Incidentally, the rep claimed all of Shure's buds would fit on the Turbines perfectly, in case you hate the pack Monster provides. But I don't think you will—they fit pretty nicely, and I have picky, small earholes that I apparently need to clean, since the buds pretty slimy when I plucked them out.

I suspected they added another driver to round out the sound—and the $250 pricetag, $100 more than the regular Turbines would support that—but apparently it's still a single dynamic driver, just made with a different designed and different materials. I'm interested to see how they stack up in a more comprehensive review scenario than my quick listen against similarly priced multi-driver buds. They'll be out next month. [Monster]

They're also the loudest pair of ear buds I've come across, blasting my iPhone and laptop to volumes I didn't know existed, without ever getting noisy.

The worst thing about the Turbines was discovering how crappy most of my MP3 files really sound. Songs purchased from iTunes or ripped from CD were fine, I was able to pick out each instrument and hear things I normally couldn't with lesser headphones, but files I've obtained with less reliable quality sounded like absolute garbage—the mix was all wrong, and the noise almost gave me a headache.

They're missing a microphone/toggle switch, which we expect by now in headphones of this caliber, and that's a little disappointing. On the plus side, they generously come with five sets of tips so there is definitely a size that will fit your ears. The Turbines are a nice entry into the in-ear headphone arena by Monster, and fantastic sound quality for the price—just make sure your music lives up to their high standards. [Monster]

The jet exhaust is at wide angles for the helicopter application it was in. They wanted the exhaust to go away from the tail boom and have just enough velocity to keep the hot exhaust from being recirculated into the intake. The exhaust provides no thrust, it's all shaft driven but I do spray fuel into the exhaust to make some smoke and fire. It's funny how people think a jet engine isn't working properly if fire isn't spewing out the back, unless it's the engine on the passenger jet they're sitting in.

According to Chris, it can do the 1/4 mile in 11.17 seconds, and it topped at 113mph because he hasn't adjusted the rear axle ratio yet. "I have about $17,000 in the whole thing," Chris told us, "I got the turbine from a friend who deals in Government surplus. This all came about after being on the TV show 'Junkyard Wars' where i built a jet powered tricycle with a jet engine made from an old truck turbocharger." [RunRyder via Hacked Gadgets]

Wind machines were used way back in 200 B.C. by the Persians, who managed to put the wind crunchers to use for grain grinding purposes. Skip a few years ahead, and you have the first Megawatt wind turbine (pictured), which was set up on a hilltop in Rutland, Vermont, and provided power to the local grid during WWII. The turbine was affectionately known as "Grandpa's Knob." Charming. Thanks for attending Wind Turbine Retromodo 101; there'll be a test next week, so get revising. [Live Leak; Wiki]

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