# Things that are better than they used to be



## Capt Worley PE (Jan 21, 2014)

As much as I pi55 and moan about how crappy things are today, things are generally much better than they used to be.

1) Road markings - I grew up before reflective paint and Bott's dots. Driving on a two lane country road at night, in the rain, was an adventure, one that ended badly far more than it does today.

2) Headlights - Kinda related to 1). before 1984 or so, headlights were required to be sealed beam units and halogen lights were forbade. The headlights flat out sucked compared to the lights nowadys (except, over time a lot of the cheap plastic gets cloudy).

3) Word Processing - Put tons of secretaries out of work, but it sure was a huge step up over the typewriter when it came to revising your work or correcting errors.

4) Cheap foreign made clothing - complain all you want about the loss of American textile jobs, but foreign workers produce good of simillar quality at much lower prices. Enables you to spend less income on clothing and more on other stuff.

5) Industrial farming - I remember all the laments of the small farmers in the 80s, and all the Farm-aids, etc put on by Willie and John Cougar, but holy cow, we are growing so much food the government pays folks (and, yes, big agra) NOT to grow food. Think about that.

6) Heart Medicine - When i was a kid in the seventies, heart attacks were usually fatal...and out of the blue. That isn't the case these days, and there are all sorts of meds out there to lower bp, lower cholesterol, and after the fact (or pre attack) surgery has made great strides.


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## engineergurl (Jan 21, 2014)

The whole post 1979 world is better, just cause I'm in it


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## NJmike PE (Jan 21, 2014)

military ordnance: back in the day a bombardier sighted drop and hoped he hit his mark. Today, we have laser guided missiles, and even some with cameras on them so we can watch the $h!t blow up.


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## YMZ PE (Jan 21, 2014)

Kids' TV shows. Not only has the animation gotten significantly better thanks to CGI, there's an actual intent to instruct while telling a good story. Examples: My Little Pony, TMNT, Bubble Guppies.

And Stephen Colbert's a lot funnier now than when he was on The Daily Show.


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## knight1fox3 (Jan 21, 2014)

-Data connectivity and all your information within arms reach.

-Internet speeds

-Tech advances with computers

-Digital broadcast TV (w/ high def)

-Cell phones

-Laser/InkJet printing

-Online education programs


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## matt267 PE (Jan 21, 2014)

I was going to say the economy, but this looks like a serious thread. So I'll go with porn.


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## wilheldp_PE (Jan 21, 2014)

YMZ PE said:


> Kids' TV shows.




Seriously? Some of the stuff my niece and nephew watched were tolerable, but some of the crap is unwatchable. Give me some 80's GI Joe, Transformers, and TMNT over any of that crap.


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## Dleg (Jan 21, 2014)

Internet - used properly, it makes you look much smarter than your predecessors (of course the opposite holds true, too)

On-line education - I am able to attend a top rated graduate program from half-way around the world. Pretty damn cool.


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 22, 2014)

TVs - $350 would get you a 19" crt back in 1989. Now it'll get you a 32" flat screen.

Anyone remember those godawful console TVs?


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## EM_PS (Jan 22, 2014)

^console TVs rocked, IMO. sure lasted longer than todays plastic-fantastic-3yrs-&amp;-done stuff


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Dunno...I have a 1992 crt that is still going strong.

Jury's still out on the flatscreens, though. Oldest one I have is...maybe six?


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## Ship Wreck PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Battery Drills


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## NJmike PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Capt Worley PE said:


> Dunno...I have a 1992 crt that is still going strong.
> 
> Jury's still out on the flatscreens, though. Oldest one I have is...maybe six?


agreed. I bought a Samsung 32" LCD in the beginning of 2007 and it lasted until June 2013.


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## Ship Wreck PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Old TV's never Die.. I still have a 25" RCA color console TV with remote that I got in 1983 at Kmart for $550.00. It had a hard life, but now it seldom get used.


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## snickerd3 (Jan 22, 2014)

NJmike PE said:


> Capt Worley PE said:
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> > Dunno...I have a 1992 crt that is still going strong.
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NO!!! don't say such things. I don't want to have to buy two tvs this year. we got our LCD tv 6 yrs ago.


