Freedom’s Trumpet

Has it occurred to these people that interest rates are so low that unsophisticated savers won’t bother putting money into the bank because they get nothing from it? They are forced to put money into the stock market which is typically much higher risk, and it makes their money less accessible.

This is not good for the average Joe who just wants to work, save and enjoy retirement. Instead, he works, saves, puts it in a tax deductible plan that he has to account for on his taxes. He gets no pension anymore. Instead, he gets an IRA. The money has been gradually funnelled into this system of ‘wealth creation’ for the last several decades, but look at what it has yielded.

Some people made out alright. Others didn’t make out at all. Wall Street manipulators ran off with huge sums of cash and now there is no money in the traditional lending system except for what was borrowed from the Federal Reserve. Why put thousands of dollars into a bank account for 18 cents interest? It seems to me that this is part of the problem.

How much was stolen from the ordinary Enron investor? How many people lost their shirts seeking nominal returns on stocks because they became emotional and sold low and bought high? Your average investment guru may call these people stupid and blame them for such mistakes, but they have not been educated in the matters of the securities system in place. They merely put money into a system and then were told to spend massive amounts of cash supporting an investment advisor. What if they had just put the money into a 5 year CD yielding 8%? I think many would have been better off, and the money in that CD would have helped keep the lending system afloat. It would provide ample cash for turbulent times, such as these.

Where is the cash now? You pay a penalty to access it. You put $1500 into your HSA and you need it for something else because you just lost your job but are in fine health. Where is your traditional health coverage? It’s gone. Some dodo bird thought that it would be a good idea to manipulate the system and eliminate a funding method that actually worked. When I was a kid people had health care and it was paid for. We were supposed to have gone to a better system, but traditional systems have risen in price so substantially that most people can’t afford to stick with them. The plans are off kilter. Everyone has been encouraged to instead go with the tax-deductible Health Savings Account. My previous insurance plan was so superior to the HSA plan that it’s astonishing. The only way I save money is by not using it, and even then the money gets tied up in the account. Previously if I went to the doctor the visit was covered with a small copay to discourage needless trips. This was good. Now it’s all out of pocket and the only benefit is the savings from being in the provider network. What if there were no provider network and doctors could just charge a fair amount instead of having to be involved in this manipulation that simply pushes numbers around? Would it cost any more than it is now? I don’t think so.

Where are the simple investment and savings vehicles for average people? Where can you simply put money in a bank and leave it there? You can’t. They destroyed that to bolster their own portfolios. Sure it worked for a time, but now all the people we sent the money to have sent factories overseas while smart asses on television with bow ties tell everyone that they’re better off without those jobs. Our economy is now in collapse as is the world economy that relied on our system.Where is this $3 Trillion that Obama wants to spend coming from? Can they print it fast enough?

Just when you thought it was safe to stock the shelves of your store with high end balsamic vinegar up comes a thief, known only as the Balsamic Vinegar Thief, who has been stealing balsamic vinegar from a shop in Oregon. So what? It’s just balsamic vinegar, you say…….

Then you haven’t had this balsamic vinegar. The oversized bottles of vinegar that you get at Sam’s Club are not quite the same. Good quality balsamic vinegar, that sells for $30 for a small bottle, is sweet and syrupy. When is the last time you streamed vinegar on your ice cream? Probably the last time you had a decent bottle of balsamic vinegar. The taste will surprise you, just as it will surprise the police liaison from Bend, Oregon who seems to be under the impression that it’s just for vegetarians. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to appreciate quality aged balsamic vinegar.

Al Sharpton is apparently up in arms after the New York Post compared Washington politicians who waste money to chimpanzees. Apparently, according to Al Sharpton, it was a racial attack against the powerless Barack Obama, sort of like THIS ONE from 2003

Oh, the horror.

Amazon.com has opened a Barack Obama Store to celebrate the incoming President who is more popular than Elvis, the Beatles and Britney Spears combined. Or something like that.

President elect Obama is making waves before he’s even sworn in. I’m sure that some of the things he does will turn out well and some will turn out poorly, just like every president who precedes him. His fans will love him no matter how badly he screws up. His enemies will despise him no matter how beautifully he executes his authority. I’m neither for or against Barack Obama, but am somewhere off to the side. We’ll see how he does as President.

