Volume 4, Number 16
August 15,1997
A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Science Department, University of Wisconsin
A Project of the InterNIC
The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators, the InterNIC's primary audience. 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.

ESRI-USC
http://www.esri.sc.edu/data/lib-main.htm
A catalog of geological data from the Earth Sciences and Resources Institute
at the University of South Carolina is now available on-line. Users can search
for data held at ESRI relating to petroleum and environmental geology research
projects from the past 25 years. Areas for which data is available include
articles, ESRI reports, maps, seismic data, theses/dissertations, and well log
information. Searches are performed via geographic region or subject/title.
Data can then be obtained in hard copy form for the price of reproduction or
acquisition (maps, seismic sections, and well logs). Help topics are not yet
activated, but the catalog is self-explanatory for those with knowledge of
geologic terminology.
[KH]
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ABZU: Guide to Resources for the Study of the Ancient Near East
http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/ABZU/ABZU.HTML
Charles E. Jones of the Research Archives of the Oriental Institute, Chicago,
maintains this excellent collection of resources for the study and public
presentation of the Ancient Near East. The links are organized into two groups
of indexes, primary and secondary. The primary indexes are divided by project
or institutional affiliation and by author. The secondary indexes contain
directories, online journals and library catalogs, museum collections,
regional and subject indexes, and publishers. More indexes are under
development, including book reviews. Users can also access the Research
Archives as well as Oriental Institute announcements and information on its
public programs.
[MD]
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Farm Service Agency
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/default.asp
The FSA and USDA have created a site that anyone involved in American
agriculture will find useful. The site provides easy access to information on
a number of programs, including Farm Loans, Conservation, Acreage Reduction,
and FSA Civil Rights. The Newsroom offers the latest news releases and media
advisories issued by FSA and USDA, and Commodity Information allows users to
view up to the minute commodity information or review commodity reports
online. Other features include Site Search, What's New, and an FSA office
locator.
[MD]
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Quantitative Macroeconomics and Real Business Cycle Home Page
http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r14160/rbc/index.html
Christian Zimmerman of University of Quebec at Montreal has put together a set
of links to web resources related to quantitative macroeconomics and real
business cycle theory. Researchers will find links to collections of papers
and data, notices of forthcoming conferences, a bibliography, software and
software codes, and information on related books and journals. There is also a
link to EDIRC (Economics Departments, Institutes and Research Centers in the
World) which lists web pages for over 2200 economic departments and research
institutions around the world.
[THN]
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The Elements of Style Online
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/strunk/
William Strunk's timeless guide to using the English language has been
electronically published by the Bartelby Project. Strunk's work includes
sections on Elementary Rules of Usage, Elementary Rules of Composition, A Few
Matters of Form, Words and Expressions Commonly Misused, and Words Commonly
Misspelled. Although written with educators and students in mind, this guide
will benefit anyone who wishes to write with clarity and precision.
[MD]
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AFLIB-L African Libraries Listserv
AFLIB-L is a new, lightly moderated, discussion list that aims to provide a
forum for libraries in Africa and "encourage contact and communication between
and among professionals on the continent." The Primary language will be
English, but they soon hope to support French and Portuguese as well.
Anticipated themes for discussion include professional problems and issues,
the application of technology, and notices of major projects.
[MD]
To subscribe send email message to (leave subject line blank):
AFLIB-L@statelib.pwv.gov.za
In the body of the message type:
subscribe your name and e-mail address
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ENN (Environmental News Network) Online
http://www.enn.com/
ENN Online, provided by Environmental News Network Inc., offers a number of
different services which deliver environmental information and resources. One
such service is Planet ENN, a free online magazine published weekly. It
includes articles covering various environmental topics. This weeks' Planet
ENN includes articles on wildlife filmmaking, poaching in Russia, and
earth-friendly living. ENN Newswire, updated daily, is a great way to keep up
to date on the latest environmental news (subscribers of ENN Daily News can
obtain more in depth news for $49.95 a year). ENN Newswire can also be
delivered directly via email. Other services include Factoids, This Week in
History, Web Site of the Week,and CyberHiker - Stories from the Web.
[TB]
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The Weekly Defense Monitor
http://www.cdi.org/weekly/
This new free electronic publication by the Center for Defense Information
will bring readers a few short articles on various military and foreign
affairs issues each week. Recent topics included an arms trade code of conduct
introduced in the Senate, US base closures and the military force structure,
and the cost of defending Western Europe.
[MD]
To subscribe send email message to (leave subject line blank):
majordomo@cdi.org
In the body of the message type:
subscribe weekly your email address
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EU What's New
http://www.vivid-edge.co.uk/vivid-edge/euwn/
EU What's New is a free service provided by Vivid Edge Ltd. that finds new
quality sites in Europe and notifies subscribers by e-mail "(almost) every
day." Recent selections include a site on fractal and chaos theory, one on
traveling Europe by rail, a listing of cyber cafes in Europe, and a site
featuring on-line chess games.
