le lightbulb mal feit

I bought a compact fluorescent light bulb today, to replace the burned-out bulb in one of my primary lamps. I thought it would be worth $6 to find out if I could use such things comfortably, or if they flicker. I still don't know. The light bulb was broken when I got it out of the package. I can't tell if I broke it in the process of getting it out of the package. Probably. It was an awfully uncooperative package. (It still seems like a design flaw, whether the bulb is too fragile or the package is too hard to open.) The manufacturer is Feit Electric Company, and they say on the package that they will replace defective bulbs for up to 2 years. Nothing about defective packaging, considering their area of expertise.

Incandescent light bulbs almost always break the same way. Air gets inside the bulb, the filament burns, and then the filament detaches from the base. (*pop* *flare* *tinkle*) With this compact fluorescent, which may or may not be typical, a flake of glass is missing from the coil itself. I don't know where it went. I'm not crazy about the possibility of a 1cm x 2cm flake of stray glass wandering around loose in my living room, particularly when my primary lamp is burned out. But the bulb dropped about 4" from the package to my lap when I finally got the package open, and the flake of loose glass was not in the package, nor in my lap, nor on the floor nearby. I suspect it may be in California, where it's not doing anybody any good.