Jennifer watched as the cashier rang up her purchases. "Cash, check or charge?" she asked, after folding the items Jennifer had bought. As Jennifer fumbled for her wallet, the cashier noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.
"Do you always carry your TV remote with you?" the cashier inquired.
"No," she replied. "But my husband, Jeff, refused to come shopping with me, so I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him."
Insect electrocutorIn 1910, the first U.S. patent for an "electric insect destroyer" was issued to William H. Frost of Spokane, Washington (No. 974,785). The invention used a number of electrically energized parallel wires such that a flying insect passing between them would complete the circuit by bridging the wires with its body and electrocute the insect. The patent describes using fine wire and tensioners to keep the parallel segments taut. The charge on the wires could be supplied using an induction coil and a battery. The form of the device could be as a flat frame, or as a cylindrical arrangement surrounding a light to attract the insects into the charged cage. |
