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Water is a precious and limited resource in Colorado, and most utilities along the Front Range use tiered rates. Tiered water rates reward customers who use less water by charging the least amount per thousand gallons for use in the first tier, and increasingly more as customers use more water and graduate into higher levels.
The lowest rate tier corresponds to an amount of water sufficient to meet essential indoor household needs. Each subsequent tier charges a higher rate and is designed to send a price signal to households when using water for outdoor irrigation.
Show All Answers
Yes. The Town of Erie adds a fee to utility bills for delinquent payment.
All customers are given a single-day grace period after their due date to pay their bill. After that day, a fee that is 1% of the unpaid billing amount is added to the account.
All customers are given a single-day grace period after their due date to pay their bill. After that day, a fee that is 1% of the unpaid billing amount is added to the customer account.
Let's assume your bill for the month of March was $100 and you did not pay that amount. A 1% fee (or $1) would be added to your account. For the month of April, your bill is $100 again, but now your customer account will reflect an unpaid balance of $201 - covering the month you didn't pay, the current month, and the 1% fee.
Customers are given one full month to make payment after the due date on their bill. If payment is not made in that month (or a payment plan is not created with the Utility Billing Division), their water service will be disconnected.
Let's use the scenario above: your utility bill was due on Friday, March 24 and you did not pay the bill. A doorhanger would be posted at your residence on the Tuesday a month later - in this case, on Tuesday, April 26. If the required amount isn't paid in full (or a payment plan isn't created) by 10 a.m. on Thursday - our team will begin shut-off procedures on Thursday starting just after 10 a.m.
A total fee of $40 is also added to any account that requires disconnection and reconnection.
Once the necessary payment is made, customers can call to have their water service re-connected again ASAP. Disconnection and reconnection teams work weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., excluding Town-observed holidays.
Your monthly utility bill has three components for water, wastewater, and storm drainage services.
Customers are charged for water service through a fixed service charge and a tiered volume charge.
Customers are charged for wastewater service through a fixed service charge determined by your average winter usage for December, January, and February. We do this because typically, all water used is used indoors in these months, so it is a reasonable estimation of your wastewater service needs. Wastewater charges are consistent month-to-month after being updated annually.
Customers are charged for stormwater drainage through a fixed monthly charge.
The Town of Erie is committed to providing our more than 34,000 water customers with safe, reliable, high-quality water services essential to everyday life. The Town's primary water source is the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, which originates on the western slope. Other sources include water stored in Windy Gap and Gross Reservoirs. In emergencies, we have access to Lafayette Water and Lefthand Water. The Town is also actively exploring access to groundwater sources and is always involved in other regional partnerships to address water access into the future.
Diverting water from the western slope to the Front Range is a very lengthy, complex, and expensive process. Water is governed in Colorado by the Prior Appropriation Doctrine – or as it's known in shorthand, "first in time, first in right." Older cities typically hold senior water rights and younger cities typically have junior rights; Erie is among the latter group, which means our raw water costs are often higher than some of our neighbors.
But youth has its advantages too. For instance, in Colorado and nationwide, many utilities are grappling with funding the expensive prospect of replacing aging infrastructure. Fortunately, as Erie is a younger community, our water customers enjoy the benefits of our modern, efficient infrastructure.
Summary of Responsible Parties' InformationIn the upper right of the Utility Bill is the summary of responsible parties' information; bill due dates, bill amount, and how the bill is set to be paid. (It will only say Paid By Draft if that is set up).
Customer Account InformationAcross the top are the responsible parties' name, address, and account number:
Current Billing PeriodThe next row is the information for the current billing period. Going from left to right; view the:
Meter Readings and VolumeMoving down a row (and left to right) is the:
Sewer Base Charge: This charge of $10.30 is a base fee for all users.Sewer Usage Charge: This charge of $28.35 is based on the volume of water used.
Bar graph: In the example, the bar graph depicts 9 months of water volume use for this service address from May through January. This address used just under 10,000 gallons in May and over 30,000 gallons in August.
Tiers:Tier 1 use is 0 through 5,000 gallons at $5.53 per gallonTier 2 use is 5,001 through 15,000 gallons at $6.92 per gallonTier 3 use is 15,001 through 25,000 gallons at $10.35 per gallonTier 4 use is over 25,001 gallons at $15.49 per gallonIf John Doe had used 7000 gallons of water, his usage charge would be $41.49:Tier 1, $5.53 x 5 = $27.65Tier 2, $6.92 x 2 = $13.84
Single-family and Townhomes: Water monthly charge per 1,000 gallons:
Your utility bill includes charges for water, wastewater, and stormwater drainage services. The rates you pay on your utility bill cover the costs to provide these services to you. These services are paid for by the revenue generated from utility billing, and these utilities receive no funding from taxes.
The Town of Erie financial policies require a formal rate study be performed on the utility fund (water, wastewater, and storm drainage) charges at least every five years. This is an industry best practice to ensure costs are recovered equitably from customer payments.
The most recent study was completed by Raftelis, a nationally recognized independent financial consultant specializing in rate and fee studies for water provider clients across the country. They recommended changes to rates and charges for water and wastewater, with no changes to stormwater drainage charges.
After review, the Town Council then voted to establish the new rates and charges effective in 2021. The changes are revenue-neutral, meaning that the utility fund is anticipated to receive the same amount of revenue in 2021 as it did in 2020. Still, the changes do reflect a focus on the following:
The Town is changing how we charge for water and wastewater service in 2021 to provide affordable, high quality, reliable service that rewards water efficiency. Did you know the cost of water and wastewater services are paid entirely by the rates you pay, not by taxes? Additionally, the Town can use the revenue from water and wastewater rates only for those services; in this way, the Town's utilities operate as financially distinct "Enterprise" services. To make sure we are consistent with the enterprise approach, the Town, through a nationally-recognized independent consultant, recently reviewed how we charge for these services. Based on this review, we are adjusting rates into a new structure that balances these priorities: affordability, conservation, revenue stability, and equity.
Under the new rates, higher users pay more and lower users to pay less because the rates more closely reflect the actual costs of service. In the new design, about 60 percent of customers will pay less than they do today, and 17 percent will see an increase of less than $50 a year. Learn more about the rates and the Town's water conservation programs at www.erieco.gov/waterrates.
With input from the Board of Trustees and Town staff, Raftelis designed a rate structure that balances these Town priorities:
Tap fees and raw water dedication fees ensure costs that growth incurs on our water, wastewater, and stormwater systems are fully recovered. Often paid by the developer – and passed along to the new homeowner in the purchase price – these are one-time fees charged by the Town at the permitting stage.
In 2021, a 3/4 inch tap fee will increase from $5,200 to $8,860. The raw water dedication fee will increase from $15,300 to $16,243.
Yes. Monthly service charges are being reduced from $15.68 today to $10.30 in 2021. Volume rates – calculated in thousand-gallon increments based on how much water is used – will increase from $8.20 to $9.45.
The Town offers a number of free or discounted conservation programs that help customers use water wisely. Customers that participate in the Town's free irrigation consultations save at least 20% on their annual water bill on average. Learn more about these programs on the water conservation webpage.
Here are a few ways to reduce water usage and associated bill increases:
Erie encourages xeriscape. Additionally, in March 2019, Colorado HB19-1050 was updated to encourage the use of xeriscape. The bill amended sections of the Colorado Revised Statutes prohibiting restrictive covenants, rules, or regulations (i.e. HOAs) that limit the installation or use of drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes and deems those covenants, rules, or regulations as contrary to public policy. Associations may adopt and enforce design, and aesthetic guidelines or rules, regulate the type, number, and placement of drought-tolerant plantings.
We are! Since 2016, the Town has been replacing residential water meters with Smart Meters that conform to all industry standards. Once installed, your new Smart Meter will give you access to your water consumption data, providing an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of and control over the water you consume on a daily, monthly, and annual basis.
The EyesOnWater customer portal stores all of your water usage in one place. View your history, discover your water trends, detect leaks, and personalize a water savings plan. Today, more than 60 percent of Erie's meters are Smart Meters. Learn more about the EyeOnWater tool on the Smart Meter webpage.
Water meters report usage. The Town of Erie collects the usage on a rotating basis throughout the month according to the cycle billing/meter reading schedule.
Since 2016, the Town has been replacing residential water meters with Smart Meters that conform to all industry standards set by the American Water Works Association. Once installed, your new Smart Meter will give you access to your water consumption data, and gain a greater understanding and control of the water you consume on a daily, monthly and annual basis. The EyesOnWater customer portal stores all of your water usage in one place. View your history, discover your water trends, detect leaks, and personalize a water savings plan.
Learn more about the EyeOnWater tool on the Smart Meter webpage.
Customers may contact the Town's Utility Billing team to learn more about case-by-case payment arrangements for those having difficulty paying their bills.
Also, part of the Town's commitment to affordability is working with customers to investigate possible causes of high water usage. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to our team anytime via email at email@example.com, by phone at 303-926-2700, or online via ErieSubmit.
Low-Income Household Water Assistance ProgramThe Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) received $15 Million in federal funding for the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) to assist low-income households with their overdue water and wastewater bills.
The Town of Erie highly encourages residents struggling to pay their utilities to apply for this program. Funds are extremely limited and are distributed on a first come, first serve basis. To qualify for this assistance, the household must: Apply and been approved for LEAP during November 1, 2021 - April 30, 2022. Complete the addendum within the LEAP application and submit a copy of your overdue utilities bill. Services must be disconnected, facing disconnection, or have a past due amount on the bill.
We currently have a number of payment options available and accept cash, check, money orders and/or credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express)
We send out bills on a rotating basis throughout the month according to the cycle billing/meter reading schedule. Bills are mailed approximately one week after the read date for each cycle.
Bills are due one day prior to the next read date for your cycle. For more information regarding the scheduled read dates, please view the cycle billing schedule.
The Town of Erie provides a high-quality supply of available drinking water to more than 14,350 residential and commercial customers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We continue to meet increasingly high water quality standards in a cost-effective manner for the citizens of Erie. We are proud that Erie meets and exceeds all federal and state drinking water standards. We do this while protecting the environment, community, and economic interests that we all value.
Read more about Erie's water quality in the Water Quality Report.


