Monday, April 16, 2012

Seeing the Light

This is old news and I guess I missed it somehow. In the year 2014, in America, the use of incandescent light bulbs is banned ! No more will you be allowed to waste energy powering up Mr. Edison's invention. No sir. You must buy and use those CFL ones. You know the curly q's that are all made in China. That's right. And they all contain Mercury ! We are not allowed to produce mercury thermometers anymore but the Chinese can produce the light bulbs for us, after all they don't have quite the stringent guidelines that we do. Now there is some job creation for you ! Jobs for the Chinese.
The government started telling me I must wear a seat belt. Then I must wear a helmet. Now I must use only Chinese made CFL bulbs. Obama is telling me I must buy certain insurance. Just what the heck is going on here ? Things are spiraling ( like the pig tails on those bulbs ) out of control. Just who is paying for the energy I use ? I think I am. If I want my old fashioned light bulb I should have my old fashioned light bulb ! At least it doesn't interfere with radio signals, the remote for my television or contain deadly toxins ! Should I drop it I do not have to call a HAZMAT team to clean it up. These new CFL bulbs have a specific disposal procedure. You are not supposed to just throw them away. No, you are supposed to take them to a recycling center for proper disposal. Yeah, I can see that happening. Look on the side of any highway and you can see how people properly dispose of things. Just like your used batteries. You do take them all to the recycling center, don't you ? You know you are supposed too,don't you ? You are not just dropping them in the trash can are you ? Didn't think so.
Like I said this is apparently old news. First I heard of it. On the bright side it is reassuring to know that the government may be going broke, unemployment is at record highs, and gas prices are at the four dollar mark but ,by God, we got those pesky energy using light bulbs taken care of ! Now that was some important piece of legislating to be sure !
I bought one of those bulbs a while back. I've got the jump on them. It is guaranteed for seven years against defects in material and workmanship. I even wrote about it. It is still working but I don't like it. The light isn't the same. I know it's all in my head. I'm going to start hoarding incandescent bulbs. A secret stash. Pssst. Buddy wanna buy a hundred watts ? I know a man. The market should be lucrative. Finally a retirement strategy. You didn't read it here though.

1 comment: