Dos, Don'ts of Powerball Office Pools

Powerball fever is sweeping the nation.

The Powerball jackpot is at a record high of $550 million. And with the winnings so high, everyone is rushing to buy a ticket in the hope that they'll be the lucky winner.

A popular means of lotto ticket purchasing is an office pool -- in which a group of colleagues pools their money, buys a slate of tickets together and promises to share the winnings equally. It can be a fun bonding experience with your co-workers, but there are do's and don'ts to abide by, on the off-chance that your ticket(s) have the winning numbers.

DO

Write a Contract

It may seem too serious for what's supposed to be fun and harmless, but this amount of money can make people a little crazy, so it's worth taking precautions. You don't need to draft a formal, notorized document -- a simple piece of paper with the terms of your pool and everyone's signature suffices. Make sure to store a copy of the contract in a safe place.

Make Sure Everyone Contributes an Equal Amount

Sure, if you contribute $2 and your colleague contributes $4, that's not a big difference. But if you win, that colleague will have a claim to 50 percent more of the pool than you, and that will undoubtedly create some office tension.

Photocopy the Tickets for All Participants

Yes, it's unlikely that someone would lie about the tickets outcome, say they lost when they won, claim the money, and then come into the office and continue acting like nothing had happened. But it's unlikely that you're going to win the lottery in the first place, so normal reasoning does not apply here.

Make a List of People Who Opted Out This Time

DON'T

Rely on a Verbal Contract

Words won't hold up in a court of law if someone claims the winning ticket first and runs off with all of the winnings for themselves.

Let Anyone Contribute Money on Behalf of Someone Else

It's a nice idea to include all of your colleagues, even the ones who are out of the office the day you buy the tickets, or short of cash for the pool. But if you do win, those individuals who did not actually put up any of their own money for the tickets will almost certainly not be seen as having a legitimate claim to the winnings.

Trust the Tickets to the Interns

They're working for little to no money, so their loyalty is probably low.

Run Multiple Pools at Once

Read More..

Gas explosion in Springfield points to ageing pipes

Human error and corroded pipes were a catastrophic combination on 23 November when a natural gas explosion in Springfield, Massachusetts, injured 21 people and damaged more than 40 buildings.

Gas company officials attributed the incident to an employee puncturing a high-pressure pipeline with a metal probe while looking for a leak. However, the steel pipeline was highly corroded, making it susceptible to damage, according to Mark McDonald, president of the New England Gas Workers Association. "You would have to be Superman to go through steel pipe in good condition," he says.

Ageing natural gas pipelines in the US are increasingly coming under scrutiny. A recent study found 3356 leaks from pipelines under Boston alone. Twenty-five thousand leaks have been reported throughout Massachusetts, some of which have been leaking continuously for more than 20 years, McDonald says. "Enough is enough," he says. "We have to fix the leaks and maintain the gas lines."

The leaks raise safety concerns, and have implications for global warming. Methane is thought to be more than 20 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over a 100 year period.

Incidents involving natural gas pipelines in the US cause an average of $133 million in property damage each year according to data collected by the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Even accounting for inflation, annual damages are several times higher today than they were 20 years ago.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Read More..

Euro sags after new Greek debt deal sealed

NEW YORK: The euro fell against the dollar Tuesday following a week of gains after the European Union and IMF reached agreement on recasting Greece's bailout to avert a looming default.

But the dollar's gains were limited by signs that negotiations in Washington over the looming fiscal cliff, remained divided on key issues.

At 2200 GMT the euro was at $1.2938, down from $1.2971 at the same time Monday.

The yen was mixed, falling to 82.16 yen per dollar from 81.98 yen Monday, but gaining to 106.30 yen per euro from 106.38.

Neal Gilbert of GFT said profit taking set in on the euro after its rise ahead of the Greek debt talks Monday.

"The Eurogroup worked overtime yesterday to finally come to an agreement on Greece after two postponements delayed it into this week," Gilbert said.

"In response, risk markets rose, but not as handily as some had expected. The euro-dollar in particular barely reached $1.30 from $1.2960 before profit taking shoved it back down toward the $1.29 handle throughout the US trading session."

Greece won breathing space with long-frozen eurozone loans to restart from December and a first clear admission that a chunk of the country's debt burden will eventually have to be written off.

After 13 hours of talks in Brussels, the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund agreed to unlock 43.7 billion euros ($56 billion) in loans and on the need to grant significant debt relief for decades to come.

Greece must still meet a series of agreed conditions but "the decision will certainly reduce the uncertainty and strengthen confidence in Europe and in Greece," said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi who left the talks before a final press conference.

Meanwhile Gilbert said he expected the yen to slip further ahead of the December 16 Japanese election, with the opposition Liberal Democratic Party leading in the polls.

