Category Archives: Froggy Foibles

Froggy Foibles

Minister Alghabra clears Santa for take-off in Canadian airspace

By Transport Canada
You Tube
December 23, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: Canada

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Toilet paper dresses wow fashion show

By George Pimentel
The Toronto Star
October 16, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: Canada

A dozen talented designers from across the country left a good kind of paper trail on Sept. 22 at the Symes, where they showcased their unique couture for the 19th Annual Cashmere Collection. For this year’s theme, “Celestial Awakening: A Celebration of Strength, Hope and Compassion,” they presented stunning dresses made entirely from sheets of Cashmere UltraLuxe bathroom tissue. Hosted by Jay Manuel of “Canada’s Next Top Model,” the event – which raised support and funds for breast cancer awareness, prevention, and treatment – drew a veritable who’s who of the fashion world.

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Photos: Have you ever seen a ‘B.C. Toothpick’?

By Brendan Kergin
Vancouver is Awesome
August 21, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: Canada, Canada West

Vancouver’s massive growth came thanks, in a big part, to the lumber that could be produced by harvesting the trees that grew in the area. Trees from the area were huge compared to what grew pretty much anywhere in the world; California has the biggest trees in the world now, but Metro Vancouver had taller ones at one point. And the quality of the wood was well-known; for example, during WWI lumber from the area was an important part of the war effort to build planes. In the early days of the city some of the biggest exports, literally, were B.C. Toothpicks. This was the ironic nickname given to massive pillars of wood. At 3 feet by 3 feet by 60 feet they were about the height of a five- or six-story building. A postcard was even printed of the massive timbers on a train.

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The future of the world’s largest hockey stick questioned

By Kendall Hanson
Chek TV News
May 30, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: Canada, Canada West

The future of the world’s largest hockey stick (66 meters) is questioned. …Last year, the Duncan-based stick made headlines after a woodpecker decided to make the Douglas fir home. The little bird unveiled a big problem. Consultants determined the stick was in a state of decay and recommended that the Cowichan Valley Regional District prepare for significant renovations or replacement by 2025. The estimated cost to build a new stick is between $1.5 to $2 million, and the stories didn’t stop there. Lockport, Illinois, announced plans to build an even larger hockey stick a few months back. A 10-question survey, outlined by the Cowichan Community Centre, asks about replacing the stick, how it should be funded and whether it should be extended.

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Learning to Survive in Canada with the Junior Fire Wardens – August 1970

By Provincial Archives of Alberta
Flashback
August 9, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: Canada, Canada West

We’re back in Canada. It’s 1929. Forest and Outdoors magazine is telling readers the story of when two young boys spotted a fire at Snug Cover on British Columbia’s Bowen Island and helped a forest ranger to put it out. Published by the Canadian Forestry Association, the feature was apparently in response to boys who’d written in asking to recreate the drama and be like the young heroes. In a neat tie-in, the story also promoted the organisation’s Junior Fire Warden mission to teach volunteering youths about forest fire prevention in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The program saw hundreds of boys – all boys; only boys – between the ages of 6 and 18 learn not only about scouting for fires but leadership, survival and conservation in the great outdoors. These photographs show us the young wardens training near Blue Lake, Alberta in August 1970.

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The Right Chemistry: The many uses of charcoal

By Joe Schwarcz
Montreal Gazette
February 10, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: Canada, Canada East

It’s a killer. It’s a saviour. It’s also a trickster. It’s one of the most important substances ever discovered. It’s charcoal! …around 4000 BC man discovered that when naturally occurring ores of copper, zinc and tin oxides are heated with charcoal, the carbon strips away the oxygen leaving the pure metal behind. …In the ninth century, a Chinese alchemist discovered that blending charcoal with saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and sulphur resulted in a mixture that would combust readily — “Gunpowder”. …Around 1500 BC, Egyptians used charcoal to eliminate bad smells from wounds. By 400 BC, Phoenicians were storing water in charred barrels on trading ships to improve its taste. …Later, it was determined that impregnation with chemicals such as zinc chloride or phosphoric acid prior to heating improved the adsorption properties. Today a variety of activated carbon products are available for use in various applications. …Inventive marketers have absorbed this information and have started to roll out various foods and beverages containing activated carbon with promises of “detoxing.”

