Wanted to share this… I am an avid (daily) Gizmodo reader (commenter GarouDiams).

I have played with Legos since I was a little kid. When my wife gave me free reign over my groom's cake, I knew what I wanted… A Lego castle cake. I still have the manuals and the pieces for the Kings Castle (6080) and Knight's Castle (6073). I recently got the new King's Castle Siege (7094), which set the mental gears turning. After a trip to the Lego store in Houston to pick up some individual bricks, I turned over some of my pieces and a sketch of what I wanted: a tiered chocolate cake with chocolate / vanilla icing and an epic battle for the life of an ill-fated bride.

The cake was make from scratch by a friend of the family.

I'm a little disappointed it's not the classic Lego Yellow Castle, but congratulations to both of you, Clint. Photography by Whitney Lee Photography of Austin, TX

Post a comment here to say you got it. Then anyone else who also got one can private message you (click on the guy's profile, then click Messages) their Gmail address. Hook up and Wave away. If you end up developing a relationship and getting married, I want an invite to your wedding.

According to English Russia, this meme is taking the country by storm. It all started after that blonde posted her photo in Russian social network. From there, butt chaos ensued, planetary collisions happened, and Earth's gravity field changed. It's similar to the self-portrait meme we've covered before, but involving slightly more ass.

Citizens, all I can say is: We beat the crap out of Soviets on the Space Race, capitalist won against communism, we tore down the Berlin wall... are we going to let them win this one?

I say NO. We choose to go to the Moon and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Hard butts. The Free World shall prevail.

Send your picture contests@gizmodo.com with "Butt photo" in the subject. [English Russia via Vilena—Thanks Genevieve]

Who would you like to send to space to never hear about him/her again?

Send us your image at contests@gizmodo.com with "Space stowaway" in the subject line by this Wednesday at noon. Name your files with a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention and use JPG or PNG as your file types.

Admiral Woz Adama, Starsky and Woz, Woz jumping on Oprah's sofa, Woz lost in Lost, Woz running with Pamela Anderson in Baywatch... the potential is so big that it is scary. This could be our finest hour ever. Or the biggest disaster in the history of these contests.

Send me your best entries at contests@gizmodo.com with "Woz on TV" in the subject line by this Wednesday at noon. Name your files with a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention and use JPG or PNG as your file types. And have fun with it! Now get to it.

Go to the US version of Google, and type what is in bold to find the following:

• 5,310,000 pages from people asking or answering: How to get pregnant.
• 69,400,000 people asking How to make money.
• 32,600,000: How to get over someone.
• 3,290,000: Who do I have to be to make you sleep with me.
• 841,000: I have a large cat in my pants.
• 3,300,000: I have a large uterus.
• 112,000: I have a lovely bunch of coconuts (lots of swallows surfing the web).
• 256,000,000: I want to die.
• 3,160,000: Why do I fart so much.
• 528,000: Why do indians smell.
• 63,500,000: Why do I sleep so much.
• 680,000: Why do I have green poop.
• 883,000,000: Why do I have no friends.
• 7,570,000: Why do I have diarrhea.
• 4,170,000: Why do I have so much discharge.
• 7,120,000: Why do I have to pee so much.
• 230,000,000: Why do I have gas or so much gas.
• 456,000: Why do men have nipples.
• 6,000,000: Why men don't call.
• 8,380,000: Why men lie.
• 11,000,000: Why women have affairs.
• 36,500,000: Why women lie.
• 94,200,000: Why Obama should be president.
• 19,100,000: Why Obama should not be president.
• 42,300: Why Luke Skywalker is an idiot.
• 1,610,000: I would like to buy a hamburger.
• 286,000: I would like to extend you an invitation to the pants party (at Jason's house, in Jason's pants).
• 818,000: I think im pregnant.
• 442,000: I hate Indiana Jones 4.
• Almost 800,000,000: Who do I vote for.
• 4,980,000: I want a new drug.
• 114,000,000: I want a wife (114 million people are nuts).
• 783,000: I have one testicle.
• 21,900,000: I have one more drink.
• 12,400,000: I have three breasts.
• 320,000: I have three testicles.
• 1,580,000: I have three girlfriends.
• 610,000: I have four sides, all opposite sides are parallel, I have no right angles. What am I.
• 159,000,000: When to work.
• 126,000,000: When to say I love you.
• 2,730,000: Sleep is for sissies.
• 2,890,000: I smeel like poop.
• 1,510,000: What is a recession.
• 1,400,000: I have a hard time swallowing.
• 338,000: I have a big bag of crabs here.
• 1,060,000: Sex is for making babies and revenge.

We. Are. Doomed.

Alternatively, you can see all the results easily browsing our gallery. [Thank you readers for some of the query suggestions]

• Print out the bingo card (click on image for a larger version).

