Today is the one-year anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs and the tributes and remembrances of the tech icon's life have been surfacing all week. But Apple made the biggest statement today by devoting its homepage to a video retrospective of Jobs' life.

Even rightly so, too often the Apollo program dominates the narrative of early lunar exploration. The Soviet Union ran its own lunar program in the 1960s and '70s, and it was so successful early on that it looked like the Moon would be Soviet territory. The first ever man-made object to land on its surface in 1959 was the Soviet-launched Luna 2. The first image of the lunar far side came during a flyby by Luna 3 the same year. In 1966, Luna 9 transmitted the first pictures from the surface of the Moon, and Luna 10 would enter into its orbit. In 1968, a handful of turtles and other simple organisms even made the first circumlunar voyage aboard Zond 5. But Apollo 8 swept the rug out from the Soviet's feet; three astronauts going into orbit in December of that year all but assured the world that the political victory of landing on the Moon would go to the Americans. So the Soviets reshaped their lunar program, choosing to focus on inexpensive robotic mission that put science goals at the core.

Here at DVICE, we sometimes like to take our eyes away from the cutting edge of technology and reminisce about what was and might have been. Often as not, things are invented that could have altered the course of history (for instance: the Tesla Coil), yet these attempts fall by the wayside. Whether that's because of an insane competitor (I'm looking at you, Edison!), lack of funding or just not reaching the tipping point of public approval, these inventions languish in the forgotten corners of history. Until, that is, we unearth them! Now — I could run on about Tesla, or the numerous failed flying contraptions we see every year in the Flugtag — and sure those are interesting — but why not take a gander at a subject with a bit more firepower?! I'm talkin' boomsticks, folks! These 12 maligned peashooters could have done things, they coulda been contenders! Yet here they are: 12 forgotten firearms with designs that are truly bizarre.

We don't have a Tesla museum. We don't have a Tesla museum! I know, WTF, right? We have Thomas Edison museums up the wazoo, and Tesla was way more awesome than Edison was. Matt Inman over at The Oatmeal is just as outraged as I suddenly am, and he's trying to raise enough money to buy Tesla's old lab and museumify it.