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## YMZ PE (Jan 22, 2014)

wilheldp_PE said:


> YMZ PE said:
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> > Kids' TV shows.
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Try watching that 80s stuff now and tell me what you think. It's probably a lot better in your memories.

I have to admit though, the toys kicked more ass back then. They were mechanically clever, whereas now they just make noise and light up.


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## snickerd3 (Jan 22, 2014)

I have 3 seasons of fraggle rock, 3 seasons of duck tales, a box set of carebears, the she-ra movie, a box set of the smurfs. They are awesome and way better than the Computer animation of today


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## MetsFan (Jan 22, 2014)

YMZ PE said:


> wilheldp_PE said:
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Transformers and Voltron yes, but DuckTales, like snickerd3 said, was and still is awesome.



snickerd3 said:


> NJmike PE said:
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Same here, I bought our 52" Samsung LCD in 2008. Though it will be nice to not to have to pay $2000 for another one.


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## YMZ PE (Jan 22, 2014)

I concede on Duck Tales.


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## snickerd3 (Jan 22, 2014)

minisnick loves duck tales!!!


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 22, 2014)

YMZ PE said:


> wilheldp_PE said:
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I think kids' TV always sucks if you don't have some kind of tie to it. I liked Scooby Doo, Pink Panther, Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Hour, and Bullwinkle far more than I did Sigmund and the Seamonsters, Superfriends, and Scooby's Allstar Laff-a-lympics, even though just a couple of years seperated them.


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## goodal (Jan 22, 2014)

Anamaniacs rocked and still does.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Jan 22, 2014)

Scooby Do FTW


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## roadwreck (Jan 22, 2014)

Cars!

From safety to reliability, power, performance, comfort and accessories. Aside from the nostalgia of a classic car there is pretty much no comparison for the vehicles today and their counterparts of past generations.


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Cameras - No more sending off film to be developed and paying through the nose for it....and the pics look a lot better.


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## cdcengineer (Jan 22, 2014)

Internet porn. There's an improvement


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## matt267 PE (Jan 22, 2014)

How about pharmaceuticals? They have a pill to fix everything these days.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Jan 22, 2014)

roadwreck said:


> Cars!
> 
> From safety to reliability, power, performance, comfort and accessories. Aside from the nostalgia of a classic car there is pretty much no comparison for the vehicles today and their counterparts of past generations.




1959 Malibu vs 2009 Malibu: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/a-2009-chevy-malibu-destroys-a-1959-bel-air-literally/



Capt Worley PE said:


>


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## Ship Wreck PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Bolt-On women parts.


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Dexman PE said:


> roadwreck said:
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If you watch carefully, you can see the IP of the 59 bow out from the engine hitting the firewall just before the left side of it explodes in the dummy's face.


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## snickerd3 (Jan 22, 2014)

i always thought those old iron boats would hold up better in crashes


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## csb (Jan 22, 2014)

Holy crap! That's an awesome video.

O2 sat measuring. That little glowy dot thing they put on your finger to figure out if you've got enough oxygen in your blood? It used to be an incredibly painful butterfly needle test.

This post brought to you by a sick kid of the 80s.


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## cdcengineer (Jan 22, 2014)

What if two 59's hit each other? Might be different outcome.


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## Master slacker (Jan 22, 2014)

matt267 said:


> How about pharmaceuticals? They have a pill to fix everything these days.




As opposed to "Eat less, move more." That would cure more ills than pills can.


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## csb (Jan 22, 2014)

House wiring


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jan 22, 2014)

csb said:


> O2 sat measuring. That little glowy dot thing they put on your finger to figure out if you've got enough oxygen in your blood? It used to be an incredibly painful butterfly needle test.




I found out how annoying the glowy dot thing can be when are you are hospitalized for days at a time. They're clunky and get in the way when you try to do anything with your hands.


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## Road Guy (Jan 22, 2014)

as much as I cant stand family practice type doctors. medicine is pretty insane good...

my dad had a Cow valve put in his heart about 8 years ago, as he was too young at the time for a pig valve..

Gots to be a weird thing knowing you have an animal part inside you keeping you alive...

my parents church used to acquire chic fil a signs once a month and put in his front yard (the kind with the cows on it)


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## Ble_PE (Jan 22, 2014)

F&amp;%kin' beer and I'm planning on having 1 or 10 of them tonight.



