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Oh well. I moved on and turned the corner, still furiously window-shopping
for that perfect gift (under $50). But then, lo and behold, what should I come across, but another Starbucks.
Something wasn't right. How could this be? What could be the rationale for three Starbucks positioned so close
to each other? I decided to hop into this third location and do some investigating. Luckily, this was more of a
sit down café than the other two and they even provided a couple of computers for their clientele. Not too
surprisingly, the homepage on the vacant computer I sat down to was all ready set on the Starbucks website. (Does
their genius have no end?)
I typed in my current location to see how many storefronts there were within a fifty-mile radius. There were 365.
365! One for each day of the year. Mere coincidence? Or was there something more insidious going on. In case there
was, I figured I'd better find out. As fate would have it, I was, at the time, out of work. (Which explains the
$50 gift limit.) And they were hiring. Maybe some undercover investigation was needed. (Besides, at the exorbitant
prices they charge for a 20-ounce cup of coffee, I could certainly use the freebies.)
I was hired on the spot. Yippy for that college education. (Thanks again, mom.) They'd put me to work the very
next day. With 365 Bay Area locations, I wasn't surprised. They were probably desperate for qualified workers.
Though I seriously doubted there were that many qualifications to begin with, other than the willingness to work
at minimum wage and maximum customer obnoxiousness.
I went home that night and pondered my newly found calling. (Forgetting, for the time being, that my mother's birthday
was a scant three days away and I still had no present.) Something about that 365 wasn't sitting well with me.
Again, I pulled up the locations, this time scanning the map that was provided. The pattern seemed familiar, but
I couldn't place it. I went to bed and dreamed of Juan Valdez and his trusty mule. Not exactly a happy dream since
they kept trying to force me to drink one cup of coffee after the other. I awoke with a start. Even in my dreams,
caffeine has a jolting effect.
Unable to go back to sleep, I got up and fixed myself a warm cup of milk; which I drank as I stared out my kitchen
window. It was a beautiful starry night and I scanned the heavens and tried to think drowsy thoughts. And that's
when it him me. Stars. Starbucks. The map. The relationship of 365 in our own solar system. Why hadn't I seen it
sooner? Finally, after all this time, my minor in Astronomy could have some practical purpose. (No, mom wasn't
too keen on that choice either.)
I raced towards my computer and printed the map of all 365 locations. Then I opened my Star Atlas and began my
hunt. Sure enough, there was a match towards the middle of one of the galaxies I scanned: Centaurus A.
Centaurus A is a powerful radio galaxy located some 13 million light years away toward the constellation Centaurus.
Radio galaxies are usually giant elliptical galaxies that have been disrupted by recent collisions with smaller
companion galaxies. The very center of Centaurus A harbors a massive black hole, which fuels powerful jets of material
that are thrown out of the nucleus at speeds of up to 1% the speed of light. These jets produce great quantities
of radio and X-ray emission.
Fascinating, but what did it mean? Certainly, there couldn't be a coincidence between the local Starbuck's map
and this star map, could there be? But what was the tie in? I'd have to be extra observant on the job tomorrow,
I thought. Maybe then there'd be a clue to all of this. Hopefully, I was wrong to worry. Still, this was Starbucks
we're talking about. Anything was possible.
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