Slashdot Mirror

There are several webcams monitoring this Christmas Lights Display - maybe we'll have to look for MAV's next year ... along with Santa ... ;-)

There are several webcams monitoring this Christmas Lights Display - maybe we'll have to look for MAV's next year ... along with Santa ... ;-)

The two URL's in the story the same ... plus might want to use the printable URL since in FF, it pegs the CPU meter (much worse than this overly busy site) ... maybe it's all that information being sent to Google?

But sure looks to me like in the "medium" light pictures that the Rebel 400D had white-balance issues and provided a yellow cast over the shot. In fairness, s*it happens and it's an interesting side-by-side test.

In the low-light (with flash) examples, note how the shadows move quite a bit - they didn't make sure the camera was at the same spot each time - bummer. Put an external strobe on that 400D and you'll get a picture that rocks compared to the compact camera with the flash next to the lens. And obviously bigger sensors have much, much better low light/high ISO performance ... but there is something to be said for being able to carry a camera in your pocket.

A not-so-perfect picture is better than no picture at all!

Sure, I'm all for more fuel efficient cars and less fossil fuel burning, but there is a tradeoff.

I'll see your Skype Sybian, and raise you:

A Sybian controlled like Alek's Christmas lights. That would rule, until it gets Slashdotted and the porn stars start dying.

Probably best for this one to be a hoax...

Published in BDC Open Forum on November 21st, 2006
*LIGHTS* - *This Christmas, less can be more*

Every year, the Daily Camera does a story honoring the beautiful displays of holiday lights in our community.

In the 2006 Season of Light, I'd like to make a plea that the Camera seek out the most /imaginative/ displays, not the most extravagant and energy-intensive. In a year that's seen global warming established as a fact in most minds, as well as a threat to our kids and theirs, it seems to me wrong-headed to pile on the lights (unless solar powered!) or to praise anyone for doing so.

With a little imagination, and encouragement from community leaders (such as yourself), we can do more with less and be the better for it.


Here was my response to that ...

An Open Forum letter a week ago encouraged Boulder residents to be more imaginative (rather than just have more lights) with their Christmas Displays in order to reduce the impact on Global Warming. As someone who is often called Clark Griswold this time of the year, here's what I'm doing along those lines - may also provide ideas for others:

1. Less Lights - "only" 15,000 this year - down from 26,000 in 2005.
2. Xcel Wind Power - Will be the 3rd year I've been in this program.
3. Carbon Offset - even though I'm using "clean" energy, I made a contribution to CarbonFund.Org for twice last year's 2 Megawatt-Hours of electrical power consumption.
4. For the second year in a row, you can (really) view the display on the Internet via live webcams. I.e. you don't need to burn fossil fuels by driving to see it in person.
5. Just like 2005 (but not 2004), environmentally inclined Internet surfers can go to the website and turn the lights OFF. Be forewarned that people from around the world (119 countries so far) enjoy seeing 'em ON ... so you will have to "battle" for control.
6. Lights off after 10:00 - I use a master timer so the display is typically only active between 5:00-10:00MST nightly. The overseas web surfers would like 'em left on all night, but I have great neighbors and figure they deserve a rest from the blinking lights.

Being an open-minded Republic of Boulder resident, I respect that some people still may not feel that is enough. However, many folks don't realize that the cost to run the 26,000 Christmas Lights in 2005 was $5/day . i.e. one Double Peppermint Latte.

And for me, that.s plenty well worth it for the joy it brings to people and especially the kids when they see the display in person and/or on the web. "Imaginative" additions this year are giant Inflatable Elmo and Homer Simpson - D'OH! So while my Christmas Lights might be a bit tacky, they make an effort to be environmentally conscious; plus they are just a darn lotta fun. ;-)

Finally, the Internet site has garnered thousands of dollars in donations to charity to help find a cure for Celiac Disease - something my kids have. So you better believe that komar.org is lit up again for 2006!

Merry Christmas and HO-HO-HO,

As a Slashdot Subscriber (highly recommended BTW), I saw this story in the "Mysterious Future" and needless to say, it is EMERGENCY ALERT on Komar.org as I'm sure Scotty will be saying shortly "Control Circuits threatening to overload Captain!" The four dedicated 100 Mbps Apache/Linux web servers (using mod_perl) handled a doubleheader of DIGG and FARK on December 13th and are already getting hammered ... but Slashdot could be another level ... lets see how high the load factor goes on this snowy Christmas Eve.

