INSH

In an era when food was a luxury for most Americans, dance marathons could mean the difference between a decent meal or going to bed hungry.

For millennia, our predecessors have enjoyed, and even held as sacred, a variety of mind-altering substances. However, humans aren’t the only ones who use them. Science has observed many animal species who like to enjoy the same substances found in nature in crude form. 1. Vervet Monkeys. On the island of St. Kitts you might find yourself next to a monkey sipping on a cocktail. The vervet monkeys are known to be cheerfully raiding local bars. So, watch your drink! 2. Reindeer. Reindeer get delirious on mushrooms of the species Amanita muscaria and run around making strange noises. Resourceful <a href="https://rumble.com/v4hi2f-alexander-khimushin-spends-six-months-photographing-siberias-indigenous-peo.html" target="_blank">Siberia’s indigenous people</a> learned that drinking the urine from a drugged Reindeer will make you feel the effects as well. 3. Jaguars. Every now and then, jaguars in the rainforest enjoy yage vine. Chewing on this vine’s leaves makes this dangerous <a href="https://rumble.com/v335o1-fearsome-moray-eel-is-a-top-predator.html" target="_blank">predator</a> as peaceful as a kitten on catnip. 4. Wallabies. When wallabies run out of food, they head out to Tasmania’s poppy fields. Under the influence of opium, they run around the fields, leaving “alien” crop circles. 5. Caterpillars. The caterpillars of Colombia and Peru feed exclusively on coca plants – the source of cocaine. Their daily menu consists of about 50 coca leaves. Would you call it an addiction? 6. Asian elephants. Elephants in India can sniff out rice beer and pay destructive visits to local alcohol shops. Tipsy jumbos get tipsy from the marula tree. Guess what rice beer is made of? 7. Songbirds. You would not suspect these little singing birds of behaving like chronic alcoholics. They get drunk on fermenting berries, but forget to follow “do not drink and fly” advice. 8. Bats. These nocturnal addicts have the superpower of drinking and not getting intoxicated. At least, the quantities of fermented fruit they just love munching on do not affect their coordination. 9. Pen-tailed Treeshrews. These cuties feed on the naturally fermented nectar of the bertam palm. Every night this rat-sized animal guzzles an equivalent of 12 glasses of wine. 10 Bighorn Sheep. The bighorn sheep risk their lives to get a hit from a rare narcotic lichen. The lichen grows on rocks forcing the sheep junkie to scrape the rocky surface with its teeth to eat the stuff.

When it comes to amazing discoveries, 2017 will be remembered as the year when what was once only science fiction became science fact. The scientific community had a busy year in 2017. From the advancements in the cut-and-pasting of CRISPR genetic editing to being able to detect gravitational waves for the first time when stars collide, scientists cleared some major hurdles. And not just in the DeepMind, <a href="https://rumble.com/v3rq9v-new-traffic-lights-in-metro-use-artificial-intelligence-to-manage-congestio.html" target="_blank">artificial intelligence</a> sort of way. The DeepMind division at Google explains their groundbreaking concept of keeping robots from rebelling against their human makers as a necessity that will be put to use as major advancements in technology and artificial intelligence continue. The scary part of this equation is that scientists have proven that robots can cheat and find unexpected workarounds to tasks and problems, but DeepMind is taking a basic real-world concept and applying it to computers: when a machine does what it is told, reward it. Robo-doggy shakes a paw? Give that dog a bone (or at least the AI equivalent). Scientists are now able to edit your genetic code, thus opening up the possibility of eliminating genetic diseases, even possibly creating a new class of ‘super humans’. Soon, X-Men will not be just a bunch of characters wearing awesome costumes in comic books! Elon Musk’s <a href="https://rumble.com/v3r4ph-spacex-unveils-cheap-travel-anywhere-on-earth-within-an-hour.html"target="_blank">SpaceX</a> program launched a recycled rocket into space, making space travel that much more affordable. Reusing a Falcon 9 rocket booster can save up to $18 million per launch! In the attempt to provide clean drinking water to areas where water is sparse, scientist have developed a device that can literally pull water out of thin air! Solid hydrogen, time crystals, lamb in a fake womb, oh my! Science has really been busy these past 365 days! Which one wowed you the most?

