Tuesday, January 23, 2007
11-21-06 Newspaper
Matthew's Newspaper
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
”News and views that you can use”
Super-sized issue !
Serving the Santa Clara County since 2002
Rare Stamp Used to Mail Absentee Ballot
Some Florida voter wouldn’t be happy to find out that they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars by mailing a rare stamp to their local polling place. It was a 1918 Inverted Jenny stamp which images a biplane that appears to be printed upside-down. It was turned up Tuesday night when election officials were examining ballots. Only around 100 of these stamps have been found. Last year, a block of four stamps could have sold for about three million dollars, but this year, the one stamp alone that was turned up could sell for more than $500,000 at an auction!
How to Avoid Emotional Eating Habits—There IS Help
If you are feeling stressed or anxious, eating isn’t the answer
There are several alternatives for “emotional—eating—itis.”
Ø Learn to recognize your hunger. Before you automatically pop something into your mouth, rate your hunger on a scale of 1 to 5 -- 1 being ravenous and 5 being full. Make every effort to avoid eating when your hunger is a 4 or a 5.
Ø Find alternatives to eating. Make a personal list of activities you can do instead of eating. Perhaps go for a walk, call a friend, listen to music, take a hot shower/bath, exercise, clean your house, polish your nails, surf the Internet, schedule outstanding appointments, watch television, look through a photo album, etc.
Ø Keep a food journal. Logging your food will help to identify your toughest timeframes. It also will make you accountable... so perhaps you'll be less apt to reach for unnecessary food.
Ø Three-food interference. Make the commitment to first eat three specific healthy foods before starting on caloric comfort foods (i.e., an apple, handful of baby carrots and a yogurt). If after that, you still want to continue with your comfort foods, give yourself permission. However, most of the time, the three foods are enough to stop you from moving on.
Ø Exercise regularly. Daily exercise relieves stress and puts you in a positive mindset, which provides greater strength to pass on the unhealthy fare.
Ø Get enough sleep. Research shows that sleep deprivation can increase hunger by decreasing Leptin levels, the appetite regulating hormone that signals fullness. With adequate sleep, you'll also be less tired and have more resolve to fight off the urge to grab foods for comfort.
Electronics—Does Size Matter when Picking a Digital Camera?
This is NOT an ad!
Virtually all digital cameras take decent pictures these days. In choosing one, first decide if your priority is small size or extra photographic power and flexibility. A few models strive to offer it all, many have an LCD large enough to dominate the camera's rear side, even as their resolution keeps growing. Five megapixels is already considered minimal resolution, and 7 or 8 are offered by a small but growing band. Other features trickling down from large models to a few small ones include zoom ranges larger than 3x, image stabilization, and manual controls. One familiar feature may soon be on the endangered list: the optical viewfinder.
Meanwhile, larger and more powerful cameras keep gaining new capabilities and, in some cases, growing cheaper. Some advanced compacts--cameras that offer extensive controls and higher-than-entry-level resolution while retaining the convenience of a built-in lens--rival some SLRs and weigh nearly as much. Resolution now runs between 8 and 10 megapixels, and the ability to save images as a RAW file is standard. (A RAW file contains the captured image before it has been processed by the camera's built-in software and gives you maximum flexibility in controlling things such as sharpness and color balance.)
More super-zooms, with optical zoom ranges 10x or greater, feature optical or mechanical image stabilizers. Most of these cameras are bulky and weigh a pound or more. However, innovative designs make a couple of models smaller and much lighter than the rest, heralding a new day for this type of camera.
SLRs, once limited to those on champagne budgets, are increasing in resolution and coming down in price; several are now available for less than $1,000. Recently, three manufacturers--Sony, Nikon, and Canon--all introduced 10-megapixel models in that price range, thereby upping the ante in the growing competition for serious photographers.
Safeway CEO Discusses Health Care
Safeway’s CEO, Steve Burd, had a discussion about health care. He identified two root causes to escalating health care costs: the lack of a market-driven mechanism and a lack of incentives for consumers to change their behavior and heath care spending habits. “We don’t have the solution yet but we (Safeway) want to be part of the solution.” Safeway’s consumer-driven health care program features full coverage for preventative care, a high-deductible plan, and tax-advantaged employer contributions to health care reimbursement and savings accounts. Preventative care and behavioral programs covered by the company include those for smoking cessation, weight loss, and stress reduction. Burd said, “You can save as much as 40% in a restructured system with behavioral changes.” Health care reimbursement and savings accounts offered through Safeway ensure that its employees have a stake in their health care coverage and won’t treat health care as a “free good,” explained Burd. Since the program was implemented for about half of its 30,000 nonunion employees a year ago, Safeway has seen an 11% decrease in health care costs. Given the grocery industry’s low profit margins, approximately 1.5%, Burd said that this reduction is significant.
