A few years ago I needed to increase the light in a kitchen lit by an overhead fluorescent fixture. As I found it, it had two 4-foot T8 735 tubes and an "energy-saving" (read: light-reducing) instant-start ballast. To make it brighter without the hassle and expense of replacing the lamp fixture, I replaced the ballast with the highest-overdriving ballast I could find that could drive a pair of F32 T8's. After some online research, I wound up buying a Philips Advance IOP3P32HL90CSC (a.k.a. IOP3P32HL90CSC3SI , sometimes with several hyphens inserted for readability). It can drive either 2 or 3 bulbs, but overdrives more when used with 2 bulbs. This was a few years ago, there might be something better now, but 1.37 ballast factor replacing a 0.87 or something makes a substantial improvement in brightness. I also upped the brightness slightly by replacing the TL735 bulbs with TL830 or TL835's which are slightly brighter and have better color rendering, which the eye perceives as adding brightness. Re: Philips TL930/TL950 :I've used both the Philips TL930 (95CRI) and TL950 (98CRI) 4-foot tubes., which fortunately I was able to buy two at a time from the local retailer. The TL950s illuminated my kitchen; the 930s went into a basement rec room where they match the color temperature of halogen downlights. The TL950s won't blow you away upon first turning them on - they look like typical cool/sunlight fluorescents at first. Its just that the different colors really pop out well and cleanly and the colors jump out at you rather than being dulled. The kitchen there has no windows, and in the morning sunlight, I noticed the ambient light from the windows across the apartment matched the TL950 light in the kitchen perfectly. If I take pictures with a film camera loaded with standard color film (daylight-balanced), pictures taken with available light indoors under typical "cool white" fluorescents lend an awful greenish cast to everything, but those shot under TL950s had perfect color. That says boatloads about the TL950's color accuracy. As for the lower lumen output, I again compensated by overdriving them by about 25%. I needed a rapid-start ballast for these fixtures, and went with a GE/Motorola ballast that overdrives a pair of F32 T8's with a ballast factor of about 1.20 IIRC, not as bright as the Philips I mentioned above but adequate for my needs here, plus I needed rapid-start rather than instant-start for this application. There are (were?) 2700K, 3500K, 4100K, and 6500K versions of these bulbs sold in Europe. Too bad they aren't sold in North America.

I am looking for lots of things, mostly flowers. One exception is that I would like to try growing Wild Leeks (Ramps)this year. If anyone has any bloodroot or Silene Jack Flash that would be great. I realize people are less likely to have these, but I thought I would mention them on the outside chance someone does!

Hi, Y'all-- Whew!! What a week! Sorry I haven't been posting in the last few days, but my sister has been visiting from North Carolina since last Monday (11-7). She only gets out here to Texas about once a year, so when she's here, naturally every last minute of my time gets used up. Even though we've become "scatterlings" in adulthood, my siblings (2 little sisters, 1 "little" brother) and I are still very close, and although we all talk frequently on the phone, it's just not the same as actual visits. Anyway, Cathe's flying back home to the Asheville area this morning, and I'm now trying to catch up on this computer (I have 334 messages--mostly "junk" I suspect--in my Inbox!!!!!). Well, Marsha, to confirm your suspicions, yes, I was/am sending to Debi, and I've been pretty sure for the last couple of months that you were the one sending to me. And, Debi, you'll be receiving a private e-mail from me. I've been taking pics of most of the things I sent to Debi, and here are a few of the items: For April, a gardener's apron-- In May, I sent Debi some hand-tatted doilies and 3 sachets that had tatted "medallions" on the front (sorry...didn't take pics of those). June was a "garden hose" wreath, along with her "Summer" mini-bouquet (I've been sending seasonal mini-bouquets, one for "Spring", "Summer", "Fall" and yet-to-come "Winter", all year)-- July was a table runner and matching placemats, (sorta) hand-painted to match the color of Debi's kitchen-- And for August, an arrangement of paper flowers made out of the brown paper from chicken feed bags-- I got in too big of a hurry in September, and didn't get pics of those items, either, but I'll try to remember before I send her October gift, and post those pics if anyone is interested... Well, I guess I need to close this and try to muddle through all those messages in my Inbox that await my attention. Best regards to all, this has been WAY too much fun!! Cheryl

you need to choose the IE flash player to download with IE and you need to choose the firefox version and download it with firefox if you use those browsers, You must get the proper version and use that browser to download and install. when you go to that link Zep provided called reinstall flash you will see which browser it is for if it is not the rigth one then you see that link that says Different operating system or browser? click that and it will offer you the links to the other options you could run the Secunia OSI and it will tell you what needs updating nad also provide the link directly to it. for any of these make sure any extras are unchecked including on the download page any thing McAfee or Norton related. Secunia Online Software Inspector (OSI)