gcnphkr

The good thing about being dry clean only is people will have to sew their patches on instead of using Badge Magic.

We use www.scoutlander.com. It is free with fairly simple to use event calender, signup, broadcast system, public and private areas. It would be nice if it could be synced with TroopMaster for contact information, rank, patrol, etc. Performance can be slow at times.

One would think. I have AV. Using Firefox with Flash, popups, etc. disabled. One would think it would not be an issue. This morning it went right to a redirect. Of course the close event triggered the download which at least Firefox asked about. Ended up end-tasking. Of course, Firefox wanted to reload the last page on restart...

It is still there. Must be one of the advertisers. Open the page and it went to some fake security page and wanting to download an executable.

We were looking at some fun ways to start fires and stopped in a Walmart to pick up something, large flashlight (the parabolic mirror will light a bit of tender where the bulb goes. I picked up a package of 0000 steel wool and gave it a spark from a lighter just to see what it would do. There I was in the Walmart hardware department with the steel wool doing its burn trying to put it out. The guy I was with and I just busted up laughing. He said he should take my Firem'n Chit away. I said the joke is on him, that I do not carry one.

Anyway, steel wool doesn't make a flame, just gets very hot with nice orange runs along the wool. Have some tinder and small kindling on wool in the center of the fire lay and it will light just like it would if you used a match. Unroll the wool and spread it out in the fire lay and it might make an interesting effect, but nothing dramatic.

It is hard to imagine a reason to be a Christian without the resurrection.

Makes me wonder if I could do something like that with my wood gas stove.

arrggghhh

I take it that all the district and council committee members are in agreement on this.

I think you will be out of luck on this one. The council is operating outside the rules and will likely only change if forced to by National. Likely the only way to do that is by having a scout (make him young enough to do another project if needed) being willing to submit his Eagle Application and then appeal should the council reject it.

The problem is that someone on the advancement committee needs to approve the project. It does not need to be the chair, but you need to find someone on the committee that will give the go ahead on the project.

The problems with the registrar's position are many and obvious. The workbook states that funds can be raised and that these funds are in the form of money or material. That they are restricted use funds donated to the benefiting organization is implied by the requirement that any surplus funds must be returned. This also implies that the funds are direct donations and not donations for services rendered (for example, popcorn sales or car washes). If the funds were received for service then there would be no requirement to return the surplus.

To answer your questions. There is nothing that you mentioned that would prevent your son from being a scout or your husband from being a registered adult volunteer. You could still do things, but you would not be able to be a registered adult. When your son finds a unit that he likes talk with the committee chair and find out if the unit has any restrictions.

Don't forget, they are parents and anything you do to discourage them from coming is VERBOTEN.

Sorry, I could not resist.

If they cannot not drink then they cannot come on the activities.

SeattlePioneer: "ANY effort to discourage parents from attending is VERBOTTEN!"

G2SS: "All aspects of the Scouting program are open to observation by parents and leaders."

You have moved far beyond either the letter or spirit of the G2SS. Perhaps a deep breath is in order.

If the parents have concerns about the Order for religious reasons then they need to know and understand what is going on before the Ordeal so that they can decide if their child should join the Order before the Ordeal. That is only fair to the parents, the scout and the Order. For most parents in this category, they will either choose not to allow their son to join or they will no longer have their concerns. In either case this discussion needs to have taken place. Based on your twisted version of the G2SS we are not allowed to have this discussion.

If the parents have safety concerns. Come on, there are no parents that fall under this category. At this point in the son's scouting journey the parents trust the leaders and are not concerned for his safety. Those that don't, have not been allowing their son to go camping anyway and so are not eligible for the honor.

So what you have left are the parents that want to come see little Johnie get his award. Chances are there is nothing you could say to keep these people from coming and I don't know anyone that tries to stop them. Bores will be bores. But they can be greeted at the camp entrance, be informed of proper behavior and escorted to the ceremony. Just like any other event, if they do not behave they can be asked to leave. It will be up to them if they want their son to leave with them.

Cool.

My son is wanting to find out more about his history. I don't think we have an ancestor on the Dawes Roll, but he wants to find out about his Cherokee roots. He is currently making his own warbonnet. He doesn't have the patience for the fine bead-work. Now that he has been awarded the Vigil, he will likely redo his breast plate. The arrow is incorporated into the center strip with pony beads.

Those things are expensive. The receivers start at $700 and the transmitters at $150.

I'm glad he knew to stop and make himself comfortable.

BTW. The Unit Leader is the Scoutmaster, Coach or Advisor.

Are you talking about the Eagle Project or the Eagle Application?

As the CC you do not sign off on the completion of the Eagle Project. That is done by the Scoutmaster and the representative of the organization for which the project was done. You may have approved the project plan, although this can be done by any Troop Committee Member.

You do sign the Eagle Application in the Unit Approval Section. You can refuse to sign. If it were me, I would do that expressly on the application along with my phone number. The scout would then go through the appeals process. I would submit a letter explaining your reasons to the District Advancement Chair and the Scout Executive. I would also show up at his Board of Review and request to speak to the Board. They do not have to hear you, but they likely will. Do discuss your concerns about the project, the vandalizing of the car and other issues with his not living the scout spirit. DO NOT go into the bit about removing his uniform, it makes you sound petty.

