Historic Government Publications from World War II [.pdf]
http://worldwar2.smu.edu/
This new site from Southern Methodist University (SMU) features just over 200 government documents from World War II. Plans are to enhance the database to approximately double its size by May, when 300-500 documents will be included. Users can either view the documents in a simple list (sortable by title, author, or publication date) or perform a fielded search (title, author, subject, or keyword). Advanced searches allow for boolean operators and additional fields (series, SuDoc number, and publisher information). Results provide cataloging information, links to lists of other titles by the same subject and agency, an image of the document's cover, and a link to the document itself (.pdf). While it might be nice if the site offered more of a guided browse by subject option, this is nonetheless a nice collection of archival material that should be welcomed by historians in a variety of fields or general readers with an interest in World War II. The project documentation section, which includes, among other things, cataloging guidelines and information on catalog configuration, should be useful to users working on similar Web archives. Rounding out the site are an Other Resources section, which offers half a dozen annotated links, and a link to SMU's World War II Memorial Plaza. [TK]
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The Alfred Russel Wallace Page
http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/
Frames Version:
http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/index1.htm
This site, brought to the Web by Charles H. Smith, Associate Professor and Science Librarian at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, presents many of the writings of and thoughts about one of the nineteenth century's prominent scientists, the father of biogeography. Smith dedicates his site to clearing up misconceptions about Wallace and to restoring Wallace's ideas to prominence. The site features a hyperlinked biography; a selection of Wallace's writings, interviews, and quotes; a FAQ; and a chronology. For those looking to continue investigating Wallace off-line, Smith also supplies a reprint of Michael Shermer's "Bibliography of Wallace Archival Sources" as well as an extensive bibliography of Wallace's writings and one devoted to secondary sources. The non-frames version of the site includes, in addition, listings of obituaries, photographs, a news page, a page of misinformation about Wallace, and more. [TK]
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The ANSER Institute for Homeland Security [.pdf]
http://www.homelandsecurity.org/
The ANSER Institute, a non-profit research institute, which began its existence as a Federal Contract Research Center (FCRC) for the Air Force Director of Development Planning, offers this site devoted to "homeland security." The site provides a great deal of information and opinion, and while skeptics of the US military/ industrial complex may not find much here to answer their particular questions, this should prove a useful stop for anyone involved in defense research or analysis. Users can sign up to receive the Journal of Homeland Security and the weekly newsletter. Also on-site, they will find a page devoted to current news and one for legislative updates. The virtual library links to a large number of categorized, related resources, and the suggested reading section offers more. [TK]
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Exeter Cathedral Keystones and Carvings: A Catalogue Raisonne of the Sculptures & Their Polychromy
http://www.exetercathedral.co.uk/
Exeter Cathedral Keystones and Carvings functions as "an illustrated introduction to, and explanatory catalogue of all the figurative sculpture that is part of the original interior fabric of the medieval building." The material on the site, which is primarily geared toward art historians and medievalists, was compiled by Avril Kay Henry, former professor of English Medieval Culture at University of Exeter, and the late Anna Carson Hulbert, a well known conservator. The site does not provide a tour through the cathedral so much as it offers photos and explanations of the individual sculptural pieces: "medieval bosses, corbels, labelstops, figurative capitals (and a few other interior carvings) which are an integral part of the medieval interior construction of Exeter Cathedral, Devon, England." Users can browse or search the contents, and a nice introduction and bibliography are both useful supplements. From the homepage, users can access a page that explains navigation and layout of the site, entitled The Resource: Coverage and Use. This one is well worth a stop for medievalists. [TK]
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Digital Asia Library
http://digitalasia.library.wisc.edu/
The Digital Asia Library (DAL), a joint offering from The Ohio State University Libraries, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Libraries, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, consists of a catalog of Internet resources related to Asian studies. Users can browse, keyword search, or perform an advanced search for resources. The latter allows fielded searching (Subject, Title, Summary, Author, and Publisher) and the use of limits (subject categories, regions, countries, resource types, or languages). All entries are annotated, and users can save entries that most interest them and email them to themselves. DAL is not a new resource but a must-bookmark for Asian Studies scholars. [TK]
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Arsenic -- EPA Office of Ground and Drinking Water [.pdf]
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic.html
On October 31, 2001, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its decision to move forward in implementing the standard for arsenic levels in drinking water at 10 parts per billion (ppb), down from the less strict 50 ppb standard. Arsenic in drinking water has been linked to bladder and lung cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. Readers interested in learning more about the new standards, health effects, and costs should visit this EPA Web feature. Contents include a fact sheet, links to expert panel reviews including the National Academy of Science's Arsenic National Drinking Water Advisory Council, and current and past press releases on proposed standards and actions. [HCS]
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The Central Asia Caucacus Analyst [.pdf]
http://www.cacianalyst.org/
.pdf versions
http://www.cacianalyst.org/Issue_ad.htm