New Machine goes in at PW Supermarkets Cupertino
Have you ever been to Nob Hill or Albertson’s? If so, have you seen a Coinstar® machine? There are two different models, shown above. Guess what? Now PW Supermarket of Cupertino is adding a Coinstar machine. It is not officially open yet, but there’s a sign that says, “coming soon.”
The new Coinstar Prepaid Center kiosk offers an easy way for you to find all of the prepaid products you need in one place.
Got questions about Coinstar? Go to http://www.coinstar.com/ for details and answers to frequently-asked questions!
The Competitor: Safeway’s Coinmaster
It works just like Coinstar!
With Albertson’s, it’s Coinstar, but with Safeway, it’s “Coinmaster.” It works just like Coinstar: put your coins in the tray, push them down the chute, it counts your money, and gives you a cash-in receipt. Coinstar is better because you can do more than get a cash-in receipt, you can get a gift card and other things. Safeway can fix that, though.
Coinstar and Coinmaster both charge an average of 8% of your coins for the usage of the machine when you get a cash-in receipt. But that’s all Coinstar charges for. They don’t charge for gift cards, etc., only cash-in receipts. Another reason Coinstar is better is that it gives you friendly notices when you’re going to fast, like, “My, you have a lot of coins! Please wait while we catch up.” Coinstar has a touchscreen, Coinmaster doesn’t. Also, something funny: one of Matthew’s Newspaper’s cats’ names is “Star.” Get it? Star and Coinstar! A disadvantage is that people lose coins in two ways at both places:
Ø People drop coins and don’t realize it
Ø People don’t know about the reject tray, although Coinstar reminds you to check it.
More about the reject tray: If you accidentally insert foreign or junky coins, arcade tokens, etc. they will come out in a slot labeled “REJECT TRAY.” Sometimes, if you insert those coins again, it will accept them. Our free tip to you if you have or want to use the machine, remember to check the reject tray!
Attention Coin Collectors: Message from the US Mint
Buy coins directly from the US Mint!
Rather then scrounging around for special coins, you can buy coins from the US Mint. Go to http://www.usmint.gov/ and click on Buy Online in the left panel. Just think—all those rare coins belonging to you!! They list prices and details. This is a great way to show off. But then again… it takes away the fun from FINDING something special.
Man Shot in Play Station 3 Frenzy
Two armed thugs tried to rob a line of people waiting for the new Play Station 3 game system to go on sale early Friday and shot a man who refused to give up his money, authorities said. In other states, customers pushed and shoved their way to the shelves to get at the limited supply, and in Kentucky, four people were grazed by BBs fired from a passing vehicle as they waited for a Best Buy store to open.
Leonid Meteor Shower Expected this Weekend
The annual Leonid meteor shower could produce a strong outburst this weekend for residents of the North America and Western Europe.
A brief surge of activity is expected begin around 11:45 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 18. In Europe, that corresponds to early Sunday morning, Nov. 19 at 4:45 GMT. The outburst could last up to two hours.
At the peak, people in these favorable locations could see up to 150 shooting stars per hour, or more than two per minute.
"We expect an outburst of more than 100 Leonids per hour," said Bill Cooke, the head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office.
Bottom of Form Cooke notes that the shooting stars during this peak period are likely to be faint, however, created by very small meteoroid grains.
Elsewhere people will see the typically enjoyable Leonid display of a few meteors each hour, weather permitting and assuming dark skies away from city lights.
Ancient debris
The Leonids are bits of debris left behind by repeated passages through the inner solar system of the comet Tempel-Tuttle. Each November, Earth crosses various trails of debris, which have spread out over centuries and millennia. Dense debris trails have caused incredible meteor storms in years, past, notably 1998 through 2002.
Since then the show has been back to normal. But recent computer modeling suggests a brief outburst.
"For parts of Europe, Africa and eastern North America, a far more prolific Leonid show could be in the offing this year," said Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist.
This year is not expected to be as memorable as some but well worth a look, astronomers say. The Leonids are known for producing bright fireballs, which could occur at any time.
The Leonids are so-named because they appear to emanate from Leo. The meteors can race across the sky in any direction, but trace each one back and it'll point to Leo.
Other opportunities
Unfortunately for viewers on the U.S. West Coast, the peak occurs before Leo rises. Outside of the expected peak, the best time to watch for Leonids is in the pre-dawn hours, when the constellation Leo is high in the sky.
The Leonids are actually underway already, ramping up gradually to the peak. The event continues for several days after the peak. So any morning during this time could offer up a handful of meteors each hour. Other shooting stars from other sources typically grace the sky at low rates, too.
Flurries of enhanced activity can come at any time. Cooke suggests taking a look in the pre-dawn hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Up to 10 shooting stars per hour are possible any of these mornings.
