Squiz Today – Friday, 19 November

THE SQUIZ
It’s been a heavy news week, and it being a Friday, we decided to mix it up with, umm, a heavy incident from the past… But it’s relevant and significant, we promise. Today marks the 80th anniversary of a fierce WWII battle between the HMAS Sydney IIand the German ship HSK Kormoran. Also on today, the identity of the only body ever recovered from the Aussie ship is set to be revealed.

OK, I’M INTRIGUED…
That’s the spirit. Let’s break it down: 

The Aussie sailor was one of the 645 men on the HMAS Sydney who died when the cruiser was sunk 100km off the West Australian coast in the 1941 battle. The ship was the pride of the Royal Australian Navy fleet, and its loss remains our greatest naval tragedy.

According to accounts from rescued German sailors, the Aussie ship was fired upon at close range by the Kormoran, which concealed its weapons to look like a merchant ship. The Sydney fired back, ensuring the German ship met the same fate, and it lost more than 80 of its 397 sailors. The ships’ final resting places were unknown until 2008.

As for the unknown sailor, he washed up on Christmas Island on a life raft more than 2 months after the battle. Locals buried him, and in 1950, a photo of the gravesite was given to a historian who eventually handed the information to the Navy. His body was exhumed in 2006, and work started on identifying him. 

SO THEY KNOW WHO HE IS?
They do. The Australian has details of his identity this morning (paywall) – the Unknown Sailor is Thomas Welsby Clark. He was 21yo, tall with fair hair, and a Queenslander. DNA was taken from his teeth and bones and checked against crew members’ families. Most of the sailors on the Sydney were in their late teens and early 20s when it went down. The hope is that naming the unknown sailor will let the families of the other 644 Aussies know that they haven’t been forgotten. Keep an eye out for an announcement from the War Memorial in Canberra this morning…

Former investigator says put down your magnifying glass…

Authorities continue to inspect the area around the home on the NSW mid-north coast where 3yo William Tyrrell was last seen in 2014 as they test his foster mother’s account of his disappearance. They are done inspecting the garage with special radar equipment brought in to see through the concrete slab that was laid after William went missing – the result showed no abnormalities. Gary Jubelin, the detective formerly in charge of the case, said he well and truly interrogated the missing boy’s foster parents during his investigation. He “went hard on them,” he says, but there was “absolutely no evidence that made me suspicious in regards to their involvement.” Jubelin, who left the police force in 2019, warned the public against becoming “armchair detectives” in the case.

Pandemic plan hits the skids

As Victorians wake up to more freedoms than they’ve had since the pandemic flared up last year, the debate about how the government would impose future restrictions via public health orders is far from settled. Premier Daniel Andrews’ plan to shift responsibility for calling a lockdown/mandating the wearing of masks from the chief health officer to the premier/health minister has been put on ice over concerns that the legislation gives too much power to the government. The plan hasn’t been canned – it’s suspended as Team Andrews tries to get enough support to push it through. The current emergency arrangements run out on 15 December, and the Victorian Parliament is scheduled to sit for 3 more days this year… Coalition leader Matthew Guy has offered to work with Andrews “to get a sensible piece of legislation through the Parliament.”

Concerns grow for missing Chinese tennis star

Chinese tennis champ Peng Shuai hasn’t been seen or heard from since she accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault earlier this month. The 35yo’s claims were the first of their kind levelled at an official as senior as Zhang, and stars including Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic say they’re concerned for her wellbeing. Looking to reassure worried outsiders, an email supposedly written by Peng was circulated by Chinese state media saying the allegations she raised were “not true”, and she is “not missing, nor… unsafe”. That set off a few alarm bells… Among them is the Women’s Tennis Association’s Steve Simon, who said he “had a hard time believing” the email was written by Peng. His attempts to contact her have been unsuccessful, and he’s called for “independent and verifiable proof that she is safe”. He says top-level tournaments could be pulled from China as early as next year if that doesn’t happen.

Fixing your fruit

After long and loud calls to make their products easier to fix, tech behemoth Apple has announced it will be launching DIY repair kits from early 2022. In the past, Apple users with broken gadgets have had to go to a certified Apple service centre or risk voiding their warranty. The kits and a new online repair store with parts and tools to repair iPhone 12s and 13s and new Mac computers that use M1 chips will kick off in the US before it opens elsewhere. But there’s a catch: Apple said the service isn’t appropriate for amateur engineers – it’s for “individual technicians with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices”. And they say the “safest and most reliable” repair option is to take it to a professional. Surely you count as an experienced technician if you’ve successfully revived an iPhone with a bag of rice…

Going crypto for the Constitution

A crowdfunding effort to buy a rare copy of the US Constitution from 1787 has raised more than US$46 million in cryptocurrency donations, the group behind the fundraiser claims. That’s more than ConstitutionDAO (which stands for Decentralised Autonomous Organisation…) had expected… It initially aimed to raise $20 million – aka how much the item is expected to sell for at Sotheby’s Auction House this week. Just 13 of the 500 original copies of the special edition Constitution survive, and the copy for sale is only one of 2 that isn’t in the hands of a fancy museum/library. The plan is “to put the constitution in the hands of the people” by displaying the document publicly. And if the bid is unsuccessful, donors will be refunded their cryptocurrency. The auction takes place later today.

It started with enjoying The Weeknd’s new song Moth to a Flame – a collaboration with Swedish House Mafia. That led us down a “why are the Swedes so good at pop?” rabbit hole… From Britney Spears to Taylor Swift, they all turn to the Nordic song ninjas when they need a catchy hit.

If you’re getting into mango season as much as we are, this cutting technique is intriguing. Let’s just say it divided Squiz HQ…

And while you’re lining up the mangoes for practice, you’ll need something to do with all that fruit… So how about a Weis-inspired mango-cheesecake? We made this one ages ago and will revisit ASAP. It’s very speccy…

8.00am (AEDT) – The Australian Navy holds a press conference revealing the identity of the Unknown Soldier who died on the HMAS Sydney in 1941 – Canberra

7.45pm (AEDT) – Football – Men’s A-League – Melbourne City v Brisbane Roar – AAMI Park, Melbourne

Evening – The longest partial lunar eclipse in 600 years will light up the skies – check out the details here

ABS Data Release – Consumer Price Index, June (Additional Information)

Monaco’s National Day

National Agriculture Day (AgDay)

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

International Men’s Day

World Toilet Day

Ausmusic T-Shirt Day

Adele’s first album in 6 years, 30, is released

Birthdays for designer Calvin Klein (1942), and actors Meg Ryan (1961), Jodie Foster (1962) and Adam Driver (1983)

Anniversary of:
• American inventor Frederick E. Blaisdell patenting the pencil (1895)
• the expulsion of Leon Trotsky from the Politburo (1926)
• the sinking of the HMAS Sydney in battle off the coast of WA, killing 645 people (1941)
• the death of cult leader Charles Manson (2017)