Maryland Weather blogger, science writer extraordinaire and all-around good guy Frank Roylance has a really interesting story in today's Sun about disposing of those environmentally friendly hazardous bulbs that have become al lthe rage lately.

The environmental regulators have a whole list of precautions to take should one of these bulbs break; they have a small amount of mercury in them.

I had no idea. Who would have thought it would be a good idea to wear a survival suit just to change a lightbulb?

Perhaps Allegheny Power should have taken that into consideration when they mailed out all those bulbs, then charged people for them, a few months back. they were, in fact, the same sort of bulbs, and reporter Liz Kay tells me that they did casue problems when they broke at post offices in Western Maryland. And, I'm sure, sent people panicking.