22 votes

Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news

Posted by mycketforvirrad
Tags: ask.discussion, recurring.weekly, offbeat fridays, offbeat

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like careers, ad blocking and subaru. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was fascinated.

But one of my favourite tags happens to be offbeat! Taking its original inspiration from Sir Nils Olav III, this thread is looking for any far-fetched offbeat stories lurking in the newspapers. It may not deserve its own post, but it deserves a wider audience!

7 comments

  1. [7]
    mycketforvirrad
    Link
    Swiss village of Aarwangen in ding-dong over challenge to cowbells BBC News – Imogen Foulkes – 2nd November 2023

    Swiss village of Aarwangen in ding-dong over challenge to cowbells

    The gentle tinkling of cowbells is a sound almost everyone associates with Switzerland.

    But what if those bells are right outside your bedroom window day and night, and rather than tinkle gently, clang loudly around the necks of 20 or 30 cows?

    That is the dilemma many Swiss communities are facing.

    BBC News – Imogen Foulkes – 2nd November 2023

    10 votes
    1. [5]
      chocobean
      Link Parent
      There is a link at the bottom of this article referring to a 2018-2019 Germany case Link The nerve of these people. Congratulations you moved out to the countryside. Don't like it? Buy enough land...

      There is a link at the bottom of this article referring to a 2018-2019 Germany case

      A married couple who bought a large house in the fields on the edge of Holzkirchen, south of Munich, are suing a farmer over the clanging cowbells on her cows, which graze in a neighbouring meadow.

      When they first moved into their house in 2011, the field was empty, but in 2014 it was leased to Regina Killer, who runs a small dairy farm.

      The couple, who have not been named, also object to the bad smells of manure and the accompanying insects.

      Link

      The nerve of these people. Congratulations you moved out to the countryside. Don't like it? Buy enough land to not have to deal with adjacent fields, and plant privacy trees with your big city money. Too late for this house? Too bad. Sell it on the cheap and try again.

      6 votes
      1. [4]
        CptBluebear
        Link Parent
        I'm a bit torn on that. They bought it with the presumption they wouldn't hear constant cowbells. The countryside can be very quiet too and it's often part of the reason people go there in the...

        I'm a bit torn on that. They bought it with the presumption they wouldn't hear constant cowbells. The countryside can be very quiet too and it's often part of the reason people go there in the first place, having the rug pulled a few years later and unexpectedly living next to a dairy farm can be quite jarring.

        That said, there are those folks that go live across the street from an elementary school and then immediately start complaining about loud kids. I have absolutely no sympathy for those kinds of people. I'm sure that also happens with dairy farms.

        Though the complaint about the insects, lol, makes me think they're the latter type rather than the former.

        4 votes
        1. [3]
          DefinitelyNotAFae
          Link Parent
          The wisest person in the land

          But one resident simply said: "I don't think we should give opinions about this - you never know exactly what's happening if you aren't involved."

          "There are always two sides to a quarrel."

          The wisest person in the land

          6 votes
          1. [2]
            CptBluebear
            Link Parent
            I love that they included that bit. Truly the sanest person there. I tried to refrain from making an opinion about these people but the objection to insects in the countryside makes that really...

            I love that they included that bit. Truly the sanest person there.

            I tried to refrain from making an opinion about these people but the objection to insects in the countryside makes that really difficult.

            5 votes
            1. DefinitelyNotAFae
              Link Parent
              If I try to be generous, the change in insect life that would happen with cow droppings and just livestock in general, suddenly being adjacent to your property/ house is probably not insignificant.

              If I try to be generous, the change in insect life that would happen with cow droppings and just livestock in general, suddenly being adjacent to your property/ house is probably not insignificant.

              3 votes
    2. ignorabimus
      Link Parent
      I think there are moves in Switzerland towards banning cowbells on the basis that they are an inhumane way to treat animals, so this problem may resolve itself.

      I think there are moves in Switzerland towards banning cowbells on the basis that they are an inhumane way to treat animals, so this problem may resolve itself.

      4 votes