The Scout Report -- Volume 11, Number 37

http://rbm.who.int/wmr2005/

The persistence of malaria in much of the developing world remains a public health problem of staggering proportions. Most people may be familiar with the problem of malaria throughout much of Africa, but over the past decade, incidences of the disease increased in Southeast Asia and a number of Central Asian countries. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO), with assistance from several other international humanitarian organizations, released the World Malaria Report 2005. This site provides access to the complete text of the report, along with a number of other helpful features. These features include brief executive summaries of the report's findings (in English, French, and Spanish), profiles of the state of malaria in each country, and copious amounts of data. Users can access this information by clicking on an interactive map or by selecting any given country of interest from a drop-down menu on the homepage. Finally, visitors may also wish to take a look at the "Users' Guide" area which offers some brief information on the acronyms used throughout the documents on the site. [KMG]

http://www.njarchives.org/

The New Jersey Public Records and Archive, housed with the state's Division of Archives & Records Management, contains thousands of documents related to the state's history and development dating back to the colonial period. Visitors interested in using their facilities will want to peruse the various sections on the homepage that offer information about their services and hours of operations. Most visitors will want to proceed directly to the "State Archives" section, which includes a number of fine online digital archives. Historians and others will enjoy such collections as those that contain images of the Morris Canal in 1903 and state government offices in Trenton from 1938. Visitors will also want to check out the current and archived issues of the New Jersey Gazette made available on the site. Here interested parties can learn about current and past history and preservation projects initiated by the New Jersey State Archives, the New Jersey Historical Commission, and the New Jersey Historic Trust. [KMG]

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13

While Fresh Air is classified as a "talk show", its host Terry Gross takes listeners all over the broad cultural landscape, including trenchant interviews with saxophonist Sonny Rollins and animated discussions with rappers (turned actors) Ice T and Ice Cube. The show is aired daily on National Public Radio and is broadcast from affiliate station WHYY in Philadelphia. This website serves as the virtual home for this long-running program, and visitors will be delighted by the material they find here.
[KMG]

http://www.exploratorium.edu/gardening/index.html

"Like all great endeavors gardening is both a science and an art", and this new feature from the Exploratorium uses video clips, interactives, photos, and articles to make this point in way that will appeal to visitors of all ages. For example, the interactive Garden Variety presents basic facts (vitals), information on seeds, and lore, for vegetables and fruits such as peas and carrots, corn, strawberries, and pumpkins. Visitors can also virtually tour a hydroponic greenhouse located in the arctic, where fancy lettuces and herbs are growing despite sub-zero temperatures, read a photo essay about a pumpkin-growing competition in California, and learn how grafting, hybridizing, and genetic engineering are used to develop new plants. [DS]

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

In the year 2000, all of the world's countries and all the world's leading development institutions signed on to a compact sponsored by the United Nations in order to assist the needs of the world's poorest people. This compact included eight primary development goals that would be met by 2015. Some of these goals included a significant reduction of child mortality and the promotion of gender equality. This particular site offers updates on the progress towards these eight primary goals, along with links to the annual report on these goals. Visitors can visit the documents area to read the text of the previous annual reports, along with reading some of the regional reports filed for Latin American, Africa, Asia, and Europe. The "Background" area is another good place to look for summary materials, as it features the text of the millennium declaration and progress reports from 2004 and 2005. The site is rounded out by a selection of links to additional sites that may be helpful, such as those for the United Nations Population Fund and the Food and Agriculture Organization. [KMG]

http://cwar.nps.gov/civilwar/

The American Civil War remains a complex and interesting subject. The National Park Service continues to offer a host of introspective perspectives on this military conflict through their creative use of interpretative facilities located on a number of important historic sites across the country. This omnibus website provided by the National Park Service provides a number of thematic sections that include "Civil War Education", "Civil War Parks", and "African Americans in the Civil War". For those who may be less familiar with the basic events and chronology of the Civil War, there is a section titled "About the Civil War" which provides a detailed timeline of events, an area of stories about the Civil War , and information about the Sesquicentennial Initiative, which is designed to prepare for the events that will happen from 2011 to 2015. Taken together, this collection of materials will be of great interest both to educators and the general public. [KMG]

http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/r/rog.htm

As one of the oldest learned societies in North America, the American Philosophical Society (APS) is distinguished by its fine holdings, and as users will find out at this site, also by their fine collection of antiquarian and tremendously valuable maps. On this site, visitors will find the digital version of the APS's map holdings, originally created by Murphy D. Smith in 1991. Cartographers, historians, and geographers will appreciate the detailed records here, each of which includes information such as the date of creation, title, size, provenance, coloring, and call number. A number of the maps themselves have been digitized for this project, and there are quite a few fine documents here worth perusing. These maps include a plan of Port au Price from around 1800 and a map of the British and American troop positions in 1776 as rendered by the noted artist Charles Willson Peale. [KMG]

