14 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 business, comics.newspaper and hacktivism. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was curious.

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!

26 comments

  1. [9]
    Raspcoffee
    Link
    Queensland woman wakes up to find carpet python on top of her Don't mind this. Just Australia being Australia.

    Queensland woman wakes up to find carpet python on top of her

    Don't mind this. Just Australia being Australia.

    8 votes
    1. [3]
      DefinitelyNotAFae
      Link Parent
      A python seems like the best case situation and was probably just snuggling for warmth. I also would be more worried about my dogs and glad it wasn't a toad. Toads are probably venomous. It is...

      A python seems like the best case situation and was probably just snuggling for warmth. I also would be more worried about my dogs and glad it wasn't a toad. Toads are probably venomous. It is Australia after all.

      7 votes
      1. [2]
        chocobean
        Link Parent
        Or came in from the summer heat for human air conditioning, I guess, for AUS. Toads I've never thought about but yeah you're right it would be worse! Venomous and probably stickier?

        Or came in from the summer heat for human air conditioning, I guess, for AUS.

        Toads I've never thought about but yeah you're right it would be worse! Venomous and probably stickier?

        1 vote
        1. DefinitelyNotAFae
          Link Parent
          I figured at night it'd be looking for human heat, maybe especially if it got inside and then was too cold from the AC. Snakes don't usually need to cool off (but it's AU so maybe)

          I figured at night it'd be looking for human heat, maybe especially if it got inside and then was too cold from the AC. Snakes don't usually need to cool off (but it's AU so maybe)

          2 votes
    2. [3]
      chocobean
      Link Parent
      ಠ_ಠ Oh, and RIP the second, mum snake from the article. Poor mum, just trying to protect her cute katamari of eggs.

      When Brisbane resident Rachel Bloor woke up to discover a carpet python curled up on top of her, she was rattled.

      ಠ_ಠ

      Oh, and RIP the second, mum snake from the article. Poor mum, just trying to protect her cute katamari of eggs.

      4 votes
      1. [2]
        jredd23
        Link Parent
        That's one item, this quote caught my eyes. Priorities my friends, priorities! I swear, AUS has or is the Florida man OG. Wow!

        "I was worried about the dogs," Ms Bloor said.

        That's one item, this quote caught my eyes. Priorities my friends, priorities! I swear, AUS has or is the Florida man OG. Wow!

        4 votes
        1. DefinitelyNotAFae
          Link Parent
          The dogs were definitely more at risk from being hurt by a python! It's actually super reasonable :D

          The dogs were definitely more at risk from being hurt by a python! It's actually super reasonable :D

          4 votes
    3. [2]
      tanglisha
      Link Parent
      Anybody know why they’re called carpet pythons? Sounds like they might often be found indoors.

      Anybody know why they’re called carpet pythons? Sounds like they might often be found indoors.

      2 votes
  2. [9]
    nic
    Link
    'They saw them on their dishes when eating': The mushroom making people hallucinate dozens of tiny humans

    'They saw them on their dishes when eating': The mushroom making people hallucinate dozens of tiny humans

    Every year, doctors at a hospital in the Yunnan Province of China brace themselves for an influx of people with an unusual complaint. The patients come with a strikingly odd symptom: visions of pint-sized, elf-like figures – marching under doors, crawling up walls and clinging to furniture.

    The hospital treats hundreds of these cases every year. All share a common culprit: Lanmaoa asiatica, a type of mushroom that forms symbiotic relationships with pine trees in nearby forests and is a locally popular food, known for its savory, umami-packed flavor. In Yunnan, L. asiatica is sold in markets, it appears on restaurant menus and is served at home during peak mushroom season between June and August.

    One must be careful to cook it thoroughly, though, otherwise the hallucinations will set in.

    "At a mushroom hot pot restaurant there, the server set a timer for 15 minutes and warned us, 'Don't eat it until the timer goes off or you might see little people,'" says Colin Domnauer, a doctoral candidate in biology at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah, who is studying L. asiatica. "It seems like very common knowledge in the culture there."

    He and his team are still trying to identify the chemical compound responsible for the hallucinations in L. asiatica. Current tests suggest it is not likely related to any other known psychedelic compound. For one, the trips it produces are unusually long, commonly lasting 12 to 24 hours, and in some cases even causing hospital stays of up to a week. Because of the extraordinarily long duration of these trips and the chance for prolonged side effects such as delirium and dizziness, Domanuer has yet to try the raw mushrooms himself.

    6 votes
    1. DefinitelyNotAFae
      Link Parent
      Yes just hallucinations. Not seeing through into your local cultural version of Elfhome. Not at all like using fairy ointment. Certainly no fox spirits or equivalent tricksters will face any...

      Yes just hallucinations. Not seeing through into your local cultural version of Elfhome. Not at all like using fairy ointment.

      Certainly no fox spirits or equivalent tricksters will face any consequences for letting those spores land in the mortal realm.

      4 votes
    2. [6]
      CannibalisticApple
      Link Parent
      The fact everyone apparently sees tiny people is wild to me. Do hallucinogenics usually cause consistent hallucinations? Because I just saw a video about hallucinogenic fish giving people...

      The fact everyone apparently sees tiny people is wild to me. Do hallucinogenics usually cause consistent hallucinations? Because I just saw a video about hallucinogenic fish giving people nightmarish visions of being attacked by arthropods and/or birds...