Don’t worry, everybody-robots haven’t figured out how to take over the world…yet. However, humans are programming them to do some crazy stuff. Robots may want us to give them rights, just like humans. They will ask for citizenships and wages. The good thing is they will also pay taxes. Robots are learning to deceive. There’s an algorithm allowing robots to choose to tell lies and make sure you will never find out. Israel and South Korea are already using killer robots. On auto mode, those robots can decide whether to kill you or not - without the approval of human operator. It is possible that an enemy army could hack robots and use them against their original owners, even your self-driving car can kill you. Apparently, your car can choose to swerve you into a wall in order to avoid pedestrians on the road. Around 48 million Twitter accounts are operated by bots. Some of them will inform you of natural disaster but others are being used to brainwash you. AI will soon replace your lovers. By 2050, human-on-robot sex will become the new norm. Robots can take over your job too. By 2053, AI will be performing surgeries, as well as 50% of all other existing jobs. Researchers are teaching AI to feel emotions. The ability to feel emotions is probably the last quality that differentiates you from <a href="https://rumble.com/v3f12c-in-south-korea-they-use-robots-as-traffic-guards.html" target="_blank">robots</a>. <a href="https://rumble.com/v46mqd-will-artificial-intelligence-take-over-the-world.html" target="_blank">AI</a> will become too intelligent to remain under human control. Robots will develop the ability to engineer themselves and possibly wipe out humanity. Are technological advances in artificial intelligence getting to the point where humans are essentially in the early stages of programming the end of humanity at the hands of what we now consider to be just robotic minions? It’s been commonplace for decades that robots are replacing people in the manufacturing sector, and looking forward surgeons might be sweating a little more as C-3PO’s relatives start moving into the operating room. Being able to perform a complicated task is one thing, but will robots ever reach the point where they feel a sense of pride in what they’ve accomplished?

We know for a fact that the world is constantly renewing and being build. New houses, buildings, blocks, neighborhoods are being build as the population increases. Most frequent are the new malls, office buildings and even amusement parks that tend to look for the most crowded and populated areas where they can fit their structure due to the convenience for the people. However, not always does it work in their favor to look for such regions. Even though these companies tend to offer loads of money to residents to buy their property, not always will they find someone to cooperate with their offering. All these house owners mentioned in the video happen to be very attached to their homes. Little do the investors know that it is going to be quite the struggle for them to buy out these properties. As you will see, aside of the large offers these people don't seem to be affected much. Even though after a while construction begins all around their property, they will then out of spite stay and live in the most horrible conditions just so they can prove a point. Well, home is where the heart is, and for these residents that meant the heart was surrounded by construction, roads, malls and <a href="https://rumble.com/v37sad-tallest-skyscrapers-of-qatar.html" target="_blank">skyscrapers</a> . This video is bound to take you through the extremes when it comes down to stubborn home owners. Take a look!

Are plants capable of learning and retaining information? Studies are showing that some members of the kingdom plantae may have a memory. Be careful how you treat plants - some of them might remember what you've done to them. A recent study by ecologist Monica Galiano showed that plants may have memory and the ability to learn. Scientists have also discovered that plants have abilities usually only seen in animals. Galiano studied the <a href="https://rumble.com/v402wz-moving-plant-aka-mimosa-pudica.html">Mimosa pudica</a>, a very interesting plant that folds its leaves when touched. After several minutes, its leaves return to their unfolded "calm" state. She tried to "scare" her test plants by dropping them to see if their leaves reacted the same way. The plants' leaves curled up as usual, but only for the first few rounds of the test. Over the course of one day, Galiano dropped the test plants for a total of 60 times, and as you can probably guess - they stopped reacting to the fall. According to standards applied to animals by scientists, Mimosa pudica was showing the ability to learn. Scientists have shown that cell clusters in plant embryos act like brain cells, telling the embryo to grow. Other plants react to situations and their surroundings, and are using that information to decide how to develop. Researchers are hoping if they can assess how plants do this they may one day be "trainable", thus making severe conditions like drought one less thing future farmers will have to worry about.

