10Homing Bullets Over at the Sandia National Laboratories, engineers have developed a “smart” bullet, which is expected to hit targets out to a range of 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) with Duke Togo levels of accuracy. The bullet is equipped with an optical sensor that controls a set of miniature fins near the bullet’s tail end. Once a target is “painted” by the laser and the bullet leaves the barrel, the sensor tracks the laser dot, sending signals to the fins to keep it on course and land it within 20 centimeters (7....

Origin: Jewish mythology Also known as: Abizou, Obizu, Obizuth, Obyzouth, and Byzou This female demon was believed to be responsible for miscarriages, still-births, and infant mortality. Abyzou is believed to have been infertile, so these heinous acts were/are most likely out of jealousy. She is often depicted having snake- and/or fish-like attributes. [Image Source] Origin: Christian demonology Also known as: Agreas This male demon makes “those who run stand still”, a terrible thing to be a victim of during, say, a tornado....

I feel a bit guilty for adding this film – it is here for its art value only. The film itself is a little hard to watch unless you are particularly fond of avant garde French movies – it is not just a gay story, it is an art form – from the art of the author (Jean Genet) to the art of the director (Fassbinder). For many this might appear a B-grade film, but I assure you, it is not; it is true to the story, it is true to the life of the author, and it is a moving film....

Did you just hear that? It sounded like my cell phone was ringing. Phantom rings are the sensation and false belief that one can hear their mobile phone ringing, or feel it vibrating, when in fact the telephone is not doing so. Humans are particularly sensitive to auditory tones between the range of 1,000 and 6,000 hertz. All basic cell phone rings fall within this range. For this reason, people often experience ringxiety when using a loud device, such as a hair dryer, watching television or taking a shower....

Down By Law is an independent film which tells the story of the arrest, incarceration, and escape of three men from prison. Slow moving camera work captures the environment in which they find themselves (New Orleans and the Bayous) beautifully. The film focuses on the inter-relationships between the men, as opposed to the standard jail type films which tend to focus on the mechanics of the escape. A nice bonus for this movie is that it stars singer-songwriter Tom Waits....

Convoy (Dir. Sam Peckinpah, 1978) Truckers form a mile long “convoy” in support of a trucker’s vendetta with an abusive sheriff…Based on the country song of same title by C.W. McCall. It Happened One Night (Dir. Frank Capra, 1934) Ellie Andrews has just, rather reluctantly, wed aviator King Westley when she is whisked away to her father’s yacht and out of King’s clutches. Ellie jumps ship and eventually winds up on a bus headed back to her husband....

Great shows like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad have pilloried traditional family constructs, while terrible ones made viewers want to firebomb the family living room. And everywhere, dad doofuses abound as producers take the cheapest route to empowering women: making men look like know-nothing fools. Here are ten TV shows that are refreshingly pro-family, presented in chronological order. 10 Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963) The Cleavers are the archetype from which all family sitcoms would derive....

Today I am driving to Auckland from Wellington (roughly 10 hours with a couple of short stops on the way). Tomorrow afternoon I will be flying out from Auckland on my way back to London. I should arrive in the UK on the 19th and will resume list writing after that. Jet lag may cause some delay in posting but it should not be for long. I am looking forward to a year of great lists and comments to come!...

Subscribe to the Listverse YouTube Channel, or read the original list here. Discover more wild history on Listverse: 10 Strange Stories That Will Change The Way You See Charles Dickens 10 Dark Secrets Of The Ottoman Empire 10 Crazy Cures for the Black Death 10 Tiny Things That Nearly Changed History Read More: Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram

Subscribe to the Listverse YouTube Channel, or read the original list here. Watch this video on YouTube Discover more chilling ghost stories on Listverse: 10 Creepy Urban Legends From Around The USA 10 Truly Creepy Demonic Hauntings 10 Eerie Chinese Paranormal Stories 10 Eerie Slave Hauntings From The Deep South Read More: Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram

10 Napoleon Was Charlemagne The conqueror of much of Europe in the early 19th century, Napoleon Bonaparte fancied himself the heir of the Roman emperors. He quite consciously imitated the manners of the ancient empire. Paintings depict him with a hairstyle copied from Emperor Titus. Napoleon adopted the Roman eagle as the national symbol. He was convinced of his destiny to rule the Holy Roman Empire and was fascinated by Charlemagne, who continued the traditions of Rome as the “Father of Europe....

From animals with absurd diets to those who let themselves be eaten and all the way to those who absolutely refuse to procreate, there is no shortage of zoological duds. This list brings together ten of the biggest offenders, ten animals with zero survival instincts. 10 Babirusas There are a lot of good reasons for an animal to have tusks. They can be used for defense, spearing prey, digging up roots, mating displays, and more....

10T.I.’s Road To Redemption Defamed A Dead Man In A Funeral Home The year 2007 was eventful for Grammy Award–winning rapper Clifford Harris, better known by his stage name T.I. On the heels of his third successful album, he co-starred in the film American Gangster with Hollywood mega-stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. He was also going to prison. In October that year, T.I. illegally acquired machine guns and silencers for ominously unspecified purposes....

10The Pilgrims Were A Minority Aboard The Mayflower One of the great American founding charters was a calculated measure of self-preservation as much as it was an altruistic celebration of equal rights. The Pilgrims, more properly referred to as Separatists, were actually a minority aboard the Mayflower and, in fact, would always be one within their own colony. That’s why, from the beginning, they had to preserve their right to rule....

10 The Afflicted Orphans Many of the leading accusers were young girls who had been orphaned at birth and left with dismal, if any, prospects for the future. Orphans, who had no monetary or emotional support, were disregarded by society at that time. Some historians believe that this was the basis for their false accusations. Carol Karlsen, author of The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, suggests that the grim outlook for the girls’ long-term material well-being sparked their dramatic “possession” performances to “focus the communities’ concern on their difficulties....

Some athletes cheat for glory and some for money, but you have to wonder how they could feel satisfied when they know they “competed” unfairly. There are few, if any, sports free from cheats who often use sophisticated methods to get around the rules. The authorities have to be equally sophisticated. So let’s look at ten athletes who were banned from competition. 10 Fred Lorz Fred Lorz won the marathon at the 1904 Olympic Games held in St Louis, Missouri....

10 Feral Camel Camels are definitely not native to Australia. Still, Australia is home to more wild camels than any other country in the world, including the countries where camels are indigenous. Today, the population of feral camels in Australia is estimated as high as 1.2 million. Imported from Afghanistan, Arabia, and India in the 1800s, wild camels were released by the thousands when motorized transport replaced the need for them in the early 20th century....

10 Origins Frankly, nobody really knows where they came from. (Sorry!) Some historians claim that there were Celts in Britain about 1180 B.C., while others argue that it was earlier. However, it is generally accepted that the Celts started to migrate from Central Europe in 400 B.C. They spread in all directions, that is, until they came face to face with the Romans. The problem was that their Roman neighbors were a single, unified empire, while the Celts were made up of dozens of tribes, who fought against each other as often as they joined together to fight the Romans....

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....