Summer Sun Roach Crunch
In the Northern Hemisphere of the World summer is about to great us. And when I think of summer, I think of the sun, and when I think of the sun, nowadays I think of what cool electronic device can I use with solar energy from our beloved mother star, the sun? So what happens if I Google solar powered… whatever? Well to my surprise but great interest the suggest menu offered me “solar powered cockroach” as one of the more popular of the solar powered possibilities. Intriguing. What exactly is a solar powered cockroach? My experience with cockroaches until now is that they scatter, and how, at the flick of the light switch. Anyone who has ever had to go to the bathroom late at night in an apartment located in New York City knows that. Well maybe that is the idea. Without the sun or artificial light our little crunchy friends just sit there looking disgusting, but when exposed to light, they turn on and run. Somehow I don’t think that is what is meant by solar-powered cockroaches.
Well, sorry to disappoint, but a solar-powered cockroach is not much better than a natural cockroach, accept in this case you can command your personal roach to scare anyone you like at your leisure, while natural roaches take years, even decades to learn the simplest commands. According to some people who have tried this toy, it is basically a small piece of plastic shaped to resemble a big black bug, with a solar panel integrated into its body. When light shines on it, and I hear it take quite a bit of light, the thing begins to vibrate like a cell phone getting a call in “vibrate” mode. And the shaking is what causes the motion. It is nothing more than a cute way to demonstrate the transformation of solar energy into kinetic energy, which is certainly an interesting thing, but can lose its charm quite quickly. Especially if one of your not-pleased friends decides to swat the thing with a newspaper, or crush it under his shoe. Luckily they only cost about $15, or $2.54 from dealextreme. At that price why not get a few dozen, scatter them on your bathroom floor, and pretend you are back in New York City. Well worth the effort considering how much rent you save by not really living there.