Did they or didn't they? A physicist has devised a formula that puts math to work in testing the validity of a conspiracy theory. Every shadowy conspiracy needs one key thing to work - secrecy. And most popular conspiracy theories, including rumors of a massive NASA cover-up of a faked moon landing, would involve far too many people to stay secret for long. Based on data from several real-world conspiracies, including the National Security Agency program uncovered by whistleblower Edward Snowden, one physicist created a model to determine how long a conspiracy is likely to last before its cover is blown, either by a whistleblower or an unintentional leak. In 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon, or did they? Did it even happen? Conspiracy theories abound but a physicist has just debunked them all. Dr. David Robert Grimes is a <a href="https://rumble.com/v34e3l-spectacular-fireball-spotted-over-hobart-sparks-debate.html" target="_blank">physicist</a>, cancer biologist and journalist. Grimes recently devised an equation that tests the validity of a <a href="https://rumble.com/v34yzz-why-the-moon-footprint-does-not-match-conspiracy-debunked.html" target="_blank">conspiracy theory</a>. His formula considers the number of potential cospirations in relation of the passage time and the chances of a leak. In one study, Grimes focused on the moon landing conspiracy theory. He found that 411,000 people would have had to keep quiet. In other words, all of NASA’s employees in 1965 and even then the secret would be out within 3.68 years. Grimes had similar results when he tested a climate change conspiracy. Ths studies show that there are fewer conspirators behind long-lasting conspiracies. Based on his data, for a hoax to last 5 years, only 2,521 people can know about it. However, one question remains…who is Dr David Robert Grimes working for? Sorry conspiracy theorists, but numbers don’t lie! Share this unless you have a hidden agenda!

Can you imagine a world with no Internet, computers or cell phones? Earth is due for a solar storm and when it hits technology will suffer the most. We have all seen the effects of environmental storms lately, but the most devastating storm has yet to hit the Earth. A massive solar storm will eventually rain down and wipe out all of our <a href="https://rumble.com/v3smfx-new-suit-technology-to-keeps-guys-cool.html" target="_blank">technology</a>. A coronal mass ejection (CME) is the sun shooting a cloud of magnetizing plasma into space. Most CME’s miss the Earth, or are weakened by the time they reach us. The last major CME to hit the Earth was 1859. Telegraph systems across the globe failed and caught on fire. Operators got shocked. Our reliance on technology is much greater these days. If the 1895 CME were to strike Earth today, out electrical grids would fry. The Internet would stop working. ATMS and global banking systems would go offline. Gas pumps would stop working and GPS would be knocked out. Think of all the technology you use on a daily basis and imagine living without it for several months. An 1859 sized CME would cause over 2.5 trillion dollar damage in the U.S. alone. You better back up your computer now! Reportedly, the Sun has been throwing a series of temper tantrums lately, and that is not great news for the Planet Earth. In September the sun started firing out <a href="https://rumble.com/v3kt13-storm-grove-middle-school-students-learn-about-solar-eclipse.html" target="_blank">solar</a> flares resulting in the most powerful sun storm category, escalating to the point of warnings being issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center of potential navigation system disruptions and high-frequency radio blackouts. These solar storms disrupt Earth’s magnetic field, which directly affects everything we rely on for communications. In theory, as humans become more reliant on technology, the more dangerous these storms could become.

Technology is being put to work making affordable concrete houses thanks to a cutting-edge 3D printer called “the Vulcan.” There are a variety of 3D printing methods used at construction scale, these include the following main methods: extrusion, powder bonding and additive welding. 3D printing at a construction scale will have a wide variety of applications within the private, commercial, industrial and public sectors. Potential advantages of these technologies include faster construction, lower labor costs, increased complexity and/or accuracy, greater integration of function and less waste produced. This is an idea which is substantially cheaper than making a house which we know today, also the material used is significantly cheaper along with the fact that you don't need people to actually construct the house. The Vulcan as they call it make the shell of the house and all that is needed are the windows and electrical wires to be installed all the way through the house. They say, that their goal is, the hole process to be machine made. This means, that the <a href="https://rumble.com/v4q9ft-avro-vulcan-take-off-display-and-land.html" target="_blank">Vulcan</a> will make the <a href="https://rumble.com/v4resp-this-house-was-printed-in-24-hours.html" target="_blank">house</a>, a robot would build the wiring and a drone would do the painting. There goal is first to produce a house for as little as $4000 US along with helping with housing in 3rd world countries. What an inspirational idea, would't you say?!

