• Book blurbs and other updates

    From Arelor@21:2/138 to All on Tue Apr 6 18:12:13 2021
    Hi there!

    I have been revisiting the blurbs for my books and series because I have realized most would-be readers
    nowadays don't have the ability to focus on a blurb longer than 300 words.

    Since I suck at marketing, I would welcome constructive criticism. Destructive criticism is also welcome
    because I eat popcorn to it.

    WARNING SPAM AHEAD

    # Blurb 1 for The Worth of Immortality:

    "Witness the ascension of the Necromancer, a dark figure whose mysterious cult is spread across the
    Universe by an incommensurable army of undead knights and technomagical nightmares.

    A series of short stories by Richard Falken."

    # Blurb 2 for The Worth of Immortality:

    "The Worth of Immortality is a series of short stories. Each of them is a standalone tale, but when they
    are put together, they draw a deep metaplot, which becomes clearer the more stories you read.

    The series follow the steps of a man who finds himself above the cold embraze of death. His journey will
    take you from the bronze age to the far future, as he survives the passage of time. The Necromancer will
    see empires rise and fall, religions come and go, and mankind evolve into something entirely different.
    Yet, for all his power, the question remains: will the Necromancer ever accomplish his goal and find
    peace?

    Ultimately, The Worth of Immortality is a cross-genre series. Some of the tales have a Sword and Sorcery
    bent. Others mix Science-Fiction with Fantasy in an effort to portray the relationship between advanced
    technology and dark magic. There are occasional drops of Noir and Horror thrown into the recipe too."

    # Blurb 1 for Árelor's Universe:

    "

    Follow the steps of Captain Bérinen and his men, ordinary soldiers who must solve extraordinary
    mysteries in order to prevent supernatural threats from laying waste to their Empire.

    A series of books by Richard Falken
    "

    # Blurb 2 for Árelor's Universe:

    "Árelor’s Universe is a series of Fantasy books. I’d go as far as to label it as High Fantasy, but
    it is not typical High Fantasy. At its core, Árelor’s Universe tells the stories of ordinary soldiers
    who are set to investigate larger than life mysteries, in order to prevent some supernatural threat from
    laying waste to their Empire.

    Betrayal. Magic. Despotic theocracies that rule with a fist of iron. Warriors who will die rather
    than yield in dishonor. Secret societies which will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.

    It is a brutal world out there, but no matter how hard the forces of darkness fight, there is a
    universal truth that can’t be denied.

    The Lord of Revenge will ensure that justice prevails, no matter what must be sacrificed to do so.
    "


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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Tue Apr 6 20:57:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Tuesday 06.04.21 - 18:12, Arelor wrote to All:

    I have been revisiting the blurbs for my books and series..

    Since I suck at marketing, I would welcome constructive criticism. Destructive criticism is also welcome because I eat popcorn to it.

    I like the longer versions of both:

    # Blurb 2 for The Worth of Immortality:
    # Blurb 2 for Árelor's Universe:


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    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Wed Apr 7 02:47:09 2021
    Re: Book blurbs and other updates
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Tue Apr 06 2021 08:57 pm

    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Tuesday 06.04.21 - 18:12, Arelor wrote to All:

    I have been revisiting the blurbs for my books and series..

    Since I suck at marketing, I would welcome constructive criticism. Destructive
    criticism is also welcome because I eat popcorn to it.

    I like the longer versions of both:

    # Blurb 2 for The Worth of Immortality:
    # Blurb 2 for Árelor's Universe:

    Thanks for input!

    On a side note, I am getting a bit impatient with the Samovar Magazine. They are
    taking ages with High Tech Necromancy :-(

    --
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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Wed Apr 7 21:05:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    On a side note, I am getting a bit impatient with the Samovar Magazine. They are taking ages with High Tech Necromancy :-(

    Do they have a "covid" excuse?


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Thu Apr 8 02:45:49 2021
    Re: Book blurbs and other updates
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Apr 07 2021 09:05 pm

    Hello Arelor!

    On a side note, I am getting a bit impatient with the Samovar Magazine. They are taking ages with High Tech Necromancy :-(

    Do they have a "covid" excuse?

    As far as I am aware, they are brandishing no excuse so far. Which is better than telling people that COVID is making them read slower than usual, I suppose.

