On a Saturday night at home while relaxing with friends, a dog showed up at the house. In an attempt to find the legal owner and return the dog, we knocked on the door of the legal owner and an old man opened the door. This was the start of an interesting week.

    The old man sat down, made himself at home, and gifted us the dog. After a brief visit, he left, and we were now the proud owners of this dog. It takes experience and knowledge to know that our lifestyle can't satisfy the needs of this dog; the owner that gifted us the dog was mismatched for him as well.

    Three attempts to return the dog to his old owner failed. (I think he was avoiding us.) Because our lifestyle didn't allow us to give this poor dog the attention he needed, he disturbed the neighbors. They got involved. After we shared the story, they gained a new perspective and wisely stepped in to help us find a solution.

    One week later it was decided that dog would be picked up from us by the old neighbor. He would then return it to the previous owner who was more equipped to care for it.

    When faced with unexpected challenges in life, it helps to see everyone's perspective. We have to look at one another's perspective to solve a problem with honesty, experience and knowledge. That's the sign of a leader. Although the old neighbor typically has little to do with leadership, it did bring a neighborhood together to understand one another and work as a team to solve a problem.

    We brush our teeth daily, but do you know everything you need to know about dental care and hygiene? Believe it or not, there is a lot more than most people realize. Luckily, here are several apps that can help you.

●Brush DJ

    You should brush your teeth for full two minutes as recommended by dentists, but that time can be difficult to judge. Many recommend you listen to music, because many songs are just around two minutes in length. Brush DJ has loads of great tunes that will get you into the two­minute habit. There are both songs to listen to, and videos to watch, and you'll find a variety of awesome tunes.

●Orasphere

    It's recommended that Orasphere videos be used by dentists for their patients, so they can learn about procedures. Those who do use these videos say that the software can greatly decrease the amount of time it takes to explain procedures to patients.

●American Dental Association(ADA)

    Everything you ever wanted to know about your teeth, and then some, can be found on the American Dental Association(ADA) website. You'll find loads of great articles that have the latest news about dentistry（牙科）. Those interested in dental careers will find plenty of information to head them in the right direction, and there's even a section devoted to public dental programs, including Give Kids a Smile and Fluoride in Water.

●DDS GP

    Here is more presentation software that explains all types of dental procedures. This is helpful for dentists to have, because they can better explain procedures to their patients.

●Dentistry IQ

    You can find information for dentists, hygienists, assistants, office managers, and more at Dentistry IQ. You can also get information about new products, clinical practices, and much more. In addition, you can learn about career opportunities, the most recent practices, and a whole lot more.

    Obama, Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs—what do they have in common? They are, of course, all Americans. And according to a survey by social networking site baidu.com, they all best illustrate the word “cool”.

    But just what does it mean to say someone is “cool”? Most would answer that it is something to do with being independent-minded and not following the crowd.

    Yale University art professor Robert Farris Thompson says that the term “cool” goes back to 15th century West African philosophy. “Cool” relates to ideas of grace under pressure.

    “In Africa,” he writes, “coolness is a positive quality which combines calmness, silence, and life.”

    The modern idea of “cool” developed largely in the US in the period after World War II. “Post-war 'cool' was in part an expression of war-weariness… it went against the strict social rules of the time,” write sociologists Dick Pountain and David Robins in Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude.

    But it was the American actor James Dean who became the symbol for “cool” in the hugely successful 1955 movie Rebel without a Cause. Dean plays a tough guy who disobeys his parents and the authorities. He always gets the girl, smokes cigarettes, wears a leather jacket and beats up bullies. In the movie, Dean showed what “cool” would mean to American young people for the next 60 years.

    Today the focus of “cool” has changed to athletics stars. Often in movies about schools, students gain popularity on the athletics field more than in the classroom. This can be seen quite clearly in movies like Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die.

But many teenagers also think being smart is cool. Chess and other thinking games have been becoming more popular in schools.

    “Call it the Harry Potterization of America—a time when being smart is the new cool,” writes journalist Joe Sunnen.

    We often ask these questions: Are African wild dogs really dogs? What's the difference between African wild dogs and the dogs we know as pets? For one thing, African wild dogs, which live in Africa, only have four toes, while domestic(驯养的）dogs and wolves have five. But you won't want to count for yourself, because they are truly wild animals.

