The Scout Report - May 5, 2000

May 5, 2000

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators. However, everyone is welcome to subscribe to one of the mailing lists (plain text or HTML). Subscription instructions are included at the end of each report.


In This Issue:

Subject Specific Reports

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

In The News


Subject Specific Reports

Scout Report for Social Sciences and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/2000/ss-000502.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/2000/be-000504.html
The sixteenth issues of the third volumes of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics are available. The In the News section of the Social Sciences Report annotates eight resources on the most recent nuclear nonproliferation talks. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers six resources on the commercial actors's stage strike. [TK]
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Research and Education

National Security Archive: The Ultrasensitive Bay of Pigs
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB29/index.html
On Wednesday, the National Security Archive released newly declassified portions of the Taylor Commission Report, the report from the commission charged by President Kennedy with investigating the Bay of Pigs incident. The eight documents in this new release add crucial details to the picture that emerged from prior, more heavily censored releases of Taylor Commission materials in 1977 and 1986. This release serves as a useful supplement to the The Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation (see the February 27, 1998 Scout Report), which was declassified in 1998 and scathing in its critique of the CIA's actions. [DC]
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Development Forum: Globalization, Development and Poverty
http://www.worldbank.org/devforum/forum_globalization.html
Beginning on May 1, 2000, the World Bank Institute and the Panos Institute London are sponsoring a free four-week, online forum dealing with development issues. Each week, a different topic will be covered. Week One will focus on "Globalization, Development and Poverty: what do we know?" The second week's discussion is titled "Poverty, Basic Needs, and Development." "Modes of Development" will be the topic for week three. And the last week will focus on "Whose Development? Globalization, Empowerment and the Poor." Users may choose to join the mailing list, or they may also visit the globalization site without registration. Along with general information about the forum, this site also contains links to supporting documents and sites, including the Washington Post's coverage of the April protests in Washington DC, as well as articles and commentary written by and about the World Bank and the IMF. [EM]
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The Julius Axelrod Papers -- NLM [.pdf, QuickTime, RealPlayer]
http://www.profiles.nlm.nih.gov/HH/
The National Library of Medicine has just added the Julius Axelrod papers to its Profiles in Science Collection. The fourth scientist to become part of the collection, Axelrod shared the Nobel Prize in 1970 for his research on neurotransmitters. His work was foundational in the later development of antidepressants, and Axelrod coined the term "reuptake" to explain how antidepressants work on the brain. Profiles in Science features an exhibit which gives an overview of the periods of Axelrod's work and offers .pdf documents and photographs grouped by era. The documents are also accessible via alphabetical or chronological listings grouped by document type (articles, clippings, laboratory notes, etc.), or through a search interface that lets users search either the documents themselves or the data about the documents. [TK]
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"Now What a Time": Blues, Gospel, and the Fort Valley Music Festivals, 1938-1943
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ftvhtml/
Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hrhtml/
The American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress has announced the availability of two new American Memory collections of recorded music. The first, Now What a Time, provides access to over 100 sound recordings and related documentation from what may have been the "first folk festival organized entirely by and for African Americans." The recordings feature guitar, banjo, harmonica, and choral arrangements. In addition to songs recorded at the Fort Valley Music Festival in Georgia, there are music recordings from Tennessee and Alabama made between 1938 and 1941. The second collection, Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier, features more than 180 original sound recordings of traditional fiddle tunes performed by Henry Reed of Virginia. The recordings are accompanied by field notes taken in 1966-67 by folklorist Alan Jabbour, a glossary of musical terms, 69 musical transcriptions, as well as photographs, and a biographical sketch of Reed's life. [AG]
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London College of Fashion: College Archive -- VADS
http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/search_lcf.html
The latest addition to the Visual Arts Data Archive, these 1,000+ images from the London College of Fashion (LCF) span the history of the institution from its beginnings as two needletrade institutions in the early twentieth century to the 1970s. The collection will especially be of interest to historians of fashion and the social construction of beauty as well as those researching the history of education. In addition to the photographs centered around instruction, the archive features some general "images which provide an insight into events and activities related to the colleges, for example, the education of women and men, World War II evacuations, etc." The site is only searchable by keyword (not browseable or searchable by field), but each image is accompanied by clear, often detailed notes so that keyword searches are very effective. Our search for "hairdressing" retrieved 372 images, while one for "queen mother" yielded 50 photographs of the Queen's 1965 visit to the school. [TK]
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Global Environmental Change
http://www.gecko.ac.uk/index.html
Global Environmental Change (GEC) posts three reports summarizing the findings of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) initiative, running from 1991 to 2000 whose original objective "was to bring social science expertise to bear on global environmental research and, at the same time, to take environmental concerns to the heart of the social sciences." The three reports focus on environmental decisionmaking, global governance, and sustainable production and consumption. Together, they constitute an unusually sustained and thoughtful consideration of how to make environmental decisions more thoughtfully and in line with consistent values and criteria. The reports are accessed through individual tables of contents that include a report summary and sidebar features for more detailed background on certain issues. In addition to these three main reports, the site features other documents, workshop and conference information, and research updates related to the GEC project. [DC]
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Trajan's Column
http://cheiron.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~trajan/
This Website, from McMaster University, uses the combined skills of artists, writers, programmers, and Web designers to create a resource for the study of Trajan's column, a Roman architectural monument. This 100-foot marble column, built during the reign of Emperor Trajan, 98-117 AD, is topped with a gilded statue of Trajan and decorated with carvings recounting Trajan's rule, primarily the Dacian Wars and his building projects. The heart of the Website is the database of 500 slides of the carvings; indexes allow users to view the slides in thematic groupings such as images of sides of the column, groups organized by subject keywords, or carvings made with specific tools. Cartoons or drawings of the column help to contextualize the details found in the slides, and essays provide more information on its design, construction, and preservation. [DS]
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Lake Michigan Lake Wide Management Plan (LaMP 2000) [.pdf]
http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/lakemich/index.html
This new Lake Wide Management Plan from the Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes Program is part of a series of plans for each of the Great Lakes. It is "intended to identify the critical pollutants that affect the beneficial uses of the lake and to develop strategies, recommendations, and policy options to restore those beneficial uses." Topics covered in the report include details about the program, public involvement, ecosystem objectives, indicators and monitoring of the health of the Lake Michigan ecosystem, current status of the ecosystem, human health issues, and more. The site also offers a variety of appendices such as a glossary, a bibliography, and large, comprehensive sections on policies and regulations, as well as physical and chemical properties of pollutants. [KR]
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General Interest

