ShopTalk Sunday: The Holiday Lights Problem

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There’s one task that has “come and gone” over the years – the thorny question about whether to put up holiday lights.

Don’t know if you have priced them, lately. But, they can get expensive, depending on your lighting plans.  Which can be divided into Inside and Outside.

The problem is further complicated based on your faith and whether children are in (or visiting) the home. For the kids, this is where a lifetime of religious memories can be planted.  Whether it’s Christmas trees and stockings (with cookies and milk), or a menorah and dreidels (and Hanuka gelt) – this is where memories come from. Where values imprinting is run. And the sense of family reinforced when “the cousins” come in and wreck an otherwise serene home.

I’m a fan, but not.  Conflicted, between the canes and gelt, it becomes like Easter, a kind of business model for family dentistry. We long for the fireworks of the Fourth, but again – more reflecting internal contradictions – we live in a forest where playing with open fire in summer is kinda stupid.

Then there’s the matters of age, fire danger, cost, mess and cleanup. Ladders are less welcoming, real trees dry out into nearly explosive tinder, needles drop all over the place as they dry, and for this we sing songs and pay good money? Almost seems kind of scammy.

My thinking has clarified: To raise righteous children, get them to church an through Confirmation so they can get the odd sip of wine and a cracker while being sermonized. Or, Mitzfahed and shots of Mazel Tov Ben’s. We’ve always been a bit suspicious of religions that don’t know how to party, or at least pretend so.

Dark History Time

The other moral aspect of Holiday lights arises from how “the holidays” sprang into being.  We’ll assume you are conversant with John Fraim’s classic “Battle of Symbols: Global Dynamics of Advertising, Entertainment and Media.”  Because religions have  waged slow-motion wars over historical length periods of time.

Now, you take Christmas for example. By tradition (in those Confirmation classes) it was taught that “three wise men” showed up around this time of year.  Well, except..,.

The most likely year was 2 BC and as for time of year? “On June 17, the planets Venus and Jupiter appeared to merge in the sky, just before setting in the direction of Bethlehem” is a much better bet.

More ambitious? You can pick  6 BC’s  triple conjunction that occurred: with Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn forming a triangle. Or, 7 BC which sported a super-long-lasting “star” -as Jupiter and Saturn were within three degrees of each other for eight months. That would have allowed time for traffic holdups for the camel drivers along the way.

“What about a super nova, you skeptical prick?”

Yeah? Well, what?

  • A nova or supernova, a rare star that suddenly brightens. The Chinese recorded a nova in the spring of 5 BCE that lasted for more than two months. Like that one?
  • A conjunction of two planets, such as Jupiter and Venus, appearing so close together that they appear as one. 

This is even before we get to the New Jersey bus-sized UAPs that could have been checking things out… Remember Ezekiel’s wheel?

Hijacked Trees

Major religions were waging slow-motion mind-control operations from shortly after year zero.  As Rome accrued power, it’s marketing worked west up through France and even to the British Isles.  Except, there were people in the way.  People we speak of today as Pagans and Wiccans.  And they had already established holidays. Care to guess when?

Being somewhat schooled in the arcane aspects of such warfare, it’s in this “convert or kill” period that the religion of Rome demanded fealty. Such as led to the Inquisition by the 1500’s.

The Pagan/Wiccans, being followers of a ‘soft science’ of Observation, had noticed that when Winter appeared, it was followed by Spring.  Thus, they would party a lot. The mid-winter festival.  It even had a name: “Yule.”  It’s here we see the “marketing infringement occurring. Because the Wiccans has “product in the market already.”

  • Burning the Yule log
  • Kissing under the mistletoe
  • Decorating with holly and evergreen branches
  • Lighting candles
  • Meditation
  • Acknowledging the cycles of nature
  • Feasting
  • Gift giving

To the credit of Jews, their use of lighting candles predated the religious subjugation of Europe: The menorah is first mentioned in the Bible in the book of Exodus, specifically in verses 25:31–40. The menorah was built for the tabernacle in the wilderness, opposite the table of shewbread.

Which (since most people don’t know) is a set of 12 loaves of bread that were placed on a table in the Temple of Jerusalem as an offering to God.

