h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A specialist technical note for you: what people generally refer to as "lightbulbs" are known in the lighting and electrical world as "lamps". This is obviously an attempt to create even more confusion since most people think of a lamp as being the thing you stick a bulb into.

However, "lamp" it is, whether incandescent (which is what most people think of as a lightbulb), fluorescent (more often known as a tube, for obvious reasons), halogen(which is actually an incandescent as well), low-pressure sodium discharge(those horrible orange streetlights), metal halide (much nicer), etc etc etc

So... how many lighting professionals does it take to change a lightbulb? One to change the bulb and a dozen to chorus "It's not a lightbulb, it's a f+*!ing LAMP!!!"

Hmmm... I'd better cross-post this to the lightbulb jokes forum too...

In the further interests of accuracy, and to correct a wide misunderstanding, Edison did NOT invent the incandescent light. He merely developed an existing product which had been produced by, initially, Swan, and then others. Some good info at http://www.thelightingcenter.com/flexiwatt/history.asp

(although the link to Telsa didn't work when I tried it - conspiracy theorists take note! )

Well, whether Edison invented it or not, it still shows how long it's been around.

In light of that (pun intended), I'm putting a link to this Entry on the H2G2 Historical Society.

http://www.h2g2.com/A240058