• Follow our MacBook 2008 liveblog event and take note of the timestamp as the event in the bingo card happens.

• You can shout bingo if you fill out one line or, alternatively, one of the 2 x 2 brick groups.

• When you get a bingo, quickly send us an email including the events and their timestamps from our liveblog to tips@gizmodo.com. Include "MW2009 Giz Liveblog Pizza Bingo" in the subject, so we can spot your entry easily.

The last time we did this, lots of people forgot to put the timestamps from our liveblog. You must put these to participate.

The first person who sends us a bingo wins the prize: One free pizza (if there's pizza internet ordering where you are located, that is). Nothing like an edible prize to warm up my heart and my stomach. [Macworld 2009 coverage]

I just updated the bingo card because there was a mistake. Instead of "New iMac" it has to say "New iMac 28".

Fifth place
Title:
Attack of the Second Amendment
Author:
Zach Macias

Fourth place
Title
The Archeologists
Author
Dobromil Nosek

Third place
Title:
The Creators
Author:
Jumpei Mitsui
Prize: A special set designed by Lego owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

Second place
Title:
Weltraffer
Authors:
Christian Denkhaus
Hendrik Denkhaus
Kilian Helmbrecht
Lukas Helmbrecht
Prize: Lego Yellow Castle

Winner
Title:
Train to Catch
Author:
David Boddy
Grand Prize: Lego Galaxy Explorer

Congratulations to the winner and the rest of the top five entries.

Special thanks to Julie Stern, the Lego company, and the judges—Lego movie directors Nathan Wells, David Pagano, Nate Burr, and Lego's director of Marketing Communications Keith Malone.

And to all who participated, thank you very much. The creativity and time you put into this was amazing. Stay tuned for another post with the rest of the entries, 33—and the five runner ups, who also get prizes. [All the posts related to the contest]

The house is located in Amsterdam and after seeing it, I'm thinking about subletting my closet.

Aldaron, another Giz reader, sent us this other crazy thin building located in South Kensington, London.

Reader Sonia Ebert took this photo of a tiny shop in Salzburg, Austria:

Reader Daniela Farias sent us this one in Brazil, which definitely seems to beat the one in Amsterdam (which looks wider than 1 meter (3.28 feet), with the following comment:

This one is 1m wide, 10m tall, at Bahia, Brazil....doesn't look half as good at the deleloped countries ones though. The owner says she plans on building a balcony for it :p

[Slimmest houses in the world—Thanks Micah, Aldaron, Daniela, and Sarah]

Do you have examples of crazy holidays lightning in your city or town? Any neighbour spending the budget of some African state in animated light Santas and elves from hell? Send them here. [Bouncing Red]

CompUSA and Tigerdirect

Please let it be known that everything about tigerdirect.com/compusa.com 's "big" sale was a bust.

First it was not an online sale but a tele-marathon instead. Prices were valid only through phone lines which for half the night were actually dead. When the lines were working i was either on hold for a minimum of 20 min then hung up on or on the one occasion i got through was told that the product i requested was not on sale and then got hung up on. The crew for the live web cast lost video throughout the night.

Browsers were crashing, phones were crashing, all organization was lost. It was just a very unsatisfying experience for having spent 12+ hours tuned in to their product placement and free advertisement and still leaving empty handed. Now i realize everyone cries when they do not get their tickle me elmo but this seemed different.

I felt as though I was lied to. Quantities were not limited but scarce. They were based off donated products a fact that was no where to be seen in the advertisement. I don't know. It is late, i am tired, and i somehow feel robbed even though i had no chance to spend money. I wrote you so this message did not get lost in the comments. I am a long time tigerdirect promoter but i am reconsidering my loyalty. So please just let me known. That this was a FAIL!

well i know people that went to the compusa.com web site and watched their live stream /pink Friday sale ALL day, essentially they would show an item on sale and give you an 888-444-9x00 number to call to try to order it.

i guess it worked ok until the last few hours when all their computers and cameras went out—they switched to a asus netbook to broadcast the last few items, including the coveted sony vaio TT laptop that lists t $6000, being sold for $999.

yes I tried desperately to call in for that, as did nearly the 5000 people watching...the last few hours had not only the problems with the webcast, but also audio sync, and then problems with the sale 888
phone lines, making it impossible to get through.....we need the net to complain to make compusa do the sale again or just sell more of the sony vaio tt.

The Compusa/Tigerdirect Pink Friday sales where a joke and I question whether or not anyone received any of the high demand products other than staff members and there friends.There where a few products which I had planned on buying mainly: i7 920 processors,x58 mobo's,Nec projectors,Xbox360..... I had 3 phones auto-dialing the numbers.Since they were basically changing the phone# in sequence ie: 1-888-444-9300,1-888-444-9500,1-888-444-9800 repeat. I had the phones set to start dialing b4 they were put on the screen,as they put the number on the screen,and just after the number was put up. and would receive the "Item is already sold out","Please hold" message or would just plain get hung up on.
All in all it was ONE BIG SCAM!

