Interesting Facts - Page 58

286
The record for the fastest vehicle on water was set in 1978 by Australian Ken Warby. His boat, the Spirit of Australia, reached a speed of 511 km/h. Two attempts to beat his record have resulted in the death of the pilot.
287
The easternmost part of Tennessee is closer to Canada than it is to Memphis.
288
Before Fritz Haber figured out how to fix nitrogen directly from the atmosphere, the world was running out of fertilizer. If his discovery had never been made, the world population would be much, much lower today.
289
Polydactyl cats have more than 5 toes on each paw. Ernest Hemingway kept polydactyl cats whose descendants now live in his former home on Key West.
290
In 1932, the Australian government fought a war against emus but lost.
+7
Level 54
May 20, 2019
Birds are powerful!
+23
Level 70
Oct 8, 2019
Birds aren't real
+1
Level 59
Apr 8, 2020
The funny thing is the guys who runs that organization claims it is all true, and seems to actually believe in it. Good thing our leader isn't joking around.
+8
Level 43
May 26, 2019
Our army is not very good. ;-(
+1
Level 65
May 20, 2023
More like emus are OP. They are LIVING TANKS.
+1
Level 51
Nov 3, 2019
I wish that planes wouldn't have to fly and could speed along the ground at 600 miles per hour because that would be terrifying, but not as scary as hurtling towards terra firma from 6 miles above the earth.
+2
Level 71
May 6, 2020
Not as scary?...... you must be joking!
+5
Level 78
Nov 23, 2019
290 is my favorite one so far
+3
Level 43
Nov 16, 2020
It is true. It was less a war and more an exercise in animal management using the military. The fact that we lost is still VERY embarrassing.
+1
Level 78
Dec 20, 2020
I know it is true. My Kiwi friends like to point that out to my Australian friends. It is hilarious.
+9
Level 46
Mar 24, 2020
I, for one, welcome our emu overlords??
+2
Level 46
Apr 22, 2021
this is kent brockman reporting live
+1
Level 28
Apr 23, 2020
290 is so weird I had to search it up
+1
Level 68
May 19, 2020
There's actually a Wikipedia page about it.
+2
Level 55
Nov 19, 2020
there is an oversimplified video about the emu war
+1
Level 51
Sep 25, 2020
Holding a person against their will is - hostage.

Kidnapping is taking someone against their will.

+1
Level 39
Aug 15, 2021
Which memphis are you talking about
+5
Level 68
Oct 8, 2021
I think both work
+1
Level 28
Sep 13, 2021
we did win the war, just not with guns, instead fences
+2
Level 41
Sep 21, 2021
To be fair, emus are dead hard. Think of a cross between samurai, Spartans, and Viking berserkers: that's the emu. Most Australians would rather go unarmed against a white pointer-saltwater croc alliance in 30 meters of murky water than arm themselves with a Kalashnikov and face an average emu.

If you don't believe me, ask yourself this: why has no unholy shark-croc alliance ever dared to face an emu?

+1
Level 71
Nov 2, 2021
Keep taking the tablets Sam.
+1
Level 49
Jan 13, 2023
You could say, they die hard.
+1
Level 69
Oct 19, 2022
Fritz Haber also pioneered the weaponisation of chlorine and other poisonous gasses. He was a staunch German patriot and his wife killed herself, possibly because of the despair she felt at the mass death such gasses caused.

Haber also invented an insecticide called "Zyklon A'. The Nazis would use a derivation of this gas, "Zyklon B", to murder people in their concentration camps. Haber was Jewish.