New Independent Lego Journal Launches

hfcs writes "Joe Meno, a Lego-junkie buddy of mine has just launched BrickJournal, a new, independent journal for Lego fanatics, 'featuring HOWTOs, reviews, history and interviews with Lego engineers'. As mentioned over at BoingBoing this morning, it's like 'a very, very, very specific version of Make!'." Conveniently split into two PDFs for your reading pleasure.

Re:Convinenetly?

[SamBeckett]

/violin

There is a link on their website for the entire pdf.

absolutely NO credibility

[Thud457]

unless the submissions are peer-reviewed by the board before being published. We can't just have any Tom, Dick or Mary slapping bricks together and calling themselves lego engineers!

Re:Convinenetly?

[Profane MuthaFucka]

It's interesting that you would suggest that BrickJournal is bricking away gold, but I think that's just you dishing out brickbats. Perhaps you should consider a more helpful comment in the future. In other words, be a brick.

Re:Convinenetly?

[kiddailey]

No reason? Sure there is. My personal favorite - for printing and reading offline in a format that prints acceptably (unlike HTML/CSS which no browser can seem to get right 100% of the time).

And there are plenty of non-Adobe PDF readers/plugins out there as alternatives if you don't feel like making an effort to block the ads in Adobe's reader..

Re: Conveniently?

[PFritz21]

Especially considering how pokey Acrobat can be when you try to open a PDF from the web. To their credit, version 7 seems to be a whole lot faster than version 4 through 6, each of which was more bulky, more cumbersome, and slower than the last.

Acrowho?

[commodoresloat]

What? you mean your computer doesn't support PDF natively at the OS level? What kind of ancient system are you using?

Re:Acrowho?

[PFritz21]

Ah, I get it. You're one of those weirdo Linux users. Funny. :)

Re:Convinenetly?

[nkh]

You also have a link to the full version in one file (brickjournal1.pdf). The problem is that it seems a good text to read and I doubt it will handle a /.ing. Why did no one thought of creating a torrent for this?

Re:Convinenetly?

[Eternauta3k]

The real unfortunate thing is, if you are enough of a retard that you need a HOWTO about Lego bricks, you probably would have no idea what to do with these files in the first place!

The article never mentioned a howto. It talked about a (very cool) lego journal, with interviews, instructions for some models, events...
Have you read the article?

Re:LEGOS!!!!

[__aaclcg7560]

You mean /. doesn't waste all your time?

Use the Force, Luke?

[WillAffleckUW]

Will this finally become a place of refuge for a weary band of Lego Star Wars rebels?

After all, there are legos in physical form, and legos as game sprites.

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[trophy]

Let me just quote Wikipedia there for ya.

"The word LEGO® is a brand name and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys' and not 'LEGOS.' By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you! Susan Williams, Consumer Services."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego [wikipedia.org]

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[CoffeeJedi]

as much as i love Legos, i don't really care about bowing down to corporate pressure and saying things like THEY want me to. Adobe bitches when people use 'Photoshop' as a verb, or simply 'Photochop', but i'm not going to stop on account of corporate America. What's next, instead of 'Coke', Coca-Cola is going to force me into saying 'The Delicious Coca-Cola beverage: the real thing' everytime i mention their product?
BULLSHIT!

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[Golias]

I was once in a bar in Washington DC, when I noticed that they went to the trouble of printing on both sides of their drink coasters, in bold text, the words "we do not serve Coca-Cola products in this establishment."

Figuring that there had to be a story behind it, I asked the bartender about it.

He told me that a guy once walked in to another bar with the same owner as them and ordered a "Rum and Coke." Upon being served a Rum with Pepsi cola in it, he informed the management that he was a representative

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[mph]

According to Jeep, Jeep is an adjective. You shouldn't get into your Jeep; you should get into your Jeep vehicle.

As a result, the guy in their radio ads who talks about going down to the dealership to check out "their new Jeep vehicles" doesn't sound like a rugged, practical outdoorsman, like they want him to. He sounds like an idiotic corporate tool.

