The Scout Report -- Volume 23, Number 43

Richard P. Feynman was a theoretical physicist whose contributions to quantum physics earned him the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics (along with Julian Schwinger and Shinichiro Tomonaga). Feynman, along with Robert Leighton and Matthew Sands, authored a three-volume textbook entitled The Feynman Lectures on Physics, based on a series of lectures he delivered to his students at the California Institute of Technology between 1961 and 1964. Today, Caltech's Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy and the Feynman Lecture Website makes all three volumes of this textbook freely available for anyone interested in reading the textbook. Importantly however, the site emphasizes that while readers are welcome to explore the lectures online, they do not have permission to download these texts. Visitors can explore each chapter (or lecture) in this series with ease via each volume's table of contents. Topics covered include Newton's laws, the theory of gravitation, and quantum behavior. [MMB]

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The ALAN Review is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English (ALAN). As explained on ALAN's official webpage, this journal is "devoted solely to the field of literature for young adults." Launched in 1994, this tri-annual journal is targeted toward writers and readers of young adult literature, including teachers and librarians. Virginia Tech's Digital Library and Archives hosts the e-journal's archives, providing full access to all issues of The ALAN Review once issues are two years old. In the Summer 2015 issue of this journal, readers will find an article about teaching graphic novels in secondary classrooms; a published conversation between acclaimed YA writers Jennifer Donnelly and Christopher Paul Curtis; and a review of the book A Cure for Dreaming. Folks interested in reading more recent material from The ALAN Review can find digitized versions of select current articles on the organization's website. [MMB]

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California Art Research was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project designed to raise awareness of artists based in San Francisco. The project, carried out between February 1936 and May 1938, was headed by art critic Junius S. Craven and art reviewer Gene Hailey. UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library has created this website dedicated to the archival material and research collected and produced during the project, including photographs of artwork and biographical information about featured artists. Perhaps the best place to start exploring this collection is on the site's homepage, which features the original 1936 introduction to the project alongside an essay about the project by art historian Ellen Schwartz. From here, visitors can visit pages dedicated to individual artists involved in the project via the Artist tab. Each artist's page includes numerous digitized artworks, along with a bibliography for those interested in further reading. [MMB]

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Baruch S. Blumberg was a physician and geneticist most well known for identifying the Hepatitis B virus and for creating a vaccine. The American Philosophical Society (APS) recently created this online exhibit about Blumberg that was "designed to highlight the influence of the philosophy of science that coursed through his scientific career." This exhibit features a number of primary documents that may be of interest to students of science and philosophy alike. For example, visitors can explore a handwritten diagram that Blumberg created to represent the scientific research process. As the exhibit notes, this document was informed by the ideas of Karl Popper and Jacob Bronowski. Visitors can also read a 1980 letter that Blumberg wrote to philosopher Thomas Kuhn. All items in this exhibit come from the APS's Baruch S. Blumberg papers; researchers interested in learning more about what is in this collection can find complete collection information via the link at the bottom of this exhibit. [MMB]

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Mathematics teachers and tutors, especially those who work with students with special needs, may be interested in the Learning Kaleidoscope. Authored by Andrew Gael, who teaches mathematics at a K-12 school designed for students with disabilities, this blog is designed to share instructional techniques and build community amongst math teachers. Teachers may want to start by checking out the Tasks & Instructional Routines tab, which features hands-on-activities designed to engage students in math concepts. One highlight of this collection is a shopping activity related to financial literacy. Under the #SwDMathChat (Students with Disabilities Math Chat) tab, instructors can check out archived chats that took place between mathematics teachers on Twitter. Each conversation centers on a different topic related to teaching math to students with disabilities, including collaboration with general education teachers and neurodiversity. Those interested in following Andrew Gael on Twitter and participating in future math chats can find him at @bkdidact. [MMB]

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Letters to a Young Librarian is a blog by Academic Librarian Jessica Olin, who currently serves as the Director of Library Services at Wesley College in Dover, Delaware. Olin launched this blog in 2011 as "a way to communicate directly with library science graduate students and new professional librarians." Updated multiple times a month, Letters to a Young Librarian features interviews with a range of librarian professionals and advice about various issues, including how to pitch your skillset and how to achieve work/life balance as a librarian. In addition to conducting regular interviews with librarians from a wide variety of backgrounds and specialties, Olin also frequently invites fellow librarians to write guests posts, offering a diversity of perspectives about librarianship in the twenty-first century. [MMB]

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Anne Finch was an early eighteenth century British poet whose works include the popular poem "The Spleen." In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf wrote that because Finch was largely overlooked by male critics during her lifetime, her talent was "all grown about with weeds and bound with briars" and "had no chance of showing itself for the fine distinguished gift it was." The Anne Finch Digital Archive was created by English scholars Jennifer Keith and Claudia Thomas Kairoff to accompany their book The Works of Anne Finch: A Critical Edition. Here, visitors can explore a handful of Finch's poems, which are accompanied by audio recordings, a short analytical essay, and links to related resources. In addition, the Anne Finch Digital Archives includes a short essay, authored by Keith, on Finch's work and its significance, along with an essay authored by Kairoff, Keith, and Jennifer Bowman about Finch's husband, Heneage Finch. Those interested in further researching Finch will also want to check out the site's extensive Bibliography. [MMB]

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From the University of Georgia's (UGA) Extension Viticulture team, part of UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, comes this blog that aims to "educate, inform, and conduct applied research that will support and positively impact the fast growing grape/wine industry in the state of Georgia, but also neighboring southeastern US regions." Regularly updated, this blog addresses topics including meteorology and viticulture (most recently authored by agricultural climatologist Pam Knox), diseases that affect grape crops, and how to protect crops from birds and mammals. While most entries are aimed specifically at viticulturists in the southeastern United States, some posts appeal more broadly to a global perspective of viticulture. For example, one recent post features a round up about news items regarding weather and wine-growing around the world. [MMB]

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Staring Out to Sea is an oral history project dedicated to collecting the stories of those impacted by Hurricane Sandy, which struck parts of North America's eastern coastline in 2012. This project is directed by historian Abigail Perkiss of New Jersey's Kean University, and features the work of a number of undergraduate students at Kean. Collectively, these students interviewed dozens of individuals who survived Hurricane Sandy and recorded their stories, offering insight into the human impact of the hurricane. On this website, visitors can browse and listen to these stories via the interview tab. Most of these interviews are currently hosted at the website of the University of Kentucky Library's Louis B. Nunn Center for Oral History. Many of these interviews have been organized into topics (e.g. Media Coverage of Hurricane Sandy; Impact of Hurricane Sandy on Elections), so that listeners interested in a particular topic can skip to the portions of each interview that are of special interest. This collection may especially appeal to anyone with a connection to New Jersey or other areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy, as well as those interested in oral history. [MMB]

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James Romaine is a Professor of Art History at Nyack College who teaches courses on topics including nineteenth century art and the intersection of Christianity and visual art. He also hosts Seeing Art History, a series of short (ten minutes in length) art history lessons freely available on YouTube. Each lesson features a number of images accompanied by a short lecture. As of this write up, these videos are organized into ten playlists, which include the Annunciation in the Early Italian Renaissance, The Unicorn Tapestries, and Claude Monet: Plein-Aire Naturalism in the 1860s. Other playlists feature commentary of the work of artists Honore Daumier, Albrecht Durer, and Sandro Botticelli. [MMB]

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From Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News and Southern California Public Radio comes Brains On: "a podcast for kids and curious adults" dedicated to all things science. This podcast is released weekly and is hosted by MPR's Molly Bloom. Episodes frequently incorporate interviews with upper-elementary and middle school-aged children when introducing facts that may be surprising to listeners of all ages. One recent episode explores the sea lamprey invasions in the Great Lakes region. Another recent episode explores the science of crying and tears - yet another episode explores a recent viral video of zebra flatulence to explore the science behind animal farts. Episodes vary in length from about ten to 40 minutes. Visitors can listen to all current and past episodes on this website, where individual episodes are accompanied by related resources. Listeners can also subscribe to this podcast in a number of ways, including via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and RSS. [MMB]

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Rodolfo Lanciani (1845-1929) was an archaeologist and topographer who studied Ancient Rome. Stanford University, in collaboration with Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and several other institutional sponsors, recently unveiled this digitized collection of hundreds of photographs, prints and other materials from the Rodolfo Lanciani Archive that offers a glimpse into the history and architecture of Rome. Perhaps the best way to start exploring this collection is by perusing curated essays, which visitors can find under the tab labeled The Collection. These essays provide context to collection materials by offering a history of both Lanciani's work as well as Roman architecture and culture. From here, visitors can browse over 4,000 items via the Explore section of the website. Visitors are invited to zoom in to view each image in this collection in great detail. In addition, the collection is designed to allow visitors to download images or embed images in another web page with ease. [MMB]