Frontline: Jefferson's Blood [RealPlayer, QuickTime]
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/
This companion Website to the recent broadcast of the Frontline documentary "Jefferson's Blood" is unusually rich in content, perhaps because it was used post-airing to feature Frontline's presence on the Web. Exploring the history and current controversy over Jefferson's longtime relationship with his slave and mistress Sally Hemings, the site features video excerpts from the broadcast; extended documentation of the DNA debate over Jefferson's extant ancestry; memoirs of four of Jefferson's slaves; essays and interviews from well-known Jefferson scholars, such as Joseph Ellis and Annette Gordon-Reed; discussions by sociologists, historians, and journalists of the nation's historical response to mixed ancestry and its threat to the white mystique; annotated links to premium Jefferson Websites; a teacher's guide; and a good deal more. The site admirably confirms that, when it comes to the question of race in America, there are few historical narratives more telling or more complicated than the one Thomas Jefferson wrote in his own blood. [DC]
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Georgia Revealed [ShockwaveFlash, RealPlayer]
http://www.oneworldjourneys.com/
OneWorld Journeys.com and Washingtonpost.com present Georgia Revealed: Searching for the Soul of the Caucasus. The site showcases a Georgia expedition that occurred April 16-29, the first of three explorations OneWorldJourneys.com have planned this year. Wilderness and nature photographers, journalists, and technicians collaborate here to bring users on their journey through the Caucasus Mountains Region of the Country of Georgia. Georgia Revealed not only features daily journal entries (text, streaming video and audio, and photographs) of the expedition, but also has sections providing background on history, travel, culture, and more. Altogether, this is a very well organized, educational site. We look forward to the next expedition to the Sonoran Desert. [JEB]
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"National Drug Control Strategy: 2000 Annual Report" [.pdf, 154 pages]
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/policy/ndcs00/strategy2000.pdf
Strategic Goals and Objectives
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/policy/ndcs00/strategy_goals2000.pdf
Evidence-Based Principles for Substance Abuse Prevention
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/policy/ndcs00/evidence2000.pdf
Last month, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released its annual report outlining national strategies to control drug use. The 154-page report is divided into five main sections: an overview, a section on drug use which details specific drugs, information on initiatives and programs, a description of the drug control budget, and a final section detailing ONDCP's consultations with various groups and organizations. Stated broadly, the strategies the report promotes focus on educating the young, providing more treatment options for addicts, and controlling national and international trafficking. Two smaller releases by the ONDCP outline their specific goals and principles to prevent substance abuse. [TK]
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Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga -- NMNH [QuickTime, ShockwaveFlash]
http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/start.html
This new exhibit from the National Museum of Natural History spans Viking history from its initial rise (A.D.750 to 1050) to the decline of the Greenland colonies around A.D. 1500. The Web incarnation of the exhibit, which will travel after it leaves the Smithsonian on August 13, is scheduled to be expanded in July. In its present form, the site features a page devoted to each of the exhibit's eight rooms. On each page, a paragraph or two of text helps to situate the highlighted images and artifacts. Though currently brief, this exhibit contains a number of interesting pieces, from a whale bone ironing board to walrus ivory chessmen. [TK]
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"Expenditures on Children by Families, 1999 Annual Report" [.pdf, 25 pages]
http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/using2.htm
USDA Press Release
http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2000/04/0138
Last week, the USDA and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman released a report that estimates the costs of raising a child born in 1999 through adulthood. The report claims that each middle-income family will require $160,140 over seventeen years for food, housing, and other basic necessities. Further projections are provided according to income; lower income families raising a child can expect to spend $117,390, and upper income families will likely pay $233,850 per child. The cost of child-rearing has increased only two percent since last year, according to the report. The site includes previous reports for 1995-1998. [KR]
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DATA2010
http://wonder.cdc.gov/data2010
Healthy People 2010
http://web.health.gov/healthypeople/
DATA2010 is an interactive database system developed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), an agency of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This new site was designed to support the goals of the CDC's Healthy People 2010 program, which was launched in January 2000, and which includes a list of 467 objectives designed to identify specific measures to monitor health. Each objective includes "a statement of intent, a baseline value for the measure to be tracked, and a target to be achieved by the year 2010." In the DATA2010 database, the 467 objectives are subdivided into 28 focus areas, and users may sort the data by focus areas, objectives, or by demographic categories such as race, gender, education level, or income. A keyword search is also available. The data, which is broad but not deep, originates from over 150 different sources, including several Federal Government Departments, and is primarily national in its scope, although some state-based data is also available. [SW]
[Note: To access CDC-WONDER, visitors should use the Anonymous login.]
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ConsumerSearch.com
http://www.consumersearch.com
Whether you are considering buying a luxury sport utility vehicle or a new blender, this site offers invaluable, unbiased consumer product information. ConsumerSearch.com strives to provide "the latest and best competitive analysis of products" for free. The site divides goods into basic, logical categories, and for each product, offers three distinct and related services. Fast Answers is an at-a-glance compilation of reviews (gleaned from other sources) of each specific product; it also rates the best products according to the reviews. For an in-depth analysis of both the product and the experts that reviewed the products, readers will want to peruse the Full Story section. Finally, All the Reviews Reviewed consists of the ConsumerSearch.com's editors's descriptions, ratings, and opinions of each of the review sources. At present, the list of products on ConsumerSearch.com is not very extensive. However, the products that are covered are reviewed thoroughly and responsibly. New users to the site may want to browse the FAQs and the About ConsumerSearch.com section, in order to learn more about the company, its mission, and services. As the site continues to expand, users may choose to subscribe to the ConsumerSearch.com free newsletter which will send email alerts for the latest product reviews. [EM]
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Network Tools

