The Mundane Matters Society

The Mundane Matters Society Ordinary things. Serious attention.

One of my favorite dull objects is the Centennial Light Bulb, located at 4550 East Avenue, in Livermore, California at t...
06/15/2026

One of my favorite dull objects is the Centennial Light Bulb, located at 4550 East Avenue, in Livermore, California at the fire station there. It is viewable by the public and was first turned on in 1901 (with its centennial celebrated on June 8, 2001) and has been on nearly continuously the entire time, barring a few power outages, two moves (in 1903, when the firehouse moved to a new location, and again in 1976 when it was moved to its present location with full police and fire es**rt, and officially removed from the city power grid, which is subject to outages and surges, and connected to a generator) and one renovation, in 1937, when it was switched off for a week. There has been one interruption in recent days, when the generator failed in May of 2013 and it was off for 9.5 hours. When this happened, and it was switched back on, it briefly shined at its original 60W for a few hours, before dimming back down to its more typical 4W that it has maintained for decades. The cause of the brief spike in brightness is unknown.
The bulb celebrated its millionth hour birthday on June 27th, 2015, which was the most recent celebration associated with the Centennial Light Bulb. While there are other light bulbs that have been burning for over 100 years, the Centennial Light Bulb is officially the oldest.
While modern LED bulbs are supposedly rated for 50,000 hours or more, they naturally have many more parts and are subject to planned obsolescence, so internal components frequently break down well before that. Therefore it is no surprise that only very early light bulbs have ever been seen to last stupifyingly long times, and it is not expected that we will see other "centennial bulbs" emerge in the future.
In fact, the Centennial Light Bulb has now exceeded even the life span of the longest recorded (confirmed) human life: Jeanne Calment of France, who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old.
Photo from the Centennial Light Bulb's website.
Enby 37, Size 10 US women's shoes or 8 men's. No banana for scale as it's not my photo.

Yesterday I had a completely smooth Mars Bar. I wonder or this is a cost cutting measure in this chocolate bar from now ...
06/15/2026

Yesterday I had a completely smooth Mars Bar. I wonder or this is a cost cutting measure in this chocolate bar from now on.
34, Male, UK. Don’t like bananas. This photo was taken on a 1972 ex British Airtours Leyland Leopard I was a passenger on, going down the M40 motorway.

This is a tree in my back yard. It's the 2nd tree in that spot in my lifetime. The first tree popped up from the ground ...
06/15/2026

This is a tree in my back yard. It's the 2nd tree in that spot in my lifetime. The first tree popped up from the ground shortly after my grandparents bought the plot in 1949 and they just decided to let it grow. No one could ever figure out what species it was until the year I dated a tree surgeon (that isn't a lead up to a punchline. I really dated a tree surgeon). He said it's no specific species, just a w**d tree. Pretty dull.
As the sapling grew into a tree, my Dad and Grandpa built our family's first house in America by hand (except for the foundation and electrical) after work and on the weekends. They finished it in 1950.
Over the years the tree grew tall. Dad met Mom. Grandpa passed away. My brother and I came along and played under the tree many, many times. I'd sit on the porch in its shade with my Grandma as she told me stories of growing up in a war zone in Italy.
I grew up as the tree grew taller than all the surrounding trees. Grandma passed away and I moved into the house. My daughter came along and played under the tree with her friends many, many times. I sat with my daughter on the porch in the shade of the tree and told her stories of her Great Grandmother who grew up in a war zone in Italy. And how her Grandpa and Great Grandpa built this house so we can be safe and loved.
My daughter grew up. The tree grew old. After 70 years there was more dead wood than living, so Dad and I arranged to have it cut down. Oddly, it felt really sad, like a part of my family history was gone.
Dad passed away suddenly a few months later.
I kept telling myself that it was nice to have the extra room and light in the yard. But it seemed kind of empty without the tree.
Then a few years later, this new tree just popped up in the same spot with the same leaves. It must have regenerated from the roots. I suspect this is what happened in 1949. Like my grandparents, I decided to let it grow.
I hope my future grandchildren will play underneath it. I'll tell them stories of their mother, great grandparents, and their great great grandparents from Italy.
It may be a dull tree. It may be a w**d tree. But it's my family tree.

One thing that I have been consistent with, that I have done for as long as I can remember, is save every cat whisker I ...
06/15/2026

One thing that I have been consistent with, that I have done for as long as I can remember, is save every cat whisker I have ever found from every cat that I have ever owned. Yesterday I found number 1001.
Not allowed bananas, safety pin for scale.
Male, 64 size 11.

This is peak automotive climate control. Three k***s, two buttons. Instantly understandable, zero input delay. M 40, my ...
06/15/2026

This is peak automotive climate control. Three k***s, two buttons. Instantly understandable, zero input delay.
M 40, my car has 10 buttons, one k**b, and a touch screen interface if you can’t get it figured out…

Cutting my son’s banana for breakfast and encountered this monstrosity. Never seen anything like it. Grabbed another ban...
06/15/2026

Cutting my son’s banana for breakfast and encountered this monstrosity. Never seen anything like it.
Grabbed another banana from the same bunch, totally fine.
Any ideas?
M, 51, Size 11. Deformed banana for scale…

I can’t be the only one who gets excited when I see industrial chemicals traveling down the Interstate and ask my passen...
06/14/2026

I can’t be the only one who gets excited when I see industrial chemicals traveling down the Interstate and ask my passengers to Google the UN numbers.
Today,I saw a particularly interesting load with a radiation Haz-id and asked my wife to google the UN number to confirm. As expected it was just your everyday Uranium transport. My tolerant wife let me speed to the next rest stop so I could get a video and screenshot a decent picture. Obviously, I know Uranium has to be transported, but would have expected more of an es**rt if I was asked randomly. Dull for most I am sure but added some excitement for me on our road trip to Tulsa.
M39 Shoe size 11 speeding down the interstate so no time for a banana.

Thank you all for the wonderful comments herein.The answer is in there, just keep reading.Being a first time visitor to ...
06/14/2026

Thank you all for the wonderful comments herein.
The answer is in there, just keep reading.
Being a first time visitor to London from down under, while riding the London Eye today I noticed from above this round building within another building which has me puzzled. I thought this group would be able clarify its function for me, it looks like it once was able to raise and lower like an old town gas storage tank.
M 67 10.5 US shoe size. No banana taken on ride

In the next few months, McDonald’s will relaunch the McRib sandwich. I will order one, with a regular fries and regular ...
06/14/2026

In the next few months, McDonald’s will relaunch the McRib sandwich. I will order one, with a regular fries and regular Dr. Pepper, and eat it in my car. And then I will not eat another one for a year, if they launch again. I don’t want more, and I don’t want less.

🔴 Vigilance with gasPay attention to the color of the stove or stove flames.* If the flame is blue everything is fine th...
06/14/2026

🔴 Vigilance with gas
Pay attention to the color of the stove or stove flames.
* If the flame is blue everything is fine the gas is well mixed and the temperature of the flames is around 1500-1700 degrees Celsius.
* If the flame is red / orange you are sold a gas mixed with a higher dose of oxygen which leads to a lower flame temperature around 900-1200 degrees Celsius. Which means more gas consumption
Lack of oxygen in the room can cause color to change. But if there’s not enough oxygen, butane suffers incomplete combustion that produces a toxic gas called carbon monoxide. In case an orange yellow flame is observed.
Reason why, you should always open the doors and windows of the room where you are cooking to allow oxygen in.
No banana for scale. Eric has eaten them all

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