Sunday, June 22, 2008

The best-kept secret in the West

Is dog-wagging a form of animal cruelty? I only ask because Mr Wishart uses the phrase in his rather incandescent piece about light bulbs, a piece which takes the "dark mood of talk radio callers" to be a portent of the Government's demise. How would he notice? The mood of talk radio callers is always dark and always twitter and bisted about the Government. Somehow I doubt whether the votes of these barking mad misanthropes are central to Labour's election strategy.

Sometimes I do wonder about Mr Wishart. I would have that thought that he might pause for reflection before claiming that the Government is going to be brought down by its light bulb policy. I wonder more about his blog's regular commentators. Note the remarks of Acid Comments, who already has been poisoned by the mercury in a light bulb, although the bulb did not break; somehow the mercury seeped through the glass and out into the atmosphere, giving Mr Comments a migraine headache, a little-known symptom of mercury poisoning. As Mr Comments recalls, "after I'd finish my dinner I was having collapses, burning sensations, numbness, body weakness, etc." I blame the curry.

Then there is KevOB, who finds energy-saving bulbs to be deficient in red, a colour which makes him function better in Winter. Then there is Rick, who will buy a pallet of old-school bulbs so that he will still be wasting his money twenty years from now. Ha! That will show them! Then there is Warrick, who knows that the new bulbs "don't save you 75-80% more like 50%." There, you see, its a bloody con. Finally, there is Zen Tiger, who thinks the Consumer should choose.

Somehow it always seemed rather obvious to me that one should spend as little money as possible on electricity and that any measure to reduce the country's electricity usage would be worthwhile, on both environmental and economic grounds. But then I didn't realise, before I began reading rightish blogs, that there are people like KevOB who obviously become quite aroused by the thought of a 150 watt halogen; nor had I come across men like Rick who want to spend more, just to show the nanny state that they are free, if impoverished, men.

What they do not realise is that the nanny state is not trying to smother them, but to protect the rest of us from these morons.

Graham Parker and the Rumour:

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely as ever Mr Litterick. I am utterly envious of your ability to stand back and shine a light on these bitter people, clinging to their incandescents and their SUVs, rather than fail miserably at engaging them.

Clunking Fist said...

david w, you should work hard, start a business employing 10 people, earn some money and then...exercise your right to NOT buy a SUV. Then you'd be a hero, rather than a coat-tail zero.

;^)

ZenTiger said...

How utterly mad of me to think the consumer should have some choice over which bulbs to place where....
Finally, there is Zen Tiger, who thinks the Consumer should choose.

Finally? As in your piece de resistance? I hope not.

...I was talking to one of your mates who thought the government should mandate those cool green hybrid cars and make them the only ones around. That would force the price down and ensure people saved energy.

I guess you and him make two votes for less (or is that "no") choice?

Why stop there? If all bulbs were one size, and one wattage, ideally a government approved minimum wattage, we could just get used to dimmer lighting and save even more energy.

Morons? Bet any legislation mandating one type of bulb will either have a long list of exceptions or turn out to be a little moronic.

Paul said...

My dear Zen, we flaneurs do not have mates, we have confidantes. And don't try that reductio ad absurdam trick on me. There is no point in consumer choice if one option is markedly better than the other for all of us, but is sold at fabulous prices because the manufacturers know it will last longer than their usual product and so gain them less revenue.

ZenTiger said...

There is no point in consumer choice if one option is markedly better than the other for all of us

That's a truly fascinating position to take. Taken to the extreme, you are also arguing for monopolies.

With that logic it is all over for telephone manufacturers and MP3 players. It's the iPhone and iPod, no question. Well, perhaps it depends on who you ask?

You go on to argue that it's all about price fixing! Presumably the bulb manufacturers of the world are in collusion setting these high prices then?

As a long time buyer of these bulbs, I've seen the price drop from $20 each to as low as $5 each. Maybe they are even lower now - I haven't needed to buy one for a while. So where is the conspiracy again?

You are asserting there is no possible need or market or reason for allowing the sale of the "old technology" bulbs.

You might think I'm going reductio ad absurdam on you, but I disagree. You might want to check with your confidantes and see how caveat emptor might fit in this picture.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Wishart..

I suppose you all know he has another creationist thread on his Briefing Room site?

http://briefingroom.typepad.com/the_briefing_room/2008/06/intelligent-des.html

Take a look it is quite funny being so weak.

Lyndon said...

Bet any legislation mandating one type of bulb...

You do know it's supposed to be an energy efficiency standard, right?

So if any bulb fails them, that would be because it's not very good?

Clunking Fist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Clunking Fist said...

Yep, and those standards will be drafted perfect! Like those standards that fail fireplaces with wetbacks...

And isn't a small car more efficient than a large heavy car? So our gummint shouldn't have bought expensive heavy cars...