People have left a definite physical mark on the planet. Sometimes this mark is made accidentally, but many times it is intentional. This occurs even when that purpose may be destructive. This video covers the top ten biggest man-made changes to the natural world. First on the list is Lake Peigneur in Louisiana. As the video states, when an oil drill hit a salt mine, it turned an eleven feet deep lake into a thirteen hundred feet deep sinkhole. This was devastating to this aquatic habitat. Next is Betsiboka Estuary in <a href="https://rumble.com/v6220b-vanilla-thieves-threaten-madagascars-sweet-reputation.html" target="_blank">Madagascar</a>. Removal of the native forest has caused massive soil erosion. How massive? 112 tons per acre annually! This is monstrous. Number eight on the list is Three Gorges Dam in China. Building the world’s largest power station may have been monumental and at the forefront to many people’s visions, but the downside of this destroyed people’s lives. 1.3 million people were displaced because of this. Number seven is The Scottish Highlands in Scotland. Scotland is known for its natural landscape beauty and breathtaking scenery. The Highlands were once vast forests stretching on for miles without end. They were the epitome of perfection and tranquility. However, they have been razed by farmers and the ancient Romans for the last 3,900 years. Devastation such as this destroys so much more than just a few trees. This cuts much deeper into our beautiful planet, and there is monumental loss on the earth. Next is the <a href="https://rumble.com/v4m3k9-5-dangerous-animal-species-in-the-amazon-rainforest.html" target="_blank">Amazon</a> Deforestation Project in Brazil. This was actually done in the name of science. A massive study was done in order to understand the effects of deforestation. The problem is that in order to complete the study, huge swaths of rainforest were cut down. This seems to be defeating the entire purpose of studying the problems of deforestation. The Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is another extreme example. This was once the fourth largest lakes in the world. However, it no longer stands the same. This may be the most visible difference on the list, and it is absolutely gut wrenching to see the location as it stands today. The Aral Sea was drained by the Soviet irrigation policy. Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah is the world’s deepest open pit mine. If it were a stadium, it could seat nine million people. Bravo Crater in Bikini Atoll provides another shocking example. The United States government dropped fifteen megatons of TNT on the island. This created a crater that now stands 6,500 feet wide. This seems absolutely heartless on the government’s part, and it shows a blatant disregard for the natural earth. Second to last on the list is the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine in Minnesota. This open pit iron mine is three and a half miles wide. It was yielded 690 million tons of iron ore that humans have stolen from the earth for our own purposes. The last example is the Great Wall of China. This wonder of the world is over 2,300 years old, and it spans more than 13,000 miles.

A hundred years ago no man would even dare to harass a woman on the street. They feared one of the most popular female’s accessories: the infamous hatpin. The 1880’s set the scene for strong independent women who enjoyed long, unchaperoned walks. Some disreputable men considered such behavior as alluring. These mashers did not mind taking advantage of an unprotected lady. Sexual harassment was thriving on the streets as never before. To be safe, women had to act. The solution came, literally, off the top of their heads. Over-sized hats had just come along. To make these hats sit still on their high hairstyles, women used pins. This fashion hardware came in lengths of up to 10 inches long. The perfect weapon for an <a href="https://rumble.com/v30q2p-the-elegant-male.html" target="_blank">elegant</a> lady! Mashers now had to find a good excuse for the scratches on their cheeks. Some of them even died form infections after nearly avoiding their eyes being gouged out. Hatpins were so effective that lawmakers needed to limit their length, forcing women to pay a US$50 fine for spotting hatpins measuring over 9 inches in length. Women got furious and often refused to follow the rules. Some men hated the over-sized hates for completely different reasons. Besides hiding a potential weapon, they could be an inconvenience in public. They were impossible to see over in <a href="https://rumble.com/v31kyn-gocart-service-robot-sneaks-through-crowds.html" target="_blank">crowds</a>. Churches and theaters had to put up signs asking ladies not to wear large hats inside. In the 1920’s ladies started bobbing their hair short. This new flapper culture left the extraordinary long hatpins out of fashion, and women with one less way of protecting themselves.