Zonker's article is excellent - highly recommend /.'ers RTFA (hah!) since there is ... uhhhhh ... a bit of history associated with my "controllable" Christmas Lights ... ;-)

People around the world are hammering it allready (Google Maps mish-mash) so I'll try to keep the web servers going while everyone turns the lights ON ... OFF ... ON ... OFF ... ON ... etc.

Have fun with it and Merry Christmas to all,
alek


P.S. The web site is totally free ... but raises awareness/funds for the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Disease. This is something my kids have, so it's personal for me ... so if you are feeling the Christmas spirit and want to donate a few dollars, please do so at their site.

As a Slashdot Subscriber (highly recommended BTW), I saw this story in the "Mysterious Future" and needless to say, it is EMERGENCY ALERT on Komar.org as I'm sure Scotty will be saying shortly "Control Circuits threatening to overload Captain!" The four dedicated 100 Mbps Apache/Linux web servers (using mod_perl) handled a doubleheader of DIGG and FARK on December 13th and are already getting hammered ... but Slashdot could be another level ... lets see how high the load factor goes on this snowy Christmas Eve.

Zonker's article is excellent - highly recommend /.'ers RTFA (hah!) since there is ... uhhhhh ... a bit of history associated with my "controllable" Christmas Lights ... ;-)

People around the world are hammering it allready (Google Maps mish-mash) so I'll try to keep the web servers going while everyone turns the lights ON ... OFF ... ON ... OFF ... ON ... etc.

Have fun with it and Merry Christmas to all,
alek


P.S. The web site is totally free ... but raises awareness/funds for the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Disease. This is something my kids have, so it's personal for me ... so if you are feeling the Christmas spirit and want to donate a few dollars, please do so at their site.

As a Slashdot Subscriber (highly recommended BTW), I saw this story in the "Mysterious Future" and needless to say, it is EMERGENCY ALERT on Komar.org as I'm sure Scotty will be saying shortly "Control Circuits threatening to overload Captain!" The four dedicated 100 Mbps Apache/Linux web servers (using mod_perl) handled a doubleheader of DIGG and FARK on December 13th and are already getting hammered ... but Slashdot could be another level ... lets see how high the load factor goes on this snowy Christmas Eve.

Zonker's article is excellent - highly recommend /.'ers RTFA (hah!) since there is ... uhhhhh ... a bit of history associated with my "controllable" Christmas Lights ... ;-)

People around the world are hammering it allready (Google Maps mish-mash) so I'll try to keep the web servers going while everyone turns the lights ON ... OFF ... ON ... OFF ... ON ... etc.

Have fun with it and Merry Christmas to all,
alek


P.S. The web site is totally free ... but raises awareness/funds for the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Disease. This is something my kids have, so it's personal for me ... so if you are feeling the Christmas spirit and want to donate a few dollars, please do so at their site.

As a Slashdot Subscriber (highly recommended BTW), I saw this story in the "Mysterious Future" and needless to say, it is EMERGENCY ALERT on Komar.org as I'm sure Scotty will be saying shortly "Control Circuits threatening to overload Captain!" The four dedicated 100 Mbps Apache/Linux web servers (using mod_perl) handled a doubleheader of DIGG and FARK on December 13th and are already getting hammered ... but Slashdot could be another level ... lets see how high the load factor goes on this snowy Christmas Eve.

Zonker's article is excellent - highly recommend /.'ers RTFA (hah!) since there is ... uhhhhh ... a bit of history associated with my "controllable" Christmas Lights ... ;-)

People around the world are hammering it allready (Google Maps mish-mash) so I'll try to keep the web servers going while everyone turns the lights ON ... OFF ... ON ... OFF ... ON ... etc.

Have fun with it and Merry Christmas to all,
alek


P.S. The web site is totally free ... but raises awareness/funds for the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Disease. This is something my kids have, so it's personal for me ... so if you are feeling the Christmas spirit and want to donate a few dollars, please do so at their site.