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New Brunswick’s Crazy Canucks bring home best sled award from U.S. tobogganing meet

By Shane Fowler
CBC News
February 6, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: Canada, Canada East

Four members of the Fredericton Toboggan Club returned home as winners after competing in the U.S. National Toboggan Championship in Camden, Maine. The Crazy Canucks team brought home the bronze in the four-person category at an international competition with more than 1,000 participants from as far away as Ireland.  “It blows my mind,” said Derick Weeks. “I think everybody on the team feels the same way.” Weeks, along with teammates Justin Agnew, Mat Fitzgerald, and Adam Valentate came in at 10.55 seconds in the 32nd annual competition on Sunday. Valentate also took home the award for Best Crafted Toboggan at the competition for the sled he crafted from walnut, using maple for its runner. … This year’s Oldest Team award winner was the Frogs on a Log team with an average age of 83. [Thank you to Alice who submitted this great story for the Foible!]

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Frozen frogs, a butt-breather and a seasonal genius: How Ontario wildlife survive the winter

By Darius Mahdavi
CBC News
February 6, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: Canada, Canada East

Surviving a Canadian winter can be a struggle — even with modern heating. But Ontario wildlife have been enduring the cold for thousands of years. If you’re fond of winter walks through forests in Ontario — and indeed most of Canada — odds are you’ve tread on a frozen frog. They hide under leaf litter or just a few centimetres underground, where the temperature hovers a few degrees below zero. And then they freeze. But then comes spring, and they start to thaw — from the inside out. …Ontario’s turtles spend the winter in frozen-over ponds, unable to surface for air… Instead, they absorb oxygen from the water through several surfaces, including the cloaca — a specialized tissue located under their tails. This process is known as cloacal respiration. So if we’re flexible with terminology, we can indeed say that when turtles take up oxygen through their cloaca, they are breathing through their butts. 

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Care to test yourself? The 1908 Forest Service Ranger exam

By Sara Evans Kirol
The Sheridan Press
October 21, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States

In the early days of the Forest Service prospective recruits were required to provide the best answers to a written exam and perform well in a field test to be selected for the job.  The written portion of the exam consisted of only ten questions but many of them were complex and included a set of intricate and sometimes complicated sub-questions. From the exam:

  • Question 2. Describe in detail logging in a locality with which you are familiar, covering all operation, from felling the tree to delivery of logs at the sawmill, using all ordinary names applied to the men, operations, and implements.
  • Question 4. What are the dimensions of a township? Section? Quarter section? A forty? A square acre? How many links in a surveyor’s chain? How many feet? How many chains in a mile? How many acres in a tract of land 600 feet wide by 3960 feet long? 

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Deniers Desperately Claim Wildfire Smoke Is Just As Safe As Cigarettes Or Fossil Fuels

Daily KOS
June 13, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States

Steve Milloy

Last week, a thick blanket of wildfire smoke covered the northeast US, plunging NYC into an apocalyptic-looking orange and red haze and covering DC with a slightly less dystopian filter of dismal gray. Mainstream media did a pretty good job of covering the many dangerous health effects of breathing in smoke and smog. In response, deniers worked double time to distract and deny with disinformation. Predictably, Fox News led the charge and platformed air-pollution-denier Steve Milloy, who was once fired from Fox for failing to disclose his tobacco industry work. Amusingly, many pointed out that the man who professionally lied about the health impacts of secondhand smoke before a career change to professionally lying about the health impacts of fossil fuel smoke was probably not the best choice to provide unbiased or accurate commentary on the health impacts of wildfire smoke. As it turns out, all three sources of smoke are bad!

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Five things about toads, our frogs’ lesser-known cousins

The Forest Preserve District of Will County
April 20, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States

What looks a lot like a frog but doesn’t jump like a frog or eat like a frog? A toad. Frogs and toads are both amphibians, and they are closely related. So closely related that all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. Toads belong to the family Bufonidae, which in taxonomy falls under the order of Anura, or frogs, in the amphibian class. Compared to frogs, which mostly live in and near water, adult toads are most often found on land. In addition, toads are noted for their bumpy, warty skin, while most frogs have smooth skin. Frogs are known for their jumping ability and toads are not, their legs are shorter than frogs, which limits their leaping ability. All toads have parotoid glands that secrete a toxin that makes toads poisonous. Frogs ribbit and toads sing, and each species has its own distinct calling sound. [One of the Tree Frog editors just can’t resist a story about frogs!]

