Inchem
http://www.inchem.org/
International Programme on Chemical Safety's (IPCS's) INCHEM "consolidates a wide variety of information produced by a number of international bodies whose goal is to assist in the sound management of chemicals [and] provides a means of rapid access to information on chemicals commonly used throughout the world, which may also occur as contaminants in the environment and food." From this metasite, users can access documents on chemical safety from a host of organizations worldwide. Examples of information that can be found include exposure limits by country, pesticide data sheets, health and safety guides, and physical-chemical data. Most of the subindices are listed alphabetically by chemical name. This is an excellent resource for science librarians, toxicology researchers, or anyone working in the chemical industry. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
Global Policy Forum
http://www.globalpolicy.org/
Global Policy Forum (GPF) monitors the United Nations' global policy making. Based in New York City, the internationally represented GPF has consultative status at the UN. Their visually simple, information-rich Website is divided into the following subsections: UN Financial Crisis, Security Council, Social/ Economic Policy, NGOs, Nations and States, and UN Reform. The content includes essays from the GPF staff, issue summaries, excerpts from conference presentations, news articles, and reports from the UN and other government agencies. Other special in-depth sections on the Iraq crisis, international justice, globalization, and additional timely topics are definitely worth a look. Also, check out GPF's What's New section to keep on top of current UN issues -- for instance, this week's What's New contains critical articles and essays on middle east peace negotiation, sanctions against Iraq, and the rumblings of a possible second genocide in Rwanda, among other topics. In addition, the GPF site offers a publications list, numerous links, an electronic mailing list, a search engine, an index, and a virtual visitors center. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
Nonindigenous Species: An Emerging Issue for the EPA [.pdf]
http://www.epa.gov/ow/new.html
This recently released, two-volume publication from the US EPA includes workshop reports and information on the effects of nonindigenous species (e.g., the zebra mussel, chinese mitten crab, the leafy spurge) on ecosystems and human health. The first volume (127 pages), Region/ORD Nonindigenous Species Reports, contains excerpts from the Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes Regional Nonindigenous Invasive Species Workshops, and the Wetland/ Riparian Nonindigenous Invasive Species Workshop, among others, covering issues such as regulating ballast water, chemical control of invasives, and coordinating federal, state, and local agencies. The second volume (64 pages), A Landscape in Transition: Effects of Invasive Species on Ecosystems, Human Health and EPA Goals, covers such topics as municipal-industrial water supply, stream runoff, and recreation and tourism in the context of nonindigenous, invasive species. The second volume also presents statements on direct health risks to humans from water-borne invasive species as well as health risks from pesticides used against exotic plants. Other sections discuss Hawaiian biodiversity, preserving native flora and fauna on public lands, and ecosystem stability. The volumes can be downloaded in .pdf format. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
ERSYS (Earth Resource SYStem)
http://www.ersys.com/
Texas-based Ersys market research company now makes much of its demographic and geographic data available for free here with this handy tool. From the homepage of the Ersys database, users select a state and then choose from a list of cities and towns to view information on population, climate and pollution, politics, media, income, education, transportation, and much more. The demographics section, authored by Ersys, provides maps and tables. Other sections, such as media and politics, give links to the appropriate external sites. Says Ersys, "If you're looking to relocate, pick a new commercial site or just curious about the city you're traveling to, join us in exploring the following destination states and their respective cities." [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
Law & Politics Internet guide
http://www.lpig.org/
This metasite of law and political resources is designed for legal professionals, academics, and the general public. The site was created by Randy Roberts, a student a student at Oklahoma City University School of Law and legislative assistant. About two dozen lists of annotated links cover topics such as Legal Portals, Legal Resources, Foreign & International Law, and Legal Research. Equipped with language translation software (which works well on some pages but seems to cause graphics problems on other pages), the site is well designed and easy to use. [REB]
[Back to Contents]
Campaign! A Century of Political and Social Campaigning in Wales [QuickTime, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player]
http://www.llgc.org.uk/ymgyrchu/index-e.htm
This offering from the National Library of Wales features documents, photographs, and audio and video files of 20th-century Welsh social and political campaigns. The materials are grouped into six themes -- The Ballot Box, Labour Struggles, War and Peace, Devolution, The Welsh Language, and The Water Industry -- and are also available via a timeline, site map, and search engine. Even those who haven't previously had an interest in Welsh history may find this site woth a visit as the material on display is varied and covers a range of topics. A bibliography provides users with citations for additional research. It would be helpful if catalog information for items were displayed alongside the images, but the site should prove useful to researchers and interested users nonetheless. Campaign! is available in Welsh, English, and Spanish (though of course, many of the page images themselves are in Welsh). [TK]
[Back to Contents]
Four New Items from the Bureau of Labor Statistics [.pdf]
National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, 1999
http://www.bls.gov/special.requests/ocwc/oclt/ncsocs/ncs/ncbl0343.pdf
