The Scout Report -- Volume 16, Number 1

http://www.hsrgroup.org/

The Human Security Report Project (HSRP) is based at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and it "conducts research on global and regional trends in political violence, their causes and consequences and presents its findings in a manner that is accessible to the policy and research communities, the media, educators and the interested public." The "About" section states that the e-resources it provides through its website has effectively changed the way human security issues are understood and managed. The "Publications" link on the left hand side menu provides access to the "Human Security Brief" for 2005-2007, as well as to "Articles", "Books", "Book Chapters", "Workshop Reports" and "Opinion Pieces". The categories of data used in the HSRP are fleshed out in the "Data Resources" link on the left hand side of the page. The categories of data used are "Armed Conflict", "Deadly Assault on Civilians", "Terrorism", and "Other Human Security Indicators". The nine "Research Initiatives" of the HSRP can be accessed on the right hand side menu. [KMG]

http://mtmemory.org/

The Montana Memory Project is a digitized collection of materials related to the cultural heritage and government of Montana. The website represents an intensive collaboration between libraries, museums, archives, and institutions, many of which are still adding materials to the site. The purpose of the site is to "serve as a resource for education, business, pleasure and lifelong learning." On the homepage, visitors will find a brief description of each of the features of the site, including the "Browse", "Advanced Search", "Preferences", and "My Favorites" features of the site. As the amount of information available on the site can be daunting, visitors would be wise to take a look at the easy-to-read "Help" link, to find assistance for such tasks as "Viewing Results", "Changing Preferences", and "Viewing Compound Objects". There are over 50 collections to browse, or search through individually. The collections range from the "Livingston High School Annuals", to the "Montana Indian Law Portal" to the "Parmly Billings Library Historic Collection". [KMG]

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12621

Energy efficiency is a topic of great concern among a wide range of stakeholders and this 210-page report from the National Research Council delves into some interesting new findings on the subject. Released in December 2009, the report looks into the subject of energy efficiency technologies and their viability in the coming years and decades. The report is divided into five primary chapters which address energy efficiency in commercial and residential buildings, transportation, and industry. Appendices to the report include definitions of energy efficiency, energy efficiency net costs, and a detailed guide to acronyms and abbreviations. Visitors will be interested to learn that nearly 70 percent of electricity consumption ion the United States occurs in buildings and that replacing appliances such as air conditioners and freezers could reduce energy use by 30 percent. This site also features an executive summary of the report and helpful video titled "America's Energy Future". [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ihp/

Working together with the generous support of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the Harvard University Library's Open Collections Program has digitized hundreds of Islamic manuscripts, maps, and published texts from the institution's vast holdings. All told, the project currently includes over 145,000 pages dating from the 13th to the 20th centuries CE. The documents are from many regions, including Saudi Arabia and Central Asia, and the subjects covered here include rhetoric, logic, philosophy, calligraphy, medicine, and law. Visitors can search the entire site, and they may also make their way through sections such as "Published Materials", "Manuscripts", and "Maps". The "Maps" area is quite a find, and visitors can browse maps such as a rendering of the Turkish Empire in 1714 and one of Syria from 1853. Of course, most of the materials here are in languages other than English, but for scholars of the Islamic world, this collection is invaluable. [KMG]

http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov/newspaper/index.html

In the late 1790s, North Carolina residents in towns like Edenton, Fayetteville, Hillsboro, and New Bern all had local newspapers that served as important sources of information for town politics, births, deaths, agriculture, and a myriad of other topics. Now curious types in the 21st century can read these important and interesting newspapers online, courtesy of the North Carolina State Archives. This digitization project was completed in 2009, and the Archives began their work by digitizing the earliest known newspapers in the state, The Western Carolinian and the Carolina Watchman. First-time visitors should click on the "About" area to learn about the history of the project. After that, they can use the "Newspapers Included" link to find out which newspapers are included in this archive. Visitors have the ability to also perform keyword searches across the entire archive. [KMG]

http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/OnlineWorkshops/DrawingOutMeaning/DrawingOutMeaning.aspx

