AlFansome

shortridge-

There's a distinct difference between what a Cub can do at home with Akela and what a bunch of Cubs on a pack or den outing can do. The G2SS only covers scouting events and doesn't have any sway at home. If mom or dad want's to teach Johnny how to cook at home, then no problem..he gets his Achievement or Elective credit. No can do, however, at a pack or den event, if G2SS says so (and is taken into account by the adult leaders).

How about the knot for the Hornaday Award?

An IH definitely does not have to fill out an adult application unless he/she is also serving in another role like COR or MBC or MC.

I'm a COR for 4 units. Our Kiwanis Club changes president every year (and therefore changes IH every year). When our new president comes on board, I call the council registrar and she updates ScoutNet for our 4 units with the new IH name. No paperwork, no application, no background check.

They also are not listed on the charter as a member. The IH is listed at the top of the 1st page under Executive Officer, not down below with all the committee members, uniformed leaders and COR. They also do not have a "Person ID" on the charter as all other registered members do.

Check out popvssoda.com ... great map at http://popvssoda.com:2998/countystats/total-county.html

Being from Connecticut, "pop" is something a balloon does, "coke" is a kind of soda.

Turkey is a fascinating study these days in that it is a 99.8% Muslim population with a pretty-close-to-secular government that's kept that way (in part) by the influence of the military. They desire to be seen as part of Europe and more Western, yet still are rooted in a heritage that is substantially different than that of Europe. They are a democracy, yet don't have freedom of speech nor of the press. They(historically) have been a friend of Israel, yet that's changed quickly after the Turkish PM did a smack-down of the Israeli PM in public a few months ago. Oil companies here in the US lobby on their behalf with regard to recognizing the Armenian genocide and of course, they buy our weapons. In addition to having the baggage of the Armenian question, they also have big issues with the Kurds if they wish to stabilize their internal politics.

Like I said...lots of moving parts makes it an interesting area of study.

Yeah, be careful about shooting the messenger...

Snopes aggregates info from sources, lists it's sources (very specifically, I might add), and then prints it's conclusion.

I've found them to be very reliable over the years, but as always, there are humans behind the final determination and the veracity of the sources needs to be judged.

In this case, IMHO, I wouldn't say that snopes is wrong necessarily, but perhaps that maybe their sources were being less than forthright.

All in all, snopes does a pretty good job of finding sources and reporting a conclusion without too much bias or spin. There are exceptions, of course.

On my honor, I pledge to ignore all posts by people who post in the "Issues & Politics" forum over 75% of the time and provide virtually no useful information to anyone about anything (until such time as I decide to change my mind and jump on someone for being a moron :-)

From the 6 total in all of California, we have:

- one challenge (not a ban) at a private school in Orange County which is a very conservative area

- one ban because of an anti-Catholic bias. The ban was opposed by the ACLU.

- one ban in the Central Valley (i.e. farming area) because it was anti-Catholic

- one complaint (not a ban) in Lodi about homosexual content in a book

- one challenge (not a ban) about a book describing suicide and lethal injections

- one ban south of San Francisco regarding a book that depicted men preparing to have anal sex with young boys.

The data in California at least doesn't support the hypothesis that liberal areas ban more books. In fact, it's just about the opposite here if you look at the details and what is being challenged.

I've got a Lion-Webelos Cub Scout Book (1954 edition) and 3rd year Cub Scouts worked on their Lion badges and then their Webelos rank. Webelos rank requirements were similar to today's AOL requirements...basically getting ready for Boy Scouting.

The Webelos rank patch/pin looks the same as today's AOL.

Eventually, the Lion rank went away to be replaced by the Webelos badge and activity pins, while the old Webelos rank became AOL.

The interesting thing was back then, if you joined Cub Scouting late, you could go back and earn Wolf and Bear and Lion one after the other to catch up.

Here's an article from back in 2005 that provides further information on vol_scouter's posts...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-03-02-doctor-shortage_x.htm

Brent-

In a word, "no". It was a speech about education, plain and simple.

