eFrog – Erratic Frog

Ready to Add a Furry Friend to the Family?

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When it comes to persuading someone to take in a stray or abandoned animal, I am a strong advocate. However, not everyone is cut out for them, especially when one considers getting a dog through the adoption process. The sister of a friend of mine is currently thinking about adopting an Australian Shepherd, which would be a significant commitment owing to the dog’s high level of energy and its other requirements that are more physical in nature. When it comes to deciding whether or not to get a pet as a companion, what are some of the most important factors to take into account?

Before you have a dog as a pet, there are a few things you need to think about first, including the following:

Are you prepared to manage some additional daily obligations such as feeding, walking, and exercising the dog? Are you prepared to do so?
When you own a dog, you are responsible for its daily care, which includes feeding it, taking it for walks, and giving it other forms of exercise. In addition to this, you will be responsible for giving the dog a place to sleep, which can be a crate or a dog bed, and taking the dog to the veterinarian for checkups on a regular basis to ensure that it remains in good health. Last but not least, you will need to put in some effort to teach and socialize your dog so that it is well-mannered and able to conduct itself appropriately while interacting with other people and animals.
Would a dog be able to fit comfortably in both your house and your yard? *When you have a dog, you are responsible for providing it with a place to sleep and eat in your home, as well as a fenced-in yard or other area outside where it can run around and relieve itself. You will be required to walk the dog on a leash multiple times a day if you live in a residential building such as an apartment or condominium.
Would you mind if there was a little bit of extra noise and activity levels in your home?
Dogs, particularly when they are younger, have a tendency to make a fair amount of noise. They are likely to make noise whenever they are frightened, bored, or enthusiastic. In addition to this, when they are left alone, they could whimper or howl.
Do you suffer from any kind of dog allergies?
If you suffer from a dog allergy, being near dogs may cause you to experience a variety of uncomfortable symptoms, including sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, itchy skin, and difficulty breathing.
Do you have any other pets that might not get along with a new dog? Do you have any other pets that might not get along with a new dog?
Cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and birds are some examples of other animals and pets that do not get along well with dogs.
Are you prepared to handle some additional daily expenses such as food, toys, vet bills, and other miscellaneous costs?
The purchase price of a dog ranges anywhere from $500 to $1,000 on average. Dog ownership comes with a number of recurring costs, including those for their food, toys, veterinary care, grooming, and boarding.

I Gave Up My Car, Here’s Why

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Car ownership is prohibitively expensive. The typical new car costs approximately $36,000, whereas the average secondhand car costs roughly $20,000. Aside from the initial price, there are continuing fees such as gas, insurance, and maintenance. Not to mention parking. Depending on where you live, parking can also be difficult and expensive.

Public transit is both inexpensive and dependable. In Los Angeles, a monthly train pass costs only $100, and the trains are quite reliable. Furthermore, taking public transportation is far more environmentally friendly than owning a car.

We can make improvements to our cities to shorten commute times. One method is to establish additional dedicated transit lanes so that buses and trains can go faster. Another option to cut down on travel times is to build more mixed-use communities where residents can live, work, and play all in the same place. Furthermore, walking or biking is generally more practical than driving in cities, and it is more beneficial to the environment and your health.

My list of reasons looked like this:

Cars are a major source of pollution and global warming.
Cars and trucks are a major source of traffic congestion and accidents.
Cars are a major cause of noise pollution.
Automobiles are a major contributor to sprawl and urban growth.
Cars demand a significant amount of resources to construct and maintain.
Automobiles are expensive to purchase and operate.
Cars are neither efficient nor sustainable.

Don’t agree? Then give me a list of counter arguments.

An All Inspiring Green School

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This school is so inspiring that it makes students want to achieve their dreams.

In South Africa, Alba Brandt is working to establish the country’s first “green school.” The school is based on a similar model to one in Bali, Indonesia that Brandt’s family became familiar with on a six-month trip. Brandt and her husband co-founded the school with the hope of raising a new generation of ecologically conscious citizens.

The Green School curriculum is centered on joy and wonder, with the goal of teaching children, families, and teachers how to live sustainably on this world. The teaching style at the school is designed to promote focus and engagement, with breaks built in and a focus on open communication between students and faculty.

The school’s founders are hopeful that their project will inspire other similar initiatives.