    “Wild dogs are not somebody's domestic dogs that ran away and didn't come back, although some people used to think that,” explains Dr. MeNutt, who studies these animals at Wild Dog Research Camp in the African country of Botswana. “They are actually Africa's wolves, and just like wolves, and they do not make good pets. They need to be out in the wild doing what they are supposed to do — find the food they need to survive and feed their babies.” In fact, they travel so far that researchers have to use radio collars (颈圈) to keep track of them. The collars send out radio signals that tell people where the dogs are. No two wild dogs have the same pattern of coats, so it is easy to tell them apart.

    African wild dogs are smart and sociable, like pet dogs. Adult wild dogs, male and female, are willing to take good care of young ones.

    Millions of domestic dogs live on the planet, but there are probably fewer than 6000 African wild dogs left. Humans hunt them and farmers who don，t want them to go after cows and sheep poison them. Humans are also destroying the wild, natural habitat (栖息地) they need to survive in. Fortunately, today more farmers are finding other ways to protect their cows and sheep from African wild dogs instead of killing the animals.

    Going back to school can be an anxious time for many students. But one institution in Texas is doing its part to make sure middle schoolers are returning refreshed and inspired to learn.

    Through a process called the "bathroom inspiration project," teachers and administrators at Warren Middle School, spent their summer beautifying the school's restrooms by painting motivational murals (壁画) on each of the stalls (小隔间).Forming messages like "Your mistakes don't define you" and "Scatter (撒播) kindness," the brightly colored words are exactly what a young student needs to see when having a rough day-or any school day for that matter. And now that classes are officially in session, people are already noticing a positive impact.

    Since posting photos of upgrades to the school in July, Principal Joshua Garcia says that the alterations have aroused a great response.

    "Students have been talking about the murals from the moment the pictures had been posted. Some even took the time to find a reason to come up to the campus to see the murals," he says. "I think what makes this small little action so valuable is that it has set the tone for our campus."

    And not only is that important to students, parents, and fellow staff, but it is also vital for the school's new principal, who is trying to gain the trust of the community during a time in which trust is so necessary for schools.

    "Being new to the campus, I think the parents were able to see how much I value their children and have their best interest at heart," Garcia continues. "I have had many parents tell me how they can just feel a difference in the campus climate and how much they are enjoying seeing their children wanting to come here. These murals have put trust back in the campus and its teachers, and by doing so we are able to build a culture in which our students want to be here and learn."

    On December 26, 2004, hundreds of tourists relaxed on Sri Lanka's Yala National Park's beaches. But at mid-morning the park's elephants began crying wildly and running away from the ocean and up a nearby hill. The puzzled keepers could tell the animals were worried about something but what?

    What the keepers did not know was that a 30-foot wall of water was headed straight toward them. This tsunami(海啸) had been caused by an earthquake more than 1, 000 miles away in the Indian Ocean. When the huge wave hit the coast, it caused severe damage. Many people died. The elephants, however, were not swept away by the water. They stood safely on the hill.

    Scientists have long suspected that animals sense natural disasters before humans do. People have told stories of dogs refusing to go outside and sharks swimming to deeper waters before a hurricane. After the 2004 tsunami, people said they saw tigers, monkeys, and water buffalo escaping to higher ground before the waters rushed in. Even in the hardest-hit areas of southern Asia, there were few animal deaths.

    It's unlikely that an animal's so-called sixth sense comes from some magical power to see into the future. Experts believe that animals may be more sensitive than humans to changes in temperature and other environmental conditions that take place before a natural disaster. The elephants in Sri Lanka, for example, may have picked up vibrations from within the Earth, a sign that earthquake was coming. Because vibrations in the ground travel much faster than an ocean wave, the elephants may have felt the earthquake that caused the tsunami well before the tsunami itself came to the coast.

    A few scientists are calling for a system to track reports of strange behavior in people's pets, hoping that these reports can serve as a warning system that a natural disaster is about to happen. But Marina Haynes, an animal behavior scientist at the Philadelphia Zoo, says, "It would be an unreliable way to predict disasters. It can be difficult to know what an animal is doing. Is the animal nervous because an earthquake is about to happen or is it frightened because there is an enemy nearby?"