Alive

I've been in the Catskills and vicinity for two weeks as part of an ongoing (and escalating) project I've been involved with. Worse yet, while I was up there, the laptop died, and Hewlett-Packard's warranty service was unusually useless on the matter. Expect resumed posting tomorrow.

Admitting He Has a Problem is the First Step

In the course of a confession you probably saw coming a mile away (and stop asking yourself "...if he's not the father and the affair ended two years ago, why was he at the hotel?"), a root cause is revealed:

"In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic," Edwards said in trying to explain his behavior.

No! John Edwards, the Democratic Party's silky pony boy, the man who even the New York Times now calls a "Ken doll", narcissistic? Not this man!
Continue Reading

The Opening Ceremonies

I'm having a lot of laughs watching the Beijing Opening Ceremonies with a Cold War historian. Nevermind what an obvious Soviet hand-me-down the Chinese national anthem ("March of the Volunteers") is, the narrator just feeds you straight lines as he tries to dance around the gigantic elephants in the room.

"...the Mogao Caves, which are wonderfully preserved Buddhist artworks in a cave in the remote desert..."

"By 'wonderfully preserved' he means that the caves were too far away for the government to destroy during the Cultural Revolution."

(dancers using their bodies to paint a traditional Chinese artwork on a giant canvas)

"So, if they're taking us through Chinese history here, when they get to Mao, are they going to come out and set that painting on fire?"

They are putting on an impressive show, but I can hardly wait to see how they deal with it when they get to about 1940.

Update: They skipped it. They cut right from the medieval era to 1978. Dead serious.

Why would anyone do this?

Just in case you ever need it, not that you ever will, here's a website featuring selected readings from the Book of Mormon, in Klingon.

This here internet has everything.

It's an Old Joke

Comparing Barack Obama to a vacuous celebrity bimbo, it turns out, is insulting to vacuous celebrity bimbos.

Sure, the reference in the ad is corny and awkward, but if you watch, it doesn't actually imply that there's anything wrong with Paris Hilton.

It doesn't need to.

Incandescents Didn't Start the Fire

When I wrote this post, I omitted references to the fire hazard created by compact fluorescent lightbulbs because, supposedly, there is no true fire hazard, and "heat and possibly a small amount of smoke" are actually a normal behavior when the bulb burns out. In practice, that seems to be a potentially significant problem, as Green Living reports:

However, a couple of weeks ago I noticed the typical acrid smell of an electric fire in the sitting room. I couldn't see any fire but the stench was getting stronger and it seemed to be particularly bad just under the light. I thought we must have some problem with the wiring. I turned the lights off, checked outside whether there was smoke coming out somewhere, even crawled up into the attic space - but I couldn't see anything unusual.

The following day I noticed that one of the light bulbs in the sitting room was "dead". When I tried to unscrew it, it cracked at the base, just where the glass goes into the plastic encasing - not good, given that CFLs contain nasty mercury. We quickly evacuated the kids, opened all the windows, I made sure the thing didn't break completely, carefully sealed it in a plastic bag and got rid of it.

Then last week I again noticed this awful smell, this time in the bedroom. I looked up and saw thick black smoke coming out of our ceiling light!...Two of the three CFLs in the lamp were partially blackened inside and there were signs that the plastic base had started to melt and burn.

Maybe I was just unlucky and this was simply a bad batch.

No, it's not a bad batch. According to National Geographic's Green Guide, this means they're working correctly, and the Democratic Congress, in their infinite and progressive wisdom, expects you to deal with it.

Meanwhile, James Lileks, commenting at Tim Blair's blog, has his own horrifying encounter with CFLs.

They finally brought out some dimmable CFLs, so I tried one. Eight dollars. Never mind the ghastly light, which would be fine if I wanted to shoot a movie scene that took place in a Soviet morgue, and never mind the way the bulb 'dimmed' by going from Much Light to No Light with little difference in between; never mind the palsied flicker that announced the bulb was on. What bothered me the most, I think, was the fact that it broke after one use. Died out of shame, perhaps.