A CompUSA guy wrote a reply to this story. He had this to say:

I also looked all over PinkFriday.org and I now have to agree with some of the customers who are complaining. I don’t believe that the deals and the ways in which they were delivered were explained. They did not say that the deals were only available through the phone and they did not explain that they only had a few units of each item. Perhaps they could have said, “Telethon style giveaways of extremely limited quantities.”

This is a small issue but it seems to have riled up a few people.

My final thought is this: Despite all the frustration and the technical difficulties, despite the fact that the explanation of the event was vague, despite the customer complaints, there were a lot of happy people and there was a ton of money donated to Susan G Komen.

Circuit City

I went to Circuit City to get a videocamera. They didn't have the $200 JVC one that I really wanted. They didn't have the $450 HD Samsung (marked down from $850) in stock. And, when I spotted a good $650 HD Sony videocamera, they wouldn't do a $50 price match to CompUSA.

That's right - Circuit City was unwilling to do an 8% price match for a customer in store ready to buy. In fact, I didn't even get a counteroffer. At least a "I can't do $610 but how about $630?" Is it any wonder they're going out of business.

Do you have more horror stories that you want to denounce? Maybe you have good stories, like getting that Sony Vaio TT for $999? Tell us about it here.

* See? The dogs too.

In fact, I can already imagine Facebook's status worldwide:

"Jason is taking off his pants as he watches the city turn into flames"
"Jesus is trying to repent quickly of all his sins and having his last Margarita"
"Brian is liveblogging the incoming tsunami. It's cool"
"Mark is trying to finish Mario Galaxy II before the asteroid hits"
"Adam is looking for his bong"
"Matt is reading the NYT. Wha'?"
"Benny is looking for Tracie for a last snog"
"Strider is commenting in Brian's liveblog"
"Lindsay Joy is watching her Lego minifigs melt"
"Curves is keeping it cool, like always"
"OMG Ponies is OMG"

Have your own favorite California earthquake video or your future Apocalypse Facebook status? Post it in the comments.

I have organized all your questions in groups: about the company, environment, design, trivia, crazy questions, and the future.

Trivia

Why is there a whole in the head of the mini-figs now?
We added this hole on the top of the head just in case any kids got one of the heads stuck on their throat. That way they would be able to keep breathing.

• Why did I always have pieces left over when I built my castle sets? Do they just do that to jack with kids?
For two reasons: first, because some pieces are so small that they weigh too little to be measured by their scale, during packaging (you will see this when I publish the factory tour. J.) Second, because it's better to have too many of those pieces than have one of them missing. Since we statistically know what pieces may get lost, we include some extras when appropriate.

• Why there are no blonde minifigs in the regular Lego sets?
Because they will look bad with the yellow heads. There are blondes, however, in the licensed lines, like Star Wars or Harry Potter.

• Why aren't Lego figures ever sold separately from the sets?
Minifigures can be purchased separately on a limited basis. Some of our Lego stores sell the minifigures separately. You can also purchase minifigure pieces through Lego.com in the Pick-a-Brick wall. Additionally, there is a set called Community Workers which features nothing but classic minifigures. However, watch shelves in the coming year, you never know what you might find! (What I want to know is where the heck can I buy stormtroopers helmets for all my minifigs. J)

• What do you call the different pieces internally? Any other name beyond bricks, like "flats" for the flat pieces or something similar?
We refer to the standard pieces as bricks. Flat pieces are either plates (these have studs and are 1/3 the height of a Lego brick) or tiles (these are the flat pieces with no studs). Everything is referred to by its stud count, so a classic Lego bricks is referred to as a 2x4. Carry that out, and you can see there are 1x2s and 2x3s and 1x8s and on and on and on…

• Why did you change the color palette?
The color palette changes as our themes change. However, our basic brick colors—red, yellow, blue, green, black and white—will always remain as staples in the assortment.

• Why don't Duplo blocks integrate with Quatro blocks like the regular Lego bricks integrate with Duplo?
Duplo bricks are indeed compatible with Quatro bricks, just as Lego bricks are compatible with Duplo bricks. Lego provides the only building system that is compatible from birth to collector!

• I want you to ask the Lego gang for the definitive answer on the plural for Lego bricks. Is it, as we Brits say, simply Lego, or is it, as some Americans insist, Legos?
Actually both the Brits and the Americans are wrong—but are all forgiven! “Lego” is an adjective and is not meant to be a standalone name. It should always be Lego bricks, Lego building, Lego products, etc.

