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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Mr. Domestic, Part II

We have two parts because I still haven't been able to figure out how to get html to do what I want.



Looking for 60 watt lightbulbs at Home Depot today. Flashy packages saying buy me! Look closer and they are all for extra long life bulbs. Don't want any of those. Got burned once before on that deal. Bought some light bulbs that were supposed to last five times as long as a regular bulb. Well, they might, but they also produce one-fifth the amount of light. It was like turning on the dark. So, no thank you, I don't want the extended life bulbs, I want the original, short life, extra bright bulbs. But where are they? I finally find them. They are the ones in the non-descript packaging that are almost all sold out. Made by Philips. Bah. But they are cheap: 25 cents each.

60 Watt LightbulbsHome Depot4/13/2010
WattsLumensLifeBrandTypeNumber of Bulbs in packagePackage PricePrice Per BulbPrice Per 1000 Hours
1490010000ECOSoft White Compact Fluorescent45.851.460.15
608601000PhilipsSoft White40.970.240.24
608301500PhilipsSoft White Dura Max41.440.360.24
1480010000ECODaylight Compact Fluorescent13.543.540.35
607802000GESoft White Double Life63.170.530.26
606301000GEReveal64.270.710.71

You might wonder why I don't go for the compact fluorescents. I don't like them because they take too long to come to full brightness. When I turn on a light it's because I want to see now, not in five minutes, or fifteen minutes or however long it takes those things to get their act together. By the time they are ready to go I've moved on to something else.

And if I want bright light, why don't I go for something bigger, like 100 Watt bulbs? I'll tell you why: because all the fixtures in the house are only rated for stupid 60 Watt bulbs, that's why, and I'm too cheap to go replace all the fixtures with something better.

Eventually, LED's will become common, and they will come with a lifetime battery & a wireless remote control. They will have a screw on the back and you just screw them into the wall wherever you want a light. No wiring involved. They will be so cheap they'll give them away in Cracker Jack boxes. All I have to do is wait.




I paid for my purchase with cash and the automatic machine gave me 59 cents in change back. Why would you use three dimes instead of a quarter and a nickel?

Update February 2017 replaced missing pictures.

2 comments:

Eunoia said...

Because the coins are stored in individual stacks and - to avoid a stack overflow (grin) - the machine emits the coins from the fullest stack???

Chuck Pergiel said...

If stack overflow was a possibility, then yes, that could explain the weird coin selection. However, the possibility of stack overflow would imply that coins were going into the change maker as well as coming out. While not impossible, it would mean these machines would be more mechanically complex than a simple change maker, something manufacturers are try to avoid. On the other hand, it might be that the coin reserves had simply run low, and this was the only way the machine had of making change. Gee, I actually had to think about this.