Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, is in the news for a very unusual reason – its roads are exploding!

A dashboard camera captured this video on the 21^st of November. You can clearly see the road erupt into three large pieces, just as an SUV speeds up to a red light. The car with the camera slows down to stop and the SUV driver overtakes on the outside, only to be abruptly stopped by the road.

The video has been viewed over 40,000 times online. It has become a bit of a joke, considering how the SUV driver was deftly prevented from jumping the signal. One user on Live Leak commented: “In Russia cops don’t stop you for running a light, the road does.” Another said: “Car driver wanted to run the red light, red light did stop him immediately.”

Some viewers are having trouble believing the video: “Is this a new movie of Godzilla?” I do agree with that comment. The footage looks surreal, like it’s straight out of the next ‘end-of-the-world’ type disaster movie.

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Mitsuhiro Mori is an accomplished musician best known for his hand flute skills. If you close your eyes and just listen to him sing, you ca swear he’s playing a flute or an ocarina, when in reality, all he’s really doing is blowing air into his hands.  Prepare to have your mind blown!

The talented Mitsuhiro and his college friend and pianist Keisuke Usuda formed the “Piano and Hand Flute Duo Childhood”, after Usuda was so impressed with his buddy’s hand flute skills and decided they should put it to good use. The unique duo have been entertaining audiences all around the world ever since, produced several albums and appeared on numerous television shows. You may have seen your friends do an impressive hand flute or maybe watched YouTube videos of people showing off their skills, but I can assure you you haven’t seen anything quite like this before. There are some pretty amazing hand flute players out there, but almost all of them agree, Mitsuhiro Mori is in a league of his own. He can reach any note he wants and can play really fast, which is incredibly difficult. It just goes to show you don’t always need expensive instruments to make great music.

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To prove how easy it is to drive their new trucks, Swedish automaker Volvo transformed the steering wheel of one of their big rigs into a hamster wheel and let a tiny rodent steer the vehicle up a narrow quarry road.

Volvo’s new Dynamic Steering uses an electric motor to replace the driver’s muscle power, making even large trucks like the Volvo FMX a breeze to steer. Turning the wheel becomes an effortless affair, and in their latest advert, the automaker proved even a tiny hamster can do it. The now viral clip was shot on a steep and narrow quarry road at Los Tres Cunados, in north-west Spain, and shows Charlie the hamster steering a truck while guided by a precision driver holding a carrot. After training Charlie for weeks, the team placed the pint-sized rodent inside a hamster wheel installed on the steering wheel and let him take the truck all the way up the perilous road. Sitting in the driver’s seat was stunt driver Seon Rogers, who handled the pedals and guided Charlie in the right direction by baiting him with a fresh carrot. There were a few tense moments, like when the truck hit a big rock boulder sending it crashing down into the water below, but in the end Charlie managed to steer the large vehicle across the finish line.

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Children make all kinds of ridiculous requests, and sometimes parents agree to them, even if they don’t plan on keeping their promises. But not Nicholas L., a French father-of-three who in order not to let his kids down actually sent a couple of their toys into outer space.

Last December, Nicholas’ three children asked him to send their favorite toys into space. Without giving much thought to what he was getting himself into, the young father agreed. Later he realized he didn’t want to be the kind of parent who disappoints his kids by not keeping his word, so he embarked on an incredible project to fulfill their wish. In the beginning, the Frenchman had no idea how he was going to pull it off, but after spending four months researching online he had a list of necessary equipment to fly the toys into outer space and retrieve them, as per his kids request. He ordered a weather balloon from a US army surplus store, and had the parachute and GPS tracker shipped all he way from Hong Kong. He was ready for the big test, but he needed proof to show his kids he had actually sent their toys into outer space, so he installed two GoPro waterproof cameras on his DIY flying device to record the entire journey.

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30-year-old John Edward Doyle has the ability to squeeze his eyes out by up to 12 millimeters. He discovered his “talent” about two years ago while entertaining his friends, and for the past six months he has been using it to freak people out online under the alias “Mr. Zoom”.

John discovered his bizarre eye-popping ability while entertaining his friends at the local pub, in Rainhill, England, but he never dreamed it would one day make him an internet sensation. At one point he just decided to record himself pooping his eyes out to the popular Harlem Shake and upload the video on YouTube. He got a bigger reaction than he ever hoped, and soon he was getting emails, phone calls and TV show invitations. Mr. Zoom was on to something, so he kept doing it, each time choosing a popular song to squeeze his eyes out to. Six months after he started uploading his freaky act on YouTube, he has close to 600,000 views, he has been contacted by Ripley’s Believe It or Not and has flown to Japan and the US to appear on TV. It’s been a crazy ride, and with the media coverage he is getting these days, it’s far from over.

