JoeBob

T2Eagle: Good luck getting those first grader Tigers who have never slept away from home to sleep in a bunk next to a another kid he doesn't know while his dad hides out behind a tarp with the other dads on the other side of the room. The racks are right next to each other stacked four high. That's eight people sleeping in an area smaller that your average walkin closet. We tried to keep family groups together (Moms were far away in the JO quarters) and dens close. There weren't a lot of empty bunks, so the older boys had to be flexible just to get us wedged into the space. The Yorktown is an unusual situation where idealistic YP hits reality. The rules could not be applied. But it really did not matter, for the reverse reasoning that YP was written to address. The 'Separate Accomodations' doctrine was written to prevent predators form getting alone with youth. Our scenario had many eyes on everyone, all the time. There was absolutely NO privacy in which a predator could operate, or even ogle. Few of the dads were able to sleep in the tight spaces, so someone had eyes on all the time. BTW, if any of your packs/troops are in the Southeast and are considering the Yorktown for an overnighter, I very highly reccomend it.

T2Eagle: You've been set-up and taken the bait: http://www.patriotspoint.org/overnight_camping/ Sometimes, when you're splitting hairs; all you get is two halves of a hair. JoeBob

KC9DDI: The YPT rule is titled "Separate Accomodations", not "Separate Tents". Although the text of the rule states 'tent', I'm fairly certain that 'cabin', 'lean-to' or 'igloo' would qualify as an accomodation for the purpose of keeping adults away from youth. I'm merely poking fun at the hair-splitters because 'bunkhouse', 'baracks', and 'berthing area' are not specifically addressed as areas of politically correct protection. Thank goodness!

Hmmmm... Our Pack had 105 males in the same 'tent' for two nights onboard an aircraft carrier. 55 Cubs and 50 dads and siblings all berthed in a space that held a maximum of 110. Here is the applicable YPT Rule: "Separate accommodations. When camping, no youth is permitted to sleep in the tent of an adult other than his own parent or guardian. Councils are strongly encouraged to have separate shower and latrine facilities for females and when separate facilities are not available, times for male and female use should be scheduled and posted for showers." Although we all shared the same head, we posted 'Adult Only' and 'Youth Only' time in the showers. (The adults quickly figured out that no boys would be awake at 5:30am...) Should I report myself for a YPT violation?

Ah Jeez, They're onto me. My ads are for 'WellCare - extra medicaid benefits'.

Moose, Only the ones without Tomboy daughters...

EMERGENCY! We need to find a way to engineer a news blackout in Irving, TX to prevent this story about a boy being accepted into GSA from reaching BSA National. They would choke on their own drool dreaming of the enrollment numbers if BSA had to accept all the younger girls that wanted in...

REI: $40 http://www.rei.com/product/736088/byer-moskito-traveller-hammock I'm 6'2" and 220. After getting in it and listening to all the squeaking as the knots tightened the first time, it's been great! Tips: 1- I put a thermarest in the bottom to hold the netting out from my face. Never had cold butt. 2- A short section of thick rope protects the bark on trees I'm hanging from. 3- Multiple wraps of rope around a carabiner make it easier to untie your knots in the morning. 4- A $4 polytarp (6x9) attached to your trees diagonally and pegged to the ground provides: a) Privacy ("Look! Nekkid knees poking out from under a tarp!") b) Windscreen c) Dew and rain protection 5- The 'Bolivian style' diagonal sleeping keeps your back flat. (I was very skeptical!) I roll up clothes/jacket/whatever to provide elevation under my knees. 6- I store my pack on the ground under me. Ideal standing entry height is a little too high for me to reach into my pack on the ground; so I'm working on a lower hanging height, but then I can't stand under the tarp beside the hammock for dressing, etc...

Your Web IIs are bored? I think that falls on the Den leader. Webelos camping has been the most fun we've had in Scouting, so far. 10 boys camping on their own with minimal adult oversight is an important transition from family car camping to Boy Scout backpacking without Momma. Our Web IIs want to have an 'old-times-sake' camping trip this Spring after they cross over in March. (They're not that happy about re-joining the older group above them in Scouts...) Admittedly; we have ten boys who started out bickering, wandering and whining with hurt feelings. Now they're ten fast friends who compete good-naturedly and like working as patrols to get things done. The other dads, leaders, and myself are just amazed and like watching them work. The inside joke is "We might make men out of them, yet." The joke is how much they have already become men in the Scouting environment.

Is it the buckle or the web part of the belt that has become compressed/smoothed by years of being fastened at the same place?

