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Extreme Christmas Lights In Orlando
tripmine writes "The Orlando Sentinel has a story about a geek who can't get enough Christmas light. 'This Christmas, tech-savvy people such as Hansen are increasingly building the biggest, most elaborate holiday lights in neighborhoods across Central Florida and throughout the country. They typically work in fields such as computer programming, Web development, engineering or audio and visual services and are armed with a technical knowledge that the average person lacks. They trade tips and stories on message boards and set up Web sites with step-by-step descriptions of how they installed their lights as well as pictures and videos of the finished product.'" Many cities have neighborhoods where the spectacle takes up blocks at a time, not just individual houses, too, as anyone who's strolled down Austin's 37th Street can attest. Links invited (in comments) to the best / worst light-spectacles you know of.
Around Orlando the Sentinel is know as the Orlando Slantinel due to it's tendency to not quite give the full story. Not that that's relevant to this article. Maybe if I get a chance today I'll go check that house out, it would be cool to see it in person.
Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
Or the police would've locked down the city already.
Is actually in Florida, not Orlando. Just got covered by the Orlando Senital.
What's the point to banning some incandescent light bulbs if this bullshit is allowed?
25,000? how about 250,000 - http://www.casadelpomba.com/
(not synched to music, but still VERY impressive)
These type of flashy animated displays are like flashing HTML text and all the other tacky crap from 90's web design.
It can be done a lot more tastefully.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
Where's my BB Gun? I'm HOPING to put someones eye out.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
FTFA:
Hansen's 25,000-light display is synchronized to five songs, which he broadcasts over an FM-radio frequency so passers-by can pick it up in their cars.
Radio broadcasts a/k/a "public performance" of likely-unlicensed music? So who's gonna get him first? The RIAA? The ASCAP? The FCC?
Takin' all bets!
Just aim for the wires coming out of the the electric meter.
Rochester Michigan has a really nice light display setup on all of the stores on Main St. Here's a link to a slideshow from the company that put them up. Not surprisingly, the lights cause gridlock for about a mile in each direction, but it's worth it.
Most annoying neighbor ever? I'd be looking into cutting their power lines after the first evening. But I'm a bit of a depressed grinch.
Who has money for the energy bill from Christmas lights? Our household is very financially secure, but I'm not looking to spend thousands over the season to run the lights. My neighbor, who isn't really decked out as much as some, said his bill will be over $600 more this months for his lighting scheme. OUCH.
I'm sure the environmentalists will cry foul, and I understand that philosophy, but for me, the lights are putting more demand on electricity, which means I'll pay a higher bill myself.
The wife and I do like to see the more extravagant lighting setups out there, but we have noticed that some homes aren't running them 7 days a week. Wonder if its an electrical bill concern.
Back when I was in high school, my family lived in southern Florida. Miami, specifically. This kind of crap is extremely prevalent around there, and I'm not sure exactly why. At any rate, one year our neighbor, as usual, had up several thousands of lights, along with the usual array of motorized reindeer, inflatable Santa Claus, and of course a big plastic glowing Jesus (what Jesus has to do with a pagan/capitalist holiday I'm not sure).
Anyways, a huge ugly array of crap that probably took a lot of work to put up--a perfect target for neighborhood hooligans looking to spoil peoples' hard work, right? Not so. The neighbor's display remained untouched. Meanwhile over at our house, we had simply arranged some lights in the shape of a peace sign over our garage door. Within two days all the lights had been torn down and stomped on. Ah, America...
Well, the FCC should have no claim, as most small transceivers aren't powerful enough to require FCC licensing. Now the RIAA (ASCAP?... maybe, but think that only applies to live performances) may have some sort of claim.
Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
Of course, it's all fun and games until the bus of epileptic kids drives by.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Computer controlled, fully programmable.
Lite-o-rama
If you're insane and anal enough to do it right. Some of the displays are pretty impressive, though. In an over the top, freaky, kind of way.
Once I was with my family driving around looking at lights when we saw one house that had a huge nativity scene set up in their front yard. It had Mary, Joesph, the wise men, the whole nine yards. But it also had a huge fucking grim reaper behind the manager leaning over it all. I guess they were too lazy to take down the Halloween decorations all the way before setting up for Christmas, or they were just ape shit insane. Probably a little of each
I couldn't help but notice the huge, annoying, "Jesus is the reason for the season" in those Xmas lights. Maybe if the architect did as much research into history as he did lighting, he might realize that Christmas was appropriated from earlier pagan traditions and has very little, if virtually nothing to do with "Jesus". Historians also generally agree (among those that actually think there was a historial Jesus figure) that Jesus was not born on December 25th in the first place. He was more likely born in the Spring or Summer. It's one thing to believe something that's erroneous. It's another to cast it in a hundred thousand lights and broadcast your ignorance to the entire neighborhood. Happy Saturnalia!
