The Scout Report

November 28, 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 Report for Science & Engineering
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/sci-engr/
The sixth issue of the Scout Report for Science and Engineering is available. It annotates over twenty new and newly discovered Internet resources in the physical and life sciences and engineering. The In the News Section annotates eight resources concerning the current space missions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). [JS]
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Online Accounting Faculty Directory
http://rarc.rutgers.edu/raw/hasselback/
Professor James R. Hasselback of Florida State University has provided this no-nonsense directory, housed at the well-known Rutgers University Accounting Web (discussed in the September 20, 1996 Scout Report). Users simply enter name, school, or geographic location, and basic contact information about Accounting faculty is returned. The database is adapted from Hasselback's 1998-1999 Accounting Faculty Directory. Although geographic location is searchable only by states of the US, there are many international university listings here, and users should access them either via name or school lookup. Note that faculty at schools beginning with "University" are listed under Un, Univ, or University, and a place lookup may be needed in some cases to find these faculty. [JS]
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Two American Revolution Sites
Liberty!: The American Revolution--PBS [QuickTime]
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/
The American Revolution--H-Net
http://revolution.h-net.msu.edu/
These two sites have been launched as companion sites to the recently-aired PBS documentary Liberty!: The American Revolution. The PBS site is divided into five sections. Chronicle of the Revolution contains significant successes and setbacks in the revolution, as well as a bibliography, time line, index of varied related subjects, and collection of annotated links. Perspectives on Liberty offers information that places the revolution in context. Liberty Today is a photo essay on newly naturalized citizens, and Liberty! The Series offers a behind-the-scenes look at the program. The Road to Revolution is an interactive game based on the series. H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences Online--discussed in the June 14, 1996 Scout Report) has also created a site that contains program notes on each series episode, a bibliography, essays on central issues of the revolution by leading scholars, and an interactive question-and-answer session with historians. H-Net also hosts a collection of related resources, including annotated links and citations of selected articles from the William and Mary Quarterly.[MD]
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The Molecular Modeling Electronic Conference (TMMeC)
http://bilbo.edu.uy/MTC-Lab.html
US Mirror
http://fcindy5.ncifcrf.gov/tmmec/
This electronic conference, sponsored by the Montevideo Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Universidad de La Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay, is slated as a combination of a conference and a journal. Journal articles address "methodological and computational developments that allow or facilitate the computing of structure, reactivity and properties of isolated or interacting molecules." The conference aspect of the site promotes communication of ideas in the field via various multi-media formats and encourages speed of intellectual communication, as well as open and public discussion about that communication. Each issue of TMMeC contains a Table of Contents (TOC), an editorial, peer-reviewed articles, reviews, proceedings, and news and information. Volume 1, Issues 1 and 2 are currently online. [KH]
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WSSLinks: Women and Gender Studies Web Sites--ACRL WSS
http://www.library.yale.edu/wss/
The Women's Studies Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries maintains this site, which is an excellent example of a distributed meta-resource. The thirteen major thematic sections at this time include art and film, health, history, and science and technology, among others. Each section is maintained by a subject librarian at a different university library; the quality of selected sites listed demonstrates a cumulative expertise across these subject areas pertaining to women's studies. This information-rich site would benefit from the addition of an overall search engine. [JS]
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NRL Plasma Formulary
http://w3.pppl.gov/~dcoster/nrl/
This handbook, provided by the US Naval Research Laboratory, is a "compilation of mathematical and scientific formulas, and contains physical parameters pertinent to a variety of plasma regimes, ranging from laboratory devices to astrophysical objects." Contents includes information on vector identities, physical constants, Maxwell's equations, fundamental plasma parameters, and solar physics parameters. [JS]
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Not Just Cows
http://www.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/njc/
Designed to provide access to agricultural resources on the Internet, Not Just Cows, provided by Wilfred Drew, Systems and Reference Librarian at the State University of New York Morrisville College of Agriculture and Technology, delivers. Resources available at this site include enology (commercial wine production), fisheries, market news, state laws, and an extensive Libraries section, among others. Most of the resources contain descriptions. [ATW]
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The Write Site [.pdf]
http://www.writesite.org/
Text only:
http://www.writesite.org/textonly/index.html
Provided by Greater Dayton (Ohio) Public Television, this site is a powerful aid to middle school language arts teaching. It provides information on teaching and learning the basic skills of journalism. Features include the history of journalism and famous journalists, style tips, and pointers to relevant reference sites. Teachers can refer to the well-organized instructional guide, a guide that includes graphic organizers, task cards, and checklists (the last three available in Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only). Though designed for middle schoolers in Ohio, there is a great deal of useful information at this site for any middle school language arts class. [JS]
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CA-TEACH--Complex Analysis Mailing List
List Archive
http://archives.math.utk.edu/hypermail/ca-teach/
CA-TEACH is devoted, though not restricted, to the discussion of the teaching of complex analysis to undergraduates. Regular topics on CA-TEACH could include: a discussion of Complex Analysis textbooks, broadcasts of URLs where documents on complex analysis can be found, personal reports on teaching complex analysis courses at a particular institution, a discussion on the impact of technology on the teaching of complex analysis, curriculum debates, lecture notes, and examples of how various software packages have assisted in complex analysis visualization. Archives of the discussion can be found at the above listed URL. [JS]

