The Scout Report -- Volume 27, Number 33

The microCOVID Project aims to "quantitatively estimate the COVID risk to you of your ordinary daily activities," such as going to work or the grocery store, attending an indoor or outdoor gathering, eating in a restaurant, or riding a plane. For a given scenario, the calculator asks for information such as geographic location, distance between people, amount of talking, vaccination status, use and type of masks, and other variables. Users can choose which information to provide (nothing is required) and can specify their risk tolerance. Based on that information, the calculator will assess the risk of the scenario from "very low risk" to "dangerously high risk" and estimate its impact on the user's weekly risk budget (the amount of risk of getting COVID-19 that the user is willing to accept). While a little more complex to use than the calculator, the "Risk Tracker" in the menu at the top of the page lets users track their personal or household risk budget over time, as well as create risk models for interacting with specific people. For more information about the project's methodology, readers can check out the "White Paper" in the menu at the top of the page. The Q&A section of the white paper addresses common questions about risk budgets, how the tool works, and how to interpret the information. The microCOVID Project is a personal project run by a group of volunteers and is not affiliated with any institution or employer. Readers can find a list of the authors of the project in the Introduction of the white paper and information on the data used for the assessments in the Research Sources section. [HCL]

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When text is placed over a background image, it may be difficult for some users to read. Developers and designers can use this simple tool to check whether text is readable over an image. It is especially useful for multicolored or patterned background images where text may be readable over some parts of the image but not others. To use the tool, visitors enter their text, select the text color and font size, and upload their background image. The tool will identify colors in the image's palette and give each color a pass/fail grade and a compliance percentage. The assessment is based on criteria including text size and color contrast in line with standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Users can scroll to the References & Credits section at the bottom of the page for more information about the accessibility standards on which the tool is based. The tool was created by User Experience Developer Andrew Brandwood. [HCL]

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The "Human Odyssey" refers to the movement of humans from our origins in Africa to the present day, in which 7 billion humans have spread to 83 percent of the Earth's surface. This interactive map examines how human migratory paths over the past 200,000 years have been shaped by climate conditions. At the bottom of the map, users can drag the block along the timeline to visualize human migration over that period. Clicking the color-coded circles on the map reveals summary information and images of physical evidence from archaeological sites (yellow dots), geologic evidence of past climates (orange dots), and DNA evidence from human fossils (red dots). The interactive map was designed for laptop or desktop computers and is not mobile-friendly. It is part of the Human Odyssey exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences (previously featured in the 05-12-2017 Scout Report). Below the map, users can click "Learn more" for features, educational resources, and news from the exhibit. [HCL]

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Shooting People, a group of independent filmmakers, believes in three Cs: community, connect, and collaborate. These principles merge on their blog, a hub of hundreds of materials covering all aspects of the film world. The page linked above organizes blog posts by date, and the Categories panel on the right-hand side of the page allows readers to jump to topics of interest (e.g., "Film Distribution" or "Technology"). Readers who are less filmmaker and more film watcher may enjoy archived posts from the "Film of the Month" series, which highlights impressive films and filmmakers (and is a great way to expand your list of must-watch films). Launched in 1998, Shooting People began with a small group of friends and has since expanded into a network that is thousands strong. The site contains many other resources for independent filmmakers, but readers should note that several are limited to members of the organization (which requires a small membership fee). Follow for updates on Twitter (@ShootingPeople) or Facebook (@shootingpeoples). [EMB]

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The Stadel Museum houses more than 110,000 works of European art from the past 700 years. Since 2012, the museum has been working on expanding its digital content to create this online collection, which allows users to interact with more of the collection than the fraction that can be displayed in gallery spaces. The Stadel digital collection provides a variety of paths to pursue. On the page linked above, in addition to a search with suggested keywords, users can select from thumbnail images to retrieve a work. Visitors can then use the associated metadata to find related works, either from the same artist or style or through clickable keywords leading to conceptually similar materials. For example, starting with Integration Wandlinsen, a 1986 sculpture by Adolf Luther, allows viewers to proceed to discover over 50 works related by concept, time period, artists, or materials. In addition, for those interested in working with museum data, the Stadel Museum digital collection includes all information and tags associated with individual artworks available via an Open Archives Initiative (OAI) interface under a Creative Commons license. To access the OAI interface, users can click on the hamburger icon in the top right corner, then "About the digital collection," then "OAI Interface." The Stadel Museum is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. [DS]

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Readers who want to understand canine behavior or just learn how to train their dog will benefit from Dog Emotion and Cognition. Taught by evolutionary anthropologist and self-professed "dog guy" Brian Hare, this online course offered by Duke University digs into how dogs think and feel and how humans can use psychology to strengthen our connection with canines. Videos and readings cover the evolution and domestication of dogs and dog communication, problem solving, behavior, and training, all through the lens of cognitive psychology. No prior knowledge is required. The course takes about 22 hours to complete in total and is self-paced with flexible deadlines that can be reset at any time. Learners who audit the course for free have access to view and read all course content except graded assignments. Readers can click the "Syllabus" tab to preview the structure and content of the course. Video contents have subtitles available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German, Croatian, Portuguese, Italian, Vietnamese, and Russian. Dog Emotion and Cognition is offered through Coursera, one of the world's leading online learning platforms. [HCL]

