A Publication of Internet Scout
Provided by the InterNIC as a Service to the Internet Community
The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and
newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and
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version of the Scout Report. Subscription instructions are included at the
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http://rs.internic.net/scout/report
In honor of Black History Month, we visited a small collection of submitted sites and selected 5 for inclusion this week.* Look for more in next week's Scout Report.
White House Summer Internship Program -- Internet
Services
The Office of Science and Technology Policy of the Executive Office of the
President has openings for qualified volunteers and unpaid summer interns
to help improve the White House Web
site.
Regretfully, it is not anticipated that there will be any paid positions
for the summer. Applicants should have a demonstrated interest in
politics and government, strong writing abilities, and at least some
experience with HTML. The strongest applicants would also have a UNIX
background and some experience with Perl and CGI scripting. Especially
desirable would be candidates who are fluent in Spanish or VRML. While
they will work primarily on the Web site, volunteers and interns may also
be called upon to do general office duties. Positions are available for
Summer and Fall. Application is made by sending email with (only) the URL
of your Web site in the subject line. All applications must be received
by 1 March 1996 to be considered for this summer. Applications will be
considered from all qualified persons without discrimination. This has
been a very high profile and rewarding internship for those who have
participated in the past two years. Be creative with your application
page and have fun. Further details concerning these positions can be seen
in the full announcement posted at the site of this week's Scout Report:
http://rs.internic.net/scout/report/current/interns
[Back to Contents]
1996 Economic Report of the President
The complete text of the 1996 Economic Report of the President, authored
by the Council of Economic Advisors, is available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO) Web site. The online
Report can be searched but not browsed. To see large portions of the
report at once,
search on "chapter" (without the quotes). This will return each chapter
plus a detailed table of contents. Use the detailed table of contents to
search for specific items, but be aware that the engine returns the entire
chapter(s) that contain your query words. Queries will also return
specific appendix tables that match the query. To receive multiple tables,
use the query "table b*" (with the quotes). Tables and text are available
in ASCII and PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format. Acrobat formatted chapters
include the graphics that are in the hardcopy version. Adobe Acrobat is
available from the Adobe site or from the Scout Toolkit. (Note! GPO
service will be temporarily down all day Saturday, February 17, 1996).
http://www.access.gpo.gov/eop/
Full text of 1992-1995 Economic Reports of the President are available
from the University of Missouri-St. Louis:
1992-1994:
gopher://gopher.umsl.edu:70/11/library/govdocs/erps
Gopher to gopher.umsl.edu
select: The Library/Government Information/Economic Reports of the
President
1995:
http://www.umsl.edu/~libweb/erp/1995/
Adobe Acrobat:
http://www.adobe.com/Acrobat/readstep.html
Scout Toolkit:
http://rs.internic.net/scout/toolkit/3d3.html
[Back to Contents]
*Chicago's Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable High School
Chicago's Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable High School is an ongoing
exploration of how integration of the Internet into day-to-day school
activities can affect education in an inner-city school. It is a training
site for the entire Chicago Public School system and is one of 14
demonstration sites chosen by the State of Illinois for implementation of
technology into education. The proposal for technology implementation that
Du Sable submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education is available
on the site, and may be of assistance to other inner-city schools writing
similar proposals. The site also contains an excellent pointers page for
resources on the Internet, and resources to help "get your school on the
net."
http://www.dusable.cps.k12.il.us/
Du Sable's technology implementation proposal:
http://www.dusable.cps.k12.il.us/narr_ToC.html
[Back to Contents]
*The Black Graduate Engineering and Science Students
A highlight of The Black Graduate Engineering and Science Students of the
University of California-Berkeley (BGESS) Web page is its Future Black
Faculty (FBF) database, which is browsable and searchable and contains
records of doctoral candidates, recent graduates, and professionals
seeking a position in academia. All database members are of African
descent and "plan to obtain a tenure track faculty position within 5 - 7
years." The database concentrates on engineering, computer sciences, and
the natural sciences. BGESS offers a page of "Afrocentric Web Links", as
well as information about itself and its members. Available in both
graphical and text versions.
