The Great New Light Bulbs of The 21st Century, or Are They?

Over the past year or so, I’ve seen amazing new light bulbs on the market – N:VISION bulbs. Its 60 watt equivalent bulb claims to only use 14 watts of energy to produce the same light as a 60 watt bulb, it’s guaranteed to last nine years (or 10,000 hours), and it has a light output of 900 lumens. The GE reveal 60 watt bulb in comparison has a light output of 630 lumens, only lasts 1,000 hours and burns a full 60 watts of energy.

I was stunned by the enormous advantage the N:VISION bulbs had over the GE bulbs. I was amazed GE was even in the business of making light bulbs any longer. I mean really, even though the N:VISION bulbs cost three times the price of a GE reveal – you get 10 times the life of a regular bulb and cheaper energy bills.

So what’s the problem, you ask. Well, I wanted to see what made this new technological marvel work and why it wasn’t plastered all over the news as a great breakthrough in technology and energy savings.

Well, written in big print on the back of the N:VISION package was the following message:

"Contains Mercury. Dispose according to Local, State or Federal Laws."

I almost dropped the package right there. And imagine if I did - hazmat would have to be called in to clean up.

Here is an entry from Wikipedia in regards to fluorescent lamps:

"When broken indoors, bulbs may emit sufficient mercury vapor to present health concerns, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends evacuating and airing out a room for at least 15 minutes after breaking a fluorescent light bulb."

I don’t know if N:VISION’s bulbs would be considered fluorescent, but the warning about bulbs containing mercury is scary enough for me.

I mean really, something is being openly made with mercury—today. After the three-eyed fish die offs in the 70’s due to mercury poisoning. Or the fear of every parent who puts their child to bed after receiving their two year inoculations, which contain thiomersal (mercury), hoping or praying that their child wakes up the next morning normal and healthy and not autistic.

John, you're being overly paranoid, you say. There's mercury all around us: in the computers, shots, gold, high fructose corn syrup and so on.

Too true. But let me ask this, nine years after the bulb burns out, who will have retained the disposal information number, let alone the N:VISION package with proper disposal instructions? Even if half the people who buy the bulbs dispose of them properly, how many mini-mercury bombs are going to wind up in the garbage? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

As you can see from the picture above, I’m already using two of the poisonous bulbs. I know, call me a hypocrite. My lame excuse: my wife bought this package and started using the bulbs. I only noticed the problem when I went out to buy a bulb for my desk lamp and started comparing bulbs. Now, I’m waiting for the next hazmat round up in my community so I can toss them. Yes, hazmat and community hazardous waste round-ups are the only way to properly dispose of these bulbs.

Hopefully, the next great energy saving idea of the 21st Century won't be as hazardous to our health.

Book Review: Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor is based on an incredible true story. My brother highly recommended it to me, saying he couldn’t put it down due to the non-stop, heart-pounding action.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree with him.

The pace I found to be slow and choppy. While having some interesting information on Iraq in Chapter 1, the author spent a lot of time telling us how perfect and awesome his comrades were. (As happened many, many times throughout the book.) Chapter 2 gave us a long passage on his childhood. Throughout the book, these stories recurred again and again along with diatribes about the greatness of President Bush, the evils of liberals and the liberal media, mixed in with long transitions to his Texas ranch when al-Qaeda is looking for him in Afghanistan. Not quite the non-stop, heart-pounding action I'd expect in an action novel.

It was the constant references to the greatness of his friends that threw me off the most. Perhaps the author needed filler material. Even fighting on the mountain, the most intense part of the novel which didn’t start until half way through the novel, was constantly broken up by telling the reader how awesome his fellow soldiers performed: how smart they were, how courageous, how durable, etc. It really pulled me out of the scene. I can’t imagine recreating the chaotic events on that mountain, but being interspersed with all of the author’s thoughts about his friends, the fight on the mountainside never seemed vivid, real. Sure there was blood, and ugly wounds to see, but when one soldier was hit four or five times and still running, I started to wonder how can someone be shot through the throat, gut, arm and other places by assault rifles and keep on running and shooting. It started to take on a sense of the absurd – even if it was true. Sometimes writing the truth can become unbelievable. When one of the SEALS finally died, I was surprised because by the time he did die, because they had been shot so many times and had kept on ticking.

The part I found most vivid, exciting and well written was Marcus’ SEAL training. It was well-paced, interesting, the characters were solid and the story kept us wondering what would be in store for Marcus next.

But the long passages about his childhood, the Texas ranch, political ramblings and the perfectness of his friends kept pulling me out of the core story just when the book would get moving.

If you’re looking for a well-written, fast-paced action novel based on a true-event like Black Hawk Down, this is not it. If you’re someone who wants to know what it takes to be a SEAL, read a biography of a SEAL since his childhood, learn about the terrible SEAL tragedy in Afghanistan, and you had - at a minimum - neutral feelings towards President Bush’s conduct and reasons for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, you’ll like Lone Survivor.

Transformers 2 - for kids?

Today, I took my son to see Transformers 2 to celebrate his 8 year-old birthday with four of his 8-year-old friends (one was 7 and a half). I gave the parents the PG-13 disclaimer and also a caution I received from someone who'd seen the movie that there was a lot of foul language. All the kids showed up.

And...

The boys loved it! They couldn't stop talking about the different robots and all of the fighting as they walked out of the theater pretending to be the different robots. Three other boys between 6 and 8 were play fighting by the door as we left. So from the kids POV, the movie got a 10.

From an adult perspective - one father said afterwards that his mind was still spinning from all the fighting. Yes, there was a lot of it, especially like the entire last hour.

The movie was entertaining. Yes, I enjoyed the first movie better - it was brand new and I think the fighting was better choreographed: you could always understand who punched who, who did what in a fight and so on. Sometimes there were so many robots and humans fighting all over the place in this one it became a jumble - I guess like a real war. And was that last hour ever a real war (the kids were jumping up in down in their seats when the bad transformers squared off against the good guys just before everyone opened fire).

I enjoyed the movie. Was it good for kids? It really wasn't any worse than the first one in terms of scary stuff.

The bad language, yes there was some, but it wasn't excessively vulgar.

The violence was the same, just more and longer battles.

Sexual situations - nothing really any worse than the first one.

The mild reference to drugs - I'd say 90% of 8 year olds would have no idea they were talking about drugs when the reference came up in the context that it did.

I'd say if your kid is 8 and up and liked the first Transformers movie, he shouldn't have a problem with this one. If he's under 8, it depends on your child's mindset. As I said, I wouldn't take my 6 year old son, but I'll definitely let him watch it on DVD. The rationale for this, the robot violence and loud sound for him would be too overwhelming in a theater, but on a small screen, he'd be fine with it. My 8-year-old son would've had no problem with the sound and violence in a theater when he was six. It depends on your son's mindset, tolerance for loud noises and maturity.

That being said - the kids I went with today loved it and they are no worse for wear.