Mines and Mineral Occurrences of Afghanistan [.pdf]
http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of02-110/of02-110.pdf
The USGS has recently released the report Mines and Mineral Occurrences of Afghanistan in .pdf format. The 95-page open file report is an inventory of more than 1000 mines and mineral occurrences in the country that includes metals, industrial minerals, coal, and peat. The data were compiled from published literature and digital files of the members of the National Industrial Minerals project and are presented in tables which include mineral showings, deposits, and pegmatite fields. This site is also reviewed in the May 3, 2002 NSDL Physical Sciences Report. [JAB]
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theclearances.org
http://www.theclearances.org/clearances/main.php
A work in progress and a labor of love, theclearances.org offers stories and reminiscences about a two hundred year old blight on the Scottish Highlanders. Beginning in the eighteenth century, a concerted effort was made, for a variety of reasons, to move the Scots off their ancestral Highlands. That effort and the places in which it has occurred have come to be known as the Clearances. A sore legacy, thousands were made to flee and thousands more to die in struggle or famine over the course of the years. This site is dedicated to all who have suffered the impact of the Clearances, to their families, and especially to the fallen and the lost. As the site claims, much of the history of the Clearances are currently and readily available online via other sites. This resource, then, looks to fill in the gaps by offering more personal testimonies of the curse of the Clearances. Thus, it actively solicits visitors to share what they know. At the same time, it serves as an archive to those searching to glean news of their kin and what might have happened to them. Users can search, for instance, ship, port, and parish registries for glimpses of the past. Similarly, they can also contribute anecdotes of their own, drawn from family histories. Beyond the above, visitors to the site can also browse through a collection of historical resources and links offered by the site. [WH]
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Voices of the Colorado Plateau [Flash]
http://archive.li.suu.edu/voices/voices.html
Voices of the Colorado Plateau presents first person oral history interviews of twelve Plateau residents, describing life in this part of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Some stories are illustrated with historical images. Listen to Elizabeth Mayes, who came to Page, Arizona to teach the children of workers building the Glen Canyon Dam, or Margarita Gomez, who came to Flagstaff from Spain in 1920. Hear Marvin Litton talk about naming his boats after natural places, Heber Hall tell how his father bought a homestead for $14.90 before World War II, or David Estrella watching his mother make "Ten Tortillas at Once." The site is organized into People, Places, and Topics, but selecting the Archive link gives a list of all twelve interviewees and the subjects they speak about. The interviews were collected from the 1970s through the 1990s by eight cultural heritage institutions, including universities, museums, state parks, and an historical society. The complete list is under the About Us section. [DS]
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NOVA Online: Fire Wars
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fire/
Although wildfires can be quite destructive, some plants and animals become adapted to and even require this disturbance for their survival. This companion Web site to the new PBS NOVA program, Fire Wars, focuses on wildfires, the people who fight them, and the impact that the fires have on natural ecosystems. A teacher's guide accompanies the site, offering ideas for discussion and activities that can be used alone or with the television program. One particularly interesting section is entitled On Fire. This sequence of interactive features walks the user through the chemical reactions involved in combustion. This site is also reviewed in the May 3, 2002 NSDL Life Sciences Report. [AL]
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A Brush with Wildlife: Create a Composition with Carl Rungius
http://www.wildlifeart.org/Rungius/
For those of us who have no idea what makes a good painting, let alone where to begin to create one of our own, this site offers several invaluable lessons. For starters, visitors are taught the basics, including the essentials of composition and thematic selection, as illustrated in the work of renowned wildlife artist Carl Rungius (1869-1959). The first tutorial is Flash-animated and presents geometric concepts, followed by actual artistic representations. Next up is a unique opportunity to put the principles to the test, rendering a work of one's own using pre-selected building blocks borrowed from Rungius. Thus, users select elements from Rungius' work and rearranges them to suit personal tastes. Ultimately, students are afforded the opportunity to offer their work for the consideration of their peers -- other visitors to the site. A great pedagogical tool, this last feature really sets this site apart as it calls attention to artists in the making. [WH]
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Population and Reproductive Health
http://www.developmentgateway.org/pop
A new portal sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Development Gateway Foundation, this Web site is an Internet initiative that provides a community-built database of information regarding population and reproductive health. The site offers research; projects; a news service; a bulletin board; an events calendar; and population/ reproductive health project information from a shared database that includes activities by donor agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development, the World Bank, and the UNFPA. In addition, the site provides a discussion forum on reproductive health and population topics, and promotes innovative knowledge-sharing arrangements among expert organizations in the field. For researchers and book lovers, this site also contains a development bookstore where users can shop for publications on development issues from a range of publishers worldwide. Visitors to the Web site are able to sign up for free membership, which entitles them to receive regular updates on added resources. [MG]
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Museums Online
http://www.museumstuff.com/
MuseumStuff.com is the one-stop shop for museum information, where Internet users can discover and explore thousands of museums and related resources around the country. This search engine, which features a "broad range of museum 'stuff,'" offers links to various museums, virtual exhibitions, museum events, fun and game sites for secondary and post-secondary students, and educational links. The museum links are arranged in three separate categories -- art, history, and science -- and can be accessed from the main page. The virtual exhibition section offers 55 topics ranging from African American, to ceramics, to evolution, to motorcycles, to religion, to zoos/ animals. Viewers can search for museum events by organization name, month, and specific day, or perform an advanced search using a combination of selections. On the whole, this gateway to museum stuff provides enough resources to pique the interest of persons in many different areas. [MG]
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