    --
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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Wed Apr 14 21:45:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Thursday 08.04.21 - 02:45, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    On a side note, I am getting a bit impatient with the
    Samovar Magazine. They are taking ages with High Tech
    Necromancy :-(

    Do they have a "covid" excuse?

    As far as I am aware, they are brandishing no excuse so far.
    Which is better than telling people that COVID is making
    them read slower than usual, I suppose.

    That *is* too bad that they are dragging their heels so to
    speak.

    I can't say that I am any better in that regard. I have a couple
    of modest stacks of special orders, but I don't feel the urgency
    to call anyone and leave messages. Almost as soon as I set foot
    into my shop, I am counting the hours until I can leave. There
    is a harder 28-day lockdown imposed in the entire province that
    I live in. The already restricted capacity had to be further
    reduced to 25% of that. And of course, the government uses
    sweeping terms when mentioning "essential" vs "non-essential"
    ..and most people assume that a book shop is among the non-
    essential. :(

    I've once again turned off the heat and the lights. I just give
    a flashlight to anyone who comes by and needs to explore the
    bookshelves that are the deepest and the darkest in the bowels
    of my paper realm.

    Meanwhile, I am using my Kobo a bit more often now. With the
    assistance of Calibre, I can convert the content of a website or
    a pdf suitable for reading on my ereader. I like that.

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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Wed Apr 14 21:48:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Wednesday 07.04.21 - 02:47, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    I like the longer versions of both:

    # Blurb 2 for The Worth of Immortality:
    # Blurb 2 for Árelor's Universe:

    Thanks for input!

    On a side note, I am getting a bit impatient with the
    Samovar Magazine. They are taking ages with High Tech
    Necromancy :-(

    Call them and ask if they have an ETA on it. If they hesitate
    to commit, call them again in a couple days, and again, and
    again, until you get a date. Maybe they need to know that you
    care.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Thu Apr 15 03:11:22 2021
    Re: Book blurbs and other updates
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Apr 14 2021 09:45 pm


    I've once again turned off the heat and the lights. I just give
    a flashlight to anyone who comes by and needs to explore the
    bookshelves that are the deepest and the darkest in the bowels
    of my paper realm.


    Man, that sucks.

    I keep considering doing just that for my own store, specially since the actual business is online and doing deliveries and I get two visitors tops per day in the brick-n-mortar location. But the location is actually so small that the difference is 10 eur per month or so.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Thu Apr 15 03:16:06 2021
    Re: Book blurbs and other updates
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Apr 14 2021 09:48 pm

    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Wednesday 07.04.21 - 02:47, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    I like the longer versions of both:

    # Blurb 2 for The Worth of Immortality:
    # Blurb 2 for γö£├╝relor's Universe:

    Thanks for input!

    On a side note, I am getting a bit impatient with the
    Samovar Magazine. They are taking ages with High Tech
    Necromancy :-(

    Call them and ask if they have an ETA on it. If they hesitate
    to commit, call them again in a couple days, and again, and
    again, until you get a date. Maybe they need to know that you
    care.

    The economics of publishing don't work that way.

    They have more than a hundred times the number of stories they want to publish available. The author that steps out of procedure gets kicked out of the selection process automatically. It is close to an industry standard at this point.

    Hell I have heard editors put the messages of worried authors in bulleting boards in the office for everybody to mock them :-S

    I have been corssing asshole publishers off my list, then low paying publishers, and the list of publishers you are left with is EXTREMELY short.

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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Thu Apr 15 09:41:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Thursday 15.04.21 - 03:11, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    I've once again turned off the heat and the lights. I just
    give a flashlight to anyone who comes by and needs to
    explore..

    I keep considering doing just that for my own store,
    specially since the actual business is online and doing
    deliveries and I get two visitors tops per day in the brick-
    n-mortar location. But the location is actually so small
    that the difference is 10 eur per month or so.

    For me, it can be a $100/mo difference in lighting cost.

    Last year in Mar I used 694kWh.
    This year in Mar it is 549kWh
    This year in Feb it was only 344kWh.

    The April bill should be lower now with the lights and the
    furnace motor off.

    At this time of year, I can keep the front door open (and a rear
    backroom door open to permit natural circulation) to let the
    warmer air in - otherwise it feels a bit too cool trying to work
    comfortably at 60F all day.


