NEWS OF THE WEIRD
A nonliving doll
Kazakh bodybuilder, actor and self-described “sexy maniac” Yuri Tolochko announced his marriage to his beloved, a sex doll named Margo, on Instagram on Nov. 25 and shared with his followers their wedding video, in which the joyous couple, wearing a tuxedo and a full-length wedding dress, exchange vows and welcome friends and loved ones to a reception after the ceremony, The Sun reported. The groom identifies himself as pansexual and able to fall in love with “a character, an image, a soul,” and said the two became engaged a year ago, after he rescued her from some unwanted attention in a nightclub. “Couples need to talk less and connect more,” Tolochko said. “Margo and I realized that it takes more than words to have a conversation.”
Dim-witted
A Washington State Patrol officer pulled over a motorist on I-90 near North Bend on Nov. 30 after noticing the vehicle’s “super dim” headlights, patrol spokesman Rick Johnson told CNN. Closer inspection revealed the unnamed driver had ducttaped flashlights to the front of his vehicle to replace the headlights, which had been damaged in a crash. Flashlights-as-headlights are illegal in Washington because they don’t provide enough brightness, Johnson said.
Awesome!
• The British Museum on Dec. 9 announced that among the historical finds it has registered this year was a cache of 63 gold coins dating from the reign of Henry VIII, dug up by a family weeding their garden in New Forest. The coins, totaling 24 pounds and equivalent to more than $18,000 in today’s dollars, were probably buried around 1540, the Guardian reported. The museum has experienced an increase in garden finds this year, as Treasure Registrar Ian Richardson said people are spending more time in their gardens, “resulting in completely unexpected archaeological discoveries.”
• French chef Benoit Bruel in Lyon struck a blow for French cuisine by capturing the Guinness World Record for most varieties of cheese on a pizza with 254 cheeses, United Press International reported on Nov. 30. Guinness posted a video of Bruel making and then enjoying the pizza with friends along with its listing of the achievement, noting also that “Benoit took this as a patriotic challenge, as one of the things France is most famous for is its cheeses.”
• Ray Liddell, 49, of Hartlepool, England, was shocked when the inflatable toy Grinch he bought for his daughter turned out to be 35 feet tall — taller than his two-story house, Times Now News reported. The giant turned Liddell into something of a local celebrity as hundreds of people stop by to see the Grinch, so he decided to put the attraction to good use, asking visitors to donate to Alice House Hospice, where his father was cared for before dying of COVID-19. “I reckon we must have had over 5,000 people visit,” Liddell said on Dec. 7, and according to reports, he’s collected more than $13,000 for the facility