This biweekly journal is the product of the Central Asia-Caucacus Institute (CACI), an independent think tank, affiliated with the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University. The journal, which CACI has been publishing for about a year, aims to "link the business, governmental, journalistic and scholarly communities," and each issue has four or five short articles, field reports (short pieces focused on communities' assessments of a particular news event), and news bites (paragraph summaries of relevant news items). The current issue contains four articles, S. Frederick Starr's "A Federated Afghanistan?" Maria Sultan's "Avoiding Escalation in Central Asia's Southern Borderland," "Turkey's New Challenges in the Caucacus and Central Asia" by Kemal Kaya, and Miriam Lanskoy's "The Cost of the Chechen War." The journal is available online, or users can download each issue in .pdf format. Note: When we visited, the material available in .pdf format was more current than that in HTML. [TK]
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Periodical Historical Atlas of Europe
http://www.euratlas.com/
This seventh edition of the Periodical Historical Atlas of Europe, available in English and French, was posted on the Web in September. The atlas, a project of Christos Nussli, consists of maps "depicting with accuracy the states of this continent every first day of each centennial year from AD 1 to AD 1700." A legend helps users understand each of the maps, which are presented as expandable thumbnails. The site also links to a bibliography and maps from De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. Though the site functions in part as an advertisement for Nussli's CD version of the atlas, it is nonetheless a useful stop in its own right. [TK]
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Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collections Online
http://mweb.lacma.org/
LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, recently made available over 25,000 records accompanied by over 10,000 images representing items from its South and Southeast Asian, Japanese, Islamic, Photography, and Costume and Textiles collections. Another 20,000 records will be added in 2002. Keyword searches can be performed by entering text or by selecting from a drop-down menu of about 45 general terms, such as archaeological artifacts, arms & armor, furniture, glass, jewelry, prints, terracotta, or utilitarian objects. Searches can be limited to include only records with images, so that a search on shoes retrieved 45 illustrated examples of women's and children's shoes dating from the 18th to 20th centuries. Users can also browse categories such as Storeroom Treasures, Costume & Textiles, Islamic Art, Japanese Art, Photography, and South and Southeast Asian Art. [DS]
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Two on School Safety
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2001 -- NCES [.pdf, Excel, .zip]
http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002113
In the Spotlight: School Safety -- NCJRS [.pdf]
http://www.ncjrs.org/school_safety/school_safety.html
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) last week released their annual report Indicators of School Crime and Safety (last discussed in the November 3, 2000 Scout Report). The text, which draws from a variety of sources including the National Crime Victimization Survey and School Crime Supplement, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, and the School and Staffing Survey, presents data on violent deaths at schools, other types of violence and crime, nonfatal student and teacher victimization, drug use, and more. Users can read the executive summary and indicators online or download the report in sections in .pdf format. Also focused on school safety, the second site above provides a host of information from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). As with previous In the Spotlight offerings from NCJRS (see the August 17, 2001 Scout Report), the front page of the School Safety site acts as a portal to statistical information, legislation, relevant publications, funding opportunities, other related Websites, and more. [TK]
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Social Indicators [.pdf]
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2001/rp01-083.pdf
The House of Commons Library Research Papers are published for the benefit of Parliament members, but this one should be of interest to both researchers and general readers wanting to learn more about contemporary British social issues. Social Indicators is the first paper in a new series that will be published three times a year. The 71-page paper includes a wide range of topic pages that present social statistics on a variety of issues, from the prison population to defense expenses to agricultural outputs. Each Social Indicator paper will also offer feature articles that give a closer look at specific subjects (in this instance,, election turnout and adult literacy) and an article on statistical sources for a particular issue (in this paper, social security statistics). The last few pages are devoted to a list of important, recent governmental statistical publications. [TK]
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Artificial Anatomy: Paper Mache Anatomical Models -- NMAH [.pdf]
http://americanhistory.si.edu/anatomy/index.html
This new exhibit from the National Museum of American History gives a look at their collection of paper mache anatomical models. The models themselves (human, veterinary, and botanical) are displayed as expandable thumbnails in the Collection section of the exhibit. The History and Preservation sections give background, including .pdf-formatted conservation reports. Users looking for more information can consult the bibliography available from the resources link at the bottom of the page. The Body Parts section offers a bit of whimsy, asking users to identify which parts of the full-sized anatomical model are represented in the mystery images that pop up on the screen. [TK]
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Days after September 11, 2001
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/News/daysafter.html
The University of Chicago Press offers, at this site, a series of essays, "Reflections by our authors in the aftermath." Among the seven essays are "Metaphors of Terror" by George Lakoff, "Islam Has Been Hijacked, And Only Muslims Can Save It" by Jonathan Rauch, and "An Arab American Internment?" by Eric L. Muller. The perspectives here are varied, and the essays are thoughtful meditations, some poetic others analytical. The site opens with a brief passage: "At the moment of catastrophe we fall silent. Language fails. The words come back; understanding takes much longer. As we return to normal -- or to the state of heightened alertness we now call normal -- we return to the task of explicating a world which seems suddenly to have become inexplicable." And in that spirit, Charles Bernstein asks in his essay "Report from Liberty Street," "The question isn't is art up to this but what else is art for?" [TK]
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Muslim Life in America -- DOS
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/muslimlife/homepage.htm
