fgoodwin

Technology in the name of comfort? What heresy is this?

Goretex outerwear? For sissies Thermarest pads? Wimps Under Armor? For weaklings! Internal frame packs? Wusses GPS? Fuggedaboudit How in the world did we ever get away from sleeping on the ground in a floorless pup-tent? Its been all downhill ever since . . .

Beavah, if there are issues within a troop, there are ways to deal with those, and "civil disobedience", if that's what you want to call it, may be one of those ways. My only point, and after repeating it one last time I'll shut up, is this: if anybody claims they are copying music and software as an act of "civil disobedience", they are full of it -- they are just using that as an excuse to get something for free that they simply don't want to pay for. I'm out . . .

According to the article, catalytic heaters don't have an open flame.

SA: I understand that civil disobedience is sometimes necessary to bring an issue to the point that the authorities (or courts) agree its time for a change. The reason this thread was spun-off at all is because the whole idea of civil disobedience came up in the MPAA "merit" badge discussion. So I have no qualms about registering my concern in this thread that somehow the application of civil disobedience to civil rights to effect a change in bad laws, means it should be used to justify illegal downloads because some simply don't like existing copyright law. That equivalence is a farce, and does a grave disservice to those who struggled during the civil rights movement of the 60s. Illegally downloading music or software simply because you don't want to pay for it (or saying it in a more principled way: because you "disagree with the law") doesn't rise to the same level. Its nothing more than rationalized law breaking.

Comparing a principled approach of civil disobedience to downloading a song you don't want to pay for does a great disservice to the heroes of the civil rights era.

Heating Your Tent http://www.outdoorplaces.com/gear/equipment/heat/index.html As the temperature continues to drop and winter creeps closer the urge to go camping starts to wane with the thoughts of twenty-degree mornings. Your down or Polargard mummy bag will keep you toasty warm, but you're going to have to get out of that bag and get dressed sooner or later, and having to get dressed when you can see your breath is not exactly the best experience camping has to offer. Of course a roaring fire and a good sleeping bag aren't the only ways to stay warm. If you are sleeping in a tent it is important to have a barrier between you and the ground. Although air mattresses and inflatable sleeping pads are convenient, they aren't going to insulate you well if the temperature drops below 40 degrees. As a matter of fact, they can start sucking the heat away from you. A foam sleeping pad will provide the best insulation, and when combined with an air mattress the most comfort. Wearing socks and a hat will also help keep you warm while you are in your tent. Until recently your choices for having a heater in your tent were pretty limited. Even putting a candle in a jar with holes punched in the lid is outright dangerous. If you were lucky enough to have electricity at your campsite, a rare find at public campgrounds, you could use a small electric space heater. That came with a number of potential complications including the risk of burning your tent down, or nasty electrical shocks. The best way to get warm really came down to how quickly you could get a fire started when you woke up in the morning. Recent advances in technology have changed this. Gas catalytic heaters have been around for a long time and have been used by shipping companies, cargo ships and the military to keep men and material warm. Size restrictions, technology barriers and weight have kept this technology out of civilian hands, but not anymore. Coleman now offers a line of catalytic heaters that are safe to use in an enclosed area, and are made specifically for car camping when things get cold. Removing the 3.75 pound unit from the box, it doesn't look like it could heat much, but good things can come in small, inexpensive packages. When connected to a standard propane cylinder (those green canisters you can find just about anywhere) all you need to do is push a button. Suddenly 3,000 BTU's of radiant heat flow from the Coleman BlackCat. It really is amazing how quickly the BlackCat can warm up a six to ten man tent. Of course in our proud litigious society the product doesn't come without a long list of disclaimers. After reading the instructions and all of the ominous warnings you may be scared to use the BlackCat at all. It comes down to following two golden rules, keep everything at least two feet away, and provide at least six square inches of ventilation. Because the BlackCat doesn't have an open flame, it has a very limited ability to set things spontaneously on fire. That doesn't mean that you can't get into trouble. Anything that gets to close for to long can melt and items that are readily flammable can be ignited. We recommend placing it on top of a cooler so it is safely off of the floor of your tent. If you're going to use a catalytic heater while you're sleeping (this is NOT recommended), make sure when you roll around that your bag or you skin won't come in contact with the heating element. You're better off using the heater to warm things up before going to bed and warming things up when you wake up in the morning. One of the biggest limitations to having any heater in a tent is the issue of having to keep a safe perimeter around it, and the BlackCat won't work well in the cramped conditions of a two-man tent. We don't think many backpackers would use the BlackCat anyway. Although it is very light for the amount of heat it produces, we don't recommend throwing a catalytic heater into your backpack. Because the BlackCat is flameless, it doesn't produce huge amounts of Carbon Monoxide, a silent and deadly killer. That doesn't mean you don't have to have any ventilation for your tent. When you are camping you should always leave a vent or window open to allow moisture and stale air to flow out. In the end things will be warmer by removing some of the natural dampness that builds up through the night. If you seal off your tent completely, you can run a risk of exposing yourself to dangerous levels of Carbon Monoxide. What makes Carbon Monoxide so dangerous is the first symptom is losing your ability to reason, and things quickly go downhill from there. Recently Coleman has added a new heater to the lineup, the self-contained PowerCat. Using the same catalytic technology as the BlackCat, the PowerCat produces the same 3,000 BTU's of warmth, but it offers other improvements. A fan can be run to help circulate the warmed air, powered by two D cell batteries. The portable unit uses an eight-ounce fuel cell instead of the standard issue green propane canisters, although more convenient to carry, they can be more problematic to find. The bottom line is if you are going to use a heater in your tent you should be extremely careful. Powerful heaters made by Century and others aren't designed for the enclosed space of a tent, electric heaters can also be dangerous, assuming you can even find a place to plug it in. If you do want to explore heating your tent you should take a long look at the newest line of catalytic heaters. Efficient and safe, when used properly they can take the chill out of the air, and make getting out of the sleeping bag just a little bit easier. The other benefit is they can help you squeeze a few more weeks of camping out of the season, before the snow starts to fly.

