The compact fluorescent light bulb in our living room lamp burned out. This led to our discovery that we don't have any 200-Watt-equivalent CFL bulbs left from a few years ago when ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger's father went light-bulb-mad and stocked the place. On our grocery run we also discovered Meijer's no longer stocks any CFL bulbs, that we can tell. We'd have to dare an LED bulb.
Our living room floor lamp is a three-way adjustable, but nobody makes three-way light bulbs anymore. The CFL, at 200 Watt equivalent, was about the middle setting. Among LEDs we found there weren't many that were above 100-Watt-equivalent. But we did find one 300-Watt-equivalent bulb, promising a warm white light, and despite skepticism gave it a try. After all, all we could really lose is the $15 purchase price.
It turns out the light is pretty good. It's a plausible white. And it is appreciably brighter than what we'd had. Our living room is basically a black hole, especially around the fireplace. Now, it's ... still dim, over there. But it is bright enough to cast a shadow there. So that's an improvement.
Also, the light fixture, which holds the bulb vertically upright around a wide, mostly horizontal dish, had attracted so many bug carcasses as to be almost parody. The old bulb had, I say without exaggeration, a bug-foam cylinder about an inch and a half tall surrounding its base. It's a little gross to think too hard about, so, don't. Instead, let's look at things from the Keweenaw Historical Society and take a detour into the world of ham radio. Will this be the only time ham radio comes up in these pictures of our 2018 trip to the upper peninsula? ... Why would I ask that question?
A copper ingot, part of the Keweenaw Historical Society's exhibits on display at the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse.
Here's about 1700 pounds of ``float'' copper, a gerat chunk mined by the glaciers and dropped into Lake Superior off the Eagle River.
Some more, and more maritime, stuff on display at another of the lighthouse's buildings.
QSL cards: these postcards are sent by ham radio enthusiasts to confirm a contact. The lighthouse participates in occasional events to get lots of contacts in a short while, and this is some of the bounty. QSL cards are designed by the sender, and so are quite idiosyncratic, and seeing the variety of postcards threatened to make bunnyhugger get her ham license that very day.
Maritime radio that, I believe, was the source actually broadcasting the weather report to us. At least some radio was, but I wouldn't blame them if it had been streamed over the Internet.
A sacrificial cathode, a large block of mostly zinc that's meant to draw rust from the rest of the ship. According to the sign, these sacrificial cathodes will eventually shrink, and need replacement.
Peeking out at Lake Superior from outside that part of the museum; you can see the lighthouse tower on the right.
More gazing at the water, and the Eagle Harbor surroundings.
Staring out into Lake Superior, where, on this mid-August day, I believe the water temperature was nearly one degree above freezing.
More of the soft, gentle beaches of Lake Superior.
Peering far out into the water, and one of the buoys that get taken out for winter and put back in when there's actual shipping going around.
Looking out from a deck going over the water, to look back at the lighthouse and associated buildings. You can see the red buoy from a couple pictures back in the right-center of the picture there.
Trivia: In 1981 Maersk was the world's third-largest containership operator; its fleet had 25 vessels. Source: The Box: How the Shipping Container made the World Smaller and the World Economy bigger, Marc Levinson.
Currently Reading: The Plastic-Man Archives, Volume 2, Jack Cole, Archive Editor Mike Carlin(?).
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Date: 2020-04-26 01:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2020-04-29 11:18 pm (UTC)