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Blue Submarine No. 6SynopsisIn the near future, Zorndyke has forsaken his world and sent out his humanoid creations to wreak havoc upon the world. Melting icecaps have turned most of the major cities, like Tokyo into ocean shelf, and untold billions have died. It is up to the Blue Fleet and its submarines to turn back the threat of these bioengineered monsters, and it's up to the youthful Kino Mayumi and the jaded sub ace Hayami Tetsu to find out the truth behind Zorndyke and why he's so seemingly intent on destroying the Earth as humans know it. ReviewOkay, that plot seems pretty stock, right? The character designs look pretty average, and Blue Submarine No. 6 is based on a manga that's older than most members of THEM! At first glance, it sure didn't seem to be all that. And then I actually sat down and watched it, from beginning to end. Well, the reviewer is always entitled to change his mind, and Blue Submarine No. 6 turned out to be another of those sleepers that looks average, but delivers much more. The first thing you will notice is the integration between 3D backgrounds and effects with the 2D cel characters, kind of like rotoscoping, but totally animated rather than with any live-action. Most times, it looks nice, though occasionally some of the cloud and smoke effects look obvious. Not quite as good as Babylon 5 (much less Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) but it's no slouch, either. It's also nice that they acknowledged the then-limitations of CG and decided to keep 2D character animations (unlike the poorly-regarded Visitor, which isn't likely to be reviewed here in the near future). To continue with the CG effects (man, these are cool!), check out the jaw-dropping battle sequences, whether it's between the submarines and that massive gun-studded "Phantom Ship", or between the 2-seater Grampus and the Kumo (spider-like assault craft). Awesome stuff to behold, even if you aren't particularly a mecha fan. Though the plot and characters seem at first like just about any other mecha show, the rapport between the characters is well established, and the villains aren't as stereotypical as they should be, which is always a bonus. Also, kudos to the English dub staff for providing a product that is just as valid as the Japanese language track. The music is quite nice, giving the right atmosphere for the show, especially the action scenes, though the slow, sultry end track is really just there to fill the (very long) credit sequence. Also in most series with bioengineered humanoids, the humanoids tend to get the short end of the stick with characterization, and though Blue Sub no. 6 isn't perfect about it, the characterization of the humanoids isn't exactly horrible either, though the berserk weirdo shark thing gets grating until the very end, where even he redeems himself somewhat. More points for Hayami, too, who is well acted (in the dub, too) and pleasantly angsty without being completely hopeless. A good twist ending wraps everything up nicely, and Zorndyke himself is about as clever as villains get. Solid direction and tight pacing makes for a sterling production that's marred perhaps only by the prohibitive pricing structures Bandai has put on this series (how much for a single episode? COME ON!). The "Special Edition" release should rectify that ... three years after the initial DVDs were made available, mind you! However, that shouldn't deter people from trying to get their hands this series. Blue Submarine no. 6 is exceptionally good and perhaps a more fitting homage to The Island of Dr. Moreau than any movie with that title. That certainly has to count for something. UPDATE: A decade has elapsed since the initial review and we find it high time to re-examine this series. Sadly, it has simply not held up, as many of its perceived merits (particularly technical merit) have been surpassed by numerous TV series by this point, now that CGI has become the norm. This leaves us with the unfortunate effect that the truncated, often confusing plot and thin characterization now take center stage, and this considerably lessens the impact of the series. Sadly, there is really only one championable character here (who is treated like garbage), and while Zorndyke remains interesting, his tactics and theories do not mesh particularly well with modern knowledge: what he is attempting would actually have the opposite effect of his intentions using real world planetary physics, WHOOPS! Part of this may stem from the source material having been written in 1967, when we frankly didn't know the full extent of planetary magnetic fields or their effect on the existence of life on Earth. 50+ years of scientific progress means even this updated version is thickly encrusted with Zeerust. Either way, this leaves this work coming off as naive or even ignorant to savvy modern viewers, and while it never truly hits bottom-shelf territory (or even comes close), Blue Sub No. 6 has fallen prey to age and progress. Anime has moved onto bigger and better things, and this is best regarded as a relic of that transitional stage between the classic "acetate age" and the modern computerized form of Japanese animation. The lack of plot and originality hurts quite a bit more now that the animation has dated beyond relevance. Imperfect ... but not bad. — Carlos/Giancarla Ross Recommended Audience: The most violent scenes were edited out of the television version, but considering there wasn't an incredible amount of bloodshed to begin with (mostly submarine explosions and such), the cuts weren't very noticeable. The action can get too intense for young ones, but teens and above would probably enjoy this exciting, well-paced series. Some minor nudity with the mermaid-like humanoids, but nothing of consequence, really. Version(s) Viewed: VHS, dubbed and subtitled Review Status: Full (4/4) Blue Submarine No. 6 © 1998 Satoru Ozawa / Bandai Visual / Toshiba EMI / Gonzo |
© 1996-2015 THEM Anime Reviews. All rights reserved. |

subset: commoncrawl


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If you've been paying for private mortgage insurance every month because you put down less than 20% on your home, you may be able to get some of that money back by claiming the PMI deduction on your federal income tax return.
Did you know that not deducting PMI is one of the top mistakes home owners make on their taxes?
Do You Qualify for the Deduction?
Just because you have PMI premiums doesn't mean you can deduct them. Here's what qualifies you:
- You got your loan in 2007 or later.
- Your mortgage is for your primary residence or a second home that's not a rental property.
- Your adjusted gross income is no more than $109,000. The deduction begins to phase out once your adjusted gross income (AGI) exceeds $100,000 ($50,000 for married filing separately) and disappears entirely at an AGI of more than $109,000 ($54,500 for married filing separately).
How to File for the PMI Deduction
You'll have to itemize and use Schedule A.
If you make no more than $100,000 a year, put the amount of insurance premiums you paid last year on Line 13. Don't include pre-paid premiums for this year. You're doing taxes based on last year's income and expenses, so this year's premiums don't count even if you pre-paid them last year. (More about deducting prepaid and upfront mortgage insurance here.)
If your adjusted gross income is between $100,000 and $109,000, use the worksheet included with Schedule A to figure out how much you get to deduct.
How Much Can You Save?
It depends on how much you're paying. A good rule of thumb industry experts use: You'll pay $50 a month in premiums for every $100,000 of financing. Keep in mind, though, that the amount of the downpayment, type of loan, and lender requirements can all affect your actual cost.
For example, if you put 5% down on a $200,000 house, you'll pay monthly PMI premiums of about $125. Increase your downpayment to 10%, and you'll pay less than $80 a month.
So how does this affect your tax bill? Let's say your adjusted gross income is $100,000. You bought a $200,000 house, put down 5%, and paid $1,500 in PMI premiums ($125 times 12 months). The deduction for PMI cuts your taxable income by $1,500. If you're in the 15% tax bracket, you save $225 on your tax bill ($1,500 x 15%), and if you're in the 25% tax bracket, you save $375 ($1,500 x 25%).
The Best Savings of All: Canceling Your PMI
Although the tax deduction is nice — at least while it lasts — getting rid of PMI altogether is even nicer.
You can cancel your PMI when you have 20% equity in your home. Lenders are required to automatically cancel it once you have 22% equity. If you think you're at that threshold, find out more about canceling your PMI.