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For readers interested in the evolution, biology, and breeding of canines, this two-part PBS documentary will get their tails wagging. Fascinating footage showcases relationships between humans and dogs around the world, from sacred hunting dogs in the jungles of Papua New Guinea to one of the world's fastest animals, the Saluki desert dog of the Bedouin. The first part, Dogs That Changed the World: The Rise of the Dog, explores one theory of how dogs became domesticated from wolves and discusses significant canine-related scientific research of the past century. The second part, Dogs That Changed the World: Dogs by Design (linked in the More Episodes section below the media player), looks at how humans transformed working dogs into the most diverse mammal species on the planet, with over 400 breeds. Viewers can stick their noses into the world of competitive dog breeding, learn about new uses for working dogs in medical care, and consider how human choice and preference have impacted canine evolution. Each segment is 53 minutes long. The documentary was produced in 2007, which is evident in the video quality, but for stories and information it still gets two paws up. [HCL]

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Patricia McConnell is a zoologist, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, and canine behavior and training expert known for multiple books, a radio show, a column in The Bark magazine, and other publications on pet behavior. The Learning Center section of her website offers an extensive compilation of Dr. McConnell's videos, articles, blog posts, and other learning materials organized by theme. Readers can navigate to three sections of the Learning Center (Training Your Dog, Learn About Behavior & Health, and Solving Behavior Problems) and click any heading or subheading for links to learning materials. The puppy training materials are popular ("Where do I start with my new dog or puppy?" in the Training Your Dog section), and the behavioral training resources cover issues such as fear, resource guarding, separation anxiety, appropriate play, sound sensitivity, and multi-dog households (Solving Behavior Problems section). The Finding Resources section links to external resources to guide readers in choosing a veterinarian, dog trainer, or doggy day care, and resources for those who want to learn more about the topics discussed. For more pooch-perfect content, readers can check out Dr. McConnell's blog by clicking "Trisha's Blog" at the top of the page. Fans can also keep up-to-date on Facebook (@PatriciaMcConnellPhD), where Dr. McConnell frequently posts helpful canine-related articles from herself and others. [HCL]

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Many furry friends have enjoyed having their humans at home during the pandemic. Dogs may also be lending a paw to help detect COVID-19. Nature reports on a November 2020 online meeting of the International K9 Team to share preliminary research on dogs' ability to accurately sniff out COVID-19 infections in humans. The article reviews a few promising studies on the subject, identifies research gaps and the need for more large-scale studies, and considers both the risks and rewards of using dogs to detect COVID-19. In the Sense of Wonder section of the article, readers will find a brief summary of how testing works. For readers looking for more information, the References section has a link to a paper published in the open-access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, which details a pilot study from the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in Germany. [HCL]

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Science lovers and dog lovers will find plenty to enjoy from The Science Pawdcast, the only science podcast with canine co-hosts. In weekly episodes, Canadian high school chemistry teacher Jason Zackowski is joined by his dogs Bunsen Berner and Beaker to promote science, diversity, and of course, cute dog stories. Each episode features conversations with scientists about their field and research, science news stories, pet science and family fun segments, and a science myth versus reality segment called Woo or Wow! Past guests have included experts from fields such as geology (Season 3, Episode 12), forestry (Season 3, Episode 8), law (Season 3, Episode 1), paleolimnology (Season 2, Episode 32), ecology (Season 2, Episode 14), and many others. Listeners looking for a place to start can check out episodes highlighting topics such as the spread of misinformation (Season 3, Episode 16), animal earthquake detection (Season 2, Episode 44), and dinosaurs in Greenland (Season 3, Episode 2). The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and most other podcatchers. Visitors can follow Bunsen Berner and Beaker on Twitter (@bunsenbernerbmd) for more science and dog photos. [MJZ]

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The Pelican team describe their tool as "a static site generator that requires no database or server-side logic." With Pelican, users can author site content in reStructuredText or Markdown. The tool then produces a set of static pages that can be served from any hosting provider. Users can select from among 127 built-in themes or write their own using the Jinja2 template language. The themes repository (accessed by clicking "Themes" on the page linked above) includes links to demos of most of the available themes. In the "documentation" section of the site, users will find a Quickstart guide that walks through creating a simple site. On that page, the "Publish your site" section describes uploading site content to a hosting provider. Pelican is written in Python and runs anywhere that Python does (Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, and others). It can be installed via the Pip package manager following the instructions in the "Installing Pelican" section of the documentation. [CRH]

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The Silver Searcher (or Ag) is a tool for searching through directories of text files, primarily designed for searching source code. It has been optimized for speed and uses a multi-threaded design that allows it to leverage multiple CPU cores in parallel. When run from inside a git or mercurial repository, Ag will automatically skip any files listed in ".gitignore" or ".hgignore." Additional files to exclude from searching (e.g., ".min.js" and similar generated files) can also be added to a ".ignore" file. The series of blog posts linked from the main page give technical details on a number of optimizations that the tool incorporates. Windows users can install Ag via Chocolatey or Cygwin. MacOS users can install it using MacPorts, Homebrew, or nixpkgs. Linux and BSD users can locate the software via their system's package manager. [CRH]

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Humans' special relationship with dogs dates back to ancient times, when some cultures saw dogs as sacred and otherworldly beings. This exhibit on ancient Egyptian jackal gods, which was featured in the 03-23-2018 Scout Report, gives readers another perspective on our enduring love for canines.

From the Kelsey Museum of Archeology at the University of Michigan comes this online exhibition about jackal gods, which are "among the most recognizable and vivid symbols of ancient Egypt." Readers can learn more about how jackal gods were connected to rituals relating to death and burial. Visitors can also learn more about specific jackal gods (including Anubis, Wepwawet, and Duamutef) and jackal god mythology. The exhibition incorporates a number of images of jackal gods, including statues, hieroglyphs, engravings, tomb paintings, and more. It can be navigated using the menu at the bottom of the page linked above, which guides visitors from Death Dog Origins all the way to Death Dogs into the Present. This online collection is based on a 2015 special exhibition that was curated by a team lead by Terry G. Wilfong, Director and Curator for Graeco-Roman Egyptian Collections at the Kelsey Museum. [MMB] [HCL]

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