http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/radiogram.htm

  https://github.com/GyanD/codexffmpeg/releases/tag/2023-03-05-git-912ac82a3c

RSID: <<2024-01-12T00:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>


Welcome to program 337 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:42 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:50 MFSK32: How much fruit you can take from a display?*
  7:06 MFSK64: Germans are hoarding old deutsche marks*
12:43 MFSK64: This week's images*
27:36 MFSK32: Closing announcements

* with image(s)


Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

We're on X/Twitter now: @SWRadiogram

 

From Science News:

Here's how much fruit you can take from a display before it
collapses

By Darren Incorvaia
JAanuary 4, 2024

If you take more than 10 percent of the fruit in a stacked
produce display - watch out.

The iconic sloped produce displays in grocery stores can cause
chaos when they collapse. But the question of how much fruit can
be removed before the structure comes tumbling down is
surprisingly complicated. A new study, published in the December
Physical Review E, finally provides an answer.

Fruit display collapses are a good system for studying the
dynamics that produce avalanches and landslides because they're
relatively simple, says physicist Eduardo Rojas of the University
of Antofagasta in Chile. All the objects are arranged in a
nonrandom, crystallike form and are roughly the same size and
shape - unlike the earth of a mountainside, for instance. This
makes it easier to examine the impact of removing one object on
the overall structure.

About 10 percent of the fruit in a given display can be removed
before triggering an avalanche, the simulations suggest. If 29
shoppers grabbed an apple from a stack of 300, the next shopper
might want to put on a hard hat before plucking one for
themselves.

"Their simulations certainly seem to have some of the hallmarks
of our everyday experience," says Arshad Kudrolli, a physicist at
Clark University in Worcester, Mass. "It is a nice approach and
can be generalized easily."

Rojas and colleagues next hope to simulate angled stacks of
objects of different sizes that are randomly arranged, like piles
of rocks that could lead to dangerous rockslides.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/physics-fruit-display-collapse
 

Sending Pic:200x126C;










Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 ...

 

RSID: <<2024-01-12T00:37Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

From Deutsche Welle:

Why are Germans hoarding billions of useless deutsche marks?

Timothy Rooks
January 8, 2024

As everything seems to be getting more expensive through
inflation, many Germans have a secret stash of cash at home.
They're holding on to their long-expired currency instead of
exchanging it. What are they waiting for?

Germans will start 2024 with a few extra billion stuffed between
sofa cushions. No, not euros, but old deutsche marks.

People in Germany are famous for their attachment to cash, but
more than two decades after the introduction of the euro,
millions of deutsche mark (DM) coins and colorful bills are in
sock drawers or have been lost down sewer drains.

While some of this old money lies with nostalgic Germans or
collectors, another chunk can be chalked up as souvenirs taken
home by tourists over the years. Experts say countries that once
used it as a reserve currency may still hold some. No one really
knows for sure. Though these marks can no longer be used, they
can be traded for euros.

Just how much old currency is out there?

The fact that marks ceased to be legal tender in early 2002 seems
to make little difference. Of the 162.3 billion marks in
circulation at the time, around 7.5% of the hard currency is
unaccounted for. Over half of the coins by value have not come
home in the last two decades.

At the end of 2023, there were 12.24 billion marks still in
circulation, according to the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank.
Broken down, that comes to 5.68 billion marks in bills and 6.56
billion marks in coins. Together, they are worth around €6.26
billion ($6.92 billion).

Even for Europe's biggest economy, that is a significant amount
lying idle, especially at a time when the government is searching
for funding for infrastructure projects like the green energy
transition and rail upgrades that are important for its economic
future.

Marks slowly but surely coming back to the bank

Even though the deutsche marks are "only gradually finding" their
way back to the Bundesbank, the bank is not worried about the
missing cash. Anyone with old coins or bills can exchange them at
a central bank branch in any amount. And indeed, a lot is
exchanged each year.

The exchange rate is fixed at €1 to 1.95583 deutsche marks, and
the service is free of charge.

Last year, more than 90,000 people showed up at the central bank,
and upward of 53 million marks were handed over in exchange for
€27 million, an increase over the previous year. Two-thirds of
the overall value were banknotes, while one-third comprised
coins. The most came from Bavaria, followed by North
Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg.

