You may have read stories, such as one at National Geographic News or another in The New York Times recently, about extreme sportsters who really want to fly — folks with special gear that they hope will let them jump from an airplane and get to the ground safely without the use of a parachute. So far, the suit that will actually perform this feat hasn’t quite been created, so for now those who take the leap still have to use a parachute. But they’re pinning their hopes on a “wing suit” that has parachute-like material webbed between the legs and between the torso and arms, turning wearers into flying squirrels and letting them glide peacefully through the sky. We saw a flurry of blog entries the other day about a “luxury gift” merchant who was offering these things for sale, albeit only to “seasoned” sky divers. Call us prejudiced, but we’d rather not entrust our lives to folks who sell designer dog houses and gold-plated cigar cutters. Instead, we prefer to go to the experts: Were we bold enough, we’d look to somebody like Matter Clothing or Birdman, both of which offer high-tech getups (Birdman’s Tengu is pictured) that can range as high as 900-plus Euros ($1,400-ish) or as low as 500 (currently under $800). The latter option is only two-thirds of the price of the version currently making the blog rounds — not that jumping out of airplanes is the first place you should economize when you’re feeling like getting the household budget slimmed down.