ylph

Scouting experience really depends a lot on the local troop (and council to some extent)

I had reservations about BSA (now just SA I guess :), but my son decided to join some years back, and I supported him, even eventually becoming an assistant scoutmaster in his troop.

I would say the program has a lot of great aspects, and I have seen first hand many kids really benefit from it, helping them overcome various challenges and grow into better and more independent people, including my son who also benefited from it greatly.

I do disagree with some of the policies, especially at the national level - I am an atheist, and the insistence on essentially not allowing atheists to participate openly is regrettable. I am glad they decided to allow girls and gay kids participate however.

Our troop was the first one in my area to allow girls to join. At the time we joined, the troop had a great group of kids (boys and girls) and parents which had the right attitude, and were generally looking for the right things from the program, focusing on what I think are the important aspects (for example religion played almost no role in our troop) and everything worked really well. I have definitely encountered other troops that I am pretty sure my son nor I would be able to stay with more than a day however. Also as kids age out, and new kids and parents join, the vibe of a troop can shift as well, so it's a bit of a crapshoot. My son aged out, and I have transitioned out, but the last year in the troop things weren't as good as when we first joined.

The scandals of the past are obviously terrible. However, other than having to do all the extra training and strict emphasis on rules designed to prevent such stuff from happening again in the future, I haven't really seen any of that type of stuff during my time with the scouts - no creeps, and all parents and volunteers I interacted with were generally quite on board with following the rules and working together to keep the environment safe. But I suppose as with everything, a lot depends on your area and specific troop.

Cub Scouts require parents to participate. And most Scout troops I think wish more of their parents would take a more active role in the troop, so usually you would be more than welcome, both at meetings and on treks.

The Hyperfixed podcast covered this recently too

In parts of China where frogs are eaten, they call them 田雞 which literally means "field chicken" (although it can refer to several different species of frog)

From examples I found, it's not usually that periodic, but some mantis species make a very scratchy sound when threatened, sometimes repeatedly, but at more irregular intervals.

My yard is full of praying mantises, but they are usually dead quiet, I've never heard one make a noise (I try not to bother them). It's definitely not a common trope sound like crickets.. I was hoping there was some nature documentary that aired in the early 80s that featured a mantis sound that Larson might have seen, that could have inspired this cartoon idea, but so far can't find a specific one. There was an episode of Life on Earth from 1979 (presented by David Attenborough of course) about insects that featured some mantis stuff, and lots of insect sounds in the background, but not a specific mantis sound (they seem to play a cricket sound during the mantis scene in the background)

There was also a song "Praying Mantis" released in 1985 by Don Dixon that featured praying mantises in the video, but can't connect that one of the strip either :)

I suppose it's also possible that is supposed to be a cricket rather than a mantis.. or that Larson didn't really differentiate between them or their sounds, and it might have been as broad as "insect interested in insect sounds"

Edit: I had an alternate thought - maybe the mantis wants to eat a cricket ! :) But then the connection to his master's voice is weakened.. oh well, dissecting jokes really does kill them...

Praying mantises make sounds that sound a lot like a record scratch.

The water heaters are usually gas here though, so electric system doesn't really matter. Tankless heaters have become a lot more common over past decade or two, both gas and electric. For electric ones you just use a 240V circuit. Most electric appliances that need a lot of power run on 240V here, 30A and even 50A or 60A circuits are common and provide enough power for household needs.

I live in the US and every dishwasher I ever owned had a heating element, and was capable of heating its own water as needed, depending on what cycle was selected.

Same with my washing machines, my current one even has a steam cycle.

I feel like if dishwashers without heating elements were ever a common thing here, it must have been many decades ago.

It's a Bell 548A jack to be more precise. It's compatible with both 283B (the older square shape) and 505A (the later round shape) plugs

It was 67% in 2022, so it fell to 62% in 2023. It was never below 60% between 1997 and 2023, but then hit 58% in 2024.

Back in those times, fruits used to be quite seasonal, only available during certain times of year. It was very common for many families to preserve fruits in glass jars at home, either as jams, or whole - my family used to do it (as well as make sauerkraut out of cabbage, in a large ceramic crock)

The joke is that Jucika is carrying all the jars to do her preserves, and realizes she has no room to buy the actual fruit, the most important part of the whole thing! But being resourceful as she is, and inspired by the old lady, she comes up with a clever solution, using her hat.