Live egh ?

http://www.komar.org/christmas/hoax/media.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6761704/

perhaps it would be best if WE DIDN'T BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD YOU SAY
and get our Santa Tracker from someone a bit more reputable
http://www.noradsanta.org/

As reported by the Camera's Kate Larsen a week earlier (Dec. 17), I have three Web cams (three more than last year) at my house watching my 26,000 Christmas lights. Needless to say, my 7-year-old and 4-year-old sons were excited to see if Santa would show up on these Web cams. And, not surprisingly, the Big Red Guy (and especially Rudolph) are quite visible stopping by our Lafayette house on Christmas Eve.

So while it would be (way!) out of place for me to weigh in on journalistic reporting as other letter writers have, I thought I would write to say that while Todd accurately reported that the physics of Santa are a challenge, the conclusion is wrong. Yes, sometimes, the paper doesn't get the story right ... and yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Santa does deliver presents on Christmas Eve to children around the world.

The magic/miracle is still alive, and I would suggest that Camera readers (and their kids) review the video at www.komar.org to judge for themselves.

And you'd better believe I'll be watching next year as Santa returns at Christmas.

As reported by the Camera's Kate Larsen a week earlier (Dec. 17), I have three Web cams (three more than last year) at my house watching my 26,000 Christmas lights. Needless to say, my 7-year-old and 4-year-old sons were excited to see if Santa would show up on these Web cams. And, not surprisingly, the Big Red Guy (and especially Rudolph) are quite visible stopping by our Lafayette house on Christmas Eve.

So while it would be (way!) out of place for me to weigh in on journalistic reporting as other letter writers have, I thought I would write to say that while Todd accurately reported that the physics of Santa are a challenge, the conclusion is wrong. Yes, sometimes, the paper doesn't get the story right ... and yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Santa does deliver presents on Christmas Eve to children around the world.

The magic/miracle is still alive, and I would suggest that Camera readers (and their kids) review the video at www.komar.org to judge for themselves.

And you'd better believe I'll be watching next year as Santa returns at Christmas.

As reported by the Camera's Kate Larsen a week earlier (Dec. 17), I have three Web cams (three more than last year) at my house watching my 26,000 Christmas lights. Needless to say, my 7-year-old and 4-year-old sons were excited to see if Santa would show up on these Web cams. And, not surprisingly, the Big Red Guy (and especially Rudolph) are quite visible stopping by our Lafayette house on Christmas Eve.

So while it would be (way!) out of place for me to weigh in on journalistic reporting as other letter writers have, I thought I would write to say that while Todd accurately reported that the physics of Santa are a challenge, the conclusion is wrong. Yes, sometimes, the paper doesn't get the story right ... and yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Santa does deliver presents on Christmas Eve to children around the world.

The magic/miracle is still alive, and I would suggest that Camera readers (and their kids) review the video at www.komar.org to judge for themselves.

And you'd better believe I'll be watching next year as Santa returns at Christmas.

A while back, I wrote a quick little Perl script to do geolocation and other misc. info - see the page for more info, but it uses the free Perl Module Geo::IP and the MaxMind database. The free version of the later used to only provide country data, but they now provide lat/long and city info ... seems reasonably accurate, although with all of these things, the results can sometimes be way off.

So with that, it wasn't too hard to write another Perl script that parses the IP address from the Apache logs, acquires misc. geolocation info, and then dumps out the lat/long data in Javascript for the Google Maps API - see this graphically shown on my christmas maps page.

A while back, I wrote a quick little Perl script to do geolocation and other misc. info - see the page for more info, but it uses the free Perl Module Geo::IP and the MaxMind database. The free version of the later used to only provide country data, but they now provide lat/long and city info ... seems reasonably accurate, although with all of these things, the results can sometimes be way off.

So with that, it wasn't too hard to write another Perl script that parses the IP address from the Apache logs, acquires misc. geolocation info, and then dumps out the lat/long data in Javascript for the Google Maps API - see this graphically shown on my christmas maps page.

On a related note, if you happen to be interested in the history of Christmas Lights, check out this site. George Nelson has a very detailed history of Christmas Lights per his table of contents.

