The Scout Report -- Volume 16, Number 17

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?topic=culture&col_id=187

In 1926, the United States celebrated its sesquicentennial, and a number of special projects were organized to document the country's people, history, culture, and folkways. One such project was "The Pageant of America: A Pictorial History of the United States", published by Yale University Press from 1925 to 1929. Professor Ralph Henry Gabriel edited the work, and all told, it contained 15 volumes that addressed themes like exploration, arts and leisure, industry, commerce, and politics. This digital collection from the New York Public Library contains over 7000 of the published and unpublished photographs and prints used in these extravagant volumes. It's great just to look through the "Source Title" headings found by clicking on "Collection Contents" near the top of the page. Here visitors can meander through sections like "In defense of liberty", "American idealism", and "The American spirit in architecture". One can imagine that this collection could be used in American studies classroom, or in a setting that addresses the history of photography. [KMG]

http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/

When development occurs on Native American lands, there are many interested parties. They include government agencies, non-governmental organizations, human rights groups, and the tribal governments themselves. This is an excellent collection of case studies that have addressed development issues on such lands and it is offered courtesy of the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. All of the case studies take an earth system approach to examining such topics, and first-time visitors can get started here by exploring the Navajo Nation's experience with uranium mining. Each area includes links to tribal websites, lesson plans and activities, cultural heritage assessments, and other materials which provide a holistic approach to understanding each area. The other case studies here cover gold mining on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and coal bed exploration on the Crow Reservation. [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.iser.uaa.alaska.edu/

Created by 1961 by the Alaska Legislature, the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) is based at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. The ISER is based within the College of Business and Public Policy, and their work includes researching and writing reports on matters of importance to the state, including the future of the fishing industry and transportation planning. On their homepage, they have the "Information from ISER" area, which includes their latest publications, presentations, and "Web Notes" series. The "Web Notes" are especially noteworthy, and they include short briefings on public infrastructure projects, the economic status of Alaskan Native peoples, and household energy costs. Moving along, the "Recent Publications and Presentations" area includes works such as timely reports on Alaska's homeless populations, construction spending, and the Anchorage school district. Finally, the site includes a special interactive report titled "Alaska's People and Economy, 1867-2009". [KMG]

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2010/RAND_MG945.pdf

In the preface to this 70-page paper, recently completed by RAND researcher Christopher S. Chivvis he state, "Since 2000, the European Union has been "developing civilian capabilities for use in civilian missions, including postconflict and other environments". This subject is of particular interest to researchers at the RAND Corporation's International Security and Defense Policy Center and this paper provides a general overview and assessment of the EU's civilian operations to date, along with a look at two specific missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo. The report is divided into five chapters, including a set of concluding remarks, a summary, and a list of figures and tables. Visitors with an interest in international relations, government, or organizational management will find this paper quite timely. [KMG]

http://miami.fiu.edu/index.htm

How did the city of Miami grow after World War II? How did urban planners think about building new pieces of the city's infrastructure in the 1920s? These are but a few of the important urban growth and development questions answered via the digitized documents that are included in this fine collection from Florida International University. The idea for the collection originated with former Miami City Clerk Walter Foeman, who began looking into the digitization process in 2001. The current focus of the project is to digitize city documents from the years 1896 to 1956, and there are approximately 185 items here already. The items here include a master plan for the city from 1961, an "urban noise study" from 1976, and a Biscayne Bay pollution survey from 1949. [KMG]

http://www.ushmm.org/genocide/

The United States Holocaust Museum website contains a section on genocide which offers eyewitness accounts of victims of various genocides, a timeline that details the concept and law of genocide, and information about the peoples who are at risk of becoming victims of genocide in our own time. The "World is Witness" link, located on the left hand menu, takes visitors to a map of the areas at risk, "Field Updates", and a "Gallery" of photos of "Burundi", "Chad", "Rwanda", "Sudan", "Congo" and "Other Regions". Visitors can read the caption for the photograph by clicking on it. In the "Chad" gallery, there are drawings by children at refugee camps of attacks on their villages. In the "Rwanda" area there are many photos of the memorial site of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The mass graves of those who were killed are also pictured, as well as the graves of those few who received individual burial plots. Lastly, the website offers the ability to "View and Download the Report" of the Genocide Prevention Task Force, which is co-chaired by Madeleine Albright. [KMG]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/

Since 2005, NOVA scienceNOW has produced programs for their website which are hour-long episodes that feature "four fast-paced, timely science and technology stories, including a profile piece on an intriguing personality in the field." There are so many areas of science to explore on the site that visitors will have a hard time choosing where to start. The "Interactives" tab in the middle of the page has a quiz on identifying bird songs, as well as an exercise to explore options for storing carbon dioxide. The tab "Watch Online", which is next to the "Interactives" tab, has several stories featured, plus an archive that visitors can explore. Some of the stories include "Algae Fuel", "Earthquakes in the Midwest", and a profile on Sang-Mook Lee, a geophysicist paralyzed from the neck down. Visitors will find the "Teachers" section in the menu near the top of the page, to be very helpful in finding lessons that can be used in conjunction with the scienceNOW programs. [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.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/