Extended Mass Layoffs in 2000, Report 951
http://www.bls.gov/pdf/mls00ext.pdf
Occupational Wages from Nine Census Divisions, 1999
http://www.bls.gov/compub.htm#Division
The Employment Situation: July 2001
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm
Several new items were released this week by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the above four (all available in .pdf format) might be particularly interesting to researchers. The first report gives mean hourly and weekly earnings and hours for selected occupations in private industry and government for 1999. The second report covers large-scale layoff events and characteristics of laid off workers for the year 2000. New 1999 occupational wages data from nine regions, including the Middle Atlantic, Mountain, Pacific, and New England, can be accessed from the third URL. Finally, a summary of the employment situation (including employment status by race, sex, and age, reasons and duration of unemployment) is available at the last link in text format, and a link to a .pdf file of the report is provided. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
HistoryWired: a few of our favorite things -- NMAH [RealPlayer, Mac OS Runtime for Java]
http://historywired.si.edu/index.html
This new site from the National Museum of American History (NMAH) showcases hundreds of items from the museum's collection, many currently not on display. What makes this site particularly notable is its organization, which eschews the standard division into categories and subcategories (where users "drill down" to reach items) for a front page from which all items are accessible with a click. The interface here is quite nifty. NMAH aimed to replicate the serendipitous experience of wandering through a museum and encountering unexpected and interesting items. When users log on to HistoryWired, they will find a grid grouped into broad categories such as Sciences, Home, and Print/ Communications. Running the mouse over a square in the grid brings up a thumbnail and brief description of an item. More information and a larger image are available by clicking on the square. Boxes/ items can be highlighted by date using the slider bar at the top of the screen or by category using the buttons. Or, for the more focused visitor, there is a search box at the bottom of the screen. Mac users may need to download Mac OS Runtime for Java to use all of the features at the site (see the Technical Requirements section of the site for a hyperlink). [TK]
[Back to Contents]
What Kids Can Do
http://www.whatkidscando.org/
What Kids Can Do (WKCD) began in the winter of 2001 to showcase "examples of young people working with adults in their schools and communities on the real-world issues that concern them most." Currently, the Feature Stories section presents Small Towns, Big Dreams, a long piece on what teenagers in Maine, South Dakota, and Texas are doing to fight brain drain and revive their rural communities. Short Takes provides a glimpse of a video project in New York City; In Their Own Words includes a collection of middle and high school graduation speeches, as well as two essays in the Young Writers' Corner: "Quiet Lessons in Prejudice" and "Paper Mill Town"; and Student Work contains students' interviews of their grandparents on their experiences during World War II, life in Appalachia, along the Rio Grande in Texas, and memories of segregation. In the Resources section, there is a list of like-minded organizations' Websites, and you can sign up to receive email updates on what's new at WKCD. [DS]
[Back to Contents]
The Census 2000 Supplementary Survey
http://www.census.gov/c2ss/www/
At this site provided by the US Census Bureau, you can investigate the much-talked-about results of the Bureau's 2000 Supplemental Survey (2000 SS) released Monday. Survey results indicate that American standards of living increased markedly throughout most of the country in the 1990s, bringing many Americans larger houses, higher incomes, and more cars. The data also show that nearly 1/5 of all Americans do not speak English at home, about 530,000 homes lack plumbing, and that over 2 million grandparents are raising their grandchildren. The 2000 SS homepage links to pages on the survey's methodology, a sample questionnaire, and the actual data, which can be reviewed in either a narrative "plain language" format or as tables. Comparisons with the 1990 census are available. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
Alien Empire -- PBS [Shockwave, Quicktime]
http://www.wnet.org/nature/alienempire/index.html
Monarch butterfly migration, termite fortresses, and the fleeting life of a mayfly are just a few of the topics covered at this educational site from PBS. "Alien Empire" is the title of a recently aired program on insects, part of PBS's series Nature. The interactive Website presents short Flash animations on insect behavior and lifecycles, puzzles and activity ideas for kids, teacher resources, and video clips of bugs in action (Shockwave, QuickTime). Mac users be warned that a few animations won't be viewable, but the site is still worth a visit. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
Babel: A data browser by Simon Biggs [Shockwave]
http://www.babel.uk.net
This Website is a site-specific work of art commissioned by a group of UK libraries, Focal Point Gallery, and the Arts Council of England. The work takes as its jumping off place the vision of libraries as information spaces organized by a "taxonomy of knowledge." Simon Biggs uses a common classification tool, the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC), to confront the viewer with a 3D visualization of an abstract data space mapped as arrays and grids. Anyone familiar with the DDC will quickly begin pondering the subjects represented by the numbers and URLs as they ebb, flow, and overlap in a hypnotic rhythm. Each URL is linked, and viewers are encouraged to explore by creating a personal path to knowledge through this work of art. Babel is part of a growing body of contemporary artistic work concerned with the information organization necessary to render any collection of data useable, a need clearly expressed by users of today's World Wide Web. This is fun indeed for those interested in contemporary art and/or for information professionals. A useful essay by Walker Art Center curator Steve Dietz accompanies the work. The Website does require Shockwave, which is not supported by Netscape 6.0. [DJS]
