Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe WEB SITES GIVE HOMEWORK HELP Dozens of Web sites link students to tutors who can help with complicated and mundane homework problems via e-mail, chat rooms or bulletin boards, The New York Times reports. Advertisement Students can log on to America Online and go to Ask a Teacher, which was started in 1992. It allows them to enter chat rooms where teachers who volunteer their time field questions. But don't try to ask questions that can be answered by a dictionary or encyclopedia. MathNerds.com provides e-mail discussions between its volunteer math professors and clients who are having difficulty understanding concepts. CELL PHONES ON PLANES At least two companies, AirCell and a unit of Verizon, are developing technology to let passengers use their cell phones in airplanes, perhaps by 2004, USAToday reports. The Federal Aviation Administration bans the use of cell phones in flight, as well as other electronic devices during takeoff and landing, to avoid disrupting plane electronics. The FCC bans cell phones because of ground concerns. Cell phones often don't work at 30,000 feet, but when they do signals can reach hundreds of towers at once, clogging networks. To ensure its proposed service doesn't interfere with cellular service on the ground, the AirCell system would block frequencies passenger phones normally use. Advertisement AUTOMATIC CRASH CALL VIA ONSTAR TO COME Some automakers are offering integrated in-vehicle safety communications systems that assist accident victims in getting help faster. During or after an accident, a driver can push the emergency call button on an in-vehicle communication system that connects to the OnStar call center. The vehicle's embedded global positioning system pinpoints the exact location, which OnStar passes on to local emergency dispatchers. Next year, General Motors will begin installing an advanced automatic crash notification system, linked to OnStar, in many of its vehicles. The system will notify OnStar automatically in the event the vehicle is involved in a crash. SUGARLESS HALLOWEEN For parents, the scariest part of Halloween can be the amount of cavity-inducing sweets their kids consume after returning home or examining candy for razor blades and other hazards. TIME magazine offers candy alternatives including: -- Cool cash, at least change or more likely a dozen or two pennies rolled up in paper, but don't give this potential choking hazard to children under the age of 3. -- Halloween-theme pencils, erasers, sharpeners or key rings make for scary-but-good fun. They can be purchased at party stores that sell costumes and decorations. Advertisement -- Trading cards of sport stars or the current playground favorites, Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, can be purchased at discount or toy stores.