Thats not creative at all. its just plain old boring.
Now, THIS is original and creative. Id love to see the neighbors faces when this thing fires up on the front lawn! If some pinheads flashing lights annoy you, just pay them back with the wonderfully tuned sound of static discharge! Enjoy!
I still prefer the more understated FSM Holiday Display.
For pure unadulterated camp, you can't beat the display on the 700 block of 34th Street in Baltimore's neighborhood of Hampden. Each traditional row house is decorated to the owner's own taste and vision, and while they aren't particularly technical, they certainly do make a splash. They've been lighting up that block for so long that realtors feel it's mandatory to warn prospective home buyers that they'll have to light up, too. There's a pretty good sampling here.
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
the energy required will soon surpass the rating of a standard household connection, but thankfully revolutionsing nuclear systems from Toshiba is promising to deliver lots of luminous joy for Christmas to come.
No, you misheard: you triggered the seizures!
I bet this guy drives a Prius and talks about reducing his carbon footprint all the time, too. ;-)
Didn't Carson Williams do this a couple years ago? I saw someone linking to Lightorama, which is the software he used, but I don't see a link to his video. In any case, while it may not have quite as many lights, I feel his Wizards in Winter performance was a lot better orchestrated.
It'd be more impressive if it wasn't 21C there. Try putting up all those lights in 3 feet of snow.
of the American public.
I watched part the video and it was like watching the eighteen wheeled log-hauler coming your way in front of you on the narrow mountain road suddenly jackknife and the tree trunks go up and over before coming down like a bunch of really BIG pick-up-sticks. (And you hope like Hell you jambed on the brakes fast enough!)
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
This one is from Newmarket which is just north of Toronto Ontario:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXk0wc5qXuo
This one gained instant fame a year ago. Again it is a house located just north of Toronto:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4983931962566123785
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
And saturnalia is just a celebration of the winter solstice and the birth of the new year.
Deleted
It is just xmas, no need for fancy lights. Thankfully it will be over in another day anyway.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I saw something like this, but it wasn't at Christmas. All you need is a little LSD. MUCH scarier though.
I don't think the human race will survive the coming global warming and after watching that video, I don't think we deserve to either.
The display gets full points for not having any taste though..
Are they using CFL Christmas lights? Oh sorry, don't want to offend the liberals, "holiday lights?"
Oh yeah, these are geeks. The CFL Christma... sorry, "holiday tree" lights are the wrong color temperature and they give the whiney geeks headaches. And you can't dim 'em. Can't have that, planet be damned.
Peace on earth goodwill to men, I wonder how much electricity these displays take? Vain, selfich rich kids. Lets just do away with Christmas altogether.
Sorry, I'm having a really bad day today. I'm trying for funny but shit... troll? flamebait? Offtopic? You're the mod, go ahead, make my day.
-Dirty Hairy
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Will IT be visible by Dawn? What will SHE have to say about it?
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
This light thing is some other form of penis size competition. Every year, Christmas is more about business and show off and less about its origins.
Disclaimer: I'm not a religious person but I think you don't need to believe in God to admire Jesus work at that time. If he was in our time he would certainly be against the war in Iraq. He was a pacifist, unlike most of his hard line followers.
Math is beautiful... e^(pi*i)+1=0
... on Eucalyptus Avenue in San Carlos the whole neighborhood gets involved with spectacular lighting displays. While not technically elaborate or geeky as the linked video, it is still quite a sight. Kids, young and old, certainly enjoy it walking up and down the street enjoying the hospitality of the home owners.
Of course, it's a sight that would make Al Gore cry, but he's an old Hum Bugger anyway.
If enough houses got together, they could make a great set of fake runway lights for aircraft.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I captured this video last night
The Chaos Computer Club's Blinkenlights project lets you hook up games like Pong to hotel lighting systems. With the better resolution and greater refresh rate offered by christmas lights, it should be possible to get Doom or Quake to play quite nicely over the side of a mountain or something.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I need to correct this. It was NOT Homeland Security that shut down Boston. It was the Boston Police.
Not even George Bush is dumb enough to shut down a city over a Lite Brite. That kind of incompetence is something only Boston is capable of.