How to watch
Precise prediction of meteor showers is an infant science, so those in position to observe the possible outburst should plan to head out a half-hour before the predicted peak, allowing eyes time to adjust to the dark, and stay out for up to a half hour after the expected peak.
No special equipment is needed. Telescopes and binoculars are of no use.
A lounge chair or blanket and warm clothes are all you need. Find a dark location with a clear view of the Eastern horizon. Lie back, face east, and scan as much of the sky as you can. You never know exactly where a Leonid will appear.
Scientists say Pollution Actually Helps
If the sun warms the Earth too dangerously, the time may come to draw the shade. The "shade" would be a layer of pollution deliberately spewed into the atmosphere to help cool the planet. This over-the-top idea comes from prominent scientists, among them a Nobel laureate. The reaction here at the U.N. conference on climate change is a mix of caution, curiosity and some resignation to such "massive and drastic" operations, as the chief U.N. climatologist describes them.
The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who first made the proposal is himself "not enthusiastic about it."
"It was meant to startle the policy makers," said Paul J. Crutzen, of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. "If they don't take action much more strongly than they have in the past, then in the end we have to do experiments like this."
Serious people are taking Crutzen's idea seriously. This weekend,
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., hosts a closed-door, high-level workshop on the global haze proposal and other "geoengineering" ideas for fending off climate change.
In Nairobi, meanwhile, hundreds of delegates were wrapping up a two-week conference expected to only slowly advance efforts to rein in greenhouse gases blamed for much of the 1-degree rise in global temperatures in the past century.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol requires modest emission cutbacks by industrial countries — but not the United States, the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, because it rejected the deal. Talks on what to do after Kyoto expires in 2012 are all but bogged down.
When he published his proposal in the journal Climatic Change in August, Crutzen cited a "grossly disappointing international political response" to warming.
The Dutch climatologist, awarded a 1995 Nobel in chemistry for his work uncovering the threat to Earth's atmospheric ozone layer, suggested that balloons bearing heavy guns be used to carry sulfates high aloft and fire them into the stratosphere.
While carbon dioxide keeps heat from escaping Earth, substances such as sulfur dioxide, a common air pollutant, reflect solar radiation, helping cool the planet.
Tom Wigley, a senior U.S. government climatologist, followed Crutzen's article with a paper of his own on Oct. 20 in the leading U.S. journal Science. Like Crutzen, Wigley cited the precedent of the huge volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991.
Pinatubo shot so much sulfurous debris into the stratosphere that it is believed it cooled the Earth by .9 degrees for about a year.
Wigley ran scenarios of stratospheric sulfate injection — on the scale of Pinatubo's estimated 10 million tons of sulfur — through supercomputer models of the climate, and reported that Crutzen's idea would, indeed, seem to work. Even half that amount per year would help, he wrote.
A massive dissemination of pollutants would be needed every year or two, as the sulfates precipitate from the atmosphere in acid rain.
Wigley said a temporary shield would give political leaders more time to reduce human dependence on fossil fuels — the main source of greenhouse gases. He said experts must more closely study the feasibility of the idea and its possible effects on stratospheric chemistry.
Nairobi conference participants agreed.
"Yes, by all means, do all the research," Indian climatologist Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the 2,000-scientist U.N. network on climate change, told The Associated Press.
But "if human beings take it upon themselves to carry out something as massive and drastic as this, we need to be absolutely sure there are no side effects," Pachauri said.
Philip Clapp, a veteran campaigner for emissions controls to curb warming, also sounded a nervous note, saying, "We are already engaged in an uncontrolled experiment by injecting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."
But Clapp, president of the U.S. group National Environmental Trust, said, "I certainly don't disagree with the urgency."
In past years scientists have scoffed at the idea of air pollution as a solution for global warming, saying that the kind of sulfate haze that would be needed is deadly to people. Last month, the World Heath Organization said air pollution kills about 2 million people worldwide each year and that reducing large soot-like particles from sulfates in cities could save 300,000 lives annually.
American geophysicist Jonathan Pershing, of Washington's World Resources Institute, is among those wary of unforeseen consequences, but said the idea might be worth considering "if down the road 25 years, it becomes more and more severe because we didn't deal with the problem."
By telephone from Germany, Crutzen said that's what he envisioned: global haze as a component for long-range planning. "The reception on the whole is more positive than I thought," he said.
Pershing added, however, that reaction may hinge on who pushes the idea. "If it's the U.S., it might be perceived as an effort to avoid the problem," he said.
NASA said this weekend's conference will examine "methods to ameliorate the likelihood of progressively rising temperatures over the next decades." Other such U.S. government-sponsored events are scheduled to follow.
WAL-MART Shuts Down in Play Station 3 Frenzy
Retailers expect to be overwhelmed by demand during the impending video game console launches, but say they're working to keep the spirit festive while trying to prevent chaos and confusion.
Lines of anxious customers were growing at Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores across the country Wednesday as major retailers were getting confirmation of how many of Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 consoles they would be getting for its Friday launch.