Wrapped up in all the negativity that's on the news right now? Here's a friendly reminder of the awesome stuff that's also going on.

Everyone loves a hot shower, but research suggests our daily scrubbing regiments might be doing our bodies more harm than good. That stinks and stench be damned, a new study is showing that you might be right to avoid taking a shower every day! What gets you up in the morning? A warm shower can feel like a world of difference, but the latest immunology research says showering daily is unhealthy. Your skin has millions of microbes living on its surface. These microbes form a protective layer, acting as a natural moisturizer. Some have antibiotic qualities to defend against harmful bacteria. <a href="https://rumble.com/v3us05-showering-with-a-parrot.html" target="_blank">Showering</a> daily scrubs away these protective microbes and strips the skin of its natural oils. Tilting the balance of your body’s good bacteria raises your risk of illness. In 2015, sick days cost US employers $225.8 billion. Could showering be the culprit? Proper bathing practices have been disputed for centuries. Ancient Romans used to frequent public bath houses daily. In the 1300s people feared bathing would open their pores and expose them to the plague. Bathing remained unpopular for the next 500 years. Today, doctors suggest showering every other day or as little as once a week. This prescription may not jibe with those who always want to look and smell their best. So, let’s just say whatever helps you sleep at night and whatever gets you up in the morning. While slathering your body with an arsenal of <a href="https://rumble.com/v33haz-is-hand-sanitizer-actually-bad-for-you.html" target="_blank">aromatic and soothing lotions and soaps</a> might seem like a great idea, especially on the social-interactions front, combining that with scrub-a-dubbing under hot water might not be a great idea. A steamy shower is fantastic, but you know what else is kinda great? Breathing!

The world has expanded access to fresh water, restored sight to four million blind people, and made clean energy cost the same (or less) than fossil fuels. We've made some big strides this year. 1. Thanks to conservation some endangered species are coming back from the brink of extinction, including the Manta Ray, Giant Panda, Tasmanian Devil Blue Butterfly and the <a href="https://rumble.com/v2zddw-wild-oryx-racing-the-car.html" target="_blank">Oryx</a>. 2. A scientist accidentally discovered that wax worms can quickly consume plastics, offering a promising possibility for tackling our plastic waste problem. 3. Scientists have invented a filter that turns seawater into drinking water. Good news for millions who suffer from water scarcity. 4. Solar and wind power is cheaper than fossil fuels in over 30 countries. Solar energy production has grown up by 50% in the last year. 5. A new solar-powered device that can pull water straight from the desert air will soon provide millions a free water source. 6. Scientists have grown a lamb in an artificial womb. This one of <a href="https://rumble.com/v489mx-10-of-the-biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2017.html" target="_blank">the biggest scientific discoveries</a> that can come to aid to prematurely born babies. 7. European energy companies pledge no new coal plants from 2020. 8. Over 17,000 doctors in India are delivering baby girls for free. Their goal is to change the perception in a country where parents often favor having a boy over a girl. 9. Two eye surgeons in Nepal, along with the doctors they have trained, have helped restore sight to over 4 million people. 10 India has pledged to make every single car electric by 2030. That is 35% emission reduction. Share this video if you think the world needs more good news!

There's more to Germany than Oktoberfest and Bratwurst. Especially in the Black Forest region.

