New Black Marketplace Lights Up!

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 08:58 AM

Well, with the advent of partially-legalized cannabis, I strongly suspect Mexican cartels and the CIA will begin devising ways to serve the new vacuum created by the stupid banning of the standard incandescent light bulb.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/31/tech/l...html?hpt=hp_c4

It was great fun at the hardware store on Mack yesterday...while we grabbed as many of the remaining Reveal-brand bulbs [[the only ones I can suffer willingly, I have trouble with all electric light) as we could afford to store.

I kept repeating "today begins the revolution!" to a few of the elderly folks who were also doing the same as us. It was a blast watching those who were trying to politely ignore us...but everyone holding packages of them were agreeing with me!

I'm sure it won't be televised.

Made at least one new friend, as we spoke I recommended she watch the documentary about Rodriguez to learn how one man can help affect great change...even on the other side of the world!

Cheers!

**Zacha341** · January-01-14, 09:07 AM

I wonder if a few can still be had at the dollar stores local? Not the Dollar Tree franchise folks but the indie dollar stores.......

**rb336** · January-01-14, 10:49 AM

who in their right mind still uses incandescent bulbs? I haven't changed more than two bulbs in the last 5 years

There is, by the way, NOT a ban on incandescent bulbs, merely new standards for lumens per watt and durability for general purpose bulbs. Reflectors, three-way and rough duty bulbs are not affected at all, nor are appliance and specialized bulbs for non-standard socket bulbs like chandeliers. US standards are actually more lenient than the coming Mexican standards

**NickCharles** · January-01-14, 11:08 AM

I'm wondering what "I have trouble with all electric light" means.
What sort of trouble?

**Zacha341** · January-01-14, 11:32 AM

I do some photography work and still use some of the lower end [[from the point of view of more extensive serious photo work) those special, yet old-fashioned natural cast bulbs the replicate outdoor and softer lighting for my subjects. Though I do you some of the new forever bulbs at the home. They cannot be beat for longevity [[especially for outdoors and basements) and the hue and cast has improved.

Initially it was like have an institution long-tubed ice cold-casting florescents in your bed lamp. Horrible! Now you can get a more natural look...

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by NickCharles

I'm wondering what "I have trouble with all electric light" means.
What sort of trouble?

Fatigue from the abrasion to my visual sense. There is a certain image retention that I cannot easily shake if I'm around bright lights for very long. I have the same trouble with loud sounds, too. But opposing traffic can even strike me...I used to buy those photogray RayBans, back when I made money I could burn, so I could drive at night with my contact lenses. Glasses dither it some, but they bring their own issues.

At worst, I find my vision vibrating...don't have words to describe it better...almost as if I'm on the threshold of a seizure sometimes. It is NOT any form of medical emergency situation, though. Not even close. Just my odd nervous system harmonizing with what it is fed.

I can hear many of the cheaper compact fluorescents from a room away. LED lights are so harsh, I feel they are better suited as weapons. I kinda freak out when stuck behind a modern vehicle loaded with LED lighting all over it's ass. Emergency vehicles now pulverize me with their annoying displays...and don't get me started on LED signage...the world has become the worst of Las Vegas in that regard.

I've had to wear sunglasses when shopping at Meijer at night with their horrible screaching & buzzing gas vapor bulbs, which always seems to get security's attention...so I now avoid them, too.

I am a high-functioning autist, the closest definition for my symptoms is included in the controversial diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome...although I've learned that mentioning such brings great wrath from those who think they know better what I've lived for fifty years.

I'm happiest with Moonlight, then candles when convenient during the New portion of the cycle. I still fully have my night vision at fifty, though...just heard that most folks lose theirs. I know at least some of why. I also don't watch much television...and ALL of my video devices are the fabulous old Cathode Ray Tube [[properly calibrated!), excepting this laptop computer and the associated desktop screen.

That said, who the hell thinks everything new is always better? Why NOT allow the marketplace to determine what folks wish to buy? Are we not freemen in this land?!

[[still a little pissed at what my industry did with the CRT, actually, my house is like a high-end video display museum now, since I've kept all the units my clients were throwing away for the past five years and more, I'm becoming an expert at keeping those damn things alive! But I've got better HD imagery than most of the rest of ya, I guarantee it!)

Sincerely,
John

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 11:42 AM

We do use the new bulbs in every non-common area of the house, though...like storage...laundry...guest rooms...and hallways. I seldom turn any of them on. This is against my better judgement, but I cannot win every argument with the owner of this joint, and I like living here otherwise!