Stock of Nintendo Co.'s Wii will not be as constrained, but retailers are also expecting the inaugural batch to sell out quickly after they go on sale Sunday.
Major retailers refused to widely announce exactly how many units would be distributed to individual locations.
To curb overly high hopes and potential frustrations, many retailers were trying to make it clear that supplies would be limited. They posted notices in stores and warned on Web sites that PS3 supplies would be tight through the holidays. Store employees are also reiterating the message to customers who are lining up in designated areas outside stores.
Best buy noted on the front page of its nationwide circular ads on Sunday that it would have a minimum of 20 60-gigabyte PS3 models and six 20-gigabyte models per store on Friday. How much each store would have in stock above that allotment was up for speculation.
Jose Mota, 26, of Hayward isn't worried. He was the first in the line of 33 people who had already camped outside of the Best Buy store in Union City since Tuesday.
The store manager told them to keep the place clean and left the light on for them overnight, he said. The group — now an ad-hoc community — also is conducting a roll call every four hours to make sure everyone still has their places. People are taking turns to go get food or grab a shower.
Keeping a safe environment for consumers is a top priority, but the process is still a balancing act, said Jill Hamburger, vice president of gaming at Best Buy Co. Inc.
Sony promises 400,000 PS3 machines for the U.S. market on the day of the launch and a U.S. total of about 1 million units by year's end — down sharply from its original projections of 4 million. Nintendo expects to have 4 million Wiis ready worldwide when the console hits store shelves, with the bulk going to North America.
Sony declined to detail its distribution strategy, but spokesman Dave Karraker said the company is roughly following a normal path but scaling it down proportionately to a retailers' typical share of Sony gaming products.
Sony plans to replenish inventories weekly, using air transport instead of ocean freighters, he said.
Though Sony could not speak for retailers, Karraker hinted that stores holding midnight sales events would likely hold more units in stock.
Best Buy will have midnight openings at 18 stores, including one in West Hollywood complete with celebrities. Target Corp. is throwing an all-night party at its Atlantic Terminal store in the New York City borough of Brooklyn so gamers can try out the PS3 and get a chance to win one. The Sony Style Store in Manhattan will celebrate with a midnight opening.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will have a midnight opening on Friday and a PlayStation trailer outfitted with video gaming stations through the weekend at its Orlando Fla. location.
On the eve of the Nintendo Wii launch, Toys R Us Inc. will host a block party at its Times Square store in New York, featuring music, bright lights, a countdown clock and an appearance by Nintendo of America's president, Reggie Fils-Aime.
"We expect our stores across the country to be busy on the launch dates," said Target spokeswoman Paula Thornton-Greear. "Our stores are prepared to manage crowds including a ticket system to ensure those in line first receive a ticket that ensures them a console based on our inventory."
At Wal-Mart stores, only customers in the designated waiting areas armed with tickets toward purchase will be invited into the stores to pick up their consoles.
Toys R Us conducted in-store pre-sales of the PS3 on Oct. 29 during which customers camped overnight to get a limited number of tickets. The retailer was relieved to recently learn it would be able to deliver on those pre-orders, but no other customers will immediately be able to get any PS3s that day, Kathleen Waugh, a Toys R Us spokeswoman, said Wednesday.
"That word is out there now, and we're making sure people know in advance so they're not waiting outside," Waugh said.
Some GameStop Corp. customers who snagged pre-orders of a PS3 last month may not be quite as lucky, as the nation's largest specialty game retailer warned earlier this week it would not be able to fulfill all of its pre-orders on launch day.
Others, such as Amazon.com, chose not to take any pre-orders of the PS3 to avoid the potential of confusion or disappointment.
Even online auctioneer eBay Inc. — where PS3s with retail prices of $500 and $600 were bidding Wednesday at an average of $1,500 and Wii machines were going for more than double its $250 retail price — is taking precautions. It imposed restrictions, including limiting sales to only established eBay vendors with minimum rating levels.
The days leading up to the console launches haven't been completely glitch-free.
Best buy inadvertently posted on its Web site last weekend that it was taking pre-orders for the PS3. It was removed within a few hours but not before an undisclosed number of customers swarmed after the erroneous offer.
To Sony's credit, however, it is effectively avoiding a repeat of the public outcry from the shortages of the rival Microsoft
Xbox 360 launch last year, said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.
"Sony is managing this well. They are telling us the numbers are very small," Pachter said. "Nobody is thinking they're getting a PS3 for Christmas and those that do get it will be pleasantly surprised."
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To see more history on Matthew’s Newspaper, or to leave a comment on any of the articles you’ve seen here, visit my blog at http://www.matthewsnewspaper.blogspot.com/.
Weather Forecast
Here is my weather forecast:
Wednesday-Sunday: Sunny, highs around 85 °F
(Editor’s Note: The UV Index is 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 – extremely dangerous! Wear sunscreen!)
