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Recently (to investigate something), I added a third-party tracker to some of my posts in order to see where the hits are coming from. This was meant to be temporary, but I've found it interesting to see just how big the internet community is, so I've continued to use it at times. So, I don't know who any of y'all are (and publishing on the internet means I might never know, and that's cool), but I'd like to say hello to my regular readers in Italy, Moldova, Switzerland, and Cambodia (!).

We are having weird modem luck. I thought all DSL modems were basically the same, but apparently not. Our old (bought in 1999) modem has started dropping signal -- it's eratic, but when it happens it lasts for a few hours. My DSL provider mailed me a new one (a level of service I did not expect) and it's reliable but universally slow. So our current mode of operation is to use the old one until it drops and then switch to the new one for a few hours. Weird. So I think we need to buy a new modem that is both reliable and fast, but since I thought they were all the same I now don't know what to look for. (We have basic DSL. Someday I hope they well run FIOS to our neighborhood and we'll switch.)

Recent conversation:
Dani: We're out of (book)shelf space in the library again.
Me: Maybe we should assemble that last bookcase we bought.
Dani: We're out of shelf space in the library again.
Me: You built it and filled it already? So we need to buy more?
Dani: We're out of wall space to put bookcases...

(I assert that he is incorrect on that last point, but it hinges on a dispute between practicality and purity. Or something like that.)

We bought some CFLs (in two different color-tones) to try again, and installed some in the ceiling fixture in the living room (the packaging contained no dire warnings about that, unlike the last one). Freaky white and bright, so some tuning is called for, but there might be a bigger problem: flicker. The switch is a dimmer, but we know CFLs don't dim so the switch is at max. (Truth to tell, we don't dim regular bulbs in that fixture, either.) Does the mere presence of a dimmer switch doom CFLs? That would be annoying.

A couple links:

A few nights ago I made these lamb chops, which I've made before and which are amazingly good.

The ten plagues, done in peeps (from someone on my subscription list, but I've lost track of who). Twisted! Funny!

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One CFL data point: I replaced a lamp bulb with one, and the following Shabbat put it on a timer as usual. Result: flicker. Most unpleasant. Since then, have not used the (external) timer, and the flicker is gone. Also means I can stay up even later reading Shabbat evening....

The presence of a dimmer switch will kill a CFL; using the dimmer switch is a serious fire risk. Replace the switch or the bulbs today!

On the off chance that you're talking about an X10 timer, note that their lamp modules are not CF compatible but their appliance modules are.

An ordinary CFL is a serious risk when in series with a dimmer switch. Not just bad lighting, but a fire risk.

You can purchase CFLs that are suited for use with a dimmer switch. They are about 4 times as expensive.

Yikes. Thanks for the warning. It would have been nice if they had mentioned that anywhere on the package. Grr.

I am certainly not dedicated enough to the CFL cause to spend four times an already-high price to get light that is (so far) inferior to that of incandescents. I'll keep trying in fixtures where the light color doesn't matter as much and (now I learn) that have the right kinds of switches. We've got a few of those.

Yikes. Thanks for the warning. This fact was not mentioned on the packaging. Now that I look closely, it does say -- in small, inconspicuous, light-colored print -- "not dimmable". But to me that says "won't work", not "will burn your house down". Grr. By comparison, the claim that it lasts 9 years (yeah, right) and the instruction to dispose of "properly" (whatever that means) are both very easy to read.

There are some CFLs called 'full spectrum' or 'sunlight'; they aren't, but they do produce a pleasant light to read by. I have one by my bed as the reading lamp.

CFLs are significantly superior to incandescents for bedtime reading in summer -- they don't heat up the room!

Fwiw, our light bulbs were switched over to CFLs when we bought the house in 2004, and we're just now having to replace the first two of them. So, maybe not 9 years for the high-use areas, but 4 years isn't bad, either. Certainly longer than non-CFLs, and we pay much less in electric service than we would be with normal incandescents.

