Slashdot Mirror
Xmas Lights + X10 + Webcam = Fun
Clark Griswold writes "My brother has outdone himself this year, installing 22,000 Christmas Lights on the outside of his house alone. The real beauty is the X10-Webcam Combo that allows you to turn the lights ON and OFF and see the results of your handiwork. It only works between 6pm and 10pm MST, but it's pretty fun to turn the zones on and off (though I'm not so sure the neighbors like it!)."
OK, this is really cool, and makes me want to wire my house this way. My wife would kill me, though (although that would make for entertaining webcamming, that's for sure--live spousal beheadings).
Dude, where's my packet?
Oh, this will be useful and a productive use of time once the site gets slammed. Glad I hit it early.
Message for <withheld>: The lights are being switched ON and OFF off too fast - try again in a few minutes ...
There are two kinds of people: 1) those that need closure
Too late... and a merry Christmas to you also
So naturally, we posted it on Slashdot. Maybe a limit of switching the lights 3 times withing 5 minutes TOTAL FROM ALL USERS would have been better. Very cool though.
PS: Have we ever slashdotted a X10 system before?
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
UK crew bigup yourselves
USA crew keep it real, nuff tingz a gwan 2003
Euro crew nuff said, peace yeah
Shouts to my homeboys on the Moet Chandon, large
shouts to the string.split() and strcpy mob, we luv yah
spread the love this holidays yeah, aiight peace
slashdotted already....and this is only the 10th or so reply!
X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
The only way to create a fire-hazard from half-way around the world...Light ON, light OFF, Light ON, Light OFF, Light ON, Light OFF, Light BOOM! --Sparks everywhere...
Why not fork?
Only 8 comments and the poor guy's webcam site is already slashdotted.
Articulos para gente geek: Poleras, linux, libros y mas
That's one of the coolest hacks I've seen, but I feel sorry I left the lights off ;) The system said "you have changes the lights 3 times within 5 minutes, so you have to wait..". Too bad. I would not want to leave you in black - it's Christmas and all.
This guy must hate his brother if he posted this here. Probably won't be able to see it till after Xmas now.
Suck it Trebeck! Suck it long and Suck it Hard.
We just slashdotted CHRISTMAS. What next, do the editors engineer a DDoS on GOD HIMSELF?
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
Xmas Lights + X10 + Webcam + /. = Lights Out
has been thrown down.
Time to go wire up an 50 or so 7 segment display's
so I can scroll the latest slashdot headlines across my front front yard.
I'm dreaammming of geek christmas.
Gotta love the holidays.
ThunderBird. Nuff said.
Seriously, all these people trying to turn his lights on and off... Must look like a strobe-light.
Check the cache of the homepage, if you want to at least see the house. The image seems to be on another server.
THANK GOD FOR SLASHDOT! Now the lights are ALL out!
Not only did the server that runs them crash, it took all 22,000 lights with it.
WOOHOO!!!!
-- There is no sig line, only Zuul.
Is this some candid version of x-10 advertising on slashdot?
You Slashdotted the good, old-fashioned Griswold family Christmas!
Thing is how is he switching them off and on.SCR's do wonders because they can eliminate the in rush current and keep the buibs from burning out too fast. I made a PLC controller one year to do just that. It was cool, I still have it and it still works. Bacially unlimited lights. You would run out of hydro before you ran out of channels to add more lights.
Google Cache
I think the "brother" is really the neighbors trying to get a little revenge. Post the URL on /, wait for the server crash and go to sleep with no lights flickering. With people suing each other in my area for annoying light displays,I wouldn't be surprised.
Do you think the lights are ON or OFF? We will never know what the default was...
Lol. This guy's brother sold him out for the 5 karma points he got for getting his story posted...
At Drivemeinsane.com you can control christmas lights in his living room, turn on the sprinkler, office lights, and send mesages that are said with a text to speach program.
Hacker Media
A local house burned to the gound when its X10 camera system and 22,000 Christmas lights were Slashdotted.....
Since I'm sure this would qualify for uglychristmaslights.com
My computer said to me .... B.S.O.D. !!
I would really feel terrible if this guy has any epileptic neighbors!
With the USA poised to enter into a large-scale war with iraq to secure the world's supply of oil, shouldn't the brightest minds in the tech-oriented community be working toward reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, rather than expending electricitiy in yet another cool hey-look-at-me stunt?
Why not instead build some cool snow sculptures in the front yard next year? Just a thought...
Try to play the game "OPERATION FLASHPOINT" on 24:th day of December!!! There in the terrain you will see a plenty of trees that are decorated like Christmas trees!!! IT WAS A NICE SURPRISE!!! ;)
I'd be more than glad to purchase their product, IF they did not have their marketing campaign that pops up on almost every site I go to.
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
The lights are powered by the wind turbines! Oh man, your self-righteous enviromentalist rant just got SHUT DOWN!
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
now thats cold...
Proud of what I did,
Brother was envious and
slashdoted my lights
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
-- The Doctor, "Doctor
... from the Apple "Switch" commercial. She saved Christmas from Windows last year, now she's gotta save it from Slashdot!
Stories about wiring up your house for Christmas -- I don't care how you go about doing it -- should not ever hit Slashdot unless it can be seen from space.
My
Limekiller
What did your brother do to deserve this?
"When all else fails, there's always delusion." -Conan O'Brien
You just made his house burst into flame.
"When all else fails, there's always delusion." -Conan O'Brien
I thought X10 gear was only for spying on pretty young women in tight clothes.
I guess those popups were misleading me...
A Geek's Night Before Christmas
.
Twas the night before Christmas,
and all through the house . .
my keyboard was clacking
as I flourished my mouse.
My opponent was moaning on the ground over there,
in hopes that a medic soon would be there.
He'd soon wish he'd just stayed in his bed
As my railgun slowly took aim at his head.
As I sat in my bathrobe and went for their flag
I Was all settled in for a night full of frag.
When up from the roof there arose such a clatter
I switched to "observer," and went to see what was the matter.
The lights of the Christmas Tree gave an eerie glow,
As my front door flew open and let in the snow!
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a crazy old man and eight little geeks!
With a crazy-eyed look and a bottle of Fanta,
I knew in a moment this must be Geek Santa!
More rapid than fiber optics, his little geeks came, then he
Burped and he farted, and called them by name!
Now Dexter, now Freddy, now Lewis, and Jasper!
On Arnie, On Sammy, on Poindexter, and Casper!
From the front of the porch to the back of the hall,
Get inside! Get inside! Get inside all!
And then, in a twinkling, I heard in the kitchen,
A lot of noise, and even some bitchin.
As they raided my fridge, and took my last beer,
I wanted to ask why the hell they were here!
Then to work they began, as I stared there in awe.
Cut open my walls with a tiny old saw.
Strung in the cables, (it sort of looked fun)
And I knew in an instant, "I'm getting a T1!"
Before I could know they were done with their job,
Then they kicked the old man, (who'd passed out like a slob.)
Out the door they all went, The old man went out last,
He smiled, and he grunted, then passed some more gas.
And I heard in the distance,
As he faded from sight,
"Merry Christmas you Geek! Now go frag all night!"
Great going guys! You Slashdotted Christmas.
Any chance this brother was really an annoyed neighbor who knew the true power of the nerd? :)
Bugs are just features that have been fixed.
stroboscope
...
poor neighboors, if they didn't like it before, I wonder how they like the crazy flashes of thousands of slashdotters playing around with the lights
theefer
This wouldn't happen. Russians can't afford the bandwidth.
Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
My brother got slashdotted for Christmas and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
.. that all depends on how high up this post gets modded :)
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
what the hell is the point of posting such a thing if it can't withstand the slashdot load? honestly? what purpose does it serve? none! i think there should be some hardware requirements in order for a site to be linked to from slashdot.
those geniuses at slashdot should seriously think of something soon before i go postal.
great, now his bandwidth bill will equal his electric bill.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
will get more hits.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
lights slashdot you.
As always perl is just not up to the task...
Got Code?
slash on,slash off.. the clapper.altho i am holding out for the gnu/chiapet.
light in his house..he let us (people he knew on a message board) connect to it, and turn it on and off...I wanted to send him threatning messages in morse code..but it didn't switch on and off anywhere near fast enough to do that.
------ Work is so much easier when you don't
...is Slashdotting your brother on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good mug of your favorite brewski!
