World / Offbeat Aug 4, 2019
French inventor Franky Zapata crosses English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard
French inventor Franky Zapata on Sunday succeeded in crossing the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard he designed, after a previous ended with him falling into the sea. Standing on a platform powered by five small jet engines and carrying kerosene in a backpack, Zapata ...
Lifestyle May 13, 2019
Taking the fall: The hard-knock life of a stunt performer in Japan
by Andrew McKirdy
Trainer Chuck Johnson explains what it takes to get a piece of the action in this rough-and-tumble world of stunt performers.
World Dec 27, 2018
American completes first unassisted solo trek across Antarctica
An American adventurer has become the first person to complete a solo trek across Antarctica without assistance of any kind. Colin O'Brady, 33, took 54 days to complete the nearly 1,000-mile (1,600-km) crossing of the frozen continent from north to south. O'Brady's voyage was tracked by ...
World / Offbeat Nov 8, 2018
Wheelchair ramp jump tops list of new Guinness World Records for 2018
Guinness World Records celebrates its annual records day on Thursday, honoring a long list of people who have done highly improbable things better than anyone else. The World Records Day often includes a Rubik's cube solved in unlikely circumstances against the clock, and this year ...
World / Offbeat Oct 26, 2018
'French Spiderman' Alain Robert is arrested after free-climbing stunt snarls London's financial hub
French urban free climber Alain Robert was arrested Thursday after bringing parts of London's financial district to a standstill by scaling the 46-story Heron Tower, the area's tallest building. The 56-year-old, also known as the "French Spiderman," took around an hour to climb the 230-meter-tall ...
World / Offbeat Aug 18, 2018
Florida's famed weirdness creeping into political races
by Gary Fineout
Florida's penchant for the weird and strange — often manifested in new forms of criminal behavior (think chasing people through a store with a live alligator) — is so prevalent it has created a cottage industry of chroniclers and followers. But, like a contagion that ...
World / Offbeat Aug 11, 2018
'Suicidal' mechanic steals plane in Seattle, does stunts before crashing
A "suicidal" airline employee stole an empty Horizon Air turboprop plane, took off from Sea-Tac International Airport and was chased by military jets before crashing into a small island in the Puget Sound on Friday night, officials said. Preliminary information suggests the crash occurred because ...
World / Offbeat Jul 22, 2018
Tightrope walker stuns Parisians with netless Montmartre performance
PARIS Reuters French tightrope artist Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga impressed hundreds of Parisians on Saturday with a performance that featured a walk on a rope suspended 35 meters (115 feet) above the ground in the city's hilly northern district of Montmartre. Bongonga, 34, walked on a rope suspended by ...
Asia Pacific / Social Issues Aug 11, 2017
A Melbourne cafe went viral on social media this week after introducing an 18 percent "man tax" to raise awareness of Australia's gender pay gap. The gender surcharge at the Handsome Her cafe is optional and the proceeds are donated to a women's charity, cafe ...