Gold Winger

Going to church every Sunday only serves to fill the church's coffers and rather than listen to some inane sermon, I'd rather be out putting Christ's teachings into practice. I don't claim that I have nothing to learn, I'd rather spend my little free time learning things that I don't know instead of rehashing things that I've already covered. I have a pretty good handle on Newtonian mechanics so I won't bother taking a class that discusses Newton and gravity. I would take a class about string theory because it confuses the heck out of me. As for wasting everyone's time, I'll just avoid wasting my money by giving even more of it to BSA.

I've always thought that the whole "Quality Unit" concept is a bogus as heck. Many "Quality Units" aren't "quality." All it does is add undue stress to the lives of everyone involved. Oh my God! We lost one too many Scouts this year! Our program isn't Quality. The fact that three First Class Scouts used their Boy Scout training to rescue a man from alien abduction doesn't count. Quality Chapter! Gotta get those conversions to Brotherhood. Quality, quality, quality! It's all about numbers, not real quality. I think that if I were still involved at the unit level, I'd simple refuse to participate.

I look at other courses that I've taken and see a common thread: I took quantum mechanics because I wanted to learn about color, strangeness and charm. I took film appreciation because I wanted a greater understanding of how movies are made. I took Roman history because I wanted to learn about ancient Rome. However, when I ask what will I learn at Wood Badge, I either get handwaving explanations or I'm told that it will cover stuff that I had in SMF and maybe touch on the crud that was pushed down our throats in TQM. However, I'm always told that it will "make me a better Scouter" How? It doesn't look like I'm learning anything new. I'd rather go to the University of Scouting and take a class that I've never had before like "BSA paperwork" or "How to Deal With a Flatulent Scout."

" A divorced parent has the right to fall on his/her sword and demand a child not go on a trip." Oh, I've seen that more times than I care to think about. "Can we switch weekends because Johnny wants to go on the father-son campout?" "Not only NO but Hell NO, this is my weekend and you can't have it." "Do you have something planned?" "No, we're just going to hang out." Divorce is all too often an adversarial relationship and one or both parents use the kids as pawns to hurt the other. The problem is that it usually backfires. Mom wants her weekend to keep dad from doing something special so does Johnny blame dad? Nope, he hates mom all the more.

That's a very good point about the traffic engineers determining the need for a light. Where I used to live there people kept clammoring for traffice lights on the 1 mile stretch of the main drag because during rush hour traffic got heave for about fifteen minutes every hour. The state came in, did a study and said, "Nope!" Perhaps this fellow's project could be as simple as heading up the effort to get community support for a study, as in the petition drive. Many times, people think that lights are needed where they aren't because they are only worried about their 15 minute time slot. I know that 30 years ago, it cost about $40,000 to put in a new traffic light and that doesn't include the maintenance issues. Now, with inflation it would probably be $100,000 and you can pay quite a few crossing guards for $100,000.

When I was Advancements Guy for my son's troop, I also chaired the Eagle Project Review Subcommittee. Based on the information here, this project wouldn't have made it out of the room unless he could convince me that he had opportunities for leadership. I saw more than a few project proposals that consisted of "I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, and then I'm going to . . ." These were shot down and sent back for revision.

" Where are the Ronald Reagans and Theodore Roosevelts when you need them? " They've both been on postage stamp which is a strong indication that they are dead and consequently inelligible to hold office.

For just about every activity that I've bought supplies for, I've benn reimbursed after the fact. Photocopies, shirts, food.. Just the way that things work. If someone said, "Pay up front" I wouldn't have any problem with that.

I'd ask where the leadership opportunities are?

But that doesn't make the story better. http://www.utahphillips.org/stuff/mooseturdpie.mp3

Many kids have no clue what the family is planning beyond tomorrow. "Wedding? I didn't know about any wedding." I view weddings and funerals and visits from out of town family as obligations, not choices.

Mom's weekend? That could be established by the court and I really wouldn't expect the kid to give it up but I might expect mom to say "Hey, I'll see you next time." Family obligations? Funerals, weddings, Grampa's in from Naples Italy. Againg, I wouldn't expect a kid to give those up for camping and neither should you. The problem is that too many times cancellations are for things like "it's raining" or "Jimmy has a new Xbox." The problem is that too many boys view camping as something akin to work. It drags them out of their bedrooms, away from the TV, and they have to deal with dirt and trees. Too many kids don't want to do anything adventuresome unless it packaged and tidy and they don't have to do any work. Paintball? That's fun, mom will drive me. Pick up games? Nah, too much effort.

Stapler, as the wise man said, "that was then, this is now." As for silly rules, BSA is still lagging behind GSUSA but their gaining.

