Jockstrip: The world as we know it

GUN IN HOLSTER SAVES OFFICER

A New York City police officer was saved by his gun even though it never left his holster.

The firearm deflected a sniper's bullet, which ricocheted and grazed the officer's side, the New York Daily News reports.

Officer Donald Macewen, 32, "is a very lucky man," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at the hospital.

The shooting occurred at a housing project in Brownsville, N.Y. A sniper on the roof of a six-story building fired seven to 10 shots at police in the courtyard, striking only Macewen.

ROGUE GALLERY IN STONE

Some people have sculptures or statues of frogs and fish in their gardens but a Dallas real estate investor has statutes of old dictators.

Nearly 20 statues of leaders and heroes of authoritarian regimes occupy the rolling private garden of Harlan R. Crow in Dallas, The New York Times reports.

Heavyweights like Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung stand among lesser-knowns like Klement Gottwald, the first Communist president of Czechoslovakia.

They are the real thing. Many of the statues, some as tall as 20 feet, were bought from the sculptors or from public officials as regimes crumbled.

MARIJUANA USE LINKED TO MENTAL ILLNESS

Regular marijuana users are seven times more likely to become mentally ill, according to a study by Robin Murray, one of the world's leading authorities on mental illness.

His research shows a link between long-term use of the drug and psychosis.

Speaking at a Royal College of Psychiatrists' conference, Murray said: "A number of studies have confirmed that marijuana consumption acts to increase later risk of schizophrenia. This research must not be ignored."

Scientists now fear widespread use of the recreational drug could lead to an epidemic of schizophrenia, Sky News reports.

UNMENTIONABLES ON DISPLAY

"Unmentionables" are very much being mentioned -- and seen -- at the Julia A. Purnell Museum in Snow Hill, Md.

"Victorian Secrets: Intimate Wear and Part Gowns 1850-1929" gives men and women a chance to see the evolution of intimate apparel for women over the past 80 years.

Corsets that once helped women create an hourglass-waist silhouette are displayed, along with a bustle of metal staves also made of whale bone, fabric and wood.

The youth-oriented Edwardian era in America left behind the confining layered look of Victorian dress.

Yet the obsession with tiny waists and lean bodies continued as girls and ladies struggled to have slimmer, boyish figures, reports the Daily Times in Salisbury, Md.