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I vividly remember having to vacuum with one of these things. I hated it. And as much as I despised this particular weekly chore, Andreas Lenader has done a brilliant job bringing this monstrosity to life.

The main portion of the vacuum is smooth, well done, and has a short cord to fully irritate you when you try and go from room to room. I particularly like the wall-plug detail, and the ribbed hose works perfect!

The post If only vacuuming itself was this good-looking appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

With a tip of the blogging hat/helmet to reader Platoni.

Every now and then it can be quite amusing to look back at some of the anti-piracy campaigns deployed by rightholders in the past. Especially, when contrasted with newer initiatives.

Last week we reported on a new UK campaign where suspected pirates will get an “educational alert” in the mail if they are ‘caught’ sharing infringing content using BitTorrent.

The initiative breaks with the more aggressive traditions of scaring pirates with high fines, and rewarding snitches who tell on them, although there are still some remnants of this around.

How different was this in the early ’90s when the (now defunct) European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) ran a controversial series of ads, warning pirates of potential jail time.

In an attempt to connect with a predominantly young audience, ELSPA also promoted a series of cartoon PSAs in UK computer magazines.

These ads informed readers that “piracy is theft” and encouraged them to report suspicious behavior to the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST). In return, the informants could look forward to a £1,000 reward.

The cartoons showed teens how they could report suspicious software sellers at a local market, or even teachers who dare to allow students to make copies.

Or what about friends, who ‘gang up’ on people so they can score a sizable reward? It was all possible, if the cartoons were to believed.

If ELSPA’s goal was to be noticed, the ads were definitely successful. Soon after the first ones were placed, angry parents started writing letters to computer magazines, including this one Commodore Format received in the early ’90s.

“I would like to strongly object to the advert which appeared in your magazine,” a concerned parent wrote.

“It encourages young, vulnerable children to think that a phone call will lead to £1,000 very easily. It has caused a lot of ill feeling where I live between boys who were friends and then fell out, and thought this was a way to get back at one boy causing unnecessary upset to the families.”

ELSPA responded in the magazine and argued that these types of ads were needed to counter the growing threat of piracy. While the organization suggested that the cartoons were instrumental in lowering piracy rates, we now know that it certainly didn’t stop the copying.

Not even SIIA’s Don’t Copy that Floppy!, one of the all-time anti-piracy classics that turns 25 this year, could manage that.

In the years that followed many similar campaigns were launched, some more aggressive than others. And while the “piracy is theft” mantra is still in circulation, the general sense is that a ‘scare approach’ is not all that productive.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the latest UK anti-piracy effort relies more on carrots than sticks. Whether that will be successful has yet to be seen, but it’s certainly less “amusing.”

You know who…

—

The advertising images published here were sourced from WoS, where you can find some more examples. The Commodore Format scan is courtesy of the CF Archive.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

‘Lifelike’ isn’t a good enough adjective to properly describe this Kenworth K100 wrecker by Dennis Bosman. Built to 1:13 scale, this thing is not just big but beautifully detailed.

At such scale, the little details really come to life. We can see how much painstaking effort was put into creating such an accurate model. I could go on and on about everything to love here, but a few details really stand out, like the fuel tanks, cab striping and the radiator build on an offset. Oh, and all those lovely chrome bits. And the liftable cab, exposing the nicely detailed engine. And, well, everything else, too. Can you tell I’m in love?

The post Kenworth wrecker in 1:13 scale spares no detail appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

As Venice works on the €5.4 billion 'Mose' floodgate to counteract the eventual effects of rising sea levels, they face an interim problem of record low water levels.

The exceptionally water levels have been caused by abnormal tides this year, combined with drastically reduced winter precipitation rates across northeastern Italy... The drop in water levels has prevented some of the city's gondolas and vaporetti, or water buses, from navigating in some of the smaller canals. On Christmas Eve, the low tide even grounded the mayor's speedboat.

