Neil Hillman » Miscellaneous

LEGO Minifigures Series 6 bump codes

Neil — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:27:33 +0000

Most people don’t realise I’m an even bigger geek than I let on. I collect LEGO minfigures, I have literally hundreds of them at home, including all of the “Collectables” series to date.

The Minifigure “Collectables” series come in opaque polybag packets, designed to stop you identifying which Minifigure you’re buying. But each packet has a faint “bump code” along the bottom, which can be used to distinguish the contents.

I have highlighted the Series 6 bumps with a sharpie and photographed them, (partly to help others, and partly to prevent myself buying the same figure twice)! I currently have 9 of the 16 characters, here are the Series 6 bump codes for the Minifigures I’ve got so far:

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Sleepyhead

Sleepyhead minifigure with a Teddy Bear. Feel for the teddy and spiky hair in the packet.

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Lady Liberty

Lady Liberty minifigure with a Torch and Book. No discernible bump code, feel for large skirt piece and flexible spiky hat in the packet.

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Flamenco Dancer

Flamenco Dancer minifigure with a Fan. Feel for large skirt piece and fan in the packet.

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Minotaur

Minotaur minifigure with an Axe. Feel for the large head piece in the packet.

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Leprechaun

Leprechaun minifigure with a Pot of Gold. Feel for the round pot of gold in the packet.

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Skater Girl

Skater Girl minifigure with a Skateboard. Feel for the skateboard wheels in the packet.

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Intergalactic Girl

Intergalactic Girl minifigure with a Ray Gun. Feel for her helmet in the packet.

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Butcher

Butcher minifigure with a Steak and Cleaver. Feel for the steak and cleaver pieces in the packet.

Minifigures Series 6 bump codes – Mechanic

Mechanic minifigure with a Wrench and Toolbox. Feel for the Wrench and Toolbox in the packet.

Pierre: A Cautionary Tale by Maurice Sendak

Neil — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:29:13 +0000

Among all of the story books my parents read to me as a child, one that really captured my imagination and always stuck with me was, “Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue“, (better known as “I don’t care, said Pierre”).

The book, by the American children’s writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, (best known for his book “Where the Wild Things Are”, 1963), came as part of a miniture “Nutshell Library”, along with three other books by same author; “Chicken Soup with Rice”, “One was Johnny”, (a counting book) and “Alligators all Around”, (a alphabet book).

PROLOGUE
There was once a boy named Pierre
who only would say, “I don’t care!”
Read his story, my friend,
for you’ll find at the end
that a suitable moral lies there.

CHAPTER I
One day his mother said
when Pierre climbed out of bed
“Good morning, darling boy,
you are my only joy.”
Pierre said, “I don’t care!”

“What would you like to eat?”
“I don’t care!”
“Some lovely cream of wheat?”
“I don’t care!”
“Don’t sit backwards in your chair.”
“I don’t care!”
“Or pour syrup on your hair.”
“I don’t care!”
“You are acting like a clown.”
“I don’t care!”
“And we have to go to town.”
“I don’t care!”
“Don’t you want to come, my dear?”
“I don’t care!”
“Would you rather stay right here?”
“I don’t care!”
So his mother left him there.

CHAPTER II
His father said, “Get off your head
or I will march you up to bed!”
Pierre said, “I don’t care!”

“I would think that you could see”
“I don’t care!”
“Your head is where your feet should be!”
“I don’t care!”
“If you keep standing upside down”
“I don’t care!”
“We’ll never get to town.”
“I don’t care!”
“If only you would say, I care.”
“I don’t care!”
“I’d let you fold the folding chair.”
“I don’t care!”
So his parents left him there.
They didn’t take him anywhere.

CHAPTER III
Now as the night began to fall
a hungry lion paid a call.
He looked Pierre right in the eye
And asked him if he’d like to die.
Pierre said, “I don’t care!”

“I can eat you, don’t you see?”
“I don’t care!”
“And you will be inside of me.”
“I don’t care!”
“Then you will never have to bother”
“I don’t care!”
“With a mother and a father.”
“I don’t care!”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“I don’t care!”
“Then I’ll eat you, if I may.”
“I don’t care!”
So the lion ate Pierre.

CHAPTER IV
Arriving home at six o’clock
his parents had a dreadful shock!
They found the lion sick in bed
and cried, “Pierre is surely dead!”

They pulled the lion by the hair.
They hit him with the folding chair.
His mother asked, “Where is Pierre?”
The lion answered, “I don’t care!”
His father said, “Pierre’s in there!”

CHAPTER V
They rushed the lion into town.
The doctor shook him up and down
and when the lion gave a roar
Pierre fell out upon the floor.
He rubbed his eyes and scratched his head
and laughed because he wasn’t dead.
His mother cried and held him tight.
His father asked, “Are you alright?”
Pierre said, “I am feeling fine
please take me home, it’s half past nine.”

The lion said, “If you would care
to climb on me, I’ll take you there.”
Then everyone looked at Pierre
who shouted, “Yes, indeed, I care!”
The lion took them home to rest
and stayed on as a weekend guest.

The moral of Pierre is: CARE!

Check your head – here’s mine!

Neil — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:48:36 +0000

Doubt is better than Certainty

Neil — Mon, 01 Mar 2004 14:28:56 +0000

I stumbled upon extracts of an interesting lecture on the practice of design by acclaimed New York designer Milton Glaser, a man with over 50 years in the business, in which he had some thought-provoking ideas on certainty vs. doubt.

“Everyone always talks about confidence and believing in what you do. I remember a yoga class once where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a more practical sense. Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being sceptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between scepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one’s openness to the world as passionate belief is.“

Weapons of Mass Destruction – located!

Neil — Mon, 17 Nov 2003 10:59:08 +0000

I think Rumsfeld said it best when he said,

”We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat…” *

*Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, on ABC’s This Week, 30th March 2003.