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Port Douglas will amaze, inspire and leave you longing for more. Rainforest, reef, beach and seafood to die for are among the many charms to discover
Port Douglas is a hidden jewel at the top end of Australia. Nestled between the exotic rainforest and the coral sea, it has an understated charm and a good selection of accommodation to suit all budgets. Add to this an enviable climate - it gets up to an average of 87 degrees in January - and 'Port Dougie', as it's affectionately known, is a perfect place to unwind.
It has changed dramatically since it was founded in 1877 after the discovery of gold in a nearby river. A period of decline in the last century - after a cyclone occurred - was reversed in the 1980s, when luxury resorts such as the Sheraton Mirage were built. The architect of this redevelopment was property tycoon Christopher Skase, whose legacy can still be witnessed by the amount of palm trees in the town. Apparently, some 1500 were imported at the cost of AUS $1500 each.
Getting around is easy and revolves around a few major roads. The heart of the town focuses on Macrossan Street. A typical walking tour will start at the Courthouse Hotel, Port Douglas's oldest pub, and then on to art galleries, restaurants/bars, ice cream parlours and boutique-style shops, where celebrities like Bill Clinton have been known to be spotted. Double back on yourself and find Wharf Street, then climb up the hill to gawp at the expensive Port Douglas addresses and finally reach the Lookout Point. This has perhaps the best views of Port Douglas with the mountains in the far distance.
If you're around on Sunday, try the market in Anzac Park selling all kinds of original items - all handmade by the stallholders. Be there early and when the shopping's over, sit back and relax with an ice cold mango juice, whilst listening to the buskers playing old blues songs. An added option if you don't fancy walking is to consider hiring a bike. Port Douglas Bike Hire (www.portdouglasbikehire.com.au) do a good selection of adult and family bikes from AUS$19 a day. A great bike ride is along Four Mile Beach - the hard sand is surprisingly easy to ride on.
Most people stay in Port Douglas for about five days which is a good chance to enjoy some spectacular day tours. The Great Barrier Reef needs little introduction. Big boys such as Quicksilver operate from here as well as several smaller enterprises. We booked our cruise with Calypso, which has two catamarans, for AUS$185 an adult, which includes diving at three locations, a tropical buffet lunch and snorkelling equipment. It was recommended because the boats are small enough to have a personal diving experience and get to know the experienced crew. For another 50 bucks you can even take an introductory scuba dive with an instructor. If you've never dived before and don't fancy doing a PADI course this is well worth it. However, the water is so clear it's just as easy to snorkel. Either way, wonderful sights await like the brightly coloured 'clown' fish - the coral simply teams with life. To make a reservation, either book online (for a 10% discount) at www.calypsoreefcruises.com, or visit their shop at the Marina Mirage. Although with so many companies competing for your money it's worth shopping around to check out the local deals.
Likewise most travellers will want to take in a trip of the rainforest or even further afield. You can either hire a car from companies like Avis (www.avis.com.au/car-rental/html/Landing/cairns-rental.html) or let someone else do the driving and take a guided tour. We booked ours with Tony's Tropical Tours (www.tropicaltours.com.au), taking in the Mossman Gorge, the Daintree rainforest and Cape Tribulation with a stop for a barbecue lunch.
With only six of us in a luxury landcruiser, it felt small enough to be comfortable. Travelling past the fields of sugar cane it was a sobering thought that in the 'wet season' many of these roads would be impassable. A dip into crystal-clear waters of the gorge proved to a little icy for our liking, but the real highlight was the Daintree River Cruise and an opportunity for crocodile spotting. A foray into the depths of the rainforest uncovered lurking predators, although our resident Ray Mears imparted the kind of tips which dinner parties are made of.
If you don't fancy taking a tour to see the rainforest, there is always the short cut or the Rainforest habitat (www.rainforesthabitat.com.au) on the outside of town. It's set over eight acres and has three different zones: wetlands, rainforest and the grasslands. It's a favourite with the children where they can take part in activities such as feeding wallabies and holding a koala. Make sure you get there for 'breakfast with the birds', where you can enjoy a sumptuous array of exotic fruit and hot/cold buffets then marvel as the exotic birds come close to the table.
If your exhausted from all your day trips and shopping, Four Mile Beach is the perfect tonic. Now an idyllic beach it was formerly surrounded by mangrove swamps where crocodiles roamed. A short walk from town, it's easy to lose yourself walking barefoot along the sea edge. Cut through using one of the paths at the southern end, which tends to be quieter, and take a long walk (its actually two and a half miles) towards the far end where it is possible to hire windsurfers, kayaks etc from Port Douglas Watersports (www.tourismportdouglas.com.au/Port-Douglas-Watersports.710.0.html).
Even though the sea feels like a warm bath, remember how strong the sun can be here. Thirty minutes of 'not quite believing I am here' can give way to agonising sunburn. Incidentally, if you are planning to go swimming in the sea the best time to visit is from May - October - as outside this time the beach has specially designated nets to swim in - due to the box jellyfish.
Where to eat
You're spoilt for choice in places to eat. There should be something in Macrossan Street - firm favourites are places like the Iron Bar - home of 'cane toad racing', Mango Jam or Java Blue Cafe. Wharf Street has the Salsa Bar - offering consistently good mid range meals. Try the garlic yabbies with flakes of parmesan - delicious! A little bit more exclusive is the Inlet restaurant at the Marina Mirage (www.portdouglasseafood.com/home.8.0.html). One of several elegant restaurants, it's a lovely setting for a romantic dinner to watch the boats glide in as the sun sets on the mountains. They even have a retractable canopy to dine under the stars! We went there twice - ordering the gourmet seafood platter featuring mud crabs, yabbies, baby octopus and mussels. The quality is reflected in the prices - but with a location such as this it's hard to argue.
Where to stay
There is a huge range of accommodation on offer ranging from the luxury 5-star hotels down to the budget offerings. There are also a number of private homes available for rent all year round. We stayed in Port Douglas Coral Apartments - which worked at around AUS$117 a night. Quite good value and the location was second to none, being a short walk to the beach. The rooms were spacious and well equipped to have everything to hand. The pool was nicely landscaped with decking. A barbecue area was also provided - which was useful as we used to take a trip to Seamarkets (corner of Grant Street and Warner Street) and buy prawns fresh from the trawler. It's still worth marvelling at the opulence of hotels like the Sheraton Mirage. It boasts a fabulous swimming pool and golf course to match. Beware though when going to sleep at night to close the windows and doors and put the air conditioning on. If you don't the lovable gecko will become your new best friend!


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Diamond and Gem Stone Industrial Production
N. A. G. Press Limited, 1942 - Precious stones - 256 pages
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Gypsies & Moondust Dream Girl Top
Long sleeve effortless silhouette by Gypsies & Moondust. This woven swing top features a v-neckline with a keyhole opening on the back with flowy hem.
Size + Fit
Length: 27.5"
Content + Care
Fabric: 100% Rayon
Care: Machine wash cold with like colors, gentle cycle, only non-chlorine bleach when needed, lay flat to dry, low iron if needed.
Meet The Model
BeBop Size: 3, Height: 5'8"
Bust: 32" / Waist: 25" / Hips: 35"
Go to karaoke song: Bohemian rapsody by Queen
Style Icon: Zoe Kravitz
Can't Live Without: My dogs


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Color Trends For 2014
80-85% of the decision to buy a product is based on the color. Learn about the color trends for 2014 in this Moen video:
John West of Color Marketing Group notes that the average person is afraid of color as they are afraid to make a mistake. The least expensive thing you can do is to paint a room – if you don't like it, repaint it.
Blue is the dominate color for 2014 – the blue family, that is, which ranges from powder, sky, or environmental blues to dark blue and blue-black.
A popular color combination in the late 70's and early 80's were sea foam green and moth. Both colors are coming back, but not necessarily in combination.
Copper – both shiny and matte – is being introduced into appliances. We will also see black metallic matte accents and hammered finishes.
A new trend in woods is natural walnut (cool brown, not a dark brown) mixed with a high gloss and textured white.
Home is where we need to go to unplug and relax, and regularly updating the look of your home will help you achieve that. If you need help, hire a designer. It is a relatively inexpensive step that can help you save money by getting the color right the first time.


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RCMP are still trying to determine what caused a scary crash in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on Monday.
The collision, between a car and an oil tanker truck, occurred shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Hamilton River Road.
The impact left the front half of the car crushed under the tanker, with its roof partially sheered off.
Somehow, the 68-year-old male driver — who had to be cut out of the car — escaped with non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the tanker was not hurt.
Police say it appears the southbound car slammed into the truck as it was turning north onto Hamilton River Road.
The road was snow-covered at the time.
RCMP say they are continuing to investigate the circumstances that led to the accident.


