Hacker Scouts / Young Makers

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Caitlin Wolff

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Sep 28, 2015, 5:33:52 PM9/28/15
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Hi all,

So I want to move forward with the idea of a youth group for makers. I have some ideas for projects, organization and so on. I think the people at Curiosity Hacked have a great idea with the Hacker Scouts, and they've done a lot of work already with regard to projects, badges that the kids can earn, etc. (Badges are a great motivator, with my kids anyway.) Their Hackerling Circuit looks like a good way to start with basic skills, too. I've tried to contact them and I am waiting for a response. Supposedly they have binders of materials and offer support to new groups. In the meantime, I want to coordinate and set up as much as possible.

At the end of this I'll put my brainstorming list of projects. Some of them are pretty easy, some are harder. What I lack is the necessary skills for some (a lot) of those projects. I know basic sewing, I'm a leather worker, I can use a scroll saw, I'm a painter. I don't know 3D printing, or building rockets, and my abilities with regard to electronics are very very very beginner. I took the Syn Shop soldering/LED class, that's it. Being in the SCA, I have some friends that know the more historical skills like weaving. I'll mostly be in need of volunteers from the shop to help!

The idea would be to have parents there during the class helping their kid, it's not all going to be on us. We can brainstorm the cheapest way to do things, and if we decide to go with kit projects I'd imagine we charge the parents for the kit. Then we are there to help and the kids all build simultaneously (or on teams). We can even present choices to the kids, once we have a group, so they have a say in what they are doing.

As for building a group, I have 3 kids and I have at least 2 friends with kids that have expressed interest so far. They range in age from 6 to 13. I can put the word out to various local groups, as well. Once we start doing projects, I can take photos and document our progress, then give it to someone to post on the website. This ought to pull in more parents, especially if we have something going by the time of Maker Faire in February - I can easily make flyers to pass out at the fair to parents. I can create a Facebook page just for the kids' group. We can come up with more ways to promote, I'm sure.

What are you guys' thoughts on this? Anyone want to jump on board or volunteer a specific activity? Any other ideas I'm overlooking?

- Caitlin


general ideas that we might want to look into for projects:



Robots or animals out of wood (scroll saw thin wood, glue)

Leather stamped bookmarks or bracelets (leather, hammers, stamps, dye - kit available)
more advanced: Leather tooling (with swivel knives)
Make a leather knife sheath, leather pouch (sewing with needle, awl, dying)

Felted wool creatures (felting needles and wool)

Simple plushies (hand sewn, filled with stuffing or beans or rice)
Then making a plushie "talk" with a recording

Blinky pins or headbands (soldering, LEDs - kit)

Duct tape stuff (wallets, bags, stencils, art)

Stick figure flip-book animation (paper, staples, pencils)

Bottle cap jewelry, wire jewelry, beading

Model solar system mobile (styrofoam balls, paint and wire)

Bicycle repair/maintenance
Skateboard repair/maintenance

Cardboard contraptions, costumes or art

R/C hacking (changing an existing R/C toy to something new)
R/C obstacle course (build one)
R/C robot battles

Book making (constructing a cover, making leaves, sewing a binding)

Sculpting with air-dry clay, with friendly plastic

Paracord bracelets

Cryptography (simple codes, transposition codes, cypher devices)

How to make door/trip alarms

Basic first aid (not really making, but always useful)

Using a simple video editor to make your own videos - stop motion videos, or gopro style videos, with music or voice overlay

Model rockets - air cannon type, burning fuel type. Paper rockets, plastic rocket kits. Parachutes?

Kite making

Scratch - use to animate a sprite, a story, or a music video (requires computer access)

Pinewood derby cars (cutting, attaching wheels, weight, race)

Inkle weaving (need looms and string)

Make a sign for your bedroom out of clear acrylic using the laser cutter (no idea how hard this is?)

Poseable cat doorstop (woodworking, scroll saw, sanding, finishing)

Pewter casting with cuttlefish molds (older kids only, molten metal = dangerous)

Building catapults and trebuchets (yeay physics)

Niq and Quinn the 3d printable dolls by 3d kit bash (no idea how hard this is, or how expensive)

Papertronic Lunar Modules (paper, glue, LED)

Make a pretend "control panel" with LEDs, buttons and switches

Windwalking "beasts" (out of wood - kits available but pricey)

Spray paint art (large pieces of wood or canvas, go nuts)

Brian Dirk

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Sep 28, 2015, 11:36:55 PM9/28/15
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This sounds great! Count Alicia and Myself on board. What I would like to suggest is lets put something on the schedule.  do something pretty simple the first time around, and lets have a planning meeting afterward to determine what to do the next time.. this will get us rolling, and hopefully we can pick up some momentum like that. 

