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Games Entertainment

Lego Machine Gun 194

Anonymous Coward writes "It's a Lego machine gun which shoots Legos at a rate of 500/minute. Using only Legos for construction."
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Lego Machine Gun

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  • by jeroenb ( 125404 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:29AM (#1304750) Homepage
    Now this is what I call a point'n'click-interface!
  • by Arctic Fox ( 105204 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:31AM (#1304751) Homepage Journal
    The inventor of K'Nex went to Drexel University so he donated *assloads* of K'nex to the school. I was working on K'nex design project freshman year.
    We made some pretty kick-ass rubber band powered guns that shot the rods. They *really* can hurt.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-
    This signature contains text from the worlds funniest signature.

  • by D3 ( 31029 ) <daviddhenning&gmail,com> on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:31AM (#1304752) Journal
    Heh, now I can program my 'bots to defend/attack at will. Join me and my army now or I will crush you all smaller than a 1x1 flat brick!

  • by JustShootMe ( 122551 ) <rmiller@duskglow.com> on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:31AM (#1304753) Homepage Journal

    I can think of lots of uses for this:

    • Bring to court and bop MPAA lawyers with legos. Won't do much harm but if you get em in the right place they'll look like they have acne.
    • Give to Richard Stallman so he can enforce the GPL. "Stop or I'll Lego". Poetic geek justice.
    • Equip all the Jon Katz flamers with one and set up a shooting range. Maybe they'll get it out of their system.
    • Build a scale model of the MPAA building out of balsa wood and shoot it down with a hundred lego guns at point-blank range. Fun for the whole family!
    • Build a statue of Natalie Portman naked. Maybe then the trolls would finally shut up. You may use the recent Sun photos as a template.
    These are just a few uses for arguably the most important invention of the 21st century to-date!

    Thank you. I now return you to your regularly scheduled trolling, hot grits, natalie portman naked and petrified, etc.


    If you can't figure out how to mail me, don't.
  • Lego also announced the release of their RIAA and MPA boxed sets, with realistic "Cease and Desist" tiles and life-like explosive seperation when hit by Lego machine guns. Includes RIAA and MPA satanic Lawyer From Hell action figure.

    Sorry, just had to write that.

  • Does someone have a mirror up? I tried going to the link but it's not responding. (already!)

  • Where's the Lego potato cannon? That would be impressive.

    (And where was this thing when I was 10 years old, and throwing the bricks by hand in my Lego battles?)

  • by Wellspring ( 111524 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:34AM (#1304758)

    Great! Now I have to wait ten days before buying my lego A-Wing. Does this mean that legos have become too dangerous for anyone to have other than Approved Law Enforcement Authorities? I hope I'm not too subversive for silly putty-- I'm running out of toys which are not Bad Influences (TM).

  • by gordie ( 139287 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:34AM (#1304759) Homepage
    Knowing the U.S. Government, this will be classified as a class III weapon by the BATF, causing LEGOs to be banned for importatoin, sale or use! ;-)
  • by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:35AM (#1304760) Homepage

    I agree that making a machine gun out of legos is pretty cool, but it's also a bit morbid. When I was a kid we made spaceships, and little towns with little people in them. Machine guns didn't really cross my mind.

    Perhaps just the idea of making a toy weapon out of legos is a bit much for me... Why couldn't you make a water gun or something?

    There go my childhood memories...

  • by antizeus ( 47491 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:36AM (#1304761)
    I predict a flame war over guns and the right to keep and bear arms. I think I'll start it off with a little trolling.

    • We shouldn't be encouraging our children to glorify weapons with toys. Won't somebody please think of the children?
    • Studies have shown that you're 7652 times more likely to shoot yourself with a Lego machine gun than you are to shoot an intruder.
    • The Second Amendment of the US Constitution only grants an organized militia (i.e. the government) to have Lego machine guns.
    • The need for Lego machine guns is historically obsolete because the playgrounds are run by democratic coalitions of children and not mean kids like in the old days.
    • If the playground is taken over by mean kids, then Lego machine guns won't help the nice kids because the mean kids will have the overwhelming advantage of possessing Lego tanks and Lego nukes.
    OK, that ought to get us started.

  • by Maul ( 83993 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:36AM (#1304762) Journal
    Hey, I wonder if you can use this design with Lego Mindstorms to create an automated home security system?

