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 national oceanic and atmospheric administration, reddit.old and pickup lines. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was tuned in.

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!

2 comments

  1. mycketforvirrad
    Link
    First dinosaur bone from Antarctica found in a drawer BBC News – Rebecca Morelle & Alison Francis – 28th June 2026

    First dinosaur bone from Antarctica found in a drawer

    An unassuming-looking fossil that spent 40 years lying forgotten in a drawer has turned out to be the first dinosaur bone ever found in Antarctica.

    The specimen was unearthed in 1985, but the team that discovered it was not sure what it was - so it was stored away in the geology collection of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge.

    BBC News – Rebecca Morelle & Alison Francis – 28th June 2026

    7 votes
  2. chocobean
    (edited )
    Link
    Awww we didn't get very many silly news this week, it seems. Let me add one from my home town: HK Free Press: Here's a backup of the original ad -- btw Coke's slogan includes that she's a summer...

    Awww we didn't get very many silly news this week, it seems. Let me add one from my home town:

    HK Free Press:

    Gov’t withdraws controversial anti-drugs ad with AI pop stars named after cannabis, ice, cocaine and etomidate

    It involved four young band members named Weedy, Icy, Coke and Little E, representing cannabis, ice (crystal meth), cocaine and etomidate, respectively.

    Weedy tells viewers: “Romantic smoke will help you forget all your troubles. So chill.”

    Coke states: “Easy-to-drink coke helps you keep your mind sharp. Super dope!”

    Meanwhile, Little E claims: “Anti-ageing Vitamin ‘E’ comes with different fruity flavours. One puff takes you to space.”

    Icy says, “Taking a sniff of me will give you an amazing out-of-body experience.” [...]

    It is not the first time the government’s anti-narcotics promotions have raised eyebrows. In 2021, “You Only Live Once” (YOLO) was selected by the Hong Kong Police Force as a slogan to discourage youngsters from drug-taking.

    Here's a backup of the original ad -- btw Coke's slogan includes that she's a summer heat buster, and the English word "chill" sounds like 超 (super, ciu1) so it's also a pun for Coke being chill and super dope. Nice job, anon cop who's probably fired by now.

    Edit note: the street name for Etomidate is "space oil", that's why her outfit is a little bit different like that and her slogan is taking you to space. Little E sounds a little silly in English but the Cantonese original is a pun on the "oil" part of the street drug name, and sounds cute and elegant.

    Obviously, this hilarity spawned a whole series of (Cantonese) parody videos (3:24), unofficial "fan" channels -- yes, plural -- I don't like AI content usually, but as mockery of a superpower is one use I can get behind.

    I also like that pickup lines thread was references here as being a very serious matter

    5 votes