While Richard Trevithick was busy developing the steam engine in the UK, Oliver Evans was doing the same in the USA, although it took him 18 years to build it into a vehicle. Evan’s steam-powered machine was the accidental by-product of necessity when he was commissioned to make a steam dredging machine. To get it to the river from his workshop – a distance of some 1.5 miles – he attached stout-wheeled undercarriage and jury-rigged a belt and pulley system to transfer the power to the wheels. He’d inadvertently created a rudimentary on-road vehicle.

In 1860 a patent was filed by Etienne Lenoir for a commercially practicable gas engine. While technology made the design more efficient quite soon after its inception, it was both simple and reliable and remained in production until 1890. Lenoir’s patent describes how the engine could be independent from the fuel supply. He constructed a very basic ‘car’ in 1863, but it was slow, heavy and underpowered.

Five people were killed when the Glasgow to Paisley steam carriage overturned in 1834. Technically, a case of manslaughter could have been brought against the Turnpike Trustees who heaped loose stones up to 45cm deep across the road in a bid to stop the service. This was the second fatal accident, though: A stoker on a steam omnibus fastened the safety valve of the boiler shut in 1832 causing it to explode, killing him.

In 1840 Francis Hill’s large steam coach covered a distance of 128 miles from London to Hastings and back in one day without encountering the slightest mechanical trouble. Due to the inherent unreliability of cars right through to the early 1900s, this distance wasn’t surpassed until more than 40 years later, standing as the record for the furthest distance covered by a mechanical vehicle.

Long journeys and potential death became increasingly available to the general public in the late 1880s. Moto-Cycle Co. of Philadelphia offered the first catalogue in 1886 from which customers could order a steam tricycle or similar vehicle to a set design. None were sold, but it set a precedent.

The method of creating power in steam engines – boiling water – created the need to reduce dampness in enclosed spaces. While this wasn’t a factor in the operation of automobiles, it was in factories. The market need lead to the invention of the non-condensing steam engines.

The auto industry really kicked off with the Model T Ford. The assembly line meant a car could be made extremely cheaply and quickly. Ford produced more than 15 million of that model, a number which wasn’t exceeded until the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed it in 1972.

The first British company formed to produce petrol-powered motor cars was the Daimler Co. Wheeling and dealing by a chap called Lawson almost saw a monopoly created – a dubious one at that! Lawson acquired the German Daimler licenses and was to manufacture to those designs, but instead copied Panhard-Levassor designs, but using Daimler-type engines (Panhard-Levassor licensed their engines from Daimler).

Reading reviews about marques such as classic Hillmans will expand your knowledge of how the automobile developed.

While the history of the car goes back to the 18th century, it took more than a hundred years later for drivers and engineers alike to seriously start pushing the speed barrier. On the 18th of December 1898, Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat of France became the first driver to establish a land speed record, when he was timed by an autocar magazine to complete a kilometer run in an electric car. He took 57 seconds, an average speed of 63km per hour. His accomplishment also disproved the popular notion at his time that a human being will likely to suffocate from travelling at such high speed.

The first time the 60 mph (100 kph) mark was overtaken was on April 29th 1899, when the French count’s new record was superseded by Camille Jenatzy with a new milestone of 65.79 mph on the Acheres road. It was also accomplished by an electric vehicle, rightfully christened La Jamais Content (The Never Satisfied).

Five years later, the French driver Louis Rigolly, not satisfied with his prior achievement of 92 mph, had the vehicle personally modified during a special gatherings of race drivers. It was during July 1904 that Rigolly cruised along the 1 kilometre stretch in the Ostend beach under 22 seconds, with a speed over 100 mph.

A speed of 150 mph was first accomplished by Sir Malcolm Campbell of United Kingdom in 1925. In March that year he was credited with the Land Speed Record, which he broke on Pendine Sands driving the old 350 hp V twelve Sunbeam at 150.87 mph. He would later go on to break the 250 mph and 300 mph barriers.

After the Second World War the land speed bar was raised beyond 400 mph, when the admission of gas turbines and jet propelled cars confused the issue to some extent. In 1947, at the dawn of this new era of fastest ever records, John Cobb exceeded 400 mph in a singular direction in the Railton Special at Utah in September, finishing with an average speed of 394.196 mph. His speed over the mile from south to north of the course was 403.135 mph.

