This was posted some time ago on my MLN page.. I just found the pics today  while looking for something else and decided to share them here
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50 Years Ago, Lego Invented The Wheel



It was 50 years ago, in April of 1962, that primitive lego-cave-dwelling minifigs first developed the wheel. This ranks among the greatest milestones in Lego history since early minifig society first figured out how to smelt raw plastic ore into Lego bricks.

Since then, Lego has produced so many wheels they're the largest tire manufacturer in the world, making 381 million per year.

That first set, code 400, was released in 1962 and was pretty much just wheels. Those early wheels — white tires, separate axles that fit into any side of a special 4x2 block — replaced sets that had small, non-Lego-like toy cars.

I had a very early hand-me-down set of Legos (only three colors!) with such cars, and while they were great (little Volkswagens with steel wheels!) they can't match the versatility of a true Lego car, and all the possibilities that means.


Since that time, there's been all manner of Lego wheel development, from the usual heavy-tread wheels on the 2x2 plate to big bulbous ones for moon rovers, to motorized wheel assemblies, all the way up to Lego's largest wheel, the 4.2" monster on the Power Puller set.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I'm going to reveal for the first time ever the super-secret method I developed as a child to make vehicles wider than what the common 2x2 Lego wheel unit would allow. Ready? Take the wheel unit, remove one of the tires, leaving one tired wheel and one red hub. Use those on the sides of your larger-width car, separated from the base of the car with a flat spacer piece. There you go — the secret to making wider Lego cars with the Legos I had in the 1980s that I'm sure no one has ever ever thought of.

It’s with a heavy heart that I share emerging news that fellow LEGO fan Heather Braaten’s body was discovered yesterday afternoon.

Thank you to everyone who helped get the word out last week that she was missing.
If you’re interested in learning about local arrangements for services, please join the SEALUG mailing list or keep an eye on news here in Seattle.

Our thoughts are with Heather’s family and friends.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/264405843648488/


A note for Heather's Family.. I hope it is a short time until your happy memories of Heather push away the sadness you now feel.

When somebody dies, a cloud turns into an angel and flies up to tell God to put another flower on a pillow.
A bird gives the message back to the world, and sings a silent prayer that makes the rain cry.
People disappear, but they never really go away.
The spirits up there put the sun to   bed, wake up grass, and spin the   earth in dizzy circles.
Sometimes you   can see them dancing in a cloud during   the day-time,
when they're supposed to be sleeping.
They paint the rainbows and also the sunsets and make waves splash and tug at the tide.
They toss shooting stars and listen to Wishes.

And when they sing wind- songs,
they whisper to us, don't   miss me too much.
The view is nice   and I'm doing just fine.

Hugs,
Mary

Toy Tower: World's Tallest Lego Structure Soars Over Brazil


Building a tower that rises more than 100 feet isn't child's play -- even when you're using Legos.

Blockheads in Sao Paulo, Brazil, have reportedly constructed the world's tallest Lego tower. Made from 500,000 pieces, the multicolored monolith rises 102 feet 3 inches.

It took a team of 6,000 builders four days to construct the tower, which bests a previous record set in Santiago, Chile, by about 1 foot, ITN News reports.
Legos aren't just for playing around. A team of 6,000 block enthusiasts in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has put together what is reportedly the world's tallest Lego tower. The structure, which rises 102 feet 3 inches, tops a previous record set in Santiago, Chile.

Lego sent officials from Denmark to monitor the progress of the structure as it was assembled in a parking lot behind a shopping center.

According to CNN, retired Brazilian soccer star Cafu attached the last Lego block, cementing the tower's place in the record books.

Building towers out of Legos isn't a new calling -- passionate Lego lovers have been assembling massive structures made from the toys since 1988, when a team of Londoners put together a Lego creation that rose about 49 feet.

In the years since, Lego towers have grown taller and taller.

Normally I like to keep this forum a happy, worry free place, but this is too important not to post.
Heather Braaten, whom many of you may know as “HeatherLEGOGirl” online, has been missing since last Tuesday (March 20, 2012). Heather is an active member of SEALUG here in Seattle, a regular BrickCon attendee, and active on Flickr, MOCPages, and Bricklink (where she was active as recently as the day she was last seen).