Took it back to the store, and they offered to take it off my hands to handle the mercury. But that would cost another dollar.

It's little wonder this bill won't take effect for several years: Congressional Democrats get to act like they're helping, without facing angry voters. If the technology was truly ready for consumers, there'd be no need for the delay.

Good Thing None of These People Had Guns, or Else This Might've Happened

In ever-safe Canada:

A man sleeping on a Greyhound bus as it rolled across the Canadian Prairies was killed and decapitated by his seatmate as horrified passengers fled to safety in the night, witnesses and police said on Thursday.

"The attacker was standing up right over top of the guy with a large hunting knife -- a survival, Rambo knife -- holding the guy and continually stabbing him, stabbing him, stabbing him in the chest area," Caton told CBC Television.

The attack continued as other passengers fled the bus and waited for police, Caton said. He said he, the driver and another passenger desperately tried to hold the bus door closed to prevent the attacker from leaving.

"He calmly walks up to the front (of the bus) with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," Caton said.

According to witnesses, he stabbed his victim "40 or 50 times", and after dropping the head, returned to mutilate the body.

You're Invited

Bruno Behrend, the man behind Extreme Wisdom, will be the speaker at a Chicago conference to discuss the probable upcoming Illinois Constitutional Convention.

The Constitutional Convention issue creates exciting opportunities for the citizens of Illinois to dramatically improve our state. Attendees will hear about all of the new developments that have taken place regarding the convention in the last few months. The presentation will focus on how the current political climate, along with the convention mechanics, will allow citizens to re-organize around sound policies instead of the status quo where strong, ethical leadership is sorely lacking. The presentation will be short, so as to allow the audience to get in the maximum number of questions.

Speaker: Bruno Behrend - is host of the Extreme Wisdom Radio Show on WKRS 1220 AM broadcasting out of Waukegan, Illinois and co-author of "Illinois Deserves Better - the Ironclad Case for an Illinois Constitutional Convention" with John Bambenek. www.extremewisdom.com and www.illinoiscitizenscoalition.com

Time: 6:30 pm cocktails and/or dinner & networking
7:15 pm announcements
7:30 pm presentations start

The Lincoln Restaurant requires a minimum order from each person of $5.00 to secure our private room. A suggested donation of $3.00 would also be greatly appreciated. All donations cover the costs of holding each meeting such as handouts, nametags, door prizes, PR, small gifts of appreciation for the speakers, etc.

RSVP PLEASE (with head count / names) – this is very helpful for everyone!!! by sending an email to: TownhallChicago@aol.com or call 312.420.3115

Please arrive before 7:30 PM, so we can start and respect those who are on time.

Lincoln Restaurant
4008 N. Lincoln Ave. & Irving Park Rd. & Damen Ave. (4000 N, 2000 West)
Chicago, IL 60618 Tel: 773.248.1820

Spread the word. I remain a bit of a Constitutional Convention skeptic, being of the mind that the electorate that gave Blagojevich a second run isn't the electorate that should be sending delegates to a convention, and worried about what ultra-progressive claptrap might come out the other side of such a project. However, Bruno Behrend's tireless efforts on this matter have done a lot to convince me that this monumental task is being steered by people who don't believe failure is an option.

I just got off the phone with Behrend, and he lays out a compelling case, arguing that while it's plausible an even more destructive document would come out of the convention, what everybody should agree on is that what's in place now is unacceptable. He describes it as having "opened Pandora's box 40 years ago", and this being the chance to close it. "The bad guys control every office, they control every party. This is our last chance to change something for the better," he says. He also cited Rich Miller's stance, that everyone knows the foxes are in charge of the hen house, but that the "no"-vote crowd is contending that the only viable option is to continue buying more chickens.

