EXCLUSIVE: Bird Box Challenge reason bowl games have sucked

TCU defeats Cal in overtime 7-6. The Quarterbacks combined for nine interceptions. The TCU sports information director tripped and fell on the field, negating a pick-6. The TCU quarterback threw for four INTs and 27 yards…..and won.

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This is the same kind of warning as found on dry cleaner bags, “Not a toy. Do not give to small children.”

There’s only one explanation for each team’s inept play. The were playing the Bird Box Challenge! This is where people are challenging each other to go through daily life blindfolded because there is a stupid movie out where a woman and some kids had to do this to survive. Netflix warned people not to do this, but I’m convinced several NCAA football players did.

TCU quarterback, Grayson Muehlstein , takes a snap in the Cheez-It Bowl

There’s more evidence of Bird Box Challenge bastardizing bowl games and sending Vegas into a frenzy. It’s one thing to cope with star players sitting out, but how do odds makers compensate for players playing blindfolded?
Let’s look at the Redbox Bowl. Oregon managed to beat Michigan St 7-6 in a game that featured three fumbles and an interception on the same play.

We think it’s more like MSU quarterback Brian Lewerke showin’ why it’s impossible to play blindfolded (he appears to take the blindfold off at 22 seconds of the video).

There were other games where players on one team were playing the Bird Box Challenge but the other team’s players were peeking. Clearly during the Pinstripe Bowl, Wisconsin players had see-thru blindfolds as they smoked a good Miami defense for 333 rushing yards en route to a 35-3 win. Miami’s offense accumulated less than 170 yards total offense leading to retirement of coach Mark Richt and the firing of the entire offensive staff.

Other nominees for suspected Bird Boxing are:

  1. NC State defense in the second half of their blowout loss to Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl.
  2. Notre Dame’s pathetic offense vs. Clemson in the national semi-final.
  3. South Carolina vs Virginia in the Belk Bowl.
  4. Michigan’s whole team and coach in their Peach Bowl whupping at the hands of Florida.
  5. UCF….just because.

Sure, it’s okay for Appalachian State to re-enact the Ned Beatty scene in Deliverance vs Middle Tennessee State. Or Alabama and Oklahoma to play Clash of the Titans. Or Auburn to go Bruce Lee on Purdue. But this mimicking of movies must stop or someone is going to get hurt.

Messin’ with a Scammer

The Internet is full of scams. One of the most prevalent is advertisements for Jobs on Cruise Ships. These scammers prey especially on young people from third world countries who are eager to get out of their country and see

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Other than the lousy English, misspelling and poor grammar, this looks pretty legit

the world. My nephew, who I’ll call Eli, is one of those people. He lives in Morocco and recently graduated from college with a degree in Hotel Management. He ran across a Facebook page similar to this one offering dozens of job openings, so expressed interest. Within minutes he received a No Risk Guarantee certificate and several forms to fill out. The person he was

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Friendly looking fellow, isn’t he? Kinda looks like Captain Stubing from “The Love Boat.” A bit overdressed for a HR manager, though.

dealing with claimed to be a Human Resources manager for Princess Cruise Lines. He even sent a copy of his Official Princess Cruise Lines Employee ID! With forms filled out, the next step was to send $300 by MoneyGram for processing and cost of visa. Then in two weeks when the visa arrives, Eli will have a $4000 per month job sailing the high seas! What could go wrong? At this point, Eli contacted me and asked my opinion.

I suspected a scam, but wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt so I did a little investigating. Here’s what I found:

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  1. The name on the ID does not match the name of the person receiving the wire transfer. Mr. Polesello is in California. The MoneyGram recipient, a Mr. Graham, wanted to receive the money in Woodlands, Texas, north of Houston.
  2. Simone Polesello, the name on the ID, is an Italian actor.
  3. The phone number of the person texting Eli is from New Jersey.
  4. According to one anti-scam site, cruise lines receive 150 applicants per job opening. I don’t think they really need recruiters.
  5. Cruise job scams are one of the most prevalent employment scams on the internet.

So obviously I recommended to Eli that he send no money to these scammers.

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Then after a couple hours, I texted Eli and asked him if he wanted to have some fun.

I told him to text the guy back and tell him, “I appreciate the job offer, but he got another offer from a company for $5000 per month. Even thought I have to pay $1000 for the job, I feel it is a better offer.” Below are screenshots of the conversation….

Here the scammer is warning against scammers. I guess that’s a pretty good example of irony.

