A gadget I’ve been enjoying over the past week is a robotic vacuum Roomba. In fact our entire family has been having fun with it. My daughter aptly named it Dobby, after the house-elf from “Harry Potter”. I find it particularly ironic in the context of the recent International Women’s Day. I was looking online at some old Soviet postcards celebrating the 8th of March and came across this one (see below). A rough translation of the verse is that giving this kind of robot as a present for your spouse (it says “wife” specifically – in case there were any doubts that this is from pre-PC days) would stop nagging in the household, making life easier for everyone.
In the “Harry Potter”, incidentally, Hermione Granger advocated for liberation of house-elves from oppression by the wizarding society by founding S.P.E.W. – Society for the Promotion of Elfish Wellfare. She originally wanted to call the organization “Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status,” but the name would not fit on a badge.
So happy house-robot day, everybody! Oh, and don’t forget to join S.P.E.W.!