    Seriously, it is interesting to see legos, a toy for building creativity, used as weaponry!

    "You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're dreaming or awake?"

  • by Duxup ( 72775 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:36AM (#1304763) Homepage
    This is pretty neat and all, but did it need to be posted in an article by it's self? Maybe it would have been better suited with CmdrTaco's quickies (man I miss those)?
    BRING ON THE QUICKIES I SAY!
    Then we could get a bunch at a time. :-)
  • by Anonymous Coward
    This is very upsetting. Did anyone check to see if the 7 day waiting period was met? What about a permit? Has the gun been registered? You know someone just built it to sneak on to airplanes! What is this world coming to. It all started with that evil Doom(tm) game! Next thing you know someone will build an atomic bomb out of them. I think we should repeal the constitution NOW. Burn the bill of rights! The world would be a better place without the 1st and 2nd amendmants! Imagine no one could say anything that might offend someone. No guns - the government could enforce it's laws without fear of public outcry or backlash. No internet. No posting of that evil DeCSS code. I am going to go cry now that someone has turned a child hood toy of creation and wonderment into an evil tool of destruction - you could put out someones eye!

    I find your lack of faith disturbing Darth Vader on the subject of open sourcing the death star plans

  • Geez, that went down quick. Anyone get a chance to mirror it?
  • I think we've just found the next candidate for the UK's Intelligence Agency's hiring spree. It might not hold a candle up to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s34605.ht m">Metal Storm</a> right now (which fires 1,000,000 rounds/min), but with a little work, I think slashdotters might build plans for a "Lego Storm" weapon, without infringing on trademarks of current lego kits...

    Skevin - "I want to protest the DeCSS ruling but my boss won't let me"
    Database Design and Programming
    Disney Televentures
    Burbank, CA.
  • Is this the beginning of an armament race strated by the Robot Monkeys? I implore everyone to support banning Lego weapons for Robot Monkeys! If the Robotic Monkeys get Lego guns, they'll be free to force us around like sheep!

    LIF


    Bad Mojo
  • I'd like to see you do that!

    That would be an extremely interesting (and probably impossible) engineering challenge. Wonder if we can make lead-lined lego bricks...


    If you can't figure out how to mail me, don't.
  • Wish I had that when I had to confront my ISP guys!

    *Whaddaya mean NO DSN?*

    Lock and load!

    BTW, if you care to see my own Lego stuff, check out my website.
  • by Lxy ( 80823 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:41AM (#1304770) Journal
    I, as a nerd, am somewhat lazy at times. I also like things that when misused turn into interesting toys. And I like PEZ. The solution? A PEZ cannon. I've been working on the concept for a few months now, and finally I have the solution. Using Mindstorms, I connect my PEZ cannon to my PC at work. Need a PEZ? How about thirty? No problem!! And with a simple keystroke (perhaps Ctrl-Alt-P) a predefined number of PEZ come screaming at my face. It's all ingenious, don't you think?
  • by Bad_CRC ( 137146 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:41AM (#1304772)
    did this lego gun get the guy into college so he wouldn't have to take the SAT?
  • by SKicker ( 27704 )
    just a couple of questions that have niggled at me for a while..

    Why do some people call a pile of LEGO bricks, LEGO and others say LEGOs? What is the correct terminology?

    Does LEGO stand for anything?

    ok so its not facts vital to mankind but this is the kind of stuff i think about when i have insomnia....
  • Home security system? Frag that.. my cat had better mend his ways and stop demanding to be fed at 6.30 on weekends.. already have a mindstorms chassis that would accept something like this with a few modifications..

    And why shouldn't we use something creative to build a weapon? Usually it's the other way around.. if you don't keep things balanced in life you start getting an itchy feeling to get into politics..

  • by Lxy ( 80823 )
    Single brick==LEGO
    Multiple bricks==LEGOs

    Multiple bricks in a machine gun-like configuration==total family fun
  • by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:45AM (#1304776)
    First of all, the 30 round magazines are illegal. Of course, no non-military person needs such an extreme rate of fire! And don't even get me started on the fact that the plastic bits can be transported through the detectors at the airport. Heck, someone could hijack a plane by building the darned thing after they board!

    I know what you're thinking, if we outlaw LEGO then only outlaws will play with LEGO. But at what price? How many stories on the next Columbine do we need to hear from Katz before we wake up to the reality of how dangerous this can be? People can't be safe what with all these robots running around, now possibly armed.