• Why there are no black minifigs?
When the minifigure was first introduced 30 years ago, it was given the iconic yellow skin tone to reflect the non-specific and transcendental quality of a child’s imagination. In 2002, as more licensed properties were added to the assortment, the decision was made to introduce ethnic and skin tones more in keeping with the actual characters and personalities who were being replicated. This included the introduction of black minifigures. However, these ethnic minifigures are only used in our licensed sets, all Lego playthemes continue to use the generic yellow face.

About the company

•How many Lego bricks are produced each year?

Approximately 19 billion Lego elements are produced per year. 2.16 million are molded every hour, 36,000 every minute.

• Approximately, how many bricks they've ever made since Lego started to produce them?
More than 400 billion Lego bricks have been produced since 1958. There are about 62 Lego bricks per person of the Earth’s population.

• How many Lego sets do they manufacture per year?
The number of sets varies per time of year and per year. In the U.S., we launch on average 130 new sets per year. Approximately 7 Lego sets are sold every second around the world.

• How much money do they make per piece?
Because we have so many specialized pieces, the average cost per piece is difficult to name. For example, a 2x4 Lego brick does not require the complexity to produce as a Lego minifigure or a Lego fence piece. The molds that we use to create Lego elements are very expensive to design and produce.

• When can we buy ANY Lego element on shop.Lego.com (and maybe get recommended replacement suggestions if they are not available). If I will pay $300+ for a GREAT Lego Technic model used on eBay, I certainly would have no problems dropping the same into one of my own creations?
We are always working to improve the assortment of pieces available through our Pick a Brick service. Right now we have over 900 elements available. Unlike the traditional toy retail business, it’s more difficult for us to project which individual pieces or elements will be in demand in a given time period. For example, we know that kids like Lego sets with wheels. So if a new set has wheels, we look at other sets historically that have wheels to predict the demand. But in an individual brick fulfillment, we have no way to know when someone may decide to build a six-foot monster that is orange, thereby requiring a huge amount of orange bricks. As a result, we currently limit the number of bricks available so that we can maintain healthy inventory and prevent consumer frustration, but also test to see what people want the most on a piece by piece basis.

• Why is Lego so expensive?
Quality and safety are the top concerns for the Lego Group. To ensure the best and safest products, Lego bricks are made with the highest quality materials, which does factor into the cost. Using premium materials ensures that the product is not only safe, but that it is durable enough to hand down from generation to generation. [I was told in the factory that their tests show that no bricks have ever decomposed or released any chemical substances. -J]

• I'd like you to ask the Lego guys, why they don't have all the parts available for order as singletons or in bulk on their web site?
See above.

• I'm curious as to why they discontinue series and sets more rapidly now than they did in the past. It used to be that a series could be counted on for multiple years, now it's barely 12 months and they're "no longer produced." Is this marketing? Logistics? Or are trends really changing that fast in their market these days?
The toy business has become a very fast-paced and competitive world—almost mimicking the fashion industry in how quickly things come and go as fads. The life of a typical Lego play theme line can range anywhere from one to three years. However, there are certain themes—like Space and Castle—that we consider evergreen themes, and those are rotated in and out over the course of a few years. When a theme is a classic, we often maintain the theme, but rotate the new models on a shorter term to maintain novelty and interest in the market.

• Will Lego sell bulk bricks again?
The Lego Group has never stopped selling bulk bricks. Our Creative Building buckets and tubs are available at all major and specialty retailers. New boxes of bricks are also available. Additionally, if you’re in the area of a Lego store you can stop at a Pick-a-Brick wall or visit the Pick-a-Brick section of Lego.com.

• Has the Mindstorm's investment paid off?
The Mindstorms product line has been an incredibly successful venture for the company. The Mindstorms RIS 2.0 is the #1 selling product in the company’s history, and there are over 1 million RCX bricks that have been sold. Mindstorms NXT, the next generation of the original robotics toolset, also has been very successful.

• What country buys the most Lego sets per person?
Germany is the number-one Lego market, in fact, Lego is the number-one toy company in Germany. The top-selling lines in Germany are Lego TECHNIC and Lego CITY. The U.S. is the second largest market, with the top-selling lines being BIONICLE and Lego Star Wars.

• How did they re-launch the company when it was almost bankrupt?
As a company we were very lucky to have survived our crisis. We had some very rocky years, but it was our fans who got us back on track. We were trying to do too many things and deviated from what we do best: classic building. To regain our footing, we went back to basics and focused on the brick and those core themes on which our company foundation was built, like City and Castle. We also shed the things that were not related to the toy business—we licensed out our video game development to the best partners and we sold off our theme parks. Thankfully for us, our fans were patient and welcomed us back with open arms. Fortunately, no matter how much the market changes and kids tastes vary, there will always be room for classic Lego play.

• What is the best selling Lego set ever made?
The Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System set is the best-selling Lego set ever. Over 1 million of these have been sold globally since their launch.