Even today, in Ure’s Occult moments, there is essential oil scenting of “fresh baked bread” because “burnt offerings” is a favored trans-dimensional odor. Kind of like strawberry scent which is favored by som alien species. But, I digress.

This “Christmas Tree” was pretty clearly an infringement on the Pagan/Wiccan branding and we don’t wish to become party to marketing conflicts.

Then There’s the Energy Use

Pappy Ure, my predecessor as “fount of all knowledge” used to say (as weather got cold) “Close the door, you’re letting the money out…”  A reference to the incandescent heat from tree lights and decorations.

We make a lot of our own energy, these days from solar.  While we have whacked summer power bills by 80 percent with recent system changes, when it gets cold, and cloudy. the meter run faster.  We already had one day this month where daily power consumption touched $15 in a single day. High SEER heat pumps don’t work next-door to freezing. Resistance heating kicks in and money begins to counter flow power.

Would it make sense to add more panels and run some miners?  Maybe. Is putting in hundreds of LEDs likely to have such returns?  No, not really.

The Neighborly Parts

Loving our neighbors, as we do, we appreciate that they would enjoy driving by and seeing a lit Christmas tree in the front yard.

But again, conflict arises.  The oaks in the front yard are off the table.  Sure, the leaves are off them, but their design is not “friendly” to hanging lights.  Even with a drone, extreme care must be used (more on this in a sec.).

That leaves us either a scrub youpon or an 80+ foot high pine with many to choose from.

Drones can bemused to lift lights into impossibly high trees.

We generally fly an inexpensive 4K drone both for area surveillance and antenna work.  They adapt to outdoor Christmas light missions well.

Put a lightweight tie-wrap around the belly of the drone near the center of gravity.  Tie on some 30 pound fishing line.  Pay it out and fly over the tree of your choice.

Fly an additional (tree height) on the outbound leg of the lifting mission.  Fly over the tree and away from you. Since, if you go a short distance (and the line is tight as you descend) the fishing line will get caught in the props.

When the drone is landed on the far side of your tree, tie on some paracord (500-800 pound  is up to you) and back haul.

Now you’ve got a line to some real high ground for light-hanging.

It’s not as much fun, as back in my sailing days when I’d run strings of light 60-feet up the mast and take part in the Seattle Christmas Ships parades. But, unlike boat driving days, I don’t feel compelled to stand out in the rain any more, just so people on the Evergreen Point bridge can get some seasonal optical jollies.  The Christmas Ships schedule is here, second sailing today.

In the house?  Well, when you own a 30-acre tree farm, having one follow you into the house (how to say this?) “loses a bit of it’s charm.” Our pines are home to Texas Bark Scorpions.  But the enterprising handyman can turn these festive with care.  Just shine some very UV light on them.  They fluoresce in blues and reds!

If you insist on Tradition, have fun.

For everything else, there’s Husqvarna.

On  the Ham Bands:  A lot of discussion on the 3806 group this morning about the story World’s Largest Gold Deposit Found, Worth Over US$80 Billion.

What we see possibly on the horizon is a footrace between gold and BTC to back the banjo buck.

No decision yet of which one will win, but with a much bigger asset base, China might be thinking more about gold than made-up numbers. Which traded upwards of $103,000 Saturday. and were just under at press time.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

43 thoughts on “ShopTalk Sunday: The Holiday Lights Problem”

  2. Done Deal !

    actually deal was done several years ago, they just be consummating the partition of one of the darker, most repressive criminal gang family run country’s in ME.

    *Actually it seems all country’s in the world are run by CGF’s.

    How long before Iran folds ? Prolly a matter of weeks, as Bombing should start soonly.

    Prigozin was telling the truth..FSB-pooterz all of em “durty”.

    Russia’s future does not look good, as the COWARD puteeen does what he always does for his Western masters

    – Bend for a “company” FRIEND..and he NEVER even gets a Reach Around.

    Now you know why they are called Slavs .

    Reply

  3. You might look at some of the solar Christmas ornaments on the Zon:

    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=solar+christmas+ornaments+lights+outdoor&crid=2W6DY1LVSNK7F&sprefix=solar+christmas+ornament%2Caps%2C188&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_3_24

    A couple of those in the front fence row hung from bare black locust treelets should be sufficiently festive and jolly. The neighbor put a string of lights on her cactus array at the gate. I would rather put the lights away from the gate, so as not to look too inviting. The seasons greetings are for neighbors and invited guests, not Bud Light drinkers tossing bottles and cartons, looking for stuff to loot. The local OPP crowd still drinks Bud Light, based on recent forensic observations.

