Science, Technology and the CIA
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB54/index.html
This latest release on George Washington University's (GWU) National Security Archive site includes documents related to CIA projects in science and technology. The 44 documents are wide ranging, covering the years 1951-2000 and a broad span of projects from satellite reconnaissance systems to the failed "Acoustic Kitty" project, in which a cat was surgically altered to "become a mobile, eavesdropping platform" (the cat was run over by a taxi while on its first mission). [TK]
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HTP Prints, the History & Theory of Psychology Eprint Archive
http://htpprints.yorku.ca/
This new eprint server is "offered as a free service to the community of scholarly historians and theoreticians of psychology with the goal of promoting the rapid dissemination of new work in the field." Christopher D. Green of the History & Theory of Psychology Program at York University (Toronto, Canada), maintains HTP Prints with support from York's Arts Technology Support Group, and the papers here are both preprints and final versions. Users can browse or search the archive and also sign up to receive updates when new papers are added. While there are a large number of subjects (in the browseable tree) that have no papers at this time, HTP Prints is only a few months old, and over time it will undoubtedly grow. [TK]
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Islamic Studies, Islam, Arabic, and Religion
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~godlas/
This site from Dr. Alan Godlas, professor of religion at the University of Georgia, gives scholarly resources on Islam and related subjects. Perhaps not surprisingly, the page opens with a short list of pieces related to terrorism, including Yusuf Islam's (nee Cat Stevens) "Terrorism has nothing to do with Islam" and statements from scholars of Islam speaking out against terrorism. The main body of the site, however, is given over to twelve sections of annotated links, which span maps, art, women's rights, the Qur'an, history, and much more. Godlas aims to provide "a non-polemical view of Islam (including Sunni Islam, Shi'ism, and Sufism) and to a lesser extent of Judaism and Christianity," and this is a wonderful collection of resources. Both scholars and the general public should profit from this site. [TK]
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Immunobiology Animations
http://www.blink.uk.com/immunoanimations/
This flashy site from Garland Publishing is intended as a companion to their textbook Immunobiology 5th edition, but should be useful to all students of molecular biology. The site presents a color cartoon animation with accompanying captions on each immunological action -- antigen recognition, NF-ATc activation, and cytokine signaling, to name a few . Users can control the animation speed and look up topics using a text index or a side bar of thumbnail images. Another sidebar gives the key to what symbols in the animations represent (t-cells, MAP proteins, transcription factors, etc.). These nifty visuals provide a great study aid for college-level students. [HCS]
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The Historical New York Times Project: Chapter 2, The Civil War Years 1860-1866
http://www.nyt.ulib.org/index.cgi
The Historical New York Times Project recently debuted the first in a series of Web offerings undertaken by the Universal Library at Carnegie Mellon University and sponsored by Seagate Technology. This chapter of the project is divided into Overview (by year), Topics (Battles, Military, Politics, Relations Among the States, and Social Issues), and Articles of Note. Each section contains selected articles drawn from the pages of the New York Times. As the site exists, it offers easy access to contemporary Civil War journalism albeit from a Northern, Union perspective. Perhaps the remaining project chapters (no information on the timeline or exact scope of the project is offered) will expand this view of American history as recorded by one of America's foremost newspapers. Future enhancements are noted to include higher-fidelity access with more detailed topic search, class-oriented access, and licenses to exploit the enhanced digital data for modest subscriptions (although the archive will provide this free-to-read access). [DJS]
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Forestry Images
http://www.forestryimages.org/
Looking for a nice close-up of a bark beetle to show your forestry class? Need a shot of bamboo or acacia for your educational Webpage? Look no further than this handy resource for people teaching forestry, ecology, or similar topics. A joint venture by the US Forest Service and the University of Georgia, Forestry Images holds nearly 4,500 color .jpeg images of forest plants, insects, silvicultural practices, invasive organisms, and general natural scenes. Each image page includes a catalog number, Latin and vernacular nomenclature, and photographer's name. Images can be viewed and downloaded in a variety of sizes, but only registered members can access images with a resolution of 1536x1024 pixels or above (registration is free). All images are copyrighted by The University of Georgia, may only be used for nonprofit, educational purposes, and must bear appropriate citations. [HCS]
[DJS]
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The Sam Nunn Bank of America Policy Forum [.pdf, QuickTime, RealPlayer]
http://www.library.gatech.edu/inta/forum
Georgia Tech Library and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs have just unveiled this new Website offering presentations from the annual Sam Nunn Policy Forum. The forum, jointly sponsored by the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Georgia, and Emory University, features experts from the academy, government, and the private sector discussing a selected public policy topic. Thus far, the site offers material from the 1997 forum, "Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and U.S. Security," and the 1998 forum, "Information Security: Risks, Opportunities and the Bottom Line." The former includes videos and transcripts from key speakers; the latter currently contains videos of presentations by keynote speakers. Georgia Tech Library promises to soon have the 2001 forum online. That forum focused on partnerships and investments in Russia, and as such, participants included high-ranking Russian government officials and scientists as well as US government, business and academic leaders. Note that the RealVideo files were not accessible when we reviewed the site; however, Georgia Tech promises to have them restored soon. [TK]
