Watching the downward spiral of Charlie Sheen go down, somehow became a spectacle and entertaining for most mainstream media outlets but for us watching the once superstar implode and make bad decision after bad decision was disheartening as Sheen clearly was and still is in need of help. That doesn't mean that Sheen doesn't still have die-hard fans especially being that he starred in films like Platoon, The Hot Shots! Series, Red Dawn and of course, his most notorious television series Two and a Half Men and latest television series, Anger Management.
Many might not know of Charlie Sheen's scarily similar look-a-like in abolitionist, John Brown, who was anti-slavery and led several armed revolts killing pro-slavery supporters. In 1895, Brown wanted to start a slave liberation movement through violence which ultimately led to a lot of his men either being killed or fleeing the scene in West Virginia after being taken out by U.S. Marines, Brown was tried for treason and hung. These two men might share a face and Sheen might be praised for doing the wrong thing while Brown was considered insane for over a century and almost scrubbed from the history books. Talk about agenda, eh.
When we think of inventors, the image that comes to mind is usually that of a frazzled scientist toiling away in a lab, not celebrities pulled from the pages of Us Weekly. However, a number of well-known public figures hold patents for various innovations. Some are related to the work that made them famous, while others are offshoots of hobbies or just a single great idea.
Part of guitar wizard Eddie Van Halen's signature sound was his two-handed tapping technique, but letting all ten fingers fly while simultaneously holding up the guitar's neck could get a bit tricky. Van Halen came up with a novel way to get around this problem, though; he invented a support (top) that could flip out of the back of his axe's body to raise and stabilize the fretboard so he could tap out searing songs like "Eruption." While Van Halen was obviously interested in improving his guitar work, the patent application he filed in 1985 notes that the device would work with any stringed instrument. Want to tap out a scorching mandolin solo? Find someone selling Eddie's device.
It’s probably not surprising that James Cameron—who designed a submersible to take him to the deepest known part of the ocean—will often invent technology to make his films if what he needs doesn’t exist. He holds a number of patents, including US Patent No. 4996938, “apparatus for propelling a user in an underwater environment,” that he and his brother, Michael, created to film The Abyss and patented in 1989. The device is basically an underwater dolly equipped with propellers that makes it easy for a camera operator to maneuver in the water—and allowed Cameron to capture the shots he wanted for the 1989 film, part of which was filmed in an abandoned nuclear reactor.
In 1987 Jamie Lee Curtis designed and patented a disposable diaper that included a waterproof pocket that held baby wipes. She hasn't profited from her idea yet, though, since she refuses to license the patent until diaper companies make biodegradable products.
You know him as a rock legend, but Neil Young also loves trains—so much that he owns a stake in a model train manufacturing company and has an extensive collection. He also holds seven patents related to model trains, including Patent No. US5441223, "Model train controller using electromagnetic field between track and ground."