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  4. ATL: my Mom’s Dad (a German self schooled engineer / inventor) built plywood boxes with exterior floodlights when I was _very_ little. Those same box lights were used by my fam. for decades. The boxes were melting and wiring scary. I retired them 5-6 years ago.

    Today I have a single feed routed into an exterior grade timer which lights a (6) flood spread of waterproof LEDs. These can be used talking to wifi but I prefer the old school remote. Then there are down floods in the lake facing soffits. I can rig the entire display in under 30 minutes.

    When E2 was a youngster we used to take the commuter train and meet The Chicago Christmas Ship

    https://christmasship.org/

    Think the Mac came in a couple days ago. It’s very festive. But … it’s my considered opinion the city scene is dangerous for us ole timers (we are targets) so? Now we just circle the city to / from MN.

    Today doesn’t count since I already lived part of it. Thursday 12.12 is road trip day (a nine hour trek). So, I am three days (using that math mashup) from my Grandling.

    Back to green. It was above freeing all night and snow has melted off lots of green. When Sol shines on it most down at the lake shore will melt down. Padawan Helper is due heat ‘o the day. I’m staging project tools.

    HoHoHo,
    E

    Reply

  5. it’s just stuff. more stuff. we all have too much stuff. stuff is baggage that weighs you down and slows your growth. stuff doesn’t matter in the least. the less you have the more you have. don’t be attached to anything, especially stuff. all that matters is what’s inside.

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  6. OK, so nothing to do with today’s topic, but someone was predicting something big would happen today. Would the fall of Syria count as “big?”

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  8. Good Day!

    Lets see 80 billion in gold is considered a massive find.

    30 Trillion + in debt doesn’t seem to matter that much.
    What am I missing!!!?

    Jim

    Reply

    • 80 billion won’t even take care of the donations to ukraine.. what I believe they were after is the oil pipeline to europe.. after blowing up more nord stream really put stress on europe..so the Leviathan oil field and a pipeline through syria would be a picture perfect gift to Europe and a bounty to the puppeteers pulling the strings for more power

      Reply

  9. Diana loves the Christmas lights so we went to town yesterday to accompany our oldest son and his family to see the Christmas in the Park light display that is set up in a campground with tons of light displays. This year when we arrived the line of cars was backed up a couple of miles. Lots of fun with 8 of us in a 7 passenger van but a good time was had by all.
    We thought we may have to spend the night but neither of us wants to leave the new ranch, the goats, the cows or the boys so I talked Diana into driving home…Gasp….in the dark. “No worries”, I said. “Eye Doc says I have 2020 vision now with the upgraded lenses on my opthamalogical sauce packets. And I have these cool new glasses with yellow lenses for tactical night time adventures.” She was so in awe she could only say, “Oh my God.” After the uneventful drive which I was even impressed with myself at we pulled up to the gate. Diana had finally settled down but then we see Recon the Cat sitting on one of the pillars. He had been MIA for 2 days again and we were beginning to think the worst. Diana jumps out of the truck and starts scolding Recon. Then she orders him to “Get into the truck right now.”. In typical cat fashion he just sits there switching his tail but as soon as she puts her hands on her hips and stomps her foot he jumps down then walks nonchalantly right by her to get into the truck. After he takes his position on the console Diana gets in then he just looks at me and says Home. I’m still processing the talking cat thing but for the 300 yard drive up to the house Diana was in MegaScold mold. After we get the truck parked and are greeted by the boys she looks at Recon and tells him “Don’t you run off again, I will bring out your food in a minute.”. WTF, its 10:30 at night. While I was out checking the goat shelters and saying hi to the the girls I could see she was trying to pet him while he was checking out his food bowl. For some reason the theme to “Green Acres” started playing in my head.
    Stay safe. 73

    Reply

    • there was a guy here in the wastelands that went all out.. a regular show and he had a cash box for donations..the donations went to make a wish foundation.. it was an annual event that everyone drove by his house..now the businesses around here make a huge display with a cash box for donations. it’s always a lot of fun..we don’t put up lights.. we did when the kids were little now with just the two of us..

