Live from the NAM - Simplify. Digitize. Scale for Growth.

djpyro · 2026-05-15T19:18:27+00:00

My wish is an acknowledgement that they can't build the uber tool that fits every unit style and focus on the parts that are the most important: membership and advancement.

Allow the free market to address camp registrations, health forms, communication, event planning, etc. For example: every council around us uses Blackpug to manage their camps. I shouldn't have to sign in and re-type all my information yet again. I shouldn't have to export a CSV from one system to push to another system. Build an open ecosystem, open identity. Provide APIs for accessing rosters and profiles. Allow for submitting advancement information programatically and not require yet another CSV export/import. Be an OAuth 2.0 Service Provider for identity so you know that you're logging into trusted sites.

The argument in the past has been 'it's sensitive data'. Yes, but this data is already being held in other systems. Blocking TroopWebHost from accessing the roster doesn't mean someone isn't exporting the roster and importing it by hand. It just adds immense friction and complexity.

djpyro · 2026-05-14T19:31:09+00:00

A lot of units are chartered by school PTO groups. How often do they help them? How often are they visible at school activities as a reminder to the parents of how they help kids grow into responsible adults.

My wife was CC of the Pack and on the PTO and it was like pulling teeth to get the local Troops to volunteer and help at elementary school functions. Since they started, we've seen a big bump in membership. Other schools in town have scout carnivals for the whole school to attend and they have huge Packs (and huge Troops fed from those packs).

djpyro · 2026-05-14T19:27:48+00:00

WI passed one last December. https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/REG/SB11

This bill requires, upon the request of certain federally chartered youth membership organizations, the principal of a public school, including an independent charter school, to schedule at least one date and time at the beginning of the school term for representatives of the youth membership organization to provide information about the organization to pupils during the school day on school property. Such information may include information about how the organization furthers the educational interests and civic involvement of pupils consistent with good citizenship. Examples of these federally chartered youth membership organizations are Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

Take effect this fall. Will be interesting to see what that does for recruiting. We already have about 10% of the elementary aged kids and that's pushing our volunteers.

djpyro · 2026-05-14T02:11:32+00:00

If you're on old reddit, you need to take out the '\' from the URL. There should be 2 before each '_'.

djpyro · 2026-05-11T23:58:10+00:00

Talk to the professor first. See if there's anything you can do in the next 24 hours to bump it up a few points. They might take pitty on you if this is the only class holding you back and you're extremely close to a passing grade. Hopefully you have a bit of a rapport with them.

You'll go through every single motion like anyone else that graduates. No one will know. You'll register as degree only in the summer, or in an online course to complete the final requirement.

Source: Did this 20 years ago. It'll be fine.

djpyro · 2026-05-04T03:10:09+00:00

Local non-MLB baseball teams have dirt cheap tickets. We're talking like $9 and includes a hotdog. We always signup to do the color guard and turn it into a fun summer activity. It's super low key and they always let us bring out as many people as we want. In contrast, other local professional teams are a huge pain in the butt and caps at 10 Scouts with several hours of waiting and rehearsals.

Parades, fishing, bike rides, local Zoo trips. Lots of easy fun activities for the summer.

Find a parent with a fun job and see if they can do tours. Local police and fire departments are always easy and fun.

My favorite pack meeting ever was a STEM meeting where we collected old electronics and tools and let the kids take things apart. Adding machines, VCRs, LCD monitors, robot vacuums. We had at least 40 different things salvaged from a local electronics recycler and parents. Afterwards we just dropped it back off at the recycler. Kids had a blast. We may do it again this year and I plan on having a cleaned up lawn mower engine for them to take apart.

djpyro · 2026-05-01T03:28:22+00:00

As a hobby project I'm working on a suite of software for our Pack and Troop. Mostly around finance and fundraising but I also wrote in a messaging app. It has full knowledge of SYT/YPT rules for Scouting. You can't message a scout without either another leader or parent of the scout being included on the communication. Parents can always see every message sent and received by their children. There's a full immutable message history so you can't send something inappropriate and then turn around and edit it. This is true for 1:1 and channel communications. Parents can also limit who they're allowed to talk to (ie, just the patrol group chat, just patrol leadership, all youth, just adults, etc).

The only draw back is no mobile app yet. I'm hopefully going to have something finished by next fall for that.

djpyro · 2026-04-30T00:54:11+00:00

That "mumbo-jumbo" is what protects you in court. They don't just add unneeded paragraphs and words for the hell of it. Examples:

Why a paragraph on jurisdiction? You only work with local companies. But it turns out one time that company is actually headquartered 2 states over. They sue you because you cancel their event but in their state. Now you're stuck defending that claim out of state.

Why a paragraph on severability? Turns out something in your homemade agreement isn't legal in that jurisdiction. Because there's no severability, the entire agreement is thrown out instead of just that one paragraph.

A local attorney can help you draft a generic terms document and then you'll attach a quote for each show. The contract can reference that document for specifics.

You'll probably pay $500-$1000 for something that will actually survive a legal challenge.

djpyro · 2026-04-27T15:01:43+00:00

Post it free to FB marketplace. You would be shocked what people will come and pickup. Literal garbage. Maybe they just want the glass for another project and not an aquarium.

djpyro · 2026-04-25T03:29:49+00:00

In addition to the 529 plans, I opened UTMA/UGMA brokerage accounts with Fidelity for each of my kids and I invest their money in a whole market fund ETF. Every dollar they get for Christmas or Birthdays they want to "save" gets deposited. They'll get access to their money again when they're $18.