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    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Thu Apr 15 15:43:49 2021
    Re: Book blurbs and other updates
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Thu Apr 15 2021 09:41 am

    I've once again turned off the heat and the lights. I just
    give a flashlight to anyone who comes by and needs to
    explore..

    I keep considering doing just that for my own store,
    specially since the actual business is online and doing
    deliveries and I get two visitors tops per day in the brick-
    n-mortar location. But the location is actually so small
    that the difference is 10 eur per month or so.

    For me, it can be a $100/mo difference in lighting cost.


    It must be a big place, then. Are you running one of these multi-floor shops?

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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Fri Apr 16 09:02:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Thursday 15.04.21 - 15:43, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    For me, it can be a $100/mo difference in lighting cost.


    It must be a big place, then. Are you running one of these
    multi-floor shops?

    I would say not. Just about 1200 sqft. Most of the lighting is
    48" T8 fluorescent. A few small areas still have 24". The
    bathroom has the older T12. I was going to experiment with
    retro-fit LED versions, but the entry cost is a bit too much.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Fri Apr 16 13:27:26 2021
    Re: Book blurbs and other updates
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Fri Apr 16 2021 09:02 am

    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Thursday 15.04.21 - 15:43, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    For me, it can be a $100/mo difference in lighting cost.


    It must be a big place, then. Are you running one of these
    multi-floor shops?

    I would say not. Just about 1200 sqft. Most of the lighting is
    48" T8 fluorescent. A few small areas still have 24". The
    bathroom has the older T12. I was going to experiment with
    retro-fit LED versions, but the entry cost is a bit too much.

    LEDs are a bit of a hit-and-miss thing. The clinic I work for has lots of them, and they fail before their supposed life expectancy is fullfiled more often than not. I haven't run the numbers but unless you use them much I an not sure they are cost-efficient (much less eco-efficient).

    My industrial wiring teacher was in love with low pressure sodium lights, but those you can't have in a book store :-)

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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Fri Apr 16 17:36:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Friday 16.04.21 - 13:27, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    LEDs are a bit of a hit-and-miss thing. The clinic I work
    for has lots of them, and they fail before their supposed
    life expectancy is fullfiled more often than not.

    Are they the long tube ones that are intended to be a direct
    retr-fit replacement for existing T8 fixtures?

    I haven't run the numbers but unless you use them much I an
    not sure they are cost-efficient (much less eco-efficient).

    LED would definitely be le$$ to operate than the flourecents.

    My industrial wiring teacher was in love with low pressure
    sodium lights, but those you can't have in a book store :-)

    I can imagine so.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 08:19:00 2021
    has the older T12. I was going to experiment with retro-fit
    LED versions, but the entry cost is a bit too much.

    Now there's some odd logic... :) But I don't know what kinda price you have ìto pay in I'll get this wrong, the US, or just in case, Canada... ;) I don't ìrecall finding LED lights overly expensive here. I still miss warmer ìincadescent light though.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
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    * Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Fri Apr 16 18:33:58 2021
    Re: Book blurbs and other updates
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Fri Apr 16 2021 05:36 pm

    LEDs are a bit of a hit-and-miss thing. The clinic I work
    for has lots of them, and they fail before their supposed
    life expectancy is fullfiled more often than not.

    Are they the long tube ones that are intended to be a direct
    retr-fit replacement for existing T8 fixtures?

    No, I am afraid they aren't. Most of the ones in service are downlight style.

    They designed the installation specifically for downlight lights.

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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Spectre on Fri Apr 16 18:36:43 2021
    Re: Book blurbs and other updates
    By: Spectre to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 2021 08:19 am

    has the older T12. I was going to experiment with retro-fit
    LED versions, but the entry cost is a bit too much.

    Now there's some odd logic... :) But I don't know what kinda price you have pay in I'll get this wrong, the US, or just in case, Canada... ;) I don't recall finding LED lights overly expensive here. I still miss warmer incadescent light though.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]

    You can actually find warm LED lights. If LEDs have an advantage, is that they are easy to produce for any color temperature you need. Nowadays you can also find warm styled Hg lights for home too.


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  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Spectre on Fri Apr 16 20:14:18 2021
    *** Quoting Spectre from a message to Ogg ***

    Now there's some odd logic... :) But I don't know what kinda price
    you have to pay in I'll get this wrong, the US, or just in case,
    Canada... ;) I don't recall finding LED lights overly expensive
    here. I still miss warmer incadescent light though.

    Everything costs more in Canada. Everything.
    That being said, we'll just buy it anyway.

    When we bought our house one of the "perks" was that all light bulbs were
    LED. What they didn't tell is was that they were all "cool" LED bulbs.

    Nothing quite like going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and
    having you retinas burned out by way-too-bright light.

    We quickly replaced those with "warm" LED lights which were much better, and even ended up putting a dimmer on the bathroom with dimable LED bulbs.

    That stated our foray into Phillips Hue bulbs in our living room (the full colour ones) - so now in the evenings we have it set to "relax" which is a VERY warm colour (~2200 K colour temp) which also defaults to 50% brightness.


    Jay

    ... RAM = Rarely Adequate Memory

    --- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
    * Origin: Northern Realms | 289-424-5180 | bbs.nrbbs.net (21:3/110)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Spectre on Fri Apr 16 21:42:00 2021
    Hello Spectre!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 08:19, Spectre wrote to Ogg:

    has the older T12. I was going to experiment with
    retro-fit LED versions, but the entry cost is a bit too
    much.

    Now there's some odd logic... :)

    The retro-fit LEDs would be the same "fit" in the existing
    fixtures, the same fittings, but sans transformer/ballast.

    Another term for that is "conversion" or "ballast bypass".

    But I don't know what kinda price you have to pay in I'll
    get this wrong, the US, or just in case, Canada... ;) I
    don't recall finding LED lights overly expensive here. I
    still miss warmer incadescent light though.

    The T8's come in a range of temperature ratings. Daylight is
    best for the bookshop.

    Found an 8' pair that could work:

    ProLED T8 Linear Bypass Lamps are energy efficient, long lasting
    replacements for traditional T8 and T12 fluorescent linear
    lamps. Most reliable and efficient way to retrofit existing
    Linear Fluorescent T8 and T12 luminaires with simple rewiring
    necessary to remove the ballast. 50,000-hour life resulting in
    lower maintenance costs over time.

    Brightness: 5500 Lumen
    Lifetime: 50,000 hours
    Color temperature: 5000K, 82CRI daylight
    Energy used 42-Watt (equivalent to a 75-Watt standard fluorescent light bulb)
    Ideal for offices, warehouses, supermarkets, parking garages
    Non-dimmable

    $42 for a pair.

    ..but I'd really like to see them in example use to determine if
    I'd be happy with those. My current T8's are 6500K, ie.
    brighter.

    The re-wiring to decomission the ballasts doesn't seem so hard.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Fri Apr 16 21:58:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Friday 16.04.21 - 18:33, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    Are they the long tube ones that are intended to be a direct
    retr-fit replacement for existing T8 fixtures?

    No, I am afraid they aren't. Most of the ones in service are
    downlight style.

    They designed the installation specifically for downlight
    lights.

    The lighting industry has produced "replacement" LED versions
    that look like the traditional T8. Those would be the ones I
    would use next. My space has about ten 8' 4-tube fixtures. No
    point in ripping out the fixtures when all I would have to do is
    just pop in the new LED tubes after some rewiring.

    When I first rented the space, I spent about $1100 to convert
    the T12's to T8's with new ballasts as well. No help from the
    landlord. The ballasts on some of the fixtures had started to
    leak and/or buzz incessantly. That was 7 years ago.

    Recently, there are now a couple of fixtures that have dead
    ballasts. I've removed the tube pairs for the failed ones. The
    fixtures look like a mouth of pulled teeth, and the area below
    is noticably dimmer.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Warpslide on Fri Apr 16 22:07:00 2021
    Hello Warpslide!

    ** On Friday 16.04.21 - 20:14, Warpslide wrote to Spectre:

    Nothing quite like going to the bathroom in the middle of
    the night and having you retinas burned out by way-too-
    bright light.

    I have a simple motion activated night-light (LED) plugged into
    the wall. It's more than adequate for those early morning
    missions to the bathroom.

    That stated our foray into Phillips Hue bulbs in our living
    room (the full colour ones) - so now in the evenings we have
    it set to "relax" which is a VERY warm colour (~2200 K
    colour temp) which also defaults to 50% brightness.