      Reply

  11. Hi, George,

    I have listened to Professor James McCanney for decades. He holds the opinion that a comet led the way for the three Wise Men to journey from their distant home to a manger in Bethlehem. A comet would be seen in the sky for a week or two, but a planetary alignment would only last a brief time. He thinks that Venus had been a comet before being captured by our sun to become a planet revolving around our sun. He also thinks that earthquakes usually occur in the time period of three days before and three days after a full moon and a new moon. He holds many interesting beliefs about our universe that are most compelling.

    Reply

    • we was not alone in the Venus theory
      https://www.amazon.nl/Worlds-Collision-Immanuel-Velikovsky/dp/1906833117
      In Summary:
      Immanuel Velikovsky’s theory posits that Venus was once a comet ejected from Jupiter, which then interacted with Earth, causing catastrophic events. While this idea has been widely rejected by the scientific community, it remains a notable example of a speculative and unconventional theory in the history of astronomy.

      Reply

      • One moar time for the mind washed masses of “abrahamic” Monists..

        Orion Wars of Aggression: ancient queen, Tiamat fled to Earth (1of11 interactive “libraries” in Universe, all were on lockdown) during one such war.
        She hoped the Kadistu (planners who created&poulated Earth..best examples of lifeforms from around the galaxy, would assist her in War versus An and his Annuna/Annunaki – Males of her race.
        The planet between Mars and Jupiter, was called Mulge (FEMALE/Priestess populated planet) was destroyed enlil/setes ..BIG F-ing clue hear = known as the “Dominator of Frequencies and Hoarder of Consciousness”.

        The destruction Mulge became a boiling hot mess that was observable from Earth at the time – it ripped the surface and atmosphere off of Mars, 60% of inhabitants fled to Earth prior to planet being consumed in “boiling mess”(known as Abar Priests/Slaves- they previouslyserved Annuna on Mars), whodoya think they “serve” now?

        Enki/Osiris (the real Father)was murdered/assinated soon thereafter, but not before he set up “ark” and collection/storage of DNA of all the flora&fauna. 1st time the rouge planet “swiped” Earth caused all the lakes, bays, floods, inter-planetary lighting – legend says more people died just from the SOUND of this thing screaming on by. Entire planet that survived 1st pass lived in fear of its return..hence The Watchers..western asiatic steppes..modern day Turkey. In ancient Egypt it was known as Arit – Khern – The Eye of Sound, This is the source of legendary “Black Stones” – largest fragment of which was installed atop the Mir. (great pyramid).. combined with Djed towers inside the Mir – powered by underground Nile, electrum coating covering entire structure..an energetic wonder of a missile defense system..

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  12. The problem with Christmas decorations is that the amount you have grows every year. I gave away a bag full of stuff this year, mostly table runners and heavy candle holders, things not very practical with an 8 year old in the house. But then I bought some kid safe Mexican strings of puffy soft balls for my granddaughters little metal tree in her room.

    People seem to be promoting ornament exchanges this year due to the cost of gifts but ornaments can easily cost $10 or more. I’d rather have 2 boxes of Dollar Tree candy and a potholder.

    Few people put many lights outside anymore. I do love seeing the lighted decorations around the lake at the city park every year. This year the drive is especially short because the city is building a “Santa House ” (?). Definitely some construction is going on and the lighted decorations are spaced closely together. I don’t mind. My favorite is the arches of light over the road looking like a rainbow tunnel at the entrance.

    Our bug/mouse guy said he has to buy a new tree and ornaments this year because rats ate his. Yuck!

    Reply

    • that’s the truth… when my older mini me was little..we had these beautiful crystal ornaments … one day I hear ball ball and they were being tossed down the hall lol lol lol with great precision they all got smashed lol lol lol.. now the grandkids make ornaments..
      speaking of which..if your going to make a Xmas paper..in the pulping process the pulp liquor is fermentation for alcohol for lamps etc.

