Singapore Airlines has been financially devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Working with the Singapore Tourism Board, it plans to, by the end of October, launch a series of flights that will take off from Changi Airport, stay airborne for about three hours, and then return home.

It's a government subsidy program. The Singaporean national government will give tourism credits to passengers. The Straits Times reports:

Mr Stefan Wood, director at aircraft charter firm Singapore Air Charter, told ST that he had approached SIA about the possibility of setting up a joint venture to provide such flights to nowhere using the Airbus A-350 planes from SIA. [...]

"We will make an announcement at the appropriate time if we go ahead with these plans."

Several airlines worldwide, including EVA Air in Taiwan, have piloted flights to nowhere in an attempt to cope with the drastic fall in demand for air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

-via Marginal Revolution | Photo: Steve Lynes

No, it’s not like the cannibal show you see on TV. Carl Emil Pettersson, an average Swedish sailor, was shipwrecked and washed ashore on an island called Tabar (now part of New Guinea's New Ireland province) in 1906. Upon waking up on the shore, he and other survivors were met by a group of hostile cannibals. Don’t worry, Pettersson didn’t end up becoming dinner, as Cracked detailed:

They took him to meet the ruler of the island, King Lamry, and when Carl was asked to justify his existence, he said that he had plenty to offer. He could bring Tabar great wealth, he said, if they just gave him a chance. He had some knowledge from his education in Sweden that could be of use to them. Carl wasn't able to, say, wire a working phone network for the island, or build a steam engine from scratch. But he did know a thing or two about orchards. So he dug up and moved some palm trees in a way that produced a lovely bunch of coconuts.

Promise delivered! This went a long way toward pleasing King Lamry, and also toward earning the favor of the king's daughter, Princess Singdo. She and Carl fell in love. A few years after he'd arrived on the island as a Grubhub delivery, Carl and Princess Singdo got married and had nine children. When Lamry died, Carl Pettersson became King Carl. His subjects gave him the nickname "Strong Charley," and he made good on his promise to bring wealth to Tabar again, after discovering a gold deposit on the nearby island of Simberi.

Image via Cracked 

Watching this video can make you scrunch in pain seeing the cat claw at the screen, or admire the cat for perfectly slicing the falling fruits in Fruit Ninja. Hopefully, its claws are not sharp enough to scratch the iPad’s screen, or maybe the owner has a screen protector on it. At least a screen protector is a cheaper option than a new iPad! What do you think about the cat’s masterful swipes? 

pic.twitter.com/EYuAMFUcxR

— out of context cats (@catoutofcontxt) September 11, 2020

Image screenshot via Twitter

We aren’t living in the happiest of times right now, and most of us are just trying our best to get by. Some self-help media will recommend exercises, activities, hobbies, or meals that can help us a little. But did you know that some of those recommendations can aggravate underlying mental health issues? Take drinking coffee as an example. Who doesn’t love drinking coffee (or any caffeinated drink)? This refreshing drink can impact our mental health on the negative side, as Discover magazine details: 

“When we’re talking about caffeine and about alcohol and their impacts on mental health, the topic that you start focusing on is sleep,” says Alexander Blount, a psychologist and professor emeritus of family medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Sleep has a big impact on how people manage their mental health and feel about themselves generally, says Blount. Loss of sleep contributes to the development of some psychiatric conditions, like depression and bipolar disorder. People struggling with their mental health are more likely to struggle with sleep, too. In fact, 50 to 80 percent of patients in treatment for mental health issues also report sleep problems, says Blount.

Caffeine in moderation acts as a mood brightener, says Blount. There’s a difference between drinking a cup of coffee or two in the morning to get started and feel a little sharper and drinking eight cups or more over the course of the day, he says. Even if you’re able to fall asleep after drinking that much caffeine, your sleep quality is probably poor. Poor sleep quality can cause problems for people struggling with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder in particular, says Blouth.

Too much caffeine can also increase existing feelings of stress and anxiety. Most people are familiar with the energy boost and jitters that can accompany getting a sudden shot of espresso or an energy drink. The substance increases your body’s alertness and in doing so can make someone already struggling even more anxious.

Image via Discover magazine 

On Labor Day weekend, more than 200 campers were trapped at Shaver Lake near Fresno, California, when wildfires surrounded them. The California Army National Guard, who had been called up to fight the flames, took two helicopters over mountain crests and through thick smoke to rescue them.  

Emergency crews on the ground from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, radioed to Rosamond that it was too risky. The Creek Fire in the Sierra National Forest was out of control and they should put down at a nearby ranch miles away and wait for the smoke to clear, they were told.

"I was listening to the radio calls when the Chinook approached restricted airspace" near the lake, said Army Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, adjutant general of the California National Guard.

"Chief Rosamond told them, 'Just tell us where the people are. We're going to go get them,'" Baldwin said in a video conference call Monday with the aircrews and defense reporters.

And so they did. Chief Warrant Officer 5 Joseph Rosamond piloted a Chinook and CWO 5 Kipp Goding took a Black Hawk into the campground three times Saturday night. They and their crews loaded up 214 campers, twelve of them injured, and airlifted them to safety in Fresno. Read the story at Military.com and see a video of the Chinook approaching here. -via Fark

(Images credit: 40th Combat Aviation Brigade)

... And they’re more fun to watch than the countless dance videos and harmful pranks that you see on the app.

Classical music is very underrated today, and so it is always a welcome thing to see classical music stuff in mainstream media.

Classic FM has compiled some of the classical music TikTok videos so that we won’t have to search for them on the app. See the funny clips over at the site.

(Image Credit: @mollieobrien/ TikTok/ Classic FM)

When this reporter asked Elon Musk how his son is doing, Elon was confused as to what or who the reporter was talking about. 