• What theme was the worst selling one they have made?
A few years back, we strayed too far from our core product line when we entered into an action figure line called Galidor. With no traditional Lego construction elements, it proved to be unfamiliar to Lego fans who expect a certain kind of play experience from the Lego brand.

• What theme is the best seller, excluding Basic sets and town?
Every country has a different best-seller and as we rotate themes in and out different themes rise to the top. Over the last 50 years we have seen that Town, Space, Castle and Pirates are the evergreen themes that seem to always have a place in the hearts of Lego fans. Right now, Lego CITY is the number-one theme around the world, and other global best-sellers include Lego Star Wars, BIONICLE and Lego Indiana Jones.

• Why don't they (Lego online shop) ship Lego to Hong Kong?
We are always looking to extend the reach of our Lego products and where they are sold and shipped. Currently, Lego products are sold in stores in Hong Kong.

Environment

• What happens to all the bad pieces? Is there a Lego heaven? Do they recycle them?
Due to the precision of the brick molding machines, there are very few “bad” pieces—only 18 elements in every million produced fail to meet the company’s high standards. Extra pieces or pieces from boxes that are caught on the line and identified as missing pieces or have boxes that are slightly damaged are used for donation boxes that are distributed to underprivileged children’s organizations around the world.

• Why there is no recycling program for all the plastic they produce?
Lego Bricks are recyclable, just not in the way that most people think of recycling. Lego bricks are one of those things that never break and most people pass them down from generation to generation, thus keeping them alive. Also, during production we recycle all of the residual plastic used. In the molding machines, we crunch any faulty elements and put the granulate back in to the mold. Plastic that we can no longer use is sold to industries that can make use of them.

• Is the plastic currently used to form Lego the same as it was 20 years ago?
The plastic is almost the exact same plastic used 20 years ago. Slight changes to the mix have occurred, but the quality has remained the same.

Design

• How much the tooling costs are? Who makes them?
The price of a single mold is very high. Most of them are made in Germany.

• How much is Lego considering the Adult fans vs the children when designing sets?
When we design sets, we take both children and adults into consideration. Children are our primary audience, especially as it relates to the core play theme sets; however, much of what appeals to children in today’s Lego sets has strong appeal among adult fans as well. With Lego Star Wars, adults are equally considered. In designing any set, it’s about the balance between the building experience and the play experience. We do also leverage our direct to consumer channels to provide ultimate collectors sets, special exclusives, sculptures and models that are designed with skilled builders and adult fans in mind. We sometimes even invite our adult fans to help us design new sets.

Mindstorms NXT is a great example of how we worked together with adult fans to determine what the set would include, with a particular focus on ensuring that the end result was as compelling for a child as it was for an adult user. We continually look to our community of both kids and adults to ensure that we are meeting and exceeding expectations.

• Why did they changed the founders rule to never make gun like elements?
The company still has a no gun policy when it comes to realistic or military play scenarios. However, in order to stay true to the strong licensed properties we incorporate to the Lego portfolio, we need to stay true to those properties and sometimes that involves including weapons. In our own play themes, some element of good vs. bad conflict is typically considered to provide for role play opportunities. In those instances, the setting is very clearly a fantasy world. (Fortunately, there are third-parties who do this, like the amazing people from Brickarms. J)

• I would like to know why they are using so many specialized pieces in their sets now instead of using more "basic" bricks that allow for greater building outside the set the pieces came in. Why have Lego sets for the latest few generations been dummied down?
This is an impression that many people have but, in fact, the piece count has been reduced drastically and there's a move back to roots in Lego, not only for creativity but to save money. Lego went from 12,000 different pieces to 6,800 in the last few years—a number that includes the color variations.

• Why do they use so many 'cheater' bricks... i.e., instead of stacking 4 1x2 bricks they produced a 1x2x4 brick. Or those HUGE chunks uses for castle walls. Sure it speeds construction, but it reduces creativity/playability.
Sometimes larger bricks are used to help kids ease into building and help them complete the model faster so that they can get to the play experience. We have learned that there are many different types of builders out there—some are all about the building experience, but some are about the play experience. We try to balance our portfolio to appeal to both groups.

• Has the decision to make faces other than the smiley face caused problems in any markets?
Changing the minifigure faces first happened in 1989 with the introduction of the Pirates line. Since that time, we have had very few questions from consumers. For those Lego purists out there, we have left the original smiley in the assortment so that a familiar face is always there.

• I would like to know what happened to the good old days of really complex, lifelike models? I have some of the old classics still like the Semi Truck with the pneumatic crane on the back, the JCB Excavator, the all wheel steer sports car, the Ferrari esque car with the 4 speed gearbox... Where did models like this go?
We still have awesome Lego TECHNIC sets and models that carry extreme levels of detail and functionality. They aren’t always available in the mass retail channels, so you often need to look for them on Lego.com or other specialty retailers.

