In soviet russia... screw drives you! (via)
posted by phrontist on Apr 15, 2008 - 46 comments

Behold Claude, the Kung-Fu Bear. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Apr 5, 2008 - 40 comments

sQuba Submersible Sports Car --Rinspeed calls the sQuba the first real submersible car. Unlike military amphibious vehicles, which can only drive slowly on a lakebed, the sQuba travels like a submarine - either on the surface or submerged. The interior is resistant to salt water, allowing the skipper to drive into a lake or the sea. The only downside? It's a convertible.
posted by The Light Fantastic on Feb 18, 2008 - 23 comments

The trap-jaw ant, best known for its powerful jaws which hold the land speed record for movement at 145 miles per hour, is brilliantly captured in a short film shot at 100,000 frames per second. [more inside]
posted by dhammond on Dec 28, 2007 - 70 comments

Cyril Raffaelli is a French stuntman, parkour stud and all-around physical badass.
posted by jonson on Aug 23, 2007 - 21 comments

Badi Assad has some incredible technique goin' on (YouTube) and charisma to burn. The 41-year-old Brazilian singer and guitarist comes from a musical family and has been signed to a pretty prestigious North-American record label. Of course these days there is the obligatory Wikipedia entry and her MySpace page. Here's an interview (from ten years ago) wherein she discusses her music. So far as I can see those hips and those lips and those fingertips don't lie. [Much more Badi Assad on YouTube]
posted by St Urbain's Horseman on Aug 10, 2007 - 24 comments

Meet Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the World's Greatest Living Explorer...
posted by quin on Dec 6, 2006 - 14 comments

Renegade wild hogs captured using dogs and bare hands. Greg Whidden captures the hogs from a nature preserve where they're causing environmental damage.
posted by exogenous on May 11, 2006 - 17 comments

Kurt Steiner is better at stone skipping than you are. Link goes to brief bios with downloadable avi's of the proof.
posted by jonson on Mar 3, 2006 - 29 comments

So by 2006, tattoos and piercings are so mainstream that it's hard for a genuine bad-ass to stand out anymore. While some options still exist, for my money nothing beats embedding a set of brass knuckles directly under your skin.
posted by jonson on Jan 13, 2006 - 79 comments

KRISTOFFERSON!! Born in Texas to an Air Force General, Kris Kristofferson was a Golden Gloves boxing champ who studied writing at Pomona College. Graduating Phi Beta Kappa, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford (students of Merton College later voted that the college should erect a statue of Kristofferson, naked astride a motorcycle of his choice, in Front Quad but funds were never made available) and had two short stories published in the Atlantic Monthly. After Oxford, he joined the military where he trained as a Ranger and learned to fly helicopters. Turning down an invitation to teach at West Point, he packed his bags and left for Nashville, taking a job as a janitor at Columbia Records' recording studio and following his dream to be a songwriter. He flew helicopters to offshore oil rigs in his spare time, until he became too frustrated and, as legend has it, got drunk, flew his helicopter onto Johnny Cash’s backyard, and handed him his demo tapes. A week later Cash sang Kris’ song “Sunday Morning Coming Down” on The Johnny Cash Show, four months later it sat atop the country music charts, and later that year it won the CMA for best song of the year. (more inside)
posted by billysumday on May 20, 2005 - 59 comments

So You Think You're Fundamentally Badass, Do You? Well...*hearty guffaw*... take the test and think again, dude! ( That is, ass if I knew what badass or kickass or even ass itself meant...)
posted by MiguelCardoso on May 21, 2004 - 27 comments

Dan Rather: bad ass or nut? Maybe I'm just too young to remember all of the times the CBS anchorman has been beat up, including the famous "What's the Frequency, Kenneth" incident. Now there's a web site where you can read about all of the times that he's been randomly assaulted, generally harassed, or tear gassed. There are also a few video clips. I think the best one is of him getting punched at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. And of course, it wouldn't be Dan Rather without the long list of weird quotes.
posted by Alison on Oct 19, 2001 - 23 comments