Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Police say beer thief left dripping trail

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va., July 15 (UPI) -- Police in a West Virginia town say a man who broke into a car and stole 11 cold cans of beer left an easy trail of water drops.

Officers in South Charleston who responded to a complaint of a car break-in last week noticed the water droplets, the Charleston Daily Mail reported. They have filed a complaint in Kanawha County charging Karl Stewart, 49, of South Charleston with destruction of property and petit larceny.

The beer was sitting in a cooler in the car when Stewart allegedly broke a rear window.

Police followed the trail to a house, not Stewart's residence, on the same street.

Poll: Swiss turn to nature, not church

ZURICH, Switzerland, July 16 (UPI) -- More than half of Switzerland's Protestants find nature more spiritually moving than going to church, a poll by a Swiss religious magazine found.

About one-third of Roman Catholics said they go to nature for spirituality, Swissinfo.com reported. German speakers also were more likely than French speakers to turn to nature.

The survey was conducted by Reformierte Presse, a weekly magazine aimed at Protestant ministers and other religious professionals in the Reformed Church.

Overall, 41 percent of the respondents said they find spirituality in nature and 16 percent in church. One-fifth of French speakers and only 3 percent of those speaking German said they found spirituality in their lifestyle, while 25 percent of Francophones chose nature compared to 46 percent of German-speakers.

"Maybe the French speakers don't have a problem with the superficial kind of spirituality," said Matthias Bohni, the magazine's editor and a German-speaker. "You can go to a health spa, for example, and say 'It's good for my soul,' and you can also say 'It's good for my outer shape.'"

Twins assigned separate schools

SEATTLE, July 15 (UPI) -- A set of Seattle twins will be in separate schools when they start kindergarten this fall unless district officials change their assignments, their

mother says.

Stephanie Jewett says Annika is assigned to Bryant Elementary and her sister Nicole is to attend Wedgwood, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday. The twins were placed in separate schools even though she listed the same three preferred schools in the same order on each girl's application and noted they are twins, the newspaper said.

But the school district's placement policy overrode the family's choices.

"It looks like there's a glitch in the program," parent activist Lisa Bond said.

School Board member Harium Martin-Morris, telling the Times "When you think about it, it's not right."

A school district spokeswoman conceded "we need a new assignment plan."

But at this point, the Jewett sisters will be heading off to different schools this fall.

Seattle unloading its high-tech johns

SEATTLE, July 15 (UPI) -- Seattle's high-tech, self-cleaning public johns are going the way of other unwanted items -- to an eBay auction.

Pat Miller of the city's Fleets and Facilities Department said that the city hopes to get someone to cart away the toilets and maybe get some money, not to "make a profit or a killing," the Seattle Times reported.

The five toilets were acquired in 2004 and installed in popular tourist areas like Pioneer Square and the Pike Place Market. The toilets had doors timed to open automatically, which failed to prevent their use for prostitution and other illicit activities.

This spring, the City Council voted to cancel the 10-year contract for the johns. They are to be closed down Aug. 1, with the new owners, the city hopes, removing them by the end of the month.

Andy Ryan, a spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities, said the city is still trying to figure out how to provide public conveniences.