While my Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease are a bit high-tech & over-the-top, George's site is a nice trip back in time of the last 100+ years when even electricity itself was a novelty - one interesting tidbit - "The world's first practical light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, and a mere three years later in 1882 an associate of his, one Edward Johnson, electrically lit a Christmas tree for the first time. The tree was in the parlor of Johnson's New York City home, located in the first section of that city to be wired for electricity. The display created quite a stir"

While these halloween decorations are a bit over the top, /.'ers might find 'em entertaining and worthy of "News for Nerds"

7000 lights along with giant inflatable Pumpkin, Frankenstein, and Homer Simpson - D'OH. View with three webcams, control (yes, turn 'em on/off & inflate/deflate) with X10, send Instant Text Messages via webcam, view Google Map of surfers, and enjoy or cuss at the Franken-Homer cursor & Adams Family Music.

Website suggests sending your trick-or-treats to charity ... so far, it has raised over $14,000 for the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Disease.

I think these halloween decorations would be a perfect compliment to your music ... ;-)

"Use the halloween webcams to view live images of a buncha halloween decorations & lights and also CONTROL them - heck, you can even inflate (or deflate) the giant Frankenstein & Homer Simpson - D'oh! The webcams run 7x24 and you can turn stuff on & off from 1800 to 2200 MDT (GMT-6). Plus you can send "Instant Messages via Webcam" for everyone to see."

I have some other examples of projects like this listed here. Very cool job by the MIT guys ... now they just need to add some more of 'em in all of the windows and provide the ability to generate alphanumber (or image) messages that can be uploaded from the Internet - heh, heh! ;-)

Direct quotes from Dr. Curry's article:
Men: "... bigger penises"
Women: "... pert breasts" (and presumably larger/fuller too)
I gotta wonder how valid this "research" truly is - sounds like something Dr. Frankenstein or Homer Simpson would have written - D'OH! ;-)

Well done ScuttleMonkey with the "Missing Link" addition.

The article mentions that the Fear of Friday, the 13th is called Paraskevidekatriaphobia ... Google only has 1,650 results with Urban Legends the first one. I gotta believe a double whammy for those superstitious people to have it fall on Halloween - D'OH! ;-)

T-Rex BBQ Grill

Ditto what others said - yea, the Kill-A-Watt ain't perfect, but cheap and works as advertised. Note that it has some time history capabilities too as long as it is left plugged in. One interesting thing to do is hook it inline on your PC and watch the power draw change between "idle" and when it's "full on"

I've also used it to measure current draw on my christmas lights to make sure I don't exceed 15 Amps on a circuit - I try to stay under 10 by load balancing.

I've got a mish-mash of Hulk Stuff up on my site - will these type of people threaten a lawsuit against me ... or just SMASH?!?

P.S. Satire is protected speech - doesn't that apply here in the Barney case?

Also, the D-Link's (as do many webcams) have a built-in web server ... but also allow FTP'ing of jpeg snapshots. For any type of scalability, you need to rebroadcast (i.e. single stream from the webcam to your web server, and then to the public from there). This is fairly easy with jpegs ... but streaming video would be soooo much sweeter than image refreshes every couple of seconds ... and good how-to's to do this?

Complete with lemonade and a 1/2 gallon of Jose Tequila in the "basement bunker" via webcam1 ;)

First application for Mach 7+ won't be passenger travel, but military (if not already used) where it will not only be fast, but louder than heck - after all Jet Noise is the Sound of Freedom! ;-)

I'm surprised this article made the front page of /. as it arguably confuses the issue more IMHO.

Sure, real-time satellite imagery would be cool, but realistically, I doubt the government is going to share that ... plus allow you to task one of their birds for an overflight of your house/crater/etc.

I don't doubt this story is accurate, but AP has had some pretty sensational blunders recently, so important to provide correct attribution and know how it was sourced.

Speaking of that, I'd love to know who originated this sound of freedom story ... and shake their hand ... priceless!

The website has been /.'ed, so I assume the blimp/airplane moves about as fast at their web site currently is. I.e. not quite supersonic like this B-1 Bomber exhibiting how Jet Noise is the Sound of Freedom!

my question is, why do people believe these stories at face value?

Reminds me of that one chick that said she needed 20 grand to pay off expensive shopping sprees and then claimed the money poured in, that savekaryn website a few years back.