    Never heard of those. They can be pretty fancy (and $s to
    match) with the bluetooth and programmability.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Arelor on Fri Apr 16 14:58:00 2021
    It must be a big place, then. Are you running one of these multi-floor shops?

    OR maybe sodium phosphor lamps :)


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
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    * Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Arelor on Sat Apr 17 18:51:00 2021
    You can actually find warm LED lights. If LEDs have an advantage,

    Yeah... nah... you're right you can get all sorts of colour temps. However ìI'm yet to see one that gives you the warm glow of an incandescent. Somehow ìthey're always a little NQR, maybe its the range of light waves it produces ìin comparison to an LED I dunno...

    Spec


    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Warpslide on Sat Apr 17 18:56:00 2021
    were LED. What they didn't tell is was that they were all "cool"
    LED bulbs. Nothing quite like going to the bathroom in the middle
    of the night

    Chuckle, fluorescents can be good at that too. My parents bathroom had a ìgiant mirror... with, mental blank now, was it one or two, 4" fluoros over ìthe top behind a pelmet... so the bottom was open... always a blinder in the ìnight... :)

    That stated our foray into Phillips Hue bulbs in our living room (the
    full colour ones) - so now in the evenings we have it set to
    "relax" which is a VERY warm colour (~2200 K colour temp) which also defaults to 50% brightness.

    I don't think I've seen these in person... how do you change their colour? In ìtheory thats the ultimate colour temp choice... Although practice at the ìchurch says colour LEDs are not good at making "white" light thats not ìexactly what I'm looking for, more the warm "golden" of incandescence.

    Spec


    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 19:04:00 2021
    Another term for that is "conversion" or "ballast bypass".

    Always something isn't there... I s'pose the easiest would be to snarf one or ìtwo and have a test run in the back corner somewhere :)

    Spec


    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: (21:3/101)
  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 07:21:14 2021
    *** Quoting Ogg from a message to Warpslide ***

    I have a simple motion activated night-light (LED) plugged into the wall. It's more than adequate for those early morning missions to
    the bathroom.

    We had something similar at one point, but it was very finnicky. Picture standing at the toilet doing your thing and then the light decides you're no longer there. Now you're doing your thing in total darkness...

    That stated our foray into Phillips Hue bulbs

    Never heard of those. They can be pretty fancy (and $s to match)
    with the bluetooth and programmability.

    Yeah, they can be pricy. We won a small set at a company Christmas party one year which was either one or two (white only) bulbs, a hub & a dimmer switch.

    That kind of dipped our toe in the water and then got the colour bulbs for
    the living room.


    Jay

    ... There are things that are so serious that you can only joke about them

    --- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
    * Origin: Northern Realms | 289-424-5180 | bbs.nrbbs.net (21:3/110)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Warpslide on Sat Apr 17 07:27:00 2021
    Hello Warpslide!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 07:21, Warpslide wrote to Ogg:

    I have a simple motion activated night-light (LED) plugged
    into the wall. It's more than adequate..

    We had something similar at one point, but it was very
    finnicky. Picture standing at the toilet doing your thing
    and then the light decides you're no longer there. Now
    you're doing your thing in total darkness...

    Heheheh.. it does that too! But I just have to sway a little
    and it pops right back up. Or.. I just sit down for the whole
    business. :D



    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Spectre on Sat Apr 17 07:26:21 2021
    *** Quoting Spectre from a message to Arelor ***

    Yeah... nah... you're right you can get all sorts of colour temps.
    However I'm yet to see one that gives you the warm glow of an incandescent. Somehow they're always a little NQR, maybe its the
    range of light waves it produces in comparison to an LED I dunno...

    We bought some "warm" bulbs from Wal-Mart when we were switching them out in our house, but they were just terrible. The colour was ok but you could actually see the flicker in the LED. Moving your hand in front of your face produced a trippy almost strobe-like effect.

    I think they lasted all of 10 minutes before we boxed them back up and returned them for something better. Ikea has surprisingly good & affordable LED bulbs.


    Jay

    ... Thanks for explaining the word "many" to me, it means a lot

    --- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
    * Origin: Northern Realms | 289-424-5180 | bbs.nrbbs.net (21:3/110)
  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Spectre on Sat Apr 17 07:35:00 2021
    *** Quoting Spectre from a message to Warpslide ***

    That stated our foray into Phillips Hue bulbs in our living room

    I don't think I've seen these in person... how do you change their
    colour?