Here the scammer claims he is helping his “Muslim brother” by getting him this job. Funny….I bet there’s not too many people named Graham or Polesello that are Muslim.

Of course! You must see a video that proves this is a legit offer! I can’t wait to see this!
Here’s the convincing video sent by our HR Muslim brother, Mr. Graham or Polesello or whatever, speaking with a Swedish(?) accent! Proof of legitimacy!
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And….BOOM….All it took was another fake offer to get Eli a $2000 per month raise! Mr. Polesello or Graham, whatever his name is, even decided to play the Muslim card again. This time quoting from the Quran, telling Eli he hopes “God will guide him to choose the correct path.” Very nice, but kind of strange behavior coming from a Human Resources manager of a multi-billion dollar company. I mean, think of the lawsuits.

And that’s where we left it….so far. I want to mess with the scammers some more. Some ideas I’m tossing around:

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  1. Ask if we can send cash and send 10 Moroccan dirham. That’s worth about $1USD.
  2. Send 300 dirham instead of 300 dollars and argue with them that we have paid up in full.
  3. Ask if we can wire the $300 in payments. And then send a couple dollars as the January payment.
  4. Send a list of demands before accepting the job, i.e. balconied stateroom, special meals, etc.

What do you think???

Air Fryers – Overrated or miracle cookers?

UPDATED 1/5/2019

I got an air fryer for Christmas! I have several friends who swear by them and say they are amazing. So tonight, I started slow….making french fries, which seems to be one of the foods that the air fryer does so amazingly. After inquiring on Facebook, I found out that most of my friends use frozen fries in their air fryers. That’s fine, but I want FIVE GUYS fries, not McDonald’s!!! I want fries from fresh, raw potatoes!! After inquiring some more on Facebook, I found out that it was possible to use raw fries.
The recipe in the mini-cookbook included with the fryer says to first “blanch the potatoes until tender.” WHAT? I microwaved them instead for a few minutes, but when I peeled and cut them it turned into a bowl of mashed potatoes! So I started over with raw, fresh cut potatoes.

I realized that raw spuds would take longer than “blanched”, so rather than expecting my fries to be done in 18 minutes at 400 degrees as the recipe said, I figured it would take longer. I had no idea how much longer…and still don’t, because I had to keep increasing the time. Frankly, it seemed like it would be quicker to simply bake the fries in a standard oven. I’ve made fries that way, too, and they were just as good as these. Plus, you have to stop the air fryer and shake the basket every few minutes. I did it five times over 30(?) minutes. I had to watch over a batch of fries which kind of took away all the convenience….which is one reason I got the fryer!

The other reason I got the fryer was to reduce calories. It only takes a tablespoon of olive oil to prepare these fries. That’s awesome. But you can do the same thing in a convention oven…even a toaster oven.

FINAL GRADES:

Ease of use: C – Having to stop the fryer every few minutes to shake the fries is more difficult than baking in a standard oven or deep frying.

Final product: B+  – Deep fried fries are still better. I realize I saved a lot of calories, but standard oven baked fries are just as good and just as quick and only require one turning, rather than several shakes.

Cleanup: A – Very quick cleanup. Cleaner than baked fries and way cleaner than fried.

Overall assessments: Upgraded to B+ – as a fries cooker. We have cooked two more batches of fries and have improved our game. Cutting the potato thinner helped a lot. STILL INCOMPLETE – as a cooking tool. We tried Cornish Hen and it turned out very good, although we had to halve the bird and it still took 30 minutes.


Have a Very PC Christmas!

I love Christmas.  It’s the time of year where we are reintroduced to all of our favorite TV shows, movies and stories that we’ve loved since childhood.   But recently, some liberal media outlets have told us one of  our favorites may be insensitive and politically incorrect.   Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has been labeled “seriously problematic” due to what some see as a cartoon featuring bullying and sexism.   I remember it as a picked on “kid” overcoming obstacles to become #1….a hero.  

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” was recently criticized as racist because the only black character, Franklin, was seated at a table in a lawn chair by himself on one side of the table.   I remember the seating arrangement as a sort of place of honor.  But that’s just me, I guess.    Besides, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz fought to add Franklin to the cast to stand up against racism in 1968.   If this gathering is seen as racist, it certainly wasn’t Schulz’ intent.

It looks to me like Franklin got placed in a seat of honor and was served extra popcorn and ice cream! 

If Rudolph and Charlie Brown are bad, this opens up a whole new floodgate of dangerous and problematic Christmas characters and stories.   I’ll play the role of a liberal nut and look for prejudice, bigotry, and  other yuletide oppression. 

