Never fear. Arealight is opening on January 3rd. Hopefully there will be some new pieces or colors! Brickarms will open sometime mid-January. Most likely there will be some new weapons! Brickforge appears to not have closed during the Christmas season. Enjoy the customs!

~Flare

The so called Tide list of some 550,000 wasn’t enough to detain, let alone stop, suspected terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from boarding Flight 253 on Christmas Day as reported in the New York Times. The tip from his prominent banker father to U.S. Embassy officials wasn’t enough. And, as CNN reported this morning, denial of a visa in London in 2008 wasn’t enough either. Well enough’s enough.

The confusion and confounding practices surrounding the sharing of information are reminiscent of the ominous events leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks, when tips and red flags were bound in red tape.

To his credit, President Obama has called for an investigation of current practices regarding such lists as Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (Tide), Terrorist Screening Data Base, no-fly, and selectee. To his discredit, the President has yet to step up to the podium to quell fears and set the record straight on the mistakes of the Abdulmutallab case.

Certainly, the Sunday morning talk-show comments of Janet Napolitano and Robert Gibbs were laughable, and gave the impression of an administration that just doesn’t get it. Napolitano actually said, “the system worked.” It’s an insult to Americans’ intelligence that makes the administration look stupid, if not out of touch.

Rumors swirl that Obama will find a podium today or tomorrow. That would be smart, but regaining our “intelligence” is going to be an uphill slog following this Keystone Cops affair.

Mr. President, you need to find a podium, and fast. Even college freshman in PR 101 know that major crises require transparency and truth, all from the mouth of the CEO, and pronto.

Sending Napolitano and Gibbs out on such a mission is a joke, plain and simple, and a recipe for PR, even political, disaster.

Napolitano on WABC-TV “This Week” this morning said some confounding things:

That Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was on some list, but there was nothing else to indicate he was a threat. Oh yeah, how about his distinguished banker father who weeks ago told U.S. Embassy officials in Nigeria that his son may be in the process of a terrorist act against the U.S.

Defying logic again, she had the gall to say: “everybody did what they were supposed to,” and that the government practices for exactly this type of event. Oh yeah! Even the commentator, Jake Tapper, to his credit, reminded her that the only folks who did what they were supposed to were the regular folks on that flight and the crew.

Robert Gibbs also buried the obvious failures in bureaucrat-speak about the alphabet-soup methodology of lists (i.e.: Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, Terrorist Screening Data Base, “no-fly,” and “selectee”).

Mark my words, the ham-handed handling of this historic event on behalf of the administration will go down in PR-blunder history along with Bhopal and Exxon Valdez. This will serve as a textbook example for instructors of crisis management who will use it to point out everything not to do.

And PR aside, just wait till Leno and Letterman take to their respective podiums this week.

Legoland in Billund , Denmark , map

Legoland in Billund,Denmark

It is The First Theme Park of  Lego Group ,establish in 1968. It is a must-see attraction if visiting Denmark . It is in the middle of Jutland , Denmark . Visitor can go by variety of method ,by train , ferry,car,etc. Hotel near Legoland for visiting guest is stayed.

From main entrance you will see Miniland , First builted area in 1968. the mainland of Legoland which has a models of Natherland , Germant Denmark , Miniland is the big woeld of miniature , World famous building and environment . All built miniature is of 20 millions Lego bricks.

In other zone followed by  Legoredo Town in 1973 ,Pirate Land 1990 , Knight’s Kingdom in 1997 , Adventure land in 2000-2002, Imagination Zone & Duplo Land in 2001,Lego City in 2003, Viking’s river splash in 2006 ,Atlantic zone in 2007,Pirate lagoon in 2008

In addition to , The Legoland has a shopping shop for visitor to visit and buy . More than 50 Events and activities for visitor to be played

Ahh, Boxing Day… The living room is strewn with Legos and race track parts and the plastic bits and baubles of The Littlest-Bittiest-Teensiest-Weensiest Pet Shops. The Christmas tree is crisping in the corner and The Chairman of the Borg and I are slightly comatose in a sugar-and-sleeplessness-induced stupor.

God bless us every one.

Quick flashback: Thirteen years ago, the Chairman and I were in a taxi from Cambridge to Wilburton, England. We asked our driver what Boxing Day was all about (as we don’t celebrate it in the US). He didn’t know. He called his dispatcher. He didn’t know either. There then ensued a lively discussion between all the taxi drivers and the dispatch what the story was behind Boxing Day. None of them knew. The Chairman and I still laughed and laughed. One of the best taxi rides EVER.

