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I would recommend you start with a large bucket of Duplos. They're extra-large Legos made for younger kids with less fine-motor skills, but they are quite sturdy, they hold together better than tiny Legos, and they interconnect with the standard-size Legos. Then you could have fun like these kids.

Moms like Duplos because they are less likely to step on them in the dark and say bad words.

Ukelele's are such simple minded instruments (don't get me wrong, I've passed many the doobie to a nice Oo Ka ley ley song).

This is evidenced by the fact they could implement this with and RCX

For a real system, you're better writing it in on an Atmel 8 bit RISC microcontroller One friggen instruction per cycle. Not a few hundred or so.

using one of the nice embedded C Compilers

Geez does that Basic code look silly!

loop [

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 85 1 1

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 84 1 1

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 84 1 1

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 82 1 1

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 84 1 1

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 84 1 1

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 85 1 1

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 73 1 1

waituntil [switch 11] play_note 73 1 1

With an AVR, you could play the music like the Gypsie Kings with one processor! I'm talking multiple 12 strings!

You wouldn't need a beuwolf cluster..

But, it would be pretty cool.

All kidding aside, I wish I had the time to do this kind of stuff. Writing Java code for "Big Business" gets very boring, though, it feeds my family.

When life absorbs gamma radiation, that life is generally destroyed. The harmful mutations that exposure to gamma sometimes produces are basically a mild case of destruction.

Before anyone comments on consequent high mutation rates and speculates on rapid adaptation, it's worth pointing out that increasing the mutation rate increases the organism's genetic burden, or in other words reduces the organism's survivability. High replacement rates entail a high `genetic death' rate for the species.

Life consists of highly specific, nested, complex structures. Think of a lunar rover built from Lego bricks [looks like a fabulous place of employment!]. Units like the wheels represent a unique and specific structure by themselves; the whole rover represents a structure of structures. Doing something like bashing a chord or segment out of a wheel not only impairs the wheel's function, it also impairs the entire rover's function. What you're proposing is akin to suggesting that `improving' the rover's structure can be done by subjecting it to higher than normal levels of machinegun fire.

Here you go.

<a href="[Insert URL here]">[Insert text here]</a>

Does anyone know where I can get a Han Solo Lego figure?

Get your Lego Han Solo here!

I guess Lego has some sort of anti direct-linking thing... Go here first... Lego Site Then go here Han Solo

I guess Lego has some sort of anti direct-linking thing... Go here first... Lego Site Then go here Han Solo

Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web Site
If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. For example, say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS". Never say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs".Also, the trademark should appear in the same typeface as the surrounding text and should not be isolated or set apart from the surrounding text. In other words, the trademarks should not be emphasized or highlighted. Finally, the LEGO trademark should always appear with a ® symbol each time it is used.

Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web Site
If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. For example, say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS". Never say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs".Also, the trademark should appear in the same typeface as the surrounding text and should not be isolated or set apart from the surrounding text. In other words, the trademarks should not be emphasized or highlighted. Finally, the LEGO trademark should always appear with a ® symbol each time it is used.

Shop.lego.com probably.

-- Dr. Eldarion --

Come on now. There is NO Plural of LEGO® there is ONLY ONE LEGO® and that is the 'Group of companies' that makes the bricks.

As for the usual argument as to the correct LEGO® terminology check out what LEGO® has to say about it (about 13 parragraphs down 'Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark')

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies

The LEGO Logo may not be used on an Unofficial Web Site The bright red LEGO logo has become one of the most recognized trademarks in the world. We have worked hard to make this logo a symbol of high quality creative products for children. The logo stands for the LEGO Group and we cannot risk allowing the distinctiveness of this symbol to be diluted. We must, therefore, insist that the LEGO logo NEVER be used on an unofficial web site.

See also my previous warning about Lego Lawyers. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=32953&cid=3574 059 Disclaimer: I don't agree with these heavy-handed guys.

According to the Lego Companies Fair play policy the LEGO trademark is used as
an adjective, not as a noun. So you buy Lego, not Legos. you own a lego brick and many bricks are lego, not legos.

Seriously, who cares what some corporation thinks? I had legos as a kid and they're mine, not theirs. Get it, grammar nazi?

The bricks may be yours, but the name is theirs.

I'm surprised to see the Lego building block on Slashdot. Has Lego sued you yet?

The LEGO Corporation seems to have lightened up on this. Their site now has this fair play page that describes how an enthusiast site can reference LEGO bricks without stepping on trademark and copyright issues. They even allow "scanning of limited extracts" of their copyrighted materials as long as you're not trying to suggest that the LEGO Corporation is in any way connected with your site. The guidelines seem quite reasonable, allowing use of the LEGO trademarks and material while still protecting the corporation's intellectual property.

