15 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 websites.niche, consumerism and association of research libraries and public knowledge. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone loves this kinda thing.

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!

16 comments

  1. [3]
    Areldyb
    Link
    A Michigan autoworker’s wallet is found under a hood in Minnesota — 151,000 miles later

    A Michigan autoworker’s wallet is found under a hood in Minnesota — 151,000 miles later

    9 votes
    1. [2]
      chocobean
      Link Parent
      Your move, Outback! Inflation adjust it and invite the fella in for a full meal, get some local media coverage of it.

      Cabela’s, an outdoor retailer, said the $250 in gift cards remain valid, but it has offered to give him new cards anyway. Guilford doesn’t know the status of a $25 card from Outback Steakhouse.

      Your move, Outback! Inflation adjust it and invite the fella in for a full meal, get some local media coverage of it.

      3 votes
      1. jredd23
        Link Parent
        Cool story, who hasn't found things long past forgotten. I am right now in the hunt for a Jansport book bag left on the side of the river up by the Poconos. Maybe one day I'll find it.

        Cool story, who hasn't found things long past forgotten. I am right now in the hunt for a Jansport book bag left on the side of the river up by the Poconos. Maybe one day I'll find it.

        3 votes
  2. [5]
    mycketforvirrad
    Link
    Jellyfish swarm forces French nuclear plant to shut BBC News – Maia Davies – 12th August 2025

    Jellyfish swarm forces French nuclear plant to shut

    A French nuclear plant temporarily shut down on Monday due to a "massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish" in its filters, its operator said.

    The swarm clogged up the cooling system and caused four units at the Gravelines nuclear power plant to automatically switch off, energy group EDF said.

    BBC News – Maia Davies – 12th August 2025

    7 votes
    1. CannibalisticApple
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      First irradiated wasps, and now jellyfish are trying to get in on the nuclear action too? Know what, I accept this apocalypse. Irradiated animals are a pretty interesting way to end the world.

      First irradiated wasps, and now jellyfish are trying to get in on the nuclear action too? Know what, I accept this apocalypse. Irradiated animals are a pretty interesting way to end the world.

      3 votes
    2. chocobean
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Reminds me of a Yotsuba To! chapter, where she asks daddy if they can go to the beach. Daddy muses, hmmm there's jellyfish this time of the year. The next morning she wakes daddy up VERY early,...

      Reminds me of a Yotsuba To! chapter, where she asks daddy if they can go to the beach. Daddy muses, hmmm there's jellyfish this time of the year. The next morning she wakes daddy up VERY early, ready to hit the beach. Daddy is groggy and confused, and says, but we can't go. Yotsuba is tearing up, and says, but you said there'd be jellyfish....

      2 votes
    3. Raspcoffee
      Link Parent
      Damn, it's not spiders. So close to making the classic 'giant alien spiders a no joke'-reference. (◞╭╮◟)

      Damn, it's not spiders. So close to making the classic 'giant alien spiders a no joke'-reference. (◞╭╮◟)

      1 vote
    4. jredd23
      Link Parent
      It's a sticky situation.

      It's a sticky situation.

      1 vote
  3. [4]
    Raspcoffee
    Link
    This week in the Netherlands, a truck driver from Hungary was a bit done with the heat and took a dive in a river while parking on the side of a highway, from a bridge. He is alright now,...

    This week in the Netherlands, a truck driver from Hungary was a bit done with the heat and took a dive in a river while parking on the side of a highway, from a bridge. He is alright now, fortunately. The usual translation:

    Hungarian trucker parks on A16 and jumps from Moerdijk Bridge for a refreshing dip

    A Hungarian truck driver received fines Tuesday evening after taking a refreshing dip. He jumped into the water from the Moerdijk Bridge, which carries the A16 motorway.

    The man parked his truck on the hard shoulder of the A16 and jumped from the Moerdijk Bridge into the Hollands Diep, the police reported on Instagram. The Moerdijk Bridge is approximately 9 meters high and is located on the A16 between Dordrecht and Breda.

    The truck driver panicked in the water because of the current and called for help. Police then received several reports and, along with the fire department, an ambulance, and the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution, went to the bridge to search for the man.

    A helicopter was also deployed for the search. Emergency services suspected a suicide attempt, but that turned out not to be the case.

    After his dive, the man climbed onto a pillar of the Moerdijk Bridge. A passing boatman pulled him down and dropped him off the bridge. There, the driver told officers he had jumped from the bridge to cool off. He was issued fines for parking on the hard shoulder and jumping from a bridge.

    6 votes
    1. [3]
      jredd23
      Link Parent
      Acccording to AI, " Globally, over 90% of drowning deaths occur in rivers, lakes, domestic water vessels, and swimming pools in low- and middle-income countries. " I believe it! I think people...

      Acccording to AI, " Globally, over 90% of drowning deaths occur in rivers, lakes, domestic water vessels, and swimming pools in low- and middle-income countries. " I believe it! I think people know a lot of the risks of swimming in the beach, but not rivers. It's amazing how what looks like calm waters can be very treacherous. Funny that out of all this, he got a parking ticket! Great.

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        Raspcoffee
        Link Parent
        While I do have trust issues with LLMs, that does align with what I've read before. Think about it the following way: rivers are waterflows that carved up the ground, soil, and sometimes even rock...

        While I do have trust issues with LLMs, that does align with what I've read before. Think about it the following way: rivers are waterflows that carved up the ground, soil, and sometimes even rock underneath it. Even if that's over a long time, that's more force than you'd think. And big rivers especially can have very treacherous currents in the middle depending on a few factors.

        Where the truck driver ended is also where the water flowing from the Rhine(it splits in two rivers a bit more upstream first) slowly begins to form a delta and get into the sea, btw. To which well, it wasn't the northern border of the Roman Empire for no reason.

        Really, he's lucky he ended up alright. Especially if he isn't an experienced swimmer.

        2 votes
        1. first-must-burn
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          This part of your comment reminded me about these beautiful LIDAR maps of the river's path over time.

          Think about it the following way: rivers are waterflows that carved up the ground, soil, and sometimes even rock underneath it. Even if that's over a long time, that's more force than you'd think. And big rivers especially can have very treacherous currents in the middle depending on a few factors.

          This part of your comment reminded me about these beautiful LIDAR maps of the river's path over time.

          2 votes
  4. [2]
    aphoenix
    Link
    What a remarkably shitty situation to find oneself in: Woman apologises after her ‘severe diarrhoea’ forces entire flight to be cancelled. If you don't want to click through to the article, she...

    What a remarkably shitty situation to find oneself in: Woman apologises after her ‘severe diarrhoea’ forces entire flight to be cancelled. If you don't want to click through to the article, she had food poisoning, she had to use the facilities before takeoff, and she was very sick and she is now ok.

    4 votes
    1. chocobean
      Link Parent
      Ahh yes, upwards and downwards, that's how you know you're alive. Grand scheme, it's a small medical emergency, just a very public one. In Canada we have really crummy passenger protection for air...

      Ahh yes, upwards and downwards, that's how you know you're alive. Grand scheme, it's a small medical emergency, just a very public one.

      In Canada we have really crummy passenger protection for air travel, where nobody gets compensated for meals, overnight hotel and necessities over delays the airline argues it has no control over (even things like they packed flights too closely or not enough pilots didn't count, they argue, let alone weather or medical like here). So I hope the affected passengers here, esp with Portuguese / EU protection, are helped and made whole.

      3 votes