For the past 14 years, the fastest land record has been kept by the British designed ThrustSSC, with Andy Green of the Royal Air Force as its pilot. With twin Rolls Royce turbofan engines built in, akin to the ability of F-4 fighter jets, it was the first ever wheeled vehicle to smash the sound barrier. The ThrustSSC conquered a speed record of 763 mph on October 15, 1997.

For over 10 years, automotive engineers have bee working on a superior vehicle to surpass the landmark set by the Thrust SSC. The most ambitious of these projects is the Bloodhound SSC, developed by the same person who designed the Thrust SSC, Richard Noble. He had hoped that his latest creation will beat its predecessor by the largest margin ever in the history of Land Speed Records, ideally by up to 1000 mph.

Before any attempt to break the world speed record, you first need a licence to drive. These days it’s quite helpful to have an online driving test – just don’t get distracted with all the driving games on the Internet.. Also published at The Fastest Drivers That Ever Cruised the Earth.

Much has recently been made of the Tesla Generator, a system that apparently generates more energy than it takes in. Yet who was the man responsible for inventing it?

Nikola Tesla, the creator of the Tesla Generator, and originator of quite a few other developments within the field of electricity, came into this world on July 10, 1856 in Croatia. By birth, he had been a subject of the Austrian Empire, yet later on in life, he became an American citizen.

Tesla learned electrical engineering in the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz. At the school, he concentrated the applications of alternating electric current.

Even while very young Tesla exhibited flashes of brilliance. He accomplished a 4 year school term within three years and also, like his mother, he had a photographic memory. Tesla read extensively and exhibited full photographic recall of the books he read.

Tesla had a weird affliction in which he’d see stunning flashes of light, which might often be accompanied by visions. These visions were frequently associated with problems or inventions which he had been focusing on and they frequently gave him new insights and ideas.

Tesla had the extraordinary capacity to visualize in extreme detail. He did not bother drawing plans. Instead he visualized comprehensive inventions within his mind with excellent accuracy, including all measurements. And he constructed these devices straight from what he observed in his mind’s eye.

This phenomenal capability allowed Tesla to invent a lot of the devices that we now take for granted, for instance: ac generators, ac motors, the present day power distribution system, radio, x-ray devices, transformers as well as VTOL aircraft.

As you can tell Tesla was obviously a genius of the first order. He had abilities that various other inventors could only dream of, like: photographic memory and an immense faculty of visualization. Although he and Edison intensely disliked each other, Thomas Edison said that his greatest mistake was not utilizing Tesla’s ideas of alternating electric current in his electric systems.

Zeke is a freelance author who publishes articles about matters like Tesla and one of his most controversial inventions, the Tesla Generator.

Even the perkiest of us need an outside source of inspiration and a great way is a good biography. A biography tells the story of a person’s life. The person who has a biography is normally a politician, religious leader, the leader of a social cause or movement, or a celebrity of some sort. People want to know about the early years of this person’s life, and how they became famous. When the reader reads the biography, they can become inspired from the obstacles the biography subject had to face before they became famous, or they learn about obstacles that were overcome to reach a goal. This is especially true about biographies about famous leaders.

Sometimes, it helps an employee to aspire and dream when they read a biography about a business leader or entrepreneur. It’s always affirming to learn that this person might have grown up in poverty, and overcome that to become prominent, wealthy or powerful. Or, maybe this person had a physical or mental disability but was still able to become a captain of their industry. Reading the biography can give hope to the reader; if the biography subject can overcome their issues, then the reader will find ways to emulate the subject of the biography.

Biographies also offer knowledge of history. Reading a biography gives the reader a bird’s eye view historical event of the subject’s time. The biography also gives a human perspective of how historical events shaped or changed the life of the biography subject. History books tends to be cold and clinical; a biography adds warmth and life; the biography adds humanity to a historical story. The reader can learn how deep of an impact the historical event had on the individual.

Some historical and current people have done things in their life that are not exactly above board. These subjects may have done embarrassing or shameful things in certain cases and other times the issues are actually criminal. You may hear about these people from the news and wonder just what went so wrong. Were they destined to commit these acts or was something missing from their life as a child or later in life that led them down the wrong road. Questions of all kinds can be answered by a biography. Even a person who has done some terrible things can gain sympathy or at least understanding for why they have done whatever it is they are famous for. These types of biographies can offer insight into what makes an individual tick as well as why they made the mistakes they did, giving the reader a model of what not to do.

