Leaderboard

My wife said they would have been better if they left the classic characters out of these. They were wasted and it felt like they were shoe horned in.

I wanted to create a new thread in order to give progress on my site updates. I want explain a bit on what happened and what I am doing. What happened with the site? Honestly nothing really exciting or dramatic, overall in the end, I did not want to support the host I was with for the past four years after not really offering too much help with managed servers. They would spend 30 seconds looking, say they can ping the server so its up and then just say, "hey not my problem". I was on aging hardware, paying the same amount of money, so I took the opportunity to move to a new host with better/faster hardware and a staff that does help to support you when run into an issue that you can't handle on your own. I have been doing this a long time and pretty good monitoring and handling 99% of what comes my way, but there are issues that you need the next level up to help figure out what to do. I wasn't getting anything like that, but paying for it. Not anymore. What my goal is... I know more than anyone that the site needed some TLC. It's been a while since I have done any drastic updates, the site looked tired and I know the site can be so much better than what it's current state was. LEGO investing has changed since Ed and I launched the site and it's time to remove the dead content and bring more of what people are looking for. Below is the short term list of items planned for updating. I have been working on the nightly, just like the early days and enjoying seeing parts of it coming to life. Fix the login. This has been messed up and quirky for a while. This has been resolved and working well. It's a simple thing overall, but nice that it actually works how it's supposed to Overall price guide site design update. The site was tired and disjointed. I hated it and pained me to look at it. Time to start over. Brickfolio update. All the Brickfolio data is safe. I have close to three million rows of data for Brickfolio entries. Time to bring this thing to 2020. I will probably create another thread at some point to solicit some feedback on some new requests for the brickfolio Fix the data syncing with Brickset. A lot of people used this feature, but it's time to make it work the way it should. Later I will work on the content portions. The news and blogs. I have some good ideas for this, but want to get the price guide and brickfolio to you sooner than later. What I am asking for if possible... If you can, please stop asking where the brickfolio is. Again, the data is safe and I am working as fast as I can to bring it all back to you. It won't be a few days, but more like a few weeks, but it will be worth it. I setup my dev environment to push releases quick and easy. I want to create a true changelog so that you can follow updates to see what was done/fixed/new/removed, you know like what real software companies do. I really do appreciate your patience with this. It wasn't planned, but if there was going to be a time to do it, it was going to be now.

Facetime, Skype and similar apps and similar apps will become very important over the next few months. But parents will be important as well. My wife has been laying out the daily work and game plan for my son. He thinks it is Fortnite all day. He has another thing coming...

My daughter is an aerialist as some of you know. Turned professional about 6 months ago. Works for a local entertainment company. All of their jobs were cancelled for the next 2 months for the most part. Most jobs included night clubs, corporate functions, weddings, school proms, sports and community events so none of that going on now. For some that is their full time income so obviously they will have to look for other work in the time being. As far as training which is demanding to keep up the required strength a lot of the gyms they train at have gone to reduced training without normal classes. More of a one person per apparatus type thing and then cleaning of that apparatus for the next day so no one else comes in contact with it. Thinking about getting her a portable rig so she can train on her own out our warehouse until things resume to normal and so that she's ready to go physically when things do resume. Lots of changes in all aspects of life right now. Crunch time during senior year with prom being cancelled that was next week and graduation not to far off its a lot on the kids to adjust to as well. Exams and AP credit towards college will be interesting to see how it gets implemented if the school year is lost or goes to far past to where they could make that up. Schools have been sending out some preliminary ideas to where they may do the AP exams in early summer and make sure the colleges accept them so that the students still get credit towards their college hours. Important to be there for them as parents and keep them positive. you'd be surprised how many teachers were not prepared for something like this. Some seem to struggle to actually teach in classrooms these days with most kids learning themselves on their own time.

It also plays politically in our sound bite society. In this particular case, the public only hears that members of Party A opposed a bill that should be a “no reason to oppose” type of bill. Meanwhile, members of Party B put something completely unrelated into the bill.

Agreed. I understand the need for nostalgia & old characters to appear in the name of cash grab, but there are other in universe ways to achieve their inclusion. They could have made movies that took place 100 years after RotJ. The original characters could have appeared via 3D Jedi holocron or archival videos. Heck, make a holodeck training room like in Star Trek and have hologram Luke, Leia, or even Yoda teach Rey. I mean, what if in his old age, Han created an instructional video on how to be a smuggler, complete with instructions to fly a MF? A young junk trader watches that video everyday and dreams to fly away from her dessert hellhole of a planet. etc etc etc That 100 years also would have given the writers room to make up a bunch of believable s**t on why the new Republic was thriving/failing/invaded/corrupted (pick one or all). ie some kind of reason why FO existed. That 100 years would have been an ample time to create books, TV series, prequels, in other words to make a new SW universe The lack of creativity in writing is baffling. There were so many possibilities and they picked the laziest one

My grandad used to joke( I assume) that in the field military received a single T.P. square, poked finger through, wiped ass with finger ,and then used square to wipe finger off. It's taken some practice but I'm starting to get the hang of it!