http://www.virtualsweden.se/

Panoramic photographs that immerse their audience in a landscape have been in vogue throughout the history of photographic enterprises. With this in mind, users should not be surprised to learn of the existence of the Virtual Sweden website. Established by Jonas Carlson in 2003, the site contains 360 degree panoramic images taken by Carlson from a wide variety of locales across the globe. Of course, visitors should start by looking at the panoramic photograph taken from the Gronskar lighthouse in the Stockholm archipelago, but then they would be remiss not to look at some of the other available images. Some of the other places Carlson has seen fit to document are Rome, Thailand, Egypt, and London. Visitors can peruse a thematic list of these locations, or they may simply go straight to his "Latest additions" list, which is also on the site's homepage. [KMG]

http://dl.lib.brown.edu/radicalamerica/index.html

The journal Radical American began in 1967 and was started by the Alternative Education Project in Somerville, Massachusetts. Over their history, they have published a number of issues on a number of compelling topics, ranging from community development to feminism. As part of their Digital Initiatives Project, Brown University has digitized the first fourteen year print run of the journal up to the year 1980. Visitors here can browse the contents of the journal by author or by title. Some of these titles include pieces on American Leninism, Europe's migrant workers, and the "urban crisis" of the 1970s. Visitors can also browse the digitized volumes by clicking on an interactive page that contains the covers of the available issues. Overall, this is a fine resource for social historians and members of the public with a penchant for exploring some of the overlooked facets of contemporary American history. [KMG]

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/59/35043046.pdf

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has long been concerned with the state of immigration, both across the globe and within its member nations. This latest report from the OECD's Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers series takes on the methodology deployed to count immigrants and expatriates in OECD countries. Authored by Jean-Christopher and George Lemaitre, the report takes data from the 2000 round of censuses and attempts to provide a detailed and comparable portrait of these various immigrant populations. Some of the initial findings of the report include the observation that the percentage of the foreign-born in European OECD countries is generally higher than the percentage of foreigners and that the largest developing countries may in fact be benefiting from an increasingly mobile populace. [KMG]

http://www.ihep.org/

Operating as a non-profit, non-partisan organization, the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP)'s primary goal is "to foster access and success in postsecondary education through public policy research and other activities that inform and influence the policymaking process." To accomplish this mission, the Institute compiles policy reports and studies, and also convenes seminars and meetings at their headquarters. Interested parties will definitely want to begin perusing their homepage for information about their latest work, which includes a report titled "How Latino Students Pay for College". A good way to learn about the policy issues they are most concerned with is through a perusal of the "Policy Issues" section of the site. Here visitors can look through such thematic areas as international higher education and information technology, and then proceed to download their latest research reports in each one of these areas. [KMG]

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Many so-called "digital jukeboxes" make a number of promises in terms of their overall performance. iTunes 5.0 delivers on many of its promises with a number of fine new features. With this latest addition, users can control access with parental controls, find music faster with a new search bar, and download hundreds of radio shows as free podcasts. This version of iTunes is compatible with all operating systems running Windows 2000 or XP or Max OS X 10.2.8 or newer. [KMG]

http://mysource.squiz.net/

A growing number of individuals who may be interested in setting up a website may find the process more than a bit daunting. For those who find themselves in that situation, this application may prove quite useful. Utilizing MySource allows users to create their own web projects, even if that they have no web development skills. With their browser based system, users can upload images, attach files, and build webforms, among other options. This version is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

The Eyes of A Winner
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=b7602f08-f9d4-49fa-a6c3-527519044e71

Mark of distinction
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/michael_farber/09/12/messier.retires/index.html

Centre Ron Francis retires after 23 distinguished NHL seasons
http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/news/sports/story.html?id=cda782b9-2192-4783-8365-7acc1bc6b656

Another NHL star quits; Francis retires
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9340488/

ESPN.com: NHL Statistics
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/statistics

Hockey Hall of Fame
http://www.hhof.com/index.htm

After a long strike, the National Hockey League is gearing up for the 2005-2006 season in earnest. Regrettably, the game will be without two of its standout players, as both Mark Messier of the New York Rangers and Ron Francis of the Toronto Maple Leafs announced their retirements this week. Messier began his 25-season career with his hometown Edmonton Oilers in 1979, and led the team to five Stanley Cup victories. Of course, many will also remember his many fine years of play with the Rangers, where he also led them to victory in the 1994 Stanley Cap as well. Messier made his announcement on a conference call because as he remarked, "no one wants to see a blubbering idiot at the podium".