Toastie

Yes. That.

No they are not. And never have been. For one, to me "sustainable" means "for everyone" - and not for the ones who can afford to build houses and so on and so forth. I am absolutely fine when you see it that way, please believe me. Secondly, only radical ideas have made an impact on evolution. All the "lets do it as they show on the Discovery Channel ideas" did not. LEGO is radical per definition in itself, as I can go radically nuts - by putting a radiation hazmat girl/guy on ... whatever ... a beach, not knowing what he or she is doing there. And that is what I do. Radical was also to claim that renewable energy will - some day in the future - deliver more than 30% to the power supply in the country where I live. You know what they called me back then? Thirty years ago? Dreamer, idiot, extremist, greenie, and yes, megablock (see below, in the reason for edit section); rendering the future apocalyptic. And you know what? Mission accomplished. Simply done. It is not only reality, it is even better. Some 30 years later. It makes me very happy. Right now, I am travelling around and keep telling people we can make it up-to 75%; you know what they call me? Dreamer. Destructor of our wealth. Dreamer. Idiot. I am used to it. And old enough to cope with that. I have at max 30 more years - but will not cool down. Never ever anyone said here to be empowered, nor save an entire galaxy, nor this planet, nor a region on this planet. Never. No "saving" at all. I don't like way of arguing that way at all. It is the classical straw man's argument. And believe me: I built a house (not only once), raised a family, and I am - for sure - taking my responsibility of my own, and my families life. And my family is doing that as well. It is give and take. At least where I grew up, moved to, and live right now. And lastly: "Whatever". Heard that too many times, got over it. And my original post was not intended to go to that direction at all. It was about to ask very skilled people to think outside the box. No more. It did not work out - that is how it is - and without being bitter: Whatever. As @Didumos69 phrased: ... back to my train layout. I just added a deep sea section to it; next to a switch yard populated by of 4.5/9/12V trains. Senseless. But cool. (This thread should be locked as it goes wrong ...)

True. No doubt at all. But it may not be too shortsighted to begin with what is possible today, and that are as only one example electric cars. There is no doubt - zero - that this route will never be reasonable with fossil energy supply. The IoE is required, as well as much more efforts establishing renewable energy production routes and energy storage. Which in turn don't work without IoE. I believe it is smart to begin with something, even when it temporarily doesn't make much sense. But then: There were many and very smart people back in the apparently so good'ol days, who said that the internal combustion engine propelled automobile will never ever replace the horse as transportation means. Well. That was not a very good prediction, which one would call today model calculation. In contrast to that today's model calculations regarding the development of earths surface temperature, sea levels, polar ice cap coverage, shift of "permanent" tropospheric pressure systems, to name a few, are spot on for more than three decades now. Within these three decades the computing power has gone nuts but the predictions of the IPCC from 1990/1991 (1st assessment report) and the measurements from worldwide distributed stations are in very good agreement with each other, when taking the 1990 worst case scenario as basis. Unfortunately the crazy computing power of today comes to the same result. I happen to do research and teaching in that area; at least I have some access to the primary literature and know a good number of colleagues directly involved in climate research. Believe me, they don't toss any of the tax payers money around, nor would I regard them as very rich people doing nothing else than predicting the apocalypse to arrive soon. In contrast, they desperately want it to go the other way around. In Germany, I would not even know a legal route for the average researcher in this area to make more money through research grants. No idea. I sometimes wonder what "we" are waiting for. Another decade or two to be "sure"? Or better five? Should we wait with technological changes until 100% renewable energy is available - everywhere? That won't happen - in many areas of this planet, people will be extremely happy to have electricity more than 2 hours a day. And they will for sure not care from what kind of primary energy carrier that electricity was generated. But in the "developed" world that is different. We barely survive a power outage of one hour - per year. And it is in this developed world, where we can initiate changes. Be it marginal or not. The automobile is a very good example how such a marginal change can change the world. And that is only one example. Best Thorsten