To subscribe send email to:
MAJORDOMO@abacus.oxy.edu
In the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE CA-TEACH
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Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic: December 1997--UNAIDS WHO
http://www.unaids.org/publications/documents/epidemiology/surveillance/wad1997/report97.html
US Mirror
http://www.us.unaids.org/highband/document/epidemio/report97.html
UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) provide the 1997 version of this report, which contains a global summary of the state of the epidemic, global estimates, and regional summaries. Figures and tables illustrate major trends covered in this report. Interested users may also access the 1996 version of the report (discussed in the December 6, 1996 issue of the Scout Report). Both reports are available in English, French, and Spanish. [JS]
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Proposed Rule on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF)
HHS Press Release
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/news/welfare/regfact.htm
Proposed Regulation
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/hypernews/topics2.html
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act," which established the "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program," designed to replace the longstanding Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Proposed regulations for the TANF program were issued in the Federal Register on November 20, 1997, and are posted at this site by the US Department of Health and Human Services. There is an open period for public comment from November 20, 1997 through February 18, 1997. [JS]
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Important and Great Movies
National Film Preservation Board
http://lcweb.loc.gov/film/
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies
http://AFI.100movies.com/home.asp
What do The Big Sleep,The Great Dictator,Harold and Maude,Knute Rockne,All American, and Wings have in common? They, along with 20 other films, have been selected to the National Film Registry of the National Film Preservation Board. The NFPB is a "public advisory group to the Librarian of Congress...that...works to ensure the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America's film heritage, including: advising the Librarian on the annual selection of films to the National Film Registry." In addition to the 1997 list, users can find a comprehensive list of titles added to the registry between 1989-1997, a list of NFPB members, and links from the 1989-96 National Film Registry to their credits as they appear in the Internet Movie Database. The NFPB also recently released a report and three public testimonies on the state of television and video preservation. On another front, the American Film Institute has recently launched 100 Years...100 Movies, as a keystone of its celebration of 100 years of American movies. The site features a chronological listing of 400 American movies, from which the best 100 are to be selected by "by more than 1,500 leaders from the American film community." Visitors can view a press release, and consult a brief timeline of American film history highlights at the site. [JS]
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Amber: Window to the Past--AMNH
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/amber/
A once-arcane branch of paleontology, the study of ancient life trapped in fossilized tree resin has experienced a renaissance in the last few years. The Amber site depicts this arena of scientific investigation with stunning images and clear, accessible text. Users learn that DNA can indeed be preserved within organisms trapped in amber for millions of years and that both vertebrates and invertebrates are found in amber deposits. Images and text describe human use of amber for art and ornament for over 13,000 years. Many samples of amber are featured containing a variety of organisms, from termites to geckos to feathers, visible in well-reproduced images. This site stems from an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History. [DF]
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What is a dollar worth?--FRB MPLS [JavaScript]
http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/economy/calc/cpihome.html
This site, provided by Rob Grunewald of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, is simple, yet elegant and powerful in both concept and execution. Based on the Consumer Price Index (all major expenditure classes), users enter a year between 1913 and 1997 (at present) and a dollar amount purchased. Then another year is entered, and the "CPI Calculation Machine" produces an equivalent dollar amount for that year. The calculator will work both forward and backward in time. The site also provides an annual table of the CPI-All 1913-1997 (yearly inflation rates provided), and a clear, concise explanation of how the index is used to answer this type of question. [JS]
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Business Wire
http://www.businesswire.com/
No frames:
http://www.businesswire.com/index.htm
Business Wire offers hundreds of daily business-related announcements in ten categories, including daily news, hi-tech, health, entertainment, corporate news, and IPO's on the Net, among others. A one week searchable archive is available. There is also information on several of Business Wire's fee-based services. Users should bear in mind that the listing of information on Business Wire is a for-fee service that not all companies subscribe to. [JS]