Bruno Behrend and John Bambenek have a book out, Illinois Deserves Better.

Interestingly, a poll, conducted by Ask Illinois, found that a majority of voters believe former Governor George Ryan would be a better governor than Rod Blagojevich.

George Ryan is in federal prison.

Kneel Before Obama

I wish I'd been the first to catch this.

Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life. In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.

I am General Zod. Listen to me, people of the Earth! Today I bring a New Order to your planet! Each of you... each man, each woman, each child - all will march proudly together in this New Order! There is no longer a need for separate nations in this world, no need for petty squabbles between one group and another. All of you will work together, strive, produce, and sacrifice together - and all for a common goal! It is useless for you to resist as it is for me to annihilate you. You will only bring death and destruction upon yourselves, while I will lose the potential products of your labor. There is now one law, one order, one ruler who alone will determine your collective destiny! One force before which all of you shall kneel forever! In return for this submission you will have my generous protection! In other words - you will be allowed to live.

Blasted Helmet

One of the problems my new schedule has caused is a backlog of stories that seemed important or particularly humorous, but are no longer current. Yet, going back through my archive of links allows me to see stories start to evolve into one of history's many hilarious spectacles. Consider, for example, these scenes from life at the site of the Democratic National Convention:

April 17th:

Protesters will not be confined to "cages" during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and the city wants to get away from the long lines of shoulder-to-shoulder, riot-gear-clad police that typified security at the national conventions in Boston and New York, Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown said today.

May 18th:

Fried foods are forbidden at the committee's 22 or so events, as is liquid served in individual plastic containers. Plates must be reusable, like china, recyclable or compostable. The food should be local, organic or both.

And caterers must provide foods in "at least three of the following five colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white," garnishes not included, according to a Request for Proposals, or RFP, distributed last week.

"I think it's a great idea for our community and our environment. The question is, how practical is it?" asks Nick Agro, the owner of Whirled Peas Catering in Commerce City. "We all want to source locally, but we're in Colorado. The growing season is short. It's dry here."

June 25th:

The host committee for the Democratic National Convention wanted 15,000 fanny packs for volunteers. But they had to be made of organic cotton. By unionized labor. In the USA. Official merchandiser Bob DeMasse scoured the country. His weary conclusion: "That just doesn't exist."

Convention organizers hired the first-ever Director of Greening, longtime environmental activist Andrea Robinson. To test whether celebratory balloons advertised as biodegradable actually will decompose, Ms. Robinson buried samples in a steaming compost heap. She hired an Official Carbon Adviser, who will measure the greenhouse-gas emissions of every placard, every plane trip, every appetizer prepared and every coffee cup tossed. The Democrats hope to pay penance for those emissions by investing in renewable energy projects.

To police the four-day event Aug. 25-28, she's assembling (via paperless online signup) a trash brigade. Decked out in green shirts, 900 volunteers will hover at waste-disposal stations to make sure delegates put each scrap of trash in the proper bin. Lest a fork slip into the wrong container unnoticed, volunteers will paw through every bag before it is hauled away.

"That's the only way to make sure it's pure," Ms. Robinson says.

Coors Brewing Co., in Golden, Colo., will donate biofuel made from beer waste to power the convention's fleet of flex-fuel vehicles. A green star for the convention -- but it has rankled die-hard liberals, who boycotted Coors in the 1960s and '70s to protest hiring practices that they said discriminated against blacks, Latinos, women and gays.

July 22nd:

The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention has used the city's gas pumps to fill up and apparently avoided paying state and federal fuel taxes. The practice, which began four months ago, may have ended hours after its disclosure. An aide to Mayor John Hickenlooper released a statement Tuesday evening saying that Denver 2008 Host Committee members would pay market prices for fuel and would also be liable for all applicable taxes.