I do believe that they last longer and will ultimately lower bills. It's just that whenever someone tosses out a hard number -- especially when it's a lifespan and not a multiplier -- you've got to wonder what the starting assumptions are. I can make an incandescent bulb last nine years if I get to set the parameters. :-)

So, by extension, since the manufacturer wants to make them look as good as possible, I have to assume that the manufacturer optimized those parameters when establishing the number. The odds that their assumptions match my actual usage seem low.

Better, yeah. A specific amount better? Only interesting if we can see the work. Anecdotal evidence, once there's enough of it, will tell us far more.

We've been using these in virtually every location in our house for several years now and haven't had to replace any yet. It's a pain getting the right kind to use in the ceiling fan fixtures, though: not all of them are equally vibration-proof, not to mention the size problem.

I see that the essentials have been covered already.

Should you wish to look for dimmer-compatable CFLs online, the magic search word is apparently "dimmable".

Most of the builtin (can) lighting fixtures in my new place have dimmer switches on them. We have not yet decided whether to purchase dimmable CFL replacements. (My thinking is - the energy of disposal and manufacture and the cost of purchase outweigh replacing a working bulb. I'll replace on failure.)

Do experiment with different colors and manufacturers. For example, the CFLs I purchased from IKEA, despite being "pretty", stink. They light slowly, with a slow ramp-up to full light, which is very yellowish. I replaced those with daylight-quality bulbs purchased at CostCo, with major improvement.

I sympathize on the shelving problem. The main difference being that we still have books in cardboard boxes, so when I build a new shelf, I know it will be filled immediately. The "spare bedroom" (which is actually only a widening of the corridor) is now starting to become the East Wing of our library. I've been haunting the Recycle boards for scrap lumber because it's cheaper than buying shelves.
-- Dagonell

Most of the builtin (can) lighting fixtures in my new place have dimmer switches on them.

Oy. Y'know, until you mentioned it here, it hadn't occurred to me that this is true of a fair bit of our house as a well. This is going to be a long-run nuisance...

Dani: We're out of wall space to put bookcases...

Sympathies. We pretty much hit that point while moving in: we put new IKEA bookcases everywhere they would reasonably fit into the house, and even after getting rid of 20-some boxes worth of books, we filled them immediately. So we are now on a permanent book diet -- in the long run, our acquisitions have to be balanced by discards. Going to be challenging, it is...

I hadn't considered the vibration factor for ceiling fans. Thanks for the tip!

(Currently, we have 21 light bulbs that are behind dimmer or 3-way switches, one behind a timer (on Shabbat), and now 8 in ceiling fans. This isn't leaving a lot of "just plain bulbs" in the house... whee. Long-term we might replace some of the dimmer switches, but certainly not two of them (bedroom and dining room -- but I wasn't going to put ugly bulbs in the chandelier anyway).)

We have books in boxes too. We think they are all duplicates, but we need to spend a day verifying.

Dani has a vast SF collection, filling a dozen or so bookcases double-stacked (I'm talking about the paperbacks; hardbacks are elsewhere). I tried to convince him that it's allowable for such a collection to spill into a second room, but he wanted to keep looking until we found a house that had a room that could hold it -- which seemed fine to him in principle, but didn't take into account that one continues to buy books. :-)

I tried to convince Dani that at some point the answer becomes stacks (I mean libraries, not piles). The room that is holding the SF is wide enough. He has a strong negative reaction to that idea, so *shrug* -- that means other solutions have to be considered. Right now the SF library spills into the hall by two bookcases -- doesn't bother me, but I think it bugs him. Mind, not as much as parting with books would. :-)

Our 97-year-old house is still very inadequately wired, especially when it comes to lighting. Accordingly, a lot of our light comes from floor lamps. We only have one dimmer in the whole house, and Mr. Fixer installed that one just a few years ago when we got the ceiling fan for the dining room.

