December 21 - National Flashlight Day in the U.S.A.

nPosted on December 21, 2018

Key Points

(Celebrated on Winter Solstice)

nMost people in the Northern Hemisphere, while going about their business today, the shortest day of the year, will not have to use a flashlight. That’s because we often move between lighted indoor spaces to lighted outdoor spaces, and back again.

nAnd those of us who DO need a flashlight, today, will use a device that I would never have imagined using as a flashlight even a handful of years ago:

I use my iPhone as a flashlight
WAY more often, these days, than
I use a flashlight that isn’t also
a camera, computer, and phone!

nBut many of us do still use regular old flashlights, too, the kind that look quite a bit like the first patented flashlight, which was invented in 1899.

Above, the first flashlight.
Below, a modern flashlight.

nAnd some of us use other sorts of flashlights, too, like headlamps or diver’s lamps. Doctors use special halogen penlights and otoscopes and ophthalmoscopes. There are lots and lots of other specialty flashlights as well.

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I associate flashlights with camping, but others may well associate flashlights with car repair or cave explorations (spelunking) or reading books under the covers after bedtime or their job inspecting airplanes or or or or…!