Aid speeds to quake zone NET users are doing their bit to help people in earthquake-hit Turkey.

Since the disaster three weeks ago many websites have sprung up to help raise money for those affected.

The net has also proved a vital source of information for expatriate Turks around the world.

The Red Cross is also leading the fund-raising efforts with an online donation system at its site (redcross.org).

The Turkish embassy (www.turkey.org) has used its site to post lists of urgently needed items and addresses of banks where donations can be made.

The Help Turkey site (www.help-turkey.org) has been set up since the quake to act as a means of distributing information about donations. In the UK, the BBC has posted messages sent by e-mail from people trying to trace loved ones in the earthquake zone.

It claims to have helped track down 200 people during the first week after the quake. Just chew it over! WOULDN'T it be nice if you could sort out dental problems by logging on to the net instead of having to visit the torture chamber known as the dentist's surgery?

Of course, life will never be so kind - but there is a growing amount of dental information available online which could help quell the fears of those with a dread of the drill.

Word of Mouth is a joint venture by the British Dental Health Foundation, the Dental Practice Board and the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners.

It allows you to send queries to experts, with the promise of a response by e-mail. The most frequently asked questions are to be posted on the website, although there's not much there at the moment.

There are a couple of American alternatives which offer a similar service - the delightfully-named Toothwoman and The Dental Resource.

Both offer tips on looking after your teeth and explanations of common dental treatment.

If you are in pain, logging onto the net won't help - but it might help you understand what your dentist is doing to you and reduce the fear.

http://www.wordofmouth.org.uk

http://www.toothwoman.net

http://dentalresource.com Tanzi's trash has a certain class CAROL A Tanzi is America's very own Goddess of Garbage.

Interior designer Carol, from San Francisco, specialises in recycling rubbish into gifts and useful items for the home.

Her website makes some valid points about the need to recycle, and is full of tips on how you can make rubbish into something special.

But some of her ideas belong strictly in the Blue Peter school of craftwork.

One of her suggestions is to use Styrofoam - the stuff stereos and the likes comes packed in - as mirror or picture frames, or as "interesting and oddly shaped sculptures".

I can't help thinking any attempts I would make would look like, well, bits of Styrofoam.

Still, maybe I just don't have Carol's talent.

http://www.goddessofgarbage.com/

MORPH Mulder into Scully with a little help from the technology at Mr Showbiz's website. The X-Files pair are among a long list of celebrities whose faces you can play with, swapping noses, mouths and eyes any way you like. http://mrshowbiz.go/com/games/surgery/xfiles/index.html

MAKE the most of the last bit of summer and run to the hills - but make sure you check out where you are going first with this excellent walking guide.

http://www.visitbritain.com/walking

OR, if the weather is fine, why not check out a decent, pollution-free beach by using the Good Beach Guide?

http://www.goodbeachguide.co.uk

FANS of innovative PC shooter Half-Life can now find loads of add-ons and extra levels on the internet at http://www.halflifefiles.com.

REMEMBER everything you need to know about East Lancashire can be found easily on our own website at http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk

SEEN something intresting on the web? Let me know. Send an e-mail to vcowan@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.