OFFBEAT NEWS:
Did Disney mess up its animatronic Trump?
Walt Disney World has been preparing to add Donald Trump to its Hall of Presidents since before he took office. Just over a year later, the park is finally unveiling the fruits of its long-awaited labor — and early reviews on Twitter are mixed.
More than one has even stated that the animatronic likeness looks more like Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight than Trump.
But while Disney may have captured the president’s animated hand movements faithfully, the robot’s physical appearance isn’t winning praise on Twitter. Commenters have not only compared Disney’s Trump-bot to Jon Voight, but also Angela Lansbury, the character of Biff Tannen from “Back to the Future: Part 2” and even Hillary Clinton.
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Instead of whining about their son’s teachers, Ohio parents Mary and Paul Sommers decided to wine them for Christmas instead.
Mary and Paul Sommers, who live in Beavercreek, say their son, 14-year-old Jake, is “that kid” ― the one in class “who always has something to say.”
So, when the parents wanted to say thanks to Jake’s teachers for putting up with him, Mary Sommers said they had to kick things up a notch.
With help from a friend’s printing company, the Sommers turned some bottles of Chardonnay into a thoughtful holiday gift for their son’s teachers.
The label features a picture of a smiling Jake and reads, “Our Child Might Be The Reason You Drink, So Enjoy This Bottle On Us.”
Jake insisted he’s not insulted by the gift. In fact, he helped deliver the vino personally.
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Authorities say a gift-wrapped box of horse manure addressed to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (mih-NOO’-shin) was found near his home in Los Angeles.
The package was found Saturday night after it was dropped off at a neighbor’s house.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s bomb squad was called to the home and officers opened the box, finding a pile of horse manure inside. Police said the package had been gift-wrapped and was marked as being from “the American people.”
Police said the Secret Service was taking over the investigation. A Secret Service spokesman said the agency was aware of the incident but declined to comment further.
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A Massachusetts teacher is one tough cookie — he cut his finger on the Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge” show and still won the competition.
Doug Alley lives in Rhode Island but teaches culinary arts at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne, Massachusetts, and took the $10,000 top prize.
Alley tells the Cape Cod Times he and his fellow contestants have been texting each other since the episodes began being aired in the run-up to Christmas.
The challenge was taped in New Orleans in August. Alley won for his sugar cookies and a lemon rosemary cookie.
Alley says he, his wife and their 17-year-old daughter are using part of his winnings for a vacation at Disney World. He says he’s also planning to release a new cookbook soon.
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After a four-year courtship, a British Army sergeant and a former diving instructor have married underwater in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
The couple used an underwater tablet Thursday to exchange wedding vows beside Molasses Reef off Key Largo.
In 2013, Thomas Mould, of Leicester, England, traveled on an Army adventure training dive trip to the Amoray Dive Resort in the Keys, where Sandra Hyde worked as an instructor.
The couple connected. Hyde traveled to Leicester a few times, and he visited her in the states.
They decided to marry and planned a summer wedding in an old English church but then decided an underwater wedding in the Keys would not only be more appropriate, but more cost-effective.
The couple is honeymooning in the Keys, before returning to live in England.
