10Hiram Maxim’s Captive Flying Machines Hiram Maxim was one of the 19th century’s most prolific inventors. His most significant achievement came in 1883, when he invented the Maxim gun, the first fully automatic machine gun. While other similar weapons like the hand-cranked gatling gun predated it, the Maxim gun was recoil-operated, portable, water-cooled, and could fire 600 rounds per minute just by pressing down the trigger. It saw plenty of action during World War I, and it eventually morphed into the Vickers gun, the machine gun used by the British Army for decades....

10 The Mosquito, The Pharaoh, And The Razor Blade George Herbert, Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, was an English aristocrat in the early 20th century. While he was initially interested in breeding and racing horses, Lord Carnarvon’s greatest legacy was left in the world of Egyptology. He launched his own excavations at Thebes in 1906, but he soon felt the need for professional oversight. That’s why he began collaborating with archaeologist Howard Carter, and the two published an account of their work in 1912....

Nonetheless, the notion that African-Americans were denied roles as empowered characters of complexity and intellect during this period was occasionally challenged. Consider this cross-section of performances from 1929 until the 1960s by a talented sampling of African-American actors, of whom many are sadly forgotten. 10 Everett Brown Texas native Everett Brown (1902–1953) was cast in forty movies in a career that spanned from the silent era until the early 1950s....

While most ancient structures have gained a second life as tourist attractions, the humble bridge has often maintained its original use throughout the ages. Due to being built to last, there are many bridges out there that were built hundreds of years before our time and still see daily use. While old bridges often get destroyed in disasters, blown up in wars, or burned down in tragic accidents, the bridges in this list have survived the ages relatively unchanged....

In 1904, a basic RV was hand-built onto a car. It included bunks, lighting, and an icebox. Eleven years later, the first fully-decked-out motor home was created out of a bus, changing how Americans vacation. In 1915, Roland Conklin’s Gas-Electric Motor Bus Company developed a brand-new vehicle called the “Gypsy Van.” The double-decker vehicle was 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, weighed eight tons, and was equipped with all the conveniences of the day....

Today, he’s become more of a myth than a man. We almost see him as the ultimate badass, a pirate who could strike fear into the hearts of anyone who stood in his way. And that isn’t exactly wrong. But Blackbeard wasn’t just some cool, tough, but likable antihero. He was incredibly dangerous—and completely out of his mind. 10 He Shot His Crew Members To Remind Them He Was In Charge Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, was massive....

I found several websites run by Christians who obviously disputed all claims of any parallels to the life of Jesus. I also found several interesting books on the subject, such as The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves, and The Christ Conspiracy, and Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled by Acharya S. As a non-christian, I am approaching this topic purely as an interested observer....

Despite the differences in identity worldwide, however, certain items of clothing have become global mainstays. This list will examine the most common modern items of clothing and how they have developed into what they are today. 10 Pants Nothing feels better after a long day at work than peeling off this confining leg wear, which begs the question: What’s with all the pants? The short answer is that they provided a military advantage....

10 Forks Although the ancient Greeks used a fork-like utensil when carving meat, it wasn’t until the seventh century when it appeared in the Middle East as an eating utensil. When the doge of Venice married a Byzantine princess in the 11th century, her use of golden forks to eat was met with fearful suspicion by the Italian population. Utensil history book Feeding Desire says, “Food was a gift from God, and to use an artificial means of conveying it to the mouth implied that this heavenly gift was unfit to be touched by human hands....

There are few better examples of just how murky the truth can get than the Great Fire of Rome. We have a handful of stories and a few half-melted coins still buried in the ashes of old Rome, and we have to pick through them to find the truth. It’s difficult to know who started the Great Fire of Rome and what fallout ensued. Every group had an interest in this story, and every version of it comes with a political agenda attached....

10 Superman’s Punch Is Like A Bomb You know Superman is strong; he’s able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, so he doesn’t skip leg day. When you think The Man of Steel, you think of him beating villains up with his incredible strength. He’s taken on some of the toughest folks in the universe and beaten them to a pulp. But if Superman was around in real life, the last place you’d want to be is anywhere near one of his fights....

By the end of 1980, things were looking more promising, and shortly after the newly elected US president, Ronald Reagan, had taken the oath of office in Washington, DC, on January 20, 1981, news came of the hostages’ release. Everyone was initially overjoyed, but as scandals began to hit Reagan’s double term in the White House, the common “root” factor in a number of them was Iran. 10 The October Surprise During the 1980 election campaign, Ronald Reagan’s running mate and eventual vice president, George H....

10What Caused The Siberian Crater? In August 2014, a gaping crater appeared on the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia. This was an interesting phenomenon, because other than sinkholes in Florida, giant holes usually don’t appear randomly. Geologists traded theories on the origin of the crater, while paranoid skeptics suggested wacky explanations like meteors and extraterrestrial influences. To solve the mystery, scientists erred on the side of sensibility and jumped into the bottomless maw....

10The Awesome New Cannon (That Accidentally Killed The Secretary Of State) While it still had sails, the USS Princeton was the first steam warship with a screw propeller in the United States Navy (earlier steam-powered vessels had been pushed along by a paddlewheel). Like any new technology, the Princeton had a few kinks to work out. In this case, the kinks were devastatingly fatal. On February 28, 1844, President John Tyler decided to show the new ship off....

10John TravoltaPulp Fiction (1994) The highly successful 1994 film Pulp Fiction, one of the most influential movies of its time, featured three separate but interlocking stories involving two gangster-style assassins. One of the assassins, Vincent Vega, was a heroin addict, played by John Travolta. To prepare for the scenes where Travolta’s character would be under the influence of the drug, he received key advice from an ex-junkie friend of writer and director Quentin Tarantino on how to come close to what a heroin high might feel like....

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out what’s wrong with the men who kill—but the women who love them may be every bit as disturbed as the killers themselves. Here is a small collection of examples. 10 The Woman Who Creeped Out Ted Bundy Ted Bundy, the serial killer and rapist who ended at least 30 lives, got hundreds of letters from female fans while he was in prison....

It’s unclear why some people pay this much money for things that others would gladly get rid of, but their stories are surely interesting to read. These 10 incredibly scary items are worth far more than any sane person would spend on them. 10 The Cursed Artwork Painted With Blood The existence of the oil painting officially known as The Anguished Man was first revealed in a story from Northern England....

These following places all have the most chilling statistics and a history of macabre happenings. When it comes to murder, they would be playgrounds for serial killers. 10 Gary, Indiana The town of Gary, Indiana, has been called a “serial killer’s playground” due to the 10,000 abandoned houses that line its derelict streets.[1] Many of these homes are beyond repair, with crumbling walls and sagging roofs, since employment in the area dropped due to growing overseas competitiveness in the steel industry....

Even though individual monarchs obviously do die, the Sovereign (that’s to say the reigning Monarch) never dies. Due to the way the British Crown operates, the very moment one King or Queen dies, the next-in-line succeeds them immediately. As a result of this, the Royal Standard (above) never flies at half-mast! Interestingly, however, the Royal Standard can be flown at half-mast over a building or vessel (but not at Buckingham Palace) if the deceased body of the previous monarch is housed there....

10The Rise Of The Lone Wolf At time of writing, Roof is thought to have acted alone. Although he was involved with at least one openly racist group, the decision to pick up a gun and murder nine people came from his own twisted mind. Terrifyingly, this may be a future norm for terrorism. Though well-funded groups rampage across the Middle East and Africa, terrorists who attack within the United States are largely solo fliers....