John Carnett modded brand new Polaris RZR 2-seater ATV with a grey market, 40-year-old turbine. The result is a 114db joystick-driven vehicle that spews out 1300°F exhaust to achieve around 60MPH. And it sounds glorious.

Our only regret is that Carnett was too sane to take his jet ATV over any sweet jumps. Give him time, though. A guy who builds stuff like this has to be slipping a bit. [PopSci]

OK, the F-4 Ejection Seat will not actually eject you from the next corporate board meeting, but your boss doesn't need to know that. Roll into the room on this baby—an authenticish bucket seat from the Vietnam-era F4—and every order he barks will be undermined by a doubt that you could blow the hell out of there any time you please.

Add a helmet to the equation for extra style/authenticity.

While you can order the F-4 Ejection Seat right from the web, this piece of office furniture is technically considered art. But don't consider it an expensive toy; consider it a worthwhile investment in your manager's insanity. [MotoArt via re-nest via TheDailyWhat via Crunchgear]

This twin engine produces 100lbs of thrust by burning a mix of gasoline and kerosene—no need for jet fuel. Consisting of two 50lb engines that can each reportedly thrust a bike forward at 75mph, nothing but trouble can await those who install this twice-as-powerful, 140 decibel engine that glows "red hot" while burning 1.5 gallons of fuel per mile.

Buy your pulsejet engine now on eBay for $1200, or make a lowball offer and spend the rest on life insurance. You really can't go wrong. [eBay via OregonLive via Gizmowatch]The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Yep, 10 years ago he managed to buy a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter for $25,000, and he and his buddies have spent the years since turning it into the world's fastest hot rod.

The goal is to break the land speed record last year, shooing for 800MPH. He's got competition from more professional and better-funded groups, but come on. We've got to pull for the most extreme garage tinkerer in the country. Kick some ass, Ed! [NY Times

The plane, dubbed Alpha Bravo, was slated to be shown off at Heathrow but now, according to British papers, it may be "cut into pieces" and sent to Dubai. Six of the planes are already in museums, and this puppy isn't fit for flight anyway, as it wasn't given the safety upgrade that the others got after that 2000 Paris crash.

Still, some people are sad to think of the last of the skinny-but-mighty supersonic passenger jets sitting on top of a cruiseliner with its wings literally clipped. [Telegraph UK]

I don't know how old these photos may be and I don't care—seeing a MiG-29 in various states of assembly, and attended by a fine-looking team of hard-working babushkas, is awesome. Bless our comrades at English Russia, where you can see more. [English Russia]

These were custom made by the exhibitor for QVC, where they apparently sold out all 2500 of the limited edition for $199 apiece in 30 minutes, according to the dude in the booth.

Change, get it? CHAAAAANGE! With the financial crisis, this also takes on an added layer of irony.

And this was probably my favorite Barack toy: The Obama Mania Game! You use Obamabucks to navigate the campaign trail, where you can land on spaces like "Gov. Palin Proves a Liability to Her Party: GO SIX SPACES AHEAD!"

The Obama merch machine, clearly, shows no sign of stopping. [Toy Fair 2009]

Seasoned in their coverage of the many laments of being rich, the NYTimes talked to many current and former jet owners about what's happening. It's pretty much a given now that if you're taking bailout cash (and these days, who isn't?), the jets have to go. Making now totally the time to buy!

“A year ago, there would be 30 people looking for one airplane,” said Jay Mesinger, a corporate jet broker, who said that prices had fallen 30 to 40 percent since late 2007. “Today there are 30 airplanes looking for one buyer.“

Aside from the U.S. becoming one giant used jet lot for the young emirs and oligarchs of the world, something tells me that the hip-hop community will raise up and do its part to keep the Gulfstreams of the world in solvency. They've never really had a problem with blatant displays of excess, have they? [NYTimes]

I'm no warmonger, nor am I a motorcycle fiend, but I can appreciate both a landmark plane with an iconic design and a lavishly expensive bike all the same.

Yet when I look at this B-2 bike, all I can think is, the US Airforce actually spent money on that?

