What Kind of Bright Idea is This, Anyway?

In December Congress passed an energy bill which bans the incandescent light bulb as an energy savings measure beginning in 2012. Right off the bat, maybe this doesn't sound like a bad idea. But then you learn that the new compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL's) contain mercury. Say what?! And there are special procedures to follow in case of breakage!

I don't know about your household, but in ours, light bulb breaks happen several times a year. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I have 4 boys still living at home. Just a couple of weeks ago Stand-Up was doing just that, I mean, standing up, when he somehow managed to knock the lamp on the end table to the floor. He turned on the light to see if it still worked and there was a mini-explosion. A closer examination of the bulb revealed a small hole at its base. And he was just standing up! Not horsing around, or anything. (Can you say rapid growth spurt--as in, doesn't know what size he is anymore?!)

So I'm reading about these new bulbs we're all going to be forced to buy, and several things give me great pause. First, when there is breakage, guess what they recommend? Open your windows to ventilate the house! You know, statistically at least of quarter of the breaks in our home are likely to occur when the outside temperature is below freezing. Exactly how are we going to conserve energy opening our windows in sub-freezing temps? To prevent problems they say to use a drop cloth when changing light bulbs! Excuse me, but we don't break light bulbs while changing them. We break them from dropping them while putting them away, from scrutinizing them in curiosity, not to mention the number one way, by knocking down lamps!! So now I'll not just have the broken glass to worry about, but mercury contamination as well!

Then there's this little gem: CFL's burn out sooner if they are turned on and off a lot, so the Energy Star people recommend leaving them on at least 15 minutes at a time! I have worked very hard to train my kids to turn off lights when they leave a room. Now I'm supposed to tell them leave them on? And are we really going to save energy if we leave all our lights on all the time? Because there's no way we're going to be able to keep track of how long a given light has been on so as to turn it off after 15 minutes.

I think this law must have been written without regard for homeschooling families who are home all day. And without regard to families that have kids! I'll be contacting my congressional representatives soon to demand that they revisit this part of the energy bill, because replacing the incandescent light bulb with mercury-containing fluorescents is just plain stupid!

A Light to the World...

With yesterday having been the feast of the Transfiguration, I thought it a good time to link to this post on Maureen Wittmann's blog regarding the mountain top experience of Franciscan University.

It's a Cake, I mean, *Book* Walk!

Cay has a new Book Walk going! These are so much fun! Even though I haven't won (yet!!) I still get to learn about wonderful books. Check it out; and good luck, everyone!

Who Needs a Curriculum?

So today Pretzel asks me, "Why does the apostle Philip have a Macedonian name? Did Alexander the Great conquer the Holy Land or something? He was Jewish, not Greek, right?"

Which left me saying, "Ummm, let's read up on that!" And we started pulling books off the shelves to see what we could learn about Alexander the Great, when he lived and what lands he conquered. But we never found more info on Philip other than what we already knew from Scripture. It made me wish I was on a first name basis with Anne and Warren Carroll and could just pick up the phone, call them, and ask, "What can you tell me about the apostle Philip?"

Oh, we did learn that Alexander the Great's father was named Philip!

Feast of St. Apollonia, Patron Saint of Teeth

Quite a number of years ago, I overheard our 3rd son talking to his sibs after he found 50 cents under his pillow. "There can't be a tooth fairy," he told them. "This must have been left by the patron saint of teeth. I don't know who that is, but there must be one!" Ahhh, the faith of children!

That led Krazyglue to search out a patron saint of teeth.
He settled upon St. Apollonia, a third century saint whose teeth were knocked out in an attempt to dissuade her of her Christian Faith. She was already invoked by those suffering from toothaches and dental diseases. Thus she became the one for whom the kids would leave their teeth, always reflecting on her sacrifice: "She gave her teeth for Christ."

Today is her feast day. You can read about her here or in this book.