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[jolande]

According to Jeep, Jeep is an adjective. You shouldn't get into your Jeep; you should get into your Jeep vehicle.

Ugh, that's totally Jeeped up. But seriously, we could use this against them. Like, "did you Jeep her last night?" "Yeah man, she was Jeeping fantastic!" Pretty soon, people would get so sick of it that they would go out of buisness.

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[CoffeeJedi]

thank you!
case in point

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[Shano]

It's always been quite natural to me that Lego is the company, and they make bricks. Lego bricks sounds fine; Legos doesn't, unless there's more than one company.

The plural form Legos appears to be an American thing, though. I'm sure I'm incorrectly capitalising the company name, anyway.

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[Golias]

Dear Sue,

Go fuck yourself. I'm not going to correct my little niece when she says "LEGOS" and I don't consider your trademark issues to be my problem.

Affectionately,
Golias

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[sootman]

It's GNU/Lego, dammit!

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[Thuktun]

Dammit, now I have to clean Coke off my desk and monitor.

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[SidShakal]

Make sure it's Coke and not Pepsi [slashdot.org].

Re:Use the Force, Luke?

[WillAffleckUW]

I'm sure Hormel must thank you for your efforts in not letting people use Spam in vain.

hmmm

[The Big Ugly]

"Conveniently split into two PDFs for your reading pleasure"

so many things wrong with this sentence....

PS

[inKubus]

Here's the Coral cache of the PDF, got just in time ;) :

http://www.bzpower.com.nyud.net:8090/Imaging/stori es/brickjournal1.pdf [nyud.net]

Two convenient *or* one convenient, either way

[Gorm the DBA]

Wow...the poster didn't even RTFA...there's links on the page for both the 35 page single file version *and* the two separate file versions.

kinda makes sense to me, especially for modem users...you can read one while getting the other...or waiting for the slashdotting to pass, either way.

A mania for everything...

[JohnnyNoSPAM]

Geeze. I thought that folks had gotten carried away over Star Trek and M&M collecting. ... just wait 'till we see a new meaning of the phrase "block party weekend" :-)

Re:A mania for everything...

[theycallmeB]

I assume you mean something like this: NWBrickCon [nwbrickcon.org]

Already way ahead of you.

I also think it fair to mention one of the better places to buy older Lego sets and parts, Bricklink.com [bricklink.com], though I may be biased because I am one of many people who sell parts through the site.

Re:A mania for everything...

[Alex P Keaton in da]

Um... Or they could make money with the lego thing.... check it.... Lego Serious Play http://www.seriousplay.com/ [seriousplay.com] When your company has way too much time and money... and needs an infusion of trendiness...
I will say, I enjoyed legos as a youngster, and still think they are neat- but there are way to many preformed pieces. The fire house/trucks/castles and all made of the traditional legos were my favorite...
Lego my eggo? Is that the same kind of thing?

Re:A mania for everything...

[Shano]

That looks great. I read through "What is Lego Serious Play", and it completely failed to answer the question. Presumably you have to go on an (expensive) course to find out.

As you say, definitely for businesses with too much time and money.

It had to happen

[commodoresloat]

Some of the guys over at the Star Trek and M&M fan clubs were still managing to get laid once in a while. A copy of this journal on their coffeetables should help alleviate that problem.

Mirror Links of whole Magazine PDF

[temojen]

@ Northcomp.com [northcomp.com]

@ University of Toronto [utoronto.ca]

(5mb approx)

Improper Pluralization

[Quarters]

Lego engineers'

No no no. The plural of "Lego engineer" is "Lego engineer".

Re:Improper Pluralization

[Zeebs]

I would have figgured Lego Engineerii, or Lego Engineeresessessessess.(filthy ones at that)

Re:Improper Pluralization

[Thuktun]

No no no. The plural of "Lego engineer" is "Lego engineer".

