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Eagle1982

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Everything posted by Eagle1982

  1. A neighbor of mine that installs heaters and air conditioners says duct tape is fine on the cold air returns, and AC, but not the hot runners. For those they use an aluminized tape. It recently came in handy, with a magazine, to splint someone's broken forearm. Another good tape is 100 MPH tape, designed to patch small holes in small airplanes until a full fix can be done.
  2. My picture and spaced were messed up __................__ | | .|__......... __| ..| | ...|__.......__| ...| On one side you have customers | .....|__ X __| .....| On the other you have IBM employees | ...|__.......__| ...| That X in the middle, is the salesman responsible for the acct | .|__...........__| .| |__...............__| X is the buffer and conduit between customers and employees.
  3. I remember a IBM exec once telling me a story. IBM was like the picture below __ __ | __ __ | | __ __ | On one side you have customers | __ X __ | On the other you have IBM employees | __ __ | That X in the middle, is the salesman responsible for the acct | __ __ | |__ __| X is the buffer and conduit between customers and employees. Now in a way, I see Scout events are similar, where the Scoutmaster is the conduit in the middle. Whichever adul
  4. Tombitt, Couple questions... (1) Do you know for certain it is the SM's made up policy? Did the committee agree? In our troop, the PLC made a no phone policy. (2) Why is not being allowed a cell phone saying. "You don't trust the 14 year old?" Can't it also be, "Learning to get by without?" or "practicing survival skills when disconnected?" - I just don't see it as a measure of trust, I see it as a measure of willingly going without, a form of lent if you will. Just because I trust my son with a 9mm handgun, samurai sword and stick of dynamite, it doesn't mean I'm going to d
  5. I use Lodge dutch ovens, however, I've seen other troops use the camp chef versions with no complaints, and they looked pretty comparable to me. I'd be concerned if the cost was really 3:1 it may be a lower grade oven or product line.
  6. Summercamp was about $65-75 back in 1979 and the early 1980's for my parents. Which is about a 4% increase each year, slightly more than the rate of inflation. Camps have added a lot of buildings and activities since I was a kid. However, since I have kids either invited to other camps, or in them, I can say that band camp is 2X more expensive (and one less night). The church fun camp is 2.3x and one less night. I don't even want to get into gymnastics camp pricing. Oh, and want to check out the military schools camps (like Marine Military Academy) - those run about $1,000 a week (3,995 f
  7. I like the dual doors of the Spitfire over the single of the Zeus more, for practicality reasons. The designs that we find works best are the tents with side doors and the fly vestibule space on both sides.
  8. "REI has a nifty ice cream maker for camping use - its a tetrahedron ball design - fill it up with the ingredients, roll it around and in about 20 minutes - fresh ice cream" Minor hijack, tetrahedron's are 4 equilateral triangles that meet at 4 vertexes (kind of like a 3 sided pyramid) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahedron The ice cream ball is not really any regular geometric shape, except a rib reinforced sphere. Back to topic, Dry ice or deep frozen salt water (freezes lower than 32 degrees) in a decent cooler will keep the ice cream cold enough, although as pointed out,
  9. Careful jumping to conclusions. You don't know whether the SM has talked with the Scout, got the Scout's input and is simply being courteous and passing that information along to make things easier on a first time Scout. Or whether indeed the SM is picking everything. It's not helpful or kind to bash a SM if it happens to be the first option.
  10. I've had some really good conversations, including some bonding time, around the campfire late at night. If it's after lights out, we keep our voices down and try to be quiet and respect the quiet time. Is the SM really that loud, or are your tents really that close to the fire? Properly spaced patrols probably shouldn't be able to hear much from the campfire bowl after turning in. Most all I hear is the rustling of the leaves. Our scouts are pretty good about turning in if they are tired, otherwise we let them stay up and socialize, as long as they respect quiet time for those that
  11. I like Mr Dave's second option a lot. There are a few potential downsides, which can also be turned into good learning experiences. (1) Having the cache list the coordinates to the next cache on things like ropes and such may mean the wrong numbers are accidentally entered. Teaches how one number in the string can make a huge difference. (number may fade, wear off, some Scout may turn a 1 into as 4, or a 6 into an 8...) (2) Entering the UTM numbers on many GPS models is a pain in the arse. Not sure the boys are up for that, but then again, if they are texting all the time, they should be a
  12. Stealing of patrol flags was highly discouraged at the outdoor SM skill training weekend. We heard about the patrol flag theft at the start of our weekend, as it happened one or two training sessions prior.