A Desire to Learn, Enabling Girls Access to Education

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Girls’ education is not a priority in many developing countries. This is due to the misconception that girls are not capable of learning as much as boys, or that they will only marry and have children, so it is pointless to send them to school. However, studies have shown that education can be an effective tool for breaking the cycle of poverty that live in from generation to generation, as well as improving their health and well-being, not just for the girls but the people in the communities in which they live.

Scholarships are one way to help girls in developing countries get an education. Many organizations provide scholarships to help students pay for their tuition, books, and other education expenses. This can make a significant difference in a girl’s ability to attend school.

Another thing you can do is donate to institutions that contribute to enhancing girls’ access to education. These organizations frequently advocate for policies that encourage girls to attend and remain in school, train teachers on how to better support girls’ learning, and work very closely with girls and their families to help them better understand the value of education.

You can also help by spreading the word about the significance of girls’ education. This can be accomplished through social media, discussions with friends and family, or even writing to your local representatives about the significance of investing in girls’ education in developing countries.

The most important part is to act and take steps to assist, because:

Education for girls is critical for breaking the cycle of poverty and bettering the lives of girls and their communities.
Consider the importance of scholarships and support for organizations who help girls achieve education in the developing world.
You can help by raising awareness about the importance of girls’ education.

Here are some organizations you can look into:

One Girl: onegirl.org
Room to Read: roomtoread.org
Malala Fund: malala.org
Plan International: plan-international.org
The Global Partnership for Education: gpe.org

Did You Know? Moon Phases

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The moon goes through 8 phases in 29.5 days, exactly, not quite 30, but close enough.

The new moon phase is the first. When the moon is not visible in the sky, it is said to be a new moon. The waxing crescent phase is the second phase. When the moon is visible in the sky and becoming larger, it is said to be waxing. The first quarter phase is the third phase. The moon is half visible in the sky during the first quarter. The waxing gibbous phase is the fourth phase. When the moon is waxing gibbous, it is visible in the sky and growing larger. The full moon is the sixth phase. When the moon is fully visible in the sky, it is said to be full. The waning gibbous phase is the sixth phase. When the moon is waning gibbous, it is visible in the sky and getting smaller. The third quarter phase is the seventh phase. The moon is halfway visible in the sky during the third quarter. The waning crescent phase is the eighth and final phase. The waning crescent takes place when the moon is visible in the sky but shrinking.

The moon has really been observed for as long as mankind have lived on Earth. The moon is the most visible celestial object in the night sky, and its phases have long been used to measure time. Throughout human history, the moon has also been the topic of myth and folklore.

The Babylonians made the first recorded observation of the moon around 700 BCE. They utilized it to forecast the shifting seasons and planet movements. The moon was also seen and used by the Ancient Greeks to keep time. Galileo Galilei conducted the first scientific study of the moon in 1609. He realized that the moon, rather than being a perfect sphere, was covered in mountains and craters.

Some moon myths include:

Selene and Endymion: Selene, the moon goddess, falls in love with Endymion, a mortal shepherd. Selene begs Zeus to let Endymion slumber forever so he will never age or die.
Tiresias and Luna: The goddess Luna turns the mortal Tiresias into a woman. Tiresias reverts to his human form after seven years.
The Man in the Moon is a fictional character that is claimed to live on the moon. He is frequently regarded as a kindly person, yet he can also be regarded as a trickster.

Scientists continue to study the moon today. It is visited by robotic spacecraft, and its surface is meticulously photographed. Amateur astronomers enjoy visiting the moon as well.

Home, Sweet Home Whatever You Are

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There are advantages and disadvantages to living in an apartment or a house. Here are some important distinctions:

Apartments:

Apartments are generally less expensive than houses even if you buy a condo, require less care, and are easier to clean. They are frequently placed in desirable neighborhoods, near public transit and other amenities. Apartments, on the other hand, can be noisy, and you might have less privacy than you would have in a house.

Houses:

Houses are often more expensive than apartments; they require more care and might be more difficult to clean. They are frequently found in less desirable neighborhoods, further from public transit and other services. Houses, on the other hand, provide greater privacy and quiet than apartments.

Some people prefer to live in an apartment because it offers these benefits:

It is generally cheaper than a house.
It requires less maintenance.
It is easier to clean and often more conveniently laid out.
It is frequently found in favorable regions, near public transportation and other facilities.