Lets talk scheduling... 

I'd be willing and able to proctor and assist, but wouldn't be able to do anything until the first weekend of November. 

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Caitlin Wolff

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Sep 29, 2015, 1:05:49 PM9/29/15
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I understand, with Great Western War, another event, and Halloween all in October, I am busy until November as well.

November my only free weekend is the 21st. This is kind of close to Thanksgiving, probably a problem for most people. Maybe December 5? Or 12?

Joshua Paxton

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Sep 29, 2015, 1:50:01 PM9/29/15
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Has anyone looked into the couple boy scout merit badges we could help a group get? I know there is electronics, woodworking, game development, and a couple others. We could build a class, and offer it to local troops around the valley. It would be a bonus 3X over. We help get kids in the hacker mentality. We make money on the classes, and we show the parents what syn shop is.

I am also down with a separate youth group for hackers. Just thinking of ways to make some money, and build the syn shop brand.

Brian Dirk

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Sep 29, 2015, 2:22:32 PM9/29/15
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We have Several threads of thoughts here, so I'll group my responses by headers..

Re: Scheduling and "project" choices:
I'm assuming 1/month is the preferred frequency

Caitlin, would you mind if I got the ball rolling and scheduled something for earlier November, and  then another for Dec. 5th?  If you do, we'll shoot for the 21st, but that makes a December date difficult as well.

Another thought on a project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY9Uo2QKT-g


Re: Engaging Boy Scouts for fun and income:
No one has looked into how we can engage Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts - that is a great idea, though: and can occur concurrent to a separate youth-oriented group of events at the shop. Do you have someone you know in the BSA, or the Girl Scouts? It would be fairly easy if all we had to do was run a kit class.


Re: Naming
I prefer Las Vegas Young Makers but We can figure something else out too.

Also, just want to put this out there, I've heard of a group in California who branded themselves "Hacker Scouts" doing basically  a hacker-y alternative to the BoyScouts complete with Merit Badges.. BSA hit them with a Cease and Decist.  they now call themselves Curiosity Hacked.  (http://www.curiosityhacked.org/) Lesson there is that we need to be careful how we brand this. BSA has a lot of legal pull compared to us. 

On another note, I think we can use Curiosity Hacked open source materials badges, etc..

On Tue, Sep 29, 2015 at 10:50 AM, Joshua Paxton <jo...@paxdesigns.net> wrote:

Has anyone looked into the couple boy scout merit badges we could help a group get? I know there is electronics, woodworking, game development, and a couple others. We could build a class, and offer it to local troops around the valley. It would be a bonus 3X over. We help get kids in the hacker mentality. We make money on the classes, and we show the parents what syn shop is.

I am also down with a separate youth group for hackers. Just thinking of ways to make some money, and build the syn shop brand.

--

Bill Tomiyasu

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Sep 29, 2015, 2:27:50 PM9/29/15
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I think MAKE also has trademark on "Young Makers", although, we might consider joining in on their program.

Caitlin Wolff

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Sep 29, 2015, 2:34:11 PM9/29/15
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My responses in red.


Re: Scheduling and "project" choices:
I'm assuming 1/month is the preferred frequency

Caitlin, would you mind if I got the ball rolling and scheduled something for earlier November, and  then another for Dec. 5th?  If you do, we'll shoot for the 21st, but that makes a December date difficult as well.

I am not offended if you want to start before I have a chance. :) I can still do admin work eg flyers and contacting parents.

Another thought on a project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY9Uo2QKT-g


Re: Engaging Boy Scouts for fun and income:
I had not thought of this. Not a bad idea.


Re: Naming
I prefer Las Vegas Young Makers but We can figure something else out too. I'm fine with that; while I find "Hackers" a draw personally, I realize most average parents don't necessarily like that word.

Also, just want to put this out there, I've heard of a group in California who branded themselves "Hacker Scouts" doing basically  a hacker-y alternative to the BoyScouts complete with Merit Badges.. BSA hit them with a Cease and Decist.  they now call themselves Curiosity Hacked.  (http://www.curiosityhacked.org/) Lesson there is that we need to be careful how we brand this. BSA has a lot of legal pull compared to us. 

On another note, I think we can use Curiosity Hacked open source materials badges, etc..

Those are the people I have been reaching out to. Still haven't replied....



On Tuesday, September 29, 2015 at 11:27:50 AM UTC-7, BillT wrote:
I think MAKE also has trademark on "Young Makers", although, we might consider joining in on their program.

Bill Livolsi

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Sep 30, 2015, 11:16:31 AM9/30/15
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If any of these class ideas involve wood, I'd be happy to volunteer my time to teach a class.

I'm currently teaching a friend's 13 year old son some woodworking and it made me realize how much fun that can be.