How about we commemorate 20 years of the B-2 bomber with, say, the uber-badass B-2 bomber? Who cares that this bike has some of the original titanium from the original B-2 aft deck or that each wheel features some stupid scale models of B-2s in star formations? What's next, B-2 collectible cards in the spokes?

I look at this motorcycle and can only reminisce of the short-lived Street Sharks cartoon/toy campaign. It's a caricature of America's historical techno-military supremacy, but an unintentional one at that. [Northrop Grumman via Gizmowatch]

The USB Aircraft Mouse, packed with enough plastic, LEDs and USB-connectivity to only be made by our friends at Brando, will turn your mouse hand into the best fighter pilot in the office. If only the thing we wireless, you could perform a radical flyby on a coworker's monitor, establishing yourself as the alpha and the omega of spreadsheets while showing the world what upper middle management is really made of. [Brando]

So when you're heading home for Christmas or the Festival of Lights, you might have the joy of checking in with your boss ever few seconds, rather than enjoy No Reservations for the upteenth time. No porn though, as Delta is one of the airlines who have vowed to block adult sites so flight attendants don't have to. [Press Release, Photo Cubbie in Vegas/Flickr]

Each F-22 costs $143 million, and at stake is a $9 billion proposal to build 60 more Raptors over the next three years. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is fine with axing the program (as was the Bush administration, who has of course deferred the decision), favoring instead the development of unmanned UAVs that are more adept at the reconnaissance and surgical strikes used in fighting terrorists, not the air-to-air dogfights that would have been expected when facing up to a Soviet superpower with its own modern air force. The L.A. Times cites one such unmanned project as "a small blimp equipped with an automated high-powered sniper rifle that could provide a form of inexpensive but effective air support for platoons in Afghanistan."

The decision is a dicey one, because while saving money in the Pentagon's budget, a decision to axe the F-22 would mean a loss of jobs and defense contracts for U.S. workers. Unsurprisingly, the F-22's most vocal supporters are in Congress; the jet uses parts from 1,000 suppliers spread across 44 states. That's a lot of pork, and if we know there's one way to make someone sad, it's take away their pork. The NYTimes quotes Democratic congressman Norman Dicks saying “I think we’re going to keep the F-22 going, that’s my gut instinct." Someone tell this dude that "following your gut" is so over! [NYTimes, LA Times]

In theory, sending in a pair of the jets to do loops around the eye of the hurricane while it's still out over the ocean, creating sonic booms, would break it up before it hits the shore.

Jet fighters flying at supersonic speeds along special trajectories with a hurricane/typhoon at various altitudes would create supersonic booms. In one such embodiment, the trajectories for the supersonic booms of the present invention are counter to the rotational component of the hurricane and/or typhoon being targeted. As such, supersonic booms can be tailored and/or designed to partially and/or fully -negate the basic rotational contribution in a hurricane by slowing down a hurricane's/typhoon's rotation. Additionally, when supersonic booms propagate downward to the surface of the ocean they also destabilize a hurricane's/typhoon's structure by increasing the pressure in the central part of a hurricane's/typhoon's eye.

It's a pretty crazy idea, but I guess it makes sense. It would be pretty amazing to be able to stop any hurricane before it hit shore, saving millions and millions of dollars and who knows how many lives. I can't wait for them to test this out. [Patent via AV Web; Thanks, Jason!]

Science, of course! H211 LLC uses many of its jets for NASA-sponsored experiments, since they operate primarily out of Moffett field, a NASA-controlled airstrip that's conveniently located right next to Google's Mountain View HQ. The jet was acquired to carry scientific instruments that could not be rigged up to Boeing 757/767 and Gulfstream jets the company already operates, some of which were used to monitor the re-entry of the ESA's Jules Verne satellite. So other tech companies probably don't need to worry about an escalating proliferation of military hardware in preparation for a Silicon Vallery air superiority battle just yet. Détente! [">Mountain View Voice, NYTimes]

Awesome. I'm not sure I'd stand as close as the guys in the vid clip did: In action, and from close by, it must be like standing directly behind a Vulcan bomber as it lights up its engines and takes off*. Only less safe. [Lost Arts Collective via Makezine via Neatorama]

*This is the single loudest, most impressive and chilling sound I've ever heard. If you're unfamiliar with the Vulcan's roar, check this out.