Official Off Topic Discussion Thread #1

[koltsixx]

I suspect economics played a very large part, with regards to the inclusion of non boys.

I agree with most things you say but in this regard, I think it's more along what Ogertron3000 said, political. I'll try to skirt the subject to avoid a political debate or discussion as per our TOS but I think the motivation is the same as it's been in all similar moves in sports such as weightlifting, swimming, etc which is all-inclusiveness. My opinion on the motivation behind the all-inclusiveness I'll digress on.

I too was a boycout and enjoyed the experience matter of fact my Mom was a Co-Troop Girl Scout Leader with her friend for my sister. I think it was a positive experience as the motivation to get badges, recognition, cooperation and respect shaped a lot of my most positive personality traits. For instance, my Father believed in a do just enough to get by when it comes to work so as not to become someone that's asked more of, but I couldn't help myself my Mother and the boyscouts had instilled in me to always do my best. One could argue that he was right as I was given many paper certificate awards but was passed over for promotions that would improve my pay if it didn't also garner more for the company. So, I was always getting more responsibility with no monetary gains until I was laid off when I broke my back which took all of a week for me to get the axe. Still, I take some solace in that to this day and while it is often a struggle to not compromise my own personal morals and ideals. To respect myself even if often times the world won't.

Forgive the large amount of text, I've always been a motor mouth and please forgive the whiny self-righteousness as I get older I complain more and perhaps I'm getting an over inflated sense of self.

 

[RD.]

Kolt……. I’m reporting you. Lol

“The Boy Scouts’ $2.4bn bankruptcy reorganization plan took effect last year, allowing the organization to keep operating while compensating the more than 80,000 men who say they were sexually abused as children while scouting.

Like other organizations, the scouts lost members during the pandemic, when participation was difficult. After a highpoint over the last decade of over 2 million members in 2018, the organization currently services just over 1 million youths, including more than 176,000 girls and young women. Membership peaked in 1972 at almost 5 million.”

Boy Scouts of America changes name after bankruptcy and sexual abuse claims

Organization will become Scouting America after decades of turmoil and flagging membership numbers

www.theguardian.com

Hmmmmmmm

 

[RD.]

Homepage - Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America has officially exited bankruptcy, fulfilling our dual imperatives of equitably compensating abuse survivors and ensuring the future of Scouting. Read more here. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Announces Confirmation of Plan of Reorganization and Emergence from Chapter...

www.bsarestructuring.org

 

[koltsixx]

Kolt……. I’m reporting you. Lol

“The Boy Scouts’ $2.4bn bankruptcy reorganization plan took effect last year, allowing the organization to keep operating while compensating the more than 80,000 men who say they were sexually abused as children while scouting.

Like other organizations, the scouts lost members during the pandemic, when participation was difficult. After a highpoint over the last decade of over 2 million members in 2018, the organization currently services just over 1 million youths, including more than 176,000 girls and young women. Membership peaked in 1972 at almost 5 million.”

Boy Scouts of America changes name after bankruptcy and sexual abuse claims

Organization will become Scouting America after decades of turmoil and flagging membership numbers

www.theguardian.com

Hmmmmmmm

Guess I gotta infract myself.

I guess I should've done some research. I knew about the lawsuits didn't know about the bankruptcy and should've guessed about the declining membership.

 

[RD.]

Ha ha, no worries amigo. All good. My wife watched a special recently regarding all the perv scout leaders. I think it was on Netflix. I didn’t have the stomach for most of it.

 

[Ulu]

Hello; I do not recall how funds were acquired. Parents paid some for three weeks of summer camp at Camp Sequoyia on Norris Lake. Do not think we sold cookies or any such.

My mom ran the Cub Scouts, and later in the Boy Scouts they were run by young guys from the Air Force base, who were all excellent. Pilots and navigators and martial arts instructors. My dad was a three war man, (radar/computers/microwaves) so to me those guys were the best of the best.

We sold tickets, door to door, to this thing they called the Boy Scout Jamboree, to make money.

Scouts came from around the state to the convention center in Phoenix where we had exhibitions of outdoor cooking and camping skills, canoe making and sail making, building rough shelters, marksmanship, map reading and trail marking….really all the “merits” for which the various badges were awarded.

Unfortunately when Dad went off to Vietnam we moved across the country, and I was never urged to re-join scouting. ***

My sister was a Girl Scout and my mother had the Brownies when we were little. They were both involved with the Girl Scouts for many years.

*** Not that my education was neglected. When my dad came back from Vietnam he taught me to shoot a rifle and a pistol.

He taught me how to change oil and spark plugs and thermostats and brake shoes. All the things to maintain a car.

I learned welding and machine work and many useful things that I still use today, years after having retired from being a computer desk jockey.

 

[Ulu]

I finally finished the highpowered battery charger for my boat.

I built this inside the diecast aluminum housing of an overpriced toaster that I foolishly bought many years ago. The ventilation screen came from a security door that I junked out.