Puzzle Corner
For a whole website of jokes, go to http://www.mnjokes.blogspot.com/.
Ads Published
NOTICE: We are no longer doing crossword puzzles. For unlimited crossword puzzles, go to http://www.mncrosswords.blogspot.com/ as of 9/12/06!!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
”News and views that you can use”
Super-sized issue !
Serving the Santa Clara County since 2002
Rare Stamp Used to Mail Absentee Ballot
Some Florida voter wouldn’t be happy to find out that they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars by mailing a rare stamp to their local polling place. It was a 1918 Inverted Jenny stamp which images a biplane that appears to be printed upside-down. It was turned up Tuesday night when election officials were examining ballots. Only around 100 of these stamps have been found. Last year, a block of four stamps could have sold for about three million dollars, but this year, the one stamp alone that was turned up could sell for more than $500,000 at an auction!
How to Avoid Emotional Eating Habits—There IS Help
If you are feeling stressed or anxious, eating isn’t the answer
There are several alternatives for “emotional—eating—itis.”
Ø Learn to recognize your hunger. Before you automatically pop something into your mouth, rate your hunger on a scale of 1 to 5 -- 1 being ravenous and 5 being full. Make every effort to avoid eating when your hunger is a 4 or a 5.
Ø Find alternatives to eating. Make a personal list of activities you can do instead of eating. Perhaps go for a walk, call a friend, listen to music, take a hot shower/bath, exercise, clean your house, polish your nails, surf the Internet, schedule outstanding appointments, watch television, look through a photo album, etc.
Ø Keep a food journal. Logging your food will help to identify your toughest timeframes. It also will make you accountable... so perhaps you'll be less apt to reach for unnecessary food.
Ø Three-food interference. Make the commitment to first eat three specific healthy foods before starting on caloric comfort foods (i.e., an apple, handful of baby carrots and a yogurt). If after that, you still want to continue with your comfort foods, give yourself permission. However, most of the time, the three foods are enough to stop you from moving on.
Ø Exercise regularly. Daily exercise relieves stress and puts you in a positive mindset, which provides greater strength to pass on the unhealthy fare.
Ø Get enough sleep. Research shows that sleep deprivation can increase hunger by decreasing Leptin levels, the appetite regulating hormone that signals fullness. With adequate sleep, you'll also be less tired and have more resolve to fight off the urge to grab foods for comfort.
Electronics—Does Size Matter when Picking a Digital Camera?
This is NOT an ad!
Virtually all digital cameras take decent pictures these days. In choosing one, first decide if your priority is small size or extra photographic power and flexibility. A few models strive to offer it all, many have an LCD large enough to dominate the camera's rear side, even as their resolution keeps growing. Five megapixels is already considered minimal resolution, and 7 or 8 are offered by a small but growing band. Other features trickling down from large models to a few small ones include zoom ranges larger than 3x, image stabilization, and manual controls. One familiar feature may soon be on the endangered list: the optical viewfinder.
Meanwhile, larger and more powerful cameras keep gaining new capabilities and, in some cases, growing cheaper. Some advanced compacts--cameras that offer extensive controls and higher-than-entry-level resolution while retaining the convenience of a built-in lens--rival some SLRs and weigh nearly as much. Resolution now runs between 8 and 10 megapixels, and the ability to save images as a RAW file is standard. (A RAW file contains the captured image before it has been processed by the camera's built-in software and gives you maximum flexibility in controlling things such as sharpness and color balance.)
More super-zooms, with optical zoom ranges 10x or greater, feature optical or mechanical image stabilizers. Most of these cameras are bulky and weigh a pound or more. However, innovative designs make a couple of models smaller and much lighter than the rest, heralding a new day for this type of camera.
SLRs, once limited to those on champagne budgets, are increasing in resolution and coming down in price; several are now available for less than $1,000. Recently, three manufacturers--Sony, Nikon, and Canon--all introduced 10-megapixel models in that price range, thereby upping the ante in the growing competition for serious photographers.
Safeway CEO Discusses Health Care
Safeway’s CEO, Steve Burd, had a discussion about health care. He identified two root causes to escalating health care costs: the lack of a market-driven mechanism and a lack of incentives for consumers to change their behavior and heath care spending habits. “We don’t have the solution yet but we (Safeway) want to be part of the solution.” Safeway’s consumer-driven health care program features full coverage for preventative care, a high-deductible plan, and tax-advantaged employer contributions to health care reimbursement and savings accounts. Preventative care and behavioral programs covered by the company include those for smoking cessation, weight loss, and stress reduction. Burd said, “You can save as much as 40% in a restructured system with behavioral changes.” Health care reimbursement and savings accounts offered through Safeway ensure that its employees have a stake in their health care coverage and won’t treat health care as a “free good,” explained Burd. Since the program was implemented for about half of its 30,000 nonunion employees a year ago, Safeway has seen an 11% decrease in health care costs. Given the grocery industry’s low profit margins, approximately 1.5%, Burd said that this reduction is significant.