(The best part being, of course, that they did it TWICE, and begged for a Medal of Honor for their restraint in not immediately killing the suspect in the second case.)
What does a "truly free society" have to do with the USA?
People whine about the USA, but exactly which country, on balance, is more free than the USA?
Light Pollution International Dark-Sky Association Starry Night Lights
Canada.
Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
We usually take our daughter to see it every year.
http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/christmas_webcam
This is a TROLL! This statement was made by a high on the 'nog geek with a few days off from the 12 hour Initech grind for no other reason than to insight angry reactions from other high on the 'nog geeks with a few days off from the 12 hour Initech grind. Actually, its poorly executed, so I would call it FLAMBAIT, but I suspect the number of replies is directly proportional to the amount of eggnog being imbibed.
Last I heard, I was allowed to put up as many Christmas lights as I wanted. Yeah, I use LEDs, shut-off the boob-toob and even the computer (obviously not now) to conserve energy. I have all CFL bulbs, my thermostat is computerized so that I lighten the load during peak hours and I wear a sweater so when the heat is on, so its not set very high. I sold the Bronco and am on the list for a Smart Car, although I would prefer a diesel tubine/electric hybrid which is much more efficient. All of that is of my own volition. What else needs must I do?
How about I turn off my Christmas lights if you turn off your 42" plasma/LCD, Wii/PS3/360 and that 600W powersupply gamer rig with the dual 22" LCDs? Now if you will excuse me, I am out of eggnog.
The cancel button is your friend. Do not hesitate to use it.
There is a guy here in Utah that makes a pretty cool Christmas display with lights timed to music and all that, here are some pics http://www.christmasutah.com/2007_lights.html If you are in the area, it is definitely worth seeing. (Google ads on the bottom, I am not the owner of the website)
It is annoying, pedantic whiners like you who give the rest of us atheists a bad name. Who cares when Christians want to celebrate the birth of Jesus? Cultural tolerance should extend to local culture just as much as to all the others. So as long as you aren't being physically forced to participate, just ignore them and stop whining.
Basicaly it is a bunch of groups of lights that go on and off individually. The first time I saw something like this a few years ago it was impressive. Now it is just another one.
It would be more impressive if he were realy steering each light individualy and thus making his whole house a screen. The real chalange would be to have more then one angle in which it looks great (no just good). This would mean some weeks or months of 3d modelling first to see how it works.
The obvious next step whould be a connection to the Internet, although a repeating message with "Fuck Global Warming" would be also apropriate.
Some other lights here from 2005 and although in one colour, better then the one now posted
Here also something that looks better and is from 2006.
A last one is here.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I'm sure everybody knows this one, but anyway : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gvMYVGZLgQ
Less lights but more related to the music playing.
I prefer this one.
good reply. Thanks for posting this. Wish I had mod points to mod you up.
I have no
I'm glad that was modded funny. Canada has some fucked up laws regarding speech... definitely not free.
Just imagine, if you could only organize the neighbors just a little bit, sorta like a block party, and string all the house lights together, to create a beowolf cluster-formation! Wow! You might even get mentioned in /. it'd be so cool!
You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
Back when I was in high school, I had a neighbor who was a bitter alcoholic old man that used to come out and yell at kids playing in front of his house all the time. His decorations got torn down and stomped on too.
That guy is a pussy. Every year I impregnate a virgin in late March. She gives birth around Christmas time. Then I crucify the baby in my front yard. I am hardcore.
Oh really? Maybe you should do some reading.
million lights and it did'nt burn up so far. Myth busted!
Your life is a waste of energy. You literally generate CO2 and the longer you live the more you produce. Everything you do will contribute to CO2 production. The best solution for you to reduce man-made global warming is to self terminate and even then your decaying corps will release CO2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vwOCmJyCZk
has it gotten anybody laid?
Table-ized A.I.
This is in Miami. The yard has tall palm trees in a row behind a diamond link fence. There is a giant spiderweb between two of them so it spans the front of the yard. A huge spider is on it (the stuff that used to scare me in the old serial reruns like Flash Gordon or vintage Batman--not the Adam West stuff but even older)
Under one of the palm trees: a crashed helicopter mockup, broken rotors and all, and a dazed pilot is RIGHT THERE, stuck on the web.
I would drive there at night with my two daughters, and whenever we are about to pass by, I start clutching my daughter's arm, pretending to be really scared.
Of course my daughters roll their eyes. Some nights we scream together. I wonder if the family that lives there gets a Doppler effect of our mock screams. One particular night, I turned to them and said in all seriousness, We've got to save him!