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Managing people is not easy. The last two weeks have given me cause for introspection and some self-analysis. I've been thinking about work, different working cultures, different individual personalities and all the little intangibles that we confront everyday in the workplace. I wonder if there is a better way to manage things, or if just some things are tougher than others.
This last week I've been dealing with minor issues at work. On its own not significant, and stemming largely from people's individual personalities and the differences between working styles. But like some things, this is one of those where the sum is larger than its parts, and adding up all the little anomalies leads to a picture of a workforce that is slowly losing its cohesiveness and collective efficiency and fragmenting itself into little serfdoms. The problem is not with work per se, or their working abilities or efficiency; it's more of how they work, and how they work with each other.
I think I learnt that wherever possible, while selecting a person for a task, pick attitude over ability. Of course, finding the right person who's got the right mix of both is ideal... but such people are so rare! That said, it's awesome that a lot of core people I work with have exactly that golden balance. I guess professional maturity is something innate, and no amount of training can infuse that delicate balance of competence, common sense, self-secured-ness (is that the word?) in their own abilities and openness to personal growth and learning.
Before I embarked on my own venture, I learnt a lot from shadowing my father and watching him run a successful business. Especially in an organization like his/ours where we take them in young, and really dedicate a lot of resources to their personal and professional growth and training, I guess all that investment in their future does come back in good ways, whether it is in keeping attrition low, or in extracting the best out of our employees.
I always try to put people in their comfort zones, and capitalize on their strengths rather than focus on their opportunities for growth. This is something I realised on my own, and it was quite a realization although in hindsight it seems really obvious. I guess not everyone is wired the same, and whereas I get bored easily and always seek new challenges and opportunities for learning, some people are very comfortable dealing with issues they have experience handling. Luckily, I learnt not to fall into that trap of assuming everyone has the same working style, attitude to work or skillset as me, and have avoided making assumptions about how different people will look at a particular issue and whether they will take it in the right spirit or not. The problems happen when their job profile does not allow for a high level of autonomy or seclusion, and this is where interpersonal skills and communication abilities come into play.
My dad once told me about an incident when he was at B school. It was during a class on negotiations, and during the exercise his two classmates pitted against each other literally went in for the kill. Aggressive and ruthless, they were both extremely focused on extracting the best possible scenario for themselves out of the interaction. He said it was one of the most intensive and stimulating sessions. When the class was over, the two of them headed to the basketball court to shoot ball like nothing happened. "Americans", he said, "understand it's not personal. Work is work." How I wish it was the same here, and we could just focus on work and not waste time in detangling frivolous issues that just sap energy.
There were so many times during this project I just wanted to quit, where I got beaten down, and disillusioned that instead of running a dynamic, energetic young team... here I was using up the major part of my working day dealing with people problems and managing egos. You would think someone with that many years of work experience and formal training in a corporate culture would exhibit professional maturity. But most problems I face while managing issues boil down to some people personalizing trivial issues, and getting emotional in the face of constructive criticism. Why don't people understand that a criticism is not a personal attack? And in this case, it was not even a criticism of their ability or dedication to work, but merely asking them to be a little more considerate of other people in the team whom they need to work with, not fight against to get their way.
I suppose I need to evaluate my own sense of leadership while dealing with people problems. One thing I am thankful for is that I do not have incompetent people on my team; everyone here brings with them their own special set of skills and expertise and is truly committed to taking the vision forward. The problem is... whose vision? The company's or the individual's? I am still working on getting people more and more aligned with the company's vision and culture, and I believe the best way to do that is through dialogue and free-flowing communication. It's not been easy, but here's hoping we eventually get there.
For my part, I try to impart some kind of training to all my employees and team members. We do interactive training modules, we do brainstorming sessions, we do knowledge sharing meetings... and it all adds up to trying to infuse the same spirit of enthusiasm, ownership and synergy within the company. It all adds up to getting everyone on the same page. Wherever possible, through my own actions as an example, and explicitly I have always expressed the need for open and honest communication, transparency and sharing of info. And I remain accessible to everyone within the organization, and again this is something I learnt from my dad, where he's shown me how people feel reassured and secure and give more in their jobs when they know that if they have issues with their immediate superior, they can always approach someone higher and the company will do right by them. I suppose the biggest deterrent I face here is with people who have worked in a different organizational culture and are resistant to change.
I guess change will happen with time. And I guess I need more patience. If I am the one people look to for guidance, then I should be the one setting an example by staying cool and playing my part with tact and resolve. Perhaps I should a) focus on the positive things and be happy that at least the problems aren't stemming from incompetence b) understand that egos are fragile things, and everyone just looks for appreciation and recognition in the workplace, and I need to congratulate them when they do deliver, and package my criticism better. It's a fine balance; I hope I get there soon and am able to articulate my criticisms as clearly, succinctly and constructively as possible without getting annoyed with the other person's defensive attitude.
Sometimes I wonder how my father manages a taskforce of 1500-odd employees, each with their own take on how best to fulfil his duties. I guess a lot of my dad's working style has been shaped in part by his days at H, in part from his years of experience working in this industry and in part arising from his own innate leadership skills. I hope some of that has rubbed off on me. I am lucky to have had something much better than just formal training and years of work exp: a mentor.
A friend and B school graduate once said the best thing she learnt at B school were the people skills. Working with that many competent, intelligent, ambitious young people on the same problem where the 'right' answer is often ambiguous can be challenging. If anything, it teaches one diplomacy and tact while getting to the solution of a problem collectively and by utilising every member's strengths. I hope I come out of B school a better boss, better team player and a better person.


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31 Prayer Journal Prompts to Calm Your Frazzled Spirit
So it's January…How Calm is your Spirit? Anyone need a detox from all the plans that the holiday season brings? (You can't see me, but my hand is raised.) Or maybe your spirit is a mess because it's Tuesday and... Continue reading →


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The LOI is far from the Hollywood lifestyle. Browne has a young family, and is reportedly building a house and got a full time job. And it's been noted that he hates the travelling. Personally think Browne is making a very sensible decision. Gets to play closer to home, next to no traveling and has got several additional hours free weekly that he could spend with he's family. The chap is clearly looking at life beyond football. Which you can't blame him for as the LOI most certainly does not set you up for life after football and he isn't getting any younger.
Always been known that Fletch has been a home bird. Just look at the 2011 season where he dropped down to the first division when Waterford looked like they may go somewhere. But didn't and haven't since. Don't think it's lack of ambition at all. Purely a case of wanting to be at home.
And on top of that when Cork fans are making up rumours about him and spouting all sorts about him. Throughout the web, you can't blame the chap for not wanting to there. Fletch has denied he refused to play for Cork tonight.


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Newly furnished rooms for rent.
1 double room with sea view and 4 rooms with one bed. The rooms all have private bathroom and are furthermore equipped with desk
Breakfast is included in the price in high season.Guests can get breakfast in the cafe and eat it at the room or get a light breakfast in the café.


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Home Equity Line of Credit
Put the equity you've built in your home to good use.
Having a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) gives you the flexibility to finance a wide range of expenses. A HELOC is based on the equity built in your home, helping you benefit from a line of credit with competitive rates and potential tax savings.* You can use the funds available in your HELOC to meet your goals, whether that's to help pay for college, finish the basement, or just go on a much-needed vacation.
What is a Home Equity Line of Credit, and when is it useful?
Often simply called a HELOC, a Home Equity Line of Credit is like a credit account based on the amount of equity in your home. Borrow up to your credit limit whenever you need the funds, then the balance revolves as you repay it. The cash can be used for whatever – home improvements, medical bills, etc. Whatever you need, we offer HELOCs that work for you.
- Competitive interest rates
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Auditor's possible warning surfaces
Updated 10:43 am, Wednesday, March 12, 2014
An annual audit of the Beaumont school district's financial records did not guarantee that criminal activities would be discovered, especially schemes involving collusion or concentration of duties, said a member of a statewide professional accounting group.
"It is possible to dupe an auditor," said Jim Oliver, a San Antonio certified public accountant.
Oliver, who serves on the professional ethics committee of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, said school district auditing requires an expertise that many accounting firms don't have.
"School districts are specialized," he said. "A lot of firms don't do school districts."
Since 2009, Gayle W. Botley and Associates of Port Arthur has performed the annual audit for the Beaumont school district.
A Texas Education Agency investigation performed last October - less than a month before an FBI raid in which agents carted away financial records - outlined at least three years' worth of fraudulent wire transfers from the school district's checking accounts to dummy companies and other accounts set up by finance department employees.
A federal grand jury subsequently indicted Devin McCraney, BISD's director of finance, and Sharika Allison, the district's comptroller.
The indictments allege at least $4 million was embezzled, dating from August 2010 up to August 2013.
"Embezzlement is not considered an audit failure," Oliver said. "An audit failure is when financial statements are incorrect. It's not about individual activities."
The TEA's preliminary report on its October investigation was sent to the district last week. It said, "There may be deficiencies in the audit work performed by BISD's external auditor," and the TEA plans to conduct a review of the firm's audit work papers.
The district was given 10 working days to respond to the report.
Read more in Wednesday's Beaumont Enterprise.