As long as we're throwing hyperbole, the Constitution has no provision making child abuse illegal -- does that mean the Founding Fathers thought it OK to have sex with kids? My point being there are many things that local and state governments have laws about, and many things the federal gov't has laws & regulations about, that are not covered in the Constitution. Just because copyright isn't in the Constitution doesn't mean you automatically have the right to do anything you want to do with a creative work of mine, or vice versa. And it certainly doesn't mean my creative work (or yours) is owned by the public. I don't think it's "taking sides" to teach Scouts to obey the law. If you don't like the law, you work to change it - you don't break it. That should be lesson in our Citizenship MBs.

In my council, a Cub-overnighter does not count as a "resident camp". In addition to several weeklong resident camps in the summer and several daycamps, my council offers a two-nite weekend campout in the fall that will satisfy the requirement. According to our council camping person, a "resident camp" is defined as two or more nights. YMMV

Sharing may indeed be a family value, but stealing isn't. Its up the copyright holder to determine whether or not they will share and under what conditions; it isn't up to the viewer. We may not like it, but that's how it is. A Scout is courteous and obedient.

Thanx!

The Insignia Guide isn't much help, and the lack of a yoke across the back of the jac-shirt doesn't help either. But there is a seam for the collar -- so how far down from the collar do you place the top of the OA jacket patch?

As usual, Hunt said it much better than I ever could. I apologize for the inflammatory nature of my last post.

Zahnada writes:Sorry to tell some of you guys, but gays are real, they're here, and they're not going away. [. . .] Your children will be the ones who will either have to accept homosexuals or they will be branded as bigots.Zahnada, are you saying that our children must "accept" homosexuals or be branded as bigots simply because they exist? By that rationale, our children should "accept" pedophiles and rapists, or be branded as bigots, simply because they exist. And before anyone complians that I am equating homosexuality with pedophilia and rape, I am not -- I am only questioning the logic behind Zahnada'a argument.

Bret: Welcome to the Forums. Fred Goodwin

Parents say school undermines their authority over kids http://www.startribune.com/191/story/737084.html Last update: October 11, 2006 11:42 PM Katherine Kersten, Star Tribune The scene last Saturday at the Interdistrict Downtown School in Minneapolis was straight out of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. A group of black mothers and their supporters stood shoulder to shoulder, demanding what they called a decent education for their kids. But the story has a 2006 spin. Gena Bounds, a mother of three, described it this way: "On September 15 I gave my kids a big hug after school, but something was clearly wrong." Bounds' 7-year-old daughter, Darriell, explained the situation to her mother. "She told me that her teacher had read the class a book about a girl with two moms," says Bounds. "Then he told them that he's gay and that he and his partner are adopting a child, and the child will have two dads. Now Darriell thinks the school is telling her she needs to believe that two daddies or two mommies is the same thing as a mom and a dad." Was this just a little detour from reading and math? No. "Asha's Mums," the book that Darriell's teacher, Peter Sage, had read, is part of a diversity curriculum called the "Families All Matter" book project. "I don't object to the teacher's sexual orientation," says Bounds. "But my 7-year-old is too young to understand these issues. I teach my children about family matters myself, and this isn't what we believe. "Families All Matter" encourages children to "explore diversity issues through reading." It includes children's books on topics such as racism, disabilities and "GLTB family members," according to aMaze, the organization that sponsors it. Mary Ann Bradley, the organization's director, says that aMaze has sold curriculum guides to schools in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Stillwater, White Bear Lake, Edina, Duluth and many other districts. She adds that she is often unaware of how they are used. "Families All Matter" suggests that children should learn about homosexuality at an early age. For kindergartners, there's a book called "Daddy's Roommate." For first-graders, there's "King and King," in which a prince unsuccessfully searches the world for a princess. After he experiences "love at first sight" for another prince, they marry and live "happily ever after." Laura Bloomberg, the school's principal, says that teachers choose the books they want to use from the curriculum, and may not read them all. FeLicia McCorvey Preyer, who has second-grade twins at the school, was also incensed about "Families All Matter." Before the school year began, she told Sage and school officials that she didn't want her children reading books with homosexual themes, she says. "They knew my wishes and they defied them," she adds. "Families All Matter" is supposed to teach tolerance. In fact, says Bounds, her daughter has learned that people who believe that a mother and father are best for a family are discriminatory. After Sage read "Asha's Mums," he "told the class that his grandfather had believed that black people are stupid," she says. "He said that other adults had helped him see that his grandfather was a bigot." The implication? That parents who don't share Sage's views on family matters are bigots too. Sage touched a nerve by claiming the mantle of the fight against racism for his own agenda, says Preyer. "I'm appalled that he, a white man, would use that tactic to push his views on African-American children." But Bounds and Preyer are most upset at the school's message that kids don't need to listen to their parents when the school and the parents disagree. "The school is undermining my authority as a parent, at a critical, formative stage of my daughter's life," says Bounds. School officials reacted with indifference, even "arrogance," to their concerns, say Bounds and Prior. Administrators failed to inform them of their legal right to review the curriculum, and refused to reassign their children to another classroom. Officials told them to consider withdrawing their children or enrolling them in a private school. Bloomberg, the principal, says that data privacy concerns prevent her from commenting on individual family situations at the school. She said that the school has a diversity mission, and that she often assumes that families who choose the school are aware of it. There's a real irony here. Bounds and Preyer are battling to instill a sense of respect for their authority as parents, and to pass on their sense of right and wrong to their children. But they say the school does not appreciate that. Preyer puts it this way: "They treat me as if my beliefs are the problem." Katherine Kersten kkersten@startribune.com