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
One house in my hometown has the best-synchronized light and music show I've seen. They call it Christmas Utah.
None of the above... but instead, The City... because his carbon footprint is too big
when running all of these lights.
1) I wasn't whining.
2) I wasn't making a comparison with another country.
3) You assume too much.
Oh, man, do you "Do You Know That Christmas isn't really Jesus' Birthday?" neo-pagan hipsters know how boring you've become? You're just two tics on the pedantic-o-meter below the "Why can't Hollywood get computers right in the movies?" pop-culture geeks, which is to say nestled snugly between the crowd who can't get over the fact that the word "hacker" doesn't mean "computer hobbyist" like it did for twenty minutes in 1994 and those who insist upon using "architect" as a verb.
It's Christmas Eve. Hug the person next to you, say something to make a child smile, thank God your free and healthy enough to be idling time away in front of a computer monitor, and pour yourself another eggnog.
Merry Christmas. Lighten up.
Last night, I attended Midnight Mass at the Cathedral Basilica here on Guam. It was inspirational and dignified, and there was not an empty pew in the church. The music was sung partially in the native Chamorro language, which (IMHO) sounds more melodious than English. The procession of priests and altar boys into the Basilica, with the bishops and archbishop in full regalia broke the stillness of midnight with blares of trumpets. I felt as if I were a shepherd, shaken by the earth-shattering message of God's arrival on earth. So moving was the ceremony! The archbishop, Antonio Apuron, gave a softly-spoken, but withering sermon in which he deplored the blind consumption and materialism displayed by Christians. Christmas is a celebration of JESUS CHRIST-- NOT OF SANTA CLAUS. Hardly anyone off the street in America even knows who Saint Nicholas was, or even how the gift-giving tradition came to be. If there were no gifts being exchanged, there would still be reason for Christmas to be celebrated. If there were no lights being strung, no tree being exalted, no carols being sung, no food being served, no vacation, there would STILL BE CHRISTMAS! Jesus Christ was born of such poor circumstance: farm animals surrounded him, straw was his bed, lowly shepherds were his only admirers. The King of Kings and Prince of Peace entered this world with quiet dignity. Worship of this Miracle, love for all of God's creatures, and hope for the future, should be the ways in which we honor Him. Faith, hope, and charity should guide our actions. Sharing meals with the poor, sending money to charities, and lots of PRAYER. Why attend only one Mass? Attend two! Why sit silently at mass? Instead, sing your heart out! You have 364 days in the rest of the year in which to drink yourself silly, indulge your spoiled kids, travel to Bermuda, buy that car you always wanted, screw that Vegas hooker. Go ahead and decorate your home. But, do you have to make it a competition?! Must you compete for "BH" (Bonus Honor-- World of Warcraft?) Such selfishness yields little reward and only sows enmity and discouragement. You want to decorate something? How about your local homeless shelter? Or a soup kitchen, orphanage, hospital, emergency room? (Imagine having to go to USC LA County Hospital ER on Christmas Eve!) What a world in which we live! So distant from the Nazareth of yore. Let's put the MEANING back into Christmas. Who's with me??!!
I wondered about all that, and I have noticed some very important things happening at the Ligts-O-Rama website. Ever since the Carson Williams lightshow stood the internet on fire for crazy annimated lights, the question was raised. The first big dilema was with TSO who has a record label which is a member of the RIAA... Ohh bad news. At the time not many have heard of TSO.. The online free publicity has been a godsend to TSO, who publicly praised the lightsohow and gave Carson Willmans red carpet treatment to one of their concerts. This put the label and the RIAA in a fix.. Attack or grin and bear it? The TSO invite made an attack a bad move. But what about all the others that are sure to follow....
The first thing to happen in the back room was to get the software and lighting folks on board to avoid legal issues that could damage their business for making avaliable the technology. Who needs a RIO lawsuit?
The outcome is a licensing agreement. The TSO sequences are free to use with the lights-o-rama program. You must buy your own legal copy of the CD to rip it for the show. Lights-o-Rama is in negotiations with other bands and labels for additional material. Unfortunately, most have decided this can be a real money maker.. and for a fee of about $30 for most of the listed tunes, you can get a performance license for your show. Lucy and Linus is one of the approved songs. Just don't do a show without buying the license. Don't do a show without a license. Not all musicians and lables have warmed up to the idea. I would not recommend any shows to any tunes by the artist formaly known as Prince. That could get ugly, especialy if posted on youtube.