    So write your Congress, the MPAA, and anyone else who can be swayed to abuse their power for no reason. Obviously this guy should be locked up since he is telling everyone how to make guns and providing the plans.

    :) TGIF!

  • That thing kicks ass! I wonder if I can make a decent case out of Legos. Hrmmmm.... Sharkey
    http://www.badassmofo.com [badassmofo.com]
  • Expect to see more stories from the Hellmouth - Pre-schoolers bringing Lego machine guns to school and shooting everyone up! Imagine: Drive-by Lego'ings in Power Wheels! No one will be safe.

    On the bright side, maybe the availibility of Lego machine guns will deter young terrorists from using actual firearms.
  • > Does LEGO stand for anything?

    It is short for 'Leg Godt', Danish for 'play well'.
  • Lego is Danish for "Play Well" or something like that.
    ---
  • by Anonymous Coward
    LEGO is an acronym for 'Leg Godt' (in danish), whitch translates to 'Play well'.
  • by Sjev ( 146833 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:53AM (#1304784)
    Nope.

    According to their creator, The Lego Company (formerly The Lego Group), they are "LEGO Bricks"; the term "Lego" is not to be used to refer to a brick nor "Legos" to multiple bricks.

    Also, the word LEGO is formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" ("play well").

    -Sjev

  • If a reporter were covering us (actually, one is), I wonder if it would figure in the article that, for all our interest in impassioned debate about education, the education story doesn't come back, but the legos get more coverage.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    What do you mean a little morbid? The whole lego atmosphere is morbid! Knights slaying dragons, Spaceships with guns, sharks in the water to eat any swimmer-bys, Lego-men with little guns for their little hands, and etc.

    Sure all of the guns were imaginary (rather than real as this one is), but they're still encouraging violence!
  • by Kaufmann ( 16976 ) <rnedal@olimpo.co ... r minus language> on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:54AM (#1304787) Homepage
    I was expecting a Lego-sized machine gun, to fit into those little hands. It'd be perfect for playing "LMI vs. Symbolics" (for the clue-impaired amongst you, an ancestral version of "BSD vs. GPL") with my Lego set.

    Anyway... does anyone remember that program that built Lego bridges using a genetic algorithm? Why not put it to use improving this machine gun? I bet in a few thousand generations it'd turn out a real weapon of mass destruction. Hell yeah!
  • I used to play Lego demolition derby, which consisted of each player building a vehicle and taking it in turns to ram your opponents, with last vehicle left mobile still winning.

    If I'd known my Lego vehicles could have projectile weapons my childhood would have been a lot more fun [and I'd probably have been seen by a lot of psychiatrists :-)].

    On terrestrial UK TV [can't remember the channel] there is a program called "Robot Wars" where teams of people build radio controlled vehicles whose aim is to demolish the other vehicle.

    It should be possible to create a similar type of competition involving designing Lego Mindstorm vehicles, only with no external interference allowed. Anyone ever tried this ?

  • According to LEGO, it is "LEGO brick" and "LEGO bricks". You are not to call them "LEGOs".

    Now, before this article was posted, I might have scoffed at the idea of enforcing that, but 500/minute's gotta sting...

  • by Pariah ( 88204 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @08:59AM (#1304792)
    Boy, this guy's a shoo-in at any of the schools which are using LEGO projects as admission criteria now. I can see it now:

    "Okay, uh, your Lego project doesn't really look much like it's supposed to, frankly we're a little disappointed in... Hey! Put that down! OK! You're in! You're in!"
  • First off why did you post as AC? The post is actually pretty thoughtful.
    1) ? that the plastic bits can be transported through the detectors at the airport
    This is true and sooner or later some dolt will try it.

    2) do we need to hear from Katz before we wake up to the reality of how dangerous this can be?
    you let the cat out of the bag! Betcha within a week or two Katz will have an article something along the lines of "Amerika, how Lego is contributing to the socialization of society."

    3) So write your Congress,
    This like everything else will have some muckety muck group to oppose it, led by some Hollywood activist type, I can see Steisand now, "The youth of our nation is at risk from Southpark and Lego, please members of the house subcommittee, you must put a stop to it".

    4) . Obviously this guy should be locked up since he is telling everyone how to make guns and providing the plans
    Also Betcha this will happen.

