Jockstrip: The World As We Know It

THE 'HOTTEST' CARS

The Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord remain the most popular vehicles for car thieves. That's according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which says the top 10 most stolen list was again headed by the Toyota Camry, the best-selling sedan in America, followed by the Honda Accord, Oldsmobile Cutlass, Honda Civic and Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee. The full-size Chevrolet C/K pickup, Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Caprice, Ford Taurus and Ford F-150 pickup complete the list of the most stolen vehicles.

Many of the most stolen vehicles were so popular in other countries that they are illegally exported by organized theft rings. NICB President and CEO Robert Bryant advised people living in or near port or border cities to take special precautions to safeguard their vehicles.

"Motorists driving theft-prone vehicles need to take additional steps such as installing a visible deterrent like a steering wheel lock, an alarm, a starter or fuel disabler and a tracking device," Bryant said. "The more layers of protection on your vehicle, the more difficult it is to steal."

THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND

Europe's smallest sovereign state is gearing up to profit from the end-of-year currency conversion to Europe's new single currency, the euro. Vatican City -- pop. 560, mainly nuns and priests including Pope John Paul II, plus about 100 Swiss Guardsmen -- has notified major travel agencies that starting Jan 1, admission to the splendors of the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel will cost 10 euro, a 5 percent hike on the current price -- despite anti-inflationary appeals by Europe's Central Bank.

(From UPI Hears)

NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS

In 1961, director Alfred Hitchcock selected Bodega Bay, Calif., as the location for his classic suspense movie "The Birds."

This week, the national conservation group American Bird Conservancy (ABC) announced that the site has been chosen as a "Globally Important Bird Area" (IBA). That means it has significant populations of endangered or declining species, concentrations of arge numbers of breeding, migrant, or wintering birds, and the presence of significant populations of species with very limited distributions.

"In the movie, Bodega Bay was a forbidding and sinister place, where crazed flocks of birds terrorized the on-screen characters and scared audiences across the nation. In real life it is a haven for some of America's most loved and imperiled birds. It's high time that it received the recognition it deserves," said Dr. Robert Chipley, director of ABC's IBA program.

Among the species of birds found at Bodega Bay: the Snowy Plover (a small shorebird), the Black Oystercatcher, Long-billed Curlew and the Black Brant, a small dark-colored goose.

Ironically, the gulls that played such a leading role in the movie don't hang out in such great numbers in Bodega Bay. Many of the gull shots from the movie were in fact filmed at a San Francisco dump.

(Web site: abcbirds.org)

TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING

A grand jury in Escambia County, Fla., has indicted 12- and 13-year-old brothers for first-degree murder in the beating death of their father last month.

If Derek King, 13, and Alex King, 12, are convicted of first-degree murder, they would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no parole.

Firefighters found the body of Terry King, 40, inside his burning home in Cantonment on Nov. 26. An autopsy showed King died of blunt force trauma to the head. The two boys had disappeared, but surrendered to sheriff's officers in Pensacola two days later.

AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY

Travel may be down, but Americans rank romantic getaways as the No.1 way to put the fire back into a relationship. That's according to a survey commissioned by Coty as a promotion for its Preferred Stock fragrance for men. Coming in second, city by 18 percent of those questioned, was fragrance as the gift they would most prefer from the love in their life.

Far down on the list was a steamy snapshot of their sweetie (6 percent) or sexy underwear (7 percent).

The nape of the neck was the preferred place to find your lover's fragrance (44 percent), with finding the fragrance on the pillow ranking second (cited by 24 percent). In their hair (6 percent) was the least favorite place.