The low water is exposing the city's less attractive underside: garbage and crumbling infrastructure.  And I'll bet it's fragrant:

Historically, all waste produced by humans have been dumped into the canals although larger buildings are required to carry some kind of sewage treatment before dumping the filthy stuff into the canals. Some palazzos have their own septic tanks but there is always a certain amount of leakage, lending Venice its characteristic and at times overpowering stench.

The scavenger in me, however, imagines the excellent opportunity for mudlarking.


Think of the generations of artifacts that have been lost into the canals, the wedding rings tossed away, the rings and brooches.  But it looks like mostly forks.

Related: Mudlarking and Love tokens retrieved from the mud of the Thames.

Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film produced, written, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The film’s protagonist Kiki is a trainee witch who has a black cat called Jiji as her best friend, and CK HO has built a fantastically cute LEGO version of Jiji the cat. Like most cats, Jiji has a lot of personality,  but the English-dubbed version of the film showed Jiji with a cynical and sarcastic attitude as opposed to cautious and conscientious in the original Japanese.

We loved Jiji so much here at TBB that we asked CK to make some instructions and he very kindly obliged to allow us all to have a best friend called Jiji.

I get the feeling that this LEGO cat is more of a cautious and conscientious type but cats are notoriously hard to read.  Perhaps underneath that gently cross-eyed kitty’s cautious exterior some caustic sarcastic wit is waiting to come out.

The post Delivery of a cute LEGO cat called Jiji [Instructions] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

It's not easy -

Unfortunately, one of the largest components of a wind turbine —the blades— are completely unrecyclable.

Turbine blades are made from glass or carbon-fiber composites. These materials are strong, lightweight and has a significant aerodynamic advantage, but they are nearly impossible to recycle. Hence, at the end of their lifecycle, most of these blades end up as waste on landfills. According to one estimate, there will be 50,000 tons of blade waste in 2020, which will rise to more than 200,000 tons by 2034.

The current scenario is grim. There is only one industrial enterprise that recycles end-of-life turbine blades, and that’s in Melbeck, in northern Germany...

In 2007, the Rotterdam municipality unveiled a playground for Kinderparadijs Meidoorn built out of rotor blades that were originally destined for landfills...

The city also has public seating at the Willemsplein square where nine intact rotor blades were placed at various angles to create ergonomic public seating with a diversity of seating options...

The rest of the story is at Amusing Planet.

Photo credit: Denis Guzzo/Flickr

Minions, all I know about today's cake is that it was for a shower. I'm guessing a baby shower? Though I suppose it could have been for a bridal shower. Heck, this thing's weird enough it could have been for an actual wrap-up-your-hair-and-grab-the-back-loofah shower. I have no idea, is what I'm saying.

Also, can nipples be yellow? I only ask because I don't know if I should censor this thing or not. I mean, maybe those aren't nipples at all, maybe they're... [head tilt]... little sombreros. On cantaloupes. Being held in a purple neck sling thingie.

Which brings me to another issue: is the purple thing supposed to be a bra? Because news flash, baker: bras don't work like that. AT ALL.

Oh yeah, I guess I should show you all the cake, huh? You're probably asking, "Jen, are we there yet?" Which is funny, you asking it that way, because that brings me to the final weird bit:

...are we WHERE yet? Who's asking? What does that have to do with sombrero-wearing cantaloupes in a neck sling? How is any of this shower related? Is this real life? WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE??

[sits back down]
[pats hair into place]

Ahem.

Well, thanks, Cindy W., for leaving us with only questions. I look forward to everyone's myriad hypotheses - and sketches of sombrero-wearing cantaloupes - in the comments.

*****

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Traveling by train is one of the simplest ways to get around, and it can also be the most photogenic. These 12 routes from around the world are so visually striking you’ll be glued to your railroad car’s window for the entire trip.

Read more...

Math has tons of fascinating quirks. For example, if you want to convert between miles and kilometers, you can use the Fibonacci sequence to make a conversion with a stunning degree of accuracy.

Read more...

Located just 3 hours from Cusco, but comparatively unknown until recent years when climate change caused the overlying snow to melt and reveal the colorful formation.  More photos at Google Images.

