Posted on 09/29/2010 5:25:43 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
When the government regulates how much water a toilet can flush, or what kind of lightbulbs you can put in your table lamps at home, the Constitution looks pretty small in the rear view mirror. Exactly where in the Constitution does it say that it is the government's business how much water my toilet is flushing or what kind of lightbulb illuminates my household?
But the busybodies in the environmental movement have folks convinced of a lot of things that just aren't so. Remember the campaign that passed the lightbulb bill? The holier-than-thou greenies told us that if we only changed the lightbulbs in our homes to the compact-fluorescent lightbulbs or "CFL's" as the hipsters knowingly call them, that we could save so much energy that we would practically solve the energy crisis.
Turns out that the CFLs are going to be a lot more trouble than they are worth. According to this article, not only will they NOT be the great savers of energy that they were promoted to be, but if you actually break one, you practically need a hazardous waste suit to clean it up due to the mercury housed inside, and that is after you have "evacuated the area of all children and pets." Plus, these CFLs are far more expensive than traditional lightbulbs and they have all the warmth of the fluorescent lighting in a swimsuit changing room at a department store.
The saddest part of the bill of goods sold to the American public on these CFLs was that producing them would create jobs. And the CFLs have created jobs....if you live in China.
So I dunno about you all, but I'm going to stockpile good old fashioned lightbulbs before they become extinct in January 2012. How the American public was ever convinced of this stupidity has to be one for the record books. But I'll look to the bright side -- the best part about these crazy lightbulbs may be the new neon sign Americans will see above these kinds of fad bills that come before Congress that reads "Buyer, beware!"
And Bush 41 signed the dumbass Americans with disability Act.
In Kalifornia, they already mandate dimmers in bathrooms when you remodel.
The LEDs are toasty in case of EMP unless you harden them. I haven't done the physics on CFLs, but I suspect the high-voltage electronics in the base (the one that keeps you from installing them in some fixtures) will be toasty as well.
A spiral of tungsten that is not connected to the grid will probably survive an EMP. That would be an Edison bulb, for those in Rio Linda.
/johnny
Fat lot of good they'll be, being as how the grid'll be down, too.
Unless you have a generator that doesn't also run with some sort of electronic brain, you might just have light.
Thanks for the ping!
I gotta say one thing for the CFLs. They do last a lot longer and I can’t tell the difference in the light. I put one in the yard post last year and it’s still burning. Before, when I was using the 40Watt incandescent bulbs, they burned out in about a month. Can’t say that they have saved me any money on electric bill, since it’s doubled this year.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing that (I hate to replace bulbs.)
The second lie is the carbon dioxide is a pollutant. I could go on all night about that.
You're absolutely correct, the incandescent light bulbs will survive. However, there will be no electricity to make them light up because the EMP took out the power plant and all the home generators.
That's why I keep 2-3 kerosene lanterns around. EMP proof. As are the strike anywhere matches and several gallons of kerosene. Also canned goods and a manual can opener, etc.
The CFL bulbs only last longer if used in places where they will be left on for longer than about 20 minutes at a time, like in Alamo Girl’s outdoor light. They burn out rather quickly if turned on and off frequently, which is what most of us do inside our houses.
Then there is the new dishwashing detergents without phosphates that don’t get dishes clean and the upcoming stricter regulations on energy efficiency for appliances, and for asthmatics like me, there are the new CFC-free inhalers that don’t work. On the bright side, I save money on prescriptions by not even bother to get it. There’s no point. That’s one way to save the earth, I suppose, kill off everyone with a breathing problem.
We love ours as well. Everyone should have the freedom to buy the damn bulbs they want!
The ones in the bathroom fixtures last about twice as long at a minimum for us, and everywhere else in the house, several times that. It’s been so long since I had to swap the bulb in my room light I truly don’t remember anymore if it’s the first or the second one.
All said, even with the relative cost being higher for the ones in the bathroom, it buys off the nuisance of getting the ladder, the risk of falling or dropping one of the fancy globes...a few cents is a good trade there, IMO.
Again, I think folks should be able to freely buy whatever bulb they feel best suits their needs.
Yes, Nixon was the sire of the EPA and that alone is enough to sour me on his memory.
Amazingly just a few days ago a man who is disappointed with the current situation and says he made a mistake VOTING FOR OBAMA told me that he thought Richard Nixon was a very good president! I wouldn’t have voted for Obama if he had given me a speckled puppy but I have never been fond of Nixon either. I still remember the senseless wage and price controls and I know where Hillary got the plan for the national health care plan she tried to pass, she stole it from Nixon who never attempted to pass it. Watergate was kid’s stuff compared to what goes on now but Nixon had other bad qualities that far exceeded anything to do with Watergate.
Interesting, because I read that unless you leave the new bulbs on for at least 20 minutes at a time, they are prone to burning out quickly. That was the experience of a family member. She bought 2 of the new bulbs and they both burned out in a couple of weeks of normal use.
Strike anywhere matches are nice but where do you get them now? I think I am going to buy a big bag of the cheap throwaway cigarette lighters. Just one of them will light a lot of fires if you have good tender and I have a large supply of fat pine and red cedar, I can make a torch out of it too.
Thank you so much for that insight!
Just bought a bunch made by Philips. Don’t think we won’t be able to buy them, just won’t be able to buy American made ones.
And on the bright side, just found a bunch of old aerosol cans in a closet - Lysol.
Prolly illegal now to spray CFC’s (remember that bugaboo boogeyman).
I live in a rural area so I didn't think finding the matches would be a problem. I was wrong.
After a bunch of searching I found an Ace Hardware store that sells them. $.50 for a box of 250, so I bought 10 boxes.
The light bulbs may survive, but the infrastructure to provide the power would not.
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