The Scout Report

July 4, 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.

US Geological Survey (USGS) - Activities in the Chesapeake Bay Region
http://chesapeake.usgs.gov/chesbay/
The USGS provides a well-organized resource for information on the Chesapeake Bay Region. This site offers data on regional weather, land use, wildlife, geology, wetlands, water conditions, and urbanization. It also includes recent USGS news releases, maps, and a bibliography of publications on the Bay region. Additional features include notifications of area USGS Chesapeake Bay activities and fact sheets for neighboring states. [MD]
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The Wars for Viet Nam: 1945-1975
http://students.vassar.edu/~vietnam/
This site was developed around the course materials for a seminar at Vassar College taught by Professor Robert Brigham, the first American scholar given access to the Vietnamese archives on the war in Hanoi. The site is divided into three areas: an overview of the war, original documents, and links. The overview outlines the political and military progress of the conflict in Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. This feature is both useful and interesting because of the photos and links to original documents, including speeches by American Presidents, US government memoranda, and the gem of the site: Vietnamese papers translated by Brigham. These can also be accessed directly through the documents area. The links section contains over fifty sites relating to the wars and to Viet Nam today. Selections include archives, image galleries, US veterans' experiences, Vietnamese culture, and travel to Viet Nam. Overall, this site is a worthwhile starting point for those interested in the Viet Nam wars, distinguished by Brigham's original translations and a well-constructed selection of links. [MD]
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WebMuseum
http://metalab.unc.edu/louvre/
Open 24 hours a day, the WebMuseum is a past winner of the Best of Web award for Best Use of Multiple Media. "With no support, no funding, (and) no manpower: the WebMuseum is a collaborative work of its visitors..." Paintings and supportive text depict many different eras and styles of work. Subject-oriented Famous Paintings and an author index are located in General Exhibitions, the primary point-of-access along with Special Exhibitions. A glossary organized by painting styles and a small index to classical music are available. Although this site hasn't been updated recently, it remains well worth visiting. [ATW]
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National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience Annotated Bibliography
http://www.chrr.ohio-state.edu/nls-bib/bib-home.htm
Under contract from the US Department of Labor, the Center for Human Resource Research at Ohio State University has conducted longitudinal studies of labor market experience on four nationally representative groups of the civilian US population since the mid-1960s. This on-line version of the NLS Bibliography replaces earlier paper editions and annotates new and previously recorded research based on NLS data. Users may choose from eight different search options, including author, title, citation source, year, and format of the cited work. Anyone who uses or plans to use research based on NLS data will find this electronic bibliography an excellent and convenient resource. [MD]
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Comparative Studies of US Colleges and Universities
Critical Comparisons of American Colleges and Universities
http://www.memex-press.com/cc/index.html
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/
While these two sites offer comprehensive information on higher education institutions, each is directed at a much different audience. Critical Comparisons is an independent college assessment service created by Dr. William B. Busa and MEMEX Press. It's primary intended users are prospective college students and their parents. Reports on institutions are indexed alphabetically and provide a number of comparative statistics, including tuition, quality of faculty, library and student services, campus crime rate, and scholarships. The site also offers a search engine which allows users to identify colleges based on a lengthy list of select criteria. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, on the other hand, is an extensive data collection program sponsored by the National Center for Educational Statistics. This site is directed at researchers analyzing various trends in higher education and it provides a large number of survey files to download. The files have been compressed into ZIP archives, but PKUNZIP is provided for those who do not already have it. [MD]
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Science News Mailing List
SCIENCE-NEWS, a free weekly digest prepared by the staff of Prism Express, is designed for journalists, educators, the financial community, and almost anyone with a strong interest in science. [MD]

