vote will be held on Monday as scheduled.

The BBC News Special Report on East Timor provides breaking news, analysis, archived articles, related links, and audio and video selections. The ETISC, a pro-independence organization, offers a host of resources at its site. They include background articles, news stories from various international sources, reports, key documents, and biographies, among others. The United States Information Agency (USIA) site provides its usual excellent round-up of editorials and articles on East Timor from newspapers across the world. Appearing in the June 7, 1999 issue of Time Asia, the next item explores the difficulties of forging a common identity in East Timor. Provided by Mother Jones, the Mojo Wire special site on East Timor contains news, reference materials, analysis, questions and answers, and a useful primer on the province for the uninitiated. Finally, this editorial from the Sydney Morning Herald offers a sobering analysis of what the future may hold for both East Timor and Indonesia. Additional resources on East Timor can be found in Signpost, the Scout Report's database. These include the UN's Question of East Timor, the War, Peace, and Security Guide, and The United States Security Strategy for the East Asia-Pacific Region 1998. [MD]
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