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.
Top States. The District of Columbia led the nation with $110,440 in average annual earnings as of May 2011. Workers in Alaska came in second with $97,730 in annual average earnings, while detectives in New Jersey made an average of $96,740, and workers in Delaware averaged $95,380. Texas employed the most detectives of any state, paying $71,780 a year on average.