This year I bought several new strings of Christmas lights, the fancy
kind that flash multiple different light patterns. Several days after
putting them up on the Christmas Tree, I noticed that one string was
"stuck"; the lights did not flash. I thought it was somewhat strange
that the lights would be "stuck", as I knew that the light controller
was electronic, with no mechanical parts to get "stuck".
I unplugged and plugged in the lights, and pressed the button on the light controller box until the lights started working again.
I had walked a few steps away when it struck me what had just happened:
The light string was controlled by state-machine firmware. In other words, it was run by computer software.
I had just experienced a Christmas light firmware crash.
I had just rebooted my Christmas lights.
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