Another favorite subject of biographies are spiritual leaders, people love to learn about the private lives and thoughts of their advisers. A personal biography can provide all this information and much more. Their life story can make a spiritual leader feel more human as the book fleshes them out for the reader. On the flip side, there are those spiritual leaders who were evil, mass cult suicides make people question everything. How could one person influence so many others or ever rise to the top in the first place. These questions are answered by a biography also.

Biographies offer readers true motivation, they are real jewels. They are often revealing about the life and obstacles that your favorite celebrities have overcome. This information would be hard to come by any other way.

Bizography-Motivation and Business Biographies for more information from Bizography. Great stories about people like Tony Robbins, Gene Simmons, Bill Gates, and Jenny Craig.

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The Edge of Love (2008)

Girl With a Pearl Earring [VHS] $45.99 You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the hous...

Girl With a Pearl Earring [VHS] $1.96 You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the hous...

Girl with a Pearl Earring [VHS] You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the hous...

Girl With a Pearl Earring $3.68 You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the hous...

Girl with a Pearl Earring $5.12 You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the hous...

The Cillian Murphy Handbook - Everything you need to know about Cillian Murphy $19.95 Cillian Murphy (born 25 May 1976) is an Irish film and theatre actor. He is often noted by critics for his chameleonic performances in diverse roles and his distinctive blue eyes. A native of Cork, Murphy began his performing career as a rock musician.After turning down a record deal, he made his professional acting debut in the play Disco Pigs in 1996. He went on to star in Irish and British fil...

Expressionist Artists in Vienna : Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”

Klimt $13.40 John Malkovich stars as controversial Austrian painter Gustav Klimt in this compelling and stylish biodrama. On his deathbed, Klimt is visited by a fellow artist, to whom he reveals the incredible details of his upbringing and his career during the early 20th century, as well as the wild affairs he conducted with the women who inspired his acclaimed--and often scandalous--works. Saffron Burrows, N...

Gustav Klimt: Art Nouveau Visionary $14.39 Gustav Klimt’s decorative, seductive style, jewel-like colors, use of gold and pattern, and sensuous line, continue to captivate art lovers today. One of the masters of modern European painting, he helped found the popular Viennese Secession, or Art Nouveau, movement. This lushly illustrated volume explores his fascinating artistic career, covering Vienna at the time of Klimt’s creative ...

Gustav Klimt: 1862-1918 (Basic Art) $5.00 Gustav Klimt's art is thoroughly fin de siecle. It expresses the apocalyptic atmosphere of Vienna's upper middle-class society - a society devoted to the cultivation of aesthetic awareness and the cult of pleasure. The ecstatic joy which Klimt and his contemporaries found - or hoped to find - in beauty was constantly overshadowed by death. And death therefore plays an important role in Klimt's art...

Gustav Klimt (Best Of Collection) $13.42   Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), was one of the most influential artists at the end of the 19th century and was the founder of the Viennese Secession movement. He used the movement to express his criticism of traditional art, which was characterised by its opposition to change and the refusal to countenance a certain vision of Modernism. Klimt took his inspiration from the slow but unstoppable decli...

The Invention Of Air: The Myths Of Young Michael Jordan, Deconstructed [Video]
# nba There was a time when Michael Jordan was a very different kind of superstar, writes Bethlehem Shoals in this excerpt from FreeDarko’s wonderful and wonderfully idiosyncratic Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History . That MJ was edgy and menacing, and he helped make embarrassing music that no one remembers today. A look back at Michael Jordan, basketball punk. More »
Michael Jordan Top Ten – Clutch Shots

Michael Jordan to the Max (Large Format) $9.98 Originally presented in the IMAX format, this spectacular look at the life of basketball great Michael Jordan offers incredible basketball action, focusing on his six championships with the Chicago Bulls. Also featured are his college career at the University of North Carolina and Jordan's own philosophy on achieving one's goals. Laurence Fishburne narrates. 83 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: Englis...

Michael Jordan - His Airness [VHS] $4.50 Once upon a time, a boy named Michael Jordan lived in Wilmington, North Carolina. Young Michael dreamt of becoming a professional basketball player. He began by participating in drop-in games with his brother, although at first he could not beat the older, heavier, more experienced sibling. As time went on, though, something grew inside of this child, a will and determination to beat anyone and an...

Ultimate Jordan (Deluxe Limited Edition) $24.96 Michael Jordan: Come Fly with Me (1989) features footage of Michael's college and pro hoop mastery, plus interviews with family, teammates, coaches, and Michael himself. "Michael Jordan's Playground" (1990) is a high-flying look at the NBA superstar in action. "Michael Jordan: His Airness" (1999) celebrates his career with highlights, commentary from teammates, coaches and writers, and number 23's...

