Over 80 years have passed since US Army Air Forces (USAAF) second lieutenant Warren Singer went missing along with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane he had been maneuvering as he and 165 others crossed the sea toward Italy to conduct air raids on Manfredonia and Foggia.

Out of the 166 P-38s that had left, only 137 successfully completed their task. The rest had to turn back as they encountered mechanical issues. According to some of Singer's comrades' eyewitness accounts, they had seen Singer signaling that he was struggling to drop his fuel tanks, so he had to turn back.

However, on his way back, something must have happened, because nobody had seen him or his aircraft again. A year and a day after he went missing, he was officially declared deceased on August 26, 1944.

Now, the wreckage of the P-38 has been found by Italian divers about four miles off the coast of Manfredonia. Dr. Fabio Bisciotti, one of the divers who located and identified the wreck, said that Singer must have ditched the plane but possibly struggled and drowned, as Singer's remains were not in the wreckage.

Still, this provides much-needed closure for the family that Singer had left behind. He was only 22 years old when he went MIA, about five months after he had married his wife, Margaret, and was expecting a baby daughter, Peggy, who was born in January 1944.

Despite his unexpectedly short life, Warren has 12 descendants, along with his grandson Dave Clark who spoke with the media after the discovery of his late grandfather's aircraft.

(Image credit: US Air Force/Wikimedia Commons)

Eleven years ago yesterday, a monkey in a fluffy winter coat was seen walking around alone in an IKEA parking lot in Toronto, after he escaped from his cage and opened the door of the car it was in. The six-month-old Japanese macaque, named Darwin, instantly became one of the biggest memes of 2012. Keeping a macaque as a pet was illegal, though, and Darwin was taken from his owner.  

You will be happy to learn that Darwin is alive and well and thriving at Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Ontario. The macaques and lemurs who live there enjoy relative freedom and privacy compared to the homes, zoos, and research facilities they were taken from. It's not as good as being free in their native habitats, but for monkeys who did not grow up learning to live in the wild, it's the best life they could ask for. Japanese macaques normally live in a cold climate, so Darwin is not out of his element in Ontario. This species can live to be around 30 years old.  -via Boing Boing

The Pantone Color Institute has announced that their Color of the Year for 2024 is PANTONE 13-1023, also called Peach Fuzz. They describe it as "a velvety gentle peach whose all-embracing spirit enriches heart, mind, and body." While it is "enriching and nurturing," the color is also "quietly sophisticated and contemporary." The color is soft and gentle, unobtrusive enough to be considered a neutral color, yet more interesting than most true neutrals. It's too pink to be orange, and too orange to be pink, and much more pastel than either color.

Some companies are already offering products in conjunction with Pantone like wallpaper, fabric, and rugs. This is a color I could get behind, but I'd rather taste it than use it to paint the walls. This is the institute's 25th Color of the Year, which they have presented as a forecast for the coming year since 1999. You can see many of them in our previous posts. I guess that makes them the grandaddy of "influencers." Smithsonian has a roundup of reactions from various sources.

One of the concerns people have about electric vehicles is charging the battery. In some places, charging stations are still few and far between. The ability to plug in a car at your home is not yet universal. And even if there were plenty of charging stations everywhere, it takes some time to get a car fully charged. Wouldn't it be quicker and more convenient to just swap out a low battery for a charged one? That technology already exists, in China and a few places in Europe. From the license plate and text on the walls, it appears that Tom Scott is in the Netherlands, checking out a battery-swap from the Chinese automaker Nio. What's even more amazing is that the swap station is completely automated! Nio cars will self-park, and the station itself lines up the car precisely so that a robot can take out the old battery and install a new one. Neat, huh? Only time will tell if this infrastructure will ever be cost-efficient enough to equip that vast United States with Nio charging stations.  

Today, I ran across the above image on Twitter. It made me laugh because it reflects the historical reality of the industrial disparity between the United States and Japan during World War II. The Japanese Empire was doomed because it gravely misunderstood both American culture and the importance of industrial capacity in a war waged in the 1940s.

To my knowledge, the United States did not have a ship dedicated to producing birthday cakes. But it did have a vessel devoted entirely to the mass production of ice cream for sailors. This was a BRL (Barge, Refrigerated, Large) of the US Navy that could manufacture 1,500 gallons of ice cream every day.

Yes, my sources are unclear about whether it's 1,500 gallons per day or or per hour. But at that point of ice cream production, it no longer matters which is correct.

-via The Last Great Arrakian Dynasty

During the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16th century, the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi had one brutal but relentless command to his troops: to kill all and bring their heads back to Japan. The massive slaughter of civilians piled up to the tens of thousands, and it became so large that the troops had difficulty sending the decapitated heads back to Japan. So, what they did was to cut off the noses from the corpses and ship those instead.

