Robot Maid

There is a popular discount outlet here in the U.S called 'Big Lots'. Big Lots sells many kinds of products at lower prices because it obtains oversupplies from wholesalers and because it buys "close-outs" (products a manufacturer is no longer going to make). It's always interesting shopping at Big Lots and I do it often, just for curiosity at so many unusual products. Too, often it sells very popular brands at very low prices.
Having said all of that I want to mention an item that I bought at Big Lots yesterday when Jane and I were looking at very nice cotton pajamas for Jane that had been advertised in the Big Lots flyer. I had to buy this and know it is an indication of my insanity...Hehe ...But the product only cost $4.99 and just purchasing it to see if it actually worked as advertised made buying it worthwhile.
It's called the RobotMaid. Wow, do I need a maid! I am not the best maid on the market and dread cleaning the house. So when I saw RoboMaid I was interested. On the box in which RobotMaid is hiding it says "The Robotic Sweeping Machine From Europe". Well, that made me even more curious, as Europe produces little or nothing innovative and hasn't done so for many years. And the box also saw that RobtoMaid "Sweeps your floors so you don't have to do it". Hmmmmmm It said it was great for wood floors, granite, marble, ceramic tile and linoleum. That just about covers most flooring in a house, including mine. So I bought RobotMaid and asked Jane to set it up I saw it included a circular RobotSweeper, a Robot ball that makes it run, a rechargeable battery, a battery charger and 8 electrostatic pads for picking up the floor dirt. Even if it didn't work well in cleaning it would be amusing to watch, almost like a motorized kid's toy.
After charging we tried it and amazingly the RobtoMaid cleans better than I do (Ok, everyone cleans better than me, so it's no really amazing). That thing runs on a floor for almost an hour, shutting off automatically according to the time the user programs it to run and picking up about anything on the floor that doesn't belong. It has built in sensors so it doesn't bump into anything or become blocked by a chair leg or other furniture.
Wow! Something technological actually made in dying Europe...a product that is as cheap to buy as a hamburger, french fries and coke at a fast food place....and something that gives me even more of an excuse to be lazy and avoid cleaning. I wonder if that company makes other workable robotic products. Maybe a RobotCook would be nice, or a RobotGardner. I could really use that. What about a RobotWife to take care of me......
Oh... now I know that I I am losing my mind now. I should get a RobotBrain to do my thinking, and finally make sense.
Apparently the "Thou Shall Not Spit" commandment from the Chinese government applies both at home and outside of China. I know this because Chinese tourists have been warned by the government that while spitting, slurping and cutting in line may be simply disgusting to people in China, those things are not tolerated abroad. Complaints form other countries have been "embarrassing" China, according to the Xinhua media. Apparently a little spitting goes along way- toward creating negative image about China.
For example, according to Xinchia, the media in too clean Singapore reports that hotel staff are upset with Chinese tourists spitting in their rooms and smoking in bed, and Singapore Air has complained about Chinese tourists "talking loudly and being very rude". Maybe this kind of news is aimed at persuading Beijingers to reconsider spitting when the Olympic Games are held in 2008. But there are worse things than spitting on the street.
In my view..having to live in a drab , over regulated place like Singapore itself isn't worth a spit.