Henry Markram, the Blue Brain guy, says in an email to IBM’s CTO, that the project is not even close to an ant’s brain and that the kind of simulations pulled off by IBM are trivial. He also calls the whole thing “stupid”, and “extremely harmful to the field”. [IEEE via Popsci]

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: The black one is actually an N97 not a PSP. Still though! [Amusement via Dieubussy via GameSetWatch via Kotaku]

Remember that insane water slide jump video? Unsurprisingly, it was a fake viral video. Surprisingly, it was made to promote…Microsoft Office?

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 realise that they need a Microsoft product to complete their most ambitious of stunts.

[Mach es Machbar; Thanks, Adam!]

This video shows a crazy man launching himself off an epically-large water slide and landing perfectly in a kiddie pool very far away from it. Is it fake? I suspect so, but I really want it to be real.

The site that explains the stunt is all in German, save one vague video in English. Can any German-speakers descipher 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]

As part of a BBC science show called Bang Goes the Theory, inventor Jem Stansfield climbed up the side of the 140-foot BBC building using “vacuum gloves” made from an ordinary vacuum cleaner.

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, is 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 the complete 30 jaw-dropping maneuvers and then presumably land. Although, not all the time. [CNET]

The double jump was made by Levi LaValle at the Winter X Games on a 200kg Polaris snowmobile. I’m more the giant Antarctic snowmobile type, the one that can carry planes and have a small apartment inside, but I can appreciate the absolutely nutterini risk this jump involves. [Freecaster--Not available in the US or Canada]

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.