http://www.ethics.harvard.edu/

Practical ethics are the focus of this appealing website from Harvard's Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. Practical ethics courses were rare when the Center opened its doors 30 years ago, but the founders wisely felt the need to focus on it. Those visitors who are unfamiliar with practical ethics should start by clicking on "Center" found on the top right side of the homepage. From there, visitors can click on "What is Practical Ethics". After this introduction to the field, visitors should skip down to the "News & Events" link, also on the right side of the page, and then go to the "Lectures & Events" category. A thorough summary of each lecture from the Center's free public lecture series, is accessible by clicking on "More", at the bottom of each lecture description. Visitors interested in searching the lectures from earlier years can click on "Past Lectures & Events" located below the "Lectures & Events" category. The "Research & Publications" link has "Working Papers", "Publications", and "Reports" to view, along with the "Prandial Philosophy Post", a brief argument raised during one of the center's lunch seminars or at one of their public lectures. [KMG]

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diets.html

In this section of their website, Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, tackles the subject of diets. The information is divided up into half a dozen labeled boxes near the top of the page, and includes "Basics", "Research", "Learn More", and "Reference Shelf". Within these sections visitors can find links to information on "Nutrition", "Specific Conditions", "Journal Articles", "Dictionaries/Glossaries", and more. Many of the topics discussed throughout the categories is the safety of certain diets, such as the link "Nutrition for Weight Loss: What You Need to Know About Fad Diets", and "Are Detox Diets Safe?" found under the Teenagers category at the bottom of the page. Visitors interested in participating in clinical trials going on throughout the United States, can check out the links "ClinicalTrials.gov: Diet" and "ClinicalTrials.gov: Diet Therapy" under the category Clinical Trials. [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.ebyte.it/library/refs/MROnlineTexts.html

This well-organized and very thorough website was developed by the physicist Stanislav Sykora with the aim of providing free online texts, theses, and course materials on the subjects of magnetic resonance (MR), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear-magnetic resonance (NMR) and other related topics. The amount of material on the site is impressive. At the top of the page are links to an "MR Blog", as well as to "MR Links" and the "Site Plan & SEARCH". The NMR/MRI Extras section on the right side of the page is particularly useful for visitors interested in all things about MR. Its links to "Events" provides an up-to-date list of symposia, conferences, and meetings, along with links to the events' sites. The "Societies" link offers at least 50 groups about MR, some of which are country-based, and others that are region- or application-based. [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://spec.lib.vt.edu/mss/pdf/index.html

Local history, cookery, and the American Civil War come to life within this fine site created by the Digital Libraries Collection department at Virginia Tech. The site contains thirteen digitized manuscripts which provide insights into various facets of the state's history and life in the 19th and 20th centuries. The documents are divided into four sections, including "American Civil War", "Local History", and "Culinary History". The "Culinary History" area is quite rich, as it contains four very rare items that detail the personal cooking preferences of several women in the mid-19th century. The "Local History" area contains ledger books from a church in Christiansburg and guest signature books from two well-known resorts in Yellow Sulphur Springs and White Sulphur Springs. The site is rounded out by the inclusion of the papers of John Hilton, an English immigrant who served as a corporal in Company F of the Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War. [KMG]

http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/duboisopedia/doku.php

Housed at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the papers of W.E.B. Du Bois are an excellent resource for anyone with an interest in American history. Recently, the University decided to develop a comprehensive online encyclopedia titled "DuBoisopedia". The hope is that such a volume will "capture the details, both large and small, that together made up Du Bois's life and times." With this wiki site, scholars and students are welcome to add high-quality pieces that illuminate various aspects of Du Bois's life and they have a team of researchers dedicated to maintaining the accuracy of the content here. First-time visitors may wish to read the guidelines offered on the homepage, and then they should take a look at some of the articles, which include those on Fisk University, William James, and Russia. [KMG]

http://www.chem.ualberta.ca/~orglabs/Techniques.html

Students of organic chemistry will find this website from the University of Calgary to be a most welcome find. Created by a team of educational experts at the University, the videos here demonstrate a variety of techniques that are commonly used in laboratory settings. There are a dozen videos here, and they include "Filtration", "Reflux", "Distillation", and "Using a Separatory Funnel". The films here are available in a number of different formats, including Quick Time and Windows Media. The site also includes an "Interactive Tutorials" section. Here visitors will find tutorials that will introduce them to spectroscopy, separation and isolation, and the rather amusing world of "Detective O-Chem", which asks the user to take on a fictional avian flu outbreak. [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://michigan.educommons.net/school-of-information/understanding-records-and-archives

Why do people create records? What are they good for? How can organizations use record-keeping to further their aims and goals? These are but a few of the questions explored by the course "Understanding Records and Archives: Principles and Practices". This site is part of the OpenCourseWare initiative at the University of Michigan, and the course itself was created and taught by Paul Conway. On this site, visitors can access a range of materials from the course, including the syllabus, a reading list, assignments, and a course schedule. In the "Lectures" area, visitors can read the notes from each class meeting, and the topics covered include basic archives concepts, legal issues, and the nature of archives. For anyone involved in information science and library studies, this site will be most useful. [KMG]

http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/tech_background/tech_background.html

If you don't know analog from digital, you may wish to spend a few hours reading up on the nuances of electronic music right here. Created by the University of California at Santa Cruz Electronic Music Studios, this site features over a dozen illustrated essays that explore different subjects related to the production of electronic music. The subjects covered here include "Sound Propagation", "Hearing and the Ear", "Basics of Digital Recording", and "Simple Harmonic Motion". Actually, a good starting place is the "Microphones" essay. Here visitors will learn the basics of how microphones work, along with specifics on they way they pick up sound patterns and the "microphone mystique". Overall, it's a good site for anyone who enjoys music or who might be a budding audiophile. [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.