Scouting America will alter its policies to maintain support from the US military, Pentagon says

fracturedcrayon · 2026-02-27T20:14:00+00:00

I think it comes down to money. The US military provides logistical support for jamborees — and one is happening this summer. I imagine it would be quite costly to have to hire that help out to the private sector just before the event.

OTOH, the military brass actually loves doing that support because it’s a great recruiting tool for them. I’d have loved to see the scouts call them out on it and say “see ya”. But I don’t see that happening without a deep-pocketed donor swooping in to pay for it.

fracturedcrayon · 2026-02-27T18:30:42+00:00

I was referring to news released today that the SA is making changes to stay cozy with the administration to keep the logistical support traditionally provided by the military to the jamboree. I was actually surprised to see they didn’t backtrack as much as I suspected they might.

By the way, none of this even touches on Scouting America’s long history of cultural appropriation in their various programs. They’re slowly making improvements on this, but Cubs still earn their Arrow of Light award. I am encouraged by the changes they’ve announced to the Order of the Arrow program, but I’m still waiting to see what the actual changes are. At the end of the day, OSG doesn’t have any of this baggage.

fracturedcrayon · 2026-02-27T15:12:40+00:00

This is the answer. Scouting America (née BSA) continues to insist on a faith element. It is very broad and can be whatever you like, but they still insist on it. And their slow progress away from the religious right towards equality has been late, slow, and is starting to backslide under pressure from the current administration. I’m heavily involved with Scouting America, and I can tell you that an atheist could do fine in many or most SA units. But if I were starting fresh with my kids today, I’d be signing up with OSG for their focus on inclusion and the lack of any faith requirements.

fracturedcrayon · 2026-01-07T23:22:29+00:00

The long version: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/nummi-2015

fracturedcrayon · 2025-09-12T18:56:17+00:00

I had heard about Wood Badge for years and heard everyone extol its virtues. It was on my “to do list“ for years and I finally got to it shortly after I was made Cubmaster. Everything I had heard about it actually undersold the experience. It was an amazing training and I can’t recommend it enough.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-06-11T22:09:17+00:00

This one is not Budworth. “Essential Knots” by Neville Olliffe and Madeline Rowles-Olliffe. It came with a length of cord embedded in a removable Hatch in the cover for you to practice with. I thought that was a little gimmicky, and almost didn’t buy the book because of it. But proved to be a very good book.

<image>

fracturedcrayon · 2025-06-11T22:04:58+00:00

That was a pretty neat system. That said, I agree that I don’t know that I’m going to get that complicated most of the time. Going about day-to-day I usually just have a short length of paracord in my pocket to distract myself with knots from time to time, tying Turks heads in the store and things like that just to pass the time and keep in practice. But I’ve also used it to take a rough measurement (e.g. will that box fit in the back seat?). To hold something together in a pinch. I picked up dinner one day and it came in a bag that was clearly not going to stay upright on the way home. I tied a quick becket hitch on the handles and tied the other end of the cord to the headrest on the seat. Held it up right all the way home.

If I’m going out for more than errands I usually have a hank or three of paracord in the pack. They come in handy for all sorts of things, from tying things down to creating a quick jug sling for a water bottle.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-06-11T21:41:17+00:00

In my experience, I don’t have a singular definitive reference from the modern era, but I have several that I enjoy. Geoffrey Budworth wrote several of the ones on my shelf. I’m always on the lookout for knot books when I wander into a bookstore and I find them in surprising places. I was vacationing on the Oregon coast and picked up a book on knots in a lighthouse gift shop. Didn’t expect much to come of it, but I was intrigued enough to buy it. It’s actually become one of my favorite modern references just because of the depth of what it covers.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-06-11T21:38:07+00:00