Created by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), this distinctive collection of 19 drawings was created as part of their online workshop initiative program. These drawings were culled from both the RIBA's tremendous holdings, along with those of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Taken together, these drawings show some of the most fascinating ideas conceived by architects over the past 500 years. The drawings include works by Andrea Palladio, Inigo Jones, John Ruskin, and Buckminster Fuller. Clicking on each individual drawing will bring up a high-resolution image, along with a brief explanation of how each work fits into the history of the relationship between drawing and architectural form and execution. Taken as a whole, this site will serve as an excellent primer for beginning architects, artists, and others with an interest in the subject. [KMG]

http://arcserver4.iagt.org/climate1stop/

Designed as a "single location to access proven climate change tools, resources and information" the Climate 1-Stop website is sponsored by organizations including the National Science Foundation, the UN Development Programme, and the World Resources Institute. First-time visitors to the site may wish to use the "Information Search" area on the right-hand side of the page. Here they will be directed to answer questions such as "What are you looking for?" (i.e. "organizations" and "tools/guidance") that will help focus in on the most germane resources. Moving on, the "Community" area at the center of the homepage provides information about a recent climate resource added to the site, along with a "Quick Links" area. Visitors are also encouraged to complete a quick login so that they can add bookmarks to their favorite entries and communicate with other users of the site. Finally, visitors can also sign up for their RSS news feed here. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/1209_migration_frey.aspx

Where are Americans moving? How many of them are moving? These are important questions asked by policy researchers, demographers, and public officials, especially as the 2010 Census approaches. The Brookings Institution's William Frey recently engaged in an in-depth project to analyze existing Census and IRS data to look at recent migration trends across the United States, and his findings are quite interesting. This site includes a link to Frey's 28-page report, released in December 2009, along with several video clips of Frey talking about this work. Some of the findings include the observation that during 2007-2008, the overall U.S. migration rate reached its lowest point since World War II. Also, many core urban areas, such as San Francisco and Boston, actually saw net out-migration shrink from 2005 to 2008. [KMG]

http://www.mcny.org/glorydays/

Today, New York's professional baseball teams consist of the New York Yankees and the Mets, but in the middle of the last century there was one more (the Brooklyn Dodgers), and the rivalries were the stuff of sports legend. This online exhibit from the Museum of the City of New York explores these relationships through ten short "chapters" that chronicle the evolution of the game in Gotham from 1947 to 1957. Each chapter has a topical theme ("The Fans", for example), complemented by a series of digitized items, including programs, scorecards, stadium photographs, World Series rings, and so on. Visitors can even look through the "Exhibition Photos" area to see how the exhibition looked during its run at the Museum. [KMG]

http://www.seagrant.noaa.gov/

While people may have heard of the National Sea Grant program, they might not be entirely sure what their mission is. The Sea Grant program is a "nationwide network of 32 university-based programs that work with coastal communities." Additionally, the Sea Grant College Program draws on these university programs to conduct scientific research, education, training, and extension projects. One very helpful resource available from their site is the Bridge Ocean Sciences Education Teacher Resource Center. Here educators can download lesson plans and activities which deal with a wide range of marine science topics. In the "Focus Areas" section, visitors can learn about the Sea Grant College Program's thematic foci for the coming years. Finally, in the "Funding & Fellowships" area, visitors can learn about fellowship opportunities for graduate students and others. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/

How does one distinguish a katydid from a cricket? This website provides an answer to that question, along with samples of calls from other insects, including cicadas. The site was created by Thomas J. Walker and Thomas E. Moore, and it was designed to be of assistance to both professional and amateur biologists interested in studying singing insects. First-time visitors should scroll down to the "How to Use" section in order to get quick and concise answers from the site, such as "How to identify an unknown cricket, katydid, or cicada". On the top of the homepage, visitors can also click on the "Crickets", "Katydids", or "Cicadas" areas. Each of these areas includes a table of species, complete with links to songs, photos, distribution maps, and drawings. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://www.icd-online.org/