The policy was put into place because we were having too many boys who were showing up at the mustering site without persmission forms. A ususal scenario would be Johnny would get dropped off and dad would leave. Now we're short a seat for the extra scout. On top of that the parents can't be reached to come back and sign a permission form. Give up adult food for the extra Scout? Why? What does that teach the boys? The ones that plan and follow the rules see that they don't have to plan anything and everything will work out.

Okay, I'll rephrase my question "They tax charitable organizations' property in Michigan?" which seems to be answered above. I never knew that there was limit on the property exemption. When I sat of the board of my church we only had about an acre. Let me see if I have the jist of the story straight. Chicago Area Council (in Illinois) owns a big chunk of land in Michigan. Showing the wisdom that councils show everywhere, they want to sell this chunk of land to fill their coffers. To maximize their profits they want to sell to developers who will build overpriced, mass produced homes with enhancements like crown molding, two story foyers and lights on either side of the front door. A group of people have banded together to try to save this camp from becoming yet another place for people to park their BMWs and SUVs. CAC and the potential saviours are battling it out as we speak. Since the Council seems intent on selling this chunk of land, I think that we should all support the group that wants to save it. Sure, it might no longer be a "Scout Camp" but it will remain a camp that will be used by youth which would include church groups, YMCA, Campfire, 4H and FFA (chug-a-lug). (This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

" Whether it is learning cursive, math or science," Cursive? They spent about three days on cursive at my kids' school. I was told that it was much more important to learn how to use a mouse. Don't know about that. I picked up a mouse for the first time in my 20s and figured it out in about 5 seconds. Math? Don't get me started. A calculator in the second grade for basic arithmetic? I've lost count of the young people that I know who can't figure out a simple percentage in their head (What's 20% of 30? and out comes the cell phone)

My son's troop instituted a very strict "permission slip due 1 month before outing" which has very few exceptions, such as they'll slip the due date if you missed school for illness and consequently missed the meeting to turn in the form. After a few months and a few guys being left behind, the parents got the hang of it. Of course it would be too much to expect a bunch of junior high and high school kids to remember that they need to turn in some papers. Food money? That's up to the patrols to deal with.

" I was angry when Blue Lake Township originally rezoned the property and started taxing the camp at resort rates but I thought I understood the need." In illinois they can tax the property of charitable organziations? Wow! Is nothing sacred?

It's been my experience with Summer Camp runs to the hospital for everything poison ivy to major gashes that the hospital medics go with the permission slip and treat the boy. When it's all over, I call the parents and say, "Johnny just got stitches."

You need a pre-backed pie shell, one fresh steaming moose turd of considerable size and firmness, parsley and paprika. Place the moose turd into the pie shell, use another piece of pie crust to create a lattice as the top of the pie. Garnish with parsley and paprika and serve fresh. If you want, you can make it a dutch oven as a type of shepard's pie but the the standard flaky pie crust is best in my opinion.

The only thing that I'm missing to finish the requirements for the District Committee Key is the training element. The funny thing is that I've been doing my job for years without being trained and everyone is happy with what I do (could be because no one else want to do it, kinda like the cook in the story of the Moose Turd Pie) For some reason, no one around here knows anything about Districtr Committe Workshop or anything like it. I did find this http://olc.scouting.org/info/dcom.html and have successfully completed it. Does anyone know if this "training" will satisfy the requirements for the award? I really need that extra knot to fill out a row.

In my experience, the camp nurse is that, an RN. At one camp I've been to, the nurse is an RN as well as an EMT. The guys in the first aid hut call him if the injury or illness goes beyond, "I have a headache" or "I skinned my knee." I think that there are many injuries that can wait until you get home. "My knee hurts but I can still walk." However, a vision problem should have been sent to the hospital right away. It's been my experience that anything other than "my eyes itch" doesn't usually get better on its on and may go downhill quickly.

We look at it differently. I see the reason to protect the trademarks but don't see the reason behind changing the rules that had been in place for nearly 100 years. Sure, if Trek starts marketing the "Boy Scout Bicycle," go after them but why made life more difficult for the units and the small businesses that they deal with. As for getting made on the sly? Should we? A Scout is obedient, what message are you sending?

Okay Beaver, so he worked for a living. So what? It doesn't change the fact that he's a self proclaimed whatever you want to call him. You won't give credence to farmer who claims an angel visited him but you take the word of a tent maker who claims that God talked to him. I take both claims with a big grain of salt as I do the story of the burning bush. I also take the Mormon prophet's claims that God speaks to him with an equally big grain of salt. BTW, Kolob is very close to Znerflot.

"Making your own iron-ons is a good solution--there doesn't seem to be any prohibition of that" Apparently, you still need to get a license waiver. One of the examples was a mom doing embroidery for free.