Raging Search
http://www.raging.com
Another search engine!! Another search engine? Yes, yet another Web search engine has come online, but this one isn't just business as usual. For one thing, there are no graphics, no banner ads, and no fancy portal features, so Raging Search loads very quickly. Another thing that makes it stand out is the ability to customize various parameters like the number of results displayed per page or the amount of detail returned for each result, and have those preferences "stick," so users need not reset them every time they enter the site. Also through this customization interface, users can select the languages of resources they want to search for (including support for various non-English character sets) and opt to include a "translated version" link along with each search result. And last, but certainly not least, all of the above runs atop an AltaVista search engine, consistently rated one of the best search tools on the Web, enhanced with Google-style link analysis technology to help identify the most useful sites. Overall, if you're serious about tracking something down on the Web, then Raging Search is definitely worth a look. [EA]
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iMovie 1.0.2 [Macintosh: System 9.0.4+, 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable, Power Mac G3 or G4, 64MB RAM (preferably 128MB)]
http://www.apple.com/imovie/download/
Now the video-editing software previously only available to iMac DV owners can be downloaded from Apple's Website at no charge. iMovie allows users to create, edit, and export digital video. While not a professional-level application, iMovie does support the addition of audio tracks, transition effects, and professional looking titling. iMovie exports to video or QuickTime. In order to reduce the download size, this version does not include the tutorial footage, which is over 160MB. iMovie requires a FireWire (IEEE 1394)-equipped Mac and a FireWire Digital Video Camera. Apple's specifications state that a G4 is required to run iMovie, but it runs well on Blue and White G3s and newer G3 PowerBooks as well. [AF]
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Software Update Sites
ZDNet Updates.com
http://updates.zdnet.com/
VersionTracker
http://www.versiontracker.com/
Both of these sites serve as excellent starting places to keep the software and drivers on your computer up to date. The ZDnet site focuses on the PC world, offering a searchable database of software and driver updates. The site also features a nifty Netscape plug-in which scans the software on your computer, alerting you to any updates that are available. VersionTracker provides a similar service to the Macintosh world. The site contains a searchable database of software versions and updates, and also allows users to leave comments about any particular update, sharing their experiences with others contemplating the upgrade. If users wish to, they can also subscribe to VersionTracker's email list to receive notifications when software they specify is updated. [PC]
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In The News