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
...but I make it a point to never buy from a company that advertises with half-naked popup ads.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:7RoAhQeSahQC:w ww.komar.org/xmas/
C :w ww.komar.org/xmas/2001/
C :w ww.komar.org/xmas/2002/power.html
;)
http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:sVe6bz6mGQo
http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:MnEhsQDlHFI
just wait a few mins for the pix to load
Talk about a bad case of trying to keep up with the Jones family. It must feel like a kick in the face to the neighbors who have the typical string around the roof display. If nothing else, it might get sickening after a while.
I think I just saw that house at Foreclosure.com
Table-ized A.I.
I got you a Slashdotting ...
"Freedom is kind of a hobby with me, and I have disposable income that I'll spend to find out how to get people more."
I'll buy from whatever company advertises the least expensively.
just run your smurf and go party :)
shut it off tomorrow when you have a minute
that allows you to turn the lights ON and OFF and see the results of your handiwork
Damn! Mr. Goatse just sent his Ascii art. SouthWest passengers are in for a real "treat".
Table-ized A.I.
You email me what you want me to eat, and I'll webcam you the resulting turd.
Pretty neat, huh?
Never buy and X10 cam, that will only encourge them to make more annoying pop-ups!
...slashdotted for Christmas too!
Well, we can make that two. This guy has a similar setup in his house, but it's all indoor action. Lights on, Lights off etc. It shouldn't be too hard to kill this guy's server either.
Oh, i see that the site that was trying to load while i was looking at the threads was on the same domain. heh heh umm errr...
Would Jesus celebrate his birthday using a Tree?
i a)
Short answer: no.
Long answer: never.
Would Jesus invite "Santa Claus" to his birthday?
Short answer: "Santa Clause" does not like Jesus and "Santa Clause" is an instrument to attract people away from Jesus.
Long anser: "Santa Clause" is not Saint Nicholas. "Santa Clause" is created by anti-Christians that tricked people into "Christmas Shopping" and generally not celebrating Jesus' birthday as Jesus would have enjoyed. "Christmas Shopping" is a method of tricking people into going to their markets and spending money rather than help people less-fortunate. "Christmas Shopping" is anti-Jesus.
Why is "Christmas Shopping" happening today?
Short answer: it is easier to spend money and receive money than it is to give gifts and receive gifts.
Long answer: it is impossible to condemn "Christmas Shopping" due to anti-Christians slandering and exposing the natural spiritual flaws of the true Christian that condemns "Christmas Shopping." It is believed that anti-Christians receive delight watching the many gullible non-Christians fight and curse eachother in a quest to satisfy a non-quenchable want for material posessions that have been discounted durring and after Jesus' birthday. A true Christian celebrates Jesus Christ's birthday by inviting others to events in Jesus Christ's honor, helping less-fortunate people in Jesus Christ's honor, or seeking communion with fellow people to honor Jesus through prayer, praise, and joyful feasting. Yippy!
If we are really not celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus, then what are we celebrating?
Short answer: by participating, we are celebrating the loss of Jesus in the world. There is only one way to celebrate Christmas and it is not accomplished with "Christmas Trees", "Christmas Shopping", and "Santa Claus."
Long answer: The time of receiving 7 days or so, durring the end of December, away from one's contracted responsibilities and honor, is known by Romans as Saturnalia; the celebration of the Saturn God. Saturnalia is celebrated over a week or two in Rome by temporarily dismisal from one's work or responsibilities to engage in vast feasting, sexual orgies, and general immorality.
(Quick reference http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Saturnal
.Would Jesus celebrate his birthday using a Tree?
i a)
Short answer: no.
Long answer: never.
Would Jesus invite "Santa Claus" to his birthday?
Short answer: "Santa Clause" does not like Jesus and "Santa Clause" is an instrument to attract people away from Jesus.
Long anser: "Santa Clause" is not Saint Nicholas. "Santa Clause" is created by anti-Christians that tricked people into "Christmas Shopping" and generally not celebrating Jesus' birthday as Jesus would have enjoyed. "Christmas Shopping" is a method of tricking people into going to their markets and spending money rather than help people less-fortunate. "Christmas Shopping" is anti-Jesus.
Why is "Christmas Shopping" happening today?
Short answer: it is easier to spend money and receive money than it is to give gifts and receive gifts.