text: On Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Gregory Warnes wrote: >> interesting - I wonder why. the main difference would be that the rpm >> format encodes dependencies... >> > The basic problem is that when folks build the .tar.gz files, they usually > do a good job of explaining the dependencies and how to resolve them, while > the equivalent RPM installer simply lists the dependencies with no hints > about what packages are needed and where to get them. Unless your RPM installer is yum, in which case it all simply works (or is no more trouble than it ever is to build a package so that it will simply work). > On fundimental difference in philospohy explains both the fundimental > differences between RPM and debian packages, and the reason for the lack of > emphasis of in-place upgrades of desktop distros: vendor income. It is not > in Red Hat¹s financial interest to make it easy to upgrade a system in-place > by an automated tool. They make money by selling new O/S versions. > Consequently, Red Hat explicitly designed the RPM format to discourage > in-place upgrades. ???? Having been around when the founders (who live down the street, so to speak:-) gave talks at some of the old linux expos and on campus and so on, and recalling the early RH books and free distribution system, I think that this last statement is just nonsense. They didn't design it to discourage in place upgrades or encourage it -- they designed it to facilitate in place updates and the creation of a consistent and tested collection of packages, one that could be automatically installed. Kickstart rocked, and continues to rock. Dependency resolution for a la carte package installation sucked, and I do mean sucked, with RPMs until first yellow dog invented yup, and then Seth took over yup, hit a wall of sorts, and transmogrified it into yum. Yum, OTOH, rocks. You want a package, you say yum install package. How hard is that? rgb > > The debian community, on the other hand, was and is run fundimentally by > system administrators, whose best interest centers around minimizing the > amount of time necessary to keep systems up to date. Consequently, debian¹s > package system was designed explicitly to make installation and updating of > packages as painless as possible for the admin. > > Of course, other pressures have forced deviations from these fundimental > viewpoints, but the patterns are still clearly visible. > > -Greg > > -- Robert G. Brown Phone(cell): 1-919-280-8443 Duke University Physics Dept, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Web: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb Book of Lilith Website: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Lilith/Lilith.php Lulu Bookstore: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=877977


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Executive Summary: Our latest collection of great free/open-source tools includes CamStudio, CDBurnerXP, Comodo Firewall Pro, DriveImage XML, GParted LiveCD, JkDefrag, PageDefrag, and TestDisk. |
I'm addicted to digging up quality tools and utilities that are free—it's a treasurehunter's challenge! Sure, anyone can find costly utilities that do a good job of making a certain task easier. The trick is to find the free ones that perform just as well as their commercial counterparts. Since last September's publication of "8 More Absolutely Cool, Totally Free Utilities" (InstantDoc ID 96628), I've been having a lot of fun unearthing more and more free utilities for my toolbox, and I'm dying to share them with you. So, check these out and start downloading! (Check out the Learning Path, page 54, for download details.)
Recently, an external USB drive that I was using for file backups and
storage of non-critical files experienced a hard crash—you know,
the "thunk-thunk-thunk" heads-against-platters noise that makes
any systems administrator's skin crawl. I knew my chances for a
full recovery were rather slim, so I started looking around for datarecovery
I came across TestDisk, an open-source application licensed under the GNU Public License. Available from Christophe Grenier, TestDisk—completely free for any person or organization to use— can help you recover damaged partitions, make non-bootable disks bootable again, and repair damaged boot sectors. The application runs under DOS, Windows, Linux, the BSD variants, and MacOS, to name just a few OSs. File-system support includes every common type (e.g., FAT, NTFS, EXT2/3), as well as a bunch you've probably never heard of. I have no doubt that TestDisk can repair or recover data from a broad range of malfunctioning systems. Figure 1 shows its main interface.
Unfortunately, however, TestDisk didn't solve my problem. The "thunk-thunk-thunk" sound was a dead giveaway that I was facing a physical/mechanical disk problem. No software can fix physical problems, and the TestDisk documentation makes that clear. For mechanical problems, you'd need to enlist the services of a professional datarecovery service that can physically open the drive and try to read the platters back.
I had hoped I'd get lucky, to no avail. Still, the experience gained me another valuable tool for my toolbox—one that I'll keep around should disaster strike.
GParted LiveCD
Have you ever painted yourself into a corner
by partitioning a physical disk drive into multiple
logical partitions, only to realize months
later that you didn't anticipate your space
needs correctly? In the past, I've paid for
commercial partition-management utilities
such as Norton's PartitionMagic to get myself
out of such situations. Invariably, however, by
the time I need to use a partition-management
utility a second time, I'm using a newer
file system or a new type of disk that my
partition manager doesn't support. Recently,
for example, I had to move an ext3 partition
around on one of my systems' hard disks, but
my outdated partition-management utility
didn't support ext3.
Having paid multiple times for similar feature sets, I was recently happy to find GParted LiveCD when I needed to resize some partitions on my laptop. GParted LiveCD is a bootable runtime version of the Gnome Partition Editor (GParted). By booting up a small, stripped-down instance of Linux, GParted LiveCD is the only tool you'll ever need for managing partitions on your systems—including resizing partitions, moving partitions, and even mirroring partitions.
GParted LiveCD is available as a downloadable ISO image. After the download, you can burn it straight to a bootable CD-ROM (see CDBurnerXP 4 later) and put it in the machine whose partitions need editing. Of course, it goes without saying that you should always perform a full system backup before resizing a partition on a production system.
How about my absolute
favorite disk-based utility?
JkDefrag is a diskdefragmentation
-optimization utility for
all modern versions of
Windows. You might ask,
"Why should I care about a disk defragmenter
when Windows has one built in?"
Because the Windows defragmenter is a bit
basic, there's still a great marketplace for
commercial third-party disk-defragmentation
utilities, and for that reason, I appreciate
a utility such as JkDefrag.
Developed by Jeroen Kessels, JkDefrag runs automatically, is very easy to use, and supports several customization features through command-line switches. Speaking of command-line switches, there are also GUI and screen-saver versions of JkDefrag, in addition to the command-line version.
JkDefrag can handle typical internal hard disks, external USB drives, floppy disks, memory sticks—essentially anything that Windows interprets as a drive. It uses the standard defragmentation API provided by Microsoft, so it's as safe to use as Windows' built-in defragmenting utility. However, JkDefrag doesn't simply aim to defragment your hard disk; the tool's available command-line strategies will also help you optimize that disk's performance. Figure 2 shows JkDefrag at work.
For example, when you launch JkDefrag for the first time (without any command-line parameters), it will begin to defragment and optimize all the mounted writable drives on your system that it can find. The default optimization is a fast optimization, which should increase system performance a bit. For example, the beginning or center of a hard disk performs much better than the very edge of a disk; therefore, as a default strategy, JkDefrag will attempt to move all files to the center of the disk. However, it doesn't do so arbitrarily! JkDefrag tries to place files closest to the center of the disk based on three levels of importance: directories (the most often accessed files on a system) in the front, regular files in the middle, and SpaceHogs at the end. JkDefrag uses the SpaceHogs nomenclature to describe files that tend to be large but less important. Examples of SpaceHogs include MP3, WMV, and AVI files, and any i386 directories you might have lying around. When I run JkDefrag on my systems, I also flag AAC and *.m4? files as SpaceHogs by using the -u command-line option. (I have a lot of purchased content from iTunes.)
After JkDefrag finishes its first default run, you should have a neatly organized hard disk, with your most important data toward the center of the disk and the least important in the back. Once you've finished your first run, you can schedule recurring defrags to take place during off hours through the Control Panel Schedule Tasks applet.
Continue on Page 2
After running JkDefrag for several weeks, I must say that my system seems a bit faster. Give JkDefrag a spin on your computer. You'll be glad you did! See the Learning Path for information about where to get JkDefrag's latest standalone executables (no installation required!).
While I'm on the topic of defragmentation
and performance, there's one file in your
computer that's probably taking up a lot of
space, is critical in terms of system performance,
and can't be defragmented by standard
defragmentation utilities. That would
be your pagefile.
The computer I'm using to write this article, for example, has a pagefile that consumes about 1.5GB worth of space. As Windows swaps certain programs in and out of main memory, the page file is the storage container that receives the program data. I can't even begin to comprehend the complexities of keeping a file such as this optimized for maximum performance, but fortunately I don't have to. Mark Russinovich at SysInternals has done it for me.
As you might know, SysInternals was the home of some of the best free Windows utilities anywhere on the Internet. Recently, Mark joined Microsoft, and therefore Microsoft has inherited all these great tools. PageDefrag is just one of the many SysInternals utilities you can find at the company's Web site. Figure 3 shows PageDefrag's main screen.
When I first ran PageDefrag, the application presented a list of files that it would defragment (i.e., the pagefile, the hibernation file, event logs, and the registry hives), and I was surprised to see that my 1.5GB pagefile had more than 2,000 fragments across my hard disk! I instructed PageDefrag to defragment my pagefile during the next Windows bootup (the only time the pagefile isn't in use, and therefore the only time it can be defragmented) and let it start its work. You can have PageDefrag run once on the next reboot or every time your system boots.
Have you ever had to restore a full desktop
system from a failed hard disk, with only a
recent Windows backup available to you? If
so, you understand the hassle of such a process.
First, you have to get a new hard disk,
place it in the PC that needs to be rebuilt, and
install a clean copy of Windows (assuming
you remember where you put that system's
installation media). That process can take over an hour for most systems. Then, finally,
you can restore your full backup to the system
and get back up and running. Wouldn't life
be easier if you had an image of your system
that you could just zap to a new hard disk,
and get back up in less time?
Disk-imaging tools such as Norton Ghost offer a solution to this problem: Instead of doing a system-level backup, such tools create an image of the disk itself. Then, if you experience a failure, you simply need to write that image to a new disk, and you're ready to go—without the intermediate step of reinstalling a base copy of Windows.
Runtime Software provides a free utility called DriveImageXML for this purpose. It stores the images it creates as XML-formatted data so that your images aren't locked up in a proprietary vendor's binary format. Through the DriveImageXML interface (which Figure 4 shows), you can also browse through diskimage files to view or extract individual files, if necessary. DriveImageXML works with all FAT and NTFS partitions and runs on Vista, Windows 2003, and XP.
Several years ago, I realized I was getting
buried in original source-media CD-ROMs
and DVDs for all the different versions of
OSs, applications, and peripherals I regularly
work with. Keeping track of all these discs
was becoming tedious, so I started storing
ISO image files of every original media CD I
got, as soon as I received it. By archiving these
CDs in a central location on my network, I
knew they would always be available. If a CD
was ever lost or destroyed, I could still turn
to the ISO file and burn a new disc in a few
minutes, saving me the hassle of contacting
the vendor for a replacement disc.
CDBurnerXP is the first tool I used for this purpose, and it's still the tool I use today. It's a full-featured CDburning program that includes the ability to create ISO files from CDs and DVDs, and it can burn CDs, DVDs, HD DVDs, and Blu-ray DVDs. In addition to using CDBurnerXP as an ISO-reading and -burning utility, I use it as a capable audio disc burner. Figure 5 shows the tool's UI. CDBurnerXP runs on Vista, Windows 2003, XP, and Windows 2000.
Firewall Pro
When I ponder the notion of a "free firewall,"
I get a bit skeptical. After all, considering the
speed at which Internet-based threats grow,
how good could a "free" firewall application
be? I'm always happy when my skepticism
is proven wrong, and Comodo Firewall Pro
does just that.
When I first installed Comodo Firewall Pro, I initially thought I'd just installed a copy of Zone Alarm (a popular, commercial personal firewall application). After a reboot to insert the proper network-level modifications into my system, Comodo Firewall Pro instantly recognized that it was communicating on a network it hadn't seen before (i.e., my home network) and asked me to provide a name for it. Then, a few network utilities in my Startup folder that Comodo Firewall Pro didn't know about attempted to connect to the Internet. Comodo Firewall Pro immediately saw this outbound communication attempt and displayed a dialog box identifying the application that was trying to communicate (and to where) and asking whether I wanted to allow or deny the outward communication. After I allowed these trusted applications the rights to communicate when necessary, Comodo Firewall Pro never bothered me about them again. Within five minutes of using Comodo Firewall Pro, I was extremely impressed by its thoroughness—especially considering the price. Figure 6 shows Comodo Firewall Pro's UI.
Continue of Page 3
How and why, you might ask, does Comodo offer such a worthwhile product for free? In a forum posting on the company Web site, the CEO expresses his intention of offering Comodo Firewall Pro for free as a means to build corporate brand identity and raise customer awareness. It's a smart strategy, and I have a feeling Comodo Firewall Pro will be around for a long time. Comodo Firewall Pro runs on Vista and XP, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
In "8 More Absolutely Cool, Totally Free
Utilities," you'll find a sidebar for a utility
called Wink—a good tool for building
screencast recordings. Screencasts are digital
recordings of computer-display output,
often overlaid with audio or video. These
types of tools are becoming increasingly
popular as training and demonstration
utilities. After you produce a screencast, an
audience of thousands can watch it immediately.
Since mentioning Wink in that
article, I've discovered CamStudio, another
strong contender in this space.
CamStudio is a solid utility for recording screencasts, interleaving audio and video simultaneously, then producing final content in Web-friendly Flash files for easy, cross-platform consumption. Having paid for commercial versions of such applications in the past, I'm quite impressed with Cam- Studio and look forward to it being a strong contender in this space.
Can't Beat the Price
Commercial versions of all the utilities in
this article would probably cost more than
$500. Save that money and download these
free and open-source counterparts, which
perform just as well. Stay tuned for the fourth
installment of this series, in which I'll share
more free software gems to make your job