It is amazing how evolution has given the human body some odd parting gifts. The human body has been a work in progress for about the last six million years, so it’s understandable if over that time we have outgrown some of our components. Did you know that your appendix used to help digest plants. Since our diet isn’t that plant-heavy anymore, it only causes problems like appendicitis. Given, the early humans moved their ears for peripheral hearing, some of us can still wiggle our ears just for fun. It is curious that one bit of the corner of your eye was once bigger and served to protect and moisturize the eyeball. Now, this same feature only keeps dirt out off your eyes. It doesn’t come as a surprise that our ancestors had an extra muscle to help them hang from trees. Touch your pinky to your thumb and if you don’t see it, you are among the 10% of humans who lost it. Even our ancestors never made use of male nipples. They most likely form in the embryonic stage when we are essentially sexless. Knowing that your tiny tailbone is a relic of the mammalian tail is somewhat astonishing. <a href="https://rumble.com/v3ij0d-5-bizarre-things-found-inside-a-human-body.html" target="_blank">Humans</a> are believed to have lost their tails when they started walking upright. Our ancestors needed strong molars to chew through raw meat. When we learned to cook, our jaws shrunk and left no room for what we call wisdom teeth. <a href="https://rumble.com/v3ij0d-5-bizarre-things-found-inside-a-human-body.html" target="_blank">Body</a> hair kept our ancestors from freezing. Now, we no longer need body hair to do all of our temperature regulation. Also, goosebumps fluffed up our hair to keep us warm. Now that we wear sweaters and coats, there’s no need for goosebumps anymore. The human brain has been getting smaller in size over time. We are not getting dumber, our brain just works faster while taking up less space. How many of these facts did you already know?

Today rooftopping is the domain of urban adrenaline junkies, but it started off as a very dangerous side of the construction trade.

Nowadays, many of us have gym membership or attend classes at a local gym on a daily basis, but fifty years ago, gyms as we know them today didn’t exist. When fitness first became fashionable you had to get your sweat-on while strapped to extremely strange contraptions, but was it workout, or torture? Surprising but true, the stomach punching apparatus, the thigh extender and the torso stretcher are not instruments of torture, but are actually the first fitness machines. Could you believe their names and the purpose they served? In 1865, Swedish physician Gustav Zander opened Stockholm’s first <a href="https://rumble.com/v3ba28-omaha-opens-ninja-warrior-gym-for-kids.html" target="_blank">gym</a>. His machines allowed the user to be active or passive, as they wanted, according to his wish. You could ride a mechanical horse, or let it do all the riding for you. It was nothing like modern-day workouts. Back then, the movement for health and exercise was just taking off in Europe. People began using their muscles for something other than physical labor. White-collar workers started working out to make up for their sedentary lifestyle. Wealthier people even bought very expensive equipment to exercise at home. In the early 1900s, Zander’s machines began making their way to the U.S. In 1906, gyms were being opened in 146 countries around the world. Some of these machines were even found on the Titanic. However, they disappeared by the 1930s and were replaced by smaller equipment. Nowadays, we can sweat away on modern versions of the Victorian <a href="https://rumble.com/v33tdq-lazy-collie-cheats-on-treadmill.html" target="_blank">treadmills</a>. Old-fashioned but good! The word “gym” is a contraction of “gymnasium” which is derived from the ancient Greek word gymnasion. The ancient Greek gymnasiums were places where athletes trained for public games such as the Olympics.After the ancient Greeks, gyms disappeared for centuries. Medieval and Renaissance life was physically arduous enough, and ordinary people got all the exercise they needed working on the land and carrying out chores.

The world can seem pretty glum at times and it is easy to get caught up in all that negativity! Here is a list of 20 positive stories to perk you up! Did you know that honey bees are making a comeback. After years of declining populations, colony collapse disorder is down 27%. Since 2000, the amount of child labor in the world had been cut in half. 100 million more kids are getting an education and enjoying their childhood instead of working. The snow leopard has been taken off the endangered species list. Even though, they are still considered vulnerable, but experts estimate there are at least 4,000 living in the wild. Scientists have found a way to breed coral on section of the Great Barrier Reef. The project has the ability to restore damaged coral populations on the world’s largest reef system. The caliphate of ISIS has been destroyed. While ISIS still exists as a terrorist group, Islamic State’s plans have been snuffed. Teen pregnancies have fallen 67% since 1991. Access to and use of contraceptives have led to the lowest teen birth rate in history. Saudi Arabian women were granted permission to drive. The decision may also improve the economy by increasing women’s participation in the workplace. The world’s most prominent financial players are stepping away from the fossil fuel industry. The planet’s biggest pension funds are ‘decarbonizing’ their portfolios, saying goodbye to oil and gas. China halted production of 553 car models for not meeting their fuel efficiency standards. The country’s government is also developing a timetable for a ban on sales of fossil fuel vehicles. 2017 was the safest year ever in the <a href="https://rumble.com/v3f2dk-lcc-delta-airlines-aviation-partnership-could-lead-to-jobs.html" target="_blank">aviation industry</a>. Even with more people flying to more places, no jets crashed in passenger service across the world. Mali has hired bodyguards to protect the most extremely endangered of Africa’s elephants. After forming an armed brigade to protect the endangered giants, not a single one had been killed. Chille just converted 11 million acres into national parkland. Chille hopes to ‘rewild’ Patagonia in an effort to roll back decades of development and <a href="https://rumble.com/v3xv5j-un-works-with-refugees-to-fight-deforestation-around-camps-in-ethiopia.html" target="_blank">deforestation</a>. A global crackdown on parents who refuse vaccines for their kids has begun. France, Germany and Australia are finding anti-vaccine parents in order to prevent measles outbreaks. 193 of the world’s nations have pledged to stop ocean plastic waste. 9 million tons of plastic flow into the oceans every year, killing marine life and entering the food chain.

