[jyl]

The mercury in a CFL is no big hazard. Most of it is contained in the tube even if broken. A very small amount dissipates in the air, but presumably you're not putting your face to the floor and inhaling deeply. Yes, they've actually done tests of this.

If you're worried about the environment, I've read some comparisons of that mercury versus the mercury released by the coal-burning power plant to power the incandescent. Its more or less a wash, and of course the CFL's mercury can be recycled.

I have mostly CFLs, with a few regular incandescents and some halogens. I've been overall happy with the CFLs, indoors and out. I can't see any flicker with the CFLs - they are not like the old crappy tubes at all.

However, some cheap "dimmable" CFLs I tried - they were junk. So the bulbs on dimmers remain non-CFL. Eventually, when they either make a decent dimmable CFL or when LEDs become affordable, I'll switch those out too.