LDP leader Shinzo Abe has vowed to pressure the Bank of Japan into launching aggressive monetary easing measures if his party wins.

"Since Abe's LDP party is expected to be victorious in the December 16 elections, the yen may well continue to depreciate," said Gilbert.

In other currencies, the Chinese yuan was steady as the US Treasury ruled against labeling Beijing a currency manipulator, trading at 6.227 yuan per dollar, shy of the record high of 6.220 hit on Monday.

The dollar rose to 0.9306 Swiss francs from 0.9278 francs.

The British pound fell to $1.6019 from $1.6026.

-AFP/ac

Read More..

Google CEO said to meet with FTC over antitrust probe

Google's effort to persuade investigators that it hasn't violated antitrust laws may be reaching its final stages, with CEO Larry Page reportedly meeting with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission officials today in Washington.

Citing a person familiar with the discussions, Bloomberg reports that Page met with officials in the last days of a 19-month investigation into Google's business practices. The company has been having settlement talks with the FTC for "about a week," Google reported, and is resisting pressure to enter into a consent decree affecting Google's products.

The FTC has investigated a wide range of Google's business practices, focused on two key areas: the way Google displays search results, which critics say favor the company's own services over those of its competitors; and its decisions around technology licensing, which some argue are anticompetitive. (At a business conference today, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman railed against Google's search results strategy.)

Bloomberg previously reported that the FTC had issued an ultimatum to Google pressuring the company to settle. But there have been lingering questions over whether the FTC can make an airtight case that Google has broken the law. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden wrote a letter to the FTC on Monday expressing concerns over rampant leaks from the investigation, along with reports that the FTC was considering novel new applications of the law in order to make its case.

Google, for its part, repeated a previous statement that it is working with the FTC and is happy to answer officials' questions. It declined further comment to Bloomberg, as did the FTC.

Read More..

Pictures: Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

Photograph courtesy Conservation India

A young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.

Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian authorities.

"They have taken it very well. They've not been defensive," Sreenivasan said.

"You're not dealing with national property, you're dealing with international property, which helped us put pressure on [them]." (Related: "Asia's Wildlife Trade.")

According to Conservation India, the same day the group filed their report with the government, a fresh order banning Amur hunting was issued. Local officials also began meeting with village leaders, seizing traps and confiscating birds. The national government has also requested an end to the hunting.

Much remains to be done, but because the hunt is so regional, Sreenivasan hopes it can eventually be contained and stamped out. Authorities there, he said, are planning a more thorough investigation next year, with officials observing, patrolling, and enforcing the law.

"This is part of India where there is some amount of acceptance on traditional bush hunting," he added. "But at some point, you draw the line."

(Related: "Bush-Meat Ban Would Devastate Africa's Animals, Poor?")

Published November 27, 2012

Read More..

Egypt Erupts Over Morsi's 'First Step for Tyranny'

Nov 27, 2012 1:33pm

Khalil Hamra/AP Photo

CAIRO – Waves of protesters poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square today to protest the far-reaching constitutional declaration made by President Mohammed Morsi last week that has essentially granted him unchecked power.

Click here for images of the demonstrations in Tahrir Square.

The new declaration frees Morsi from judicial oversight and with no parliament currently in place, many said longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak had simply been substituted with another.

“This is the first step for tyranny, he’s trying to put all the power in his hands and this is against the constitution and the law,” said Hassan Gamal, a professor of orthopaedic surgery. “No exceptions for anybody. Mubarak was tyrant because of the exceptions. We’re not going to tolerate any exceptions anymore.”

Liberal groups had called for the mass protest against Morsi, many of which have long complained of Islamists’ strength in post-Mubarak Egypt, led by Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Protesters today said they were afraid of the constitution being written by an Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly, which will be put to a referendum once finished.

“The Muslim Brotherhood, they say something and then do the opposite,” said English teacher Nadine Mustafa. “We are in the 21st century, we want democracy, we don’t want a pharaoh ruining the country. This is ridiculous.”

Morsi’s office published the seven-article declaration on Thursday, the second of which states that Morsi’s laws and decrees “are final and binding and cannot be appealed by any way or to any entity” until the constitution is approved and a parliament elected.

Violence immediately broke out with clashes between Morsi opponents, supporters and police leading to more than 500 injuries and at least three deaths. To prevent more violence, the Muslim Brotherhood on Monday night cancelled their own rallies planned for today, though supporters did turn out in Alexandria.

“He’s a president that was elected to office with no constitution, no parliament and no defined powers in the state. It’s an exceptional circumstance,” argued Muslim Brotherhood senior adviser Jihad Haddad, who accused Mubarak-appointed judges of blocking Morsi’s attempts to reform the country’s institutions.

Morsi’s office insisted that the powers are only temporary. Haddad said the declaration will only be valid until a draft of the constitution is submitted.

