Hal_Crawford
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Posts posted by Hal_Crawford
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on the History Channel a couple of years ago they ran a series of promos for a show about the American Revolution. In the background there was martial music that I recognized as "Marching Through Georgia".
Talk about Disney; anyone see the animated "Pocahontas"? Nothing but farb.
Hal
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I wear a Portuguese language strip. I learned the language as a teenager living in Brazil. I wear the strip because someone involved with scouts might need a Portuguese speaker at some time and maybe they will remember seeing my strip. Not likely but it could happen. I also wear it because I occasionally meet someone in scouting who also speaks the language and it serves as an introduction. That has happened a couple of times. A third reason is that my years in Brazil influenced who I am today and I am proud of it. Although I am proud to be an American there will always be a part of my heart that is Brasileiro and Carioca (someone from Rio). That part might also remind the rest of me that I am a "Norte Americano" and that Brazilians are Americans too.
I visited Rio a couple of years ago after an absence of over 35 years. Though much had changed it still felt like home.
Our area has a lot of families that travel internationally and/or have lived overseas. At camp I have seen strips for many languages including Korean.
Sometimes a foreign language comes in handy in strange ways. I was standing in line at Disney World and a Brazilian couple cut in line in front of me. The girl knew better and told her boyfriend (in Portuguese) that they shouldn't be cutting in the line. He answered that if anyone said anything they would just pretend not to speak English. I leaned forward and said, "Mas eu falo portugus". The look on his face was priceless as she started laughing at him. Busted!
Hal
(which by the way is unpronounceable to most Brazilians as they do not pronounce the letter "H" when it is the first letter or "L" when it is the last letter. "Brasil" sounds more like "Braziu". They also don't pronounce an "A" that sounds anything like the one in Hal. For three years I used my given name to avoid hearing my nick-name reduced to a grunt.)
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E92:
Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I hope that as DE you were able to find the pack a new CO.
Hal
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OK, how about conservatism as a religion. I read this about a week ago and I found it appalling.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091203/ap_on_re/us_rel_conservative_bible
So this group is re-translating and/or editing the Bible to make it conform to conservative political thought. To hear them say it they are merely undoing liberal influence in previous translations. Seems like they are twisting "Biblical truth" to fit and support their political beliefs.
Apparently the court of King James was crawling with liberals and socialists as some of the things that they are editing were in the KJV.
I wonder where they come down on the quote about the camel and the eye of a needle?
BTW, Michael Crichton died a little over a year ago so I fear he is unavailable to help Voyageur with his chicken plucking.
Hal
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I've heard that NBC is turning this thread into a new series to air in the 10pm slot. Hey, anything is more entertaining than Leno.
Hal
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Great ending to the story. This gives Kevin a life experience that goes way beyond the usual Eagle project and a great topic for a college admissions essay. I think the world will see more from this young man.
Hal
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We occasionally have scouts that have one or two requirements left for Tenderfoot while they are almost done on second class (or second and first or all three). These are scouts who have been around long enough to qualify for the number of activities/campouts but just didn't do that first aid requirement when the other guys did. Suddenly he has an opportunity to complete several requirements and he is done with two or more ranks.
Our SM will do one conference for multiple ranks if need be. Our troop tries to hold BORs at least monthly and often on an as needed/as available basis. When I was CC (I am an ASM now) we would sometimes do two or three BORs for the same scout back to back. We would space out the questions across the separate BORs starting with looking back and ending with looking forward. Of course one of the questions would be along the lines of "you seemed stuck at Scout but now you're ready for two (or three) ranks. What has motivated you to finish these requirements?" I am not sure what the current committee is doing, we had a couple of multiples after summer camp and I don't know whether they combined BORs or did separate ones.
Back to original post. I spent some time looking at our council website and I think I see the misunderstanding. The site goes to some length to amplify the policy of continuing a rank in progress with the old requirements (as stated in the new HB). The site says that extends to the next rank to be earned but once the scout has done a BOR for that rank all subsequent ranks will be with the new requirements. I suspect that someone may have asked if a scout could do multiple ranks on the same day with the old requirements. The answer would be no. I suspect that my source heard part of that conversation and taken out of context drew a conclusion that multiple BORs where no longer acceptable. That's how rumors work.