More often than not I find that this is of little use. What point is there in unloading another opinion in an ocean of opinions? Somebody has already said what you want to say.

I have eliminated the television completely. I canceled the service once before, but eventually had it turned back on. Whether this will happen now is a mystery, because I really and truly don’t have a desire to watch it and stopped watching it when the service was still connected. The DirecTV rep could not understand life without television.

I don’t know if this will be the beginning of a new blogging career. These blog things are easy to drop and pick back up again. Maybe it’s enough to just comment whenever the mood strikes. I have other blogs now that are for the purpose of presenting historical religious information, without worrying about public policy, the news, or anything else that seems important in worldly affairs.

What I think about anything matters little.

I have repented of my energy wasting ways. Why? Well, First of all I discovered the problem with the CFL’s I was buying. Secondly, I have been able to make work areas much brighter than they ever could be with incandescents, while still using less energy.

The problem bulbs were “Bright Effects” CFL’s (made by Feit) from Lowe’s. These were the ones that popped in my face, more than once. They also suffered from a very high failure rate. The Sylvania bulbs faired much better and lasted longer, but the older ones are making a humming noise that is unacceptable. Most people wouldn’t notice this noise, but both myself and my dog notice it. The dog doesn’t deserve to be tortured by a noisy bulb any more than anyone else, so those are being relegated to other service spots. They still work fine, but not for in the kitchen, or elsewhere in the house where they will be distracting.

All of the bulbs recommended, if available, will be listed in links at the end. I tried to find the TCP equivalent to the Walmart bulbs at Amazon.com for you.

Opinion – New bulbs are even nicer. The best of the new bulbs so far is also one of the cheapest. WalMart brand CFL’s have the most comfortable soft light (2700k) (if you like the yellow) of all the bulbs I have used. They seem to most closely match the incandescents. These are made by a company called TCP. One failed out of the box, out of about 20-25 purchased, and Walmart graciously exchanged it for me. As it turns out TCP also manufactures theirs bulbs differently than other manufacturers, including the way they use the mercury, and by using lead free glass and solder, according to THIS article.

I have also been very pleased with the soft light (NOT daylight bulbs which are very bluish) version of the new GE CFL’s that are being sold at WalMart. The color of the ’soft’ bulbs is whiter, not as warm, than the TCP, and they are more compact in size. The smaller size is a nice bonus. I am using the 10W GE and 9W “Great Value” TCP bulbs in ceiling fan fixtures. The fan is rarely used, so I don’t buy special bulbs. These bulbs (4 in a fixture) use a whopping 40 Watts maximum and deliver more than enough light. Both bulbs seem to reach full light in 30 seconds to 3 minutes, depending upon conditions.

The GE bulbs are smaller, and newer, and more expensive. GE has a $1.00 off coupon on their website for their Reveal and Energy Saver light bulbs. I had trouble printing it, because of the software that they use, which limits the number of coupons you may print from one computer. I bought 2 for $8.44 – $1. I bought 4 of the Walmart 9 Watt (40 W equivalent) for $5.44. This is an excellent price, especially for the satisfaction I have with these bulbs.

I have also replaced bulbs in the garage and outside, opting for the 100 Watt equivalent variety from Walmart. These were the 23 W “Great Value” bulbs. They warm up in a few minutes, and were working even in 4 F cold weather. Before installing them wholesale in the garage I had purchased a 65W (300W equivalent for 3900 lumens) Bright Effects bulb from Lowe’s for around $17. This was a very bright and pleasing bulb in the garage. It’s too bad that it exploded while I was looking up at it just a few weeks after the purchase. That’s the last bulb I buy from Lowe’s. Those Bright Effects bulbs are made by a company called “Feit”. Apparently they make cheap bulbs that aren’t worth your health. That’s been my experience. Not wanting to rewire the whole garage to try to duplicate the volume of light produced by that bulb I opted to buy Y adapters for the existing sockets, and installed 4 Walmart bulbs at 23Watts (100W equiv. @ 1600 lumens) in two sockets. This produces more light at 6400 lumens, and more dispersed, than I had from the Bright Effects bulb and a single 23W Walmart bulb which was a total of 5500 lumens. It’s also a nicer light, uses almost the same amount of electricity and cost about $11 total. Replacement costs should be even less.

