Scout Report for Science & Engineering_
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sci-eng/2000/se-000510.html
Volume 3, Number 17 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The In the News section annotates nine resources on the Genetically Modified (GM) foods debate. [MD]
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Two from Bartleby
The Oxford Shakespeare
http://www.bartleby.com/141/70/index.html
Bartleby Shakespeare Collection
http://www.bartleby.com/141/people/Shakespe.html
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
http://www.bartleby.com/141/81/
Bartleby.com (see the March 24, 2000 Scout Report) has recently placed two new works online. The first, which it describes as "the most authoritative Shakespeare freely available on the Internet," is an electronic version of the 1,350-page 1914 Oxford edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Containing 37 plays and 154 sonnets, The Oxford Shakespeare may be browsed by play, act, and scene, or sonnet, or searched by keyword. At the Bartleby Shakespeare Collection page, users will also find over 1,500 Shakespeare quotations selected by John Bartlett, anthologized verse, and some essays on Shakespeare, including T.S. Eliot's "Hamlet and His Problems." The second new offering is E. Cobham Brewer's 1898 Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, a collection of more than 18,000 entries "that reveal the etymologies, trace the origins and otherwise catalog 'words with a tale to tell.'" The entries can be browsed alphabetically or searched by keyword. [MD]
[Back to Contents]AmphibiaWeb
http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/aw/
Dr. David Wake, Curator of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California-Berkeley, and several graduate students have launched AmphibiaWeb, an online database of amphibian biology and conservation. The searchable database currently contains 137 species accounts and eventually will provide information "for every species of amphibian in the world." Species accounts include species descriptions, photos, life history information, conservation status information, and literature references. Although the new resource is still under development, more than 100 species are already photo-illustrated, and over 300 species have range maps; the reference list contains in excess of 500 literature references. In addition to the database, the site offers a section on worldwide amphibian declines and information on how to contribute information to the database. [LXP]
[Back to Contents]Oxford University Press (OUP) Reading Room [.pdf]
http://www.oup.co.uk/readingroom/
Though of course created to sell OUP books, this site is a useful resource for university instructors, scholars, or anyone interested in the latest works from one of the foremost academic publishers. The site is currently divided into thirteen reading rooms (Politics, Anthropology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, History, Literature, Philosophy, etc.), each of which offers sample chapters (.pdf format), tables of contents, and other information on the latest offerings in that field from OUP. In addition, users can browse each reading room by their particular interest. For instance, the Literature reading room is subdivided into topics such as Shakespeare, Romantic Literature, Nineteenth Century Literature, Twentieth Century Literature, and Criticism and Theory, among others. An internal search engine is also available. [MD]
[Back to Contents]International Court of Justice Unpublished Pleadings [.pdf]
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idecisions/ipleadingsnotavailable.htm
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
http://www.icj-cij.org/
Seated at The Hague, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, hearing cases on international law submitted by various States and offering advisory opinions on submitted legal questions. Recently, the ICJ began to place online the (uncorrected) full text of Written and Oral Pleadings that are currently being prepared for printed publication. Nineteen Contentious and Advisory Cases from 1986-99 are presently offered at the site, some in HTML format, others in .pdf. Most include the Application, Request for Provisional Measures, Written and Oral Pleadings, Orders, Judgment (when applicable), and Press Communiques. Additional information on the ICJ, including the current docket, some basic documents, and publications, is available at the main site. [MD]
[Back to Contents]New Reports on the US Intelligence Community
"Annual Report for the United States Intelligence Community" -- CIA
http://www.cia.gov/publications/fy99intellrpt/dci_annual_report_99.html
Alternate Version -- FAS
http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/report-99.html
Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2001 - Report
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2000_rpt/s106-279.html
Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2001 - Bill
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2000_rpt/s2507.html
Recently placed on the Central Intelligence Agency's site, this unclassified report to Congress offers an overview of the Intelligence Community's (IC) activities in the past year. It discusses efforts to promote cooperation across the IC, strategic priorities, regional highlights, transnational issues, counterintelligence work, and future strategies. An alternative and easier to read version is available at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) site. The FAS has also placed online the full text of the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2001, which was reported out by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on May 4, and the accompanying report. Both offer insights into the proposed future of the intelligence community, especially the National Security Agency (NSA) and its relations with Congress and the American people. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Daoist Studies
http://www.daoiststudies.org/
