2004 Halloween Hulk Emails
Here is a FEW of the various Emails (and slashdot forum postings) that
HULK got from folks who enjoyed his
halloween decorations and his Halloween 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 send an "atta-boy" to the Big Green Guy, then
Email Hulk. Note that Hulk SMASHES
spammers ...but he does respond to most "reasonable" questions.
Date: Fri, Oct 15, 2004 12:23 pm
From: Mike G
Subject: Scripts
I love what you've done with the X10 and all; are your
scripts available to anyone who might want to
study/learn from them in order to do something
similar?
Sorry, the source isn't for public consumption - I may need to
highlight this a bit more in the FAQ's as a few others have asked.
Date: Sun Oct 17, 2004 5:48 pm
From: Anon C
Subject: New commercial
250,000 lights: $100,000
2,500 kw of electricity: Who knows?
Slashdotting some guy's house for no readily apparent reason: Priceless
I guess that's what you have Mastercard for! ;-)
Date: Sun Oct 17, 2004 6:47 pm
From: Philip K
Subject: Question about lights - location
I'm a freshman at Colorado University, and came to your site via /. to see what
it was all about. I haven't gotten to use the web service yet, but the project
looks amazing. Several places on your site you refer to Colorado weather, and
specifically, Boulder County. Living so close, I was wondering if I could get
the address to actually see the effects of the web control, not to mention the
impressive lighting project itself, in person. If not, I completely
understand - I certainly would be hesitant about giving my address out to
strangers!
Thanx for the note/interest. I assume you saw my followup post near
the end of the thread, but some guy DID come out - fortunately, they
did not knock on my door (my wife would have been pissed at me!) and
she does have the "power" to shut down the whole operation, so hopefully
someone won't ruin it for everybody.
Date: Sun Oct 17, 2004 6:57 pm
From: Dave W
Subject: Webcam Image
I noticed that the webcam is using quite a long exposure to compensate for the low light levels - people on the sidewalk appear very blurred. Even so, there is almost no visible graininess aside from compression artifacts. Obviously this is not a cheap webcam.
No, it's not a cheap webcam! I talk briefly about it in the
Christmas FAQ but I'm
under a NDA (non disclosure agreement) ... but my friend commented:
'You can say that the webcam takes a 640x480 pixel image
using a 1/2.7" sensor - size matters when it comes to pixels!'
Date: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:41 pm
From: Cloud K
Subject: awwwww
when his home server short circuits due to slashdotting, it's gonna fry his home electric circuits, and the house won't look very pretty anymore... :(
Popped an X10 Super Socket from the FARK crowd, but actually didn't blow anything from Slashdot ... so far! ;-)
Date: Sun Oct 17, 2004 8:34 pm
From: Zogger Z
Subject: too cool
guess I'll have to check back next week though to fool with it. Thanks for your efforts, I played with your christmas stuff last year. TOOO much fun!
Yea, it's a lotta fun, although outa control when the /. thundering herd comes by. Glad you had fun with it last year and the Halloween stuff is all a warmup for Christmas anyway! ;-)
Date: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:54 pm
From: Carolyn M
Subject: NaaaaBoors
What do you neighbors think?
Just think I've silently bitched when mine has left a back porch light on that shines in my bedroom when I'm trying to sleep ;-)
The two across the street are pretty good about it ... actually better
than my wife.
However, this is some controversy associated about it - the Christmas
stuff ran in
the Boulder Paper in 2002 and generated a lotta folks driving by which
the homeowners
association was NOT happy about - some guy talked about coming by
tonight and I
mentioned that casually to my wife and she said shut it down early ...
so I just did ...
be a shame to have to turn the whole thing off because some folks invade
our privacy.