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
As a community located in the heart of the dynamic and growing Twin Cities metro, South St. Paul's employers share in the challenge and opportunity of finding well-qualified employees for a range of specialized positions. We recognize the importance of assuring that South St. Paul's workforce has access to the education, training, and skills development resources to meet the needs of our employers, and we work with a variety of partners to strengthen the pipeline of quality and committed talent for our current and future businesses.
Minnesota Training Connection is a partnership between Dakota County Technical College and Inver Hills Community College dedicated to providing flexible career training solutions to business and industry. Visit the Minnesota Training Connection website for more information.
The Minnesota WorkForce Center, located at 1 Mendota Road West in West St. Paul is a partnership that brings together state, county, and non-profit agencies to make sure that area job seekers find employment and training and area businesses find the skilled workers they need. The Center can be reached at 651-554-5955.
The Dakota-Scott Workforce Development Board oversees employment and training programs in Dakota and Scott Counties. The board is made up of representatives of business, organized labor, social services agencies, public employment services, rehabilitation services agencies, economic development agencies, community-based organizations and educational institutions and can be reached at 651-554-5622.
The State of Minnesota's Department of Employment and Economic Development provides a number of resources to employers seeking workers. Visit the State of Minnesota Employment and Economic Development website for more information.


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4820.0.55.001 - Diabetes in Australia: A Snapshot, 2007-08
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 16/09/2011
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In recent decades, changes in people's behaviour and lifestyle due to the modernisation of society and shifts to diets containing more energy-dense foods have resulted in escalating rates of both obesity and Type 2 diabetes (the clinical association of which is popularly becoming known as 'diabesity') [9]. Nine out of ten people with diabetes around the world have Type 2 diabetes [1]. While some people may be at a higher risk of developing diabetes due to genetic factors, this condition is largely preventable as many of the risk factors for developing the disease, such as excess weight, poor diet, inactivity, smoking, and excessive consumption of alcohol, are modifiable behaviours. Although there is currently no cure for Type 2 diabetes, it can often initially be managed with healthy eating and regular physical activity [10]. Due to the relatively small number of persons under 35 years with Type 2 diabetes, this section focuses on selected body mass index (BMI), physical activity and nutrition characteristics of people aged 35 years and over, with and without Type 2 diabetes. All rates comparing people with and without Type 2 diabetes in this section are age standardised. EXCESS WEIGHT In 2007-08, after adjusting for age, obese men were twice as likely to have Type 2 diabetes (12%) as men who were overweight (6%) or in the underweight/normal weight range (5%). While rates were lower, obese women were also twice as likely to have Type 2 diabetes (8%) as women who were overweight (4%) or in the underweight/normal weight range (3%). People with Type 2 diabetes were almost twice as likely to be obese as people without Type 2 diabetes (51% and 27% respectively). PHYSICAL ACTIVITY Participation in regular moderate to vigorous physical activity can help prevent the onset of a range of diseases including diabetes. For adults, the National Physical Activity Guidelines recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week [11]. 2007-08 data shows that men who exercised at high or moderate levels were less likely to have Type 2 diabetes (6%) than those who were sedentary or exercised at low levels (8%), although the difference for women who exercised at high or moderate levels and those who were sedentary or exercised at low levels was not statistically significant. Around 80% of people with Type 2 diabetes were sedentary or exercised at low levels, compared with 74% of people without the condition. People without Type 2 diabetes were more likely to exercise at high or moderate levels (Graph 3). NUTRITION A healthy diet can boost the immune system and prevent a range of chronic diseases associated with obesity such as Type 2 diabetes. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommends that adults consume at least two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables per day [12]. People with Type 2 diabetes were just as likely to eat the recommended daily serves of fruit and vegetables as people without the condition. They were more likely, however, to have increased their fruit (24%) and vegetable (23%) consumption in the past year than people without Type 2 diabetes (9% and 11% respectively) (Graph 4), which may reflect shifts in self-management of their condition. Three quarters of people with diabetes actively changed their diets to manage their condition (see Section 4 - Managing the Risks for more detail). SMOKING Smoking can increase the risk of developing diabetes-related complications such as coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease and kidney disease. Research shows that quitting smoking can reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes [13]. In 2007-08, around 8% of people aged 35 years and over that had ever smoked had Type 2 diabetes compared with 6% of those who had never smoked. After adjusting for age, the smoking and ex-smoking rates of people with Type 2 diabetes aged 35 years and over were not significantly different to those of people without the condition. Smokers with Type 2 diabetes were also no more likely to have increased or decreased their smoking over the past 12 months than smokers without Type 2 diabetes. ALCOHOL Alcohol can impair the liver's ability to produce glucose [14] resulting in hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose), which if untreated can cause anxiety, palpitations, changes in behaviour, coma, and seizures [15]. Excessive consumption of alcohol can also cause hypoglycaemia if people are taking insulin or certain diabetes medications, and increases the risk of developing complications through weight gain and increasing blood pressure [16]. The 2001 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines for reducing health risks in the longer term from alcohol limit consumption to four standard drinks a day for men and two standard drinks a day for women [17]. In 2007-08, there was no significant difference between rates of risky or high risk drinking for people with or without Type 2 diabetes. A higher proportion of people with Type 2 diabetes last consumed alcohol 12 or more months ago (16%) compared with people without Type 2 diabetes (6%). They were also more likely to have last consumed alcohol more than one week ago but less than 12 months ago. Of people 35 years and over who had never consumed alcohol, 10% had Type 2 diabetes, while only 4% of risky or high risk drinkers the same age had the condition. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. |


