Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Woman stunned by snake under sofa

SANDNES, Norway, July 4 (UPI) -- A Norwegian woman got the shock of her life when she found what was apparently a king python under her sofa.

"I screamed and ran into the kitchen but my husband said I should calm down," Anne-Grethe Lagergren told the newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad. "Easier said than done, I am still shaken."

Her husband Leif tried to to move the snake with a broom, but thought better of it and called police instead.

Police called a security firm to pick up the snake, but before they arrived the couple found the snake belonged to a neighbor who did not let people know the snake had been missing for two weeks, Aftenposten reported.

Man recites pi to 83,431 decimal places

CHIBA, Japan, July 4 (UPI) -- A Japanese man has recited recited pi, or the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, from memory to 83,431 decimal places.

Akira Haraguchi, a retired corporate employee now serving as a volunteer, said he could have recited more but he was forced to stop because of a time constraint in the facility where the recitation took place, but he hopes it's enough for a world record, reported the Kyodo new agency Sunday.

The Guinness world record for reciting pi from memory is held by another Japanese man who recited it to 42,195 decimal places.

Haraguchi said he hopes his effort makes it into the next edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Potato chip diet makes woman ill

LONDON, July 4 (UPI) -- A British woman who ate 15 bags of potato chips a day ended up in the hospital with gall stones the size of golf balls.

Gina Gough, who worked in a nursery, said she started eating potato chips for breakfast after she was laid off three years ago and then she just kept on eating them for the rest of the day, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

After gaining a great deal of weight, she was taken to the hospital with severe abdominal pains and jaundice. She had to have her gall bladder removed.

"My mum used to tell me that all the crisps (potato chips) I ate would make me ill, but I shrugged her off because I didn't think anything this bad could happen to me," Gough said. "I could have died."

Since her operation, Gough has been eating low-fat meals and exercising, but she wants to warn others that her diet not only made her sick but changed her mood.

"My concentration slowed and I felt tired all the time," she said. "I started to get mood swings and I became very snappy."

Inside TV ranks TV's sexist men

NEW YORK, July 4 (UPI) -- Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" tops the "50 Sexiest Men on TV" ranking by Inside TV magazine.

Dempsey plays Dr. Derek Shepherd on the medical drama about the personal and professional lives of a group of interns.

"Dr. McDreamy, that's what I call Patrick's character," says co-star Ellen Pompeo, about her TV boss-boyfriend. "He's gorgeous, he's got a great body, and he's got damn fine hair."

In a special double issue, the new weekly magazine -- for women who love television -- released its first annual tribute to the "50 Sexiest Men on TV," or the men who keep viewers' pulses racing week after week.

Chosen as Hottest Young studs were: Adam Brody of "The O.C." on Fox; Jesse Metcalfe of "Desperate Housewives" on ABC; Jesse McCartney of "Summerland" on The WB; Ryan McPartlin of "Living with Fran" on The WB; and Chad Michael Murray of "One Tree Hill" on The WB.