The mercury vapor yard blaster over my garage was producing good light for the yard at night. It’s a dusk to dawn light, but I always shut it off after the last trip out for the dog at night, which is about 1am. There isn’t a point in leaving it on to scare thieves since the extra light helped them to see what they were stealing, which was substantial. I faired better by leaving the lights off. I have replaced the 175W mercury vapor light with a 65W fluorescent that uses the same ballast, made by Lights of America. Lights Of America #2365E39 65W Buster Bulb
This cost less than $20 locally (about $25 at Amazon.com) and saves 110W of power. It only took a few minutes up on the ladder to make the replacement. The light from the fluorescent isn’t as strong and it has an ugly bluish color, but it’s more than sufficient for the task at hand. The other bulb was lighting up my neighbor’s yard on the other side of the house, which is unnecessary since he has his own lamp. A 23W Walmart (TCP) CFL is in a fixture next to the house which keeps the entire drive lit. This is a safety issue more than anything, and it’s nice to have that light on all evening. That bulb replaced a 60 or 100W incandescent (depending on what I had on hand) and works fine even in very cold weather.

Most of the lights were replaced with a 10 watt CFL. Using these lower wattage bulbs has allowed me to leave more lights on while using less electricity than ever before, improving the quality of the indoor light, and reducing the power consumption, noticeably. In places where more light is desired the 13 watt CFL filled in nicely, and where maximum light is needed the 23 watt CFL was the proper device. There are a few places where I still have incandescent bulbs, just because it’s practical. I have also purchased a case of these bulbs because of their instant on ability, and because the heat is sometimes desired. I use a trouble light inside my work van on some nights to keep items inside from freezing. This is a much cheaper solution than multiple space heaters, and it does a fine job. Light bulbs have long functioned as low cost space heaters. Some people will stock up solely for that reason.

These TCP bulbs have greatly improved my own personal satisfaction with the CFL industry, and the new GE bulbs cooperated. The tighter Sylvania bulbs also look enticing, given their smaller design for the same light output. All of these bulbs should be Energy Star compliant, which means they should also deliver greater overall satisfaction, reduced buzzing and less flicker. At the current price for many of these twisty bulbs there doesn’t appear to be much reason to use anything else any more.

To recap. The TCP’s had a more yellowish light. The GE warm lights had a whiter light. The Sylvania’s also had a whiter light. I have been buying the Soft Light or Warm Light variety. The only daylight bulbs went back to the store the next day. They were too white/blue and only seemed good when they were used to create very bright light, or when they were accented by a yellow light. I am satisfied enough to remove the GE Reveal bulb from the desk lamp. This is a 30 watt savings alone. All in all roughly 600 watts in frequently used bulbs were reduced from a few months ago. This doesn’t even account for the hundreds of watts of bulbs that were initially replaced several years back. The energy savings on the electric bill has already been noticed, although it still hasn’t covered the cost of replacing all of these bulbs. There’s no reason to believe that this will be more than a few months, especially since everything has been done during the darkest time of the year when the lights are used the most. I rarely use these lights in the summer months, even outside. The reduced cloud cover and improved moonlight in summer months often allows enough light to shine at night that there’s less need for these extra lights, and even when they are used they operate for about 2 hours instead of 7-8 hours.

Listed below is an attempt to find everything mentioned above from online stores. I searched for an equivalent to the Walmart bulb. The Springlight appears to be the same bulb, but repackaged. It’s made by the same company and it’s not a bad price.

Lights Of America #2365E39 65W Buster Bulb
TCP 9 Watt CFL Soft White – 9 Watt Compact Fluorescent Mini Spiral / 2700K / 3 Pack
TCP 14 Watt CFL Soft White – 14 Watt Compact Fluorescent Spiral / 2700K / 3 Pack
TCP 23 Watt CFL Soft White – 23 Watt Compact Fluorescent Spiral / 2700K / 3 Pack
Other Springlight Bulbs by TCP

Sylvania 8 Pack – If you prefer Sylvania bulbs, which appear to be solid performers overall, this is an 8 pack of 13 watt bulbs that isn’t too terribly expensive.

