- Why most artists are liberal. “Stories, by their nature, have some sort of conflict. Otherwise, they would be boring. Conflict, by its nature, has at least two sides. To be able to write these two sides well, the artist has to understand, deep inside, that both sides are equally human.” (via 3quarksdaily)
- Less mercury in CFLs, courtesy of Walmart. I’ll add a reminder that “regular” CFLs still put less mercury in the environment than incandescent bulbs. (via grist)
- Global warming speeds up evolution and new species are springing up fast. (via 3quarksdaily)
I agree that more mercury is put into the air in the long run from coal fired power plants, but I still think that a bulb filled with mercury is a dangerous thing to have in your house. If you break one of those bulbs, you will have a toxic amount of mercury in your house instantly.
Plus the light from CFLs pretty much sucks, and you can’t really dim them, even the “dimmable” bulbs only have two settings. I’m eagerly awaiting a good LED luxeon lightbulb replacement.
=]
Comment by eecue — May 12, 2007 @ 11:37 am
The amount of mercury that comes out of a broken CFL is really rather small. In fact, after about an hour or so, the amount of mercury in a closed room will be down to environmental levels.
There will always be those who will spread FUD in the face of any challenge to the status quo, the Mercury in CFLs scare is part of that.
Comment by don hosek — May 12, 2007 @ 11:51 am
Oh and on the light quality, Siel posted a link to a survey of bulb light qualities a month or so ago. CFL quality is the same or better than traditional bulbs. Maybe the older/cheaper bulbs are off, but newer bulbs are really quite nice. We’ve got nothing but CFLs in our home.
Comment by don hosek — May 12, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
The Mercury in a CFL is a legitimate concern, not just a rebelling against the status quo.
But people DO need perspective.
People should realize that normal, non-compact fluorescents also contain Mercury, and these bulbs are also part of our daily lives. So we aren’t avoiding Mercury by rejecting CFLs.
Comment by Rafi — May 13, 2007 @ 11:28 am