Off topic, but I can't resist: the (a)eolipile is one of the coolest objects in history. It is literally the first steam-powered machine: http://en.wikipedia.or

Off topic, but I can't resist: the (a)eolipile is one of the coolest objects in history. It is literally the first steam-powered machine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile . Its invention suggests that perhaps if things had gone a bit differently the Romans could have made steam power practical 1400 years before the Industrial Age.