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A brief history of the Christmas Tree

Morning Ag Clips
December 8, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States

GREENWICH, New York — It is Christmas time and many people have been busy decorating their Christmas Tree. But how did this somewhat strange practice come to be? To start, several ancient cultures practiced religious festivals around the time of the winter solstice that involved the use of evergreen boughs. … The first written record of a “Christmas tree” was in 1510 in Riga, Latvia. …The Christmas tree eventually made its way to the United States, mainly by way of German immigrants. However, the tradition did not catch on for a while. The Christmas tree was viewed as a pagan symbol, particularly in Puritan New England where laws forbade the practice for a long time. Eventually the greater prevalence of German and Irish immigrants in the first half of the 19th century made the practice more accepted.

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Bringin’ Back Christmas

By Apple TV
You Tube
November 25, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States

Today’s Froggy Foible was submitted by Kyle! “Bringin’ Back Christmas” performed by Ryan Reynolds and the cast of Spirited. In this scene Reynolds, who plays corporate executive Clint Briggs, presents at the National Association of Christmas Tree Growers convention in Vancouver – encouraging the association to compete with fake trees! 

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Bizarre US Forestry guide resurfaces that details how to blow up a horse

By Rachel Lang
LADbible
September 2, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States

An old how-to guide of how to effectively blow up a horse has resurfaced, leaving many scratching their heads and confused over how such a situation would ever occur. The guide, first released by the USDA Forest Service in 1995, comes complete with illustrations in case the need to blow up a horse ever actually comes about. The guide, which was published for Forest Service employees, reveals that sometimes you just have to blow up a horse. But why? Well, the guide also explains that. Dead animals left in park or recreation areas may attract bears. …The guide also advises parks employees to remove any horseshoes the animal may be wearing… to reduce the possibility of flying metal bits of shrapnel. …Thanks Forest Service.

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Nick Offerman Plays Smell That Wood!

By NBC News
YouTube
August 15, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States

Can Nick Offerman identify wood by scent alone? You bet your pine ash he can!

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Bear spotted in Southern California backyard Jacuzzi

Associated Press
July 29, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US West

BURBANK, Calif. — With the summer heat wave in full swing in Southern California, a backyard pool is a tempting place to take a dip. Even for a bear. Police in the city of Burbank responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighborhood and found the animal sitting in a Jacuzzi behind one of the homes. After a short dip, the bear climbed over a wall and headed to a tree behind the home.

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32nd annual Timber Truckers Light Parade brightens John Day streets

By Bennett Hall
The East Oregonian
December 14, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US West

JOHN DAY, OREGON — Dozens of people lined up Saturday, Dec. 10, along Main Street in John Day to watch the 32nd annual Timber Truckers Light Parade. Air horns blaring, engines throbbing and colored lights twinkling, 28 rigs of all shapes and sizes did a slow roll through downtown to shouts and waves from the onlookers. All of the vehicles were covered in festive holiday lights and many bore fanciful decorations as they competed for prizes in four categories: timber, commercial, farm and ranch, and community. The timber industry was still going strong when the first parade was held back in 1991 with financial support from the D.R. Johnson Lumber Co. While it is much diminished today, the industry still accounts for one out of every five jobs in Grant County, according to the Oregon Employment Department, and the Timber Truckers Light Parade remains a cherished local tradition. 

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Montana launches new safety enhancements for passenger vehicles

By @jerryoftheday
Instagram
September 12, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US West

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This wild Maine lumberjack inspired the name of a local gin

By Emily Burnham
The Bangor Daily News
July 30, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US East

Jigger Johnson

MAINE — They say that he could catch a bobcat with his bare hands. His name was Albert “Jigger” Johnson, and though the stories told about him are larger than life, he was a real person who worked the woods of Maine and New Hampshire in the late 1800s — an authentic New England lumberjack. Those tall tales about Johnson inspired Hermon-based Devil’s Half Acre Distillery to name its flagship gin after the man, as well as after Fan Jones, the legendary Bangor brothel keeper. …He was the archetypal lumberjack character, when that was what Maine was all about,” said Larry Murphy, one of the co-founders of the distillery. “We figured Paul Bunyan would have been way too hokey. Jigger Johnson was the real deal.”

