It must be true...

I read it in the tabloids

■■ A man dressed as a medieval knight and carrying a 3-foot-long sword created some concern in a park in the U.K., bringing police armed with guns. Lennon Thomas, 20, was confronted by police in Cardiff and ordered to put the weapon down, before he explained that he was simply trying out a costume he uses for his hobby of fantasy roleplaying. Thomas apologized for a “lapse in judgment,” conceding, “Perhaps it was a little stupid of me to bring the sword, as from a distance it does look realistic.” He added: “Life is a lot more fun when you don’t care how weird you are.”

■■ A 90year-old Japanese woman has developed an online following for her skill at playing video games. Hamako Mori, known as the “Gaming Grandma,” said she acquired her passion for gaming 39 years ago while watching children play. “It looked so much fun,” she said, adding it wasn’t “fair if only children” got to play. Today, 150,000 YouTube followers log in to watch her play her favorite game: the violent Grand Theft Auto 5, where a carjacker kills people with an assortment of weapons. “I am truly enjoying my life,” she said. “It’s rosy.”

■■ A Maryland restaurateur is employing a novel method to keep customers 6 feet apart. Shawn Harman purchased 10 “bumper tables,” platforms with wheels attached and surrounded by an inflated inner tube. The tube allows a single occupant to move about the restaurant’s 3,000-squarefoot parking lot while staying 6 feet from other guests. “If you come in to get a pound of shrimp and a beer, you can stand in one of these and walk around,” Harman said. The customer response, he said, is “extremely strong.”