Congratulations!

If you can read this I should probably congratulate you on surviving 2007. Since my last post of substance we’ve had quite a lot of news:

A report by the United States Senate Committee on Environment & Public (a mouthful isn’t it?) about “global warming” gave a list of over 400 well respected climatologists and other scientists who decry the so-called consensus on the issue of “man-made global warming”. Many of these scientists were or are on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and disagreed with the findings. If you have a ton of free time and interest here’s a link to the report itself. It is over 160 pages long. Anyone who claims consensus on ANYTHING in science is obviously ignorant or lying. There’s never consensus on anything. Everything is constantly questioned and retested in new ways to create new theories. Scientists who disagree with the current models of gravity can present their hypotheses and receive funding to test their models with the latest tools to try to prove or disprove their original claims; this is how real science works. Scientists who disagree with the popular claims on “global warming” are shouted down and called puppets of the oil companies;
this is dogma.

The government has once again decided to get into my bedroom saying what I can and can’t use to illuminate it.  Incandescent light-bulbs with light outputs between 310 and 2600 lumens (so generally 40-150W) will be illegal to buy or sell starting 2014.  It doesn’t matter that there are incandescent bulbs that are 4x more efficient than standard bulbs; research funding is going to completely dry up for these new bulbs since they now have a very limited time before they’re made illegal too.  They want us to use the TOXIC compact fluorescent bulbs instead.  I refuse to use those because the color temperature is ugly, they rarely last more than a few months in my house before burning out, and they contain mercury vapor.  They claim you don’t have to worry though, since small quantities of mercury are only dangerous if inhaled.  Since this mercury is in vapor form is just scatters into the air…where it can be inhaled…
I think I should try calling the ACLU to ask them to fight to keep the government out of my bedroom when it comes to my illumination choices. They didn't do anything to protect my right to privacy in the bathroom when the government decided it could regulate how much water got flushed down the toilet so I really don't expect the ACLU to do anything to protect my liberties.

Just Say "No"

There is a dangerous threat creeping into people’s homes all over the nation. Dangerous materials are being put into regular household items and special-interest groups want to make these new items mandatory. Large corporations are lobbying Congress to force people to start putting unsafe and potentially lethal chemicals into your kitchens, bathrooms, and even your bedrooms. What chemical in particular am I talking about? How about mercury? The chemical that causes debilitating nerve damage and other health problems; the chemical that is being tightly regulated because of its toxic properties; the chemical that it too unsafe to even be used in college chemistry labs. How do they propose bringing these toxins into our homes? Through our light bulbs. More specifically through fluorescent light bulbs.

Fluorescent lights are used in most commercial and industrial buildings and are making their way into homes in compact forms that fit into traditional light sockets. The fact that these bulbs are more efficient than incandescent bulbs cannot be disputed, conserving electricity by producing light with little heat. They are touted as lasting longer than traditional incandescent bulbs and also have significant energy savings. They contain toxic levels of mercury and other exotic compounds known to be serious health hazards.

Read this story here for one woman’s experience with CFL light bulbs.

These light bulbs cannot legally be thrown away in the garbage in most parts of the country thanks to the mercury they contain. While most compact fluorescent light bulbs contain 6 milligrams of mercury at the most, this is still enough to require special precautions when cleaning up.

If you want a better solution to a compact fluorescent light bulb, try LED bulbs which are even more efficient and last even longer without the use of toxic heavy metals.


Random Quote of the moment:
“Two-hundred-million American gun owners didn’t shoot anyone today.”