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Christmas Lighting in Abundance
gral writes "My boss really gets into setting up Christmas lights. He has been interviewed by a couple TV stations, because of his displays. He usually has them setup at his house. This year he has moved to a Church Yard for more space. For 2003, his display sports over 200,000 lights, each string is controlled by computer to light to the tune of a Radio Station playing christmas music. Check out his website at Planet Christmas. Some pictures of this year's display can be seen as well. Have fun and Happy Holidays."
Further proof that Management is useless.
Sorry, forgot this in the writeup, but there are some Gentoo packages out for lighting for your Christmas trees and houses.
Check out Gentoo.org for more details.
You may need a 3D card to view demos though.
I highly doubt that you will get anymore money out of him. Your Xmas bonus is going to more lights and your co-workers are going to start calling you Rudolph the Brown-nosed reindeer.
I had a friend who did something like this. He hooked 8000 (yes, eight thousand) lights up and made one continuous string across the entire yard, then set it up as a chaser. It looked REALLY good.
As soon as he finds out that it was you that slashdotted him...
Here is the house about 5 minutes from mine which is by far the most decorated house in the area. It is actually some Elvis impersonator, so his display always has an Elvis theme and usually has Elvis music playing. The display requires the police for traffic control, and it's been said that the gentleman has worked out a special agreement with O&R (or maybe PSEG), the local energy company. I haven't been to the house in about 5 years. They say he adds more lights every year, so I have no idea if it still looks like the pictures.
I guess, he watched too many episodes of "Home Improvement".
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
Do we really want to encourage this sort of behavior? It may be cool and pretty, but not cool and pretty enough for the resources it consumes (both in electricity and also manufacturing, etc). Not to mention less explicit costs like the impact on traffic, wildlife, neighbors, and stargazers.
They've just raised the national terror alert level to ORANGE. YES, ORANGE! Orange means high, by the way, or 4 out of 5 on the chart.
This is due to two factors:
1, they suspect that terrorists are collecting funds by standing in front of Walmarts with a red kettle, and ringing bells.
2, They discovered 12 Saudis that were taking leasons on how to fly sleighs and getting instruction on basic deer husbandry.
The Dept. of Homeland Defense requests that anyone spotting any flying sleighs that are being led by deer like animals assume it is a Saudi terrorist. Initial indications are they plan to attack on the eve of birth of Christ, as a religious statement against the "infidels". If they try to land on your roof, you should take necessary defensive action. Deadly force is authorized.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled nonsense, already in progress...
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
He didn't happen to test those out on August 14th this year, hmm?
As a source of mass employment, we have moved from agriculture, to manufacturing, and now into aesthetics. It is not that agriculture has disappeared from the US, but it is down to about 3% of the economy.
Anyone pick up some of those LED strands? Ugh. The flickering. They don't convert the power from AC to DC, so naturally the LEDs being one-way things flicker at 60hz (maybe its 30 at that point? I dunno).
Anyone know of someone that sells a solution to this? I'm thinking a few capacitors and a few diodes would do it?
60Hz (50Hz in Europe and some other places). But the nature of LEDs would mean they flicker would not be as bad as it would seem (they dim down slower than they ignite). Traditional fluorescent lights flicker at 60Hz too (not new starterless ones, the ballasts operate at 25kHz to 110kHz).
I have used LEDs to turn a pot plant into a Xmas tree (it was the 80s, what can I say) and simply used a wall wart style transformer(12vdc). You don't need capacitors to turn AC into DC, although it will be smoother electricity (less ripple). Not needed for just lighting LEDs, since they simply consume and burn the electricity.
All you need is 4 diodes to turn AC into DC. Go google "bridge rectifier" and I am sure you can find plans. It is very very easy to make. The typical basic rectifier has 4 diodes and 2 capacitors (optional). But its still easier to buy a universal transformer/rectifier for small loads. For medium to large loads (3 to 30 amps) you may try a car battery instead. Another option is a regulated power supply, basically a poor man's Variac. Those are under $50 for up to 8 amps or more.
There are some other methods as well, such as using a power inverter that works at a higher frequency (LEDs don't care what Hz you use, just the direction of the current flow). Any Hz over 85 is going to appear flicker free. You might have trouble finding an inverter that works at these higher Hz.
Another possible but ludicrous option is to get a surplus military generator. Most of these have dual taps, 60Hz for basic power, and 400Hz for aircraft recharging. The 400Hz side will work nicely for powering LEDs. These can be purchased at auction for a couple grand or less. They run on anything remotely "fuel oil", even corn oil.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
In related news... 1/3 of San Francisco without power