This is quite interesting considering that also at the same time, the state of California is coming after Lego Mindstorms for not making the implementation of the kits more easier to use and accessible for less educated kids, specifically those from poorer areas. Lego could be forced to make a more scaled down version of mindstorms with new color coding of certain mechanical parts, and an available alternative "pre-built" kit. You can see the article at the ACLU website

Here is a Lego Copy Machine that is one of the coolest Lego Mindstorms projects. I don't know who made the first Lego copier, but whoever did is cool as hell. Basically, the only non-lego part is a pen, which moves up or down, depending if the light sensor sees white or black.

pretty damn cool.

For a variation on the theme, here is a scanner , which uses only rubber wheels in addition to the other Legos.

How about Lego software so kids can build virtual structures?

I think you want this. It's relatively inexpensive and rather amusing.

-Fascist Christ ... No real account yet, too busy smugling felt tip markers into the USA.

Lego sells a version of Mindstorms for schools (Called
Robolab) along with curriculum, teacher training, etc... In my opinion, it is one of the best tools out there to actually get kids thinking, creating, and using technology for something other than processing worksheets and delivering standardized tests.

The activities that come with Robolab are OK to start with, but the real learning comes when kids come up with their own problems to solve and robots to create. I have seen kids make fax machines, robots that blow bubbles, machines that sort items based on their color or a bar code... there are limitless possibilities.

The software that comes with the set is ok also, but there are a bunch of free compiliers out there so code can be written in C, Logo, etc... and sent to the Lego "brick".

Now schools just need money to buy these and time to train the teachers!

Why that's simple, you can buy a Lego Mindstorm at lego.com! :-)

Why that's simple, you can buy a Lego Mindstorm at lego.com! :-)

Damned Mozilla and its recently renamed right-click menu options... Without further ado, here is the Camelot scene in LEGOvision(tm).

Spite Your Face, the group that did the Lego Star Wars movie, also did the Camelot scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It is incredibly detailed and similar to the original!

Spite Your Face, the group that did the Lego Star Wars movie, also did the Camelot scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It is incredibly detailed and similar to the original!

Here is the direct link to it. Lego.com

Your right it is big, but I am sure it is worth it!

Lego Studios
link is here, but none of the javascript links work :-(

Maybe it is an American English thing. I come from England, where the term legos sounds completely strange and wrong. We have always referred to several pieces of lego as lego as in I am going to play with my lego or I would like some more lego.

On the Lego Website they seem very careful to always say LEGO bricks. By the way there is an article about Mitchel Resnick who came up with the design for Mindstorms.

I think you are correct in that Lego in this context is an adjective rather than a noun. It it is the material that you use to build things, similar to the word wood. You would buy 3 planks of wood rather than 3 woods. Similarly you use several lego pieces, and not several legos.

Maybe this is another example of Americans destroying the English language... Even if you did want to make it plural, you would spell it legoes or else the o would be pronounced short has in log rather than long as in hole.

Maybe it is an American English thing. I come from England, where the term legos sounds completely strange and wrong. We have always referred to several pieces of lego as lego as in I am going to play with my lego or I would like some more lego.

On the Lego Website they seem very careful to always say LEGO bricks. By the way there is an article about Mitchel Resnick who came up with the design for Mindstorms.

I think you are correct in that Lego in this context is an adjective rather than a noun. It it is the material that you use to build things, similar to the word wood. You would buy 3 planks of wood rather than 3 woods. Similarly you use several lego pieces, and not several legos.

Maybe this is another example of Americans destroying the English language... Even if you did want to make it plural, you would spell it legoes or else the o would be pronounced short has in log rather than long as in hole.

My kids love Neopets and Lego. These are great sites for kids and have great navigation -- the never get hung up at these sites. Don't get me started on Disney -- I have to practically navigate for them when they go to Disney.

One thing that kids do a lot (my sample is about 15 kids -- my 2, nephews and nieces and the kids friends) is click all over the webpage if the computer "gets slow" (this kills windows 95 :-). They also tend to get extremely frustrated if they can't figure out how something works. Really bad or complicated user interfaces at web sites that are important to them (Pokemon, Digimon, etc.) can start them crying. If they leave a web site for this reason they may never go back.

Teaching my 6 and 8 year olds about banner ads only took a couple of minutes. The 6 year old once asked if an ad for "increasing your internet speed" was something I wanted him to look into :-)

Of course my wife or I are almost always in the room with them when their surfing so they can ask for help if they get into trouble.

