Friday, January 24, 2020

Is it ever ok to say mean or sarcastic comments to someone?

In general I think of myself as a good person and rarely do I say anything mean or negative to other people, but every once in a while I will catch myself making a negative comment on the internet. Often after it is posted, I will think about it and wonder if I did the wrong thing by posting something that might hurt the feelings of another person. So I started thinking, is it ever ok to say mean or sarcastic comments to someone?

Although I don't necessarily think it is a good idea to do this, I think there are certain situations where it may be acceptable. For example if someone says or does something stupid, I think it is fair to call them out on what they did or said that was wrong. You might be able to do this in a nice way, but I find often a stupid action is best responded to with a sarcastic reaction. I don't even like sarcasm but I find in these situations it can be appropriate as a response.

The event that inspired this topic was seeing a video on Reddit that was obviously fake and yet it was getting a lot of support from people who apparently did not realize this. Not only that, then you have people who see the support it is getting and then they copy it and repost it as if it is their own.

Both of these things are looked down upon in my opinion. One, staging a video and uploading it as if it is something that really happened in attempt to trick people into thinking you spontaneously captured something interesting on video when you did not. Two, copying and reposting that content as if it is your own in attempt to get support of your own for something you did not create.

So when I see examples like this of people doing things I would consider wrong, I feel like they need to be called out on it. So I might make a comment about how it is obviously fake, or might link to the original post and make some sarcastic comment about how it has been posted already. These kinds of comments might seem mean or negative but I feel like if someone is going to do stupid things, they need to be ready to accept the consequences of their actions, and in this case it is going to be negative comments.

What are your thoughts on the issue?

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Eveready LED Pocket Flashlight Review

I was looking to get a new flashlight after my Energizer crank style flashlight stopped working. This time I decided to get a battery powered one since I did not have good luck with the crank style. After doing some research I decided to get the Eveready LED Pocket Flashlight. It is available at Target for $5.49.

I liked the fact that it was affordable and is made out of metal instead of a cheap plastic. Also I wanted something pretty small so I figured it would be a good size. Online the color is black, but in store I only saw grey or green so I decided to go with the grey.

Upon handling it in person it is actually smaller than I expected. In fact I would say it is actually too small to get a good grip on it. But I guess the trade off is that it is small enough to easily put in a pocket or small compartment.

The outside build quality feel pretty good, not overly heavy, but sturdy as one would expect from metal. The lens does feel like plastic when tapping it. It also has a wrist strap which I would highly recommend using because it can be easy to drop due to the the small size,

There were no instructions to install the batteries, but it was pretty easy to figure it out. You just unscrew the bottom and a cartridge from the inside comes out which has holders for the batteries. I found the inside plastic parts to feel a little cheap and the springs for the batteries do not look that sturdy. 

It comes with 3 carbon zinc AAA batteries which are not as good as other batteries like alkaline or lithium. I'm not sure how long they will last, but I would expect they may not last that long considering they are just the cheap kind of batteries. 

After putting it back together it was ready to try out. The on/off button is on the bottom which I found is not very convenient to use. A side button that can be operated by thumb would be a better option especially to operate with one hand.

The light itself is very bright and easily lights up a room. This flashlight is rated at 80 lumens and claims to have a battery life of about 5 hours. Interestingly, in store, there were some other Eveready flashlights of the same kind and price, but the lumens where about 1/2 and the battery life was double. I guess they can adjust the brightness down if they want to extend the battery life. Given the choice I decided to go with the brighter one just in case.

Overall if you are looking for a very small yet bright flashlight with a metal build for a low price, the Eveready LED Pocket Flashlight is a good option. If you have larger hands or would like a flashlight with a thumb on/off button I would recommend another option.