New Machine goes in at PW Supermarkets Cupertino
Have you ever been to Nob Hill or Albertson’s? If so, have you seen a Coinstar® machine? There are two different models, shown above. Guess what? Now PW Supermarket of Cupertino is adding a Coinstar machine. It is not officially open yet, but there’s a sign that says, “coming soon.”
The new Coinstar Prepaid Center kiosk offers an easy way for you to find all of the prepaid products you need in one place.
Got questions about Coinstar? Go to http://www.coinstar.com/ for details and answers to frequently-asked questions!
The Competitor: Safeway’s Coinmaster
It works just like Coinstar!
With Albertson’s, it’s Coinstar, but with Safeway, it’s “Coinmaster.” It works just like Coinstar: put your coins in the tray, push them down the chute, it counts your money, and gives you a cash-in receipt. Coinstar is better because you can do more than get a cash-in receipt, you can get a gift card and other things. Safeway can fix that, though.
Coinstar and Coinmaster both charge an average of 8% of your coins for the usage of the machine when you get a cash-in receipt. But that’s all Coinstar charges for. They don’t charge for gift cards, etc., only cash-in receipts. Another reason Coinstar is better is that it gives you friendly notices when you’re going to fast, like, “My, you have a lot of coins! Please wait while we catch up.” Coinstar has a touchscreen, Coinmaster doesn’t. Also, something funny: one of Matthew’s Newspaper’s cats’ names is “Star.” Get it? Star and Coinstar! A disadvantage is that people lose coins in two ways at both places:
Ø People drop coins and don’t realize it
Ø People don’t know about the reject tray, although Coinstar reminds you to check it.
More about the reject tray: If you accidentally insert foreign or junky coins, arcade tokens, etc. they will come out in a slot labeled “REJECT TRAY.” Sometimes, if you insert those coins again, it will accept them. Our free tip to you if you have or want to use the machine, remember to check the reject tray!
Attention Coin Collectors: Message from the US Mint
Buy coins directly from the US Mint!
Rather then scrounging around for special coins, you can buy coins from the US Mint. Go to http://www.usmint.gov/ and click on Buy Online in the left panel. Just think—all those rare coins belonging to you!! They list prices and details. This is a great way to show off. But then again… it takes away the fun from FINDING something special.
Man Shot in Play Station 3 Frenzy
Two armed thugs tried to rob a line of people waiting for the new Play Station 3 game system to go on sale early Friday and shot a man who refused to give up his money, authorities said. In other states, customers pushed and shoved their way to the shelves to get at the limited supply, and in Kentucky, four people were grazed by BBs fired from a passing vehicle as they waited for a Best Buy store to open.
Leonid Meteor Shower Expected this Weekend
The annual Leonid meteor shower could produce a strong outburst this weekend for residents of the North America and Western Europe.
A brief surge of activity is expected begin around 11:45 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 18. In Europe, that corresponds to early Sunday morning, Nov. 19 at 4:45 GMT. The outburst could last up to two hours.
At the peak, people in these favorable locations could see up to 150 shooting stars per hour, or more than two per minute.
"We expect an outburst of more than 100 Leonids per hour," said Bill Cooke, the head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office.
Bottom of Form Cooke notes that the shooting stars during this peak period are likely to be faint, however, created by very small meteoroid grains.
Elsewhere people will see the typically enjoyable Leonid display of a few meteors each hour, weather permitting and assuming dark skies away from city lights.
Ancient debris
The Leonids are bits of debris left behind by repeated passages through the inner solar system of the comet Tempel-Tuttle. Each November, Earth crosses various trails of debris, which have spread out over centuries and millennia. Dense debris trails have caused incredible meteor storms in years, past, notably 1998 through 2002.
Since then the show has been back to normal. But recent computer modeling suggests a brief outburst.
"For parts of Europe, Africa and eastern North America, a far more prolific Leonid show could be in the offing this year," said Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist.
This year is not expected to be as memorable as some but well worth a look, astronomers say. The Leonids are known for producing bright fireballs, which could occur at any time.
The Leonids are so-named because they appear to emanate from Leo. The meteors can race across the sky in any direction, but trace each one back and it'll point to Leo.
Other opportunities
Unfortunately for viewers on the U.S. West Coast, the peak occurs before Leo rises. Outside of the expected peak, the best time to watch for Leonids is in the pre-dawn hours, when the constellation Leo is high in the sky.
The Leonids are actually underway already, ramping up gradually to the peak. The event continues for several days after the peak. So any morning during this time could offer up a handful of meteors each hour. Other shooting stars from other sources typically grace the sky at low rates, too.