VTEnviro said:


> csb said:
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> 
> > O2 sat measuring. That little glowy dot thing they put on your finger to figure out if you've got enough oxygen in your blood? It used to be an incredibly painful butterfly needle test.
> ...


You shouldn't have been trying to spank the monkey at the hospital anyway.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Jan 22, 2014)

Ble_PE said:


> F&amp;%kin' beer and I'm planning on having 1 or 10 of them tonight.
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What do you think the nurses are for?


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## YMZ PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Dexman PE said:


> Ble_PE said:
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> > F&amp;%kin' beer and I'm planning on having 1 or 10 of them tonight.
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I'm telling Mrs. Dex.


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## snickerd3 (Jan 22, 2014)

Road Guy said:


> as much as I cant stand family practice type doctors. medicine is pretty insane good...
> 
> my dad had a Cow valve put in his heart about 8 years ago, as he was too young at the time for a pig valve..
> 
> ...


skins grafts are much better than they used to be. My uncle was caught in a fire while in the military 30+ years ago now. He has pig skin grafts on probably 20-30 % of his body.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Jan 22, 2014)

YMZ PE said:


> Dexman PE said:
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I already tease her about it.


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## matt267 PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Master slacker said:


> matt267 said:
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> > How about pharmaceuticals? They have a pill to fix everything these days.
> ...


Well, they have a pill that will help you eat less. I'm sure there's a pill to help you move more too.


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## knight1fox3 (Jan 22, 2014)

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices


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## blybrook PE (Jan 22, 2014)

Ok, another thing thats gotten better is EB.com!

Who can complain that this site hasn't gotten better over the years!


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 23, 2014)

Memory storage devices.

My Dad worked with computers with gigantic tape drives in the seventies, so the 5.25 floppy was HUGE when it came out. I'm amazed at how much jump drive and SD card memory you can get dirt cheap these days.


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## csb (Jan 23, 2014)

^ no joke! I remember shelling out $45 for a 16MB jump drive. Now vendors hand out 1GB for free.

Synthetic winter clothing. Anyone else have giant down mittens? They were warm, until they were soaked. Same thing with the crappy kids' boots. I spent most of my childhood with bread bags on my feet and hands underneath the cold weather gear.


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## roadwreck (Jan 23, 2014)

roadwreck said:


> Cars!
> 
> From safety to reliability, power, performance, comfort and accessories. Aside from the nostalgia of a classic car there is pretty much no comparison for the vehicles today and their counterparts of past generations.




I take it all back, the pinnacle of automotive design was achieved in the 90's and it never even went into production!!!

&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00pxJAH9iUQ


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jan 23, 2014)

csb said:


> Synthetic winter clothing. Anyone else have giant down mittens? They were warm, until they were soaked. Same thing with the crappy kids' boots. I spent most of my childhood with bread bags on my feet and hands underneath the cold weather gear.




That's more the fault of the shell than the down.

I'm a fan of down. I'm still am stoked about the two down throw blankets I got I got for $4 each. Perfect size to pull up while watching TV. The thrift store here in town is awesome.


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## Road Guy (Jan 23, 2014)

I think Jimmy Buffett has gotten better with age...


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jan 23, 2014)

^I'm sure recent legislation in CO has nothing to do with it.

&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i6OrOZwtmA


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## engineergurl (Jan 23, 2014)

kitchen appliances... well just house hold appliances in general... I can get home at 5:30 pm and have a roast and potatoes ready to eat, a load of laundry washed and put in the dryer, run the vacuum and steam mop all in under an hour...


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## Dexman PE PMP (Jan 23, 2014)

^^^ Sounds like several things that need to be done at my house. When would you be able to come over?


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## wilheldp_PE (Jan 23, 2014)

engineergurl said:


> kitchen appliances... well just house hold appliances in general... I can get home at 5:30 pm and have a roast and potatoes ready to eat, a load of laundry washed and put in the dryer, run the vacuum and steam mop all in under an hour...




They are definitely faster, more efficient, and easier to use. BUT, they have WAY more moving parts that can fail and therefore do not last nearly as long as the old ones. Plus, the new ones tend to catch fire a lot more than the old ones.


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## csb (Jan 23, 2014)

Why you always gotta be talking about house fires?