To subscribe send email to:
prismx@earthlink.net
In the body of the message type:
SUB SCIENCE-NEWS
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Mars Mission and NEAR Flyby of Asteroid 253 Mathilde
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous -- Mathilde Encounter
http://near.jhuapl.edu/Mathilde/
Mars Pathfinder Mission
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/default.html
In one of the most successful flybys of all time, the NEAR spacecraft passed within 1200 km of asteroid 253 Mathilde on June 27. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has created a website to document this event. The site contains information on the NEAR mission objectives, science goals, and Mathilde itself. It also features images of the asteroid, a flyby simulation, and an MPEG movie (player download provided). The Mars Pathfinder Mission is an even more historic event and NASA's site offers a comprehensive account of its background, objectives, and progress. Users will find the latest news, a mission timeline, and information on the landing site and the instruments involved, including the Rover Sojourner. Additional features offered at this site include education and outreach activities for students, current data received from the spacecraft, and a realtime simulation of the Pathfinder entry, descent, and landing. [MD]
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Hong Kong: A New York Times Special Report
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/hongkong/
On July 1 China became the first Communist country to assume political control of an advanced capitalist economy. The New York Times has a new site that allows users to examine the forces that have shaped Hong Kong and trace new developments involved with this radical change of leadership. Users can uncover a history of Hong Kong through the pages of the newspaper with articles and photos going back to the 1850s, "Letter From Hong Kong"--a weekly column by Hong Kong Bureau Chief Edward A. Gargan, and current Times stories on the hand-over. A photo tour and a collection of maps and statistics are also available, as well as annotated web links and a discussion forum. [MD]
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Alamkara: 5000 Years of Indian Art
http://www.artsmuseum.com/alamkara/
The National Museum of Singapore has created a beautifully rendered version of its 1994-95 exhibit on Indian art. Alamkara is a Sanskrit word meaning ornamentation or decoration, and this exhibit explores this meaning in the context of objects made for use in domestic, religious, and courtly settings. This site is divided into nine categories, ranging from Kings, Courtiers and Craftsmen to Adorning the Self, Mortal Women and Celestial Lovers. Each of these categories is prefaced by an excellent introduction and the images themselves are accompanied by descriptive paragraphs. This site is a fine example of what an on-line museum exhibit can be. [MD]
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The Zeppelin Era
Zeppelin Library Archive
http://top.monad.net/~wonko/Zep_HP.html
Zeppelin: The Home Page for Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
http://spot.colorado.edu/~dziadeck/zeppelin.html
On May 6, 1937 the massive airship Hindenburg exploded in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people and leading to the end of the era of lighter than airship passenger travel. Interested Internauts can relive the era of the luxury airship at these two sites. Images, posters, and information about seven great American, German, and British airships, including the Hindenburg, highlight this site, which also contains sections on early and World War I Zeppelins. John Dziadecki's Zeppelin page is a more ambitious effort, containing historical zeppelin information, along with pointers to related Internet resources, media, museums, organizations, stamps, and an announcement of Zeppelin NT (New Technology), the forthcoming production of five new airships. [JS]
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The Home Doctor
http://HOMEdoctor.net/
HOME-LIST -- The Home Doctor Mailing List
subscribe@homedoctor.net
The Home Doctor is a free E-Zine that provides advice on home remodeling and tips on home and major appliance repair. The most recent issue discussed lead hazards, tips on plaster repair, and directions for tuning up central air conditioners. This E-zine has also launched a weekly newsletter, HOME-LIST, which is distributed free via e-mail. HOME-LIST will include notices of updates at the site and allow readers to submit questions, answers, and comments. [MD]

To subscribe send email to:
subscribe@homedoctor.net
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AltaVista -- Now Multilingual
http://www.altavista.com/
AltaVista is now the first search engine to offer multilingual searching capabilities for non-English speaking Web users. This news was officially announced to the public by Digital Equipment Corporation on June 29. Currently, endusers can search for pages written in 25 different languages including: Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. AltaVista has indicated that more languages will be added in the future. [TB]
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The Non-Dithering Web Palette - A Color Palette for Adobe Photoshop
Macintosh Non-Dithering Web Palette Information and Download
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/2a7a.htm
Windows Non-Dithering Web Palette Information and Download
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/2a7a.htm
The Non-Dithering Web Palette, created by Lynda Weinman, is an Adobe Photoshop 3.0 and later free color palette for use on Macintosh and Windows. The purpose of the palette is to produce graphics which appear the same from platform to platform. Users need to be aware that since the palette does not constrain the use of colors in Photoshop, techniques such as image filtering do not retain the web-safe colors of the graphic. Nevertheless, the Non-Dithering Web Palette is easy to download and install and is a great Adobe Photoshop add-on. [TB]
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Volume 1, Number 10: The Scout Report for July 1, 1994
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/7-1-94.html
Information Center for the Environment--UC Davis
http://ice.ucdavis.edu/
The July 1, 1994 issue of the Scout Report annotated this University of California, Davis resource, a site designed to "provide an access point for information useful for environmental protection." Centered on California environmental issues, this site is highlighted by its projects section, which has recently added Watershed Information and a Spatial Data Inventory. Other recent additions include a Western Amphibians page with a multimedia tour and several bibliographies. [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
Teri Boomsma
Michael de Nie
Aimee D. Glassel
Matthew Livesey
Amy Tracy Wells
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The Scout Report - July 4, 1997

The Scout Report

July 4, 1997

Research and Education

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