Here is a direct link to the fees for the public performance fees including a list of the songs and artists. The list is short to say the least.. A pathetic list of ten total songs to choose from.. Come on guys, lighten up a little on the licensing..
http://store.lightorama.com/sequences.html
Here is a link to the FREE TSO sequences. Remember, use a legal copy of the TSO track, not a limewire download. My head was about to explode on this one. TSO is wonderful for starting the ball rolling on this and dragging along the label and RIAA. But the songs are on RIAA member labels.. Do I buy it to suport TSO or avoid it because it's an RIAA label??? My head is going to explode!
http://www.lightorama.com/FreeTSO.html
This page explains clearly the need to purchase the CD. I have considered doing a show, but have been stopped by the licensing issues.
I am considering doing a Mannheim Steamroller track because they are RIAA safe, but they want a high fee and an entire selection to choose from is only two songs.. The fee includes MP3 downloads of the songs which is nice as you don't have to buy the entire album. I'll stick to static displays or silent annimation for now until things improve.
The truth shall set you free!
He wanted a country freer than the US, not one that was completely free.
Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
http://lolikun.org/
Umm.. all this talk about about "virgins" and "young maidens" has gotten me hungry for some raisins...
I wonder why...
best to ask my Imam!
I could absolutely care less about the fact that pagan religions celebrate whatever they celebrated during the month of what we now call December. I don't care what pagan or other religions have always celebrated around Christmas. What exactly is the point of that statement? I really don't understand what theorem is proven by the fact that other religions have celebrated something on or about the same day. It reminds me of a quote from the movie Forest Gump. "That is a very lovely story, and you tell it so well."
What is the theorem proven by the fact that Christmas has been commercialized by our capitalist society? Christmas is no longer a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ because Wal-Mart makes a mint from it? That is excellent proof? Since the gigantic megacorps that make millions or billions from Jesus Christ's birth don't call it Christmas anymore, I say that particular proof is crap. They are now making money from the "Holiday Season" so Christmas has been returned to us and we know exactly why we celebrate it.
If someone doesn't care about Christ, Christians, or Christmas, why do they care if I do? I have never seen a group so hell bent (pun intended) on ruining my holiday, my religion, and my celebrations as atheists. The only thing this group appears to firmly believe in is attempting to tear down my faith.
It's Christmas. I love it. I thank God for the gift he sent us in his only begotten son. I thank God for the opportunity to celebrate it on whatever day we choose to celebrate it. We had a fantastic Christmas full of good cheer, thankfulness, giving, good food, good family, good friends, and worship. If someone else didn't then I am sorry for them. If a person doesn't believe then we pray for them. If you don't believe and don't care, then be quiet. This "holiday" is not about you nor is it for you. Wal-Mart has a "Holiday Celebration" for you instead. Take it or leave it, but stop whining about it.
Incidentally, St. Nicholas was the patron saint of anonymous giving. That is what Santa Claus represents. That's what the whole tradition represents to me. We give to the needy. We give to the Churches who use the money to help the needy. We buy nice things for our children and put it under the tree. They get gifts from St. Nicholas a.k.a. Santa Claus and the folks who helped with that process are emulating the real St. Nicholas in not expecting thanks or gratitude for a kind gesture. Jesus said that a man who marches through the streets loudly proclaiming his tithes are paid has already received his reward. The giving of gifts by Christians is in the tradition of Christ's teachings. Our children may not be needy, but we give to them in the same spirit in the hopes that they will do the same when they are adults. That is: giving to the needy, worshiping God, Jesus Christ our Lord, the Holy Spirit, and passing this tradition along to their own children. Matthew 6:1-4
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. I'm not inviting posters to attack my faith. I am not attempting to insult anyone of another faith. I believe that most followers of other faiths don't care what I believe and aren't bothered by the fact that I do believe. What I am trying to say is that it IS a Christian holiday and WE DO know why we celebrate it. It is NOT because we all go broke and it DOESN'T MATTER what flipping day of what flipping month we do it.
Merry Christmas and may God bless all of us. I hope that your new year is even better than your last.
A little misunderstanding? Galileo and the Pope had a little misunderstanding...
He wanted a country freer than the US, not one that was completely free.
Yes, but it's hard to argue that a country with such weak free speech laws is going to win in a "free country" comparison.
Or pick an artist who uses a better license. Jonathan Coulton is my favorite example, he releases his songs under the 'creative commons' license ("Podsafe Christmas Song" is a good example). http://www.hermann-uwe.de/blog/10-100-creative-commons-christmas-songs has a list of more.