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On Fri, Dec 14, 2007 at 08:29:08AM -0800, Bob Blick wrote:
> Your point seems to constantly come back to "xxx for
> less than $$$". Well, maybe New Zealand doesn't have
> Superfund sites, maybe you don't have nicad battery
> factories, but I wouldn't wish them on you or your
> neighbors. I don't care if it saves a buck or two. How
> much profit do you make on a batch of rechargeable
> flashlights? How much does lifelong care cost for a
> cadmium-poisoned child? The "greater good" of a few
> cheap flashlights is a load of crap when you have to
> kill or disable people to make them. I was watching a
> video of electronics recycling in India. One scene
> showed a kid recycling batteries. He had a basket of
> sub-C cells, a wooden block, and a machete. He'd chop
> the batteries like you would a carrot, and scoop the
> remains into a bucket. He's sitting cross-legged on
> the dirt. Not even a mask or gloves. No problems
> there, eh?

In the long run safest would be tritium-based traser light sources...
Sure if you're gonna get a decent amount of light you're packing a quite
deadly amount of radiation in there, drasticly more than my wimpy little
traser keychain, but at least it's guaranteed to become harmless helium
at a rate of one half every dozen years. Over a thousand years it'll
kill fewer people.


I've got some clock designs that would need to be not teathered to a
wall, yet still emit light, and am considering using trasers from
exit signs as the backlights for ultra-low-power lcd's.

- -- 
http://petertodd.org
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