Gold Winger

"My son's troop chose a baseball cap over a neckerchief for their class A. " Why not both?

I've always heard it as "Great Scoutmaster." "Master of all Scouts" would rankle me some. As for missing church on a Sunday, my father never agreed but I always figured that God would rather have you out doing something positive and uplifting than just sitting in a church and fantasizing about the cute redheaded girl two rows up (come on, we're talking about teenaged boys here).

I once made the suggestion that our council patch be altered to have the district name on the bottom edge like they do with the boro name in New York. That idea was met with scorn. I'm glad to see that someone has done it, maybe it will catch on. With the computer driven embroidery machines, it should be a snap. Heck, it would be easy to add a strip to the bottom of the CSP with the town name on it.

Ross Perot!

Paul, Paulie, and Mikey would make a great statement for BSA. Arguments, insults, and bad grammar. I'd rather see Chip Foose or Boyd Coddington build a car for BSA. Maybe something like a hopped up camp bus.

"That would save more billions, and conserve copper and aluminum natural resources at the same time." The last time that I checked, the penny was zinc, not aluminum.

"Wearing the neckerchief with the class b/activity uniform? I honestly don't like that idea. The neckerchief is part of the class a and that is how it has been for quite a while." Depends on how you define "quite a while." In olden days, the neckerchief was part of the outdoor gear. Oscar deLaRenta eliminated the necker with his rework of the uniform. Protests brought it back as optional. What can you do with the necker outside, in the activity uniform? It can be a hat. It can be used to tote things. It can be used as a bandage. It can be used to make a splint. I can be used to filter water. It can be used to wipe the sweat from your brow. When I hike, I always have a big neckerchief. It is invaluable.

" But cost isn't really a huge issue from my perspective" Cost isn't a huge issue from my perspective either. I look at the families complaining about buying a $30 shirt and a pair of $30 pants and then see that their kids are wearing $150 football jerseyes. I hear "Whine, whine, uniform, expense, whine. We're going to Cabo over spring break." or from more moderate income families, "Whine, whine, uniform, whine. HBO, NFL Premium Channel, $2000 TV." I know one fellow who claims that he can't afford a computer or internet service but can afford to spend $100 a month for TV. On top of that, he has a $400 cell phone and every add-on service that ATT offers. It's all a matter of priorities.

No, Venivedi, prayer in school won't solve those problem. My point is that there are more important things to worry about.

It's always the atheists who complain. If had been a Jew, Hindu, or Pagan of some sort they would have either kept their mouth shut or asked if their prayers could be used from time to time. Prayer, the horrors of it all. The schools are crap. Girls are mothers three times over by ager 17. Kids kill each other for sneakers. The world is going to hell in a hand basket but we need to stamp out that dangerous public prayer. Ooooooo .. .. just makes me shiver.

I hadn't heard about that one but then I don't deal with that stuff any more. I view it as one more desperate attempt to "retain" boys through advancement. Instant tenderfoot? No need to demonstrate anything for the Scoutmaster? "Oh look Johnny, you're already a Tenderfoot!" "So?" I may have said it before but the quality of the program would be better served if they took a step or two back in time. No more simultaneous T-foot, 2nd Class, and 1st Class. Maybe even go back to sub-1st class scouts cannot earn merit badges. Summer camp could be spent hiking, swimming and learning about knots and fire. I think that a motivated Scout could still earn first class in one year but the pressure would be off.

I spent a good bit of time last year in an REI half-dome tent. Total weight is about 5.5 bls. The really great thing is that it has two doors, one on each side so when you have to get up at 3 AM to water a rock, you don't have to crawl over your tentmate. :-) I'm going to buy one for myself.

Hmmmmmmm . . . I'm tempted to say something but I won't.

I thought that was evident. I found it at www.christmas . . . . :-) I just stumbled across it when I was looking for a Scouting version of The Night Before Christmas. Google pulls up some interesting things.

Sure you can "falsify" that theory. Just you can prove that God doesn't exist. However, I don't believe that a theory has to be able to be proven false to be a theory. A theory is simply an organized set of ideas about a subject. Once proven, it becomes a law. Newtons Laws of Motion started out as theory.

I don't know about other jurisdictions but around here, if it's on the curb on trash night, it's fair game. One place that I lived, the county tried to argue that all stuff on the curb belonged to them since they provided trash pick-up. The judge said that was silly.

Alternative theories about who notified the media: The Scout's grandmother The person filing the complaint A member of the town council A friend of the member of the town councilman Someone with the parks board Someone hanging out at town hall when the letter was read

They did remove it when the town asked (ordered) them to do so. I doubt that they ran to the media and the station was alerted by a viewer.(This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkdT4sslCV8&feature=related

Award knots are not insignia. " to choose to wear more knots than da National Commissioner and BSA President." My district commissioner and Council president are never seen in a uniform. Maybe I should follow their lead.

"Just like da Insignia Guide says, eh?" I thought that the Scoutmaster's Handbook said that. In any case, I consider clean and neat to be stain free and ironed. FWIW, in the pictures that I can find of Bill Hillcourt, he wore no knots but he did wear what looks like an OA flap ABOVE his right pocket. Maybe we should all do that. Of course, BP wore tons of fruit salad. If you want to talk about cluttered, let's not worry about the fellows who wear their awards where they are supposed to be. Let's look at the guys who wear pins on their collars, pins on their epaulettes, temporary patches dangling from both pockets and multiple QU patches on their right arm.

I take it that by saying "called home," you mean dead. You're right, dead or maimed or injured with severe neurological problems. I'd love to go skydiving but at my age, with my knees, there's a good chance that I might have a worse limp for the rest of my life.

No, it's the current uniform shirt. He has an OA flap on the pocket. The CSP in question is in the normal spot, it is just a strange shape, a large oval.

Going to Philmont isn't or wasn't a known thing for me. Neither was the COPE course or any of the other fun stuff that I've done as a Scouter. Neither was riding a motorcyle, learning to fly or setting sail on a big grey ship when I was 18. Even at my age, I'll give just about anything a shot if I can be convinced that I won't die. I don't know if we sought out the unknown as when I was a kid. I do know that we did adventurous things. At least they were for us. Build a rope swing. Climb trees. Bike to the next town. Explore the nearby desert. We may not have been climing Everest but we were out doing things. Kids may not have changed but their behavior has and much of that is the fault of the parents. "It's too hot to go outside, stay inside with the A/C." "Don't go into the woods, you may get lost." "Sit here and play this mindless video game." I used to watch my son and his friends "play." They'd shoot hoops for about five minutes and then be bored. They'd ride their bikes up and down the block a few times and then get bored. Then someone would bring out the GameBoy and everyone would sit around for HOURS and watch him play. There was a kid interviewed on TV who said that playing Tony Hawk's skateboard video game was "funner" than actually riding a skate board. Sorry but for me Microsoft's Flight Simulator isn't funner than than actually piloting a plane, even a Cessa 150 and Formula 1 Race Day isn't anywhere near as much fun as driving a car at speed. Sure, you treat the climb up the wall at REI like they just did El Capitan but they don't want to do that, they'd rather play "Rock Climber."

Gee, I thought that I had found a bargain with my $99 Asolo boots. That's incredible.