    Something so simple and yet there will be all the fuss about we need to protect ourselves from ourselves.

    Never knock on Death's door:

  • Here are some links:

    http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9706/28/super.gun/
    http ://www.metalstorm-ltd.com/
    http://www .odwyer-smartgun.com/entry.html

    From what I can tell, all this seems to be is an electronic firing system (think of a multi-barreled gun, with a bullet in each barrel, and each bullet wired to fire - hence no moving parts, high rate of fire - but not many bullets to fire).

    Personally, I think a machine gun would be better, as these devices seem to make you reload after only a few shots (4-6 in the handgun case, maybe 50 or so in the larger versions). In the case of a handgun, it might make a little sense - but for anything where you want to "hose" something for a little while, well...
  • The webserver on that machine is now entirely dead... I am getting an 80ms ping from that box though. :) I swear /. is the most deadly distributed denial of cervix application out there in existence to this date.

    ---
  • by Anonymous Coward
    This is a good preview for lego's new "domestic violence" line that's supposed to be debuting next year.
  • Let us be thankful that Hitler never had this power, although I bet they were working on it near the end.

    ---------------
    Go ping yourself


    ------------------------

  • Bill Clinton today annouced a bill that he will send to Congress requiring a 3 way waiting period and background check for the sale of LEGO's sets, and require that all LEGO's be sold with a locking case.

    In addition to the LEGO machine gun design posted on the web, Clinton cited the possible use of LEGO Mindstorm sets to plant terrorist devices.

    When pressed as to how a LEGO machine gun could pose a theat to American society, Clinton responded, "You could put an eye out with those things. We must protect the children!"

    Meanwhile, Al Gore, campaigning at a daycare in South Carolina, told kids that he "invented LEGOs."

  • Here is a link that better describes the process - this seems right:

    http://www.dig.bris.ac.uk/teaching/o_a_hf/ascott /ascott.htm

    Essentially what I said previously, except multiple bullets in the barrel, each seperated by a charge. The charges are electronically controlled (set off), the heat of the explosion expands the bullet behind it, keeping the heat from igniting the charges behind the next bullet. Rate of fire determined by barrel cooling, and rate at which bullets leave barrel.

    Better trust the software/hardware behind these devices - can you imagine what would happen if the wrong bullet was fired out of order (Oops! Where did my hand go!)...
  • by Anonymous Coward
    Your puny little lego popgun is a mere shadow of my uberpowerful 155mm tinkertoy howitzer
  • ... needs some help. Lego Machine guns are a thing from the past, try the new and improved LEGO howlitzer. It's capable of hitting LA from DC with over a thousand shards of LEGO, (formally known as "airplane wings")
  • by Jbrecken ( 107271 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @09:12AM (#1304805)
    Does LEGO stand for anything?

    It's an ancient word meaning "Thou shan't have my toaster waffle! Begone!"
  • by delevant ( 133773 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @09:12AM (#1304806)
    Whilst in college, an EE/ME friend and I tried to develop a project we called the "BeerMaster" -- a range-finding, direction-finding tabletop device, with a gravity-fed magazine of beer cans, and a compressed air launching mechanism.

    The basic idea was that if you'd shout "Beer Me!", the device would recognize your call, turn to face you, estimate distance, and launch a beer at you (which you'd naturally grab out of the air).

    We had a couple problems that made us give up development:

    • our targetting was poor. The device was able to direction-find pretty accurately, but the rangefinding wasn't very good -- it would frequently target the wall six feet behind you, or the like.
    • the launching mechanism required a fair bit of power, that made the device relatively unfeasible for normal home use. For example, we had to attach two cylinders of compressed air, and that didn't last long.
    • in order to get a clean launch, each can had to be placed in a "non-discarding sabot" -- a jacket that fit over each beer and provided a better fit against the launch mechanism. We only had one such jacket, 'cause it was a pain to make. Cans aren't terribly ballistic, as-is.
    • since we used compressed air, and we weren't really good at metering it, our launches were of irregular force. It was nearly impossible to get the can flying at exactly the right speed.
    In retrospect, we perhaps shouldn't have given up so easily, but when you've had a few too many cans shot at your head, you start to get spooked easily. Plus the cans were able to dent sheetrock, and therefore messed up our walls pretty badly.