A Funny Way of Showing It: ILoveYou Worm is Most Damaging Virus Yet
"'Love' Bug Bites - News Special" -- ZDNet
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/lovebites.html
"'Love Bug' Takes New Forms to Smite Users" -- Reuters
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000505/ts/virus_love_6.html
"A Rogue Software Program Attacks Computers Worldwide" -- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/05virus.html
F-Secure Virus Information Pages -- LoveLetter
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/love.htm
CERT Advisory CA-2000-04 Love Letter Worm -- CERT Coordination Center
http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2000-04.html
VBS/LoveLetter.worm Help Center -- McAfee
http://www.mcafee.com/viruses/loveletter/
MSNBC -- ILOVEYOU virus horror stories
http://www.msnbc.com/news/403668.asp
ILoveYou Code -- SANS Institute Resources
http://www.sans.org/y2k/050400-1100.htm
Vast numbers of users yesterday were doubtless disappointed to find that not only did they not have a secret admirer, but they had caught viruses in trying to open their "love letters." A new destructive worm swept computers around the world on Thursday, infecting systems in the Pentagon, the CIA, Parliament, and Ford Motor Company, to name just a few. Like the Melissa virus and so many of its other predecessors, the ILoveYou Worm comes most often in the form of an email attachment entitled, in its initial incarnation, "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs." Today, several imitators have been spawned with names such as "Mother's Day Order Confirmation," "fwd: Joke," and "Very Funny." Of course, there's nothing funny about the virus, a Visual Basic script that, when it executes, replaces certain files (.jpeg, .mp3, and others) with copies of itself, and sends copies of itself to others via mIRC and Microsoft Outlook. Costs to clean up the damage the worm has caused are estimated in the billions, making it the most expensive computer virus yet.

Perhaps needless to say, online coverage of the ILoveYou worm is extensive, with ZDNet one of the more comprehensive sites devoted to the virus. The Resources button here leads to an extensive list of download patches. Reuters covers the latest incarnations of the virus, while yesterday's New York Times article details earlier developments. Users wanting more information on the ILoveYou virus and how it works should turn to F-Secure or CERT, both of which have posted detailed advisories. McAfee has a patch for infected systems, and once their systems are clean, users may want to turn to MSNBC's virus horror story site to read about others's ordeals (including an assortment of amusing prank posts) or post their own trauma via the Tell us your tale link at the bottom of the page. Finally, the true techies can take a peek at the code, posted at SANS Institute Resources's site. [TK]
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