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Japanese Oldtales: A Multilingual E-text Collection [Java]
http://www.DL.ulis.ac.jp/oldtales/
Multilingual HTML Browser Project
http://mhtml.ulis.ac.jp/
The University of Library and Information Science in Ibaraki, Japan hosts this site as a part of their Multilingual HTML Browser Project, a project devoted to enabling browser display of foreign languages and fonts. Ten Japanese folktales are currently featured in French, Japanese and English. Titles include: The Six Jizos and the Braided Hat; The Grateful Crane; Cracking Mountain; The Bamboo Princes; and The Crab and the Monkey. All ten folktales can be read in one language at a time or in the three featured languages simultaneously. The Multilingual HTML Browser Project site offers users an opportunity to view pages written in a foreign language on an experimental browser. Language options include Thai, Japanese, Tirkish, Greek, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese, among other languages. [JR]
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Free Code--Andover.Net
http://www.freecode.com/
Free Code, a service of Andover.Net, is a large index of Internet-related software tool source code. The tools are written in C/C++, Perl, Java, or Visual Basic, and are free for personal and commercial use. They range from handy Perl CGI scripts to Java-based graphics packages. Each tool in the index is briefly described, characterized by language and operating system, and linked to both the home page for the tool and the source code. The total lack of documentation for the search engine makes useful queries hard to create, but the tools are still easy-to-find. This is a very useful index for anyone building Internet or Web-based applications. [CL]
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Hobbes' Internet Timeline
http://info.isoc.org/guest/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html
This site, provided by Robert H'obbes' Zakon, is a concise hyperlinked history of the Internet beginning with the formation of the US Defense Department's ARPA (Advanced Research Products Agency) in 1957. As can be expected, entries are more detailed for the later years of the timeline. Beginning in 1995, the author provides his list of the technologies of the year. Country domain registrations are tracked beginning in 1988. Growth figures and charts, as well as contributors, are provided (including Internet Scout Project director Susan Calcari); in this "small print" can be found a wealth of information about the Internet, as well as many of the people who facilitated its development. [JS]
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WebFind Assistant--A Browser Buddy for Searching via the Top 9 Search Engines
http://www.crushware.com/software/webfind/index.html
The newest version of WebFind Assistant, 1.0.2 (Macintosh only), was recently released by Crush! Software. This is a great helper tool for those who spend a good deal of time searching. It functions as a toolbar that hovers over the Netscape or Internet Explorer browser. The interface contains a pop-up menu of the search engines and an area for entering a search string. When the user hits search, it automatically begins the search using the selected search engine. The demo version, which can be downloaded at the above URL, is limited to AltaVista, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, and Yahoo. When purchased ($20.00), WebFind Assistant also supports HotBot, Magellan, Starting Point, and WebCrawler. For advanced searching, WebFind Assistant supports features like "exact phrase," "all terms," and "any term" without the user having to learn the advanced search syntax specific to a particular search engine. [TB]
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Volume 1, Number 31: The Scout Report for November 25, 1994
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/11-25-94.html
American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library--LOC
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/amhome.html
Previews of Future Collections
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amfuture.html
The November 25, 1994 Scout Report mentioned the US Library of Congress' American Memory site for the first time, but it was already famous even then. Today, this magnificent site houses a collection of 26 multimedia resources ranging from the African American Perspectives pamphlet series, to Early Motion Pictures 1897-1916, to the American Variety Stage 1870-1920, to Words and Deeds in American History. However, to really understand and appreciate this enterprise, users need only refer to the previews of future collections. Information about 28 exhibits slated to come online in between 1997 and 2000 is offered. Previews of some of these collections are available. American Memory is an unmatched example of what a national library can provide digitally in terms of a portal into its own archival holdings, and into the history of a nation as well. [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
David Flaspohler
Aimee D. Glassel
Kathryn Harris
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The Scout Report - November 28, 1997

The Scout Report

November 28, 1997

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