Gold Winger

In my experience, a District Director is a DE with more responsibilities.

"Sports in general teaches to win at all costs and take drugs to help one do so. These are not good values. to me is not accurate. Just because there have been a rash or professionals who have done this, doesn't mean that is what sports teaches. I have coached basketball on many different levels & I can tell you none of what you stated is even discussed." I've officiated sports at many levels and probably for more years than you coached (20+). Winning at any cost is the mantra of many coaches. Look at the Little League scandal a few years back with the ringer who was too old to play. How about the idiot coaches who send their players out to foul the opponent in an effort to stop the clock. "It's part of the game!" is the cry. It's against the rules and I've never seen it work to turn the game around. I know a soccer coach who is very proud of the way his son knocked down an opposing player and then kicked him in the head to show dominance. I've seen coaches berate their teams and call them "*** losers" because they lost a game after three extra innings. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

"I dont think it is much different than today. During football season we played football. During basketball season we played basketball and baseball season was baseball." However, much of what we did was just interaction among friends. Pick-up games. No officials. No parents. Larry Bird never played organized basketball until Junior High. Today, they have "instructional leagues" for first graders.

"AOL badges on their den member's shirts and Eagle on their troop member's shirts. " Considering how many AOL and Eagle mills areo out there, that doesn't mean much.

Hadn't thought of the Heroism awards. I respect those in all walks of life. One pursues Eagle. One can pursue Vigil as well the adult religious awards. However, few if any, ever say, "I'm going to get the MoH or the BSA Heroism awards." Most are somewhat proud of the award but usually don't seem to think that they did anything special. A boy in my son's troop received one of the BSA medals for saving a drowning kid. When asked about it, he said, "He was in trouble so I jumped in."

"The current amount, per scout, mentioned by FOS is something like $109. That is per scout. If you stop doing FOS then each family needs to contribute at least that amount." In my council they say the amount is about $35. Maybe there is an economy of scale as my council is large.

"What I found with the quarter dome, wasn't that it was flimsy, but presented a broad flat side the wind would just roll it over. I suppose all one man free standers would do the same." All you need to do is contrive a lazy susan so it will alway turn to present an end to the wind. 3 lbs of tent and 40 lbs of plywood and rollers.

It's been my observation that jackets and knit caps sell well. My lodge made a red fleece jacket with the lodge totem embroidered on the back. Very, very popular. Sadly, they don't have them anymore. A denim, chambray or oxford cloth shirt with the lodge totem above the pocket might prove popular with adults. All of my casual long sleeved shirts have some sort of scouting logo embroidered above the pocket.

Go to any local shop that does team apparel and look at what they can offer you. There are some really nice "flex fit" caps that feature an elastic back so they fit everyone without that "adjustable look." For a few dollars more you can get a nice New Era wool cap (just like the Navy used to use) in fitted sizes.

What I don't care for is the way that they direct FOS pitches at Scouters who are already giving so much time and energy. As a district committee member, I got a letter saying "we expect each member of the committee to give $300." What? If I had $300 extra, I'd use it to buy snow tires. At roundtable this year, the presenter passed out the envelopes and said "I want everyone to turn in an envelope before you leave tonight" then walked around the room with the box of "goodies," collecting the envelope and handing out the appropriate gift. I tore my envelope in half, handed it to him and left the meeting. When I got the district committee letter, I was on district committee and the troop committee and like many of us I was stretching myself thin. I once counted and I had scouting things on an average of 17 days a month. Troop meetings, committee meetings, round table, campouts, camporees, training (district training staff) and probably more. Of course there was all the time on the phone and email outside of those meetings, not to mention (okay, I'll mention it) gas and mileage. I did it all because I enjoyed it but to then hand me a letter telling me that I was expected to pony up $300 just galled me. I wasn't just offended for myself. I was offended for the other members of the committee who were putting in the same or more time than I. At round table I felt that it was a similar situation.

Vigil Honor.

Music. Law. Dentistry. Sports. Painting was one that wound up at camp a couple of years ago. Someone thought that it was artistic type painting but it was house painting. The camp did get EVERYTHING painted so that was a plus.

If you had bought a few days ago, you would have gotten 20% off. :-( That would have brought it down to $140. If you opened a new REI Visa and used it for the purchase, you would have gotten your 10% divident plus and extra 5%. So that would have been $21 off. $119 now. And then, since you used your brand new REI Visa card, you'd get a $50 gift card from REI. That puts the cost of the tent at $69, roughly the cost of a Eureka Solo.

It's been my observation that DEs are judged by their numbers. Retention, new units and most importantly MONEY. If a DE does a good job by the standards of BSA, you won't have him very long. Fortunately, the DC and District Committee are really supposed to be running the show and if they are doing their job, the DE can focus on raising money.

16 seconds? That seems a bit long to me.

"they can't find the pulse, and should concentrate on the only thing they could probably do right which is to push on the chest." That's actually frightening. You fall over, bonk your head and the idiot who stops to help doesn't know how to find a pulse so starts "whumping" away at your chest, breaking your ribs and damn near killing you.

Oddly I agree with the Beaver. How can you teach anything if no one in the patrol has a clue about what is going on. You wind up with the standard, "What should we do? "Dunno, what do you thin?" "Dunno . . ." patrol meetings.

It's always funny when it happens to the other guy. :-) People go to NASCAR to see the crashes. During First Manassas, city folk from Washington rode out to have picnics and watch the battles. The French upper class did the same thing during the late 1600s and probably other times. That commercial was really nothing compared to some of our current moveis or even TV shows. As for insensitivity, that commericial came from Great Britain, a country that has a recent history of "bomb throwing Paddys" (to quote an acquaintance who is ex-SAS) blowing up movie houses. The sad thing is that we are inured to violence when it involves entertainment but real life is another thing. People will pay big bucks to watch Jean Claude VanDamme beat the snot out of someone but heaven help us if little Johnny gets into a scuffle on the playground.

"Back in the 50s and maybe early 60s, BSA used to sell official shoes (you could see the BSA logo stamped in the soles). I suspect they quit making them when kids (or their parents) stopped buying them." That was back when kids had a pair of dress shoes and a pair of sneaks, neither really good for camping.

A Red Cross trainer told me that this was coming about five years ago. She said that one of the reasons that they were looking at this change was because of public concerns over nasty stuf from mouth to mouth. I'd guess that we'll still need our rescue breathing in case someone drowns and needs a kickstart.

" Still, drivers have to be at least 18 unless they are driving to or from certain events," To and from but what if driving is the event. It is frequently said that BSA rules don't tell you what is permitted, only what is prohibited. So based on that and the prevailing wisdom that rules only need to be followed if you think that it makes sense to follow them, I'd let them drive. Of course, Cub Scouts might not be able to reach the pedals but what the heck. :-)

I guess that you turn off the Raid commercials? Or is that okay because they're only killing anthropomorphic bugs?

"Any amount BSA saves by using a less expensive source helps to offset cost increases elsewhere." That's the rationalization of the bourgeois capitalists who care nothing about the proletariat and their plight.

" he already has a kilt." Kilts are like black shoes, you can never have too many.

Those aren't OFFICIAL BSA sweaters. A nice hevy wool sweater is water resistant to a point and keeps you toasty even when wet. Just ask a Norwegian fisherman.