http://hera.EECS.Berkeley.EDU:80/~bgess/
Text only:
http://hera.eecs.berkeley.edu/~bgess/text.html
[Back to Contents]
Bucknell University Russian Studies
The Bucknell University Russian Studies Program provides a richly graphic
site linking to all things Russian. A pointer to University of Indiana's
Russian 1996 presidential election page is provided, which includes
information on all the major candidates. The Russian Study Materials
section offers 21 links to a wide variety of topics, such as the daily
Voice of Russia in RealAudio format, art and architecture, business and
economics, Chechnya news and background, cinema, the 1993 Russian and 1977
Soviet Constitutions, history, language, law, music, and Russian humor,
among others. The entire site is indexed alphabetically for ease of use,
and pointers to other Russian sites are available.
http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian/
[Back to Contents]
Special Education Resources on the Internet
Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI), provided by Hood
College, contains a large list of pointers to Internet information on
special education of all kinds. Included are general disabilities
information, university based information, disability products, national
organizations, legal resources, hearing impairment, mental retardation,
behavioral disorders, learning disabilities, vision impairment, Attention
Deficit Disorder, Autism, and gifted and talented. A good place to start
for information on this topic.
http://www.hood.edu/seri/serihome.htm
[Back to Contents]
Campus Voice: The College Site
Campus Voice, an editorial poster seen on 354 campuses nationwide, has
covered trends and news relevant to the college community for 14 years.
Now on the Web, Campus Voice: The College Site showcases college media
from the USA and around the world, including news, points of view,
interviews and critical reviews. Because Campus Voice: The College Site
is for students and about them, students write, report, research,
moderate, and design the site. Campus Voice: The College Site emphasizes
good reporting and writing, featuring interviews pertaining to topics
like money, internships, travel, jobs (both part-time and real), health,
sex, cheap eats, relationships, big ideas, sports, technology,
entertainment, toys, and gadgets.
http://www.campusvoice.com/
[Back to Contents]
*Universal Black Pages
The Universal Black Pages, created and developed through the efforts of
members of the Black Graduate Students Association at Georgia Tech
University, is a comprehensive page of pointers to subjects related to
"the African Diaspora." Included are sections on upcoming events,
African American as well as other African Diaspora businesses, Black
school and student organizations in Africa and the Americas, Diaspora
country pages from the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda to Zimbabwe, the arts,
entertainment, music, professional organizations, and engineering,
science, and technology, among others. The hundreds of pointers make this
site one of the most comprehensive listings of African American and
international Black productions and resources.
http://www.gatech.edu/bgsa/blackpages.html
[Back to Contents]
*Quarterly Black Review of Books
The Quarterly Black Review of Books is a site that reviews the latest in
Black fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children's books. It also includes
a feature section, which presently contains an interview with Terry
McMillan, author of "Waiting to Exhale," as well as a guide to Black
classics by author, a listing of works of great Black writers that
include W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and Alice Walker,
among others.
http://www.bookwire.com/qbr/qbr.html
[Back to Contents]
*Mississippi State University African American History
Archive
The Mississippi State University African American History Archive is a
great place to start for pointers to African American history sites, as
well as an excellent repository of African American history primary
documents. The sites include Adonis Productions' Black Pioneers page
(with pages on African American pioneers in all fields), Great Day In
Harlem (jazz), Mississippi State's AfriGeneas genealogy mailing list and
Web site, Small Towns-Black Lives in New Jersey, African American
pioneers in Kentucky law, and the International Museum of the Horse's
Buffalo Soldier pages. Full text documents include Dr. Martin Luther
King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Booker T. Washington's "Up From Slavery",
Frederick Douglass' "Autobiography" and "My Escape from Slavery", and
Henry David Thoreau's "A Plea for Captain John Brown" and "Slavery in
Massachussetts", among others. The site also contains African American
bibliographies in the arts, education, history, and science, as well as
pointers to other African American sites.
http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/History/USA/Afro-Amer/afro.html
[Back to Contents]
OSU Medical Center Gopher
The Columbus Ohio Freenet gopher offers a link to the Ohio State
University Medical Center gopher. From there you can choose Health
Promotion and Disease Prevention to access basic information on 16 health
topics, including Back Safety, Diabetes, Home Health Tips, Men's Health
Issues, Nutrition and Diet, Well Baby Care, and Women's Health Issues.