"Lego Engineer, I choose you!"
"LEGO, LEGO!"
"Flying brick attack, now!"

Re:Improper Pluralization

[m00nun1t]

Why would you need a plural? Is there *really* more than one Lego Engineer in the world?

Danish plastic brick monopoly!

[bubbaD]

It will be difficult to top the Lego Volvo http://car.kak.net/modules.php?file=article&name=n ews&op=modload&sid=1662 [kak.net]
Are legos recyclible? If not are there any 'green' toy building bricks made from reclaimed plastic?

Re:Danish plastic brick monopoly!

[Rude Turnip]

Well, apparently you can take apart things made with LEGO Bricks and rebuild them into other things. I would say yes.

Re:Danish plastic brick monopoly!

[ArmorFiend]

If you're throwing them away, you're throwing away money. You can sell them on eBay for cold, hard cash.

Lego is Recyclable

[wintermute1974]

The answer is yes, Lego bricks are recyclable.

In 1984, I toured the Samsonite luggage factory in Ontario, which made Lego bricks under contract for the Canadian market. I got to see the grinders, the presses, and the other equipment that makes Lego.

One of the interesting things on the tour were the reject bins. Lego (unlike their cheap, plastic brick competitors) had a stringent quality control system in place. If a brick was not perfect in fit or finish, it was placed in reject bins.

Each production r

BrickJournal - The magazine for Adult fans of Lego

[seramar]

Does this mean they'll be featuring lego pr0nz?? [corrupt.net]

Re:BrickJournal - The magazine for Adult fans of L

[superpulpsicle]

Suddenly Lego start selling boxes of cone pieces. Nothing but the cones.

My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[stuver]

I just had to share this with everyone on /. as everyone else I tell this to seems to make them chuckle...

My husband and I were working over the summer at Penn State and we were living in the crappy sublet right on the main street. It had no AC so we used fans the is sucked in some of the worst street grime you can imagine. So, one evening I came home from work to see him sitting on the floor with a whole little set-up - bowls of water, lots of paper towls, a toothbrush - and he had taken apart all of his LEGO things, washed each one piece by piece and put them back together.

He won't do the dishes, but he will wash his LEGO's. This mag is made for him, the Adult Fan of LEGO (AFOL)!

Re:My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[Anonymous Coward]

Which of you pretends to be the woman?

I refuse to believe that a woman posts here.

Re:My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[Oniko]

*jumps up and down; jiggles* *is past puberty, suffers from no genital trauma, and sings soprano* *is wearing a, uh, 'gender-specific bandage'* Believe what you wish. ^_^

Re:My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[DietCoke]

1. Jiggling could describe a lot of males here.
2. Past puberty could describe a lot of males here.
3. A lot of males here likely sing soprano.
4. The gender-specific bandage most often used here on the internets is the male's right hand. What is this bandage of which you speak?

Re:My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[Oniko]

4. One that females require on a regular basis, and it would be an odd male indeed who used one. ^_^

Re:My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[stuver]

Ahh... Indeed, me be woman. However, I am also a physics grad student. Let's just say the odds are good, but the goods are odd, as my post suggest.

Re:My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[kiddailey]

You know you've been spending too much time on /. when you see:

"It had no AC so we used fans the is sucked in some of the worst street grime you can imagine."

and think...

"The sublet had no Anonymous Coward? Weird. Was it having a problem with posting bots?"

Re:My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[holiggan]

Reading your title, I thought that he filled up a bathtub with LEGOs and procede to take a "bath" in them! :D Like those money-showers Scrooge McDuck had in the Disney comics, but with LEGOs :D now that would be neat!

Re:My huband and the infamous LEGO bath

[krunk4ever]

and he had taken apart all of his LEGO things, washed each one piece by piece and put them back together. hey! i do that to keys on my keyboard about once every 6 months! i use rubbing alcohol tho.

Using legos is great and all...