      4 votes
      1. [5]
        DefinitelyNotAFae
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        Culture shapes what hallucinations people tend to experience and how they interpret them. Americans may be more prone to angry, frightening voices associated with Christian angels or demons, or...

        Culture shapes what hallucinations people tend to experience and how they interpret them. Americans may be more prone to angry, frightening voices associated with Christian angels or demons, or persecutory external voices. Or may see the hat man or shadow people. Where African or Asian people report on average kinder, more internal voices. However that may also be due to bias in what is reported and stigma around having hallucinations. It's hard to say for sure but the difference is pretty consistent. (Also folks with positive hallucinations don't tend to go to the doctor for them.)

        But this specific hallucination, "Lilliputian" hallucinations, is pretty unique in how it seems to occur, which makes me think it's what people see because it's expected to be what you see when you eat them. Sort of in the way you can impact what type of trip you're having or how the munchies are not a universal experience of smoking cannabis. It's possible it's about the precise hallucinogen.

        But it looks like some people absolutely experience more serious symptoms like psychosis or schizophrenia-like symptoms. So the tiny non-distressing people and animals are a relatively positive outcome if you're going to get accidentally dosed like this
        Edit: fix a typo, probably missed more.

        4 votes
        1. [4]
          chocobean
          Link Parent
          Maybe it works like a tilt shift camera trick: stimulation of the parts of our brain responsible for recognizing human motions, then tilt shift them into miniatures.

          Maybe it works like a tilt shift camera trick: stimulation of the parts of our brain responsible for recognizing human motions, then tilt shift them into miniatures.

          1 vote
          1. [3]
            DefinitelyNotAFae
            Link Parent
            Maybe! Brains are weird. And we definitely don't understand them well enough to be sure about much. But if it made actual people look smaller to the people who took it I'd lean further in that...

            Maybe! Brains are weird. And we definitely don't understand them well enough to be sure about much. But if it made actual people look smaller to the people who took it I'd lean further in that direction.

            1 vote
            1. [2]
              chocobean
              Link Parent
              Then again, it could be a bit of tiktok/little red book social media hype involved. This one guy specifically tried some undercooked and thought he was ultraman (hk01, cn) -- not sure if for real...

              Then again, it could be a bit of tiktok/little red book social media hype involved. This one guy specifically tried some undercooked and thought he was ultraman (hk01, cn) -- not sure if for real or to get attention by going viral

              1 vote
              1. DefinitelyNotAFae
                Link Parent
                The Lilliputian hallucinations are older than Tiktok but absolutely there can be that sort of thing, predating social media (the Salem Witch Trials, The Satanic Panic). Interestingly alcohol...

                The Lilliputian hallucinations are older than Tiktok but absolutely there can be that sort of thing, predating social media (the Salem Witch Trials, The Satanic Panic). Interestingly alcohol withdrawal also tends to cause them. I have not done this sort of deep dive so I may learn some things tonight

                2 votes
    3. chocobean
      Link Parent
      They have me at hotpot where can I get some. Yunnan kinda far from me sadly Their provincial disease control and prevention admin has an article about this, several species of Asian boletes (genus...

      They have me at hotpot where can I get some. Yunnan kinda far from me sadly

      Their provincial disease control and prevention admin has an article about this, several species of Asian boletes (genus Lanmaoa) all commonly called 见手青 ("meet - hand - blue") that bruise blue.

      https://ynsjkj.yn.gov.cn/html/2025/jikongkepu_0923/878.html

      3 votes
  3. [5]
    mycketforvirrad
    Link
    German church’s televised ‘slime Jesus’ provokes fury on right The Guardian – Deborah Cole – 13th January 2026

    German church’s televised ‘slime Jesus’ provokes fury on right

    A Roman Catholic diocese in Germany has expressed regret over a televised Christmas Eve mass featuring a portrayal of the newborn Christ by an adult woman covered in sticky rice paper that was described by some critics as “slime Jesus”.

    Rightwing media outlets, which have for years campaigned against Germany’s public broadcasters and the licence fees that finance them, went on the attack, calling the scene disrespectful to the faithful.

    The Guardian – Deborah Cole – 13th January 2026

    5 votes
    1. chocobean
      Link Parent
      I'm not sure that this is so much disrespectful for the faithful as just..... bewildering on an artistic level. First of all, nobody is going to place their cold shivering naked newborn on a bunch...

      I'm not sure that this is so much disrespectful for the faithful as just..... bewildering on an artistic level. First of all, nobody is going to place their cold shivering naked newborn on a bunch a pokey straw. Whoever the artistic director was hasn't seen puppy videos let alone human ones.

      5 votes
    2. [2]
      Tukajo
      Link Parent
      I don't know why but I needed to read this. This is so incredibly funny to me, it reads like an onion article.

      I don't know why but I needed to read this. This is so incredibly funny to me, it reads like an onion article.

      4 votes
      1. jredd23
        Link Parent
        That's what I thought.

        That's what I thought.

        2 votes
    3. unkz
      Link Parent
      It was the church’s idea though, yeah? Like, being angry at the broadcaster seems misplaced. They’re platforming what the right wing religious leaders want to share.

      It was the church’s idea though, yeah? Like, being angry at the broadcaster seems misplaced. They’re platforming what the right wing religious leaders want to share.

      1 vote