Fat Old Guy

".partial would expire, then I'd start the whole badge all over again." Alas, if only you'd know that partials never expire.

"FOG, Remember you attacked me first and hot and heavy I just defended myself." Har! 'Twas you who had your offensive post deleted. As for "hot and heavy," I called you an "ilk" which as a tree hugger you know is a type of large deer. You're pretty sensitive, aren't you?

"And no I am not BW." What makes you think that I'm talking about someone named "XX"? Where's the moderator when someone's dissin' me? Mabye this BackBacker fellow does have a special connection with the moderators . . . maybe he is that fellow who claimed to have left. Interesting, no? (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

"Methane is a gas produced from the fermentation of plants etc, and is reproduced very easily in a lab,natural gas is associated with petroleum deposits in the earth, get an education will you." Sounds like you should get the education. The "natural gas" delivered to your home is almost pure methane. It doesn't start out that way but they clean it up. The stuff that they pump out of the ground has butane, propane and some other stuff in it. (I'll bet that you use a propane stove, don't you?). The "gas company" cleans up the "natural gas" and delivers clean "natural gas" to your home.

Divinity School? Sounds like good training to be a tax consultant with the IRS.

Eamonn, When did the Boy Scouts in your homeland get rid of Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class?

This might belong under advancement but I'm putting it here. I recently came across a "Rifle and Shotgun" merit badge from the 70s. I was amazed at the difference in the rifle shooting part. Boy, has it been watered down. The old badge required shooting from the three standard positions of rifle marksmanship: standing, kneeling and prone, all without support. Now everthing is prone or seated at a bench with a sandbag rest for the barrel. Who says that the program isn't getting easier?

We have a couple cops involved with my troop and they are usually armed unless we're going into a jurisdiction where their badges don't carry any weight. Most don't know that they are packin' heat but I do.

"The last time I was called a liar, I was under oath in a court room" Are you saying that you lied under oath?

Tsk, tsk Backpacker (boy, that's wide open for a crude comment) I'm supposed to be the rude and negative one around here. "I work for the Park Service" Around here, the rule of thumb is that people work for the government because they can't find a real job. "making the maximum profit they can" Isn't that the goal of most for-profit companies? "Electrical hybrid cars, methane gas,solar energy, pure grain alcohol fuel are just a few alternatives that these companies block development at every turn. " Methane gas? Gee, last time that I checked that's natural gas l

Moi-lin, you really need to move out of Frostbite Falls because your brain has frozen which is giving you troubles with the English language. I'm typing very slowly so you can follow this. . . . An atheist cannot have a religion since "religion" is defined as a belief and reverence for a supernatural power or powers. Atheists have no such beliefs.

Backpacker, Do you really think that Kerry will be any different? Both sides are in the pockets of big business, the Republicans are just more open about it. I'm curious about which of my statements you find to be irresponsible? That we need energy? That people wouldn't convert to cold fusion overnight? That energy companies now clean up their messes? Like most of your ilk, you make little sense.

Boleta, I'll pretend to be Eamonn for a moment. All we have is your word that this article was published. I called my local library and they have no record of that magazine ever being published. If we do accept your word that the article was publishe (ahem) in that (ahem) magazine, how do we know that the (ahem) author didn't just invent these "facts"? Without reference to BSA publications or verification from my DE, I refuse to accept your explanation.

I found the Belief-o-matic quiz and, interestingly, it gave me a 97% match with the religion in which I was raised even though my beliefs have become modified somewhat with time. Or so I thought.

"A rather worthless award coming from an organization that practices religious discrimination, don't you think? " I don't know about that. We're tolerant of all religions, we just don't tolerate no relegion at all.

Who got attacked? Enquiring minds want to know!

I've been thinking of getting a mil-surp wool blanket from Sportsmans' Guide (www.sportsmansguide.com) and doing a bit of tailoring to it to make it into a cape. The idea is to sew all of my excess patches onto the cape and wear it on chilly campouts. So far, it is just an idea.

I've been looking at my old handbooks and going back to the oldest in my collection, the third edition, I find that BSA used mixed terminologies for what we usually call "ranks." Chapter 11 is titled "Star -- Life -- Eagle Awards" but the text in that chapter refers to Star, Life and Eagle "ranks." I haven't found anything that refers to "ranks" as "progress awards."

"On a more personal note, it is not the policy of the OA or BSA to "cover up" anything" How do we know that since no one ever knows anything except rumor and inuendo?

Energy companies now remediate damage that they do to the environment. Coal companies no longer leave big holes in the ground from what used to be called "strip mines." The bottom line is that we need natural gas. Even if we came up with cold fusion tomorrow, there are thousands of stoves, furnaces and even refrigerators and air conditioners that use natural gas (yes, friges and a/c units) and it is unreasonable to expect that they'd change our immediately. I had a buddy in college who had a gas well head on his family's farm. It looked like a pipe that stuck up about four inches

The salsa comapany is Old El Paso. In any case, be glad that it isn't Malpaso. In any case, once the drilling is done, gas wells are very uninstrusive.

"But instead of a blacklist of specific organizations, the ABA has general rules, like not belonging to organizations that invidiously discriminate on the basis of race, because it's a matter of general ethical principles." However, just because a person isn't a member of an organization doesn't mean that he doesn't support their mission or share their beliefs. Years ago, I knew a fellow who was a "gun rights activist" in his area. He did not belong to the NRA because he wanted to tell the press that he wasn't a member of NRA. He did support the organization, he just wasn't on their ro

That's one that I haven't seen.

I don't like the idea of requiring parents to be involved. Like many things in life, it sounds good but can lead to disaster. How will the exceptions be determined. Obviously Scout with a single parent who works weekends can't provide a parent for campouts. What about the kids who need Scouting and you don't want their parents around? We had a kid like that. Neither parent really gave a hoot about the kid. They liked him to be in Scouts because it freeded up their weekends. Without Scouting he would have never been around an adult who cared about him. If we had a rule that r

I'm somewhat confused. What sort of help do you need? Drivers? Your parents don't want to drive to campouts? Cooks? The Scouts should be cooking. Tent pitching? Same thing. We've gone from having almost as many adults as Scouts on campouts to the bare minimum, three or four needed to drive. Life is so much nicer. Instead of having a bunch of adults who are looking for things to do, we have a few with one who is an Olympic quality nap taker.