Re: tap-tap-tap

[Eli the Bearded]

In alt.hackers, <!@!.invalid> wrote:
> Is this thing on?

No.

ObHack:
My mother-in-law broke her hip in early 2020. She's doing fine now, but
doesn't go out to stores on her own anymore. She wanted some replacement
lightbulbs for some 1960s lamps she has and gave me the packaging from
the old bulbs she had to get new ones.

Spoiler: light bulb offerings have changed a lot in the last decade, and
the exact bulbs aren't (easily) available any more. She needed small
"intermediate" base bulbs, to replace a 40 watt "size". Intermediate is
better called E17 and is a less common size around here. E26 (medium)
and E12 (candelabra) are the common threads.

https://www.bulbs.com/product/40S11N-C-120V

"NOT for sale to CA"

That's what she had. So I decided E12 is common, get some E12 to E17
adapters and some 40W replacement E12 base LED bulbs. All of that is
very easy to find in my local hardware store. Then I get it home and
-- it doesn't fit. Not because the base is wrong, no, that I got right.
Because the LED bulb is too long. It's candelabra shaped ("B-11"),
much like this:

https://www.bulbs.com/product/SE-350-042

although that's not a E12 base. That is about two or three centimeters
longer than will fit with the reflector in the lamp. So, main hack here,
snaped the clear plastic point off and then the bulb fit and worked.

Elijah
------
LED bulbs are so much more pleasant than CFL

[Rayner Lucas]

In article <eli$21093...@qaz.wtf>, *@eli.users.panix.com says...

>
> LED bulbs are so much more pleasant than CFL

They certainly are. CFLs did get better over the years, but I'm sure the
early (and cheap off-brand) ones gave energy-saving bulbs a lasting bad
reputation. I've never looked back since switching to LED bulbs: even
longer lifetime and lower running costs than CFLs, no more fragile
glass, and an instant warmup just like incandescents.

ObHack:
Spotted the exact chest of drawers I needed sitting out for trash
collection. It was clearly being thrown out because the hardboard sheets
forming the bottom of each drawer had sagged badly under load and come
out of their frames. Each drawer was meant to have a metal support strut
underneath to stop this happening, but the original owner had never
installed them.

So, I've ordered the appropriate parts, and have been bending the sheets
back into shape by giving them a good spraying under a hot shower and
then pressing them flat overnight between two large boards weighed down
with old computers and other heavy junk. Then I'm gently drying them
off, firstly by pressing them again with sheets of newspaper on top
until almost dry, then by leaving them in a sunny spot, clamped to a
flat surface so they don't warp.

After drying, they seem to have retained most of their original
integrity and rigidity (though the surface is a bit rougher). If they
sag again even with the supports installed, I can replace them with
something sturdier, but for now they look like they'll do.

R