Rick Hamel Here’s a video of a remote-controlled robotic dragon that also breathes fire. Why? Because as scary as dragons seem in fantasy novels, now we finally know that their aerodynamics pass muster in the real world.
Rick Hamel, an RC vehicle modeler, spent a year building the so-called “Mythical Beast,” which won Best in Show at Weak Signals’ RC model show in Toledo, Ohio. The dragon has 600 hand-painted scales, uses helium for lift and small electric fans for thrust, and conceals a P80 kerosene turbine for breathing fire. Read More...
Hemp was going to save the world, or so the Baja hoodie-wearing hippies hanging out at California’s Venice Beach back in the ‘80s would have it. The fast growing, fibrous stalks could be used for insulation, rope, construction, and fabric—even the soft striped pullovers popular with surfers at the time. The founding fathers grew it, they claimed, and the first two iterations of the United States’ Constitution were drafted on hemp paper. Read More...
Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has faced many demons since the release of the 2017 album “Villains”: cancer, divorce, rehab and court battles. And the new Queens record, the just-released “In Times New Roman…,” definitely adds weight to the band’s woozy, bluesy rock — a dour energy far removed from the dancier sound conjured by producer Mark Ronson on “Villains.”
“Roman,” self-produced by band founder Homme and one of his strongest QOTSA lineups ever, is one of the rawest and heaviest albums the band has delivered, and during Saturday’s Queens, New York stop of their “The End Is Nero Tour,” they proved that sometimes the new material can be a live standout, even as the band approaches its fourth decade of existence. Read More...