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Danish toymaker Lego Group today issued a pre-emptive apology to Muslims around the world for the appearance a second time since spring - via e-mail and on numerous Web sites - of an authentic-looking Lego box showing the prophet Mohammed in a sexually compromising position, company officials said. "The picture of the box is computer manipulated and in the picture Lego elements are used to depict the Prophet Mohammed in a situation of a sexual nature - with a severely offensive text," Charlotte Simonsen, Lego's head of corporate communications, said in a company statement. Lego operates its headquarters for North...

Danish toy maker Lego Group said Tuesday it will end its production in Enfield, Conn., and lay off 300 people there in early 2007, while some 900 employees in Denmark will also be let go over the next three years. The production in Enfield is to be moved to Mexico, the group said in a statement. Along with the 300 production layoffs, the distribution facility in Enfield will also be affected, Lego said, without providing details. At Lego's headquarters in Denmark, up to 900 production employees will lose their jobs over the next three years as nearly a third of...

Building A Calculating Machine Using LEGO Carol's LEGO Difference Engine 2. (click for larger image) History Before the day of computers and pocket calculators all mathematics was done by hand. Great effort was expended to compose trigonometric and logarithmic tables for navigation, scientific investigation, and engineering purposes.In the mid-19th century, people began to design machines to automate this error prone process. Many machines of various designs were eventually built. The most famous of these machines is the Babbage Difference Engine. Because of engineering issues as well as political and personal conflict the Babbage Difference engines construction had to wait until...

I saw someone paste this in a chat. It looks like some guy has taken over 7,000 legos to create a mosaic of Bush's portrait. Seems like a good thing to hang in a window in a blue town :

Calif. (AP) - The California Institute of Technology is making a little green off the red planet. Caltech, which runs the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA, patented the twin rovers it sent to investigate the surface of Mars and is licensing their images for commercial use. Models of the six-wheeled Spirit rover are already on store shelves. Caltech has inked three deals so far and expects perhaps three more. Officials of the private university didn't say how much money they hope to make, but pledged to donate half to educational outreach programs and the rest for Caltech research. "We did...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish toy maker Lego, which has its North American headquarters in Enfield, said Thursday it was expecting a $237.6 million pretax loss, the worst in the privately held company's 72-year history. The company, whose colored plastic building blocks have been a favorite children's toy for decades, fired executive vice president and chief operating officer Poul Plougmann over failed marketing strategies. Lego also dismissed Francesco Ciccolella, who was responsible for corporate development. Additionally, the company said it would possibly lay off some of its 8,000 workers worldwide. Lego has several retail outlets in the United States and a...

Date Released: Saturday, August 09, 2003 Air Force Materiel Command U.S. Air Force Request for Information - Space Lego Project General Information Document Type: Special Notice Solicitation Number: RFI-SpaceLego Posted Date: Aug 07, 2003 Original Response Date: Sep 08, 2003 Original Archive Date: Sep 23, 2003 Current Archive Date: Classification Code: 18 -- Space vehicles Contracting Office Address Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AFRL, Space Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland AFB, 2251 Maxwell Ave, Kirtland AFB, NM, 87117 Description The Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate is soliciting information and follow-up discussions to support research and development...