Rebound: The Legend of Earl The Goat Manigault $2.73 He was one of the greatest basketball talents to ever come from the sidewalk courts of Harlem, but Earl "The Goat" Manigault's abilities couldn't save him from the brutal realities of life on the streets that kept him reaching the pros. Gritty sports drama, based on a true story, stars Don Cheadle, James Earl Jones, Loretta Devine, Forest Whitaker, and Eriq La Salle, who also directed. 111 min. St...

Ultimate Jordan $26.98 Michael Jordan, the greatest player in the history of team sports, gets an appropriate showcase with Ultimate Jordan, a two-disc set that's the most feature-packed sports DVD to date. It includes five programs previously available on VHS--some of the most spectacular footage is on Come Fly with Me (1989), which covers Jordan's youth, college years, and early NBA career. Michael Jordan's Play...

When the Game Was Ours $15.95 From the moment these two players took the court on opposing sides, they engaged in a fierce physical and psychological battle. Their uncommonly competitive relationship came to symbolize the most compelling rivalry in the NBA. These were the basketball epics of the 1980s — Celtics vs Lakers, East vs West, physical vs finesse, Old School vs Showtime, even white vs black. Each pushed the other to...

Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream $4.38 Michael Jordan s story--the story only his family could tell. . . . Young Michael feared he d never be tall enough to play the game that would eventually make him famous. To lift his spirits, his mother told him that salt in his shoes would help him grow. This heartwarming picture book, written by the superstar s mother and sister, and illustrated by artist Kadir Nelson, teaches hard work and dete...

Michael Jordan: Legends in Sports (Matt Christopher Sports Bio Bookshelf) $4.99 Michael Jordan. The name conjures up images of buzzer-beating jump shots, gravity-defying slam dunks, and precision ballhandling. For over a decade, Michael Jordan has been showing the world how the game of basketball should be played. He led his former team, the Chicago Bulls, to six NBA championships and has racked up more awards than any player in recent NBA history. The winner of two Olympic g...

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Art History & Calligraphy Tips : What Type of Styles Did Picasso Paint?

Life With Picasso $11.93 Francoise Gilot was a young painter in Pasis when she first met Picasso - he was sixty-two and she was twenty-one. During the following ten years they were lovers, worked closely together and she became mother to two of his children, Claude and Paloma. LIFE WITH PICASSO, her account of those extraordinary years, is filled with intimate and astonishing revelations about the man, his work, his thoug...

Picasso The Mediterranean Years 1945-1962 $61.06 The catalog to an international art sensation – a once in a lifetime event of Picasso’s most prolific creative period – show opening at the Gagosian Gallery in London, June 2010.  This volume features 3 single and 4 double gatefold illustrations and includes a detachable 23-page booklet of Picasso’s pencil and ink drawings. During the decade after the end of World War II ...

A Life of Picasso: The Cubist Rebel, 1907-1916 $17.45 In The Cubist Rebel, 1907–1916, the second volume of his Life of Picasso, John Richardson reveals the young Picasso in the Baudelairean role of “the painter of modern life”—a role that stipulated the brothel as the noblest subject for a modern artist. Hence his great breakthrough painting, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, with which this book opens. As well as portraying Picasso...

Picasso: The Man and His Work - Part 1 (1881-1937) $11.30 A unique documentary tribute, featuring intimate looks at Picasso at work and at home during the first 46 years of his life. Examine his Blue and Pink periods, as well as his first flirtation with Cubism and his Neoclassical work, all leading up the 1937 anti-war masterpiece "Guernica." 45 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; art gallery; biographies; production notes; more....

Picasso: A Film by Didier Baussy-Oulianoff $11.46 Produced to coincide with the opening of Paris' Musee Picasso, this film looks at the private collection amassed by Picasso over the years, paintings and sketches that were among his personal favorites, and follows the diverse artistic styles that marked his career. AKA: "Picasso." 80 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo....

Picasso: The Man and His Work - Part 2 (1938-1973) $13.80 The second part of this fascinating documentary focuses on Picasso's expansion into ceramics, sculpture and pottery. Rare home movies depicting the artist interacting with his children and the women in his life are used, as is footage of a 90-year-old Picasso pouring over a copper plate engraving. 45 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; art gallery; biographies; production note...