Two related notes:
At the theatre I work for we use CFL's for the house lights on an old CD80 Strand dimmer rack (well, used to, the Iowa floods killed the rack and the switchboard). They dim quite nicely, minus the minimum dimming percent (cathode heating). We plan to flip them out, once we get back into the building full time, as the old R-40's burn out. For those that don't work with them, the Strand rack is a semi-standard wave-chopping dimmer system.
An odd use I found for dimming a non-dim is breaker locating. In the same building as above we have WAY too many panels (it was built in 1928 and remodeled four times). I needed to find a breaker to switch out two dead dimmers with three-way switches. I found the breaker by dimming the CFL's, which caused the panel to hum. Once I found the panel I killed breakers until the lights died. (I obviously verified no power before I worked on it, I don't trust this building).
