Two on Stem Cells
Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry
http://escr.nih.gov/
Stem Cells: The International Journal of Cell Differentiation and Proliferation [.pdf]
http://stemcells.alphamedpress.org/
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recently released the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry in response to the President's announcement on August 9, 2001 to allow federal funds for stem cell research. The site lists the eleven laboratories or companies that meet the specific criteria for approved stem cell lines and explains the criteria themselves. The NIH gives the number of actual lines for each entity, the NIC and providers code for each, as well as contact information. The Website also provides links to those seeking additional information about NIH stem cell information, grants and funding opportunities, technology transfer issues, and further facts about the NIH. Researchers may also be interested to know that the journal Stem Cells is offering full content for free during a trial period that has been extended until further notice (for at least three months). The forthcoming issue leads off with an editorial devoted to the new registry, "National Stem Cell Resource: Stem Cells Find a Niche," by Robert G. Hawley. [JAB]
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Internet Guide to Engineering, Mathematics, and Computing
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/
Seasoned Internauts in engineering fields will recognize this site as the formerly titled Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library (EEVL, see the September 20, 2001 Scout Report). EEVL (which will retain its acronym) has expanded its offerings and now brings users resources in mathematics and computing as well. The site should feel familiar to users of the old EEVL database, but along with the widened scope of materials, EEVL has undergone a redesign offering some new features. Users can search a catalog of more than 7,000 resources as well as search the full text of sites included in the catalog. Each of EEVL's three sections -- Engineering, Mathematics, and Computing -- is searchable and browseable, and the EEVL Catalogue page offers a more advanced search with a large number of limits, including location and resource type, and fielded searching. Other resources on-site include Web tutorials, an e-journal search engine, job sites, and more. [TK]
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The Secret History of the ABM Treaty, 1969-1972 -- NSA [.pdf]
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB60/index.html
Last week, George Washington University's National Security Archive (NSA) posted this briefing book on the ABM treaty in anticipation of this week's talks between Putin and Bush, which covered, among other topics, missile defense issues. The 42 newly declassified documents posted here "reveal the previously secret inside story of the ABM negotiations, explaining why the U.S. and the USSR agreed that the Treaty was in their best interest, and how it specifically restricts what the Bush administration can do on missile defense." [TK]
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Two on Globalization
The fourth WTO Ministerial Conference [.pdf, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player]
http://www-chil.wto-ministerial.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/min01_e.htm
Globalization in Focus
http://www.fpif.org/global/index.html
Important new developments at the fourth World Trade Ministerial Conference held this week include a statement that intellectual property rights (patent rights) cannot stand in the way of public health for developing countries and the admission of China into the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This site brings users summaries of the meetings, declarations, and proposed procedures. Users can also watch archived Webcasts of the proceedings. The second site comes to the Web courtesy of Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF, see the September 8, 1998 Scout Report for Social Sciences). Here users will find a more critical look at the WTO as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). FPIF here collects links to articles, event announcements, reports, and other resources. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of the offerings. [TK]
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Bioterrorism Articles -- JAMA [.pdf]
http://pubs.ama-assn.org/bioterr.html
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is offering free access to a large number of its previously published articles related to bioterrorism. Among the articles are five pieces by the Working Group on Civilian Biodefense, which are focused on Anthrax, Smallpox, Plague, Botulinum Toxin, and Tularemia. The remainder of the articles are sorted by subject, including these diseases plus Ebola and Brucella, as well as Clinical Articles, Epidemiologic Investigations, articles on Preparedness, and a section devoted to Policy, Historical, and Editorial Perspectives. Articles are available in HTML or .pdf formats. [TK]
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Biosecurity, Bioterror, and the Threat to Agriculture -- National Agricultural Library
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ref/biosecurity/