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May 10, 2008
Methane Oxidation in Compost-Based Landfill Cover With Vegetation During Wet and Dry Conditions in the Tropics
By Tanthachoon, Nathiya Chiemchaisri, Chart; Chiemchaisri, Wilai; Tudsri, Sayan; Kumar, Sunil
ABSTRACT The effect of compost and vegetation on methane (CH^sub 4^) oxidation was investigated during wet and dry conditions in a tropical region. A laboratory-scale experiment was conducted to examine the performance of nonvegetated and vegetated landfill cover systems in terms of CH^sub 4^ oxidation efficiency. Two types of landfill cover materials (compost and sandy loam) and two species of tropical grasses (Sporobolus virginicus and Panicum repens) were studied for their effect on the CH^sub 4^ oxidation reaction. It was found that the use of compost as cover material could maintain a high methane oxidation rate (MOR) of 12 mol CH^sub 4^/m^sup 3^ * day over a 250-day period. Leachate application showed a positive effect on promoting methanotrophic activity and increasing MOR. A high MOR of 12 mol CH^sub 4^/m^sup 3^ * day was achieved when using compost cover with P. repens during wet and dry seasons when leachate irrigation was practiced. In dry conditions, a lower MOR of 8 mol CH^sub 4^/m^sup 3^ * day was observed for 80 days.(ProQuest: ... denotes formula omitted.)
Landfilling is a conventional technique for municipal solid waste management in many developing countries. However, significant environmental impacts such as leachate and gas production can be created if the landfills are not designed and operated properly. In many developing countries, the gases produced from biodegradation of solid waste in landfills are released directly to the atmosphere without any treatment. Methane (CH^sub 4^) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are the major landfill gases that contribute to ambient temperature rising referred to as the "global warming effect" or "greenhouse effect." Furthermore, the global warming potential (GWP) of CH^sub 4^ is reported to be approximately 23 times higher than CO2 in a 100- yr time horizon.1 Therefore, appropriate landfill gas (LFG) management is one essential for landfill operation. To diminish CH^sub 4^ emissions from landfills, CH^sub 4^ can be utilized as an energy source in large landfills, but it should be eliminated when the utilization is not feasible, especially in small landfills.
One possible alternative for CH^sub 4^ mitigation is using landfill cover soil as a biofilter, in which soil microorganisms play an important role in consuming CH^sub 4^ via their metabolism (Figure 1). CH^sub 4^-oxidizing bacteria, or methanotrophs, are the specific microorganisms that have in common the ability to utilize CH^sub 4^ as a sole carbon and energy source under aerobic conditions.2 The microbiological process of oxidizing CH^sub 4^ to CO2 by methanotrophs is called "microbial CH^sub 4^ oxidation." Previous studies on landfill CH^sub 4^ oxidation in the cover layer have demonstrated the potential for reducing CH^sub 4^ in LFGs. However, the capacity of landfill cover soil to oxidize CH^sub 4^ depends on both the physical and the chemical properties of landfill cover materials, such as soil type, moisture content, density, organic and nutrient content, etc.3-7 Additionally, environmental conditions (e.g., temperature and oxygen availability) can also impact the performance of landfill cover soils. Provided that the proper cover material and the appropriate environment are optimized during landfill operation, the application of the CH^sub 4^ oxidation process in topsoil is preferable to control CH^sub 4^ emission from landfills with low cost association.
The aim of this work was to improve the efficiency of CH^sub 4^ oxidation in landfill cover soil using compost and vegetation with leachate irrigation practices. In addition, the effect of compost application on microbial CH^sub 4^ oxidation was investigated to determine optimum conditions for methanotrophic activity. The overall loose texture and high porosity of compost encourage air diffusion and moisture retention; in addition, further supplemental nutrients were also supplied for microbial activities.6,8,9
The provision of vegetation on the landfills could also help encourage the penetration of oxygen downward into the rhizosphere via plant lacunae or aerenchyma. 10,11 Previous reports reveal the beneficial effect of plants for stimulating microbial CH^sub 4^ oxidation in the rhizosphere.12,13 Local grasses in tropical regions were examined in this study. To keep the proper moisture content of cover soil at an optimum range of 10-15% for methanotrophic activity,4,7 leachate irrigation on landfill cover can compensate for water loss through evaporation and plant transpiration. When leachate irrigation was used for this purpose, its volume, which must be treated and discharged to the environment, could be substantially reduced. Irrigated leachate could also enhance soil microbial activities by providing supplemental nutrients for the microorganisms in soil. Figure 2 illustrates CH^sub 4^ oxidation in landfill cover soil with vegetation and leachate irrigation.
Experimental System
Acrylic columns with diameters of 15 cm and heights of 100 cm were used to simulate a landfill cover system. Landfill cover materials were filled into the columns to a depth of 60 cm. All columns were purged at the bottoms with artificial LFGs (CH^sub 4^:CO2 = 60:40), a flow rate of 4 mL/min (equivalent to a CH^sub 4^ flux of 14 mol CH^sub 4^/ m3 * day). Air diffusion was supplied naturally from the top of the columns. Each column had 5 rubber septum ports for gas sampling along the depth of column (i.e., 5, 15, 30, 50 cm from soil surface and gas inlet). The columns were irrigated with 200 mL of either rainwater or leachate every 4 days to maintain soil water content and also to represent rainy or wet conditions in a tropical climate. This applied hydraulic loading rate (2.83 mm/ day) was set according to the average annual precipitation in Thailand.
Stabilized leachate with a low ratio of biochemical oxygen demand/ chemical oxygen demand was used in this study. The characteristics of leachate were continually examined in the time interval following the standard method for examination of water and wastewater.14 Table 1 shows the average value of leachate characteristics. The dry condition was simulated with no irrigation practice. Additionally, the moisture content of cover materials were also continuously monitored throughout the experimental period by soil moisture sensors (ECHO, model EC-10). These sensors were installed at 5- to 15-, 25- to 35-, and 45- to 55-cm depths from the soil surface, and moisture data were recorded on-line via a data recorder (ECHO, model Em5). The schematic of experimental system is illustrated in Figure 3.
CH^sub 4^ Oxidation in Landfill Cover Systems
Effect of Cover Materials. Two types of landfill cover materials, sandy loam and compost, were used in the column experiment for investigating the effect of their properties on CH^sub 4^ oxidation. Sandy loam consists of 80% sand, 8% silt, and 12% clay (wt basis), whereas compost was a commercial grade of leaf compost. The physical and chemical properties of these materials were determined according to a handbook for tropical soil methodology.15 Their characteristics are presented in Table 2. The initial moisture of sandy loam was prepared to have an optimum moisture content of 10-15% (dry wt basis) for methanotrophic activity, whereas compost was used with its original moisture content of 50-55%. Four columns were operated under either rainwater or leachate irrigation as previously mentioned.
Vegetation on Landfill Cover. Vegetation was conducted to evaluate the effect of plants on CH^sub 4^ oxidation. Compost was used as landfill cover material in this experimental section. Two tropical grasses (Figure 4), i.e., Sporobolus virginicus and Panicum repens, were selected according to their salt tolerant characteristics. All grasses were grown for approximately 2 wk in nursery pots before being planted into the experimental columns at the same initial height of 10 cm and the same number of plants for each column (two plants in each column, equivalent to a plant density of 113 plants/m2). Four vegetated columns were operated with rainwater or leachate irrigation similar to the previous experimental section. Moreover, a simulated sunlight condition was supplied for plant growth during the day (average light intensity of 35,000 luxes).
Comparison between Wet and Dry Conditions. In two previous experimental sections, CH^sub 4^ oxidation efficiency was evaluated under intermittent irrigation of rainwater and leachate in wet conditions. However, a dry condition without irrigation was also simulated to determine CH^sub 4^ oxidation efficiency in each of the cover materials (sandy loam and compost) and each of the vegetated cover materials (sandy loam with P. repens and compost with P. repens).
Analytical Parameters
CH^sub 4^ Oxidation Rate. Gas samples were collected throughout the depth of the soil column via rubber septum ports. Subsequently, 300-[mu]L gas samples were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) using a model 6890 series (Agilent). The GC analytical condition was set as follows: column model of CTR (Alltech Associates, Inc.) I; inlet temperature of 105 [degrees]C; column temperature of 35 [degrees]C; thermal conductivity detector temperature of 150 [degrees]C; and carrier gas (helium) flow rate of 65 mL/min. To determine CH^sub 4^ conversion efficiency of landfill cover, the methane oxidation rate (MOR) was calculated from the reduction of CH^sub 4^ concentration in landfill cover, as shown in the following equation: ... (1)
where Q is the gas flow rate (mL/day); (CH^sub 4^)in and (CH^sub 4^)out are the CH^sub 4^ concentration (mol/mL) of inflow and outflow, respectively; and V is the volume of landfill cover material (m3).
Methanotrophic Activity. The activity study was conducted to evaluate the potential for methanotrophic activity throughout the depth of landfill cover system and to examine performance of each cover material. Ten grams of soil samples from a bare column experiment were transferred to 188-mL serum bottles capped with rubber septa and aluminum rings. Each sample was examined in duplicate. Subsequently, 10 mL of pure CH^sub 4^ was added to the incubated bottle for a concentration of 9% CH^sub 4^ in the headspace. The actual initial gas concentration was determined 5 min after pure CH^sub 4^ was injected to ensure a homogeneous gas distribution inside the bottle. All bottles were incubated at room temperature (28-30 [degrees]C) and gas constituents in the headspace were investigated by GC at the time of initiation and every day for 10 days.
Production of Extracellular Polysaccharide and Methanotrophic Community. Soil samples, after the experimental period, were preserved at -20 [degrees]C for extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) determination in terms of D-glucose by using the "total and labile polysaccharide analysis of soils" method.16 Moreover, the population of methanotrophic bacteria throughout the experimental columns was determined by using a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique. Soil samples were prepared by the following steps: (1) extraction with sodium chloride (NaCl); (2) fixation into paraformaldehyde and washing with phosphate buffer solution (PBS); (3) immobilization of fixative sample onto the gelatin coated slide; (4) hybridization with oligonucleotide probes (My84 +My705 and Malpha450 for type I and type II methanotrophic bacteria, respectively) and washing excess probes; and (6) staining with DAPI (4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) to observe total microorganisms. The numbers of methanotrophs were defined as the percentage of total cell numbers determined by DAPI counting.
Mass Balance of Carbon in Landfill Cover System. Four major components in the carbon mass balance were input, output, reaction, and change in accumulation. In the landfill cover system, carbon inflow consisted of carbon from CH^sub 4^ gas and leachate irrigation whereas carbon out- flow was carbon from direct emission of CH^sub 4^ to the atmosphere and from leachate percolation. Moreover, CH^sub 4^ was also oxidized via the CH^sub 4^ oxidation reaction in which carbon from CH^sub 4^ would be consumed and partially utilized for methanotrophic growth. The heterotrophic growth derived from organic carbon also increases biomass accumulation in soil. The carbon mass balance is illustrated in the following equation:
DeltaC = [C(CH4 in) - C(CH4 out) - C(CH4 oxidized)] + [Cirrigation - Cpercolation] (2)
where DeltaC is the change in soil carbon mass; C(CH^sub 4^ in) and C(CH^sub 4^ out) are carbon mass from the CH^sub 4^ inflow and out- flow, respectively; C(CH^sub 4^ oxidized) is the carbon mass from oxidized CH^sub 4^; and Cirrigation and Cpercolation represent the carbon mass from rainwater/leachate irrigation and percolation, respectively.
Effect of Compost as Landfill Cover Material on CH^sub 4^ Oxidation
MORs in experimental columns with sandy loam and compost materials are shown in Figure 5. It was found that both materials provided high MOR (8 mol CH^sub 4^/ m3 * day) at the beginning of the experiment. The methanotrophic activity rapidly developed shortly after startup. Throughout the experimental period, the MOR in compost could be maintained at a higher value ( 12 mol CH^sub 4^/ m3 * day) and longer period (over 250 days) than in sandy loam ( ~8 mol CH^sub 4^/m3 * day over 200 days), especially in the case of leachate irrigation. Higher porosity materials such as leaf compost could allow more air to penetrate into their texture, thus resulting in higher oxygen availability for CH^sub 4^ oxidation as compared with sandy loam. The analysis of gas profile along the depth of both materials also confirmed the capability of oxygen penetration into compost deeper than in sandy loam (Figure 6). The 50-cm-depth active zone of methanotrophic activity was found in compost, whereas sandy loam presented only 15-30 cm. High porosity and water-holding capacity characteristics, which support adequate oxygen and moisture content, have also been reported to benefit CH^sub 4^ oxidation.6,8,17
In addition to the beneficial physical properties of compost, higher organic content in compost also affects CH^sub 4^ oxidation. The MOR increases with the increasing of organic content in landfill cover.18 Humer and Lechner19 also showed that high-organic material such as compost was very efficient in oxidizing CH^sub 4^; it provided high porosity as well as nutrients for methanotrophs. For these reasons, compost should exhibit higher CH^sub 4^ oxidation efficiency than sandy loam. However, from our experiment, compost could sustain high MOR throughout the experimental period only in the case of leachate irrigation, but not in rainwater irrigation. This could imply that leachate also had a positive effect on methanotrophic activity. The benefit of leachate on CH^sub 4^ oxidation was possibly because of its chemical properties in providing sufficient nutrients, which would alter the effect of maintaining moisture content. A similar observation was also reported by Maurice et al.20 However, long-term irrigation could also diminish methanotrophic activity. Watzinger et al. 21 showed that high-water accumulation caused clogging in soil pores and restricted gas diffusion. Our study showed that MOR in all columns rapidly declined at the end of the experiment, caused by the depletion of oxygen concentration below 2-3% by volume. This absence of sufficient oxygen supply was reported to critically affect the CH^sub 4^ oxidation reaction.22
EPS formation by methanotrophs was also considered in this study. In the experimental columns, the slime of EPS could be observed and was confirmed by the analysis of D-glucose concentration. At the end of the experiment, EPS in sandy loam was found to be approximately 5 mg D-glucose/g throughout the depth profile whereas in compost EPA was in the range of 15-20 mg D-glucose/g. The highest EPS concentration was found in the upper layer, where the highest methanotrophic activity took place. Hilger et al.23,24 and Chiemchaisri et al.25 proposed that EPS production contributes to the sustenance of methanotrophs from unsuitable conditions, such as desiccation, predation, heat, and a carbon-rich environment. The accumulation of EPS in landfill cover soil limited MOR by sealing in soil pores and limiting oxygen penetration. From our study, CH^sub 4^ oxidation could be achieved at a relatively constant rate over 250 days in compost cover with leachate contribution.
The activity of methanotrophs in sandy loam and compost was studied in a laboratory batch experiment. Figure 7 illustrates the CH^sub 4^ consumption activity of sandy loam and compost at various depths. For sandy loam (Figure 7, a and c), the CH^sub 4^ concentration gradually declined from 9 to 0% in 100 hr. A lower CH^sub 4^ consumption rate was observed from 50-60 cm. In compost material, the CH^sub 4^ consumption was completely accomplished within 20 hr (Figure 7, b and d). Higher CH^sub 4^ consumption in the active zone of compost (0-30 cm) confirmed its high MOR in the column experiment. These results indicated that compost throughout the entire depth provided high methanotrophic activity. Nevertheless, it should also be noted that the increase in the lag periods before CH^sub 4^ consumption, especially in the case of compost, was to a certain extent related to the depth of soil sampling. Deeper layers of soil were generally more anoxic for methanotrophs. Roslev and King26,27 reported that some methanotrophs can survive under anoxic conditions for several months because of resting cell formation (cysts or exospores) and then respond when CH^sub 4^ and oxygen once again become available. They also indicated that the duration of lag period increased with increasing starvation (absence of CH^sub 4^) time. On the contrary, these resting stages were not found in our experiment. This was determined by staining techniques, which indicated presence of the Gram- negative rod of CH^sub 4^-oxidizing bacteria, but not their cysts or exospore forms. As reported by Whittenbury et al.,28 resting cells would be formed because of the absence of CH^sub 4^, desiccation, and drying. Therefore, formation of methanotrophic resting cells did not occur in our experimental materials (compost or sandy loam), which were sampled from the CH^sub 4^-available environment. Moreover, the difference in the ratio of oxygen and CH^sub 4^ (O2:CH^sub 4^) was considered a major cause for the increase in the lag period. A high O2:CH^sub 4^ ratio ( ~1.8) in our batch experimental condition was close to that of ratio in the upper layer of compost (15 cm depth from surface), thus its methanotrophic activity could rapidly resuscitate when incubation was initiated. The much lower ratio of O2:CH^sub 4^ in its original surroundings was attributed to the extended period of time for adaptation of methanotrophic activity. The experimental results demonstrated that the activity of methanotrophs in compost was higher than in sandy loam and the active zone in compost was found deeper than that of sandy loam. Additionally, detection of methanotrophic bacteria at different depths was performed by using a FISH technique. The abundance of methanotrophs was found only in the topsoil, i.e., approximately 5% of the total microorganisms in the sandy loam column at a 5- to 15-cm depth, and 10-30% of the total microorganisms in the compost column at a 5- to 30-cm depth. From the results, the higher methanotrophic population found in compost confirmed higher methanotrophic activity and an increased methanotrophic active zone in compost.
Effect of Vegetation on CH^sub 4^ Oxidation
Compost material was used as final cover in this vegetated column experiment. The compost columns with two species of tropical grasses (S. virginicus and P. repens) were compared for their performance on stimulating CH^sub 4^ oxidation. Figure 8a shows MOR in the case of rainwater irrigation. It was found that the vegetated columns with S. virginicus and P. repens lost their CH^sub 4^ oxidation efficiency at the beginning period of the experiment due to water logging in the topsoil. However, when the grasses were recultivated, MOR subsequently recovered. Afterward the vegetated column with P. repens had a steady MOR of approximately 12 mol CH^sub 4^/m3 * day for over 330 days, whereas S. virginicus exhibited lower a MOR and shorter active period. As shown in Table 3, although the average MOR was not significantly different in the presence or absence of grasses, the active zone was significantly deeper in the existence of vegetation (P. repens).
In the case of leachate irrigation (Figure 8b), a similar trend of MOR was obtained in the experimental columns with and without vegetation. These two columns showed high methanotrophic activity, with a constant MOR of 12 mol CH^sub 4^/m3 * day for 250 days, whereas the column with S. virginicus had a fluctuating period of MOR before it gradually self-recovered to a constant rate of 11 mol CH^sub 4^/ m3 * day. These results clearly show that the leachate application practice could sustain high MOR in a long-term operation.
MORs at various depths in the experimental columns are shown in Table 3. The vegetated columns had higher MORs at deeper zones (15- 30 and 30-50 cm) compared with nonvegetated columns, due to the support from the plant root system and rhizosphere environment for methanotrophic bacteria. P. repens possessed a longer andwider root system compared with S. virginicus (Figure 4); hence, it could supply more oxygen into the deeper zones and enhanced MOR. Plant roots can also produce exudates and release them to the rhizosphere, which provides beneficial support as a nutrient supplement and moisture retention for soil microorganisms.13,29 Consequently, all vegetated columns contained a high amount of methanotrophs (10-30% of the total microorganisms) throughout almost the entire column depth (5-50 cm), especially at the rhizosphere, whereas the column without vegetation revealed the abundance of methanotrophs only in the topsoil. Root systems significantly responded to the abundance of methanotrophs in the lower portions of the column in comparison with the nonvegetated columns. The oxygen supplied in the deeper zones by root systems seemed to be an important factor in regulating methanotrophic growth, followed by the availability of nitrogen sources. The existence of grasses encouraged methanotrophic activity until the oxygen-deficient condition took place. In this study, P. repens clearly exhibited its advantage in enhancing CH^sub 4^ oxidation when rainwater or leachate was irrigated. It also revealed strong tolerance characteristics to leachate and LFGs.
As a constant CH^sub 4^ loading rate of 14 mol CH^sub 4^/ m3 * day was applied, a high efficiency of CH^sub 4^ removal at 86% (equivalent to MOR of 12 mol CH^sub 4^/m3 *day) was achieved in the compost cover layer (both vegetated and nonvegetated systems), whereas only a moderate removal of 57% (8 mol CH^sub 4^/m3*day) was achieved in sandy loam. Previous studies5,7 also found that MOR increased with increasing CH^sub 4^ loading rate, but the removal effi- ciencies decreased as the loading rate increased.
The declination of CH^sub 4^ oxidation capacity in longterm operation was caused by moisture and EPS accumulations at the top of the cover layer, resulting in limited oxygen penetration through soil pores and therefore suppressed methanotrophic activity. Moreover, the excess exudates from plant roots could also be the cause of oxygen deficiency for methanotrophic activity.
Effect of Moisture on CH^sub 4^ Oxidation
To simulate wet and dry conditions in the tropics, a wet- ondition experiment was conducted by intermittent application of rainwater or leachate. A dry-condition experiment was examined without irrigation practice. From the previous results, rainwater and leachate irrigation provided high CH^sub 4^ oxidation in both nonvegetated soil and vegetated conditions. The comparison of CH^sub 4^ oxidation efficiency between wet and dry conditions is shown in Table 3. The wet condition maintained a high MOR of 11 mol CH^sub 4^/ m3 *day throughout the experimental period of 100 days in the case of the nonvegetated compost column, and 330 days in the case of the compost column with P. repens. Leachate irrigation successfully sustained high MOR at 12 mol CH^sub 4^/m3 *day for over 240 days in nonvegetated and vegetated columns. Meanwhile, the dry condition had lower MOR of 8 mol CH^sub 4^/m3 * day in a shorter active period of approximately 80 days.
The moisture contents along the depth of the experimental columns under wet and dry conditions are demonstrated in Figure 9. Sandy loam exhibited periodical fluctuations in moisture content but maintained an appropriate range for methanotrophic activity (13-16% dry wt basis). The fluctuation was found higher in the top layer because of evaporative loss. In the compost case, the moisture content was much higher (33-36%), but the fluctuation was much less than sandy loam because of the higher water adsorptive capacity of compost. In the nonirrigation practice, moisture content noticeably changed along the depth in both the sandy loam and compost columns. A proper moisture content of 11-14% was only preserved in the middle and bottom part of the sandy loam column from the water-saturated LFG supply, whereas a gradual decrease in moisture content was revealed in the top part because of evaporation. Similarly, in the compost case, steady moisture content in the lower zone was also achieved and the decline in moisture content in the upper layer was even faster.
The results indicated that the irrigation frequency of 200 mL/4 days could maintain soil moisture fluctuation within the proper range (13-16%) for methanotrophs, and this fluctuation also encourages oxygen diffusion into the cover soil during the nonirrigated period to enhance CH^sub 4^ oxidation. Intermittent irrigation helped provide oxygen availability into the deeper zones of cover soil during the drying period and subsequently enhanced CH^sub 4^ oxidation.
Comparing the experimental results under wet and dry conditions indicated that moisture maintenance in cover soil was an important factor governing CH^sub 4^ oxidation. The water content should be maintained at the optimum level for CH^sub 4^-oxidizing bacteria and gas transport in soil. An increase in water content could increase water fill in the soil voids and then inhibit oxygen diffusion into the soil.4 Low water content, on the other hand, resulted in microbial desiccation and activity reduction.30 Intermittent irrigation of rainwater and leachate in wet conditions maintained appropriate water content for methanotrophic activity and supported plant growth in landfill cover materials. Nevertheless, leachate application also helped to stimulate MOR and a methanotrophic active period because of the provision of supplemental nutrients. However, the absence of moisture control in dry conditions produced moderate methanotrophic activity in both nonvegetated and vegetated columns. The CH^sub 4^ oxidation capacity of methanotrophs was reduced over a short period because of water loss to below critical point for microorganism survival. It can be concluded that the occurrence of CH^sub 4^ oxidation in landfills was successfully maintained over the year duration by application of leachate if rainfall is not available. Moreover, the operation without any irrigation in dry condition could also produce moderate MORs for 80 days.
The determination of water balance in sandy loam and compost are shown in Figure 10. Irrigation was continually applied every 4 days during the experimental period. Percolation of leachate from the experimental column was measured. Water production from the CH^sub 4^ oxidation reaction was omitted from this water balance calculation because it was previously determined to be an insignificant component. Loss of water through evaporation can be estimated. In sandy loam, it was found that approximately 40% of the irrigation evaporated during the 320-day applied period and the remaining approximate 60% percolated from the sandy loam medium. In the case of compost, the degree of percolation and evaporation was the same (50% each). This information is useful in determining the leachate application rate for CH^sub 4^ oxidation.
The carbon mass balance for landfill cover system was also determined (Table 4). There was a 23 and 44% increase in carbon CH^sub 4^ oxidation for cover soil as compared with sandy loam under rainwater and leachate irrigation, respectively. These improved reactions yielded a 32 and 56% reduction in CH^sub 4^ emission for compost as compared with sandy loam cover under rainwater and leachate irrigation. On the basis of this research, a practical design for landfill cover system for effective CH^sub 4^ removal can be proposed. High porosity and nutrient-rich material such as compost is a suitable material to be used as landfill cover, with effective depth of 0.60 m. However, this compost should be well stabilized with a low-oxygen uptake rate to reduce competitive oxygen consumption of heterotrophic and methanotrophic bacteria. Intermittent irrigation of mature leachate enhanced oxygen diffusion into landfill cover and promoted CH^sub 4^ oxidation capacity. Provision of vegetation (tropical grass such as P. repens) at an optimum density also helped sustain CH^sub 4^ oxidation in long- term operations.
From the experimental investigation of CH^sub 4^ oxidation in a compost-based landfill cover with vegetation, the following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) Compost was found to be effective landfill cover material for methanotrophic activity. It could provide high and constant MOR at 12 mol CH^sub 4^/ m3 * day over a 240-day experimental period with leachate irrigation. The utilization of compost allowed oxygen penetration into the deeper zones via its loose texture and supplied supplemental nutrients for methanotrophic activity.
(2) High MOR was achieved in a compost-based cover layer with vegetation (P. repens) over 330 days under rainwater application and 240 days under leachate irrigation (wet condition). The longer and wider root system of P. repens provided deeper oxygen diffusion into cover material and benefited methanotrophic activity.
(3) The operation of landfill under naturally dry conditions had a moderate MOR of 8 mol CH^sub 4^/m3 * d for 80 days.
The authors would like to acknowledge Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) for their financial support in this research work through Asian Regional Research Program on Environmental Technology (ARRPET).
A low-cost option for controlling CH^sub 4^ emission from landfills is the CH^sub 4^ oxidation process by methanotrophic bacteria in final landfill cover soil. This study aimed to improve landfill cover soil in the tropical region for an effective CH^sub 4^ oxidation. The findings suggest that compost is a suitable landfill cover material to encourage CH^sub 4^ oxidation and planting with tropical grasses also helps to sustain CH^sub 4^ oxidation. Results of this investigation provide another direction for improving landfill gas management in the tropical region.
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3. Kightley, D.; Nedwell, D.B.; Cooper, M. Capacity for Methane Oxidation in Landfill Cover Soils Measured in Laboratory-Scale Soil Microcosms; Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 1995, 61, 592-601.
4. Boeckx, P.; Cleemput, O.V. Methane Oxidation in a Neutral Landfill Cover Soil: Influence of Moisture Content, Temperature and Nitrogen- Turnover; J. Environ. Quality 1996, 25, 178-183.
5. Visvanathan, C.; Pokhrel, D.; Chiemchaisri, W.; Hettiaratchi, J.P.A.; Wu, J.S. Methanotrophic Activities in Tropical Landfill Cover Soils: Effects of Temperature, Moisture Content and Methane Concentration; Waste Manage. & Res. 1999, 17, 313-323.
6. Humer, M.; Lechner, P. Microorganisms against the Greenhouse Effect- Suitable Cover Layers for the Elimination of Methane Emissions from Land- fills. In Proceedings of the Solid Waste Association of North America's 6th Annual Landfill Symposium, Solid Waste Association of North America: San Diego, CA, 2001; pp 305- 309.
7. Park, S.; Brown, K.W.; Thomas, J.C. The Effect of Various Environmental and Design Parameters on Methane Oxidation in a Model Biofilter; Waste Manage. & Res. 2002, 20, 434-444.
8. Streese, J.; Stegmann, R. Microbial Oxidation of Methane from Old Landfills in Biofilters; Waste Manage. 2003, 23, 573-580.
9. Mor, S.; Visscher, A.D.; Ravindra, K.; Dahiya, R.P.; Chandra, A.; Cleemput, O.V. Induction of Enhanced Methane Oxidation in Compost: Temperature and Moisture Response; Waste Manage. 2006, 26, 381-388.
10. Schutz, H.; Schroder, P.; Rennenberg, H. In Trace Gas Emission by Plants; Academic: San Diego, CA, 1991; pp 29-64.
11. Chanton, J.P. Review: the Effect of Gas Transport on the Isotope Signature of Methane in Wetlands; Org. Geochem. 2005, 36, 753-768.
12. Maurice, C. Licentiate Thesis, Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden, 1998.
13. Hilger, A.H.; Authur, G.W.; Morton, A.B. Landfill Methane Oxidation Response to Vegetation, Fertilization and Liming; Waste Manage. 2000, 29, 324-334.
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15. Anderson, J.M.; Ingram, J.S.I. Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility: a Handbook of Methods, 2nd ed.; CAB: Wallingfore: U.K., 1993.
16. Lowe, L.E. In Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis; Carter, M.R., Ed.; Lewis: Boca Raton, FL, 1993.
17. Wilshusen, J.H.; Hettiaratchi, J.P.A.; Visscher, A.D.; Saint- Fort, R. Methane Oxidation and Formation of EPS in Compost: Effect of Oxygen Concentration; Environ. Pollut. 2004, 129, 305-314.
18. Christophersen, M.; Holst, H.; Kjeldsen, P.; Chanton, J. Lateral Gas Transport in a Soil Adjacent to an Old Landfill: Factors Governing Emission and Methane Oxidation; Waste Manage. & Res. 2001, 19, 595-612.
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Nathiya Tanthachoon, Chart Chiemchaisri, and Wilai Chiemchaisri
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
Sayan Tudsri
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
Sunil Kumar
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Kolkata Zonal Laboratory, Kolkata, India
About the Authors
Nathiya Tanthachoon is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Engineering at Kasetsart University in Thailand and also working as a lecturer at the School of Engineering at Naresuan University in Thailand. Chart Chiemchaisri and Wilai Chiemchaisri are associate professors in the Department of Environmental Engineering at Kasetsart University. Sayan Tudsri is a professor in the Department of Agronomy at Kasetsart University. Sunil Kumar is a scientist in the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Kolkata, India. Please address correspondence to: Chart Chiemchaisri, Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, 50 Phaholyothin Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok, Thailand 10900; phone: +6- 2942-8555; fax: +6-2579- 0730; e-mail: [email protected]
Copyright Air and Waste Management Association May 2008
(c) 2008 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.


