No more Bubble Ball

[T2Eagle]

So Richard B., as my old law professor used to chide us, "The clarity of your answer escapes me."

 

Are you saying you didn't actually have any actual data or information but decided to ban an activity that could be a fun way to help be physically fit, or you do have such information (my quick perusal of CPSC didn't hit on anything) but feel that we either wouldn't be able to understand it or just don't deign to share it with us because we're just not worth the trouble? 

[qwazse]

I spent my youth rolling down hills occasionally "finding" rocks. Always regretted that my kids grew up on property that was probably the flattest in town.

 

National has reasons, we think little of their reasoning. Whatever. I myself never thought of sticking a patrol or den in a sphere of polyurethane for entertainment (theirs or mine). But we've been teaching boys to think out of the box, they have time to kill, and find this stuff, and "Oh golly, there's the wall of the box!"

 

We are experiencing this scenario where boys are drawn towards tech activities and we've accomdated them. For example, when I was a kid, scouts went winter camping and clubs went skiing. Now that's reversed. Some parents don't Trust their school's ski club to properly chaperon their kids. They ask scouts to go skiing. It was the wierdest thing for me when Son #1 learned to ski with his troop. (Weirder still when I learned as an advisor with my crew.) Suddenly national is rattling off rules about head buckets.

 

When will it end? It won't. The problem is that pronouncements from National lose their credibility when they opine "this isn't safe" when the subtext is primarily "this isn't worth it."

Edited April 7, 2016 by qwazse

[RichardB]

Let me be less subtle:

No balls in Scouting.

 

What about Chalk Balls?  http://www.scouting.org/Home/OutdoorProgram/ShootingSports.aspx or direct link

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/Outdoor%20Program/pdf/510-317(16)_ChalkBall.pdf 

[desertrat77]

What about Chalk Balls?  http://www.scouting.org/Home/OutdoorProgram/ShootingSports.aspx or direct link

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/Outdoor%20Program/pdf/510-317(16)_ChalkBall.pdf

Yes, chalk ball...a wildly popular sport?   With this rule from the attached pdf:

 

"In the event of a Scout being shot

with a chalk ball, the shooter and the

“hitee†are banned from the course for

the remainder of the program."

 

I also enjoyed the written prohibitions against food, drink, tobacco, and alcohol whilst on the range.

 

I think Joe Bob's point remains "on-target."

[blw2]

this just in....

since use of computer keyboards has been known to cause carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful malady, the BSA is immediately banning the use of computers by it's members.

[Krampus]

I also enjoyed the written prohibitions against food, drink, tobacco, and alcohol whilst on the range.

 

So naturally, once we are done with Chalk Ball we can enjoy these things off the range? 

[desertrat77]

So naturally, once we are done with Chalk Ball we can enjoy these things off the range? 

Krampus, an excellent question...given the number of poorly written rules, could you imagine how funny it would be if there was indeed a loophole?

[ScouterJLM]

Can't run around in a big plastic ball for fear of it popping on a scout, but yet we still allow them to slide down a cliff on a rope, shoot rifles, shotguns, pistols, arrows, & handle pocket knives.  There's apparently no risk involved in any of those activities.  Oh what about cooking, boiling water can be extremely dangerous.  Oh can't go camping anymore, they might get killed or injured in a car accident on the way to or from the camp grounds.  Backpacking is out, too many wild animals that might eat them, and they might trip and skin their knee.  

 

As someone else mentioned we can have them glue macaroni to cans to make really cool pencil holders.  Wait... No that's out too, might be a sharp edge on the soup can that they could get cut on...

 

Some decisions made by national are just plain stupid.  

 

Hope they don't take my sarcasm the wrong way and start banning those activities mentioned above as well.  If it keeps going this way, we may be reduced to camping via skype, where everyone sits in their home and we look at pictures of mountains and lakes rather than actually going to them.  

[bbender]

Now, now ... there was an update on all of this late last week ... here's the "Press Release"

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Irving, Texas
April 1, 2016

 

As recently announced on the Scouting.org website (at http://www.scouting.org/ >> Boy Scouts of America >> Fun Things Boy Scouts Do >> Wow That Does Look Fun >> Scouting Safely >> WDBPD (What Did Baden Powell Do) >> MDTFTR (Multi-Discipline Task Force Tertiary Review) >> Health and Safety Alerts >> Position on Knockerballâ„¢, BubbleBall, Battle Ballâ„¢, Zorbing, and Similar Orb Activities), the next online revision to the Guide to Safe Scouting will add orb activities as unauthorized activity.