Date: Sun Oct 17, 2004 11:43 pm
From: N17ikh
Subject: Neat/brave
I think what you're doing is really neat (and admirably
brave for letting the /. crowd access your server. )
Yea, they pounded things pretty good tonight! ;-)
Date: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:31 am
From: Emily W
Subject: xmas vs. christmas
Xmas is a perfectly suitable alternative to christmas, as the X is
short for the name Christ - Xristos, I believe, in Greek.
So anyone who tells you it isn't PC (and what's wrong with being PC,
anyway?) is full of crap.
Merry Xmas!
I LIKE that answer ... and a little early for "merry xmas" as I'm just
trying to survive the halloween CRUSH ... but thanx for the email and happy holidays.
Date: Mon Oct 18, 2004 8:14 am
From: Aaron S
Subject: Voting - Hulk for President
Hulk, I think you'd make a great president for this country, especially
if you can get that brilliant scientist David Banner as your running
mate. You can certainly beat up both Bush and Kerry, and certainly no
terrorist would want to attack America ever again for fear of you
beating him up.
Thanx for the support - I should update my web page and point out that
Bruce Banner is the HULK's running partner. Enjoyed looking at your website;
add a "Vote for HULK" link button there! ;-)
Date: Mon Oct 18, 2004 9:31 am
From: Mamali L
Subject: Inspiration 2003
GOOD GAWD !!!!!!!! ..... That first one was tackier than Sparkie
Griswald's....... Santa PULLEEEEEZE give those folks a book about
tasteful decorating or get the public utilities co. to suspend service
until after the holidays....
Thanx for the compliment on the lights! ;-)
Date: Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:29am
From: Corey S
Subject: Text Light Board Idea
As for the rendering on the board, I would advocate for doing it
before the lightboard. (of course your the one doing the work! ;) My
reasoning is that people could then do more then text, the could do
pictures too. Then some year when you wrap it around some bush, you
start 3-d, remote art, where by turning lights on only at certain
locations, the artist tries to create the recognition of a 3d object.
As for LED's, I was amazed that you weren't doing that already when
you refered to your power consumption. heh
And lastly for the "profanity filter", I was thinking that you might
want to give your neibors privlaged login accounts which can mark/vote
certain "display proposals" as profane, and suppress them. However
that might just me hanging out on slashdot too long ;)
Have fun!
You have DEFINATELY hung around Slashdot too long ... but take that
as a compliment! ;-)
I'll have to give all this some thought - this is almost certainly going to
be 2005 stuff ... so I have a year to think/work on it.
WRT LED's: those are just coming into vogue for holiday lights, but are
still pretty pricey ... and when you have BAZILLIONS of lights, it's a LOT
cheaper to buy the old-fashioned mini's at 80% off a week after the
Holidays.
Thanx for the ideas!
Date: Mon, Oct 18, 2004 1:35 pm
From: D. Young
Subject: commentary on your lights
amazing setup! makes me want to do the same. When you added additional
wiring, I presume you had to get an electrician to check it? I'd be leery of
attempting any circuit additions myself. I'd like to see an essay on how you
actually wired everything up. Didja just use a bunch of outdoor extension
cables, or something better? I hate running orange and brown cords all over
the place. I did not look at the pics in detail, but you should make an
effort to find those very dated plastic lighted deer and santas and the
little singing xmas carol people as well as the 3 foot tall candles that
have been used every year since 1964 and use things like that. I am on the
lookout for stuff like that. Your setup reminds me
of a house in the country where he has candy canes, a flying saucer
various plastic animals with lights, typical xmas stuff, the house covered
with lights AND an old firetruck with lights on it. Certainly gets curious
onlookers.
On the electrical stuff, there's a whole page about what I did back in 2002 -
And it's just regular green extension cords all over the place.
It would be cool to get my hands on some of that retro stuff you
are talking about above.