The 6 year old prefers Mac X, then Linux and then Windows 98. The 8 year old likes Windows and Mac X but doesn't like Linux. There's no accounting for taste I guess.

When bought in sets, Lego pieces cost an average of about 15 cents per piece (that's weighting the pieces by commonality). More specialized pieces cost more. 2x2 bricks cost about 7 cents each. 2x4 bricks cost 14 cents each.

When bought in bulk and buying just bricks, you can get them for a little less than if you buy full sets (with lots of specialized pieces). Check out Lego Shop-At-Home for exact prices.

(I haven't been able to get to the featured site, so I have no idea how many bricks are used in the church.)

If I ever updated my Lego site, I wonder if I could get a slashdot feature, too...

As you've stated, the LEGO(R) trademark is an adjective not a noun. A LEGO(R) legal page has more information about this, under "Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web Site."

Link to above mentioned robot: http://mindstorms.lego.com/products/vc/user4.asp

I think it depends. Sure, I agree that the educational value "educational games" is quite doubtful. On the other hand, if your young kids are spending time doing stuff like logo or Mindstorms then you probably don't want to stop them from doing so. Since they're already playing with Lego, introducing them to mindstorms might turn out great.

Alltogether I agree with the article though. Schools teaching "how to use the internet" is a joke. And I think stuff like office, online collaboration using things like , etc. are better taught at a later age.

...to come up with the idea of building robots from interchangable modular parts. Lego hasn't quite managed to stick a PowerPC in each block, but they're much more affordable.
Seriously, it's nice to see things moving from the toy department to the research lab, instead of the other way around.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

• Logo
• Mindstorms

I mean, how many contests have you seen on the back of a cereal box to "create a new slogan!" or "write an essay"? Just a cheap way to create some buzz and get your customers to write your advertising copy for you. Heck, the most blatant scams in memory are HBO's Project Greenlight (trolling for scripts - you don't even want to know what the Writers' Guild thought of this) and the Lego Film Contest (trolling for complete commercials).

Hardly new stuff. Remember Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer? There's a bit where he holds a "contest" to see which kid can whitewash the fence he's supposed to paint fastest. I'm sure that even as Twain wrote that bit, even he thought "I better be sure to give the fence painting thing a unique spin so it works. After all, it's an awfully old idea..."

Party-Optimizer uses such thing

I didn't read the article, but I'd like to comment on the whole Lego fanatacism hear on slashdot. Whilst I enjoy building vehicles, buildings and chairs from Legos, it really does make a difference when you get to using the mind-Storm sets. Even Microsoft have developed interfacing software for these things, I should know since I was the lead programmer.

Ultimately it all boils down to using your Legos for fun and profit, but most of the Lego owning slashdot crowd won't do this for fear that they might make some money on it. Really, what do you have to lose? Build Legos, brush your teeth, grab some lunch and then go to work. Its really that simple.

For those who don't know, I used to work for LEGO, making those small, 4-post blocks, but I got tired of it and now I work at Estuardo's Burritos on Wheels (a fabulous place to grab some lunch or dinner). I just made some crab enchiladas, chorizo and pork brain tacos for this little old lady and she said to me "Young man, those Legos will be the death of you", to which I replied "Fuck you little old lady. I'll be the death of YOU!". That was when I grabbed Humbertos kitchen towel and strangled her to death.

Getting back to the point, I am really amazed at the advances in Lego technology but what amazes me even more is how nearly anything can be built with those little blocks. Lots of techniques have been used to construct impressive Lego structures, but one that I'll always use is the good old tried and true block stacking. Nothing else even comes close.

In closing, I'd like to say that Legos and Linux (and Linux Thorvalds too! he's an impressive programmer) go hand in hand and I'd really like to see some open sourced software developed for Legos on Linux.

It's tragic that a significant portion of the private sector takes this kind of a stance. The Media Lab, in it's day, was a unique place where sometimes extremely disparate companies were able to work together, share ideas, and advance not only their businesses, but technology in a much more significant way than they would have separately.

What happens when Intel sits down with Lego and some creative, bright students? Lego gets Mindstorms... Intel gets an entirely new product line. This was the place where corporate R&D hit the academic cutting edge. It brought you HDTV, Mindstorms, Electronic Ink (which is turning very quickly into printable transistors). It's working on building automation with cooperation from both appliance companies and building companies. MEMS, Education, Agents, News Delivery... Hell, students there even had a part in remeasuring Mt. Everest. Worthless indeed.

As for "frivolous perks," the professors at the lab get paid academic salaries. Many of them, who consult with their sponsors as a condition of their sponsorship contracts, travel 150-200k miles /year. Have you tried logging that much travel in coach, without a cell phone?

