Weird News archive
Weird News on Saturday, October 17, 2026
19 stories, newest first, each credited to the outlet that reported it. Everything BBN aired that day.
- USE IT IN A SENTENCE
Use It in a Sentence: Bamboozle
The word comes from 17th-century slang, where bam meant to trick or con someone; it has not been a compliment at any point since.
Reported by en.wiktionary.org · with a Short - REAL LAW OR INTERNET LAW?
Longyearbyen, Norway: Nobody can be buried in this Arctic town.
Longyearbyen has barred burials of bodies since 1950, though ashes can be buried with government permission; the court's other two laws got mixed verdicts.
Reported by Wikipedia, thelocal.fr, legislation.gov.uk - WEIRD NEWS
Trump's doctor remark meets a quieter weird roundup
The remarks about Obama-era healthcare came in a politically charged debate, and a light News of the Weird roundup also ran; the buck held steady.
Reported by Yahoo · with a Short - UP THERE TONIGHT
Aurora Odds: One Point Six Seven, Pack a Windbreaker Anyway
NOAA's forecast puts the planetary K index at no more than one point six seven, far under the storm threshold of five; bring a jacket anyway.
Reported by ll.thespacedevs.com, Wikipedia - THE MAILBAG
The BBN Mailbag: "Do you guys have weekend plans?"
Viewers wrote in about weekend plans, breakfast classification and woodchucks; the desk answered all three with unearned authority.
Reported by BBN - PET OF THE DAY
Oldest dwelling in the Western Hemisphere found at 13,800-year-old…
The Alaska base camp may hold the earliest domesticated dogs in the Americas as well as the oldest dwelling; researchers describe the dogs as only a possibility.
Reported by Live Science - VIRAL WATCH
'Wonderfully Weird': Breztri's AI-Created Llama Ads Break Pharma…
The Breztri campaign was made with AI and stars llamas, which MediaPost says breaks the usual drug-ad formula; the side effects are presumably still read quickly.
Reported by MediaPost - RANK IT
Chair types
The original beanbag chair, the Sacco, came from three Italian designers in 1968, per Wikipedia; four chair types now face a tier board.
Reported by Wikipedia · with a Short - WEIRD NEWS
99-year-old woman becomes world's oldest wing walker
A British woman marked her ninety-ninth birthday with a wing walk, which Guinness World Records recognizes as the oldest ever; the stunt has no age limit.
Reported by UPI - THE GOAT FILES
Clue 6: THE NOTEBOOK
Gloria discovered her locked office notebook opened to a page she hadn't written, featuring handwriting neater than her own.
Reported by BBN · with a Short - EXPLAIN IT LIKE I'M FIVE
Why do I hear myself in a big cave?
Sound travels about three hundred forty-three metres per second in dry air at twenty degrees Celsius, which is why a far-off wall sends your shout back late.
Reported by Wikipedia - THE BBN REVIEW
The BBN Review: Umbrella
Jonas Hanway is credited as the first man to carry an umbrella habitually in London, braving public ridicule; the review is harsher than the crowd.
Reported by Wikipedia - BEAT THE ANCHOR
The Tour de France, first held in 1903, is a race for what?
The race began in nineteen oh three, and according to Wikipedia it grew out of a rivalry between two sports newspapers; riders, thankfully, are not pie.
Reported by Wikipedia - THE BBN APPRAISAL
Teapot, Saint-Cloud factory, circa 1720 to 1730
The small soft-paste porcelain teapot, decorated with birds, stands about thirteen and a half centimetres tall; it has outlasted every tea party.
Reported by the Met - GOOD NEWS
Apple TV biopic 'Tenzing' honors Everest's unsung hero
The Apple TV film follows Tenzing Norgay, long labeled an assistant in the West despite climbing Everest as Edmund Hillary's partner; the review calls it noble.
Reported by New York Post - HISTORY, BADLY REENACTED
Two Kings, One Wrestling Match
Henry VIII and Francis I met for seventeen days in June 1520 beneath tents and wine fountains; the no-competing rule lasted until the wrestling.
Reported by Wikipedia - ASK THE DESK
Alberta vote Monday: polls lean heavily toward staying
Seventy percent of Albertans want to remain in Canada, while just twenty-two percent support starting the legal process toward separation in Monday's vote.
Reported by CTV News, Leger - ASK AN EXPERT
Why is it cold in winter?
NASA Space Place says Earth's axis always points in the same direction as it orbits the Sun; the seasons come from that tilt, not distance.
Reported by NASA · with a Short - THE GOAT FILES
Clue 5: PRIOR VICTIMS
A herder in the case file says the goat has a history, though he would not name anyone; the case, officially, does not exist.
Reported by BBN · with a Short