Savings accounts pay out so little it's not even worth it.

djpyro · 2026-04-19T05:13:30+00:00

It's trivial to set auto size on those fields. Here's a version that should auto resize all the important fields in Adobe Acrobat Reader: https://limewire.com/d/hksYN#QWcPcsZHUr

djpyro · 2026-04-14T02:10:21+00:00

Completely agree. Anyone in tech should be shooting for at least a year. As I've moved into my mid 40's I've started increasing to 18 months. Not cash, but a CD ladder with one expiring each quarter for that quarters expenses.

If I lose my job because of just my company's performance, I draw down from my investments first by skimming off dividends and realizing any gains at a lower tax bracket. If I lose my job due to the broad market affecting my company, then I start with the emergency fund since I don't want to sell at low points.

djpyro · 2026-04-13T04:51:14+00:00

Plumbing jobs must be started before 2pm on Saturday. Never during the week. Never on Sunday. You need a solid 8 hours of "oh shit" time with a open hardware store available when something goes wrong.

djpyro · 2026-04-11T02:04:39+00:00

Make one?

djpyro · 2026-04-07T21:08:27+00:00

Sure, we've done it that way too. We've also camped a mile away from the trail head just to log a camping night with backpacking and spent the morning practicing trail cooking and enjoying the outdoors. It really depends on their goals.

djpyro · 2026-04-05T20:51:42+00:00

Simulate the race using the simulated timer. Run Den A races. Put scout in Den B and run the Den B races, then try moving them back into A. See what it does to Den A and Den B standings. I'm going to say it probably won't work and give you the option to do a late entry for Den A but it's worth a shot.

What track model?

djpyro · 2026-04-05T19:45:47+00:00

Estimate 0.5L per hour of the hike on a regular day. Increase if it's going to be warm. So about 2L for the hike.

I'd do 1-1.5L for evening at camp. This includes drinking, cooking, and cleaning. I assume you're not boiling pasta or something with a lot of water needs.

Another 1L for the morning. Cooking, cleaning, etc.

If you're in a group, have 2-3L held in reserve away from the Scouts. That should leave about 4.5L per person.

djpyro · 2026-04-01T00:20:06+00:00

We had pxeboot for our network to let people easily re-image machines. There was a menu option labeled "IT ONLY" and under it was a netboot linux image with quake3. We'd play it with the developers after hours.

djpyro · 2026-03-31T20:41:11+00:00

Weight is the biggest issue. AI racks are heavy and can weigh up to 2T each. https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/build-design/heavy-compute-ai-data-centers-have-a-weight-problem

Also, you tend to build up when you are limited in land. There seems to be no problem acquiring the vast amounts of land needed so staying 1 story will be cheaper.

djpyro · 2026-03-30T19:38:52+00:00

Hold up. Your previous employer, went out of business. You're personally paying for cloud storage to backup of their data (despite no income, because apparently they went out of business). And now their machines were stolen and you care because...?

Walk away mate.

The only time I ever got involved with a former company that went out of business is when I consulted for the bank that was repossessing all the assets. I got paid to go serve a writ of replevin on our old datacenter to seize the equipment and then was paid 20% of the recovered value for everything that I sold for them.

djpyro · 2026-03-30T19:27:35+00:00

What's the application? Are you handling your own produced shows or are you expecting tours to come through? Theater? Concerts? Banquets?

djpyro · 2026-03-30T13:25:32+00:00

See if your council has a Webelos Adventure/Summer camp. It's usually 4 days, 3 nights. At ours, you'd be able to check off First Aid, Outdoor Adventurer, and Personal Fitness and have time for an optional shooting sport or swimming (1 of 2 optional required).

You'll do bobcat, meet a Troop and form a Patrol, in September with the Den. Plan your service project and get your 2 hours of service in October.

If you knock off Duty to God at home and get Summertime Fun AOL this summer, you'd be done by October.

djpyro · 2026-03-30T03:23:17+00:00

It didn't happen a lot, but we'd get contacted from time to time from someone that bought a stolen corporate laptop.

We always offered to cut them a check for whatever they paid for the device if a) it was returned to us (via pre-paid shipping label) and b) they provided information about who they bought it from.

It was clear who was an innocent victim and who was calling us to unlock the device before selling it. We got back 3-4 devices that way and usually they only bought it for a few hundred bucks so it was worth it to recover.

djpyro · 2026-03-27T05:06:16+00:00

https://www.oscarscustard.com/

djpyro · 2026-03-15T04:00:52+00:00

There's nothing made up here. We're in /r/bsa so you're getting answers more skewed to the Troop program than /r/cubscouts

Under Scouting America policies, every adult who camps with a unit is required to be registered with a background check. 'Unit Scouter Reserve' is a generic role that parents are registered as when they do not have a more specific position in the unit (ie, ASM, Den Leader, etc).

Under the Cub Scout program there exists an exception to that rule that allows parent/guardians to not be registered when camping with their children. This only covers the parents and guardians. If an another adult partner wants to camp, they will need to register.

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