    Anyone want to take up the effort? It'd be a cool party trick, but don't blame me if you kill someone.

  • Someone needs to snag that picture of a 2x4 brick and use it as the /. icon for Legos!
  • ...seems perfectly natural to me. But then again, I _did_ build a Lego trebuchet when I was a kid. It'd throw marbles about forty feet...

    Ah, the memories.... :)

    --WhiskeyJack

  • Now I have something to aim towards my Microsoft Certified Professional action figures....
  • by Anonymous Coward
    Hmmm, I fail to see why a lego gun is worse than a water gun....I read an article once by a woman who said she rejected gender stereotypes for her son, didn't want to encourage violence etc...so instead of toy guns she got him some barbie dolls. When he was three years old he popped around the corner one day, cradling the Barbie in his arms and pointing the little plastic feet at her, going "RATATATATATAT!!!" At which point she realized that some things are hardwired, and gave up the fight.
  • WE HAVE DETECTED A MOMENT OF CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION, CEASE AND DESIST ALL MERRY-MAKING AND RETURN TO OFFICIALLY APPROVED FUNTIMES.
  • Personally, I've always had serious thing for Ryoko. *drool*

    I said that; Slashdot fucked up. I'm very proud of my love for Ryoko, and I would never post such a thing AC intentionally.

    Ryoko, Ryoko, Ryoko! I'm geekier than Tenchi any day, baby! Get back here!

  • Some guy already did that, the link was at HardOCP [hardocp.com] awhile back (not sure where it is now though). It was pretty cool, especially the fact that he was asking to be sent more, because he had run out...and the color scheme left, uh, something to be desired. =]
  • by Speare ( 84249 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @09:20AM (#1304818) Homepage Journal

    Other useless trivia from LEGO.com's website:

    • The international LEGO Group was established in 1932 and is one of the worlds largest toy manufactorers, employing about 10,000 people in 50 companies in 30 countries. Did you know...


    • 4.9152 cm3 is the volume of an 8-stud LEGO brick. It measures 9.6 x 32 x 16 mm.

      Thousands of a mm - that's the tolerance of accuracy at the LEGO mould factories.

      102,981,500 are how many different ways there are to combine six 8-stud bricks of the same colour. If you haven't that much time, you can take three 8-stud bricks - same colour - and fit them together in 1,060 ways. Two 8-stud bricks - still the same colour - can be put together in 24 ways.

      203,000,000,000 (203 billion) LEGO elements or thereabouts - were moulded between 1949 and the end of 1998. Of these, 6.5 billion are eight-stud bricks. And 2.3 billion Mini figures have been moulded, decorated and assembled since 1978.
    ("O, 'LEGO bricks' is plural" =anagram> "Erg, I'll use 'pair o' blocks'.")

  • Ha! Wimp!

    When I was a kid I restricted my Leco buildign to weapons of mass destruction. Battleships, spaceships with big guns, even a model nuclear missile silo.

    However, I think the combination of a lego machine gun and a lego town with lots of lego people could be quite a bit of fun...
  • If I knew how, I'd create a LEGO BFG for Quake III or UT. Now that's fragalicious!
  • couple this with a little mindstorm inventiveness and you have hours of fun and enjoyment (pain?). I have already programming my mindstorm bot to chase our black cat around the apartment.
    Ouch* ....
    Just got a mental picture of my poor cat getting pelted by volleys of high speed legos.
  • This is pretty neat and all, but did it need to be posted in an article by it's self? Maybe it would have been better suited with CmdrTaco's quickies (man I miss those)?

    I don't know why this was moderated as "offtopic"; I agree completely. While it's a cool link, is it really deserving of its own story? It really is quickie material.

    Now come on, bitches! Moderate me down to "-5!"

  • This entire article is a fraud!

    It's powered by a rubber band, not LEGOs. (Though I guess if you strached one of the little rubber tires on a LEGO car set, you might be able to make it work)

    Since the power source is a rubber band, the premise of the story is false, in that I could make a real gun out of LEGO's as long as I am willing to use black powder as my power source. (or in the case mentioned in another thread, plutonium for a LEGO A-bomb, though it is MUCH harder to get than rubber bands)

  • I had already posted something else earlier and didn't want to look like I was hogging I guess. Glad to see people enjoyed it. I really liked some of the other responses better myself.

