Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: HankB on April 21, 2009, 11:26:39 AM
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Well, tomorrow, April 22, is Earth day (also Lenin's Birthday!) which is traditionally the day that a bunch of environuts converge on the National Mall in Washington, trash it, and leave tons of filth and litter for someone else to clean up.
Our local paper's website has a survey asking what people are doing to celebrate Earth Day . . . my contributions are:
* Use only about 1/20 the energy for my house as noted environmentalist Al Gore uses for his.
* Have only 1 house, rather than the 4 Al Gore has. (that we know about!)
* Don't drive around in a caravan of SUVs like Al Gore, as one is quite enough.
* Fly commercial, rather than private or charter jet the way Al Gore does.
* Avoid use of CFL bulbs, as they contain harmful mercury.
* Drive an old car that I've ripped the emission controls off of, improving fuel economy and reducing the use of fossil fuels.
* Use restored old toilets in my house so ONE flush does it.
* Clothe myself and my family in renewables like leather and real fur, rather than support the petrochemical industry by wearing synthetics and fake fur.
So I'm doing my part - how about YOU?
=D
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I'll just relax after celebrating San Jacinto Day and Muster on April 21st thus creating less CO2 emissions.
I'll avoid eating beans.
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Perhaps I'll turn down the thermostat on my 93% efficient LPG furnace and stoke up the wood-burning fireplace!
I have some brush piles ready to burn. Maybe I'll get that burning permit today and light 'em up.
I had planned to drive the motorcycle tomorrow. Should I take the truck to work, instead? 15 mpg vs. 45?
jb
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I idle my SUV in the office parking lot every April 22d. =D
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Sounds like a good excuse to put off mowing for another day or two.
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I put a pair of those large LED floodlight bulbs in the front entryway fixtures.
They draw 6.5 watts each, as I'm trying to get my monthly electric bill down towards $100/month. =D
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In the midst of a heat wave out here so I'm going to crank the A/C 24/7 and sleep with the fridge open.
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Build a ceremonial altar out of floppies and use it to give a burnt offering of old CFC laden aerosol products.
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I'm having spotted owl and baby seal for lunch.... =D
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I will do nothing different whatsoever.
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I'm having spotted owl and baby seal for lunch.... =D
Yum . . . they taste a lot like whooping crane and young Sumatran rhino respectively. :laugh:
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Well, tomorrow, April 22, is Earth day (also Lenin's Birthday!) which is traditionally the day that a bunch of environuts converge on the National Mall in Washington, trash it, and leave tons of filth and litter for someone else to clean up.
Our local paper's website has a survey asking what people are doing to celebrate Earth Day . . . my contributions are:
* Use only about 1/20 the energy for my house as noted environmentalist Al Gore uses for his.
* Have only 1 house, rather than the 4 Al Gore has. (that we know about!)
* Don't drive around in a caravan of SUVs like Al Gore, as one is quite enough.
* Fly commercial, rather than private or charter jet the way Al Gore does.
* Avoid use of CFL bulbs, as they contain harmful mercury.
* Drive an old car that I've ripped the emission controls off of, improving fuel economy and reducing the use of fossil fuels.
* Use restored old toilets in my house so ONE flush does it.
* Clothe myself and my family in renewables like leather and real fur, rather than support the petrochemical industry by wearing synthetics and fake fur.
So I'm doing my part - how about YOU?
=D
Classic, Hank.
Let's see, for Earth Day, I'll be... sleeping during the day and working all night. So all the lights will be on here at the plant. Don't think I'll leave my car idling overnight, though. That might just be gratuitous.