OFFENDER #1 – FROSTY THE SNOWMAN (1969)
This perverted story was pointed out to me and gave me the inspiration for this blog post.  Frosty cavorts with children COMPLETELY NAKED and  smoking a pipe.  How in the world can this story be in front of our kids for FIFTY years and not be noticed? 

OFFENDER #2 – HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (1966)
Dr. Seuss wrote the children’s book in 1957.  There was a Hollywood remake in 2000.  But it was the cartoon movie in 1966 that has really haunted our children.   Again….NO PANTS.   Cindy Lou Hoo got a full frontal in the privacy of her parents’ living room.  Kinda reminds me of an episode of “To Catch a Predator“.

The Grinch also embarks on a felonious breaking and entering/robbery spree on  Christmas Eve.  Don’t we get enough of that in mall parking lots? Last and just as hideous is his treatment of his pet dog…..much worse than Michael Vick even.  Why hasn’t PETA been all over this???

OFFENDER #3 – MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947)
Other than the obvious message…ALWAYS DISTRUST MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS …. and the painful firing of a poor sap suffering from alcoholism, we are introduced to a very, very white Christmas.   So white, in fact, there is only one (that I can count) black actor in the whole film.   Apparently there were absolutely no people of color living in Manhattan at the time. Theresa Harris is cast as a maid/housekeeper (of course) to the lovely and pale Walker family.   Her role was also UNCREDITED.

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong

Despite this injustice, 34th continues to be one of the most popular Christmas movies on the planet.  Where is the uproar?

OFFENDER #4 – IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
Probably THE MOST endeared and viewed Christmas classic of all time, It’s a Wonderful Life makes light of suicide.   Suicide works, kids!  Try it!   When George Bailey’s attempt at offing himself fails, we are taken on a Scroogelike “ghost of Christmas present” tour of life without him.   What do we find?  His poor, helpless spinster wife is unable to maintain the household without her male companion.  Misogyny at its finest.  Feminists have got to hate this. 

Just jump!  Everything will be okay!

The movie also is very anti-capitalism, almost Communistic, taking frequent swipes at people that have actually earned money and portraying bankers and businessmen as bad guys.  But I guess that’s not considered a bad thing nowadays.  Finally, the cast rivals 34th Street as the least diverse cast in a Christmas movie. 

OFFENDER #5 – THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004)
Probably the most disturbing thing about this movie is kids hopping on a train with an older man with a bristly mustache.  Then the white boy loses his train ticket and a black girl gives him hers.   The conductor does a “random” ticket check (he chooses only the black girl…SURPRISE!).  She is without a ticket, but white boy tries to give her the ticket back.  The conductor says, “Tickets are non transferable!”  This movie is based on a book published in 1985, not 1885. 
The movie also doesn’t deal well with homelessness and the underprivileged.  Billy, the impoverished kid has to sit in the back of the last car.  The homeless/hobo guy is creepy and hangs out with the white boy.   At least they were all wearing pants. 

Okay you give me your ticket, you hang out in the back and I’m going to befriend a hobo

Years ago, my son’s elementary school class actually had a “Polar Express Day” where everyone could wear pajamas and watch this movie.  Helicopter parents would go berserk nowadays.

There are others….
A Christmas Story (1983) – You know, Ralphie and the BB gun movie.  There’s plenty of violence and bullying in this one.  The father doesn’t give a shit about anything except his stocking legs lamp.   Once again, the cast is completely white other than one unaccredited role. 
Home Alone (1990) – Child neglect is the premise.  The moral is that violence will prevail. 

I guess the gist of this post is that you can find racism, bigotry and anything else bad you’re looking for if you look hard enough.   This guy says it best:

Strip Clubs

I’ve never really understood the appeal of strip clubs, gentlemen clubs, exotic dance clubs, whatever you want to call them.   Let’s face it…unless you’ve got a ton of money, drugs or good looks or you work there, you aren’t going home with any of the dancers.  I happened to be 0 for 4 in those departments, so I always found myself standing around bored with a bunch of horny drunk dudes, very uncomfortable.   But the few times I went to a strip club something always happened….so I’ll share a few of my stories.

THE BACHELOR PARTY

A friend of mine was getting married…I’ll call him Steve (because his name is Steve)….so the night before a group of us guys went to a place in Greensboro, NC run by a man called Giovanni.  Giovanni was your typical Italian mobster stereotype in the flesh.  Gold chains, big lapels, hairy, sweaty, loud, etc., etc.   He actually shot a guy in the parking lot not long after our adventure.   But back to our night.