“How’s X Æ A-12?” asked the reporter.

“Sorry?” Elon replied, not recognizing what the off-cam reporter was talking about. The reporter then repeated his question.

“Oh, you mean my kid!” replied Elon with a laugh. “That sounds like a password,” he remarked.

Musk and the reporter both laughed it off, thankfully making it much less awkward than it had the potential to be.

He added: "He's great! I think next time I am going to bring him, maybe come back in a few months and bring him along."

But how does one properly pronounce X Æ A-12?

When Joe Rogan asked Musk how to pronounce the baby's name on his podcast back in May, he tried to clear things up a bit.

Speaking on the show, he said: "I mean it's just X, the letter X. And then, the Æ is, like, pronounced 'Ash'. And then, A-12, A-12 is my contribution. Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71, is the coolest plane ever."

That, or you could just call the baby by his nickname — Little X.

Speaking to Bloomberg, first-time mother and musician Grimes - real name Claire Elise Boucher - confirmed that the little guy's nickname is 'Little X'.

Yep, that makes sense. Sounds like a rapper, or maybe a wrestler.

Well, I guess I’ll just stick with the nickname. What about you?

(Image Credit: Elon Musk/ Twitter)

One of the best ways to make people remember is by giving them a picture of yourself with your name on it. That practice, however, is not much done today because everything is digital. But there still are ways to make people remember you, such as this one. It’s a bit annoying, though.

Yep, you can now get your face printed on a pancake. Well, you can get your face printed on a dorayaki, which is a Japanese traditional pancake usually filled with red bean paste.

The face dorayakis were launched by Japanese retailer li na stores in a bid to help people stay in touch with each other during the pandemic, according to 9Gag.

Anyone can get their face – or anyone else’s face for that matter – painted on the round treats, and you can even get text printed on them too.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: li na stores/ UNILAD)

Many video game companies recently have been releasing remakes of their respective games, such as Capcom with their Resident Evil 2 and 3, and Square Enix with their Final Fantasy VII Remake. Now, it seems that Ubisoft has done the same, as they recently released a trailer for their remake of the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time game. Unfortunately, people were disappointed by the aforementioned game, and you can see that disappointment in the comments section of the video. 

One person from the comments said that the remake, which will be released on PS4 next year, looks like a PS3 or an Xbox 360 game.

Well, what do you think?

(Video Credit: IGN/ YouTube)

A husband and wife were moving some boxes outside their apartment in Winter Haven, Florida. Suddenly, the husband spotted an alligator lurking inside a storage shed. Alarmed, his wife immediately called 911. 

A few moments later, Deputy Mark Trexler arrived on the scene, and he managed to wrestle with the alligator, which apparently was just an inflatable pool toy.

Well done, Deputy!

(Image Credit: Polk County Sheriff/ Twitter)

The ball python (whose identity the St. Louis Zoo is protecting), laid a clutch of eggs despite being the oldest known snake in a zoo and, even more impressively, having no males to mate with. How is this possible? Stuff reports that the snake may have kept a sperm sample handy:

Mark Wanner, manager of herpetology at the St. Louis Zoo, said it unusual but not rare for ball pythons to reproduce asexually. The snakes also sometimes store sperm for delayed fertilization.

Photo: St. Louis Zoo/Chawa Schuette

Science Insider gives us the real poop on taking the perfect poop. Yeah, this is very explicit, but at least it's all animated. Sure, you've been pooping for many years, and you've gotten pretty good at it by now. Still, there may be something in here you don't already know, and if you don't need the information now, you might some time in the future. -via Digg

The Hackney Mosaic Project has been beautifying the Hackney neighborhood of London by installing locally-produced mosaic art at Hackney Downs park and other places. Under the guidance of mosaicist Tessa Hunkin, people learn to make sturdy art from broken tiles and ceramics.

The Hackney Mosaic Project aims to help people with addiction and mental health problems and at the same time to improve neglected corners of the city. We engage volunteers, recruited both from the Hackney recovery Services and the local community, in making large mosaics in Hackney Parks and other locations. We also teach and encourage them to create their own artworks.

The Project does not just make colourful pictures out of broken fragments - it also helps to piece back broken lives, and build a new community by bringing people together around a shared vision.

The project's latest public work is a large mosaic called the Hounds of Hackney Downs, the second of its kind, featuring portraits of the dogs who frequent the park. The mosaic was installed Wednesday, and the official unveiling will be later this month, to which the dogs themselves are invited. You can see closeups of the mosaic dogs at Spitalfields Life.

Read more about the project at its website. You can even buy some mosaics through their Etsy store. -via Nag on the Lake

Mary Donahue, a college professor, champion swimmer, outdoorswoman, and, well, her list of accomplishments is very long, writes about how park rangers and staff at Yosemite National Park have attempted to make human food stores safe from bears. Bears are smart, ravenous, have a keen sense of smell, and very flexible paws.

They can manipulate many physical objects, so one food storage locker design requires the user to insert the handle into the lock before turning it.

Even if you don't know the kings of history, you can recognize that the young man in the portrait is a Habsburg. Charles von Habsburg was born in 1500 as the heir to half the kingdoms of Europe, and eventually became the Holy Roman Emperor. As such, the matchmaking began early. Charles was engaged to be married by the age of seven. However, these things don't always work out.

Charles had an almost inexhaustible number of possible brides. During his lifetime, he was engaged to at least five different women, with only one resulting in marriage. He was engaged to two English princesses, two French princesses, and one Portuguese princess. Two of his fiancées were his close cousins.

That's what royals do. Read about the unfortunate early love life of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at The Freelance History Writer. -via Strange Company