LED light bulbs are the future. They're better for the environment and the pocket book. But for some people, certain LEDs lights — particularly holiday lights—are also a problem. They flicker in a way that causes headaches, nausea and other discomfort. Today, we visit the "Flicker Queen" to learn why LEDs flicker — and what you can do about it.Wondering about other quirks of lighting and engineering? Email us at shortwave@npr.org – we might cover it on a future episode!
Unless I’m gravely mistaken, I think Christmas and the winter holiday it’s centered on is actually pagan and has been celebrated for a staggering length of time. The whole tree thing and yule log and all that. I think religions just kinda co-opted it since it was already being celebrated and nobody was quite sure when Jesus was born exactly. I’ve noticed that a lot of Irish music and ancient tunes were later transferred into church music with some tweaked lyrics too. But the underlying music can be quite a bit older.
Good point! Festivus has been with civilization a long time :D