Yes, there are significant parts of the Media Lab designed to make it "plush" for both sponsors and researchers, but you don't attract some of the brightest and most creative people on the planet by giving them a cinder block office $5.25 an hour.

That's interesting-- could you please name these companies that are doing so well financially and also cite references for their good deeds and kind employee relations.

Nokia
http://www.nokia.com/insight/index.html

Ericsson
http://www.ericsson.com/ericssonresponse/
http://www.ericsson.com/sustainability/

Ikea
http://www.ikea.co.uk/about_ikea/code_of_conduct/w ork.asp

Lego

http://www.lego.com/eng/info/profile.asp

It sounds good but more of a rumor than anything else.

It's not just rumour, you just live in the wrong part of the world. I know many Americans find these thing difficult to believe. That just shows how screwed-up the American mentality has become.

One big difference between here and America is that, these companies policies aren't just for PR purposes, but they are actually core to the peoples life values. If you actually visited these countries and saw it for yourself, then you'd understand that the "America way" isn't the only way, or necessarily the best.

At least, according to King Arthur (Monty Python)

That was one of the most moving parts of the film, it showed that the "soldiers" of the war were often little more than kids, away from home and afraid. I hope you're not trying to get a +Funny by making light of it...
--
LEGO PORN!@


You HYPOCRITE! First you condemn me for "making light" of a violent scene in a movie while participating in a discussion of a FPS video game, then you have the nerve to advertise Lego pornography!

Don't you realize that through your thoughtless words, you are legitimizing the objectification of Lego? Not only are older Lego sets being victimized, but tragically, innocent Duplo sets have been increasingly assaulted. These are preschool blocks we're talking about here, people! How long can we let this go on?

Remember, the Duplos of today are the Legos and Mindstorms of tomorrow. If they're assembled in disgusting and perverted ways now, how will they ever fully fit into Lego society (and bigger sets) later in life?

Perhaps Legos and Duplos can fit together, you pervert, but that doesn't make it right. Decent Slashdotters everywhere must act, and act now! Protect our preschool blocks from abuse! STOP DUPLOITATION!

And don't even get me started on Tinkertoys.

That, and plenty of cat-5, should make my dream home a reality.
Total cost - $3 mill or so.

There are a ton of robots on the Mindstorms site and on robots.net that are much more sophisticated.

Come on people! Sure the programs were copyrighted. So? Sony was making money off the hardware, not the software. Lego showed us the way with Lego Mindstorms.

Without the customer community, there would bo no company. I for one will not by buying from Sony this Christmas. Promote fanaticism of your user base, it's the only way for a company to survive.

If you want a good small world to study, I'd go to Junkyard Wars on The Learning Channel (TLC). Most games are inherently top-down, identifying the high level structure of what you'll want to do and even often the tools you'll be using and leading you to just decide what order to press the buttons to make those tools achieve that goal. If you want strategy to be used, I suggest you being in a more bottom-up, Lego-like way giving some components with purposes that are not readily apparent but that invite experimentation, improvisation, and composition.

It bugged me a lot that in Pharoah, for example, that when I worked out a way to manage a small region of a town, I couldn't encapsulate that and start to build bigger patterns from smaller ones. There were no compositional tools. And eventually the game dies of its own weight because one gets tired of dealing with things at the micro level, and the time spent dealing with that distracts from the fun of building bigger patterns.

Computer scientists know that you can't build bigger and bigger things without creating aggregations (and aggregations of aggregations, and so on) or without creating abstractions and hiding detail; game designers need to come to grips with the fact that game players need these same tools to keep a game from wearing out. The issue of a commander having to give orders and have others implement them doesn't just add "realism", it adds tractability. It keeps the game "possible".

I hear B.I.O. Bugs are quite hackable, and are based on work by roboticist Mark Tilden.

The SliMP3 is quite hackable, as the code's all in Perl (see the developer's list).

LEGO MindStorms are a perennial favorite, and are extremely hackable.

And let's not forget TiVo, which is a hacker's playground.

Finally, one of the new Compaq iPaqs can be hours of fun once you install Linux on it and begin having wireless fun with it.

Interestingly enough, Stephen Hawking (and a bunch of his school chums) built something along these lines at the age of 16, and was featured in the Meccano magazine for his efforts.

Lego produces plastic castles, Meccano produces engineers.
Not that I'm adverse to a bit of lego - I'm currently building a chess computer using mindstorms - see my chess page on Lego's website (which is riddled with bugs)

Speaking of Monty Python, featured on
BBSpot's daily spot, is a Monty Python Lego movie in quicktime. Windows media version is here.
Anybody who likes Monthy Python and Lego, check it out. Hmm I guess that's everybody here...