Dako

Argh! After playing behind a very slow threesome (comprised of a father, son, and a friend) for several holes watching a huge gap appear ahead of them I finally worked up the courage to ask them to speed it up a little. The problem was they weren’t hitting balls, they were standing around talking. So I walked over to the son who was supposed to be shooting but instead talking to his friend. “Excuse me, there are several people waiting behind you. I was wondering if you might be able to pick up the pace a little … you know .. play a little faster?”

“Of course not! Golf is a game of patience! You’ll just have to wait!” came the reply from the son.

I tried to explain to the son that golf is not a game of patience, golf is about keep up with the pace of play. I pointed out that the expected play time per hole was on the scorecard and they were taking much longer than the expected time. The son looked very confused.

At this point the father came over and started repeating the “patience” line. That explained where the son got it from. I repeated my points about “pace of play” but it didn’t faze the father either. I then suggested that we pass by them a hole. That didn’t seem to be compatible with the patience bit.

After a bit of back and forth the argument heated up (how could it not) and finally the father insisted that we go ahead of them! Great!

I stepped up to the tee box with the father, son and friend less than 10 feet behind me glaring away. O boy! This is going to be a pressure shot! I took a deep breath and cranked out one of the best drives in my life! Yeahooo! Eat it patience boys!

Some links about pace of play and ettiquette:

http://golf.about.com/od/golfetiquette/ht/paceofplay.htm

http://www.popeofslope.com/paceofplay/index.html

http://www.usga.org/playing/etiquette/etiquette.html

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05188/534184.stm

Lets get something straight: if you own a vehicle with an automatic transmission, you ain’t shit. Automatics are for people who can’t drive. If you own an automatic … what can I say? Sucks to be you.

Now get off the goddam road!

I got sick.  On someone’s suggestion, I tried Cold F/X.  It didn’t do anything for me.   Apparently Cold F/X is some special extract of ginseng + herbs??  I guess that the placebo effect doesn’t work on me.

After reading posts like this one I wanted to buy some CFLs to replace the incandescent in my house so I could reap the power savings they provide. I headed over to the local hardware store and picked up a box of 8 23W-ers and put them in my basket. Yup, I’m going to save a tree and all that! I glanced over at the ugly old incandescent section and sneered at the minimalistic cardboard sleeves that protected the ancient technology inside. A small tungsten filament, a metal base, and a glass globe filled with argon/nitrogen. No wonder incandescent sucked so much (power) — they were just too simple.

My gaze returned to my basket and started undressing the new light bulbs. Instead of a simple globe there was a long beautiful spiral of glass. A plastic base extended out from the bulb where the metal base screwed into the receptacle with some kind of circuit board inside. Technology baby! And to top it off, these bulbs came in a sturdy looking plastic suitcase. Wait a minute … spiral of glass … circuit board … plastic base … suitcase??! How is this supposed to be better for the environment?

The incandescent light bulb is the pinnacle of simplicity. The product has been refined such that it is nothing more than a glass globe filled with argon/nitrogen, a filament and a metal base for mounting and electrical conductivity. It ships in a plain cardboard sleeve. All these pieces are easily recyclable.

Contrast the CFL which starts with a shaped (usually spiral) glass tube and a metal screw base, similar to an incandescent. There is also a plastic base which houses a circuit board. The circuit board contains several components. Inside the glass tube is mercury vapor (a heavy metal which is a serious contaminant). Due to the mercury in the tube, and the fact that the tube is less robust than a globe, CFLs need stronger, more robust packaging than incandescent, hence the plastic suitcase they come in.

Plastics do not recycle as well as metal, glass and paper. Circuit boards do not recycle well. If a CFL breaks, there is a localized mercury contamination. Due to the mercury, CFLs need special recycling.

I can’t find any data on the relative lifetime costs between CFL and incandescent. Maybe that is because there isn’t any benefit.

Finally there is aesthetics. Incandescent light is a point source light. CFL is diffused light. Incandescent make things look sharp and provide good contrast. Edges of shadows are well defined. CFL makes things look dull, provide poorer contrast, and shadow edges are fuzzy. The light coming from CFL is fugly. It’s not ugly, it’s fugly. There, I’ve said it. CFL light is fugly.

I hope everybody who is pushing CFL on us dies of Mercury poisoning. It would be a fitting end.