When the hairdryer first blew into town it was a huge, cumbersome, technological feat. Like hairstyles over the decades, things have changed.

The last “oops” moment you suffered didn’t result in history books having to be re-written, did it? Yeah, we didn’t think so. Mistakes happen. They are one of the defining features of being a human. If you haven’t made mistakes, means you haven’t tried. Hindsight, as we are all often reminded by those who have made a blunder or two, is 20/20. Take a look back to 1867 when the United States sealed the deal with Russia on the purchase of “some useless land” for roughly two cents an acre. It was viewed as a major mistake by the U.S. Congress, with some members sarcastically referring to Alaska as then-president Andrew Johnson’s “polar bear garden.” Russia’s Emperor Alexander II had been trying for years to tempt the United States with the purchase of Alaska’s 375 million acres, in part to pay off some hefty debt his country had accumulated as a result of the Crimean War. Although economist David Barker infamously made the argument the deal was a bust for the United States, others counter that with the millions of barrels of oil that Alaska has provided over the decades America definitely came out on top. A decade later, one Italian astronomer described the trenches on Mars as “canali”, which means “channels”. An American colleagues of his thought he meant “man-made” channel, which in turn made him assume that there was life on the Red Planet. <a href="https://rumble.com/v3f270-was-the-titanic-disaster-predicted-14-years-before-it-happened.html" target="_blank">Titanic</a> could have been saved and just in time, if only the crew on the ship had their binoculars. The equipment had been locked away in a cabinet whose key was missing! Talk about a blunder… World War One began because the Archduke of Austria’s chauffeur took a wrong turn, bringing Franz Ferdinand right in front of Gavrilo Princip’s gun in the streets of Sarajevo. Remember D-Day in Normandy? The German army lost that battle because their commander had to go home for his wife’s birthday! Thank you, madam! You can learn about these and many others of humanities blunders in the video above! So many facepalms…

Life gets more exciting when you live on the wild side. For some people that means choosing an unusual pet like a boa constrictor, an unusual rodent, or even a large cat. But if you live in the States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has some say over the pets Americans can own. And individual states have their own laws, too. Some states allow almost anything that creeps, crawls, or slithers, while others forbid almost all pets except domesticated cats and dogs. Simba and Mufasa were fun to watch. But owning your own lion - or tiger, or leopard is pretty difficult to achieve when you live in the U.S. Twenty-one states in the U.S. ban all dangerous <a href="https://rumble.com/v4efot-new-park-plan-bans-exotic-pets-and-drones-in-palmetto-parks.html" target="_blank">exotic pets</a>. And big cats fall into that category. Sugar gliders have gained a reputation as a cute, nocturnal relative of the <a href="https://rumble.com/v3ehzr-squirrel-party.html" target="_blank">flying squirrel</a>. But several states have prohibited their residents from owning these animals as pets. This could be because of the large, aviary-like space they require because of the noise these little animals make. You might think anyone willing to have a skunk in their home has gone off the deep end. But plenty of people in the U.S. think these animals make wonderful pets. Nonetheless, even if you have a skunk’s scent glands surgically removed, there’s no guarantee you’ll be allowed to own one. Hedgehogs are tiny, spiky balls of fun. Surprisingly, these little bundles of quills are controversial among animal experts and animal activists. Slow lorises are small primates native to Northeast India and Southeast Asia. You can purchase them from other countries, such as Russia and Japan, but it’s illegal to export them. Even if you were to acquire a slow loris, it’s unethical to do so. They are typically captured directly from the wild. Then, they get transported in horrible conditions. And often, they have their back teeth painfully removed. If you want to find out about the other pets, watch this video to the end.