Where is the Scoutmaster on this? Did he approve the project and application? The two of you should be united on this.

As for it being his birthday tomorrow. Your signature is not required before his birthday. What needs to be completed prior to his birthday is: all merit badges, the project itself, his position of responsibility and the scoutmaster conference. Basically, everything about the CERTIFICATION BY APPLICANT line.

The applicant should be told in writing why you are not approving his application along with the steps he needs to take to appeal.

Then get ready for a battle. Stopping it will take a great deal of effort, especially if you and the Scoutmaster are not in agreement.

Old_OX_Eagle83:

I would be very surprised if any of this was directed at you. Wear your sash when you want. Despite the cries that the Uniform Police are out to ruin everything, I would be very surprised if anyone would say a thing about it beyond, "That is kind of cool. Where did you get it?" When you then tell them about how you made it and its history they will likely be even more impressed.

That being said, other people that wear faux sashes, just to call attention to themselves deserve a whack now and then.

I figured you didn't mean to come across as hard as you did. I do agree with you BTW.

BD, have you not had your coffee yet?

I find it amazing the reactions that people have when the Uniform Guide is mentioned. Here we are in a discussion about the use of beaded sashes. Someone points out that they are not official and should not be worn. Predictably, people get bent out of shape about being told what to do. Frankly, the "What are you going to do about it?" attitude is tiresome. I'll wager that no one has every told them to stop wearing whatever it is that they are wearing and they feel a bit put off that no one has noticed what rebels they are. They then latch on any apparent attempt to infringe on their individuality here on the forum. Uniform Police is the reason that membership slipping--please. Get over yourself. Self important popinjays that have to be "special" are more of an insure.

This is what I have to ask, "Why would anyone wear the legend, a black sash or a beaded sash?" Are the trying to promote the Order or just themselves?

For really large flags, and 20 x 38 certainly qualified, I find it is best to just leave it folded. Considering that even folding it lengthwise a third time time the diagonal is 3.5 ft. I like OldGreyEagle's idea of a frame, but I don't know if it is needed.

I've never cared for cutting the flag. It complicates things for the scouts and in general simple is better.

Keep in mind that a large fire means it will take that much longer to allow it to burn to ash. I know some people get upset if the fire is not allowed to burn out on its own.

While I enjoy flag retirements, there are times I wish we would not do them at multi-unit events like camporee or Woodbadge. Everyone has their own traditions. Everyone thinks their traditions are the only correct traditions and that any variance shows disrespect to the flag. I've seen more disputes over flag retirements than anything else at these events. It seems like there is always someone unhappy about what was done. Seems to me the disputes show greater disrespect than any of the "violations" of tradition.

:-)

Back in 1974, the first W4C Conclave was at Nellis AFB outside of Las Vegas. A group of us skipped out on the Saturday actives to go into town. We got a major lecture when we finally got back late that night.

Honestly, I've no idea how we manage to not lose anyone. People tend to just leave when their ride picks them up. For the scouts in the troop, they will be riding together for Ordeals and Conclave. Lodge fellowships are more individual, with older scouts often driving themselves to it. Chapter meetings and LEC are also individuals being responsible for themselves.

While I agree that the rules should allow scouts to abstain on an individual candidate, they do not currently allow for that. It would complicate the ballot counting and likely be error prone.

I suppose the new scouts could have agreed to splitting their vote with two being responsible for a yes vote, that would have had the same effect as their abstaining.

Since the new scouts knew two of the candidates it was reasonable for them to vote. While a bit hard for the the transfer, it is not an unreasonable result as apart from his friends from school, the rest of the troop would likely have not voted for him anyway.

Here something for identifying trees: http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatTree/

This is a fairly common field item. I recall doing it in a Ecology course in college. There the area was slightly larger, but we made only a minimal attempt to identify all the species. Grasses are difficult to begin with. If I recall correctly we did a plot of desert 9m^2. We found a good half-dozen different grasses and about a dozen other plants. The value in not in the identification but in understanding the diversity. I would either assign them a plot or make them find a random plot. If you let them choose it will be in a pine stand with only one species.

I did my Brotherhood during the son's Ordeal. We just did our Vigils together. Both are fairly personal apart from the ceremony so I don't know if it matters much if you do them together or not. Although, there are parts of the Vigil where it was nice that the son was within earshot.

The Ordeal is a bit different, more group oriented. Our troop generally waits on nominating adults until they can do the Ordeal with their sons.

Our troop has its own camp each summer. It is primarily intended for new scouts but more and more keep coming back each year. We have movies. Originally we would watch the "A Time to Tell" broken up over a couple of nights. The first year they watched "Follow Me, Boys!" in the van on the way home. Since then they have elected to watch it for our Wednesday night campfire. It doesn't seem to have any adverse affects and is something they all look forward to.