As Canadians, we are fortunate to live in a country that allows us to experience the unique and very beautiful aspects of four distinct seasons. If you are dressing up your home for entertaining or staging your home for sale, there are many ways to bring the warmth and depth of the colours and textures of autumn to your home.

Fruit is ripening everywhere in the fall and it comes in many shapes and sizes, a perfect way to paint your seasonal palette and add an autumn aroma. A wooden bowl or basket with a selection of the season works well in just about any room. Cider simmering in the kitchen is always welcoming, as is a display of pies and other baked goods.

Flowers have a place in all seasons. Autumn in Canada provides an abundance of both fresh and dried varieties. And when it comes to a container for your flowers, think outside the box. An old watering can, rustic bottles and jars, broken or chipped crockery, even an old rubber boot can make ideal holders for your floral display.

Pumpkins are not just for Halloween anymore. Their vibrant colour and variety of shapes allow for a myriad of opportunities. Pumpkins make ideal fall candle holders for the entryway, living room, bathroom or guest bedroom. Hollow them out and look for lightly-scented candles. Or fill them with flowers and greenery. They even look good as is, perhaps arranged with a few pine cones, gourds, maize or other harvest goodies.

Branches and vines can also add autumn to your home. Entwine thin vines or branches along the frames of mirrors and artwork. Include some in your dining table centerpiece. ?Ring? the bottom of serving dishes and trays with a wreath of autumn finery.

Fire-up that fireplace. Many open fireplaces can actually have a negative impact on your home?s energy consumption. But spring and fall, when it?s just a little cool outside, are excellent times of the year to enjoy a fire indoors.

We have all been told of the benefit of planning and how we should plan out our projects from 'start to finish' so as to avoid surprises and be more likely to achieve our goal. But what about starting at the end and working backward? It's called a 'Work-back Schedule', and though it has been used in business for years to manage projects and their deadlines very effectively, it can be applied to school and home projects just as effectively.

Start with a sheet of paper and a calendar. List all the various To Do's involved in the project and assign each a number based on the sequence they must go in, if applicable. Now, with your To Do list laid out in chronological order, apply an estimate of the time required for each aspect along with a time frame and/or start and finish date, starting with the last one. (Note - It is okay to have difference aspects of a project overlap.)

This timetable is your 'first draft', and is ready to be adjusted and revised to ensure all steps in a project can be completed on time. By completed each step in order and on time, success of the project is inevitable. And if there appears to be no way to achieve your goal on time, at least you know sooner rather than later.

If there is more than one person involved in the project, add a column to identify who is responsible for that task, so everyone involved can see how their role plays a part in the big picture.

This method takes some practice and time to get used to, but you may find that it helps you overcome the anxiety of starting from nothing. Students can benefit greatly from this process and it will give them a 'life skill' that will serve them well in any position and field.

Jar Mixes -"A quick visit to this site will illustrate what I mean by 'mixes' here. There are a ton of them, and having already tried many myself, I can tell you they are really good. They also make wonderful gifts!"

Pastry Pointers - "Every fall I try to make use of all the wonderful fruits available for pies; apple, rhubarb, peach, berries, etc. But the crust is never quite right and I can always use some useful tips. I found this site to have some good simple ones."

Homework Helpers - "This is a Time site and I have found it very useful when the kids have a question I can't answer - which is almost all the time now that they are past the age of 7. Lot's of variety of subjects and even includes comments from other kids."

Favourite Recipe for September - "If your family is like mine, when the weather turns cooler my gang really enjoys soup. But choosing a favourite soup recipe is like asking which of the kids you'd like to sell. So I chose one from the memory it left, of a family gathering one past autumn when I first tried this recipe out - to rave reviews!"

Origin of the term "spam" to mean net abuse

Hormel Foods, maker of Spam (SPiced hAM) canned luncheon meat, had no idea how popular their name would be ? but perhaps for the wrong reason. How did it become synonymous with network abuse, particularly junk E-mail?

If you are a Monty Python's Flying Circus fan, you will know about the skit in one of this mid 70's British comedy team's shows that featured Vikings singing 'Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, Lovely spam, Wonderful spam.' until a waitress told them to 'Shut up!'.

This explains where the name came from and how it has come to refer to an annoying, monotonous thing repeated over and over again, but how did it attach itself to email communications?

In the late 80's, Multi-User-Dungeon (MUD) and early chat online communities had problems with users flooding the system with programs or pasting large amounts of copy rather than typing it in, as we do now in 'chat rooms'. It is believed the term was initiated there. But it gained a great deal of popularity when two lawyers from Phoenix named Canter and Siegel posted a message advertising their services in an upcoming U.S. "green card" lottery in 1994. Their programmer arranged to have their ad sent to every single newsgroup (message board) on USENET, the world's largest online conferencing system of the time. Now it's part of everyday language.