[MD]
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Pier Walk '97
http://www.pierwalk.com/
Pier Walk, hosted by the Navy Pier in Chicago, is the world's largest outdoor
sculpture exhibition, showcasing the talents of 110 artists from 7 countries.
This site offers a virtual tour in two formats: a text based index,
essentially a slide show in five parts, and a pictorial index with thumbnails
and some basic information about each artist. There is also a pop-up shortcut
Java menu without text. Another feature is a modest collection of links to
other sculpture sites, a nice resource as paintings seem to dominate the
current world of virtual exhibitions.
[MD]
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CBC4kids
http://www.cbc4kids.ca/
CBC4Kids is a content-rich, well-organized site produced by the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Users can choose from seven major sections on
the main page: What's New, The Lab, Words, Music, Time, Kids Club and Guest
Book. Each section features a variety of fun and intresting items, including
instructions on how to make a killer airplane, examples of radio dramas
created by kids, and an explanation of why chocolate might be the next great
health food, and a daily news item. Some of the CBC4Kids interactive choices
include the option to take a current events quiz, submit an original
radio-drama script, and post a tune to the HumLine for other visitors to
identify.
[JR]
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HoverBar - Keep Icons and Clipboard Data Conveniently Accessible
http://www.hooked.net/~hedgeboy/hoverbar.html
HoverBar, authored by Guy Fullerton of Mountain View, California, is a great
little shareware for the Mac (System Software 7.5 or later). HoverBar creates
customized palettes and icon and clip bars which hover over all other windows
on your desktop. Anything can be put into these bars: applications, documents,
graphics, etc. Applications can then be easily switched and/or launched. It
also supports drag and drop. Beware that there is a mention of a bug due to
jGNEFilter, which is often used by floating windows to find clicks. When this
product was tested at Internet Scout the "Missing Clicks" bug was not an
issue. But if it is encountered, "TSM Fix" (an extension which fixes the
system bug) is provided to solve the problem. A copy of HoverBar can be
downloaded at the above URL. If you decide to keep it, the cost is just $5.
[TB]
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c|net's Get Animated -- Create an Animated GIF in 7 easy steps
http://cnet.com/Content/Features/Howto/Webanim/?builder
GIF animation resources:
http://cnet.com/Content/Features/Howto/Webanim/ss04.html
GIFmation:
http://enlil.boxtopsoft.com/GIFmation/
Cecilia Farell, a Web designer and freelance writer based in Toronto, has put
together a great online tutorial/informational resource for c|net on "how to
make your GIFs dance" in as few as 7 simple steps. All the tools necessary to
animate as well as additional resources are provided at the site. The tutorial
is open to those with Windows 3.x/95/NT, Macintosh, or UNIX, but it is
specific to GIF Construction Set, one of the animation tools listed for
Windows 95/NT. If you choose another tool much of the tutorial may not apply
to you, but it still offers some general information on animation from which
anyone can benefit. The Internet Scout Project used the 90 day evaluation
version of GIFmation, a $49 product of BoxTop Software, Inc. Working with this
tool was very easy: import the images, press play, and voila, you have your
first animation. Saving the animation was also as easy as using the "Export
Optimized ..." feature (note: the demo version will not save GIFs with more
than 3 frames). If the GIF doesn't appear to be animated when viewed in your
browser, go back to GIFmation, increase the amount of loops, and re-save it.
Since the default play time is very fast, it probably completed its loop
before it was visible in the browser. The documentation, which must be
downloaded separately, is also quite helpful. Another nice feature is that
animations created with this or any of the tools listed on the resource page
of Get Animated do not require a browser plug-in. The tutorial ends with some
useful advice on animation, tools, and resources, so be sure to check them out
as well.
[TB]
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Volume 1, Number 16: The Scout Report for August 12, 1994
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/8-12-94.html
The Internet Scout (Susan Calcari) left the virtual world for the real world
to take a vacation the week of August 12, 1994. Before she did, however, she
provided some interesting numbers regarding Scout Report subscribers. The
Scout Report was received by 8,000 subscribers at that time. Today it has
36,000 direct subscribers. It was distributed to 4,000 via Gleason Sackman's
Net-Happenings mailing list. Today, that same list reaches almost 10,000
people, and the Scout Report is posted to the Net-Happenings web site, which
is visited about 15,000 times a day. It is also posted on Gleason's NEWSLTR
mailing list (
discussed in the November 29, 1996 Scout Report), which has
nearly 1,000 subscribers. In August of 1994 the report was linked to from 89
other web sites. Today, the report is linked to from nearly 1,000 sites around
the world. The August 12, 1994 issue was the 20th of the Scout Report and the
150th issue will be mailed on September 5, 1997.
[JS]
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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1994-1997. 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.
The Scout Report (ISSN 1092-3861) is published weekly by Internet Scout
Scout Report and Scout Report HTML Subscription Instructions
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