In the dark

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, March 8, 2011

In the dark

Despite long-running campaigns to promote compact fluorescent light bulbs, the energy-saving lamps are used in only about 1 of 5 American light sockets, a government report says. And only about 20 percent of us know that 100-watt incandescent bulbs will be unavailable starting in January 2012. The findings cast a sickly green, slow-to-warm-up light on Americans’ ignorance of an important issue.

On the other hand, at least 9.75 out of 10 Americans know that Charlie Sheen was sacked from the cast of “Two and a Half Men” on Monday.

The dog ate it: The Internal Revenue Service has compiled its annual list of the lamest excuses it hears from people who try to weasel out of paying their income taxes.

For help in dealing with the problem, the IRS has reached out to the nation’s fourth-grade teachers.

Pachyderm co-op: An elephant researcher in Thailand has found that the giant beasts’ social complexity enables them to solve problems through cooperation.

Coming today: Republicans demand the elephant be ousted as the party’s mascot.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff