Australian lawyer sets up 1.2 million Christmas lights to break world record

A Christmas-crazy lawyer has bagged a world record for setting up the largest ever festive LED light image display. Dad-of-three David Richards strung up almost 1.2 million tiny bulbs in the shape of three gifts in the downtown Canberra CBD mall, reports News.com.au. If laid out in a straight line on the ground, the awe-inspiring show would stretch for 75 miles. The incredible effort was enough to land Richards a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. "It's not just a bunch of twinkle lights, it is a light show," he told the Associated Press. A small army of volunteers helped Richards set up the free-to-see display, which is being powered by electricity donated by a local power company and will last until New Year's Eve. He also revealed he set a similar world best last year for having the most Christmas lights on a residential home. Richards plastered his Canberra home with 502,165 bulbs. But he vowed not to repeat the spectacle because of the amount of traffic it caused around his neighborhood. "I couldn't do it again to my neighbors or my family," Richards said. It prompted the move to the city center, where he hopes to raise cash for the Canberra Sudden Infant Death Syndrome counseling and support service. Richards' started setting up the lights and raising money for the charity after he lost a baby boy in 2002, reports the Herald Sun. The previous world record was held by a family in Shurtan, southern Uzbekistan. Richards' 1,194,380 bulbs beat it by 181,540 lights. The standard he set last year may be under threat, however, by Lagrangeville, NY, Christmas-fan Tim Gay. He is hoping to secure back the title he lost in 2013 by placing more than 600,000 lights on his home. IJ Lawyer Scott Bullock Lists Three Ways to Fight Civil Asset Forfeiture Attorney Scott Bullock heads up the Institute for Justice (IJ) initiative against civil forfeiture. In September, he told Reason about IJ's plans to push back against the overuse of laws that allow unfair confiscation of property by law enforcement. Here are three ways how IJ is fighting the abuse of these procedures. View this article.