10 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 artificial intelligence, bubbles.ai and den store havfrue. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was deep diving.

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!

10 comments

  1. [4]
    Well_known_bear
    Link
    Kao, a Japanese manufacturer of cleaning products (among other things), has put a free horror game on Steam where you clean a rather creepy house (using their products, naturally) while solving...

    Kao, a Japanese manufacturer of cleaning products (among other things), has put a free horror game on Steam where you clean a rather creepy house (using their products, naturally) while solving puzzles.

    Move silently. Clean thoroughly. A 3D horror action and cleaning simulation featuring Kao’s real products. Clean the villa, solve hidden puzzles, and escape while your performance affects the home’s appraisal value. A unique blend of suspense and cleaning awaits.

    *(Feel free to relocate to ~games if more appropriate, but seemed a bit too minor to warrant a full post)

    11 votes
    1. [3]
      chocobean
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Steam review by user momenko0505, poorly translated by machines and me: (please correct) 無料でここまでやってくれるのはうれしい That they went this far for a free game made me happy. クリアするだけなら難易度は高くなく、...

      Steam review by user momenko0505, poorly translated by machines and me: (please correct)

      無料でここまでやってくれるのはうれしい
      That they went this far for a free game made me happy.

      クリアするだけなら難易度は高くなく、
      ホラーが苦手な人でも楽しめると思います。
      If you're just aiming to clear the same, it's not that hard, so even folks who find horror games difficult can enjoy this, I think.

      謎解きの要素もあるので楽しいです
      I was also happy about the mystery solving elements.

      神評価を出すにはそれなりのゲームスキルがないと難しいので
      It's difficult to get God Rating clear without gaming skills, so

      ちゃんとやりこみ要素まであるのがいいですね。
      It was nice that they rewarded you properly for being able to do so.

      エンドロールでクスッとさせられました。
      The ending roll (credits?) gave me a chuckle.

      Sounds ridiculous and fun. I know of Kao products from watching Japanese dramas (この番組は…), but this is a new kind of advertising I can get behind.

      The trailer says 掃除に集中していたら…気配を消して、掃除せよ。 What does that mean? "When you're concentrating on cleansing...make sure you be as unnoticeable as possible, and clean"?

      Edit: although free, I would imagine a certain level of Japaness language proficiency is required to actually play the game?

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        Well_known_bear
        Link Parent
        Just to revert on the questions: "It's nice that it even has challenge / playtime sink elements." I think this is actually intended as two different clauses. "You're focused on cleaning, [when...

        Just to revert on the questions:

        ちゃんとやりこみ要素まであるのがいいですね。

        "It's nice that it even has challenge / playtime sink elements."

        The trailer says 掃除に集中していたら…気配を消して、掃除せよ。 What does that mean? "When you're concentrating on cleansing...make sure you be as unnoticeable as possible, and clean"?

        I think this is actually intended as two different clauses.

        "You're focused on cleaning, [when suddenly...]"

        "Stay unnoticed and clean."

        Yeah, it's a bummer that there's no English version. The Steam page even has an English description.

        3 votes
        1. chocobean
          Link Parent
          Ahh, nice :) be a fun game to play with a friend who can read Japanese and isn't susceptible of jump scares, or grime.

          Ahh, nice :) be a fun game to play with a friend who can read Japanese and isn't susceptible of jump scares, or grime.

          2 votes
  2. [3]
    mycketforvirrad
    Link
    Wounded soldier escapes battlefield using e-bike delivered by drone BBC News – 2nd August 2025

    Wounded soldier escapes battlefield using e-bike delivered by drone

    This is the moment an injured Ukrainian soldier behind enemy lines made his escape using an e-bike delivered by a drone.

    Footage released by the Rubizh Brigade, part of the national guard of Ukraine, shows the wounded soldier, known as Tanker, receiving the e-bike by drone, which he says he couldn't ride at first.

    Tanker managed to ride away but only to about half-way to where he needed to go, before he hit a mine, destroying his bike, but not injuring him.

    His colleague Mykola watched his friend finish the rest of the journey on foot, before he reached an area where he could be evacuated.

    BBC News – 2nd August 2025

    8 votes
    1. [2]
      chocobean
      Link Parent
      What a crazy story, I'm glad he made it, past a mine even! Future evacuation by hoverboards soon?

      What a crazy story, I'm glad he made it, past a mine even!

      Future evacuation by hoverboards soon?

      4 votes
  4. cfabbro
    Link
    Body of man missing for 28 years found in melting glacier BBC News - August 6, 2025

    Body of man missing for 28 years found in melting glacier

    The body of a man missing for 28 years has been found in a melting glacier in Pakistan's remote and mountainous Kohistan region.

    A shepherd stumbled upon the body, which was remarkably well-preserved, with its clothing intact, in the so-called Lady Valley in the country's east.

    "What I saw was unbelievable," the shepherd who found the body, Omar Khan, told BBC Urdu. "The body was intact. The clothes were not even torn."

    As soon as police confirmed that it was Naseeruddin, locals began offering more information, Mr Khan added.

    Naseeruddin had a wife and two children. He was travelling with his brother, Kathiruddin, on horseback on the day he went missing. Police said a family feud had forced the two men to leave their home.

    Kathiruddin told BBC Urdu that they had arrived in the valley that morning, and sometime around afternoon, his brother stepped into a cave. When he did not return, Kathiruddin says he looked for him inside the cave - and went and got help from others in the area to search further. But they never found him.

    When a human body falls into a glacier, the extreme cold freezes it fast, preventing decomposition, said Prof Muhammad Bilal, head of the Department of Environment at Comsats University Islamabad.

    The body is then mummified due to a lack of moisture and oxygen in the glacier.

    BBC News - August 6, 2025

    3 votes
  5. jredd23
    Link
    So it may not be a true offbeat but it had me in stitches when I watched it. Comedy gold, may not be NSFW. Found it from another site but I thought a good laugh is needed everywhere. I wish I had...

    So it may not be a true offbeat but it had me in stitches when I watched it. Comedy gold, may not be NSFW. Found it from another site but I thought a good laugh is needed everywhere. I wish I had a grandmother like her but if I did I would be DOA.

    NSFW - Ohh, hell no!

    2 votes