Green butter and toast

Those little swirly energy-saving light bulbs make your butter look green. Not a very flattering light, either. And breakage releases mercury vapor. And has anyone had one of these things turned on for seven years? Really? Better things for better living through chemistry? Or another fine example of how the profit motive doesn't have your best interests at heart?

Ok, so "little swirly light bulbs" are a viral consumer stopgap — however the real future in home lighting is true white LEDs, when they finally show up. Those should last 50 years powered by AA batteries. Any guesses on ETA? A bull market without a ring in its nose is worthless. Maybe, after we've got all the bears out of the pit, it's time we tried a little extra socialism?