Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Man uses paintballs to stop drunk driving

KENNEWICK, Wash., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Police in Kennewick, Wash., said a man arrested for firing off a paintball gun told officers he was trying to prevent a friend from driving drunk.

Sgt. Ken Lattin said police received a call at about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday from a witness who said a man was shooting paintballs at a car and one of the missed shots had hit his apartment, the (Kennewick) Tri-City Herald reported.

Lattin said investigators arrived at the apartment complex to find Shawn Wallace, 41, firing paintballs at the windshield of a friend's car. He said Wallace, who was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully discharging a weapon and an unrelated misdemeanor warrant, told officers he was covering the windshield in paint to prevent its owner from driving under the influence of alcohol.

"This is a very creative way to prevent someone from drinking and driving, but not legal or safe," Lattin said.

Inventor retires New Year's glasses

SEATTLE, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- One of the inventors of New Year's Eve novelty glasses with numbers for eyeholes said the 2009 version was the last to be produced by his Seattle company.

Richard Sclafani, who thought up the idea for the glasses with friend Peter Cicero in 1990, said the idea took off and business peaked in the first double-zero year, 2000, when half a million pairs of the glasses were sold, the New York Post reported.

Sclafani said his company is discontinuing the glasses for reasons including falling business due to competitors and the aesthetic challenges of making a pair of glasses for 2010.

"It doesn't look very good for 2010. You wind up with a '1' in front of one of your eyes," Sclafani said.

Homeless man ordered to wear underpants

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A homeless New Zealand man accused of obscene exposure has been released on bail with one important condition -- he must wear underwear.

Ben Hana -- known in Wellington as the Blanket Man due to his wardrobe choice of a blanket and a loincloth -- was released on bail Wednesday in Wellington District Court after his Dec. 23 arrest for obscene exposure and cannabis possession, The Dominion Post reported.

Maxine Dixon, Hana's lawyer, said in her client's bail application that he plans to fight allegations that he exposed himself to children.

"He wears high-risk clothing. It's a way of life rather than a deliberate attempt at lewdness," Dixon said.

Dixon suggested the underwear bail condition to Judge Tom Broadmore, who also ordered Hana to abstain from alcohol use and to stay out of licensed businesses except for supermarkets.

30 penguins born at SeaWorld

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Thirty penguins have been born since early November at SeaWorld in San Diego, a spokeswoman for the water park said.

Kelly Terry said the penguin baby boom featured the births of seven macaroni penguins, six gentoo and 17 Adelies, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Terry said some of the newborn birds were being raised by their parents in the Penguin Encounter exhibit at SeaWorld, while keepers are raising others by hand in a nursery.