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Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
Pedestrian Power Will Generate Holiday Lights at Shibuya Station, Tokyo
4.5 million LEDs Dazzle at Japan Winter Light Show

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Chris Jacob
12/14/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
Hi everyone,

I'm getting quite a few emails about how this piece is similar in subject matter to another recent posting on [www.jimonlight.com] I sent Jim the following note about the matter:

--------------------------------------

Hi Jim,

This is Chris, the author of the Christmas lights article at Gizmodo.

First of all, let me start off by saying that I meant you no harm with this post, and I hope you'll take a minute to hear what I have to say.

It might not seem like it, but it really was a coincidence that our posts went up so close to one another. Our features editor came to me about a week and a half ago and asked for a post on the history of Christmas lights. During my research, I found your website. I thought you did an excellent job of describing the types of lights available today, and wanted to include that information in my post.

But that section makes up approximately 25% of the article. Within the section that references your site, I included links to your source material. Beyond that, If you look at the other sections, you’ll see the links to the other sources I used to gather research.

Even though it might not have seemed like I credited your post originally, I did. The links were included within the text of the post. As soon as Brad Peterson [edit: fixed the spelling] wrote to say that he thought I didn’t give you proper credit, I revised the links to include your site’s name. The links were there from the beginning, you were always credited, and now I have made that credit more prominent on the page.

Honestly, there was nothing malicious in my intent. I was given an assignment by my editor around the same time that your first entry went up. Because I was writing on the same historical subject, there was overlap in the information you and I presented, but I did not use your page as my sole resource.

Again, I meant no harm, and I hope we can somehow resolve this situation.

- Chris
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Edited by Chris Jacob at 12/14/09 8:43 AM Chris Jacob was starred Chris Jacob was unstarred

valkilmerisawful
12/14/09

@Chris Jacob: I wouldn't worry about it. If I recall the red marks on my high school english essays accurately, citing from an internet source doesn't really count anyway.
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AtomFury
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
That movie was genius, the lighting was great with the TSO music. Love it.
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Edited by AtomFury at 12/13/09 10:40 PM AtomFury was starred AtomFury was unstarred

kokuou
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
Huh? You can still get NOMA Christmas lights in Canada (at Canadian Tire). Maybe it's a different company under the same name? o_O
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Chris Jacob
12/13/09

@kokuou: The name is still kicking around, but they're alive in name only. The actual NOMA company stopped making lights in the '60s, but now other manufacturers sell lights with the NOMA brand.
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KingSnakeX4
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
You want to hurry this up, Clark? I'm freezing my baguettes off.
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Curves
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
I proudly strung 28 bubble lights on my tree just today. They fascinated me as a child and still do.
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Deckard
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
Just finished watching Christmas Vacation.

Art: The little lights... they aren't twinkling.

Clark: I know, Art. Thanks for noticing.
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njdevil
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
I love Christmas lights!

Inflatable snowmen, santas etc, however, make me want to do drive-by's with a nail gun. Especially when they are left deflated on the lawn for 12 hours each day.

MAKE A REAL SNOWMAN!
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Deckard
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
Interesting article. Switched from incandescent C7 to the LED version this year, after my sons kept dropping them on the HARDwood floor.
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deanbmmv
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
" winter festivuses (festivi?)."

Festivities?

Also I need to go out tomorrow n pick up something Christmas-ey, maybe just a cheap small fibre optic tree (student here, no fancy decorations for me)
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Edited by deanbmmv at 12/13/09 8:37 PM deanbmmv was starred deanbmmv was unstarred

Bassem B.
12/14/09

@deanbmmv: Nope, he means Festivus.

[en.wikipedia.org]
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deanbmmv
12/14/09

@Bassem B.: ah. american joke :P
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Bassem B.
12/15/09

@deanbmmv: Yeah... I'm not American either but I read about it sometime, don't remember when/why.
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Segador
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
Great article. I had no idea Christmas lights were so storied, or so interesting.

I seem to remember that the big lights, like the C9's above, were more popular twenty or so years ago than they are today. My parents would pull out the box of lights, which would have inevitably become hopelessly tangled no matter how carefully you packaged them last year, and we'd all watch as my dad nearly killed himself stringing lights at the very top 'no step' step of the ladder. From what I can remember, most folks, including us, had the multi-colored "C9" variety.
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Edited by Segador at 12/13/09 8:21 PM Segador was starred Segador was unstarred

FriarNurgle
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
They are so beautiful
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Archie-Tekt
12/13/09

@FriarNurgle: and just like that, my heart grew three sizes...
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GitEmSteveDave_ My Brute Dojo Code CDIAFIFE
12/13/09

@FriarNurgle: Santa, where are you going with our tree?
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Alfisted
12/13/09

In reply to Christmas Lights, The Brief and Strangely Interesting History Of
Tacky or not, I love bubble lights and have ever since I first saw them on Grandma's tree. Thanks, Noma!
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1350ft.in.a.Concorde.blow*ng.up.balloons
12/09/08

In reply to Pedestrian Power Will Generate Holiday Lights at Shibuya Station, Tokyo

+ Watch video

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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
12/09/08

In reply to Pedestrian Power Will Generate Holiday Lights at Shibuya Station, Tokyo

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Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
12/09/08

In reply to Pedestrian Power Will Generate Holiday Lights at Shibuya Station, Tokyo
Humans being used for generating power....

I knew the Matrix would start in Japan.
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