Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Men buying pink women's shoes

MILWAUKEE, May 24 (UPI) -- Pink is the hot color in hip-hop and urban wear for men, but finding pink shoes in men's sizes is almost impossible to find in the United States.

"It's the hot thing to have," said Curtis Jackson.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Monday Jackson joined dozens of other men in a long line at 8 a.m. Saturday outside the Finish Line at Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, Wis., to buy a pair of large pink women's shoes.

Lady Foot Locker store clerk Frank Cunningham is getting tired of disappointing women who want pink for their size 11 feet.

"I have to say, 'Ma'am, we don't have your size. We sold it to a young man,'" he said.

Several famous men have been seen in pink this season -- Ashton Kutcher wore a pale pink suit, Larry King wore pink suspenders and Clay Aiken wore pink shoelaces.

But hip-hop style experts said pink's popularity can be traced to rapper Cam'ron, who wears signature pink jumpsuits, pink minks and sold a pink Range Rover on eBay for $160,000 last month.

Man learns about aids through court error

LEICESTER, England, May 24 (UPI) -- A witness in a British courtroom learned to his surprise during questioning he has AIDS.

The BBC said the unidentified man did not know lawyers had ordered his blood sample to be tested for HIV. He only discovered he had the viral disease during cross examination by a defense attorney who assumed the witness knew of his condition.

The trial judge ordered an inquiry into the incident and banned reporting the name of the witness or details of the case, the BBC said.

When asked about having Aids, the witness denied it. He was later told a sample of his blood had tested positive earlier this year.

The witness was ordered by the judge to seek immediate counseling.

Swimmer braves dirty river for cause

BALTIMORE, May 24 (UPI) -- Nearly 50 people cheered on a Baltimore man as he swam 4 miles across the Patapsco River to help raise money to clean up the dirty watershed.

This was the second year Joe Stewart, 57, swam across the river to help draw attention to the pollution. The Patapsco has become contaminated with sewage spill and farm runoff, the Baltimore Sun reported Monday, leaving it in fragile condition.

The goal is to get "the rivers cleaned up so that the bay is healthy," Patapsco Back River Tributary Team head Fran Flanigan said. Flanigan was one of a couple dozen people there to cheer Stewart on.

Stewart left Baltimore County's North Point State Park just before 10 a.m. Sunday, and arrived on the other side, Venice on the Bay, in about two hours. The swim raised about $4,000 for five urban watershed groups in the area.

"The water seemed clear and clean. I'm encouraged," Stewart said when he got out of the water.

Where have all the cicadas gone?

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., May 24 (UPI) -- The 17-year cicada emergence isn't turning out to be all it was cracked up to be in some areas of the United States.

Frank Hale, an extension specialist in entomology at the University of Tennessee, told the Knoxville News Monday despite all the interviews and speeches he has been doing, he has yet to see a single one of the noisy little buggers.

"We're not hearing hardly anything at all," Hale said. "Even the few counties close to Nashville where we thought they'd be loud have been fairly quiet. Personally, I've not seen a single cicada."

Most of Tennessee's cicada activity is concentrated in the east, he said.

The current emergence appears to be highly localized, but Hale said that is no big surprise.

"Periodical cicadas spend most of their time underground staying at one tree, feeding on the roots," he said. "As adults they fly into a nearby tree, and the males start to chorus. They don't fly long distances to lay their eggs. In essence, they're kind of home boys."