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"Home Schooling in the United States: Trends and Characteristics" -- US Census Bureau [.pdf, Excel]
http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0053.html
Released last month by the US Census Bureau, this working paper uses the October 1994 Current Population Survey (CPS) and the 1996 and 1999 National Household Education Survey to estimate how many children are home-schooled in the United States and predict future growth. The report gives demographic characteristics of those who home school, and while it determines that the numbers of home schoolled students are smaller than earlier studies estimated, the trend is still significant. Six tables, provided in Excel, .pdf, and ASCII formats, cover topics including Estimates of the Number of U.S. Children Schooled at Home (a figure that has more than doubled in five years), Reasons Given by Parents for Choosing Home Schooling, and Logistic Regression of Home-school Status on Background and Family Characteristics. [TK]
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Two from the State Department [.pdf, .zip]
International Security
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/
Democracy and Human Rights
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/rights/
Maintained by the US Department of State's Office of International Information Programs (OIIP), formerly the USIA, these two sites are among the four US Policy topics covered in depth on the OIIP site. The first contains a special Response to Terrorism section that presents relevant official policy texts, photo galleries, key documents, and in-focus topics such as Investigation, US Muslim Community, and Economic Issues. Other features of the International Security site include several other Issues in Focus (i.e., Arms Control and Non-Proliferation), Regions in Focus, Links to other organizations and agencies, as well as to the Electronic Journal of the Department of State, U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda. The Democracy and Human Rights site contains fewer resources than the International Security site, and in fact, the first headline links to the latter. The site offers access to several journals off the front page -- Criminal Justice in the United States,Accountability in Government, and Towards a Community of Democracies -- but the bulk of the site's material is divided into two sections, Democracy and Human Rights. Each contains policy documents, in-depth looks at selected issues, links to other resources, and more. [TK]
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CHILDE - Children's Historical Literature Disseminated throughout Europe
http://www.bookchilde.org/
At this Website, the CHILDE project presents well over 1,000 images from children's books from six collections in England, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany. Most of the books were published before 1890. Although disclaimers warn that the site is still under development, it is possible to search for images by author, title, illustrator, or free text. Search by category using drop down menus, including a long list of general subjects; literary genres from ABC book to Spelling book; or Book type, such as Anthology or Encyclopedia. It is possible to browse by collection, by choosing a collection name and no other search criteria. Search on the term "Gulliver" to see and compare about 30 illustrations from editions of Johnathon Swift's adventure story in French, Dutch, and English. There are also a number of illustrations by Randolph Caldecott, the namesake of the Caldecott Medal, an American Library Association award, established in 1938, for best children's picture book of the year. [DS]
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Afghanistan Resources -- Directories -- Taliban Links
http://www.academicinfo.net/afghan.html
Terrorist Attack on the United States
http://www.academicinfo.net/usa911.html
The latest addition to Mike Madin's Academic Info (discussed in the November 7, 1997 Scout Report) is this useful pathfinder of resources related to Afghanistan. As with the other sections of Academic Info, resources are updated regularly, and most are annotated with brief, helpful descriptions. The site is divided into six sections: Indexes & Directories, Digital Library, News & Media Sources, Taliban/ bin Laden/ Al-Quida, Women in Afghanistan, and Organizations. In addition, Madin has added a new page of resources to his American Studies section related to the September 11 attacks on United States targets. [TK]
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Banned Books Week
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/
Next week is Banned Books Week, and the American Library Association (ALA) offers this site giving background on Banned Books Week and censorship as well as resources to help teachers, librarians, and booksellers observe the week. Once again, the Harry Potter series tops this year's list of most challenged books. At the ALA site, users will find the complete list as well as the most challenged books of the past decade. In addition, the site hosts a press kit, resources for sale to celebrate the week, links to other banned books sites, and a page on book burning. [TK]
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Two Newspaper Metasites
NewspaperLinks
http://www.Newspaperlinks.com/home.cfm
Today's Front Pages -- Newseum
http://www.newseum.org/frontpages/index.htm
