Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Cereal box number leads to phone sex line

CINCINNATI, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Kroger stores in Cincinnati said cereal boxes named for Bengals star Chad Ochocinco are being pulled due to a misprinted phone number leading to a sex line.

Store managers said the Ochocinco cereal was supposed to bear the number 1-888-HELP-FTC, which connects to Feed the Children, the charity the cereal is supporting, but customers who attempted to call the number listed on the box, 1-800-HELP-FTC, were instead connected with a phone sex line, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

"We didn't even know the other number existed," said Tony Sellars, spokesman for Oklahoma City-based Feed The Children, which took responsibility for the error.

Robert Bailey, president of Rosenhaus Sports, the firm representing Ochocinco, said the player expects the correct number to appear on future boxes of the honey nut cereal.

'Grease rustlers' plague restaurants

MT. PLEASANT, S.C., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. restaurants say they're experiencing increasing incidents of "grease theft" as thieves steal used cooking oil to sell for conversion to biofuel.

In some areas, the restaurant owners might be happy to have their used oil taken away without having to pay someone to do it, but in urban areas where there's competition between companies seeking to pick up and resell the oil, the companies pay the restaurants, so theft affects them both, USA Today reported.

The National Renderers Association is conducting an industry-wide survey to determine the amount of loss, an official said.

"Virtually all of our members who are in the business of picking up used cooking oils are experiencing grease theft to some degree or another, in some cases, pretty significantly," association President Tom Cook said.

David Miller, owner of the Kickin' Chicken restaurants in Mount Pleasant, S.C., doesn't know who made off with several thousand dollars worth of day-old vegetable oil from his seven stores.

He started noticing significant drop-offs in the monthly payment from the grease buyers and knew something was going on, he said.

"With all the different uses of grease and biodiesel, we've gotten some backyard grease chemists," he said. "And it's a commodity that is not normally protected. It's easily accessible, and therefore, people have been siphoning off grease."

Squash players gather in Chicago

CHICAGO, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Some of the world's best squash players have gathered in Chicago for the U.S. Open Squash Championships to raise money for a local squash program.

The tournament, involving 100 players, will run through Saturday and will include expo games for local students and a fundraiser for METROsquash, a Chicago non-profit that trains about 100 Chicago Public Schools fifth through 10th graders in the sport and takes them around the country for tournaments, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

"It's been really fascinating to see this small idea and really wonderful sport expand across the country," METROsquash Executive Director David Kay said.

The sport, which involves rackets, a ball and a four-wall glass court, has been beneficial for participants, students involved in the program said.

Donnie Harris, a Woodlawn Charter School freshman, said the discipline of the game -- he's ranked in the Top 100 nationally of boys under 15 -- and the mentoring and tutoring took him from a "C" to "B" student.

"I'd just figured I'd give it a try," said Harris. "But my grades have improved. My fitness is great, and the program has just really changed my life these last couple of years."

Online lotto game gives easy $100

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Marketing experts said the British Columbia lottery's explanation that a $100 loophole in an online game was a marketing ploy does not make sense.

Players of the Lottery Corporation's PlayNow Web site said a loophole or software glitch allows them to easily make $100 by putting $100 into the baccarat game and betting on both the player and the banker, CBC News reported.

The players said the technique leaves them with $197.50 in their accounts after a $2.50 commission is deducted.

A lottery spokesman said the money is part of a promotion on the site giving $100 bonus deposits for accounts signed up before Oct. 5, but online marketer Todd Maffin said he was skeptical of the explanation.

"I can't imagine this was a marketing ploy," Maffin said. "To spend almost $100 to get a customer and hope they wouldn't cash out ... there are cheaper ways to do it, (such as) buy a Google ad."