Created and maintained by an international group of Daoism scholars, this new site hopes to offer an electronic space that promotes scholarly communication, research, teaching, and Daoist studies generally. Although thin on content at present, the site is attractive, well-organized, and with enough support from like-minded users, could become a major online resource for research and teaching in Daoist studies. The content is in two main sections: Teaching and Research. The first will feature syllabi (two are offered at time of review), recommended audiovisual materials, and guides to teaching Daoism as part of larger survey courses. The second offers a detailed research guide, event listings, paper abstracts and book notes, and related links. Other features include a collection of recommended Daoist Studies books with links to purchase information. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Suicidal Females in Greek and Roman Mythology: A Catalogue - Diotima HTML Version
http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/suicides.html
HTML Version Optimized for IE5
http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/suicides_ie5.htm
.pdf Version
http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/suicides.pdf
Diotima
http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/gender.html
Compiled by Dr. Elise P. Garrison of Texas A&M University and hosted by the Diotima Website, this highly specialized catalog is an alphabetical list "of the females of mythology who commit suicide along with a thumbnail sketch of their lives and deaths." These are accompanied by one or more brief quotes. A bibliography of English and non-English sources is also included. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Classics Department, Diotima has long been the premier online source for research and teaching information on women and gender in the ancient world. Resources at the site include numerous links to syllabi, a large and searchable collection of bibliographies, links to image databases, an anthology of translated texts, online resources for biblical studies, and more. Though most scholars in the field are probably well aware of Diotima, students and other users interested in women and gender in the ancient world will certainly wish to pay the site repeated visits. [MD]
[Back to Contents]National Hospital Discharge and Ambulatory Surgery Data [.pdf]
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/hdasd/nhds.htm
Provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this site offers a host of data on inpatients discharged from non-Federal, short-stay hospitals in the US and the use of ambulatory surgery services. These data include patient characteristics (age and sex, patient disposition, expected sources of payment, etc.), admission and discharge dates, and medical information such as diagnoses and procedures performed. Like other CDC data sites, this is not the easiest to navigate, but diligent users will be rewarded with numerous reports, raw data files, and related documentation. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Two from the European Union (EU)
The ABC of the European Union
http://europa.eu.int/abc-en.htm
The History of the European Union
http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/index_en.htm
These two sites from the EU, one new the other recently made available in eleven languages, will prove helpful to students or anyone who wants to find basic information about the European Union's history, institutions, and activities. The ABC page offers an easy and quick overview of the EU, citizens rights, the euro, institutions, symbols, treaties, and links to official documents and publications. The History page is a simple chronology, from 1946 to 2000, that identifies key events in the development of the EU and its institutions. [MD]
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Two New Sites from the Chicago Historical Society and Northwestern University
The Dramas of Haymarket [.pdf]
http://www.chicagohistory.org/dramas/
Wet With Blood [QuickTime, QTVR]
http://www.chicagohistory.org/wetwithblood/
The Chicago Historical Society (CHS) and Northwestern University have recently unveiled two fine online exhibits. The first highlights materials from a soon-to-be-completed Haymarket Affair Digital Collection by the Historical Society. The Haymarket rally, bombing, and subsequent trials, executions, and pardon, mark one of the most significant episodes in US labor history. The story of Haymarket is presented at the site as a five-act drama, accompanied by interviews, images, excerpts of memoirs and contemporary news reports, and other primary documents. A guide to navigating the site, a .pdf version of the five-acts, and suggestions for further reading are also provided. The second site is an interesting example of how contemporary scientific research methods (specifically DNA forensics) can be used to help solve the problem of authentication of historical museum objects. Conceived and created by the Textile Curator of the CHS, the site traces ongoing efforts made to authenticate blood stains on a cloak belonging to Mary Todd Lincoln and other Lincoln assassination relics held by the CHS. It offers a review of both these relics and their provenance and the scientific methods used, as well as QuickTime movies of the experts in action, and a QTVR tour of the textile conservation lab. In all, an interesting and surprisingly detailed look at the merger of history and forensic science. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Tate Modern
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern
Yesterday, Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Tate Modern, Britain's new national museum of modern art housed in a former power station on London's Bankside. Those who weren't invited to the gala opening party last night and can't make it to the official public opening today can still visit the new museum online. In addition to the ordinary visiting information, special exhibitions, and so forth, the site offers a complete overview of the works displayed in each of its four themed groups. Though modern sounding, the four display themes (Landscape/ Matter/ Environment; Still Life/ Object/ Real Life; Nude/ Action/ Body; and History/ Memory/ Society) are actually based on the major genres of art established by the French Academy in the seventeenth century: landscape, still life, the nude, and history painting. Clicking on a section will bring up a list of rooms, each of which links to a short description and list of works. From this list, users can access more information on a particular work (and an image when available) and other pieces by the same artist held at Tate galleries via the Tate Collections Website (see the June 11, 1999 Scout Report). [MD]
