The Scout Report - June 18, 1999

June 18, 1999

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.

An Acrobat .pdf version of this report is available for printing and distributing locally. For information on Adobe Acrobat Reader, visit the Adobe site.


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/1999/ss-990615.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/1999/be-990617.html
The eighteenth issues of the second volumes of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics are available. The In the News section of the Social Sciences Report annotates seven resources analyzing the results of the recent European Union election. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers six resources on the establishment of a Nasdaq mirror in Japan. [MD]
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Research and Education

Knowledge@Wharton [.pdf]
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/
This new current awareness resource from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School offers "the latest business insights, information and research" on a bi-weekly basis including "interviews with industry leaders and Wharton faculty, articles based on the most recent business research, book reviews, conference and seminar reports," among other sources. The Knowledge@Wharton site is divided into subject sections ranging from finance and investment to business ethics; each topical page includes searchable layers of information in summary, short article, or academic paper formats. Note: free registration is required for access. [MW]
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The Trial Of Adolf Eichmann
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/
Nizkor Project
http://www.nizkor.org/
The Nizkor Project, one of the largest online repositories of primary documents related to the Holocaust, is in the final stages of converting the Israel State Archives' extensive records of the Adolf Eichmann trial and placing them online. Eichmann, who supervised the implementation of the "Final Solution," escaped to Argentina after the war, where he was secretly apprehended by Israeli agents in 1960 and brought to Israel for trial. The trial took place in the spring and summer of 1961, after which Eichmann was convicted of crimes against the Jewish people and crimes against humanity and executed on 31 May 1962. The complete trial records are offered in two sections, the District Court Sessions and the Judgement. The first currently contains three volumes of trial proceedings, through June 29, 1961. The last two volumes, which contain records from June 29 until the execution, are due to be released shortly. The second section features the complete text of the court's judgement, which addresses the relevant legal and jurisdictional issues and traces the development of the "Final Solution" and Eichmann's role in it from the outbreak of the war to the Wannsee Conference and its implementation. The release of these records online, like many of the Nizkor Project's efforts, will be welcomed by Holocaust scholars and historians. In addition, secondary or university instructors will find that the trial transcripts offer numerous examples of powerful testimony from participants and victims that are invaluable in teaching the Holocaust to students. [MD]
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Recent Additions to the Library of Virginia Digital Collections [.tif]
WPA Life Histories
http://eagle.vsla.edu/wpa/
Governor's Letters Received, 29 June 1776 - 30 November 1784
http://eagle.vsla.edu/govlet/
Virginia Dept. of Education School Buildings Service Photographs
http://eagle.vsla.edu/school/
Confederate Disability Applications and Receipts
http://eagle.vsla.edu/al/
Henley Marriage and Obituary Index
http://eagle.vsla.edu/henley/
TIFF Viewer Helper Application Download Page [Windows 3.11/95]
http://image.vtls.com/vtlstif.html
The Library of Virginia (last discussed in the November 20, 1998 Scout Report) has recently made several additions to their digital collections, containing materials of interest to a variety of researchers in American or Virginia history. The first, WPA Life Histories "consists of approximately 1,350 life histories, social-ethnic studies, youth studies, interviews with former slaves, and a small number of folklore studies, all of which were created by the staff of the Virginia Writers' Project (VWP)." The second collection contains over 10,000 pages of correspondence and various other documents received by the Virginia Governor's Office during the Revolutionary War. The third offers 3100 photos from hundreds of elementary and secondary school buildings across Virginia, taken between 1920 and 1970. The Confederate Disability Applications and Receipts collection features over 24,000 images from applications by Civil War veterans for artificial limbs and other disability benefits. Finally, the last collection represents the retirement project of reference librarian Bernard J. Henley, who examined over 150 Virginia newspapers and compiled "more than 45,000 marriage and obituary entries published between 1780 and 1876, with special emphasis on the years 1780 to 1830." All of these recent additions basically consist of digitized documents placed in a database that is searchable by three options: word or phrase, combination, and expert/boolean. Search returns offer basic information on each record, and users must follow the link at the bottom of the page to download the digitized images (in .tif format) of the record. A generic TIFF viewer for Windows 3.11/95 may be downloaded for free at the site. [MD]
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Brazilian Government Document Digitization Project [.tif]
http://wwwcrl.uchicago.edu/info/brazil/
The Latin American Microfilm Project (LAMP) at the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) has "digitize[d] executive branch serial documents issued by Brazil's national government during the period between 1821 and 1993," as well as provincial government documents from the "the end of the Empire to 1889." The documents are arranged in four collections: Provincial Presidential Reports, 1830-1960; Presidential Messages, 1889-1993; Ministerial Reports, 1821-1960; and Almanak Administrativo, Mercantil e Industrial do Rio de Janeiro, 1844-1889. The digitized documents, created from microfilm copies of the originals, are presented in both .gif and .tif formats. [AO]
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Turning Up the Heat: How Global Warming Threatens Life in the Sea -- WWF [Word 6.0, .pdf, 47p.]
http://www.worldwildlife.org/climate/
This new report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Marine Conservation Biology Institute argues that rising temperatures have impacted the world's oceans to a far greater extent than previously acknowledged. Addressing topics such as sea-level rise, ocean circulation, coral reefs, sea birds and invertebrates, as well as the increasing threats to Salmon, the report predicts a dangerous chain reaction in marine ecosystems if global warming continues unabated. On the positive side, it also argues that decisive actions now to reduce pollution can slow the warming and preserve the world's oceans. Accessible from the WWF Climate Change page, the full text of the report is available in .pdf, Word 6.0, and HTML versions. A summary is also provided. [MD]
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A Critical Bibliography on North American Indians, For K-12
http://nmnhwww.si.edu/anthro/outreach/Indbibl/bibliogr.html
Provided by the Smithsonian Institution Department of Anthropology, this comprehensive annotated bibliography of over 800 books is an excellent resource for teachers, librarians, and curriculum designers who want to introduce multiple cultural perspectives and begin to correct longstanding misunderstandings in American history. Compiled by experts in the field, the bibliography includes reviews of both highly recommended (indicated with a star) and non-recommended books (indicated with a question mark), based on the criteria listed in the helpful Introduction. The bibliography itself is divided by geographic area (Arctic, Plains, Great Basin, Southeast, etc.), with one section containing general works. Bibliographic entries typically contain a several-sentence review, bibliographic details, and a grade level recommendation. [MD]
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MOST Journal on Cultural Pluralism
http://www.unesco.org/most/vl1n1edi.htm
The inaugural issue of the UNSECO MOST (originally reviewed in the November 18, 1997 Scout Report for Social Sciences) Journal on Cultural Pluralism explores "a variety of issues related to the main theme of religious pluralism under conditions of contemporary social transformations." Although it weighs in at a rather modest two articles and single book review, the first issue of this journal reflects some of the recent theoretical developments in the sociology of religion. This overview is intended to set the stage for future issues, which will offer analyses of religious pluralism in specific regions. [MD]
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General Interest