Long answer: it is impossible to condemn "Christmas Shopping" due to anti-Christians slandering and exposing the natural spiritual flaws of the true Christian that condemns "Christmas Shopping." It is believed that anti-Christians receive delight watching the many gullible non-Christians fight and curse eachother in a quest to satisfy a non-quenchable want for material posessions that have been discounted durring and after Jesus' birthday. A true Christian celebrates Jesus Christ's birthday by inviting others to events in Jesus Christ's honor, helping less-fortunate people in Jesus Christ's honor, or seeking communion with fellow people to honor Jesus through prayer, praise, and joyful feasting. Yippy!
If we are really not celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus, then what are we celebrating?
Short answer: by participating, we are celebrating the loss of Jesus in the world. There is only one way to celebrate Christmas and it is not accomplished with "Christmas Trees", "Christmas Shopping", and "Santa Claus."
Long answer: The time of receiving 7 days or so, durring the end of December, away from one's contracted responsibilities and honor, is known by Romans as Saturnalia; the celebration of the Saturn God. Saturnalia is celebrated over a week or two in Rome by temporarily dismisal from one's work or responsibilities to engage in vast feasting, sexual orgies, and general immorality.
(Quick reference http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Saturnal
...Would Jesus celebrate his birthday using a Tree?
i a)
Short answer: no.
Long answer: never.
Would Jesus invite "Santa Claus" to his birthday?
Short answer: "Santa Clause" does not like Jesus and "Santa Clause" is an instrument to attract people away from Jesus.
Long anser: "Santa Clause" is not Saint Nicholas. "Santa Clause" is created by anti-Christians that tricked people into "Christmas Shopping" and generally not celebrating Jesus' birthday as Jesus would have enjoyed. "Christmas Shopping" is a method of tricking people into going to their markets and spending money rather than help people less-fortunate. "Christmas Shopping" is anti-Jesus.
Why is "Christmas Shopping" happening today?
Short answer: it is easier to spend money and receive money than it is to give gifts and receive gifts.
Long answer: it is impossible to condemn "Christmas Shopping" due to anti-Christians slandering and exposing the natural spiritual flaws of the true Christian that condemns "Christmas Shopping." It is believed that anti-Christians receive delight watching the many gullible non-Christians fight and curse eachother in a quest to satisfy a non-quenchable want for material posessions that have been discounted durring and after Jesus' birthday. A true Christian celebrates Jesus Christ's birthday by inviting others to events in Jesus Christ's honor, helping less-fortunate people in Jesus Christ's honor, or seeking communion with fellow people to honor Jesus through prayer, praise, and joyful feasting. Yippy!
If we are really not celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus, then what are we celebrating?
Short answer: by participating, we are celebrating the loss of Jesus in the world. There is only one way to celebrate Christmas and it is not accomplished with "Christmas Trees", "Christmas Shopping", and "Santa Claus."
Long answer: The time of receiving 7 days or so, durring the end of December, away from one's contracted responsibilities and honor, is known by Romans as Saturnalia; the celebration of the Saturn God. Saturnalia is celebrated over a week or two in Rome by temporarily dismisal from one's work or responsibilities to engage in vast feasting, sexual orgies, and general immorality.
(Quick reference http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Saturnal
....Would Jesus celebrate his birthday using a Tree?
i a)
Short answer: no.
Long answer: never.
Would Jesus invite "Santa Claus" to his birthday?
Short answer: "Santa Clause" does not like Jesus and "Santa Clause" is an instrument to attract people away from Jesus.
Long anser: "Santa Clause" is not Saint Nicholas. "Santa Clause" is created by anti-Christians that tricked people into "Christmas Shopping" and generally not celebrating Jesus' birthday as Jesus would have enjoyed. "Christmas Shopping" is a method of tricking people into going to their markets and spending money rather than help people less-fortunate. "Christmas Shopping" is anti-Jesus.
Why is "Christmas Shopping" happening today?
Short answer: it is easier to spend money and receive money than it is to give gifts and receive gifts.
Long answer: it is impossible to condemn "Christmas Shopping" due to anti-Christians slandering and exposing the natural spiritual flaws of the true Christian that condemns "Christmas Shopping." It is believed that anti-Christians receive delight watching the many gullible non-Christians fight and curse eachother in a quest to satisfy a non-quenchable want for material posessions that have been discounted durring and after Jesus' birthday. A true Christian celebrates Jesus Christ's birthday by inviting others to events in Jesus Christ's honor, helping less-fortunate people in Jesus Christ's honor, or seeking communion with fellow people to honor Jesus through prayer, praise, and joyful feasting. Yippy!