Ohh, it was not so much about climate change - that is something simply happening pretty swiftly as of now. And I completely agree with much of what you wrote, for sure!!! It is more about the overall challenges homo sapiens sapiens is facing on this planet. Climate change for sure. BTW there was climate change as long as this planet exists, again, I completely agree, but there were as many mass extinctions going along with it, particularly when it became a little more bumpy. The same argument applies to the "warmer is better" line of thinking (nature is never as active as in warm periods so two degrees more is not a bad thing at all - this is how it goes); it will simply lead to a very good number of species disappearing, including homo sapiens. But the world will for sure continue to spin with about one revolution per 24 hours with light on and off! No doubt at all. But there is more. Overuse of resources - in fully developed countries that is; overpopulation; right now more species become extinct on this planet every day at the pace of mass extinctions during the past five big ones; the dynamics of closely coupled non-linear functions; closed-loop responses; (mass) migration in response to changes on the planet; the global economic system still depending solely on growth (in a per definition resource limited world, as it is one world with defined dimensions) and so on and so forth. There is no need to name people, I agree. But maybe there are things to think about. TLG made already wind power station for us. IMHO there could be more ... But again, that was not the point. It was just about crazy creative technical ideas in a world we are living in now. That is all. And lastly but most importantly:: Thank you all for your input. It is a pleasure and honor to read all the different very educated and wisely reflected replies and comments. All the best Thorsten

I am ready to get shitstorm-like replies on this. And I have long - very long - though about this. And now, as I have had a couple of beers for other reasons ... There are so many ingenious people here in this forum. I have >no clue< how you guys do it. None what so ever. But what I am missing is: Machines, mechanisms, vehicles, ideas, proposals ... aiding the youngsters as well as the old farts and everyone in between - to think along ... the future. About serious change. The car industry - folks - the car industry - is doing it. They go electric. For sure. I happen to be loosely involved in all that - it is happening as of now. Everything is changing. There are people like DonaldT, people of the past, of the ages passing by without much notice ... in the long run ... But here, on EB, "we" (don't count me in) have all the creativity I can possibly think of. So ... how about taking the alternative, sustainable, green, future routes? How about models of the new age? How about new mechanisms, cool cars for individuals, cool public transportation vehicles, and so on and so forth? Supercars, supercranes, the Liebherr whatever, the Chiron, the supertrucks, and what not are all fine(!!!). But they are ... either already from the past or - possibly - or hopefully - will be in the near future. What we need is creativity for novel designs. New radical ideas. And LEGO is the one source in this world to educate us as well as our kids. And please don't tell me to go to the SciFi forum. I am talking engineering. That's it. I am a bit afraid of what is currently happening on this planet. With best regards, Thorsten

Yes. I am running a VB6 program (yes, VB6) on a Win10 64bit, Dell 7530 Precision Laptop with built-in Bluetooth. The BLE stack is from n!software and connects to as many BLE devices as I turn on (10 so far; I don't have more ...). I don't know if this is of importance, but I am using the VB6 n!software BLE Client simply as indexed object. And it just scales as I like. I tried 30 and VB6 created 30 individual indexed objects. So - just send me BLE devices and I will try to hook them up ... just kidding. No idea, why that works. All the best Thorsten

Well then count me in. I have done much, much worse things. All that counts is that it works now! Have fun! Best Thorsten

Well, again: Do these two +/-terminals feed all regulators in parallel? Another quick check: What is the voltage you measure on the individual track sections, when you set the dials? Do these voltages correspond to the settings on the dials, when you disconnect them from the track?

Oops ... OK lets have a look - hmm. I believe we need to focus on the two cross overs consisting of 4 individual points each (on the lower left and right). Before we do though, what is the purpose of D1 and A3 on the same track segment, as well as A4 and D2? What is the nomenclature? A1 = regulator A1 with both polarities attached? Or A1 = regulator A polarity 1? Another question: Do you feed the 9V regulators from only one - maybe larger - DC power supply? Or do they all have their own power supply running from mains? Best Thorsten

Would it be possible to share a drawing (photograph of a sketch on a piece of paper is fine) showing the layout, particularly the switch points and the power feed positions? Otherwise, all is highly speculative. One thing (that you are certainly aware of) that always needs close attention when using multiple 9V regulators on one track layout is that the regulator output is mechanically fully reversing both polarities when going from a right dial position over 0 (= no connection) to a left dial position. It just means there is no common ground; + become - and vice versa. But I don't have to tell you, just as a general note. Best Thorsten

This is really an improvement! (to be honest - I could never ever build something remotely comparable to even your - apparently - less appealing first version!!!). But I'd surely go for yellow - you know, "nicely color" matched is something for the aesthetically advanced. These two have work to do. Dirty, tough work. And with all that dirt on them, dirty yellow is still discernible from some distance. I believe this is the reason why they don't put camouflage on them in real life All the best, Thorsten P.S: Damned forgot: Plus yellow is better than anything else for the color-blind ... it stands out (as I can tell from experience)