Somehow I doubt her (or this million dollar webpage) made any money until they claimed they made a bunch of money and then told newspapers who then spread the word and then sites started paying for advertising (or in karyn's case, just sending money).

And for those of you thinking "naw, internet hoaxs dont happen, the newspapers are surely checking their bank accounts, etc", think again: this guy claimed this christmas lights were being turned off and on by visitors to his website and it turned out to be a hoax. Dozens of major online news sites reported the lights as real, it wasnt until a reporter showed up unannounced and called a friend online and told them to turned the lights off & on and it didnt work that they finally figured out the hoax.

You'd think lights being turned on & off over the internet would be the easiest to verify, but it didnt stop everyone and their mother from reporting it as 100% true. Makes you wonder how much of the news is true and how much is a hoax?

So there you have it, there are internet hoaxes and fakes and the online news media reports every little story as 100% true without doing any fact-checking to verify it's true. Therefore I call this million dollar homepage mythbusted!

my theory: about half the pixels are stuff he just threw up there for nothing, linking to mom-and-pop shops who will be happy to get any hits at all. Now that he's getting a ~750 million hits a day he's able to charge real money.

I'm sure the (somewhat slow) 4-player-split-screen and wide choice of vaguely-familiar/super-cool weapons helped them too. Sure helped when people came to my place.

That's the problem. Newer games try to act like movies instead of, uh, games. I played 007 and the story didn't get in the way of 1-player mode so much, and there is the obvious joy from catching player 4 with a nice snipe or headshot (it never really felt that way for me with online games). With new games, there's such a focus on plot that we'll never see more than two endings. Chrono Trigger remakes be damned.*

Besides, it's a Hulk game (apologies to http://komar.org/hulk/ 's owner, the poster's name escapes me). "Subtle" and "smash" just don't mix.

*Metal Gear Solid 3 is exempt from my rants (though for entirely unrelated reasons).

I always knew those Richmond people where crazy. I wonder if I can see it from my house.

Also, can't forget this guy http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/xmas_webcam

Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease

These christmas lights also do plenty of randomly blinking red, green, and blue lights. They certainly aren't self-aware. I call shens along with parent.

And oh yeah, I've got five 100 Mbps servers (1/2 Gig of bandwidth!) this year, so my site hasn't melted down like the one linked to in this article has ... ;-)

And oh yeah, I've got five 100 Mbps servers (1/2 Gig of bandwidth!) this year, so my site hasn't melted down like the one linked to in this article has ... ;-)

Yea, there is Google Blogspot ... but even the big "G" has had performance issues in the past. An option for /. readers is to host a blog on your own site ... but that's not realistic for the average Joe. This stuff is all free, so I think most people are willing to grin and bear and suffer through some outages. Plus I don't think the world is going to end if we are unable to blog for a short while ... ;-)

P.S. Per my /. username, I did get a chuckle out of this quote from Bloglines - "Bloglines has been busting at the seams like the Incredible Hulk" and yea, getting angry and transforming into a Big Green Monster can really wreck your clothing budget.

Christmas Projector: $10
1/2 Roll Duct Tape: $2
Leftover Wires: $0
Fooling the World: PRICELESS!

Cost me a LOT more $$$ this time around (the webcams are a grand apiece), but hey, at least it is real this time. And note that theme for 2005 is Christmas Lights for Celiac as I try to raise money for the University of Maryland to find a cure for this malady.

Christmas Projector: $10
1/2 Roll Duct Tape: $2
Leftover Wires: $0
Fooling the World: PRICELESS!

Cost me a LOT more $$$ this time around (the webcams are a grand apiece), but hey, at least it is real this time. And note that theme for 2005 is Christmas Lights for Celiac as I try to raise money for the University of Maryland to find a cure for this malady.

BAH, Puny Human Cape Man not strongest.
Hulk is strongest!
Hulk SMASH Superman in shuffleboard games at retirement home.

Roger everything puzzled said above. Celiac is bad stuff and often un/mis-diagnosed ... I (unfortunately) know a LOT more about it than I wish I had to, since my two kids have it. So yea, I'm running a bit of a fund-raiser for Celiac research and also see my signature below for more on my personal story.