If we are really not celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus, then what are we celebrating?
Short answer: by participating, we are celebrating the loss of Jesus in the world. There is only one way to celebrate Christmas and it is not accomplished with "Christmas Trees", "Christmas Shopping", and "Santa Claus."
Long answer: The time of receiving 7 days or so, durring the end of December, away from one's contracted responsibilities and honor, is known by Romans as Saturnalia; the celebration of the Saturn God. Saturnalia is celebrated over a week or two in Rome by temporarily dismisal from one's work or responsibilities to engage in vast feasting, sexual orgies, and general immorality.
(Quick reference http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Saturnal
"temporarily dismisal from one's work or responsibilities to engage in vast feasting, sexual orgies, and general immorality."
Sounds a lot more fun than "seeking communion with fellow people to honor Jesus through prayer, praise, and joyful feasting"
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
I got your website /.d for you! Oh, what? You're hosting it at home? Sorry...
I hate these stupid filters ( is this enough to pass through the filters?)
today lawyers, politicians and ceo's control the masses. they all lie and gain advantage
in days past it was the church that controlled the masses. and they too lied.
you ask, did they lie? well the do, everytime they who are supposed to be closest to god, andinstead have their penis in the ass of a little boy or fellow religous member they testify to the lie which religion is.
the prophets were 10 smart jews who wrote the bible to get their business, umm religion going.
further perversion of humanity followed, and we have the catholic church of homosexuality.
merry christmas
about the only colors we get right are blood and money. red and green.
a slashdotted server. That bastard!
The parent post (by an AC) is truly bizarre. You have to wonder what kind of twisted thoughts were running through his head when he composed that. I thought the *BSD-is-dying guy was wacko, but this one takes the cake.
Today is my counting day and I have a lot of fun!
Deck the Blogs
Deck the blogs with random of trolling.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Keep the stupid slashbots posting.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Watch your karma turn to ashes.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
'cause your sig says Linux crashes.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
See the blazing flames before us.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
"MS sucks!" in massive chorus.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Follow me in merry measure.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
While I tell of freeware treasure.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Fast away the first post passes
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
'cause the mods know they're just asses.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Geeks and nerds come all to clamor.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
To correct the admin's grammar.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
(Its funny. Laugh!)
If you think this is off topic, you've never had the joy of experiencing x10 flash ads.
I really fucking hate X10. I will never ever buy one of their fucking cameras. You want to know why? Popups and popunders. Die popunders, die! Die popups, die!
Other than that what they guy did with the lights is pretty cool.
Nice and all, but the concept has been around for years. Check XMAS4ALL, the XS4ALL christmastree which has remote controllable lights and has been online every christmas for the last four years or so. And this works every day :)
When you turn on the light display, do ten other light displays pop on under it?
Control all the lights in this guy's house at http://www.drivemeinsane.com/
mogorific carpentry experiments
X-10 is the main reason I'm using Mozilla today (pop-up blocking). Go X-10!
Otherwise, I'm just boycotting them. If that means missing the fun with the webcam and all, so be it.
If you like Christmas lights, and live in the NJ area you should definitely take a trip to this guy's house. He's been doing it for about 30 years and every year it gets bigger and better. Cars line up and wait up to an hour to drive around the streets near his house. It's not X10, but it's damn cool for a Christmas Lights display.
Merry Christmas to those that celebrate it.
See what happens when you buy from a company that uses obnoxious popup ads?
Server.. toast..
OK, this is really cool, and makes me want to wire my house this way.
And they looked like such a *normal* family.
How are you supposed to know that your neighbors won't do something equally disruptive, if you can't spot the wackos?
Even just 1kW of lights must make it daylight in the living room of the house across the street. Never mind arbitrary blinking, multiple colors, TV crews and tourists driving by...
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Maybe I should drive over and watch the action first hand, I don't too far from that house... ;]
Thanks for the link!!
Save the World! Use a Quote!
I will therefore CRUSH him in a live game of ROCK/Paper/Scissors in front of the webcam for all to see - more details here:
http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/xmas_webcam
alek
Worthless.
-- Sir George Bidell Airy, KCB, MA, LLD, DCL, FRS, FRAS
(Astronomer Royal of Great Britain), estimating for the
Chancellor of the Exchequer the potential value of the
"analytical engine" invented by Charles Babbage, September
15, 1842.
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...