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Bridges must be able to withstand several types of forces. The two most common to model bridges are compression and tension, pushing and pulling respectively. The other two are torsion (twisting) and shear. Learn what these forces mean so that you can build a better model bridge.
Compression is a pushing (compressing) force. The shorter a piece of wood is, the more compression it can hold. The longer a piece of wood is, the less compression it can hold. When you compress a long stick of wood you will notice that it starts to bend. When a piece of wood breaks because of compression, we say it failed from buckling. Typically the top chord of a bridge, including model bridges, will be in compression. Different truss designs spread out the force so that various internal parts will be in compression as well.
Tension is a pulling force. Wood has the ability to resist a lot of tension. It would be hard to break a popsicle stick if you held both ends and pulled apart. Tension may be applied parallel to the grain of the wood, but should be avoided perpendicular to the grain. Wood is very strong in tension parallel to the grain, but much weaker in tension perpendicular to the grain. Also, unlike in compression, the ability of wood to resist tension does not change with its length. A shorter piece of wood should hold the same amount of tension as a longer piece.
Torsion is a twisting force. When you wring out a cloth, you are applying torsion to the cloth. If you take a stick pretzel, twist one end, and hold the other end still, it will break very easily. If you do that with a baseball bat, it will not break. However, if you take a piece of licorice and apply torsion to it, the licorice will twist around several times before it breaks. Each of these materials has a different way of responding to torsion. Bridge designers must watch for torsion and try to reduce it as much as possible.
Shear is an interesting force. It happens when there are two opposing forces acting on the same point. If you hold a piece of wood with both hands next to each other, and push up with one hand and down with the other, you are applying shear to that piece of wood. Shear usually occurs horizontally, and not vertically.
Leave any questions in the comments below.


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Metal Print > Landscapes > Rural Landscapes
Metal Print of Longsleddale 28690_010
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Longsleddale from the north, Cumbria, 2015.
Media ID 23742104
© Historic England Archive
12"x18" (46x31cm) Metal Print
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By Maris Callahan
Brussels sprouts may be one of the most disliked vegetables on the planet but in early fall, their fans seem to spring forth from hibernation and rally around them at farmer's markets until November, when they make a splash at Thanksgiving tables from coast to coast.
Brussels sprouts, despite their reputation for having a bitter taste and mildly offensive aroma, are well liked enough by professional and home chefs to have earned a permanent place on many a Thanksgiving dinner table.
Brussels sprouts have a nutty, noticeable flavor that pairs well when served alongside sweet dishes like butternut squash pureed with maple and brown sugar or tart cranberry sauces or relishes. Perfect for Thanksgiving, Brussels sprouts are also – you guessed it – gluten-free.
Gluten-Free Brussels Sprouts with Apples & Chestnuts
Serves 8
Though you can prepare Brussels sprouts a number of other ways – baked, roasted, au gratin, I like to make the on the stovetop on Thanksgiving day, freeing up coveted oven space for dishes that need to be baked or slow roasted (not to mention the turkey, which on many tables, is the main event).
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, sliced thinly with brown ends and outer leaves removed
1/2 cup diced onion
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 small apples, diced into small pieces
1/4 cup chestnuts, chopped
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup dark maple syrup
Step 1: In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until they begin to appear translucent, 2-3 minutes. Add apples and Brussels sprouts and cook for about 6-8 minutes or until fruit begins to soften. Add chestnuts.
Step 2: Add red wine vinegar and maple syrup. Stir to combine and cook for five more minutes or until flavors or blended.
Step 3: Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with additional chestnuts as a garnish, if desired.
More Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Side Dishes:
- Shells & Cheese with Browned Butter and Swiss Chard
- Curried Pumpkin Soup with Crème Fraiche
- Warm Quinoa Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Sage
About the Author:
Maris Callahan is the author of In Good Taste, an avid self-taught home cook, and is widely knowledgeable about all things culinary. She is especially passionate about helping new cooks learn how to prepare healthy, delicious meals and snacks, even when life is busy. She believes in Ghirardelli chocolate, farmer's markets and cooking from scratch when possible. When she is not in the kitchen working on her next recipe, Maris works as a marketing professional in Chicago and in her spare time, contributes to several websites including SheKnows.com, Diets In Review and Shape.com.
4 thoughts on "Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Sides: Brussels Sprouts with Apples & Chestnuts"
Do you roast them beforehand, or add them raw?
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Сантехнические работы в городе Харькове. Замена труб водопровода, канализации, сантехприборов, стояков, батарей отопления. Установка гидробоксов и другие сантехработы.
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Naturopathic Medicine
Topic Overview
What is naturopathic medicine?
Naturopathic medicine (or naturopathy) is based on the belief that the body can heal itself. It aims to improve health, prevent disease, and treat illness through the use of organic foods and exercise; a healthy, balanced lifestyle; and the use of treatments from other areas of complementary medicine. (These treatments include ayurveda, homeopathy, and herbal therapies.)
Naturopathy was developed in the late 1800s in the United States. Today, both naturopathic doctors and traditional naturopaths practice naturopathic medicine. A licensed naturopathic doctor (ND) attends a 4-year, graduate-level naturopathic medical school where he or she studies basic sciences and therapies such as herbal medicine, homeopathy, and bodywork. Naturopaths may attend training programs that vary in length and content, but they usually aren't licensed.
Most naturopathic doctors and naturopaths believe in natural therapies, such as nutrition and lifestyle counseling. They tend to avoid treating with prescription medicines but may prescribe herbal medicines, homeopathic dilutions, or nutritional supplements.
What is naturopathy used for?
Some people use naturopathic medicine to promote good health, prevent disease, and treat illness. Most naturopathic doctors can treat earaches, allergies, and other common health problems.
Is naturopathy safe?
Two common concerns about naturopathy are the use of fasting and a bias against vaccines.
- Talk with your medical doctor before fasting. Fasting means not eating or drinking, or consuming only liquids for a period of time. Fasting can be dangerous, especially if you have a disease such as diabetes.
- Some naturopathic doctors and naturopaths do not believe that vaccines are necessary. But medical experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Practice Physicians, recommend vaccines.
Talk with your medical doctor about any complementary health practice that you would like to try or are already using. Your medical doctor can help you manage your health better if he or she knows about all of your health practices.
Naturopathy licensing varies from state to state. Not all states require naturopathic doctors to be licensed. Also, not all naturopathic training programs are the same. Some schools grant degrees that are not accepted by state licensing boards. In the United States, the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME) is the only agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit naturopathic programs and colleges.
Before you choose a naturopathic doctor, find out if the person graduated from an accredited college. Also check to see if your state has licensing laws that govern the practice of NDs. If your state licenses NDs, ask the ND if he or she is licensed.
Current as of: April 9, 2019
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:Adam Husney MD – Family Medicine & Kathleen M. Fairfield MD, MPH, DrPH – Internal Medicine
Topic Contents
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. Learn how we develop our content.


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Art Promos' line of Promotional Paperweights includes dozens of styles designed by professional artists, from intricate laser-cut and etched glass and crystal to sculpted chrome, marble and wood styles. These beautiful, award and and executive-quality Custom Paperweights are perfect for recognizing employee achievements, marking special milestones like retirements or years of service or for serving as thank-you's to your company's best clients.
Many of our promotional Paperweights have a variety of options when it comes to adding your personalized message. Screen printing is always available. Many of our glass/crystal and metal paperweights also give you the option of engraving or laser-etching your corporate logo or message for a truly valuable, timeless reminder of your gratitude. Imprint your selected promotional Paperweight with the recipient's name, your company logo or a customized message of your choice.
Prices for our elegant Custom Paperweights begin at less than 5 dollars each. Base price typically includes one location, one color imprint of your logo or message, with the option of adding extra colors, a second imprint location or engraving/laser etching for an extra charge.


