2002 Santa Emails
Here is a FEW of the various Emails that Santa gets from folks who enjoy his
christmas lights and his Christmas Webcam.
Please be sure to look in the Halloween & Christmas Lights/Webcam FAQ which should answer most questions. If you still have a
question, or just want to Email Santa with an "atta-boy", then
click here. Note that Santa does NOT like
Email spammers, and you will get NO TOYS if you spam him, but he does
respond to most "reasonable" questions.
Date: Wed Dec 4, 2002 4:18 pm
From PaulB
Subject: Xmas webcam is online!
alek,
you've been a busy boy there...now I know why my PC
crashes around 4:30pm every day ;)
YIKES...I put up one tenth of those lights and I notice the
difference in my electric bill...
How does your PC handle the power surge at 10:00PM when they go off?!? ;-)
The electric meter does spin pretty fast! ;-)
Thanx for your Email to Santa.
Date: Wed Dec 4, 2002 5:04 pm
From DavidK
Subject: Lights
Hi. That's an impressive light show. I hope you're on wind power- I
think it would be really cool if this could be a showcase for clean
energy. If you are, I would definitely mention it on the website where
you tally up all the electricity you're using.
Sorry ... just using "regular" power from Public Service;
would take a lotta windmills to power 22,000 lights! ;-)
alek
P.S. Ummmmm ... I hadn't thought of it, but I guess some
eco-terrorists could mount a cyber-attack against the web site
and contually send OFF commands to the lights! ;-)
Date: Wed Dec 4, 2002 5:09 pm
From LarryK
Subject: Lights
OK Alek:
So now that you're dimming the neighborhood, are the power police
coming to your house?
That's quite a bit of power to draw on that single house line of
yours. You really might want to install a real separate box just for
those lights. It could still run from your one meter.
I haven't heard from the power police yet, but I did have
one Email asking me if I was using wind power ... so I guess
it is possible that some eco-terrorists could mount a
cyber-attack against the web site and continually hit the
OFF buttons - on the other hand, I could see some terrorists
from oil-producing nations mounting a cyber-attack and turning 'em
all ON so that America remains dependant on their oil! ;-)
Thanx for your Email to Santa.
Date: Wed Dec 4, 2002 11:06 pm
From JohnC
Subject: Turn Alek's Xmas lights ON & OFF! ;-)
Btw...i only turned a couple of zones of momentarily and left them all
on when I was done playing. A real energy control freak would turn them
all off on you...and leave them off!
Yea - I think we might have the cyber-battle of the eco-terrorists
versus the oil-producing nations turning the lights OFF and ON.
Thanx for only tweeking a few zones and turning 'em all back on
when you were done - this way, folks driving by get the full affect.
Happy Holidays
Date: Thu Dec 5, 2002 8:39 pm
From MikeO
Subject: Lights
Dude, you are in fact a man after the true "geek" heart. This is WAY too
cool. I love it!
Glad you like it - I'll take all of that as a compliment.
Best Wishes from Santa.
Date: Thu Dec 5, 2002 9:03 pm
From LarryG
Subject: Lights
Fascinating. Thanks for posting the URL. It looks great and works great.
Just can't help but wonder what it's like to be inside looking out while
they go on and off. Congratulations.
It can be a bit unnerving with all those lights flashing on and off,
plus the X10 appliance modules make a clicking sound as they cycle.
Fortunately, my wife is semi-used to it.
BTW, when I'm doing testing,
I have a wireless X10 fob that I can turn stuff on and off,
so this is kinda fun to do sometimes to as people walk by.
Actually, at other times of the year, she'll turn off the
porch lights remotely (I gave her a wireless fob) when she
wants to go to bed early.
Thanx for your Email to Santa.
Date: Thu Dec 5, 2002 9:59 pm
From ScottD
Subject: Fun with the Webcam!
Alex,
You really did it THIS year!
I live in Westminster, and I changed the lights a couple times this
evening. Then I called my brother in Socorro, New Mexico and he
changed them while I was watching. This thing is hilarious!!
Here's a suggestion for next year: rig up a huge electronic sign (like
10 feet wide and 3 feet tall) somewhere in front of your house. When
someone changes the lights from your web page, do a geographic lookup
of the person's IP address and then display the city/region where
they're located. Then, when your neighbors complain about all the
flashing on and off, you can point at the sign and tell them to talk
to the folks in Naples, Italy or London, England or wherever, since
THEY were the ones who last changed the lights.