      Reply

  13. I plugged in my short LED Xmas light string shortly before Thanksgiving. It’s inside a window and not exposed to weather. I’ll probably unplug them when the majority of the local Xmas displays go away. I’ve had my purple tin 18″ high Xmas tree up for the last decade or so and it sits unobtrusively in a corner of the living room. It neither has nor needs lights – it’s part of the furniture! Both the window lights and the tree are hand-me-downs and they’ll probably outlast me. The cost to run is down in the noise of my electric bill.

    Merry Xmas to all!

    Reply

  14. According to ABC News – Assad has resigned and left the country.
    …, and,
    India News is reporting that the plane he was on “suddenly dropped off the radar”.

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      • A.G. Kimbrough,
        Thank you and Merry Christmas! I forwarded a donation to a charity which supports and guides veterans from homelessness back into society.

        Reply

    • re: the donkey party
      feat: pin the tail on

      Folks,

      The age of #46 opened with A for Afghanistan. It settles into the sunset with S for Syria. Did a NATO nation rebel ally get lost on the road to Damascus? Why do daily missile tally graphics of the Ukraine Air Force Telegram channel appear mosque-like as though in homage to the logo of a victorious Syrian rebel faction? Let’s try and think happy thoughts about moskva. DJ George will be along shortly to offer up the latest word on the hIts. In the meantime, get comfy for sunny times with another chestnut from the Fab Four –
      “Back in the USSR”.

      Reply

  15. re: Tree Lights Go Green
    feat: Pops presses button

    Folks,
    Time is precious at this time of year. This may explain a 5 minute teaser video posted to the White House Youtube channel with Friday’s National Tree Lighting Ceremony event coverage. Hopefully CBS producers are reaching out to qualified Hollywood special effects staff to pull off a Christmas miracle in time for a scheduled December 20th television broadcast. A sure Christmas political gift pitch over home plate was turned into a strike out.

    The video supplied for the teaser was shot primarily from the back bleachers. From that vantage point, there was a serious lack of venue lighting. A second-rate football college team wouldn’t leave their locker room to play under that shade. Organizers couldn’t connect the dots that the elves bring the children to Santa with their wishes. Instead awkward seconds elapsed as a lonely President Biden was left to shuffle from side-stage storage to the microphone at the dais. Following the President’s remarks, the Christmas tree green lights mercifully lit up. However moments after with choir in full song, the sound system dropped out. The White House video translator for the hearing-impaired stood at attention during the outage. Presence of an event-scheduled Second Couple could not readily be ascertained in the video clip.

    Without a doubt, if this had been a production for NBC’s “The Apprentice”, one fears the project manager would have been summoned to the board room and fired. Speaking of NBC, the 94 foot Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center dwarfs the 35 foot White House entry. The former was officially lit last Wednesday evening in a live television extravaganza.

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    • So, Whaddya think? Was it Trump’s new signature cologne, or just the fact Doug Emhoff hasn’t hit it in nearly 6 months…?

      Reply

  18. Japan’s corporate and business bankruptcies hit 11-year high in 2024.
    Despite all the busy-talk., Japan is not getting stronger.

    Reply

  19. There’s currently a shit-ton of talk regarding the possibility that Biden can “preemptively blanket pardon” people whom his puppeteers believe are criminally-vulnerable to investigation and prosecution by the Trump Administration, even though no one’s been charged with a crime.

    I suspect this is criminally illegal. However, I don’t know on what grounds the USSC could even hear a case regarding it.

    That said, if Biden can “preemptively blanket pardon” people like Jake Tapper and Liz Cheney (and himself), and the pardon either stand up in court, or not be able to be challenged, couldn’t Mr. Trump “preemptively blanket pardon” himself and a wet team, then simply have the wet-workers assassinate everyone who’s been preemptively pardoned, and for whom his Administration has uncovered proof of malfeasance?

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    • Glenn Beck has described the “Bubba Effect” as what happens when the people feel compelled to do what the justice system has failed to do. May be no need for a wet team if Bubba is sufficiently pissed.

      Reply

        • Darn …

          I was hoping the excitement would last a few more days thus allowing more and more Health Care Executives to become more and more paranoid about the ramifications of their causing the deaths of innocents … who’s relatives might not take kindly to them having been killed by said Executives.

          A little FEAR for one’s life seems to focus one’s attention at the ramifications of one’s dirty deeds. The MOB figured that dynamic out decades ago and thus kept petty crime out of their local domains.

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