Attempting the Impossible: Hands Across America | Tales From the Bottle 

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“Think of what we can do with our own hands” said by Bill Cosby. I’m sorry, but that’s one of the funniest things I’ve heard in a while.

The possibility of meeting a Frenchman has prevented my leaving the United States all of my life. 🤣

The sheer idea of someone touching an electric fence and shocking upwards of 6 million people is so funny I'm surprised no one thought of doing it back then

bill cosby saying "think of what we could do with our own hands" aged like fine milk

The happy smile on the hippie-van driver's face, only to be replaced with an angry death stare at the Frenchman, was absolutely hilarious and accurate.

I'm one of those "never out of the country" Americans, who participated in Hands Across America when I was 15. I met a Frenchman at the local grocery store last month - he taught my grandson "Bon Jour" ♥

Odds are strong that at least a few people did that fake handshake/ running your fingers through your hair gag. Never gets old.

There is a universe where 6 million Americans drown in the Pacific ocean because of hands across America.

My step father took part in this event. A 5'11" 260lbs biker, affiliated with the Hells Angels. He had forearms like fire hydrants. He and a few buddies showed up, got drunk and stuck it out. This was in the Arizona section. Edit, upon further review, one of the thick blonde girls in the photo with the cactus, is highly likely to be my stepdads sister Kelly. I'll need some convincing to believe otherwise. I know she took part, just like her biker brother, and that photo looks identical to the one in her albums.

I do think the idea that we set everything down, ignored race, gender, social status, etc and identified every kind of person as an American really means a lot. The fact prisoners were able to participate is honestly what I think is important. Even those who we condemn and see as dangerous enough to be locked away, they got to be a part of it.

Perhaps in the future, Qxir could cover Baltic Way, when approximately 2 million people held hands from Vilnius to Tallinn, and ultimately led to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia being freed from Soviet occupation. Another great hand holding story, and one with rather immediate effects.

My grandma was one of the coordinators for a section along I-17 in Arizona, and my mom always talks about the event, so I've always assumed this was one of, if not THE defining event of American history in the 80s.

Qxir, you are one of the very few folks I can listen to as they talk about obscure facts, erroneous topics, and horrific deaths for hours at a time. Thanks for all your hard work but don't work yourself too hard

4:40 "God made the desert for scorpions and rattlesnakes to fight to the death under the boiling sun." Between lines like that, humor like that Frenchman joke and learning something new or getting more insight into ridiculous stories I had heard about is the reason why I look forward to your videos every Friday good sir.

"Think of what we can do with our own hands" That sentence had a very different energy coming from Bill Cosby than it would have coming from anyone else.

"Think of what we can do with our own hands." No, Mr. Cosby, I don't want to think about what you've done with your hands...

Bill Cosby saying “think of what we can do with our own hands” is _hands_ down the best part of this video

Honestly, your style is amazing Qxir, thank you for all that you do!

Oddly enough, I AM an Irishman who moved to the desert for some reason... and yes, while feeling the sweat of a strangers hand in normal conditions is revolting to me, doing it in the Phoenix summer heat is my own personal idea of hell.

You never get boring man that’s why I love this channel

love getting a new video every friday. hearing your sultry Irish voice reminds me that the weekends coming up and life is good.

When Cosby says: "Think of what we can do with our own hands"... Pretty eerie in retrospect lol.

What actually happened was…I showed up with a bunch of cousins and my mom and aunts and we stood there waiting for a couple hours. After a while, it was clear there was no organization and no direction was going to be given. The kids were getting restless and hungry and finally the moms conspired and started a countdown and then we all joined hands for a few minutes, pictures were taken, we all felt good about SOMETHING and we went home. That was Hands Across America.🇺🇸

I guess the 80s were just the decade of hand holding - the Baltics did the same thing in '89. This probably inspired us to do so

My parents had me part of this chain, memories!

just a random thought hearing you mention the Susquehanna river being only about 3 or 4 miles away form it here in north eastern Pennsylvania (Scranton..) most dont know this fact but apparently that river is one of the 2 if not the oldest river in the world and predates the breakup of pangea! blew my mind to learn that

80's to now, what's changed? Humanity as a whole has been spiritually devolving. This will continue until their is a reset.

In the Soviet Union there was a similar event at that time, the Baltic Way. And THAT is the event that fueled divisiveness, for real. 😮

The animation and commentary at 3:27 is pure comedy gold

Holy shit, at 4:35 thats on Interstate 17 north of Phoenix (Arizona); I was there! I was just out of frame to the left with my parents and twin brother!