    Cheers!
  • Moderation Totals:Lawsuit Bait=1, Insightful=1, Geekvalue=5 Total=7.

    Never knock on Death's door:

  • by drox ( 18559 )
    'nuff said.
  • It's in one of the trolls a few aticles back.

    Look for "She's finally naked, now let's go for petrified!" I think they're on (seriously) www.badassmofo.com.
    If you can't figure out how to mail me, don't.
  • Am I the only one who thinks that Slashdot should add a Legos section?

    --

  • What's really fun though is to build a functioning A-Bomb out of the Lego Town Uranium Processing Plant kit. (those uranium bricks are a collectors item now - wish I'd kept mine)

    ;)
  • I'm thinking you take a few of the machine-gun guy's LEGO Toy Canyons [shore.net], one of his guns, and this six-legged walker [cornell.edu] ... pick a battlefield, and go forth and conquer. :)

    Which brings up the question: is there a way to get some Crusoe chips into these, set up TCP/IP, and have the battles remotely via webcams?

    --

  • When I was a lil' munchkin, I used to build "bombs" out of popsickle sticks. It would just be a bunch of popsickle sticks arranged so that it was all held together by tension. If you removed or dislodged one stick, they whole thing would lose tension and fly apart, scattering sticks everywhere.

    Just throwing it or having someone "accidently" step on it was enough to make it "explode."


    ---
  • Actually, I bought a LEGO Technic set *cough* for my son *cough* the other day, and it came with several rubber bands for use in the steering mechanism. Sure, they're not bricks, but they *did* come with a LEGO set.
  • It must be hard to rationalize your ludicrous notions with reality. For example, the Libertarian Party [lp.org], which vehemently defends all of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, not just the popular ones (ACLU, I'm looking at you).

    If only you'd get a brain and not confuse "white supremecists" with "gun nuts", you might make a little more sense.

    Somebody please moderate down this ignorant troll.

  • Yeah this brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Lego my Eggo'. ;)

    I am thinking that in a few weeks there will be a rash of Lego devestated Eggo's found in a dumpster somewhere.
  • by 348 ( 124012 ) on Friday February 04, 2000 @10:13AM (#1304843) Homepage
    You guys didn''t take it far enough. Just having some little imaginary battles is only the beginning. Sort of like the difference between playing with a few matchbox cars and SimCity 2K, I took it a little further and created a Lego society. Below is just a sampling of our Lego Bill of Rights.

    Amendment I
    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of a Lego gun, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of Lego firearms, or of Lego Copying; or the right of the little Lego people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

    Amendment II
    A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the Lego people to keep and bear Lego Arms, shall not be infringed.

    Amendment III
    No Lego-armed Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

    Amendment IV
    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and Lego, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or Lego to be seized.

    Amendment V
    No person shall be held to answer for a Lego, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the Lego land or Lego naval forces, or in the Lego Militia, when in actual service in time of Lego War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in Lego jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of Lego, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private Lego property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

    Amendment VI
    In all criminal Lego prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial Lego jury of the State and district wherein the Lego crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Lego Counsel for his defense.

    Amendment VII
    In suits at common Lego law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by Lego jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a Lego jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Lego Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the Lego common law.

    Amendment VIII
    Excessive Lego bail shall not be required, nor excessive Lego fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual Lego punishments inflicted.

    Amendment IX
    The enumeration in the Lego Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the Lego people.

    Amendment X
    The powers not delegated to the Lego States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the Lego States respectively, or to the Lego people.

    Never knock on Death's door:

  • (another special from Jon Dogz)

    After a recent article on Slashdot regarding Lego Machine Guns, there has been a proliferation of violence connected with small plastic blocks in our society. Indeed, the Anarchist's Cookbook has added several chapters on Lego Weaponry, including a simple example of how to create a critical mass of certain Legos with intent to create cold fusion as a power source for a Lego rail-gun. There are record numbers of children in our schools that have been impaled with these ordinarily "fun" toys since this last report.

    Several ofthe most extreme cases involve a preschool and an airplane. Little Private Burrito (an unfortunate name) went to preschool one day, with great expectations of play time, only to be struck repeatedly with high-speed Legos from his (former) friend Humis' Lego gun. Several other children were bloodied, and almost 90% of the class wet their pants during this event. We cannot continue to allow such things in the hands of babes...

