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Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Lighting Then VS Now: Fire Before Electricity

Can you imagine life without light? Not being able to navigate in the dark. Simply not being able to find something you dropped in the dark. Today, we simply flip a switch and everything is illuminated. In the 18th century, having light meant burning fuel, and burning fuel meant entire industries of workers and inventors to make that possible. 

VIDEO HERE  (13:21 minutes)

14 comments:

  1. It's amazing how well adapted your eyes can be to the darkness if you get & stay away from light sources. If you stare at the fire or a bulb you'll never get there.

    Matt

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  2. I still think envirowackos should not be able to use or own modern inventions.

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    1. Absolutely. In the UK we have an organisation called Just Stop Oil. They do stunts like blocking roads and vandalising public property to supposedly make their point. Why don't they just demonstrate how easy it would be to live without oil by refusing to use anything that is derived from it? Then die of cold and starvation and do us all a favour.
      Stonyground.

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  3. Before candles, communists used electricity for lighting.

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  4. Candles are often one of the items in the "free" box at garage sales. That's how I acquire mine.

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  5. The Amish here in Northern Mi have upgraded to LED lamps on Lithium Ion batteries. They are suspended from the ceiling from cables that run to a central room, lowered to be removed towards a generator for recharging. That way they are not on the electric mains. Maybe that's a good idea.

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    1. I actually changed all my lights to led. Some are ac and some rechargeable. Taking down the rechargeables every 2 weeks is a nuisance but it's worth it. I hate giving my money to the bastards at PG&E so they can make $500k a year.

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  6. These inventions, like candles, the kerosene lantern and electricity make modern life possible. Otherwise we'd still be living in the stone age.

    Nemo

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  7. LED lights, lithium batteries, and cheap solar panels have been a godsend to the off-grid community.

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  8. Candle tax to pay for a war. War ended two years later. The tax didn't disappear for 120 years.

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    Replies
    1. Check out the temporary Spanish War telecom ( calls, telegraph, etc.) tax. 1898 to 2006.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_telephone_excise_tax#:~:text=Included%20in%20the%20War%20Revenue,signed%20on%20November%2011%2C%201918

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  9. Have you priced candles at Amazon? Wow, and a medium size candle is gone in 5 or 6 hours. The smokeless candles are even worse.

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  10. John D. Rockefeller became one of the richest men in the world providing fuel for lighting. It could also be said that he helped jump start the auto industry as they needed a market for a by product of kerosene production.

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