Free Republic

Squirrel responsible for damaging Christmas lights in New Jersey to A New Jersey town’s search for the vandal who damaged a popular Christmas lights display came to an end Saturday when officials discovered the Grinch was actually a medium-sized rodent. Officials in Sea Girt, 65 miles south of New York City, spent the past week scrambling to replace the display’s severed wires in time for the borough's annual tree lighting on Friday, WNBC-TV reported. The morning after the ceremony, the Sea Girt Police Department said it caught the vandal in the act, posting photos on social media of a squirrel...

WACONIA, Minn. (WCCO) — What some might consider a home covered in an extreme amount of Christmas decorations is more like a lit-up landmark for neighbor Kari Cedersund. “Every time I try and describe to someone where I live, they would go, ‘Oh, you live across from the Christmas House,'” Kari said. It is a name that has lost its luster this season. “Seeing these lights dark for the first time since we’ve moved here is really hard,” said Bob Zajac, owner of the now dim Christmas House. “My kids are disappointed and our community is disappointed and I struggle...

Since arriving at the Democratic National Convention, Gregory McKelvey said, he's felt like the party has been trying to silence him. The Oregon State graduate supports Bernie Sanders, not the party's presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. So do many of Oregon's delegates. McKelvey said tension over that difference of opinion hit new heights Wednesday when the arena cut the lights over the Oregon delegation as they chanted, "No More War," during former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's speech.

<p>Flaws in nuts that hold up lights throughout the Big Dig’s tunnels may be the result of workers overtightening the fasteners when they were first installed, a top highway official said Thursday.</p> <p>Highway officials revealed this week that an inspector had discovered a cracked nut on a light fixture in the Ted Williams Tunnel in September. After further inspection of the Williams Tunnel and the Interstate 90 Connector and Interstate 93 tunnels, officials said they believe hundreds of fasteners throughout the Big Dig tunnels are flawed and must be replaced.</p>

Strange blue lights glowing on the edge of space first appeared over polar regions in 1885 and today, sightings are becoming increasingly common, and now the phenomenon is moving into lower latitudes including Northern California. Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, these glowing space clouds may be a celestial siren, warning of Earth's global warming, according to some scientists. They're called "noctilucent clouds" or NLCs, basically, clouds that glow at night. They appear mainly in northern latitudes, about 50 miles above earth as miniscule droplets of water reflect the sun on the other side of the globe. Now,...

Tokyo (AFP) - Energy-saving LED traffic lights seemed like a cool way to cut back on electricity costs, but Japanese police said Monday they might just be too cool -- because they don't melt snow. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) account for around 45 percent of all of Japan's stop-and-go signals .. But in wintery northern Japan the lights have encountered a problem -- drivers can't see them because they don't get warm enough to melt accumulated snow. Akira Kudo of Aomori Prefectural Police said snow has to be removed manually between December and mid-February during blizzards. "We don't have enough staff...

Light bulbs can now send and receive data thanks to a California company that has added sensors into each power hub. Although these smart lights can monitor pollution or spot an unattended bag at an airport, their ability to track our every move raises privacy concerns. Bill Whitaker reports.

These are the new images I've got, to go with the second of my youtubes, which is posted at http://youtu.be/usFBn99pJMc In the first youtube we looked at what could be seen above the water in the video. In this new video I show footage of some more that is above water but also some that is underwater. The images on my blog are clearer than what shows on youtube, so even if you see the youtube (which I recommend, because it explains what you're seeing and gives other links as well) you might want to look at the stills to...

Average American conservatives, many of them self-associated with the Tea Party movement, are dancing a little jig, this time in warm light. In the negotiated draft of the recently passed omnibus spending bill, they got their beloved incandescent lights back. Many only realized after a Christmastime flurry of emails that the yellow bulbs were becoming illegal in 2014. In fact, the federal law which nearly made them extinct for home use has been on the books almost seven years.

(CNSNews.com) - Turning on the Christmas lights on a house or a Christmas tree this November cost Americans more on average than it has before, as the seasonally adjusted electricity price index hit an all-time high in the United States in November, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average price for a kilowatt hour of electricity also set a record for the month of November, according to BLS.

**SNIP** Under the new law, the interior lights of nonresidential buildings will have to be turned off an hour after the last worker leaves, and lights on building facades and in shop windows will have to be extinguished by 1 a.m. Ms. Batho also presented the decree as a matter of public health. Artificial lighting can damage sleep patterns, she said, and also “cause significant disruptions on ecosystems by changing communication between species, migrations, reproduction cycles or even the prey-predator relationships.”

Must see for anyone that enjoys Christmas lights :)

Here's mine.

The Republican National Committee had some strong talk about their chances next week in the Wisconsin recall and what a victory for Gov. Scott Walker would mean for their state’s going red in November. “Certainly [if] Wisconsin goes red, I think it’s lights out for Barack Obama,” said RNC Chairman and Wisconsinite Reince Priebus on Wednesday. This is on the heels of a new Marquette University Law School poll showing Walker over Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett by 7 points, 52% to 45%. Despite their tough talk, it’s not so cut and dry that a Walker win would automatically mean an...

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Strange glowing blue lights flying up and down, side to side and sporadically disappearing and reappearing in the night sky…this is what many south Lubbock residents say they've seen over the last few weeks. After taking several calls, emails and Facebook posts, KCBD decided to check it out and see what was behind these mystery lights. Keith Mowery was just one of many who spotted the blue lights about three weeks ago at his shop off of 87th and Avenue P. "My buddy called me and said you need to get outside right now," said Keith....

The massive solar storms currently bombarding the earth with charged particales (@ 4 million mph!) are the largest in over five years, driven by a double solar flare. This phenomenon could bring the beauty of the Aurora Borealis to places it's rarely seen early this morning and heading-on-in to Thursday night... What we have is the Sun belching-out a cloud of gas (twice) who's strong electrical charges will temporarily warp the Earth's own magnetic field as it gets here... which is now. They also play havoc with elements like Nitrogen in our upper-atmosphere, and thus the auroras are produced. But as we wait for...

An American themed Christmas light presentation in Tallahassee, FL set to "God Bless the U.S.A" that would make Clark Griswold proud. It picks up @ 0:40.

An American themed Christmas light presentation in Tallahassee, FL set to "God Bless the U.S.A" that would make Clark Griswold proud. It picks up @ 0:40.

On Friday, August 26, 2011, a group of New Yorkers were startled to see multiple UFOs hovering in the dark night sky above New York City. This UFO sighting took place just one day before Hurricane Irene was expected to wreak havoc on the area. The witnesses observed at least 8-10 UFOs high above the city. One of the men was able to capture the sight on video. The unidentified flying objects seemed to remain nearly stationary for the entire length of the video, nearly three minutes, but there is some slight movement overhead. Each UFO seems to be glowing...

Tampa, Florida -- When the Florida Highway Patrol pulls someone over on the highway, it's usually because they were speeding. But Eric Campbell was pulled over and ticketed while he was driving the speed limit. Campbell says, "I was coming up the Veterans Expressway and I notice two Florida Highway Patrol Cars sitting on the side of the road in the median, with lights off." Campbell says he did what he always does: flashed his lights on and off to warn drivers coming from the other direction that there was speed trap ahead. According to Campbell, 60 seconds after passing...