The Scout Report - November 22, 1996

November 22, 1996

A Publication of Internet Scout
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.

An Acrobat .pdf version of this report is available for printing and distributing locally. For information on Adobe Acrobat Reader, visit the Adobe site.

The Brain Atlas and Other Image Resources from Brigham and Women's Hospital The Brain Atlas [JAVA]
http://splweb.bwh.harvard.edu:8000/pages/papers/AnatomyBrowser/current/models/brain+nose/java/brain+nose.html
Explanatory Paper on Brain Atlas [HTML]
http://splweb.bwh.harvard.edu:8000/pages/papers/atlas/text.html
SPL Images and Animations [MPG]
http://splweb.bwh.harvard.edu:8000/pages/images_movies.html
The Surgical Planning Laboratory of the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School has made a virtual treasure chest of visual anatomical information available at its web site. Highlights of the site are recently released Brain Atlas datasets: complex java applets that allow users to see parts of a schematic brain and heart. Users can rotate the images, and either click on parts of the images or on a listing of anatomical names and have those parts of the images labelled. A paper on the development of the Brain Atlas is available at the site. Note that these Brain Atlas datasets are extremely graphically intensive. For those with less graphical capability, the SPL offers of series of over 60 MPEG movies on topics such as neurosurgery, multiple sclerosis, the brain, abdominal surgery, flow analysis, and thoracic surgery, among others. [JS]
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Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography
http://info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepb.html
Charles Bailey's Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, version 2, has recently been published (11/15/96). The bibliography is intended to provide an "understanding [of] scholarly electronic publishing efforts on the Internet and other networks" and includes sections on Economic Issues, Electronic Books and Texts, Electronic Serials, General Works, Legal Issues, Library Issues, New Publishing Models, and Publisher Issues. Access is via a search engine that searches author(s), title, publisher, date of publication and/or page numbers, or via a table of contents. Links are provided from the bibliography to those articles that exist in electronic format. Whether your interest is as an administrator, developer, or simply for curiosity's sake, this site will help bring you up to speed quickly. [ATW]
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Another Node On the Internet--Geosciences, Mathematics, and Computing
http://www.uh.edu/~jbutler/anon/anon.html
Another Node on the Internet (ANON), provided by Professor John C. Butler of the University of Houston, is a meta resource in geosciences. The highlight of the site is a collection of Internet resources for special issues of the journal _Computers & Geosciences_, including The Virtual Geophysicist, a large page of pointers to geophysical resources of all kinds, and Neural Networks, a page of resources devoted to an upcoming special issue of the journal. Forthcoming resources related to special issues will include exploratory cartographic visualization, geocomputation, and distance education. ANON also includes pointers to people, software, datasets, courses, and field trips, as well as a virtual poster session in quantitative stratigraphy. [JS]
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Peterson's: The Education Supersite
http://www.petersons.com/
Web visionaries have long promised all kinds of useful, time-saving services. Collegescape is a step in the right direction. This site allows prospective students to apply electronically to over 200 colleges and universities in the US. Users fill out a web-based application form, which can be sent directly to the school's admissions office if the school supports this service. If not, users can download an application formatted for a particular school, with their answers filled in, that can be mailed normally. Collegescape is an extremely promising product; however, at present, it is primarily oriented toward business schools, and the number of schools supported is not large enough to be useful to everyone. But watch for it to increase in scope, and for others to follow in its footsteps.[EH]
[Note: Site title has changed since the original Scout Report review. Site formerly referred to in the Scout Report as "Collegescape."]
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American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment 1870-1920 from the Library of Congress [TIFF, MPEG, QuickTime]
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vshome.html
Image viewer information:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/imagehelp.html
The Library of Congress has recently reached into its holdings to add a wonderful exhibit on popular culture to its well known American Memory collection. American Variety Stage includes at present English and Yiddish language playscripts, theatre playbills and programs, over 60 movies, and photographs and memorabilia about Harry Houdini, the famous magician and escape artist. As befits the LOC, these collections are extensively cataloged, and can be searched by keyword or browsed by author, subject, or title. For text and illustration material, it is necessary to download images of pages, which are made available one page at a time. Unfortunately, LOC has made these images available in TIFF format, which is not supported by standard browsers. So while the collection is quite accessible from a searching and browsing viewpoint, it is more difficult and inconvenient to actually view much of what is here. That said, the contents of the exhibit makes them more than worth the trouble. [JS]