Sherminator: I'm only chipping in here because I agree with you. It'll probably NEVER happen again, so I had to mark the occasion! JoeBob

Calico, Did you get so caught up in your rant against wormy ignorant lying Tea Partiers that you forgot to include your link to 'a notarized, sworn, affidavit as proof' of spitting on John Lewis? I know you don't want to undermine your own credibility, so this is just a friendly reminder to post a link to your proof. Thank you, JoeBob

Gee Calico, Seems you don't want to know the truth. But I do, so will you please provide a link to the witness or "a notarized, sworn affidavit from a witness" that you referred to in your last post? You do know that the 'victim', my congressman, John Lewis, refused to take a simple lie detector test that would have netted the United Negro College Fund $10,000? Irony is rampant this month in that it was the same 'victim' congressman, John Lewis, that was turned away by the OWS group in Atlanta. Oh, I don't expect you to take the word of an 'ignorant liar' like me. Here's your link to more video: http://www.eurweb.com/2011/10/video-john-lewis-dissed-by-occupy-atlanta-protesters/

Calico, Before you call someone a liar, you might want get your own facts in order: Calico: "In March, 2010, a Democratic Congressman was spit on by a Tea Party protestor - at the same protest, the Tea Party protestors screamed the N word and the F word at the Democratic Congresspeople making their way into the Capitol." Here the link to video disproving the spitting claim and offering a $15,000 reward for any proof that intentional spitting occured: http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2010/03/tea-party-groups-offer-15k-reward-for-spitting-incident-proof.html Here's a conservative commentator offering $10,000 for any video or tape proving that the 'N' word was used: http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/03/25/2010-a-race-odyssey-disproving-a-negative-for-cash-prizes-or-how-the-civil-rights-movement-jumped-the-shark/ I invite you to look through all the videos and tell me how anyone could have snuck a racial epithet through the myriad of cameras and cell phones recording that action. No one ever came close to collecting either reward. And your concern about guns at Tea Party events? There is one man in shirt and tie that I'm aware of who legally carried an AK slung across his back and a revolver holstered on his hip to a Tea Party rally to demonstrate his support for the 2nd Amendment. (You can see it on the above link.) Can you tell me why MSNBC cut the man's head off when they used a still image on their broadcast? Could it be because the man carrying the guns was black? And blacks don't belong to the Tea Party? I'm unaware of your other charge of violence by the Tea Party, but if it is as factless as the first two; well. As hard as it is to prove a negative, perhaps you can provide positive substantiation of your charge?

JoeBob

Millionaires = one one hundredth of a percent of taxpayers, but pay from 17 percent to 28 percent of all taxes paid. http://mercatus.org/publication/share-total-income-taxes-paid-millionaires Now THAT is unfair. It does not matter how many times the president says it. Mllionaires are obviously paying more than their fair share. http://ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html(This message has been edited by joebob)

Eamonn, Regarding taxes, what is a 'fair share' of income that you think millionaires should pay? Specifically, what percentage of all the taxes paid should the top 1% be responsible for to satisfy your perception of them paying their 'fair share'? Conversely, what percentage of all taxes paid should the bottom 47% of all taxpayers pay to pay their 'fair share'?

The uniform is important because I'm not competent enought to tell 'em where to sew their badges of rank and arrow points onto a T-shirt.

Add Diamond Brand - tents Patagonia - outerwear North Face - coats to the list of good companies. I'm not sure the first two are still around, but their gear is still working well.

WARNING: This post contains scarring visual images!! 1- Pooping off the corner of a canoe while in the water. Okeefenokee Swamp, no land for hours. Paddle off the main thouroughfare and have your partner steady the boat from the opposite corner. The plops in the water sound just like home... 2- Dysentery attack while in a climbing deer stand 25 feet up a tree. Thought I could hold it, I was wrong. Did not soil my clothes, but I did have to climb down the other side of the tree. With that smell sprayed over the forest, I just went on back to the truck. Can't believe I told that.

Hmmmm. It looks like the ads we each get are targetted to each individual based on the cookies left on our computers by other websites. 83Eagle: Where you been surfing? I wanna go there, too.

"WHAT DO WE WANT?!" "We're not really sure!" "WHEN DO WE WANT IT?" "Now!"

Packsaddle, I appreciate the civility of your response. Thank you, sir. I have been known to defend myself against the 'Raaacisst' charge regarding Obama by pointing out that I don't like the policies of his white half either. This is not intended as the slur that 'breed' or 'half-breed' would generate for Native Americans, but is merely intended to be a clever way of pointing out the obsurdity of using racism as a defense against policy. Please note that it's Obama's policies I don't like. The man has charisma, and can probably tell a good story or two. As for civil liberties, I'm tickled pink that al Awlaki got toasted by remote control. I was merely pointing out the hypocrisy of liberals who screamed bloody murder when BUSH JAILED FOREIGNERS caught on the BATTLEFIELD, and then turn a blind eye when OBAMA KILLED a US CITIZEN making his DAILY COMMUTE. I'm sorry that you're on the wrong side of this irony, but you gotta admit, it's delicious!

I was mighty puzzled at being called a racist (can I get my money back from Herman Cain?) and an attacker of ad hominems. I even went back and re-read a few posts to see if someone had spoofed my screen name. Then I found it: I had used the word 'boy' in association with the half-black occupant of the White House. And since the liberals on the board could not deal with the issue raised, they inflated some charge against the messenger. Let me retract the word 'boy' and reissue the challenge: "Shall we realists just quietly turn our heads and ignore your liberal application of double standards, because it's your man in the Whitehouse?" Although I must personally observe that POTUS's constantly blaming someone else for failures, promising payment tomorrow for imagined benefit today, and refusal to lead is more childish behavior than manly...

I liked the way the collarless short looked with a neckerchief. But I never liked wearing it under a pack. I think that BSA is trying to promote uniform wear in more environments the we did in the old days, and a collared shirt might get worn more often under pack straps. But the necker looks silly on top a collar.