With so many different things commemorated in a given month, it’s challenging to keep track of all the important subjects covered by such commemorations. To the best of our knowledge, more than 50 different subjects are commemorated in the month of May, so we have to ask, were you aware of any of the following?:

Because it works out-of-sight-out-of-mind in the background, most people take electricity for granted. That is, until a power outage disrupts the use of your home’s modern conveniences, or a wayward voltage spike fries the circuits of a computer, appliance, or other key electronics within the home. Absent a generator, you cannot do much about a power outage, but you can easily protect your home’s electronics with a surge protector.

U.S. fire departments respond to about 350,000 residential home fires every year, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). These fires cause an estimated annual 2,600 deaths and more than 11,000 injuries, which would be far more significant in the absence of residential smoke detectors. According to the NFPA, over 40% of fire-related fatalities occur in homes lacking operational smoke detectors.

Lighting is perhaps the most noticeable electrical application that we tend to think of as a “modern” convenience, yet the technology can hardly be called modern. Consider that if you’re still lighting your Tallahassee Area home or business with incandescent lightbulbs, you’re using 145-year-old technology that evolved from electrical technology developed 221 years ago. While Thomas Alva Edison is credited with inventing the first true incandescent lightbulb in the late 1870s, his invention represents innovations in electric arc lighting, first developed by Humphry Davis in 1802. Even sliced bread, which was invented in 1928, is a newer technological convenience than incandescent lighting.

Electricity is all around you in your Tallahassee-area home, but—“out of sight, out of mind”—you probably rarely think about it as it powers your lights, appliances, and numerous other modern conveniences. Your home’s electricity may be nebulous, but it’s a powerful force that deserves respect and care. According to a recent National Institute of Health Study, electrical injuries in the U.S. cause approximately 1,000 deaths and 30,000 injuries annually, with 20% of these injuries affecting children.

Florida Attorney General Ashely Moody released a consumer alert earlier this month warning the public to protect themselves from the 12 scams of Christmas, which include: