The Scout Report -- Volume 25, Number 35

Literature instructors who use the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as part of their curriculum may want to check out this lesson unit created by Eileen Mattingly for EDSITEment, the National Endowment for the Humanities' database of free teaching materials. Here readers will find three lesson plans focused on magical realism in Garcia Marquez's masterpiece. In the first lesson, students "identify 'magical' elements of the novel and analyze how Garcia Marquez used a 'realistic' voice to give them credibility." The second lesson focuses on the author's use of real historical events. In the third lesson students read Garcia Marquez's acceptance speech when he was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature, then analyze the ideas he presented in his speech in the context of magical realism. These lesson plans were written with high school students in mind, but undergraduate instructors may also find them helpful. Downloadable worksheets and reading assignments (not including the novel) are available, as are suggestions for assessments. [JDC]

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Throughout much of the US, recycling bins have become a ubiquitous partner to trash cans in homes, businesses, and public walkways. But after a water bottle or soda can is deposited into a recycling bin, what happens to it from there? Until recently, recyclable waste generated by the US (and many other countries) was typically sold to China after being sorted and cleaned in a domestic Materials Recovery Facility. This changed in January 2018, when China's National Sword policy, which effectively banned the importation of foreign recyclables, was put into effect. What inspired this policy change, and how has it affected the global recycling economy? In this episode of the podcast 99% Invisible, released in February 2019, host Roman Mars and producer Avery Trufelman explore these and other questions one year after National Sword went into effect. They speak with experts such as Kate O'Neill, an associate professor of environmental science, policy, and management at the University of California-Berkeley, and Robert Reed, a representative of the San Francisco recycling company Recology. As an added bonus, at the end of this episode listeners will also hear the May 2016 episode "Separation Anxiety," which explores how the city of Taipei's recycling system compares to practices in the US. [JDC]

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Physics educators may already be familiar with the highly regarded website The Physics Classroom, but chemistry instructors and students should also check it out. In addition to their numerous Concept Builders for physics (see the 5-18-2018 Scout Report), The Physics Classroom has recently created a series of Concept Builders for chemistry as well. For those unfamiliar with The Physics Classroom's Concept Builders, they describe them as "interactive questioning modules that present learners with carefully crafted questions that target various aspects of a concept." As of this write-up, the site offers 30 of these tutorial modules for chemistry, and the creators plan to add more during the upcoming academic year. Some of the concepts visitors will find covered on the site include fundamentals like significant digits and identifying the difference between chemical and physical properties, as well as topics including stoichiometry and the Bronsted-Lowry model of acids and bases. First launched in 1996, The Physics Classroom is the creation of Tom Henderson, a physics and chemistry teacher at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois. [JDC]

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Over the past decade, numerous industries and aspects of daily life have become increasingly reliant on data and the field of data science has emerged as a career path and academic discipline. The consensus study report Data Science for Undergraduates, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and published in May 2018 by the National Academies Press, may be of particular interest to college-level STEM educators and administrators. This report "offers a vision for the emerging discipline of data science at the undergraduate level [and] outlines some considerations and approaches for academic institutions and others in the broader data science communities to help guide the ongoing transformation of this field." Among the report's many recommendations, its authors note that since data-driven decision-making is an important part of virtually every job sector, data science university programs should aim to attract students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Those interested can read the full 120-page report online or download it as a PDF for free, and it is also available to purchase as a paperback or ebook. Additionally, visitors can view a short video of the report's highlights and an hour-long public briefing video under the Resources tab. [JDC]

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We've all heard by word of mouth about products that may contain suspect ingredients, but this collection of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) judgments from NIH/NLM (National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine) has the full story. The collection contains summaries of the outcomes of federal court cases against manufacturers and their products that were prosecuted under the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act for adulteration, misbranding, or faulty labeling. The notices are arranged into four categories with various date ranges: Foods and Drugs, 1908-1943; Drugs and Devices, 1940-1963; Cosmetics, 1940-1964; Foods, 1940-1966. When first approaching the collection, users may want to browse by the many provided categories such as: Defendants, Product Keywords, and Issue Dates. Each entry includes the record's case number, collection, date issued, product keywords, and more. A detailed finding aid for the collection is also available. [DS]

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Launched in 2012, The History of Byzantium is a podcast with the ambitious aim to cover "the story of the Roman Empire from the collapse of the West in 476 to the fall of Constantinople in 1453." It is hosted, researched, and produced by Robin Pierson, a London-based podcaster and television critic who was inspired by Mike Duncan's popular podcast The History of Rome to continue the story with the centuries that followed Rome's collapse. The History of Byzantium narrates this lengthy period in chronological order, so those who want to hear the whole story would do well to start at the beginning, but Pierson's cogent storytelling makes it enjoyable for the listener at any point of entry. Episodes are generally about 20 to 30 minutes long. There are also occasional longer episodes centered on particularly dramatic historical events, such as the Battle of Manzikert (Episode 193), or interviews with scholars in the field. Interested readers can download episodes of The History of Byzantium and see images and Pierson's bibliography of recommended reading at the link above. Those interested in subscribing to the podcast can do so via Spotify, Stitcher, and other platforms. [JDC]

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Middle and high school social studies and history teachers may be interested in this set of course materials from PBS LearningMedia. These resources were created to supplement the 2017 PBS documentary series Africa's Great Civilizations, hosted by Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Here readers will find five video clips selected from this documentary series, with time periods ranging from the dawn of Homo sapiens in Africa's Great Rift Valley to the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 and the imperialistic Scramble for Africa, with stops in places like the Aksum Kingdom and Queen Njinga Mbandi's kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba along the way. Each 5- to 10-minute video clip also has a variety of accompanying support materials, including: short contextual background readings, vocabulary lists, suggestions for classroom activities and discussion questions, links to additional resources, and lists of relevant educational standards. These educational materials were assembled with students in grades 6-9 in mind, but instructors of other levels may also find them useful. [JDC]

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Geography aficionados and readers who appreciate the ancient world may want to check out Pleiades, a resource billing itself as "a community-built gazetteer and graph of ancient places" that "gives scholars, students, and enthusiasts worldwide the ability to use, create, and share historical geographic information about the ancient world in digital form." Visitors may like to begin by exploring this project's more than 36,000 places, a random selection of which appear in the slideshow on the main page. Rather than traditional GIS layers, this intriguing project organizes its data into conceptual places, spatial locations, and identifying names, all of which are connected together to create reference information hubs. Those interested in downloading data or contributing to Pleiades should be sure to visit its Blog and Help sections. As of this write-up, the site has "extensive coverage for the Greek and Roman world, and is expanding into Ancient Near Eastern, Byzantine, Celtic, and Early Medieval geography." Pleiades was created as a joint project of the University of North Carolina's Ancient World Mapping Center, the Stoa Consortium, and New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. [JDC]

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The nonprofit Ancient History Encyclopedia (last featured in the 10-17-2017 Scout Report) has expanded considerably in the decade since its launch. One of the more recent additions is its Education section, where visitors will find a handy portal to numerous resources created and curated by AHE staff. For example, its collection of Teaching Resources contains free lesson plans and collections of material paired with classroom teaching tips on topics such as Norse mythology and the culture of Ancient Korea. For those in search of additional material, the Curated Collections section offers a wealth of themed collections that may be used by educators or browsed for pleasure, while the Useful Links section features trustworthy resources curated from institutions like museums and universities. Those interested can also subscribe to the site's Education Newsletter for email updates on new material, such as their forthcoming collection of printables and handouts. Founded in 2009 by Jan van der Crabben, the Encyclopedia's vision is to "help people across the globe gain a deeper, fundamental knowledge of our interconnected human past in order to create curious, open-minded, and tolerant societies in the future." [JDC]

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The open-access journal Ancient Asia, published by Ubiquity Press, is the official publication of the Society of South Asian Archaeology. In addition to providing "a dedicated platform where young archaeologists can present their research and views openly," this peer-reviewed academic journal aims to "bring forth the research being conducted in areas that are not often well published such as the North Eastern States of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Central Asia, Iran, etc." Here, visitors can browse and download scholarly articles on a range of fascinating topics, such as early medieval landscapes of Assam, Iron Age material culture in South Asia, and Paleolithic sites in the Khuzestan province of Iran. First launched in 2006, as of this write-up the journal is in its 10th volume. The editor-in-chief of Ancient Asia is Dr. Vasant Shinde, a professor of archaeology at Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute in Pune, India. The journal's editorial board hails from academic institutions around the world, including Seoul National University in South Korea, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the British Museum. [JDC]

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Zola is a static site generator that takes a "batteries included" approach. It is distributed as a single executable file that does not depend on any external libraries. Additionally, the sites that Zola generates do not require external JavaScript libraries to provide features like syntax highlighting, breadcrumb navigation, or tables of contents. As with other static site generators, the pages generated by Zola can be hosted by nearly any service and do not require a server-side database or any specific language runtime. The "Deployment" section in Zola's documentation gives step-by-step instructions for publishing a Zola-generated site on Netlify, GitHub Pages, and GitLab Pages. Zola is free software, distributed under the MIT license, with source code available on GitHub. The site generator's GitHub page also features a chart comparing Zola with several other popular static site generators. By visiting the installation page, users can locate pre-built binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. Alternately, instructions are provided to install Zola from the package managers for several systems. [CRH]

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Those in search of a file manager for Unix-like systems that uses a text-based user interface may enjoy Ranger, which employs the Miller columns display technique also employed in the Finder windows on macOS systems. In this three-column layout, the central column displays the current working directory, the left column displays the parent of the current directory, and the right column displays a preview of whatever item is selected in the working directory. The official User Guide, which is located on the Ranger Wiki, provides an overview of basic Ranger usage and guides that demonstrate further customization options. In the Documentation section, users can find additional information, including a one-page cheat sheet that summarizes all of Ranger's commands. Users familiar with Vim or GNU Midnight Commander will probably find many of Ranger's default keyboard shortcuts familiar. Ranger is included in the package managers for most Linux and BSD systems. MacOS users can install ranger via MacPorts, Homebrew, or Nix. Ranger is free software, distributed under the GNU General Public License, with source code available on GitHub. [CRH]

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We originally featured this lecture series in the 9-07-2018 Scout Report, and these talks offer fascinating scholarly perspectives on several ancient civilizations.

Readers curious about how cities developed and functioned in different civilizations throughout history may enjoy Rise of the City, one of the Penn Museum's most recent annual public lecture series. This series of nine intriguing talks presented by scholars and curators in 2017-2018 "explore[s] what makes a city a city in diverse regions of the world." For example, in "The Urbanized Jungle: Ancient Maya Garden Cities," Simon Martin (Associate Curator of the American Section at the Penn Museum) explores how Mayan cities located in the middle of the jungle operated in an entirely different way than more familiar high-density city systems like Rome. Each roughly hour-long talk includes an audience question and answer session at the end. Formally called the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and founded in 1887, the Penn Museum is "dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity."

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