You better be prepared for loads of hits, 'cause news of your site
will spread like an avalanche...
Merry Christmas, Scott D.
Rest assured it is QUITE the crackup from my point of view! ;-)
BTW, I used to live in ABQ ... if your brother really liked the lights,
have him send me some Hatch Green Chile next year - I miss that stuff.
The sign is an interesting idea ... the hardest part would be determining
the actual geographic location of an IP address ... which turns out
to be a very non-trivial problem ... but it's an idea! ;-)
We were averageing a hundred+ hits/hour tonight ... it will be interesting
to see what happens here and it could go geometric on me. Know anyone with
a super-fast network that would be willing to host this for a couple of
weeks! ;-)
Happy Holidays and thanx for the Email to Santa.
Date: Fri Dec 6, 2002 12:12am
From DonK
Subject: brownouts due to your Xmas lights
Well, that explains why we've been having power drop-outs on the east side
of Lafayette.
That's a heckuva load on the turbines, Mr. K. ;^)
Sorry about the power dropouts - I hadn't thought about it,
but it might be interesting to hook a voltmeter up to see
what type of voltage drop I see as they fire on and off.
Thanx for the note and glad you enjoy the show.
Date: Sat Dec 7, 2002 7:50 pm
From Mrs. Spotts
Subject: lights
Hi Alek! Sorry to mess around with the lights but I
just had to see if it was for real. You know you must
have the most tolerant wife in the world. She'd
better be getting something good for Christmas!!
She puts up with Santa - 'nuff said!
Date: Wed Dec 18, 2002 4:53 pm
From JoeD
Subject: chistmas cards
Alek & Wendy:
Great display as always. I sent a copy of your link out just now in place
of my ussual obnoxious holiday e-cards.
As the FTD guys say, send the christmas webcam URL when you mean to
send the very best!
Thanx for your Email to Santa.
Date: Mon Dec 23, 2002 1:52 pm
From Soren B-G
Subject: Xmas-lights very good
Hej, I am writing fro Denmark,
I just hurt abaut your lights i the Danish radio !
and after that, I was in the net, to see your page
very, very good, it is !!!
I will vish you a mery christmas, and a happy new year.
(I hope my "english" is too understand)
Many wishes to you and your family
You English was just fine - thanx for the nice note.
Glad you enjoyed the lights - BTW, if you happen
to know which radio station mention them, when,
and how they did it, I would be interested in knowing.
Happy Holidays from Santa.
Date: Mon Dec 23, 2002 1:52 pm
From SharonB
Subject: lights
Hi,
So....... I'm sitting down here in Florida with the weather near 80
degrees today, noting the 23 degrees that was forecasted for you this
morning...... tee hee!
My geek husband shared your 'lighted' abode with me last year, but I'm
enjoying 'putting your lights out' even more this year!
I'm liking it sooooo much that I'm going to 'turn my kids(students)
on' to your website tomorrow, so you could be flashing on/off all
night for the next two weeks!
Merry Christmas! ho! ho! ho!
Sharon,
glad you enjoyed 'em ... I added some few "features" in the last few days;
so have your students check it out! ;-)
Happy Holidays and thanx for your Email to Santa
Date: Thu Dec 26, 2002 7:25 am
From PeterT
Subject: cool!
wow, it must be visable from orbit. :) cool
Realistically, I doubt it is actually visible
from the International Space Station ... but
it would be cool to see it from the air! ;-)
Thanx for your Email to Santa.
Date: Thu Dec 26, 2002 7:31 am
From JasonE
Subject: possible bug in the code
i believe i might have foind a bug that still allows someone to update
the lights after their 3 times... ive done it by clicking on the "if
you have waited 2 minutes...." by doin that i believe i changed the
status of the lights... might just be me but just wanted to let you
know... i think this is a very nifty idea you got... there are a lot
of possibilies for expansion...
Jason,
I'm pretty sure this "bug" is actually a "feature" ;-)
Yea, I know that is a trite expression, but if you click on
that button, the program will NOT take any changes from you.
However, what is almost certainly happening is that someone else
at about the SAME TIME is toggling the lights, so you may get a
webcam reload that shows the new picture.
Or that would be my best guess looking at the code, but I always
appreciate "bug reports" and thanx for sending in. Let me know
if you are seeing something different and I'll look further.