BTW, I usually run Firefox, but happened to open this up in Internet Exploder - all three URL's in the article had popups - you forget about those things when you predominantly use Firefox.

P.S. I'm argueably contributing to global warming with my 20,000+ Christmas lights ... although at least I signed up for wind power.

2004 Wall Street Journal story

High-Tech Holiday Light Display

Draws Everyone But the Skeptics

By CHARLES FORELLE

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

December 27, 2004 4:23 p.m.

Flying in TV station KMGH's "Air Tracker 7" helicopter earlier this month, Alek Komarnitsky told the Denver ABC affiliate's audience about the 17,000 Christmas lights flashing a thousand feet below on his Colorado home.

"You can go to my Web site and not only view the lights via Web cam but actually turn them on and off," said Mr. Komarnitsky, who lives northwest of Denver in Lafayette. "Which is exactly what we're seeing right now."

"That's great," said one of the station's anchorwomen, over the chopper's whir.

"That's wild," added a co-anchor.

So wild, in fact, that it isn't true. In what he describes as an excess of desire to spread a little holiday cheer, Mr. Komarnitsky pulled off an Internet Christmas hoax worthy of April 1.

The lights on his house are real enough. So is Mr. Komarnitsky's Web site, www.komar.org, which has seen 4.3 million hits this month as word of its supposed features was spread like a virus by news media and the Internet.

But Mr. Komarnitsky now acknowledges there is no Web cam taking live pictures of the house. And, he adds, visitors to the site have no ability to switch the lights on and off. To fool KMGH into thinking it was broadcasting Web surfers switching the lights on and off, Mr. Komarnitsky says his wife was inside the house, working a remote control.

"It's fake," says Mr. Komarnitsky. He says he decided to fess up because the whole thing "had gotten too big," and he didn't want to mislead anyone any longer.

Via the ruse, Mr. Komarnitsky's abode became the Internet age's version of the neighborhood house with the dazzling Christmas show.

Mr. Komarnitsky gave radio interviews to stations as far away as Australia. Web sites from NYTimes.com to geek hangout Slashdot.org linked to his site. An Associated Press item about his site was picked up by newspapers from Los Angeles to Columbia, S.C. As of midday Monday, according to Mr. Komarnitsky, the "Web cam" was asked by online visitors to snap a new picture in the same spot 334,832 times. The lights had supposedly been changed 91,978 times. But instead of a live camera, komar.org is really showing off 32 high-resolution digital photographs, taken in four sets with different amounts of snow on the ground. A sophisticated computer program, which Mr. Komarnitsky wrote with input from a friend skilled in digital imaging, serves up a section of the appropriate photo, depending on actual weather conditions and what lights the online Web visitors expect to see.

For extra verisimilitude, sometimes the program digitally adds in passing cars. One in five pictures is generated with fake airplanes in the expansive Colorado sky. The human-shaped shadow occasionally seen walking past the ornament drawn in lights on the lawn? A digital apparition, nothing more. Occasionally the software shows the garage door up.

"I'll get e-mails saying, 'Hey, Alek, your garage door is open,'" he says.

Hoaxes have a storied history in the annals of technology, and the Internet provides a fertile field for cultivating them. Some are banal -- earlier this year, the town of Aliso Viejo, Calif., considered banning foam cups because they contained a substance called "dihydrogen monoxide." A city employee fell for a prank Web page decryi

2004 Wall Street Journal story

High-Tech Holiday Light Display

Draws Everyone But the Skeptics

By CHARLES FORELLE

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

December 27, 2004 4:23 p.m.

Flying in TV station KMGH's "Air Tracker 7" helicopter earlier this month, Alek Komarnitsky told the Denver ABC affiliate's audience about the 17,000 Christmas lights flashing a thousand feet below on his Colorado home.

"You can go to my Web site and not only view the lights via Web cam but actually turn them on and off," said Mr. Komarnitsky, who lives northwest of Denver in Lafayette. "Which is exactly what we're seeing right now."

"That's great," said one of the station's anchorwomen, over the chopper's whir.

"That's wild," added a co-anchor.

So wild, in fact, that it isn't true. In what he describes as an excess of desire to spread a little holiday cheer, Mr. Komarnitsky pulled off an Internet Christmas hoax worthy of April 1.

