As is often the case, the most interesting thing I can find this morning is from Virginia Postrel. The Texas building codes have included a new rule that will limit lighting options for new businesses in the interest of reducing electricity usage. Read that to mean "fluorescent" as opposed to "incandescent" lighting in the future.

In her column in D Magazine, she looks specifically at Victoria's Secret where artful arrays of lights make the merchandise, and the customers, "glow". Regulation of lighting will change that experience.

Here's an excerpt that gets to the heart of her message:

The dirty secret is that this is really an aesthetic battle. It's the latest version of the old American conflict between pleasure and Puritanism (the triumph of the latter led to the current smoking ban in Dallas restaurants). Efficiency-minded engineers regard anything more than simple illumination as waste. Environmental activists are repulsed by "unnecessary" consumption. The boards that set energy codes and evaluate their effectiveness include engineers and environmentalists. They don't include artists or designers, much less lingerie shoppers.

Let me tell you, as a middle-aged woman, this does not make me happy. I don't like overhead lights or flourescent lights. If I had my way we'd have 25-watt incandescent bulbs in every fixture except where I cook, make up or read. Ms. Postrel is just a few years behind me. Perhaps it's a personal issue with her, too.

LATER: The more I think about this, the more insane it sounds. Women flock to Dallas to shop. For Pete's sake, it's a "market city". What the hell do they think we go there for? The Cowboys?