This new pamphlet from the State Department offers a basic introduction to some aspects of Muslim-American life. The front page takes care to emphasize the diversity among Muslim-Americans, and the links from this front page further amplify these differences. The site features a number of Photo Galleries, including Faces of Islam, Family Life, and Mosques and Prayers, among others. Users will also find related articles, a page of demographic facts, a bibliography with selected readings, links to Internet resources and nongovernmental organizations, along with other resources. [TK]
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American Roots Music -- PBS
http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/index.html
PBS offers this companion site to their four-part series, which began airing October 29, 2001. As with so many of PBS' sites, this one acts as a nice supplement to the series and an interesting stop of its own right. Users can access episode summaries, read about the songs and artists (as well as read interviews -- oral histories -- with selected artists), and learn about the origins of some "Eternal Songs" and the instruments used to play them. The extensive hyperlinks throughout the site make it easy to go from topic to topic, from instrument to song to musician, and those who are viewing the series will appreciate the lists of songs featured in each episode and the transcripts of oral histories, which are only excerpted on the show. Of course, one wonders why the site has no audio files; this seems like a major oversight. Nonetheless, this is an interesting stop for American folk culture buffs and music fans. [TK]
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iTunes 2.0 [Mac OS 9.1+]
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Apple's iTunes allows users to store their music files, play them, and burn CDs. This latest version includes a number of improvements, among them a ten-band equalizer, the ability to burn CDs from MP3s and to burn CDs more quickly, a crossfader to smooth the transition between songs, better playback quality, and support for the upcoming iPod. Apple's site explains the hardware requirements; users will have to fill out a form before downloading iTunes. [TK]
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"Online Communities: Networks that nurture long-distance relationships and local ties" [.pdf]
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=47
This new report from the Pew Center focuses on the role of the Internet in creating virtual communities or supplementing local communities. The 28-page text is divided into several sections, beginning with a summary of key findings. Pew surveyed almost 1,700 Internet users and found that online communities are varied and vibrant and that the Internet, rather than increasing estrangement or alienation in its users, operates to facilitate local, face-to-face communities. The report is both readable and studded with tables and references and should be interesting for those researching virtual communities and the role of technology in culture and for Internet users who ponder the role the net has in others' lives. Users can download the report as a .pdf file or browse it online. [TK]
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Corporations in Court: Exxon and Bridgestone/Firestone
"Firestone, States Reach Settlement" -- The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58518-2001Nov7.html
Firestone Tire Recall -- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/hot/Firestone/Index.html
Bridgestone/Firestone Voluntary Safety Recall Center
http://mirror.bridgestone-firestone.com/news/atx/newsmain_ATX.html
Ford Firestone Wilderness AT Program
http://fordfirestonewildernessatprogram.ford.com/
"Court Overturns Jury Award in '89 Exxon Valdez Spill" -- New York Times (free registration required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/national/08VALD.html?searchpv=nytToday
Exxon Valdez: Ten Years Later
http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/ENV.CONSERV/dspar/perp/exxonval.htm
The Settlement [.pdf]
http://www.oilspill.state.ak.us/setlment/setlment.htm
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill [.pdf]
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/spotlight/spotlight.html
Exxon Valdez -- EPA
http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/exxon.htm
These days, sport utility vehicles seem to dominate many American highways, and this week two of the corporations producing the tires that SUVs ride on and the oil they use are in the legal spotlight. On Thursday, November 9, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. announced it will give $500,000 to each of the 50 US states, DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands to settle claims over allegedly faulty tires linked to 271 deaths and more than 800 injuries. Also this week, a federal appeals court ruled that the $5.3 billion in punitive damages that the Exxon Corporation was fined for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off of coastal Alaska was excessive.
To learn more about the Bridgestone/Firestone tire settlement, turn to the Washington Post's summary. A Website from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) posts official statements from the US Department of Transportation, tables of reported complaints, and important links about the tire recall. Both Bridgestone/Firestone's and Ford Motor Company's Websites offer corporate statements in response to the investigation and instructions for consumers affected by the tire recall (note that Ford Motors was not involved in the settlement).
For an overview of the Exxon (now Exxon-Mobil, Inc.) decision, go to the New York Times article. Because the 1989 Valdez spill devastated 3,000 square miles and severely damaged one of the world's most sensitive ecosystems, many Websites dealing with the Valdez disaster come from state and federal environmental agencies. Alaska's Department of Conservation provides a good overview of oil spill prevention and cleanup on it's page entitled Exxon Valdez: Ten Years Later (posted in 1999, but later updated). Another page from the State of Alaska, The Settlement, has a simple flow chart explaining the original Valdez settlement. Federal Websites covering the 1989 Valdez spill and its aftermath include one from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Response and Restoration (NOAA-ORR) and one from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The NOAA-ORR site was recently updated and presents summary points on shoreline monitoring, a collection of photos of the spill and habitat response over the last decade, lists of references and links, and downloadable texts of two case studies (.pdf). A portion of the NOAA-ORR site and the EPA's Oil Spill Program site were reviewed previously in the March 31, 1999 Scout Report for Science and Engineering. [HCS]
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