Have you given any thought yet this year as to who your top performing employees are? Are they people who go above and beyond what is asked of them? Do they work well in teams and help everyone strive to do their best? Then they are definitely deserving of any of these service awards, which can be engraved with your corporate logo.
Today is also a day celebrating members of the military who have gone above and beyond the call of duty: it is National Medal of Honor Day.
Did you know…
It is the oldest and highest military decoration
Awarded by the President, on behalf of Congress
There are Army, Navy & Air Force versions
Over 40% of the MOHs were given for service in the Civil War
Earlier names: Fidelity Medallion & Badge of Military Merit
Anthony Maglica, the heart and soul of Maglite flashlights
Anthony Maglica is probably the best example of an American success story. He was born in NYC during the great depression (1930). His mother was Croatian, and decided to take him to her home country of Croatia and raise him there. At the time, no one would have expected him to become the most successful businessman in the USA. In 1950, he got married, became a father, and moved his family to the United States, and out of the Communist control of Croatia. Neither Anthony or his wife could speak English, making it rough to survive here.
The rest of this “rags to riches” story continues with his opening in 1955 of a small machine shop in Los Angeles, named “Mag Instrument”. He made machine parts for the military and started to make a few dollars.
Fast forward to 1979, which is the first year that Anthony made the amazing flashlight, called the “Mag-lite”. It was a big hit with the policemen, because it was aluminum, rugged, and dependable. That basic design hasn’t changed much to this day. But he developed other Maglite Flashlights in the next several years, in the 1980’s.
Early 1980’s- The first Maglite® Rechargeable Flashlight System (TM)
1984- Mini Maglite® using AA batteries
1987- Mini Maglite® using AAA batteries
1988- Solitaire using only one AAA battery
The rocky part of the history involves lawsuits. A major one was filed by his former live-in girlfriend, Claire, of over 20 years, in 1994. The jury awarded her $84 million, which was a big chunk of the value of the company. That was a rough time for both of them.
Other lawsuits have been filed, and won, over the years, by Maglite Flashlights over copyright infringement. Maglite® does have a full-time legal department on site, to take care of these matters.
After this rocky history, Maglite® has become a standard for all flashlights. It has been called “the Cadillac of flashlights” by the Wall Street Journal in 1996. Indeed it is.
In just one short month, on April 22nd, the world will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Back in 1970, the first #EarthDay pioneered the environmental movement, which led to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Here are some great ways to celebrate #EarthDay:
Schedule your company to do a local cleanup
Think about your foodprint- investigate how your diet affects the climate
Plant trees- Conserve & restore our forests. The worldwide goal is to plant 7.8b trees this year! That’s one for every person in the world.
Use the natural energy around us- use Solar Lanterns. Print your company logo on them and hand them out to your customers and employees.
Replace incandescent bulbs with LED
Here are the top 3 best Solar Lanterns to use on #EarthDay and beyond:
MPowerd Luci Original Solar LanternMPowerd Luci Lux Solar LanternMPowerd Luci Emrg Solar Lantern
Maglite Flashlights Are Great For Emergencies- #BeReady
So here we are… working from home, doing schoolwork from home, and patiently waiting for this coronavirus pandemic to subside. By now most people have created their stockpile lists, and are trying their best to fulfill them. But have you added one important thing to your list? Maglite flashlights are always a necessary item to add to any emergency stockpile list. You never know when you’ll need extra light- whether the power goes out, or if you need to find something in the night.
Here are the best long-lasting LED Maglite flashlights to add to your stockpile list this week (don’t forget to add batteries to you list too!):
Maglite XL50- needs 3 AAA batteriesMaglite K3A LED- only 1 AAA battery needed2D LED Maglite- needs 2 D batteries
Let’s jump right into a subject that is close to everyone: Designing a kitchen. The architect scale ruler is a very useful device to plan your new kitchen. It helps you to draw your room and appliances to scale, and to read the measurements later. It will tell you if there is enough room to place a refrigerator in a certain part of your space.
Designing Your Kitchen with an Architect Scale Ruler
Now let’s get to the nitty gritty. Which scale should you use on the ruler? Your ruler may have some or all of these scales:
(1/8, ¼), (½, 1), (3/8, 3/4), (3, 1½)
If you use the “1” scale, that would mean that 1 inch on the scale equals one foot in real life. Let’s not use that one, because your 15 foot long kitchen would need a piece of paper at least 15 inches long. Let’s use the 1/4 scale, which means 1/4 inch on the scale (on the paper) represents one foot in real life. This means that your 8 inch wide paper will represent 32 feet. Your kitchen will fit on that paper now.
From here on, you just measure your room and appliances, and draw them on your paper, to scale.
A quick designer tip: Draw your appliances to scale on colored paper, cut them out, and move them around on your drawing for the best arrangement. Also, do the same with any other cabinets or tables that you already have, and want to use them in your design.
Just two short months ago we were ringing in the new year, celebrating a fresh start in 2020. Little did we know that soon a novel virus would consume the world. In recent weeks we’ve all been advised to practice “social distancing” by keeping contact with others to a minimum. Odds are that you and your employees are working from home for the unforeseeable future.
You can make it easy for them to organize their work and be productive at home with these technology gifts:
USB Flash Drive StickRoxBox Cyclone Bluetooth Speaker
The history of the pipe diameter tape measure is probably darker than its future. Once these 5 myths are explained, this little tape measure will experience much success.
My customers don’t want one with my company logo on it.
Here are my answers:
The “outside diameter tape” is used by plumbers, pipeline workers, electricians, car and boat repairmen.
All you do is wrap it around the pipe, and read off the diameter.
It compares to the price of many other pocket tapes.
Maybe so, but you would have to correct for the fact that you can’t readily see the zero mark. You would have to use the one inch or two inch mark, and subtract that from the total, then divide by pi. A pipe diameter tape measure has the zero conveniently located away from the end of the tape, to make it easy to line up.
Your customers would love a gift with your corporate logo. It would be a symbol of your generosity.
