CANDLEPOWER EQUALS AUTHORITY: So I bought this LED flashlight, and tried it out last night. It works pretty well — on a dark night, it illuminated houses and trees a couple of blocks away. That’s useful in a variety of circumstances. (My brother, once a nighttime caretaker at a nature park, used to say that at night “candlepower equals authority.”) It’s very solidly built, though if you want a flashlight that doubles as a billyclub you’re probably better off with one of the big 6-D-cell Maglites.

I kinda wish I’d sprung for the 1000 lumen model now, though.