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The Repository is the UK Royal Society's official blog dedicated to the history of science. Authored by Royal Society staff, this blog features updates about the Society's archival collection that may be of interest to the general public. For example, one recent post describes the papers of Maurice Stevenson Bartlett, a statistician who traveled the world and drew caricatures. Another blog posts reveals the origins of the Easter Bunny: a seventeenth century German physician named Georg Franck von Frankenau. (To learn the full story, check out the April 12, 2017 blog update.) Yet another post investigates the cause of a mysterious illness that affected British soldiers stationed in Malta during the Crimean War. Visitors are invited to browse past blog posts by category tags including Correspondence, Expeditions, Illustrations, Journals, and more. [MMB]

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The Colinus virginianus ridgwayi (colloquially known as the masked bobwhite quail) once dwelled in much of North America, including parts of Arizona and most of the eastern and central United States. However, the bird has not been spotted in the United States since the turn of the twentieth century. Today, a team of biologists at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge is studying the bird's behavior and genetics with the aim of reintroducing the species to part of its historical habitat. On this Esri Story Map, created by Holly Eagleston of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Society, readers can learn more about the masked bobwhite quail and the efforts to protect this endangered species. This story map, which features maps, photographs, diagrams, and more, will be of interest to bird lovers as well as those interested in learning more about the work of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. [MMB]

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The Iowa State University Special Collections Library has a collection of over 3,000 cookbooks, dating from the late 1800s to the early 2000s, created by women's groups, churches, Iowa companies and restaurants, as well as other types of institutions such as radio stations. A few of the cookbooks have been digitized and are available as part of the University Library Digital Collections, but many more can be located by searching either the library catalog or all digital collections using terms such as Cooking, American - Iowa; Cooking, American - Midwestern style; Cooking - Iowa. It's also possible to search the digital collections by keyword to locate recipes by ingredient, but it can be a bit difficult to navigate to the desired page. A related digital resource is Kitchen-Klatter, the magazine companion to a popular radio show of the same name, that aired from 1926-1986, and featured household tips, recipes, and childrearing advice. The magazine was published monthly from 1936-1986 and had a circulation of 150,000 at its highest point. The November 1974 issue of Kitchen-Klatter provides turkey carving tips and a no-bake pumpkin pie on page 12. Most of the cookbooks are black & white, but "Sinclair's Fidelity Meats," a collection of recipes for using this Cedar Rapids, Iowa company's canned meat products, compiled by home economist Janet McKenzie Hill, 1852-1933, features a colorful cover. [DS]

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We all use the web in a variety of contexts and with a variety of roles, but most web browsers don't provide a way to separate browsing data from those different usages. The Firefox Multi-Account Containers extension provides a solution to this problem. Users may create as many distinct containers as they wish, each of which maintains its own separate set of browsing data. By default, the plugin provides containers for "personal, work, finance, and shopping." None of the browsing data from tabs in the "Personal" container will be available to the "Work" containers. So, for example, a user could log in to a work Twitter account and a personal Twitter account simultaneously in different browser tabs - similarly for work and personal email. A user could also keep social media sites like Facebook confined in their own container to keep these sites from tracking the user across the web. [CRH]

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Brave is a web browser built to safeguard end-user privacy against tracking companies and intrusive advertisers while also providing a way for content producers to be paid for their work. According to Brendan Eich, co-founder of Brave Software, the web currently faces a "primal threat" caused by a growing conflict between users and the advertising companies so often necessary for authors to be compensated for the work they put online. In addition to their sheer intrusiveness, ads and trackers also increase the "page weight" of sites, which can lead to increased data charges for mobile users. The Brave homepage presents data showing that these costs add up to about $270 per year for the average mobile user. By default, Brave blocks these ads and trackers. Users may instead opt-in to a monthly contribution that Brave Software will distribute among sites the user has visited. Brave for mobile is available for iOS and Android devices. Beta releases of Brave for desktops are available for Windows, macOS, and several Linux distributions. [CRH]

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