Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Vegas kids pan school cafeteria beans

LAS VEGAS, July 31 (UPI) -- A survey at a Las Vegas elementary school confirms suspicions there 1s little support among kids for green beans as part of the lunchroom menu.

Students at Wright Elementary told Clark County School District officials that while the fruit being dished up was just fine and dessert was always welcome, the beans didn't quite hit the spot.

"They didn't really taste like I imagined them," one student delicately summarized.

KLAS-TV in Las Vegas said the survey was the result of letters written by Wright second-graders who got the idea from a book used in their class. The district decided to find out more about what was bugging the young diners and drew up a survey officials will refer to in future menu planning.

KLAS, by the way, looked into the beans issue further and determined the absence of butter and salt may have contributed to their lack of appeal.

Young woman meets rescuer from 1987

EDMONTON, Alberta, July 31 (UPI) -- A 20-year-old Canadian woman has been able to meet and thank the police officer who rescued her from a tornado exactly 20 years ago Tuesday.

Kristen Lemay and her parents were living in the Evergreen Mobile Home Park in Edmonton when the tornado hit July 31, 1987. The twister killed 27 people, 15 of them in the trailer park, where more than 100 homes were toppled.

Bill Clark was one of the first officers to get to the park.

Clark and Lemay had their reunion in a memorial garden at the park, where they hugged each other, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

"You were so small, only in a diaper," Clark said, describing how he rushed her to a hospital. He drove with the baby on his lap as he maneuvered through flooded streets and then dashed to the trauma unit with her in his arms, the CBC said.

But Clark told the CBC he only did "what everyone else would have done."

Lemay's family moved to Quebec after the tornado. She said she spent years looking at clippings in the family scrapbook and telling her younger sister that someday she planned to meet the man who rescued her, the CBC said.

Law targets for-sale cars on Calif. street

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 31 (UPI) -- The end may be near for an unofficial used car lot that has been in existence for years along a busy northern California street.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week signed a measure allowing local police in Palo Alto and Milbrea to start ticketing and towing the cars that are parked along El Camino Real with "for sale" signs in the window.

The legislation, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, was the result of complaints from the city and merchants along El Camino Real where the San Jose Mercury News says more than 50 used cars are parked every day. Critics cite traffic congestion and potential safety hazards from buyers slowing down or strolling along the busy street.

El Camino Real is technically a state highway, which means local police have not had the authority to tow for-sale cars.

World's largest hand-woven carpet unveiled

TEHRAN, July 31 (UPI) -- A 65-thousand-square-foot carpet, the work of 1,200 skilled crafts people who spent a year working on it, went on display Tuesday in Tehran.

The carpet, believed to be the largest ever woven by hand, is destined for the Sheikh Zayid bin Sultan al-Nuhayyan Mosque in Abu Dhabi, Iran's FARS news agency reported.

The managing director of Iran's Carpet Company, Seyyed Jalal-adin Bassam, told PressTV that the weavers came from three villages near Nishapur and worked in three shops to create the vast carpet.

"The carpet is not only noted for its size, but for its trapezoid shape containing one concave and one convex side," he said.

The carpet contains more than 2 billion knots and 38 tons of cotton fiber. Its design depicts the history of carpet-weaving in Persia and the country's artistic legacy.