Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

It is often futile to ask why people do things.

Life is short, sometimes brutal, and often so absurd that all we can do is meander through it and allow the depths of our subconscious to propel us.

However, when I saw the video of this scientific test, I did wonder about the contents of this man's inner workings.

For it seems to show him wearing a bulletproof vest and testing it by shooting himself in the stomach.

Some will declare that this is merely a man who is confident of his product. I will declare that confidence is but a step away from madness.

Some will be amused by the few NSFW curse words he utters after surviving the shooting. I will say that any members of his family that might exist would be offering more of these words well before he points the gun into his substantial midriff.

I am grateful to Geekologie for unearthing this unearthly insanity, in which I am told, the star is a 10mm Glock.

I cannot imagine that any manufacturer of bulletproof vests sanctioned this test, which appears simply to be one man's attempt at, perhaps, auditioning for "Survivor."

No one should try this at home. Nor on the shooting range. Nor, indeed, in any galaxy populated by humans or even ten-legged possums.