That's my best guess. There is certainly a lot of detail on the council site about the new changes but not a peep about the multiple BORs.
Hal
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SSScout:
How could a scout do 2-1-Star at the same time? The scout has to serve for 4 months as a First Class scout in order to satisfy the requirements for Star. Does your troop do COHs that rarely?
We had a 15 year old who had returned after a long absence do T-2-1 in a couple of months. T and 2 BORs on one date and the First Class a few weeks later. This burst of achievement was motivated by the desire to qualify for a high adventure trek. Not sure he would have made it if he had to do all three BORs on separate nights.
Hal
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I pretty much told him that we would have to see it writing before any troop policies/behavior would change. Trust me, no parent in our troop works for the Washington Times; our most conservative members are more liberal than that. Still, it is a point well taken. We certainly have parents who will say' "show me the rule in writing".
Yes, I remember the days of not being able to start working on 2 until you were a T etc not to mention time in rank requirements. Doubt we are going back there but with the new Scout Law requirements it might make some sense to put a little distance between the ranks. On the other hand it could be a real problem for those troops (not ours) that do quarterly BORs.
Anyway, I will be interested to see if this turns out to be a real change or just another advancement rumor.
Hal
Hal
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I was talking with a member of our DAC a couple of weeks ago and he told me that effective the first of the year the council will no longer accept multiple boards of review for the same scout on the same day. We occasionally have scouts go for two (T-2 or 2-1) or sometimes three on the same day.
I don't necessarily think this would be a bad change but when I asked where I could see this in writing he didn't have an answer. I said it sounded to me like adding a requirement. He said he thought it might be just a council policy. Again, sounds like adding requirement. He said that there were currently a number of trial programs in various councils. I know this is true as we are one of the councils where they are going to require that all leaders be trained. Still, when it comes to advancement it should be a written rule.
The question is, has anyone else heard about this one? Artjrk, we are in the same council, have you heard about this?
I doubt our committee will change their routine until they see this in writing.
Hal
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I agree with Oak Tree. I don't think that a de facto 14 year age limit for Star will fly. I suspect the LDS chartering organizations will put the kibosh on that if no one else does.
Hal
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I've noticed that there is a de facto class B uniform at our summer camp. The staff are expected to wear scout shorts, scout socks and a staff tee-shirt whenever they are on duty (waterfront is an exception). They are issued a weeks worth of staff shirts in a variety of colors/designs with one shirt specified for each day of the week. At flags and campfires they wear class A's.
BTW: I've noticed that when scouts from our troop come back from working on camp staff they are far more conscientious about correctly wearing the full uniform at meetings and to campouts.
Hal
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Then it must be arrogance to pass any law, to change anything and pretend to know what is good for 300 million people. So much for representative government.
I for one have shared my opinion with both my senators and I am sure that many others have as well. Are Sen. Alexander's constituents not telling him what they think? Has he not asked them? Pretty lame Lamar.
Today's vote is just about whether to debate the bill. The arrogance would be to try and keep this off the senate floor. That is an arrogance shared by both parties in the senate from time to time on a variety of issues.
Hal
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"It is sad to see the sun setting on our freedoms as an unconstitutional bill goes through without the consideration that the congress has no authority to destroy the best health system in the world."
Vol:
How will this bill affect the health care system of France, rated by the WHO as the best in the world? How will it affect those of Italy, San Marino, Andorra and Malta, rounding out the top five? I doubt that it will affect the health care systems of the UK, Canada, Belgium, Saudi Arabia or Costa Rica, all among the 36 ranked better than ours.
Or are you suggesting that WE have the best system in the world? What is the basis for that? It can't be our life expectancy, we lose there. It can't be based on access, we stink at that. I don't think it is based on cost effectiveness either since we pay more to not live as long. It can't be because the rest of the world is trying to copy us, they aren't. What metric justifies calling ours the "best in the world"? Sees a bit parochial, doesn't it?
Hal
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
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Here's another article with photos.
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=33669
Hal
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Again, the Eagle did nothing wrong. The city should have cleared it with the union. Done in advance it probably could have been resolved. Worst case they could have told the scout that they couldn't approve the project before any work was done.