I was unable to find the GE bulb. The number on it is FLE10HT2/2/XL/SW. The code “FLE10HT2″ is used to describe numerous 10 watt compact fluorescent bulbs by GE. Searches brought up several bulbs that were not the one I found at Walmart. These seem very nice, and they are smaller, but are also very expensive when compared to the TCP Walmart CFL.

There are better deals to be had in local stores, but you have to consider how much time you plan to spend at the store buying light bulbs. Is it worth it? It depends on whether or not you enjoy shopping for lights.

Update: I have repented of my evil ways in a follow up post HERE

The EPA has instructions on what to do if a Compact Flourescent Light Bulb (CLF) breaks in your house. CLICK HERE

If the bulb breaks you have to

1. Evacuate the room or house
2. Turn off the Central Air
3. open the windows
4. Clean up mess, seal everything that touches broken bulb in a plastic bag
5. If it breaks on your bed you need new bed clothes. You are told to not wash the bed clothes because it may pollute the sewage system, but you may wash your own clothes.
6. Haul overpriced health hazard to recycling center for disposal.

This is asinine. I had one of those pop in my face when I pulled on the cord on the lamp, and in some parts of the country people are being forced to use them in order to save energy. How much energy does it save when you need a HazMat crew to come to your house to change a light bulb? How much energy does it save when the regular light bulb contributes to the heat in my home during the coldest months of the year? How much energy is then lost from a regular light bulb?

I call bullshit on the compact flourescent bulbs. They’re cheaply made and are dangerous to have in your home, whereas the normal filament bulb presents almost no problem. Stop using these things.

Here’s the cleanup method with an ordinary bulb that goes bad.

1. Unscrew. Replace with new bulb.
2. If you’re stupid enough to drop it don’t worry. Just sweep it up and throw in garbage.
3. Enjoy the light.

Those twirly bulbs need to go. Walmart and Lowe’s and politicians are forcing people to use them and they’re no good. They are coming out with LED bulbs that should prove superior, but until that time, keep using what you have. The filament bulb may be simple technology, but it works and any idiot can figure out how to use one safely. The filament bulb is also less likely to pop just because someone turned it on.

The idiocy is reaching epic proportions. In the 1980s it was paper or plastic, and we heard with horror how much landfill space was being taken by paper bags and how irresponsible we as ‘consumers’ were. There goes my free book cover. The truth is that we had plenty of uses for those paper bags and used them for anything from garbage to storage to protective covering to something that could sop up water.

Now they are taxing disposable bags in Seattle. That’s not as bad as other places where they have been banned outright. What am I supposed to do for a pooper scooper now? I walk the dog around the city and those bags are very handy for picking up dog poop. They are also free and very lightweight. I also pick up Taco Bell cups, Taco Bell bags, Taco Bell wrappers, Arby’s wrappers and cups, Dairy Queen plastic cups, milk bottles, discarded CDs, Sunny Delight bottles, and a myriad of other trash items that are cast out onto the city streets. It just so happens that walking the dog has provided an opportunity to pick up garbage that I was getting tired of looking at. The plastic bag didn’t throw that garbage in the street. It was stupid kids who were probably high or drunk. The plastic bag stored that garbage in an easy to carry container which was then carried to the dumpster of a nearby public building and disposed of. 1 Plastic bag fights the war on litter. Those bags are very thin and create little waste and they are reused by most of the people I know, just as the paper bags were reused.

Contrast that with the liberal idea of environmentalism where one reader at the Port Townshend Leader commented

“I just recently bought an electric cart with a big basket that I can ride to the store, take into the store, fill up with groceries, and come home again without using any gas or plastic bags. I try to minimize all use of petroleum products, and hope others will too, but I would also like to minimize the use of laws to make other people agree with me. Let’s just convince them.”