[chriswaclawik]

But I wish they hadn't built their web server with legos. Sometimes, making things out of legos is (gasp) not practical. :(

Lego Logic Gates

[TERdON]

What they used to build it with? [slashdot.org]

time for the obligitory Lego post...

[CoffeeJedi]

in my day you only had simple blocks and no figures and no wheels and it was so much more fun and kids these days get whole blocks already in the shape of a car and its all about Star Wars and Harry Potter and not about building and blah blah blah.... and even though i could easily look online or go to the store to see that basic sets and creative sets are still available or remember that minifigs and specialty pieces have been around for 20 years, i'm still going to just spout garbage and complain on slashdot... oh, and Bill Gates sucks

there, did i cover all the bases?

Re:time for the obligitory Lego post...

[infomagic]

nop. you forgot to mention the new acid colors. the previos primary colors were so nice!

Lego's are for LITTLE KIDS

[the_2nd_coming]

what is the deal with people who like legos? it is like they missed a stage of their childhood or something.

Spelling is for the EDUCATED (Was: Re: Lego's are

[B747SP]

what is the deal with people who like legos? it is like they missed a stage of their childhood or something.

What is the deal with people who can't spell 'lego' - it is like they missed a stage of their education or something.

Re:Spelling is for the EDUCATED (Was: Re: Lego's a

[jumpingfred]

Don't let the man tell you how to spell words. fight the power.

WOuld that be

[geekoid]

'Lego' - note the capital 'L'.

Re:Spelling is for the EDUCATED (Was: Re: Lego's a

[the_2nd_coming]

sorry, apparently LEGO freaks are uptite too.

I should have said "LEGO Blocks". But I thought that short hand colloquialisms for a popular childrens' toy would have been sufficient.

Re:Spelling is for the EDUCATED (Was: Re: Lego's a

[-Harlequin-]

"legos" is only a colloquialism in America. Slashdot is bigger than that. To most of the world, it's always been just Lego, just like how "sheep" is both plural and singular. To most people, "legos" sounds really weird.

I had a guy in my class do an oral presentation about "sheeps" once. It sounded no less glaringly wrong than "legos" (because it was no less glaringly wrong). He had an excuse though - English was his second language.

Re:Spelling is for the EDUCATED (Was: Re: Lego's a

[the_2nd_coming]

well.. sicne LEGO is Danish, I would not know that it is Plural as well as sigular.

Re:Lego's are for LITTLE KIDS

[UnknownSoldier]

> what is the deal with people who like legos? it is like they missed a stage of their childhood or something.

Why does age matter in enjoyment of a toy that lets a person be creative??

Re:Lego's are for LITTLE KIDS

[Symbiot]

My mother, not so shortly after opening my very first box of legos, noticed an odd light coming in from an adjoining room. She investigated and discovered that the first light of dawn had crept in and caught her unawares. There is a segment of the population that is just easily enthralled by the creative opportunities that Legos provide. It has nothing at all to do with age. In fact, I'm asking my mom for Legos Mindstorms for my 40th birthday. I just hope that I get a chance to play with them between the ti

but if we are to speak of legos..

[reidspice]

you must visit the brick testament: the bible depicted with legos.

sure, it's the bible so it's a bit raunchy at times but each story is conveniently labeled so you'll know if it contains nudity, sexual content, violence or cursing.. whew!

http://www.thebricktestament.com/ [thebricktestament.com]

More mirrors?

[sootman]

A 5 MB PDF about Lego posted to Slashdot? No points for guessing the outcome. All four mirrors listed on the linked page are down; one appears to have pulled the file altogether. Anyone got it anywhere else? The models of the ships from 2001 look really cool.

Coralized link:

[yelo]

http://www.brickmodder.net.nyud.net:8090/downloads /brickjournal/brickjournal1.pdf [nyud.net]

Yes, I waited through the painful hour of downloading through coral so others could have it faster :)

Creativity?