[Back to Contents]MagPortal
http://MagPortal.com
Created and provided by Hot Neuron LLC, this current awareness resource helps users stay abreast of recent free magazine articles available online. Updated each business day, the site organizes the articles in twelve main categories, including Business, Internet, Family & Home, Sports, Health, and Science & Technology, among others. Each of these are further divided into varying numbers of subcategories. The articles are briefly described, and links are provided to the full text and the main site of the periodical. In addition, users can access a list of similar articles via an icon at the end of most article descriptions. A keyword search engine is provided at the main page, and registered users can mark and save articles for future reference. Although a master list of the periodicals indexed by the site would be a welcome addition, the site as it stands is quite helpful for users searching for current pieces on selected topics or simply tracking the latest writing in their areas of interest. [MD]
[Back to Contents]National Museum of Women in the Arts [QuickTime, Windows Media Player]
http://www.nmwa.org/
Video Tour
http://www.nmwa.org/vtour/vtour1.htm
Created in 1997 in celebration of the Museum's tenth anniversary, the Website of the National Museum of Women in the Arts currently features a video tour. Narrated by Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, whose collection of art by women forms the foundation of the Museum's permanent collection, the tour is conveniently divided into 21 sections, so that users can select only those they wish to view (approximate download times are one to five minutes per clip). Ms. Holladay provides anecdotes about each work. In addition to the video, the site's table of contents lists resources including artist biographies, curriculum packets for teachers, and information about booking tours and events at the Museum in Washington, DC. [DS]
[Back to Contents]Images of England
http://www.rchme.gov.uk/ioe/index.htm
Directed by the National Monuments Record, the public archive of English Heritage, Images of England is a project to construct a photographic record of England's 360,000 listed buildings to place online by 2002. In the first three-month photographic survey, which began last August, approximately 500 volunteer photographers in England captured over 39,000 images. The second survey, which began on May 1, will involve over 650 photographers. At the site, users will find all sorts of information about the project and its volunteers, regional materials (including press releases), and data on listed buildings, as well as a number of thumbnail images from the first survey, sorted by region (note that some images were unavailable or missing at the time of review). Also included is an online version of a recent exhibition at the National Monuments Record Centre in Swindon. The exhibition is arranged by category, such as Street Furniture, Industrial Architecture, Places of Worship, Public Buildings, Entertainment, and Bridges. Anyone interested in architecture or English history will certainly enjoy this site and check back for future updates. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Vanishing Pollinators
http://www.si.edu/pollinators/
A companion to a new exhibition at the National Zoo, this modest but worthwhile site features 34 lovely photos of flowering plants and their threatened insect pollinators. Created to raise awareness of the worldwide decline in pollinator populations and its potential effects on the ecosystem, the exhibit includes six galleries of annotated photos. Information about the physical exhibit and related resources are also available. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Chambers's Book of Days
http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/BookofDays/
Subtitled A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in connection with the Calendar,Chambers's Book of Days is essentially a collection of "On this Day" trivia, short pieces, and other interesting tidbits, including history, literature, biography, and "oddities of human life and character." Digitized by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, this electronic reprint may be browsed in page order or via a calendar navigator. The site offers a fun look into pop-history/ tabloid news of the late nineteenth century. For instance, I discovered that on the day of my birth in 1626 "a cod-fish was brought to Cambridge market, which upon being opened, was found to contain a book in its maw or stomach." An auspicious date to be born indeed. [MD]
[Back to Contents]President Clinton - Final Days [QuickTime]
http://www.adcritic.com/content/president-clinton-final-days.html
Available at Adcritic.com (see the October 7, 1999 Scout Report for Business & Economics), this six-minute video is a humorous and clever peek into the twilight days at the Clinton White House. Shot for the Annual White House Correspondents's Dinner, the "home movie" depicts a lonely President Clinton taking care of the yard work, doing the laundry, and other mundane tasks. The movie is an entertaining diversion and demonstrates that even the "leader of the free world" can have a (self-deprecating) sense of humor. [MD]
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FTC Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security - Final Report [MS Word]
http://www.ftc.gov/acoas/index.htm
Released on May 8, the final report to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by a 42-member blue-ribbon panel calls for every commercial Website to devise and make public a personal data security program. The Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security was formed to make recommendations to the FTC "regarding implementation of certain fair information practices by domestic commercial Web sites," with special attention to the use and security of personal information. Available in HTML or MS Word formats, the report outlines four possible approaches for granting users access to the information collected about them, ranging from total access to all information from any source to "access for correction," in which users could only find out what information is being held on them in the event that "the information is used to grant or deny the consumer a significant benefit." Users can read the full text of the report and submit public comments at the FTC site. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Three on E3 2000