I heartily endorse the full spectrum' or 'sunlight' CFLs. They do not bother me at all and I hate regular fluorescents more than anyone else I know (except possibly

sodyera). We've installed them in every possible fixture in the house (including the one in the userpic.

ROFL! Yes, we will probably get there once remodeling is over. The bookcases currently lining the nice long hall that runs from the front door to the back of the house are supposed to eventually go in the new library, leaving the hall as our art gallery. But I suspect the still incomplete new space is already too small...

We've joked about stacks, but in practice we know that both of us would hate it. It really only makes sense if a room is about *nothing* but the books, and we don't have any such rooms...

I find a lot more depends on circuitry or some other factor. My hall light burns out about once a month; CFLs last only a tad longer. On the other hand, I have never replaced my bathroom lights in the twelve years I have lived in my apartment, even though they are regular bulbs in a harsh environment.

A CFL also killed my cantilevered lamp (they're heavier, so the thin pole broke), but that's probably my fault.

During the last fire inspection, my landlady laughed at how many books there were. What's wrong with nine bookshelves completely full, double-shelved, with other books stacked up on top of them? I've probably read each of them at least twice.

It would be nice to have a small amount of wallspace, though.

My previous house was like that. I was surprised to find that every room in this house has ceiling fixtures (well, except one bathroom that has sconces instead). We do use some floor lamps -- a couple halogen ones, and I have two lamps that I've tuned reasonably carefully, the reading lamp in the living room and a lamp in my office. The only switch-controlled outlets are in the living room.

Some previous owner or resident was apparently into dimmers; we have them in the living room, dining room, two bedrooms (one of which is Dani's office), and the hall. (To add to the fun, the hall light in question is on a three-way, with one dimmer and one regular switch.) The halls and living room were my primary targets for early CFL trials (and I think Dani was thinking of his office), so that's not going to work without some electrical work. (Replacing a switch isn't hard, but it's another chore to get around to.

Dani wants both of: all books in a genre are in the same room, and bookcases back against walls only. Intellectually he realizes that eventually one of those has to give, but I don't think he really believes it yet. :-) I'm fine with just letting a collection spill over into multiple rooms; since he cares deeply about not having to cross the hall for the rest of the SF, I suggested stacks -- which made him twtich. Oh well. :-)

What's wrong with nine bookshelves completely full, double-shelved, with other books stacked up on top of them?

There's supposed to be something wrong with that?

When Dani and I were house-hunting, we had trouble getting through to the realtor that "room for bookcases" was a significant factor. We saw lots of otherwise-lovely places where the walls were too broken up by doors/windows, or baseboard heaters were consistently in bad places, and stuff like that. One time, as we were walking into a place, she said "I researched this for you; you're going to love it". We walked into the living room with the built-in shelves to either side of the fireplace and she said "ta-da!" as if that would scratch the surface. :-)

Ah, yes, the ever-present fireplace. Every condo I looked at out here had one. In the SF,CA area, just a few miles inland, one does not really need a fireplace at all. The realtor claimed it increased the value of the place by $10k.

All I could think of was "dang, I could have gotten two bookshelves in there! wonder if I could just store books in the fireplace...".

One interesting thing a nearby bookstore did was to mount thin shelves for paperbacks along the staircase. For a store it is a real pain, because people want to use the stairs, but for a house it would only decrease the stairwell width by five inches or so.

A few nights ago I made these lamb chops, which I've made before and which are amazingly good.

Those look sooo good. I have everything on hand except for the fresh rosemary.... Do you think they'll turn out OK if I substitute dried for fresh? If yes, any guesses as to how much I should use in the marinade.

I've used dried and it works. As for how much, um, a handful? I don't really remember. I think there are "fresh-to-dried conversion guides" out there for herbs, but I tend to just wing it.

...and along those lines, an even denser staircase (http://grenacia.livejournal.com/114331.html).

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the magic word is "dimmable"

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