The National Agricultural Library (NAL) has posted this page to help citizens learn more about bioterrorism and agriculture. The page consists of pointers to resources spanning a range of issues related to agriculture and terrorism, including conference proceedings, articles from government branches, government alerts, and contact information. The site is divided into six categories: Alerts, Agency Contacts, U.S. Government & Related Resources, State Governments, Organizations, and Academic & Journal Resources. Some of the sites are annotated briefly and others in a more in-depth fashion. Both researchers and members of the general public with an interest in these issues will find this site a useful gateway to resources. [TK]
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New pages from the Avalon Project
Documents on Terrorism
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/terrorism/terror.htm
September 11, 2001 : Attack on America
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/sept_11/sept_11.htm
The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School (see the April 4, 1997 Scout Report) has put together these two pages to help those looking for primary texts related to terrorism in general or the September 11 events. The Avalon Project Website features documents in the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy, and government, and the offerings here reflect that span. The first site features a handful of documents (and the link to the September 11 site from here seems to be incorrect at time of production), among them George Tenet's February statement before the Senate Select Committee on the "Worldwide Threat 2001: National Security in a Changing World"; the 24th Conference of European Ministers of Justice Resolution No 1 on Combating International Terrorism (October 2001); and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The September 11 site is far more extensive and includes press releases, briefings, legislation, executive orders, and more. Users can browse the long list, which is arranged chronologically, or they can pull up documents via a variety of drop-down menus. [TK]
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American Political Development
http://www.americanpoliticaldevelopment.org/home.htm
This new site for scholars of American political development, "the interdisciplinary study of the deep historical roots of politics in the United States," is in its nascent stages but promises to grow. The site is a collaborative venture between the Miller Center for Public Affairs' American Political Development Program and the scholars of the American Political History Initiative and hopes to function as a gateway to resources in the field for scholars and researchers. The main section of the site at present is the APD Town Square section, which offers categorized links to new publications, journals, announcements, and reviews. This section will also feature periodic live Webcasts, the most recent of which was Tuesday's "Battle for the Ballot Box: National Election Reform in American Political Development," The site also offers a page of links to related sites and a section entitled Who We Are, which gives a brief overview of the field and information on the site's developers. In the future, the Electronic Classroom section will be a boon to instructors as it will contain syllabi, exam questions, assignments, and other teaching resources. [TK]
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The Frederick Douglass Papers -- LOC
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/doughtml/
Yesterday, the Library of Congress' American Memory collection announced the first online release of the Frederick Douglass Papers. This release contains over 2,000 items including a partial handwritten draft of his third autobiography, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, and a biography of his wife, Anna Murray Douglass, written by their daughter, Rosetta Douglass Sprague. In addition to writings by Douglass, visitors will find material from authors such as Henry Ward Beecher, Ida B. Wells, Lydia Maria Child, and Horace Greeley. Users can keyword search the collection or browse by series. As with so many of American Memory's releases, this site will be welcomed by scholars and the general public alike. The second release is scheduled for 2003. [TK]
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A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution -- NMAH
http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/experience/index.html
This timely exhibit from the National Museum of American History (NMAH) "explores a period of U.S. history when racial prejudice and fear upset the delicate balance between the rights of a citizen versus the power of the state. Focusing on the experiences of Japanese Americans who were placed in detention camps during World War II, this online exhibit is a case study in decision-making and citizen action under the U.S. Constitution." The exhibit combines music, text, images, and personal stories in its main section, the Story Experience. The other three sections of the site allow visitors to share their responses (Reflections), search the Smithsonian collection (Collection Search), and follow their interest beyond the site (Resources). The site is available in both a media-rich form and a "printable" form, for users with slower connections. [TK]
