Fat Old Guy

New Jersey Dude, Do you let your kids watch "Will and Grace"? Do you let your kids watch the last few James Bond movies? Have you let your kids see "Mission Impossible" (the movie) or any of the Austin Powers movies? What about "Friends," do they watch that or any of the comedy specials on cable? (by kids, I mean offspring of either sex who are under 18 years of age) If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions then methinks you are being disingenuous by protesting my comments.

In one of the many BSA pubs it says that the Advancement Chair is supposed to plan the COH with the SPL. I'd say that the SM doesn't even need to be involved.

"Of course, when I think of two women as being chaperones, I am thinking of two heterosexual moms." I knew some very interesting heterosexual moms when I was a teenager (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more)

"Okay, we all know that you can't fire a volunteer," Sez who?

"Has any else brought up the point that the Girl Scouts allow Lesbian leaders, and have no problems with this policy." The problem is that men are inherently evil. Consider that in GSUSA two men cannot take the girls camping by themselves. However, in BSA two women can take boys into the woods for a week BUT in Venturing, an adult woman is required on any outing which has a girl involved. A couple of weak rationales are used like "GSUSA wants women as role models" and "Girls may have problems that they don't want to discuss with men." Why do girls need women as role models but boy

Just XL. :-)

"I didn't expect it. Your approach to message delivery indicates more of a person that has a technical/science background. " I do but that doesn't mean that I don't have an artsy side too. Heck, I even wear paisley.

My District holds BORs once month, 12 months a year.

My hiking stick is decorated with a bunch of medallions from parks that I've visited and other things to represent my Scouting adventure. I was an Explorer many years ago and I'd like to put an Explorer medallion on my stick. Of course, as we all know, the Scout Shop doesn't carry them any more. Does anyone know where to find one?

Some people have a knack for getting behind the group. We always have an adult as Tail End Charlie but there is one Scout who always manages to slip past him. Since this trend has been identified, he's always roped to an adult. Before you say anything about the buddy system, we can't get it drummed into their heads. This spring, three third year Scouts went tramping about in the woods on a campout. Two returned. "Where's no. three?" "Dunno. He stopped to look at something that we didn't want to see." Fortunately, no. three showed up in about fifteen minutes.

I believe that is a Council option and not a local option.

"If you can vote and join the Army at 18, you should be considered an adult." I've never understood why society thinks that you're responsible enough to vote at 18 but not responsible enough to drink at 18 (unless you're drinking at an E-club on an Army base). We have a very strange way of treating people under 21. I've noticed that high schools don't have boys' and girls' teams anymore, they have mens' and womens teams. This holds until the kid commits a crime and then we hear, " . . . he's not a man, he's just a kid."

"You teach acting and public speaking? Is someone else using your name?" No, I'm me. I taught acting and public speaking. Many years ago, I toyed with the idea of being an actor but found that I had no talent but I could teach it so I did for a brief period. Why does that strike you as strange?

"Your old MB books are no good if the requirements have been changed and a Scout has not started on them yet." Why? All you have to do is staple a copy of the new requirements into the old book.

First, I'm confused by this statement, "I can personally vouch for those trained instructors that should deliver the training with aplomb, simply should be doing anything else other than teaching." Why? If one can teach with aplomb then one should be teaching. I've been teaching and training folks for nearly thirty years. I've taught at the college level. I've been a trainer for my employer. I've taught umpiring and acting and public speaking. A syllabus is usually a good thing as it tells the instructor what needs to be covered in the class. Having a script is a bad thing

We have a fairly extensive library of merit badge pamphlets. The problem is that some are more than a few years old. I know that some have changed significantly and others have only had the requirements updated. Is there an easy way to identify which books have changed and by how much? In other words, is there an identifier to tell no-change, minor change, major change?

"Serving coffee at a rest stop on I-5, I was mistaken for a cop by an Asian family from Canada. " Somehow, I see this as a possible scene in a Chevy Chase movie.

"Very few Scouts can afford a campaign hat," So? That's like saying that since very few people can afford Ferraris the laws don't apply to them "which has a distinctive BSA headband, pin device" Optional and optional. "The overseas cap is no longer produced." So? It's still a leagal cap. "And I've NEVER been mistaken for a Marine." So? Does that mean that the uniform is not similar to a Marine Corps uniform?

If we look at TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART II > CHAPTER 45 > Sec. 772. there's an exception for Boy Scouts. The Boy Scout campaign hat is almost indistinguishable from both the Army campaign hat and the Marine Corps field hat. The Boy Scout "field hat" was remarkably similar to the Army's garrison cap. The Boy Scout beret was similar to the military beret. The entire current uniform is similar to the Marine Corps' uniform.(This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

That clothing looks interesting except that its life is only 25 washings. That's not much.

" . . .lo these many years ago. . ." love it!

As Stapler guy pointed out, when you kick a grumbler out of a volunteer organization, you can make him a martyr. You might also be telling one and all that he had a point. More volunteers will take up his banner. I also think that BSA, like any organization that has more than 20 members, is prone to duplicity. Stapler Guy's story about the camp is a prime example. The people in charge claimed that property taxes were too high but I'm sure that someone up the chain of command knew that there were no taxes. Why'd they want to sell the property? Maybe to fund a pay raise. Maybe to fun

I know of a local troop that uses military patches for patrol emblems. I have no problem with the patches per se because I'm in favor of anything that helps build patrol spirit. However, most division patches are HUGE and look out of place on the tiny sleeve of a Boy Scout.

"B

In my world, advancement would be denied if a Scout said, I think that this Scouting stuff is lame and I'm only here because my parents force me to. I'm an atheist. If you don't advance me, I'll blow up this building. There might be a few more but I can't think of them off the top of my head.