9 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 bragging.humble, social media and proselytism. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was able to keep up.

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. boxer_dogs_dance
    Link
    Police forced to explain why AI generated report claimed officer turned into a frog

    Police forced to explain why AI generated report claimed officer turned into a frog

    “The body cam software and the AI report writing software picked up on the movie that was playing in the background, which happened to be ‘The Princess and the Frog,'” police sergeant Rick Keel told the broadcaster, referring to Disney’s 2009 musical comedy. “That’s when we learned the importance of correcting these AI-generated reports.”

    5 votes
  2. [4]
    mycketforvirrad
    Link
    Toilets for all — the architects transforming London’s public loos Financial Times – Debika Ray – 17th December 2025

    Toilets for all — the architects transforming London’s public loos

    “They’ve got to provide a moment of respite,” says architect Eddie Blake about the two new projects his practice Studio Weave has just completed. In Maida Hill Market in west London is a pavilion covered in red and grey textured stone, reclaimed from a demolished bank. Across the city in Woolwich Market is a crisp brick structure with stepped arches, gleaming metal roof and chimneys that nod to the turrets of the neighbouring Royal Arsenal gatehouse. Both provide space for a café, storage facilities for traders, and seating built into the surrounding landscape. But their fundamental role? They’re two of the shiniest new examples of council-owned public toilets in the capital.

    Financial Times – Debika Ray – 17th December 2025

    3 votes
    2. CannibalisticApple
      Link Parent
      Curse you paywall! Mainly just wanted to check if they would require paying to enter. The lack of free public bathrooms was one of the main downsides my mom and I encountered in our trip to...

      Curse you paywall!

      Mainly just wanted to check if they would require paying to enter. The lack of free public bathrooms was one of the main downsides my mom and I encountered in our trip to London.

      Fun story: we didn't need to use the toilet, we just needed to wash our hands. We got hot dogs by the Tower of London, and they were drenched with ketchup and mustard. I cannot emphasize how much was on them, you couldn't see the meat beneath all the red and yellow. Before even attempting a single bite I used a napkin to scrape some of it off, and it was still near-impossible to see the meat.

      The buns did nothing to contain it. Just lifting the cardboard containers holding the hot dog, applying the faintest pressure on the sides from gripping it, caused condiments to ooze over the sides and onto our hands. We probably used 10+ napkins (and legitimately used them, we had to get more while eating and they all ended up soaked through), but it was impossible to clean our hands with just napkins.

      So yeah. We urgently needed to wash our hands. We had to ask a worker at some store where to find a bathroom (which turned out to be like two streets away), and we arrive to find that the whole thing required coins to even enter. Which we didn't have, we had paper bills.

      Having to get out those bills and then use the machine to convert them into coins was not fun with hands soaked in condiments.

      Moral of the story: please at least have public sinks near food stands. Or just... don't bathe food in condiments. If a worker ever drenches a hot dog like that again I'll just ask for it to be remade.

      3 votes