“[Morsi] tried to do this through the only available avenue and choice,” Haddad said. “It does terrify [Morsi opponents] because the only thing they can rely on is trust and that trust was given to us during the presidential elections.”

SHOWS: World News

Read More..

Lake life survives in total isolation for 3000 years

It is seven times as salty as the sea, pitch dark and 13 degrees below freezing. Lake Vida in East Antarctica has been buried for 2800 years under 20 metres of ice, but teems with life.

The discovery of strange, abundant bacteria in a completely sealed, icebound lake strengthens the possibility that extraterrestrial life might exist on planets such as Mars and moons such as Jupiter's Europa.

"Lake Vida is a model of what happens when you try to freeze a lake solid, and this is the same fate that any lakes on Mars would have gone through as the planet turned colder from a watery past," says Peter Doran of the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is co-leader of a team working in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica where Vida is situated. "Any Martian water bodies that did form would have gone through this Vida stage before freezing solid, entombing the evidence of the past ecosystem."

The Vida bacteria, brought to the surface in cores drilled 27 metres down, belong to previously unknown species. They probably survive by metabolising the abundant quantities of hydrogen and oxides of nitrogen that Vida's salty, oxygen-free water has been found to contain.

Co-research leader Alison Murray of the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, is now investigating this further by growing some of the extracted cells in the lab. "We can use these cultivated organisms to better understand the physical or chemical extremes they can tolerate that might be relevant to other icy worlds such as Europa," she says.

Surprise composition

Murray and her colleagues were surprised to find so much hydrogen, nitrous oxide and carbon in the water. They speculate that these substances might originate from reactions between salt and nitrogen-containing minerals in the surrounding rock. Over the centuries, bacteria denied sunlight may have evolved to be completely reliant on these substances for energy. "I think the unusual conditions found in the lake have likely played a significant role in shaping the diversity and capabilities of life we found," she says.

But the existence of life in Lake Vida does not necessarily increase the likelihood that life exists in much older, deeper lakes under investigation in Antarctica, most notably Vostok and Ellsworth, which are 3 kilometres down and have been isolated for millions rather than thousands of years.

"It doesn't give us clues about whether there's life in Vostok or Ellsworth, but it says that under these super-salty conditions, life does OK," says Martin Siegert of the University of Bristol, UK, and leader of an expedition to Ellsworth which set off on 25 November. "We'll be drilling down 3 kilometres into the lake," he says.

Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1208607190

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Read More..

Euro steady as traders await Greek rescue deal

NEW YORK: The euro traded in a narrow range against the dollar Monday in a nervous market awaiting the outcome of a meeting of Greece's creditors on crucial aid for the debt-crushed country.

The euro bought $1.2971 at 2200 GMT, slightly down from $1.2973 at the same time Friday.

The euro fell against the Japanese currency, to 106.38 yen from 106.90 late Friday, while the dollar fell to 81.98 yen from 82.60.

The eurozone and the International Monetary Fund battled late Monday in Brussels under mounting pressure to conclude a long-delayed deal on immediate funding to avert bankruptcy for Greece.

With creditors struggling to agree on how to tackle the country's ever-growing mountain of debt over the medium term, the aim was to get short-term financing taps switched back on.

The pressure grew over the day, with the European Union's euro commissioner Olli Rehn deeming it "essential" to reach a deal before the talks broke up.

"Following last week's unexpected failure to come to an agreement, people aren't exactly sure what to expect from today's meeting," said Benjamin Spier at DailyFX.

The British government's surprise nomination of Canadian central bank chief Mark Carney as the new Bank of England governor, had little impact on the market, said Sebastien Galy at Societe Generale.

Carney will take over from Mervyn King, who has led the BoE since 2003 and is due to step down on June 30.

"By leaving the BoC and taking the head seat at the BoE, Carney brings with him the experience of rebuilding an economy that rebounded faster than all other G8 nations while maintaining a strong AAA rating with the rating agencies," said Neal Gilbert at GFT.

The dollar was virtually unchanged at 0.9278 Swiss francs from 0.9279 late Friday, while the British pound fetched $1.6026, down from $1.6033.

- AFP/fa

Read More..

Facebook removes pic, confuses elbow for breast

Here's how the magazine now displays it on Facebook.

(Credit:
Theories of the Deep Understanding of Things Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Facebook's breast police might just be more efficient and ruthless than that of several dictatorships.

I imagine them stationed in all parts of the world, trained on anatomical textbooks and pornographic movies, moved at the sight of a breast like a gambler desperate for his horse to cross the finish-line first.

Here a breast, there a breast, everywhere they're abreast of images that Facebook deems offensive -- even if they're merely being displayed to a tiny coterie of friends.

The magazine Theories of the Deep Understanding of Things decided to exercise the breast police's intelligence as well as its keen sense of observation.

