1766: Charles Macintosh, who has no connection whatsoever to the computer of the same name, is born in Glasgow, Scotland. He will be remembered in tech annals as the inventor of rubberized, waterproof clothing. He’s remembered more generally for the raincoat that bears his name.

Macintosh, the son of a well-known dyemaker, developed an early interest in chemistry and science. By age 20 he was already running a plant producing ammonium chloride and Prussian blue dye. Around this time, he introduced some new techniques for dyeing cloth.

In partnership with a certain Charles Tennant, Macintosh...

Thrasher magazine has been chronicling the skateboarding scene for 30 years, and in that time has documented the careers of guys like Tony Hawk, Danny Way and Chris Cole. Any skater worth noting and any trick worth doing has appeared within its pages.

The magazine runs more than 10,000 photos in its print and online editions each year, and damn near every one of them shows someone doing something bordering on insane. These are the 10 most jaw-dropping photos Thrasher published this year. They aren’t the best, in that the lighting or composition may not be perfect. But this isn’t about p...