E3 Expo
http://www.e3expo.com/
CNET GameCenter E3 2000 Live From the Show
http://www.gamecenter.com/Features/Exclusives/E32k/?tag=st.cn.1.tlpg.e32000
GA Source
http://www.ga-source.com/
Even if you didn't stand in line to buy The Sims or don't often spend the wee hours of the evening fragging away on Quake III, these three sites offer an interesting look into the next wave of software and console games, whose sales topped $6 billion last year and which provide the main motive force behind new developments in graphics, sound cards, and other computer components. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), being held May 11-13 in Los Angeles, is by far the most important annual event in the computer gaming industry. At the official E3 site, users can access show updates and news, view the conference program, and read about show highlights. More screenshots and coverage can be found at CNET Gamecenter and GA Source. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Netscape Communicator 4.73
http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html
Release Notes
http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/4.7/relnotes/windows-4.73.html
Users wary of installing the reportedly buggy Netscape 6 PR1 or those who wish to downgrade can pick up the latest version of Communicator at the Netscape site. Although it doesn't offer much in the way of new features (some security fixes, AIM 3.0, Flash 4.0, WinAmp, and RealPlayer G2 for Windows) this latest release is reportedly more stable. [MD]
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Chaos in Sierra Leone
Crisis in Sierra Leone -- BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/africa/2000/sierra_leone/default.stm
Africa News Online -- Sierra Leone
http://www.africanews.org/west/sierraleone/
Sierra Leone News -- Sierra Leone Web
http://www.sierra-leone.org/slnews.html
Sierra Leone News -- Worldnews.com
http://www.sierraleonenews.com/
Concord Times (Freetown) News Update
http://www.oe-pages.com/BIZ/Homebiz/tod/
"Clinton Offers Military Aid To Help Calm Sierra Leone" -- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/051200sierra-leone-aid.html
Online NewsHour -- Sierra Leone
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/sierra_leone/home.html
IRIN Sierra Leone Archive
http://www.reliefweb.int/irin/archive/sierraleone.phtml
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone -- UNAMISL
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/unamsil/body_unamsil.htm
"Sierra Leone, and the U.N., at risk" -- Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion.htm
"Editorial: A painful lesson in Africa" -- Cincinatti Post
http://www.cincypost.com/opinion/edita051100.html
"Flawed peace agreement harmful to Sierra Leone" -- Kansas City Star
http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/opinion.pat,opinion/37747524.511,.html
"An African-led military force should halt the fighting" -- Dallas Morning News
http://dallasnews.com/editorial/77772_sierraleone_11.html
"The Trouble With Africa Is. . ." -- Chicago Tribune
http://chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/article/0,2669,SAV-0005120052,FF.html
"Should We Privatize The Peacekeeping?" -- Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-05/12/046l-051200-idx.html
On July 7, 1999, Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), signed a cease-fire agreement that was supposed to end an eight-year civil war that plagued this former British colony. Signed in Lome, Togo and brokered by the UN and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the agreement committed the RUF to lay down its arms in exchange for general amnesty and positions in a new government. Despite the dispatch of about 8,000 UN peacekeeping troops to help enforce the accord in November/December 1999, gross human rights violations, especially against civilians in rural areas, have continued. More recently, the UN forces have come under direct attack, with over 500 troops abducted and their weapons and armored vehicles taken. This week, tens of thousands of civilians streamed into the capital, Freetown, ahead of a rebel advance. Yesterday, however, pro-government forces and veteran Nigerian soldiers checked RUF movements on Freetown. While fighting in the countryside remains widespread, support for the UN mission in Sierra Leone, which has been widely criticized as under-funded and lacking in direction, has been growing, with President Clinton pledging military assistance (but not ground troops) and Britain landing paratroops to secure the capital's airport and facilitate evacuations. At present, the situation remains chaotic at best, in part due to the disappearance of RUF leader Foday Sankoh, who was last seen on Monday, before tens of thousands of protestors surrounded and then looted his house in Freetown.
As always, the BBC is an excellent starting point for learning more about the situation, with background information, breaking news, a timeline, and analysis. Africa News Online offers numerous recent articles on the crisis, as does Sierra Leone Web, and Worldnews.com, the last drawing on numerous international sources. Brief news updates which reflect the tense mood in the capital are available from the Freetown-based Concord Times site, while a large selection of recent articles and background materials are available from the New York Times (free registration required). More analysis can be found at the PBS NewsHour special on Sierra Leone and a host of recent news updates are available at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) site. More information and documents related to the UN peacekeeping mission are posted at its official Website. Finally, opinion pieces on the crisis and the future of UN peacekeeping operations have been posted by the Japan Times,Cincinatti Post,Kansas City Star,Dallas Morning News,Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post.[MD]
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