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Children's comics have enjoyed a major resurgence in 2012, despite the doom and gloom headlines that the media has run with. As Charlie Brooker wrote earlier this year, reports of The Dandy's death were indeed greatly exaggerated, with the famously long-living comic making the jump to the digital realm in the face of falling physical sales. Not a death then, but a regeneration that takes the best of what has gone before, gives it a slightly different personality, and possibly a new pair of converse or quirky bow tie.
Meanwhile, The Beano Annual is again one of the top selling annuals of the year, and within the book trade, Nielsen figures for the first half of 2012 revealed that the second biggest grower in revenue was "Children's Comic Strip Fiction", boasting a growth of 86 per cent year on year. While Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid books – part prose, part comic illustrations – of course lead the way, sales are also picking up on old favourites Tintin and the Marvel Adventures series, as well as relative newcomers including Garen Ewing's *The Rainbow Orchid*.
In the newsstands too, there is much to celebrate. While The Dandy was obviously struggling to match its once lofty (and now surely impossible!) weekly sales of over 2 million, trend hugging children's magazines such as Moshi Monsters boast a monthly circulation of 227,958 and include comic features. The Simpsons Comic still scores brilliant sales every month, while The Beano sits at a fairly healthy, and consistent, 30,000+ per week.
Compared with sales of old, it would be easy to get a little misty eyed over the loss of those once staggering sales and wide eyed variety. But when competing with games, television, and all the free stuff that the pesky internet provides, it's heartening to see that kids really do still want to pick up comics – even as nostalgic adults grumble about the plastic toys attached to the front. But newsagent space does come at a premium, and as trends rather than originality dominated sales, things started to look a little stale.
Enter The Phoenix. Launched in January this year, the weekly children's comics anthology has been a welcome revelation. Packed to the brim with serialised adventure stories, humour strips and text stories, The Phoenix has become a firm favourite with fans of all ages. The range of talent on display is mouth watering: Jamie Smart, Kate Brown, Simone Lia, Gary Northfield, Dave Shelton, Paul Duffield, and Chris Riddell are just a few of the names on board, with a new strip in the works from Sarah McIntyre and Carnegie-winning novelist Philip Reeve.
Favourite strips include Star Cat, a cat spaceship with a brave crew who boldly blunder where no crew has blundered before; Bunny Vs Monkey, featuring a failed monkey astronaut who decides his crash landing site must be a new world; Planet of the Shapes starring grumpy geometry; Corpse Talk, exhuming famous bodies for informative interviews; and Gary's Garden, where all manner of madness is happening at the bottom of the lawn.
What makes The Phoenix unique is not only the fact that it isn't just all humour based strips like many peer publications, but that it is such an intelligently made and lovingly put together comic. It's a real nostalgic trip for comics fans of old, yet young and fresh enough to avoid the patronising pitfalls of talking down to its audience. The Phoenix is to reading what Horrible Histories is to history lessons: it entertains, educates and encourages you to find out more. Oh, and it's pretty good for kids too. Ahem.
Unfortunately, this comic is a little harder to get a hold of, stocked only in Waitrose and some independent book shops, but it is available on subscription, much like the various children's magazines that flooded the market when I was a child in the 90s (Farthing Wood Friends, how I loved you). With 49 issues and counting now published, it appears the comics anthology is back in business.
The Dandy Online launched last week, reintroducing favourite characters including Desperate Dan, Bananaman, The Numskulls, Brassneck, and introducing an all new team of classic British superheroes, Retro Active. From Jamie Smart's new take on the Numskulls to recontextualising Dan as a legendary figure (allowing for more outlandish fare) it's a bold move for the Dundee-based team, yet it is encouraging that one of the longest running comics in the world is willing to experiment with new formats in the face of a changing market.
The new look has been based around portability, with a dedicated app set to launch "as soon as possible". Children may not be reading as many comics as they did 50 years ago, but mobile phone content is a hot property. Using a credit based system to allow users to tailor content to their own interests, while running extras such as print-out projects and puzzles on the website help keep the focus on interactivity. While the comics do use some animation, it mostly mimics the movement of a comic page as the eye would normally track. Pacing is still set by the reader, particularly important for a comic read by younger children.
Humour is the priority, but superhero strip Retro Active is an interesting switch up, playing it straight and echoing the early days of The Dandy when adventure material ran alongside the slapstick. The Amazing Mr X was Britain's first bona fide superhero, though perhaps not quite so glamorous as his American cousins. As Grant Morrison joked earlier this year, "He could leap about eight feet in the air! He can lift a table!" Retro Active sees a more impressive Mr X return, alongside other half-remembered heroes, villains, and wonderfully, two female superheroes too.
There are still clearly some bugs to iron out, and without the app it is difficult to judge how this new format will perform, but it certainly seems to be keeping the old spirit of The Dandy alive and well.
Dandy publishers DC Thomson definitely have form on the digital front, with their Commando app proving popular with readers, helped perhaps by the aspect ratio of the war comic anthology fitting a tablet screen perfectly. There is no data available on circulation figures, and estimates put the weekly sales of the physical edition of Commando at less than 10,000. However, the digital subscription service is reportedly popular, and the collected pocket editions in book shops are flying off the shelves: four more titles were published this year, with another four due in February. The £5.99 price tag for 200+ pages is very enticing as a pocket-money purchase, and it doesn't seem to be just nostalgic fathers who are snapping these up.
This is perhaps a market that 2000 AD have become more aware of in the last year too, with new digest-size editions of classic Judge Dredd stories being published at digest-size prices (£6.99, compared to £15.99 for the larger "Case Files"). These older storylines, in contrast to the 2000 AD of today, are also generally suitable for ten-year-olds and up, offering an alternative for children who prefer a little more grit in their reading.
To complete the cross-platform appeal of these various contenders, what we really need now is to see some lovely collections from The Phoenix, and some nostalgic reprints of departed characters like Korky the Cat. Repackaging the old, getting the new into book shops, and embracing the opportunities that digital can bring: children's comics are once again at the forefront of comics innovation and originality.


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(visited by Alan Fox, Carolyn Fox and Max)
10-Jul-2001 -- After doing two other confluences today - 52°N 105°W and 52°N 106°W - we passed through the city of Saskatoon on our way to the third. The photo taken in Saskatoon shows one of several bridges that cross the South Saskatchewan River. City buildings and the castle-like Bessborough Hotel are in the background. After doing a few errands in Saskatoon we headed off at 4:00 PM. The third confluence of the day is near the town of Vanscoy, about 20 km southwest of Saskatoon on Highway 7. At Vanscoy we took a photo of "Prairie Pulse", a large seed processing facility situated along the railroad track. As wheat prices have plummeted in recent years pulse crops are becoming popular in Saskatchewan. Peas, lentils, chickpeas, faba beans, dry beans, and lupins are some of the pulse crops grown here. The seed processing facility in Vanscoy accepts chickpeas, lentils, large yellow peas and seed peas. They clean the seed, process the seed into bags or bulk ship.
A short 1.3 km drive on a grid road heading west from Vanscoy led us to the spot. From our van we once again moved carefully along the furrows of a grain crop for 192 meters to the confluence, leaving our Wheaten Terrier, Max to guard the van. The "east" view from the confluence shows the town of Vanscoy. The "west" view shows trees to the left that surround the farm house shown in our photos and on the right, part of a potash mine is visible. To find out more about potash mines see the first paragraph of 52°N 106°W. Near the confluence a natural gas pipeline passes underground. It is marked with the yellow "37" and "danger" sign shown in the photo.
Back on the outskirts of Vanscoy we took a photo of ourselves sitting in the bleachers of the empty rodeo grounds. Near us, on the fence surrounding the outdoor rodeo arena, a sign says, "YOU ARE HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK". Thankfully we came to no harm while sitting there!
Without the adventure of climbing mountain tops, crossing deserts, hacking through jungles or wading through swamps in Saskatchewan, we went for the challenge of "quantity". After three confluences in one day we were satisfied with a job well done.
At the junction of Highways 7 and 45 is the town of Delilse. At 6:40 PM a cafe at that junction provided us with a good supper before the journey home. We took a route south through Outlook then across Highway 15 to join Highway 11, the main route between Saskatoon and Regina. Near Davidson the clouds were building up and a light rain began to fall. As the sun began to set, we witnessed a beautiful double rainbow stretching from horizon to horizon. The sun set at 9:17 PM providing us with a beautiful prairie sunset. We arrived home at 10:32 PM after a total trip of 703 km and another successful day of confluence hunting.