All what others have already voiced plus: So much better - simply in another league - as compared to that stupid Chiron thing TLG folks built earlier. So much more fun and excitement here. This is really extremely nice and truly outreaching to the kids as well as AFOLs! All the very best Thorsten

And they really do add a lot to the lovely appearance of the set! It is a vintage set - and the stickers point that out - in a very nice and "smooth" way. I would certainly leave them as is! There is no way, new stickers could compete, as far as I am concerned. Best wishes, Thorsten

Folks, did you see this beautiful DUPLO track compatible and "DUPLO strength" engine @Ctan has created? I have never seen something like this before - and will sure get the DUPLO track out of the attic ... Best Thorsten

Oh my goodness ... usually I hang out in the TrainTech and Mindstorms forum ... Wow. This is incredibly nice. I am totally in love with your engine. You know, I came back from my dark ages when our first daughter was born - 1996. And I thought in 1997 that Duplo is the way to go ... there are a lot of tracks up in the attic. And I will for sure get them out and will try to build a copy of your beauty, when you don't mind. What a brilliant idea - Technic and Duplo. This is true LEGO Freestyle!!! Congratulations on your wonderful idea, and your fantastic achievement. All the best Thorsten

This is fantastic! So many details ... there is so much to discover. Meter that are facing towards the engineer, all that piping with the meters, the beautiful "house" ... incredible. I like this kind of building very very much - it's the heart of LEGO. Will spend more time with your model. (I believe you may have miscalculated the dimensions? Ate least width and height seem to be off). Thank you very much for sharing! All the best Thorsten

Edit: I talked today to a student. About this and that and LEGO. He said that he had a bucket full of LEGO bricks in the basement and wants to take a look. Which means that there is a potential additional fan. As a proposal, these are appended to the true count: 98,674,250 (+1) Best Thorsten

This is wonderful news. Truly wonderful news! More importantly though: Congratulations on your success!!! Very nice. As far as I am concerned, you have created the most powerful software for the new line of LEGO electronics. It would have been totally OK if it just was like that: Done and gone. And people figuring out how it works (which is very close to TLG's approach, at least software wise!). Because it is fun. It is even more fun and much more reassuring to know that you are around! You have really changed TLG's PuP world with your ingenious software. All the very best - for your company and you personally! Thorsten

Ahh - I really appreciate that - thank you very much! Best wishes Thorsten

Phew. OK. I do get the "Ep" bit: That is the acronym for "episode", right? Now, "RoS" ... Wikipedia says: Organizations Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale, the Anti-organized Crime Branch of the Italian Carabinieri Reparti i Operacioneve Speciale, a former Albanian special forces unit IL ROS, Norwegian football team which does not help that much. But why "chibi" in Episode 4 is not really comparable (with what?) leaves me in the middle of nowhere. I do admit that I am not a hardcore SW fan, but I do have 7 "Ep" DVDs and clearly declared the missing DVDs as birthday present. This is meant to be funny ... All the best Thorsten

You are right - I misread that part. On the other hand, from my group's research collaborations with Bangladesh and the Ivory Coast, the "rich middle class" is a tiny fraction of the population - and essentially belongs to the lower upper class. A typical middle class does not exist. And the upper class is hardly to be recognized as a "class"; these are or less "groups of individuals", when you count heads. That is just my impression. Best Thorsten

Hmmm. As old fart and someone who does not do FB for a good number of reasons (not of relevance here): It appears as if @Cosmik42 has left this forum. Somewhere in this thread he disappeared. In the beginning he was very responsive. I thought he just had it - when a development reaches a certain stage of stability and functionality, it loses its luster. Well, that is what I thought. But learning that there is this active group with the author contributing makes me wonder what caused his shift of activity from EB to FB. All the best, Thorsten

Then go with @JopieK's suggestion of using RCX bricks. The sell dead cheap on BL nowadays and will certainly do the job. Plus, programming environments are still available for current PC/laptop hardware, along with sensor periphery. Best Thorsten

... provided, "every child in the world" can actually look at such shelves. I doubt though that this is the case. The majority of children in this world have to take care of other things. Best Thorsten

Same here! What I do is getting several metric meters or imperial yards of these RGB LED strands. You can cut them every 10 - 15 cm (3.93700787401574 - 5.90551181102 inch) to length. Then I get the required 12V controllers (including remote!) for about $3 each from China. Very little soldering is required - and then you have full control: A TV set is "simulated" by the "fade" program set to fast; in addition all colors can be created easily. Its fun. And cheap. And very powerful. All the best, Thorsten