Not the actual lap dance, but they all kinda look the same, don’t they?

After a couple hours of gawking and wasting $1 bills, I bought Steve an on-stage, bondage style, lap dance.  Twenty bucks.  That’s right, the girl tied him to a chair, stuffed a red ball gag in his mouth, straddled him and proceeded to gyrate to “She’s a Beauty” by the 80’s band The Tubes.   And yes, there are pictures.
There is a fountain outside Giovanni’s in the middle of a pool of water that’s about 2 feet deep.   As our group left the bar, Steve didn’t see the water, tripped over the wall and fell in head first.  After about 30 seconds of laughing we realized Steve was still underwater.  One of the guys grabbed him by the collar and yanked him out gasping for air.  We nearly drowned the groom.
It was not a pretty scene when we delivered Steve, 99% unconscious, to his and his future bride’s apartment.   The girl’s disdain for me turned to outright hate.   The following day Steve was married and it was the last time I saw the guy.

THE NEAR KISS

The seediest strip you’ll ever want to visit

It was the early 80’s in calm, serene Southern Pines, NC,  two buddies and I….I’ll call them Andy and Craig (that’s not their real names and both are still dear friends)….decided to make the 30 minute trek to Fayetteville, NC to see what all the fuss was about Hay Street and the infamous “Rick’s Lounge”.    A couple months before we visited, a guy was decapitated with a machete a block off Hay Street.  Nice area (it has since been cleaned up and IS very nice).    We visited a couple strip clubs where Asian girls were more than willing to sit in my lap at the bar and drink $4 ginger ales that we bought for them, thinking we were buying them alcoholic drinks.   We were invited to an upstairs VIP room for “twenny dolla”, but politely declined…at which point they quit sitting on our laps.   So we headed to Rick’s.
If you can imagine a bar full of hedonistic, hell bound, ugly drunks, Rick’s is the place.  It made the Star Wars bar look like a beauty pageant.  Andy, Craig and I sat at the bar and within two minutes a guy sits next to me and says, “Check this out”, and hands me a hunk of hashish under the bar the size of a billiards ball.   I actually enjoyed hash for a brief time in the 70’s, but this was not hash.  It was dirty and slick, like I was the 1000th person he had tried this scam on.  I politely declined, hoping that he wouldn’t behead me with a machete.   So we headed home.  Well, sorta.
Our car was parked across the street and somehow a hooker ended up in our front seat.   The details are unclear how she got there, but I think Andy invited her.   She wanted to have sex with us, but we politely declined.  We only had $10 between us by now anyway, but  we were kind enough to offer  her the opportunity to give the three of us blow jobs at that price.   She laughed and started to leave the car.  I leaned toward her, puckered my lips and said,  “Well how about a goodbye kiss baby?”   She motioned to slap me, withheld, and trotted back across the street.   We laughed and pulled out onto Hay Street headed back home.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

But…within 100 feet I was pulled over by the police.  He asked for my drivers license, which I politely presented (I was very polite back then).  Then he said,  “What were you doing with that GUY in your car?”    The three of us laughed…”What guy?”.    “That was a dude, boys.”   I bet the shocked look on our face was something to behold.   He said,  “I suggest you boys get back to Southern Pines and not come back.”   So we did.
Thankfully, I didn’t get that freebie kiss.

THE NUDE STRIP CLUB

The Tampa Crew.
Faces blurred to protect the innocent.

Holy moly.   Speaking of hedonism, have you ever been to a completely nude strip joint?  I have.   Four us….Craig was there….went to Tampa Florida to see the Rolling Stones.   But the night before our host, Willie (not his real name…he’s still a friend), decided to take us to the famous Mons Venus!  

The World Famous Mons Venus Club

This place is legendary, and for good reason.   Dancers are completely nude, waitresses are completely nude and it was a brown bagging joint.   That means you can bring your own beer and liquor!  Heaven!!!   Well, not quite.
After 10 minutes of lusting after every naked female that passed us, I’ll admit it kinda got old.    I felt guilty and dirty….”These girls are somebody’s daughters and I’m ogling them”….it’s worse than thinking about baseball.
That did not keep me from reluctantly being dragged into a  booth for a lap dance that one of my friends bought for me.   This beautiful, nude, petite girl straddled me on the sofa and began grinding….and all I could think about was her father.   I did not get aroused.   Keep in mind, they allowed you to touch…even kiss…the girls anywhere on their bodies except the genital area.  I was reminded of that by the girl and politely apologized.   Thankfully a bouncer didn’t rip my head off.