I'm not a tax expert, but I think ljnrsu answered a different question than Whitlock342 asked. Whitlock342, any entity, including a Pack or Troop, can get a tax ID#; just go to www.irs.gov and you can apply for one online. You don't need to be tax-exempt in order to get a tax ID#. On the other hand, depending on your state's requirements, you may not need a tax ID# in order to be exempted from state and local sales taxes, if that's your real question. As others ahve said, the application of sales taxes is subject to state law, and states vary in which entities they will exempt from those taxes. In Texas, you don't have to be a 501©(3) non-profit entity in order to qualify for a sales tax exemption. Here, it is up to the unit to fill-out the Sales & Use Tax Exemption Form. The form doesn't even require a tax ID#. The Texas exemption form is submitted to the retailer who can accept or reject it. A footnote on the form indicates there is no such thing as a "tax exempt number" in Texas. If you are chartered to a church, and they allow you to use their tax ID#, that only means the IRS agrees that your unit, as part of the church, is not subject to income taxes. It has nothing to do with whether or not local sales taxes apply to your purchases -- again, that's up to your state's requirements. If I am mistaken, I'm sure one of the many lawyers or accountants will correct me. YiS, Fred Goodwin

Lisa'bob: thanx

Its a tough lesson to learn that we can't always get what we want. But the boy (and his mom) should remember that it was within their own power to complete the AOL requirements on time. Its a painful lesson, but hopefully one they will remember if the boy gets to be 17 and hasn't completed the requirements for Eagle. Hopefully he won't wait until he turns 18 to realize its too late.

Health & Safety training also talks about this. Please be aware that H&S training is based on the G2SS, NOT on the Health & Safety booklet! (that would've made far too much sense . . .)

Lisa'bob: Where does the one night limitation on Webelos camping come from? Fred

Welcome, scout4life and Christy (ScrappinJazz). As Cub parents & leaders, you may be interested in two other resources: Cub-Scout-Talk on Yahoo groups: (1) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cub-scout-talk/ and CUB-L: (2) http://usscouts.org/lists/cubL.asp If you're not already members, I think you'll the find the discussions to be very helpful. Finally, check out "Baloo's Bugle": (3) http://usscouts.org/usscouts/bbugle.asp and Cubmaster.org: (4) http://www.cubmaster.org/index.asp Thanx for being a part of Scouting! Fred

Peace is great, in theory. But in practice, peace must be a unanimous decision. And I would certainly vote for peace. However, it only takes one to make a war. So what do you do with the theory then?

AOL is by definition a Cub Scout badge. The AOL requirements don't state a maximum age. But there IS a maximum age to be a Cub Scout. If he's already completed fifth grade or if he's older than 11-1/2, then he's no longer eligible to be a Cub Scout and he's thus ineligible for the AOL. One wonders where was mom's enthusiasm for the AOL last spring?

One need not be registered in a district-level position in order to be eligible for the District Award of Merit -- I've seen many unit Scouters render valuable service to youth at district level functions. As long as the nominee is a registered Scouter and has rendered noteworthy service to youth (either inside or outside of Scouting, or both), then yes, the IH (registered as an ADL) is eligible for the DAM.