In 1764, English carpenter James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny, a machine that spun multiple threads of yarn at once, increasing production eight-fold.
"Beowulf, " the original action-adventure yarn -- it's the oldest epic narrative verse written in the English language, dating back to the eighth century -- has been spiked with enough risque business and healthy splatterings of gore to make it unsuitable for kids (the rating is PG-13).