This IS my social media and as such I hope we stay on track, remain refreshingly civil, share info and converse without judgement or name calling. BRICKPICKER is sooo much more than it appears on the surface to the members that have navigated several historical moments together. Lets remain the oasis we all require for mature thinking and sanity in these uncertain and stressful times. Look after family and friends and enjoy some hobbies new and old.

Except for the 20% of the kids in the USA that don’t have it.

The last episode (Bridges) was my favorite so far:) I believe our (AFOL) general consensus was once fewer contestants remain better they would get with the techniques explaining. Episodes like this can hold the weight of my expectations! Here's hoping it gets a few more seasons 🍻

Ah the ol' fecal oral transmission. Brings back great memories

A great video relating to what ‘exactly’ makes you gag.

Yes this is an intelligent virus it knows the difference between games and practice. Maybe he is planning on keeping them 6 feet apart doing sprints and drills I would think that would be fine but at times like these we should turn towards the experts. I don’t know how to time stamp link but at 45 seconds he provides “The Answer”

When the word "emergency" appears anywhere in a bill, these lawmakers will tack on a lot of things not associated with the crisis at hand. This is because they know there will be no time for debates and or scrutiny so the bill will likely pass. Both the Democrats and Republicans do this and this is one of the reasons the government keep getting bigger and bigger unnecessarily

This all started in a market where people come to buy live animals to have them slaughtered and taken to a restaurant/home for food. Talking vendors keeping live cages of live bats/rats/chickens/pigs/boars/snakes/goats/god knows what else all stacked on top of each other. All along with anything imaginable dragged up from the depths, live seafood ready to be slaughtered. this is the origin. As scary as it seems this is the perfect environment for viruses to mutate and jump to humans(Zoonic Transfer) Its already proven this is a native(naturally occurring) strain. Many lead Virologist, pathologist, epidemiologist, etc all agree. If it was planted created put in to place, etc as you claim, it could have been way more severe and rather than contained in moisture could have been actually air borne. think about that for a second.

Added to my Endgame compound battle scene. Been pulling figures from other sets, such as Sanctum, Hulkbuster smash, both Ant-Man sets, and a few others, as I have gotten them. Cap, Black Widow, and all the guardians are on a different display shelf, need to get dupes of those for the battle, as well as more outriders/chitauri and a few missing villains. Compound set itself was a decent build, could have been much better. Good clearance find after the holidays

By the way: Maybe someone could talk to those Chinese gourmets that have now brought us at least THREE nasty viruses because they seem to eat any animal that fits into their cooking pot? Maybe they could just stick to eating more normal, non-pandemic-suspicious stuff. I mean, wouldn't that help a lot concerning possible future virus threats?

The Stand...anyone?

A different view... https://newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/compared-to-what

Dont let this first few steps downward fool you. The economy will be going down to the ground. We now are at the beginning of a worldwide recession if not a depression. Only strong economies will turn out alright in 3-4 years. This **** is hitting us a lot harder thann 2001/2008....

Yep...Send the kids in Summer. My son got a ton of work that has to be done everyday by 3:00PM, just like regular school. All the teachers have sent in work and have online communication. This is where the internet will shine.

This caused my wife to panic, thinking about our son, who is an at-risk reader (reading below grade level). We're not in Ohio, but even the thought of the schools being closed for the rest of the school year can be panic-inducing. If that happens, I hope some serious thought goes into how we address this. Get rid of summer vacation, or something. Kids can't lose out on half of their current school year's education. Ice Hockey and Little League are shut done until April 5th as well in SoCal. Funny enough, our small dance academy, where the daughter dances, is not closed (for now).

heh probably not suitable for BPer to post that clip

Clerks, you never go...

"After that, US President Donald Trump apparently tries to lure German scientists to America with high financial donations or to secure the drug exclusively for his country. Trump is doing everything possible to get a vaccine for the United States. "But only for the United States," the newspaper quotes an anonymous source"

target has Harry Potter, Duplo , Princess and Minecraft on 20% off sale. Hogwarts for $80. quidditch for $31.99. amazon matching on most but is currently out of stock on hogwarts and quidditch is target exclusive. make prices more attractive burning target gift cards built up during household essential hoarding and last gc deal.

This. Plus there was little time for any debate.

Nobody knows yet. Best guess seems to be middle of May or early June if you read the tea leaves.

Nope. These were their original hours before the 24 hour craziness of business Many stores used to be closed on Sundays too. We will all be just fine without 24 hour stores.

I agree on the eating part. Disgusting. I don't agree on blaming these people for this virus though. We don't now nothing about it. Maybe it was a Bioweapon, nobody can prove it wasn't. The US did some f***** up things to remain powerful, this may be the 197th f***** up thing they did.

