Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Bidens thwarted by sold-out movie

WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Employees at a Delaware cinema said Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill couldn't see a Brad Pitt movie because it was sold out.

Workers at the Regal Brandywine Cinemas in Wilmington said Jill Biden approached associate manager Inshirah Muhamut's box office window while the former Democratic senator looked on, The (New Castle, Del.) News Journal reported Tuesday.

Muhamut, 21, said the Bidens wanted to attend a 7:45 p.m. showing of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," but left shortly after discovering the show time was sold out.

"She was asking me about other shows, but they really wanted to see 'Benjamin Button,'" Muhamut said. "He was maybe five feet away, looking at her. He was standing with his other Secret Service men."

Another employee, Becky Gingrich, 21, said the other customers at the theater did not seem phased by their brush with the Bidens.

"It didn't seem many people recognized him," she said. "Honestly, I think people were just too wrapped up in themselves to notice."

Webcam shows 24 hours of lava lamps

SEATTLE, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A Seattle bar code-technology entrepreneur said his 24-hour lava lamp Webcam fills an Internet void -- but he doesn't know who would watch it.

Jerry Whiting, 55, founder of Azalea Software, said he put the live video of two lava lamps on the Internet simply because he could not find anything else like it, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Tuesday.

"I'm a nerdy guy. I got to wondering if there was a lava lamp Webcam. And when I realized there wasn't, I had to fix that," he said.

"I thought about (a Webcam) with Sea-Monkeys," Whiting said. "But that would have been too weird."

While Whiting was unable to say what sort of person would be attracted to a lava lamp Webcam, the site was picked by judges including TV's "Bones" producer Barry Josephson, comedian Pauly Shore and recording artist

Tommy James as one of EarthCam's 25 most interesting Webcams on the Internet in 2008.

Stolen candy-cane man returned

PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The owners of a candy-cane man that was stolen from a Palm Beach, Fla., restaurant said the statue was found abandoned behind the eatery.

Judy Testa, owner of Testa's restaurant, said the statue was taken Dec. 18 or 19 and was found behind the restaurant at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday by police, the Palm Beach Daily News reported Tuesday.

"He's no worse for the wear, but he needs a fix-up," Testa said.

Police reports indicate that no evidence was found while dusting the statue for fingerprints.

Testa said she believes the statue may have been taken by college students as a prank and returned -- perhaps under duress from their parents -- to mark the end of their holiday break.

"The Testa family thanks whoever it was for bringing him back," she said. "He was missed."

Police: Kids tried to elope to Africa

HANOVER, Germany, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Police in Germany said they found a pair of young children at a train station who told officers they were trying to get to Africa to elope.

A police spokesman said two children named Mika and Anna-Lena, ages 6 and 7, were spotted at the train station in Hanover with Anna-Lena's 5-year-old sister, Anna-Bell, in tow, Britain's The Sun reported Tuesday.

The spokesman said the kids told officers they were trying to get to the airport so they could fly to Africa and get married.

"They are very much in love," the spokesman said. "They were determined to tie the knot under the African sun after seeing a nature documentary together."

"They were very put out that they couldn't carry on their journey," he said. "But they calmed down when they were promised a hot drink and some breakfast."

The spokesman said the children were returned to their parents.