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I don`t always step into to check the topics and comments but it`s always fun to watch the topics that show up on the main page.
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fearless_ wrote: time spent here is definitely not wasted
I guess we all come here for different reasons. 
The Daily News and Lounge are part of my morning routine. I also visit when switching tasks or when I'm stumped and need to step away from a problem. If that doesn't work, then it's off to the woodshed. 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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it`s a reasonable place for everyone work friendly , family friendly, what else could you ask for.
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The Soapbox was more colourful. But it is gone.
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Reminds me of one case mentioned in the classic book by David A. Ricks: Big business blunders - Mistakes in International Marketing (the exact title varies slightly with the editions of the book): One airline company wanted to market their VIP service internationally, referring to one service as their "Rendevouz Lounge". They were not aware that in some Latin American countries, a Rendevouz Lounge is where you go to find a prostitute.
(I haven't read that book for years. I really should dig it up and re-read it; I rememer it as a highly recommendable text!)
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Is that price right? £650! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: Is that price right?
It's correct but it sure isn't right. 
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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I'm afraid it is.
LEGO ain't cheap, especially one of the biggest consumer sets ever 
Maybe Star Wars LEGO is slightly more expensive too because of licensing issues.
It'll look great once it's finished though 
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Sander Rossel wrote: It'll look great once it's finished
I think you mean "It'll look grey once it's finished".
In a galaxy far, far too grey.
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That too
To be fair, they were pretty grey in the movie as well.
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Yeah, and it also exploded in the movie. So I suggest keeping it away from flammable objects, such as your cat.
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My cat currently keeps away from me, she ran away last week
Got a camera set up to catch her when she enters the house at night (IF she enters the house at night)
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She still hasn't adjusted yet then? Must have had a pretty traumatic past life 
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Yeah, she really doesn't like people.
I couldn't even come close.
Even after ten weeks she still hisses at me whenever she sees me!
She got a little better before she took off.
At least she was wandering around the house, playing with toys at night, sitting on my desk or on a chair (far away from me, of course), and she even came to watch me when I was in the kitchen.
About two or three days before she disappeared she sat about two meters away from me while I tried to lure her in with some cat treats.
She didn't come closer, but she didn't run away either and she's never been that close before (out of her own)
I had good hopes, but then she ran away and I haven't seen her for eight day now
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Sander Rossel wrote: she sat about two meters away from me
Ah, so she's respecting the current rules...
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LBP 650 / 4784 pieces = LBP 0.137 / piece.
When I was a kid, the price per piece was significantly higher (when correced for inflation).
Yet I don't like the development. In my childhood, you used the same square or rectangular bricks for "everything". You build a plane, take the pieces apart and make a house, later the pieces go into man. A few non-brick pieces had started arriving: Wheels, sloped tops for making roofs, even hinges. But they were all "general" pieces, not tailor made for one specific model. Even when they started offering railroad tracks and electric motors for the train, the pices were still general; you could build whatever with them. (My favorite, as a computer guy: The LEGO Turing Machine[^] - that is a general as you can get it  - and the presentation is made with a with a great sense of humor).
Today, LEGO is more about collecting as many models as possible, rather than creating as many constructions as possible. When we visited Legoland[^] in my childhood, we were intrigued by those impressing constructions made from nothing but the kinds of bricks I had in my own toy box. Nowadays, it is much more like a sales exhibition advertising all the great kits, with all the kit-specific pieces, you can buy. I didn't buy much of it when I was a daddy...
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Never thought about it like that.
I still love constructing it though, even when the pieces are specific for that model.
Back in the day I used to make all kinds of things with whatever was lying around, but those days are over either way 
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Yeah. When I was a child (still am) if you wanted to make a model you got an Airfix kit and some glue. LEGO was for imaginative construction from standard blocks (at bit like an old web-page, which didn't exist at the time I was talking about).
LEGO today is like a cross between Airfix and MineCraft!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Forogar wrote: LEGO today is like a cross between Airfix and MineCraft!
And, IMO, with most of the disadvantages and few of the advantages of both.