Further discussion and relevant links at the EarthPorn subreddit. 

Tip: "there are locals with horses that charge $20-30 to take you to the top."  Useful to know because the hike begins at an altitude of 14,000 feet and rises to 17,000 feet where the above photo was taken.

I want you to show all the kids how you eat your broccoli!

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First there was Blacktron in 1987, then there was Blacktron II in 1991. Now Luc Byard may have created Blacktron 3.0 with this awesome updated Blacktron landing pad. His ship “Aerial Intruder” sits on the octagonal landing gantry with alien hieroglyphs. Sitting atop four carefully constructed legs on a tidy base with realistic  moon surface pocked with brick-built craters.

The whole construction took over a year to complete (6 months for the ship and 7 months for the pad). When you see the level of complexity and details that have gone into this incredible creation you can understand why.

Here Blacktron astronauts are busy looking over pre-flight checks at various computer terminals around the “Aerial Intruder” while another climbs into the deployment buggy.

Luc pays homage using traditional Blacktron colors while adding on his flare and style to create this masterpiece.

In the builder’s words, “Putting it on legs was ambitious and a royal pain in every conceivable way, but was worth it.”

It certainly was!

The post We’re in the pipe, five by five appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

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Ugh, laundry. Woo, love! Life is full of contrasts.

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So I’m working on some stuff about the Emoluments Clause, the anti-nepotism law, and property rights in space, and, I mean, all very interesting, of course, but sometimes you just want to quickly mention that a dude ended up in a standoff with police because somebody took a bite out of his grilled-cheese sandwich.

Certainly many of you wanted me to mention it, and far be it from me to ignore popular demand.

According to many reports (here’s one in Time magazine), a 55-year-old Maryland man started shooting on Sunday after his wife allegedly sank her teeth into his sandwich, thus ruining the geometric perfection and golden goodness of at least one of the two triangular treats. Neither Time‘s article nor the police report says who made the sandwich or otherwise explain the circumstances under which the bite was taken. I think we can assume she acted without consent, express or implied.

Some people apparently believe, it seems, that permission to nibble on someone else’s food without asking is inherent at least in any medium-to-long-term relationship (not that this sort of thing bothers me, of course), but I think this case shows the problem with relying only on implied consent. I’m not saying you need to get it in writing, it’s just polite to ask. So, you know, some irritation is understandable, it seems to me.

What’s not okay is to then go down into the basement, grab a weapon and start firing up through the kitchen floor in order to retaliate for sandwich infringement. We can all agree, I hope, that this represents a disproportionate response to the offense.

Happily, neither the wife nor the couple’s children—who were also in the house at the time—were injured by any of the four shots. (In an excellent example of police prose, the report says that “gunshots, the projectiles of which”—sometimes known as “bullets”—”came through the kitchen floor.”) They fled the house, the wife called police, and the sandwich-related standoff began. Although the police called in a SWAT team, because this is apparently necessary whenever something happens, even though regular police have guns too and are perfectly capable of killing people with them if necessary, or even if not all that necessary, they did not in fact kill this guy. Luckily for him, he was not carrying a weapon when he came out of the house after three hours, and police subdued him with pepper balls.

Among other things, possibly, based on his mugshot.

I have often criticized police brutality, but given that this guy was reportedly shooting at his family over a grilled-cheese sandwich, had multiple weapons that he’s not allowed to have because of prior convictions, was wearing at least an ammunition bag when he came outside, and reportedly had a loaded rifle with a chambered round just inside the front door, a pop in the eye in the course of ending this matter doesn’t seem at all unreasonable.

Now that I look back over the previous 65 Reasons, I notice (again) that several of them were food-related disputes. But they mostly involved somebody trying to bogart all servings (or the last serving) of something, not an infringement of this nature. And the only food-related dispute I can recall that turned into an armed standoff was the 2011 incident triggered by Beefy Crunch Burritos (although for some reason I didn’t put that in the GRTK category). But that was a price dispute, so not at all the same thing.