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Seeing trees foaming at the trunk? Blame it on the rain.

By Julia Bayley
The Bangor Daily News
June 17, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US East

Have you seen a foaming tree? Stemflow is the term used to describe the basic act of water flowing down the exterior of a tree or plant. “Plants and trees produce all kinds of different chemicals they use in the biological process of being alive,” said Jay Wasanat the University of Maine. “Certain ones have waste products that are distributed to the [outer] bark of the tree.” In dry conditions, those chemical deposits build up in the nooks and crannies of the tree trunk’s bark. The chemicals include acids, salts and other organic compounds — ingredients used in soap making. If the dry conditions last long enough, a good rain will mix those chemicals together and create a sort of natural tree soap.

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Two shipwrecks found in Lake Superior help finish the 109-year-old story of the ‘darkest day in lumber history’

The Associated Press in Business Insider
April 12, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US East

Michigan researchers have found the wreckage of two ships that disappeared into Lake Superior in 1914 and hope the discovery will lead them to a third that sank at the same time, killing nearly 30 people aboard the trio of lumber-shipping vessels. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced the discoveries this month. Ric Mixter said, “It solved a chapter in the nation’s darkest day in lumber history”. …The vessels owned by the Edward Hines Lumber Company sank into the ice-cold lake on Nov. 18, 1914, when a storm swept through as they moved lumber from Baraga, Michigan, to Tonawanda, New York. …Video footage from the Curtis wreckage showed the maintained hull of the steamship and still shining gauges — all preserved by Lake Superior’s cold waters. “We’re the first human eyes to see it since 1914, since World War I,” one team member said.

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CBS ’48 Hours’ reveals ‘The Tree That Helped Solve a Murder’

By Valerie Schremp Hahn
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
December 9, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US East

Scientists from the Missouri Botanical Garden helped convict a Missouri killer. The scientists compared juniper needles near the victim’s remains and on the suspect’s muddy hiking boots, matched them, and tied the suspect to the crime. Their role in the murder trial of Joseph Elledge, convicted in November 2021 of killing his wife in 2019 in Columbia, Missouri, will be outlined in an episode of “48 Hours,” to run 9 p.m. Saturday on CBS. The episode is called “The Tree That Helped Solve a Murder.” …The shallow grave where Ji’s bones were scattered was in an area that included a canopy of juniper trees. …Of the 20 or so needle samples found in the boots, they had five matches to three trees in the area. Three of those samples came from a tree right over the gravesite. Junipers happen to have a lot of genetic diversity, Edwards said. “And we matched their genotypes exactly,” 

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Don’t leave Halloween pumpkins in woodlands, people warned

By Woodland Trust and Forestry England
Sky News UK
October 31, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US East

The Woodland Trust and Forestry England warned revellers the fruit can lead to a series of problems for creatures – including hedgehogs, foxes, badgers and birds – and spread disease. …Kate Wollen, assistant ecologist at Forestry England, said: “We see many posts on social media encouraging people to leave pumpkins in the woods for wildlife to eat, but please do not do this. “Pumpkins are not natural to the woodland and while some wildlife may enjoy a tasty snack it can make… birds, foxes, badgers, deer, and boar unwell and can spread disease. …Pumpkin flesh can attract colonies of rats and also has a really detrimental effect on woodland soils, plants and fungi.” People are being urged to turn their pumpkin into soup or even into a birdfeeder – or add to the garden compost.

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A battle over timber, a homemade flag and a black bear

We Are the Mighty
October 13, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US East

The last time Canadians and Americans officially fought one another in pitched battle was during the War of 1812. Fighting Canadians, as any of their past adversaries can tell you, is particularly brutal and the toll it took on the young United States was no different. In the years that followed the War of 1812, however, a group of Americans in the newly-created State of Maine forgot the lessons of the past, and got aggressive with its territorial claims. The result was the Aroostook War, which led to an independent third nation and a battle fought with fists but broken up by a bear. British and American parties needed timber but the treaty that ended the War of 1812 left the boundary unsettled, and the disputed area became known as Madawaska… The border dispute was finally settled…with equal shares of the area’s timber, as well as free trade status for all timber in the region.  