July 22nd:

"It's pure propaganda. The rush to pass these so-called 'dangerous weapons' ordinances have the sole purpose of manipulating the public into thinking that those conducting free speech during the DNC are going to beat cops with sticks and squirt them with urine," said Tom Mestnik, street puppet coordinator for Re-create 68.

July 23rd:

Denver firefighters have learned of a house full of urine being stored to throw at police.

July 28th:

One of the headlines projects in the DNCC's green initiative for the Denver Convention[, the Wray windmill,] has yet to produce any clean energy. But that didn't stop the DNCC from including it in its four projects that delegates can buy carbon offsets for.

The DNC also produced a movie about the Wray windmill project where their director of greening asked students in the town, "What does it feel like to live in Wray and know you are generating clean power?" [despite the fact it isn't generating any].

July 28th:

Mayor John Hickenlooper told radio host Mike Rosen, who writes a column for the Rocky, that Tent State University's plans for a sleepover [in City Park] for as many as 50,000 protesters are out of the question.

The mayor also told Rosen that the city might turn on the sprinklers if the protesters don't abide by Denver's 11 p.m. curfew.

July 28th:

The host committee is as much as $10 million short in fundraising, and financial difficulties have forced it to cancel two dozen parties for delegates. Denver officials are scrambling to deal with the logistical challenges of Barack Obama's acceptance speech being held at an outdoor stadium instead of in the arena where the rest of the convention will take place. Even special daisies that the city bred partly to show off for the convention are failing to sprout.

Criticism has been so harsh that this month the host committee felt compelled to issue a news release defending its much-mocked catering guidelines, which recommend organic produce and color-coordinated meals and discourage fried food.

[Mayor] Hickenlooper referred to the event as the "blasted convention" and compared it to a summer he spent painting a house for which he was never paid.

I can hardly wait. You can spot Mayor Hickenlooper in this photograph because, incredibly, he's the guy who has his helmet on backwards.

What He Hath Wrought

Dan Curry notes that the New Yorker has brought forth the most terrifying revelation of our age:

That year, [Obama] gained his first high-level experience in a statewide campaign when he advised the victorious gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich, another politician with a funny name and a message of reform. Rahm Emanuel, a congressman from Chicago and a friend of Obama's, told me that he, Obama, David Wilhelm, who was Blagojevich's campaign co-chair, and another Blagojevich aide were the top strategists of Blagojevich's victory. He and Obama "participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor," Emanuel said. "We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these two." A spokesman for Blagojevich confirmed Emanuel's account, although David Wilhelm, who now works for Obama, said that Emanuel had overstated Obama's role. "There was an advisory council that was inclusive of Rahm and Barack but not limited to them," Wilhelm said, and he disputed the notion that Obama was “an architect or one of the principal strategists."

In fairness to Obama, everything Blagojevich says is a lie, so it's entirely possible that, in fact, Obama merely once ate at the same restaurant where these meetings were being held. On the other hand, it's possible that the thousands of pages of evidence I've sorted through indicating that Illinois is governed by one of the most perfectly feckless career criminals in gubernatorial history, in fact, contain the clues that answer the riddle underlying every Obama controversy: "Is he really that bad, or is he just so incredibly dopey and naive that he had no idea what happened?"

That defense didn't last long with Blagojevich, but recent video evidence of what happens when Obama's teleprompter goes on the fritz really does seem to point to the latter:

David Axelrod, the preeminent strategist in the state, declined to work for Blagojevich. "He had been my client and I had a very good relationship with him, but I didn't sign on to the governor's race," Axelrod said. "Obviously he won, but I had concerns about it. . . . I was concerned about whether he was ready for that. Not so much for the race but for governing. I was concerned about some of the folks - I was concerned about how the race was being approached." Axelrod's unease was warranted. Blagojevich and people close to him have been tied to a seemingly endless series of scandals. The trial of Tony Rezko revealed that Rezko used his influence in the Blagojevich administration to profit from companies seeking business with the state. There is speculation that Blagojevich will be the next governor to be indicted, and the Democratic Speaker of the Illinois House, Michael Madigan, has raised the issue of impeachment.

