http://www.esi.utexas.edu/hot-science-cool-talks/lecture-archives

The Environmental Science Institute (ESI) at the University of Texas at Austin is dedicated to "fostering environmental research, education, and outreach across disciplines." To this end, the ESI has developed a set of resources for educators, including a nice series of lectures dating back to 1999. This section of the site provides interested parties with access to 77 of these talks, which address topics like franking, dark energy, the evolution of human vision, and autonomous robots. Visitors can browse through the lectures at their leisure, and will find supplementary materials accompanying most of the talks. Users are encouraged to use these lectures in a variety of ways, and it is easy to imagine that the talks could be used in the classroom or in other informal settings. First-time visitors may wish to start by watching "CSI-Texas: The Science of Sleuthing" and "The History and Futures of Whales," two particularly intriguing lectures. [KMG]

To find 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.brookings.edu/brown.aspx

The Brown Center on Education Policy is a part of the Brookings Institution that aims to explore "the challenges facing the American education system and to help identify practical policy solutions." The Center is home to the Brown Center Report on American Education, which has been published since 2000. The Report analyzes the state of American education using the latest measures of student learning, and it identifies and evaluates promising educational reforms. First-time visitors can click on the Publications area to browse around the collection of papers on education policy, their Letters on Education, and the aforementioned Report. The papers on education policy are well worth a look and include titles such as "Small Schools and Small Classes" and "The State of America's High Schools." On the site's homepage, visitors can make their way through Recent Research and Commentary, which includes full-text reports, op-ed pieces, and interviews from Center fellows and staff members. Additionally, visitors can create their own online portfolios where they can save papers and items of note for future reference. [KMG]

http://www.hhmi.org/news/sci_ed.html

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) offers a wide range of educational programs. Part of its work is getting out the word about its own research projects and outreach efforts. On this site, visitors can read short news articles exploring everything from the nature of human evolution and natural selection to fellowship programs. Visitors can browse throughout the offerings chronologically and also look at the important resources on the right-hand side of the page. Here they will find the HHMI On The Web, which features direct links to the BioInteractive web site and Becoming a Scientist, which features 11 HHMI scientists talking about their successes in their fields. The site is rounded out by a link that allows users to sign up for news alerts via email. [KMG]

To find 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.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/2169/en

The Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research is committed to a number of research goals, one of which is "to determine whether and how a detailed understanding of molecular mechanisms defined in model plant species can be used to rationally manipulate selected traits in crop plants." The Institute was founded in 1928 as part of the Kaiser-Willhelm-Gesellschaft and the first director, Edwin Baur, was interested in creating breeding programs with fruits and berries, though the Institute's scope has expanded since then. Visitors to the homepage should start by clicking on the News section. Here they can peruse recent releases from the Institute on how plants use mobile proteins to defend themselves against bacteria and the evolutionary "dead end" of powdery mildew. Scholars and others will want to click on the Reports and Publications area to look at some recent scholarly works and annual reports from 2009, 2006, and 2003. Moving on, the Public Outreach area contains a nice photo gallery and additional publications. [KMG]

To find 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://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/browse.htm?collectionList=scl&browseTitle=Charlotta+Bass+%2F+California
+Eagle&type=Collections&panelId=tree1Panel&summary=COLLECTION&mode=search

Charlotta Bass was born in Sumter, South Carolina in 1879 and moved to Los Angeles in 1910. Two years later, she purchased the California Eagle, one of the oldest African American newspapers in the west. Over the next forty years, she used the paper to advance a range of social causes and community activism including voter registration, housing, and employment discrimination. The staff members at the USC Digital Library project have created this fantastic digital collection of over 780 photos from the archives of the California Eagle. As the paper documented African American life in Los Angeles for many years, it is a fine way to learn about urban history and the African American community in the area. Visitors can search the entire collection by keyword, and they can also create their own customized collections for future reference. [KMG]

http://www.teachscienceandmath.com/2010/08/20/12-mobile-learning-science-applications-for-the-ipod-touch/

The Teaching Science and Math website features a range of online resources for educators of K-12 students and those in introductory college courses. This particular section of the website features programs that can be used in conjunction with the iPod Touch. All of these programs are completely free, and they are designed for use in biology, astronomy, natural history, and geography courses. The applications here include "BrainPop" (daily trivia), "Mitosis" (a guide to cell division) and "Molecules." The "Molecules" application gives students the ability to view three-dimensional renderings of molecules. Moving on, "The Chemical Touch" consists of a simplified version of the periodic table display, and it gives interested parties easy access to the masses, densities, and boiling points of the elements. [KMG]

To find 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.theapprofessor.org/

Kevin Patton is the president emeritus of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS) and he is also the brains behind the A&P (Anatomy & Physiology) Professor website. Patton has worked to create this online collection of resources for people teaching human anatomy and physiology, and it's a great counterpart to his blog of the same name. Visitors should start by looking over one of the five tabs at the top of the page, which include Resources, Topics, and How To. The How To contains resources for educators about producing online lectures and various in-class student response systems. The files here are dynamic, and they include interactive sections that make the material quite lively. Moving on, the Resources area includes an online version of an anatomy & physiology textbook created by Patton, along with links to other high-quality resources. Finally, the Lion's Den section of the site contains links to Patton's syllabi, course handouts, and a range of introductory materials for anyone who might be teaching a basic anatomy & physiology course. [KMG]

To find 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://content.lib.ua.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=exact&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=all&CISOBOX1=Confederate+Imprints+Collection

