Power Plant on Undersea Volcano Ran Net-Positive for 8.7 Seconds

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The Ready Brief #235

Practical preparedness for uncertain times

Britain’s new “Be Ready” checklist, launched Oct. 22, asks households to keep a torch with spare batteries and a radio. The flashlight is the item most homes already own and the one least often tested. Check yours before you need it. Today’s issue covers how to pick a light that works when the power goes out: what lumens, runtime and battery type mean, and why a simple one beats a feature-heavy one.

Tactical Flashlight Selection

A flashlight is probably the single most used piece of emergency equipment you’ll own. Power outage, car breakdown, nighttime dog walk, checking a weird noise, navigating your house at 3 AM when the circuit breaker trips. A good flashlight earns its place daily, not just during disasters.

Tactical flashlights range from about $10 to $300, and much of the marketing sells features most households don’t need. Here is what matters.

Lumens are the brightness rating. For general home and emergency use, we think 300 to 600 lumens is enough. That is bright enough to light up a backyard or search a room, without blinding yourself every time you look at a white wall. Flashlights rated at 1,000 lumens or more give you more than most households need. Higher lumens also drain batteries faster.

Beam pattern matters more than raw brightness. A flashlight with a good balance between flood (wide, close-up illumination) and throw (focused, long-distance beam) serves most purposes. Dedicated throwers are great for spotting things 200 yards away but useless for reading a map. Dedicated floods light up a room but can’t illuminate a trail. Balanced beams do both adequately.

Runtime is the spec most people ignore. How long will the flashlight run on its highest useful setting before the output drops significantly? A flashlight that puts out 500 lumens for 45 minutes is more useful than one that does 1,000 lumens for 15 minutes. Check the runtime chart, not just the peak output.

Battery type determines long-term practicality. Flashlights running on standard AA or AAA batteries are easy to feed during a crisis because those batteries are widely available. Flashlights using 18650 rechargeable lithium cells are cheaper to operate long-term and generally brighter, but require a charger and planning. The best approach for preparedness is a light that accepts both: rechargeable for daily use, with the ability to swap in disposable batteries during an extended outage.

Build quality shows up in the details. An aluminum body, O-ring seals for water resistance, and an anodized finish resist corrosion. An IPX7 or IPX8 rating means the light can handle temporary immersion in water, such as a rainstorm or a drop in a puddle. A pocket clip and tail-stand capability (standing the light upright to light a room like a candle) are useful everyday features.

Modes should be simple. On, low, high, and maybe a strobe. Flashlights with seven modes, disco patterns, and SOS blinkers are annoying in practice because you cycle through six modes you don’t want to reach the one you do. Simple interface, reliable operation.

For home preparedness, buy three. One for your bedside, one for the kitchen or hallway, and one for your go-bag or car. Having light where you need it eliminates fumbling in the dark. A single flashlight you have to go find is less useful than three cheaper lights already positioned.

Don’t overlook headlamps. For any task requiring both hands, a power outage repair, changing a tire, checking on kids, a headlamp beats a handheld light. Keep one alongside your flashlight collection.

Test every flashlight in your house.

Find every flashlight you own. Turn each one on. How many have dead batteries? How many produce dim, useless light? Replace the batteries in the good ones. Toss the ones that don’t work. You’ll probably discover you have fewer working flashlights than you thought.

UK Defence Secretary: “A Little Over 1,000 Days” to Be Ready to Fight

First reading. In a Telegraph article reported Oct. 25, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting wrote that Britain has “a little over 1,000 days to complete our mission: to be ready with our allies to fight and win,” and that adversaries could be able to attack by 2030. He also said the UK is “not at war with Russia.” On Oct. 22 the Cabinet Office launched “Be Ready,” a three-year campaign asking households to hold three days of supplies, including a torch, spare batteries and a radio. The government says it is not a response to a specific intelligence warning and cites cyberattacks and extreme weather. None of the reports we read mention civil unrest. Next check: the Oct. 28 Budget.

Source: LBC, Anadolu Agency, UK Defence Journal, The Epoch Times

Creek Stewart is the author of Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit (Krause, 2012, 208 pages), about $11 in paperback. According to the publisher’s description, it includes a packing checklist for 72 hours of independent survival, photos of every item, and practice exercises for using the gear.

Our takeaway, not a claim from the book: a light packed in a bag and never tested is a guess. Turn it on, check the batteries, and set a date to check again.

Power Plant on Undersea Volcano Ran Net-Positive for 8.7 Seconds

Endurance Energy, a Seattle startup, says its 3-ton Adélie plant produced more electricity than it used for 8.7 seconds on Sept. 27. The plant sat about 5,000 feet down in the caldera of Axial Seamount, roughly 300 miles off Oregon, and ran on a vent at 281°C (538°F). The company reports a median net output of about 2 kW and a peak of 16.5 kW. A battery overcurrent trip ended the run, and a failed pump cable ended the dive. No power reached a grid or a city: Seattle is where the company is based and where staff ran the plant remotely over a seafloor fiber network. A 2-megawatt commercial unit is in development, and the first commercial project, in Tonga, targets first power in 2027. All figures are the company’s own.

Source: Endurance Energy release (PR Newswire), Interesting Engineering, Hoodline

Streamlight ProTac 2L-X (88062)

About $65, with batteries, holster and clip included. Amazon’s listing shows 500 lumens, a programmable switch with high, low and strobe modes, an IPX7 waterproof rating, and a machined aluminum body. We would keep one by the bed as the simple, dependable light.

Budget alternative: Wurkkos FC11C (about $36). Per the listing, it has a 1,200-lumen maximum, built-in USB-C charging, a magnetic tail cap and an IP68 rating. It is rechargeable, so keep a battery-powered light too for long outages.

Overrated: Ultra-high-lumen flashlights. For home use, 1,000 lumens or more mostly adds glare off walls and drains batteries faster. Match the tool to the task.

Underrated: A simple headlamp. A Petzl Tikkina runs about $20, frees both hands and points light where you look, which helps with outage repairs, cooking and changing a tire.

Pressure canning for beginners. Water bath canning handles high-acid foods, and pressure canning handles meats, soups and low-acid vegetables.

How was today’s issue? Tap one below. If you pick “Could be better,” tell us what to fix.

PS: If you only buy two lights, we would pick the Streamlight ProTac 2L-X for handheld use and a Petzl Tikkina headlamp for hands-free work.

THE READY BRIEF is published for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing here is professional legal, medical, financial, or tactical advice. Preparedness looks different for every household. Use your own judgment, consult qualified professionals when the stakes are high, and adapt what you read here to your actual situation.