In fact, Blagojevich is such a disaster that his reign of terror has culminated both in a widespread demand for the addition of a recall provision to the state constitution and a call for the entire document to be scrapped and rewritten. He is the destroyer of worlds, a mini-Mugabe notable among modern history's failed leaders not just for the sheer scope of his incompetence and mismanagement but for the unanimous disrespect it has earned him.

Obama - He helped bring Illinois change you can believe in!

Bicyclist Attack

This blog, March 6th:

I've never trusted bicyclists.

In Seattle, Friday:

Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson says that on Friday between 100 and 300 bicyclists were riding down a street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, blocking traffic on both lanes, when a man and a woman in a Subaru station wagon tried to pull out of a parking spot.

But some of the bicyclists blocked them, sat on the car and began banging on the vehicle. Words were exchanged between the male driver and the bicyclists.

The driver feared being assaulted and backed up, but bumped a biker and enraged the group. In response, some of the bikers smashed the windshield and rear window. He tried to drive away but hit another bicyclist.

The car stopped a block down and the bicyclists surrounded the car. One biker punched the driver through an open window and another used a knife to slash the tires.

When the driver got out of the car a male suspect struck him with an unknown object in the back of the head. The driver was later taken to the hospital.

Critical Mass is a typical "direct action" event held in cities around the world. "While the ride was originally founded with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to bicyclists," says Wikipedia, "the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal." In practice, they use a number of deliberate tactics to deliberately block traffic, are reportedly often drinking, and this isn't the first outbreak of violence. In Chicago, they're often tailed and escorted by police to prevent this kind of incident, while other police forces have struggled to find effective tactics to deal with the rides.

At least one bicyclist claims that, in this case, they merely "nicely asked the guy to wait", when the motorist tried to back out anyway and ended up hitting at least two bicyclists. In the past, their deliberate obstruction of traffic has sparked drivers to initiate violence, so it's not impossible this guy did, too, but why the bicyclist thinks they have any kind of right to ask anyone to wait for them to finish breaking the law is beyond me. Their "mass" has no special standing of any kind, and if he did hit two people, it's the scene of an accident, not a justification for a violent riot.

It would seem that in practice, the event is really designed to prove how unfriendly and selfish hippies are toward people who actually use the streets for their intended, lawful purpose. Some communities have organized alternative events with named like "Courteous Mass" and "Critical Manners", for bicyclists who want to go on a nice group ride but want nothing to do with this crap. Concerned motorists should drive prepared, properly equipped to harsh a rampaging Critical Masser's mellow.

Update: Reader John, in comments, notes that in situations like the above, he prefers to depend on "a stick" to mace.

Let's compromise.

Obama's World Tour

It's entirely possible that there's a perfectly good explanation for this, but it looks bad:

1:42 p.m.: SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Obama has cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl US military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday. "Barack Obama will not be coming to us," a spokesperson for the US military hospital in Landstuhl announced. "I don't know why." Shortly before the same spokeswoman had announced a planned visit by Obama.

4:49 p.m.: Obama enters the luxury Ritz Carlton hotel wearing a T-shirt, black sweatpants and white trainers -- apparantly to work out in the hotel's gym. He kept up the campaigning on the way there, smiling and waving at tourists and other onlookers.

If you're running for President of the United States, and already making yourself look just a tiny bit presumptuous...

"It is not going to be a political speech," said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. "When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally."

"But he is not president of the United States," a reporter reminded the adviser.

...you might want to avoid the appearance of skipping out on meeting wounded American soldiers to hit the treadmill.

Meanwhile, local foreign-person Bob Bennekers respectfully disagrees with Barack Obama's insistence that we should all learn foreign languages:

In Holland (where I come from) it was mandatory to learn three languages (English, French and German) at high school. This makes sense for Holland as a small country. It does not make sense for Americans, since English is a world language and Americans already speak it.