    There's an app for that! ;)

    We used to use the app to turn them on & off as well as change the colour.

    Then we got an Alexa device, so now we just ask her to do it for us:

    "Alexa, set the living room to relax"
    "Alexa, dim the living room"
    "Alexa, set the living room to white and set the living room to 75%"

    In theory thats the ultimate colour temp choice...

    There's also an app you can install that will sync the light colour to what you're watching on TV. It's a neat party trick, but we don't use it too often. It works really well with very colourful movies, so when showing friends we'd often queue up Rio (which has a lot of colourful parrots) and then watch the living room lights dance around at various colours & brightness.


    Jay

    ... MONEY TALKS...but all mine ever says is GOODBYE!

    --- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
    * Origin: Northern Realms | 289-424-5180 | bbs.nrbbs.net (21:3/110)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Warpslide on Sat Apr 17 08:36:00 2021
    Hello Warpslide!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 07:26, Warpslide wrote to Spectre:

    [Re: LEDs] However I'm yet to see one that gives you the
    warm glow of an incandescent. Somehow they're always a
    little NQR, maybe its the range of light waves it produces
    in comparison to an LED I dunno...

    We bought some "warm" bulbs from Wal-Mart when we were
    switching them out in our house, but they were just
    terrible. The colour was ok but you could actually see the
    flicker in the LED. Moving your hand in front of your face
    produced a trippy almost strobe-like effect.

    I've noticed that the LED bulbs interfere with FM. I can't keep
    my alarm/radio near the table lamp that uses an LED bulb.


    I think they lasted all of 10 minutes before we boxed them
    back up and returned them for something better. Ikea has
    surprisingly good & affordable LED bulbs.

    Glad you found something of better quality/spec. It reminds me
    of the variance in quality of the twisty fluorescents. They
    were promoted as the replacement "solution" for incandescents.
    Those were rather expensive and NEVER lasted as long as a cheap
    incandescent. I had a two twisties that literally burned out
    emitting toxic smell that lingered in the house for days after
    the burnout. I went straight back to incandescents right after
    that.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Warpslide on Sat Apr 17 08:39:00 2021
    Hello Warpslide!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 07:35, Warpslide wrote to Spectre:

    Then we got an Alexa device, so now we just ask her to do it for us:

    "Alexa, set the living room to relax"
    "Alexa, dim the living room"
    "Alexa, set the living room to white and set the living room to 75%"

    Oh boy. One day, you will forget HOW to turn on the lights
    manually.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Ogg on Sat Apr 17 11:28:52 2021
    *** Quoting Ogg from a message to Warpslide ***

    Oh boy. One day, you will forget HOW to turn on the lights
    manually.

    I'm one step closer to the future I dreamed about as a kid watching Star
    Trek: TNG!

    Now if I could only get those conveyor belts installed in the floor like they had in The Jetson's... ;)


    Jay

    ... I'm going to make a prediction - it could go either way.

    --- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
    * Origin: Northern Realms | 289-424-5180 | bbs.nrbbs.net (21:3/110)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Spectre on Sat Apr 17 20:53:00 2021
    Hello Spectre!

    ** On Saturday 17.04.21 - 19:04, Spectre wrote to Ogg:

    I s'pose the easiest would be to snarf one
    or two and have a test run in the back corner somewhere :)

    Nothing to snarf. If/when it comes down to it, when I *do*
    decide to work on the currently broken fixtures, that will be
    the last time I want to touch them. I don't want to waste time
    "trying" one. It simply HAS to work when the conversion is to be
    done.

    I do however have a private bathroom (which women and children
    always seem to need to access) that has a fixture with a T12 4-
    foot pair. I could "try" that one first as my LED conversion
    project. The ceiling is much lower than the 12-13ft ceilings in
    the showroom. The problem with the traditional T12 fluorescents
    in the bathroom is that the lights could get turned on and off
    quite frequently throughout the day, and that is not good for
    such a fixture and power usage. So, if that one were to have
    the LED treatment, then I might gain the reduction in wasted
    electric power each time that one is turned on and off.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.49
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)