Date: Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:41 pm
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Ummmm ... nice to see that SpamAssassin correctly identified this as spam
which it certainly is. Glad to hear that I'm a "schmuck" when it comes to not
being listed on search engines - last time I looked in Google, I was #1 and
#2 for "halloween lights", #1 for "halloween decorations", and #3
for "halloween webcam" - not too shabby if you ask me! ;-)
But thanx "Elisabeth" for writing and I'm happy to put your Email address on this
page with a "mailto" so that spam-spiders can send you notes like you wrote to me! ;-)
Date: Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:10 am
From: John S
Subject: Good lord ...
Now what would be _really_ cool is if you had the vote tally
shown as a big LED display in your front window!
- -John (Hulk! Hulk! Hulk!)
GREAT idea on the vote totals - while some sort of
addressible light board is in the works, I doubt it will
even make it by Xmas, but maybe in 2005 ... and
definately in 2008 for the next election! ;-)
Hulk appreciates your support,
Date: Tue Oct 26, 2004 8:16 pm
From: Mike F
Subject: Low voltage msg
This message showed;
"You voted for KERRY! Requesting that zone 4 be turned
ON ... doing X10 status check ... Zone 4 is NOW ON !!! (warning:
voltage sag to 102.19 volts detected)
That message happens from time to time ... I actually can tell
inside the house when it occurs since the lights dim a slight bit - "normal"
voltage fluctuations! ;-)
Date: Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:51 pm
From: Shelly T
Subject: awesome lights
Dude your house is like the bomb,it is so cool. I bet your light bill
is reall high....How long does it take for you to put up all of those
lights and to take them all down? And where did you come up with this
idea????It is a cool idea, have you ever made it on the news with all
of these lights and such a bright house?
T.Y for you time and Happy Holidays to you.
Glad you enjoy the lights - the electric bill really isn't that much;
was a LOT more in Xmas/2002 when I had 22,000 lights.
For Halloween/2004, it was a couple of days to set it up,
tune/polish things, and then occasional checks to fix
burned out lights and/or varmits who chew through cables.
It's been in the local paper and numerous Internet sites,
but it's hard to "know" how much in traditional media - send it in to 'em
and let me know! ;-)
Happy Holidays to you also and thanx for writing,
Date: Fri Oct 29, 2004 3:43 pm
From: Michael C
Subject: Write-in for President
Some might say you are one sick puppy with way too much time on your hands, but I got a chuckle from your site and whatever floats your boat is fine with me.
Write-in for President:
ALF
Smarter than Bush / Shorter than Kerry / Prettier than Nader
Glad you enjoy it and thanx for the write-in candidate ... but Hulk SMASHES Alf! ;-)
Date: Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:07 pm
From: Jeff W
Subject: how can I see it live
hey i live in Tampa do you allow people to drive by , i live at 58th and fowler? please let us come see my 7 year old would love this
Wellllll ... given that I live in Colorado, that would be quite a drive
just to see some lights that you can see via the web at your house! ;-)
Date: Sat Oct 30, 2004 11:04 pm
From: Janie B
Subject: Thank you!
I felt it would be rude to leave your site without saying goodbye and thank you! So, bye! Thank you-it was a pleasure!
Glad you liked it and thanx for the note - pass it on to your friends
as it will only be up for a few more days ... but do come back for
Christmas since this is just a warm-up for that!
Date: Sun Oct 31, 2004 8:09 pm
From: David S
Subject: what a great idea
you got a realy great site i never seen one like that before thanks.
i got a question if you could answer it please. is there any way
instead of having to refresh the page to see the changes people have
made to have a live feed like when you speek to someone over a
messenger with it constantly updating.
That would require a HUGE increase in bandwidth - see question D-9 in the Christmas FAQ.
Date: Sun Oct 31, 2004 9:45 pm
From: Rebecca T
Subject: thanks
Thanks for sharing your halloween lights, I had a great time playing
with them. You and your family seem to have alot of fun.
Happy Holidays, and its a shame that the hulk can't really win the
election, he would probably do a smashing job.
Glad you enjoyed it and very witty Email,