Good Weird News

One Washington-area party reportedly included a full presentation about radium. At last, humanity has combined the house party with the mandatory corporate training seminar.

The Atlantic reports that increasingly elaborate themed parties among Gen Z now feature guests delivering PowerPoint presentations on unusual subjects. Attendance is presumably mandatory. Slides are presumably dense.

Previous generations danced. This generation has decided that what a party really needs is a Q&A session.

Municipalities across the Netherlands reported very few applications for exemptions from the country's new consumer-fireworks restrictions.

Officials are preparing for enforcement while acknowledging that illegal fireworks remain a concern — which is to say, the ban is working on the people who were already following the rules.

The exemption form reportedly asks applicants to justify their need for an explosion. Apparently, very few people could.

Brookfield Zoo welcomed a newborn squirrel monkey, born July 30 to parents Gizmo and Sandy. The infant is currently concentrating on the traditional newborn priorities of clinging to Mum and contributing nothing to quarterly GDP.

The baby had not yet been named and its sex had not yet been determined. It has no opinions on anything. It is, by all accounts, doing extremely well.

A pair of extremely relaxed rodents wandered into a Brazilian state legislature. They offered no comment, introduced no bills, and may therefore have had a highly productive session.

Capybaras are famously calm. They are friends with every other animal. They have no known enemies. Their approval ratings, if measured, would almost certainly exceed those of the legislators they were visiting.

Scientists say a leftover SpaceX rocket segment slammed into the Moon at roughly 5,400 mph after drifting off course. Lunar authorities have not announced charges.

Scientists identified a debris plume consistent with the impact after an extended uncontrolled trajectory. The Moon, which has been accumulating impact craters for approximately 4.5 billion years, appears unbothered.

Researchers are working on fertility control for invasive grey squirrels using bait designed to appeal to them. Somewhere, a squirrel has become deeply suspicious of free hazelnuts.

UK conservation research is exploring an oral contraceptive approach delivered through species-targeted bait, as part of efforts to protect native red squirrels. The grey squirrels have not been informed of the programme. This is considered essential to its success.