Light bulb, thy doom is near!

[krw]

Sure. Cells are always sloughed off.

[BobR]

Well, since my kwh rate is just a little over half that the payout has been a lot longer in useful hours and none of the bulbs has lasted that long anyway.

Since CFLs draw a lot more current when you turn

You sure have that right.

I only have three lamps that are in use with upward mounted bulbs. The house uses recessed lighting throughout and the CFL's don't last nearly as long as advertised.

They still do as far as I can determine.

That sure paints a very funny picture in the mind. Same holds for here in Texas where the tornado sirens help things along.

Not only used to them but in my own warped insane way, I enjoy them. The power of nature is something to watch, not fear.

Been lucky on that point thus far...knock on wood.

[BobR]

:

YEP!

[BobR]

te:

Damn, you guys are dragging me through times I had long since tried to forget. I had an online service company back in the mid 70's that I used to run order entry inventory and accounting services with. Had one client that wanted to run multiple users in different cities over the communications lines. I did some of the first experiments with multiplexing multiple 1200 baud lines over 19.2, and 56k modems using mini-computers. Worked pretty well until ma-bell decided to reconfigure how they billed for their leased lines. When they went from point to point billing as the crow flies to point to exchange to exchange to point billing they killed me. Communications costs went up from 500% to 1000% overnight. Multiplexing helped some but the costs of the equipment were so high back then that I eventually sold the software to my customers, helped them setup their own systems and closed down.

It was a time when the cost of the computers was coming down very fast while the communications costs skyrocketed. As a result I was able to setup my clients with their own systems including the software and have them break even and in some cases save money within 12 months. My clients bought all of my equipment and I was able to shut down the business after 8 years with all my debts on my equipment paid off. Can't say the same about a lot of other service companies of that time period.

[gfretwell]

That is the whole T-1 and you can rent one but a dial up line only gets one channel or 64kb of that. The 56kb is really only coming towards you, Upload is still V.34 speeds.

[krw]

Sure, but that's not the point. T-1 is a _result_ of the 8Kx16b voice channel, not the other way around. The V.92 speed limit is caused by the limitations in the voice channel.

True, (53K max down) for V.92. There are other modulation schemes that balance it more. It doesn't matter much anymore because data over voice is pretty much dead. Where it isn't, speed doesn't matter.

[krw]

Sorry. ;-)

Adtran in Huntsville, AL made a pile of money in those days, building all sorts of widgets to combine links. Evidently there's still money to be made because they're still at it and have gotten quite big.

[BobR]

That doesn't look too sorry to me. The times weren't too bad though. It was really pretty good times to be on the cutting edge of an emerging technology. Much more exciting than today with advances being made at breakneck speed.

The amount of data being transferred was miniscule by today's standards but even with the advances in bandwidth the amount of data has still maintained the lead and they will always be playing catchup.

[krw]

Sorry. ;-) ;-)

Advances are still being made, just not there.

Not so sure about that. At least the best Internet speeds are outstripping the content (I'm still stuck

[krw]

^G dammit!

[moonshiner100]

I'm in the process of building a still to manufacture black market,

100w lightbulbs during the bulb prohibition.

They will be called Moonshiner 100s.

The bulbs will be made in my USA still, and sent to a foreign country to be placed inside of full bottles of imported whiskey, where they will be well hidden. After you drink the contents of the bottle, you'll be able to see your way well enough to remove your head from the toilet when you sober up.

This is called American progress!

[trader4]

I'd like to see a definitive reference that says the vintage look decorative Edison bulbs will still be available. Here is an example:

I know the National Resource Defense Council, which helped write the new law, has stated their interpretation of the law is that these bulbs can no longer be manufactured. The devil is always in the details. In this case, it's in how the new law is actually interpretted and enforced. I doubt the law says all odd-ball bulbs will still be available. If you have a reference from the govt that clearly shows what specific bulbs will still be available f I'd like to see it.

[bud--]

Why would you want to ruin a thread that way????

Don Klipstein is seldom wrong on lightning

are also a couple links to the DOE, I think.

Another source

has a lot of links

Looks like the answer is "it depends"

[gfretwell]

I am sure the light bulb manufacturers helped write the law and this may be an opportunity for them to cut the number of special bulbs they have to make. They can just say the government made them do it and eat shit. Buy a new lamp holder..

[krw]

There's a problem with conspiracy theories; too complicated. When was the last time you saw a manufacturer who didn't say the equivalent of "buy a new lamp holder" when they a product was no longer profitable?

[trader4]

And since the vintage Edison look bulb that I provided a link to does not appear to fall under any of the above exceptions, it sure looks like decorative bulbs of that type will no longer be legal to manufacture.

There are many similar ones to that which have become popular in the last few years for the unique look. Do you agree that it looks like they are banned?

[.]

And since the vintage Edison look bulb that I provided a link to does not appear to fall under any of the above exceptions, it sure looks like decorative bulbs of that type will no longer be legal to manufacture.

There are many similar ones to that which have become popular in the last few years for the unique look. Do you agree that it looks like they are banned?

No, I don't think the vintage reproduction lamps are affected because they are not "general service incandescent lamps".

Tomsic

[Kyle]

Meh. Wal-Mart is just giving their customers what they demand: the cheapest products possible, regardless of their cost to our souls.

[Kyle]

Fair enough=97I'm willing to bet our tech sucks up more electricity than ou= r light bulbs.

But let's be clear: the problem is our inability/unwillingness to create th= e least environmentally detrimental power system. Oil and coal plants gener= ate mega-tons of pollutants and toxic metal by-products (with no "half-life= , by the way: mercury is still toxic millennia later); nuclear plants' fuel= is dangerous, as is the general construction of them in, oh, I don't know,= earthquake- and tsunami-prone areas; hydroelectric dams interfere with the= natural flow of fish and other water life; solar requires too many acres/m= iles^2 to generate too little wattage; and wind farms fluctuate too much (n= ot to mention they're going to attack us someday:

There are two ways to tackle the issue, kinda like a home budget - increase= revenue/generation or decrease spending/consumption. At least light bulbs = are a step in one direction.

[trader4]

The National Resources Defense Council which helped write the bill, says they believe they are banned. They are not on the list of bulbs that are exempt. And I can see environmentalists like the above making the claim that they are general service incandescent lamps. They provide some of the area lighting in some restaurants, for example. And they actually use a lot more energy than even an ordinary incandescent for the amount of light output.

Ultimately it will be up to whichever agency has enforcement to decide. Or maybe hte Supreme Court, if some environmental group wants to challenge it.