According to Stephen R. Turnbull, a British historian who specializes in Japanese military history, particularly the samurai period, the head count rose up to over 200,000 with 185,738 Korean heads and 29,014 Chinese heads.

However, when it came to noses, it's unsure whether the count reflected a corpse or not, as soldiers devised a clever way to inflate the body count by simply cutting off living people's noses. Apparently, these Koreans lived the rest of their lives without noses. Sometimes, without ears as well.

The noses have been buried in two places, Kyoto and Okayama. The Kyoto site of the noses was on the grounds of Hokoji Temple, and atop sits a shrine to honor the victims, which according to the chief priest of the temple, showed Hideyoshi's "great mercy and compassion". Initially, the shrine was called hanazuka, or "mound of noses", but they changed it to mimizuka, or "mound of ears", because the first one sounded too cruel.

The Japanese public were generally unaware of the presence of these mounds or the history attached to them until a few decades ago, in the 1980s, when they decided to teach that part of Japanese history in schools.

(Image credit: Epachamo/Wikimedia Commons)

Back in the 60s, when there were no Ubers or surrogate drivers or designated driving services, Turkey had a very popular service for drunk people. Küfeci (pronounced "koo-FEH-ji), or basket men, were called upon to bring the drunks home. The term came from the root "küfe" which refers to someone who was so drunk that they could no longer stand up or walk. There's even a saying "Kufelik Olmak" which roughly translates to "needing to be carried home in a basket."

One might think, "For what reason would these men be doing such a laborious task?" Well, these küfeci actually have day jobs as porters, carrying people's baggage and other belongings. When the sun sets, they do side jobs carrying the people instead.

Of course, the drunks themselves were not hiring these basket men, as one can imagine they would be too drunk to even string anything intelligible. Rather, the pub owners are the ones who call on these küfeci to lug the drunks back home safely, so that the owners can close up shop.

It's an interesting way of getting some extra cash, though I'm not entirely sure about the logistics of the whole matter. But, I guess the porters must be strong enough to carry full-grown men, put them inside a basket, then transport them home. It's also possible that several people would help put the drunks inside the basket and leave the rest to the küfeci.

(Image credit: History in Memes)

Our family Christmas card for 2023 🎄❤️

📸 Josh Shinner pic.twitter.com/X9du9EkpaI

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) December 9, 2023

The Prince and Princess of Wales have just recently uploaded their family Christmas card photo for 2023. It features Prince William and Kate Middleton with their three children: George (10), Charlotte (8), and Louis (5). They're all fabulously wearing a casual white shirt and trousers, with the photo being shot by Josh Shinner indoors on a gray background.

If you look closely at the photo, as user Mendee Menkyu astutely points out, you will notice at the left hand corner of the chair that there seems to be two sets of legs, which apparently looks like they were a Photoshop edit gone wrong. Since Charlotte is wearing the same type of sneakers, perhaps it had been a different shot that got mashed up with the final one.

However, several users clarified that there was no Photoshop mishap, but rather just a little bit of an optical illusion, in which William's leg just happened to line up with Louis' black shorts making it look like there are a pair of legs unaccounted for.

Another user, BossyMother, also thought that they had Photoshopped Louis' fingers, making them look like as if he has six. However, as others corrected, the placement of his hand on the armchair only made the gap between his middle and ring finger appear as though a finger is hidden underneath. Although, to be honest, this one is a bit of a stretch.

(Image credit: The Prince and Princess of Wales/X)

In 2016, the cast of Will & Grace had a get-together to film a short video about the 2016 presidential campaign, encouraging Americans to vote in the elections. The video received so much attention that the old producers of the show thought there was enough to make a revival of the show. NBC brought the show back in 2017, and it ran for three seasons until 2020.

Two years ago, the Friends cast made a reunion special as an extra to accompany the 236 episodes of the original series which were released along with the launch of HBO Max in 2021. Although it didn't spark any interest in reviving the series, the special, along with the ten seasons of Friends, did contribute to drive subscriptions to HBO Max.

Now, the surviving cast of M*A*S*H, will have their own two-hour reunion special set to air on New Year's Day. After over 40 years since the last episode aired, this reunion special will feature interviews from the producers and cast members, never-before-seen footage, behind-the-scenes photos, and tributes to all the cast and crew who have since passed.

(Image credit: MASH/Fandom Wire)

The child in the photographs is Hans-Georg Henke, who was only 15 years old when he was forced to enlist in the Luftwaffe, the German air force. There are two conflicting accounts about the story behind those photos. The first comes from the child in the photo, and the other from the photographer who took it.

According to Henke, the moment that photo was taken, their troops were stormed by the Soviets in Stettin. After retreating to Rostock, they were completely overwhelmed by the Soviets and captured. He said that his tears came from the realization that he had lost everything he had ever held dear.