Amnesty International: 1999 Annual Report
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/ar99/index.html
Amnesty International, one of the world's foremost human rights organizations, released its 1999 Annual Report this week. The web version is not complete, but it does offer lengthy summaries of human rights concerns and abuses in 142 countries and territories as well as the full text of the substantial four-part introduction. Users can view regional summaries, which highlight and detail events and rights violations in 1998, or view the complete entries on specific countries in the regional indexes section. The online version of the Report is also available in Swedish and Italian. [MD]
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Question of East Timor -- UN [.pdf]
http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/etimor.htm
This new site from the United Nations offers a large collection of primary documents related to the history and future of East Timor. A June 11, 1999 Security Council Resolution (1246) established the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), which is charged with organizing and conducting a "popular consultation" (scheduled for August 8) to determine the territory's future status. At the site, users can read the full text of the agreement between Indonesia and Portugal that set the groundwork for this consultation, as well as the official UN documents concerning East Timor (reports, resolutions, discussions), press briefings and releases (1996-99). Fifteen audio reports from UN Radio are also provided, although several were unavailable at time of writing. [MD]
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NASA Apollo 11 30th Anniversary [.pdf, .mpg]
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ap11ann/introduction.htm
On July 20, 1969 Neil A. Armstrong took his "Small Step" onto the surface of the moon. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its greatest success, NASA has created this new site, which features interviews with the crew, the full text of Apollo: Expeditions to the Moon and The First Lunar Landing: As Told By The Astronauts, biographies, several documents, multimedia galleries, and timelines. Highlights include the Apollo 11 image gallery, panorama photos in the Apollo 11 Lunar Service Journal gallery, the astronauts comments in The First Lunar Landing, and the "Top Ten Scientific Discoveries Made During Apollo Exploration of the Moon," located in the document section. [MD]
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MUVA: Virtual Museum of Arts El Pais
http://www.diarioelpais.com/muva2/#
Sponsored by the newspaper El Pais, MUVA, Virtual Museum of Arts, exists only on the Web. In its virtual galleries, the Museum brings together Uruguayan artwork that might otherwise never be seen by the public. For example, currently the Ground Floor exhibition features country and city paintings by two contemporary Uruguayan artists, Jose Ceneo and Alfredo De Simone, that are from private collections. Visitors can use the silver control buttons to view each wall of the exhibition, or zoom in on a particular work and read information about it. In addition, visitors can view works in the permanent collection, read artists' biographies, follow links to more information about Uruguayan art, and learn how MUVA was created using virtual architecture. [DS]
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World Radio Network (WRN) [RealPlayer, Windows Media, StreamWorks]
http://www.wrn.org/
This gateway to radio broadcasts around the world allows users living abroad or those simply interested in the news and views of other nations to listen to live feeds and recent archived broadcasts in several formats and languages. Links to broadcasts are found in the Listen Now section, which offers both live and on demand streams. Live feeds include the English, multilingual, and German North American services of WRN, which constructs its broadcast schedule from "segments of programming from 25 of the world's leading public and international broadcasters." Users interested in broadcasts only from a specific nation will want to turn to the OnDemand section, which features weekly English broadcasts from countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific. Additional resources at the site include related links and RealPlayer video files from Channel Africa. [MD]
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Creating the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth - AMNH
http://www.amnh.org/rose/hope/creatinghope/
This new online feature from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) offers an interesting peek into the creation of the museum's newest exhibit, the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth. For over three years scientists have travelled around the world, collecting over 130 rocks, "each of which records a chapter of the earth's ongoing story," to construct the exhibit. The online feature contains five sections. The first three, Expeditions, Scientists, and Preparations, describe the people involved, the questions they have sought to answer, and their work. The fourth section, the Toolkit, offers short illustrated explanations of the geologists' tools and how they use them. The last section contains an illustrated glossary of geology terms and selected minerals. Armchair geologists or budding museum curators will enjoy this entertaining account of the behind-the-scenes work behind the newest installation at the AMNH. [MD]
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Skateboard Science [RealPlayer G2]
http://www.exploratorium.edu/skateboarding/index.html
This new exhibit from the Exploratorium (last described in the February 19, 1999 Scout Report) lets users in on the techniques and equipment skateboarders use to seemingly bend the law of gravity. In the trickscience section, the site explains the physics behind the ollie, a fundamental jumping technique; mid-air maneuvers; and McTwists and Caballerials with illustrations, concise text, and several experiments to try at home. The equipment section offers an in-depth look at skateboard design and construction and how they have changed over time. In addition, the site also contains a glossary of skateboard terms and a RealPlayer G2 archive of a recent (June 12) webcast of a skateboard science exhibition at the Exploratorium. [MD]
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Network Tools

