I read an article in Wired magazine last month that said light bulbs are about to be banned, by order of the government. No, I wasn’t drinking. At the time. Apparently, back in 2007 some energy committee banned light bulbs, probably while we were asleep. I think I would remember seeing news reports that light bulbs had been declared as illegal as weed (that’s pot, to people born before 1970…the young people call it weed now), although with enough weed you kind of don’t need light bulbs anymore.
My really burning question that has been bothering me ever since reading that article is this: how are cartoon characters supposed to get ideas now? Wil E. Coyote has had a hard enough time catching that friggin’ bird as it is, and now you want him to do it with a spiral tube over his head? The whole point of light bulbs is that they actually give off light, but you want him to come up with a brilliant plan and signify it by having a slow flicker eventually achieve full brightness?
I think we’re not supposed to panic about this congressional energy bill. We’re supposed to all happily make the transition to the $4 swirly bulbs by 2015 as the government and bulb people slowly start phasing out light bulbs. Hording has been discouraged, as has looting. Outright stealing of light bulbs from the supply closet at work is still okay.
The article actually was about the newfangled light bulbs that scientists and lightbulbologists have been working on, a design concept based on row upon ugly row of LEDs wedged inside a bulbous thing. Working on? As in, haven’t perfected yet? As in, what the hell are we supposed to do in 2015 for light? Yes, according to the article, the government went ahead and banned light bulbs (I really hope I read that wrong) without a working replacement invention in place. Maybe if they’d had an incandescent bulb over their heads instead of a swirly bulb, they would have had a better idea.
Lorca Damon 
I hoard incandescents but I did buy a bulb shaped LED that is being tested in my laundry room and seems quite nice. It is faceted. It was $2.98.
I hoard light bulbs, too. I store them in my safe room and my apocalypse bunker.
I love my swirly bulbs! They last many times longer and since I can no longer climb on a step ladder and replace burned-out bulbs…YIppee. I do have to find a way to fill those empty minutes waiting for my bulb to achieve enough brightness for me to read or do any actual work. That’s what I use my cell phone on night light setting for……. Keep it comin’ Lorca
I think cartoon characters will continue using light bulbs, just as we’ll all continue using the “roll down your window” gesture even though virtually everyone has power windows. Weird old stuff like that hangs around and people keep doing it even when they forget the underlying reason.
Twenty-two skiddoo!
Great! So cartoon characters will get ideas, but we’ll have to explain to our children what that thing is floating above his head? And just like we all do the pinkie-to-thumb telephone gesture when every switches to Skype!
OMG, the light bulb debacle! I don’t know how they expect us to see with the compact fluorescent bulbs and not eventually all go blind in the process. We will be like those little cave fish eventually.
I am hoarding what I can. I need incandescent bulbs to be able to see worth a rat’s butt. I don’t know what I will do when I run out. I hope they delay the whole plan by a century or two.
Ardee-ann
I’m sorry, I really did read your comment but when you stated that you need light bulbs to help you see rat’s butts, you lost me. HaHaHa!