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Wood frogs awaken from their icy slumber with one thing on their mind…

By Annie Roth
National Geographic
September 12, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: United States, US East

During winters in North America, many amphibians dive or burrow deep to avoid freezing—but not the wood frog. These fig-size croakers stay put above ground as the water between their cells freezes, and they spend the season in a kind of cryosleep. When spring arrives, most wood frogs awaken from their icy slumber with one thing on their mind: sex. Males find a pond and call to females with sounds “almost like a quacking duck,” says Dartmouth College biologist Ryan Calsbeek. As more males join in, the cacophony of croaks can be heard throughout the forest. Hearing the come-ons from the ponds around them, females hop toward the croaks they find most seductive. In a recent study … Calsbeek determined that female wood frogs can’t resist deep, husky voices. Such croaks tend to come from large frogs—but once lured to a pond, she’s fair game for all its male frogs, including small sopranos.

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A Blacksmith, the Devil and the jack-o’-lantern

Irish Genealogy
October 31, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

The origin of the pumpkin jack-o’-lantern is found in Celtic Ireland and has always been wrapped up in Halloween, a festival known in the Irish language as Samhain. …In order to prevent unwelcome guests entering their homes at Samhain, the Celts created menacing faces out of turnips and left them on their doorsteps. …In modern times, pumpkins, rather than turnips, perform the same duties. …According to legend, the origin of the Halloween lantern can be found in the tale of a young blacksmith called Jack O’Lantern who made a pact with the Devil during a gambling session. He managed to thwart the Devil and extracted a promise from him that he would never take his soul. When he eventually died, Jack was refused entry to heaven on account of his drunken, lewd and miserly ways. The Devil, remembering his earlier promise, also refused to allow him into hell. So Jack was condemned to roam the dark hills and lanes of Ireland for eternity. His only possessions were a turnip with a gouged out centre and a burning coal, thrown to him by the Devil.

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The start-up solving food scarcity by turning sawdust into meals

By Evelyn Blackwell
World
September 17, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

Would you eat industrial byproducts? One food tech company from Estonia certainly hopes so. Think about sawdust. Eating it is probably the last thing that comes into your mind, but that may be about to change. ÄIO, set up in 2022, has created a way of producing fats and oils from industrial waste “What we have developed is very similar to brewing beer, where yeast is used to convert sugars from barley into alcohol, and hops are added for taste,” Petri-Jaan Lahtvee said. “We are using a different type of yeast that coverts sugars from industrial sidestreams, but not into ethanol – into fats and oils instead,” he added. …Timber, agricultural byproducts like straw, and even food waste, can be turned into ingredients for the food or cosmetic industries.

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‘Creepy’ tree covered in giant web spotted behind homes

By Lauren Brownlie
Glasgow Times
June 12, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

A “CREEPY” tree covered in a giant web has been spotted in Renfrewshire. Photos and videos of the tree, which is situated behind a residential street in Linwood, have been shared with the Glasgow Times. It has been confirmed by the Butterfly Conservation charity that ermine moth caterpillars have created the webbing. A spokesperson said: “The webs provide protection from predators and the webs and the caterpillars are harmless. “The webs slowly disappear over the summer and the adult moths fly later in the summer. There won’t be any lasting damage to the tree.” …According to the Butterfly Conservation charity’s website, the webs can hide hundreds and sometimes tens of thousands of caterpillars. The webs have previously been known to take over nearby objects, including benches, bicycles and even cars.

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People are boiling their wooden spoons on TikTok. I won’t be joining them

By Rachel Cooke
The Guardian
March 18, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

I’m the daughter of a microbiologist – which is why this crusade against unseen germs doesn’t impress me. …I hold to the notion that, broadly speaking, wood is naturally antibacterial. I’ve had the same chopping board for more than 15 years, and I’ve only ever wiped it with a damp, soapy cloth; no one has died so far. The creepy trend for boiling spoons – it is said to result in gruesome excretions – began on TikTok. …I read about this, and even as I rolled my eyes – how utterly deranged, I thought. …Our attitude to hygiene, and by extension to dirt in all its multifarious forms, is increasingly strange and stupid. I’ve never known our city streets to look more filthy. But while this seems to induce no disgust whatsoever in most people… much of the rest of life induces rank nausea. 

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Hey Frog! – Why are ecologists yelling at frogs out in the forest?