• How long do they take to develop a theme, all the sets, start to finish?
Over the past few years we have been able to dramatically decrease the time it takes to develop and produce a new set. The average development period is now about 12 months from start to finish, down from 2-3 years previously.

• What's with all the stickers lately? Don't they pre-print anything anymore? And if you have to take the stickers off to disassemble the sets, why not have replacement sheets available on Shop-at-home?
Certain elements are still pre-printed; however, we find that the stickers allow for even more details and more realism in any given set. We understand that it can be frustrating sometimes, and encourage anyone with questions to contact our Consumer Services department.

Crazy questions

• Any plan to sell real-life brick-size Lego pieces? I want to build an actual house.
We have no plans at this time to sell real-life brick-size Lego pieces. You’ll just have to build your house of normal materials for the time being.

• Why do Lego look so delicious but taste so bad?
As your parents probably told you when you were young, there are some things that shouldn’t be eaten. Lego bricks are one of them. Please keep them away from your mouth.

• Are bricks available in truly staggering quantities, for artists wishing to explore the possibilities of Lego as a medium for large scale sculpture?
We always encourage creativity and love our Lego artists. Unfortunately at this time we don’t have a system put in place to sell staggering quantities. Pick-A-Brick and buckets and tubs are the best solution for those looking for large quantities of classic bricks.

• Where can I buy a legit golf shirt with the Lego logo embroidered on it?
Lego shirts tend to come in and out of the assortment. Currently, we do not have a golf shirt in the assortment, but keep checking back!

• When will Lego’s produce a beer stein kit complete with a tap?
We love your creativity, but the Lego Group probably won’t be producing a beer stein kit in the near or distant future; however, if you are so inclined, you can design your own on LegoFactory.com.

The future

• Any plans to refresh old sets like Blacktron or the monorail?
We are constantly looking back at the past to help shape the sets of the future. As of now there are no plans to refresh these sets, but what’s to come is always a mystery.

• Would you include Mindstorm technology in normal Lego sets?
In 2007 we introduced the Lego Power Function system, which allows models to come to life using motors and sensors without the programming feature of Mindstorms. For those looking to combine Lego building with Mindstorms technology everything is compatible.

• Why don't you use LEDs?
Currently we do not use LEDs, but our designers are always coming up with new and exciting ways to enhance the building experience.

• I know you do Lego Ferris wheels, but have you ever consider a Lego roller coaster?
In deciding what products will go to market, there are numerous factors that we have to consider. As a global company, we try to pick products that have global appeal. We also look for models that have the best building and play experience. Our model designers are always coming up with new and great ideas, roller coasters may be included in that, it’s just a matter of making sure it works in the current assortment.

• Would you consider doing Lego sets based on famous history scenes, for education?
Anything is a possibility with the Lego System. We have created models of famous landmarks, like the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower, and we have an Education division that is always coming up with new ideas. But if you don’t want to wait for this one to surface, there’s always Lego Factory where you can design and build your own historic scenes.

• I really wish they weren't discontinuing their 9V electrified rail train sets. My question is why?
As a company, we are very focused on the core bricks and developing the “system of play.” With the recent development of the Lego Power System, we are able to replace several non compatible applications with one electric system. Unfortunately, this means that we are moving from two systems with trains to one coherent system.

• Will Lego continue to reach out to a more adult audience with more intricate and larger sets?
Our adult audience is very important to us and we will continue to produce the larger, more intricate sets, which are typically found in our direct to consumer channels and other specialty retailers. The latest introduction is the Lego Star Wars Death Star.

• Where are the clear Lego? Glow-in-the-dark? Recycled? Corn Plastic? Rubber? LED Illuminated? Rustic?
New products and elements are always in development. We have had glow-in-the dark parts in several sets in the last few years, and we also have light bricks in select sets. We use rubber to produce Lego tires—did you know we’re the world’s largest producer of vehicle tires?

• When will the 9v train tracks and motors be coming back to factory?
Unfortunately, the 9v train tracks are being phased out and we are moving toward a more coherent system using the Lego Power System.

• Does Lego have plans for Wi-Fi connections for Mindstorm?
Mindstorms NXT includes Bluetooth capability for wireless communication and downloads.

• Will Lego produce trikes and the old bikes again?
As of now there are no plans to produce trikes and old bikes.

We have a very strong licensing department who are always working with leading manufacturers to identify new categories and products that can carry the Lego brand name.

• When will the new train sets be introduced?
Our designers, as well as some faithful fans are working hard to get the new trains ready for market. We expect that these sets will be on sale in 2009. More details to follow!

• Why don't we get the serious RC stuff in the US?
RC models are available in the U.S. Check your local retailer, or visit the Lego shop.

• i just started to get into the Lego trains and purchased the remote control set with extra tracks...now they are not available! There was talk of a new series of trains but I can't find the reference now. The question is simply: what's the plan for Lego train sets?
See question above

• Why won't they bring back for good the space theme?
The space theme is an evergreen theme for us. We currently have Lego Star Wars and Lego Mars Mission themes to satisfy consumer demand for space themed building.