Each case must be judged on its own merits, you see.

From the archives of The New Yorker.

Putting her graphic skills to work, in just a few minutes, Katherine [Young] swapped out the cover girl for Olivia Hallisey, the 2015 Google Science Fair Grand Prize winner, and photoshopped in some new, inspired and empowering headlines. The result? A magazine cover that offers girls better alternatives to tips on how to “Wake up Pretty.”

Background and more commentary (and a larger view of the revised cover) at Women You Should Know.

And now, for a little international flair, here's a Cake Wreck all the way from Norway. We begin with a guy ordering a cake for his coworker, Arnold:

(The original article is written in Norwegian, so I've put this conversation through Google Translate.)
"Can I please order a marzipan cake?"
"That's fine. What is the name on it?"
"Yes it will be Arnold 60 years. Happy Birthday."
"Arne 60..."
"No. Arnold!"
"Arna?"
"No! Arnold like in 'Arnold Schwarzenegger.'"
"Oh... huh. Arnold like in 'Arnold Schwarzenegger?'"
"Yes."
"Are you sure."
"Yes in heaven's name. You shall write it as said!!! Yeah, print it! In a hurry!"

 

I want to believe Google Translate is completely accurate and this is exactly how Norwegians talk.
Because that would be hilarious. (Shhh, let me have this, Europe.)

Okay. Here's the cake in all its Norwegian glory:

 

Thanks, Karl E. - and hey, come with me... if you want to eat.

*****

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Bored with dull city dioramas where everything is awesome? Professional South Korean LEGO-building quartet OliveSeon knows how to ring the changes on the major LEGO city airport hub. How about a massive superhero battle? They’ve done some impressive work recreating one of the biggest screen brawls of the previous year, from Captain America: Civil War. And don’t be surprised: those planes and little yellow service cars are actually from official LEGO City sets, and they look simply perfect in this diorama.

What’s particularly awesome about this scene is the main airport building. I bet that perfectly planned and executed interior would make you forget there’s a battle going outside on the runway! Bonus points awarded for an extremely smart use of the tram from LEGO set 60097 City Square, which here is turned into an inter-terminal train.

And if you like this airport, also check out the incredible LEGO airport we covered in November.

The post You’d better stay up in the sky till the superheroes have things sorted out appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

https://youtu.be/LGPrDMkzioI

I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen is a 1969 Czechoslovak science fiction comedy film directed by Oldřich Lipský. Wikipedia says "it became known for the scene showing the first selfie stick."

Here's the full movie. The opening seconds probably raised some eyebrows at the time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QFboY7MKx4

Draw a line connecting the two boxes labeled 1. Draw another line connnecting the boxes labeled 2. Draw a third line connecting the boxes labeled 3. The lines can't intersect. The lines can't go beyond the bounds of the rectangle enclosing them. [ADD: The lines don't have to be straight.] There's nothing tricky or disappointing about the solution. (Here's the solution.)

Marvel at the might and majesty of Mark of Falworth‘s magnificent Clarendon Castle – one of the last entries in the Classic Castle Competition, and in this fan’s opinion one of the best. The model is 4ft x 5ft (1.2m x 1.5m) and weighs in at a hefty 110lbs (50kg). It took over four months to build, the last half being completed in just two weeks with the help of the builders’ brother.

There are so many brilliant details in this massive structure it’s difficult to know where to start: the amazing waterfalls, the intriguing cave, the small cabin tucked behind the rocks or the impressive irregular footprint. Clarendon Castle sits proudly on the clifftop above the surging ocean, with its wide balcony and tall towers. Subtle highlights of sand-green help to blend the paved stone walls to the paneled upper wooden floors, while a patchwork roof crowns the spectacular construction.

The drawbridge lowers to greet visitors under a clump of autumnal trees, enhancing the already stunning and naturalistic vegetation. Clever techniques make the river appear to flow as it splits into two beautiful and incredibly lifelike waterfalls.

