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Reports that federal investigators reviewing an explosion at the Acetylene Service Co., an acetylene-processing plant were examining whether a propane-fueled space heater may have caused the blast.

AS a designer of light fixtures that are sculptural and modern, David Weeks has long been a favorite of interior designers and architects. But when he recently began designing toys, many of his clients weren't sure what to think. ''I've been very proud of the lighting, but over the years I've tried to change the perception of the company and myself,'' Mr. Weeks said. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

MY introduction to the Farmhouse at Bedford Post did not go well. Having arrived on time, we were made to idle in the dimly lighted bar for 15 minutes before being led to what was perhaps the worst table in the place, just beyond the entry, in a wide, acoustically challenged hallway that stopped exasperatingly short of the restaurant's inner sanctum. At the next table, two children tapped at their iPads; a red exit sign provided mood lighting. From across the room, a piercing spotlight meant to bathe an extravagant flounce of flowers shined instead directly into my eyes. And as the host handed me my menu -- with a detectable flourish -- he caught the rim of a stemmed glass, and red wine cascaded merrily across the white tablecloth and into my lap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE PARK AVENUE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS are a tradition that goes back to 1945, when a group of neighborhood families arranged to put up majestic fir trees on the avenue's central malls to honor soldiers who died in World War II. The group turns on the lights on the first Sunday of December, after a festive ceremony outside the Brick Presbyterian Church at 91st Street. Early on, the cost was paid by the founding families. Nowadays, the $10,000 tab is picked up by the Fund for Park Avenue, which also maintains the mall plantings, and whose lighting committee includes Muffie Potter, David Rockefeller and Joanne Woodward, said the fund's president, Barbara McLaughlin. Ms. McLaughlin said the trees and lights, which run from 54th to 96th Street, remain a memorial to ''all who have lost their lives defending our country.'' Each of the 100 trees is adorned with 2,500 little stringed lights, which are plugged into the bases of streetlamps. They remain up through mid-January. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For years, it seemed as if precision lighting was a fundamental element of retail design. Stores had the perfect amount of soft, incandescent light with a touch of track lighting to highlight a featured ensemble, akin to the way museums focus light on fabulous works of art. Unfortunately, those days are over. A new and incredibly irritating trend has sprung up in retail design: dark, darker and nocturnal. As if shopping with teenagers isn't bad enough, now we can barely see what they want us to pay absurd amounts of money for. There are several trendy chain stores that are so dark that you're not sure they're open until you step inside. And then, as your eyes start to adjust from a sun-filled city street or a mall's fluorescent glare, you may be slightly startled by a sales associate lurking in the shadows as he or she greets you with a semi-friendly ''Hey, how's it goin'?'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light bulbs are getting a lot more complicated. In a guide they wrote, lighting experts at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute said compact fluorescent bulbs required ''a little insight and planning.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

START-UP companies around the world are looking at Africa -- where 74 percent of the population lives without electricity -- as a test market for new, off-the-grid lighting technologies. Many of these efforts involve wind or solar power. But one group in Cambridge, Mass., is working to develop fuel cells made from the bacteria that occur in soil or waste. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports that Luceplan USA, a Milanese lighting company, has opened its store in New York. Luceplan was founded by architects Riccardo Sarfatti, Sandra Severi and Paolo Rizzattoo. Furthermore, the interior was designed by another Italian architect Alessandro Scandurra, and uses simple white boxes to display light fixtures.

Features gaslight fixtures in the U.S. Names of companies that are selling them; Retail prices; Advantages of using them.