I am most fond of the Reveal-brand bulbs from GE. Most color-accurate I've found easily available for a reasonable price. I use fish tank bulbs in the few long-tube fluorescent fixtures around here. Grow lights would probably work, too. But then I'd probably get onto yet another Homeland Insecurity list!

But from the reaction I got from the senior citizens lined up to buy the last of 'em from ACO...I know I'm not alone.

I'm waiting to see how the tiny screens everyone seems to be worshiping now destroys their vision...not unlike how Walkpeople and the derivative iCrap have done with a generation's hearing.

Sorry...but I feel some things that other's miss. I cannot explain it, but I've years of experience of such.

Cheers!

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by rb336

...

There is, by the way, NOT a ban on incandescent bulbs, merely new standards for lumens per watt and durability for general purpose bulbs. Reflectors, three-way and rough duty bulbs are not affected at all, nor are appliance and specialized bulbs for non-standard socket bulbs like chandeliers. US standards are actually more lenient than the coming Mexican standards

Thanks, Rb...damn, though, it seems the good stuff'll have to be smuggled from China or Hungary then.

heh

**Zacha341** · January-01-14, 11:50 AM

I here you G. I know of elders who think if one of those 'coilly' kind of bulbs drop and break they'll have a Chernobyl like contamination issue requiring a federal hazmat response! I have a chandelier lighted area that for sure has to have to old fashioned 'filament' bulbs.

Yeah, I still read books of paper. Can't do it all on screen.... LOL!

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

Initially it was like have an institution long-tubed ice cold-casting florescents in your bed lamp. Horrible! Now you can get a more natural look...

I'll see if they are any better, but I seriously doubt it. Plus, I don't want a bunch of mercury-laden tubes all over the house, if I can help it. The conspiracy guy deep inside wonders what happens when they get hit with a big EMP surge...heh.

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

I know of elders who think if one of those 'coilly' kind of bulbs drop and break they'll have a Chernobyl like contamination issue requiring a federal hazmat response!

Well, haven't we been schooled on the dangers of mercury for this past generation or so?! Seriously...

...we could bring Homeland Insecurity to an impasse if we all dropped these bulbs around the perimeter of their offices, and then called the EPA...right?!

YES, I'm kidding.

**Zacha341** · January-01-14, 12:14 PM

They are improving... BUT SO far I only have three 'inside' the house, one on a timer set lamp I don't use to see by, one in high ceiling hallway I don't want to think about often, and one in a stair hallway.

Otherwise I still use those filament things, so long as I can still get them. Outdoors and in the basements we used the new style...

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 12:17 PM

We've had a good number of curly-Qs fail, too. Perhaps the early productions had issues...like I said, I've been able to HEAR them from a room away. Not just here, but in other's homes, too.

Then again...I hear the Hum, too [[when I don't have the flu). Yeah...I know, THAT again. It is related, somehow, I believe.

**Zacha341** · January-01-14, 12:37 PM

You're not nuts [[well at least not in this instance - smile) I have been sensitive to sounds those ceiling tubed lights can make since I was a kid. Any amount of flicker drives me off too. I hated the cast of the early curly-Q's. They have improved in that area greatly.

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

You're not nuts [[well at least not in this instance - smile) I have been sensitive to sounds those ceiling tubed lights can make since I was a kid. Any amount of flicker drives me off too. I hated the cast of the early curly-Q's. They have improved in that area greatly.

OMG, back with old TV...I could hear 'em screaming from thirty or more feet away, walking along the sidewalk I'd be able to tell ya which houses had theirs turned on!

They really HAD to improve those craplights...I guess I'll give 'em another chance. Thanks.

**wolverine** · January-01-14, 02:34 PM

Hoping to swap out my CFLs for LEDs soon. I was kind of slow to convert my apartment over to CFL's But last year apartment buildings in my area were eligible for free faucet and lighting upgrades. The local utility company swapped out the old bulbs in my apartment for new CFLs and replaced my older surge protectors with ones with timers. I've been happy with the results. Place looks brighter and my appliances aren't on "standby" all day. My electric bills have been substantially less.

Probably the next big step will be low voltage wiring and "plug and play" lighting systems in houses. People will be able to wire their own homes the same way they connect their tv's and computers without ever having to hire electricians, contractors or even an inspector.