Cosby "think what we can do with our hands" I'd rather not think what you do with your hands Bill

There was a continuous link between New York and Washington-the first "break" occurring in western Maryland. After that, there were quite a few "breaks"-but it was *mostly* continuous through Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City. West of there, the "breaks" outnumbered the continuity except for in southern California-where it was *mostly* continuous. Between California and western Texas, however, practically nobody actually showed up. Instead, they arranged -via CB radio-for long-haul truck drivers to simultaneously *honk their horns* at the appointed time.

Well, I loved Hands Across America! I was a child at the time….not even living in the United States, but I loved the idea that people tried to show love and unity across the entire country! I didn’t even know it was to raise funds….I just thought it was a sweet idea!

One thing I always run into with visitors from western Europe is a lack of understanding of just how big America actually is (both US & Canada), both in land-size and population. For example, my parents hosted an exchange student -- they're in Ohio -- and the student just could not understand that no, we couldn't pop down to Disney World or over to Cali whenever we wanted, New Orleans wasn't a day trip, and Washington DC was not just around the corner. Not traveling outside our borders isn't just because "the US has everything" -- no, it's because it's freakin' expensive for us to do so AND takes a ton of time. We don't have country-wide public transport, and public transport inside various cities can be a crapshoot. I mean, I'd love to have a system like Eurail here. Travel by car is *exhausting*; Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses are not only expensive, but also don't cover many places; planes are even more expensive. When I visited Europe in the '80s, it was amazing how many countries and cities I was able to easily/cheaply visit via Eurail pass. In contrast, here, I've managed to get to San Francisco once (14+ hour trip by plane, several days by car), Delaware a couple times (due to in-laws living there; an exhausting 10+ hour car trip), Tennesee's Smoky Mountains a number of times (6-ish hours from here by car, so fairly close), and Denver/the Rockies once (three days of continuous driving by my parents -- pure hell). That's it. And bluntly, it's either car or nothing in most of this country, if you want to visit anywhere outside your home city.

You’re the man ! *Going to make my lunch break fly by 🥺I love you brother

Next they should do *'Human Centipede Across America'*

I was a petulant teenager when this happened. The line ran not far from my home but it was such a hot day that I refused to go. My mother and step-father went. She thought it had been great, standing in line and imagining you were in an unbroken chain across the country. Meanwhile he rolled his eyes and let me know he'd rather have stayed home too. In my opinion, America is simply too big a place for such an event to be meaningful. They should have hands across Lichtenstein, San Marino, or Singapore. This kind of event could feel really unifying in a small nation, I imagine.

Thank you for all you do man. Your channel is amazing.

I'm an American & this was hilarious! Thank you for the work you put into your videos. You truly are one of the top creators on RU-vid- which is my opinion which really means diddly in the grand scheme of things. 😁

Congratulations, Africa really needed the world's highest birth rates. This helped so much.

it has never occurred to me as an american that other people leave their countries often, or at least somewhat often. most people in my friend circle haven't even left the state i live in. i guess here going to another state is like going to another country- considering the different laws states have.

I first learned about this from my high school debate coach - who had been present helping facilitate the 1986 National Catholic Forensic League national tournament, in Baltimore, on the exact same day. At the time they spread out the events across multiple sites and it turns out several of these sites were on opposite sides of the human chain. It was apparently quite a boondoggle with facilitators having to take circuitous detours to move the judging results around, which all had to be done by paper in 1986.

I’m a history teacher in Texas and would love to show my students some of these stories. Without changing the actual videos, I was wondering if there was a way to get a version that bleeps out the cussing. For example, I think the kids would get a kick out of the Finnish pervitin story but I’m worried about my ability to mute it in time lol. Not even a request, just an inquiry. Thank you for all you do Qxir.

Your point about being able to visit vast variety of biomes within the country is made a crazier thought experiment when you realize you can see most within a single state, such as here in Washington. Here you can find deserts, open plains, river basins, rolling agrarian hills, arid mountain steppes, alpine forests, temperate rain forests, glacial peaks, marshes, an archipelago, and probably more that I can't remember off the top of my head.

You always crack me up. I love your sense of humor

I'm just happy you covered this event. I was in Atlanta when it happened so I didn't take part in it but it really was a nice idea.

6:05 This nonchalantly comical part of the video cracked me up way too much

I was in grade school when it got started. It was made out to be a big deal at school, but after the actual day it occurred it seemed like it kind of just dissappeared and no one said anything about it ever again. I can't recall having heard anything more about it until that Simpsons episode years later mentioned it.

