Midday Open Thread: Celebrate Me Home

Frank Moody was prepared to give up his life over the battlefields of Europe. What he didn’t bargain for was giving up his life over Lake Huron, off the coast of Michigan. But on April 11, 1944, that’s what happened when Moody, a Black Tuskegee Airman, was flying a training run with three other pilots in his P-39 fighter and his plane suddenly augured in, crashing into the deep Huron waters.

U. S. intelligence officials are issuing a stark warning to America’s former “Top Gun” pilots: Don’t help China. A new threat bulletin issued Wednesday warns that China’s People’s Liberation Army “continues to target” current and former Western fighter pilots to help teach Chinese pilots how to master one of the hardest maneuvers in aviation: taking off and landing on aircraft carriers.

Never underestimate the mind of a crow. Members of a family of birds that includes ravens, rooks, magpies, and jays, crows have been known to bend wire into hooks to retrieve food; drop nuts in a road so passing cars will crack them open; and recognize humans who have posed a threat, harassing them on-sight even months after their first encounter.

Hot weather is a major threat to health, and this summer is on track to be even hotter than usual. Air conditioning is a lifesaver in these conditions, but a much older technology could protect your safety, your budget, and even the planet. Keeping cool over the next few months could revolve around the blades of a refreshing fan. “Fans are a great way to save money and energy,” says Nicole Miranda, a senior researcher on sustainable cooling at the University of Oxford.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris spent part of a Tuesday episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” rehashing how she found out about former President Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts in his criminal hush money trial. She deflected a light-hearted question from Kimmel about whether the people she watched the verdict with were “pretending to not be happy” when the conviction was announced.

FLORENCE, Italy — An Italian court reconvicted Amanda Knox of slander on Wednesday, even after she was exonerated in the brutal 2007 murder of her British roommate while the two were exchange students in Italy. The court found that Knox had wrongly accused an innocent man, the Congolese owner of the bar where she worked part time, of the killing.