There are numerous reasons to prefer an apartment over a house. For me it isn’t just because apartments are often less expensive than houses. Overall they need less upkeep and are more comfortable to live in. Another advantage of apartment living is that they are frequently located in better parts of town, that means that I have access to public transportation and other services that more suburban areas won’t have.

Of course, these can also be seen as possible downsides to living in an apartment, but when I take into account the pros, they often outweigh the cons. For example, while they can be noisy – so can be living in a house and depending on where it is, and it may seem that you have have less privacy, the same can be said for a house situated in a nosy neighborhood. Given everything, I would personally say that the pros outweigh the cons for me personally.

If you’re considering an apartment, weigh the pros and cons to see if it’s the right fit for you.

Venezuela’s Resourceful Solution to Water Shortages

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Venezuela is facing a water crisis due to years of underinvestment in infrastructure and maintenance by the state-owned water companies. This has led to water shortages and rationing across the country.

In response to this crisis, Laurencio Sánchez designed the Lata de Agua, a system which captures and filters rainfall for use in schools and other community buildings. This system provides a reliable source of clean water for communities which suffer from water scarcity. Lata de Agua started operating in 2019 and has already had a positive impact on the lives of students and teachers in the three schools where it has been installed.

Many Venezuelans are unable to obtain a reliable water supply due to recurring problems with state-owned company networks.

Water was so scarce at Unidad Educativa Nuestra Seora del Encuentro, a school in Petare, one of Venezuela’s poorest neighborhoods, that pupils had to carry water from home to drink and wash their hands throughout the day.

However, Laurencio Sánchez, a Venezuelan architect, developed the Lata de Agua – this translates to “Can of Water” – method, which catches and filters rainfall for use in schools to provide communities with a constant flow of clean water.

“It is a sustainable, alternative, complementary water-supply model based on the collection, storage and treatment of rainwater in vulnerable communities and their institutions,” explained Sánchez.

“The model offers, at the local level, a unique possibility of obtaining abundant and high-quality water for at least six months of the year in these communities, not only in vulnerable communities but in all places that suffer from water scarcity.”

“We no longer suspend school activities; we work our daily workday. The benefit has been enormous for the school,” she says.

Rainwater is used to water the plants a vegetable patch at the Unidad Educativa Nuestra Seora del Encuentro, another Petare school, to help feed its 850 students.

The crops would dry up before the project arrived. “We planted maize, but there wasn’t enough water because, due to the sector’s difficulties and the reality we lived in, we had to ration.” “We had to choose between the kitchen, bathrooms, toilet, and vegetable patch,” explains headmistress Mara Inés Guerrero.

“But thanks to this we can sow better, have higher yields and thus achieve better nutrition.”

Lata de Agua began operations in three schools and one health center in 2019.

It has transformed the daily lives of students and teachers at the Fermn Toro school in Petare.

The school’s headmistress, Dayani Echezura, says the organizations would sometimes go up to eight months without water before the Lata de Agua project was installed, but they now have a constant flow.

Friendly Mosquitoes Can Help Save Lives

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What would life be like without mosquitoes?

Mosquitoes cause more deaths than any other organism on the planet, accounting for approximately 17% of all infectious disease deaths. Mosquitoes can transmit diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and the Zika virus.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the primary vector of the dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever viruses around the world.

Aedes aegypti is a mosquito species known for transmitting illnesses such as dengue fever, yellow fever, and the Zika virus. This mosquito was originally found in Africa, but it has since spread to many other regions around the world. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is most active throughout the day and prefers to breed in stagnant water. This makes regions with poor sanitation and a lot of stagnant water, such as urban slums, especially vulnerable to mosquito-borne disease outbreaks.

“The important thing here is that we’re not going to have a world without mosquitoes. This is one mosquito species out of about three and a half thousand different species of mosquito.”

The good news is that a large-scale pilot project introducing new Friendly mosquitoes achieved 96% suppression of the dengue-spreading mosquito population in Brazilian urban communities.

Dengue fever is a tropical virus-borne disease. Mosquitoes transmit it. Fever, headache, muscle pain, and a rash are among the symptoms. Dengue fever can cause serious illness and, in some cases, death.

