Guide to Legos are not Enough

A large part of Legos are not Enough takes place in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. As such, there are some UM jokes and references, which can be downright confusing or missed by those unfamiliar with UM life. For your convenience, the following is a list of the UM references in Legos are not Enough and their explanations.

Ann Arbor in General

Ann Arbor is a very nice place. A great college town. We could give you lots of links to various websites on the city, but we'll just stick to a few:

Postcards from Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan Homepage
Michael's Photo Database Yes, that's the Michael who belongs to 4 Guys, 1 Brain. While his photo database isn't strictly for UofM photos, a large portion of the photos are from UofM. Look, and you might see some shots that are familier.

Lurie Bell Tower (and the Burton Bell Tower)

The University of Michigan has two bell towers. One on Central Campus and one on North Campus. The Burton Bell Tower is the older and is on Central. It is not seen in Legos are not Enough. The Lurie Bell Tower was built in 1996 and is on North Campus.

Michael has in his photo collection a picture with both bell towers in it. The Burton Tower is easy to spot, but the Lurie tower is waaay off in the distance. Here is a higher resolution cutout that makes both towers easier to see.

Incidentally, North Campus is itself something that needs to be explained. It is separate from Central Campus - only about a mile away. But to students, it's almost as if it were Canada. In fact, you do have to cross a river to get there.

The College of Engineering has been slowly moving to North Campus for decades. They finally finished with the round of construction that included the Lurie Bell Tower.

The Nuclear Reactor at UofM

A lot of people in the University community are unaware of it, but there actually is a small research nuclear reactor on the University of Michigan campus, though it's soon to be decommissioned. In fact, the reactor is on the North Campus. The Ford Nuclear Reactor is part of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project. It generates two megawatts of power when it is running (not used to generate electricity). Tours are available! It's best to go when the reactor is running, because then you can see blue glow in the water called Chrenkov radiation. Click here to see it.

Landmarks Noted by the Eccentric Professor

Bond visits many UM landmarks on his adventure. They are:

Michigan Stadium: "The Big House." The football stadium.
Espresso Royale Coffee Shop: Popular student hang out.
The Cube: A sculpture outside the student Union that spins around when pushed.
Student Publications Building: Bond is outside, reading the University newspaper The Michigan Daily.
The Rock: A boulder near central campus, it has accumulated inches of paint from years and years of people painting things on it.
Blimpy Burger: Popular burger joint. They have really good burgers. Seriously.

Other Jokes

These are things that most people at UofM are aware of. They're inside jokes of a kind.

The Stacks in the Graduate Library: Bond and Leg O'Galore get it on in a study room. What's strange about that?
Coach's Evil Plan: The University of Michigan and Ohio State University are bitter football rivals. And OSU just can't win.
Automated Bionic Cyborg System: Until the Fall of 2001, UM students registered for classes via a touch-tone phone system whose female voice prompts were painfully similar to the ones Bond encounters.