The National Maritime Museum (NMM) in England notes that its goal is "working to illustrate for everyone the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars and their relationship with people." There is so much to explore in the "Sea and Ships" portion of the NMM website, but a great way to see everything it has to offer is by using the "Sea and Ships Directory" at the bottom of the homepage. It divides the material up by "Subjects", "People", "Collections", "Online Galleries", and "Games and Interactives". Visitors interested in lessons about the ocean that come in the form of games, quizzes and stories, should definitely check out the "Your Ocean" link from the "Games and Interactives". The "Your Waste" lesson gives visitors the opportunity to test their skills at "managing an oil spill clean-up operation", in the game "Oil Crisis!" Keeping waste to a minimum is what the quiz "Pollution Solutions" addresses, and is also on the "Your Waste" page. Other lessons include "Your Energy", "Your Stuff" and "Your Climate". [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.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/leonardo/

This website from the Getty Museum accompanies the exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture: Inspiration and Invention", organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and on display in Los Angeles until June 20th, 2010. The website features a slide show with images of 11 works of art, some by Leonardo and some by other artists, including older artists who influenced Leonardo and his followers. An image of Donatello's Bearded Prophet, 1418-20, is accompanied by audio discussing Donatello's impact on Leonardo, while the last three slides examine the master/pupil relationship between Leonardo and a younger artist, Giovanni Francesco Rustici, 1475-1554. Visitors to the site can also listen to an introduction to the exhibition that lays out its overall intent from co-curator Julian Brooks. [DS]

http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/spanishantiphoner/

Cincinnati businessman, composer, and artist Martin G. Dumler donated this rare Spanish manuscript to the University of Cincinnati, and it is now available online here. The work is from the 16th century, and it is a choirbook with Gregorian chants handwritten on vellum pages, complete with illuminated text capitals. While the work has seven missing pages, the remaining 242 pages are intact. The work was digitized with the assistance of a grant from the Tangeman Sacred Music Center, along with the cooperation of Professor Matthew Peattie at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Mark Palkovic, the head of the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library. Visitors can view the work via the Insight Browser provided here, or they can download the entire work. It is a tremendous piece of craftsmanship, and even those with only a passing interest in musicology will find the illuminations beautiful. [KMG]

http://archaeology.org/blog/

Archaeology Magazine has had a blog since June 2008, and this website provides access to the current edition and all of the past posts. If you're looking for a fine pastiche of information on recent museum exhibits, new finds from the field, and technological innovation, you have come to the right place. The bloggers on the site include the Archaeological Institute of America's (AIA) online editorial director, experts from around the world, and others working on various projects in the field. Visitors are encouraged to sign up for their RSS feed, and recent entries have included commentaries on the European-looking mummies from China's Tarim Basin and the work being done to accurately date the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt. Visitors are encouraged to offer lucid commentary on the posts, and the site has been the recipient of several industry awards, so it's well worth a look. [KMG]

http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/mccauley/

For twenty years, Edward Johnson McCauley documented the life and times of Burlington, North Carolina via his photographs for the Burlington Daily Times-News. McCauley was a restless spirit, and he also spent time documenting people, places, and things across the Tar Heel state. McCauley passed away in 2003, and his images were given to the University of North Carolina Libraries. Recently, the school created this digital archive of almost 700 of his photographs. First-time visitors should read the "About this Collection" overview, and then look through some of these remarkable photographs. It's not a bad idea to just browse the collection, and there are some fantastic images of vernacular architecture (such as outbuildings and tobacco curing barns), political candidates, and school life. The site is rounded out by a complete inventory of the McCauley Photographic Materials collection. [KMG]

http://www.preservationdirectory.com/HistoricalPreservation/Home.aspx

Persons with a penchant for preservation will find that this clearinghouse website is a top-notch resource for materials on historic preservation, preservation-based tourism, and downtown revitalization projects across the United States and Canada. The site was created in 1999 by Tim Cannan, a native of the Finger Lakes region with a professional and academic background in historic and cultural preservation. The materials on the site are divided into topical areas that include "Preservation Events & Conferences", "Grants & Funding Sources" and nine other headings. Visitors who might be less familiar with the world of historic preservation will want to look over the "Video Library". Here they will find clips of restoration projects in progress, preservation walking tours, and endangered places. Also, it is worth noting that the site contains listings and links for over 7000 history museums, 1000 downtown and main street groups, and 4500 historical societies in North America. [KMG]

http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/drewelowe/

Eve Drewelowe was a native of Iowa and in 1924 became the first recipient of a graduate degree in fine arts from the University of Iowa. During an around the world trip, she filled seven sketchbooks with her work. But, after a "health crisis", she recommitted herself to painting, and produced work in "impressionist, social realist, and abstract expressionist styles." One look at the mini-slideshow on the homepage of the University of Iowa Libraries, where the digital collection is located, and the variety of Drewelowe's artistic style is evident. Visitors should click on the images to read the details of these works. Her "Self-Portrait" from 1984 is a good example of her skills. The types of items in the Drewelowe digital collection can be found in the drop down box on the homepage under "Browse". Visitors will find "Art Collection", "Personal Papers", "Self Portraits", "Travel Sketchbooks", "Photographs", and her "First solo New York exhibit, 1941". [KMG]

