When I was quite young, my parents gave me an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas one year.  (My parents were big believers in not reinforcing sex stereotypes)  I loved the Easy-Bake Over, as it allowed me to make cake whenever I wanted.  The coolest thing was that the oven worked with only the heat of an ordinary lightbulb.

It was only this year that I became aware of the obvious.  What made an Easy-Bake Oven work so well was that an ordinary incandescent lightbulb gives off 95% of its energy as heat, not light.  Great for toy ovens, that is pretty lousy for both the environment and our nonrenewable resources.  So, I was glad to see that Australia is trying to completely phase out the incandescent lightbulb by 2010 in favor of more efficient Compact Fluorescent bulbs.

I am also glad I have a real oven now.  I think I'll go make some cake.

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