As the season for joy nears, people are already getting ready for their Xmas lighting decoration. And if you are a store manager at the American Family Association, that means a burning cross in your doorstep. Because nothing says "Let's celebrate Jesus' birthday" better than the symbol of his dead in glowing LED glory, 210 of them. Seriously, we are suckers for weird, tacky, and wonderful lighting fixtures and lamps, and that's why we have featured hundreds of them, but somehow this seems like a no-no. No. [American Family Association via The Daily Dish]

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A bowl of Froot Loops and and a couple of eggs sounds like a delicious part of a balanced breakfast to me, but in this case both may be a little hard to swallow. Like the Froot Loop lamp, Ukrainian designer Igor Pinigin's "Egg Light" takes an everyday foodstuff and transforms it into a functional work of art. The design is only a concept (and it will probably stay that way), but I think it would be particularly interesting if each egg could be removed and used as a portable light source. [Behance via Designcollector via Toxel via TechEBlog]

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The Colussus of Rhodes, one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, is going to be rebuilt as an innovative light sculpture—the "world's largest light installation" according to its architect. And it'll be even bigger than the 120-foot original, which was destroyed in an earthquake in 226BC.

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Last Saturday, 4.2 million LEDs lit up the Nabana no Sato theme park of Kuwana, Japan, kicking off their annual Winter Light Show that runs until March 8th. This year's theme is one of flowers, illuminated in 64 billion colours that are reported to change colour so quickly that they actually resemble a river more than a field of blooming plants.

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Instead of strapping a fat guy onto your bike, a new—smaller—gadget has been created for bikers who are tired of getting stuck at red lights due to their bike's weight. This device can trick traffic lights into believing the bike is actually a car by sending out a strong magnetic field, thus tripping the induction-loop sensors in the roads. However, because this gadget is still only a prototype, it currently isn't available to consumers, so don't rid of your personal fatty quite yet! [Wired]

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Sometimes a simple idea will make you react with ambivalence, but designers Yoon-Hui Kim and Eun-Kyung Kim's Solar Vertical Lamp probably isn't one of those. At its core it's a solar-powered lighting system, but unusually it's embedded in standard window blinds. During the day tiny solar panels charge up the individual lighting elements (LEDs?), and at night they light up. These guys have conceptualised the eco-friendly solution being an elegant lamp shape, but basically you could arrange the pixels however you liked. We wouldn't recommend the legend "love palace" and a great big arrow pointing at your bed. [Yanko Design]

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Mathmos' eight-inch tall windlights are pretty simple—just a generator, 2.4-inch propeller and two LED lights—but that doesn't stop them from having their own cute, glowing eco-charm. Basically when the wind blows strongly enough, they light up: dot them about your garden and you'd have a great display, but only if the wind is blowing. If you're in London, Jason Bruges Studio has arranged hundreds of them into a 45-foot high Aeolian Tower scultpure at the Southbank which is showing until November 16th. But if you want just one, it'll cost you around $US18. [Technabob]

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The next time some tough guy on the street tries to pressure you into buying cheap Christmas bulbs JUST SAY NO! Apparently, the market for counterfeit holiday decorations is increasing at an alarming pace—and these lights can pose serious safety hazards. They may try and sucker you in by saying things like "this is the real deal" and "come on man, don't you want your house to look like the Grizwold's for only $US5?" But be warned—this lifestyle isn't "cool" or "glamorous."

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Maybe I'm wrong, but a big part of the goodness of the Kindle e-reader is it's easy-to-carryness, and its whizzy digital modernity: That's where this Periscope Lighted Folio for Kindle gizmo has me confused. Because at one stroke it seems to take the Kindle soaring back 20 years, with a faux-leather case with built-in notepad and pen-holder, and a periscope retracting LED reading light. Sure it'll run for 40 hours from three AAA batteries, but it's $US50. Just turn on a bedside light, why don't you? [PocketLint]

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This watertight, multicolour LED housing sits in a bath and changes hues according to water temperature. Simple and a lot more effective than a simple faucet mounted sensor that will not compensate for cooling off periods. But not as simple as dipping your toe into the water. If this were it, I'd probably recommend that this concept never see the light of day, but it also can be switched into a candle mode. [Yanko]

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