Jockstrip: The world as we know it

360-lb. man begins cross-country walk

ST.LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Gary Long of Fenton, Mo., has begun a cross-country walk aimed at losing half of his 360 pounds.

Long, 51, who started his 3,000-mile trek at the St. Louis arch, says he wants to call attention to obesity and trimming himself in the process. He expects it to take a year to complete his task.

"I will not quit until I walk beneath this arch again," Long declared to a small gathering. "It will be hard, but it's something I know I must do."

Plans call for about 13 to 18 miles per day heading for New York, mainly via old U.S. Highway 40, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said. He will double-back by airplane to Los Angeles, then head east for his last 1,900 miles.

He'll sleep by the road in a small tent, with one night a week in a motel, and keep in touch with his wife by cell phone.

New York hunts for ViVi the show dog

NEW YORK, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The California owners of a prize-winning show dog that escaped from a crate at New York's JFK International Airport awaited news of the search Thursday.

ViVi, a 40-pound, 3-year-old whippet, was last seen Wednesday scurrying under a barbed-wire fence and racing around the marshes, prompting the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to launch a search using staff on foot and a helicopter, the New York Post reported.

Formally known as Bohem C'est La Vie, the micro-chipped dog was about to be loaded onto a Delta Airlines flight to Los Angeles after participating in the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club dog show, where it won an award of merit this week.

Owner Jil Walton canceled her trip home, and told the newspaper the dog's high monetary value was meaningless.

"She sleeps in my bed at night," she said. "I love that dog."

Greek Romeo arrested in swindle

THESSALONIKI, Greece, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A sweet-talking con man in Greece has been arrested for bilking three women out of about $25,000 with a promise to marry them and get them government jobs.

Thessaloniki police say the unidentified 45-year-old man had been running the scam for three years. The man was arrested this week after being caught with $900 in marked notes that had been given to him by a 40-year-old woman he had been dating. She told detectives she had already given him more than $3,500 and had seen no progress in the wedding or job.

Investigators learned of two other women who had given the man some $19,500 based on the same promises, the Kathimerini news service said.

The man was charged with attempted fraud.

Bald business is big business in China

BEIJING, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- China's growing economy seems to be having what some call a peculiar side effect -- men seem to be going bald faster.

In recent years, ads for hair-growth products have started filling the pages of many Chinese newspapers, while in the capital, billboards plugging men's wigs tower over the sidewalks, Asahi Shimbun reports.

An increasing number of companies are apparently turning the Chinese fear of a bald spot into big bucks with some doing so well they are branching out into other countries.

The main reason for hair loss, say experts, is stress, increasing competition within society.

Inventor learns how to repel teenagers

LONDON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The British inventor who developed the electronic Sonic Teenager Deterrent to dispel loitering teenagers can't keep up with demand for the $1,000 devices.

Howard Stapleton, 39, a businessman and former electronics apprentice at British Aerospace, came up with the idea when he learned people over the age of 20 lose the ability to hear high-frequency sounds. Using his four children as guinea pigs, he created the box, which emits 80-decibel bursts of pulsing sounds at up to 16 kilohertz.

To those under 20, it sounds like a demented insect or a very badly-played violin, The Telegraph reported. Adults don't hear it at all.

A number of police forces and city councils have endorsed the system and want to install them at teenagers hang-outs and trouble spots.

Clare Pritchard, the manager of a McDonald's restaurant on the outskirts of Manchester, bought the device to ward off teenagers using the car park to meet and illegally drink alcohol.

"It has definitely reduced the number of kids hanging around here," she said. "None of my customers have complained, although some of the staff have said it is driving them mad."