 

As noted in that page, in recent years, we have seen an upswing in the use of orbs for everything from rolling down hills, across water, “playing†soccer or football, and outright battles. They were included as an activity at the 2015 National Order of the Arrow Conference after a hazard analysis was conducted but where participants uniformly turned a thumbs down on what otherwise looked like fun level, saying it bombed (it was “da bomb†was a common complaint), and was widely perceived as illegal and inappropriate (several players referred to it as “dope†right after exiting the orb).  Others commented on the out of shape nature of the activity, referring to it as “phatâ€(sp).

 

But the BSA has heard the feedback of volunteers and received the report of another multidiscipline task force that has determined that some air-encased plastic bubble protective devices are authorized and will become mandatory for Scouting activities starting with the World Scout Jamboree in 2019.  These devices, available today through ScoutStuff.org, are called BSA BubbleClassB and provide an exciting, appealing and safe exterior shell casing for active Scouts. 

 

Made of tough natural plastics with a certain amount of flexibility, the BSA BubbleClassB will provide Scouts with a sleek and fairly flexible solution to emergency preparedness solutions for many dangerous situations like falling down -- all without the excess bulk of dangerous orbs.   Google bubble wrapped boys and select images to see the incredible pictures of acquiescent users of BSA BubbleClassB prototypes.  In keeping with the BSA commitment to technological innovation, each BSA BubbleClassB will have a capacity for parents to access location data in real time through Garmin GPS tracking technology.   And as a further advance in safety, the outer shell of the BSA BubbleClassB will have dipole magnet technology that will act to keep wearers of BSA BubbleClassB from bouncing off each other.

 

Please help us communicate this to all participants in Scouting as part of our commitment to their safety.

 

In addition, the next online revision to the Guide to Safe Scouting will add this as unauthorized activity:

 

20. The use of sharp hooks, barbed or barbless, while fishing, fly fishing, frog gigging, whale harpooning or similar activities. 

 

A multidiscipline task force comprised of program, marketing, development, legal, risk management, and health and safety professionals and volunteers has evaluated the risks of their use, reviewed their accident history and concluded:

 

Ouch!  That’s sharp!  And people swing those around in the air?  Someone could lose an eye!  

 

For more information, do not google fish hook accidents. 

 

And the Bass Pro Shops sponsorship of the Bass Pro Shops Toolkit has ended its five year funding term.  The BSA thanks Bass Pro Shops for all their support over the term.

 

About the Boy Scouts of America

 

The Boy Scouts of America provides the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be “Prepared. For Life.®†The Scouting organization is composed of nearly 2.4 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 21 and approximately 960,000 volunteers in local councils throughout the United States and its territories. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit www.scouting.org

 

-30-

[Stosh]

this just in....

since use of computer keyboards has been known to cause carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful malady, the BSA is immediately banning the use of computers by it's members.

 

My mouse is laser driven, it doesn't have the old roller ball.  Can I still use it?  PLEEEEZE!  Don't take my forum away, don't take my forum away, don't take my forum away.......

[Stosh]

@@bbender   note the date.

[JoeBob]

Let me be less subtle:

No balls in Scouting.

Should I have said 'testicles'? 

[T2Eagle]

My mouse is laser driven, it doesn't have the old roller ball.  Can I still use it?  PLEEEEZE!  Don't take my forum away, don't take my forum away, don't take my forum away.......

"What's a mouse?" says Mrs. T2E, who no longer owns any device that isn't a touch screen.

 

(She gets weirdly exasperated when I hand her my laptop to look at something and the screen won't respond no matter how often she swipes across it.)

 

ETA, I sometimes claim I'm using voice recognition software, but really I'm just arguing out loud with other idiots on the interwebs who can't actually hear me.

Edited April 7, 2016 by T2Eagle

[Stosh]

So you trade in carpal tunnel for laryngitis.  It's still risky behavior.

[blw2]

My mouse is laser driven, it doesn't have the old roller ball.  Can I still use it?  PLEEEEZE!  Don't take my forum away, don't take my forum away, don't take my forum away.......

nah... there's a risk of eye damage