Anyway…in the midst of the stupor, I thought it might be fun to post a couple of things.

The first thing should come as a surprise to no one:
Tonight is the BBC America airing of Doctor Who, The End of Time Part 1! Oh, how my geeky heart goes pitter-pat.

And for those who don’t get BBC America (*cough*StrugglingWriter*cough), be of good cheer. I’ve already seen a link or two for internet downloads on the internet.

Next up, a huzzah for technology:
Christmas Eve, I had dinner with my family at our favorite Irish pub (best Shepherd’s Pie EVER). I liked the music they were playing, but didn’t know what it was. I pulled out my iPhone, opened the Shazam app, tagged the music (“Willie Lennox” by Dervish), clicked the link to download from iTunes and voila. Now I’m listening to the entire Dervish album as I type this. Viva Dervish! Viva Technology!

Next, a little news on the writing front:
I do a lot of my Christmas shopping on the internet. The UPS guys know me by name. Around mid-December they start making daily stops at my house, and by Christmas Eve (when I finally sit down to do my wrapping) the boxes are piled up like building blocks. So, two days ago I sat down, and started opening the boxes. Among them I found not an ordered present, but the box containing my prize from the Wow! Women on Writing Summer Flash Fiction Contest (which I posted about here). Inside I found a number of wonderful items, the best of which was the congratulatory letter from the editors of the magazine. And the best part of the letter was the handwritten note at the bottom of the letter:

“P.S. – I loved ‘Across the Fence’”

I’m not a narcissist or even a very good self-promotor. But anyone who’s done this writing thing and knows the sting of rejection can understand how I felt reading that note. In this game, you gotta relish any pats on the back you get. Finding it among those boxes made it one of the best Christmas present this year.

Finally, an announcement:
I’ve decided to become a blogger for Kiva, which means now and again I’ll use the space on this blog to help promote the great things they do. Have you heard of Kiva? They’re a microloan organization that is on a mission to alleviate poverty in the world. And they’re doing an awesome job at it. You loan $25 to an individual trying to start a business. As their business earns money, they repay the loan. You can then either take your repayment in full, or turn around and reloan the $25 to another person trying to make a better life for themselves. It’s awesome. You should be a part of it. You can get others involved, too, by giving Kiva gift certificates. Starting at $25, Kiva gift certificates allow the recipient to make their own loans to entrepreneurs around the world and help alleviate poverty. Your recipient chooses the loans, receives repayments, and can choose to lend again and again! It is a one-of-a-kind gift that keeps on giving. And it only takes a couple of seconds to change someone’s life forever. So cool.

That’s all I have now for randomness. Must be time to partake in some Christmas cookies and start working on the next writing post. Stay tuned. And Happy Boxing Day!

There are many lego works produced in Chirstmas Eve by a creative lego players. Such as a christmas tree, Santa Claus , Golden star , snowman , etc. Toys & Games about christmas eve are produced in this eve by Toys & Games manufacturing company.Parents try to select a value gift for their kids. I think a legos sets or construction bricks are a good gift for children, They help to improve IQ & EQ to their kids. Giving a beautiful image, a joyful memory, a good social connection. Example as picture below

We were sitting in the living room corner building the first leg of a desk to be entirely made out of Legos, sans the glass top so everything could rest on it smoothly and you could avoid little bumps impressed on your forearms after typing on the keyboard. It was a desk that had been talked about for years, but never truly realized. A desk that was only believed in after an unexpected turn of money came our way. A desk that finally made us realize we were living our dream.

serenity at the big tank; shot at ga aquarium

I wanted it purple, but purple Legos were more expensive and it was ultimately his desk. However, I held the point that I paid for it so I should get to pick the style and color while he gets to help build and enjoy it. But he won out. The desk ended up classic colors after all.

The desk took a month total of two people’s unemployed-average-social-life-time to complete. Once we were finished we started setting things upon the desk and inside the functional drawers and cabinets. The things we set on top were staples of our modern day time together. The iMac we had purchased, a Lego picture frame of us smiling and drunk in Vegas, a keyboard that had not only once fallen prey to our lovable dog (why we didn’t buy a new keyboard before a desk made of Legos, I will never know). In the drawers went notes we wanted to keep around from our days in college, bills we didn’t want to pay but could now afford to, paperclips, jewelry bought by each other and previous lovers, and extra Legos just in case we had any mishaps.