By Forestry Corporation of New South Wales, Australia
Australian Rural & Regional News
March 6, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

Forestry Corporation ecologists have spent the week walking through Bondo State Forest near Tumut calling ‘hey frog’ – The most effective survey technique for detecting the critically endangered Northern Corroboree Frog. Amazingly, yelling ‘Hey Frog’ elicits a response from the frogs, which call out in response. Without this technique, the frogs would otherwise remain hidden in the wetlands, said Rohan Bilney, Senior Field Ecologist with Forestry Corporation. …“In late summer, the male corroboree frogs will call out in response to us bellowing “Hey frog” in a deep voice — they are usually sitting in their nest defending their territory,” Dr Bilney said. “So the survey method involves our ecology team essentially wandering through the swamps and bogs in the forest calling ‘hey frog’ to see how many we get calling back.”

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Wakefield restoration work exposes ancient timber frame

BBC News
January 17, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

Restoration work has uncovered the frame of what could be Wakefield’s oldest surviving timber building. The discovery was made during work being carried out in Silver Street as part of a £3.8m conservation scheme. Timber from the frame, which includes carved posts usually associated with a high-status house, is being analysed, but it is thought it could date back to the 1500s. Wakefield Council leader Denise Jeffery called it an “exciting discovery”. …”Scientific investigations are underway to date the timbers, and we await the experts’ verdict, but it is possible this fantastic project has revealed the oldest surviving timber building in our city,” said Jeffery. The building has been covered up to preserve the timbers but the council has released an image of what the frame looks like.

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90-Year-old Woodcutter Built his Own Hobbit House Where He Lives Off-Grid in Charming Comfort

Good News Network
January 17, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

A woodcutter who built his own Hobbit house revealed he has never watched Lord of the Rings, but nevertheless lives in it almost off-grid despite being nearly 90. Great-grandad Stuart Grant moved into the cottage he bought as a wreck with no roof and no doors in 1984 while he was renovating a house, but found it was so satisfying doing DIY on the quirky building which dated back 200 years, that he decided to make it his home. He doesn’t have a mobile phone or use the internet and no longer drives due to his age, but he loves getting out and meeting people, which is good considering he has been inundated with visitors to his home in Tomich, near Inverness, after his house was posted on a French tourist board’s recommendations for north Scotland.

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An audacious plan to build forests on Mars

By Kiona Smith
Inverse.com
December 7, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

A century from now, people on Mars might stroll through forests filled with juniper trees, kudzu vines, and heath shrubs. Maybe. Ecologist Paul Smith of the University of Bristol suggests that long-term residents of Mars could build small nature preserves, shielded from the harsh Martian environment by clear domes or layers of Martian crust. …He published his proposal in the Journal of Astrobiology. …He suggests about 20 hectares of forest park, carefully contained under protective pressurized domes or sheltered in lava tubes lit by mirrors and fiber optics. …They’ll need shielding against ultraviolet light and cosmic rays, pressurized air, artificial heating, a lot of added water, and some way to get toxic chemicals like perchlorates out of the regolith. …The idea of contained nature preserves on Mars could be viable in roughly a century.

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Wood spirits: How Japan made the world’s first liquor from trees

By Alex Martin
The Japan Times
November 28, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

What if safe, palatable alcohol can be produced from wood? Humanity’s history of boozing traces back millennia… but our planet’s largest plants have never been offered as a source for libation. That idea is no longer a fairy tale, thanks to a group of Japanese researchers, an award-winning mixologist and a sustainability-focused startup. In fact, bottles of “wood spirits” are expected to hit the shelves soon. …Yuichiro Otsuka took the lead in developing the technology behind the creation of the world’s first potable alcoholic drink made by directly fermenting, and then distilling, wood. …The alcohol made from cedar lets off that familiar, refreshing woody aroma, while the mizunara oak is mellower, reminiscent of whisky. From the birch spirit wafts a fruity smell, akin to brandy, while the cherry trees have a softer but bright, sweet presence, similar to white wine.

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Scientists Have Used Mushrooms to Make Biodegradable Computer Chip Parts

By Andy Corbley
Good News Network
November 21, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

The skin off the legs of a mushroom could potentially offer a sustainable alternative to insulative substrates in computing chips. As production of electronic devices continues to increase, scientists are looking to insert a bit of nature and biodegradability into common components like the microchip, and believe it or not, peeling the skin off the mycelium of a mushroom can protect chips from heat up to 392°F. …scientists working on the project from Johannes Kepler University in Austria found that it’s not only heat resistant, but will last for years, and can withstand being bent and folded thousands of times without wearing or tearing. The particular species of fungus is the Ganoderma lucidum, which grows on dead rotting wood in European mountains. As it reaches maturity, it creates a fibrous skin to protect its own substrate (the wood in this case) which if peeled off can instead protect microchips.

