15 all nugget donations

There are myriad ways to donate to Japan disaster relief efforts — and just as many ways to be scammed.

It’s widely known that gifts of money are more useful than donations of food, clothes or other supplies. Cash can be converted on the spot to fill needs that are rapidly changing.

But scammers like money, too. Some of them generate unsolicited email requests, so avoid those. The experts — who have watched fraudsters prey on generosity during Katrina, Haiti and Indian Ocean disasters — advise donors to give directly to organizations they know, rather than count on others to do it for them.

A good first stop is a site that rates the good guys: www.charitynavigator.org. Next stop: your wallet.

Smart phone aren’t smarter than your wind-up watch

Because Hawaii doesn’t do this Daylight Savings Time dance, so-called "smart phones" were a little less stupid over here.

They still jumped an hour in the wrong direction, but that left their Hawaii owners just an hour out of kilter, unlike on the mainland where they were two hours off.

Imagine that: "Hawaiian time" puts us ahead of the game. That must be a first.