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SCORE-Schools of California On-Line Resources For Education
Science
http://scorescience.humboldt.k12.ca.us/
Language Arts
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cla.html
Mathematics
http://www.kings.k12.ca.us/math/
History-Social Science
http://www.rims.k12.ca.us/SCORE/
SCORE, a cooperative project of the California County Superintendent's Educational Services Association, has made K-12 teacher and student resources in four major subject areas available at sites in Humboldt County (Science), San Diego County (Language Arts), Kings County (Mathematics), and San Bernardino and Butte Counties (Social Studies). While each site has its own personality and delivery style, they all make an attempt to break out teacher and/or student resources by grade level. In some cases (Science, Social Studies) this is done through a search interface. In others (Language Arts, Mathematics) it is done via a browsable interface. It is this categorization, plus the fact that resources are selected, evaluated, and annotated by teachers, that is the both the power and unifying theme of the sites. Depending on the site, assessment and teacher development sections may also be available. [JS]
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Two recent additions to National High Performance and Parallel Computing Community Software Exchange
NHSE Review
http://nhse.cs.rice.edu/NHSEreview/
Parallel Tools Library
http://www.nhse.org/ptlib/
NHSE Home Page
http://www.nhse.org/
The well known NHSE web site has recently added two new services. NHSE Review is a web journal "dedicated to reviewing HPCC software and technologies in a comparative fashion." Available articles include a review of cluster management software and a comparison of recent supercomputers. The Parallel Tools Library (PTLIB) contains "information about high quality parallel systems software and tools, both research and commercial." At present it contains sections on parallel debuggers and performance analyzers, communication libraries, compiler technology, parallel I/O, and distributed processing tools. Each section can contain links to software information, software evaluations, or literature, as well as links to related Internet sites. [JS]
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FiberNet-Fiber arts, crafts, and technology mailing list
FiberNet list was started to continue to information exchange that has existed on Fibernet BBS since 1990. Mail deals with all aspects of the fiberarts and crafts as well as fiber technology, and fiber production. Broad discussion is encouraged, and limited personal chit-chat is tolerated. [JS]
To subscribe send email to:
MAJORDOMO@bolis.com
In the body of the message type:
subscribe fibernet
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Project Gutenberg Appeal
http://promo.net/pg/nl/9611-ny.html
Project Gutenberg
http://www.promo.net/pg/
The Gutenberg etext archive's creator, Michael Hart, has issued a plea to the Internet community for support now that both the University of Illinois and Benedictine University have ceased supporting the project. Project Gutenberg, begun in 1971, is an electronic collection of literary works from Cicero's Orations to the complete works of Shakespeare to Zitkala-Sa's Old Indian Legends to selections from Edith Warton. All told, Gutenberg has just released the 700th series and all texts are freely accessible from servers in five different countries or available for purchase in CD-ROM format. Each text is contributed by a corps of volunteers including individuals who enter, proofread and are responsible for the final editing. Texts are available via author or title in uncompressed and compressed format for your reading and bandwidth pleasure. [ATW]
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Electric Minds
http://www.minds.com/
In Electric Minds, Howard Rheingold, the well known net personality formerly at the Well, has implemented his vision of the "virtual community." Electric Minds is first and foremost about online discourse and dialogue. There are many forums covering topics from sleep deprivation to art to current issues on the net such as privacy and future Internet directions. There are also interactive forums with real-time chat and multimedia-rich virtual worlds. In Electric Minds we get a real glimpse into a possible future of the Internet community. [EH]
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The Inc. 500
http://www.inc.com/500/
From Equinox International (5-year growth rate 35,625%) to Column Office Equipment, Inc. (5-year growth rate 583%) the Inc. 500, provided by _Inc. Magazine_ (discussed in the June 21, 1996 Scout Report) lists the 500 of the fastest growing companies in the US. "Ranking is based solely on percentage growth of revenue over a five-year period." The list is compiled from company applications to the magazine; eligibility rules are available at the site. The list can be browsed or searched by name, state, or industry. Each listing contains growth rate, profitability, number of employees, type of business, location, and year founded, and has a link to the company's home page when available. Selected previous lists back to 1989 are also available. [JS]