Oh, we're having someone out to fix the A/C unit at home tomorrow, come to think of it. Seems the installer was a real bonehead, and instead of the 3/8" refrigerant line between the inside and outside units, he put in about a 1/4" one (and that's OUTER-diameter on the latter - if it's supposed to be a 3/8" INNER-diameter, the current line is *WAY* too small!), so the A/C runs near-constantly when the temp gets above about 65F outside and we have the lights and TV on inside, and can't really keep up when it gets hot - the line freezes up. We've lived with it for far too long as it is, but we're getting ready to sell our townhouse, so it HAD to get fixed. So, I guess from that perspective, I *AM* reducing energy usage/improving efficiency. Yay me! =D
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I will be working in the lab. However, maybe I can go see the ESR guys and see if they have something going that I can volunteer at. I am a pretty low carbon footprint guy, myself, at home. The lab has a lot of power going into it though, I'd hate to pay that electric bill.
Just because Al Gore is an idiot does not mean that taking care of the earth is an ignoble cause. It just means that Al Gore is a *expletive deleted*che-bag politician that happened to pioneer a good cause. Did he deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? Not even close. Although he did educate many people about an issue, he also gave people an excuse to pollute, because the pioneer of the green revolution (or whatever you'd like to call it), is a polluter himself, and a big one at that.
Whether you are a subscriber to human influence on global climate or not, earth day is still important. Who enjoys breathing smog? Sustainability should always be a goal that we strive for, because anything else is short sighted and selfish.
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Whether you are a subscriber to human influence on global climate or not, earth day is still important. Who enjoys breathing smog? Sustainability should always be a goal that we strive for, because anything else is short sighted and selfish.
DING DING DING
We have a winner.
I am not "pro Earth/pro humanity". I am anti-pollution. The animals didn't ask for our crap and we shouldn't force them to deal with it...and no, I do not support the EPA or whatever type of person who says our bullets cant be made from lead because it hurts the ecology. Lead is found in nature...we all have some in us. How are a few bullets gonna matter?
For those of you you feel the need to pollute because "you can"...I take great offense that you would be so willing to poison me and mine. What can I do to ruin your health today?
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The problem, in my opinion, is not the notion of 'let's not crap where we eat'. That's a solid notion.
But the problem is that this notion got hijacked by a very bizarre leftist cult which basically preaches that consumption is bad. 32-inch TV's are bad. Big cars and eating lots of stuff is sinful. If you're consuming you're killing Planet Earth. Mother Gaia is suffering.
Now, I am not saying you believe in this. But the cause IS getting discredited by the leftists who have taken it for their own.
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For those of you you feel the need to pollute because "you can"...I take great offense that you would be so willing to poison me and mine.
I doubt if anyone here feels the need to pollute.
Consider those comments as a tongue-in-cheek manner of flipping the bird to those who want to own the environment, not protect it.
I'd bet most folk here have been considerate in their treatment of the environment long before anyone picked a day for it.
No one here is going to go dump a bunch of toxic waste in the local waterway or burn down a rain forest any time soon.
You may want to keep an eye on those guys who want to eat endangered species, though. :lol:
What can I do to ruin your health today?
I'll take a bacon cheeseburger and a large order of fries, please. =)
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doubt if anyone here feels the need to pollute.
No, I do. Pollution is white people doing and making stuff. I have stuff to do.
Let those who whine about me doing stuff sit in filth without heat or clothing or food.
What can I do to ruin your health today?
Raise my taxes? No, wait, that's being covered. =D
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I'll be running a bunch of 8mpg trucks, huge mowers, and filthy two-cycle trimmers / blowers today!
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DING DING DING
We have a winner.
I am not "pro Earth/pro humanity". I am anti-pollution. The animals didn't ask for our crap and we shouldn't force them to deal with it...and no, I do not support the EPA or whatever type of person who says our bullets cant be made from lead because it hurts the ecology. Lead is found in nature...we all have some in us. How are a few bullets gonna matter?
For those of you you feel the need to pollute because "you can"...I take great offense that you would be so willing to poison me and mine. What can I do to ruin your health today?
I am the least likely person to pollute.
I pick up other people's litter, in fact, because such things really annoy me. (Boy Scouts taught me well).
However, I'll be flipping on as many lights, running the dishwasher, running the washing machine, turning on all my computers, baking, and whatever else I can because this socialist "earth day" crap is NOT about being good stewards of the earth.
