The little guy at home would probably rank his “ogo” bricks as among the top 5 of his toys — not surprisingly, it was named Toy of the Century by Fortune and the British Toy Retailers association. A BusinessWeek article “The Making of…a LEGO” traces the history and details of the company and the product. One little known factoid? LEGO is the #1 tyre manufacturer in the world! ;-)

The bricks are so meticulously made that the company claims that out of every 1 million elements made, just 18 will be declared defective and removed from the set. Impressive numbers, considering that the LEGO Group is producing 15 billion components a year—that’s 1.7 million items an hour, or 28,500 a minute. Tire production accounts for some of that number; the factory also produces 306 million tiny rubber tires a year. In fact, going by that number, LEGO is the world’s No. 1 tire manufacturer.

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Two things, in my opinion, define the post-socialist, post-communal turn (1980 onwards) more than others: 1) Competition and 2) Reductionism. They are the result of an unholy combination of scientism and capitalism (hyper-individualism). The former (hyper-competition) pits us against each other relentlessly, both by pushing to the extremes the effects of success and failure, and emphasising competition over co-operation in theoretical frameworks (social darwinism and so on). Reductionism and scientism disfavour holistic approaches and understanding, limiting knowledge (and the action arising from it) to the immediately quantifiable. The following bit of news is a small demonstration of the pitfalls of such an approach:

Childhood ends earlier as parents pressure children, says survey | Guardian

[...]

[A] report released from the Institute for Public Policy Research supported the notion that pushing children too hard at a young age can backfire.

Academic results themselves do not ensure a higher income, and too much focus on them can inhibit social development and confidence, it said.

With apologies for the editorialising ;-).

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[again via Sivacracy] 

Jackson Pollock by Miltos Manetas lets you paint your own Pollock. This was fun to see, especially for a Pollock-hater like me, but then I realized, what an interesting play area for a child. Point your browser at the URL and let your child click away and make his own Pollock!

Remember to use your mouse buttons too!

Boing Boing: Plastic shell delights kids, mystifies grups

With apologies to my single friends, an entry for the “Dude, what the hell?!” category just so it gets indexed by Google:

REI Tagalong Child Carrier from REI.com

Have a baby? Like to hike? Before you go out and buy that expensive Kelty backpack baby carrier, take a gander at the REI Tagalong. I should warn that having paid my $15 lifetime membership fee, I am part of the REI co-op, so vested interest alert ;-). The Tagalong feels lighter than the lightest Kelty, and:

• Has a bunch of shoulder positions for the straps
• Opens wide to make putting baby in easier
• Is only $99
• Fits better if you have a smaller frame
• Kickstand opens wider making it more stable when set down

Some of the Kelty’s have a bit better padding for the baby.