Henry of Champagne was the ruler of Jerusalem and therefore one of the world’s most important men. But one day he tripped over a dwarf and fell out the window. The dwarf tried to save him but also fell out of it, landing on the king. Neither survived. It’s unclear whether Henry died from the fall or from the dwarf landing on him.
In 1932 Australia went to war with Emus. Emu are native to Australia. These ridiculous flightless birds are surprisingly hard to kill and they basically do whatever they want. Emu became a problem in Australia’s Campion district, where 20 thousand of them were destroying farmland with their big bird feet. In those days Australia relied heavily on farming. So the government ordered a military operation against the emu. A small army were sent to gun down the birds with ten thousand rounds of ammunition. And so the first battle began. The men opened fire but the Emu somehow ran out of range before any of them were hit. Here’s the problem. Whenever a mob of Emu sense danger they break into smaller groups and run in different directions. So they just kept escaping when shooting began – and those freaks are fast thanks to their massive legs. But humans had technology. Machine guns were mounted on trucks to chase down escaping Emu people. But still the emu were too fast for the trucks. After multiple battles and thousands of rounds of ammunition, more than 19 thousand emu remained and Australia decided to just give up. Emu had defeated man in the greatest, most glorious victory of all time. It was a major embarrassment for the government, who ordered the operation partly as a PR move. They even sent a camera crew to record the whole thing. It wasn’t their finest moment.
After Napoleon defeated Russia he decided to celebrate with a massive rabbit hunt. Hundreds of rabbits were gathered for Napoleon and his generals to hunt. Some accounts suggest there may have been over a thousand rabbits. The countless bunnies were caged in a large field. But when they were released they did not run away from the hunters, as was expected. They instead ran straight towards the men. Napoleon found himself swarmed by an army of rabbits. They pounced on and bit him until he was forced to run away. The most powerful man in Europe was defeated by rabbits.
The Masked Marauders album was created as a hoax by the editor of Rolling Stone magazine back in the late 60s. With the ability to write anything he wanted in the magazine, Greil Marcus wrote a funny review of a fictional album, insisting that Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and three of the Beatles had formed a supergroup. When readers started asking how they could buy the album, Rolling Stone magazine hired an unknown band to recreate some of the spoof tracks. The fake album sold over 100,000 copies!
In America, Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles.
What happens if you fart while scuba diving? The deeper you dive, the harder it gets to release one. It will be extremely hard to fart when you dive below 7.5 meters. The closer you get to 10 Meters in depth it will become impossible to fart. Simply the deeper you go, the water pressure increases will slowly make it more difficult to release one until it is impossible to do so. A great reference on this subject is Andrew Thompson's book "Can Holding in a Fart Kill You", which has more than 200 fun facts-from baffling and bizarre to enlightening. Farting underwater is a strange phenomenon that scientists have studied for decades. It turns out that when you release gas, the bubbles are trapped in a pocket of air and collect along the streams created by your exhaling breath to create a soundless bubblegeous moment. One fascinating fact is that farting for turtles is most likely to occur in water. Water allows them to relax, and they feel more at ease urinating, defecating, and letting one rip! You will likely see bubbles rise from their behind. As long as you are above 10 metres, It is possible to fart underwater, but there are consequences for doing so. Remember, your fart will be twice as big from ten meters when it hits the surface. So you think it’s a good idea to fart underwater? You can do that, but there are consequences you need to think about.
The notorious pope Gregory IV once claimed that black cats were instruments of Satan and ordered their extermination throughout Europe. Ironically, the dramatic reduction in cat population during the 13th century was among the factors that led to a spike of plague-carrying rats, leading to the Black Plague.
Greek author Aeschylus was widely considered to be the father of tragedy, as he was the first of the three great ancient Greek tragedians (the others being Sophocles and Euripides). However, some may remember Aeschylus for his very unusual, almost comical death. Actually, it’s the only documented case of human death directly attributed to a tortoise. Aeschylus lost his life when a hungry eagle dropped a tortoise on his head so the shell would break and the eagle could eat the meat. Apparently, the eagle mistook his bald head for a rock.