Here's the whole transcript of his conversation with the kids before the speech...you may want to read it instead of just the headlines from your "news" sites...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-in-Discussion-with-9th-Graders-Wakefield-High-School/

There were 40 kids in the room, 8 got to ask questions, and the 8th question (from a student) was about healthcare. Should the President not have answered the question?

Frankly, the intellectual dishonesty that permeates debate and discussion in this country is mighty disheartening.

My instructor/facilitator at Philmont was wearing one of those World Crests/Wood Badge combos, so apparently the Uniform Police were on a donut break while we were there...

Apostrophe/single-quote as in:

What's up with Jimmy's tent?

Double quotes are OK.

As a (possible) workaround, try using two single quotes instead of one where desired to see if that works:

What''s up with Jimmy''s tent?

Depending upon what's going on behind the scenes with the parsing and database statements, the two single-quotes may magically turn into a single one.

The technical reason for the glitch is that a single quote is used as a string delimiter in SQL Server database statements and if code is not in place to look for and properly deal with single quotes in certain fields, then single quotes will mess up the database command used to create the topic.

Calm down folks...not true.

Comments from UKs Chief Commissioner:

https://members.scouts.org.uk/ccblog/6/the-truth-about-scouts-and-knives

Plus, current knife policy in the UK:

https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/1515

Have he tried the XXL shirt? The pants come in big sizes, so he should be OK there. According to the size chart at http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/SizeCharts.aspx, the XL shirt is about the same as a Adult small (chest size anyway), so maybe the XXL is close to an adult medium.

Since he'll only need the shirt until school lets out in May/June, hopefully, the XXL will be wearable until then. Next year, he can go to the green shirt which comes in all the larger adult sizes.

Otherwise, I don't know of an alternate source.

Congrats on stepping up and being the CM! I just finished 2 years as a CM after being my son's Den Leader for 2 years.

1) My answer is ASAP. If you make it seem like it's optional, then it will be. On your pack schedule, plan a "uniform inspection" for a pack meeting. It will alert the parents as to when you expect the boys to have their uniforms. This will come up every year for new scouts anyway, so it's a good habit to get into. We usually do ours in October/November at the 2nd or 3rd pack meeting.

Now, if there are financial issues in general in the area you live, then you may need to be creative and look for used uniforms or whatever, but the expectation is that the boys should be in uniform by such-and-such date.

The uniform inspection itself isn't rigorous or punative. In fact, make it the opposite... For example, best uniformed den gets to do the flag ceremony next month. Or maybe, hand out tickets for a drawing at the end of the pack meeting...the better your uniform, the more tickets you get. The drawing could be for cookies, a toy, some legos, whatever. The best way to get uniforming going is to get the BOYS to want to wear it and have THEM get on their parents to get it bought.

2) Who is your chartering organization (the group that sponsors your pack)? Is it a church, civic org, school? They technically "own" the pack and are granted a charter to run a pack according to the BSA's program. You should talk to whomever deals with your pack to open a bank account and find a treasurer. Typically, when opening an account, you'd use their tax-id number. Keep the district and council out of it except to ask advice. They'll have nothing to do with your finances except to take a cut of your popcorn sales.

That being said, what about yearly/monthly dues? Our pack charges $99/year payable at the beginning of the school year then we do our popcorn sale. No more comes from Mom and Dad except for specific events that they may sign up for which the pack may or may not reimburse. If you decide to donate, it should be to the Pack's checking account, once opened.

3) Pack flags are orderable at scoutstuff.org. The order form is at http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/70-381.pdf. They also have flag toppers (finials?) for flag staffs as well. I assume you already have a US Flag, as that should come first then the pack flag if tight on money.

4) Check your nearby councils for Wood Badge...usually may be able to go as out-of-council if they allow it and have space. A list of councils is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Local_councils_of_the_Boy_Scouts_of_America, although not sorted by state. Which council are you in?

In general, I'd say to get your feet wet for a year or three before jumping into Wood Badge. You'll have plenty to do as Cubmaster and WB isn't directly applicable to running pack meetings as it's a leadership methods course.

Instead, do your CM training, BALOO, maybe Outdoor Skills for Webelos leader (OWL), Hazardous Weather online, etc... Also, if your Council does a Pow-Wow or University of Scouting, definitely attend that. Finally, use Roundtables as a resource and a networking mechanism.