Readers curious about how newspapers around the nation and the world are covering events during these difficult times may find these two sites useful. The first, NewspaperLinks, is brought to the Web by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) and gives quick links to newspaper Websites around the world. A clickable map as well as drop-down menus make this a very easy-to-use site, and content includes links to college newspapers, media groups, associations, and more. The second, from the Newseum, provides expandable thumbnails of front pages from September 12, 2001 newspapers from around the world. The Newseum is an interactive museum devoted to journalism and sponsored by the Freedom Forum, "a nonpartisan, international foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people" (see the January 14, 2000 Scout Report). [TK]
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Azadi Afghan Radio [.pdf]
http://www.afghanradio.com/azadi.html
WUST [Windows Media Player]
http://www.wust1120.com/
Azadi Afghan Radio, a division of Global Infolinx Inc., is broadcast from Washington, DC and San Francisco on Saturdays and Sundays respectively. Users can listen to a Web broadcast at Washington, DC's WUST at the second URL above or check out the other material online. Most of the news here is from other Web sources, but the Interviews, Afghan Links, Literature/ Poetry, etc., while often containing older material, should be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about politics or culture in Afghanistan. The Photo Gallery, while small, begins to reveal the natural beauty of this country and the devastation wrought there by war. [TK]
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America's 40 Richest Under 40 -- Fortune
http://www.fortune.com/sitelets/40under40/intro.html
Fortune has just released their 40 Richest Under 40 list, and this year's list has a large number of celebrities, though as in previous years, IT money has clearly made young millionaires and billionaires out of a large number of the ranks. In addition to the list itself (readers can access the entire list through the button on the left-hand-side of the page), the feature includes stories on the increasing wealth of celebrities, female stars, the richest and boldest newcomers to the list, and Fortune's methodology in compiling the data. [TK]
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StuffIt Expander 6.5 [Mac OS 8.1+, X]
http://www.stuffit.com/expander/macindex.html
Stuffit Expander Front Page
http://www.stuffit.com/expander/index.html
StuffIt Expander from Alladin Systems gives you access to compressed files in just about any format. The simple user interface makes decompressing files merely a matter of dragging and dropping them. Expander is free and available in English, German, French, Japanese, and Spanish. This latest version allows "smart expansion" of Palm files and transfers files to Palm upon sychronization. [TK]
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Easy CD-DA Extractor 4.5.2
http://www.poikosoft.com/cdda/index.html
Billing itself as "the most complete CD-ripping solution available" as well as the fastest (a 40 percent increase in performance since the last edition), Easy CD-DA Extractor supports a variety of formats: mp3, Windows Media Player, Ogg Vorbis, TwinVQ, .wav, and .aiff. Using the program, you can copy CDs and convert from any of the supported formats (except .aiff) to any other. Users can define the length of the tracks they record; download in formation from the freedb, the Internet Compact Disc Database; normalize the music; and more. The program is shareware and costs $19.95. [TK]
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The First Remote, Robotic Surgery
"Surgeons Here, Patient There" -- Wired
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,46946,00.html
"Robot-Assisted Surgery Makes Transatlantic Cut" -- Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59617-2001Sep19.html
"Surgeons in U.S. Perform Operation in France Via Robot" -- National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/09/0919_robotsurgery.html
"Surgery Spans Miles of Ocean, Wires" -- LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000075584sep20.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Da%5Fsection
"Transatlantic robot-assisted telesurgery" -- Nature [.pdf]
http://www.nature.com/nature/prepub/rubino.html
"Inter-continental robot surgery" -- BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1370000/1370875.stm
European Institute for Telesurgery [javascript]
http://www.ircad.com/
WebSurg: World Electronic Book of Surgery [.pdf, Flash, RealPlayer]
http://www.websurg.com/wshome/
The Tech Museum: Robotics: Sensing, Thinking, Acting [RealPlayer, Shockwave]
http://www.thetech.org/robotics/
On September 7, doctors in the United States performed the first long distance operation, with surgeons in New York performing a laparoscopic cholecystectomy on a patient in France. The surgery was successful, and the patient was discharged from the hospital with no complications 48 hours later. Needless to say, the potential uses of such remote, robotic technology are boundless, not only in medical settings but in search and rescue missions, scientific discovery missions, and countless other arenas. The following resources cover the recent surgery and provide some additional information on the technology.
Wired, the Washington Post,National Geographic, and the LA Times all report on the surgery, detailing for a lay audience the technological challenges of such a procedure as well as the advances that have made it possible. Nature magazine has released a brief communication about the surgery to coincide with a press conference that was held Wednesday. A June report from the BBC shows how rapidly these technologies have advanced in a few short months. The surgery was performed at the European Institute of Telesurgery, and their site offers information on their courses and a panoramic view of the operating room. WebSurg, a "virtual surgical university" launched by Jacques Marescaux and his team at the Institut de Recherche contre les Cancers de l'Appareil Digestif (IRCAD), has posted videos from what it calls the "Lindbergh Operation" as well as a demo of the virtual university (additional content requires a subscription). Finally, readers interested in robotics in general may enjoy a stop at the Tech Museum's exhibit on Robotics, which covers some of the history of robotics, the ethical questions, robot art, and more. [TK]
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