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When I got up this morning, I found that my
pepper, onion powder,

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cloves, and nutmeg had all escaped from the pantry.

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They were standing together
on the countertop, and cheerfully wished me a good morning.

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And that can only mean one thing…

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Seasoning’s Greetings!

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[awkward pause]

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Yes, No Effort November is coming to a close,

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and what better topic with which to conclude the month than a pointless decorative light

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filled with a mysterious clear liquid that makes bubbles thanks to the heat generated by an incandescent bulb in its base.

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Oh, a lava lamp you say?

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No, we just did those!

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We’re talking about bubble lights!

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These things!

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[faint rustling as tree is shaken ever-so-weirdly]

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Ever since the tradition of putting soon-to-be
dead evergreen trees indoors for a month or so

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was combined with the advent of electric
lighting, we’ve been conceiving of wacky and wackier electrical things

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to throw in our Christmas trees.

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Because if there’s one thing we oughta put
in a mass of drying needles,

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it’s electric lights on cost-cut strings! Super safe.

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But you all know of that hazard by now -

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at least I hope so.

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And anyway it doesn’t have anything to
do with this video.

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Or does it?

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You see, I can force a connection between
the heat hazard and these lights.

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Watch.

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What makes Christmas trees dry out?

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Dry air and a lack of water, of course.

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But what makes that go faster?

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The heat generated by incandescent bulbs strung
among the branches.

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But what if, instead of just resigning ourselves
to the fact that the heat is a wee bit dangerous,

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we used that heat to create a new sort of
Christmas tree light,

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a light “which shall present a neat and pleasing appearance, and which shall be light in weight, durable in construction, inexpensive to produce and efficient to operate.”

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Carl W. Otis made such a connection in 1941
when he conceived of and patented these silly little things.

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Bubble lights, or as he put them, 
"ornamental illuminating devices."

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Did he have any concern about the safety implications
of electric lights in giant kindling cones?

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Uh, probably not, but these do spread the heat
generated by their bulbs over a larger surface area

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and thus they don’t get as hot as a naked
bulb so… I guess technically they are slightly safer.

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Still, slightly safer certainly seems separate
from the objectives of Carl.

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He probably just wanted to make a… thing.

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And these are them!

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So, what are they?

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Well, they’re constructed as if they are
a very odd kind of light bulb -

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the actual bulb in here isn’t meant to be replaced,
instead you’re expected to replace

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this entire thing when one goes out.

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Everything is glued together - again, this entire thing, ostensibly, is the bulb.

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Indeed, even in the patent, this is how it
was envisioned.

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No user serviceable parts inside.

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Also, hang on, we need to talk about the way
“Fig” is stylized here.

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This is…

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a lot.

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And I can’t unsee what is simply Ohio with
a few embellishments.

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Get it together, patent attorney of the 1940’s!

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I can’t even figure out what your name is,

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Ulforio Arichstein?

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Anyway, the key feature of this is of course this
glass tube.

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It’s filled with dichloromethane, sometimes
also called methylene chloride.

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This solvent has a very low boiling point,
just 39.6 metric degrees, or 103.3 Fahrenheit.

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So, you don’t need to heat it up all that much
for it to boil.

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Put a light bulb underneath a vial filled
with the stuff and you’ll get bubbles.

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Simple as that.

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Fun fact! This chemical is used in one method of coffee
decaffeination.

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One of the most interesting things about these,
to me, is that they don’t take long at all to start bubbling

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and when they do, they just…
go.

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There’s no build-up or gradual rise, it’s
just… bang!

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Full bubbles!

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And they actually make noise! Take a listen.

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[ each light starts with a thud; then a faint rumbling can be heard akin to a boiling pot on the stove ]

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After they’ve been on for a while, when
you unplug them they’ll be bubblin’

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for a few solid minutes before they stop.

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This time, though, they do sort of just fizzle out.

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Looking at the patent, it seems the vials
have something designed to concentrate

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the heat from the bulb in one spot for the bubbles
to form,

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and perhaps that’s why they start bubbling with a bang and then take so long to stop.

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I’d break one of these open and take a look for myself
but A) this is no effort November and 2)

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I like these things and don’t want to break
it so long as it works.

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I’ve read that it may simply be a bit of
rock salt at the bottom,

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and perhaps that explains this weird crystally stuff up here on this one.

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Now, you can still buy these today.

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I, a midwesterner, obtained these at, say
it with me now,

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Menards!

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but I imagine they’re available in other places, too.

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But, as far as Christmas lights go these are actually
pretty expensive, these were $20 a set and that’s only seven lights!

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Though I snagged them at the end of last year
when they were half-off.

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[ with uncomfortable enthusiasm ]
And I got an 11% rebate on EV-

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This website I found says that they peaked
in popularity in the 1970’s

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and fell out of favor once the common-as-sand miniature
fairy lights came into existence.

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And I suppose this is corroborated by my experience
growing up.

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I knew only one family who adorned their Christmas
tree with these things,

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and I’m not gonna lie I thought it was cool as heck.

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But aside from them, I’d never seen them.

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Not in a public display, not any one I knew,
no one else in extended family…

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just that one tree in the family of my brother’s classmate.

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And until I bought these I had never seen
them in use anywhere else.

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I really wish these had developed into something
with a replaceable lamp

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as I think it’s pretty dumb to throw the entire thing away.

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I wouldn't be surprised if this was a contributing
factor in their downfall.

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Plus, of course, they’re kind of energy-intensive,
though not all that bad really.

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Each “bulb” consumes about 5 watts, so
a set of 7 runs near 35 watts.

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That’s slightly less than your average lava
lamp!

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And also, uh well methylene chloride isn’t
the best thing to just have a vial of

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casually boiling away in your house or right in front of your face as you hold it.

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I mean, it’s not *that* bad but still.

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Oh, and you could put these things on a dimmer and
run them at maybe half-power?

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That would probably still get the bubbling
action going and would prolong their life significantly!

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But anyway, that’s it.

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That’s about all I wanted to say.

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These are a neat little oddity that you can
still get new

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(well actually, I’m only assuming that, I haven’t been to a Menards in months
what the the whole everything)

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but have largely fallen by the wayside.

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Jeez this video's really gonna tank my watch time
metrics.

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Oh well.

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At least I actually didn’t put a lotta effort
into this one.

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Finally.

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♫ festively smooth jazz ♫

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Yeah, ‘cause this video is so short there
weren’t that many opportunities for me to

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mess up so I don’t know how many bloopers
you’re even gonna see; there were a few,

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but I mean…

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I might not even be able to fill up the entire
bloopers segment, and the thing is I know that!

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That’s why I’m saying this right now.

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Because, well, what am I -

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I.. I can’t just end, ya know I've got..

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I have some standards, this, this may be No
Effort November but I gotta continue on with something.

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Anyway, have you heard of lava lamps?

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I found that my pepper, onion, powder …

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onion powder

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[laughter]

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ohhh

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We’ve been conceiving of wacky and wackier
ideas…

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electrical things

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But what if… instead of just requi … resigning
-

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[noises of frustration]

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I suppose y'all want some sort of secret caption at the end like I normally do.

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Well, here it is.

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It's not very good.

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Welp, on to Do Things December!