AIT cannot solve the national education issue but we can support the advancement of math and science by making available NightStar RS flashlights to schools, children’s museums, discovery museums and the like at deeply discounted prices. NightStar RS No Battery flashlights are an ideal tool for teaching kids about the fundamental principals of creating electricity and how energy generation and environmental stewardship can work together. Making science fun is essential to the success of our kids and for the future of our country.

Contact AIT and find out how we can partner together

For starters, crisis management will never fully address the twists and turns that nature presents but from each disaster we can learn to assess our emergency plans and continue to improve our emergency management practices including making sure that survival gear together with emergency supplies and other emergency essentials are readily available and adequately complete. Preparedness requires being diligent about how to react to any number of situations. Thankfully most emergencies won’t be a 9.0 earthquake, Class 5 tornado or a Katrina size hurricane but something smaller in scale, which still carries the cost of personal injury or life threatening consequences. Take time to assess what can go wrong where you live and work and how best to prepare your family, the fact is disasters of different scopes happen all the time, whether nature or man made and accepting this truth is the foundation for appreciating that being prepared is the key to survival!

For those of you who went sub-zero we hope that if you lost power you had a No Battery NightStar or LightStorm flashlight handy and you remembered to open up the cabinets and have the facets drip to keep the pipes from freezing. No one likes a swimming pool in their basement; especially, at this time of year.

Spring may be around the corner but we are just at the half way mark for the passing of winter. With daylight extending its hold and the thought of spring warming the soul we cannot forget to make sure that our car and home safety kits remain in good order. The CDC offers great advice on being prepared at http://bit.ly/ew6Fao.

Also keep an eye out for individuals who find it difficult to get out and about. A little kindness goes a long ways for those who need a helping hand or maybe just a visit from a caring neighbor.

For those who believe it’s possible to catch up with sleep the perception of the extra hour of rest come Sunday morning is most appreciate but the joy of rejuvenation is short lived with the dreaded drive home in the dark starting on Monday evening or should I say late afternoon.

For AIT, being in the LED flashlights business, you might think that we jump for joy with the extra hour of darkness in which our renewable energy flashlights light the way but NO that is not the case. For like many or you we also worship the light of day.

Fortunately, we are only about six weeks away from the winter solstice and the gradual return to wonderful days of let there be more light, the natural way. On a serious note, since we are adjusting our clocks please remember to also check the batteries in your smoke and CO2 detectors. Let’s make sure that the extra time we spend indoors is safe for all.

What we seem to forget is the replication of similar weather conditions each fall. Generally the fuel for the fall twisters is warm moist air associated with tropical storms and hurricanes that skirt the coast or make land fall along the Gulf and southeast U.S. coast from Texas to Virginia.

In rarer instances these destructive storms result when the barometer drops to exceptionally low pressures as was experienced in late October over the upper mid west and southern Canada.

Regardless of spring or fall the threat of dangerous tornados are present throughout year. Unfortunately, emergency warnings of severe weather approaching are frequently short in time or non-existent. Remember that a good defense is the best offense and being prepared is the only way to minimize the impact of nature’s wrath.

Best viewing in the northern hemisphere will require binoculars or a telescope unless of course you have really good eyesight.  Even so astronomer’s state that the comet will appear more like a fuzzy ball than a point of light.  At least the moon will not be competing with the view. 

 To accurately track the location of the comet as it progresses across the sky check out http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/CometHartley2-bw.jpg  and enjoy.  Currently earth based telescope imagery is producing the best results but that will soon change as the NASA EPOXI probe puts it within 450 miles of the comet.  There should be some great pictures in the coming weeks.

Researchers believe that the planet is approximately 4 times the size of earth and circles the Red Dwarf star Gliese 581 every 37 days. This recent planet finding is in addition to two other planets discovered earlier that are also located in the habitable zone but just barely. To learn more http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370008,00.asp

LightStorm CL1 and SL1 are the only capacitor powered crank flashlights manufactured today. This unique energy storage configuration can withstand severe hot and cold environments and provide decades of maintenance free reliable illumination.

LightStorm CL1 renewable energy flashlight is capable of lighting objects nearly 100 feet away with its high intensity center spotlight or project a broad beam light pattern that provides flood illumination for a distance of 25 feet.

Complimenting the CL1 flashlight is the LightStorm SL1 flashlight-lantern. This extremely versatile lighting tool functions as a lantern, flashlight, emergency flashing red LED beacon and emergency reflector that can be seen for miles. Designed for use in a variety of locations the flashlight handle fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, can be secured in a vertical position, conveniently angled on a flat surface or magnetically attached to a car or other metallic surface.

Remember both lights can charge a variety of low voltage electronic devices so you can always have your cell phone or music by your side. The charging system is not designed to replace your electrical outlet AC charger but in a pinch you have a backup that can be a real life saver.

The LightStorm line sets a new standard for battery free flashlight technology. To learn more about these innovative flashlights visit www.havelight.com.

There is an interesting story behind CFLs. The brain child of American engineer Ed Hammer and other GE engineers in the 1970’s, the team recognized that significant energy savings could be obtained by developing a new light bulb that replaces the incandescent bulb, an energy hog in which only ten percent of the electricity supplied to the bulb is actually turned into light with the remainder of the energy lost mainly as heat.

Unfortunately GE elected to not invest in solving the cost challenges associated with manufacturing the spiral bulb. Approximately 20 years passed when along came Mr. Ellis Yan, a Chinese immigrant to the USA, who started in the 1990′s his own lighting business in China based on the CFL spiral bulb design. Mr. Yan’s business grew and grew becoming the supplier of approximately 50 percent of the CFLs sold in the United States.

In an ironic twist, to address the increasing labor cost in China, Mr. Yan is exploring building a CFL factory in the USA. For the time being it appears that CFL bulbs will be the “green solution” to energy wasteful incandescent lights. Maybe another green solution, measured in employment and dollars, would be to locate the factory in Winchester, VA.