A lot of stuff out there right now and most of it is bull shit. People on TV and on social media are capitalizing on the fear. You have to sift thru the crap. I shut off the TV because I cannot take the biased BS right now. It's not helping. I can see how the media changes the goal posts when they report something. When something good happens, they attack something else. An example of local rumor mongering...My local Facebook town thread had all these stories about the local Shop Rite closing because of lack of food and fights and crazy behavior from customers. I spoke with the local cops (they are my wash customers) and they said nothing happened at all. Even the local people are spreading rumors and false information. On another note, here is an interesting article by a few doctors fromJohns Hopkins and Stanford about a possible preventative drug... https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTi-g18ftNZUMRAj2SwRPodtscFio7bJ7GdNgbJAGbdfF67WuRJB3ZsidgpidB2eocFHAVjIL-7deJ7/pub

I am practicing social media distancing during this virus: staying as far away from social media as I can.

New LEGO RAFFLE PRIZE: Case of toilet paper and Purell!!!

I'm very concerned about the economy. Online sales have nosedived the last few weeks. My in house sales are doing better which I find odd. The liquidation side will be good as people will need deals on items they need for their family. The high end sales will be there cause the rich will still be rich but those are always a smaller percentage. The bulk of orders are probably middle class though so a huge chunk will be gone if people are having money issues. Not talking just LEGO as I sell everything as most know. Doing less than 10 orders a day is not fun...

I don't think this is so easy to just brush off. I know one small business owner that just moved into a new, larger space last summer to expand her business. Her service-related business is linked with the school calendar, so when the local school district closed, she had to close. She has struggled with staffing all winter, relying on college-age kids mostly. Now, the local colleges are closed and 1/4 of her staff is not coming back even if she can re-open in 1-2 weeks, and they will be tough to replace with only 6-8 weeks left in her season. Faced with losing 1/4 of her clients (that the missing staff supported) and a build-out loan on her back, she's on the razor's edge financially, and muses about declaring bankruptcy in her darker moments. Hers is a classic case of why having 3-6 months of cash-on-hand to cover basic expenses in an emergency is a good rule to follow. If she had that, she'd be fine. But she doesn't, and doesn't have time now to build it up. How many people are in a similar situation? The common statistic I hear is that 70% have less that $1k saved, and live paycheck to paycheck. My sense is that most folks on this board are risk takers that have an entrepreneurial bent. Building a business is something we can all relate to. Quite a few of us are probably on stronger footing, but maybe some are in similar situations? Although I hope for the best, our local lock-down could mean the death of my friends business. The result truly depends on how long the lock-down lasts. p.s. If you like a local small business, buy a gift card or two to help them weather the storm.

I just registered www.buttpicker.com

"The World Health Organization has announced that dogs cannot contract Covid-19. Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released. To be clear, WHO let the dogs out."

Can anyone link a credible scientific source that compares the OVERALL OUTCOME (so not just deaths but everything economically, socially, ...) between: A. What the world will look like in 1 year from now with countries and people doing what they are doing now (closing down schools/ shops/ events/ everything else, quarantine, leading (together with other reasons) to a stock market crash, global recession, millions of people losing their jobs, and so forth - all that going on for maybe even up to a year. and B. What the world would have looked like 1 year from now if - together with some small adjustments and very exact information of the public right from the beginning - the pandemic would just have been "allowed to happen" and "go over as quickly as possible" while not limiting the economic and public life in any way? I have never heard anything anywhere about scenario B, which seems odd since we are talking about a virus with a relatively low infectiousness / morbidity / mortality rate.

Perhaps the Macks have abandoned the Brickfolio and are instead building a TP Tracker. 😛

New Study Finds That Toilet Paper Is A Better Investment Than Gold

TFW you realize the MOC you've been planning would look best with ~50 pieces in a long-out-of-production color, which is currently trending at $2/ea on bricklink. 😞

Always liked Rebels Lego sets. 75157 was the first Clone Wars-ish vehicle I’ve ever build. Pretty decent set. Good old’ Capt. Rex.

Classic Space Pirates by captainsmog

Bob Ross by Julius von Brunk

Dude, I'm Gen X. When we start caring about anything everyone should be worried. 😂

Trump pouting refuses to meet with speaker of the house, because clearly his temper tantrum is more important than keeping Americans safe. Lol you can’t make this stuff up, it’s really that unbelievable.

Bookshelf Library by gotoAndLego

Gio might not speak english well, and while it is tiresome to hear people ask (again & again), he does start off by apologizing, and then wonders if there was any specific time frame, and then he expressed that he was thankful.

have you not had the talk with your kids yet about where milk comes from?

I'm more excited for SW to move onto the small screen in long-form serials like The Mandalorian. The movies are too short to give proper treatment to all that is possible in the SW universe. I just hope that someone goes back and mines the Dawn of the Jedi/early Old Republic stories. Sent from my SM-G965U using Brickpicker Forum mobile app