Because some Americans may visit Europe, should all Americans learn French? What about German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, etc.? French does not get you very far in Germany. It seems Obama wants Americans to learn a foreign language just to be "sophisticated."

Not so much that we'd be "sophisticated", but because he actually thinks it's "embarrassing" that most Americans learned languages that are not useful within thousands of miles of their homes and will probably never play a significant role in any part of their lives. That is to say, not that it would be an admirable goal, but that it would correct what he views as a fault.

Obama acts like Europeans learn English because they want to impress Americans, or because learning a foreign language is cool in Europe. That's ridiculous. Internationally, whether you're talking about Europe or India, learning multiple languages isn't some frivolous exercise to give you that "edge" on a resume, to make you feel better about yourself, or to impress foreigners. It's a practical part of life. That's why they aren't studying Swahili, they're studying English, the common language of science and commerce, and the languages of their neighbors, people they meet regularly. In America, our neighbors already speak English. There are no particular languages we can teach in schools that will ever have the kind of relevance English, German, and French have in the Netherlands - even Spanish meets that criteria in only a few parts of the country.

Now, that's not to say people shouldn't learn another language, if they want to or have a use for it, or that schools should not offer the courses. However, pushing widespread bilingualism through our public schools is a ridiculous and wasteful notion, because no teenager can reasonably be expected to decide which languages his future goals will require. Spending two years learning to find the bathroom in everyone's favorite dying language is a huge mistake when so many students can barely write a coherent paragraph in English. Teaching basic economics, programming languages, or some other practical skill would do a great deal more to improve a student's quality of life after graduation than studying beginner's German.

In my own life, I've learned enough French to read the general news, but when I set out to do that, I did it purely for sport and because I had the time to invest, not because I thought I simply "should" know a second language for the sake of being bilingual. I'll spend my time doing what's valuable to me, rather than something that's valuable to Barack Obama, but ultimately useless to the people who depend on me and irrelevant to my own happiness. When I have children in school, I'd also prefer it if the school system respected my son or daughter enough not to waste their time imposing language studies on them that won't actually help them accomplish their goals. There's nothing to be ashamed of in not knowing a second language, and that Obama thinks it's "embarrassing" that he himself does not know one speaks chiefly to the deluded egoists he apparently hangs out with, not the state of the nation.

Update: Ow.

Obama noted that in a break from his whirlwind schedule "we've got some down time tonight. What are you guys gonna do in Berlin? Huh? Huh? You guys got any big plans? ... I've never been to Berlin, so ... I would love to tour around a little bit."

Maybe he could've checked out the nightlife at Rammstein.

Atlas Shrugged: The Musical

An angry defense of Pierce Brosnan's vocals in Mamma Mia!, from ABBA singer Benny Anderson:

"Everybody complains that Pierce can't sing and it p****s me off. I think he has a great voice. He couldn't sing 'Nessun Dorma' but neither could I - and I was in ABBA. "It's like saying Bob Dylan can't sing. It's just not fair. He has a good voice."

I saw yet another preview on The Daily Show, and you know what?

Pierce Brosnan can't sing. With all possible respect for the guy, who is one of everyone's two favorite James Bonds, who I've enjoyed in every movie I've ever seen him in, there was no harmony at all. It was like a bull walrus trying to warn his mate of an approaching polar bear, and I'm concerned that it might compromise the structural integrity of some older theaters.

The 61-year-old Swede also revealed how Catherine Johnson's script for the musical - which raked in a phenomenal £1 billion worldwide as a theatre production before being adapted for the big screen - convinced the band to allow their tracks to be used.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Update: Via a reader, behold:


...also, from one of the cruelest reviews yet:

The legal definition of torture has been much aired in recent years, and I take "Mamma Mia!" to be a useful contribution to that debate....I thought that Pierce Brosnan had been dragged to the edge of endurance by North Korean sadists in his final Bond film, "Die Another Day," but that was a quick tickle with a feather duster compared with the agony of singing Abba's "S.O.S." to Meryl Streep through a kitchen window. Somebody, either a cheeky Swede or another North Korean, has deliberately scored the number a tone and a half too high, with visible results: swelling muscles along the jawline, tightened throat, a panicky bulge in the eyes.

