The replacements

In 2011 the housewife will be obsolete according to a recent article on Popular Science's web site.

Not so long ago, chemical engineers discovered how to use titanium dioxide to keep buildings free of discoloring pollution. Landmarks such as the virgin-white Dives in Misericordia Church in Rome and the Marunouchi Building in Tokyo were among the first to be coated with the semiconductor, which breaks down organic molecules—including those in grime and pollution—when exposed to light and water and then releases them into the air. Soon after, TiO2-based self-cleaning products, like SunClean windows from PPG Industries, hit the home market.

Imagine, if you will, a life with all the cleaning and none of the nagging. No longer shall we mere husbands be trapped while we wait or even worse beg and plead for the little lady to prepare our thrown room.

to bring the technology inside the home, where it could eliminate the need for hours of tedious housework every week, researchers must overcome a major limitation: The technology currently responds only to ultraviolet light from the sun. Enter materials engineer Michael Cortie and his colleagues at the Institute for Nanoscale Technology in Sydney, Australia, who are working to perfect a coating that can respond to the visible spectrum—that is, the lightbulb hanging from your bathroom ceiling. So long, toilet brush.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it's growing brighter by the day, thanks to the work of a few dedicated men. Perhaps a rewrite of John Lennon's imagine is in order:

Imagine there's no mildew
It's easy if you try
No gunk and grime below us
Above us only a sparking sky
Imagine all the people
Not living in constant fear of slipping and falling in the shower because the missus missed a spot while cleaning...

Imagine there's no odor
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to scrub or spray for
And no smegma too
Imagine all the people
Living life sanitary...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as clean as if a man had the free time to do the job right himself

Imagine no stench
I wonder if you can
No need for spray or scrubby brushes
A brotherhood of women
Imagine all the people
Finally getting a home cooked meal without the old lading bitching about having to clean the bathrooms...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one