The lights on his house are real enough. So is Mr. Komarnitsky's Web site, www.komar.org, which has seen 4.3 million hits this month as word of its supposed features was spread like a virus by news media and the Internet.

But Mr. Komarnitsky now acknowledges there is no Web cam taking live pictures of the house. And, he adds, visitors to the site have no ability to switch the lights on and off. To fool KMGH into thinking it was broadcasting Web surfers switching the lights on and off, Mr. Komarnitsky says his wife was inside the house, working a remote control.

"It's fake," says Mr. Komarnitsky. He says he decided to fess up because the whole thing "had gotten too big," and he didn't want to mislead anyone any longer.

Via the ruse, Mr. Komarnitsky's abode became the Internet age's version of the neighborhood house with the dazzling Christmas show.

Mr. Komarnitsky gave radio interviews to stations as far away as Australia. Web sites from NYTimes.com to geek hangout Slashdot.org linked to his site. An Associated Press item about his site was picked up by newspapers from Los Angeles to Columbia, S.C. As of midday Monday, according to Mr. Komarnitsky, the "Web cam" was asked by online visitors to snap a new picture in the same spot 334,832 times. The lights had supposedly been changed 91,978 times. But instead of a live camera, komar.org is really showing off 32 high-resolution digital photographs, taken in four sets with different amounts of snow on the ground. A sophisticated computer program, which Mr. Komarnitsky wrote with input from a friend skilled in digital imaging, serves up a section of the appropriate photo, depending on actual weather conditions and what lights the online Web visitors expect to see.

For extra verisimilitude, sometimes the program digitally adds in passing cars. One in five pictures is generated with fake airplanes in the expansive Colorado sky. The human-shaped shadow occasionally seen walking past the ornament drawn in lights on the lawn? A digital apparition, nothing more. Occasionally the software shows the garage door up.

"I'll get e-mails saying, 'Hey, Alek, your garage door is open,'" he says.

Hoaxes have a storied history in the annals of technology, and the Internet provides a fertile field for cultivating them. Some are banal -- earlier this year, the town of Aliso Viejo, Calif., considered banning foam cups because they contained a substance called "dihydrogen monoxide." A city employee fell for a prank Web page decryi

2004 Wall Street Journal story

High-Tech Holiday Light Display

Draws Everyone But the Skeptics

By CHARLES FORELLE

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

December 27, 2004 4:23 p.m.

Flying in TV station KMGH's "Air Tracker 7" helicopter earlier this month, Alek Komarnitsky told the Denver ABC affiliate's audience about the 17,000 Christmas lights flashing a thousand feet below on his Colorado home.

"You can go to my Web site and not only view the lights via Web cam but actually turn them on and off," said Mr. Komarnitsky, who lives northwest of Denver in Lafayette. "Which is exactly what we're seeing right now."

"That's great," said one of the station's anchorwomen, over the chopper's whir.

"That's wild," added a co-anchor.

So wild, in fact, that it isn't true. In what he describes as an excess of desire to spread a little holiday cheer, Mr. Komarnitsky pulled off an Internet Christmas hoax worthy of April 1.

The lights on his house are real enough. So is Mr. Komarnitsky's Web site, www.komar.org, which has seen 4.3 million hits this month as word of its supposed features was spread like a virus by news media and the Internet.

But Mr. Komarnitsky now acknowledges there is no Web cam taking live pictures of the house. And, he adds, visitors to the site have no ability to switch the lights on and off. To fool KMGH into thinking it was broadcasting Web surfers switching the lights on and off, Mr. Komarnitsky says his wife was inside the house, working a remote control.

"It's fake," says Mr. Komarnitsky. He says he decided to fess up because the whole thing "had gotten too big," and he didn't want to mislead anyone any longer.

Via the ruse, Mr. Komarnitsky's abode became the Internet age's version of the neighborhood house with the dazzling Christmas show.

