PDX Printing is an El Paso, Texas company that prints most of the area high school, college, church and other small newspapers along the West Texas border area. The company was created in 1999, with the name coming from it's location on Interstate 10 at the "Porfirio Diaz Exit."

Tom and Ellie Fenton own most of the company plus an affiliate that produces the local business journal, El Paso Inc., an entertainment weekly, What's Up, and a glossy monthly magazine.

"We never would have gotten into the printing business if our competitors had given us the printing prices they used to bid against us after we got going," Fenton said.

So in 1999 they acquired one Quadracolor and eight Web Leader floor units and two folders arranged in two lines. The webs from each line are joined using air-fed angle bars. A couple of years later, in response to increasing demand for more color, they acquired a factory two-high, bought two more floor units and stacked them to provide two after-market two-highs.

"We got excellent registration on the Quadracolor and

	Tom Fenton

picked up four colors on the backside of the web by s-wrapping in a floor unit then bringing the web back down the line and up through a two-high," Fenton said. " But color registration from one two-high to the next was a constant problem because of the long lead."

So last year the company went back to the bank and bought a 2004 Quadstack that had been in use in Canada. "Web Press was great. They had the whole pedigree on the machine. They provided the parts it required and put us in touch with people who handled the install," Fenton said. "Now, the press crew doesn't want to run anything else. When you first pull up it is almost in registration. I just wish we had three more of them."

Fenton said the company currently has 15 weeklies, 10 monthlies and 8 quarterly publications. Most are long and short tabloids but two are broadsheets. Print runs range from 1,000 for one small school newspaper to 88,500 for one specialty publication.

"Before we got the Quadstack we could burn 2,000 copies trying to get a 1,000-copy high-school paper into registration," Fenton said. "With the Quadstack we are seeing some nice savings in waste on those smaller papers."

What do Louis Carroll, Julius Caesar, and Judy Garland all have in common?  They're left handed.

Approximately 10% of the population are considered "left handed", though that could be more when you count those who consider themselves ambidextrous.  Unfortunately, this minority is forced to live in a "right handed" world.  Many simple things most people take for granted, such as a computer mouse or a 12 inch ruler, are made for right handed folk.  The graphic in this section tells its own story about this struggle.

However, despite the agony of learning to do things a "different way", it appears that being left-handed is also a sign that creativity and leadership might be a lefty's forte. Five of the most recent US Presidents were left handed, as are Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg.  Science attributes this to the fact that the right side of the brain (AKA the creative side) controls the left side of the body, leading lefties to embrace the saying that "only left handers are in their right minds". 

If you are left handed yourself, or know someone who is, we've provided a link on our Worth Reading page to graphics that can be freely shared via the internet or printed to A4 size posters.  Some are fun, some are informative, and some are empowering!   

There are six 12 letter English language words that can be typed with only the left hand on a standard QWERTY keyboard: aftereffects, desegregated, desegregates, reverberated, reverberates, and stewardesses.

The longest "right hand only" word, polyphony, is only 9 letters long.  (There are 57 "left hand words" that are 10 or more letters long.  How about that.  Lefties rule!)

The longest "alternating hand" words are:

authenticity, enchantment, entitlement, proficiency, shantytowns, and skepticisms.

"Typewriter" is the longest word that can be typed using just one row.

What is the relationship between paper coupons and your refrigerator?  Why do advertisers need to know about this relationship? 

Both interesting articles can be accessed from our Worth Reading page.