But time passed. And this desk we built, toiled over, became more than a desk. Soon it began to gather an assortment of items to define our life together. My engagement ring after my carpal tunnel started acting up, a picture of my father who had passed away since the construction of the desk, his acceptance papers into graduate school, pens we had stolen from funeral homes to wedding chapels, and at random times the desk would even hold a place for one of our cats. We were, however, never courageous enough to see if the desk would support our afternoon romps. We didn’t want to have to start all over (regarding both things).

So was the desk that we kept throughout our lives. A desk that made us always feel young. A desk that would make movers panic every time we relocated. A desk our children one day loved and that our friends would always brag about. A desk that my mother would always roll her eyes over, but secretly enjoy the humor in. A desk that watched us grow older and happy, even throughout the trying times in life. A desk of individual pieces of well formed stuck together plastic that stood like a fucking rock.

Well, well, well…. guess what I got for an early Christmas present?  Yep.. a brand spankin’ new camera!  It’s a Sony A230-Badass.  Yeah, that’s right.  It is so awesome!  So I’ve been taking random photo’s of this crazy weather, my crazy boys, and other fun things.  Wanna see?  Here we go!

So this doesn’t represent how cool the camera is, but it does represent how brutal this weather is today!  I think my friend, Shayla, put it best… “Thundersnow”.  Well, of course, she got that term from one of our local weathermen (Jed Castles).  I thought it was funny and very typical of how our weatherpeeps get camera hungry during any kind of unusual climate change.

Moving on….

Here’s Isaac.  —–>

He received a new lego set from my parents, and has been working diligently in his room for hours in hopes to complete it in record time.

But, he got bored and called the neighbors.

Those neighbor boys are silly!  We like them a lot.

Then you have Maxwell…. He likes to sit inside the refrigerator.  We don’t know why, but he does.  He’s done this for about a month now.  Anytime we open the fridge, he makes a B-line for the ledge.  Sometimes he even brings toys and a pacifier to join his “sit-in”.

Here he’s yelling at his dad, “Hey… bring me some toys while you’re over there, would ya?!” He’s demanding at times.  Just saying…

I painted some Christmas ornaments that my dad made:

All in all, it’s been a great Christmas Eve!

Have a great holiday!

No matter what age you are, you are never too old to play with Lego’s.  My youngest daughter and I finished building her Christmas gift she received from her grandma and grandpa last Saturday:

As I sat on the floor next to her, looking for certain pieces, I got lost in the moment.  The outside world of chaos was blocked out.  I didn’t even know or care what time it was.  It was very therapeutic.  No computer.  No phone.  No blackberry. No television.  Just me and my daughter and the lego’s.

Maybe that’s what is wrong with the world these days – not enough time to play with Lego’s.  I think we would all be much happier if we did.

Ever since I was kid, I’ve always had an active imagination. Especially during the winter months, being cooped up inside all day led to some pretty crazy adventures. That’s why I cam relate to the Undercover Kids, they used their imagination and traveled. Lucky! Now that children have at least a week or two off from school, you can help them express their imagination by reading a book with them or even playing a game.

Here’s an activity I found in Great Teacher Projects book by Laura Mayne (even though teachers might be too reminding about school, the project is fun trust me!)

How to create your own country:

This activity is a way for kids to act silly, have fun but learn at the same time.

In this project, kids will be able to create their own country. Their imaginary country can be placed anywhere in the world, and must use information about the surrounding real countries to determine features such as latitude/longitude, native animals, climate and so on.

Lead up activities to this project include a review of atlas skills and a whole-class study  of a chosen country that includes details such as:

• name and meaning
• geographical location
• area
• boundaries and surrounding countries
• landforms
• climate
• native animals and plants
• languages
• natural resources
• flag
• government
• currency (money)
• time zone

When children are done creating their own countries, have them create a map using crayons, markers, or whatever other craft materials they would like to use. They could even use Legos to create their own lands (I used Polly Pockets when I was a little girl). Have you children discuss their countries with you and share any stories they may create with this project. Maybe Katie and Jake could visit their country? Either way, let  imagination flow!

Name: Takanuva
Manufacturer: Lego
Model: 7135
Brand: Bionicle
Series: Stars
Condition: New
Age: 6+
Pieces: 21
Description: The Toa of Light returns! Takanuva challenges hordes of evil Rahkshi with his twin light staffs and powerful Mask of Light. If he falls, two universes are doomed! Armed with twin light staffs and the Kanohi Mask of Light, Takanuva will make a last stand against the forces of darkness on Bara Magna. Includes one of six golden armor pieces.

• Takanuva, a BIONICLE hero, wields twin light staffs!
• Mask of Light and body armor included!
• Build a Golden BIONICLE!
• Collect all 6: 7116 Tahu, 7117 Gresh, 7135 Takanuva, 7136 Skrall, 7137 Piraka and 7138 Rahkshi!