This went thru my hometown of Millington, TN ❤ Never thought I’d see a video by y’all on it!!! What a pleasant surprise

Hands across America wasn't happening when we drove up interstate 17 going north in Arizona. Everyone was down in the ditch waiting, or getting in the way of traffic. We did see some bikini clad girls and that slowed us down even more. Hauling cattle through the desert is tough enough without a bunch of people being in the way. But we made it with no cow casualties. Hauling a live load, well,, you've got to go, and keep going. You don't want to have to stop til you get there, but for food, fuel, scale houses( chicken houses )and the occasional breakdowns. There were tents everywhere and a great mix of peoples that was great to see people of all races participating! Thanks again Qxir! Had not thought about that for quite some time. What a memory. Wish we could have pulled over and joined in. Wonder how many people got shite on as we went by? Peace to all in Ireland from Dan from Nebraska. 😂🇺🇸😅!

I live within 45 min of desert, the beach, snowy mountains, a massive city, forests, Disneyland, and have been outside the country. When you've been born and raised in SoCal, it just is what it is. There are so many countries I wish I could visit. Ireland being among the top of the list.

Ah, those days before COVID and social distancing. Great video, man!

Bro, you can surf at the beach, hike through a forest, trek across a desert, climb a mountain, and make a snow angel in one day all just in California.

i was in kindergarten in Massachusetts U.S. when this went down. I watched the challenger blow up a couple months earlier the whole kindergarten class cheered we didn't realize it wasn't supposed to do that the 80s where pretty cool

There were so many types of aid back then. So much aid. Aids were everywhere.

I'm holding hands with your videos

0:18 you can go from the mountains, to desert, to the beach, and big cities in one day if you're in California. It used to be great to live here

I'm American, and I have little desire to leave the country for the exact reasons you mentioned. We have just about everything here, and there's so much to do and see. Maybe one day I'll travel internationally, but for now, I'm happy just exploring the states

It's always amazing. An European will ask me where they should travel to in America wanting to explore it all in one week. Yet America is only slightly smaller than all of Europe. So they say they will drive from New York, Chicago, Denver, etc all in a week. When in reality they will never get out of their car the whole vacation if they want to travel that much.

In some states, you can go to all those places without leaving your own state

4:22 You got pretty close to the correct pronunciation! My hats off to you Qxir!

Qxir, love the videos. Constantly coming back to rewatch, it makes me happy to see a new upload. Especially on a topic like this :D

Finally subscribed after watching hundreds of your videos.

Love the parody of this from invader zim’s movie where it’s literally going to end the world lol

All your more recentish videos this year have been absolute BANGERS, been watching literally every single one you upload! Dunno if you changed anything, but the vids are just extra extra good lately. Love your content, keep it up man!

Amazing story telling of weird and wonderful subjects and out of this world art work, I just love your content!

I remember this as a kid. Man, that makes me feel old..

Bill Cosby saying "think of what we can do with our own hands" aged so well

The event was also the inspiration for the movie Us back in 2019, it’s a decent film too.

Sad to report the 2023 version is just coast to coast fist fights. Hands Across America ™

"if you count the gaps filled with nothing" cracked me up 😂

A long weekend a a fresh Qxir video. We’re winning lads.

This event is also featured in the movie "Us" from 2019.

I was there that day- out in the desert outside of Tonopah AZ- it was HOT, but we had fun. Stayed up all night before we went, very drunk, and there where car problems on the way home... I may still have the T-shirt somewhere

I understand your attachment to your vehicle. She was loyal to you to the end. That's better than most of my enemies .

I vaguely remember The Simpsons mentioning this... with large gaps in parts.

Bill Cosby: think of what we can do with our own hands. Me, watching: NOT YOU!!!! 😂😂😂

The 80’s: a time of unbridled enthusiasm about issues that were not concerning in the slightest, and the utter neglect of issues that were.

Thank you I have always wondered about the details of this event my mother speaks of it from time to time

My post-covid brain is having an aneurysm thinking about all those strangers holding hands

I am still waiting for Hands Across the Atlantic to Ireland.

Hands across America is peak eighties, a perfect microcosm of the time

love watching these videos

good channel

And nothing bad has ever happened in Africa since...

My brother and my dad participated in this event, can’t remember where they were at but still nice to know that

"Think what we can do with our OWN hands" -Bill Cosby 1986

“Think of what we can do with our own hands” Oh Cosby, I’m sure you know 😂

There's always Paris, Texas if they want to meet someone fro Paris... :D Or for Frenchmen - there's Canada! And a mini Eiffel Tower in Vegas

When Bill Cosby said "think about what you can do with your hands" *pause* ✋️ 👀 lmao

Thanks for all the artwork , in this one. It's brilliant as always.

Make a video about the baltic way another massive human chain and it has an interesting history behind it

How was the line completed only 15 MINUTES after it was started?

Holy damn! I got here early! I've been binging your content for almost a week now, and you never fail to deliver high quality videos!

Impressive organisation for pre-internet days.

Chances of meeting a Frenchman. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Did you ever get the million dollar investment in the channel?

God egging on the scorpion snake fight was the best part.

"Peace is nice. Peace is nice."