It's about worshipping it. As such, I reject the leftist pandering.
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Most "eco friendly" stuff can be chalked up to improvements in efficiency. That's not a left or right thing.
Double pane windows vs. single pane. Programmable thermostats. Cutting power to "vampire appliances" when they're not in use. I take the bus to work because it means I don't have to deal with the stress of rush hour traffic. Instead I can read my book.
I draw the line at the low flow showerhead. For I sayeth unto you that it is an abomination in my sight.
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Consider those comments as a tongue-in-cheek manner of flipping the bird to those who want to own the environment, not protect it. . . . No one here is going to go dump a bunch of toxic waste in the local waterway or burn down a rain forest any time soon.
Bullseye!
Nobody thinks that dumping PCB oil down a well - and contaminating the water table - is a good thing. Likewise, spewing vaporized chemical waste and heavy metal particulates into the air is uncool . . . as is dumping radioactive waste into a handy lake, and any of a number of other polluting activities.
But the "everything man does is bad, and we need to STOP IT ANY COST!!" crowd has gone totally off their rockers.
Emission controls on cars have cut pollution by 95%, at a cost of probably a couple of thousand dollars per car . . . how much more will it cost to address the last 5%? Some would say " . . . it doesn't matter . . . "
Well, guess what - it DOES matter!
CO2 is a natural by-product of respiration . . . and some want to control/cap/tax it, on the flimsiest of reasons; the potential cost is astronomical . . . and the "benefit" is imaginary. But if you dare to question it, you're demonized.
And so on and so on . . .
People get tired of this cr@p, and - figuratively, if not literally - do indeed "flip the bird" to the environuts.
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I put a pair of those large LED floodlight bulbs in the front entryway fixtures.
They draw 6.5 watts each, as I'm trying to get my monthly electric bill down towards $100/month. =D
How much do they cost? What sort of output?
I would like to install a bunch of lighting around the house without replacing the 1959-era 60 amp breaker box. It will not look kindly on an extra dozen 500W floods.
* Use restored old toilets in my house so ONE flush does it.
They can have my 3.5gal flush toilet when they pry it from my cold, dead, backside.
A buddy bought a Mexican toilet with a restrictive pipe that only allows a 1.6gal flush. He sawed through that puppy and then mounted it way up high, like the old-school toilet tanks, with a pipe going to the stool. He built a linen cabinet around the tank. I think it outputs ~2.5gal and with the extra height, it flushes pretty well.
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No one here is going to go dump a bunch of toxic waste in the local waterway or burn down a rain forest any time soon.
[kicks rock] Well, there goes my plans for Earth Day......
;/ ;/ ;/
I'll actually be flying on a big ol' jet airliner to Vegas today.....
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I'm shooting lead bullets tonight at the weekly steel match. :)
Probably eat red meat afterwards.
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I'm shooting lead bullets tonight at the weekly steel match. :)
No no no. You're sequestering toxic metals. :laugh:
Probably eat red meat afterwards.
*gasp* :O
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CFL's only contain on average, 5mg of mercury, really not a big deal.
On the other hand, the energy savings of using 10-20 watts of power vs 40-100 watts of power for lighting is very real, and in my opinion outweighs the possible environmental impact of mercury release.
for example, a 40 watt bulb used for 8,000 hours uses 480kWh, and would cost me $72 to use
For teh same amount of light, I can use a 13 watt bulb for 8,000 would cost me $15
If you also believe that CO2 emissions are a problem, there's an obvious savings in those emissions too, and would probably overrule any concerns about mercury.
They also produce much less heat, helping (at least a bit) to curtail cooling costs in the summer.
Finally, assuming you DID break one, only about 15-30% of that 5mg of mercury would be released; teh rest of which would be fused or otherwise stuck to the glass.
I don't mean to nitpick your post, which was obviously meant in a light hearted manner (and hell, I did laugh) but I wouldn't want people to not purchase a CFL due to these concerns. If you still don't want to purchase them, that's fine, but these shouldn't be reasons.