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After a successful summer season of the award-winning Fishers' Farmer Market, the City of Fishers will host its first-ever October Farmers' Market this month.
The October Farmers' Market will be held at Holland Park every Saturday in October from 9 a.m. until noon. The market will feature fall favorites including seasonal produce, baked goods, mums, pumpkins, and more.
A pop-up Fall Fest event will be hosted at Holland Park in conjunction with the opening day of the market on Saturday, October 6 and will include hayrides, children's games, and other seasonal activities.
Vendors for the October Farmers' Market include:
The Winter Farmers' Market will return November 3 through March 16 at Holland Park from 9 a.m. until noon. The seasonal market will highlight cold weather crops, greenhouse-grown vegetables, baked goods, and prepared foods.
Learn more at playfishers.com/farmersmarket.


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MMA for All!
February 23, 2010 – Last year's UFC Undisputed was definitely a surprise hit. Though MMA has been a popular sport for decades, the UFC brand has made the sport an international phenomenon. And Though the franchise has spawned games before, last year's Undisputed shattered sales records from previous iterations and was praised for its realistic combat and large roster. Not content to let THQ share the sports market, EA Sports has now stepped up to the plate to create a competitor for this new contender: EA Sports MMA. Although this title will not feature the UFC branding, there will be plenty of fighters, match types, and online features to make this title stand out. And, with the Tiburon development team behind it, you can't help but be optimistic about this title's prospects.
One of the first concerns any fan might have about EA MMA is how the roster will take shape. Although the world of MMA is vast, the UFC brand is certainly the most recognizable, and featuring competitors from this division would seem like a must. However, since UFC boss Dana White has stated that he is literally "at war" with EA over the competing title, there will be no UFC fighters appearing in the game (with the notable exceptions of Vladimir Matyushenko, who signed with the brand, and megastar Randy Couture, who never agreed to appear in the UFC series of games and will not appear in them from this point forward).
However, even without UFC stars, there will still be plenty of notable fighters in EA Sports MMA. Fighter's from the American Strikeforce brand as well as DREAM and World Victory Road from Japan will all make appearances, and there will also be some International free agents appearing in the game as well. Notable fighters include former UFC superstar Ken Shamrock, Japanese superstar Hidehiko Yoshida, and the controversial Renato Sobral.
In addition to the star-studded roster, EA Sports MMA will also feature some intriguing gameplay. Though UFC Undisputed used a button-based combat system, EA Sports MMA will take a more fluid approach. Instead of pressing a button to strike, the game uses the thumbstick instead. This will allow the user greater control over the direction of the strikes and keep the pace of the action a little faster. Although you can switch the control around to use button-based control, the thumbstick mechanic will definitely be interesting to try out, and will hopefully give the game a realistic edge.
The fighting mechanics also include a detailed reaction system that tracks strength and location of body blows, and adjusts the AI to weaken those particular spots when they are subject to repeat strikes. So, if you are targeting the left leg, and you land a particularly devastating blow after some body shots, you will see the fighter falter much easier, as the left leg will be weak and more likely to give up under stress.
It seems the only thing we aren't sure of about EA Sports MMA at this point is a release date. Though the game has been in development since last year, the release window is still open wide for 2010. However, since UFC 2010 Undisputed is scheduled for a late spring release, I can't imagine EA sports MMA falling too far behind, given EA's penchant for facing competing franchises head on (especially in the sports genre) and would expect to see the game released at about the same time.
Although the sport of MMA is still growing to capture the mainstream, it seems that it already has quite a foothold in the video game field. With one blockbuster title featuring the sport already, EA Sports MMA will have to make quite the impression to lure fans away from the UFC Undisputed series. Still, if there was one developer that could compete with this burgeoning franchise, it would be EA Sports, and I am excited to see what EA Sports MMA brings to the table later this year.
Game Features:


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Sierra National Forest
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Sierra National Forest, region of forests and streams in central California, U.S., extending along the Sierra Nevada between Yosemite and Kings Canyon national parks (north and southeast, respectively) and bordered by Inyo (northeast), Sequoia (south), and Stanislaus (northwest) national forests. It was established in 1905 from an earlier (1893) forest reserve. It has an area of about 2,030 square miles (5,260 square km) and elevations ranging from 900 to 13,000 feet (275 to 4,000 metres). Notable features include the big trees (giant sequoias) of the Nelder and McKinley groves and the Kaiser, Dinkey Lakes, Monarch, Ansel Adams, and John Muir wilderness areas (the last two shared with Inyo National Forest). Headquarters are at Clovis.
Vegetation ranges from alpine meadows to stands of lodgepole pines, red and white firs, cedars, mountain hemlocks, and aspen. The forest and its streams provide timber, grazing land, water, and hydroelectric power, and there is some gold mining. Wildlife includes mule deer, black bears, coyotes, bobcats, foxes, marmots, porcupines, and quail. Trout, bass, and bluegills are favourite sportfishing species. The Mount Dana–Minarets Escarpment is one of the forest's scenic highlights, many of its peaks exceeding 12,000 feet (3,700 metres). Hundreds of miles of trails are maintained in the Mammoth–High Sierra area. The highest peak, Mount Humphreys (13,986 feet [4,263 metres]), is on the Sierra Nevada crest. The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail crosses the forest, and Devils Postpile National Monument is near its eastern edge. The Sierra Vista Scenic Byway runs for 100 miles (160 km) past some of the area's natural highlights. The region offers fishing in numerous cold, clear streams and lakes, as well as bear, deer, and quail hunting. Winter sports such as snowmobiling and skiing are popular, as are aquatic sports such as kayaking and white-water rafting in warm weather.


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Landscape architecture student wins award for work at Danish Institute for Study Abroad
Thursday, June 5, 2014
MANHATTAN — With Copenhagen as his home and Europe as his classroom, James Ross DeVault, a fourth-year Master of Landscape Architecture student in Kansas State University's College of Architecture, Planning & Design, or APDesign, found studying abroad to be an award-winning experience.
DeVault, St. Charles, Illinois, recently earned the Academic Award in Urban Design by the Danish Institute for Study Abroad. He was chosen out of 152 students who attended the institute during the spring 2014 semester. The institute presents four academic awards, one in each of its program disciplines: architecture, interior architecture, urban design and graphic design. The awards are given to celebrate students who not only excelled in studio work, but who also took an active part in academics.
"I was very proud and humbled to receive the award because if not me, the award could have easily gone to a number of other K-Staters," DeVault said. "It reaffirms my belief that K-State's College of Architecture, Planning & Design, and more specifically the landscape architecture/regional & community planning department, develops and places its students in positions where we can succeed and lead our peers."
The nonprofit Danish Institute for Study Abroad is in Copenhagen and partners with Kansas State University in offering semester, academic year and summer programs taught in English. Established in 1959, the institute offers American students intensive, rigorous course work with field studies, hands-on learning opportunities, and study tours in Denmark and across Europe. The program promotes that students should gain academic knowledge and intercultural leadership skills to prepare for their future careers in a globalized world.
"I have had the pleasure of having Ross in my urban design theory class," said Henning Thomsen, program director architecture and design at the Danish Institute for Student Abroad. "And I have gotten to know him as a very dedicated student who also has shown himself to be a really good classmate to his fellow students."
All students in the five-year landscape architecture program offered by the College of Architecture, Planning & Design are required to complete one semester of study abroad. DeVault attributes his success during his semester at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad to the educational opportunities provided to him at Kansas State University.
"The landscape architecture/regional & community planning department promotes cross-disciplinary projects and workflows that allow us as students to expand our design knowledge, promote communication and understand our role in the greater workforce," DeVault said. "All of the projects we completed at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad were interdisciplinary, and the background we had at K-State allowed us to emerge as leaders and create successful projects."


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Hamid Karzai Biography
Hamid Karzai
President of AfghanistanBorn: 1957
Birthplace: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Karzai was elected president in Afghanistan's first popular elections on Oct. 9. He had been leading an interim Afghan government since Dec. 5, 2001. Karzai's enormous popularity in the West led to the infusion of both financial assistance and troops to the war-ravaged country. However, his grasp on power within the country remained somewhat tenuous, with warlords maintaining tight regional control. Indeed, he survived an assassination attempt in September 2002, which threatened the stability of an already volatile government.
Karzai, who attended college in India, speaks fluent English and enjoys strong support from the west. He has also been embraced by a broad spectrum of factions in Afghanistan, where ethnic and tribal identity dominates politics. An ethnic Pashtun from the city of Kandahar, Karzai is leader of the powerful 500,000-strong Populzai clan, which has supplied Afghanistan's kings since 1747. Karzai is also a close ally of the former king, Muhammad Zahir Shah. Even many Taliban supporters, most of whom were ethnic Pashtun centered in Kandahar, found Karzai preferable to Northern Alliance leaders who were ethnic Tajiks or Uzbeks.
During the fight against the Soviet invasion of the 1980s, Karzai provided money and arms to the mujahideen. He then served as deputy foreign minister in the post-Soviet government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, which was overthrown by the Taliban in 1996. At first a Taliban supporter, Karzai gradually came to oppose their rigid policies and distrust their connections to Pakistani intelligence and Arab Islamic radicals. When the Taliban asked Karzai to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, he refused. During the American-led campaign against the Taliban in the fall 2001, Karzai was instrumental in convincing a number of Pashtun tribes to end their support for the Taliban.