Importantly, the bank assures people there are no plans to
discontinue this service. This makes Germany a bit of an outlier,
as only five other eurozone countries have no deadline for
handing over their old currencies: Austria, Ireland, Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania.

Other countries that took up the euro offered only a limited
window for the exchange of money. In France, any franc hoarders
had until March 31, 2008, at the latest, to hand them in. Greece
was a bit more generous and gave everyone until March 2012 to
exchange their drachmas. Now anyone there who finds old currency
under a loose floorboard is out of luck.

Germans continue paying in cash

Luckily, for Germans, there is no rush. And maybe some of them
still cannot let go. After all, they used those bills and coins a
lot. It is not out of the ordinary even today to see "Cash Only!"
signs in restaurants and kiosks.

In 2021, despite an uptick in cashless payments, cash was the
most frequently used means of day-to-day payment in Germany,
according to the latest study forsa, a market research institute,
conducted for the Bundesbank.

Though cash payments have fallen sharply since 2017, the
researchers concluded that cash was still used for 58% of goods
and services purchased. Measured in turnover, cash payments
amounted to only 30% since larger purchases and online shopping
are often paid by other means.

On average individuals carried €100 in their wallets. For
one-third of people, cash remains the generally preferred means
of payment, found forsa.

As for the old deutsche marks lying around, Burkhard Balz, a
Bundesbank board member, expects more to roll in soon, especially
with a big generational change.

"When cleaning up inherited houses and apartments, deutsche marks
are likely to be found," he told the dpa news agency in December
2023.

Yet many will wonder if a handful of coins is worth a trip to the
bank and stick them back in a jar. There they will wait to be
discovered again while confounding bankers as to their
whereabouts.

For those marks that do end up back at the central bank, it is
the end of the road. Notes are shredded on-site.

Coins are sorted and sent to one of the five German mints where
they are cancelled. The metal then goes to scrap recyclers that
melt it down for other uses. Not a happy end maybe, but a way to
make a bit of extra cash in tough times.

Edited by: Ashutosh Pandey

https://www.dw.com/en/free-money-why-are-billions-of-german-marks-still-floating-around/a-67875558

 

Sending Pic:220x119C;








This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

This week's images ...



A reindeer in front of the northern lights, in a Sami camp near
Tromsø, Norway, January 1. http://tinyurl.com/yogc8wg5 ...

Sending Pic:210x140C;







A northern white-cheeked gibbon eats a carrot during stocktaking
at ZSL London Zoo, January 3. http://tinyurl.com/yogc8wg5 ...

Sending Pic:210x140C;







Pandas at a zoo in Chongqing municipality, China, January 7.
http://tinyurl.com/yq7keqb9 ...

Sending Pic:304x165;








Zebras during the annual stocktake at ZSL London Zoo, January 3.
http://tinyurl.com/yul725gx ...

Sending Pic:300x252;







A globular springtail (Dicyrtomina Ornata) in moss, Brandenburg,
Germany. A Winner of Close-Up Photographer of the Year.
http://tinyurl.com/ytpb745x ...

Sending Pic:203x146C;










A golden damselfish, against a background of gorgonian coral in
Misool, West Papua, Indonesia. A Winner of Close-Up Photographer
of the Year. http://tinyurl.com/ytpb745x ...

Sending Pic:206x126C;








Footprints of human and springer spaniel, in Mid Argyll,
Scotland. http://tinyurl.com/ylw83584 ...

Sending Pic:212x300;







New year's fireworks seen at Ross Fountain in Edinburgh.
http://tinyurl.com/ylw83584 ...

Sending Pic:159x204C;








Our painting of the week is a Detroit streetscape by Andy
Krieger. http://tinyurl.com/ysjnfsfh ...

Sending Pic:210x150C;








Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...

 

RSID: <<2024-01-12T00:57Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>


This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 ...


Shortwave Radiogram is transmitted by:

WRMI, Radio Miami International, wrmi.net

and

WINB Shortwave, winb.com


Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram or twitter.com/swradiogram

I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave
Radiogram.


 

https://app.box.com/s/kbdxb4c5lwpju0kpoi27aiwc35br2g2a