[BlogEntry] Christmas Lights Half Lit : WTF?

This weekend was decorating weekend. My job was to put up the outside lights. 7 strings, 100 lights each. Every single one of them suffered from the same problem – half the string lit, half didn't. WTF?

Swapped out several bulbs in an attempt to find a bad one. Nuthin.

Interesting to note that in each case it is exactly in the middle of the string where they go from on to off. Some are lit closer to the attached plug, some the other side.

Swapped out fuses. Nuthin.

Gave up. Bought new lights.

New string of lights, after being stapled to my house, begins to exhibit the same damned behavior. Again, WTF? I can see no place where I have skewered the wire. With some jiggling, they stay on. But for how long?

What the hell is that?