12 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 heritage foundation, net neutrality and stimulation clicker. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was experiencing FOMO.

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!

5 comments

  1. [2]
    Raspcoffee
    Link
    Belgium food authority advises against cooking your Christmas tree after the advice of the municipality of Gent.

    Belgium food authority advises against cooking your Christmas tree after the advice of the municipality of Gent.

    Ghent has adjusted a striking advice about boiling the needles of a Christmas tree. After criticism from the Belgian Food Agency, the municipality adjusted the tip against waste.
    The advice was on a website of the municipality that encouraged people to waste less food and stuff around the holidays. "Eat your Christmas tree", wrote the municipality. "They have been doing it in Scandinavia for a long time." Ghent did warn immediately that yew trees are poisonous.

    But the Belgian Food Agency FAVV also does not think it is a good idea to eat pines and spruces. "Christmas trees are not at all intended to end up in the food chain", a FAVV spokesperson told HLN.

    When producing Christmas trees, no account is taken of the fact that the needles are eaten. Toxic pesticides may have been used during cultivation. In addition, the trees may have been treated with flame retardants. It is difficult for the consumer to determine whether this has happened to their Christmas tree.

    After the advice from the Food Agency, Ghent adjusted the message on the site, reports VRT NWS. "Scandinavians eat Christmas trees", it now says. The municipality also warns that spruce and pine trees may be treated and therefore unsafe to eat.

    Scandinavians do indeed sometimes boil the needles of a spruce or pine tree. This is how they make spruce needle butter. But they use wild trees for this. But Christmas trees are grown in Belgium and the Netherlands.

    9 votes
    1. jredd23
      Link Parent
      Long time ago I learned that throwing dry needles into the fire creates a nice firecracker sound. Fun times.

      Long time ago I learned that throwing dry needles into the fire creates a nice firecracker sound. Fun times.

      2 votes
  2. [2]
    mycketforvirrad
    Link
    ‘We’re done’: owner of Walter White’s house in Breaking Bad puts it on market – for $4m The Guardian – Michael Sun – 9th January 2025

    ‘We’re done’: owner of Walter White’s house in Breaking Bad puts it on market – for $4m

    Modest family home in Albuquerque has a price tag fit for a meth kingpin – but owner Joanne Quintana warns buyers to prepare for hundreds of visitors a day.

    Homeowner Joanne Quintana said that the house’s popularity among tourists who were fans of the acclaimed TV series had come at a cost to her family’s quality of life.

    The Guardian – Michael Sun – 9th January 2025

    6 votes
    1. jredd23
      Link Parent
      The surprising part is that they stayed for such a long time.

      The surprising part is that they stayed for such a long time.

      “This was our family home from 1973, almost 52 years,”

      2 votes