Bricks of Joy

< A Lego model I made, aged 8. Not really - mine was way better

The quest reached new levels of laziness today, as I didn't even have to search for anything on Google: a rather funky pixellated logo at the top informed me that the humble Lego brick was patented 50 years ago today, which admittedly sounds about right, and fails my criteria by not being constantly true, and not being all that interesting. This on the other hand, is:

Lego bricks made from January 28, 1958 are still compatible with those made now.

Lego bricks are the coolest toys in the world. I'm a Lego traditionalist though, and have to look away with misty eyes when I chance upon some garish new Lego set painted all the colours of the rainbow. The idea is they're supposed to be reusable: when they've got 'Hogwarts' written on them, it's hard to build a credible miniature hospital with them. You can't beat the original 2x4 brick: it's durability (they never break, although I did bend one once while sleepwalking into a bookcase, which was most concerting), it's versatility, it's total and unexplained lack of green bricks. the fact that nothing on Earth hurts more than stepping on a Lego brick without any shoes on.

I've been delving a little into the history of Lego, and have discovered that it was set up about 25 years before they patented Lego bricks (must've been a lean period), and also watched a frankly brilliant guide to how those pesky bricks are made. I've been forced to abandon my search for more information, however, as the endless corporate jargon on the Lego website about their 'vision and ethics' (vision - more bricks; ethics - bricks good!) is starting to sour my childhood memories of building things that vaguely resembled the new Scottish Parliament. The final straw is a claim on Wikipedia that asked children to not refer to Lego bricks as "Legos" but instead as "Lego bricks or toys" to "protect and preserve their brand". Basically to make sure that they can launch breakfast cereals, cars and computers (all, naturally, made out of Lego) at some point in the future. Besides, when have you ever heard anyone ever call them Legos? I bet any kids who ever made that faux pas are still finding bricks about their person to this day.