Buy Bionicle Stars Takanuva 7135

Legoland in Billund , Denmark

Legoland is amusement park that produced by Lego Group for people who play lego brick can show their works that produced from lego bricks. The original Legoland was built in 1968 at Billund , Denmark  , and was opened for people visiting .The second Legoland was in 1996 at Windsor, England. The third Legoland was in Gunzburg, Germany.And last one in 1999 at California , USA.

works by Lego player in Legoland Billund , Denmark

Works by Lego player in Legoland Billund , Denmark

Legoland in windsor , England

Works by Lego player in Legoland Windsor , England

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Check out ColorByNumbers for more!

WORKING ON MY TRADEMARK LOGO.

Name: Lego Atlantis Monster Crab Clash
Manufacturer: Lego
Model: 8056
Series: Atlantis
Condition: New
Age: 6+
Pieces: 68
Description: Beware the monster crab’s claws! On a dangerous deep-sea mission to recover the orange Atlantis treasure key from the murky depths of the ocean, the heroic diver comes face-to-face with the treasure’s mighty guardian: a giant crab with powerful crushing claws!

• Set includes 1 heroic diver minifigure!
• Collectable orange Atlantis treasure key included; collect them all!
• Features monster crab with snapping claws and moveable legs!

Buy Lego Atlantis Monster Crab Clash 8056

Name: Lego Atlantis Typhoon Turbo Sub
Manufacturer: Lego
Model: 8060
Series: Atlantis
Condition: New
Age: 7-14
Pieces: 197
Description: Deep at the bottom of the ocean, the yellow Atlantis Treasure Key is guarded by a ferocious Shark Warrior. Send the Typhoon Turbo Sub into battle when the fight gets tough, its powerful high-speed turbine engines flip around to reveal a key-grabbing claw and hidden torpedo launcher! It’s time to discover the lost secrets of Atlantis!

• Set includes 2 minifigures: 1 heroic diver and 1 Shark Warrior!
• Yellow Atlantis treasure key included; collect them all!
• Flip over the rotating sub propellers!
• Sub is armed with torpedo shooter and flick fire missiles!
• Claw grabs and holds the treasure key!

Buy Lego Atlantis Typhoon Turbo Sub 8060

Name: Lego Atlantis Guardian Of The Deep
Manufacturer: Lego
Model: 8058
Series: Atlantis
Condition: New
Age: 7-14
Pieces: 144
Description: This treasure guardian packs a bite! In his search for the red Atlantis treasure key, the deep-sea diver has encountered one of the deadliest guardian creatures of all: an enormous black shark covered in Atlantean markings! Will the diver’s harpoon and swimming skills be enough to escape the shark’s snapping jaws and thrashing tail with the precious key, and its clue to the lost city’s location?
The heroic diver minifigure has an awesome harpoon!
Red Atlantis treasure key included; collect them all!
Fearsome shark guardian has biting jaws, moving tail and poseable head!

Buy Lego Atlantis Guardian Of The Deep 8058

–Shop HardToFindToys.net for the new Lego Atlantis Building Sets including Guardian Of –The Deep, Monster Crab Clash and Typhoon Turbo Sub at the lowest prices. Come join –an epic adventure to discover hidden underwater treasure and the lost keys to the Portal of Atlantis! These Lego Atlantis building sets are sure to be a favorite with your children.

Buy Lego Atantis Building Sets Now

Some wonderful Republic Gunship nose art by Rayman over at Eurobricks. He also has a post on FBTB but I couldn’t find it. As he said it look just like Legos.

And here’s the full sticker sheet.

He also posted his current work in progress. Good again!

Masked

Hi dudes! I’ve been fairly busy taking pictures of some of my MOCs so here is a preview of some of the MOCs that will appearing on MOCpages sometime soon!

From the movie: “The Indian in the Cupboard”

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Imperial V-Wing (yes believe it or not I MADE THIS! And I GIMP-ed it.)

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Vulcan-Class Hornet Droid (my own design!)

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My third Bluetra ship. Its my last Bluetra ship I have for now, I need to get buildin’!!

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And last but definitely not least…

RUSTIIKO B-16!!!! WOOT WOOT WOOT!! Isn’t he SO cool!?

Hope you enjoyed this preview!

~Flare

Since it’s nearing Christmas it’s the perfect time to buy things for yourself while making it look like you’re a good person shopping for others. That’s the Christmas spirit.

