This week, Dear Reader, I won’t be posting, as I’m doing research for my next book. I’m staying in the empty apartment of a New York City friend and will be spending all my time here, at the New York Academy of Medicine:
And here, at the New York Public Library. Back next week!
In 1905, a schoolteacher invented the flyswatter by attaching a square piece of screen to the end of a yardstick. The holes made it effective, because flies can sense the air current from a solid object coming at them (such as a rolled up newspaper).
source: The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle by Don L. Wulffson