So, as I mentioned, the gun show is being held in the ballroom (for lack of a better term) at the Hilton here in town. Ballroom. No windows. Large room. And i’m standing there chatting with a vendor when the lights go out. Now, the emergency lights did not come on, so that tells me the lights going out was not a function of a power outage or other unexpected event. Rather, someone simply must have turned the wrong switches down in the basement. Here’s the interesting part….as several hundred people are standing around in the dark, a handful had the presence of mind to use the flashlight function on their phones. But a very, very small handful of people had personal flashlights on them…myself included. Thus, it was easy to see who was drinking the same flavor of Kool-Aid as me and who wasn’t.
It was…amusing.
A “small handful” out of a room of gun show attendees – wow!
I always carry one or two flashlights along with the other stuff. I visited NYC a few years ago and the little flashlight was about the only thing of mine that I could take with me. Somehow on that trip I had occasion to pull out the little flashlight for something (also can be a good crutch if you forget your glasses and have trouble reading fine print). The NYC folks in my meeting thought it was weird to carry a flashlight – !?
I have two flashlights on my person 90% of the time. They are useful even if the lights don’t go out! I am constantly using one or the other to find an item that fell behind or under a piece of furniture or something to that effect.
Cough, nerds! Cough. I started on just a 30 watt panel when I went off grid, back when LED flashlights were weak and pathetic. I didn’t even have lights on my commuter bicycle until more folks started moving out there. I didn’t sit around in the dark, but I also never had a desire/need to rely on flashlights all that much. Certainly not enough to wear one at all times. Not saying it is wrong, just that to me it seems to almost be a tool in search of a problem. Of course, I am out in the desert and starlight is pretty good here, so I might be spoiled.
So you would just walk around in the dark?
I have multiple “buildings” ( junk trailers ) I went to and fro and didn’t need lights. Half the time in one I didn’t need a light, as I knew where everything was. Go to the bathroom? I knew where it was. And its a big hole ( pee by ear ). On the bike, I knew pretty much where all the bad stretches of dirt road was. And as I said, starlight. At the time I was poor and every battery I could stretch out was less money out of my pocket. And after you get in the habit…I still had a room light and a few scattered flashlights, they just weren’t a constant necessity.
Is one of your multiple “buildings” a Hilton in MT?
If you let your eyes adjust most outdoor activities are easy unless it is the full wax/wane of the moon. Foolishly shining a light around just destroys night vision and keeps you from seeing what is around you.
Commander Zero, I am happy that you were able to demonstrate to the sheeple in the room that there was one less helpless person in the room. The expression that comes to mind is to “lead by example.” There’s no need to preach to others concerning the error of their ways if their own eyes provide proof-positive of that.
This one example could be applied to so many areas for which the general population is hopelessly ill-prepared.
I keep a small LED aluminum, tubular flashlight on my keychain. It is powered by a single AAA battery. It is less than 3 inches long. It is a rare week that goes by when I don’t find myself in circumstances where I need it. We’re told that a pistol is what we use to fight our way to get to a rifle. Well, having this small light when I need often makes it unnecessary for me to even begin looking for a Maglite or its equivalent.
While it is not an illuminating powerhouse, “Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”
I recommend that anyone buying a small flashlight that they intend to carry in their pocket buy one that turns on/off with a screwing motion. I had bad luck with the type that has the on/off button on the back of the flashlight. It was always getting turned on accidentally. With the screw-type on/off switch this can happen, but it is much less frequent.
same thing happened the other day in the vault where i work. unannounced check of the emergency lights, post wide. they all failed and it was pitch black. reached for the TWO lights on my key chain. it was around the corner hanging on my backpack. had to feel my way to it,feeling stupid the whole way. i will be putting another one at my work station monday. and all those “automatic” emergency lights that failed, same ones that failed last test. when facilities came to check i cut my light off and let him stumble over a couple of things to make the point. maybe they’ll get fixed now, but i ain’t taking any bets.
Well Commander, one would hope that these people would learn from this, but I have my doubts.
A few years back the lights went off in an Italian++
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jjjjyuiuyrfgbRT restaurant and there were two of us with backup lighting. I loaned mine to staff so that they could find their way around the kitchen until the power came back on a few minutes later. The tables all had candles so navigating the dining rooms wasn’t too big a deal once your eyes adjusted, but the kitchen staff were SOL. I’ve acquired a couple of the tiny 1 cell AAA lights that work very well, one of which is rechargeable and goes on my EDC knife case. There’s also a nice rechargeable ball cap light that goes in my vest. They do come in handy.
I always carry a 2xAA LED Pro Mini-Mag (it was black, but almost all of the paint is worn, so it’s now aluminum colored). It functions with a twist of the head, but I have added an aftermarket push-button switch tail-cap. This requires both pushing the button AND twisting the head to turn it on. It’s remarkable how often the light would go on in my pocket with the twist head alone. I would notice it when it would get warm, but the batteries would by then be severely discharged. I also used a Vise-Grip to very lightly crush the threads on the new tail-cap. It takes a lot more force to remove it for access to the batteries. The other thing that annoyed me with it was the rattle the batteries made. I wrapped a Post-It note around the batteries, adhesive side out, and inserted them into the flashlight body. The adhesive holds it in place, and now there is no more rattle. The batteries slide in and out smooth as silk. It’s now perfect for my needs, and it’s amazing how many people are surprised when I whip it out when needed. They always ask me why I carry a flashlight and never put 2 and 2 together even though at that moment a flashlight was needed. The numbers of people that will be totally helpless in an emergency is staggering.
Yup, I’m one of those who carry a light everywhere. Good old 4-Sevens Quark-123
Years ago before TSA, on airplanes always carried two mini mag flash lights , in Greenville South Carolina airport local pd was performing passenger screening. Young female officer looked at both minimags, asked why two lights. I told her was afraid of the dark. ( 6ft 35 year old male) . I did not tell her they work as lights and kubatons. Other older sergeant standing nearby just laughed and waved me through the checkpoint. No knifes, no firearms allowed, flashlight were considered harmless.