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Gemini G.E.L. online catalogue raisonne
http://www.nga.gov/gemini/
The National Gallery of Art presents the Gemini G.E.L. (Graphic Editions Limited) online catalogue raisonne, a listing of prints produced at this Los Angeles studio from 1966 through 1996. At Gemini, artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly, Jasper Johns, David Hockney, Sam Francis, Roy Lichtenstein, Jonathan Borofsky, and Richard Serra worked with master printers to produce editions of prints. Initially the online catalogue raisonne seems difficult to browse, but the search area provides drop-down boxes for artists' names, dates, and series titles, so without prior knowledge that Frank Stella worked at Gemini, one can still retrieve 93 Stella prints. In the essay section, users can read a series of illustrated sections on the history of Gemini, individual artists, and decades, and link to larger images. The guide section explains the metadata fields in each catalog record, such as artist, series, title, and less obvious aspects such as "support," which refers to the support each print is on, almost always paper, or start date (year the artists began collaborating with Gemini) vs. signature date (year the artist signed the edition) vs. publication date (year the edition was made available). [DS]
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The Interactive 500 [.pdf]
http://www.interactiveweek.com/article/0,3658,s%253D617%2526a%253D17766,00.asp
Interactive Week offers an annual list of companies that earned the most money from their Web operations. The good news this year is that, while as we know, a large number of dot.coms have folded or been purchased, the aggregate revenue of this year's list is more than double that of last year's. The list begins with a nice overview of e-conomy trends, proceeds to a brief description of methodology, and .pdf charts of the Interactive 500. The feature includes a wealth of articles, some focused on particular industries, others on companies, and some on more general topics. [TK]
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New York Times at 150 [RealPlayer
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/150/index.html
The New York Times just celebrated its 150th birthday in September. Though the events of September eclipsed this milestone in terms of news coverage, the Times has, this week, posted a special section to mark the anniversary. Here users will find a range of offerings, including articles by Michael Chabon, David Halberstam, Anna Quindlen, and others; a video tour of the New York of the nineteenth-century; the first daily crossword puzzle; interviews with Times' writers; and more. [TK]
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Forum -- Soros Foundation [RealPlayer, .pdf]
http://www.soros.org/usprograms/forum/index.html
The Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute has sponsored a series of breakfast forums over the course of the last year, and they offer four of them here. All four focus on a controversial news topic: the death penalty, faith based initiatives, stem cell research, and most recently, a discussion with Benjamin Barber, author of Jihad vs. McWorld, entitled "Is Democratization a Response to Terrorism?" Users can listen to most of the forums (though we had trouble with the death penalty audio files). A couple of the forums also have bulletin board discussions and links to related Web resources. [TK]
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Iron Science Teacher! [RealPlayer]
http://www.exploratorium.edu/iron_science/index.html
Every weekend during the summer, crowds gather at San Francisco's Exploratorium to watch the "Iron Science Teacher" game. Based on the wildly popular Japanese TV show, Iron Chef, in which chefs compete to see who can whip up the most creative and delicious meal with the day's "secret ingredient," Iron Science Teacher asks primary and secondary science educators to whip up a science lesson based on a "secret ingredient" -- be it PVC pipe, pantyhose, toothpicks or even marshmallow peeps! The goal of the project is to celebrate science education and to demonstrate that teachers can teach the $10 million state science standards on a $10 budget. Web surfers who can't make it to the Exploratorium can view this wacky yet totally educational program online. An archive of 25 broadcasts from June 1999 to the present is available (RealPlayer). [HCS]
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"Astronomers Anticipate Meteor "Storm" on November 18th" [.pdf, QuickTime]
http://www.skypub.com/news/pr_011108leonids.html
The annual Leonid meteor shower, named for its emanation from the constellation Leo, will blow past Earth on November 18, 2001. Astronomers predict that North America will get the most spectacular Leonid shower it has seen in 35 years. "Earth is about to plow through a cloud of space dust that could light up our skies with celestial fireworks," notes Alan MacRobert, senior editor for Sky and Telescope (S&T) magazine. For more about the Leonids, refer to Sky and Telescope online. From the press release above, users can access a special report, peak activity prediction tables, images and QuickTime animations (intended for the press), and a .pdf of the S&T print article on the Leonid showers. [HCS]
