7 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 lg, milestones.developmental and golf. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was taking note.

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. skybrian
    Link
    Please don’t rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge [...] [...]

    Please don’t rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

    It is customary for anyone entering a Japanese home to shed their footwear, and for homeowners to rearrange the shoes of guests or customers to face the doorway so that they can slip them on easily when they leave.

    [...]

    Interviewed by TBS News Dig this week, firefighter Daisuke Yamashita said, “Emergency crews decide the direction of their shoes according to their roles, so if someone changes their position out of kindness, it can interfere with putting them back on and delay the transport of the patient. From our experience, it can result in a loss of about 30 seconds.

    “We do appreciate the kindness behind straightening the shoes,” added Yamashita in the video. “During an emergency, it is extremely helpful if people instead prepare the patient’s My Number card [a social security number] or another form of identification in advance.”

    [...]

    Another user attracted more than 800 likes for suggesting that strict etiquette could perhaps be forsaken at such times: “It’s an emergency. I would just tell them: ‘Please step inside with your shoes on!’”

    4 votes
  2. mycketforvirrad
    (edited )
    Link
    Non-league goalkeeper from south London chosen to rule kingdom in Uganda The Telegraph – Ruby Cline – 7th September 2026

    Non-league goalkeeper from south London chosen to rule kingdom in Uganda

    A non-league goalkeeper from London has been chosen to take the throne of a kingdom in Uganda.

    George Desmond Kamurasi, the captain of the SE Dons in Bexleyheath, south-east London, has unexpectedly become leader of the Tooro people in the east African country.

    Mr Kamurasi, 36, was chosen as the next omukama, or king, of the subnational constitutional monarchy in Uganda, after the death of his cousin, who previously held the role.

    King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV had led the traditional kingdom, with a population of around 800,000, since 1995, when he was 3 years old. He was the world’s youngest reigning monarch at the time.
    Rukidi IV died on Aug 27 following treatment for cancer. At the time, Ugandan officials announced that one million trees would be planted in his honour”

    The Telegraph – Ruby Cline – 7th September 2026

    1 vote