*OT* Something I didn't think I'd be able to say in my lifetime... *OT*

I was a child of the people who were the Baby Boomers; when I was growing up the Space Race and the Glory of Technology were still fresh in the minds of most Americans. They taught us that by the time I grew up The Jetsons lifestyle would be reality, that there would be cities on the Moon and we would be working TOGETHER WITH THE REST OF THE PLANET towards putting an expedition on Mars.

You can imagine then, my disappointment when The Carter Administration decimated funding to NASA, and then Reagan and Bush turned them pretty much into beggars at the feet of the almighty Military Manufacturing Combine known as the DOD (It USED to be the Department of War... at least we were honest about it once upon a time).

By the time the Clinton administration came around there was pretty much nothing left of the Space Program except noise about the 0-Gee-Whizz and microwave ovens; the eye of this great nation had turned away from the glory of the Great Blue Yonder and now looked inward towards more important goals like the spread of Fast Food Conglomerates and squeezing the Middle Class out of existence. I had become accustomed to the notion that those dreams of my youth were just that... the dreams of my youth. And so I moved on with the business of growing up.

But through all those years, I felt... cheated. All the possibilities... the chance of a global community created by the combined effort to reach out into Space... all the great inventions that would happen as a byproduct of that effort... my chance to see Earthrise... SQUANDERED by the rampant greed and instant gratification and petty squabbles of the 80s and their offspring.

Where was my flying car? Where was my personal ForceField? Where was my Teleporter and Phaser and Tricorder and my HOUSE CLEANING ROBOT?

Well... shift the spotlight 30 years later, and finally ONE OF THOSE THINGS has happened.

A few weeks ago, I found a Roomba at a local thrift store for $10; of course, Geek that I am I had to get it. A little puttering and a lot of cleaning later, I had a working bot that would run for a reasonable 60-70 min on a charge.

After one gets used to the idea that a Roomba is NOT going to do your "spring cleaning" for you... you still have to move anything you would normally move to run a floor sweeper yourself or if you were going to mop - it's NOT half-bad. It is intended to keep a normally clean house clean, to get the high-traffic areas and keep things looking OK between big cleanings.

So... the thing I never thought I'd be able to say in my lifetime?

"Son, don't torment the robot while it's working; let it do its job."

Well... one out of ten ain't ba... aw, hell at least it's a start.

mnem
So I walked up on high and I stepped to the edge,
to see my world below.
And I laughed at myself, while the tears rolled down;
'cause it's the world I know... it's the world I know...

 

Terrafugia - Transition®, the Roadable Light Sport Aircraft

 

Yeah... well, somehow not even the same planet as the Jetsons. I had my round with tinkertoy aircraft when I was younger; I helped a neighbor build and fly a plan-built airplane based on the Bede BD-4. After that I puttered around with some of the ultralight experimentals; but after the BD-4 and a few sessions in Cessnas, I never felt comfortable enough to get them more than a few hundred feet off the ground. I ALMOST bought a half finished BD-5 kit from one of the other members of the local club; but then I go bitten by the Mustang bug and the money went elsewhere.

Besides, I'm not talking about ANYTHING with wings; I want Agrav or Mag-Lev or whatever the frakk it was that George's grocery-getter used to get around.

mnem
Lev.

 

mustangs....... hmmmmmmm, another addiction I have, 67 fastback, 89 SSP coupe, 89 lx vert, 90 SSP lx, 91 SSP, 93 SSP, 92 lx feature vert, doctor, is there a cure or am I hopelessly addicted to toughbooks too? Huey Lewis and the News, I wanna new drug, one that won't make me feel sick....Driller

 

It appears that it uses some sort of "pulse jet" system for forward travel, but no idea as to the "hover capability."

You want it to fold up into a briefcase, too?

 

I was thinking of something a bit more compact...

YouTube - The Perfect Car For Women

Of course, if that means I can't have the "Escape Pods" George uses to deliver his kids... I SUPPOSE I could put up with the larger package. :wink:

mnem
*Making little electronic-y putt-putt noises*

 

Funny, we call our Roomba, Rosy!

 

Ours is named "Bump"; which, as anyone who's ever seen one run knows... is mostly what they do.

mnem
We bump back...