As the United States continues to explore the legacy of the Civil War, this timely collection adds to the conversation. The University of Alabama Libraries Digital Collection has created this collection of printed music created between 1861 and 1865 in the Confederacy. During its short-lived existence, the Confederacy produced more than 7,000 books, pamphlets, broadsides, maps, pieces of sheet music, pictures, and periodicals. Many collections of songs, known as songsters, were created during this period. The patriotic lyrics of these songs kept up southern morale, and they are interesting documents for musicologists, historians, and others. This collection features 50 pieces of music, including ballads like "Bonny Jean" and quick-steps like "Beauregard Manassas." Visitors can look over the pieces at their leisure, and those persons with a visual bent will be fascinated by the cover art for each musical composition. [KMG]

http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/WI/NewGlarusLocHist

Green County, Wisconsin is known far and wide due to its tremendous cheese production, breweries, and the emigration of Swiss people to the town of New Glarus in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This remarkable digital collection from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections group brings together 214 items that tell the story of this corner of Wisconsin. The collection was funded in part through a 2011 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, and it features photographs, complete books, maps, and other items. Visitors can browse the collation by subject groupings, which include Farming, Books, Business & Commerce, and Leisure & Celebration. This last grouping should not be missed, as it includes images of Burkhalter's Elite Band, the "Famous Swiss Band," and an elaborate Fourth of July Parade in 1912. Finally, the "Books" area contains tax roll documents for New Glarus in the 1850s and a 1918 atlas of Green County. [KMG]

http://exploreuk.uky.edu/exploreukhome.html

The Explore UK website is an initiative by the University of Kentucky Special Collections and it is a true delight for anyone with an interest in this storied institution and Kentucky history more generally. First-time visitors will notice a scrolling section of images that introduce the photographs and other documents that are part of this growing collection. The sections here include Images, Athletics Archive, Board of Trustees, and Yearbooks. The Images archive includes over 30,000 images that cover everything from student life to campus buildings. There are a few thematic collections here that should not be missed. First among them is the John Tuska collection, which contains over 1,100 images of pieces created by the celebrated potter/sculptor and University of Kentucky professor. The Buildings area is quite nice as well, as it contains over 1,700 images that document both the architectural ornamentation of various buildings around campus and the overall feel of the campus layout. [KMG]

http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/umarmot/?page_id=975

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst Library has an elaborate mix of digital collections available through their UMarmot program, which is the online presence of their Special Collections & University Archives division. One of the more recent digitization projects they have completed is the Distinguished Visitors Program. The Program contains talks from a wide range of visitors who came to Amherst in the 1970s. The talks here include lively conversations with Isaac Asimov, Julian Bond, Angela Davis, David Halberstam, Tom Hayden, and Jane Fonda. Visitors will also find a short description of each individual's talk, along with information about what brought him or her to campus. The talks are engaging; one of the best is the talk by David Halberstam, which features a discussion of American politics and foreign policy in the wake of Watergate. [KMG]

http://www.usgs.gov/emergency/

Most people are familiar with the work of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as it relates to describing and analyzing everything from tectonic activity to mineral deposits around the United States. People may be less familiar with their work as it relates to emergency management. This website provides information about their work to support the National Response Framework emergency support functions, along with a cornucopia of materials on the Natural Hazards Support System (NHSS), Issues of Interest, and a set of USGS Real-Time Resources. The National Hazards Support System includes an interactive world map of current natural hazard events. Visitors can toggle various natural hazard layers off and on as they see fit. Additionally, the Issues of Interest area contains updates on earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. Finally, the USGS Real-Time Resources area contains real-time updates on current landslides, streamflow conditions, and other related matters. [KMG]

http://www.un.org/en/humanitarian/

The United Nations (UN) works on a myriad of topics related to human development, including addressing ethnic strife in different parts of the globe and coordinating disaster response strategies. This particular section of the UN website provides information about their work on humanitarian affairs. Here visitors can use the right-hand side of the page to learn about various programs that are currently underway in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Haiti. One of the most useful sections of the site is the Tools area. Here visitors can find resources available to relief efforts, such as the financial tracking service, the consolidated apparel process, and the International Early Warning Programme. One tool that visitors won't want to miss learning about is the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). The CERF functions "to enable more timely and reliable humanitarian assistance to those affected by natural disasters and armed conflicts." Finally, the site also contains a Thematic Issues area, which contains information about the impact of climate change, food security problems, and other matters as they relate to the UN's humanitarian relief projects. [KMG]

http://archive.org/details/computersandtechvideos

The history of modern computing is a truly fascinating subject, and the folks at the Internet Archive have created this delightful collection of videos that document many recent developments in the field. The backbone of the 2,100 item collection is the inclusion of Computer Chronicles and Net Cafe. Computer Chronicles was a program hosted by Stewart Cheifet, broadcast from 1983 to 2002. Visitors can watch over 560 episodes of the program, which covers everything from color printers to trade shows. Moving on, visitors can view past episodes of Net Cafe, which was broadcast from 1996 to 2002. This weekly program went behind the scenes of what used to be known as the World Wide Web, and it was produced on location at Internet cafes around the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. The site is rounded out by other programs on internet governance and documentaries on Bulletin Board Services (BBS).

http://digital.lib.ucdavis.edu/projects/bwrp/

Those persons who love the work of 19th century poets will find much to capture their attention on this simple, yet thorough, website. Curated by Charlotte Payne at the University of California, Davis, this digital collection presents hundreds of works by British women writing from 1789 to 1832. The original goal of the project was to present an online scholarly archive of British and Irish women who wrote between the onset of the French Revolution until the passage of the Reform Act, which is known in English literary history as the Romantic period. There are several hundred texts available here, and visitors can scan through them alphabetically by author's last name. First-time visitors might do well to start with Mary Kay's "The Widow's Offering" which includes lovely poems such as "The Morning Star" and the tragic "A Dying Son's Farewell." Visitors can also learn about the project's participants, use the search engine, and look over a list of related web resources. [KMG]

