Skip to main content

Seeking a children's story about living in a horrible "intelligent" house


In one of the kids' magazines I or my brothers had in the 1980s, there was a science fiction story I would like to find again. It was about a family who won a contest or sweepstakes and got to live for a week or a month in a futuristic "intelligent" house. I believe opening sentence was something like this: "This is the story of my father [sustained some injury] living in the house of the future."



I remember a few things about the house. The narrator's (one of the children in the family, named Becky) first impression was that it looked like a giant marshmallow. It didn't have a key lock on the front door, but it relied on voice identification to let people in. When the father caught a cold, he couldn't get the door to recognize his voice, so he had to get the kids to let him into the house.


This was just one of several problems that occurred over the course of the brief time that the family was staying in the house. Another problem happened when the narrator's brother left a school project on top of one of the cars in the garage. The project was destroyed when the house automatically washed the cars during the night.


I don't remember many other incidents, although I'm pretty sure there was some problem with the family's pet, and the house made weird noises at night. Does anybody know what this story might have been?


I am pretty sure that this appeared in the same magazine as the story I asked about in this question: Children's magazine story about cat turned into a cyborg. I have a feeling that, at the time, the magazine seemed to be cheaply produced—thinner and less skillfully illustrated than 3-2-1 Contact or Ranger Rick. Whatever it was, I suspect that the back issues are not to be found anywhere out there on the Internet. I think another (non-SF) story from the magazine may have been called "Operation Lima Bean," about a kid who avoids eating the titular legume by giving them to his dog; but rather than eat them itself, the dog (named "Shep"?) hides the beans in the boys baseball cleats.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How do Pokemon trainers collect their winnings?

According to Bulbapedia , Prize money is the money that a Trainer pays out at the end of a battle. So we know that the money comes directly from the trainer that just lost, and not some third-party committee or sponsor. But how is this done? It can be easy seeing the random trainers who challenge you along the way wanting to wager and then, after admitting defeat, sticking to their word and handing over their hard-earned pokebucks. Then there are the likes of Team Rocket and Giovanni, who also give money once they lose. This doesn't seem like something people in a criminal organization would willingly do. From this it appears that trainers have no say in whether or not they cough up the dough after losing, but I can't find anything on how exactly the funds are transferred from loser to winner. So how do Pokemon trainers receive their winnings?
Post a Comment
Read more