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The Unsinkable Ship

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In February 1912, prior to the maiden voyage of the Titanic, one Toronto newspaper had two advertisements side by side – one for the White Star Line’s RMS Titanic, and right next to it was for the Cunard’s RMS Carpathia. The Carpathia was the ship that ended up rescuing more than 700 survivors from the Titanic’s wreckage.

Although it may seem an odd choice for a blog featuring items related to Canadian history and culture, the Titanic does indeed hold a spot in the nation’s history. Ben MacLeod, of Tyne Valley, Prince Edward Island, knew as much, and spent about 2000 hours over 3 years and used over 125000 LEGO pieces to put together this monstrous model of the ill-fated vessel. The final piece spans just shy of 3 meters in length, half a meter in width, and three quarters of a meter tall, with a remarkable level of intricacy and detail including engine rooms, turbines, dining halls, and guest cabins.

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A CANDU Attitude to Nuclear Power

Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
One of the unfortunate claims to fame for the Darlington CANDU facility was the cost overruns – fortunately, this LEGO microscale version appears to have avoided those issues.

ToroLUG‘s Jeff ‘dr_spock_888‘ Lee is back at it again, with a pair of nuclear themed builds. The CANDU reactors are a Canadian based nuclear power generation technology that has been implemented all around the world, providing nuclear power to South Korea, Romania, China, and Argentina, amongst other nations.

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The Robertson Head Screwdriver

Robertson Screwdriver
Your eyes are not going screwy – the driver, wooden block, and screws are all made out of LEGO. Shortly after its invention, the Robertson Screwdriver was referred to as “the biggest little invention of the 20th century so far.”

When building with LEGO, the builders bricks become the tools – so Toronto LEGO User Group member Jeff Lee is getting a little self-referential here in building a tool out of tools. But not just any tool – no, ask any handy Canadian, and they will tell you at length about the superior power of the Canadian invented Robertson screw head.

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