Numbers

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Val Castronovo, Matthew Cooper, Tam Gray, Lina Lofaro, Desa Philadelphia and Chris Taylor

$15,440 How much a Hong Kong woman paid two con men for 430 stomach tablets to cure the Y2K bug

$321 Typical cost of a "Y2K survival kit" for sale on U.S. websites, containing items like Kool-Aid and Spam, worth a total of $50

27 Number of earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay area last week

1 Position of San Francisco in MONEY magazine's survey of the top-300 most desirable places to live

5% The approximate amount that college tuition and fees rose this school year, the lowest in four years 2.26% Current annual rate of inflation

$7 Amount that New York City hospital cashier Linda Williams was charged with stealing, a crime she was acquitted of in federal court last week

$40 Amount her legal-aid attorney billed the city for every hour he spent in the courtroom

Sources: AP, Better Business Bureau, U.S. Geological Survey, Money, Wall Street Journal, Consumer Price Index, New York Times, New York Law Journal