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/instmats.html

The Pennsylvania State University Libraries have quite a trove of video materials in their collections, and over the past few years they have worked to place several dozen selections online as a type of public service. The films here are divided into three basic categories: Engineering, African Films, and Communications. The Communications area has a vast range of material, including a conversation with author and critic bell hooks about cultural criticism and transformation which draws on everything from Madonna as cultural phenomenon to the films of Spike Lee. Also, the talk by the late Edward Said on Orientalism should not be missed. The African Films area includes works such as "Ezra" which deals with the troubling situation involving child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Finally, the Communications area includes short instructional films on girding, casting, brazing and soldering, and composite materials manufacturing. Free registration via https://fps.psu.edu/ is required. [KMG]

http://webvideofetcher.com/

The WebVideoFetcher is an application designed to allow users to convert and download nearly any audio or video URL from a range of sources, such as YouTube, Google, or Facebook. Visitors can simply drop the URL for the item in question into the handy form here and the application will take care of the rest. This version is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

http://www.noodzy.com/

The World Wide Web is a big place, and Noodzy can help interested parties get around it via their helpful service. After logging into their free account, visitors can use tags to execute what the folks at Noodzy call "quick actions." With these tags, users can navigate to sites quickly, and also perform a range of actions seamlessly. This version is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]
Email: contact@...

Canadian penny to join ranks of shinplasters, half-crowns
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1154368--canadian-penny-to-join-ranks-of-shinplasters-half-crowns

Now the Canadian penny's days are numbered, is the nickel next?
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/29/now-the-canadian-pennys-days-are-numbered-is-the-nickel-next/

So long, Canadian penny. I won't miss you
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57407213-1/so-long-canadian-penny-i-wont-miss-you/

Economic Action Plan 2012 Announces Elimination of the Penny
http://www.mint.ca/store/news/economic-action-plan-2012-announces-elimination-of-the-penny-14700007?cat=News+Releases&nId=700002&nodeGroup=About+the+Mint

Coins and Canada
http://www.coinsandcanada.com/

On the Origins of Money
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/menger/money.txt

In the United States, a battle over the future of the penny has been raging for years. A number of economists and policymakers have called for the elimination of this unit of currency, pointing out that it costs more to create that its actual value of one cent. This past week, the Canadian government announced that it would be phasing out the Canadian one cent coin over the next few months, and that the last coin would be produced in the fall of 2012. Commenting on the decision, Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty remarked that "pennies take up too much space on our dressers at home." Additionally, keeping these coins in circulation cost the Canadian government $130 million (CAD) per year. Interestingly enough, Canadians will be asked to round prices up or down to the nearest nickel, but credit card users will still be able to required to pay the exact amount stated for each transaction. Also, there are conversations going around the Canadian government calling for the elimination of the nickel in the future as well. Several other countries around the world have already phased out the nickel in the past few years, including New Zealand. [KMG]

The first link will take visitors to a fun piece from the Toronto Sun's Kenneth Kidd which finds him waxing nostalgic about the good old days of the shinplaster and half-crowns. Moving along, the second link will take interested parties to an article from the National Post about the future of the Canadian nickel. The third link leads to an article from CNET's "Crave" blog. The piece features a mediation from Canadian Tim Hornyak on his utter lack of love for the Canadian one cent coin, which he says is basically "dead weight." The fourth link takes users to the official news release from last Thursday about the elimination of the penny, courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint. The fifth link leads to the Coins and Canada website, which is an excellent source of information about Canadian coins and related matters. The final link will whisk users away to a classic article from the Economic Journal titled "On the Origins of Money."

http://njlegallib.rutgers.edu/

The Rutgers University Library for the Center for Law & Justice hosts the New Jersey Digital Legal Library in order "to enhance scholarly, practitioner, and public access to the materials of New Jersey law and legal history." The materials in this prodigious online collection are divided into 16 different sections, including decisions and court documents related to affordable housing, the Attorney General's office, and executive orders issued by the governor. One particularly compelling area is the Supreme Court of New Jersey Oral Arguments Archive section. Here visitors can view the oral arguments offered before the court from 2005 to the present day. Visitors shouldn't miss the Chief Justice Joseph Weintraub Lecture Archive. Here they will find talks dating back to 1981 on topics such as "American History and the Study of Constitutional Law" and "Principled Decisions." [KMG]

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/maps/asian-cities/

The map library at the University of Chicago has thousands of maps documenting everything from the growth of early cities in the Islamic world to the ethnographic breakdown of Chicago's neighborhoods. In the past several years, the library has been working to digitize some of its maps that document Asian cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The growth of some of these cities in the past century or so has been explosive; cities such as Beijing and Kolkata (Calcutta) would be unrecognizable to a time traveller deposited in their current urban form. Visitors will find two dozen maps here, which they can browse them as they see fit. The program used to look at the maps, Zoomify, allows visitors to zoom in quite closely to look at topographic and other details. Some of the highlights here include a 1922 planning map of Bangkok, a map of Bombay from 1919, and a tour guide map of Peshawar city from 1921. [KMG]

http://www.geosociety.org/educate/NatureOfScience.htm

For those who haven't been in science class for some time, the scientific method may be a bit of a hazy memory. Those people (educators and others included) who need a bit of a refresher, along with a nice guide to talking about the scientific method, will find this resource from The Geological Society of America most efficacious. Authored by scientist Christine V. McLelland, this 9-page document "promotes understanding of the nature of science and how the scientific method is used to advance science, focusing in particular on the Earth sciences." The document covers topics like "What is Science?" and breaks the scientific method down into its five primary parts. It also offers some brief talking points about the nature of science, and a nice bibliography. [KMG]