The rock face is cleverly crafted using a blend of different techniques to create a varied and impressive landscape, the two-toned topography making the lower rocks look wet from the sea-spray of the outgoing tide. Greenery splashed over the rocks gives a very realistic accent and helps to blend the scene together.

Is anyone else curious to see where the cave leads and what might be in there? Perhaps it’s a secret entryway into the castle, or maybe it’s where the Lord keeps his stash of treasure!

The post Clarendon Castle appeared first on The Brothers Brick.

Dave Allen was an Irish comedian popular in the UK from the 1960s until his death in 2005. His reputation is as a cantankerous irreligious fellow, but this family-friendly moment is widely held to be his best sketch. Someone on YouTube thinks it's the best British TV comedy sketch of the 1970s. There's some pretty stiff competition on that front, if you ask me. (Mastermind, from The Two Ronnies, is the best British comedy sketch of the 1980s. Dead Parrot was 1969.)

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Actually, pretty much everything beyond intro calculus is run by goblins.

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Photo credit Ray Cooper (Scotland), via The Telegraph.

In English language punctuation, a serial comma or series comma (also called Oxford comma and Harvard comma) is a comma placed immediately before the coordinating conjunction (usually and or or) in a series of three or more terms.

For example, a list of three countries might be punctuated either as "France, Italy, and Spain" (with the serial comma), or as "France, Italy and Spain" (without the serial comma)...  It is used less often in British English, but some British style guides require it, including The Oxford Style Manual...

The style that always uses the serial comma may be less likely to result in ambiguity. Consider the apocryphal book dedication quoted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden:

To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

There is ambiguity about the writer's parentage, because Ayn Rand and God can be read as in apposition to my parents, leading the reader to believe that the writer claims Ayn Rand and God are the parents. A comma before and removes the ambiguity: To my parents, Ayn Rand, and God.

An example collected by Nielsen Hayden was found in a newspaper account of a documentary about Merle Haggard:

Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.

The Times once published an unintentionally humorous description of a Peter Ustinov documentary, noting that "highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector". This would still be ambiguous if a serial comma were added, as Mandela could then be mistaken for a demigod, although he would be precluded from being a dildo collector.

Much more at the link.

Related:  Is the semicolon an endangered symbol? 

Reposted from 2017 to add the photo above, from an article in The Guardian reporting on the controversy over the absence of an Oxford comma on the new Brexit 50p coin:

It is a debate that has torn the nation in two, ripped friends and family apart, and entrenched deep and uncrossable lines throughout the land. Should the Royal Mint have used an Oxford comma on its Brexit 50p piece?..

... early responses include His Dark Materials novelist Philip Pullman’s criticism of its punctuation.

“The ‘Brexit’ 50p coin is missing an Oxford comma, and should be boycotted by all literate people,” wrote the novelist on Twitter, while Times Literary Supplement editor Stig Abell wrote that, while it was “not perhaps the only objection” to the Brexit-celebrating coin, “the lack of a comma after ‘prosperity’ is killing me”.

It seems appropriate to close with this observation by Lynne Truss, author of the delightful style guide Eats, Shoots & Leaves*:

"There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don't, and I'll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken." 

 *read this book if you enjoy the English language.

From The New Yorker Cartoons of the Year 2016.

The Dark Tower series of books by Stephen King is quickly entering the public eye as the upcoming movie draws closer to release. While it’s on everyone’s minds, David Collins has created his own version of the mystical structure in LEGO. Designed for a “books to life” exhibit of LEGO creations, this Tower stands two feet (~61 centimetres) tall. Collins had intended to make the tower taller, but was restricted to this height by the rules of the exhibit. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s worth questing for regardless.

And what is a Dark Tower without a gunslinger to find it? Collins has also created a minifigure of protagonist Roland Deschain to go with it.

On a personal note, I can’t wait to see this movie. I love the books and, by a strange coincidence, they began filming the movie right here in my home country of South Africa.

The post Dark Tower from the Stephen King novels in LEGO appeared first on The Brothers Brick.