[jpmkm]

Okay. I never understood why legos were always considered to be the fucking pinnacle of creativity. You have blocks of predefined size, shape and colour. Sure there are many permutations of those three attributes, but at the end of the day you still just have little blocks. How fucking exciting is that? Build a house/castle/boat/whatever, set it on the floor, and THAT'S IT! Sure sure, imagination is a big part of it. Fuck that shit though. I can imagine a goddamn paperclip is a spaceship and wave it

Re:Creativity?

[landoltjp]

Legos are just so restrictive that I really don't understand why so many geeks love them. Most of us bitch about people telling us what we can and cannot do, yet so many of you love legos, which restrict creativity to certain defined patterns.

I'm not sure if I'm being naiive, but I'll treat this as if it were not a troll.

Rather than looking at the pieces as limiting, I see the piece specifications as exactly the opposite. All of the pieces interconnect. The 'specialized' pieces are limited for basic construction, but they're great for accent. The remainder of the pieces follow a few _very_ simple rules. There are simple height, width, and depth constraints. There are a bunch of colours (not a ton, but enough, methinks). These constraints are applied with a great deal of consistency over a large number of different Lego pieces

Because of 'simple rules' and 'interconnectivity', I think that creativity is one of the few limiting factors.

Re:Creativity?

[jpmkm]

I wasn't trying to troll. Perhaps my comments are a bit offtopic for this topic, but they certainly weren't intended to troll.

In addition to the height, width, and depth constraints you listed, there are other constraints such as angles. I can place two blocks together in very few, very limited ways. Can you not see how this restricts creativity? I honestly tried playing with legos when I was young, but I often got frustrated because I simply could not put the legos together the way I wanted to. Perha

Re:Creativity?

[not-quite-rite]

Interesting ideas about creativity.

How do you put things together without constraints?

This is similar to the idea of joints. they have varying degrees of mobility and stability. The more mobile, the less stable, and vice versa.

Lego has constraints, but also allows flexibility through varying parts, and multiple pieces. Though not as flexible in some ways as meccano or kinexx, they are more flexible in others.

Creativity I would presume comes from what you can create with the resources you have at your

Re:Creativity?

[eraserewind]

They appeal for the same reason poetry is supposed to rhyme and use a set form. It gives you a framework within which you can explore your creativity, and judge whether it's any good, (or just another house, boat, etc...)

That said, I would agree that lego is overly limited and limiting for most people beyond a certain age.

Re:Creativity?

[jpmkm]

Poetry is supposed to rhyme and use a set form? Perhaps if you'd been exposed to a bit more poetry than what you've seen in elementary school then you would know that there are many many forms of poetry that either don't rhyme or don't use a set form.

Re:Creativity?

[eraserewind]

Way to miss the point buddy.

Re:Creativity?

[-Harlequin-]

Build a house/castle/boat/whatever, set it on the floor, and THAT'S IT!

I build lego robots, set them on the floor, and off they go to do stuff. They're robots, not models of robots. It's interesting and rewarding.

I have also built robots the good old soldering iron way, but the speed of working with lego can be hard to beat when you start thinking "Y'know - that bump sensor doesn't work as well as I'd like, if I were to move it to there, and change the leverage at that point there, I bet it wouldn't get

Re:I'm not sure I get it

[Webmoth]

What about...

- Erector
- Tinkertoys
- Lincoln Logs
- K*Nex

Hey, that would make a good poll: "Favorite building toy?"

Re:I'm not sure I get it

[CoffeeJedi]

bah
pretenders to the throne that is LEGO

Re:I'm not sure I get it

[Urusai]

No way, Erector is hardcore with metal and stuff, not a bunch of kiddie-colored plastic bricks. Good luck drawing blood with a LEGO kit. Pinch a finger, maybe.

Missing options

[rsadelle]

- Duplo
- I have no hands, you insensitive clod!
- Play-doh

Re:Missing options

[Webmoth]

Duplo is Lego.

Re:I'm not sure I get it

[coolGuyZak]

My guess is that he means unofficial. E.g. independent from the company that produces said building blocks.