Josh proposed to Brook and took the idea of a “leap of faith” to a ridiculous level! I don’t think her “No way!” is a rejection; I think she was only shocked and probably trying to lower her blood pressure. -via I Am Bored

“As I was training horses, I kept hearing, ‘You can’t train zebras, they’re untrainable.’ I said, ‘Why?’ To say something is untrainable implies that it can’t learn, and we all know that if they couldn’t learn, they’d all be extinct. They have to be able to learn and adapt. Obviously, the burden lies on the trainer to be able to train them,” Stohler said.

She got her first zebra about 10 years ago. “He was a dream to work with, and I’ve been hooked ever since. They’re very intelligent. When you teach them something, you don’t have to do a lot of review,” she said. “You train them something, put them away for a few months, then bring them back out, and it’s exactly as if you didn’t stop. A lot of horses need review over and over again before they’re consistent.”

Stohler has two zebras, Zack and Charlie, on her farm in Willis, Texas, as well as a zorse (a zebra-horse cross) and a zonkey (a zebra-donkey cross). She rides Zack frequently, especially on trail rides, and drives Charlie. Her exotic animal rehabilitation skills have led her to work with birds of prey, antelope, deer, elk, camels and badgers.

Stohler intends for Zach to jump in demonstrations, but not in competition. Link -via Arbroath

(Image credit: Kimberly Hahn-Orlaska)

What could be more pleasant than a bevy of bouncing bunnies? This collection of pictures at The Ark in Space is just the thing to put a smile on your face! Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Jannes Pockele)

… when I lived in Tijuana, two of my friends actually did have to jump from a speeding vehicle. True story.

After leaving my apartment one night, these two guys got on a calafia, or bus. Now calafias are pieces of crap. They’re essentially school buses from the 1970s painted different colors to correspond with their route. None of them would pass a vehicle inspection in the U.S. and a lot of the drivers are crackheads.

The area we lived in was super hilly. As the bus was descending one of these steep, long hills, my friends noticed that while the bus driver was repeatedly stepping on the brake pedal, the bus kept going faster and faster. The brakes had gone out on the bus.

My friends had two choices. Stay on the bus and see if they’d survive the impending crash or jump and take their chances with the pavement. They decided to jump. One my buds was a retired Mexican soldier and all around badass. While my American friend was screaming out the window for somebody to help, my Mexican friend took action. He went to the driver to see if there was an emergency brake. There was, but it didn’t work. So he went to the back of the bus and opened up the emergency door.

“Vamos a saltar.” We’re going to jump.

Here’s hoping that you’d never have to jump out of a moving vehicle: Link

(YouTube Link)

When he gets bored with doing double backflips on his bike, skydiving without a chute, or inventing new sports like the Hydrojump, Travis Pastrana takes life easy with a casual drive in Long Beach, CA.  Watch him sail this rally car 269 feet with the precision landing of an experienced pilot.  Don’t miss his celebratory backflip into the water!

26-year-old Travis Pastrana set the world record for a rally car jump on New Year’s Eve, flying his Subaru 269 feet over water and landing on a barge in the harbor of Long Beach, California. The record blew away the old one set by Ken Block at 171 feet. Pastrana had to throw the car sideways and slam it against a wall at the end of the barge to stop the car, as he said the ramp was slick with dew. (Brian Lohnes)

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2010/01/04/travis-pastrana-flies-a-car/feed/ 3 http://www.neatorama.com/2009/11/16/bull-leaping/ http://www.neatorama.com/2009/11/16/bull-leaping/#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:38:31 +0000 Johnny Cat http://www.neatorama.com/?p=27551

For some reason, the good people of Spain really like horned, charging mammals involved in their sports.  From the classic (yet controversial) bullfighting matches to the Running of the Bulls, and now an old tradition revived- Bull Leaping!  At Oddity Central, Spooky writes:

Teams of 5 to 7 bull leapers gather each year in cities like Valencia or Barcelona, to take part in a performance that many compare to the Russian roulette. Each team may face up to three bulls in the ring, at once, taunting and jumping over them just when the beasts prepare to impale them.

And, as he points out, no animals needlessly die during the events.

Video of the action.  Link to story/more pics.  | Photos by Ojodigital.

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by oezicomix.

In Germany, a speeding car missed a turn, and flew an amazing distance to crash into the roof of a nearby church.

The bank acted like a springboard, propelling the black Skoda about 35 meters (115 ft) forward and straight into the church’s roof frame, where it remained wedged 7 meters off the ground, police said in a statement.

Link

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by Johnny Cat.

The Macau Tower is an icon of Macau and one of the most advanced towers on the planet. At a height of 338 meters (1108 feet) high the tower doubles as an urban playground and place for people of all ages and abilities to challenge themselves for a good ‘ol bungee jump.

In this clip, this guy felt compelled to give it a try by bungee jumping off the Tower. The jump is considered to be the world’s highest commercial bungee jump.

“Why live life on the edge when you can JUMP OFF IT” – AJ HACKETT

Image: AJ Hackett Macau Tower
Video: Youtube