Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Parrot escapes for Las Vegas vacation

DETROIT, May 8 (UPI) -- A parrot that abruptly left its Michigan owners seven months ago was tracked down recently 2,000 miles away enjoying an impromptu Las Vegas vacation.

Pet owner April Konopka of New Boston, Mich., said she had never given up hope of one day finding her lost parrot, Dusty -- and on April 21 she was reunited with her feathery friend, after learning it had taken up residence in Las Vegas, The Detroit News reported.

How the bird traveled 2,000 miles since vanishing Sept. 17 remains a mystery. It was recaptured at Las Vegas' Nellis Air Force Base.

Dusty was clearly not happy having his Las Vegas visit cut short. Cassandra Saunders said after her husband, Steven, nabbed the bird it went ballistic in her office.

"He destroyed the office, throwing stuff everywhere," she said. "He bit me a couple times as a warning to leave him alone. He's got a little bit of an attitude."

Eventually the agitated bird and its owner were reunited thanks to a Web site for lost birds, the newspaper said.

Scot cops told to restrain sarcasm

EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 8 (UPI) -- Scottish police are being instructed to restrain their sarcasm when dealing with the growing Polish population in Edinburgh.

Lothian and Borders officers are being told in a series of two-hour seminars that sarcastic humor -- which has become something of a trademark for British police -- is seen as "very rude" in Poland and could cause confrontations rather than diffuse them, The Scotsman reported.

The seminars also cover other legal and cultural differences between Edinburgh life and what the migrating Poles might be used to. The number of Polish transplants living and working in the Scottish capital is estimated to exceed 20,000.

"We aim to give staff an insight into Polish culture and some of the differences between their laws and ours," said Inspector Moore McCartney of the force's diversity unit. "There are some very significant areas that differ and come as quite a surprise to our staff."

Polish nationals might also be more wary of reporting crimes and dealing with the police as historically, relations between police and communities in Poland have not been strong.

Billboard raises eyebrows in Chicago

CHICAGO, May 8 (UPI) -- An edgy billboard promoting divorce has sparked surprise and outrage among some Chicago residents and divorce lawyers.

The billboard, which features a physically fit man on one side and a buxom woman on the other, proclaims: "Life's short. Get a divorce," The Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The billboard provides the number for the firm of divorce lawyer Corri Fetman.

"It really sheds a very, very terrible light on the profession -- totally undignified," said Joe Ducanto, who founded the American Academy of Matrimonial Attorneys. "Women have had a tough enough time making their way in the profession without (Fetman) turning around and denigrating them as well."

Residents who are forced to see the billboard on a daily basis also reacted negatively to the pictures and message.

"Talk about family values under attack," said Lisa Price, whose home office window looks out onto the billboard. "I think it's in poor taste."

Pet snake bites man, man faces charges

CHESTERTON, Ind., May 8 (UPI) -- A Chesterton, Ind., man who was bitten on the finger by a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake may face charges for possessing the snake.

Robert Urbanski, 66, could be charged with illegal possession of poisonous snakes, after he was airlifted to the Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, the Northwest Indiana Post-Tribune reported Monday.

Urbanski said he was handling the Western Diamondback rattlesnake when it bit him. Police and rescue personnel took him to a local hospital before he was airlifted.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Robert Cauffman went to Urbanski's home and found two rattlesnakes inside.

Urbanski reportedly purchased the snakes less than a week earlier at a swap meet in Hamburg, Pa.

The DNR said one of the snakes was a Western Diamondback and the other a Dusty Pigmy rattlesnake -- and said Urbanski did not have a permit for either of them It is illegal to own venomous snakes without a permit in Indiana.

The case was handed over to the county prosecutor's office.