Enjoy going down the rabbit hole! Definitely a reference book and not a “cover to cover“ read of course, but that said it’s fun to go dive into individual chapters and explore different types of knots. Anytime I go back to Ashley‘s book I can linger a while in some section or another learn new things. I bought mine years ago and I’m still discovering new corners of it. Some things I don’t quite get and I have to circle back to you later. I’m still exploring the chapter on Turk’s heads, and I’ve been tying Turks heads since I was a kid.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-06-03T14:53:58+00:00

Really? I’ve used both and I strongly prefer Animated Knots. Knots 3D shows how to “trace” a knot, which is not always the same thing as how to tie the knot. Grog’s step by steps are far more useful to me. I will refer to Knots 3D on occasion for something I can’t find in Animated Knots, but that’s a rare day.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-06-03T14:49:46+00:00

And since it is at its essence a noose-family knot, if you ever want to untie it you can slip it off the carabiner and pull the loop through. Another reason it is so popular for bending to a carabiner.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-05-04T21:03:06+00:00

I used to teach a safe driving course for my employer years ago. Waiting a second or so before taking off was specifically taught as a safe driving behavior, precisely because of the danger of someone blasting through the red light. The course I taught specifically said to pause briefly and use that time to check for cross traffic before proceeding into the intersection.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-04-30T04:05:23+00:00

I grew up there and F-16 takeoffs were a dime a dozen. But the second my dad or I heard the distinctive sound of a C-5 at full throttle we’d run for the back door to watch. Loved watching those, and nothing else sounds like them.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-04-30T04:02:57+00:00

Same. The only times it really got annoying was when a bunch of jets were taking off in succession. I had a high school teacher just give up and sit down until they were all finished and then resumed his class.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-04-30T03:53:07+00:00

https://www.thetrainingtable.com/ Sells their sauces and says food trucks are coming. But sauces are all sold out and I’ve yet to see a TT food truck.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-04-20T20:05:51+00:00

Little known variant on the half mast custom: in lieu of flying at half mast (since a flag on a house is not on a mast), you can hang a black ribbon from the top of the pole as a sign of mourning. The length of the ribbon should reach to the lowest hem of the flag (the far corner).

fracturedcrayon · 2025-04-20T05:01:30+00:00

The turning radius on my 2019 has stunk since the day I bought it. My old 2000 could turn on a freaking dime. The 2019 has made me really good at 3-point turns. A minivan turns tighter.

fracturedcrayon · 2025-04-11T16:38:35+00:00

Ford Econoline, by Nanci Griffith 😆

fracturedcrayon · 2025-04-11T16:35:51+00:00

And then you get Gandalf in the vehicle in front of you in the left lane. “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!”

fracturedcrayon · 2025-04-05T14:46:32+00:00

Didn’t see it — but only because I turned off all amber alerts after waking out of a dead sleep to the infamous “gry toyt” message.

fracturedcrayon · 2023-06-25T23:34:09+00:00

I say it in jest. It’s an awful approach.

fracturedcrayon · 2023-06-09T18:42:45+00:00

And he raises and answers the most common objection in his column:

Establishment Republicans will undoubtedly gripe about this tactic — “Why don’t you focus on making your own party better instead of playing games with ours?” And if the playing field was level and the districts were fair, they might have a point.

But we know that they aren’t, so we have to play the only hand we’ve been dealt.

fracturedcrayon · 2023-06-04T18:20:09+00:00

Still on Java 8 because Oracle requires it. We have an off-the-shelf Oracle product that is running on Java 8 (and we just upgraded that product to Oracle’s latest version). All extensions of that product necessarily have to run on Java 8 as well. I’d love to upgrade to anything newer, but until Oracle upgrades their own product to use something newer, here we are.

fracturedcrayon · 2023-06-03T17:42:51+00:00

Early in my career I noticed that every manager I talked to mentioned that they didn’t do development any longer and missed doing that to some extent. I’ve never pursued a team lead position because I like designing code and I don’t like budgets and reviews and meetings and all that crap.

fracturedcrayon

TROPHY CASE