You can be part of earthquake research

Now anyone can become a part of earthquake research. It looks that researchers don't have enough high-tech monitoring stations to track every instance of ground shaking, so they are enlisting help from ordinary people to document quakes and pinpoint areas of possible damage.

Almost anyone can participate by equipping laptop computers with special software or installing quake sensors at home.

"If they can provide scientific data that can prepare us for events in the future, then that's extremely important," said Tom Jordan of the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California.

That's actually very cool. Who's in?

McCain vs Obama in their first debate

In their first head-to-head debate Friday, Sen. John McCain criticized Sen. Barack Obama as a candidate who "doesn't understand" the key issues the country faces, and Obama linked McCain to President Bush on several issues.

"I'm afraid Sen. Obama doesn't understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy," McCain said as the two traded jabs over Iraq.

Obama shot back, "I absolutely understand the difference between tactics and strategy. And the strategic question that the president has to ask is not whether or not we are employing a particular approach in the country once we have made the decision to be there."

McCain drew from his experience overseas as he tried to portray himself as the more qualified candidate.

"Incredibly, incredibly Sen. Obama didn't go to Iraq for 900 days and never asked for a meeting with Gen Petraeus.

Source : CNN

Navajo Nation will lose Internet service

The thousands of Navajo Nation residents who rely on the Internet to work, study and communicate across their 27,000-square-mile reservation will be out of luck Monday, if their service provider shuts access as planned.

"It's going to be a sad day," said Ernest Franklin, director of the tribe's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.

A tribal audit last year revealed that Utah-based provider OnSat Network Communications Inc. may have double-billed the tribe, and it raised questions about how the tribe requested bids for the Internet contract. More here

Zimbabwe's poll results

Zimbabwe's High Court convened a hearing Monday to decide if it can order the country's electoral commission to release the results of last weekend's presidential election, a journalist on the scene told CNN.

Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, submitted a petition to the court on Friday to order the commission to release the figures from the March 29 election.

The hearing began on Sunday. More here

Cellphones allowed in the plain

One of the final hurdles preventing Europeans from chit-chatting on their cell phones while hurtling through Euro airspace has been cleared, as UK regulator Ofcom (akin to our FCC), has given the OK for cell phones to be used on planes, as long as they're above 3,000 meters. (Many of the other approvals required across Europe have already been granted.)

While the idea of airborne cell phone usage has been a public disaster in the U.S., Europeans seem somewhat warmer to the notion. Perhaps it's the generally shorter flights that tend to dominate Europe, or perhaps it's cultural: Cramped, loud buses and subways tend to be the norm, so the additional noise of a few people on their phones may tend to bother Europeans less than it does their privacy-and-silence-obsessed American counterparts. More here

Sex usually takes 3 to 13 minutes, statistics say

Sex therapists concluded that the optimalal amount of time for sexual intercourse was 3 to 13 minutes. These conclusion suggests that endurance is not necessarily the key to a great sex life.

This time of course does not include foreplay. So, it this proved thatonce again, quality is much more important that quantity.

In 2005 researchers have conducted a study on about 1500 couples durin 4 weeks and have concluded that the average time for sexual intercourse was 7.3 minute. The women were literally armed with stopwatches.( this might have sppiced up their sex life :)

"People who read this will say, 'I last five minutes or my partner lasts eight minutes,' and say, 'That's OK,' " he said. "They will relax a little bit."

Source : cnn.com

Paris Hilton in her chin

Paris was visiting a music store in Czech Republic' s capital, Prague, when she took a big fall right in her chin. The thing is that she wasn't wearing any high heels, just a pair of regular snickers. This proofs just how clumsy Paris can be.

To add to her distress, Madden, her boyfriend, failed to catch her and instead stepped over the hurt heiress.

After the incident, Hilton was overheard telling Madden: "Prague...never again."

Until now, Paris has been enjoying her holiday, visiting London, Cape Town, Berlin and attending the Miss Turkey 2008 beauty contest in Istanbul.

It's amazing how a size 11 feet girl can fall down so easyly.

She recently complained about her huge feet: "Yeah, it sucks, because I see all these super cute shoes in the stores: Guccis, YSLs, Manolos. And when they bring them out in my size, they look like clown shoes."