Flash 4 Player
http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=Flash4
Macromedia (last mentioned in the January 22, 1999 Scout Report) has released the latest version of their Flash Player, the emerging standard for vector graphics and animation. New features in Flash 4 include streaming MP3 support, natural drawing tools, vector transparencies, animated buttons and menu vectors, and bandwidth profiling, among others. Users may download the player for free from the Macromedia site. [MD]
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AutoGraphicsHTML
http://www.fcoder.com/products/autograph.htm
AutoGraphicsHTML, published by the fCoder Group International, is a nice little tool that offers a small but useful service. This utility takes a directory of images and converts them to a browseable, HTML-ized image archive complete with clickable thumbnails of the images. The HTML conversion can be performed using a selection of styles for your archive and requires little user input. The automatically generated files can be hand-edited if so desired and automatically uploaded via FTP to a web site. For novices with a collection they want to share or those who need to perform frequent thumbnailing, this utility is quite useful. AutoGrahpicsHTML is available for Win95/98/NT and is free to try for 15 days after which time it can be purchased for a slightly overpriced $29. [CL]
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In The News

Huge Necropolis Excavated in Egypt
Mummies -- NPR Morning Edition [RealPlayer]
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/archives/1999/990617.me.html
Mummies Unearthed in Bahariya Oasis -- Egyptian State Information Service
http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/online/html/o120699.htm
Oasis Catacombs Yield Gold-Wrapped Mummies -- Cairo Times
http://www.cairotimes.com/cairotimes/news/mummies.html
Egypt excavating huge necropolis in Western Desert -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9906/13/egypt.mummy.cemetery.ap/
Golden Mummies Discovered -- BBC News
http://news2.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_367000/367103.stm
BBC Video Report [RealPlayer]
http://news2.thdo.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/365000/video/_368184_relph7am_vi.ram
The Plateau: The Official Website of Dr. Zahi Hawass
http://guardians.net/hawass/
Originally discovered in 1993 after a donkey stumbled into it, a mummy cemetery in the town of Bawiti in Bahariya oasis, 250 miles southwest of Cairo, has begun to show promise of being the largest find of its kind ever. Zahi Hawass, head of the archaeological team, has estimated that they may find up to 10,000 mummies in the tombs. Last week, the team found over 100 mummies of high-ranking Roman Egyptians, many wearing gold masks, at the site. Some specimens have been removed to a nearby museum, while the more fragile mummies have been left in place with plans to encase them in glass. The necropolis is still closed to the public, but officials soon hope to open portions of the site as the first open-air mummy museum. On the June 17 edition of National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition, host Bob Edwards talked with Zahi Hawass, who is also the Undersecretary of the State for the Giza Monuments, about the discovery. A RealPlayer recording of the interview is available at the NPR site, the fifth item from the bottom. The Egyptian State Information service offers two photos and a short summary of the find. Another short notice of the find is provided by the Cairo Times. Longer stories are provided by CNN and the BBC, the latter also offering a video report. Finally, Dr. Hawass's official website does not yet contain information on the Bahariya excavations, but does offer some recent articles and information on his views of conservation, tourism, and historic site management. Additional resources on Egyptology and mummies can be found in the Scout Report Signpost, the Scout Report's database. These include the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism site on Egyptian Antiquity Information, the Splendors of Ancient Egypt, and NOVA Online's Mysteries of the Nile. [MD]
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