Gold Winger

"What sillyness." Gee that's the official advice from Philmont and they told me that they never had a problem with it. I guess that they're pretty silly. "Plus, who puts their boots in their tents anyways, whew!" I do. Let's see, you don't believe that the man-odor of your boots will keep the critters from investigating but yet you store your boots outside so any enterprising critter can drag your boots off and munch on them. Now that's what I call silly.(This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

Yep, that's what I said, "Washington's Birthday." There is no such Federal Holiday as "Presidents' Day," that's a creation of the PC police in an effort to make everyone think that we're also celebrating Lincoln's Birthday. http://www.opm.gov/Operating_Status_Schedules/fedhol/2008.asp

" I'm really glad that I have a daughter who'll start out wearing a (really cute) blue tunic as a Girl Scout Daisy. Simple and straightforward and - hopefully - durable." More of an apron and not expecially durable. GSUSA has taken the concept of the uniform to a new low. According to my daughter's leader, even though there are brownie shirts and skirts to go with the vest and full uniforms for the older girls as well, to be considered "in uniform" all a girl needs to be wearing is her Girl Scout pin. According to the service unit leader (oversees a big group of troops), at joint Boy Scout/Girl Scout functions, the girls often express envy at the snazzy uniforms of the Boy Scouts, even though many of those boys are wearing jeans. Go figure.

"Looking at the work generated from both shops, the casual one did better and more work." I never noticed a difference in the quality or quantity of work. I did notice a great difference in the professional demeanor of the shop or the lack thereof in the "casual" shop. The casual attire seemed to promote a "frat house" atmosphere of pranks and games which interrupted work on a regular basis causing many to have to work long hours to get projects finished. Hmmmm . . . maybe there was a difference in the quality of work.

I hate metrics. Give me inches, pounds, and slugs.

John, I wouldn't worry about jobs with the Hummers and egg-beaters, those are going to be outsourced to China.(This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

Yep. That's the one. More the most part, I've always gone the different job, different shirt route. I tried the velro and just didn't like the way that it looked.

That's an easy one to catch. The hard ones to catch are my "errors" like the Polish Scout belt that I sometimes wear. Or the neckerchief from Singapore that I've been known to wear.

Back in the 7th or 8th grade we watched a movie about personal hygiene because we were hitting that age where you could begin to smell bad. The movie had two scenarios. One in which a girl didn't smell too good so one of her friends suggested to her that she try some new ointment to make her skin fresher and "of course, you have to use it after you bathe." That made the girl in question say, "Hmmmm. . ." and she started bathing daily. The smelly guy, of course, being a guy, ignored all of the hints so his buddies grabbed him in the locker room, threw him into the shower and scrubbed him with a deck brush. He got the hint. Back in junior high and high school, showers were mandatory after gym class. If you didn't shower, the gym teacher would toss you into the shower fully clothed. That happened once a year and was a lesson to everyone else. Now kids don't shower have gym class or sporting events but that another discussion.

" My first thought is that if he is on a Troop Committee, he should have had the red loops." Yep, that's what one should do. Perhaps he was there in his role as district Scouter. "Would one ware (sic) the arrowhead patch on any other uniform exept there (sic) commisioner shirt?" Nope.

I concur and maybe suggest to the SPL and ASPLs that they don't participate.

Uniforming is one of the eight methods of Scouting, at least over here. Patrol Adult example Advancement Uniform Ideals Personal Growth Leadership Development The uniform serves the same purpose as uniforms everywhere. It allows a group to be identified as a group and also provides a common bond for the members of that group. Gang colors. Wearing caps backwards. $2,000 suits with Countess Mara ties. All examples of uniforms. If nearly every Boy Scout in the country is wearing the BSA uniform and your troop goes out and creates their own uniform, it would serve many of the purposes of the uniform method BUT the boys wouldn't be identified as part of BSA. So when they went to camporees or Philmont or summer camp, they would likely feel out of place.

There's a no cap/hat rule in the dining halls at summer camp and at Philmont. However, I've noticed that men just don't know to take their hat off anymore. Go to any restaraunt and look around. Okay, maybe not Chez Expensive but anywhere from McDs to Appleby's. There is the question of whether Scouts should remove their caps indoors. There's a website out there someplace with discussion of that topic. There are pictures in old handbooks showing Scouts in meetings wearing their hats. I usually take mine off.

I'm a professional escort which explains my state of poverty.

I rarely see anyone in the "official dress uniform." I usually see the DEs and SEs in regular business suits. There really should be a dress scouting uniform like they used to have. A green worsted jacket cut like a safari jacket with matching green trousers (made as a set so the colors match), a khaki shirt with a proper collar so a green tie can be worn.

OA Chapter Advisor is a district position so you'd wear silver loops.

Tapping (actual touching) is gone. You are now called out. I suppose that every chapter or lodge can do it differently. In my chapter, if the troop doesn't announce who was selected after the election, you find out when you get the letter telling you what you need to bring to the call out (medical forms, permission slips) so the word quickly spread that if you don't get the letter, you aren't being called out so don't bother coming. The result is that only the boys and adults being called out come to the call out. No anticipation. No worry. No drama. My thought was to stop sending the letters and just tell everyone who stood for election to come to the call out. Let it be a surprise. The responses ranged from "if they don't know that they are elected, they won't come to the call out" If that's the case, obviously OA isn't that important to thme. "If we don't get the medical forms out early, we won't get them in time for the ordeal" There's usually two or three weeks between call out or odeal, if you can't get a form filled out in that time, you have some big problems. The winning excuse is "It wouldn't be fair to have boys come thinking that they were going to be called out and then have them left standing." Why?

What I find humerous is the requirement that another person cannot administer your medications. I'm diabetic and I've never been in a situation where I've needed a glucogon injection but if I did, I'd be unconscious and approaching death so giving myself the injection isn't an option. Silly rules written by lawyers.

Fifteen pounds? Twenty pounds? That's nothing. I'm more concerned with the guys (gals) who weigh 100 lbs more than they should, who can't walk 100 yards without getting winded and and for whom, a climb up two flights of stairs is like scaling Everest.

"But if you want to know, I teach political science for a living." Wow! What a way to bilk people out of their money! " Im sure that you and Lisa Bob and le Voyageur and Trevorum and Gold Winger are all very nice people." You'd be wrong. A friend who was finishing up her PhD in psychology once described me as a sociopath. I liked that. I still like it. It gives the guys who like my daughter something to think about.(This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

I would have thought that we were talking about ephebophelia and not pedophelia.

Venn diagrams, new math? They were created in the 1800s . . . oh, I get it. In the late 1800s they were NEW MATH and that's when you were in school. :-)

ROFLMAO! (Can I say "A" without being moderated?"

Hops, if you'd have been paying attention, no one is talking about the people like your coach. Football players, weight lifters or Shaq. We're talking about people who are FAT. The guys whose belly gets into the room well before his head does. Three chins. Guys like your old roommate. There's a big difference between Hulk Hogan and Chris Farley and everyone is aware of it.

Hobby Lobby Pine Car: $2.99 on line. BSA PWD kit: $3.59 So you save 60 cents and then you have to spend $2.49 to get official wheels. Might as well buy the kit to begin with.