[/soapbox]
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Don't confuse the issues with facts, Nitrogen. =D
(HTG will be along shortly to remind us of our CFL folly...)
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I'll be helping this EarthDay by spreading large quantities of carbon into the high atmosphere. =D
Any "contrails" you see are just that, they are not mind-control chemicals being spread by government operatives. [Soothing voice]They are harmless[/voice].
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I'll be helping this EarthDay by spreading large quantities of carbon into the high atmosphere. =D
Any "contrails" you see are just that, they are not mind-control chemicals being spread by government operatives. [Soothing voice]They are harmless[/voice].
Puttin' more Rainbows in the water ??
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CFL's only contain on average, 5mg of mercury, really not a big deal.
Only? ;/ =D
What if I bought a box of twisty bulbs and started lobbing them into government buildings and Earth First! HQ? =D
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I'm leaving all of my lights on to counter the "IF WE ALL JUST TURNED OUR LIGHTS OFF FOR 1 MIN!" nonsense.
Might even grill up some red meat, and have a bonfire made of old tires later to enjoy the clear evening... :laugh:
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CFL's only contain on average, 5mg of mercury, really not a big deal . . . I don't mean to nitpick your post, which was obviously meant in a light hearted manner (and hell, I did laugh) but I wouldn't want people to not purchase a CFL due to these concerns.
And of course, regular fluorescents contain Hg as well. I actually DO have a CFL in my outdoor yard light, which is on a photocell so it goes on at dusk and off at dawn. Works well in that application, but I don't care for the quality of the light they produce to use them indoors.
The "contains toxic mercury" is a nice argument to make if you want to see an environut's head explode. =D
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for example, a 40 watt bulb used for 8,000 hours uses 480kWh, and would cost me $72 to use
For teh same amount of light, I can use a 13 watt bulb for 8,000 would cost me $15
Slight correction: 13W CFLs = 60W incandescents, not 40.
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I walked by the little earth day rally at the university I work for. They had about 25 people and some dude was going on and on about bottled water. When I walked by it again 45 minutes later, same number of people but some other dude was singing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" and playing a ukulele. Most people walking by didn't even notice.
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Well, for earth day, we ate on Styrofoam plates and used plastic forks. Then we loaded up a bunch of junk from my back yard and went to the dump.
As far as light bulbs go, they had a deal at Lowies, 12 floresent bulbs for $4.60. It said I would save $45 for each bulb over a year. The tightwad in me did the math, ok, my wife did the math and said.... ok, I'm up for that!
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I pulled hundreds of green, living things out of the earth, so I could hear them scream. They were dandelions, so technically demon-kind, not actual living matter, but still.
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Today, I added a couple more 115 volt LED bulbs to the house, then I got a pickup box of elephant manure from Circus World Museum for my dad's garden and mine.
(I know, I know, but it's supposed to work better than horse manure)
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LED bulbs? :O Can you get those at Home Depot, True Value, etc?
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No one here is going to go dump a bunch of toxic waste in the local waterway or burn down a rain forest any time soon.
You may want to keep an eye on those guys who want to eat endangered species, though. :lol:
Nope, I'm efficient....I used rain forest wood and toxic waste to start a bonfire so I could cook my endangered species for dinner.....then I hosed it down into the local waterway.... =D
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I saw this webcomic and thought of all of you:
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbasicinstructions.net%2Fcomics%2F2009-04-22-EarthDay.gif&hash=49b6a0f98db71cc5aee219e88eb4db00fb0a51d5)
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I love my CFL's. I've got them in the basement, and they put off way more light than regular bulbs in the fixtures I have them in. Sometimes it takes them a few minutes to warm up, though.
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In honor of Earth Day, let's break out the Zombie machine.