5) CPR is more in the Boy Scout timeframe. However, the Webelos dens will need an activity badge co-ordinator for their Readyman activity pin...you'd be perfect for that. Co-ordinate with the Webelos den leader to help out, if needed.

6) Yes, absolutely, as long as you get permission from Council. Use Unit Money Earning Application at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34427.pdf.

Good luck, and keep those questions coming!!

Yeah, but that picture doesn't handle all cases...

My son has his Outdoor Activity Award patch, 2 Summertime Award pins, plus 2 (or maybe 3) of the Wolf Track pins that are used for subsequent Outdoor Activity Awards.

I leave it up to him, and he figures out an arrangement on the right pocket flap that looks neat and organized. Alternately, just wear the last one earned or whatever.

I will be looking forward to Boy Scouts as my son's uniform will be substantially de-blinged. As it is now, there's about 7 or 8 things pinned to his shirt and the little suckers can find all the good places to hide in washing machine!

The ribbons aren't restricted. You can order them online at

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&item=181RIB

(Hope that link works OK).

Our Scout Shop has them hanging on an end-cap with the patches, not behind the counter.

Yeah, the wording on the Badge Magic says "World Conservation Award is worn as a temporary patch, centered on the right pocket" and the picture shows the shoulders and pockets as on the previous official uniform inspection sheets. However, an addition that's not on the inspection sheets is the World Conservation Award above the right pocket where a Jambo patch would go.

Their sheet is similar to the inside back cover of the Bear and Wolf books ("Official Placement of Insignia") plus the addition of the WCA above the right pocket.

From http://scouting.org/training/trainingupdates.aspx --

"Plans are to require training for all top leaders in 2011 and all direct-contact leaders in 2012. Direct-contact leaders include assistant leaders and den leaders. Council training teams should begin to update training records by conducting training inventories of their leaders and prepare to make training more readily available and to expand their training teams."

Top leaders I assume to mean SM, CM, and perhaps CC.

We'll see if the plans actually are rolled out as suggested. In our district, we are (yet again) being asked to provide training dates and history to our Training Chairperson (assumedly to yet again try to get ScoutNet somewhat accurate).

Hmmm...that will add to my driving time since I figured a quick trip over the GG bridge would be able to count for Marin. Now, I'll have to go a try some wine, have lunch and get a designated driver...might take the whole day!

Slightly off topic, but whatever...

"Bay Area" in northern California could imply up to 7 councils (or more depending on how broad you define "Bay Area":

SF Bay Area Council

Alameda Council (small)

Piedmont Council (smaller!)

Santa Clara County Council

Marin Council

Pacific Skyline Council

Mt. Diablo-Silverado Council

From where I live, I could drive through all of them in about 2 hours (depending on traffic, of course).

It is nice having so many since if my local scout shop is out of something, I've got several other choices. Same goes for training dates and the like, too.

Gern-

No, under normal circumstances, the IH is just a name in ScoutNet. I know because I'm a COR for 4 units sponsored by a Kiwanis Club. Our IH (president) changes every year in October, and I just call the Council registrar to have the name changed in ScoutNet before our units start their on-line re-charters.

The situation is different, of course, if the IH is an active volunteer, but for the typical non-involved IH, then all he/she is is a name (and I think address) in ScoutNet and no other personal information is gathered.

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that it now seems that Bugler is an OK POR for Eagle in the new 12th edition of the handbook. Hadn't noticed it before someone one Facebook pointed it out. Looks like a new Eagle app will definitely be coming out sometime on 2010 to handle new PORs that would be OK for Eagle (bugler and perhaps webmaster and LNT Trainer).

I've seen alot of comments about the new uniform (pro and con), but not much mention of the different material choices.

When I got my Centennial uniform, there's no way I wanted the nylon supplex one. It looked baggy and not "neat" on the few people that I had seen wear it.

The other cotten blend shirt (much like the ODL shirt) has no real downsides as I see it. I've gone camping in it and would give it a thumbs up.

So, does that mean I'm neutral on the new uniform since I like one style and not the other? :-)

I'll let the vote tabulator figure that one out.