THE BIG SPENDER

My Raleigh friends may remember the strip club that used to be located where Capital Boulevard split near downtown.  The name escapes me.  The place seemed to sit on a big median with traffic whizzing buy on both sides.
One night a group of us teenage Cary boys decided to check it out.   We were doing the usual feeding of $1 bills into the G-Strings in exchange for an alluring look and mouthed, sexy “thank you”.   If we  were lucky we’d get a dancer’s fingers rubbed through our hair.   Except when my friend Billy (I’ll use his real name because he’s still a dumbass) visited the stage.   I saw Billy raise a $20 bill over his head and the beautiful dancer rushed over, sat down, drew him closer, untucked his shirt,  gave him a big sloppy kiss and sent him on his way.  Billy was red faced and beaming.  “That girls loves me!”   I said, “No, Billy, you just gave her $20.”   He thought he had given her a dollar.   Nope.  Billy was out of money and it wasn’t even 10 pm.   He actually went to look for the girl to tell her he made a mistake and get some of his money back.  We laughed and  let him go.   He was unsuccessful.

THE LUNCH

A couple years after the trip to Rick’s Lounge, my buddy Andy and I decided to head to Fayetteville for lunch.  Not being familiar with the city, we found a place on Bragg Boulevard that served sandwiches.  We did not know that the place was a strip club…well, at least I didn’t know.   We walked in about noon and we were the ONLY people in the place except for a female bartender.   As we walked through the door she took off her bikini top and

Not her. But similar looks.

greeted us as we took a seat at the bar.   She served us two beers and then climbed on the counter directly above us and started dancing.   We asked if we could order lunch, so she climbed down took our order and delivered the ticket to the kitchen.   A couple minutes later she came back with our sandwiches, laid them out in front of us….and climbed on the bar again, dancing above us.  Ya know,  sandwiches and topless girls are awesome.    But not at the same time.   For some reason all I could think about was sanitation scores.  We politely asked her to step down and simply talk to us.  She turned out to be a very nice and smart girl.  She really WAS working there to attend college.

I wonder sometimes about the dancers I encountered back in the day.  They would all be in their 50’s now….maybe older.   Hopefully they are all doing well and escaped that lifestyle long ago.

My idea for improving the grocery shopping experience

There are so many ways that grocery stores could make the shopping experience so much better for me.  The first and easiest way is to increase prices one day per week by 10%.  It would keep EVERYONE away except for me!  I will gladly pay $11 for a twelve pack and a pound of hamburger instead of $10 to have the store to myself.   Think about it….no more dealing with entire families crowding the aisles on “family shopping day” (I think this is a redneck holiday, but I’m not sure).    Of course, there are already stores that keep the riff raff out every day.  They’re called “Fresh Market” and “Lowes”, but in those places you have to deal with soccer moms (worse) and prices 40% higher.
This is probably not feasible, so I’ve got a Plan B.
There really needs to be a “Fast Lane” at  all grocery stores.  I’m not talking about simply an “Express Checkout for 12 items or less”, which everyone completely ignores…I’m talking about a unique shopper experience where people in a hurry can pay extra to avoid all the inevitable slowdowns and distractions that come with visits to Food Lion, WalMart,  wherever.   Here’s my plan.
Customers buy an “Express Card” for $10.  This gives them access to a physical fast lane…a center lane in every aisle that only cardholders can enter with their carts.   They will also have their own checkout lane or two which will charge $1 for entry, major credit cards only…no cash, no EBT cards.  Yes, a gate to get in.  I think $1 will keep 99% of shoppers out.     An added perk for Express Customers will be parking right next to the front door of the stores.   I know that people already THINK they have the right to park there.   But let’s have a tow truck available to clear the way for paying MVPs!
Finally…Plan D for desperate….is to allow all out war in stores.  No rules whatsoever.  If someone is blocking the milk cooler, hockey checks are allowed.  After time, this would keep slower shoppers from clogging lanes.  They’d know if they they slowed down some huge white boy would clock them into aisle three.    NASCAR rules, if you will.  Clip ’em and slip ’em.  Below is a recent shopper I ran into that would be shoved into the infield or wall.