• Are there any chances that Lego will ever start producing modern day warfare Lego, with tanks and helicopters and what not?
We have a strict policy regarding military models, and therefore, we do not produce tanks, helicopters, etc. While we always support the men and women who serve their country, we prefer to keep the play experiences we provide for children in the realm of fantasy.

• Could you ask them if they plan to do another Star Wars robots Mindstorms set please?
As of now there are no plans to come out with a new Star Wars robot kit; however, we encourage all of our fans to create their own.

• I am a major fan of the Star Wars Lego, I have the Death Star on my coffee table, and I was wondering I they were ever going to make models based on the expanded universe?
With the Star Wars franchise, anything is possible! Keeps your eyes open for exciting new things.

• When are they going to be releasing an advanced model of the Batman rambler?
As of now there are no plans to release this model.

Thanks to all the readers who submitted all these questions. Please note that some of the questions you sent about licenses were not included because the Lego people are as secretive about their future products as Apple is. [Giz's Lego Trip]

Until that fatal moment, it was business as usual. My morning started like it normally does lately: dead in bed after a hangover from a night out, as opposed to my usual half-dead state. Addy and myself are moving to London next month, so we are enjoying Madrid and our friends here as much as we can, which means going out for tapas, great dinners, good wine, old rum, and dancing 'til late.

But I digress. The European Team—Addy, Kit, and myself—woke up today around 3AM New York time. That's 9AM for the Cool Geek of the Week and her husband, and 8AM in Portugal, where Kit lives. Brian appeared briefly in Campfire an hour later, bragging about his Wii Fit skills, and weeping about his long-lost super-hero figure from his boxing days—when he really looked like Captain America instead of a blogging version Cartman in spandex—like we all do in Giz except Buchanan, who looks like Kenny. We all talked for a bit, and then he left to pack for Brazil, where he's flying to now.

After he left, I started to scan the feeds, and work in the Mac OS X multitouch story, interviewing the author of the software over iChat. Addy popped in another window and told me that Jones was sleeping in a funny position, curled over one of his toys, next to her feet on the sofa. Jones is our border terrier, and happens to be one of the smartest, cutest, and most lovable dogs I've met—unfortunately, border terriers are also killing machines, as you can see here:

Yes. Killing machines that look like teddy bears, but killing machines anyway.

Wanting to see the Xmas-in-May carol scene, I sneaked into the living room. See, I play with Jones like I'm a real dog. And with the facial hair, the scruffy look, and the games over the rugs, he totally buys it. I'm his pal and his enemy. I give him food, get him out sometimes, play with him... and fight for his toys. So I slowly came closer to him, and his favorite chewing thing. He felt I was coming and—half-opening one eye—he growled.

I got closer. He growled back.

A little bit nearer. The primal guttural sound kept increasing. I could hear the always-bemused Addy softly saying "Jooones..."

Now I really was getting near to his toy.

He snarled.

I forced half an inch more. And then it happened.

In a millisecond, I had a small hair ball hanging from my lower lip, some kind of Son of Cujo chewing my flesh, making warm crimson spray all over my t-shirt. I felt it wet on my arms and chest while Addy screamed, Jones screeched, and myself—eyes wide open and completely silent—tried to make sense out of the blur of hair and fangs.

Two seconds later I was in the bathroom.

All I could see was the cold water instantly turning into red thanks to the massive bleeding from the highly vascularized—and extremely tender, as I discovered—face tissue. I looked up in the mirror and I saw it. A big seven dripping blood all over my neck, painting the white basin with blood. Luckily for us, we have a big hospital two blocks down from our home, and a few minutes later we rushed through the emergency doors.

Being the vain sucker that I am, the only thing I could think about was a huge scar just below my lips. Terrified, I kept asking everybody as they got me into a small operation room: "Do you think it's going to look OK?" All I got was smiles, a few vague "sure you are," and one "the other day a girl came in with a dog bite and half a lip gone, so consider yourself lucky." All until a young doctor—can't remember her name, but she looked like she was doing her practice years—came into the room to see me.

She was honest and told me that, most likely, the injury was going to get infected. Dog bites come with a load of nasty bacterium, so they are difficult to heal. She also pointed out that she would only use two stitches to hold it together, so in case it got infected, the goo could escape the injury easily. I didn't ask that, so I insisted, and she conceded: "yes, you may get a nasty scar. But don't worry, you can hide it with your beard. And it can be quite attractive."

Needless to say, I was less than fascinated by the perspective of looking like Captain Steve Zissou for the rest of my life, as much as I like my red hats.