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Opera 6.0 for Windows (Beta)
http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/20011113.html
Opera (last mentioned in the June 1, 2001 Scout Report) has just released the first beta of its latest version browser for Windows. Improvements in 6.0 include a completely new user interface, Unicode support, the ability to disable pop-up windows, and the option to choose single or multiple document interface (SDI/MDI) in the start-up dialog, among other improvements. In addition, Opera 6.0 supports a variety of important W3C standards including CSS1 and partial CSS2, XML, HTML 4.01, and partial DOM (Document Object Model). The new version is available for free to users who paid for and registered Opera 5.x for Windows. Users who purchased 4.x can buy 6.0 at a discount, and all users can download the version for free as adware. [TK]
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Fat Chuck's Corrupt CDs [.pdf, MS Word]
http://fatchucks.com/corruptcds/index.html
"Fat Chuck" is here compiling a list of CDs that are designed so that they cannot be played on computerized devices and/or cannot be copied. Users should take the list with a grain of salt, as Chuck himself admits that some titles only have a percentage of their print run affected. The site solicits additions to the list, and there is a .pdf or Word-formatted poster for those who wish to spread the word. [TK]
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Revisiting the Florida Vote
The Consortium Report: A Review of the Florida Vote -- Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/elections2000/recount/front.htm
Examining the Florida Vote -- New York Times [Free registration required]
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/recount/
Florida Recount Study: Bush still wins -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/florida.ballots/
Florida Ballots Project -- NORC [.zip]
http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/fl/index.asp
"Election Reform Bill Gains Steam" -- Reuters (via Yahoo!News)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011115/pl/congress_election_dc_9.html
Final Report of the Commission -- National Commission on Federal Election Reform [.pdf]
http://www.reformelections.org/data/news/full_report.php
Action Agenda for Electoral Reform
http://www.ips-dc.org/electoral/
Who Won? - A Herald Special Report -- Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/herald/special/news/flacount/
Redistricting 2001
http://www.c-span.org/state_local/redistricting/index.asp
"Bipartisan U.S. The Closest Presidential Races: Presidential races that went to the wire
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/closerace1.html
"Smithsonian Gets Historic Florida Voting Machine" -- Reuters (via Yahoo!News)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011107/pl/smithsonian_florida_dc_1.html
Results of the latest study on the Florida presidential vote were released this week, and while the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), who conducted the study, explains that "the goal of the project is not to declare a 'winner,'" stories in various news organs announced that Bush would still have won, even with a recount of the state. Meanwhile, the House Committee on Administration sent a $2.65 billion dollar election reform measure to the floor of the House for a vote. The bill is an attempt to reach a bipartisan compromise on reform legislation; it is, however, already being greeted with opposition by organizations including the ACLU, who feel it does not adequately address the problems.
The Washington Post, the New York Times, and CNN all offer special features on the recount study, each with nifty interactive elements and a variety of stories on the attendant issues (such as undercounts of the minority vote). NORC has posted the data files from the study [.zip] on their Website, as well as information on the different ballot types (including page scans), and links to the report's sponsoring organizations (a consortium of news organizations). Reuters (via Yahoo!News) reports on the reform bill currently moving through the House. For more on election reform issues, readers can turn to the final report of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform (see the August 24, 2001 Scout Report) or the Action Agenda for Electoral Reform, a collaborative effort of Progressive Challenge, the Institute for Policy Studies, and The Nation. Who Won?, a special feature from the Miami Herald, focuses on an earlier analysis of the Florida vote that focused on "undervote ballots," which was sponsored by the Herald and USA Today. C-Span offers a collection of resources on another big election issue: redistricting. For a longer view historically, turn to infoplease's piece on presidential elections in the past that were neck and neck. This last election will get a spot in the "nation's attic," as Reuters explains that the Smithsonian just received one of the infamous voting machines from Florida. The rest of the machines are reportedly going to be auctioned on E-bay. [TK]
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