Q: The newest $100 bills are “Series 2009” bills, and they have many different security features. Older bills are being phased out of circulation to prevent counterfeiters from fooling people. Nevertheless, older bills are still legal tender, so if you get one you shouldn’t automatically assume it is fake. Check the date on the bill. The average $100 bill stay in circulation for seven years. Accordingly, most of the older bills should be out of circulation by now. Nevertheless, you might have one or more stored at home that you want to check. U.S. currency has a distinctive feel. The bills are printed on cotton and linen, not paper. Also, bills should have slightly raised ink, which is a feature of the printing process. If you handle currency as part of your job, you should quickly develop familiarity with the feel of authentic money.  Using touch is not foolproof, however. The most successful counterfeiters will bleach real money and then print over it. Nevertheless, counterfeiters struggle to reproduce the raised printing, so feeling the bill is a good first step. A $100 bill printed after 1990 should have a security thread on the left-hand side that is only visible when you hold the bill up to the light. The words “USA” and “100” should alternate on the thread. If you hold the bill up to UV light, then the thread glows pink. Older bills used microprinting as a security feature. Use a magnifying glass to check for microprinting, which will appear in different spots depending on the year the bill was issued.  For example, in $100 bills issued between 1990-1996, the words “The United States of America” should appear on the outer edge of the portrait oval.  For bills issued between 1996-2013, “USA100” should appear in the numeral 100 on the lower left-hand corner. You should also see “The United States of America” in the left lapel of Franklin’s coat. $100 bills issued between 1996-2013 employ color-shifting ink. Tilt the note in the light and look in the lower right-hand corner. The numeral 100 should change from green to black. Bills printed after 1996 have a watermark portrait of Benjamin Franklin in the blank space at the right-hand side. The image should be very faint but visible from either side. Real bills should have clear, sharp lines, which are very hard for counterfeiters to reproduce. If you see blurry printing or text, then you are probably dealing with a counterfeit. This pen is sold at Amazon and costs $5. It checks for common chemicals used in counterfeits. However, fraudsters have gotten wise and no longer use the chemicals, so the pen isn’t foolproof. Nevertheless, you can now buy a counterfeit detection pen that has a UV light built into the cap and costs under $10. No special security features were used on $100 bills printed before 1990. Accordingly, the best way to check its authenticity is to compare it to another $100. You might have to go to a bank to check if the bill is authentic. You can also visit the U.S. Currency website and find images of older $100 bills.
A: Check the date. Feel the bill. Look for the security thread. Check microprinting. Look for color-shifting ink. Find the watermark portrait. Pay attention to blurry borders. Use a counterfeit money detection pen. Compare it with another bill.

Q: Place 1 end of the strap on top of the load and keep it in place by having someone hold it or setting something heavy on top of it. Slide the other end beneath the load, then pull it up and over. With polyester strapping, the end that is closest to your body should be on the bottom. Adjust the straps so they run down the center of the load to keep everything in place. These pieces form the main handle on the tool. Squeezing them will lift up the gripper plate on the left side of the tool. Leave about 5 in (13 cm) of strapping in front so you have enough to secure later, and slide the strap up against the side of the tool. Once you have the bottom strapping in place, you can release the tension lever and base handle. The cutter wheel is the piece that looks like a knob on the tool’s front left side. Pushing the tension lever up will move the windlass (the middle ratcheting device on the left side of the tool) into place. The end of the strapping should go through the center line of the cutter wheel, then up through the center of the windlass. Once the strapping is in place, push the tension lever back and forth 2-3 times to tighten it up a bit and keep the strapping secure. Keep tightening until the strap is secure and taut around all sides of the load. The tensioner tool will ensure that you have a small amount of slack to apply the seals, so don’t worry about leaving any extra slack. Be careful not to over-tighten, which can damage the edges of the load and put too much strain on the strapping. Set it down with the flat side on top and the 2 bent sides tucked around the strapping. Leave about 1 to 2 in (2.5 to 5.1 cm) of the bottom strap at the front of the seal. Completely open up the sealer tool and place it directly over the seal. Press hard, bringing the 2 handles together, to push the ends of the seal tightly around the strapping. Pull the handles apart and remove the sealing tool. Now that the straps are secured, go back to the tensioner tool and squeeze the 2 handles together again. Keep gripping the handles and slide the tensioning tool off to the right to remove it from the strapping. This will activate the cutter wheel, trimming the top layer of strapping to a neat length.
A: Wrap the strap around your load so the ends overlap on top. Squeeze the tension lever and the base handle on your tensioner. Place the bottom strap underneath the gripper plate and cutter wheel. Lift the tension handle and thread the other end into the cutter wheel. Move the tension lever back and forth to pull the strapping tight. Place a gripper seal around the 2 layered straps in front of the tensioner. Use a sealer tool to clamp the seal shut. Squeeze the tensioner’s base handle and tension lever to cut the excess.

Q: Get a fish tank water-testing kit from the pet store, which should include testing equipment for reading ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH levels. Several natural processes that occur in your tank can be kept in check by setting up your tank properly, but certain parameters still need to be tested for every week. Ammonia is a natural byproduct of the food your goldfish doesn’t eat, as well as the goldfish’s waste.  Bacteria will eat the ammonia in your tank, but if the bacteria die or something else goes wrong, high ammonia levels can become extremely dangerous.  If you’re getting positive ammonia readings, change the tank’s water immediately. Determine whether overfeeding, an insufficient filtering system, or overcrowding and remedy the issue as soon as possible. Nitrites are usually converted by your water filter into nitrates, but can make your goldfish unhealthy if not kept in check.  During cycling, nitrite levels may reach 0.75ppm, but should never exceed this amount. Keep nitrate levels between 5 and 20ppm.  Change the tanks water if nitrites are present.  Their presence indicates ammonia levels are likely also too high, or your filtration system needs to be adjusted. Nitrate, which is safe at low levels, can also be harmful at higher levels and can lead to unwanted algae in the tank. A partial water change should be sufficient to reduce nitrate levels. Water that is too acidic will allow ammonia levels to increase very quickly.  Water that is too alkaline (or basic) actually makes natural levels of ammonia more harmful.  Shoot for the ideal levels of pH for goldfish, which are between 7.2 and 7.6 pH. If you need to adjust pH, do so minimally by adding pH decreaser or alkaline buffers that are designed for this purpose, and are available online or in pet stores. Use water generated by reverse osmosis if you are unable to change the pH of the water you're using.  You may be unable to adjust the pH of certain municipal water supplies because of specific mineral content in the water.
A:
Test your goldfish’s water weekly. Keep ammonia levels at 0ppm. Maintain nitrite levels at 0ppm and nitrate levels below 40ppm. Ensure a pH-balanced tank.