    But in the hands of adults, Legos are even more dangerous. Jaques Strappe recently hijacked an airliner, with over 75 people on board, using a modified rapid-fire semi-automatic Lego Gun. Though no passengers were hurt, several first class travelers were apparently shouting such things as "Golly!" and "Lordy, Lordy!". After he was apprehended, Strappe claimed to have found the plans for his weapon on the Internet. No lawsuits have been filed against Lego or Slashdot/Andover/VA as of yet, but you can be sure that there are many to come...

  • how long until some terrorists decide to modify this and hijack a plane ? getting plastic toys through airport security would be no problem.

  • When I was a kid, I...
    • Had massive Lego castle wars with my brothers
    • Had Lego car ramming competitions
    • Built Lincoln Log houses and launched smaller Lincoln Logs at them with a crude Lincoln Log catapult
    • Made crossbows out of Tinker-Toys and rubber bands
    I think you just had a boring childhood. :)
  • Yeah, machine guns are a bit morbid. So was every kid I played with as a child. We'd stack the 8x4 bricks to make a hollow "sphere" (more like a cube with protrusions) to make grenades, which we'd lob at each other. They'd shatter on impact! I think I'd rather get shot by a 2x4 brick than have a lego grenade nail my head.

    I don't have many childhood memories. Go Figure.

  • There are so many "lego" stories on slashdot, why not make a category and icon specifically for legos. I'll make the the icon if you want.
  • I think I'll come up with my own encryption algorithm based on this. Do the US export laws prevent me from sending information out about 6x8 stud encryption?

    And how many colors are LEGO bricks available in anyway?


  • Right-wing anti-lego bumper stickers...

    When LEGOs are banned, only criminals will have LEGOs.

    You can have my LEGOs when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers.

    LEGOs don't kill people, ... DUPLOs kill people.

    The first amendment assures each citizen's right to bear LEGOs.

    I DO support a 5 day waiting period to purchase LEGO Mindstorm kits.
  • Next.... the Lego warhead.
  • Slashdot moderators need to start looking at timestamps on responses. If someone asks a question and two people reply with exactly the same answer at almost exactly the same time, then I would hardly call that redundant.

    Now if I had answered ten minutes later after reading all of the responses, then moderate me down and ruin my karma, otherwise don't be such an ass and mess with my karma you bastards!

    Taco, FIX THIS! A double mod of Redundant is redundant and as such the moderators should lose karma points at the same time.
    ---
  • This just screams for an ABM (anti-beerlistic missile) made of legos. Think of the fun the campus cops could have with that!
  • I used Lego's to build a model of 'Little Boy' (implosive a-bomb) for a high-school project once. We had been asked to write an essay about a historically significant bit of technology, and have at least one example of it for illustrative purposes. Kept the model in a metal box next to the desk whilst reading the essay for effect. (The effect was a trip down to the principal's office for a discussion on 'why nukes are BAD!')

    The only challenges I see are getting Lego to produce the explosive bricks needed for the lenses,(TNT does not lend itself to modern hi-temp injection moulding!) and then getting them to produce a Lego timing module capable of signalling thousands of 1x1 Lego M1 detonator bricks. The enriched uranium bricks could probably be bought for a couple of tins of Spam on the Russian black market.. (We only need 20 kilos) Lego currently makes the 'urchin' device; it's in set 107; Jr. Atomic Scientist's Secret Lab.
  • I wondered the same. Fortunatly i got moderated back up one too. I thought it was right on topic :-)

    I don't think they knew what I was talking about.
  • find your lack of faith disturbing Darth Vader on the subject of open sourcing the death star plans

    This is funny, If the DeathStar plans would have been open source from the begining then they most likely would have found the ventelation duct security hole before the actual construction of the thing started. Wow, maybe open source isn't such a good idea. If the DeathStar plans were open source the Rebles would not have made it out of that battle alive.

    NO MORE OPEN SOURCE THE EVIL EMPIRE WILL USE IT AGAINST US!!!!!

    Grin
  • heh, well, i would argue that the reason this kid turned the barbie to a machine gun is not genetics but the other cultural stimuli, such as movies and television which literally steam-rolled any gender-typing that may have been going on with hawaii-fun-barbie.

    :P
  • just a couple of questions that have niggled at me for a while..

    careful, use of this word has recently come under fire because it looks and sounds like another word


  • Now all we need are LEGO-proof vests to protect you against other people with LEGO machine guns.