To find 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.mdn.org/

Is it possible to wade through the wide world of news about Missouri without getting overwhelmed? This website makes the process a snap, and it's a fabulous resource created by the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri. The program is supported by journalism professionals and students animated by The Journalist's Creed, which was authored by the first dean of the University of Missouri's School of Journalism, Walter Williams. First-time visitors should read the creed, and then navigate the site to follow live action and audio from the state's house and senate. Visitors can use the "Stories" area to look up recent news pieces by subject, date, and staff member. Moving along, visitors can search for information about state government, the Supreme Court dockets, and find out how each member of the state's legislative body voted on recent bills. It's a rather fine resource, and the Twitter feed is also worth a look. [KMG]

http://www.learnaboutsma.org/

What is spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)? It is an inherited disease that affects approximately 1 in 10,000 infants born in the United States each year. There are four types of SMA, which can cause the muscles to function improperly and become smaller and weaker over time. Visitors to this site, which was created by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, should start their journey here by clicking on the What is SMA? section. Here they can watch Dr. Darryl De Vivo provide an overview of the four types of SMA and then look through video clips from other professionals who provide additional insights into the genetics behind SMA. Moving on, the SMA Science area provides high-quality animations that illustrate the various processes involved with the SMN gene (mutations of which are responsible for SMA) and protein splicing. Visitors can also click on the SMA Therapies to learn more about what's being done for people living with SMA, along with potential new treatments. [KMG]

To find 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://bioquest.org/

The original idea for BioQUEST came from Professor John R. Jungck, who taught at Beloit College in southern Wisconsin. Soon after its creation, the organization found willing partners in the guise of the Annenberg/CPB Project and other parties, including the National Science Foundation and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The goal of BioQUEST is to support "undergraduate biology education through collaborative development of open curricula in which students pose problems, solve problems, and engage in peer review." The site features information about BioQUEST's upcoming teacher education events and conferences, along with a section of Open Resources, located on the left side in the center of the page. These are publicly-accessible resources for teachers, and first-time visitors should start by looking over the Problem Spaces. The problem spaces offer "a way of organizing diverse kinds of resources to support student inquiry." Undergraduate biology teachers can take advantage of these clusters of resources organized around topics that include West Nile virus, chimpanzee conservation, and other topics. Moving along, visitors can also take advantage of the Investigative Cases, which are learning modules designed to help students in a range of fields like chemistry and health science explore different scientific scenarios. The site is rounded out by information about ongoing projects and a place where visitors can sign up for the RSS feed. [KMG]

To find 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.physionet.org/physiobank/

The PhsyioBank is an impressive archive of digital recordings of physiologic signals and related data for use by the biomedical research community. The website is maintained by the National Institute of Biomedical Imagining and Bioengineering and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and new material is being added on a regular basis. Currently, the site includes biomedical signals and reports from healthy subjects and patients with a range of conditions, including congestive heart failure, epilepsy, gait disorders, and sleep apnea. First-time visitors would do well to take the interactive tour and then use the Getting Started section for locating resources. Also, visitors should make sure to look at the PhysioBank Archives. Here they will find a complete listing of all the currently available databases, organized according to the types of signals and annotations contained in each database. Finally, visitors can send queries about the site and its database via a contact form on the site's homepage. [KMG]

To find 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.elu.sgul.ac.uk/cso/

New doctors and those studying to practice medicine may need a bit of assistance as they prepare to administer direct care to patients. The Clinical Skills Online website was created to offer some helpful videos for such persons, and was funded by the United Kingdom's Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine. The thirteen videos are all available at no cost. They cover topics like History Taking, Thyroid Examination, and Abdominal Examination. The videos contain precise language and are designed to complement existing formal medical training. Needless to say, there is a disclaimer on the website that highlights the terms under which these videos should be used. It's a nice resource for those entering a range of health care professions, and it's worth sharing with others in the field. [KMG]

To find 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.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/theo-wangemann-1889-1890-european-recordings.htm

Theo Wangemann was the world's first professional sound recordist, and was hired by Thomas Edison in 1888 to produce a set of musical recordings for the wax cylinder phonograph. Wangemann worked at Edison's West Orange, New Jersey laboratory in 1888-89. Interestingly enough, Wangemann is perhaps best known (until now) for his work recording Johannes Brahms at the piano in 1889. In 2011, the National Park Service digitized a rather curious box of wax cylinder recordings made by Wangemann during his trip through Europe. During this trip he recorded Otto von Bismarck, Helmuth von Moltke, and he even found time to make a home recording in which some of his relatives sent greetings back to family members who had emigrated to America. This website gives visitors the ability to listen to all of these remarkable recordings in their entirety. Visitors should start by reading the two original essays on the site. One of the essays provides a biographical sketch of Wangemann, and the other deals with the appearance of Bismarck and Moltke "before the recording horn." The site is rounded out by a clutch of historic photographs of Wangemann and his wax cylinders. [KMG]

http://www.towngreens.com/

This lovely website notes that the town greens of Connecticut embody the Nutmeg State's "strong self sense of history and civic pride." Created by the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, this site brings together essays, photographs, and other materials that tell the story of some of the state's most well-known town greens. First-time visitors can use the Green Link area to learn more about any of the state's 172 greens. Visitors will that the profile of each green includes a narrative essay that describes the green's landscape, its history, and prominent nearby buildings and public monuments. The Exhibits area includes in-depth looks at town greens in Guilford, New Haven, Norwich, and more. The site also includes a Data Center section. Users will find detailed information on most of the town greens in the state, along with additional data resources such as planning documents. [KMG]

http://www.umaine.edu/cfru/

Started in 1975, the University of Maine's Cooperative Forestry Research Unit (CFRU) has "conducted applied scientific research in order to provide Maine's policy makers and forest landowners with the information necessary to ensure both sustainable forest management practices and effective public policy." On the CFRU website, users will find information about current projects, publications, conferences, and so on. Clicking on the Current Projects will return brief synopses of ongoing work, which includes research projects on silviculture, wildlife habitat managements, and biodiversity across the state. Moving on, the Publications area contains annual reports and bulletins. The bulletins include briefs such as "The Maine Woods: Understanding Tomorrow's Forests Today" and recent news releases. The site also includes information about upcoming conferences, contact information and a helpful About CFRU area. [KMG]