text:
I am not dead!
|Posted by PickensIncorporated on September 28, 2014 at 5:35 AM
Hello all!
I post here a year and two months since the last one to tell you that I'm not dead! No sir-ee, I've just been locked out of editing this website for some reason, and finally I've been let back into the system.
"Devlogs - this is a thing I will be doing, hopefully regularly." - Me, June 2013
Haha, yeah sorry about that. GCSEs have come and gone, and now I'm facing the hell that is AS Maths. But I digress, I still have a little time for game development, and that's why I'm here! To bring this site back! And to celebrate that I'm giving it a complete overhaul in the graphical department. When I first launched it, I wanted it to have a cosy feel, but it kind of looks a bit crap because of that. I'm going to do some amazing designs and be testing them out over the next few weeks. So things may change quite a bit for a while.
As for games, City of Deaf I totally forgot about. It's crazy really, I had the hit detection going nowhere and the cone of vision just not working. I'll try revisiting it, but no promises that it's getting anywhere.
Alas, Snarkbaited my aclaimed artist has moved on to pastures new - no, he's not dead, he's just doing his own thing now. So that means I have no artist. Which is a bad thing. So if you think you want to be an amazing artist for no pay whatsoever besides being in the credits and a whole bunch of 'thank-you's, then feel free to leave a comment with some examples!
Alright, let's get this show on the road!
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Street psychics. Their blinking neon signs are everywhere, promising love and wealth and happiness. They make a fortune preying on the gullible and milking them dry. So when these victims begin dying and leaving confused spirits behind, it can only take a genuine psychic (and her wayward spirit guide) to clean up the mess.
From seedy downtown nightclubs to penthouse apartments to a luxury yacht on the Hudson River, Rosa and Joey will unearth the truth about the underground world of street psychics. Including some secrets that Joey would rather be left buried.
Emotional, affecting story
Intriguing detective mystery
Fully-voiced dialogue
Find out about Joey's mysterious past!
Romance is in the air for Rosa and Joey! Or is it?
Six to ten hours of crafted adventure gameplay
Processor Pentium or higher
Memory 64 MB RAM
Graphics 640x400, 32-bit colour: 700 Mhz system minimum
DirectX® 5.0
Hard Drive 350 MB HD space
Sound All DirectX-compatible sound cards
After suffering a series of migraines, New York native Rosa Blackwell finds she has inherited a family heirloom in the form of a spirit guide named Joey Mallone whom, with her assistance, helps lost ghosts travel to the afterlife. Choosing to embrace this as a gift instead of a curse opens her life up to new opportunity and new dangers, both in the form of a secret cult with desires of their own and the possibility of her following in her family footsteps and losing her mind. This game is a series and should be played as such: The Blackwell Legacy, Blackwell Unbound, Blackwell Convergence, BLACKWELL DECEPTION, Blackwell Epiphany. Why only the fourth game is available here is unknown to me, but do yourself a favor and play them all in order as they have an overarcing story. Being so, I am going to review the entire series as a whole. PROS: + Amazing storyline! + So many emotions for these characters + Great (for the most part) voiceovers/acting + Progression of graphics/interface go hand-in-hand with game CONS: - First game is short - Some voiceovers are muddled This is just a great series with excellent, emotional writing. Such progression as well! Going from a lonely girl living in an apartment to a medium with her own business is laid out on screen perfectly. The progression of the game's interface (going from writing notes on a notepad and using a desktop computer to doing everything on her smartphone) helps you, the player, feel like you are growing and evolving with these characters as well. It's all about the characters. So many great moments in this series, both good and bad, happen through the characters and they make it relatable. I can't recommend it enough!
First of all, when you take the road to try this game, expect playing with low resolution and old graphics. Second, the game is still good. It is reminiscent of old LucasArts games in that the game won't hold your hand when it comes to the puzzles. You really have to figure them out on your own (walkthroughs, begone!). And succeeding in that feels rewarding. That the other controllable character is a ghost creates a nice dynamic to the game since a ghost cannot pick up objects a normal human can, for example. Recommended for friends of adventure games.
Be warned that this game has a kind of gameplay that not everyone likes. But i really feel the storyline is good just that the gameplay could be polished better so they are more responsive. Storyline is rather emotional but having to go through the gameplay is quite tedious because the graphics are not of my style so i am not really pumped to play the game and try it out. Overall, game is more worth to try if there is a sale. Maybe around 2 bucks then it will be worth the price.
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A few days ago, I attended a talk by Greg Baugues at my school entitled "Developers and Depression". A version of this talk is in the video above. I think it's extremely important for people to watch it, especially those in the software world, where people often need to hear things like this in words that tailored towards them.
Even if you don't think that you have any mental health issues, or even don't think you know anyone who does, it's important to understand mental health issues and do your best to strip away the stigma and noise surrounding mental illness. And the best way to do it, as Greg told me today, is to talk about it.


