This is a video from Beijing of a little humanoid robot practicing for the upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games (aka robot Olympics, starting August 22nd) when it crashes hard into a padded wall, falls, doubles over backwards, and shoots sparks from the abdomen. And not in a sexy way like

Roller skate sword fighting: apparently it’s a real thing that people are doing, as evidenced by these videos from the CRABS Historical Fencing society in Nova Scotia (there must have been some pretty wild sword battles in Nova Scotia’s past). I’m a great roller skater, but there’s no doubt in

This is a video of a young artistic inline skater performing a freestyle slalom to Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’. How he manages to weave around all those cones without knocking one over is beyond me (full disclosure: most things are). I suspect it involves a lot of skill and practice

This is a video of Sony AI’s Project Ace ping-pong playing robot. Sure ping-pong is officially known as table tennis, but I feel like nobody who doesn’t own their own paddle calls it that. Admittedly, this robot looks like a pretty fierce competitor. The way it moves — way faster

Note: Flashing lights. This is a video of Italian Olympic luger Leon Felderer speeding down the track in Lillehammer, Norway at speeds up to 86MPH with nothing between him and the track but some spandex, a sled, and a prayer. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times

Because a job worth doing is worth doing well (I have yet to find a job worth doing), this is some footage from the 35th Annual ISSA Housekeeping Olympics, held (appropriately) in Las Vegas. Events include mop slalom, vacuum races, bed making, buffer pad toss, and ride-on vacuum extractor obstacle

This is a clip of the 2025 World Championship of Shoe Shining, in which three finalists had 20 minutes to shine a pair of Bridlen Straight Tip Oxfords to as close to a mirror-finish as possible. Each was allowed a selection of Saphir Médaille d’Or waxes, brushes, and cloths, and

Because soon robots will play all our sports for us, this is a video of Morpheus, a giant table tennis playing robot made by Omron that uses AI to actively analyze an opponent’s playstyle and adapts in real time in order to humiliate them. Nice try, robot, but I’m used