Replaced a 34 watt light bulb today
It was in the kitchen. I didn't see it burn out. If a bulb is going to go, I like to see it pop, especially the rare event when the bulb throws its filament into the side of the bulb, and it gets embedded in the glass. I've had that happen only a few times, and one time I saved a bulb and its embedded filament for a while, as a curiosity.
It's the first filamentary light bulb to burn out here since the 100 watt filament light bulb ban went into effect last year. By the way 75 watt filament bulbs are going to be banned this year.
I like light bulbs, the simplicity of a filament producing light, and the history behind it too, where it's pretty much the same as it was 100 years ago. In early junior high I built a project where I took a light bulb apart, removing the screw base and punching through the bottom of the bulb and pulling out the filament structure.
I filled the empty bulb up with yellow wax, probably crayons and candle wax melted together, and I let it get hard. I cracked the glass off of the outside, leaving a solid wax light bulb shape, with the base waxed on to it. I mounted a plain ceramic light bulb fixture to a maybe 5 inch square plywood plaque for a base, screwed the light bulb in, and attached a little sign that said, 'Light bulbs turn me on'.
I like the idea of the 'Science Fair', I never got into one, but I made my own projects, like that light bulb, though that was really more of a sculpture of something I was interested in. Another cool project was building little flashing neon light circuits that plugged into the wall. I'd take one of those replacement wall plugs a relaxation oscillator into the base, and the neon light sticking out of the top. Here's an example video, http://www.youtube.com/watch? Neon Light .
I had a high voltage camera battery, it was bigger than a brick, and over 100 volts. I built the same kind of neon flasher into the top of the battery's paper carton, so it was my portable neon flasher, looking like a box with a light flashing on top. I showed it to my science teacher (who was way into electronics) and he had it put in a display case in the hall, continuously flashing its little orange light until I guess the battery ran out.
Neon bulbs are efficient, so they can run on batteries, just like LED lights do. Filament bulbs for house lighting are inefficient, so that's why the government is banning them. I don't know how the situation works, woof, but it seems strange to me that the government and the power company encourage using fluorescent twisted bulbs to save energy, when I thought that it was consumption that's good to keep the economy rolling. 'Message to consumers, buy buy buy'. I get messages every month from all of my utilities with programs to get you to recycle old refrigerators, use CFL bulbs, fix faucet leaks and stuff, but does that make sense when they make more money when you're wasteful?
I've barked on the air about liking the desktop computer for the real jobs, it's no compromise on speed, screen space or keyboard. One thing phones and tablets are doing well with is saving power, because a mobile uses a lot less current than a decent desktop. The other side of that is, the sites used with a phone have to use their processing power instead, resizing images and processing videos for playback.
I finally got to see one of the movies I've known about for years, but never had a chance to see until now. You Never Can Tell is about a rich Dog who gets killed and comes back as a Human private eye to try to solve his own murder. He even knows who did it, but has to prove it. It's a comedy, but it has some things to say, about identities, changes and what they mean, so it has some kibble for thought, especially to animal people. You can see it on Youtube if you look up the title.
Boomer
It's the first filamentary light bulb to burn out here since the 100 watt filament light bulb ban went into effect last year. By the way 75 watt filament bulbs are going to be banned this year.
I like light bulbs, the simplicity of a filament producing light, and the history behind it too, where it's pretty much the same as it was 100 years ago. In early junior high I built a project where I took a light bulb apart, removing the screw base and punching through the bottom of the bulb and pulling out the filament structure.
I filled the empty bulb up with yellow wax, probably crayons and candle wax melted together, and I let it get hard. I cracked the glass off of the outside, leaving a solid wax light bulb shape, with the base waxed on to it. I mounted a plain ceramic light bulb fixture to a maybe 5 inch square plywood plaque for a base, screwed the light bulb in, and attached a little sign that said, 'Light bulbs turn me on'.
I like the idea of the 'Science Fair', I never got into one, but I made my own projects, like that light bulb, though that was really more of a sculpture of something I was interested in. Another cool project was building little flashing neon light circuits that plugged into the wall. I'd take one of those replacement wall plugs a relaxation oscillator into the base, and the neon light sticking out of the top. Here's an example video, http://www.youtube.com/watch? Neon Light .
I had a high voltage camera battery, it was bigger than a brick, and over 100 volts. I built the same kind of neon flasher into the top of the battery's paper carton, so it was my portable neon flasher, looking like a box with a light flashing on top. I showed it to my science teacher (who was way into electronics) and he had it put in a display case in the hall, continuously flashing its little orange light until I guess the battery ran out.
Neon bulbs are efficient, so they can run on batteries, just like LED lights do. Filament bulbs for house lighting are inefficient, so that's why the government is banning them. I don't know how the situation works, woof, but it seems strange to me that the government and the power company encourage using fluorescent twisted bulbs to save energy, when I thought that it was consumption that's good to keep the economy rolling. 'Message to consumers, buy buy buy'. I get messages every month from all of my utilities with programs to get you to recycle old refrigerators, use CFL bulbs, fix faucet leaks and stuff, but does that make sense when they make more money when you're wasteful?
I've barked on the air about liking the desktop computer for the real jobs, it's no compromise on speed, screen space or keyboard. One thing phones and tablets are doing well with is saving power, because a mobile uses a lot less current than a decent desktop. The other side of that is, the sites used with a phone have to use their processing power instead, resizing images and processing videos for playback.
I finally got to see one of the movies I've known about for years, but never had a chance to see until now. You Never Can Tell is about a rich Dog who gets killed and comes back as a Human private eye to try to solve his own murder. He even knows who did it, but has to prove it. It's a comedy, but it has some things to say, about identities, changes and what they mean, so it has some kibble for thought, especially to animal people. You can see it on Youtube if you look up the title.
Boomer