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Oakerhater/

For those unfamiliar with the story of David Pendleton Oakerhater, this website from the Oklahoma State University Library features a digitized collection of correspondence and photographs from the great-granddaughter of Oakerhater's friend and sponsor, Mary Burnham. Oakerhater was a "Cheyenne warrior who became the first Oklahoman to be added to the Episcopal Church's calendar of saints." In the "Biography" link found on the left hand menu, visitors can find a very thorough life history after Oakerhater's capture as a prisoner of war in the aftermath of the Red River war. Oakerhater had ties to leaders of the American Indian assimilation movement, thus an essay on the assimilation era, written by the Intertribal Governmental Cultural Advisor at the Oklahoma City University of Law can be found in the "Essay" link, also found on the left hand menu. Visitors should also check out the "Letters" written by Oakerhater, and others involved in his life, which can be read line by line in a transcription next to an image of the letter. The text of the letters can also be searched in their entirety. [KMG]

http://hidvl.nyu.edu/

This website is the result of a collaboration between New York University and the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics. It is a "digital venue for documenting the expression of social and political life through performance in the many cultures and political landscapes of the Americas." Visitors can click on "Artist Profiles" to read the profiles in English, Spanish or Portuguese. One of the videos in this section is entitled "Hemispheric Institute Featured Interviews", and once clicked visitors can read comprehensive biographies of interviewees by clicking on "bios" on the left hand menu. Clicking on "Videos in HIDVL" enables the visitor to read a "synopsis" of the video, see what language it's in, when it was filmed, and how long the video runs. There are no translations or subtitles provided for the videos. At the bottom of the "Artist Profiles" page is a link to the "Index of Artists", which not only includes the artists with work on the site, but also the scholars and activists featured in HIDVL. [KMG]

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

If you are looking to clear away your web-browsing tracks, the CCleaner application is a good place to start. With its simple interface, the application works with a number of browsers (including Chrome and Opera) to remove traces of online activities, and it also contains a fully featured registry cleaner. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer. [KMG]

http://www.opera.com/

Many people may know about the merits of the Opera browser, but this new release may offer long-time users and neophytes additional cause for pause. Beyond the usual features people have come to expect (i.e. tabbed browsing, mouse-over previews), Opera offers a new range of desktop widgets, file sharing utilities, and full-text searching from the address field. This version is compatible with computers running Mac OS X 10.3 and newer, Windows 2000 or newer, and Linux. [KMG]

Mother Earth has a fever
http://www.theatlantic.com/special-report/the-climate-report/archive/2010/04/mother-earth-has-a-fever/39320/

Building a better volcano
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-22-building-a-better-volcano

Engineering the Climate
http://www.pri.org/science/environment/engineering-the-climate1954.html

A Novel Geoengineering Idea: Increase the Ocean's Quotient of Whale Poop
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/04/23/a-novel-geoengineering-idea-increase-the-oceans-quotient-of-whale-poop/

Top 5 Geoengineering Schemes
http://news.discovery.com/tech/geoengineering-schemes-top-5.html

Pat Mooney on the Dangers of Geoengineering and Manipulating the Planet to Combat Climate Change
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/20/four

Manipulating the earth's climate might seem like the stuff of a fantastical tale by H.G. Wells, but as climate change continues, many scientists are intrigued by the possibilities afforded by the world of geoengineering. Last month, 200 scientists from 14 countries met at the Asilomar grounds near Monterey to establish some ground rules for research into the world of geoengineering and other large-scale climate modification projects. The hope of the meeting was to establish some quantifiable ground rules that would guide these efforts, and "the analogy of global warming to a curable disease was central to the discussions at the meeting." Many of the thinkers gathered at Asilomar, including Steve Schneider of Stanford and others, focused on the idea that the best framework for balancing the risks and benefits of this new research might be drawn from medical ethics. Ethical questions aside (and they are tremendously important), it is unclear at this point how such climate modification might even work. Some scientists and engineers have floated proposals that include building huge forests of artificial trees, creating rocks that suck up CO2, or even constructing massive devices that scrub the air. [KMG]

The first link will take users to a piece by Eli Kintisch on the recent conference in Asilomar which originally appeared in Slate magazine. The second link takes visitors to a piece from Grist by Jeff Goodell about the geoengineering possibilities presented by volcanic eruptions. Moving on, the third link leads to a great radio program from Public Radio International about the potential pitfalls of "massive climate interventions." The fourth link leads to a recent entry from the Discovery magazine blog about the potential geoengineering power of whale dung. The fifth link leads to a list from Discovery Magazine of the top five geoengineering schemes, which include stratospheric aerosols and space reflectors. The final link will take visitors to a thoughtful interview from the Democracy Now program with Paul Mooney, the executive director of the ETC Group, which addresses the impact of new technologies on vulnerable communities.