She was reported missing by her Mother, and her brother states that she is seriously depressed. She is a very popular AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) enthusiast, and has been missing since March 20. She deleted most of her online accounts in January, made a recent Lego purchase March 5 and left feedback March 6..

Missing person last seen in Ballard

"Thirty-five year-old Heather has been missing since March 20th, and she was last known to be in the Ballard area, according to brother Ian Schmitz.

She's 5'11'' tall, has blond hair, and wears glasses.

If you have seen her or know anything please contact the Seattle Police
http://www.seattle.gov/police/

Yes, you read that right.

Scientists at Cambridge were working on artificial bones for medical uses. One of the less interesting tasks they needed to perform was dipping objects in a dish of calcium and protein, rinsing them off, and then dipping the same object in a dish of phosphate and protein. For science. But dipping, rinsing and dipping gets tedious after a while. Even for science. So what'd they do? Rather than take the easy way out and hire an underpaid slave intern to do it, they made robots out of Mindstorms Lego sets to do it for them.

I know this sounds cool, but am I the only one concerned the prospect of by Lego robots? I mean, think about it: First they've made basic robots. What if they make the robots self-repairing? After all, what's easier to repair than Legos? And once they're self-repairing, the scientists will no doubt want to start improving the robot's intelligence. Egad, man! We'll have an army of self-repairing, brilliant, robots on our hands, bitter from being kept in boxes for decades, nay, centuries...

Just thinking out loud here.

Original news article here.

Hello one and all! It is I, Ddude the Insane, humble local Moderator of this forum.

But what's this? I am now the forum's lone News Reporter! That's right. I control all information coming in and out of this forum. Mwahaha! Bow before your new ruler! Dance, puppets, dance! 

Ahem.

Okay, actual news: Due to concern about lack of organized news reporting, I have indefinitely volunteered to take charge of reporting duties on the site. So you'll be seeing my name on the news stories from now on. This will include general Lego news and site-related news. Please discuss my gradual usurpation of the site's power promotion in this topic.

LEGO pulled the plug on the beloved Lego Universe servers at midnight Monday night. The open world multiplayer world of bricks was never able to sustain enough subscribers to make the MMO profitable, or even get it to a break-even point, for that matter. The end came to soon for all of us. The final hour passed in seconds, with players scrambling to say their thanks to the Mythrans and their goodbyes. Many grouped together in favorite places to spend cyber eternity, others went to a property they had build to quietly say goodbye to what was more than a game to many of us. Sometimes you find inspiration where you would never think to look for it. LEGO Universe inspired me to be a carefree kid again.

Originally developed by developer NetDevil for the LEGO group, the MMO was a unique, bricktastic experience for fans of LEGO. LEGO Universe launched in October 2010 after delays that totaled over two years, and while it was unique, it failed to attract enough players into paying the MMO despite a very strong beta. Certain aspects of the game were plagued with glitches, most notably the building function. And while the developers struggled mightily to respond to these issues, some continued to crop up. LEGO attempted a number of moves to make LEGO Universe work, even including an attempt at free access to much of the Universe; but it took money to get to the really good stuff.

The game will be missed by many. For some the friendships forged will continue on forums such as this one. Some players made plans to meet up in other games. Others just stumbled away from their computers at midnight, wondering how it happened that a game so loved by those who actually played it could just ...end.


More info from LEGO here:
http://universe.lego.com/en-us/help/faq.aspx?id=359551

Well folks, after fans of Lego and Minecraft begged for it for, uh, a month, official Minecraft Lego Sets are on the way.

The Lego CUUSOO program (which I believe was covered in a previous news posts) takes set ideas submitted from fans and turns them into real Lego products. If a particular product receives 10,000 votes of support, it is reviewed by the all-powerful Lego Board. If it passes the review product, it gets turned into a set, and the creator receives a 1% royalty from its sales.

You can probably see where I'm going with this one. The Lego Minecraft project was submitted back in December, and quickly passed approval. Here's a quote from the Lego CUUSOO blog:


Full story here.

Reboot Contest 3 - Alter Ego Part 1 entry period has ended!

Go here to vote for who you think built the best model!