A parliament building survives a war, but sits abandoned.

Are you into football? What about extreme ironing? These sports are certainly unusual. Snowboarding is quite extreme, but have you ever heard of volcano boarding? It was a first for us before we came across this video! Riders that visit volcano slopes in Nicaragua use metal boards to slide down volcanoes. These brave daredevils go down the active volcano at up to 95 km per hour. Try not to get burnt while doing this, please! If that was not weird enough, what say you about a sport called “octopush”? This <a href="https://rumble.com/v4lsdf-kite-boarding-a-winter-sport-in-saskatchewan.html" target="_blank">sport</a> was invented in the 195s, as a winter sport for scuba divers. The rules of the game are the same as those for ice hockey, but players wear speedos and goggles instead of skates and pads. The Finnish love to carry their wives on their backs. The Wife Carrying Contest required a man to carry his female partner through a 250-meter obstacle course. But fear not mates, the standard prize for winning this odd contest is your partner’s weight in beer! Now we got it! There are brave people in this world who do their ironing by themselves. And this is not any ironing, it is called extreme ironing because this sport has players going to strange locations to iron a shirt. Competitors have ironed on top of a massive mountain, while skiing, and wherever else they can think of. They have no excuses, do you? Cheese Rolling in England. Since the 19th century, this event has seen players chase a wheel of cheese down a steep hill. The goal is to capture the cheese. Whoever wins keeps the cheese – along with several bumps and bruises. Bo-taoshi is a Japanese sport that features as many as 300 players. Teams try to take down their opponent’s pole. Everything and anything is allowed. Players can kick, punch, or do whatever it takes to win. Have you ever heard of chess boxing? Well, this sport can be won by checkmate or knockout. It is not strange, it is simply – French! It involves 11 four-minute rounds of boxing, with chess breaks in between. India is famous for yoga, but now there is a new sport that combines yoga and skating – it is limbo skating! Competitors use roller skates to limbo under poles at high speed. In 2017, the world record was set by an eight-year-old who traveled 145 meters while limbo skating. This list gets weirder and weirder and almost near the top is something called toe <a href="https://rumble.com/v4fsdd-dogs-molly-and-gracie-snow-wrestling.html" target="_blank">wrestling</a>. Of course, it comes from England! This sport has players going toe-to-toe, literally. It was invented at a bar in 1974 after UK athletes failed to win any world sporting championship. Wing walking is a US sport which dates back to the 1920s, and now has thrill-seekers standing on the wings of a plane during flight. You must remember those old black-and-white movies with the brave stunt people walking the wings mid-flight. Of course, you do! Do not worry about the wing walkers, they are strapped to the plane, so it is sort of safe.

Humans have been pushing their limits since the beginning of our existence. We have been striving toward unbelievable heights and uncounted measures. Pushing our bodies and minds to the limits to finding out how far they can go. We've learned the act of flying looking at the birds as an example and further on tried to invent something that will take us into the sky. We've seen fish swimming in deep waters and so we've taken toward creating some way in which we can do so as well. We've seen how quick the Emu is and so we wanted to go fast as well. We have been striving for better, quicker and more extreme ways to feed the urge to move forward ever since we've populated the Earth. Stuntmen of the early <a href="https://rumble.com/v30onz-10-infamous-crimes-from-the-20th-century.html" target="_blank">20th century</a> lived hard and played hard. They may have been slightly crazy, but they helped prove anything is possible. From jumping off high buildings, to crashing at high speeds and even experimenting with fire and water. These early men have proven that the human can go far beyond what we might think. The incredible and unimaginable ways that we can bend, is most definitely something that is beyond our imagination. All we have to do is let our mind stretch beyond its imagination. If you happen to be a history geek and take interest in where we come from and the limits to our bodies, make sure to check out this video!