# It's a catastrofe. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 17, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979 "2006-02-17T18:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/1 "2006-02-17T18:36:00Z")
One of the 48" flourescent fixtures went bad in our kitchen. So I took the old one down, went to Home Depot, got a replacement and installed it. Now getting up and down stepladders is no longer one of my strong suits so this was all quite a chore. Now, when I try to put the tubes in I discover that one of the insert-and-twist endpieces is defective and the whole thing needs to be done over. I can’t even get my dollar back with the mega number on the California Lottery but I can unerringly pick the one in 20000 defective electrical fixtures at the hardware store. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/2 "2006-02-17T18:42:00Z")
I thought that this was going to be a spelling rant… ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/3 "2006-02-17T19:14:00Z")
Me too. 🙂 I’ve had my own lighting trials with the dining room fixture recently. I have now been here a year and am stubbornly, angerly putting off the chore of replacing a bulb for the _third time!_ This last one lasted a grand total of three weeks! I’m at the point of asking the landlady if I can replace the fixture and when she says yes, taking the old one out back and smashing it up very thoroughly with a sledge hammer! Stupid fricken ricken fixture. \*%#$#@@! ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/4 "2006-02-17T19:15:55Z")
It’s ludacrist, is what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/5 "2006-02-17T20:25:28Z")
I’d fone them up and yell at them. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/6 "2006-02-17T20:29:16Z")
I know, I hate those twisty fluresant lights. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/7 "2006-02-17T20:39:27Z")
C’mon, it’s a simple spelling mistake. Leave the guy alone and quit being such picky ph\*ckers. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/8 "2006-02-17T20:41:21Z")
You’re right. It’s almost unphair. On the other hand, it’s Phriday, so we get some license to abuse, in a good-humorish way. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/9 "2006-02-17T21:03:04Z")
> [@Max Carnage](#): > > C’mon, it’s a simple spelling mistake\ Which one? 😃 **Tikki** , I have a flurresint bedside lamp that has been using the same bulb for 24 years. It just recently started to dim. I want another one of _those_. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/10 "2006-02-17T21:06:51Z")
> [@Max Carnage](#): > > C’mon, it’s a simple spelling mistake. Leave the guy alone and quit being such picky ph\*ckers. It’s not a mistake. I’ve met **David**. It’s probably his idea (and mine too) of a joke. Say it out loud in a Sylvester voice. Besides, it got you to read the thread didn’t it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/11 "2006-02-17T21:36:25Z")
I hate screwing with those things. We were having trouble with one in our kitchen and I decided like David to get up there and fix it. Only my wife was out of town and me, being a chicken about electricity, just shut off the entire main fuse before working on it. So it’s August, I’m working without the correct tools, without proper lighting and without AC. I’ve removed the fixture and am struggling through the sweat and shadows to get the new ballast in when I hear a noise. Standing on the kitchen island, I look over at one of the long tubes slowly sliding off the island edge where I’d leaned it. “BLAM!” White smoke and thousands of little shards of thin glass spread out everywhere. Then I hear the same noise again, “sliiiide” and “BLAM!” as the second tube falls off the island. Two hours later and I’ve finally got the hardware back in, another hour to remove all the glass from every conceivable crevice, but over the next several days each tube keeps buring out, one after another. I finally break down and call an electrician who says one of the aforementioned twisty things like David’s is kaput. Nowadays, we call the electrician first. Saves on clean-up time for me. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/12 "2006-02-17T22:08:32Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I hate screwing with those things. They _twist_ in. 😉 > [@lieu](#): > > being a chicken about electricity… This reminds me of a story I’ve related before. I was very little and I don’t remember it, but my sister told me about it. Back in the day, most watches were not powered by batteries. And yet, some had alarms. Basically, there was a striker that would rapidly hit the case. Dad wore a Vulcain Cricket, which had a resonator on the back to boot. Dad was on a stool fixing wiring on the overhead light. _Just_ as he touched the wire to the terminal, his watch alarm went off! :eek: He thought he was being shocked and fell off of the stool. Really. Things like that only happen in movies! ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/13 "2006-02-17T22:18:07Z")
Might a potato be of use in this situation? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/14 "2006-02-17T22:18:55Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > I thought that this was going to be a spelling rant… > [@Hal Briston](#): > > I’d fone them up and yell at them. > [@Absolute](#): > > It’s ludacrist, is what it is. > [@featherlou](#): > > > [@Max Carnage](#): > > > > C’mon, it’s a simple spelling mistake > > Which one? > > I have a flurresint bedside lamp … > [@silenus](#): > > It’s not a mistake. I’ve met David. It’s probably his idea (and mine too) of a joke. “Everybody wants to git inta da act.” Oh what a shame it is that Jimmy Durante is pretty much forgotten. It was a mistake of a sort. It should have been “catastroaf” (Jimmy’s pronunciation.) “Flourescent,” on the other hand, _was_ an out-and-out mistake. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/15 "2006-02-17T22:20:54Z")
Not only that, I broke a rule by showing my signature twice on one page. I think I’ll just go back to bed and pull the covers up over my head. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/16 "2006-02-17T22:44:02Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > “Everybody wants to git inta da act.” > > Oh what a shame it is that Jimmy Durante is pretty much forgotten. A-dink-a-dee, a-dink-a-doo! Hot-cha-cha-cha-cha! Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/17 "2006-02-18T00:20:51Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > They _twist_ in. 😉 > … But…but… Isn’t a twist 1/4 of a full screw? ---
**Author:** ![LucyInDisguise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucyindisguise/32/18064_2.png) [@LucyInDisguise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LucyInDisguise)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-catastrofe/344979/18 "2006-02-19T16:41:46Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > But…but… > > Isn’t a twist 1/4 of a full screw? Depends on the bar. And the number of drinks. and whether or not Jimmy is singin on top of the piana … cha cha cha! Lucy