To find 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://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/physics

At the top of this site's homepage, visitors will see a banner that proclaims "Over 70 million simulations delivered." Needless to say, the Interactive Physics Simulations site is quite popular, and the offerings here can be used in the classroom or by persons with a general curiosity about static electricity, alpha decay, and other related topics. The site is sponsored by a range of institutions, including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the National Science Foundation. The site includes three dozen different simulations, many of which are available in over a dozen languages, including French, Russian, Chinese, Italian, and Vietnamese. First-time visitors might want to start with the "Build an Atom" which affords visitors the opportunity to build an atom out of protons, neutrons, and electrons and then play a fun game after they're done. Also, users can look at the simulations by topical headings, which include "Sound & Waves", "Heat & Thermo", and "Light & Radition". [KMG]

To find 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.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1103.html

Therese Delpech was known for her work on international relations and her service at the French Atomic Energy Commission and as an adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross. She passed away in January 2012, and the RAND Corporation recently published her last work, which is available on this site. This 196-page work calls for "a renewed intellectual effort to address the relevance of the traditional concepts of first strike, escalation, extended deterrence, and other Cold War-era strategies." The work is divided into seven thematic chapters, including "Ahead of Us: The Big Piracy Game?" "Space and Cyberdeterrence," and "Lesson From Crises." This last chapter is quite intriguing as it looks at past Cold War crises with an eye towards the future and how interested parties might understand future critical junctures. This work is well-written and thoughtful, and for those persons studying international affairs, political science, and other topics, it will be worth a look. [KMG]

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/sos/

A unique partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASCAR is the basis for this fun and informative website. The site features twelve episodes created as part of "The Science of Speed," hosted by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky. Each episode features a NASCAR car in a variety of racing and testing situations, and some special guests turn up, such as Jeff Gordon and Michael McDowell. The topics covered here include car safety, drag & drafting, grip, sound, and friction. Each clip is accompanied by racing footage and expert commentary that makes each encounter lively and compelling. This is a great way to pique the interest of those persons who might find certain aspects of physics and related fields a bit inaccessible. Visitors shouldn't miss the "Firesuits" episode as it explores the world of these very important safety devices. [KMG]

To find 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.britishmuseum.org/explore/themes/time/introduction.aspx

What is time? What does it mean to us? These are a but a few of the arresting questions asked by the British Museum's online exhibit exploring the nature, structure, and history of time, time-keeping, and other related subjects. This particular section is part of their larger "Explore" online collection, and it draws on their the British Museum's vast holdings to look into this scientific, cultural, and historical phenomenon. The site includes five sections, including Measuring and Keeping Time, Personal Time, and The Effects of Time. The Measuring and Keeping Time area is quite arresting, and it includes images of a Native American 'winter counts' cloth which served as a recorder of events that took place between 1785 and 1901. Moving on, The Effects of Time area is rather remarkable as well, as it contains material on how humans have attempted to stop or slow down the passage of time via techniques like retaining a youthful portrait of an aging ruler on coins and paper money. [KMG]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/collections/72157623971712149/

Today, a sports bar near a professional sports venue is a given. Usually there are many sports bars, and they are loud, boisterous places decorated with photographs of celebrated players and memorabila. Back in the 1890s, one Michael T. McGreevey of Boston opened a bar that became the headquarters of the Boston Royal Rooters, the "rabid and riotous" fans of Boston's various professional baseball teams. His saloon was located near the old Huntington Avenue Grounds, and by the early 1900s, it was decorated with hundreds of photos of baseball players. After his tavern closed in in the early years of Prohibition, McGreevey's collection found its way to the Boston Public Library. This marvelous digital collection brings together more than 170 photographs that once appeared on the walls of his tavern, and they tell the story of Boston's baseball teams and the city's history more generally. Visitors will find images of the old Huntington Avenue Grounds (where the first World Series was played), Cy Young, Boston policemen, and Mr. McGreevey himself. It's quite a collection, and one that is worth sharing with fans of America's pastime. [KMG]

http://www.google.com/elections/ed/us/results

Google has developed this helpful web-based tool to help citizens, journalists, and others stay abreast of various political campaigns throughout the United States. Visitors can view and interact with a clickable map of the United States to find out information about each candidate and his (or potentially her) activities. Additionally, visitors can use the Issues area to track news items on topics like the economy, immigration, healthcare, and others. This version is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

http://miitla.com/

Miitla is a convenient acronym for Mind It Later, and it allows users to save interesting websites or online items of note for future reference. Visitors need to just sign up for a free account and they will have the ability to create categories and make notes as a reminder of why each item was worthy of saving. It's a nice way to save online resources for future use and it is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

Stalled in Motor City
http://www.economist.com/node/21552249?fsrc=scn%5Cu00252Ffb%5Cu00252Fwl%5Cu00252Far%5Cu00252Fstalledinmotorcity