Sometimes, Hollywood gives you a movie you don't even need to go see to mock mercilessly.

Technology > Sustainability

In recent years, Australia, much of Europe, and the United States have all passed upcoming bans on familiar incandescent light bulbs, even though the alternative, CFL, has some issues. They don't last nearly as long as advertised in ceiling fans, or in enclosed or recessed lighting, and can take several minutes to properly light up in cold, outdoor settings. More importantly, their lifespan is significantly reduced by being switched on and off frequently. This is fine in a commercial setting, where the lights are on all day, but in a residential setting, where people normally only use a few of their lights at a time, protecting the bulb's lifespan would mean leaving lights on instead of flipping them off before leaving the room.

Accordingly, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has noticed at least one community, Traer, Iowa, where a 1987 swap of 18,000 incandescents for CFLs (dubbed the "Great Light Bulb Exchange") resulted in an 8% increase in energy consumption. (Despite this, Traer Municipal Utilities was given an "Energy Innovator of the Year Award".) With the subsidies that low-income energy consumers already receive, in many areas the higher initial cost of installing CFL may mean that they lose more money than they save.

Finally, as you've probably heard by now, the bulbs contain mercury, leading to warnings that they should, if possible, not be disposed of in your regular garbage, that a drop-cloth should be put down when changing bulbs, and that if you break one, you should open the windows, shut off your climate control system, evacuate the room for at least fifteen minutes, then come back, put on rubber gloves, and, without using a vacuum cleaner, recover every possible scrap of the bulb and double-bag it. (Exactly what you should do if you live in a building where the windows don't open is unclear, and even unbroken bulbs must be double-bagged, in preparation for their inevitable breakage in the garbage truck.)

Used safely, they're the inconvenient low-flow shower heads of home lighting. Of course, most people won't use them safely.

However, as usual, markets and technology were already well on their way to answering the incandescent bulb question, and to making CFLs obsolete, without government intrusion:

Researchers at Purdue University have overcome a major obstacle in reducing the cost of "solid state lighting," a technology that could cut electricity consumption by 10 percent if widely adopted.

The technology, called light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, is about four times more efficient than conventional incandescent lights and more environmentally friendly than compact fluorescent bulbs. The LEDs also are expected to be far longer lasting than conventional lighting, lasting perhaps as long as 15 years before burning out.

But LED lights now on the market are prohibitively expensive, in part because they are created on a substrate, or first layer, of sapphire. The Purdue researchers have solved this problem by developing a technique to create LEDs on low-cost, metal-coated silicon wafers, said Mark H. Oliver, a graduate student in materials engineering who is working with Sands.

"When the cost of a white LED lamp comes down to about $5, LEDs will be in widespread use for general illumination," Sands said. "LEDs are still improving in efficiency, so they will surpass fluorescents. Everything looks favorable for LEDs, except for that initial cost, a problem that is likely to be solved soon."

So far, it's only been cost-effective to install LEDs in bulk, in large facilities such as grocery stores, where there's a lot of cash flow to cover the initial cost.

Migros expects to sink energy use 80%, including lower air conditioning costs due to the low waste heat generation of light emitting diodes....In addition to the waste reduction achieved by this long life-span, LEDs do not use harmful mercury nor lead. And there is one last, perhaps less obvious, advantage to LED lighting in a supermarket: LEDs emit no ultraviolet nor infrared light, minimizing spoilage of foodstuffs.

I would love to see someone challenge the Congressional ban on incandescent bulbs on Constitutional grounds.