Gold Winger

Bob, imagine a box. You're inside that box. Now, think about what could happen outside that box. A Scout unit cannot exist without an SM and a committee. Right? Even if those boys never see the adults and pay their fees by paypal and communicate by text message and email, that is still associating with adults. Very basic but there you have it. You may now return to thinking inside of the box.

Nit picking time again :-) The Canadian/British version of the Smokey/Mountie hat differs from the American version in the placement of the dents. If your nose is North, the American version has the dents at NE, SE, SW, and NW. The Brit version has them at N,E,S,W. http://www.mountieshop.com/images/Mountie_Stetson-Lg.jpg http://www.cowboyhatstore.com/images_product/959.jpg (This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

Pappy, I am a professional picker of nits. If there is a nit anywhere within 100 yards, I'll find it and pick it. In fact, in many states, I am required by statue to pick all possible nits. :-)

Why is this the "Common Era" and how did it suddenly switch from uncommon to common 2007 years ago? It's all PC.

"Why, would it be ridiculous to have a Jedi Crossover ceremony?!" Indians and knights are and were real people with real traditions and ceremonies based on rights of passage. Jedis (really hate to break this to you) are imaginary people thought up by George Lucas and any ceremonies they have were created for making money. We may not be 100% accurate when we represent Indians or knights but we still honor what their cultures represented.

"No Bob you are not understanding me correctly nor is your statement accurate." Does that surprise you? Bob thought that I was referring to "two deep leadership" and it looks like he doesn't understand that either. Standing by for moderation.

"we call them foogareys from the French. (I cant find the right spelling on that!)" The word is "fourragere" and you're using it incorrectly, a "fourragere" represents an award. The den chief cord would be an aiguillette, a shoulder cord which indicates a special position. While I'm on terminology, why do you call it a "campaign cover"? I know that the Navy and Marines call caps covers but the Marine Corps name for the Smokey hat is the "Field Hat" and the Army calls it a "Campaign Hat." B-P called it the cowboy hat. Stetson called it "Boss of the Plains." It's generic name is Montana Peak Hat. Interestingly, other countries refer to them as "Stetsons" no matter who made them.

What! Cavemen aren't proud of their culture? That's pretty racist if you ask me.

No Bob, I wasn't confusing them. BTW, you do know that "two deep leadership" is only required for outings. Don't you.

" As for the title of this thread can it really be scouting without some type of uniform?" Why not?

Gee, my grandmother used to say that a boy would eat a bushel of dirt and a peck of worms EVERY YEAR. :-)

Don't you mean AD 622?

AD/BC? How un-PC. Isn't supposed to be CE and BCE? Heck, it was a Pope that invented the calendar, let's stick with AD and BC. I'm sure that if the world had adpoted the Islamic calendar, we'd be using AM and BM.

". It tends to be a caricature or "Disney cartoon" version of Indians " So what? So are the grade school re-enactments of the first thanksgiving. So are the Geico caveman commercials.

"As far as I can tell, the uniform is the only method that is not required" Nah, the only one that is required is adult association and you can probably find a way to get rid of that one too. Advancement certainly isn't required. Patrol method? Not with all those adult led troops out there. Outdoors? Nah, we can just meet and play basketball. Leadership development? See Patrol Method You can get rid of adult association too by just having the SM give the boys the basketball at the beginning of the meeting and then he retires to the bleachers to drink coffee with the CC.

I find the strange uses of the term "Julian" somewhat perplexing. Being Orthodox, I grew up knowing about the Julian Calendar, it was part of life. Then one day when I was about 18, the Chief said to me, "Winger, PMS schedules use the Julian date. Do you know what that is?" Sure, it's 13 days off the regular calendar. Wrong! It's the day of the year. 1 JAN is 1, 1 FEB is 32, and so on. Now the Julian Date is the number of days since some time waaay back when. Actually, that system goes back to the 1500s but no one cared about it until everyone got a PC on their desk and became a programmer.

Where'd this deadly peanut allergy come from? I went most of my life without hearing about it and then suddenly about 10 or 15 years ago, it was national news. Airlines pulled peanuts from their snack list. Warnings appeared on foods. My brother's been allergic to peanuts and regular nuts since childhood but all he gets is a runny nose. Now, everone knows someone who could die if they eat peanuts. Was there some great shift in the fabric of the universe? Thinking back through my childhood and young adult years, I could count the number of asthmatics that I knew on my fingers. Now it seems that every third person has asthma. Deadly cat allergies Peanut allergies Tomato allergies Rubber allergies I'm not doubting that they exist. I'm just wondering where the heck they came from. My son's allergist (he has allergies and asthma) says that was a dramatic upswing of allergies starting in the late 70s. Late 70s? That was Carter's era. Carter is a peanut farmer. I smell a government conspiracy.

Why should everyone else suffer because of one boy's allergies? He knows that he's allergic to peanuts so he shouldn't eat the peanut butter. A lifelong friend of my son's is allergic to everything. From the time that she was little, she would ask "What's in this?" before she accepted anything in someone else's house. Since she was a regular visitor, we knew what she could and couldn't eat and usually had snacks on hand that she could eat. However, we never said, "the rest of the kids can't have cookies because she can't" and her parents didn't expect that.

They have quite the nice faclility there with an impressive display of Eagles over the years. The current governor of Colorado is an Eagle from that troop.

"I do wish there were a few more "off" days to explore Philmont. Can you stay there after the conference for a few days? (that's the only thing I didn't look into)" I don't think so but there is a B&B a few miles down the road, private property that is surrounded by Philmont. I don't believe that conference participants are allowed to go hoofing it off into the back country. Too bad because if I went back, I'd love to scale the Tooth again.

I'm a native American and it doesn't sound as if I'd be offended.

Not really issues or politics but it wouldn't fit anywhere elese. I was watching some sort of new/interview show last night. The guest was a a doctor who is some sort of expert on public health issues. At one point she announced, "Men have a greater risk of getting prostate cancer." I waited for the "than tooth decay" or "than women getting hangnails." Something. Nope that was it. So let's look at that statement: "men have a greater risk of getting prostate cancer." "Greater" implies a comparision to something. Compaired to what? Non-men? That's women for the most part. "Men have a greater risk of getting prostate cancer than women." Duh! I figured that out without going to med school.

Oohhhh. . . City Scout. What a cut. I'm wounded through and through. I've seen bear scat. I've seen big cat scat. I've heard Louie Armstrong scat. So what? Our ranger told me the same thing. "Go fill a boot up with sugar in active bear country and see how long the bears keep away from it. Put that boot in your tent. Sleep tight." I did. BTW, I don't get your point about the Scout Law. Explain to me why it is okay for you to mock the Philmont staff but if I call your comments silly, I've not being nice. This Ol' City Scout jess don' unnerstan. (This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

"Of course, it isn't even Washington's birthday yet." That's rather shocking coming from someone who advances the notion that the Federal Government knows all and must be obeyed.

" I am not sure of the technical term for that." It's called "pilling."