LEGO may develop children's dexterity, ability to follow instructions, etc., but it does nothing for their imaginations. Furthermore, the models are often too fragile for anything other than display, so you can't play with them, either!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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"Airfix" - I don't think I have heard that name for at least 40 years, maybe more!
In my early childhood, boys were divided into to competing groups: Those that went for the Matchbox model cars, and those going for the Corgi cars. Do those brands still exist?
Also in my early childhood, I played with constructions sets labeled BiloFix (Bilofix - Wikipedia[^]). They were wooden beams and large plastic nuts and bolts. Not until today did I know that Bilofix was made by the inventor of LEGO! Older kids built models with Meccano - Wikipedia[^] - I haven't seen that around for quite a few years, but you could make rather fancy models with it (as shown in Wikipedia).
As we grew, we advanced from model cars to model railroads. Again, there were two camps: Those going for Märklin, and those going for Fleischmann. The scale was the same, so carriages and locomotives were interchangable, but you didn't want to fraternize with the enemy... The Märklin camp was proud of the rails being mounted on a shell decorated to look like a real railroad stone fundament, while the Fleischmann guys were equally proud of their "bare bones" rails and ties: Your are supposed to build your landscape yourself, from plaster or clay or paper mache, and create your own stone fillings! The Fleischmann camp was generally considered to be more "serious"; the model railroad was more than "just a toy". I believe that both brands are still on the market, but I haven't seen a kid playing with a Märklin or Fleischmann model train for decennies!
This spacecraft LEGO kit that started the discussion was marked suitable for 16+ olds. My immediate reaction was "Wouldn't a JoystyKit have been more suitable?" - that is another brand name that few people know of today. I looked it up and was surprised to see that is is Danish, too (like LEGO) - it was marketed internationally, at least in most of Europe: All the electronic components, including a print board, and for many kits a cabinet, for some electronic circuit, ranging from tiny toys like an electronic die, digital doorbells, small FM transmitter, up to reasonably sized amplifiers. Hundreds of different kits, at a very reasonable price. Essentially, the only thing you did was soldering the components onto the board and mount the board, buttons and switches in the cabinet, according to detailed instructions (not too different from the LEGO kits!), but I remember the instructions as ... well, instructional. They explained a lot!
During my student years, my attitude towards LEGO dropped quite a bit, and it had nothing to do with the plastic brics: Some guys in my class started a litterature association, for regular meetings presenting and discussing all kinds of litterature. They named it by the latin verg "lego" - reading. But they were sued by the plastic brick company: A tiny student litterature association at a technical university using the same name as the toy company could (it seemed ) completely ruin their market for selling plastic bricks to 3-4 year olds... The litterature guys decided not to push it. They caved in and changed their name. It gave me a feeling very much like patent trolls of today: Legally, they may (or may not) be in their full right, but when they push it to extremes, the way I think LEGO did fourty years ago, I get a bad tase in my mouth. It hasn't yet gone completely away.
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Agreed, modern Legos are about models and movie tie-ins.
My first set came in a box with a styrofoam insert containing ~125 bricks of various sizes & shapes, and my brother's was similar. We built everything under the sun -- when Star Wars came out, we built our own blasters. This was a time when the toys came out AFTER the movie was a success.
We drew plans for our blasters on graph paper so we could rebuild them exactly as we originally built them -- when they inevitably got broken apart. Lego toys couldn't take rough play, but we used them constantly. [I think I still have my plan for the blaster, assuming I can decipher what the 14 yo me wrote!]
Later I got a small helicopter and was disappointed that some of the pieces were specific to that plan and I didn't have a lot of other use for them ... I wanted another generic box so I could think up more stuff.
But the modern stuff isn't all bad -- my son inherited my Legos and added on 10 fold (or more). For a while he was into WWII stuff, but instead of buying models, he found plans for tanks, built them, then modified them to look more realistic. Then he looked at other vehicles and designed his own.
The imagination part isn't all gone ....
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Sander Rossel wrote: It'll look great once it's finished though
That will be the cue for your cat to return...and proceed to dismantle it in an attempt to make it a place suitable for napping.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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