 

I Really Need to Fire Siri

Who can live without Siri?  She’s like having an encyclopedia at your fingertips.  “Siri, take me to <insert city here>”,  “Siri, call <insert name here>.”   But does she ever get complacent with her job?   I think mine has.  Lately she has been deliberately obtuse.  I ask straightforward questions and she just cannot come up with a legitimate or helpful answer.  I mean,  I’m not being Alex Trebek here feeding her rhetorical questions.  This isn’t a test.    I need to know answers sometimes.   Many times I’m driving and I can’t take my eyes off the road or pull over.   Here are a few of Siri’s answers that I was able to save.
Here’s a basic question.   My cable/internet was out and I needed a number.   I COULDN’T LOOK IT UP ON THE INTERNET, NOW COULD I???  It’s not like Spectrum is an unknown company.  They are the second largest internet provider in the country!  Yet, Siri couldn’t find a number.
Here’s another example of Siri’s slacktitude.   My son and I are watching a baseball game and Victor Martinez grounds into another double play.  He asks me, “I bet he leads the league in double plays.”.   Again, simple question.  Siri doesn’t know.     If my boss asked me, “Who leads the team in sales?”, and I said, “I don’t know who leads the team in sales”, I’d be fired.
I get this one quite a bit.  What the hell can Siri be doing that she waves me off?   She doesn’t eat, sleep, have family or friends, doesn’t waste her time on Facebook….WTH are you doing?    Hell, even Jeeves (remember him?) did a better job without hesitation.

This one probably bothers me the most.  9 times out of 10 Siri will call my son when I want her to.  This morning, when he was upstairs getting ready for school…which starts in 28 minutes and is located 25 minutes away….she decided to ask me “Which Adam?”.   I only have one Adam.  I do have a daughter and an HOA president, but I didn’t want to talk to them at the moment, walking the dog…in the rain, no less.  Here’s another….
Okay, I realize this is partially my fault…grams are a measure of mass and teaspoons are a measure of volume..but I was measuring vanilla while making banana bread and needed a quick conversion.  GOOGLE told me what a teaspoon of water is in grams.  That would have been really helpful while I was smashing bananas.   Work with me, Siri, for crying out loud.
Maybe I’ll fire Siri and hire Alexa.  She’ll probably get lazy and complacent like every other woman I’ve been involved with.

 

 

Girls! Girls! Girls!…….In the Boy Scouts?

This year, for the first time, The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) began admitting females.   In 2019 they will officially drop the “Boy” in their organization’s name.  Currently, only Cub Scouts admit girls, but BSA has plans to allow them into the 11 to 17 year old troops.  And, yes, each troop will have the option to go coed rather than separating the sexes.  I’m all for gender equity, but I can see this becoming a big problem for the Scouts.  It won’t be long before a 16 year old or a worldly 10 year old boy sexually assaults or harasses a member of his troop.  “Your honor, the troop leader threw this innocent girl into the wolves den and she was preyed upon by that raging pile of hormones in the green shorts!”
Assault and lawsuits aside, let’s look at this from a young teen boy perspective…THIS IS THE GREATEST THING SINCE MASTURBATION WAS INVENTED!!!   I can imagine me, as a 6th grader, going on an overnight camping trip with girls from class!  Whoa!  I assure you we would sneak out of our tents at night and hit the woods together like we snuck out of school dances and headed to the baseball field dugouts together to practice our French kissing or a quick game of Spin the Bottle.   I took Home Economics in 7th grade simply because I knew out of 25 classmates I would be the only boy!  Best class I ever took.    As a 17 year old there would be one goal in mind….and it wouldn’t be kissing.   With the addition of girls to BSA, Jamborees became a WHOLE lot more fun!  How much longer before a “Safe Sex” badge is offered?
Seriously, coed outdoors groups have been around a long time.  Indian Guides (now “Adventure Guides”) and Camp Fire Girls (now just “Camp Fire”) have been coed for some time.  They both offer outdoor adventure and even overnight trips for girls and boys.   I haven’t heard of any lawsuits resulting from misbehavior…by the kids anyway.   So maybe this BSA mixing of the sexes will work.   But, as a male, it is kind of sad to me that BSA won’t be an outlet for boys to bond with each other without the pressure that women bring.  Sorry, women have been the #1 cause of stress among men since God created Adam and Eve (they also happen to be the #1 source of pleasure).  Our whole lives are devoted to finding one, impressing her, marrying her, procreating and providing.  BSA, like golf outings and fantasy football, should be a place for boys to bond and behave and say things to each other without interference.
There’s a difference between the sexes and I like the difference.  Unfortunately, this world is turning into one big homogeneous, unisex, one-size-fits-all world.   Let the boys be boys and girls be girls!