Thirty minutes and two anti-tetanus shots later I was at home, back in business, thinking about the possibility of turning into Indiana Jones (fame and girls pouring all over me) or Harvey Dent (I would have to kill Jason, who thinks he's Batman.) And then, my friend Fernando Santiago popped in iChat. I told him first what happened, and then my fears. "Man, I have a friend who is one of the top plastic surgeons in Spain," he said, "let me call him." Five minutes later, another reply: "OK, meet me at the Ruber in half an hour. He's going to see you."

The Ruber is a very posh and super-expensive private hospital here in Madrid, so I went there with my credit card ready to be melted, obliterated, and disintegrated into oblivion. The words "Harvey Dent. Harvey Dent. Harvey Dent" kept hitting my brain, however, so I didn't care. As we came into Dr. Gómez Bravo's office, the first thing that surprised me was how young and sharp he was. Then I saw his completely clean desk, with an Apple Cinema Display, keyboard, and a wireless Wacom Graphire tablet top, with a Mac mini on a side table, mixed with books and folders.

All smile, perfect shirt, and elegant tie under his white coat, Dr. Francisco was really cool. He explained to me that—while it was true that dog bites usually get infected—the highly vascularized tissue in my face would make infections difficult, as the thousand of blood vessels—which made me look like Daredevil a couple of hours before that—would bring plenty of white cells and antibiotics to kill the bacterium.

He put this weird glasses on and start looking closely, cleaning the blood from the just-stitched seven. "Hrmmm..." he said—in my mind that immediately sounded like he would have to cut. The whole head. Then change it for a new one, and give the old one back to me in a jar. "There's a mismatch in how the injured tissue meets the chin," he continued, "You need a couple more stitches to align it perfectly. Otherwise, the scar would start growing big, red, and nasty. Hypertrophic scar." Or something like that.

All I really heard was: "Harvey Dent."

He then ordered some six zero thread ("the hospital will charge you for that later",) and proceeded to—very gently—sew the injury exactly how he wanted it. "There," he finally said, "we are done," after five minutes. I was happy. Relieved. I'm going to survive. Bye Harvey. He-llo Harrison! The three of us then started to talk about more mundane things, like the web page he wanted to do. He asked what did I do for a living. "Tech journo," I said. "He writes for an american site called Gizmodo," added my friend Fernando.

"Are you kidding me?" his eyes wide open. Fernando and myself looked to each other and said "no" at the same time. "Wait, do you mean you are "Jesús"? The guy who writes in Gizmodo US? What the... I read Gizmodo constantly, every day! I was reading one of your articles when you came through the door!" And pointing at this Apple screen, he opened Safari, clicked in the History menu.

The last twenty lines were all Gizmodo entries.

I was absolutely astonished. Here I was, a mere mortal, a jibba-jabber writer for a tech blog, a rambler for rent (see above) in front of a guy who is one of the top plastic surgeons in the country, charging a zillion-kajillion dollars per hour. And not any plastic surgeon: Dr. Gómez Bravo mainly does extreme reconstructions after big, very traumatic accidents. Not stupid boob jobs. He actually fixes lives—basically, this is a guy who must be considered a demi-god amongst his patients.

And there he was, talking non-stop, and telling me he was a huge fan of my work and Gizmodo; that he always reloaded the page many times a day, and just loved it. And he talked about it not just once, several times, naming specific articles, and just chatting about it until we left.

Then, as he was saying good bye, he opened the door for us and said to his secretary: "everything is OK."

Which really meant: "he doesn't need to pay." And yes, while I know that he received and treated me because I'm one of Fernando's close friends, his gesture was the best, most elegant thing I've seen in a long while.

So for all this, Dr. Francisco Gómez Bravo is the Gizmodo's Reader of the Month (and to me, reader of the whole year.)

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Most big fans of the series and Star Wars know that both R2-D2 and C-3PO appear in several occasions in Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the Well of Souls, which is the moment portrayed by this set, they appear in a post on Indy's right as him and Sallah remove the Ark.

Great detail from LEGO and good catch by Lindsay. [Thanks Lindsay]

Get your high resolution version on the gallery above

Honorary mentions for the Spaghetti Monster—we like—and the conceptual Windows Blue Screen of Death. Now the top winners:

3rd Place: Goes to Hapax's Iron Man. Why? Because it's nice and we are all Tony Stark fanboys and we like cocktails.

2nd Place: A great rendition of the MacBook Air by Daniel Lagin.

1st Place: For Damien Nozay and his great Purple Tentacle on Linux. Your no-prize will be in the mail soon. In the meantime, you get all the glory. And you can take over the world.

We had a hard time deciding, so thanks to everyone for sending us the good stuff.

Looks like a great start. Send your entries to tips@gizmodo.com over the next days and we will post a gallery of all participants next Friday. And by the way, if you need icons for your illustration—remember that you can make these with any type of icons, not just folders—head to the always good Iconfactory. [Spider-Pig]