Random Petty Theft

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

This is so random, and so petty, I'm having trouble bringing myself to report it.

Someone is stealing the light-bulbs out of my Christmas Lights.

I shit you not. I have those big, old-school lights (they're called C-9, if you care) that have screw-in bulbs, stretched along my front fence near Davis Square. About a week ago I noticed that four in a bunch by a corner were missing. The glass wasn't broken—there were neither glass shards anywhere to be found, nor a metal remainder of a bulb-stem in the sockets. The bulbs were just gone. Then the other day I noticed another one missing, and, get this, the slack of the strand was hitched up and tucked into the fence, so that on casual glance you wouldn't see a dark gap.

WTF? Is someone just messing with me to see if I'll notice? Or are they in serious financial straights and need Christmas lights to sell to pay off their electric bill?

It would make me more sad if it wasn't so utterly strange. And I can't decide whether to report it, just to keep the statistics accurate, or totally let it slide. The total cost will be something like $4 to replace all the missing ones, though at this point I may have to wait until next year.

Still... WTF?!?

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

that's just weird.

IT'S NOT ME, I SWEAR.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

A *likely* story! ;-)

[toonhead-npl.livejournal.com]

(Ha! Leave It to Chance icon!)

Some people just can't help themselves. Just the idea they can get away with it is enough. I hope at the very least it's just some little kid too stupid to know any better.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Wow! Not many people recognize Chance! I'm thinking that if I leave a big basket of bulbs tied to the fence, the fun of taking them will be ruined.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Christmas light bulbs make a nice projectile for breaking house and car windows.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

unlikely, weighing in at *maybe* an ounce on a high-gravity day. Have you ever *tried* to break a car window?

[avacon.livejournal.com]

That sounds not too different from the thefts of random
plantings from front yards that was happening over the summer.
Perhaps it is the "green thumb thief" in winter mode?
That is really annoying, though.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Ha! Maybe I should check and see if it's only the Green bulbs that go missing! :-)

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Maybe you could coat them with something icky and sticky, like pine tar?

And, come to think of it, pine-tar-coated light bulbs would give off a pleasant evergreen scent when they warm up.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Ah the high gravity must be a factor. We're nearing solar maximum, which means that the light molecules weigh more than they usually do. Christmas tree lights manage to pack a LOT of light molecules into a small space, so they're very heavy, especially when they're off. Light weighs more at rest, because once you turn the light on, the light molecules move at the speed of light. You since you can't measure them without changing the speed (per Heisenberg), and speed of light is a constant, so they are immeasurable, and therefore weigh less than when you measure them.

[lissie930.livejournal.com]

*boggle*

[c-m-i.livejournal.com]

I think it's likely that your bulbs are seeing a second life as crack pipes.

[veda815.livejournal.com]

I think I have you beat. Last year someone stole a used pooper-scooper from my front porch.

[bds.livejournal.com]

Oh, and thanks! It made a lovely holiday gravy ladle.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Do you have the really old fashioned in-series lights, such that the whole string goes dark when one bulb goes out? 'Cause then, maybe your lights are shining in someone's eyes.

[turil.livejournal.com]

People steal things sometimes simply out of boredom. The handlebar grips were once stolen off my bike. I never figured that one out, really, so I just chalked it up to bored kids.

[abilouise.livejournal.com]

I walk past your lights all the time! I love them (and did not steal any bulbs) but wanted to say how cool-looking they are.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

those lightbulbs shatter really well when warm. If you take one out of a light that's been on for a while, go near some snow, and throw it up in the air (like those old cap rockets), it will turn 'nose' first in the air, and hit the cold snow with some velocity, to shatter with a pretty tremendous pop (like the one you get if you pour water over a regular lightbulb that's been on for an hour).

it is rather amusing, though I've never stolen bulbs to do it, just done it with bulbs I've legally owned. But I know kids who did that. Your lights are probably put away now, but I have a strong component of The More You Know educatainment urge in my head. :-)

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll try that myself at the end of the season. My lights stay up until I'm *absolutely certain* that the sun is going to come back again... that usually takes until Mid-February at least.