If we are looking for ways to generate income, I might also suggest private 1-on-1 lessons for a fee. I would be OK with doing that, as well.

B.

Caitlin Wolff

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Sep 30, 2015, 11:31:17 AM9/30/15
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That's great Bill, thank you.

I'm willing to bet if we do a group project and a child then expresses an interest in woodworking, the parent could then be sold on private instruction. Same with other subjects besides woodworking.

C

Caitlin Wolff

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Sep 30, 2015, 12:11:04 PM9/30/15
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The Maker Ed site is great. (Thanks Bill.) From what I can tell, to have a Maker Club you just say that you have one. And sign up through their site, of course.

I found a link to this awesome advice manual on creating/running clubs.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9esWAj9mpBLNmRlMWYxZjUtZjJjMi00NTdhLThmNjUtMmM5ZDk5NTZmMzBh/view?pli=1

I haven't read the whole thing yet but it seems pretty thorough. They have suggestions for projects as well.

While Curiosity Hacked have patches, there is no reason we can't utilize existing resources for patches. There are plenty of places we can buy cool badges (like MakerShed) and of course there's the DIY.org patches (which are $4 each). We could still offer patches to our youth members. I would suggest with regard to that we order several of our choice, from whatever internet source, when we are starting a group project. Then we can either sell them to the kids at the end, or include the cost in the materials cost of the project. As we log our completed projects we can track where we sourced a badge from. Kids love patches. They can put them on a backpack, hat, jacket, display or whatever. In fact I'd suggest having a wall display board with the Young Makers patches and current projects, so anyone who walks in the shop can see what they are doing.

As for cost: I envision some projects will be free - we can certainly start with a free one - but a lot will probably have a small materials cost, which is totally reasonable. $8-12 for wood/leather/plastic etc. and patch is doable by most people I think. I can poll my parent friends when I send out information.

C

Bill Tomiyasu

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Sep 30, 2015, 12:21:55 PM9/30/15
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Adafruit also has a patch program as well as support for kids learning electronics -- including videos and tutorials. There are also discounts but we could just use the site for our own ideas.

Educators:

Adafruit Learning System:

Aakin Patel

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Sep 30, 2015, 3:32:56 PM9/30/15
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We were also talking about buying an embroidery machine for the shop at one point. A program to make our own patches would be a really good justification. :)

- Aakin

Y. Houy

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Oct 4, 2015, 2:31:36 PM10/4/15
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Hi Everyone! 

I'm new to this list--Bill told me about your discussion. I'd love to help out/ organize/teach/assist/anything necessary to make a youth maker program happen. It's soooo important for our community. 

Las Vegas Mini Maker Faire is happening in March: We could have a couple of youth maker classes before then, and have the kids showcase their cool projects. We'd get more families aware of and interested in MMF. 

Maybe start with a class in November, as Brian suggested, then skip December because lots of family have complex schedules around the holidays, then have another class in January and February. 

Barnes and Noble is hosting a (micro) Mini Maker Faire in early November, a great chance to advertise a class at Synshop soon thereafter. 

What project/class should we do first? One of the classes that's already been created for the Henderson Libraries project? They are ready to go and have been tested. Might be a good place to start from. 

Glad we are having this thread/discussion! Yvonne 

Brian Dirk

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Oct 7, 2015, 12:34:34 PM10/7/15
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I'm targeting November 8th or 14th.  I think the first class We'll do a simple and easy project: a two-wheel Shift-Cypher using wooden disks. Basically a wooden non-wearable version of the classic decoder ring:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/310W9ajtasL._UX342_.jpg
IT will be easy and cheap, and get us started: just Wood, woodglue, dowels and markers.

I'm going to prototype it tonight.  at the Craft Night.

krux

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Oct 7, 2015, 1:51:20 PM10/7/15
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On 2015-10-07 09:34, Brian Dirk wrote:
> I'm targeting November 8th or 14th. I think the first class We'll do
> a simple and easy project: a two-wheel Shift-Cypher using wooden
> disks. Basically a wooden non-wearable version of the classic decoder
> ring:
>
> IT will be easy and cheap, and get us started: just Wood, woodglue,
> dowels and markers.
>
> I'm going to prototype it tonight. at the Craft Night.

Cool

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Caitlin Wolff

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Oct 7, 2015, 3:09:48 PM10/7/15
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That is great Brian! I will be on a business trip second week of November so probably won't make it. Do keep posting. When you have a time and date I'll spread the word. Also let's have someone take photos to document and promote :)

Caitlin

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Brian Dirk

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Oct 7, 2015, 3:18:08 PM10/7/15
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One last thought - I'd like to come up with a name : so we can brand it in Meetup names and in descriptions...  I.e.   " _______ events are youth events focused on STEAM principles..."  sort of blurbs

SYN City STEAM Explorers
Vegas STEAM Explorers
Vegas Valley STEAM Rollers.