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flogo.cafepress.com%2F4%2F1221917.6258104.jpg&hash=9c855a5fca2b994607a549dbe73bb33d56286056)
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Earth Day means about as much to me as global warming....zillch.....I rode my old motorcycle, that has no smog devices, mowed my yard with my old mower, that has no smog devices, replaced all the florescent light bulbs in my house with 100 watt incandicent bulbs and ran them all day, and grilled up a bunch of greasy hamburgers. The smoke plume resembled a smaller version of Lambeau Field on game day.......chris3
I forgot to mention I had a big pot of pinto beans for lunch and pickled eggs with my beer after work.........chris3
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Well, good for you, Coppertales.
Something tells me your particular post wasn't tongue-in-cheek, either. =|
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Aside from the "replacing the bulbs" bit, nothing described there is actually all that bad.
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I've got them in the basement, and they put off way more light than regular bulbs in the fixtures I have them in.
IMO, this is one of their best qualities: I can put a 150W equivalent bulb in a 60W max fixture. Couple that with the reduced heat output, and I prefer them for high-output applications where warmup time isn't an issue.
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Is it normal for CFL bulbs to make noise?
I decided to try one and it emitted a high-pitched whine.
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Works well in that application, but I don't care for the quality of the light they produce to use them indoors.
If you get good ones, they don't have the color problems anymore. A couple years ago, I got tired of high electric bills (high is relative; my bills were coming in at $70 or so a month, and I wanted to get it under $60 or $50), so I decided to replace all of my apartment lightbulbs with CFL's. The ones that are in my bedroom are natural light spectrum ones, and they so closely match natural light that it's hard to tell if they're on during the day. The only way I can tell is that there are no shadows on the ceiling around the light fixture when it's on.
The others in the rest of my apartment put out the same color light as tungsten bulbs do.
They also aren't that bad as far as how long it takes for them to warm up and turn on. I've used some in the past that would take several seconds, but these usually do it in under a second, or maybe two if its been somewhat cold and they haven't been on a while.
Is it normal for CFL bulbs to make noise?
I think so. At least mine do. I'm pretty sure what you're hearing are the electric pulses that create the light; unlike tungsten bulbs, which use a steady stream of electricity, florescent require pulses of electricity to work, and they fire at around 60khz, at least in the US (it's higher in other countries).
Incidentally, some people can "see" the strobe effect caused by this, and get a headache if they are are around CFL's for too long. My mother is one of those people. This is one good reason to keep tungsten bulbs around.
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Is it normal for CFL bulbs to make noise?
I decided to try one and it emitted a high-pitched whine.
I've had one or two that hummed a bit, but I'd have to assume they were defective, since I've got everything for 40W equivalent up to 150W equivalent, in soft white , cool white, and daylight, and several brands, and the majority don't make any noise that can be heard from a foot away.
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I'm pretty sure what you're hearing are the electric pulses that create the light; unlike tungsten bulbs, which use a steady stream of electricity, florescent require pulses of electricity to work, and they fire at around 60khz, at least in the US (it's higher in other countries).
I've had one or two that hummed a bit, but I'd have to assume they were defective, since I've got everything for 40W equivalent up to 150W equivalent, in soft white , cool white, and daylight, and several brands, and the majority don't make any noise that can be heard from a foot away.
Thanks for the info.
I tried the one I had in my bedside reading lamp, probably too close to my head.
I also purchased it at a Dollar Store, so it could've indeed been defective.
I just know I didn't like it and swapped it out for a lower wattage regular bulb.
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I also purchased it at a Dollar Store, so it could've indeed been defective.
Could also be a poor quality bulb. Try a name brand one like GE.
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I also purchased it at a Dollar Store, so it could've indeed been defective.
You probably ended up with some cheap Chinese junk bulb....there may be a danger of lead exposure, too......have one of your cats lick it and observe him over the weekend....
=D
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Thanks for the info.
I tried the one I had in my bedside reading lamp, probably too close to my head.
I also purchased it at a Dollar Store, so it could've indeed been defective.
I just know I didn't like it and swapped it out for a lower wattage regular bulb.
Those cheap ones will burn out as fast as a regular light bulb, too. Get quality ones like GE.