The primary goal of the Industry Council for Development (ICD) is "to improve public health through practical partnership projects aimed at food safety and nutrition goals." Although the ICD is a private organization, it has official relations with the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization. The ICD works with these organizations on practical action-oriented projects in the developing world that deal with issues like food safety and drinking water quality. On their homepage, visitors can learn about their leadership, read their mission statement, and learn about their thematic initiatives in areas like "Non-Communicable Diseases" and "Risk Analysis and Risk Assessment". Professionals in the field will be delighted to learn that the ICD has developed two training courses titled "The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point" and "Food Safety". Both of these courses are available here, and visitors will want to share them with colleagues and others who might be working on related matters. [KMG]

http://oralhistory.clerk.house.gov/

The rich oral history of the House of Representatives of the United States was finally authorized to be preserved in 2004. This website of the Office of History and Preservation in the Office of the Clerk has much to recommend it. Visitors interested in getting a scope of the project should click on the link "Interviewees", in the middle of the page. The range of sessions of Congress included in the interviewees is from the 72nd to the 111th. Interestingly, the interviewees are not only elected Representatives, but also include "House Officers, Member aides, committee staff, support staff, family of Members, and select former Representatives." The "Historic Events" section in the lower third of the page links to a list of historic events of the House, as well as the number of interviewees who discuss the event in their interview. Visitors can click on the event to bring up the name of the interviewee and the link to their interview. [KMG]

http://www.juriglobe.ca/

Visitors pick your language! This University of Ottawa website can be read in six different languages, including Arabic, Russian, Chinese and English. The "About JuriGlobe" link, on the left hand side menu of any page, explains the three main goals of the site. Visitors will learn that the law professors who formed this site feel there should be more recognition and consideration of "the diversity of the various legal systems, their languages and their economic and demographic importance in the world." Once visitors choose their language, they will be redirected to a map that shows the different types of law that govern the countries of the world. Across the top of the map are links to explanations of the different types of law, as well as which countries have a combination of laws or a unified system of laws. The types of law represented on the map are "Civil Law", "Common Law", "Muslim Law", "Customary Law", and "Mixed Systems". The "Demographic Distribution" link on the left hand side menu illustrates with graphs and tables the percentage in which the world population is represented by the various legal systems. [KMG]

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/web/ddd/

David Douglas Duncan, a photojournalist and author, donated his entire archive to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Visitors can click on "About the Archive" to read a letter that explains learn why the Kansas-born photographer, who had never even stepped foot in Austin, decided to donate his tremendous collection to the Center. The web exhibition that resulted from his donation more than ten years ago offers an impressive introduction to his work. A multi-page "Biography" and photographic "Timeline" offer visitors a great introduction to this long-lived and prolific photographer. The "Gallery" is beautifully arranged, organized into some of the following topics: "War", "Picasso", "Dogs", "U.S. Political Conventions", "Portraits", "World of Islam", "LIFE" (the magazine), and "Russia". The "Multimedia" link has a video and an audio feature that were used in exhibitions in 1999, one of which is an excerpt of an interview about working for LIFE magazine, and the other which are audio recordings from when he was covering the Vietnam War. [KMG]

