Atheists more likely to believe in Bigfoot?

A new book, "What Americans Really Believe", reviewed in the WSJ, says that traditional Christian religion decreases belief in such things as palm reading and astrology. The irreligious, on the other hand, tend to be more likely to believe in the paranormal and pseudoscience.

Beats me, but the "conspiracy" shows are running amok in Hollywood (Fringe, Lost, X-Files) suggesting that we all need to believe in something out of the ordinary!

Do private house rental sites work?

My family has been hit-and-miss with VRBO.com (vacation rentals by owner), a site which has bought us both gems and scams.

This is not uncommmon, says Michelle Higgins in a story in today's The New York Times. She says the professionally managed rentals, like zonder.com, forGetaway.com, and PickPackGO.com, offer a certain quality control since management companies run the facilities and the sites accept credit cards.

The owner-rented sites, such as Homeaway.com and VRBO offer you cost-savings, but beg for more interaction with owner for verification of quality. A new site, call FlipKey.com, will allow past renters to offer reviews.

CrossLoop gets techie help to friends

CrossLoop allows the tech-savvy (you, or an expert) to help out the non-savvy (you or friend and often older family member) via direct control of their computers. 

To use, both you and the person you are helping must go to www.crossloop.com and download the software. The sessions require both parties to be in attendance (to avoid renegade remote control of a computer).

This seems like an intriguing way to connect the 1-in-100 techie with the other 99.