In an effort to promote these hateful lights, my local supermarket
is "giving them away" for 1 penny each.

I'm right-well pleased with the $2 21W CFLs from Home Despot. Their balance
is close to daylight (as confirmed with digital photographs taken under
their light), and in a glass (or even plastic) fixture, you'd never know
they were fluorescents. *

They're not only cheaper to operate than incandescents (regular or halide),
but they come on _instantly_. Faster, actually, than incandescents, which
you can see "ramp up".

Last year Home Despot gave away 12W CFLs on Black Friday. I stuck mine in
the fixture next to my condo's front door. It's always burning out, because
the owners' association doesn't understand why they should use 130V, rather
than 120V, lamps.

* In my kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms, I've hung beautiful glass
fixtures from IKEA. They're white glass, and have the sort of utterly simple
design that will be considered classic even 1000 years from now. I just hope
they survive that long, because IKEA doesn't make them any more. (Natch.) I
had to scramble to find the four I have. By the way, they replaced four of
those awful "tin-can" spotlights.