Hal
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As Lisa points out there is a contract between the union and the employers, in this case the local government. There is also a contract between the union members and their union. If the union does not vigorously pursue violations of the contract with the employer then they are not fulfilling their contractual obligation to their membership.
The government was wrong to allow work to be done by volunteers without getting the union's permission and the union was obliged to object. The scout did nothing wrong and the union rep should not have mentioned him.
The musicians union used to be extremely vigorous in protecting the rights of their membership, even to the point of being ridiculous. My dad once told me about President Eisenhower arriving at an airport; I think it was Philadelphia. A group of 8 Boy Scouts with bugles greeted him with a fanfare. Behind them stood 8 union musicians being paid scale to allow the scouts to play!
Hal
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Our troop voted to not wear neckers long before I joined in 1998. It has been put to a vote several times since (usually instigated by adult suggestion) and has gone down in flames each time. The adult leaders (self included) would be happy to see the return of the necker, especially if it were a larger custom design but the boys have made there position clear so that's that. So it goes.
Hal
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Lisa:
"Unfortunately for our guys (maybe), the necker is "troop tradition" which means the PLC can't get rid of it even if they want to."
I take this to mean that your troop is adult led. Is the PLC told that "This a boy run troop unless you want to change 'troop tradition' as defined by the adults"?
Hal
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What I have noticed in this thread is a lack of any mention of what the scouts like and dislike. I was out with the scouts this morning collecting for Scouting for Foos so I asked the three scouts in my car what they thought of some of the uniform elements discussed here. The scouts were all Star or Life, two tenth graders and one ninth. All three are serious outdoors scouts who have done high adventure and/or summer camp staff.
The consensus of this impromptu and unscientific survey were as follows:
Epaulets: Didn't really care one way or another but liked that the shoulder loops distinguished Boy Scouts from Cubs. Preferred red to the green loops.
Collars: They preferred collars. To be truthful, none had ever seen the collarless shirt so they had trouble visualizing it.
Neckers: Don't like them. This was no surprise as our troop has consistently voted against neckers.
What if the neckers were larger and more useful, say for first aid? "I'd carry it in my pocket" answered one of the scouts.
Shirt pockets: Flat.
That was as many questions as I was able to ask before we got to our collection area and had to start picking up bags. Next time I get a chance I want to poll a larger number with a longer list. In the past scouts have expressed a loathing for the ODL pants and shorts. I have heard several scouts praise the new pants as an improvement but most would prefer to wear non-scout pants so I guess BSA hasn't gotten there yet.
Several people here have suggested a re-turn to the smoky bear hat. I don't know if the scouts would wear them (I doubt it) but at $95 a pop I think the parents would rise up in revolt.
Hal
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It would appear that attitudes toward gays and lesbians are changing (albeit slowly), even in the most unlikely places.
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Though chartered by a Baptist church, our troop has Protestants, Catholics, Unitarians and Jews. We sing America the Beautiful.
Hal
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I also agree with Lisa. Time to change the rules.
Hal
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SSScout beat me to Lenhok'sin. It is a real bargain for those of us in driving range.
Has anyone done the Lenhok'sin James River Canoe trek? We have done the backpacking trek a couple of times but our scouts have elected to do the canoe trek next year.
Hal
2nd Class - Completing an Orienteering Course
in Advancement Resources
Posted
We use a course that is set up at Prince William Forest Park near Quantico, VA. Topo maps for courses of a varying lengths/difficulties are available for checkout from the ranger station. The course was laid out by the Norwegian Army National Orienteering team sometime in the 1970's The waypoints are numbered 4x4 posts, about 4' high with an orange blaze on the top. The terrain is pretty rugged and the posts really blend in with fall foliage. The maps have the points marked with additional information on the back.
As the course is relatively close we usually go there a couple times a year either for a day trip or a campout. It is one of the little known gems of our area.
If scouts choose to fulfill the requirement at summer camp they do a heading/distance type course .
Both types are valid and fulfill the requirement but I prefer the first type as it teaches the scouts to orient the map and determine the headings/distances.
Hal