How am I Single?

I wanted to buy a video game whose target market was probably a bit younger than me (one of those Legos games – the Star Wars one). I went to the video game store and browsed around so that it would not seem like I came there with Legos on the brain. I looked at a number of games and eventually picked up the game I had come there for.

I went to the register and ended up getting the ‘cute girl’ (video game stores always seem to have one of those as a way to remind nerds of their place – and that place is at home, not talking to girls). She looked around for the CD, found it and put it in the case.

Suddenly, I speak (I had not planned this), “that’s for my nephew … Christmas gift.” This was a lie.

“Do you want me to gift wrap it?”

“Oh, no, no, that’s ok … It’ll just delay him getting to play with it.” That’s a lie, unless you replace the word ‘him’ with the word ‘me.’

“It’s no problem at all, I’ll gift wrap it.”

I’m not sure what’s more pathetic – me unwrapping a gift from myself to myself, or me lying without meaning to.

There was once a lassie named Lulu who wears a long black skirt and a white shirt, with a black hat. She got pregnant with a child that she named Kimberly Ann Possible. The father of the child didn’t stick around, and would never be mentioned again.

Skipping ahead fourteen years….

Lulu decided to move to a small island where only one other family lived: The Ziaglotzus. They were a family of Pokemon: Eevee (the mother), Char (the father, a Charmander), Jolty (the son, a Jolteon) and Vapor (the daughter, a Vaporeon). Logically,  a Charmander and Eevee can’t have children but ignore that fact. Eevee was not a normal Eevee, though. She was a God-like creature, able to control anything and everything simply by making a vooooosh sound. They also have a black cat named Xavior who is obsessed with bacon and has the ability to speak.

Jolty was always messing around with electronics, and Vapor loved trying to make robots. Kim was a fashion guru, and Lulu was simply….dumb. In human years, Jolty and Kim were the same age, and eventually they became very close. They began to “date”, and Vapor became jealous because she didn’t have her best friend (Jolty) around anymore. Vapor became more involved in her robotics, and finally succeeded in creating a working one.

Vapor named this black and grey creation FBI. After that she created many more: Red, Kristi, two sisters for Kristi, and eventually CIA. They were pretty much her servants. Meanwhile, Lulu had decided to adopt a girl named Betty Lou who was Kim’s age. She started off as the devil incarnate, but would later transition to a ditzy bubble of nothing.

Jolty frequently had wars going on with aliens who would randomly show up and destroy the houses on Ziaglotzu Island. Kim and Jolty were very on-and-off through the years. When she wasn’t with Jolty, she was usually with CIA who had taken a quick liking to her. At some point, Kristi and her sisters moved in with Lulu, Kim, and Betty Lou.

Eevee and Kim became rather close friends….but she had to keep it quiet because the humans weren’t supposed to know of Eevee’s existence. Eevee was the last of her kind other than her idiot brother (a big stuffed Eevee) who was married to a human and had half-fuzzy children with mutated tail things. However, Eevee and Char were not doing well at all and eventually they split up.

Char and Lulu then got married. Kim’s birth-father’s father showed up for the wedding, randomly enough. Apparently, Kim’s father was a grasshopper, just like her grandfather. Her grandfather would live with them until his dying day. Jolty managed to defeat the worst of the alien clans attacking the Ziaglotzu’s (for the Eevee powers) and the surviving aliens became servants.

Vapor got lost on the mainland (true story: Angela lost her in the layout and didn’t tell us until we had torn it up…). So, her robots were now free to do whatever they wanted…causing slight mayhem. Jolty was now usually engrossed in his destructive creations, or the occasional make-up gift for Kim. The most successful of which being the Yoshi he created her, and later on a Poshi to be Yoshi’s girlfriend. The ‘Oshi’s had many kids…but they all seemed to die after a short amount of time.

Without Vapor to maintain the robot’s health, Kristi and her sisters slowly decayed and ceased to exist on Ziaglotzu Island. For some reason, the male robots were just fine.  Red and Betty Lou began to date, while Kim and Jolty split for the final time, vowing to never be together again. So far, they have stuck to it.

Due to old age, Eevee’s powers have begun to ebb. Jolty and Kim have both graduated high school. Jolty runs an orphanage/fast food service while caring for Yoshi and Poshi because Kim does not want them anymore. Kim is running a school for the orphans. Xavior is the principal of Kimberly Ann Possible’s School for Orphans. The aliens have  been released from their service to the citizens of Ziaglotzu Island and have returned home with the understanding that if they attack again, there will be no survivors.

The End.

…..for now…..