Kim Il-Sung and his giant tumor [Warning: Graphic]

Hi-ho, we're going off on a trip to Weirdville with this one, folks! I was just thinking of North Korea yesterday because something is going down in the Hermit Kingdom after Kim Jong-un unloaded on his goons over something related to COVID-19. North Korea officially has no confirmed cases of the virus, but they're probably just not reporting them to the outside world. They aren't nicknamed the Hermit Kingdom for nothing. This did lead me down a line of thought about how devastating the virus could be in that country given how pisspoor it's managed. Famine and mass starvation are common specters there, to the point that malnourishment has successive generations of North Koreans to physically shrink. Somehow, somehow, that reminded me of something I read (and saw) about Kim Il-Sung, the founder of the communist state: the man had a giant tumor on the back of his neck.

No, really, I'm not kidding. Going by the rare photographs, the tumor was about the size of a grapefruit right on the back of his neck. Pictures of his condition were rare because Kim Il-Sung was the leader of a brutal regime and nobody was going to be snapping candids if they didn't want to wind up in a labor camp or in front of a firing squad.

According to Wikipedia, it was a condition called calcinosis, where calcium deposits form on the body. Clearly, milk did not do this man's body any good. Shockingly, this isn't even what killed him in 1994. No, instead he dropped from a heart attack.

I'm posting a couple pictures of it, but I'm putting under a read more because you never know who might be grossed out by something like that.

A face only a mother(land) could love

Alternate title: The Soviet Yak-28 "Brewer-C" is one ugly aircraft.

Via Wikipedia.

I get that the Reds valued function over form, but even that has to have proper limits! Some comrade really looked at the final product and thought "Yeah, this looks good." The wings look so thin and narrow in that picture that I'm surprised that they could support the weight of those engines. Probably why they needed landing gear on the ends.

M36 Tank Destroyer

Via here, here, and here.

Well, that post about William and Kate naming their son George was pretty popular, so have some pictures!

William III.

George IV.

Kate Winslet.

What do you mean "those aren't the right ones"?

British Empire, circa 1921

A fairly interesting map showing the empire's territorial holdings in the years between the world wars.

Wikipedia.

What I think is interesting (and amusing) is the size disparity between the UK itself and some of its colonies and dominions. The disparity becomes even bigger when you consider that Africa is the second largest continent and its size was often decreased (while the UK's was increased).

Actually, Belgium has the UK beat when it comes to size difference. The Belgian Congo was so much bigger than the Kingdom that controlled it, it looked like somebody gave Rhode Island control of a territory the size of China.

The Soviet Union, though, holy freaking crap.

Francis II, King of France and possible 16th century pimp

"Bitch better have my money."

I regret nothing about this post. Nothing.

Picture via Wikipedia. Questionable fashion decisions by Francis II of France.

Holy crap, this B-17 ticked off the wrong German

I don't think duct tape is going to fix that...

And I didn't notice until now, but there's a Browning M2 .50 cal hanging from the plane like a chunk of meat hanging from a flap of skin. Holy crap. According to the caption that went with this picture on Wikipedia, the bombardier didn't survive the mission. Well, duh. Wolverine from the X-Men probably wouldn't have survived that. But in all seriousness, I can't believe that the pilot and co-pilot survived such a hit. No wonder they called them Flying Fortresses.

Picture via Wikipedia.

They aren't called the Greatest Generation for nothing

Into the Jaws of Death by Ralph B. Sargent.

Via Wikipedia.

HMS Dreadnought, the ship that literally changed the game

Credit: Wikipedia.

The HMS Dreadnought, lead ship of not only the Dreadnought class, but dreadnoughts themselves. Dreadnoughts were a beast of a ship - larger, heavier and better armed and armored than other ships of the time. In fact, the Dreadnought rendered every battleship of the era obsolete by its mere existence, they became known as pre-dreadnoughts. Launched in 1906, she was probably the most feared ship on the planet, yet never saw serious combat. No joke, the only ship the Dreadnought ever sank was an unfortunate German submarine that it rammed.

The Flying Squadron of the Spanish-American War

Credit: Murat Halstead/Wikipedia.

The Flying Squadron was the name given to a group of U.S. Navy warships that fought the Spanish fleet around Cuba during the Spanish-American War and operated in the Gulf, Atlantic and Indies. The squadron consisted of two battleships (Texas and Massachusetts), two protected cruisers (Minneapolis and Columbia, an armored cruiser (Brooklyn) and several other ships. The Squadron was commanded by Commodore Winfield Schley.

John Paul Jones and his return home

Credit: Wikipedia.

John Paul Jones was a famous naval officer who commanded the fledgling Continental Navy during the American Revolution and is regarded as the Father of the United States Navy. Jones is an interesting man and ballsy as all hell. During the war, he lead raids not only against English shipping, but two raids of British Isles themselves - first at Whitehaven, where he planned to burn all the ships in the harbor and anything else he could, followed by a raid against an Earl's estate on St. Mary's Isle, where he planned to kidnap and hold the Earl for ransom! Like I said, this guy was ballsy. He also participated in an attempted invasion of England by a combined Spanish and French force in 1779 and with several French ships under his nominal command, attempted to create a diversion to lure the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet away. The invasion failed, but in the subsequent battle between his ship, the Bon Homme Richard and the HMS Serapis, the legend of his famously proclaiming "I have not yet begun to fight!" was created. There is some doubt as to his saying that, but he did say "I may sink, but I'll be damned if I strike" in response to the captain of the Serapis asking for his surrender.

Did I mention that at the time, Jone's ship was sinking? And just to top it off, he won that battle and took the Serapis as his own. After the war, he decided to stay in Europe, first living in Paris, then moving to Russia and taking a job in their navy. He eventually left after political backstabbing a smear campaign directed against him by jealous Russian officers and returned to Paris, where he died on July 18, 1792. He was buried at St. Louis Cemetary, which belonged to the Royal Family of France. Unfortunately, the French Revolution hit not long after, the Revolutionary government that took over sold the land and I guess in the chaos, the everybody forgot "oh hey, there are bodies buried here, somebody might want to note that."