Far from an honest ballistics test, the shoot(ing), staged by French gaming magazine Amusement, was just an opportunity to snap a few stunning photos. Which is fine! And which they did!

So, where's the video? Update: Yeah, you guys are right—the black one is an N97, not a PSP. Still though! [Amusement via Dieubussy via GameSetWatch via Kotaku]

The site is still in German, but now it's covered in Microsoft Office Project 2007 branding. I don't get it as I don't speak German, but I can only imagine how well this makes a potential daredevil realize that they need a Microsoft product to complete their most ambitious of stunts. [Mach es Machbar; Thanks, Adam!]

The site that explains the stunt is all in German, save one vague video in English. Can any German-speakers decipher this and determine its validity? Please don't dash my dreams. If this is a viral ad for adult diapers or something I'm going to be really disappointed. Although it would be a great way to sell something that helps adults cope with shitting their pants, no? [Megawoosh via Today's Big Thing]

We don't know much about the actual gloves, seemingly built from plywood and a couple of dustbusters, so we've got a bit of doubt about the whole enterprise, especially as it's described by the BBC itself as a "stunt." But whatever: There's a guy climbing the side of a building! [BBC News via Geekologie]

The Thunderbirds, aka the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, are comprised of eight pilots, four support officers, three civilians, and more than 130 enlisted personnel, say the folks at CNET who read over the unit's official fact sheet.

They typically fly for about an hour during an air show appearance, during which time they complete 30 jaw-dropping maneuvers and then presumably land. Although, not all the time. [CNET]

In 2007, he broke his spine while doing practice jumps for a planned New Years Eve jump. This NYE, he tried again. And while he finished the rotation, he screwed up the landing (as much as you can control the landing in a truck) and ended up rolling down the landing hill.

Give it up, dude. In the end, even if you nail it, it's not even that impressive for you personally. It'd be more impressive that your team was able to engineer a jump that properly flips you up. Simply driving straight at a crazy contraption and then being willing to be badly hurt over and over again don't take that much finesse. Listen to the man upstairs, go be an accountant or something.

Riding the new Peak2Peak Gondola that connects Whistler's Blackcomb and Whistler Mountain summits, over 2.7 miles, must be exhilarating. But jumping off it is just insane.

Shortly after opening, these Two Red Bull sponsored lunatics rode a car to the mid point of the ride and jumped. That makes for a good preview of the fall, should one of these boxes full of 28 people ever fall out of the sky. (I couldn't help thinking of this, I have a decent fear of heights.)

The Gondola itself holds records for its unsupported span of 1.88 miles between the two furthest towers, and for its rise, measuring over a quarter mile above the ground at its highest point.

At 16 miles per hour, it makes the traverse between the mountain tops, in 11 minutes. Contrast that with the usual ski down one peak, plus a drive to the base of the other, plus a number of gondola, chair and tow rides upward, which easily could take over an hour or three.

I've been to Whistler once before, and remember two things: a 45 minute run down blackcomb's glacier to the village, and a Nintendo sponsored park. I guess I have yet another reason to go back.

Yep, about what you expected, eh? Here's hoping he's learned a thing or two during those painful months of rehabilitation.

Part of this is CG, mainly the background and the vehicles, but it's still pretty awesome. It's not so awesome that I'm buying the game or a PS3, but awesome nonetheless. [Brainstorm #9 via NotCot]

In addition to photographing each event, they have time lapse footage of the process, which is pretty neat to watch. Not So Noisy has done this three times—once with cars and trucks, once with RetroBuses and once with people. I love each one equally. [Not So Noisy]

They broadcast a 30 second video (what format isn't clear; I hope the aliens have VLC!) into space which was voted on by the British to best represent life on Earth, or at least the moments of life on Earth that involve trying to sell unhealthy corn chips. Peter Charles, Head of the "Doritos Broadcast Project" can apparently still sleep at night after saying "We also shouldn't be too surprised if the first aliens start arriving on planet Earth immediately demanding a bag of Doritos." If so, the universe is more doomed than I thought. [Physorg]

A lot can go wrong when you're trying to reach 130,000 feet up in the air. At above 40,000 feet, there's no longer enough oxygen to breathe. At 12 miles up, the air pressure can cause blood to boil. Fournier will be taking the trip in a special space suit, but if it malfunctions, he'll be dead within seconds.

