One thing I found odd -- men's wallets are dirtier than women's purses.

Last year, that same team reported that the germiest jobs, based on how much bacteria was found in each workplace, were:

1. Teacher

2. Accountant

3. Banker

4. Radio DJ

5. Doctor

6. TV producer

Of course, just because there's bacteria around your phone or computer doesn't mean you will get sick. The study does recommend (surprise) that you use disinfecting wipes, which Clorox just happens to sell. But the San Diego Union-Tribune says no matter how much you wipe, you won't come close to killing all germs around you:

Trillions of germs and bacteria are everywhere. They reside on our skin and in our mouths and line our intestines. They can lurk for days on kitchen counters, computer keyboards and escalator handrails, just waiting to leap onto your unsuspecting hands.

Go ahead, have another squirt of Purell.

Despite living in a germ-infested world, we are surprisingly healthy because most of us have a remarkably efficient immune system that constantly patrols our body to prevent it from being taken over by infectious diseases.

"Our bodies do a great job of protecting us from organisms," says Dr. John Spinosa, a pathologist and chief of staff-elect at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. "Our immune system and white blood cells filter our blood, our GI tract filters out (harmful) organisms, the skin protects us and so do the lungs."

Only rarely do really nasty germs have a chance to enter our bodies. And, it's even more unusual that they should invade in concentrations high enough to make us sick -- usually with a cold or stomach virus.

While refusing to touch an ATM, share a phone or shake someone's hand may help reduce the number of little critters you come in contact with, it's no solution, epidemiologists say. "People are always looking for a magic pill or bullet, but we don't need any super-duper sophisticated (antidotes). Just doing basic things like washing your hands, avoiding sick people, staying home if you're sick and not touching your face, will help prevent infection and disease," says Dr. Don Herip, epidemiologist at Palomar Pomerado Health Foundation. Being aware of how germs are spread and making an effort to limit exposure is smart, but he cautions people not to go overboard.

Blind Pedestrians Can't Hear Hybrid Cars

Hybrid vehicles pose difficulties for blind or visually impaired people. The cars are so quiet that pedestrians cannot hear them coming. The National Federation of the Blind is even suggesting that all hybrid vehicles be made to produce a sound while rolling down the road.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Hybrids deliver better mileage and less pollution than traditional cars by switching between a gasoline engine and an electric motor. But when operating on the electric battery, especially when idling at a stop or running at low speeds, the engine in a hybrid is almost silent. A hybrid vehicle is generally quieter than a vacuum cleaner.

"I'm an environmentalist, and I'm all for quiet cars," says [Michael Osborn, a blind marketing consultant from Laguna Beach, Calif.], "But it poses a particular problem for somebody who has no vision."

Blind pedestrians using a guide dog or cane are largely dependent on the sounds of traffic to cross streets safely. For a blind person, "it's very important to be able to gather auditory and tactile cues from the environment," says Sumara Shakeel, of Toms River, N.J., who is a rehabilitation teacher for the New Jersey Commission for the Blind.

Hybrid cars became commercially available to mainstream consumers in 2000 and are gaining in popularity. Nationwide, registrations for new hybrids more than doubled to 199,148 in 2005 from 83,153 in 2004, according to R.L. Polk & Co., an automotive research firm. At least a dozen states and several cities are encouraging drivers to buy fuel-efficient hybrids by offering tax breaks and other incentives, and the vehicles are being added to municipal fleets. Still, the total 392,000 hybrids on the road reflect just over 1 percent of all new vehicle registrations in the U.S.

Here is another story from the The (Annapolis, Md.) Capital.

Handicapped Parking Spaces for the Dead

KCNC-TV in Denver found that many of the handicapped parking spaces located outside Denver homes are assigned to people who are dead.

The story says:

Getting a parking space for the disabled in front of a home is not all that hard. A handicap placard or plates, signature from a doctor and completion of a form is required.

Getting rid of those spaces is a difficult task for the city, though. In one Denver ZIP code the city found more than a third of the handicap spaces in front of homes were assigned to people who had died or were no longer authorized to have them.

ChaCha

Here is a free search engine that's different from the rest.

ChaCha has real, live people waiting to help you search. Just tell the guide what you want, and they will search for it and link you to the findings. I asked to find "Al Tompkins," and within a few seconds, a guide named Clyde found my book.

Next I asked a guide named Sandra to tell me how old Christopher Columbus was when he sailed to America. It took her 43 seconds to discover he was 42 years old. She sent me three links to her sources, then asked if that was enough, or if I needed more.

If you just want results, go to Google.

If you want a Web search engine with an attitude, visit Ms. Dewey.

If you want help from a real person, check out ChaCha.

Al's Morning Multimedia

I want to introduce you to a new term today -- "screencasting."

Journalists could use this multimedia tool to create online projects that demonstrate and teach. Here is a screencast that will help you to understand the concept. It combines Web documents and sound in a movie format.

Click here to find out how to do this yourself.