Review a Beetlebot, Other Tidbits

Whelp, it's just been one of those weeks.  When the Calgary Stampede gets into full swing, things get a bit crazy. Fireworks, pancake breakfasts and BBQ lunches, cowboy hats, questionable choice in music ("We got both kinds - country AND western!"), and all-around crazy people. So it's fairly safe to say that we don't have any groundbreaking news for you this week. That isn't  Stampede-related, at least. What we do have, though, is a fistfull of odds and ends. Check it oot:

• Do you run a website? Do you like robots? No way, US TOO! Now here's the really tough question: Do you like free robots? Here's the scoop - we want to send out some of our Beetlebots for people to build and review. To apply all you need to do is contact chris [at] solarbotics [dot] com detailing why you should get a 'bot to review. There's one qualifying requirement - you need to send your email from the address of the website you're representing, or provide some other form of reasonable/sufficient proof. We can't just give free robots our to everyone, you know. As much as we wish we could. It'd make the world a much better (and robotier) place.
• Don wrote in and showed off his Delux Reverse Geocache, which we think is nothing short of incredibly awesome. Why share this on Solarbotics? He writes, "Your yellow Sintra is a near-perfect match of the yellow tint of a yellow Pelican case!"Originally, the Sintra is intended for making signs, but we find it a useful material for forming robot bases/chasis. Using it for geocaching is definitely a new one to add to the list, but great nonetheless.
• Our new laser is up and running like a hedgehog on a motorcycle (...wait, what?). All themes and colours for our PumLantern are now available, and we blew half of Friday engraving random stuff for the staff while we huddled around the machine chanting, "Ooooohhhhh, ahhhhhhh..." If that sounds creepy, well, that's because it was. The laser brings out strange emotions.
• Creativity is a nasty thing. As we all know, the Mona Lisa was supposed to be a sfumato-filled landscape, until Da Vinci had some "inspiration" and ruined it all by putting some lady in the middle of it. So it happens with some of our staff - we asked Landen and Patrick to peel the sticky paper backing off of the ARDX bases, which they interpreted as "build a free-standing sculpture of a man with a war hammer". The called him Helgar. I personally think he has a passing resemblance to a certain bear holding a shark.
• We've just passed the 300 mark for fans on Facebook. If you guys we all Spartan warriors, we'd totally be able to take on the million-soldier Persian army. But there ain't no Persian army, so... WATCH OUT SPARKFUN! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!
  /kidding (SparkFun, baby, we were only kiddin'. You know we loves you, right?)
• It might be worth while to keep tabs on our Flickr stream - Dave's been updating it with a bunch of odds and ends, including a new Ardweeny add-on and video of some fire in our band-new laser. Don't worry, it's pretty small this time.

Aaaaand that about sums it all up. We're particularly excited about sending those Beetlebots out for review, so regardless of the size of your site or audience give us a shout. It certainly can't hurt, and you could land yourself a brand-spankin'-new robot, free of charge. That's it - take care, y'all. (Yikes, looks like the Stampede is even getting to yours-truly...)