    --
    Why aren't we using the LEGO icon?
  • This is not good! Now Lego's are going to be on the top ten list of dangerous toys for Christmas from here on out...

    Now all we need to do is manufacture Lego's out of C4 and then the fun will really begin.

    Imagine the Lego howitzer, mortar launcher, or Tank cannon....

    The possibilities are endless. Couple it with that really cool Lego mindstorm stuff and we've just given playtime a whole new definition of fun.

  • it would have been really tragic if this transvestite young lad tried to rob a bank armed only with his barbie and a few "ken doll head grenades"
    --------------------------------------- -----
  • Mister Jones quietly got up and moved towards the planes restroom, taking his briefcase with him.
    Closing and latching the door, he opened the case and withdrew the harmless lego spaceship within..... With a surgeons skills, he quickly broke down the miniture space craft and reassembled it into a deadly KarrLegaCannon and readed himself to take the cockpit..

    Next Tom Clancy book?
  • I once made a lego machine gun that shot an assembly of a 2x1 flat brick with the ridges in it and a 2x2 flat brick underneath with a 2x2 gear connected to my motor. The Technic gears fit nicely into the ridges, as long as there's only one bump-worth of them. The fire rate was poor because I couldn't get the "bullets" out of the holder fast enough. Also, aiming was limited, because I had to point it down to get the bullets out, then point it to where I wanted to shoot, while the thing came out. Those things do get accelerated pretty fast, though. Not much of a range, I guess my batteries were weak at that point.
  • Technics ROCKED for stuff like that. If you could make an 10 unit (or longer) axle go straight (slightly harder than I originally thought when I did it), it's easy to use the old 4.5V motor to just drive it out at a decent speed.
    Of course, fast isn't fast enough for me. Set up a small gearbox to go with that, and you'll still have enough torque to get by with nothing more than wheels after that.

    The best part? You can make it LOOK like a crossbow, but it'll fire like a submachine gun at the very slowest. At the fastest? I never measured, but drop in loading and nearly instant firing are enough to make *me* happy.
    Christopher Kalos
  • "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
    -Albert Einstein

    It will obviously be fought with Legos...

  • Ok, Now my Robot AI script will be for IRC, Quake, File Filtering, and An Unyholy Army of Legos.

    Now think on this: Might this be just how the Matrix "AI" was born? This is what sparked the War! Soon people will discover how to make rapid-fire 1x1 unstopable Lego Bricks make from depleted uranium!
    These things will fire faster than the speed of sound!

    "Alright, this is Blacktron 7843, We're ready with the new Beam Cannon"

    "Roger that 7843, You are Authorized"

    [Cannon Fires a Stream of Lego Bricks, The Base security Shatters, The Base Shatters, The Platform the base was on shatters, The Plane that was on splits in half and flies off in both directions, The Floor gets driven through and it kills your sister who was working on the computer downstairs at the time. Because You had a Lego Mindstorm AI controlling the Cannon, It re-targets and blows apart the walls, sending the roof crashing down, But it's not over yet- this rocked, you used glue, little bricks start breaking windows and splitting trees, A stray one catches the air and knocks out a plane's engine, The plane crashes about a mile away, And your gun- It's still firing, The whol area is in devestation or chaos, with your dying breath you manage to say, "7843: successful"]

    Mwuahahahah.
    Yes, I can dream. And you cant stop me. Dont even bother trying.
  • This page is taking a while to load due to slashdotting, so I figured I'd be nice and put up a mirror.

    Just so you know, I changed it to an ASP file. This is only so I could add a counter script that I wrote to it. And yes, this means this mirror is being hosted on an NT box. Take that however you will.

    Anyway, the mirror is at http://silverlight.org/cray/lego/ [silverlight.org]

  • Darnit...my counter script doesn't work on this server. Shoulda tested that first, eh? Anyway, I'll be replacing it with a crappy LinkExchange counter shortly.
  • G.W. Junior ("Shrub") said that in reference to gwbush.com [gwbush.com], a satirical web site that broadly made fun of "Shrub's" vapidity, rumors about his "youthful" cocaine use, etc. "Shrub" doesn't believe that the First Amendment covers making fun of him on a web site. He feels political commentary is going too far. What an airhead.

    Yours WDK - WKiernan@concentric.net

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