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Repairing the Antarctic Ozone Hole!
News story originally written on September 17, 2002
The ozone layer in the stratosphere is important for life on Earth because it shields the Earth from harmful solar radiation. Since 1974 scientists have been watching a hole grow in the ozone layer above the South Pole but now they have some good news. They say that the Antarctic ozone hole may close by 2050!
The ozone hole over Antarctica formed mainly by Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) destroying ozone. CFCs are a human developed compound that people have used since the 1930s in refrigerators and air conditioners. The chemical remains in the atmosphere, destroying the ozone, for decades. CFCs are able to break ozone apart when a chlorine atom from a CFC molecule, broken off by UV radiation, attacks an ozone molecule.
In 1987, countries around the world agreed to gradually produce less CFCs when they signed the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to eliminate the production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals.
It looks like our efforts to cut down on activities that release CFCs are making a difference according to a recent study that says CFCs are declining. A United Nations report released Monday said CFCs in the atmosphere have been declining since 2000. We are now at a point where the atmosphere can actually remove CFCs faster than they are being released into the atmosphere, said Paul Fraser, a scientists and one of the authors of the United Nations report.


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Microsoft's scheduled unveiling of new Surface tablets next week is not a last-chance moment for the company's hardware dreams, analysts said today, countering a theme popular on the Web.
While some have portrayed the event -- slated for Tuesday and expected to highlight one or more new tablets, including a smaller 7- or 8-in. device, perhaps a third-generation full-sized Surface Pro as well -- as make-or-break, others rejected that idea.
"I don't see them giving up anytime soon regardless of the details [of the devices launched next week]," said Bob O'Donnell, principal analyst at Technalysis Research. "We'll continue to see an evolution of the product line."
"No, I don't think this is make-or-break," echoed Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "But they have to be successful in a smaller format to drive scale. You have to have scale to buy cheaper components. Microsoft doesn't have the scale to be profitable or to hit interesting price points."
That's true. While Microsoft has been selling Surface tablets since October 2012, it has yet to drive enough volume to turn a profit. In the March quarter, Surface posted a $45 million loss on revenue of $494 million.
"They need scale," Moorhead continued. "This is the time where we'll see Microsoft either doing something serious or just having a hobby."
The do-or-die theory has been widespread, as has the idea that the rollout will be a big test of new CEO Satya Nadella's "mobile-first, cloud-first" interpretation of Microsoft's long-stated strategy to pivot to a "devices and services" business model.
"From my perspective, this is pretty much the make-or-break announcement for the Surface line," said Hal Berenson, whose opinions carry weight because he is a former Microsoft manager and engineer. "Whatever we see on the 20th [will be] the first devices that could have been seriously impacted by what Microsoft learned from the Windows 8 and Surface launch experience."
The general consensus is that Microsoft's Surface strategy has been a failure so far. Sales have been tepid. Observers have criticized the company's confused marketing of the dual line, which features a more-or-less pure tablet powered by Windows RT and a 2-in-1 hybrid fueled by Windows 8. And there's no sign that Microsoft's efforts -- its own or those of its OEM partners -- have made meaningful strides against devices running Google's Android or Apple's iOS.
But Microsoft won't throw in the towel, at least not anytime soon.
"Microsoft wants to have a position in hardware as an enabler for their software and services," said O'Donnell. "The bigger picture is to provide a better-quality service on their own devices, and that will continue to be the case. They'll continue to use Surface as their model for some of that."
In particular, analysts see promise in the Surface Pro line, the second-generation tablet, called Surface Pro 2, and a rumored third-generation that may be unveiled next week.
"Surface Pro is making some headway in corporate environments," said Ross Rubin, an independent analyst at Reticle Research, in an email reply to questions. "The big improvements we saw in the Pro 2 in terms of performance, thickness and battery life made it a much more appealing offering, although it seems that much of the adoption is still in verticals such as healthcare."
Powered by Windows 8, and able to run not only the newer "Metro" apps but also traditional Windows software, the Surface Pro line has been touted by Microsoft as a 2-in-1, a device able to function alternately as a tablet and a notebook replacement.
The jury is still out on the viability of 2-in-1s, although some researchers, Gartner especially, are bullish on the concept.
But the high price of the Surface Pro has been a big barrier. The least-expensive 64GB model currently costs $899, with another $130 for a keyboard. Those prices are far higher than comparable tablets, higher, too, than a typical notebook, and closer to premium ultra-lights like the MacBook Air, which recently got a price cut to bring its entry-level 128GB model down to the same $899, keyboard included.
To make any headway, Microsoft must price its Surface, particularly the anticipated 7- on 8-in. Surface Mini, more aggressively, said Moorhead. "I expect a premium price point [for the smaller Surface] but it has to be less than Apple's," said Moorhead. "The question is, what features will they take out to make this a competitive device?"
Apple prices its Retina-equipped iPad Mini -- a 7.9-in. tablet -- at $399, and 2012's first-generation iPad Mini, which sports a lower-resolution screen, at $299.
"Microsoft has to take market share away from Apple, but if they price [the Surface Mini] like other Surface products, that won't happen," said Moorhead.
No matter what Microsoft shows off on Tuesday, analysts expect the company to stick with tablets. "I get the sense that they're thinking long term and in innovative ways about how [the Surface] can leverage their platform and services," said O'Donnell. "We have to start thinking about this as a big hardware business that consists of multiple pieces, everything from keyboards and mice to tablets and smartphones, all under one hardware division."
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed. His email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
See more by Gregg Keizer on Computerworld.com.
Read more about tablets in Computerworld's Tablets Topic Center.


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It kind of hurts to know that Justice Antonin Scalia still hasn't found a space in his heart for "homosexual sodomy."
The Supreme Court judge hasn't swayed much from the sentiment conveyed in the dissent he wrote in Lawrence v. Texas – the landmark court case that struck down the sodomy law in the great (though not necessarily in decision making) state of Texas. In 2003 he wrote that the other six justices were signing on "to the so-called homosexual agenda" which he alleged aims to eliminate "the moral opprobrium that has traditionally attached to homosexual conduct." Scalia echoed that a point of view on the sexual behaviors of the man-for-man sect of the population during a recent event at the American Enterprise Institute.
Scalia was offering his assessment on various issues that he found easily solvable. Scalia said: "The death penalty? Give me a break. It's easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion."
Then came "homosexual sodomy," which he argued, "Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state." And like Lawrence vs. Texas, Scalia took issue with justices who try to apply the values of the Constitution with the ever-evolving world. Scalia states "the Constitution means exactly what I think it ought to mean."
This isn't exactly shocking news, considering he often employs that shtick about being a stickler for Constitutional literalism. He's also the same person who said earlier this year, "There is no right to privacy. No generalized right to privacy."
I'm not a constitutional lawyer, but if I went by the standard that for 200 years "homosexual sodomy" was illegal, I ought to be typing in shackles and consider myself 3/5 a person.
Since Scalia remains so vexed about the right for a man to sodomize another, I'd love to know what he makes of heterosexual sodomy considering it's been on an upswing.
Make note: This is the only time I'll ever be curious about Antonin Scalia's thoughts on sexual matters.
How fun it must be to be Antonin Scalia and have a job in which you get to have flexible interpretations of legal documents that perpetuate your particular prejudices whenever it suits you.
Like most bigots with an aversion to labels that apply to them, Scalia stayed true to form in that Lawrence ruling, noting: "Let me be clear that I have nothing against homosexuals, or any other group, promoting their agenda through normal democratic means." To him, the majority pandered to those pesky poking gays by providing an "invention of a brand-new 'constitutional right.'" A right in which he believes was unearned and proved how the gay community is "impatient of democratic change."
It's pretty clear that he remains bothered, though he'd surely get it over it sooner if he realized that democracy was working then on the 'what, what in the butt' ruling, continues to now and would continue to work just fine if "traditionalists" of Scalia's ilk wouldn't be so obsessed with reversion.
If you needed any reminder as to how ass backwards this country is, look no further than a Justice trying to bring about a new debate over the old issue as to whether or not one has the right to use his ass as he so chooses to.
I get that with age some start to cling to the days of yore, but at one point does one realize that being so cyclical about certain cultural issues makes you look like a crock? Never mind, there's an entire national political party themed around such a characteristic.
Even so, wouldn't it be great if we could transport Scalia to the horse and buggy, witch-burning era of civilization he so clearly covets?
Or the closet thing available: A gig on FOX News.
Michael Arceneaux is a Houston-bred, Howard-educated writer and blogger. You can read more of his work on his site, The Cynical Ones. Follow him on Twitter: @youngsinick