Glen Beck was ranting AGAINST fluorescent light bulbs last night.

[Swede]

He truly has drank deeply of the cool-aid.

[zanne]

1. What did he have against them?

Oh, this is gonna be good.

[Swede]

4. Because global warming is a myth it is all just unnecessary.

Besides,they cause him headaches.

[zanne]

6. BWAHAHA

Actually, more flourescent light means more houseplants. I grow my own flowers and veggies and I start in January. I put the seedlings under a flourescent light to help them grow. It does wonders.

[NYCGirl]

9. Well, Glenn Beck is just unnecessary,

because he gives anyone with a functioning brain a headache.

[tridim]

10. Obviously he's never tried the new compact fluorescents

They don't vibrate at all.

Even if global warming is a myth, which it isn't, CF bulbs still save consumers massive amounts of money and energy. Glenn Beck is just an asshole.

[AlCzervik]

14. my daughters school had a bulb exchange in sept, bring in your incandescents

and you got compact fluorescents, it was a big success. I switched a few years ago and had coupons from the electric company which made the new bulbs almost free. I have no complaints so far.

[NewJeffCT]

24. My electric company raised rates 22% last year

Right before the rates went into effect, I replaced a bunch of bulbs in our home with the compact fluoresecents...

My electric bill went down those first months the rate increase was in effect. And that was comparing my Nov/Dec bills to Jan/Feb bills, so it is not like it was a big seasonal change.

[Mz Pip]

2. What did a fluorescent

light bulb do to incite his wrath? He must have reached the bottom of the barrel of things that piss him off. Maybe now he'ss go away.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[redqueen]

13. ...

:rofl:

I know I've said it before, but I love your username. :7

[kenny blankenship]

20. Now you know insulting Glen Beck is a no-no here at DU

thanks I like "Redqueen" as a nom-de-post, and your Cheese avatar very much too.

[nam78_two]

5. Global climate change is finally caught the attention of the RW big time

We have a moranic RW talk station here that I sometimes put on at work just to drink in the insanity and while they have always ranted about those "green on the outside red on the inside" communist hippie enviros or whatever, its escalated recently. They are actually taking precious time away from bashing "the gay" and "muslim terra" to rant against the myth of climate change...
Hugh series!!!1111!!!!

[maxsolomon]

7. traditional FLs have cool, ugly light

compared with the warm glow of incandescents.

the new CFLs are better, but still cool in comparison.

do

not

listen

to

the

propaganda

[DemBones DemBones]

8. Fluorescent light bulbs can trigger

"flares" in people who have lupus. A "flare" is when a person's lupus gets worse, sometimes quite seriously so. You can die from lupus. You can also feel like you want to die to escape the pain.

Glenn Beck is an idiot, but fluorescent light bulbs are harmful to some people.

[tridim]

15. CF bulbs don't flicker.. They have high frequency ballasts.

I have big problems with old fashioned tubes though, since I can "see" the 60 cycle vibration.

[DemBones DemBones]

22. It's not the flicker that's the problem in regard to lupus.

Sunlight also can trigger lupus flares. If you have lupus you're supposed to wear sunscreen even indoors unless you live in a cave or something (like a windowless classroom I taught in one year.) Outdoors, you're also supposed to wear hats and sunglasses that screen out both UVA and UVB light. Those who are sensitive to fluorescent lights would have to wear hats and sunglasses indoors, too.

[meldroc]

31. Yep, all fluorescent lights emit a lot of UV.

The phosphor coating converts most of it from UV to visible light, but some UV still gets through. (I'm assuming it's UV light that triggers lupus flares.)

Would LED lighting trigger lupus? LEDs are insanely expensive right now (though the technology is constantly improving), but they're starting to be used for actual lighting purposes now, and they're very energy efficient. Also, the frequencies emitted by LEDs can be very precisely controlled, meaning that LEDs by design emit no UV.

[DemBones DemBones]

34. Yes, it's UV light that triggers lupus flares.

I don't know about LEDs, tried reading up on them and it would seem that they'd be better than fluorescent lights but as to whether anybody has studied their effect on lupus patients, who knows?

When I searched for LED lights, I kept turning up Ott lights, too, and am trying to figure out if Ott lights are LED lights. Ott likes to maintain a sort of mystique so they're not telling. They claim their bulbs produce light like natural daylight but in answer to a FAQ "Can I get a sun tan from my Ott light?" they say "No," which suggests the bulbs produce no UV light. Other than that, I learned that their bulbs are coated with a rare earth phosphor. I'm hoping it's not uranium or plutonium. :evilgrin: (I think they just mentioned rare earth because the words "rare" and "earth" would both appeal to consumers.)

The Ott bulbs last a very long time and are expensive. Ott lamps are excellent for reading, sewing, etc. , even if their mystique is a little strange, IMO.

[meldroc]

39. Not sure about the Ott light.

I haven't heard of Ott lights before, so I googled. One article indicates that Ott lights deliberately emit UV light, claiming that UV is actually good for you, which would probably be really, really bad for lupus sufferers.

The pictures of the Ott light indicated that it may be just a specialized halogen light, with maybe a neodymium coating?

