JoeBob

Shortridge - I'm sorry dude, but the small faint grey text tacked onto the bottom of a six frame HTML page is 'instantly apparent' only to someone trying to defend a poorly written snap comment. Your tone got my courtesy bristles up. As to the look of the page, you like washed out light colored text? Is that easy for you to read? Do you find circular links entertaining in your search for information? 'Look' is a subjective judgement, but I think that the page you're looking at now as you read these words is more straight forward and easier to digest than the CSS used by scouting.org. If it turns out that 170 as a minimum score for Archery MB as posted on the website scoutng.org is wrong, then that might lend itself to supporting your 'instantly apparent' judgement.

Kids are resilient. He'll adapt quickly. He doesn't know how to behave in this new situation, so much of how he reacts will be a reflection of how others around him react. ie- Keep your personal grief to yourself. At 22 I became guardian to my little brothers when our mom was killed. They were 12 and 14. By the time I got home to Georgia from Alaska, they were done with the cying and worried about their new world. Building a life together kept us too busy to carry emotional baggage. Of course it could just be that at 22 I was totally clueless... Since y'all know that this death is emminent; when his dad actually passes, it may be a relief.

What about the scouting.org site makes it 'instantly apparent' as the official website?

"red bow of death" I love it! We're fortunate to have 35 or so bows so that we can shift sizes up or down to accomodate the ages of the dens. There are only three of the 25-30 # bows specifically on hand as a reward for the scout helpers and adults to use. We've got one mid-range 20-25 pounder as well. As long as we're delving into equipment - the 'Goblin' is atrocious! They break if you look at them sideways. The 'Crusaders' hold up well for Webelos. Some of the light-weight 'Wizards' will break just lying on the ground in the sun, but other 'Wizards' have lasted through 5 seasons. I wonder if the '170' is a typo? And I really do want to know how camps are faring with the increased requirements. It'll be a shame if the archery merit badge becomes limited to those who can afford their own premium equipment.

Aha! Spinning feedback when hit by non-penetrating arrows. Got it... How about securing a short section of PVC pipe through the middle of your pizza box? (Hot Glue or Gorilla tape if the weather predicts heat) Suspend the whole box on a taut cord through the pipe and it should rotate when hit on the top or bottom. Weight it on the bottom to be self-righting downrange.

Hi Beth, I admire your enthusiasm, but I wouldn't recommend using a spinning target for archery. 1- Scoring a bullseye on a 4 inch stationary circle is challenging enough for Cubs. 2- Shooting at a moving target is not ethical in hunting circles. Too great a chance to wound an animal, instead of scoring a clean kill. If you get a spinning target worked out and it is a success with your boys, lemme know how you did it! Sounds like fun! JoeBob

Hey Calico, Politely pointing out that different sources list different score minimums: http://usscouts.org/mb/changes/mb019-11.asp "2.Shooting 30 arrows in five-arrow ends at an 80-centimeter (32-inch) five-color target at 15 10 yards and using the 10 scoring regions, make a score of 150." But Scouting.org says 170 with the recurve. "2.Shooting 30 arrows in five-arrow ends at an 80-centimeter (32-inch) five-color target at 15 yards and using the 10 scoring regions, make a score of 170." http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/mb-ARCH.aspx Where should one go to determine which source is 'official' and to be followed? Equipment - Our scouts were using a 25-30 pound bow. Plenty of pull for 15 yards: http://www.fsdiscountarchery.com/indiantitanrecurvetargetbow.aspx I've been shooting for a few years, and was challenged to score close to 150. I did not reach 170. If we added a flipper arrow rest, re-squared the nocking points, got better finger tabs, added a sight pin, and used aluminum arrows; 170 would be realistic. Are councils going to invest in the added expense of upgrading and maintaining better equipment? Or are my shooters just weinies with no William Tell in our lineage? What equipment is everyone using at Scout Camps?

My daughter would LOVE to join the Tomboy Scouts of America. My son, her younger brother, would HATE having his big sister along on his 'guy-time' with dad. 3 more years until Venturing...