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Competitive eater Tim Janus wanted to make history by becoming the first person to get legally drunk on non-alcoholic beer. To reach his goal, Tim recently tried to chug 30 cans of non-alcoholic beer in one hour.

People have been asking if it’s possible to become intoxicated by drinking non-alcoholic beer for years. Theoretically, it’s possible, but one would have to consume large quantities of the stuff to make it happen. Tim “Eater X” Janus decided he, as a of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, definitely had the stomach to do it, so in April he contacted the Deadspin website to have the stunt documented by a reputable news outlet. Tim estimated he would have to chug around 30 cans of non-alcoholic beer in under an hour in order to reach the .08 alcohol level to be declared legally drunk. That’s over 2.5 gallons of liquid in a very short amount of time, enough to probably kill an ordinary person. But Tim’s stomach is anything but ordinary, as he has proven during the many competitive eating contests he has won throughout the years.

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To relax after a hard week’s work, Qatar’s car enthusiasts jump in their powerful 4×4 vehicles and drive out into the desert to engage in “dune bashing”, an adrenaline pumping pastime that has passengers hanging to the edge of their seats.

What do you do to relax on weekends? Hang out with your friends, go camping, or stay home and watch TV all day, that kind of stuff, right? In Qatar, the crazy rich have found a different, more dangerous way to unwind after a stressful week. They take their specially prepared Toyota and Nissan 4×4 vehicles to remote desert locations, deflate their tires for extra grip and surf the endless dunes, racing each other and performing unbelievable stunts. There is no police, no speed limits and no rules. The drivers are as skilled and experienced as they come, but accidents are still very common at dune bashing events, and some of them result in fatalities. But that doesn’t seem to scare the other drivers from engaging in this insane and exhilarating activity.

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If you thought the game of football couldn’t get any better, think again. Introducing Bubble Football, a new almost-sport that combines the popular game of football/soccer with zorbing.

Bubble Football is the brainchild of Henrik Elvestad and Johan Golden, two wacky Norwegians who thought football would be even more entertaining if players were encased in clear plastic zorbing balls. The first ever match was broadcast on Norwegian TV show “Golden Goal” at the end of 2011 as a gag, but after being posted on YouTube, the craze spread throughout Europe like wildfire. In the last few years, bubble football matches have been held everywhere from Italy to Latvia, and there are now even online store selling and renting equipment to anyone willing to try it.

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“It is as MAD as it looks,” British garage inventor Colin Furze says about his crazy jet-powered bicycle, Norah. Strapping a home-made jet engine to an old bike, the nutty Brit has created what may very well be the most dangerous bicycle ever.

Looking at all the outrageous things he has created over the years, one might be tempted to think he’s an engineer with a passion for insane inventions. But he’s only a plumber who likes to create wacky-yet-fascinating things in his home workshop. He is known for building the world’s longest motorbike, the fastest mobility scooter, and a gas-powered stroller, using only “tools that proper engineers would laugh at”. But he is proof that “you don’t need an expensive lathe and huge welder to create something amazing.” His latest achievement is Norah, a jet-powered bicycle able to reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. As you can probably imagine it’s terribly unsafe, yet incredibly fun to ride. Norah is literally one hot vehicle, as the DIY engine’s exhausts get so hot they actually turn bright red at full throttle. Instead of using a heat shield and ruining the bike’s look, he oped to make it longer and put some distance between the rider’s bum and the engine. But extreme heat isn’t the only thing you should be worried about when riding Norah.

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Everyone, put your hands together for Bryan Bednarek, allegedly the fastest clapper in the world. In a YouTube video that recently went viral, he was able to clap 802 times in just 60 seconds,thus  setting a new record.

How fast can you clap your hands? You probably think you’re pretty good at it, but try keeping your fastest rhythm up for a whole minute. I tried it and I almost pulled a muscle in the process. And it’s all Bryan Bednarek’s fault for making it look so easy on camera. A friend of his filmed him pulverizing the current official record for most claps in one minute, and posted it on the internet, just to make the rest of us feel bad. According to the video counter, Bryan managed to smack his hands together 802 times, a whopping 81 times more than what Guinness record holder Kent French managed back in 2003. I don’t know if the count is right, but just the way he manages to keep up the insane clapping pace is unbelievable. This guy is like The Flash of clapping.

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Never thought horse prancing could be used as inspiration for a fitness workout, but here we are…Joanna Rohrback is the mastermind behind Prancersise, a bizarre exercise routine described as “a springy,rhythmic way of moving forward, similar to a horse’s gait, and ideally induced by elation”.