Any other thoughts?

Caitlin Wolff

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Oct 7, 2015, 3:22:18 PM10/7/15
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I like Las Vegas Young Makers, Las Vegas STEAM Explorers, Las Vegas Maker Scouts, something along those lines.

C

Yvonne Houy

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Oct 7, 2015, 5:10:05 PM10/7/15
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Very cool! 

Send from my phone. Please forgive typos!  Yvonne  
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Yvonne Houy

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Oct 7, 2015, 5:12:31 PM10/7/15
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Las Vegas STEAM explorers gets my thumbs up! 
Nov 8 is a micro maker faire at Barnes and noble so we could use that venue as a advertisement for a workshop the following week  


Send from my phone. Please forgive typos!  Yvonne  

Brian Dirk

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Oct 8, 2015, 2:47:51 AM10/8/15
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So.. Prototype complete. I have built it once so I know how to make it better..

Anyways. See attached for what I'm looking at doing.

IMG_20151007_234302.jpg

Bryce Tucker

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Oct 13, 2015, 11:51:35 AM10/13/15
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Though I am not yet a member of SYNshop, I am very interested in getting my son involved with this. Also I can offer some assistance, when it comes to electronics kits or Projects I could teach these (assuming there is a chair I can sit in to teach) or help teach them. Also I would be happy to write or customize a tracking app for the group. To help keep track of projects, members, badges etc.

Please feel free to contact me about this. 

Bryce

Y. Houy

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Oct 13, 2015, 11:47:51 PM10/13/15
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Very cool! 

I have interesting historical info and short visual materials to talk about this cipher, if we want/need any contextualizing information. For older kids I could do a follow-up workshop on creating a Caesar cipher computer program. 

Are we still looking at November 14 or thereabouts for this first workshop? 

Yvonne 
Yvonne Houy, Ph.D.
Yvonn...@gmail.com


“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh

Brian Dirk

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Oct 15, 2015, 2:21:10 AM10/15/15
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Bryce, 
Thanks for being willing to lend a hand. I think a planning meeting will be held sometime soon. Please stay tuned.  



Yvonne, 
In regards to our pilot class... Correct. I have it set for November 14, 12:30 - 2:30... speaking of which..



All, 
Here is the draft that I have queued up in Meetup... 

Looking for any suggested edits... 



[Draft Below .... ]

Event Name: Las Vegas STEAM Explorers: Building a Ceasar Cypher Key.

The Las Vegas STEAM Explorers is SYN Shop's youth oriented programming. 

This Month's Project:  Building a Wooden, Ceasar Cypher key.  

Each Participant will build a Ceasar Cypher key out of wood.  When done,you will be able to write down and decipher hidden messages. Ceasar Cypher keys are usually seen built into a "decoder ring."   This basic encryption project will give the participant an understanding of the fundamentals of encryption used in advanced technology, as well as how to use woodworking tools to fabricate their own items. 

Prototype: 

More Information on the Ceasar Cypher  is here.

****IMPORTANT**** We are looking for people willing to help us build the Las Vegas STEAM Explorers into a fun project-based education series for kids. Stay After this class, to talk with the organizers and get involved: OR contact us here on MEETUP. We will need your support to build momentum on this series of events! 

Each Las Vegas STEAM Explorer event will provide events and projects teaching the principles of Science, Technology, Education, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) to kids and young adults. All projects will be as hands on as possible: and will focus on the participants leaving with their own crafted item. 

All participants must be 17 years or younger, and accompanied by a parent or guardian.  SYN Shop is also, a functional Workshop filled with dangerous equipment: so participants will need to be supervised and well behaved at all times. 

Y. Houy

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Oct 15, 2015, 10:55:28 PM10/15/15
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Hi Brian: Can I have your email so I can send you edit suggestions? 

Best, Yvonne 

Caitlin Wolff

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Oct 15, 2015, 11:26:52 PM10/15/15
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Looks great Brian. So glad you are working on this.

Caitlin

Y. Houy

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Oct 15, 2015, 11:41:12 PM10/15/15
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I'm sooo glad we are doing this! What a great first project!

Bill Tomiyasu

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Oct 20, 2015, 12:44:04 PM10/20/15
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Checko Salgado, who did the Cyanotypes photography class for the Henderson Library STEM grant, offered to do one Cyanotype class for SYN Shop at no cost to us as a thank you for organizing the STEM classes. If you guys want to do it, let me know and I'll see what I can set up. The class takes about 2-3 hours with all the materials and processing.

Caitlin Wolff

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Oct 20, 2015, 1:01:37 PM10/20/15
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That's awesome!

Caitlin

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