I was looking through some of my old stuff for something and ran across this gem. If you need to put together a quick flyswatter, try this one I designed for a class in college (the famous Rube Goldberg project).

Here are a few excerpts from the attached PDF. If this doesn't convince you to build one (perhaps with several improvements as noted in the document), I don't know what will.

This design performed many efficient and labor saving operations. The large number of these events combined with the effort each one saves demonstrates that the fortunate user will gain much leisure time by using this device.... 

This Apparatus was built on three pallets for modularization and convenient setup.

The Fly Swatting Machine was product tested with the above listed events. The Machine was immediately praised by local authorities and nominated for the “Protector of Human Kind From Flies” award.

Schematic of Sequence Diagram of Setup  Drew Keller and Ethan Cooper set up the fly swatter
 

Project members Drew Keller and Phil Harms demonstrate the fly swatter.Live demonstration of the fly swatter. Incineration of the fly also melted the final stage

Tags

Traffic Question 15: Mailing a letter

Traffic Question 15:

During a period of heavy traffic, you want to mail a letter and then head in the direction of the pink arrow. How do you do it?

  1. Stop at Mailbox A, then do a U turn
  2. Park in a spot near Mailbox A, then turn left out of the parking lot
  3. Use Mailbox A, then use the left turn lane at the intersection to do a legal U turn
  4. Turn right at the main street, turn left into the parking lot for Mailbox B, then go through the intersection in the desired direction

Traffic Question 14: A traffic light turns yellow and you’re not quite going to make it through before it turns red... what do you do?

Traffic Question 14:

A traffic light turns yellow and you’re not quite going to make it through before it turns red... what do you do?

  1. Stomp on the gas pedal and zoom through
  2. Continue through the intersection without any change in speed
  3. Wait until the last second and then stomp on the brake
  4. Start coming to a gradual stop immediately
  5. None of the above

Traffic Question 9: If you get a phone call while you’re driving, what do you do?

traffic-09q.pngTraffic Question 9: If you get a phone call while you’re driving, what do you do?

A. Answer it right away

B. Wait until you get to a stop light and call back.

C. Stop at a stop sign and call back.

D. See who it is. If you think it might be an emergency, park the car in a designated parking area and then call back.

(Yes, this is pretty similar to #2 If you get a text while you’re driving... The main difference is, texting on the phone is illegal whereas talking on the phone is legal. At least in Moline.)

Traffic Question 12: Which of the following are factors in whether or not a vehicle is going to be slower than normal?

Traffic Question 12:

Which of the following are factors in whether or not a vehicle is going to be slower than normal?

* Car is Buick, Cadillac, or similar type

* One or more children are present

* Vehicle is a minivan

* Age of driver is over 60

* Handicapped license plates

* Driver is using cell phone

* Vehicle is a "sporty" color

* Driver is female

Traffic Quiz 6: Is it possible to back out of a driveway and use only one lane?

traffic-06q.pngTraffic Question 6:

The blue dots indicate the path used to pull IN the driveway.

Is it possible to back out of a driveway and head in the direction indicated by the pink arrow, using only one lane of the road?

A. No, one lane is not enough room.

B. Yes, it can be done in one lane.