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Hi All,
I am in a challenging situation. I have working and used to prefer drupal for my all
projects. Now i have to create a project with high quality traffic. I want to ask the simple question "can drupal support 400,000 page view per hr ?" .
Any help will be appreciated.
Tarun Nagpal
dynamic content? static
more questions
Hardware is basically your
Brian Altenhofel
VM(doh) - Drupal Consulting, Support, and Development
Anrhizan - High Performance Drupal Hosting
With all the respect, cannot
With all the respect, cannot disagree more*. Once upon a time (to be precise ~2004-2005 year) Pentium 4 server handled a project with ~0.5M hits per hour. It was 100% authenticated users but the PHP app was custom... built for WAP :) Some heavy black magic was done with caching tricks but the server was still under 0.5 load.
Drupal is probably ten times more heavy, but caching technologies are also head and shoulders above those used 10 years ago.
*If we are talking about vanilla Drupal project with no or only basic built-in caching techniques
drupal+me: jeweler portfolio
Using a multi-tier structure
Using a multi-tier structure (DB on separate servers from web heads), I've got a client where we load tested the ordering process on a Drupal Commerce site. 1GB/1vCPU/SSD VM yielded 41 orders per second without ESI and microcaching, 45 orders per second with ESI, and 77 orders per second with ESI and 1s microcaching.
OP wants to serve 111 pageviews per second. That's really not a lot to ask, especially of a single-tenant dedicated server.
Brian Altenhofel
VM(doh) - Drupal Consulting, Support, and Development
Anrhizan - High Performance Drupal Hosting
Yes, drupal can do it!
As mentioned above hardware is a limiting factor. But proper application & database tuning can help you squeeze more out of the hardware. The question posted IMHO is not a simple question at all. For the sake of having an answer, I say "Yes, drupal can do it!" But really that's a naive answer. I'm guessing you're not going to be running a site with drupal core only. Your site's functionality, configuration, and infrastructure will likely determine whether it stands up to your traffic's needs.
hardware is not the limiting
hardware is not the limiting factor, the limiting factor is money and knowledge. because you can buy or rent as much hardware as you like, but you will still have to know how to set it up properly to have a scaling application. if you don't have the knowledge you can buy it.
Doing this on static content is fairly easy, scaling that as well, simple lamp stack + a few varnish nodes should be capable of managing that stuff. but since thread author did not give any detail it's hard to predict. after all, 400.000 views per hour are 111 views per second, which is easy to handle..
Simple question, but no simple answer
In line with the previous comments, you may be asking a simple question, but there is no simple answer. If you expect a simple answer then it's simply "No" - Drupal will not support 400,000 users per hour - on it's own.
Sites of this capacity and greater have been built with Drupal as their core CMS platform, but there are some essential elements that you need to research:
0) Configuring the server(s) with best-practise components like NGinX web-server, APC and memcache.
1) Caching - at many levels, both inside Drupal, caching data, blocks, pages and in front of Drupal typically using Varnish and/or a CDN. But the hard question is what can and can't be cached and when the cache needs clearing, which depends on many things previously mentioned like whether users are logged in. This requires a thorough analysis of your application.
2) Optimisation - Test and measure which aspects of the application are really taking the time - measure response times, look at the mysql slow-query log, etc. Don't waste time optimising things that aren't really a problem. But there will be places in the architecture or code where you will need to restructure and do things in a more efficient way.
3) Scaling - which means sharing the computing load across multiple web-servers, database servers and a shared file system. If money is no object, you can try just throwing hardware at the problem, but putting your effort first into steps 1 & 2 can gain orders of magnitude more performance before you waste money on hardware/cloudware.
Googling Drupal high performance and reading plenty of the readily available material is a better starting point than asking a simplistic question on a forum like this.
@Andy_Read 3) scaling is only
Wrong question; here's how to better frame it
Can the stack deliver 400,000 pages per hour?
Drupal is merely a part of the larger architecture. There are many, many enterprise sites that run Drupal that serve way more pages than that. However, the architecture of the entire stack is what's really important.
Are you talking about 400k anonymous page views? Authenticated? REST or other API calls? AJAX? What's the weight of the page? What other assets are being included? Using a CDN? Reverse proxy? Caching layers? Database configuration? HA? Etc.
Many media companies server more traffic
Tarun: Simple answer is "Yes - a Drupal based solution is capable of supporting such traffic and provide 2~3 second response times. But scaling solution depends on your application".
First you will need to fine tune your Drupal application for 2~3 second response times. Steps suggested by Andy Read are a good starting point.
For anonymous use cases, it is lot easier to serve 400,000+ pages/hr - when there is user-login required. It is just a question of adding more reverse proxy servers, using CDN and adding more "Drupal Application Servers". Most media company sites use this approach.
When it comes to high traffic of logged-in users, then the approach has to be more sophisticated than just throwing iron. As Andy Read suggested above, you will need to fine tune your Drupal application for this - and figure out strategy for single/multiple memcached and sessions table in memcached.
- Drupaler in Cupertino, SF Bay Area
Configuration and the users
Thank you all for the great help and support.
My site traffic is basically anonymous users. As per the hardware and the server configuration concern, we have private dedicated servers.
Our team has the Linux/Unix server experts and i am ready to adopt any kind of new technique like boost, memcache.
use varnish
For anonymous traffic, you
For anonymous traffic, you won't have any problem.
Use Boost (https://www.drupal.org/project/boost) and you'll be serving static html pages, literally - which an average server can do thousands/second.
Boost is great if you can't
Boost is great if you can't use varnish, but in Tarun's case varnish is a better choice.
Boost caches fully-rendered HTML pages on the server's filesystem for easy retrieval, which is great for shared-hosting accounts. It's all done via a module (with a little tweaking of settings.php) so doesn't require a powerful admin account on the server.
Varnish on the other hand is a reverse-proxy server that caches in RAM, and is thus orders of magnitude faster. You need full control of your stack to install and configure it, though.
Agree 100%. A couple of years
Agree 100%. A couple of years ago I was getting almost 40,000 hits/hour on a post on my D7 site running on a linode 512 VPS (the smallest one) and the it just hummed along.
The only thing I would add is that if your site is image intensive, then I would look at possibly adding in a CDN, just to keep those requests off the main server. When you start getting up into traffic like this, running off a single web head, then the more load you can outsource, the better.
Varnish vs boost
If boost can do 8k requests a second then varnish can do about 10k requests a second on that server. In terms of serving traffic they are closer than most people think. I can max out a gb LAN with either boost/varnish with decent hardware. Cache clears is where varnish wins. Removing files from the disk is slow when compared to ram.
SSL requirements will also
SSL requirements will also affect your software stack. Varnish doesn't deal with https, you need something to sit in front of varnish to terminate SSL and pass on the requests which could be cached with varnish. Nginx or Pound are two fairly commonly used tools for SSL termination in front of varnish. E.g. http://www.acquia.com/blog/why-pound-awesome-front-varnish
As mentioned above, the stack
As mentioned above, the stack in its entirety is really what needs to be taken into account here. Consider the analogy:
Can an engine go 200kph
On its own, an engine will sit and churn away quite happily, but without the rest of the car it won't budge from its initial position.
From my perspective, a site with mainly anonymous traffic on dedicated servers can make use of a well written VCL and Varnish to serve many pages, quickly, to many users. The rest of the stack will need to fill in for uncached pages, new content and editing. Each component of the stack forms a link in the chain to keep the site online, taking requests and delivering content.
It would be nice to break things down to a simple question of yes or no here, but going back to our car analogy, it's like asking if an engine can go so fast with no knowledge of the rest of the car, the road conditions or the driver.
For a recent project we subjected a site that was intended to support a large number of concurrent connections to load testing. It was a fairly simple setup, a c3.xlarge server for the web server and Varnish and another m3.large for the database. We spidered the site to retrieve all possible variations of content and then ran soak tests against the totality of possible URLs as well as more targeted tests against sections of the site that could not be cached effectively.
With a warm cache we could serve 1000 concurrent connections returning results in just under a third of second, so our total throughput was ~ 3400 requests per second. Against uncached content it wasn't quite as rosy. We could support bursts of up to 250 concurrent connections to uncached content at about 80 requests per second, so for a cold start it could get dicey if traffic just appeared. Against content that could not be cached at all we could support only 50 concurrent connections at 17 requests per second.
We stopped the anonymous testing at 1000 concurrent requests since the math worked out to ~ 200k requests per minute, but we were only seeing a load of 1 on the server so we had a lot of headroom there. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a single Varnish node is more than capable of serving 3000 concurrent requests as long as you have sufficient memory allocated to cache all the objects without a whole lot of optimization.
We didn't put any time into optimizing the authenticate user process since there were very few places where it would be an issue. Had it been an issue doing more caching at the Drupal layer as well as playing with vcl_hash and maybe even some ESI work could have made that significantly better.


