BUBBLE WRAP. Engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes came up the idea for bubble wrap while working on a new type of textured wallpaper in 1957. By sealing two shower curtains together, they trapped a layer of bubbles.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Special agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the largest investigative agency in Homeland Security, are classified as criminal investigators. They start at GL-7 with an annual base salary range of $33,829 to $42,055, or GL-9 with an annual base salary of $42,948 to $55,413.
Average Pay and Pay Range. As of 2012, criminal investigators employed in the U.S. earned an average of $77,860 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is a significant pay increase from work as a patrol officer, a position with an average salary of $57,770 as of 2012. The median-earning half of criminal detectives in the U.S. made between $52,320 and $98,940 per year, while the highest-paid 10 percent brought home $122,990 or more.