'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.' ~ Nelson Mandela

The tropical storms and hurricanes that affect eastern North America, the Caribbean, and Central America generally form from June to November. Most occur in August, September, and October when the ocean?s waters are at their warmest. Did j'a know these Hurricane Facts?:

• A Hurricane Category is a measurement from 1 to 5 of a storms intensity based on wind speed;
  Cat 1 - 118 to 153 (km per hr)
  Cat 2 - 154 to 177
  Cat 3 - 178 to 210
  Cat 4 - 211 to 249
  Cat 5 - 250 and up
• Hurricane Beth of 1971 brought record rainfall amounts to Nova Scotia. Nearly 250 millimeters of rain fell in Halifax.
• One of the most remembered Canadian hurricanes was Hurricane Hazel of 1954. Over 200 millimeters of rain fell in less than 24 hours triggering flash floods that killed 81 people in Southern Ontario.
• The Labour Day hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935 was the strongest hurricane to ever hit the US. Along with Camille of 1969, it was the only other Category 5 hurricane to hit the US since storm records started being kept.
• It is estimated that about 22,000 people died because of a hurricane that swept Martinique, St. Eustatious, and Barbados between October 10 and 16, 1780. Dubbed the Great Hurricane of 1780, the fatalities from this storm exceed the cumulative fatalities in any other year and all other decades.
• Just as a hockey player's jersey number is retired (if he was a great player), memorable hurricanes can have their name retired. Hurricane names are retired after a really bad storm so that there is no confusion when people talk about that particular storm.
• Every year, a list of names is prepared for the upcoming hurricane season. The names alternate between a boy and girl's name and go in alphabetical order.
• A list of names that is used one year is used again in six years with new names for the names that were retired.

If you are an avid gamer, you know little can match the excitement and anticipation that comes with each new game you purchase. But before you install it, performing a few simple tasks can ensure a clean and proper installation:

1. Run a Disk Cleanup.  Double click on the My Computer icon and then right click on your C: drive. Select Properties and then click on the Disk Cleanup button. This will remove some unnecessary files on your system so there will be more room for your game.

2. Next, you should run a ScanDisk (or Error Checking in XP). Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk. (For XP, right click on your C: drive again and choose Properties, Tools tab, then the Check Now button.) This will help fix any errors that lie in your system.

3. Now Defrag your system. To start the defrag process, XP and 2000 users can go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

4. Finally, close all other programs. To do so, use the Task Manager. Just hit Ctrl + Alt + Del, then the Applications tab and close them out one by one.

Now you are all set to enjoy your new game! And let your gaming buddies know, too.

Wacky Sandwiches - Wilson, age 13, says, "I thought my Cheerios and PB on rye was a cool sandwich, but that's nothing compared with some of these kids' favourites. Of course, some are really disgusting. My friends at school even think my sandwich is disgusting. But I love it."

Hockey Tips - Amy, age 12, says, "I always want to be the best on my team, especially because I'm a girl. Dad and Uncle Rick gave me some good tips, but this site has a ton of really good ones. My favourite? Hmmm, probably #33."

Bedtime Stories - Josie, age 8, says, "These stories are really good. There are a whole bunch you can pick from. They even have pictures. I really like Brookdancer because I like horses. The pictures of her are really cute, too."

Falling Sand - Spencer, age 10, says, "This isn't a game. It's kinda just having fun with falling sand. You can deflect it, make it mix with other colours, and other stuff. I made some pretty neat pictures with it."

There is a difference between the North Pole and the Magnetic North Pole, and it is more than just the few hundred kilometers that separates them.

The North Pole, or 'true north', is a fixed geographic location at 90-degrees north. The Magnetic North Pole is based on the planet's magnetosphere - a large magnetic field around the earth. It deflects most of the solar wind particles that blast towards earth. The ones not deflected appear as light - the Northern Lights. The Magnetic North Pole is where this magnetic field touches the earth at a 90-degree angle.

The Magnetic North Pole's exact position is constantly shifting, but is in Canada. The position of the Magnetic North Pole was first calculated and recorded in 1831. By 1904 it had moved some 50 kilometers (31 mi). The Geological Survey of Canada determined its average 2001 position as being 81.3 degrees North, by 110.8 degrees West.

Magnetic compasses point to the Magnetic North Pole versus true north. While of little concern to most people, those traveling in Arctic regions must take the position of the Magnetic North Pole into consideration for an accurate calculation of true position. Or better yet, use a GPS - global positioning system.

Feeling down because you dropped that teeny, tiny special screw that holds the thingmabobber to the whachamacallit and can't find it anywhere?

Suck it up!

No really. Suck it up using your Shop Vac.

Small parts, especially non-metallic parts, can be difficult to pickup if they fall into hard to reach areas. Just put a piece of pantyhose over the end of the vacuum hose and hold it in place with an elastic band. It will act like a screen and retain anything it sucks up.

"Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing - but none of them serious." ~ Alan Minter, Boxer

"Doing nothing is very hard to do...you never know when you're finished." ~ Leslie Nielsen

"Two grand slams in a week - man, that's seven or eight ribbies right there." ~ Bill Madlock, Baseball broadcaster

"I don't diet. I just don't eat as much as I'd like to." ~ Linda Evangelista, Supermodel