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Horse racing: Triple joy on the Pune track
Trainer Jadhav surprised to lead in with three winners
"No one really knows which horse is going to win — certainly not the owner!" —this famous quote by English actor Robert Morley, who also dabbled as a horse owner, had once made headlines. Replace the word "owner" in that sentence by "trainer", and you will have at least one professional whole-heartedly endorsing it — trainer Mansingh Jadhav!
One after another, Jadhav led in three winners on Saturday's nine-race card at the Pune racetrack. Two of Jadhav's runners — Ainra & Gangnam Style picked up division III & II respectively of the Air Dash Plate for class IV horses, while his third winner, Novak, unleashed a tremendous gallop to collar runaway Pezzonovante, in the hands of jockey Sandesh who also excelled in saddle by booting home four winners on the card.
"Frankly, this treble has come as a pleasant shock for me too," trainer Jadhav confessed to Sunday MiD DAY, "all three are good horses but I really did not think they had much of a chance today, with the exception of maybe Novak who had put in a fair run last week." Jadhav's confession has a ring of honesty to it, because he was actually bed-ridden due to illness and could not attend work for a whole week.
"I have never taken a holiday," revealed the veteran trainer with a career spanning nearly four decades, "and I was actually telling my friends that I was enjoying getting up as late as 8 in the morning. The credit for this success, therefore, must go to my assistant Jude who, along with my son, looked after the horses."
Interestingly, the feat of a treble on a single day's card came about for Manya Jadhav, as he is fondly called in racing circles, after a long long gap of ten
years. The last time he had led in three winners was at the Mahalaxmi racetrack in January 2003, exactly two weeks before he was to saddle the sensational Derby winner Noble Eagle who was actually employed as a pace maker for the connections' main hope Zurbaran, but overstayed his brief when, in the hands of a small time jockey named Pramod Belose, he just kept on going until the winning post without showing any sign of fatigue.