Deal Might Be The Key to Save Detroit
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/06/150129157/deal-might-be-the-key-to-save-detroit

Blotting-Not Squatting-In Detroit Neighborhoods
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/05/142341520/blotting-not-squatting-in-detroit-neighborhoods

Detroit right to accept agreement
http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20120410/OPINION01/304100010

DSO outlook upbeat, but funding worries persist
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120410/ENT01/204100358/DSO-outlook-upbeat--but-funding-worries-persist

Detroit Can't Wait
http://www.michigan.gov/detroitcantwait

The city of Detroit has faced a wide range of troubles over the past several decades, including significant population losses, a declining tax base, and the economic restructuring and reconfiguration of its primary industry, automobile manufacturing. This past week, Mayor Dave Bing signed an agreement with Governor Rick Snyder that will prevent the city from having to declare bankruptcy, which seemed like a solution that was in the best interest of many stakeholders, including residents of the Motor City. The city currently holds long-term debt that is close to $12 billion, and the hope is that this cooperative agreement will address the city's long-term fiscal problems. As part of his commitment to the process, Governor Snyder launched a website ("Detroit Can't Wait") that states that "in the short term…the streetlights are on at night and the trash is picked up." The city will also have to review long-term contracts and agreements with a number of its unionized employees, which may also be a difficult and involved process. The city can ill afford to wait to move forward, as without new loans Detroit will run out of cash in mid-May. [KMG]

The first link leads to a piece from last week's The Economist which talks about Detroit's recent financial woes. The second link will take visitors to a good report on the recent deal between the city and the state government filed by NPR as part of their "Tell Me More" series. The third link will whisk users away to a piece on "blotting" in Detroit. As the NPR feature describes it, "blotting" is the process by which some Detroit residents are annexing vacant lots around their own property and making use of this otherwise abandoned land. The fourth link leads to an editorial from this Monday's Port Huron Times Herald on this recent decision that notes that "the troubled city [Detroit] truly has embarked on the long road to right itself." Moving along, the fifth link leads to a piece from this Tuesday's Detroit News about the financial situation of the world-famous Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The last link will take interested parties to the website created by Governor Snyder to inform Michigan residents and members of the public about the ongoing situation in Detroit regarding the city's financial health.

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/lectures/

Over the past few decades, higher education has been vastly transformed by online course offerings and myriad changes driven by technological advances and innovation. The old model of straight lectures and recitations to courses large and small has been challenged by new research as well. This documentary from American RadioWorks looks at different educators and institutions as they think about how to transform the college classroom experience. The lead reporter for this project was Emily Hanford, and visitors can listen to the entire program here. The program is divided into three primary sections, including The Problem with Lecturing and Inventing a New Kind of College, which looks into the innovative learning environment that's been created at the University of Minnesota at Rochester. Visitors can also read a transcript of the program and flip through the Reporter's Notebook which features Hanford's own thoughts on these ambitious efforts. [KMG]

http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412523-public-housing-transformation.pdf

As the city of Chicago began the plan to transform its notoriously poorly-run Chicago Housing Authority in the early 1990s, many wondered what would become of its residents and the surrounding communities. This recent report from the Urban Institute looks into the "complex relationship between public housing transformation and crime in Chicago and Atlanta." Authored by five different researchers at the Institute, this 11-page document takes a close look at crime rates in the communities that relocated public housing residents into private-market housing. The report notes that the effects were "not the simplistic relationship implied by media accounts, but rather a complex picture of declining crime rates in both cities, a small net decrease in violent crime citywide associated with the transformation efforts, but effects in some neighborhoods—those that received more than a few relocated households—that suggest that crime would have been lower in those neighborhoods had there been no public housing transformation." The report includes a number of helpful charts and summary statistics, and it will be most useful to policy analysts and planners. [KMG]

https://public.ornl.gov/site/gallery/default.cfm

The United States Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research has compiled this prodigious image gallery from a wide range of scientific research projects. The materials here come from the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, the Human Genome Project, and the Microbial Genomics initiative. Visitors can make their way through galleries that include Genomic Science Image Gallery, Climate Science Image Gallery, and Human Genome Project (1990-2003) Gallery. First-time visitors might do well to look over the images from the Human Genome Project first, as they will find colorful and interesting visual documentation of this ambitious project, along with slides and other materials that can be used in classroom settings. Moving along, the Climate Science Image Gallery contains a nice range of images related to atmosphere science, including a great graphic that illustrates atmospheric processes and global carbon cycle components. [KMG]

To find 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.webguru.neu.edu/

Created via a partnership between the National Science Foundation and Northeastern University, the Web Guide to Research for Undergraduates (WebGURU) is an "interactive web-based tool intended to assist undergraduates navigate the hurdles of an undergraduate research experience." The site offers great primers for undergraduates seeking such an experience, and sections of note here include Professionalism, In the Lab, Communicating Science, and Mentoring Issues. Undergraduates new to the world of lab research should start by looking over the Getting Started section. Here they will find important articles on topics such as Questions To Ask, Negotiating Your Salary, and Getting Selected. Moving on, visitors shouldn't miss the Research Profiles page which includes interviews and personal stories from respected researchers, industry experts, and students. The site is rounded out by the Program Listings area, which shares upcoming internship opportunities around the country. [KMG]

To find 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.ascb.org/ivl/design/education.html

This site was created by the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) to provide educators and the generally curious with links to high-quality resources. The links here are divided into seventeen different areas, including Systems Biology, Cytoskeleton & Cell Dynamics, and Microscopy. Visitors may wish to start with the ASCB sites, which include online biology seminars and access to the ASCB's own Life Sciences Education online journal. The Teaching Tools area includes a section dedicated to materials appropriate for K-12 students and undergraduates, including teaching resources on plant pathology and the microbe library, which is maintained by the American Society for Microbiology. Additionally, the site includes nine different textbooks and lab manuals from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Gustavus Adolphus College. [KMG]

