Isnt ironic how nobody cares about your flashlight collection until the power is out.

Guy's Dropper

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
386
Location
Southern California
Well, it makes sense to me. Some people(Mostly women) have little interest in technology until it is needed. The way they see it, there's no need for a light until its dark enough to significantly hinder them. They are not interested in technological marvels unless they can directly benefit from them. Other people(Like me) are just more interested in things like flashlights. Of course, there are different tastes. One example of this is speakers. I have an acquaintance who is obsessed with speakers. I cannot understand half of what comes out of his mouth when he talks about speakers, and frankly, I do not care that much. Bad speakers annoy me, and good speakers make me happy, but it is not something that I find interesting enough to talk about, or spend huge amounts of money on.
 

cslinger

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Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
755
Location
Nashville, TN
Most folks know that I live by the following.
Always have the the following on you at all times

-The ability to make fire
-The ability to make light
-A decent blade
-Basic tools (Leatherman etc.)

Generally I get the funny jokes from people when they first hear about this or realize I always have a light, knife, matches etc. and then invariably something will occur that causes them to come to me hat in hand asking to use my tools, blade or light. Usually pretty quickly after learning I have these items/capabilities.

People don't realize how often those simple items are useful in a day no matter what your occupation is and fewer still realize how vital they can be in an emergency.
 

h2xblive

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 17, 2006
Messages
295
Most folks know that I live by the following.
Always have the the following on you at all times

-The ability to make fire
-The ability to make light
-A decent blade
-Basic tools (Leatherman etc.)

Generally I get the funny jokes from people when they first hear about this or realize I always have a light, knife, matches etc. and then invariably something will occur that causes them to come to me hat in hand asking to use my tools, blade or light. Usually pretty quickly after learning I have these items/capabilities.

People don't realize how often those simple items are useful in a day no matter what your occupation is and fewer still realize how vital they can be in an emergency.

I'd have to say not having a knife is sometimes a better thing to do. A lot of people live in the city, work in secured areas, travel by airplane a lot, etc.
 

HoopleHead

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
1,312
Location
West Coast, USA
Most folks know that I live by the following.
Always have the the following on you at all times

-The ability to make fire
-The ability to make light
-A decent blade
-Basic tools (Leatherman etc.)


I do the same. Knife #1, fire #2, light #3, then first aid, and then other tools.
 

nerdgineer

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
2,778
Location
Southern California
A lot of different people can make that same point to each other for different kinds of preparation. The stingy can point to people who don't strive to save money until their credit (or job) dries up. The insured can point to people who don't worry about healthcare or other whatever until the bad thing happens. People who have a year's worth of food stored up can point to those who don't, and so on.

I don't know that flashlights and knives are the highest priorities for personal preparation in today's world - although I carry both. I would guess that trying to live debt free, even if it means buying fewer flashlights, would be number one.

I think it was Will Rogers who said, "We're all ignorant, just about different things."
 
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Lynx_Arc

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 1, 2004
Messages
11,212
Location
Tulsa,OK
what is sad is when the power comes back on a day later your *collection* doesn't interest them. They do go out and buy more lights but usually buy the cheapest junk that will do the job.
 

Lynx_Arc

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 1, 2004
Messages
11,212
Location
Tulsa,OK
they will try the cheaper off the shelf stuff like $20 headlamps $10 lanterns and $12 flashlights but get many of them to get into the good stuff with latest emtters is hard for them to spend money on IMO
 

Coop

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 6, 2006
Messages
2,199
Location
Tilburg, the Netherlands (perfectly reachable by U
I love the look on their faces when they come to me for a light/knife/tool they need, and I tell them 'no, you laughed at me for having that, go away'...

Ofcourse, once I had my laugh I'm more than willing to help them out. I found that this method doesn't only provide me with some laughs, it also is an eye opener to a lot of people.
 

georget98

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 28, 2002
Messages
340
Location
Hyannis, MA
they will try the cheaper off the shelf stuff like $20 headlamps $10 lanterns and $12 flashlights but get many of them to get into the good stuff with latest emtters is hard for them to spend money on IMO

"TWELVE DOLLARS for a flashlight?! What is this, NASA or something?"
 

Illum

Flashaholic
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
13,053
Location
Central Florida, USA
lol, you should see the thread on the nASA lights, that little gold minimag thin...you understand the value of that right?!

thats 12 with a couple zeros and then some

I'm with cslinger here
1 flint
1 jet lighter
1 pack of trioxane tabs
1 no-name seondhand multitool, hoping to get a leatherman squirt this xmas
2 lights

thinking about ditching the knife, and get something that I could pry things with...I figured if I really have to use a weapon...theres always the titanium spork:nana:
 

AMD64Blondie

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
1,009
Location
Portland,OR
Just had our power flicker off over here in SW Portland,OR. The first thing my mom asked me was.. "Mike,where's your flashlight collection?". My heart swelled with pride.The lights that got the most use were our 2 Lightwaves (moms 3000 and my 4000),as well as my UK Vizion headlight.
 

bluecrow76

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Messages
638
Location
Tiger Town
We had a trunk or treat and chili cook off at church for Halloween. The location that they setup the chili table was outside with no lights. Someone came looking for me to borrow a light to hold over the table so people could see what the different chili's look like. For some reason, I let them use my mint VB-16 4th gen (I thought it was the least valuable light I had on me). I also pulled out an assortment of other lights, including my quad Cree M@G, and stood over the table grinning from ear to ear. Those that were familiar with my affliction just smiled and thanked me as they walked by getting their food. About 15 minutes later I realized what I had done, dug out a beat up Ultrafire Cree 18650 light and hunted them down to swap and get my VB-16 back.

Long story short: always keep a beater around for the Unenlightened! :D
 

MarNav1

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
3,192
Location
Nebraska
Kind of like when I did audio for a large (3000+) church. Generally the audio was very good, the best compliment was none at all (which I didn't like) not because I wanted fame but because alot of effort went into it. And the worst was handwritten notes about how terrible it sounded. Maybe not a good comparison but what can ya do?
 
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