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U.S. energy behemoth Chevron Corporation (CVX) released its second-quarter 2013 interim update, covering the first two months of the quarter. Chevron expects foreign exchange translation effect of $250–$300 million during the quarter.
In the upstream activities, the update is bearish with oil production expected to be significantly below the previous quarter. The price realization for crude oil is expected to decrease as compared to first quarter 2013, both in U.S and abroad. However Chevron's domestic natural gas price realization is expected to go up.
In the downstream sector the outlook is positive for the company with refining margin to increase in the U.S. West Coast and Gulf Coast.
Segmental Analysis
Upstream: The company's oil and natural gas production averaged 2.569 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, down 2.1% from the second-quarter 2012 level. This was mainly due to decreased production volume internationally. Production is also likely to fall 2.9% sequentially.
In the first two months of the June quarter, Chevron's total domestic production was 659,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/D) as compared to 664,000 BOE/D in the previous quarter. Net international oil equivalent production – at 1,910,000 BOE/D – was 71,000 barrels per day less than the first quarter of 2013. The decrease was due to soft demand in Thailand coupled with maintenance work in Nigeria and planned shutdown activities in Australia and Kazakhstan.
The U.S. crude price realizations during Apr–May 2013 averaged $93.08 per barrel, down from $94.49 in first-quarter 2013, while international realizations decreased by $9.34 to $93.01 per barrel. Chevron's domestic realized natural gas prices for this period averaged $3.83 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), compared with $3.11 in the first quarter of 2013. Average international natural gas realizations were down 11 cents per Mcf to $5.96.
Downstream: Regarding downstream operations, the second-largest U.S. oil company by market value after Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) said that its domestic refinery crude-input rose 183,000 barrels per day as compared to the previous quarter. The results were aided by the restart of a refinery crude unit in Richmond, CA, along with the finishing of maintenance work of the Pascagoula, MS-based refinery.
Refinery crude-input volumes outside the U.S. were also up (by 40,000 barrels per day) during the same period due to the completion of maintenance of refineries based in Burnaby, Canada and Cape Town, South Africa.
The second-quarter refining margins increased 86 cents per barrel sequentially on the U.S. West Coast and by 81 cents per barrel on the Gulf Coast.
Second Quarter Estimate
Chevron plans to release its quarterly results on Aug 2, 2013, before the opening bell. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Chevron's first quarter is $3.00 per share.
Zacks Rating
Chevron currently retains a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), implying that it is expected to perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.
However, there are certain firms in the energy sector that are expected to significantly outperform the equity markets in the next one to three months. These include InterOil Corporation (IOC) and Ferrellgas Partners LP (FGP). Both these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Read the Full Research Report on CVX
Read the Full Research Report on FGP
Read the Full Research Report on XOM
Read the Full Research Report on IOC
More From Zacks.com


