I am pretty sure it is just shitty craft-store gold paint. My family and I were in DC for a short visit a couple months ago and I could see gold coloring on light fixtures and other places which seemed so out of place, I am certain some boot-licking cretin in the National Parks dept arranged to have it applied to appeal to our Dear Leader. But yeah, I am thinking we will need a giant roll-away dumpster at the White House to handle the clean-up when he is finally gone.

I managed to get my Eagle scout badge right before I aged out so I can appreciate what I think you are saying. As a parent, I initially planned on getting my son into scouting but the mess with BSA was enough to keep us away. That said, I still try to embody many of the values that I learned as a scout like always being prepared and respectful and ethical behavior.

What I think we could use more of is something like the Baden-Power Scouting Association or Navigators USA since they appear to be much more inclusive but I wasn’t able to find a chapter in my area.

I hadn’t even considered that angle when I was looking for a cub scout troop for my son a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to be a part of BSA when my dad was stationed in Germany so we were essentially sponsored by the base and there was no connection to a church organization. In the US I am finding that all troops are associated with churches and since I (as an atheist) am raising my son to be a free-thinker I figured there would be friction at some point since we don’t go to church. I was honestly less concerned about gropey scout-masters since I intended to be with him on each trip and am handy with a hatchet.

IMO and in hindsight, there is also a level of over-the-top christo-patriotism that I basically overlooked when I was younger that makes me want to cringe now as an adult. These factors have been enough for me to take a more informal route to teach him outdoorsman-ship via campouts at state parks since I can’t find any secular scouting options in my area. Its a shame since I did have some great experiences in scouting but I can’t give him anything like the opportunities I had as a military brat in Europe.

I used to be one of those as well. Moved to WV and it added a new element of fun…icy roads. Three years of that and sadly I became an ex-owner of a Miata since I couldn’t really winter the car and I had a motivated buyer. I miss that car most days but you really have to be on your toes all the time with the tractor trailers and “yank tanks” as they lovingly refer to them across the pond.

Subes are boring but effective in this part of the country.

Just a hunch but I am guessing you are referring to the first wave of good quality LED bulbs that hit the market. Those did last a long time and didn’t flicker like the new stuff that has been pushed out more recently. In my experience, even the better quality brands like GE are now enshittified so they fail sooner and I almost miss incandescents in spite of their higher power draw.

The last few packs of new bulbs that I have purchased to replace malfunctioning LED bulbs (less than 5 years old) start to flicker almost immediately. In contrast, the stuff I installed in my last house ran problem free for many years without any issues. Perhaps I am just unlucky.

If you combine that rule with the ability to endlessly stack Draw 2 or Draw 4 cards, you have what I think may be the most evil version of Uno that can be played. We called it Thermo-Nuclear Uno (i.e. Mutually Assured Destruction) since you knew that dropping a Draw 4 would almost certainly lead to someone being buried in cards and it might even be you. Even if you manage to dodge the stack, payback is coming and you won’t get lucky every time. I can remember games that we would finally just quit after an hour since no one would ever be able lay down their last card. Merging two decks can make this even more brutal and cuts down on interplay shuffles too.