Rohrback, from Coral Springs, Florida, even founded Prancersise LLC, a real company that sells her unique exercise program and book: Prancercise: The Art of Physical and Spiritual Excellence. The book is actually listed on Amazon, and so far has two stellar reviews from a guy who says “This book finally let me experience my inner-horse. I was like a child again, prancing through the woods. At one point, I was convinced I had 4 legs. A smile radiated from my face. I punched the sky, knowing that I was free,” and another who claims he used to weigh 340lbs, until he discovered Prancersise. “I used to lift weights to stay in shape, until I dropped a bar on my head and was knocked into a coma. While unconscious, an angel visited me in my hospital bed and commanded me to wake up and try Prancercise. I regained consciousness immediately and bought this book, and what a difference it has made in my life! I’m now 148lbs and have never felt better.” With such unique and refreshing online reviews, who needs a marketing budget?

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Every years since 2010, the guys at Busted Knuckle Films have engaged in one of the most fun-yet-dangerous off-road sports in the world – the Extreme Barbie Jeep Race. Don’t let the name fool you though, it’s serious business.

The concept behind this unique extreme sport is pretty simple. All you need is one of those power-wheels vehicles for kids and the courage to ride it down a steep hill slope, trying not too fall off or hit any trees. Participants compete for bragging rights and a few hundred dollars, but the race is more about the adrenaline rush and the fun involved in riding kids’ toys in an off-road environment than anything else. It’s pretty cheap too, as these cars can be picked up from the side of the road for free after they’re thrown away by parents who don’t understand their full potential. But like any other extreme sport, the Barbie Jeep Race can be dangerous, with the cars picking up serious speed on the rough terrain. To protect themselves against any serious injuries from falling off the plastic cars, being run over by others or hitting a tree on the side of the improvised race track, competitors wear metal helmets.

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Pizza and movies are a popular combination, so Domino’s in Brazil decided to mix the two in a single package – a heat-sensitive movie DVD that looks and smells like their delicious pizza.

Domino’s Pizza teamed up with Brazilian advertising agency Artplan to create a truly ingenious campaign for their popular products. Taking advantage of the fact that movie rental stores are still very popular in the South American country, the creative minds at Artplan used thermal ink and flavored varnish to transform 10 new release titles such as Argo, 007, Dread and Dark Knight into appetizing disks that looked and smelled like pizza. They partnered with 10 video rental stores in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro which distributed the media to unsuspecting clients. The DVDs were painted in black thermal ink and featured the movie title, but once the heat emitted by the player started affecting them, they gave away a pizza smell, and the black coloring was replaced by a delicious looking pizza image and the message “Did you enjoy the movie? The next one will be even better with a hot and delicious Domino’s Pizza.”

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Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to say goodbye to privacy in the place where it mattered most – the restroom. A wacky cafe in Vienna has installed see-through toilet doors that only turn opaque if the users lock them.

For a lot of people, using the toilet in public places is uncomfortable enough, but the owners of Cafe Diglas, in Vienna, Austria, decided to make it even worse for them by replacing the regular bathroom doors with transparent glass ones that allow anyone who walks in to literally catch them with their pants down. Luckily, it’s not really as bad as it sounds. You see, these are smart toilet doors that turn opaque at the turn of a switch. All the user has to do is lock the door when they’re inside and watch the see-through glass become opaque as a light above them projects a no-entry sign onto it. It’s a really cool trick, but the viral YouTube video that shows them in action doesn’t come with an explanation of the magic that makes them switch in an instant.

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Thor’s hammer is one of the coolest weapons in the superhero universe. Called Mjolnir, it can summon lightning, crush through pretty much anything and help the Norse god fly. No wonder Caleb from Hack A Day wanted one for himself.

But the gifted builder wasn’t looking for yet another simple prop that looked like Thor’s hammer, he wanted something that actually produced bolts of lightning. Armed with his own DIY superpowers, Caleb Kraft set out to create a foam replica of Mjolnir and sought the help of battery-powered Tesla coil maker Staci Elan, who provided a tiny but effective device able to produce 80,000 volts of electricity. Caleb says he had to make a choice: “I was either going to go portable and live with small arcs, or make this a stationary piece and hide a giant Tesla coil in a base. It would have bigger arcs, but I couldn’t carry it around.” In the end, he opted for the portable version, fitting his light but realistic looking hammer with a a small 12v powered coil. It creates 3″ arcs when going to another piece of metal, and can power on light bulbs if you hold them close to the hammer. Nowhere near as cool as the real Thor’s powers, but pretty awesome for a mere mortal, wouldn’t you say?

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