  13. We also used to play "Kick the can" We had snowball fights (winter) hide and seek (with patrols)
  14. A lot of adults think they are helping, when really they are hurting the program. We have adults that constantly break in to whatever the boys are doing to add their two cents. They did it during an outdoor campfire Court of Honor once. The adults didn't realize by breaking in to the boys program, they are making the boys feel bad about the program they put together. The stuff they added was interesting and correct information, but still was butting in. My philosophy is to butt in if information presented could be dangerous (like boys saying to get close to a bear to scare it away). If it's ju
  15. One point I like to make is that Scouting is not for everyone. Scouting is a program which stresses outdoor activities, with indoor activities that often are in support (training of) the outdoor activities. If a kid really is not into that, there are a ton of other activities that are a better fit for them. If it's the parent holding them back, than shame on the parent. However, one must explain to get the best out of the Scouting program, they have to allow the Scout attend the outdoor Scouting activities. THey do want their child to get the best and most out of their Scouting experience
  16. If these adults want to get the "Scout" experience, perhaps they can just start their own patrol. On this campout, there could have been a patrol of 6 boys. 2-3 adult leaders and a second patrol of 7-8 adults. Keep the patrols at least 300 feet apart, and both have to do the exact same things. This way the boys can be challenged to "out do" the other patrol. However, the adult patrol has to: (1) Police the area for garbage at the end of the event, just like the Scouts. (2) Clean up dishes, just like the scouts. (3) Participate in all daily activities, just like the Scouts (n
  17. eVent fabric is getting a lot of positive reviews and capturing business from people switching from Goretex. I have an old Goretex jacket that wore out and upgraded to eVent. It does breath better, and kept me dry during a 5-hour rain while hiking.
  18. I think technically: Dump Cakes are where you dump a box of cake mix on top of the fruit, and put butter slices on top of that to get the buttery crispiness and mega sugar content. Cobblers are deep dish dessert with a thick biscuit style dough over the fruit (also can encapsulate the fruit) Crisps (American) and Crumbles (English name) have a fruit bottom and crumb topping. The topping is usually composed of some of the following; flour, nuts, bread crumbs, cookie or graham cracker crumbs, oatmeal, even breakfast cereal. Buckles are a single layer cake with fruit (often bl
  19. First of all, "Freedom of Speech". That does not apply to privately funded businesses, web pages or forums. Since I believe this is a private board, the owners make the rules and can moderate it to their own purposes. So you really don't have freedom of speech here, you have "Freedom if they let you, speech" here. Second, if you are going to start asserting that certain people are "stealing from kids." and other things, you do set yourself up to be libel. Freedom of speech only goes so far you know. I don't know about IL, but my son's Scout camp is 1/2 the cost of the church camp and
  20. MN_Scout, Thank you for the input, it was very good. Quick question, if you are leaving the SPOT on all day, or at least while moving, do you have a feel for how long the batteries last? I was thinking if you just turned it on to send an OK then turn it off, batteries would probably last a long time. However if on all day, do the batteries last longer than the ones in a regular GPS? Thanks,
  21. I don't have a SPOT, but for the purposes mentioned, sending OK notes back home and whatnot, I think it's good. WHere I backpack, the 911 feature would likely work, or I could get clear enough to make it work. Hopefully before too long, that "OK" button will be on regular Garmin GPS units. I don't know that I'd pay $100 a year for the service though. Maybe for troops that do a lot of backcountry camping, it'd be a worthy part of the budget. While I may backpack a fair amount, it's still on regular trails that others use. If I were doing something really remote, I'd definitely want a
  22. Scorpianace, Gathering ammunition online won't always win over other committee members to your cause. In this case, it's really all about the individual troop culture, and whether they have WRITTEN down any bylaws or procedures for discipline. In the end, if your son is using pushups as a punishment/deterrent,and the committee has already forbidden it, then it's out. If they have not forbidden it, and the SM says not to do it, it's out. If the troop does not have any procedures for handling discipline, then they ought to make them. So you don't have different people doing and
  23. I was a Cub Scout starting in the second grade. I went through Webelos, Boy Scouts, earned Eagle, visited Philmont and even stayed with the same troop past my 18th birthday and taught at some of the leadership meetings. Once I was in college full time, it became too hard to keep up, but would visit form time to time. Got back in when my son was a Tiger in first grade. Scouting has had a very positive affect on my life. I would not trade it for anything else.
  24. Does the guide to safe scouting say anything about them? Does the Scoutmaster Handbook say anything about them? Are Scouts encouraged and even required to do certain exercises, like push-ups, for rank? Based on the wiki definition, is it corporal punishment if it does not inflict pain? (actually, push-ups are not mentioned anywhere in the wiki article mentioned, only striking) It's OK for boys to do push-ups for rank advancement but not as a punishment? (it depends) It's OK for a troop to have morning PT, but not allow push-ups as a punishment? (it depends) I personally thin
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