http://www.read.gov/

The Center for the Book, in the Library of Congress, was established in the late 1970s to promote reading, literacy and libraries. Their website offers a great many "Resources" on the menu on the left side of any page, including "Author Webcasts", "Booklists", and "Local/Community Resources". The "Author Webcasts" include videos of such authors as Tom Gjelten, Stephenie Meyer, Chinua Achebe, and Sara Paretsky. The "Books and Related Info For" menu on the left side of any page, has sections for "Kids", "Teens", "Adults", and "Educators and Parents". Within the "Kids" and "Teens" sections are classic books that have been digitized and put online to be read in all their original glory. Classics such as "A Apple Pie", "Baseball ABC", and "The Secret Garden" are beautifully captured. In the "Educators and Parents" section visitors can find wonderful lesson plans, exhibitions, and online activities. Visitors should not miss checking out "Contests: Letters About Literature" on the left hand menu to learn about several writing contests for young children and teens. [KMG]

http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html?Str=download

In this New Year, it may be time for a computer cleanup. Advanced System Care offers a path to better overall system performance, and its user interface is only populated with several buttons. The application includes spyware removal, registry cleaning, junk file deletion, and disk defragmentation. You can't schedule scans with this free version, so users will have to do this manually each time. This version is compatible with systems running Windows 2000 and newer. [KMG]

Elvis fans mark 75th birthday at his beginning
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010800953.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Elvis Fans Flock to Australian Outback for Annual Festival
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/arts-and-entertainment/Elvis-Fans-Flock-to-Australian-Outback-for-Annual-Festival-80990917.html

Elvis, the young King
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-elvis-photos8-2010jan08,0,5003931.story

Selections from "Elvis at 21": Photographs by Al Wertheimer
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-elvis-grammy-museum-pictures,0,3892519.photogallery

Elvis Presley at 75: Songs We Love
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122312475

National Portrait Gallery: Echoes of Elvis
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/elvis/index.html

Pocket Elvis for the iPhone
http://www.macworld.com/article/145521/2010/01/pocketelvis.html


Elvis Presley would have been celebrating his 75th birthday today, and even though Elvis died over 30 years ago, fans are celebrating his birthday today with gusto. Graceland has an entire weekend of activities planned for the King's birthday including the opening of a new exhibit, but that isn't the only location Elvis fans are converging to celebrate. Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis' birthplace, is expecting a swell of visitors to the 15 acres they have made into a museum that includes his childhood home. Folks in Greenwich Village will be serving fried peanut butter with sliced banana sandwiches, and Elvis fan clubs from London to Paris to Tokyo will be hosting birthday events all weekend. In Parkes, New South Wales, Australia, fans are flocking to the annual festival celebrating Elvis' birthday aboard the Elvis Express, a train from Sydney to Parkes dedicated to the event. Activities here include the standard Elvis impersonators as well as impersonators of his wife Priscilla. Ten thousand people are expected to attend this year and while they are there they can enjoy dozens of concerts, Elvis look-a-like contests, an Elvis themed gospel church, and a street parade. For those fans who may want to celebrate with a little less polyester, a little more art - both the Grammy Museum in LA and the National Portrait Gallery are hosting wonderful Elvis exhibitions.

The first link will take users to a piece from the Washington Post that discusses Elvis' birthday and the museum dedicated to him in Tupelo, Mississippi. The second link will take users to an article from Voice of America news that reports on the Elvis celebration happening in Parkes, New South Wales. The third is an interview by the LA Times' Randy Lewis of photographer Al Wertheimer, which discusses the "Elvis at 21" exhibit of his photos currently at the Grammy Museum. The fourth link, also from the LA Times, leads to a selection of Wertheimer's photos from the exhibit. The fifth link will take users to a fun feature from NPR which had staffers choose their favorite Elvis song and describe why they chose that particular song; each NPR staff selection also provides the song in question for the visitor's listening pleasure. The sixth link leads to the homepage for the National Portrait Gallery's "Echoes of Elvis" exhibition, which highlights how the image of Elvis became a visual icon, portrayed in almost every form and medium possible. Last, for those user's who can't attend any of the events celebrating Elvis' birthday, a link to the Pocket Elvis application for their iPhone is provided. This app allows users to choose from more than 150 Elvis phrases performed by Elvis impersonator Mitch Benn.