**NickCharles** · January-01-14, 03:00 PM

Great Caesar's Ghost!! Asked and answered [[cubed.)
I suppose that I'm lucky; it seems that none of this stuff bothers me.
The sources of almost all of my little irritations, generally, are *ummh* carbon-based organisms.

**Jimaz** · January-01-14, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

OMG, back with old TV...I could hear 'em screaming from thirty or more feet away, walking along the sidewalk I'd be able to tell ya which houses had theirs turned on!

When I was younger with better hearing I had to avoid the TV section in department stores. I couldn't stand that symphony of squealing. Older folks couldn't hear it at all.

Now I have a very old CRT TV that's starting to do it. The volume of the squeal is proportional to the brightness of the image at any moment. I have no idea why that is but it's curious.

**rb336** · January-01-14, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

When I was younger with better hearing I had to avoid the TV section in department stores. I couldn't stand that symphony of squealing. Older folks couldn't hear it at all.

Now I have a very old CRT TV that's starting to do it. The volume of the squeal is proportional to the brightness of the image at any moment. I have no idea why that is but it's curious.

might be from your conversion box?

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

might be from your conversion box?

Unfortunately not...it is much more likely to be the flyback transformer...or something else in the high-voltage circuitry being driven beyond its comfortable limits. With all fresh parts, they usually only scream loudly when overdriven...which was usually always the case before calibration, since the manufacturers have been on the quest to be the "brightest on the wall" ever since Sony developed their Trinitron tube.

Not unlike efficiency with loudspeakers...they realized the first thing an uninformed consumer responded to was the item with the greatest initial impact. So, in side-by-side quickie comparisons...people gravitated to the brightest [[and later the most bluish-tinted) screen on a huge wall of sets.

True calibration brings the contrast [[which really relates to peak white level) and brightness [[which has been mis-named since the beginning of television, controlling the actual density of shadows or black-level) down to the best useful setting based upon the limits of the circuitry and tube.

It is usually quite the shock at first, because people are used to the assault of punchy, blow-out images...but within a short while, especially after seeing any pictures of common items like burger buns and fleshtones, it becomes obvious the tv is reproducing much more accurately.

In your case, Jimaz...it is best to turn that contrast down until the screaming abates...then adjust the brightness until shadows are not too dense or too grey...just like Goldilocks, it's gotta be 'just right'. You'll know when that is the case.

If the set is about to break...the above adjustments may never make that annoying squealing sound stop. If you've over fifteen to twenty years watching it a few hours per day or more...that might be the case. Sorry.

Cheers!

**Gannon** · January-01-14, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by NickCharles

Great Caesar's Ghost!! Asked and answered [[cubed.)
I suppose that I'm lucky; it seems that none of this stuff bothers me.
The sources of almost all of my little irritations, generally, are *ummh* carbon-based organisms.

Yeah, I know, sorry...most of the oldbies here know not to actually ask me open-ended questions. You never know what you're going to get.

I'd likely be one of those organisms you'd beg off from at a party...heh. But if you held on, it might be quite entertaining. I gotta take a breath sometimes.

Just got home from an annual party by one of Detroit's best automotive journalists...where I taught one couple the benefits of Vibram Five Fingers shoes, and another the joys of FWD rally-driving techniques in the snow...along with the relative necessity of using modern winter performance tires! Lucky for all, my neighbor [[another auto-journalism celebrity) didn't want to stay more than an hour or so!

Cheers!

**Zacha341** · January-01-14, 06:07 PM

I have fairly two large screen 'big back' tvs [[as CRT tvs are called now), one being a stereo Toshiba - probably one the last ones available about 2006. Runs great, sound is even, it even has front imput plugs to run Ipod, this and that, and not fished eyed. I be replacing with flat screens when they go out. No need to rush for my use....

**Jimaz** · January-01-14, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

...If you've over fifteen to twenty years watching it a few hours per day or more...that might be the case. Sorry.

Hey, no problem! It's expendable.

I just wanted to say you're not alone.

**Gannon** · January-03-14, 08:23 AM

Color temperature is but one measure of the properties of artificial light.

The continuity of the spectrum, the width of the spectrum, and the relative levels or intensity of the three primary visible colors also matter...also the flicker rate over time.

If I had a photospecroradiometer handy, I could blow up this discussion.

I'd measure the Sun, a candle, and the various bulbs...all reflecting off a standard white and gray photographic test card to prove my assertions that not all is well in bulbtown.

No cheers about this...