hm....

Come to think of it, I think all wavelets should have their own yarn.

The Short Squat Dalek's* voice chip would of course contain such phrases as "We represent the Exterminating Guild," "One more jelly baby and I hurl," and "Oh [bleep,] stairs again."

One would think there would be a ladybug costume for the critter. One of the Martian war machines from the Gene Barry movie (possibly with a waggling heatray arm) would also be dandy, especially with green LED wingtip lights.

Roomba: because your cat doesn't vacuum.

*Not, so far as I know, a children's book, I'm not sure why not, though. Like The Velveteen Shoggoth.

I'd put up with un-vacuumed-under furniture.

Either that, or I'd put the sofa on blocks...

What the heck, a hydraulic lift sounds good, like in that television commercial for some product I can't think of, but which has chairs that fold up and sink below (or flush with) the floor.

Only for the very hippest people; the rest are still reading about dinosaur sodomy....

A site all about Roomba - with reviews, hacks and a chat forum: http://roombareview.com/

Then there's the Roomba cam: http://www.vacuumcleanerlive.com/

Finally, Roomba on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtB3dqALtkM

Dawno's Roomba: http://tinyurl.com/mjc8j

That's what comes of living in the sticks.

I'm no luddite, but this makes me kind of sad.

But why? It gets dust off floors. It keeps cat hair under control. The chip inside it is lower-tech, lower-powered, and stupider than the chip in the My Real Baby.

I mean, I believe in preserving old technology and crafts, which is why I spin and knit and bake bread (in a wood stove when I can), but I also appreciate the tech. that means I don't have to spin my own yarn, knit my own stockings, or build a fire before I can bake the bread.

And I hate, loathe, and revile vacuuming. I'll be happy to see the vacuum become an outmoded tool of interest only to old-tech preservationists and vacuum fetishists.

Viva la Roomba!

CHip - Thank you so much! That link goes in my blog.

Jim - the robot revolution is at hand.

jennie - viva!

Rudy the Roomba is jealous today, I'll be bringing in the Dyson Animal for the weekly cleaning. He always sulks when I do that.

I might have known you'd already have it covered.

You can, incidentally, get a radio-controlled Dalek. Whi I was a kid, you had to make do with cardboard.

Between that and the cats who have to bolt around the room to escape the evil sucking-machine-o-death, I think we'll have to pass on the Roomba idea. (All that being said, I do know a Roomba owner personally...and it's not you, Dawno)

Try this one on your cats.

Zooba: cleans your animals.

Magooba: bumps into everything repeatedly.

Same here, and I don't live in the sticks. I don't know how I missed this. I'm thinking it might be worth buying one of these just to see my dog go insane.

i refuse to provide a definition for "Goomba".

Shooba: herds cats.

* * *

Roomba is sold by "Bed, Bath, and Beyond" and similar outlets. If you live near one of these joins, wait long enough and you'll get a 20% the price of anything coupon.

Please, cats prize their dignity.

BTW, when I first looked at the heading of this entry it was close to Shrove Tuesday, and I first assumed that Roomba costumes applied to something like the Mardi Gras Samba costumes.

/I'm no luddite, but this makes me kind of sad.

But why? It gets dust off floors. It keeps cat hair under control. The chip inside it is lower-tech, lower-powered, and stupider than the chip in the My Real Baby.

I don't know ... maybe because people are fetishing inanimate objects, and treating them as pets, which weirds me out. Maybe because the world would be better off if those clothes were donated to a needy baby instead. Maybe because the Roomba represents another step away from authenticy. Maybe because a mop and bucket costs $9, and a Roomba costs $399.

If my grandmother decides not to move in with us, I'm going to convince the family to get her one of these. She can't lift the vacuum anymore, nor can she lift a full bucket. The Roomba and Scooba are perfect for people in her situation.

Pulling out the Grandma Card, eh? I know better than to argue with that!

If you have a dog, a Roomba would be redundant technology. My dog will eat anything on the floor and get the newspaper from the driveway. Try that with a Roomba.

The dog won't eat microwave popcorn. Kind of unnerving if I think about it too much.

Dagoba -your swamp hut it cleans, hmmm?

Corba - takes you to the cleaners because this barbaric country doesn't have single-payer state health insurance

Leopoldbloomba -- cleans Dublin every 16 June

Mollybloomba -- yes yes yes clean yes yes

Bazoomba -- cleans while singing Dolly Parton tunes

Have you tried "natural" microwave popcorn? Maybe your dog doesn't like the imitation butter stuff.

EXTERMINATE WASTE!

I'll make one for you, if you'll send me a Roomba
( for reference, and as payment for the project ).

To establish modeling cred,
here are links to some renderings from modeling projects:
a 49 Ford, a business phone, and a keyboard.

Getting a CGI Roomba to clean up your CGI house would be a project, however;
making the CGI dust and hair would be the difficult part.

A CSI model of a Roomba might be useful for gathering evidence.

A Philip K. Dick story ( The Unreconstructed M )
had something similar for planting evidence.

Roomba Frogger

anyway, they want a pet but they're both allergic to cats, so i suggested they get a roomba.