Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 May 18

= May 18 =

Donation for renovation of Buckingham Palace
Is there any foundation, which supports the renovation Buckingham palace, you can donate to? 112.198.90.116 (talk) 06:16, 18 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Is this the opening line of a joke ? "The Foundation for the Support of Underprivileged Queens" ? StuRat (talk) 06:26, 18 May 2014 (UTC)


 * To the best of my knowledge their is not a voluntary fund to which you can donate - although I suspect someone will be along in a minute to say 'rubbish'. The British Government already have a system to collect donations for the upkeep of the palace. Almost everyone in the UK who works donates a few pence of their earnings each week towards a new coat of paint for the palace windows or a new carpet in the front hall. With respect there are many people in other parts of the world much more in need of your support than the British monarchy. Richard Avery (talk) 07:23, 18 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Please be civil. A Google search on the three words "buckingham palace renovations" turns up news reports from 7 months ago to the effect that, as the budget for the royal family has been repeatedly reduced, maintenance has been deferred until the royal palaces need tens of millions in repairs and nobody knows where the money would come from.  This one, for instance.  As nothing more recent turns up, it appears that the simple answer is that there is no such fund at present.  --50.100.193.30 (talk) 07:35, 18 May 2014 (UTC)


 * My first line answers the question, with a rider thrown in. The second part is an ironic line about the funding. The third part makes a respectful suggestion about what to do with the money. Where's the lack of civilty? Richard Avery (talk) 10:50, 18 May 2014 (UTC)


 * No money at all. And it just goes to prove that the Daily Mail is a completely unreliable source. Thincat (talk) 19:10, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Phase-out of incandescent light bulbs
Incandescent light bulbs are rapidly being phased out in the US. Certain specialty bulbs are exempt. Ones under 40 watts are exempt.

According to my count, we have 63 bulbs inside our house with a standard E27 base. Only 15 of them are incandescent - the others are CFL or LED. And most of the incandescents are in places that are rarely used - inside closets and in the attic. They might get used 5 minutes per year. I don't want to have to may much money for bulbs that are used that little.

So I was thinking, since bulbs under 40 watts are exempt, is there something that I could screw two or three 25-watt bulbs into, and screw that into the socket in the attic? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 19:02, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

Well, I should have googled before asking, because they have such things. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 19:04, 18 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Maybe that isn't such a good idea. By the time I buy one of those and two 25-watt I-bulbs, it is going to be around $6, and small LEDs or CFLs may be in that range soon.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 20:02, 18 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Yeah - and if the bulbs really did last a very long time in this application, then replacing the ones you have ought to be such a rare event that the cost is relatively unimportant.  I recently bought under-cabinet lighting for my kitchen - and a strip with four LED's on it (energy consumption, 3 watts, light output 40 watt-equiv) cost me $16 at Walmart...and that's in a nice housing with a plug and a switch!
 * Also, while it's true that you may not run these bulbs for very many hours over the years, the thing that causes incandescents to fail most often isn't their age, but the number of times you've turned them on an off. So even though you may not run them for very long, it's probably still a huge saving to go with LED lights.   I wouldn't go with CFL though - their ballast systems don't like being alternately baked and frozen in the attic. SteveBaker (talk) 17:55, 19 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Yes, once some LEDs got affordable, I quit buying CFLs. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 19:38, 19 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Well, it seems like a waste to put something that will last 20,000 hours and be used only 5 minutes per year. So maybe I'll take some of the used, but still working incandescent bulbs out of the closets, save them for the attic, replace those incandescent bulbs with CFLs that are a few years old (I have some over 11 years old), and replace those CFLs with LEDs.  That seems like a better plan.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 22:58, 19 May 2014 (UTC)