It put up a photo of a woman in a bath. Her reddish elbow was placed in such a position that an initial glance might deduce certain breast-like qualities -- though lacking certain breast-like qualities too.

Moreover, even if it had been a breast, it would have been one of very unusual geometry.

No matter. The breast police -- famous for once banning a nipple-adorned New Yorker cartoon -- picked up their cudgels and clubbed the image dead.

I am grateful to Petapixel for first dragging my eye toward this tale and explaining the magazine's intentions.

I have had many conversations with Facebook's elbow-greasers about breasts. They are always keen to declare the company is just behaving like any other medium.

Which it isn't.

And that's where the conversation usually ends. Facebook is very comfortable allowing pages for racists, Holocaust deniers and a thousand other lovely types.

More Technically Incorrect

But breasts, even those that might be temporarily feeding children, are a threat to the community.

You'd think, at least, that the elbow photo would now be allowed to reappear. It seemed not. For Theories of the Deep Understanding of Things placed an amended image on its Facebook page.

The magazine added this on its page, concerning Facebook's behavior: "No questions were asked and the post is down. Imagine our surprise."

Because I am a crusader for the downtrodden, I contacted Facebook and asked: "This is not a breast. Ergo, it's OK, yes?"

I thought that the colonel of the breast police might need to be consulted with.

However, within minutes, Facebook got back to me and declared: "Of course we allow the picture. We already have restored the photo and sent an apology to the admin."

Here is the terribly offensive elbow image.

(Credit:
Theories of the Deep Understanding of Things/Imgur)

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  High Horse

  Photograph by Greg Parker, Your Shot
  

  The Horsehead Nebula rears its pretty head in a November 17 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.

  Taken from the New Forest Observatory in the United Kingdom, the image shows how the nebula's horse head is part of a larger cloud of dust. Situated about 1,500 light-years away, the Horsehead Nebula is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against another, brighter nebula, according to NASA.

  (See "'Soccer Ball' Nebula Discovered by Amateur Astronomer.")

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Green Lit

  Photograph by Jeremy La Zelle, My Shot
  

  Green curtains of aurora stretch over the sky in the Alaska Arctic in a picture submitted to National Geographic's My Shot on November 17.

  "The constantly changing kaleidoscope of colors are reminiscent of a fireworks display—but without sound," photographer Jeremy La Zelle wrote with his submission.

  "All we hear is the quiet peaceful sounds of a freezing Alaska night."

  (See "Aurora Pictures: Best Fall Photos of Northern Lights.")

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Martian Vista

  Image courtesy Caltech/NASA
  

  NASA's Curiosity rover snapped this picture after moving 83 feet (25 meters) eastward on November 18—the 102nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission to study whether life once existed on Mars.

  The view shows Yellowknife Bay, part of the Glenelg area of the Gale Crater, which is located near the base of a three-mile-high (five-kilometer-high) mountain rich with layered sediment deposits laid down over hundreds of millions of years.

  (Read more about the Gale Crater.)

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Gilded Mountains

  Image courtesy ESA

  The sands of the Sahara appear like golden brush strokes around the Tibesti Mountains in a March 2012 satellite image recently released by the European Space Agency.

  Located in Chad and Libya, the mountains' highest peak is Emi Koussi-pictured above as a circular structure in the lower-right portion of the dark area.

  Lava flows can be seen extending from the westernmost volcano, Toussidé.

  (See volcano pictures.)

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Photograph by Quang Nguyen Luong and F. Motte, Herschel SPIRE/ESA

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  

');

---

 $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_saleprice_t +'';
} else {
html += ' $'+ doc.ngstore_price_t +'';
}
html += '

';

$("#ecom_43331 ul.ecommerce_all_img").append(html);




o.totItems++;

}// end for loop
} // end if data.response.numFound != 0

if(o.totItems != o.maxItems){
if(o.defaultItems.length > 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage && !o.searchComplete){
o.doSearchPage();
} else if(!o.searchComplete) {
o.byID = false;
o.doSearch();
}
}// end if
}// end parseResults function

o.trim = function(str) {
return str.replace(/^\s\s*/, '').replace(/\s\s*$/, '');
}

o.doSearchPage = function(){
o.byID = false;

var tempSearch = window.location.search;
var searchTerms ="default";
var temp;

if( tempSearch.substr(0,7) == "?search"){
temp = tempSearch.substr(7).split("&");
searchTerms = temp[0];
} else {
temp = tempSearch.split("&");
for(var j=0;j 0){
o.getItemByID(o.defaultItems.shift());
} else if(o.isSearchPage){
o.doSearchPage();
} else {
o.doSearch();
}

}// end init function

}// end ecommerce object

var store_43331 = new ecommerce_43331();





store_43331.init();

Read More..