To find 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.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/biology.html

The Sumanas Corporation was created in 1994 to help design accurate and interesting products for higher education. Along on the way, they have seen fit to create a range of complementary online animations for students and teachers interested in biology. On this page, visitors will find 37 helpful animations that cover a range of topics. The first two on the site address meiosis and mitosis and they are a good place to start for any student of general biology. Each one of the animations includes audio narration, along with a step-by-step tutorial and a short quiz. Other favorites here include "The Scientific Method" and "Simple Stimuli Trigger Fixed Behaviors" Overall, the site is well-designed and it may pique the curiosity of those who haven't thought much about biology in some time. [KMG]

To find 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.exploratorium.edu/geometryplayground/

You've probably been to a playground, but have you been to the Geometry Playground? It's just as much fun, and it may change the way you think about geometry. Created by the good folks at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, this exhibit is meant to complement the traveling exhibit which has been featured in other science museums around the United States. The exhibit here contains three sections: Seeing, Moving, and Fitting Things Together. In the Seeing exhibit, visitors can make their way through a fine photo essay about the invisible geometry of light, while the Moving section gets interested parties up and exploring geometry with their bodies. Each of these sections has great photo essays, complemented by animations and fun activities.

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/flant

The Florida Anthropologist was first published in May 1948, and the journal is well-known for its scholarly pieces that look into topics such as Spanish colonial archaeological digs and pre-Columbian societies. The journal is published under the auspices of the Florida Anthropological Society, and the University of Florida Libraries have digitized all of its back issues. Currently, there are 184 issues available on the site, and visitors can search the contents by subject, geographic area, and author. It's interesting to look at some of the articles from the early years, such as "The Agriculture of the Early North Florida Indians" and "Toward Chronology in Coastal Volusia County." For anyone with a penchant for Florida history or anthropology in general, this website will be most interesting. [KMG]

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?topic=history&col_id=173

The New York Public Library has a vast cornucopia of medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, and this gorgeous website brings together over 2,000 manuscript pages from these volumes. The works date from the 9th to the 16th centuries, and they "give vivid testimony to the creative impulses of the often nameless craftsmen who continually discovered new ways of animating the contents of hand-produced books." These works include a 10th century Ottonian manuscript (complete with its imitation of Byzantine textile with gold decoration) and the Towneley Lectionary, which was illuminated by Giulio Clovio. Visitors can click on the Collection Contents to get started with an alphabetical list of all the works here. Additionally, they can click on Related Subjects to look for complementary materials within the Library's digital collections. [KMG]

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/cja/jazzmaps/ctlframe.htm

University of Chicago alumnus and long-time Hyde Park resident Leon H. Lewis was a great lover of jazz and he spent many an evening in the jazz clubs of the South Side. As part of the Chicago Jazz Club Project, several employees of the Chicago Jazz Archive at the University of Chicago worked with Lewis to create a map of Chicago's jazz clubs from roughly 1915 to the early 1940s. Visitors can view the map in segments, or they can look at the entire map in one fell swoop. For each map, visitors can click on each of the clubs to learn a bit more about the location and view period advertisements and photographs. Additionally, visitors can click on the Club Lists section to view an entire list of all the clubs, complete with brief listing of performers who entertained at each establishment on a regular or semi-regular basis. [KMG]

http://www.housingpolicy.org/

Understanding the variegated terrain of local and state housing policies is key for urban planners, geographers, and others with an interest in the built environment and public policy. This site was created by the Center for Housing Policy (the research affiliate of the National Housing Conference) in order to provide information for "expanding the availability of homes for working families and others in your community." The site was launched in 2008, and includes sections such as Toolbox, Building a Strategy, and Forum. The Getting Started area provides answers to basic questions such as "What is 'affordable housing'?" and "What is 'subsidized housing'?" Moving on, the Toolbox area includes documents and summaries on specific policy tools designed for a variety of reasons, from meeting the housing needs of older adults to improving residential energy efficiency. Visitors won't want to miss the Building a Strategy area. Here they will find information about how to create a successful housing strategy that will provide residential units for a range of community members. [KMG]

http://floradelaterre.com/index.php?id=6

Flora Delaterre has been dispensing wisdom about plants and their medicinal uses since 1996. The "Plant Detective" radio show of which she is a part started life at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy at the University of Montana. Visitors can listen to current and archived broadcasts from Flora on this website or elect to tune in live on Saturday evenings or Monday afternoons. The site has five primary sections, including Medicinal Plants, Radio Show/Podcasts, and Coloring Book. The Medicinal Plants area contains a nice overview of Flora's work investigating the role of medicinal plants throughout the ages. Moving on, the Radio Show features dozens of past shows, organized by plant name. First-time visitors might want to start out by listening to "Kudzu," "Lily of the Valley," and "Basil." Visitors are encouraged to offer feedback on the program, and can also follow Flora via Twitter. [KMG]

To find 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://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/grantwood/

Grant Wood is best known for his painting "American Gothic," but what of his other works? There are many, of course, and this remarkable digital collection from the University of Iowa Libraries presents a trove of visual material, scrapbooks, and other material objects from his life and career. The materials here come from the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, and funding for the digital collection came from the Henry Luce Foundation. Visitors can scroll through the scrapbooks here, and also wander around topical sections that include Obituaries, American Gothic, and Daughters of Revolution. These materials were compiled by his sister (who was also occasionally his model), Nan Wood Graham. Visitors shouldn't miss the Time in Europe section, as it contains newspaper articles and other items that relate the story of how important Wood's travels were to his art and life. [KMG]