Flurries of enhanced activity can come at any time. Cooke suggests taking a look in the pre-dawn hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Up to 10 shooting stars per hour are possible any of these mornings.
How to watch
Precise prediction of meteor showers is an infant science, so those in position to observe the possible outburst should plan to head out a half-hour before the predicted peak, allowing eyes time to adjust to the dark, and stay out for up to a half hour after the expected peak.
No special equipment is needed. Telescopes and binoculars are of no use.
A lounge chair or blanket and warm clothes are all you need. Find a dark location with a clear view of the Eastern horizon. Lie back, face east, and scan as much of the sky as you can. You never know exactly where a Leonid will appear.
Scientists say Pollution Actually Helps
If the sun warms the Earth too dangerously, the time may come to draw the shade. The "shade" would be a layer of pollution deliberately spewed into the atmosphere to help cool the planet. This over-the-top idea comes from prominent scientists, among them a Nobel laureate. The reaction here at the U.N. conference on climate change is a mix of caution, curiosity and some resignation to such "massive and drastic" operations, as the chief U.N. climatologist describes them.
The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who first made the proposal is himself "not enthusiastic about it."
"It was meant to startle the policy makers," said Paul J. Crutzen, of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. "If they don't take action much more strongly than they have in the past, then in the end we have to do experiments like this."
Serious people are taking Crutzen's idea seriously. This weekend,
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., hosts a closed-door, high-level workshop on the global haze proposal and other "geoengineering" ideas for fending off climate change.
In Nairobi, meanwhile, hundreds of delegates were wrapping up a two-week conference expected to only slowly advance efforts to rein in greenhouse gases blamed for much of the 1-degree rise in global temperatures in the past century.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol requires modest emission cutbacks by industrial countries — but not the United States, the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, because it rejected the deal. Talks on what to do after Kyoto expires in 2012 are all but bogged down.
When he published his proposal in the journal Climatic Change in August, Crutzen cited a "grossly disappointing international political response" to warming.
The Dutch climatologist, awarded a 1995 Nobel in chemistry for his work uncovering the threat to Earth's atmospheric ozone layer, suggested that balloons bearing heavy guns be used to carry sulfates high aloft and fire them into the stratosphere.
While carbon dioxide keeps heat from escaping Earth, substances such as sulfur dioxide, a common air pollutant, reflect solar radiation, helping cool the planet.
Tom Wigley, a senior U.S. government climatologist, followed Crutzen's article with a paper of his own on Oct. 20 in the leading U.S. journal Science. Like Crutzen, Wigley cited the precedent of the huge volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991.
Pinatubo shot so much sulfurous debris into the stratosphere that it is believed it cooled the Earth by .9 degrees for about a year.
Wigley ran scenarios of stratospheric sulfate injection — on the scale of Pinatubo's estimated 10 million tons of sulfur — through supercomputer models of the climate, and reported that Crutzen's idea would, indeed, seem to work. Even half that amount per year would help, he wrote.
A massive dissemination of pollutants would be needed every year or two, as the sulfates precipitate from the atmosphere in acid rain.
Wigley said a temporary shield would give political leaders more time to reduce human dependence on fossil fuels — the main source of greenhouse gases. He said experts must more closely study the feasibility of the idea and its possible effects on stratospheric chemistry.
Nairobi conference participants agreed.
"Yes, by all means, do all the research," Indian climatologist Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the 2,000-scientist U.N. network on climate change, told The Associated Press.
But "if human beings take it upon themselves to carry out something as massive and drastic as this, we need to be absolutely sure there are no side effects," Pachauri said.
Philip Clapp, a veteran campaigner for emissions controls to curb warming, also sounded a nervous note, saying, "We are already engaged in an uncontrolled experiment by injecting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."
But Clapp, president of the U.S. group National Environmental Trust, said, "I certainly don't disagree with the urgency."
In past years scientists have scoffed at the idea of air pollution as a solution for global warming, saying that the kind of sulfate haze that would be needed is deadly to people. Last month, the World Heath Organization said air pollution kills about 2 million people worldwide each year and that reducing large soot-like particles from sulfates in cities could save 300,000 lives annually.
American geophysicist Jonathan Pershing, of Washington's World Resources Institute, is among those wary of unforeseen consequences, but said the idea might be worth considering "if down the road 25 years, it becomes more and more severe because we didn't deal with the problem."
By telephone from Germany, Crutzen said that's what he envisioned: global haze as a component for long-range planning. "The reception on the whole is more positive than I thought," he said.
Pershing added, however, that reaction may hinge on who pushes the idea. "If it's the U.S., it might be perceived as an effort to avoid the problem," he said.
NASA said this weekend's conference will examine "methods to ameliorate the likelihood of progressively rising temperatures over the next decades." Other such U.S. government-sponsored events are scheduled to follow.
WAL-MART Shuts Down in Play Station 3 Frenzy
Retailers expect to be overwhelmed by demand during the impending video game console launches, but say they're working to keep the spirit festive while trying to prevent chaos and confusion.
Lines of anxious customers were growing at Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores across the country Wednesday as major retailers were getting confirmation of how many of Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 consoles they would be getting for its Friday launch.
Stock of Nintendo Co.'s Wii will not be as constrained, but retailers are also expecting the inaugural batch to sell out quickly after they go on sale Sunday.
Major retailers refused to widely announce exactly how many units would be distributed to individual locations.
To curb overly high hopes and potential frustrations, many retailers were trying to make it clear that supplies would be limited. They posted notices in stores and warned on Web sites that PS3 supplies would be tight through the holidays. Store employees are also reiterating the message to customers who are lining up in designated areas outside stores.
Best buy noted on the front page of its nationwide circular ads on Sunday that it would have a minimum of 20 60-gigabyte PS3 models and six 20-gigabyte models per store on Friday. How much each store would have in stock above that allotment was up for speculation.
Jose Mota, 26, of Hayward isn't worried. He was the first in the line of 33 people who had already camped outside of the Best Buy store in Union City since Tuesday.
The store manager told them to keep the place clean and left the light on for them overnight, he said. The group — now an ad-hoc community — also is conducting a roll call every four hours to make sure everyone still has their places. People are taking turns to go get food or grab a shower.
Keeping a safe environment for consumers is a top priority, but the process is still a balancing act, said Jill Hamburger, vice president of gaming at Best Buy Co. Inc.
Sony promises 400,000 PS3 machines for the U.S. market on the day of the launch and a U.S. total of about 1 million units by year's end — down sharply from its original projections of 4 million. Nintendo expects to have 4 million Wiis ready worldwide when the console hits store shelves, with the bulk going to North America.
Sony declined to detail its distribution strategy, but spokesman Dave Karraker said the company is roughly following a normal path but scaling it down proportionately to a retailers' typical share of Sony gaming products.
Sony plans to replenish inventories weekly, using air transport instead of ocean freighters, he said.
Though Sony could not speak for retailers, Karraker hinted that stores holding midnight sales events would likely hold more units in stock.
Best Buy will have midnight openings at 18 stores, including one in West Hollywood complete with celebrities. Target Corp. is throwing an all-night party at its Atlantic Terminal store in the New York City borough of Brooklyn so gamers can try out the PS3 and get a chance to win one. The Sony Style Store in Manhattan will celebrate with a midnight opening.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will have a midnight opening on Friday and a PlayStation trailer outfitted with video gaming stations through the weekend at its Orlando Fla. location.
On the eve of the Nintendo Wii launch, Toys R Us Inc. will host a block party at its Times Square store in New York, featuring music, bright lights, a countdown clock and an appearance by Nintendo of America's president, Reggie Fils-Aime.
"We expect our stores across the country to be busy on the launch dates," said Target spokeswoman Paula Thornton-Greear. "Our stores are prepared to manage crowds including a ticket system to ensure those in line first receive a ticket that ensures them a console based on our inventory."
At Wal-Mart stores, only customers in the designated waiting areas armed with tickets toward purchase will be invited into the stores to pick up their consoles.
Toys R Us conducted in-store pre-sales of the PS3 on Oct. 29 during which customers camped overnight to get a limited number of tickets. The retailer was relieved to recently learn it would be able to deliver on those pre-orders, but no other customers will immediately be able to get any PS3s that day, Kathleen Waugh, a Toys R Us spokeswoman, said Wednesday.
"That word is out there now, and we're making sure people know in advance so they're not waiting outside," Waugh said.
Some GameStop Corp. customers who snagged pre-orders of a PS3 last month may not be quite as lucky, as the nation's largest specialty game retailer warned earlier this week it would not be able to fulfill all of its pre-orders on launch day.
Others, such as Amazon.com, chose not to take any pre-orders of the PS3 to avoid the potential of confusion or disappointment.
Even online auctioneer eBay Inc. — where PS3s with retail prices of $500 and $600 were bidding Wednesday at an average of $1,500 and Wii machines were going for more than double its $250 retail price — is taking precautions. It imposed restrictions, including limiting sales to only established eBay vendors with minimum rating levels.
The days leading up to the console launches haven't been completely glitch-free.
Best buy inadvertently posted on its Web site last weekend that it was taking pre-orders for the PS3. It was removed within a few hours but not before an undisclosed number of customers swarmed after the erroneous offer.
To Sony's credit, however, it is effectively avoiding a repeat of the public outcry from the shortages of the rival Microsoft
Xbox 360 launch last year, said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.
"Sony is managing this well. They are telling us the numbers are very small," Pachter said. "Nobody is thinking they're getting a PS3 for Christmas and those that do get it will be pleasantly surprised."
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