Here I’m setting it up on a board, that I later rubberized with Plasti-dip spray. The transformer on the board is one that I re-purposed from a defunct UPS. I rewound it to produce 50% more voltage. The thing on the legs is a real Adjust-a-volt 1940s style variator (or autotransformer) that I bought used for $50.

Those diode packs laying on the board there are not heavy enough and I bought this rectifier and heat sink off of YouTube for less than $20.

It got drilled and tapped for machine screws, the mting surfaces were polished, and I assembled them with heat sink compound.



I assembled the whole thing into the case after having rubberized the wood. (This was before I decided to change the diodes.) There are rubber feet on the bottom now and I made a galvanized steel strap to retain the heavy transformer.


I made a nice handle from half-inch square steel tubing and I added a bunch of chrome acorn nuts for flash. The clamps, charge wires, and ammeter all came off of a broken battery charger. The fuse holder & switch came from my dad’s old 1990s CD player.

It works great, but that 12 gauge line cord is just way too clunky. It could’ve been 18 gauge as this thing only draws about four or 5 A out of the wall at full blast.

Here I have ajusted the knob to charge at a modest 6 A.

I brought the battery pack in my boat up from 37.4 V to 40.7 V in a matter of 4 minutes. We will see how it does once I have discharged those batteries out on the water.

 

[esoxlucius]

Astonishing Ulu . My mind is always blown when I see your various build threads. You have one helluva skill set my friend.

 

[krichardson]

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Seems i am in an in between status currently. Still on probation but can post directly. I have some questions about the automatic punishment system and may ask them of you other members later. I was warned against asking the mods with threats of being banned permanently. Perhaps a private message?

Anyway, thought i would follow up on a story I told some weeks back. Apparently, I can post about that in this thread but cannot in other threads. It is the neighbor's dog story with new developments. After I called the police the first time an animal control officer went to the neighbor's house. For a few weeks things were calm. Seems the dog had some sort of control collar.

One evening I was deep frying some catfish & potatoes. It was a couple hours before Sunset. I hear screaming + growling & barking. Look out to see two of my other neighbor's smallest children being chased around my back yard by that same dog. One is six, the other is 10. I thankfully had sense enough to pull the plug on the deep fryer. I grabbed a fireplace poker and went outside. I distracted the dog and got it to come after me. The kids hid on my front porch. I also had grabbed my cell phone and called the county police.
Eventually the male neighbor came looking for his dog. Saw me taking swipes at the dog with the poker and did not like that. He started making threats about beating me up apparently not realizing I had the county 911 operator on the line. I told him to get his dog and himself off my property. The dog would not obey him. Would dart away from him when he tried to grab it, then come back at me. The dog stayed just out of reach of the poker but almost made a mistake twice.
Finally, the guy got his dog and left without beating me up.

I went to the kids and while they were still crying and scared, they had not been bitten. That was good. found out later the dog is an Australian Shepard type herding dog. I figure it wants to get behind and nip at the ankles of back of the leg.

Eventually an officer showed up. She talked to me, and then the kids. She then went over to the dog owner's house. She came back and spoke to me again suggesting i get some cameras. That could be a future topic of discussion as I do not know much about that sort of thing. I do not have nor want a smart phone. Maybe a GO-PRO type or trail cameras???

Not further incidents but a couple of things. One morning I saw men on my property and in the neighborhood. They were surveyors getting bearings so to establish the boundaries of the dog owner's property. That was some weeks ago but no sign of a fence yet. The other was last week. The guy came home in his pickup one evening which is usual. Saw me in my yard, I guess. When i looked over he had his dog by the collar walking it along on its hind legs with the front legs and front body up in the air. He has a farm some miles away and may have taken the dog with him but failed to take a leash it seems.

I think I now know why the kids ran to my place and not home. Their dad was home at the time and only came out after the dog and its owner were inside the house. I did not think too much of it at the time, but two things got me to thinking. First was that during the time i distracted the dog away from the small kids and before the owner showed up the older sister (12) came over to see what was going on. The dog saw her and chased her all the way back to her house. Man, she is fast. Really fast. The dog came running back to try a go at me again. Gave me time to call the 911 and get them on the line. The dad was home surely she 12-year-old told her dad?????

Next day I saw the dog owner over at the kid's house helping the kids father assemble a basketball goal. I later ask the kids dad if he had spoken to the dog owner about that dog chasing his children. He had not. Said he did not want to cause problems. I pointed out the problem was already started, and he needs to stand up for his kids by at the very least talking to the man. If nothing else to let him know his kids are not chase toys for a dog. I have not followed up on that as my say was said. The basketball goal is not yet finished tho.

Note- My supper was half ruined. The catfish and potatoes had sat in hot but cooling oil for some time, maybe 30 -45 minutes. I plugged it back in and got the oil hot. The catfish was OK but the potatoes were rock hard.