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ftvhtml/ftvhome.html

To sit down with a group of friends to sing and play musical instruments qualifies as a great experience for many, and humans have reveled in such get-togethers for millennia. This beautiful digital collection from the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress presents 100 sound recordings from the folk festival at Fort Valley State College in Georgia. The recordings primarily consist of blues and gospel songs and related documentation, which includes notes from these field recordings and other related materials. Visitors to the site can read biographies of the individuals who made the recordings, along with a topical essay titled "Noncommercial Recordings: The 1940s." Also, there's a map of the region, along with a selected bibliography. Those persons looking for a few songs to start with shouldn't miss the recordings of "Bottle Up and Go" and "Death is an Awful Thing." [KMG]

http://newspapers.library.cornell.edu/collect/FOM/

There are many ways to understand the anti-slavery movements in the United States during the 19th century, and newspapers are but one of the key primary document types used by historians. Cornell University is fortunate enough to have a near complete run of the "Friend of Man" newspaper, which was published between 1836 and 1842. This very intriguing title allows curious visitors to learn about a group of people in central New York interested in "changing America" during this unique period. The paper documents the "regional interconnectedness of reform" throughout the region, with a focus on cities such as Utica, Rochester, Buffalo, Albany and New York City. Visitors to the site can browse through the various issues at their leisure and they can also perform a full-text search. [KMG]

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/printout/

There are several ways for online visitors to approach MoMA's massive exhibition on printmaking since the 1990s. Use Exhibition Views to virtually stroll through 31 shots of the galleries in which the over 200 works in the show are arranged - it can be difficult to read the labels, but a 40-page exhibition checklist that includes a thumbnail view of each piece is provided, so cross-referencing is easy. Choose Works in the Online Collection to do a search that retrieves works included in Print/Out from MoMA's online catalog. The resulting list can be sorted by artist's name, date, or title. Finally, the Selected Projects section showcases a number of projects related to the show, for example, Felix Gonzalez-Torres's project based on “Untitled” (1991), a black & white photograph of the artist’s empty bed, that was reproduced billboard size and shown at various locations around New York City between February 20 and March 18, 2012. Other projects are Rirkrit Tiravanija's rucksack installations, and Lucy McKenzie's editions of prints she call posters.
[DS]

http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

For those who have grown tired of using expensive video editors, this handy program may offer a nice alternative. Avidemux is a video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. The program supports a wide range of tile formats, and some of the tasks here can be automated using projects, job queue, and different scripting capabilities. This version is compatible with all operating systems, including Linux. [KMG]

http://gottcode.org/focuswriter/

In a media-rich environment with a wide range of entertainment on-demand, it can be hard to focus for more than a few minutes at a time. Focus Writer provides a simple, distraction-free writing environment. The program utilizes a hide-away interface that users access by moving their mouse to the edges of the screen, and it's quite helpful. This version is compatible with all operating systems, including Linux. [KMG]

Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/16/150745400/pulitzer-prize-winners-announced

Sara Ganim among 2012 Pulitzer winners
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/16/us/pulitzer-prize-winners/index.html

Pulitzer Prize winning composer, a Michigan native, is a frequent visitor to local concert halls
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/04/pulitzer_prize_winning_compose_1.html

Book world expresses disappointment, outrage over Pulitzer snub
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0417/Book-world-expresses-disappointment-outrage-over-Pulitzer-snub

And the Winner Isn't…[Free registration may be required]
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/opinion/and-the-winner-of-the-pulitzer-isnt.html?_r=1

2012 Pulitzer: Prize Feature Writing
http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2012-Feature-Writing

History of the Pulitzer Prizes
http://www.pulitzer.org/historyofprizes

In early April, there is always a bit of a buzz surrounding the announcement of the Pulitzer Prizes. The awards were first given out in 1917 as part of the legacy of Joseph Pulitzer, a captain of the newspaper industry in late 19th-century America. This year's prizes were announced this week, and as usual, a diverse set of news outlets and commentators offered a broad range of comment on the selections. The Christian Science Monitor was one of the first news outlets to comment on the fact that a prize for fiction was not awarded this year, and other people, including author Ann Patchett, offered comment as well. One of the Pulitzer Prize jurors, Susan Larson, told National Public Radio that she was "shocked…angry…and very disappointed." Writing in the New York Times this Tuesday, Ann Patchett remarked that "The Pulitzer Prize is our best chance as writers and readers and booksellers to celebrate fiction. This was the year we all lost." It's worth noting that the last time a fiction award was not given was in 1977, when the fiction jury chose Norman MacLean's beautiful "A River Runs Through It," but the Pulitzer Board chose not to award the prize. [KMG]

The first link will take visitors to a news report from National Public Radio about the winners of this year's Pulitzer Prizes. The second link will whisk users away to a piece from the CNN website about Sara Ganim, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize along with her colleagues at The Patriot-News in Harrisburg for their reporting on the Penn State sex abuse scandal. Moving along, the third link leads to a piece from this Tuesday's Michigan Live about Kevin Puts, a Michigan native and the recipient of this year's Pulitzer Prize for music. The fourth link will take users to an article from this Tuesday's Christian Science Monitor about the decision not to award a Pulitzer this year in the fiction category. The fifth link will take interested parties to Ann Patchett's opinion piece from the New York Times about this decision. The sixth link leads to the very moving and heart-wrenching piece by Eli Sanders of Seattle's "The Stranger" weekly that garnered him this year's Pulitzer Prize for feature reporting. The final link will take users to a very thorough and engaging website that explores the history of the Pulitzer Prizes. [KMG]