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Hakle turns to coffee waste for toilet paper production

Bioenergy Insight
September 19, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

German toilet paper maker Hakle is turning to waste from coffee production to stay afloat, reported Manila Times. Two years ago, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the firm profited from a huge demand in essentials – such as toilet paper.  But with the health crisis abating, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked skyrocketing energy costs, forcing Hakle to file for insolvency. It has therefore turned to innovative solution. Huge quantities of coffee grounds are produced every year by the European food industry, and Hakle has found a way to transform the waste into material to make loo roll. The first rolls using the new process were produced at the Duesseldorf-based company’s factory last week. …”The goal is 20 to 25%” of coffee grounds constituting the material for making the paper, replacing wood pulp, said Jung.

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Cell tower disguised as giant tree likened to ‘gigantic toilet brush’ by angry residents

By Max Stephens
The UK Telegraph
September 1, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

A phone mast (cell tower) disguised as a tree in a Scottish farm has been likened to a “gigantic toilet brush” by bemused residents. Council officers granted planning permission last June for the 25-metre high mast to be built near Dundas Home Farm in South Queensferry, despite more than 20 official complaints from locals. Critics say attempts to hide the structure with greenery has backfired as it stands more than double the height of the adjacent trees and resembles “God’s lavvy brush”, according to one resident. One resident said: “Oh dear it definitely looks nothing like a tree and very much like a gigantic toilet brush” while another commented: “I think the mast alone would have looked better.” And another joked: “They could put baubles on it at Christmas.”

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Tree hugging championships set for August 20 in Arctic Finland

By Eilís Quinn
Eye on the Arctic
August 12, 2022
Category: Froggy Foibles
Region: International

Eat Shoot Drive/Courtesy HaliPuu

The third annual tree hugging championships in Arctic Finland takes place on August 20, and organizers say they’re looking forward to another successful event. “The competition is a fun way to bring attention to nature, and how trees and forests, and nature in general, can really bring well-being into your life and make you feel better when you’re stressed,” Riitta Raekallio-Wunderink, the CEO and Chief Tree Hugging officer of HaliPuu, said in a phone interview. HaliPuu is a family, adopt-a-tree business based in Levi in Finnish Lapland. Raekallio-Wunderink got the idea for the tree hugging championships during the pandemic when she thought people needed a lift. “We started in 2020 when coronavirus hit,” Raekallio-Wunderink said. “We wanted to do something to make people happier. Everyone was stuck inside so I thought this is something we can do to cheer people up.”

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Coffee Grounds Can Be Upcycled to Make Wood Pellets For Pellet Stoves

By Lizzy Rosenberg
GreenMatters
March 9, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles

In the world of sustainable living, coffee grounds are basically low-waste gold. After they’ve been used to brew the perfect cup of java, they can be given a second life in your compost, as part of various recipes, and even as a bug repellent. But beyond that, they can be used to heat your home. …There are a number of reasons why you might want to opt for wood pellets that contain coffee grounds — far beyond the fact that the smell of the pellets themselves is reminiscent of your morning cuppa. …The real reason is because the coffee makes your pellets burn more efficiently. According to Material District, coffee grounds add more caloric value to your regular sawdust-based wood pellet, which means they are more dense… and contain about 25 percent more energy than other types of pellets.

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A squirrel hides 558 walnuts in a Subaru Forester

By Brad Anderson
Carscoops
March 1, 2023
Category: Froggy Foibles

One particularly busy squirrel in the United States has managed to hide 558 black walnuts under the hood of a Subaru Forester while preparing for winter. …In this case, Kathleen LaForce, a member of the Wild Green Memes for Ecological Fiends, returned from a one week vacation to discover that the engine bay of her Forester had been stuffed with no less than 558 walnuts. …“The squirrel was gently shooed out of the car and got to keep most of their walnuts,” LaForce wrote. “I still feel terrible for undoing all their hard work.”

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