I'm always interested in other ideas - I've got a few myself,
but I'd be real curious to hear yours ... just be careful ...
because I have about a week left before I take everything
down so I might implement 'em! ;-)
Happy Holidays and thanx for Emailing Santa.
Date: Thu Dec 26, 2002 9:29 am
From EbbB
Subject: Greetings from Australia
Hey - some might say these American guys are crazy for sure!
But nonetheless - a great idea! *lol*
Wish you just the best for 2003!
Elke, from Austria, Styria (Arnold Schwarzenegger, but no kangaroos)
Thanx for the note - be sure to check back next year since ...
I'll be Back!
Date: Thu Dec 26, 2002 12:32 pm
From Daan Vreeken
Subject: Christmas webcam
Ever since christmas 2000 people can control the lights in my room 24 hours a
day and see them with a webcam. Compared to the amount of lights you
connected to your computer I feel very small though :)
The images look Very impressive! It must have cost you hours to set it up.
It will be 2.00 am here when it's 18.00 at your side of the globe, but I'll
sure wait that long to get my 5 webcam-shots ;)
Merry christmas to you!
grtz,
Daan
Almost forgot to tell you,
my control-my-lights webcam is overhere :
http://www.Danovitsch.dnsq.org/webcam
Thanx for the note - your stuff looks good ... in fact, I'm looking at
a shot of you in front of your computer screen right now ... rest
assured that if I had a webcam in my office, that would be me a LOT of the
time! ;-)
yes, it took a bit of time to setup/do!
Sorry you have to stay up so late to play with the xmas_webcam;
it's hard for make the sun set earlier! ;-)
Happy Holidays and thanx for your Email to Santa.
Date: Fri Dec 27, 2002 9:29 pm
From ChadA
Subject: wowowowoow!!!
holy snap that is amazing! great work. i can't believe
what a nerd you are...i love it.
so detailed...gees.
Gkad you liked it - Happy Holidays from Santa
Date: Sat Dec 28, 2002 10:13 pm
From MatthewM
Subject: webcam
I was going to make your lights "flicker" a bit more... but I noticed
that your webcam is returning a bunch of static. The camera seems to be
"flickering" between static and an image.
Also, it looks like you put your lights in three zones for that
"slashdotting payback." I'm sure you're enjoying the rapid voltage
changes as they are turned on and off..... (it's giving me warnings
saying that the voltage is as low as 100 and as high as 136 as I turn
them on and off at the same time.)
The camera/image just seems to get scrambled every
once in a while - unfortunately, real-world stuff
has some randomness in it.
Yea, tune in tomorrow to watch me throw that ROCK! ;-)
Happy Holidays and thanx for your Email to Santa.
Date: Sun Dec 29, 2002 5:20 am
From PoschS
Subject: your page!
hello!
i found your site when reading "derStandard.at"-- itīs wonderful =)
i think itīs amazing that you had the idea to do something as crazy as
that!
i like the idea of switching lights on and off that are thousands of
miles away from me!
keep it up, i hope that next year i will be able to turn the devices
in your kitchen on and off ;-))
greetings from vienna/austria/europe,
Thanx for the note and I'm glad you are enjoying the site;
only on for 3 more days!
BTW, your english is excellent ... would you mind checking
the translation of the derStandard article listed at:
http://www.komar.org/xmas/faq/news.html
and can you tell me what kinda of paper/magazine derStandard is?
It was a bit of s surprise to see this reach across the Atlantic;
you are up QUITE late with the time difference.
Happy Holidays and thanx for your Email to Santa.
Date: Sun Dec 29th, 2002 5:07 pm
From "Liu Ming" - solarriver@sohu.com
Subject: Ruler
Dear Sir or Madam:
Having obtained your name and address from China Council for the Promotion of
International Trade that you are a large buyer. As article of this kind fall
within the scope of our business ivities, we take this opportunity to express
our wish to enter into business relations with you
We hope to hear from you soon.
Yours faithfully
Liu Ming
Santa does not appreciate the spam and Mr. Ming will
get NO TOYS for Christmas - not even coal in your stocking.
Date: Thu Jan 23, 2003 8:18 pm
From support@eagletron.com
Subject: TrackerCam Software 4.0beta Released
TrackerCam Software 4.0beta Released
With this release, Eagletron introduces the next generation of
motion detection that not only captures video when motion occurs,
it actually locks on to whatever moved and follows it with the
TrackerPod while capturing!
Ditto comments above!