+
Joy

Extreme pogo sticking is a thing and it's terrifyingly impressive

Extreme pogo sticking is a thing and it's terrifyingly impressive

Extreme pogo stick is a growing niche sport.

The first pogo stick was patented in 1919, and every couple of generations, it makes a comeback. My early-'80s childhood was rife with pogo sticks (followed up by the much-easier-to-use Pogo Bal) and to this day I'm thankful I never broke an ankle trying to use them.

Some of us are built for pogo sticks and some of us are not, friends. I definitely was not, which is why the extreme pogo stick movement absolutely blows my mind.

Not only do people bounce around on pogo sticks without falling on their faces, but they also do flips and tricks and slide down rails and other things that would make every mother's heart jump into her throat.


I mean, just watch this:

Aside from wanting to yell, "Why aren't you wearing a helmet?!?" at some of these guys, I'm mesmerized by these feats. Again, I couldn't even get the pogo stick to bounce around normally when I was a kid. How do they do this? How?

One of the now best-known professional (yes, professional) pogo stick riders, Tone Staubs, got started as a teen, when he saw someone doing pogo tricks. He was inspired to dust off the pogo stick he'd gotten for his 8th birthday and give extreme pogoing a go.

Now, 15 years later, he holds the Guinness World Record for pogo stick jumps in one minute (266 jumps) and still does tricks no one else has ever done. And he loves it.

"It allowed me to express myself and become the person I wanted to be," Staubs told The Gazette. "I easily could've been stuck at some job I don’t want."

(And yes, he has twisted, rolled, dislocated, hyperextended and broken various body parts in those 15 years. Be careful, kids.)

Extreme pogo stick is a niche extreme sport, but it's growing. Xpogo, a company dedicated to the sport, puts on Pogopalooza: The World Championships of Pogo each year.

Watch the winners of the Best Trick from Pogopalooza 2021. Utterly bonkers.

All I see here is terror and bumps and bruises, and yet I can't stop watching.

They even do a high jump competition. On pogo sticks. Humans are incredible.

I mean, come on…

Seriously, terrifyingly impressive.

Follow Xpogo on Instagram and YouTube for more extreme pogoing fun.

Seth Rogen on stage during the opening night of Collision 2019 at Enercare Center in Toronto, Canada.

Childless women in the public eye are often plagued by the question: “So, why don’t you have any children?” It’s a deeply personal question that cuts right to the bone, and there can be many answers. But, if the woman doesn’t want children and says so publicly, she is bound to face some judgment.

"[I don't] like [the pressure] that people put on me, on women—that you've failed yourself as a female because you haven't procreated. I don't think it's fair," Jennifer Aniston told Allure. "You may not have a child come out of your vagina, but that doesn't mean you aren't mothering—dogs, friends, friends' children."

On the Monday, March 6 episode of “The Diary Of A CEO” podcast, host Steven Bartlett asked actor Seth Rogen about why he’s childless, and it was a rare moment where a man in the public eye was challenged on the topic. Rogen gave a thoughtful explanation for his and Lauren Miller’s decision to be child-free.

Keep ReadingShow less

Jimmy Fallon of the Tonight Show.

High schools are a perfect breeding ground for weirdness. First of all, you have a bunch of teenagers who are starting to deal with adult problems but they don’t have the experience or the brain development to figure out how to navigate complex feelings and relationships.

Then you add sex, drugs, learner’s permits, the stress of trying to get into college and really bad facial hair to the situation and you have all the ingredients for people and situations to go completely sideways.

Then there are the teachers. High school teachers tend to be a bit more eccentric than those in the younger grades because they are hired as specialists in a given field, such as history, math or science. Whereas teachers in younger grades have to be nurturing and have a more holistic approach to child development.

Keep ReadingShow less
via Pexels

A woman sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat

Everyone wants to know how long they will live and there are many indicators that can show whether someone is thriving or on the decline. But people have yet to develop a magic formula to determine exactly how long someone should expect to live.

However, a doctor recently featured on the "Today" show says a straightforward test can reveal the likelihood that someone aged 51 to 80 will die in the near future.

NBC News medical contributor Dr. Natalie Azar was on the "Today" show on March 8 and demonstrated how to perform the simple “sit to stand test” (aka sit-rising test or SRT) that can help determine the longevity of someone between 51 to 80.

Keep ReadingShow less

A powder-saurus caught in the wild.

A father-daughter snowboarding session takes the cuteness up a notch, thanks to dad’s brilliant idea to attach a mic to his 4-year-old. Sweetness ensued.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

1980s cultural icon Michael Winslow made an emotional comeback on 'America's Got Talent'

He walked away at the height of his fame to raise his children after his wife's sudden death.

via The Nerd Patrol / Flickr

Actor, comedian, and self-proclaimed "voicetramentalist," Michael Winslow was just about everywhere in the '80s. His incredible ability to make sound effects with his voice and uncanny beatboxing skills landed him the role of officer Larvell Jones in all seven "Police Academy" movies.

He also did voiceover work in "Gremlins" and appeared in Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs."

But Winslow was forced to scale back his career in 1993 after the death of his first wife Belinda Church. As a single father, he had to stop appearing in films so he could spend more time with his children.

Keep ReadingShow less

Kayla Berridge went above and beyond.

Kayla Berridge had been walking her normal 9-mile delivery route in Newmarket, a small town in New Hampshire, when she noticed something unusual.

The mail she had been delivering continued to pile up over a matter of days at one resident’s home. The resident was an elderly woman in her 80s, and would occasionally share a chat with Berridge, according to CNN.

Berridge told CNN that after noticing the unattended mail pile, she got “a little concerned.”

“I just had this gut feeling and wanted to make sure,” Berridge told WMUR 9 News, explaining that “most people put a hold in if they’re not there, so when people pick up their mail every day, you start to notice their habits.” Not to mention, the woman’s car was still in the driveway.

Berridge followed her instincts and called the local police department for a wellness check, and in the process saved the elderly woman’s life.

Keep ReadingShow less