If he makes it, Fournier will set records for falling the longest, farthest and fastest of anyone in history. The fall will be the cumulation of 20 years of research and physical and emotional preparation. To pay for his training and equipment, Fournier has sold almost all his belongings and spent roughly $20 million, mostly raised from private donations.

Fournier has insisted that he's not free falling to break world records. And though the data collected from the jump could have ramifications on aerospace escape procedures, many argue that there is very little to be gained scientifically.

Rather, this experiment probably has its roots in something much more basic and instinctual, despite its decidedly high-tech makeup. Fournier is out to fulfill his all-too-human need to find and, hopefully, exceed his own limitations. [NYTimes and Le Grand Saut]

Remember, kids: don't try this at home, unless Red Bull throws a sponsorship your way, in which case go nuts. [Autoblog via Didn't You Hear?]

After successfully landing the 360-degree backflip three times into the cardboard boxes in training, I am disappointed that our last jump ended in an accident. As I lay here in the hospital with three broken vertebrae in my neck and two compressed and broken vertebrae in my back, I am also disappointed that we cannot perform the 360-degree Red Bull Experiment on New Year's Eve, but I'm happy that I will be able to walk again.

Yes, during ESPN's New Year's Even No Limits broadcast, he's gonna attempt a full backflip in an off-road racing truck off a specially-built jump designed just for this task. Since he's just sitting in the truck, it seems like most of the work will be done on the jump, so it's not like he's got to do a lot except for keep his gigantic balls strapped down. But still, it's crazy and impressive. I don't know the mechanics of how the jump will work, but I'm assuming it'll actively flip him into the air. The tricky thing will be the timing, getting the flip right so he lands wheels down and not on the front of the truck. In any case, it should make for some good YouTubing the next day whether he's successful or not. [Red Bull Experiment via Didn't You Hear...]

He was wrong. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis claimed him, a year short of his prediction, at the age of 69. Throughout the decades that mattered, however, he did seem immortal. The frailty of his equipment was the thing that failed him, time and time again. Attempting to pop a wheelie on an earth mover while working at the Anaconda Mine Company he hit a power line, depriving Butte of its power for eight hours, and him of his job.

It was the same at Caesar's Palace in 1967, when he attempted to jump the fountains (useless-fact fans will appreciate that Linda "Krystle Carrington" Evans worked the camera during the stunt) in front of the casino. As Knievel hit the ramp, he felt his bike, a Triumph 650 Bonneville, decelerate suddenly. The subsequent crash crushed Knievel's pelvis and femur, caused fractures to his hip, wrist and both ankles, and left him in a coma for 29 days.

Knievel shopped around for bikes, using Nortons, Triumphs and Harleys for his jumps, which earned him an estimated $30 million during his heyday (although he claims he spent more than he made on usual suspects such as yachts and Ferraris and, more improbably, snakeskin boots and fur coats). But perhaps his most famous ride was the X-2 Skycycle, on which he attempted to jump Snake River Canyon. (His earlier dream, of leaping the Grand Canyon astride a Norton Atlas Scrambler, fell through after he realized that the US would never allow a leather-clad superstar to commit suicide, however spectacular the stunt might be, in front of a large audience.)

The X-2 Skycycle was a steam rocket designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax (whom Knievel later described as "an egotistical little bastard who burned up Gus Grissom on the launch pad.") Just three of the Truax-designed steam rockets were made, at a cost of $250,000 each. After two of them were totalled during testing, Evel, ever the risk-taker, decided that it was now or never and, selling the visual rights for an estimated $4 million, scheduled the jump for September 8, 1974.

Again, the equipment let him down. Three of the bolts that secured the cover of the Skycycle's parachute sheared off with the force of the blast, activating the 'chute. Although the rocket had made it across the canyon, the drag caused it to turn on its side and float down to the river beneath. Knievel, who walked away with minor injuries—for a change—cheated death when he avoided drowning by just a few feet.

"God never made a tougher son of a bitch than me,"he boasted last year, already laid low by lung disease. But he was right— jail, the IRS, bankruptcy, booze, not to mention his death-defying leaps— couldn't kill Evel Knievel off. His funeral takes place tomorrow in his hometown of Butte, Montana; I, for one, will be donning a cape and revving my Evel Knievel Stunt Bike in his memory.