Brevity by Dan Thompson for September 22, 2011

Who has two thumbs and just had to Google, “Roomba?”

THIS GUY!

Well, just wait till somebody shows up with a powerful new Park – ba

Considering all of the problems with bullying, I find this to be offensive. A 13 year old boy committed suicide in our area this week. It’s a very sad situation. Please refrain from this sort of “humor”. It’s not very humorous…

Settle down. The joke above is about competition for the best material possessions, not orientation.

Re Roombas: I’ve owned two. The first generation was very good, the second generation even better. Pricey but worth it. If they have a newer one out, I’ll wait.

pschearer, you are correct. The world isn’t obligated to revolve around anyone’s feelings. It’s also not obligated to be polite, considerate, fair, responsible, honest or anything else, really. It’s a matter of choice. The more people choose to be these things, the better life is for all of us. Berny has a right not to care about peoples’ feelings, and that lady has a right to tell him she’s offended by that. Choose to be a dick, and you’ll find that people tend to treat you like one. That’s the way the world works.

♪♫…If were you I would hang on to a Roomba guy like me…♪♫

Even in this geekier age we live in jocks are still haters.

(If anyone is wondering who is this Berny of which @webgrunt speaks, I mentioned such a person in a comment I later replaced before I saw webgrunt’s comment.)

People should all learn to be tolerant. I recommend everyone to read To Kill A Mockingbird.

You know what offends me? People who insist on taking offense at things that aren’t offensive, and especially when they’re taking offense on behalf of others.

I’m not offended by this, and I’m a “survivor”. I’m sad about your town, but more than anything, I’m offended by you.

I spent part of my weekend reading up on what has been going on with bullying these days. It has gotten worse since I was a kid (~25 yrs ago). I was teased a lot for my various quirks (affected my self esteem, but I got stronger for it in the end), but the level of intensity has really gotten dangerous (and the use of cyberbullying brings things to a new level). I was pretty upset by the level of cruelty some people experience these days. (I’d go into detail explaining why I think it really is worse now, but that doesn’t belong here.)

This comic strip today isn’t really about that at all. This seems more about one-upmanship and male competitive behavior, which I have no problem with being mocked silly. (OK, OK, women get competitve too.) As bullying goes, this is pretty low-level.

I didn’t see it as about bullying at all, because in MY mind, I was expecting the nerdy kid to pull out a remote….

And unleash his science fair robotics project, based on an old Roomba 3.

It unfolds its home-made wings and dive-bombs the R-5 at warp speed, reducing it to small parts.

Our hero strolls to the wreckage, picks up a couple of sensors and says “You don’t need these, do you?”

The rest of us chem-lab dorks come out from behind the trees and celebrate…

Geekboy saves the day!!

(Too many teen movies?)

Is it just me or does R-5 look like a squashed R2-D2?

I’m offended by Roombas, since mine quit working last month. I am NEVER offended, however, by the amazing shytimes2. Greetings, st2.

I thought it was a episode of BattleBots.

I really dislike any lack of civility and common courtesy in this society. This may be why I enjoy all my Medieval re-enactor friends (besides all the marvelous craft talents). If only our people are attending an event there are no examples of such negative behaviour.