³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Margaret (Monday letters), it is always MORE efficient to turn off the lights when exiting a room. There is an urban myth about fluorescent tubes taking 20 minutes to cancel out their start-up energy consumption, but this was debunked by the popular US (and one time ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Two) science show Mythbusters. They found out that it only take 23 seconds for this to happen.
Behn, Plymouth

I believe the break-even point is a matter of seconds. You should probably switch them off if you have a long blink.
Ian Woodward, Winchester, UK

By the way, LED-based low-energy lights don't have the same "dim start up" problem that compact fluorescents do.
Mark, Bridge

The Christmas card about "gingers" is stupid but can someone enlighten me, please? I've never heard about discrimination against redheads, but from the repeated coverage on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ it seems to be rampant in the UK. What gives?
Nadja, Bostonian in Moscow, Russia

Surely those people who drink three to four cups of tea or coffee a day have a due to drinking less soft drinks?
Alex K, Bath, UK

Whoever did the captions in the deserves a substantial Christmas bonus.
Timothy, Leeds
Monitor note: Dad, I've told you not to write to me at work!

Re : This practice is still thriving in the villages around Sheffield, where it's traditional to meet in the pub on Boxing Day and sing local hymn tunes. Most villages have their own tunes, and woe betide anyone who sings the conventional tune, or even worse, a neighbouring village's!
Alex, Sheffield

Following I'm going to send this letter in anticipation of someone either questioning the meaning of "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at" or, even worse, stating that it means "On Ilkley Moor by yourself". If MM is really on the ball, this letter will directly follow someone who's fallen into one of those two categories.
It actually means "On Ilkley Moor without a hat" in a Yorkshire dialect.
I'll get my 'at.
Ben Merritt, Sheffield, England

I am confused. Why has the end of the ninth year of the 21st Century become the end of a decade ()? Are we perpetuating the media myth that the 20th Century ended a year early in 1999? Perhaps we should realise that if journalists were good at arithmetic they would be doing a useful job.
John, Northampton, UK

Why are we celebrating the end of the decade? It does not finish until next year. There was no year zero. 1-10 not 0 - 9. Is this more dumbing down?
Helen Gauld, Dundee

A top 10 best letters of the Noughties list anyone?
Rory, Grimsby

In the interests of avoiding being in contempt of court, please could you inform me if any of my comments have broken the injunction on Tiger Woods reporting (Monday's Paper Monitor).
Thank you.
Andrew, Malvern, UK

Kailyn LeAnne (Monday letters), I thought it was the accepted truth among Monitorites that this was the ?
David, Poole

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