An estimated 2,000 magicians from around the globe, from China to the Virgin Islands are taking part in this week's World Championship in Magic in Stockholm, Sweden. A report by the AP says tables floating shoulder-high, cards sailing through the air, rabbits pulled out of habits, a table levitating were just a few of the tricks the competitors were presenting.

An American minister named Darryl R. Peebles found anoter man named Darryl Peebles after doing an Internet search on his name. The other Darryl Peebles lived in the Australian island state of Tasmania. After the American Peebles contacted the Australian Peebles, the two men discovered they had some uncanny similarities. Through e-mails, the men found they had much more than their names in common: both were born in 1979, both have three children with a child born in 1975 and another in 1977, and both had fathers who came from small towns and worked on lathes of some kind.

According to a research paper by Penn State graduate student in acoustics Amanda Hanford and Lyle Long, professor of aerospace engineering, the conversation among two people on Mars may be difficult as sound does not travel very far on Mars. The research student, Hanford said in her research paper that, "In studying sound on Mars, the physical properties of sound are the same. Earth and Mars also share some physical similarities. The simulation predicted that sound on Mars has a lower pitch and very short distance. Sound's lower pitch is the result of the differences in the speed of sound. ""When you breathe in a helium balloon and speak, your voice is a high pitch. Assuming you could breathe in carbon dioxide your voice would be a lower pitch," she added.

A Comcast Corp. employee has lost his job after allegedly falling asleep on the customer's couch during a house call. The customer posted the video of the incident on the Internet last week. The company has apologized for the incident. The customer, Brian Finkelstein of Washington, D. C. posted a video of the sleeping technician on YouTube. com, a site that lets users share videos. Finkelstein also narrated his experience on the 58 seconds video.

A student was suspended after sharing a piece of caffeinated gum with a peer. The middle school student brought Jolt Brand chewing gum to school and was suspended last week.