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-Short Attention Span Theater-
First the 75 & 100-watts bulbs, now the 40 & 60-watts
2013-12-16
Fans of the country's most popular light bulbs - the traditional 40 and 60-watt incandescent bulbs - are encouraged to start stocking up as on January 1 it will become illegal for American businesses to either manufacture or import the old-style bulbs.

The beginning of 2013 saw the phasing out of incandescent 75 and 100-watt light bulbs.
Those are my favorite watts and disappearing, they are.
Possible alternatives to the old-style bulbs are halogen bulbs, compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL), LED bulbs and high efficiency incandescents - all are more energy efficient, but also more expensive.
...and also, the light they cast is unusable.
'Get them while you still can,' Home Depot, the nation's largest bulb retailer, is urging on its website. 'Stock up on incandescent light bulbs before they are completely discontinued.'

'Home Depot anticipates running out of their stock of 40W to 60W bulbs six months into 2014,' Mark Voykovic, the store's national light bulb merchant, told FoxNews.
Posted by:Sherry

#19  Those are 130V bulbs, so they don't have the typical lumen output of standard 120V bulbs. Also, that particular item has some bad one star reviews - lots of defectives. But, I did find some better quality 130V at Amazon. They are good for closets and basements where the cost of an LED isn't warranted. I have a couple of cfls, but don't like them much - they flicker and slow start and are pretty useless in cold locations. I'll be investing in LEDs, just bought a couple of outdoor spots.

My main light is a three way 150 watt incandescent reading light beside my chair. I've been looking for an led replacement, so far without luck. And, frankly, sitting here I can feel a small amount of heat on the side of my face, and it feels good, with the temp outside being 20 degrees and the wood stove going across the room.

Put out good products: led, cfl, incandescent, candles, whatever, and let me make my own decisions, dammit!
Posted by: KBK   2013-12-16 18:44  

#18  Thanks Frank :)
Posted by: Shipman   2013-12-16 17:42  

#17  Thanks Frank :-)
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-12-16 16:34  

#16  bought a case of 75 Watt Incandescents on Amazon before they went out. A whole case was less than $10. Currently 24 - 60W Sylvania bulbs are just under $9.00. That's $0.37 per bulb. Go thru Fred's link
Posted by: Frank G   2013-12-16 16:28  

#15  Have lots of old incandescents. Also use a fair number of curly-fried fluorescents. They clearly don't last as long as advertised, and as they age, get dimmer and slower to warm up, but the light quality has gotten acceptable. LEDs are coming, but quality and cost are still not good enough for most applications. I don't mind using different kinds of bulbs, I just mind the government making all the decisions for me. When I choose unwisely, it's just on me, but when they do it, it's on all of us.
Posted by: Glenmore   2013-12-16 15:47  

#14  Hate to be a contrarian, but our entire house is CFL except for the LED's I've been buying lately. Instapundit notes that the CFLs don't last as long as claimed and I think he's right, but they do help hold down the electric bill.
Posted by: Steve White   2013-12-16 14:56  

#13  They can shove all those government-mandated new bulbs up where the incandescents (40, 60, 75 and 100s) don't shine!
Posted by: JohnQC   2013-12-16 10:59  

#12   Is 300 rounds enough of each? Oh and I forgot, I have 300 rnds for my .357 Mag, too. Tex, you can't have too many.
Posted by: JohnQC   2013-12-16 10:50  

#11  You cannot even flush the new bulbs down the low flow toilets.
Posted by: airandee   2013-12-16 09:30  

#10  Gerrymandering of districts has not worked as well in Georgia as it has in Illinois and elsewhere. Prior to the real estate, Fannie/Fredie crash, low/no interest, gov't back loans [you have a RIGHT to own a home] were used to alter the demographics of historically conservative voting districts and counties. It's still going on, a bit more subtle than previously, but once it begins it seldom reverses itself.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-12-16 09:29  

#9  When my father-in-law was an Illinois State rep - before the Dems redistricted him out of office - he was audited by the IRS, two years in a row. He told them it was illegal, two years in a row, and read them the statute. They left him alone after that.

That was 30 years ago, before Illinois politics got really nasty.
Posted by: Bobby   2013-12-16 08:49  

#8  I wouldn't let the c*cksuckers at H & R Blockhead balance my checkbook.

IRS agents are lazy, but as long as your bank statements line up with what's been filed, that's usually as far as an personal tax return audit will go.

Certain schedules (Sch. C & E) and the use of certain other forms (like the home office deduction) also trigger audits.
Posted by: Raj   2013-12-16 08:47  

#7  Texhooey:

In Georgia and Alabama you'd be off to a very respectable start ;-)

Some random thoughts. IRS audits seem to come in bunches of 5, [get one, expect 4 more years of auditing]. One method that appears to shake them off is to hire your taxes done by a respectable tax person or CPA. I avoid H&R Block however, they're little more than a numbers mill.

Tax prep people and agencies generally make fewer mistakes and when you are audited, it's on them to go to bat for you. My tax lady knows more about taxes than most IRS agents. An over-generalization, but it is my belief that IRS agents are lazy. They don't wish to be challenged by a tax pro or CPA and thus [appear] to avoid professionally prepared returns. I suspect they're rather concentrate on the large number of rubes out there attempting to sneak one by.

Overseas work and spikes in annual income appear to trigger audits, as do domestic, six-digit earners.

Particularly troubling to the IRS is the so-called underground economy or work and services performed for cash or barter. This is the area where real tax avoidance takes place. This is the first year in Georgia where the sale or transfer of a privately owned vehicle [not involving a dealer] required reporting and the payment of sales taxes. For obvious reasons I believe the government's goal is to mandate that all transaction be conducted electronically. Appears they have mastered, and deemed legal all types of electronic monitoring.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-12-16 08:27  

#6  Can't wait until they ban the CFLs for mercury issues.....
Posted by: BA   2013-12-16 07:57  

#5  Australians have already switched, I have been using them for years.
Posted by: bernardz   2013-12-16 05:52  

#4  That is how Obama is planning to become the brightest bulb in the country.
Posted by: JFM   2013-12-16 05:44  

#3  When they came for the 100 & 75 watt bulb I didn't protest because I was neither a 100 nor a 75 watt bulb, when they came for the 60 and 40 watts bulb I didn't protest because I was neither a 60 nor 40 watts bulb, when they came for me nobody protested because nobody saw anything
Posted by: JFM   2013-12-16 05:43  

#2  I guess it's time to start hoarding other stuff the gov't wants. Well hell, I am already hoarding .45 and 308 rounds just in case they want them too. Is 300 rounds enough of each? Oh and I forgot, I have 300 rnds for my .357 Mag, too.
And guess what "burgers, the IRS audited me this year.
Posted by: texhooey   2013-12-16 03:58  

#1  A wasteful, inefficient government, that reads my e-mail, listens to my tellie conversations, that cannot balance it's checkbook, wants to take away my .22 rifle, makes me fund abortion, gives money and weapons to terrorists, and is destroying the best health care system in the world..... is now telling me what light bulb to buy.

Ok, I think I get it.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-12-16 02:36  

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