Mr. Komarnitsky gave radio interviews to stations as far away as Australia. Web sites from NYTimes.com to geek hangout Slashdot.org linked to his site. An Associated Press item about his site was picked up by newspapers from Los Angeles to Columbia, S.C. As of midday Monday, according to Mr. Komarnitsky, the "Web cam" was asked by online visitors to snap a new picture in the same spot 334,832 times. The lights had supposedly been changed 91,978 times. But instead of a live camera, komar.org is really showing off 32 high-resolution digital photographs, taken in four sets with different amounts of snow on the ground. A sophisticated computer program, which Mr. Komarnitsky wrote with input from a friend skilled in digital imaging, serves up a section of the appropriate photo, depending on actual weather conditions and what lights the online Web visitors expect to see.

For extra verisimilitude, sometimes the program digitally adds in passing cars. One in five pictures is generated with fake airplanes in the expansive Colorado sky. The human-shaped shadow occasionally seen walking past the ornament drawn in lights on the lawn? A digital apparition, nothing more. Occasionally the software shows the garage door up.

"I'll get e-mails saying, 'Hey, Alek, your garage door is open,'" he says.

Hoaxes have a storied history in the annals of technology, and the Internet provides a fertile field for cultivating them. Some are banal -- earlier this year, the town of Aliso Viejo, Calif., considered banning foam cups because they contained a substance called "dihydrogen monoxide." A city employee fell for a prank Web page decryi

2004 Wall Street Journal story

High-Tech Holiday Light Display

Draws Everyone But the Skeptics

By CHARLES FORELLE

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

December 27, 2004 4:23 p.m.

Flying in TV station KMGH's "Air Tracker 7" helicopter earlier this month, Alek Komarnitsky told the Denver ABC affiliate's audience about the 17,000 Christmas lights flashing a thousand feet below on his Colorado home.

"You can go to my Web site and not only view the lights via Web cam but actually turn them on and off," said Mr. Komarnitsky, who lives northwest of Denver in Lafayette. "Which is exactly what we're seeing right now."

"That's great," said one of the station's anchorwomen, over the chopper's whir.

"That's wild," added a co-anchor.

So wild, in fact, that it isn't true. In what he describes as an excess of desire to spread a little holiday cheer, Mr. Komarnitsky pulled off an Internet Christmas hoax worthy of April 1.

The lights on his house are real enough. So is Mr. Komarnitsky's Web site, www.komar.org, which has seen 4.3 million hits this month as word of its supposed features was spread like a virus by news media and the Internet.

But Mr. Komarnitsky now acknowledges there is no Web cam taking live pictures of the house. And, he adds, visitors to the site have no ability to switch the lights on and off. To fool KMGH into thinking it was broadcasting Web surfers switching the lights on and off, Mr. Komarnitsky says his wife was inside the house, working a remote control.

"It's fake," says Mr. Komarnitsky. He says he decided to fess up because the whole thing "had gotten too big," and he didn't want to mislead anyone any longer.

Via the ruse, Mr. Komarnitsky's abode became the Internet age's version of the neighborhood house with the dazzling Christmas show.

Mr. Komarnitsky gave radio interviews to stations as far away as Australia. Web sites from NYTimes.com to geek hangout Slashdot.org linked to his site. An Associated Press item about his site was picked up by newspapers from Los Angeles to Columbia, S.C. As of midday Monday, according to Mr. Komarnitsky, the "Web cam" was asked by online visitors to snap a new picture in the same spot 334,832 times. The lights had supposedly been changed 91,978 times. But instead of a live camera, komar.org is really showing off 32 high-resolution digital photographs, taken in four sets with different amounts of snow on the ground. A sophisticated computer program, which Mr. Komarnitsky wrote with input from a friend skilled in digital imaging, serves up a section of the appropriate photo, depending on actual weather conditions and what lights the online Web visitors expect to see.

For extra verisimilitude, sometimes the program digitally adds in passing cars. One in five pictures is generated with fake airplanes in the expansive Colorado sky. The human-shaped shadow occasionally seen walking past the ornament drawn in lights on the lawn? A digital apparition, nothing more. Occasionally the software shows the garage door up.

"I'll get e-mails saying, 'Hey, Alek, your garage door is open,'" he says.

Hoaxes have a storied history in the annals of technology, and the Internet provides a fertile field for cultivating them. Some are banal -- earlier this year, the town of Aliso Viejo, Calif., considered banning foam cups because they contained a substance called "dihydrogen monoxide." A city employee fell for a prank Web page decryi