CFL Bulbs

This is a new "green" technology that to me hasn't even come close to being useable yet. This weekend I had another one of these bulbs literally go up in smoke. This is about the third one to do that. I was in the bathroom and noticed a slight flickering of the lights. At first I thought the power was about to go out. Then I noticed the bulb brightened for a couple of seconds and then went out. A few seconds later, there was an slight yet aubible whoosh and smoke started coming out of the base of the bulb. I quickly shut off the lights and unscrewed the bulb. If I remember correctly all three of the bulbs that went up in smoke were in the bathroom fixtures. Other CFLs I've used have just gone out within months of first turning them on. This bulb lasted less than a year - next to incandescents that have been working since before we moved into the house.

I also tried an even more expensive (very expensive compared to the old-fashioned bulb) LED bulb. Not only was it very dim - much dimmer that the incandescent is supposedly replaced, but its lifetime was even shorter - only a matter of months. I don't mind doing my bit for the environment - like buying more expensive and supposedly more efficient bulbs and appliances - but I'd really like them to be even somewhat comparable to what they are replacing. I seen no way a $12 LED bulb that burns out in a couple of months will ever be more economical than an incandescent that costs $1.25 and lasts for a year or more.

Batteries

I looked over my toolbench the other night and noticed several dead battery-powered tools and accessories. Off the top of my head, they include a Dremel rotary tool, Skil drill, Skil powered screwdriver, Dustbuster, flashlights and a calculator. Some, actually most, have been disassembled to one point or another. I fixed one; a Craftsman powered screwdriver - replaced the batteries to see if it would work - and it did.

The thing is that probably everyone of those items would work just fine if I replaced the batteries. There's a couple of problems with that. One is that most of them aren't made for ease of replacement. You have to almost completely disassemble it, usually breaking tabs and having to cut glued joints while doing so. The Craftsman screwdriver is now held together with some strapping tape, since I managed to break one of the tabs that held it together. They really aren't made for ease in disassembly and replacement. I did buy a rechargeable flashlight last night that actually had a compartment lid that allowed the nicads to be replaced. That's probably why it was on clearance.

The other and biggest problem is that the batteries are expensive when bought alone. The local battery store has sub-c nicads for about $5 each. The screwdriver, that I can replace for less than $20, takes $10 worth of batteries and I still have an old screwdriver. I have a Craftsman drill that takes 10 cells in its battery and costs $50, but I can buy (I just looked) a similar quality Craftsman drill set with two batteries for $50. A friend was just telling me his drill batteries were dead with a new battery costing $65, but for $140 he could buy a brand new drill set with two batteries.

That's one thing nice about my old Yankee manual ratchet screwdriver; to recharge it, all I have to do it take a coffee break with a muffin.

Moving Computers

After finishing the hardwood floor, it was time to move the computer. What a pain in the neck. You'd think after 30 years of home computers, they'd make it easier. This time with an all-in-one iMac, was much like the time in 1981 when I moved my TRS-80 Model I.

You have scads of cables and cords, almost none of which are interchangeable. And after moving and rearranging you'll always find your longest cable is too short and your shortest cable is longer than it should be.

Our all-in-one iMac has a wireless network, printer, and two external hard drives. There's also a USB hub for all the other stuff, cameras, pdas, mp3 players, thumb drives, etc., that have to attached now and then. Oh, did I mention the UPS and three speaker setup?

By the way, according to Wikipedia a USB is, "...Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to connect devices to a host computer." Note the word standard. Just about every USB device we own uses a different USB connector. And the hub has all the connectors on the back of it. Why does everything have connectors on the back. My Dell had some connectors on the front, but they were hidden under an overhang behind a door and were harder to get to than the connectors on the back.

It took an hour or two, but everything was finally plugged together. I only forgot a couple of items - like the mouse which the iMac reminded me I forgot about - and one of the hard drives. I do of course have a rat's nest of cables under the desk in spite of the cable ties trying to keep them organized.

I'm not even going to go into all the accessories we have yet to move. Things like books, old and new CDs and DVDs, software packages, temporary cables and connectors and desk lights and what all.