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Hubble Surveys the "Homes" of Quasars
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/96/35.html
The Space Telescope Electronic Information Service has recently released breathtaking Hubble Telescope photos of galaxies that "host" quasars. The quasars seem to "live in a remarkable variety of galaxies, many of which are violently colliding....Hubble researchers are intrigued by the fact that the quasars studied do not appear to have obviously damaged the galaxies in which they live." The photos are of galactic objects 1.4 and 1.5 billion light years from Earth. Photos are in black and white and color, and at various resolutions. The photos are accompanied by an explanatory caption, background material on quasars, and an MPEG model of a quasar. [JS]
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Insurance News Network
http://www.insure.com/
The Insurance News Network, provided by journalist Philip Moeller, seeks to "provide factual and unbiased consumer information about auto, home and life insurance." The site is highlighted by detailed sections on those types of insurance, including such information as collision cost (for insurers) data by auto model (for model 93-95 model years), average homeowners insurance spending information by state (for 1990-91), and a life insurance glossary. Selected Standard & Poor's claims-paying ability reports are also available. [JS]
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FineTravel Magazine
http://www.finetravel.com/
FineTravel Magazine, produced by Louis Bignami and Big-Ray Publications, is a webzine aimed "at the traveler, not the tourist." It contains first person account feature articles about interesting nooks and crannies of various travel destinations in the US and around the world. Updated weekly, it features a searchable and browsable archive of past FineTravel articles, as well as pointers to airline information, books and videos, and resorts. It is an informative and entertaining site for the Internaut interested in travel. [JS]
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Cybercat-Domestic Cat Discussion List
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~pollym/cybercat/
Cybercat is a diverse group of people who have one thing in common--they all love cats and most of them are owned by at least one. The sole purpose of the Cybercat list is to exchange information about their feline family members. This can be stories about the clever things their cats do; questions about health, behavior, feeding, or any aspects of cat care; or anything else to do with cats. [JS]
To subscribe send email to:
majordomo@iastate.edu
In the body of the message type:
subscribe cybercat
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Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html
Information on Adobe Acrobat 3.0
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/prodinfo.html
Adobe has announced the availability of Acrobat Reader 3.0, now no longer a beta product. Acrobat Reader (discussed in the June 7, 1996 issue of the Scout Report) contains such features as integrated viewing of .pdf files from within selected web browsers, page at a time downloading, progressive anti-aliased rendering of pages, and embedded .pdf within html, among others. [JS]
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Apple's MCF format and HotSauce (Formerly Project X)
http://www.xspace.net/hotsauce/
MCF Format
http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/factsheets/mcffactsheet.html
Sites with MCF X format
http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/factsheets/mcffactsheet.htmlhs/sites.html
HotSauce Plugin for Mac and Windows
http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/factsheets/mcffactsheet.htmlhs/download.html
In an effort to help users access the wealth of Web information more intuitively, Apple Computer has developed a meta content format (MCF) for Web content. The MCF file contains information about the entire contents of a Web site. Over 200 sites, including Yahoo, currently support the MCF format. Apple's HotSauce plug-in allows Mac and Windows users to "fly through" sites that support the MCF standard. The plug-in provides an innovative new way to browse sites, but it is just the start of what the MCF technology is capable of. Apple has plans to further develop the MCF format so that it can also describe a database's structure and content. This will allow developers to create tools for searching several disparate relational databases distributed across the Internet. [PJD]
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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1996. 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 Team:

Susan Calcari
Jack Solock
Matt Livesey
Pete DeVries
Amy Tracy Wells
Eric Hazen
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--
--
--
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Project Director
Editor and Internet Librarian
Production Editor
Internet Tools Specialist
Internet Librarian
Tech-support/listserv/web/graphic guy

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The Scout Report - November 22, 1996

November 22, 1996

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

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