The information is provided to help you better understand the health
issues that are facing you today, and to enhance your ongoing
dialogue with your personal physician related to your specific health
concerns.
gopher://gizmo.freenet.columbus.oh.us:70/11/healthservices/OSU%20Medical%20Cente
r/Health%20Promotion%20and%20Disease%20Prevention%20Information
Gopher to: gizmo.freenet.columbus.oh.us
Select: Health Services/OSU Medical Center/Health Promotion and
Disease Prevention Information
[Back to Contents]
Brown & Williamson Archive
The Digital Library of the University of California--San Francisco has
made scanned images of their Brown and Williamson Tobacco Archive
available on the Web. The documents consist primarily of scientific
studies on the addictive nature of nicotine and other health effects of
tobacco smoke. The materials have been the subject of a suit in San
Francisco Superior Court in which Brown & Williamson sought to
permanently remove the disputed material from the Library. On May 25th,
1995 the Superior Court ruled that these documents should be made
available for public review. (Subsequent appeals to the Court of Appeals
and the California Supreme Court were rejected.) The collection includes
documents from 1957-1991 inclusive. It can be searched or browsed, and an
archival history and description are available. The collection is also
available on CD-ROM for a fee. Order forms are available at the site.
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/bw.html
Collection history and description:
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/bwhist.html
[Back to Contents]
Chess Match: Kasparov vs. Deep Blue
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is currently sponsoring the
ACM Chess Challenge, pitting world champion Gary Kasparov against Deep
Blue, the IBM chess playing machine. The entire match, including every
play of every game and commentary from chess masters and Kasparov himself,
is available at the Web site. Kasparov is matched against "a 32-node IBM
PowerParallel SP2 high-performance computer..., a scalable, highly
parallel system capable of calculating 50 to 100 billion moves within 3
minutes, which is the time allotted to each player's move in classical
chess." As of Thursday, February 15, the score is Kasparov 1, Deep Blue
1, and two draws. The final games are Friday (3 p.m. US EST) and Saturday,
when you can watch the moves live on the 'net. After a game is over, it
can still be observed move by move by clicking on the list of moves under
the chess board graphic. As stated on the front page, "This match is not
about competition between people and machines. It is a demonstration of
what makes us human beings so different from computers." NOTE: The pages
give no indication of how long after the last game the site will remain
online.
http://www.chess.ibm.park.org/
[Back to Contents]
Castles on the Web
If you like castles, visit Castles on the Web for a nice collection of
photos, history, and Q & A on castles around the world. Ask a question
about a particular castle, browse a list of castle books, or see the list
of castle events. An individual effort done with an obvious love of the
topic.
http://fox.nstn.ca/~tmonk/castle/castle.html/
[Back to Contents]
Oscars Nominees on the Net
Yes, the Academy Award nominations were announced this week, and Yes, the
Web site was overwhelmed starting in the wee hours of the morning on
Tuesday. For all the hoopla, see:
http://www.oscars.org/
[Back to Contents]
PointCast
The PointCast Network (PCN) software allows you to read a personally
customized, continually updated newspaper from your desktop. The program
installs as a screen saver and is activated automatically when your
workstation is idle. It automatically updates stories in the categories of
national, international, political, company, industry, sports, weather,
and features. The sections on industry, company, sports, weather, and
features can be customized so that only stories of interest to you are
tracked. In company news, 20 minute delayed stock quotes scroll across
the bottom of the screen. In sports news, sports scores scroll across the
bottom of the screen. At present the service is supported by advertising
that also moves on screen. Stories are provided by such sources as
Reuters, PR Newswire, and Sports Ticker. PCN also has a web browser built
into it. The beta software is available only on Windows platforms at this
time.
http://www.pointcast.com
[Back to Contents]
WebWhacker
ForeFront Group's WebWhacker is a tool designed to reduce the user's
dependency on an Internet connection while delving deeply into a single
Web site. This specialized software can be set to download single
Webpages, groups of pages, or entire Web sites, depending on the
user-controlled configuration options. The downloads, called "whacks",
include both text (HTML) and images, and are stored on the local desktop.
The downloaded pages are re-linked locally for browsing on the desktop
with any Web browser. The desktop version of the site is a mirror image
of the information on the original Web site. WebWhacker is a great tool
for Internet demonstrations from sites with slow or unstable Internet
connections. WebWhacker is a commercial product, but free 30 day trial
copies are available for downloading for Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and
Macintosh platforms.
http://www.ffg.com/whacker.html
[Back to Contents]
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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1996. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, the National Science Foundation, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.