Friendly mosquitoes are exactly that, non-biting Aedes aegypti males, who go onto mate with wild females and pass along a lethal mutation that prevents female offspring from reaching adulthood.

Oxitec is a UK-based biotechnology company that is responsible for the design and implementation of the Friendly mosquitoes initiative, as well as a pioneering developer of biological pest control solutions. Oxitec was founded in 2002 at the University of Oxford in the Oxford University Insect Research Group. Oxitec specializes in pest control using genetically modified insects. Oxitec’s first product was a genetically modified male mosquito that mates with wild females and produces offspring which die before entering maturity when released into the wild. This diminishes the mosquito population and, as a result, the prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever.

Another feature of the dengue-spreading mosquitos targeted by Oxitec in Brazil is that they are an invasive species. “It originally comes from Central Africa, it should not be in Brazil at all. So it’s not a critical part of the ecosystem there,” says Dr Rose.

According to Oxitec, their technology is the first genetically modified pest-control product available for purchase by governments, households, businesses, and communities. This works by merely adding water to mosquito eggs, which hatch inside of a few days.

“Other ways of controlling mosquitoes include spraying chemicals, and those will obviously hit not just the species but many other things in the environment that are really beneficial. So we think that this is a really targeted way just to get rid of this mosquito, which is causing significant problems for human health.”

Will this reduce the number of deaths caused by the mosquito? Surely, but more research and development needs to be done before the global death rate from mosquitoes spread illness can be substantially reduced.

Did You Know? – Ice Cream

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Did you know that ice cream was invented in China? It’s true, and it was created there almost 2,000 years ago. It didn’t have anything in common with modern ice cream, at least not the one I keep in my freezer. Even though it was prepared from milk, it also contained rice and snow, making it extremely different from the frozen foods available today.

Initially, the milk was brought to a boil before being blended with the rice. Once everything had been combined and the rice had begun to swell, it was placed in a basin and topped with snow. Unlike the mixing that occurs now, they would then wait until the snow had begun to melt before serving the ice cream.

Ice cream did not make its way to Europe until the seventeenth century in the west. It immediately became a favorite dessert in that location. But not for everyone. It was still regarded a luxury at the time, and only the wealthy could buy it. At the time, all ice cream was prepared by hand, and the procedure was extremely time-consuming. When I was a youngster, I used to assist my uncle manufacture it. We’d sit on the porch and create ice cream with an old-fashioned hand-powered ice cream maker that had been passed down through the family for generations.

I’m not sure how old it was, but in the early 1800s, a woman called Nancy Johnson built the first hand-cranked ice cream maker, which transformed children’s birthdays everywhere. From then on, it made it feasible to make ice cream more readily, though not effortlessly, and it quickly became a popular dessert in the United States.

Today, you can find ice cream in a wide variety of flavors, and the treat is enjoyed by people the world over. There is no need to list the flavors and variations, there are too many, and they never stop coming since new combinations pop up everyday.

Active Friends Encourage Active Lives

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Life can change fast sometimes. And for some of us it can go rather slow. But if you are a sedentary person, there is good news. Per a new mathematical model developed by a group of researchers, active friends are a critical factor in increasing our physical activity. The model may help explain why, despite widely known health benefits, we do not appear to be meeting the recommended amount of weekly exercise. While this might not make time change, it will sure help us improve our health.

The researchers discovered that a complete lack of social influence leads to long-term sedentary lifestyle and even a decrease in physically active populations. The most significant element encouraging largely inactive people to become and stay physically active was social interactions among both sedentary and moderately active groups. In contrast, social interactions that encourage moderately active people to become sedentary frequently result in the cessation of exercise routines.

The good news is that people that want to get back into shape may only require a more active friend. This information may also provide a new avenue for governments and organizations to strengthen public health programs by concentrating on community activities.

According to the new study, social interactions are an important factor in encouraging people to live more active lifestyles. According to the research, people are more likely to be active if they have active friends, and inactive people are more likely in becoming active if they make friends with active people.

The findings could have significant impact on public health policy, as they suggest that neighborhood initiatives may be more useful than other means of promoting physical activity.

A mathematical model was used in the study to simulate the spread of physical activity through social networks. The model demonstrated that even a comparatively tiny number of active people can have a significant impact on a population’s overall level of activity.

The results indicate that group physical activity initiatives may be more beneficial than individual-level measures.