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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   3275 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 19, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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What do you carry in your pockets every day?

For me, it used to just be my keys, wallet, and phone. When I started to consider concealed carry, I realized that I had a pocket knife and pepper spray that I never carried around even though it's really not much more cargo than what I already had, and I just need to build the habit. I don't have the pepper spray oriented in a way that makes it very easy to get out and use, but the pocket knife has already been quite useful; at work, cutting off zip ties or opening packages is useful. At July 4th, other people handling the fireworks were asking to borrow my knife quite a lot. The knife you bring with you is a lot handier than the knife you leave at home! Even a dull one.

I also bought an OLight Mini 2 for my keychain. Pretty nice, though I think it's only really come in handy once or twice so far. It seems to be marginally brighter than my phone light, and a lot quicker to bring to bear. It was cheap.

Things I have considered:

  • A telescoping baton. Like the pepper spray, I was considering it for dog defense, mostly, but apparently it's legally questionable to carry one and actually ever use it in a self-defense scenario. I wonder if one would be useful for anything else.
  • A lighter. I don't smoke. When lighting off fireworks for the 4th, I was using someone else's long lighter for lighting grills, and it was very unreliable, bad for what we were trying to do which was synchronize 4 different mortar tubes of fireworks at once. I thought that if I had my own lighter, I could have just used my own and not been as frustrated.
  • A multitool. These are commonly carried, but I don't know if I would use most of the functions or not. Many people swear by them, though.

  • Right pocket: Wallet; keychain with house key and bedroom key; keyfob for my car

  • Left pocket: Phone; keyfob for my mother's car

bedroom key

Why does your custom home have a bedroom lock?

Keyfob for my mother's car

Does she not need it? Why carry it?

Why does your custom home have a bedroom lock?

(1) The new custom house is (still) not yet complete. This key is for my bedroom in my (mother's) current house. My mother directed me to add locks to that house's bedroom doors several years ago, in preparation for a several-weeks-long visit by her annoying mother.

(2) The new custom house's bedrooms have locks (and solid doors) for privacy.

Does she not need it? Why carry it?

Her car has two keyfobs—one for her and one for me. I actually don't remember why I decided to carry the spare keyfob around all the time, but I can think of two justifications: (1) If both of us are away from home, and the house is burglarized, then the keyfob will not be stolen. (2) If both of us are away from home, and she locks herself out of her car and calls me to come and unlock it, then I can drive directly to her rather than needing to stop at the house and pick up the keyfob.

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