Fat Old Guy

You are mistaken. Khaki has always referred to the color, that is un Dockers and the Gap got into the act. Khaki comes from the Urdu word for dusty. Khakis have been made of wool, cotton, poly/cotton and probably even linen. Khaki has run the gamut of shades from pinkish beige to greenish tan. Navy khaki is different from Army khaki which was different than Air Force khaki. Recently, marketeers for Dockers and Gap have started calling any pants made of twill "khakis," which allows them to sell "blue khakis."

In my council, the custom is to wear them on the flap of the right pocket. If both the Totin' Chip and the Firem'n Chit are worn, they are both on the right pocket flap but overlapped so the bottom of the back one peeks out and can be read.

" However, another part of me is a bit cynical, and thinks it is because they have a less than impressive merit badge sash, and so they decided the OA sash looks more impressive." Maybe they are just proud to be OA members.

I don't think that god intervened. I have a buddy who works as a tech at Compu*USA and he's told me that the techs will often fix things while trying to diagnose them. If the customer declines the repairs, they often don't bother to back out the repairs. It could have been any of a dozen things that were wrong with your machine from a bad driver to dirty contacts. I've also benefitted from people who don't want their old parts back when they upgrade. I have a 20 GB (it came with 3 GB) harddrive in my notebook because someone put in a new one and didn't want the old one.

Most of WOSM has gone co-ed but WAGGS is still single sex. GO figure.

" When he was about 25 he bought a .44 magnum handgun with a 12" barrel. He thought that was really cool too. Then he grew up and figured out that it really had no practical use." It has a very practical use, hunting. Also pretty good for metallic shillouette shooting. Maybe it was no practical use for him.

If Scouts decided that carrying a percolator for coffee was cool even though none dank coffee would you prohibit it? What if they decided that whoever carries the most toilet paper is coolest and one boy shows up with a 24 pack of double rolls?

" (Current version is 2002, however, if history is any guide, a 2004 version will be out by the end of summer.) " The version given to our new Arrowmen is copyrighted 2003.

There are plenty of middle class white kids in the military, the local barber shop has a list of about 30 local kids who have been in Iraq. Without a draft, the economically disadvantaged will always be drawn to military service. It has always been that way. In the days of the British colonial expansion, a poor boy could become wealthy as a soldier (plunder and loot). Now the poor boy is looking for an education and job skill but the risks remain the same.

In my 1965 OA Handbook, it says, "The Arrow sash is worn only at [OA] functions. It is not to be worn at troop meetings or other Scout functions unless specifically requested by the lodge chief . . ." The wording is different in the current handbook that I was shown, the word "only" is omitted and the sentence about "not to be worn" is gone as well. Unfortunately, things are pretty quiet about the dangle and the flap.

Yo Bison Boy, remember that the troop needs a committee but doesn't need a single ASM. BTW, Scouting fits the textbook definition of a hobby. hobby (hb) noun plural hobbies An activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.

S-nerd, what is imitation? If BSA changed the buttons on the green Army suit, would it be an "imitation"? Right now, we're pretty close to imitating the Marines with a tan shirt and green pants. The colors aren't quite right but they're close enough.

" The rest of use get to deduct the 14 cents per mile on our taxes." I thought that it was about 35 cents per mile.

We have a disagreement in the troop about what is to be worn and when. There are two things that can be worn on a regular basis, the pocket dangle and the pocket flap. The question is, should they be worn together? One argument is that since they both represent membership in OA, they shouldn't be worn together. The other argument, of course, is that they are worn together.

"Ahh, the words of a Master Scouter. A person cannot appear to have wisdom if they don't have the reflection of experience sparkling in the eyes." Experience is the best teacher. If you have a leaking roof, which neighbor do you ask for advice, the roofer or the accountant? If your daughter is behaving oddly, do you look for advice from your batchelor friend or your cousin who has raised eight daughters?

For the Summer Camp expedition, my troop asks each Scout to give his drive $10 for gas. I always give it back to the Scout about halfway through camp when he needs money for the trading post. With the price of gas this year, I might just keep it.

I wouldn't mind reimbursement, I'd guess that driving to various events probably runs me $300 a year. However, it might bankrupt the troop or put a serious hurt on funding. Take my $300 and multiply that by the seven or eight adults who are always driving and we're talking serious money. Scouting is a hobby in that we do it for enjoyment.

FWIW, when I worked in a restaurant and washed dishes by hand, we did the sanitizer as the last step.

Scouter Paul, thanks. I wonder why dishwashing isn't in the index of the current handbook but it is in the last handbook's index. Could it be an editing error? Naaaaah.

" If your wash and rinse water is getting nasty odds are you are not scraping dishes well enough prior to washing them." Scrape? I don't scrape, I cook so I don't have to wash dishes. "The 3 sink method described in the current Boy Scout Handbook" Would someone please tell me the page no. for this information. I've looked for "dish washing," "washing," and "sanitation" in the index but cannot find it. Packsaddle said, "In my experience, the life span for a bucket of water near a tent is measured in hours, not days." Do you have clumsy Scouts?

"Now every council doesn't use the same numbers for its Districts or its unit types. So while there can be hundreds of units across the country with the same "common number" (you can even have units in the same council) no two units in the country have the same combined counil/common number ID." If every Council doesn't use the same numbering system, how can you be sure that there are no duplicate numbers. Also, where is this secret number recorded? I'd don't believe that I've ever seen any number on anything except the number on my sleeve.

" Not sure I'm understanding Mr. Bob White though...are you admonishing me? I believe Fat Old Guy gets my drift." I don't believe that Bob White was ever a little boy, he is one of those who was 40 years old at birth.

"The old 3 pan washing method method, which is within the handbook. Is no longer the correct way for scouts to wash dishes." Does that mean that my dishes are no longer clean? I'll stick with the three pan method, that first rinse water gets nasty pretty quickly. FWIW, I can't find the three pan method in the current handbook.

It isn't surprising that Bush is not loved by academia, he's not a polished orator and he's not one of them. Clinton is loved by academia because he's one of them. I will always find it amusing that my liberal friends who hated our involvement in Viet Nam belived that we needed to send troops to Bosnia and Somolia but now find our involvement in Iraq to be horribl. Maybe liberals can only support military operations when they don't take too long.

Sheath knives are cool and they are very useful as well. They may not be the best tool for every job but they can do the job for many tasks. Cutting food Cleaning nails Trimming branches Digging holes