Jockstrip: The World As We Know It

IN MEMORIAM

The woman the Guinness Book of World Records cites as the oldest living person is dead. Maude Farris-Luse was 115.

Farris-Luse died Monday, a spokeswoman for the Laurels of Coldwater in Coldwater, Mich., where she was a resident, confirmed.

Farris-Luse was born Jan. 21, 1887, in Moreley, Mich. She was the mother of seven and outlived all but one of her children. She worked into her 70s, was never treated by a doctor until she was in her 90s, and lived in her own house until she broke her hip at the age of 104.

In recent years, however, her memory and hearing began to fail.

Farris-Luse claimed the "world's oldest person title" from Marie Bremont, who died at age 115 in Noellet, France, on June 6, 2001. The world's oldest man, Antonio Todde, died in January at age 112 on the Italian island of Sardinia. Yukichi Chugnaji, 112, of Japan, currently is believed the world's oldest man.

The longest-living woman on record was Jeanne-Louise Calment, who died at age 122 in Arles, France, on Aug. 4, 1997, according to Guinness.

THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND

Russell Yates was a regular fixture at the Harris County Courthouse in Houston, Texas, during his wife's recent murder trial, but on Monday he failed to appear for jury duty because he was flying to Los Angeles to appear on CNN's "Larry King Show."

Yates told the Houston Chronicle he recalled receiving the summons but he forgot about it because he was so busy in the wake of his wife Andrea's conviction and life sentence for drowning their five children. "I'm lucky I have the electricity on, I've been so busy," he said.

The county clerk told the newspaper that people who miss their jury summons can reschedule by phone or via the clerk's Web site.

By the way, Yates said about three months ago he also received a jury summons for Andrea.

NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS

The largest iceberg in 30 years has broken off from the northern section of the Larsen B ice sheet on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

"This breakup gave us the information we need to reassess the stability of ice shelves around the rest of the Antarctic continent," said glaciologist Ted Scambos. "They are closer to the limit than we thought."

The shattered ice has formed a plume of thousands of icebergs adrift in the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula. A total of about 1,250 square miles of shelf area has disintegrated in a 35-day period beginning on Jan. 31 of this year.

During the last five years, the Larsen B shelf has lost a total of 2,200 square miles -- and is now about 40 percent the size of its previous minimum stable extent. Scientists attribute the breaks to strong regional climate warming.

(Thanks to Alex Cukan, UPI Science Writer)

TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING

The British tradition of hunting with dogs was doomed Tuesday after a last-minute compromise on a countrywide ban failed to win Parliament's support, leaving in doubt the outcome of a House of Lords rescue attempt.

The Lords were likely to support a proposal disguised as a "middle way" -- in which some hunts could continue under license -- to stave off rural unrest over the outlawing of more than 300 hunts in England and Wales.

Opponents said the ban would hit rural economies already weakened by the foot-and-mouth epidemic on the farms. Pro-hunt lobbyists told UPI about 1 million people participated in hunts nationwide and about 30,000 would lose their full-time or part-time jobs. In addition, they said 16,000 hounds would have to be destroyed.

AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY

TV Land and the city of Minneapolis is honoring seven-time Emmy Award winner Mary Tyler Moore with a statue depicting the actresses' legendary tam toss from the opening credits of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

The eight- foot bronze statue will be unveiled May 8 at the Nicollet Mall, the very site from which she sent her tam skyward.

Gwendolyn Gillen of Hustisford, Wis., created the statue. Her entry was selected over 19 other submissions to the Minneapolis Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA). The decision was made by an Artist Selection Panel, comprised of various artists, city officials and representatives from TV Land, as well as Moore herself.

TV Land will pay tribute to Moore on-air on May 9 (8-11 p.m. ET/PT) with four classic episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" as well as a repeat of the 2001 TV Land original special, "Inside TV Land: The Mary Tyler Moore Show." "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" airs twice daily on TV Land (at 10 a.m. and 4 a.m. ET/PT).