10 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 macklemore, steam frame and rockstar games. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was suspicious.

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. [2]
    chocobean
    Link
    Clickbait title original: N.S. (Canada) families thought they buried their loved ones. Officials are now investigating Click to expand spoiler. The province and the Nova Scotia regulator of...

    Clickbait title original:

    N.S. (Canada) families thought they buried their loved ones. Officials are now investigating

    “I kind of started internally freaking out because I buried my mom in 2024,” said Kristina Sweeney.

    “I don't even think the shock has worn off yet.… I thought I buried my mom, all of her. I put her in the ground by myself.”

    Click to expand spoiler.

    The province and the Nova Scotia regulator of funeral directors are investigating after the new owners of an Annapolis Valley funeral home discovered the cremated remains of a “significant number” of people in storage, CBC News has learned. [...]

    When CBC reached Tony Facey, a former owner of Serenity Funeral Home for 12 years until December 2025, he confirmed there was a “whole stack” of cremated remains dating back as far as 25 years that had never been claimed by families.

    5 votes
    1. kinnabari
      Link Parent
      There was a previous case where the same funeral home cremated the wrong person, and tried to pass off two random bodies as her.

      There was a previous case where the same funeral home cremated the wrong person, and tried to pass off two random bodies as her.

      4 votes
  2. mycketforvirrad
    Link
    Baby born during Harry Potter screening has 'Cineworld' on birth certificate BBC News – Antonia Matthews – 16th September 2026

    Baby born during Harry Potter screening has 'Cineworld' on birth certificate

    A woman gave birth in a cinema after going into labour in the middle of a movie, with the newborn's birth certificate officially recording the unusual place of birth.

    Molly Connah, 32, had been overdue by a day when she took her nine-year-old son Alfie to see Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

    Baby Elsie Lamb was born in the Cineworld at Broughton, Flintshire, with staff assisting and paramedics arriving moments later.

    BBC News – Antonia Matthews – 16th September 2026

    4 votes
  3. [2]
    uaeaaie
    Link
    Taylor Swift Drops New Insect Species Thanks to a graduate student who is a “lifelong Swiftie” https://nautil.us/taylor-swift-drops-new-insect-species-1285010

    Taylor Swift Drops New Insect Species
    Thanks to a graduate student who is a “lifelong Swiftie”
    https://nautil.us/taylor-swift-drops-new-insect-species-1285010

    Schroeder discovered the new genus in her study of 593 specimens housed at the American Museum of Natural History and the Australian Museum. She described it in a recent paper published in Insect Systematics & Evolution and also delineated four distinct species. There’s the original Swiftiephylus taylorae, along with S. amator (“love”), S. intrepidus (“fearless”), and S. poetorum (“poets”), aka beloved, fearless, poetic Taylor Swift.

    4 votes
    1. chocobean
      Link Parent
      A quirky as this is, I'm still happy she named them after qualities she likes about Swift as opposed to something more specific like her album titles Swiftiephylus though, that's a genus class...

      A quirky as this is, I'm still happy she named them after qualities she likes about Swift as opposed to something more specific like her album titles

      Swiftiephylus though, that's a genus class tribute for sure. I'd be extremely extremely disappointed in the artist if her people don't reach out for private meet and greet + all expenses paid trips for at least her four next tour locations, because to me it would indicate Swift isn't as a much of a science nerd as I'd want my celebrities to be.

      3 votes