However, the photographer, American photojournalist John Florea, had a different recollection of what happened that day. First of all, he said that the photo was taken in Rechtenbach, not in Rostock. Furthermore, Florea asserted that American forces, not the Soviets, captured Henke and his troops. Finally, Florea said that he believe Henke had been crying not from a feeling of defeat, but from combat shock. As an added bonus, although Henke repeatedly stated he had always worn rags on his feet, the photos show that he was wearing boots.

What then could have explained Henke's alternate version of events? Most likely, he had changed the facts of the story to get on the good side of the East German Communists, who were wary of anyone who had surrendered to American troops. Henke died on October 9, 1997, and he went to his grave telling the same story all throughout his life.

(Image credit: Rohit Singh/Quora)

Over a decade ago, several news outlets published an exhaustive list of persons who were in the line of succession to the British throne. It had included 4,973 people, excluding the current monarch at the time, Queen Elizabeth II. One person in particular caught people's attention. Her name is Karin Vogel, and she is the last person in the line of succession.

What put her on the list? It goes way back to, presumably, the common ancestor of all the people in the line of succession, Sophia of Hanover, who was the granddaughter of King James VI and I (as King of Scotland and as King of England and Ireland, respectively, after the Union of the Crowns).

The Act of Settlement 1701 became the precedent for determining who belongs to the line of succession, and one of the reasons why Karin Vogel is included in it. The act states that the English and Irish crowns can only be passed to Protestants. Anyone in the royal lineage who became Roman Catholic or married one, was automatically disqualified.

Vogel is the youngest of three siblings and is working as a therapist in Rostock, Germany. When asked about her thoughts on being the last in line to the British throne, she simply relished the fact that she has no need to worry about Great Britain.

Her elder brothers and their children come before her in the line of succession so, only in the highly unlikely event that the almost 5,000 people who come before her suddenly disappear, will she have to worry about being crowned queen. For now, she is quite happy helping elderly people with chronic pain issues.

(Image credit: Karin Vogel/Eurohistory)

Mental Map Oversimplification (MMO) is a real thing, but it might be overstating things to say people "suffer" from it. MMO is the tendency to think of geographic names and terms as straightforward, when real places on earth do not follow linguistic shortcuts and borders are not simply straight lines.

Americans tend to think of Canada as "the North" (and so do Canadians), but geographically, more than 60% of Canadians live south of Seattle. In fact, the most southern part of Canada is at the same latitude as California! We also look at South America as "south" when it's also very much east of North America. Brazil is much closer to Africa than it is to the US, but that's hard to visualize because of Brazil's continent's name. And you might not realize that Chicago, Illinois, and Rome, Italy, are at the same latitude. Well, Rome is very slightly further north. The local climate of those cities make that hard to believe.

Read more mind-blowing examples of MMO at Atlas Obscura. You'll start to look at maps in a whole new way.

(Image credit: Victoria Ellis)

Twitter user Ted Merz shares this photo that he snapped from New York City. It shows a conventional delivery bike, which are common in the city. But this one has a printer mounted over the front wheel. The printer is loaded with legal size paper and has a port (presumably a USB) to connect to laptops.

What's it for? In the Twitter thread, commenters suggest possible uses. One remembers a bicycle messenger who was also a notary public, which lawyers found particularly useful. Another suggests that it's designed for, specifically, printing and delivering contracts.

I'm also curious what kind of printer can take this kind of a beating and still work.

-via Super Punch

Janelle Shane has been testing the relationship between artificial intelligence algorithms, possibly to see if they can operate without human input. They aren't doing all that well. In a recent project, she had ChatGPT4 generate lyrics to Christmas songs and then had DALL-E3 illustrate them. This is their attempt at "The 12 Days of Christmas." While the neural network understands how to draw birds and tree ornaments, it doesn't really understand how to use them. Both programs dropped the ball when it comes to numbers and words.

Another prompt had the programs illustrating Santa's reindeer, as they were named in the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," which was also used as the intro to "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." The name labels weren't 100% fractured, but the small print below was a mess. Were they supposed to be species names or the full birth name of each animal? The algorithms did better making cartoon illustrations of "Jingle Bells," if you don't count the spelling of the lyrics. Check those songs out at AI Weirdness. -via Nag on the Lake

You've heard the old saying, there is strength in numbers. There's also lots of money in groups who cooperate with each other to commit crimes. With money comes power, and money and power can attract more members and keep those members loyal to the group. There's always someone else who wants a piece of the action. Organized crime includes all kinds of cooperative groups, from street gangs to drug cartels to the Mafia, some of which have continued for hundreds of years. You have to be pretty organized to keep that running. The activities of these groups sometimes run over into politics and legitimate business wherever money and the power can be found. However, this video does not include political or religious terrorist groups, because that would be too broad of a subject. While violence is often involved, these crime organizations are mainly going after riches. Weird History brings us eleven stories of organized crime activities from all over the world.