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Go Fly a Kite
In summer, on average, the daytime wind blows from the west at 20 kilometers per hour. This is enough force to shake the branches of small trees, for plastic bags to dance in alleyways, and for your kite to lift off. Some of our web readers' favourite kiting spots include Kent's Pond (where there's an open field and no wires), Bowring Park near the pool, and Confederation Hill across the parkway from the main building.
Host a Couchsurfer
Chalk it up to life circumstances or just bad planning. Whatever the reason, you may wake up to find you've been swindled out of a proper summer vacation. Well, you can reclaim some summertime spontaneity by hosting someone from away. CouchSurfing.org is a network that matches the more adventurous subsection of travellers with the more easygoing subsection of locals who have an extra bed, couch or floor space to crash on. The advantages for the couchsufer are obvious: it's cheaper than a hotel, you meet people immediately, and you get to live like a local. As for the host, you get an exotic new bud to escort around, and in doing so, get to see your town with fresh eyes. While you're not expected to do any more than provide a space to sleep, it's likely you'll get out more than you have been. Who knows, the whole thing may just convince you to quit your job and go couchsurfing too.
Dig Around in a Garden
In order to successfully weed a fragile line of baby carrot, the impatient, high-strung parts of your personality must be drop kicked into submission. It's kind of humbling, really, to learn the tactics you may rely on to get by in your job, the grocery store aisles, driving our paved over cow paths, and in your life in general, don't always work in the garden. Weeding, seeding, transplanting, and a lot of harvesting requires a delicate hand. However if you want to celebrate your sweaty, go-getter side, there's also no shortage of active grunt-inducing tasks such as carting wheelbarrows, or laying out long hoses. Farms are full of all kinds of work that needs to get done, and there never seem to be enough hands to do it all. If you'd like to get your hands dirty, consider this your hook up. The Organic Farm located in Portugal Cove accepts volunteers (call Melba at 895-2884), and Government House, adjacent to Bannerman Park, also relies volunteers for their gardens. The St. John's Farmers' Market, while not involved with growing, needs help setting up and tearing down every Saturday. Or you can lend a hand to the East Coast Trail Association to build and repair the ever-growing network of hiking trails. All of these organizations solicit volunteer help and more info can be found on their websites.
Go Watch a Storm
Hurricane season is now in effect. In fact, even before the season officially began on June 1, two tropical storms had already been spotted whirling around in the Atlantic—the first such occurrence since 1908. While we here at The Scope do not encourage you go out in severe weather, we have been known to take a quick drive out to Cape Spear when the inevitable summer weather drama begins to build, rolling down our windows momentarily to hear the thunderous waves crashing on the continent's most easterly point.
Throw a Yard Sale
Yes, you could donate the things you no longer want to goodwill, but throwing a yard sale is a lot more fun, especially if you imagine it as an event. Make up some eye-grabbing posters to plaster around your neighbourhood the night before and concoct some jugs of lemonade. The morning of, maybe blow up the balloons, haul out a comfy chair or two, some tables and shelves to display your wares, and throw on some tunes. Invite your friends to bring their own stuff to sell or just drop by for a lemonade. Include your unsuccessful craft projects, that canary yellow shirt you couldn't quite pull off, and the ugly square cups your roommate left. Put some good stuff out there too, and price it cheap. By the way, it's guaranteed you'll meet every interesting weirdo on your street.
Throw a Stoop Party
No yard? You see that little strip of asphalt in front of your house? That's yours to work with. Pick up the garbage. Cut the weeds back. Break out the folding chairs, stools, as well as your milk crate collection. Plug in some lights. While you're at it plug in some speakers. Brown paper bags. Add bunch of friends. Stir.
Volunteer at a Festival
Most of the summer festivals depend on volunteers. One of the major perks is free access to at least some shows. (See our Summer Festival Guide)
Do Outdoor Yoga
Yoga in the outdoors requires some negotiation. The uneven ground will challenge your balance. The breeze may feel unpleasant on bare skin. The strange insect traversing your mat may pull at your attention. You are at the mercy of the sun, the wind, the fog, the insects, the wicked seasonal allergens, and the gaze of anyone passing by. These factors, combined with the dynamic flow of stretching, balancing, strengthening and breathing can't help but make outdoor yoga an intense sensory experience. But when a bird begins to sing, the fog rolls through the mouth of the harbour, leaves whisper in the breeze, or the sun peaks out for a couple breaths, there's really nothing quite like it.
Outdoor classes: Signal Hill Interpretation Centre with Meranda Squires (Mondays at 12pm/$10); Bannerman Park gazebo with Melanie Caines (Sundays at 11:30am & Fridays (starting Jul 13) at 5:30pm/$16); Far side of Kenny's Pond behind Holiday Inn on Portugal Cove Road with Judy Power (Tuesdays at 5:45pm/$11). Bring a mat and water, and apply sunscreen. Wear a hat and sunglasses if shy of sun-or people-exposure. In case of rain, all above classes will take place in their regular indoor studios. Google 'em.
No Car-Camping
No car? No problem. Two taxi companies, Southern Shore Taxi (334-3662) and East Coast Taxi (437-1666), specialise in picking up and dropping off hikers at various East Coast Trail heads. Because this is not an unusual request, advanced booking is advised.
Be an Extra on Republic of Doyle
Who doesn't want to be a little famous, even if it's just town-famous? But this isn't easy work. Consider yourself lucky if a whole day of 'hurry up and wait' gets you anything more than a couple seconds screen time for your efforts, and that's if the whole scene isn't dropped completely. But if you want to see what being on set it all about and maybe catch a glimpse of star or two, this would be a way to do it. Casting by Maggie is the agency connecting extras to ROD as well as for other projects. Visit castingbymaggie.com or their Facebook group to register in their database, and they will contact you if and when you're needed—but from time to time there are calls for crowd scenes that are sort of a free-for-all for whoever shows up.
Go Swimming
As I recall, the few scraps of last summer's hot weather happened during the work week. On these days, and, again, there were a precious few, when 5 o'clock hit I'd hop into a phone booth, throw on some sort of swim gear (or not), grab an already-packed Super beach bag from under my desk, and bee-line it to a nearby pond where I'd swim a bit, practice my back-float and bob in the waves. On the hottest days, the air stays warm 'til about 7pm, and on the plus side the sun isn't strong enough at that time of day to warrant a whole lot of suncreen. But then the bugs come out it gets cold fast. Check out our handy-dandy swimming hole map.
Go on a Moonlight Walk
When the moon is out and the sky is clear take a late night walk on the Grand Concourse trail with somebody. It's an altogether different experience than during the day. Bring a flashlight or headlamp in case of clouds.
Watch Movies Outdoors
Digital projectors are getting cheaper all the time, and chances are you might already know someone who owns one. You'll also need an outdoor space to make the outdoor theatre, somewhere to plug in, and someplace to hang a white sheet. Laptop, speakers, extension cord and seating (what the heck, why not haul out the couch?) are also required, and, yes, it's totally worth it. Watch movies, watch YouTube, music videos, whatever. Or just take your chair and head over to Solomon's Lane (Ship Pub alley) and Water Street any Monday night in July to see an outdoor movie with the masses for free.
What's your favourite awesome summer activities?


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Specify the users and groups that will be able to view, modify, or delete the application or grant access to others.
Access the Create Application: Application Security page by clicking Next on the Application Field Definitions Page or by clicking on Application Security in the Navigation Train.
The following table describes the elements available on the page.
|Displays the Add Security Member Page from which you can search for and select users or predefined security groups.
|Selecting a user or group from the existing list and clicking Copy displays the Add Security Member Page and copies the permissions of the selected user or group to the next user or group added.
|Removes the selected user or group from the list.
|User/Group Icon
|Displays a single person for a user and multiple persons for a group.
|Display Name
|The name of the user or group.
|Enabled by default. Grants the user or group the right to view and upload into this application.
|Enable to grant the user or group the right to modify all aspects of this application except for granting security rights.
|Enable to grant the user or group the right to delete this application.
|Grant Access
|Enable to grant a user or group the right to grant security rights to others for this application. If this is the only security level granted, the user can modify only the security information for this application.