That will certainly show them. You don’t want to waste .05 ounces of plastic that can be reused, but you’ll drive a massive plastic cart filled with lead acid batteries to the grocery store just because it has a basket. How far can you drive that thing and why can’t you just walk with your plastic bag?

Maybe when they start taxing us locally for these bags I can just carry a shovel around and dump the dog’s poop and the cartfull of garbage I pick up onto the mayor’s front yard and let him deal with it. He can keep the change. People in Seattle should consider doing the same.

Let’s face it, at some point or another believers will pray for their financial well being. That’s apparently the reason behind the Prayer at the Pump movement, whereby people are praying for God to lower fuel prices. The problem with this is that, while fuel prices have risen due to gross overspeculation caused by a loophole in the investment system that allows people to get away with buying and selling the same oil 4 times daily, part of the problem has been the fact that we simply use way too much oil.

Use less. I have to drive some sort of work van. It carries my equipment around, but I don’t have to drive in such a manner that I waste better than half of the fuel I use. I drive a 1999 Chevy Astro, that was getting 13-17mpg a year ago. It’s now getting 19-26 mpg. Why? For one thing the Catalytic converter was mostly clogged. That was part of the problem, but fixing it resulted in only a modest gain. The rest was made up by driving habits. While driving on the Pennsylvania turnpike at 80mph yielded about 17mpg, driving on it at 55-65mph yields about 22mpg. That’s a 23% increase in fuel economy, and it’s consistent. My best fuel economy has been in situations where long trips could be made at roughly 40-45mph, which yields economy of about 26mpg. Unfortunately those conditions are rarely met so ideally, but 24mpg is not out of reach. I frequently accomplish such mileage on trips. The average, depending on the amount of city driving, is 19-22. Heavy city traffic can bring it down drastically, but the average rises once that is over.

Here’s the problem. Not everyone is doing it. I am passed by people who are still punching the gas pedal as if they’re going to make up massive amounts of time with their aggressive driving. The truth is that they rarely get more than a few minutes ahead of me and I often catch these people on the offramps, and pass them at toll booths, long after they passed me. When someone passes you like you’re standing still, and you retake them 15 minutes later at a turnpike toll booth you quickly learn that that person not only had no time advantage from their wasteful driving, but they also managed to get about 60-70% of the mpg that they would have had if they were driving sensibly. It’s needless waste that costs everybody more. The thing that is bringing down the price now is the fact that we have been stockpiling fuel and demand has dropped, but apparently some people don’t understand that and they continue to drive like idiots.

So what are the techniques you can use? You can become a hypermiler, but the things that some of them do are too radical, and possibly damaging to your car. I don’t recommend throwing a heavy vehicle with an automatic transmission into neutral at 70mph just to coast downhill. That will probably do more harm to the vehicle. Some will also kill the ignition on steep downgrades. Another stupid idea. Power brakes are lost under such circumstances. Here’s what you do. Slow down. Coast to a stop. Try to keep mild forward pressure on the accelerator. Slow down well before a stop light so that you can keep your vehicle moving while waiting for the light to change from red to green. Then you don’t have to regain all of the momentum you would have lost by racing to the stoplight. Don’t be so aggressive in your hypermiling that you drive other motorists insane, causing them to punch the gas pedal. Nothing is gained when that happens. Keep your tires properly inflated. Slow down. Stay in overdrive. Slow down. Don’t creep up hills in 1st gear if you can get the speed ahead of time to go up in 2nd or 3rd gear. If you have to come to a stop then slow down gradually instead of racing full speed to the point where you have to slam on the brakes to stop. The difference in your fuel economy should be substantial. Get a ScanGauge meter to assist you in learning how to drive for optimal mileage. There are a lot of little things that youc an do that add up to big savings in fuel.

Also. You don’t have to go to the store for one small item. Wait until you need two or more items. Then go. Waste is the biggest problem, and there’s no excuse for it. The voluntary efforts of everyone can yield great results with minimal inconvenience, but everyone should be doing something small.
As for this Prayer at the Pump thing. Pray instead that God guides the heart of a gluttonous nation to forsake its wasteful ways and you’ll once again see prosperity and low burdens at the fuel pump. Until that time we’re in for high prices and stupid threats from nutjob dictators.

nevermind.