Adwaita the tortoise lived an estimated 255 years!
While turtles and tortoises are known to have long live expectancies, this particular animal is just absurd. Adwaita was a giant tortoise who was originally owned by General Robert Clive of the East India Company.
Clive ended up committing suicide in 1774, and left his already 34-year-old tortoise behind. Adwaita was eventually brought to an Indian zoo in 1875 after having several different owners, and spent the rest of his life there.
He survived until 2006, at which time scientists carbon dated his shell to around the year 1750! This makes him around 255 years old, which is a generation older than the United States, and means he was born before Mozart, Lincoln, and the French Revolution!
In 2004, Pizza Hut fired a delivery driver who shot and killed a robber while on the job!
Ever since pizza became mainstream in the United States, there have been increased efforts to cook and deliver pizza in the fastest way possible. Most times this includes a driver, which is one of the most common jobs in America, yet many people don’t think about the potential dangers pizza delivery drivers can face!
Because drivers are required to approach the door of those who ordered, it can often be dangerous in sketchy neighborhoods, and sometimes people are even deliberately called to be a target. Delivery drivers have been assaulted, kidnapped, robbed, or even raped or killed on the job and so many carry guns to protect themselves!
In 2004, Pizza Hut decided to fire one of their employees who was being robbed and shot and killed his assailant! The reason they cited was because it had a company policy against employees carrying guns, yet had he not had one he could have been robbed. What do you think about their ruling? Tell us in the comments!
During WWII, the Chinese used one of the most ingenious explosive tricks ever! Learn what it was
HMX is a powerful explosive that is often used as a detonator for nuclear weapons or rocket propellant. During WWII the Chinese guerillas were fighting the Japanese occupants and needed a way to smuggle and detonate explosives without the Japanese noticing. Ingeniously, they took HMX and mixed it with pancake mix, so it just looked like flour.
HMX could actually be cooked into pancakes without exploding and even eaten without causing bodily harm! Strangely, even after being cooked, the mix remained a dangerous explosive. The Chinese called it “Aunt Jemima Mix” and would take uneaten pancakes or unused dough and attack the Japanese. An estimated 15 tons of the mix was used without the Japanese ever discovering the source!
Humans could theoretically survive on just potatoes and butter!
Potatoes are most often classified as a carbohydrate because the average potato has about 26 grams, yet if the skin is eaten, you are ingesting just about every vitamin and mineral necessary for survival!
An averaged sized potato of 150 grams has vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc. The only vitamins missing that humans need are vitamins A and D, yet if the potato is served with either butter or milk, both of those are fulfilled!
While nutritionists wouldn’t recommend taking on this diet, it is technically possible for survival.
McDonald's first bookkeeper at first worked for free, but she got shares worth $28m today!
No one could have expected just how huge McDonald’s would become when the first restaurant opened in 1940. While it is now the world’s largest chain fast food restaurant, and makes around $30 billion a year, it was not always so.
The McDonalds brothers sold their equity to Ray Kroc who spearheaded it's worldwide expansion. In the beginning it was a few people working long hours for little pay, and June Martino was one of them.
Originally hired as a bookkeeper, June worked for free for the first nine months and for little more after that. However, Kroc recognized her contributions to the company and stated that she was instrumental in it's growth.June often had an eye for successful business people and converted many customers to franchisers.
Because of her devotion and hard work, Kroc gave June $300,000 when McDonald’s went public in 1965, which is about $1.7 million today, and gave her $5 million in holdings, which is about $28 million today!