[Back to Contents]
THE 1905-1907 Breasted Expeditions to Egypt and the Sudan: A Photographic Study
http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/PA/EGYPT/BEES/BEES.html
The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago hosts this online exhibition devoted to the photographs taken by Professor James Henry Breasted and his colleagues in Nubia during the years 1905-1907. In Breasted's time, many Egyptologists were interested in recovering only buried artifacts. However, Breasted focused on preserving and documenting the historical treasures found above ground before they became too weathered. Breasted's excursions resulted in the printing of 1,055 photographs, which are now displayed digitally (high or low resolution .gif) at this fascinating Website. a catalog and map are also featured. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
CheeseNet
http://www.wgx.com/cheesenet/index.html
Hey cheeseheads! Here's a serious Website for you. CheeseNet houses a world of information on characteristics of various cheeses, the history of cheese, facts about cheesemaking, cheese in poetry and fiction, plus much more. A major highlight of the site is the world cheese Index (WCI), an illustrated guide to the geography, ingredients, texture, and flavor of over 100 cheeses. The WCI, which has a helpful user guide, is indexed by country and cheese name. Some of the more unusual cheeses you'll find listed are Romanian Telemea, Spanish Manchengo, and German Bergader. Other highlights of the site include a cheese message board and nifty cheese links (the official site of Stilton, for example). The site's administrator, Kyle Whelliston, provides references and acknowledgements for all of his cheesy information. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
Two on the Code Red Virus
"Code Red: Is this the Apocalypse?"
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,45681,00.html
The Spread of the Code-Red Worm (CRv2) [QuickTime]
http://www.caida.org/analysis/security/code-red/
During the final weeks of July, a computer worm known as Code Red spread to over 350,000 computers on six continents. The two sites listed above provide details and analysis of the worm incident. The first is a piece from Wired online in which author Michelle Delillo suggests ways for users protect their servers from Code Red but also discusses the possibility of "worm hysteria" being a bigger problem than the worm itself. The second site, from University of California's Cooperative Association for Internet Data analysis (CIDA), provides a wealth of data on the origin and spread of Code Red. A neat feature is the animation of the geographic spread of the worm in five-minute intervals between midnight UTC on July 19, 2001 and midnight UTC on July 20, 2001 (QuickTime, Unix xanim, or .gif). [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
Yahoo Slideshows
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=ss
Yahoo!News has updated its Website with a new feature: slideshows of current news photos. Each of its news sections -- Top Stories, World, Entertainment, Sports, Science, Lifestyle, and Politics -- now contains a grouping of photos in a slideshow format. The slideshows are updated daily, and an archive is available. Be warned, however, that a few advertisements pop up during the slideshows. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]
Northern Ireland Government Suspended
Deadlock in Northern Ireland? -- BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/northern_ireland/2001/ni_deadlock/default.stm
Path to Peace -- The Irish Times
http://www.ireland.com/special/peace/index.htm
Conflict and Hope in Northern Ireland -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/n.ireland/index.html
Northern Ireland Assembly
http://www.ni-assembly.gov.uk/
Sinn Fein Homepage
http://www.sinnfein.ie/
Ulster Unionist Party Homepage
http://www.uup.org/
Secretary John Reid announced today that Northern Ireland's devolved government would be suspended, effective midnight tonight, to allow more time to resolve disputes, most centrally over the decommissioning of the IRA. The suspension comes in the wake of John Trimble's July 1 resignation as first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly because the IRA had not yet disarmed. Reid said he hoped the suspension would be brief, and indeed, the announcement comes after Thursday's declaration by the IRA that they would place their weapons "completely and verifiably beyond use."
As always, the BBC provides thorough coverage, including numerous articles, background information, analysis, profiles of key players, and more. The Irish Times also offers an in-depth section on the peace process. Along with news stories, the site contains a discussion forum, a glossary, related links, and a Book of Condolence. Readers who wish to brush up on the background to the latest developments in Northern Ireland may want to visit CNN's special, Conflict and Hope, which is focused on the roots and history of conflict in the region. The Northern Ireland Assembly page announces a recess, and Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party homepages offer press releases along with a wealth of additional information. [TK]
[Back to Contents]
Below are the copyright statements to be included when reproducing annotations from The Scout Report.
The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing any portion of this report, in any format:
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2001. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
The paragraph below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing the entire report, in any format:
Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-2001. The Internet Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, are preserved on all copies.
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, or the National Science Foundation.
The Scout Report (ISSN 1092-3861) is published weekly by Internet Scout
For information on additional contributors, see the Internet Scout Project staff page:
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/about/team.html