LEDs are different beasts altogether - they're semiconductor devices that emit light in a very narrow frequency. The first LEDs were red, then came green ones. Blue LEDs came in the 90's as it was difficult to come up with the chemistry required to make blue LEDs that didn't overheat and burn out. White LEDs are actually blue LEDs with a phosphor coating that absorbs some of the blue light and emits a yellowish light, so the total output is partially blue, partially yellow, all mixed together to look white. There is no UV emissions from those LEDs.

There's also a completely different white LED that is a UV LED that emits UV light, then uses phosphors to absorb the UV light and reemit visible light in various colors mixed together to form white light. Those LEDs aren't very common though.

[conscious evolution]

30. I see the flicker too.

Drives me batty.Hate it.

If you want to save energy switch to 12volt DC lights.Uses little power also.And more light fixture manufacturers are making them.

[SidDithers]

35. Where did you hear that?...

I'd love a source, my step-mom has lupus.

Sid

[jobycom]

11. He doesn't drink the Kool-aide, he helps mix it and serve it.

"Courtesy of Mr. Jones. Drink up."

[Cosmocat]

26. YEP ...

This guy is MUCH more dangerous than people give him credit for ...

He is one of the most effective "undercover" conservative mindwashers, particularly in programming the sheeple in relation to the "those muslims hate our way of life and will not rest until we all are speaking Arabic" meme ...

[Ron Green]

12. This guy is the spokesman for our very lowest nature.

His whole schtick is to play "ain't it awful" about whatever social issue might contain the smallest kernel of "political correctness." He even looks like his target demographic: a pudgy-faced white boy wearing the numbered jersey of some NFL player and a backward baseball cap.

[LSK]

16. what could he possibly say about them?? what harm do they do?

:wtf:

[DemBones DemBones]

23. See my post upthread. They cause medical problems

for some. I don't know what Glenn Beck said, of course, because I'd never watch him.

[meldroc]

17. Having test-driven some CF bulbs.

I was wary of CF bulbs because of the flickering that comes from traditional fluorescent lights, and the colder light. But the environmental and money-savings of CF bulbs made me go out and get a few for my apartment.

CF bulbs have a power supply and ballast that operates at a much higher frequency than the 60Hz from old fluorescent lighting, so that makes the flicker factor go away (or at least completely out of human perception.)

They also have a different phosphor coating inside the tube, which emits a warmer color of light than old tubes. They give off light that's mostly like old incandescent bulbs.

A couple gripes: They aren't instant-on like incandescent bulbs. It takes a second or two before they light up after you turn them on. Also, when first turned on, they don't glow at their full brightness. It takes a couple minutes of warm-up before they are as bright as the incandescent bulbs they're supposed to replace. I consider these very minor warts.

So I'm going to get more CF bulbs. They work just fine, and haven't caused problems for me.

A few years down the road when they become cheaper, I may look into LED lighting. LEDs are even more energy efficient, and they give off better light than fluorescents. But CFs are perfectly decent. They do save energy and money, and they work well enough for every-day use.

[tridim]

19. "They aren't instant-on like incandescent bulbs"

Keep looking and trying different brands. I tried about 4 times before I found good ones.

"American Lighting" bulbs from Home Depot are the best IMO. They are instant on and match the color of incandescents perfectly. Nobody knows I'm 100% CF.

[AndreaCG]

21. Downside: Home Depot is big Republican donor

[electricmonk]

25. "It takes a couple minutes of warm-up"

That's one of the things I like about them. They don't jar my eyes so bad. You flip the switch and have a few second to adjust to the light.

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. Very minor warts indeed. Maine's had a great program to make them more affordable too, so I think

a lot of people around here have been using them.

[Cheap_Trick]

18. he hates them

simply because Gore is for them.

[Catherine Vincent]

28. Don't you mean kool-aid?

There's nothing "cool" about Glenn Beck.

[RedStateShame]

29. I thought they'd be white enough for him.

[MindPilot]

32. 3-way CFs!!

One of the reasons, I hadn't changed exclusively to CF is I really like 3-ways (lights...get yer mind outta the gutter!) Last weekend in Lowes I discovered there are now 3-way CF bulbs!! I bought two--they are about three times the cost of an equivalent incandescent, and come in 30/70/100 & 25/50/75.

There is also a CF "craft light" which is the equivalent of 100+ watts. It is pure hot white making it a perfect work light that rivals the high wattage halogens I've been using in my woodshop.

Oh, and fuck Glen Beck.

[SidDithers]

36. I've got an equivalent 150 watt cfl in my garage...

the thing is huge, almost as big as a small loaf of bread, but only uses 45 watts, and is very bright.

Sid

[buzzard]

37. Do you know if there are any that give the warm light of incandescents, I have switched most of mine

but I don't like the colour they cast it is to white. Thanks in advance.

[walldude]

33. Olbermann was right, it's just a matter of time

before Beck says something so stupid he'll lose his job.

[MazeRat7]

38. You know what I have against fluorescent light bulbs....

they emit too much blue light. Makes everything look cold and stark.

Of course this is solvable with fabric lamp shades and one or two well placed incandescents on dimmers.

MZr7