My wife had me up on a chair, changing a bulb in the kitchen, when she noticed it was one of those "new" florescent bulbs. She was not happy. Aside from the problem with disposal, there is the fact that they put out less light.
Europe just stopped selling incandescent light bulbs a few days ago.
Venezuela phased out incandescent light bulbs in 2005. But then Venezuela is energy poor, but dictator rich.
As for the United States, in 2007 President George W Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act. The upshot is that between 2012 and 2014 we will basically banish all incandescent light bulbs. I will rue the day. My wife may even demand I run for the US Congress.
Regards — Cliff
Perhaps there is a bit of self-fulfilling prophesy at work here. All of the mini-flourescent "bulb" with a self contained ballast at quite dim at the outset and does take some time to "warm up to you." That warm up period is, for some varieties, a bit on the slow side.....however, once revved up, they in fact compete very nicely with their older and horribly less efficient incadescent brothers. Thus, unless you are intending to engage immediately in delicate surgical activities, one might have to go pour a cup of tea. Look at it as a means of slowing our pace of living just a bit....
ReplyDeleteNeal (Crossland)
ReplyDeleteGood point on the slowness of the new bulbs to "spool up." Not that I am making (much of) a comparison, but this "spool up" problem probably killed a few people in the early days of jet aircraft.
My thinking is that at my age I can't afford to take your suggestion and slow down. If I do, I might miss the rest of my life.
Back to the bulbs, there is still some hate and discontent out there over this George Bush mandated change.
Regards — Cliff
Which Republican Party will you be in when you run for Congress, Newt's or Sarah's?
ReplyDeleteEach gets about 15-20% of the vote, nationally. Here in MA?
Jack
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Only time will tell.
At any rate, Newt is not my person to be the leader of the Republican Cause. He is very much like Bill Clinton. Both have, what, '64 Mustang Convertibles? Both were college professors. Both came from broken homes. etc. The difference is, Bill is still married to Hillary. Rather than trace that unhappy tale, I will just leave it at that.
On the other hand, former Speaker Gingrich is a strong intellectual influence in the Republican Party and is not to be ignored. His role is éminence grise.
As for former Governor Palin, lets see what happens between now and 2011. Ninety days is the half-life of an idea in American politics. And that is a good thing. The idea that I would vote some way because my parents or grandparents did is abhorrent to me.
We first have to get through tomorrow and then January and then November again. Then I can start thinking about 2012. Someone, over the weekend, was urging me to stay focused on the problem at hand.
In the mean time, I reference you to this blog post.
Regards — Cliff