GPS technology. (wait, is this a repeat?)


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## wilheldp_PE (Jan 23, 2014)

csb said:


> Why you always gotta be talking about house fires?




Cause I literally look at them every day at work. Why you guys always gotta be talking about engineering stuff?


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## YMZ PE (Jan 24, 2014)

csb said:


> Why you always gotta be talking about house fires?




He also often talks about floods caused by the weak point of connection on Floodsafe hoses. That cancels out the house fires talk, no? (Because a flood would put out a fire, in a house...nevermind)


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## matt267 PE (Jan 24, 2014)

Talking with colleagues, it seems that fe/pe study material is much better these days.


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## wilheldp_PE (Jan 24, 2014)

YMZ PE said:


> csb said:
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> > Why you always gotta be talking about house fires?
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Nuh uh...I only did that once.


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 24, 2014)

wilheldp_PE said:


> engineergurl said:
> 
> 
> > kitchen appliances... well just house hold appliances in general... I can get home at 5:30 pm and have a roast and potatoes ready to eat, a load of laundry washed and put in the dryer, run the vacuum and steam mop all in under an hour...
> ...




Cords are a LOT shorter as well. When I was a kid, 8' cords were the norm. Everything seems to be 4' or less these days.


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## csb (Jan 24, 2014)

YMZ PE said:


> csb said:
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> > Why you always gotta be talking about house fires?
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And rock crushes house.

I was totally joking. House fires have always freaked me out. I think I took all the fire safety info in elementary school and became neurotic about it. Then, when I was in second grade, my mom nearly did set the house on fire. She had ivory handled forks and one was near the open flame on the stove and POOF! flames shot up to the ceiling.

Also, I rarely talk about engineering things here on engineer boards.


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## wilheldp_PE (Jan 24, 2014)

Capt Worley PE said:


> wilheldp_PE said:
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That's cause people are dumber...or at least, more litigious. There were a spate of lawsuits in the 90's and 00's where people sued manufacturers because they tripped over cords, or cords got tangled in things. Now the standard cord length on a toaster or coffeemaker is about 2 feet.


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## YMZ PE (Jan 25, 2014)

csb said:


> Also, I rarely talk about engineering things here on engineer boards.




Is that why we're called Engineer Boards? I thought this was a forum for making wiener and boobie jokes.


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## NJmike PE (Jan 25, 2014)

Boobies.....


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## cement (Jan 25, 2014)

definitely.


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## matt267 PE (Jan 25, 2014)

YMZ PE said:


> csb said:
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> > Also, I rarely talk about engineering things here on engineer boards.
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Don't forget about hookers, blow, and bacon.


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 27, 2014)

YMZ PE said:


> csb said:
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> > Also, I rarely talk about engineering things here on engineer boards.
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As long as we're discussing bewbs, I note that you don't show yours on your avatar any more.


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## envirotex (Jan 27, 2014)

^^^That was just for breast cancer awareness month...


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## Capt Worley PE (Jan 27, 2014)

Seemed longer than that. maybe I was staring too much.


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## Capt Worley PE (Feb 24, 2014)

Flashlights!

Those LED flashlights are both brighter and have longer battery life that the old incandescent ones. And, with less power required, they can be smaller, too.

WIN!


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## NJmike PE (Feb 24, 2014)

I love the ones that can be worn on your head. Makes repair work easier.


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## Capt Worley PE (Feb 24, 2014)

^YES! I have two sets of those, one for the house, and one in the car.


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## NJmike PE (Feb 24, 2014)

It came in handy when we lost power


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## Capt Worley PE (Feb 24, 2014)

I put it on my head and run through the house yelling, "I'm a train! WOOOoooooOOOOOO!!!!!!"


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## NJmike PE (Feb 24, 2014)

that works too


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## knight1fox3 (Feb 24, 2014)

Capt Worley PE said:


> ^YES! I have two sets of those, one for the house, and one in the car.


Great for computer repair too.

And actually I just picked up 2 different CREE LED type flash lights (300 L each). And wow do they put out a lot of light. It's pretty awesome.


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## YMZ PE (Feb 24, 2014)

I need to get a set of those. The last time I replaced a light switch I held a flashlight between my teeth the whole time.


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