Hey - Wanna buy a light bulb?

[Yulelights76]

You gotta check out this website for a lighting store in New Jersey.
(website is 404 not found)
You'll see a shady character come out of an alley and ask the visitor "You wanna buy a light bulb?
I laughed myself silly when I saw it. 
I wouldn't be surprised if this is what you will have to do to buy incandescent bulbs in the future.
Updated 12/22/11
I checked the store out since they were practically in my backyard. There were light bulbs everywhere!
They had incandescent, long life krypton, halogen, fluorescent, CFL, and even the new LED light bulbs.
There were bulb displays on the ceiling, the walls, the windows and the counters.
This store is a must see for any light bulb fan.
Updated 03/15/21 their website is now 404. According to a web search, the store relocated from South Hackensack to Paramus, New Jersey.

Here is a picture of a 1950s era crystal chandelier in my home with Edison base flame bulbs.
You DO NOT put CFL bulbs in a fixture like this.

Merry Christmas and may your lights bun bright.

[adam2]

I would agree that CFLs wont look right in a vintage or vintage syle chandelier such as the one featured.
Until recently this meant incandescents had to be used.

There are now some excellent LED candle lamps that would be very suitable for such applications.
They consist of several high power LED chips in a clear glass outer envelope, this gives a sparkling effect at least as good as a filament lamp, perhaps even better.

These are available in the UK for 230/240 volt supplies.
Dont know if they are available in the USA for 120 volts, but if not I predict that they soon will be.

The light is a very warm white, about 2,700K and the lamps use only 5 watts for a light output approaching that of a 40 watt filament lamp, certainly brighter than a 25 watt filament lamp.

[Yulelights76]

I have seen the LED candle bulbs you mention in the light bulb store but right now they are very expensive.
The stores in the USA such as Home Depot and Lowes have PAR30 equivalent for $30 - $40 and A19 40 watt equivalent for $20 (US).
I think I'll wait until the price comes down. Actually most of the lighting in my home is 2700K warm white Standard fluorescent and Compact Fluorescent.
I just don't like the ramp-up of the CFL bulbs when you turn them on. They start up dim and take 2 minutes to reach full brightness.
Right now I'm trying out some A19 halogen bulbs for outdoor lights. Want to see how long they last.

[Anders Hoveland]

The problem with these long life light bulbs is that their light is very yellowish.
The main way these bulbs achieve their longer life is to operate the filament at a lower temperature.

The addition of krypton gas also increases efficiency (by around 5% for a 100 watt bulb, 10% for a 40 watt bulb), and slightly prolongs lifetime. Xenon gas filling is even better, but more expensive and rarely used. Most normal lightbulbs contain a gas mixture of argon with some nitrogen.

I have tried several different types of these long life bulbs. I have some 100 watt Satco bulbs with a rated lifetime of 2000 hours. They are rated at 1500 lumens, but I suspect their actual light output is less, around 1275. The light they give off is more yellowish than I would like.

My opinion is that if you want long life light bulbs, a more practical option would be to try to find longer life halogen bulbs. Actually, the only thing that halogen does is to increase the lifetime of the filament. Most manufacturers, however, take advantage of this fact and also run the filaments in their halogen bulbs at a higher temperature, meaning the full potential for longer life is not realised.

The wattage and temperature of an incandescent filament is genrally determined by its thickness and length. Thicker filaments will be higher wattage. Longer filaments will decrease wattage and result in a lower temperature, even for the same wattage. The filament inside a typical 60 watt light bulb is double coiled, and would actually be quite long if fully uncoiled, about 6 meters.