tedbeard

Apparently I almost never played with my LEGO. and Like them, I built. I imagined backstories and what every spaceship/building/boat/whatever did or could do. But once I was finished the actual construction I hardly ever spent any time "playing" with it. I do remember a couple of glorious afternoons with a friend building indestructible vehicles for smash-up-derby fun but even then the design/building:smashing ration was at least 4:1. My creations stay together far longer than they ever did as a kid. When it was time to tidy up I would fully or partially demolish my creations and dump the parts back in the bin. Now I actually leave things together and display them on my shelves and sometimes let my kids play with them. Not sure what that means but it works for me.

Nope. I use "New Posts" and it brings up new posts in any topic not just new topics.

I voted Grey because I use the sidewalk system introduced to me by the guys from SEALUG: 7-wide, two plates high sidewalks that allow for sewers and more features built into the streetscape. So mostly for me there is no real point to green and it introduces unnecessary cost into the production. I will admit however that greens can be useful for suburban/rural roads.

Really enjoying the series. I had a minor question: why do some of the gunports have a 1x2 plate at the bottom of the opening while others have a 1x2 tile?

I, and most members of our LUG, save them and give them to one member who builds "shantytown" MOCs. We are currently sorting through a gigantic pile of LEGO a bunch of us purchased together and every time someone finds a broken piece they hold it up and loudly say "Joseph!" and proceed to throw it into his bucket.

Looks like we are back online.

I have to say, in good Sci-fi tradition it does not NEED a sequel. That said they certainly seem to be hinting it will be "concluded".

I liked Aliens better than Alien. D9 left a lot of interesting possibilities open which could be turned into a really good hard sci-fi.

It was really good with lots of people exploding. It wasn't actually that bad for gore and it certainly was not a horror movie to give anyone nightmares unless mutation, hacking off of limbs and some nasty dinner choices give you nightmares. Star Trek was more fun, for an old Trekkie like me but D9 was good enough that I am looking forward to a sequel.

Holy mother of... somebody actually read the blog?!?! I guess I better start posting again. As for the server issues. I have tried contacting Venkatash (our server guy) but there is no answer. I am hoping he is simply away on vacation but it has been offline for at least two weeks. Very frustrating.

I hear you. Totally agree on the officer/admiral. What is silly is including a monkey and two pirates. It is fine as an expansion pack for Pirates but it is NOT a useful army builder unless you are building two (or more if you include monkey) armies.

This has got to be the worst "battle pack" ever. Clearly someone at LEGO is totally clueless about what a BP is. It is SUPPOSED to be a way to build an army. That means one officer and at least three soldiers (or better yet, NO "officers"). Hopefully the Tic-Tac-Toe set will be a better deal because there is no point to buying the so-called BP.

That is a truly ignorant response. Juvenile word-games have no place in this discussion. Income taxes may be higher but overall they actually pay more for public services as we use the term. I was not responding to you, I also was responding to Brickmaster's original question. As for being "political" it is not possible to discuss taxation, governance or health care without being "political", so get over it.Let's all go to Timmy's and solve the world's problems over an Iced Capp and some Timbits.

Actually this is a myth perpetuated by neo-cons. For example, I know it was too many years ago (late 80's - early 90's) but around when I was finishing University my parents lived in Virginia while my father was assigned to the Canadian Embassy. They compared everything they paid back home with every fee, school levy, tax, etc and it was clear that in that case residents of McLean, Virginia (just outside DC) paid more for less services than someone in Victoria, British Columbia (provincial capitol). Americans pay for things like schools and roads and other services differently in many jurisdictions. We just bundle it all up as "taxes". I would guess the question comes from all the debate about health care reform in the the States. Our system covers everyone and is not an unreasonable burden on individuals. The horror stories you are being fed about waiting lists are bull-crap. If people were dying or being refused life-saving care by bureaucrats there would be holy heck to pay. We have news media who are more than happy to pander to our neo-cons. I have a wife and three kids and we pay a not unreasonable amount of tax. If any one of us is sick we are treated quickly and effectively and I don't see a bill. We have good schools, decent roads, safe streets and a banking system that behaves itself. Of course, here on the Left Coast we also have far less snow (except in the mountains) and an irritating smugness about our part of Canada. It does make house prices ridiculous here. The average house prices in Vancouver - Victoria are the highest in Canada but that has been true for years. There is a limited supply of land around here - Victoria is on an Island and Vancouver is surrounded by mountains.

Yes, except with the space between it became two columns/pages rather than a four-panel block. Anyway, glad to see its sorted out now.

Just a quick question: in what order are you supposed to read the panels? The way it is presented it looks like it should be: 1 3 2 4 However sometimes the dialogue seems to flow: 1 2 3 4 If it is meant to be the latter perhaps you could remove the space between the columns. Thanks.

The episode with the "Canadians"? I usually love when shows make fun of us (How I met Your Mother is great - even if I am NOT afraid of the dark). However the characterization in this episode was bizarre. Sure their beer sucks but who f#%!^g pours out a free one and then leaves a beautiful glass mug in a f#%!^g potted plant?!?! Most people I know would finish the beer and wash the freaking glass while staying to the end to help clean up! And I have never met anyone who would call the cops on a summer BBQ before midnight. I don't know what kind of "Canadians" the writer has met but clearly they must have been total a$$&@!#$. I'm not mad at the writers/producers. I'd just like to find the SOB "Canadians" they must have met and kick them in the nuts.

Is this really a new part? I have several ropes with attached studs (bricklink entry). Is it a new length? Thanks for the great review overall. I especially enjoyed your entertaining commentary and I too have small "demolition specialists" (aka kids) who are very "helpful".

Are you guys talking about Canada's Wonderland/Paramount Canada's Wonderland, the amusement park north of T.O.? I guess it changed it's name again? I don't remember a water park when I was there but I went many years ago. Do they still have the really huge wooden roller coaster?

Are you seriously suggesting that if they had not used "big blocks" it would have stayed together better? The whole ball melted into the individual bricks. It did NOT break apart into the "big blocks".

I subscribed from the first print issue and it is fantastic. It is a must-read magazine for adult fans. It represents an important step in the development of the hobby and I hope someday it can be made more widely available at a better price.

I think it is because (for many of the reasons above) LEGO designers have been overwhelming male. It has been a closed loop of constant reinforcement of a design aesthetic created by males for males that inspires new males to design for males... Hopefully changing now (yeah Modular Houses theme!) but it will be a long time, if ever, to have a balance of male and female designers and a resulting change in what they are coming up with.

Fair enough but have you been to both parks in California? Disneyland is much bigger than LEGOLAND but I took my family last summer and we all agreed that LEGOLAND was better*. I don't think you can pre-judge something like that - although I find it odd a LEGO-fan would not be predisposed to a preference for LEGOLAND. * "better" in this case means it was more interesting and amusing for a family made up of two adults, and three kids (10, 6, 2). If it's "big" rides likes roller coasters etc then for sure, Disneyland would probably have won. YMMV

I'd have to agree. $6 is a good price.

^ True, but I got the sense from the original request that desultor wanted an article-based wiki as opposed to a set database. Either way, creating yet another LEGO-related wiki seems inefficient when there are already several to choose from.