In the past we've qualified scouts using district equipment during Cub Scout Daycamp. With decent recurve bows, matched fiberglass arrows, and good target faces Boy Scouts could score the required 150 from 10 yards. The new requirements are 170 points from 15 yards. None of our scouts who worked at it were able to score 150, much less 170, from the greater distance. I'm curious to know how many scouts are getting qualified, and with what equipment? Hopefully with Boy Scout summer camps in full steam I'll get some quantitative responses. Thanks, JoeBob

When you're running 150 boys through 15 targets with two adults and two scout helpers under the blazing sun, you need to have your eyes on the range, not the paperwork! Everyone who attended the full week of daycamp qualified for the beltloop, unless they were thrown off the range for safety violations. We had a few who older boys who put in the extra effort to qualify for the pin. They have to do 4 of 10 extra tasks. We usually help any scouts who are working on their archery merit badge get qualified during the week. But the new requirements, as of January 1st, are much harder than they seem. The required distance moved back to 15 yards from 10; and the required score went from 150 to 170 for recurves. Even using the larger bows, practicing hard, and responding to coaching, nobody qualified.

I get irritated when the required training dumbs down the activity. How many times have you been certified by someone less qualified than yourself? On a side note: what is it with all the overweight camp staffers? Half of the staff at camp last week definitely fell into the 'Blubber Butt' category. One staffer was so obese that I had difficulty determining gender. Baby-faced, breasts, paige boy haircut, gender neutral name on the name tag. What finally cinched it was the fact that if he had been female, he'd have been wearing a bra.

I'm familiar with the term "Fish Jew'ry", used to describe all the shiny baubles with hooks that I carry around in my tackle box. Designed to catch a fisherman, but scary to a fish...

Calico - I agree with you. I think that ten different private companies using ten different intelligent approaches to security would keep us a lot safer in a much saner way. TSA should be a 50 person organization that runs periodic tests and checks on the private companies screening passengers. Not the $8.1 billion haven for unionized thugs that it has become. (Broad-brush criticism accepted.)

Does anyone else find it just a tad ironic that the scout failed to manage his personal affairs on the very merit badge designed to teach personal management??

1- If you don't want to be frisked at the airport, wear a burkha. 2- The next attack won't involve aviation. .. a- Shopping mall sniper attack. Look how successful the two homegrown DC snipers were. Do it around Thanksgiving and destroy the retail holiday season, and the rest of the US economy... .. b- Dirty bomb attack on a sporting event or a political rally. (I'm tempted to say that the GOP would be a better target, but I'm not sure that AlQaeda knows that the Democrats are their friends.)

Skeptic and Ox, Y'all need to study those figures more closely to try and justify your statements: 1... 38% - 1% pay ..........................................38% 5... 58% - 2-5 (Next 4% of taxpayers) pay...20% 10.. 70% - 6-10 (Next 5% Taxpayers) pay ..12% 25.. 86% - 11-25 (15% of Taxpayers) pay.. 16% 50.. 97% - 26-50 (25% of Middleclass) pay 11% Bottom 50% pay.............................................. 2.7% Another way to look at it: Top 10% pay 70% of the bill The rest of us, 90%, pay only 30%

Column in the Wall Street Journal by Brian Riedl: The Bush Tax Cuts and the Deficit Myth. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704738404575347302831199046.html The highlights: " the much-maligned Bush tax cuts .. caused just 14% of the swing from projected surpluses to actual deficits (and that is according to a "static" analysis, excluding any revenues recovered from faster economic growth induced by the cuts). The bulk of the swing resulted from economic and technical revisions (33%), other new spending (32%), net interest on the debt (12%), the 2009 stimulus (6%) and other tax cuts (3%). Specifically, the tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 are responsible for just 4% of the swing. If there were no Bush tax cuts, runaway spending and economic factors would have guaranteed more than $4 trillion in deficits over the decade and kept the budget in deficit every year except 2007." Liberals cannot admit that government spending has gotten us into this mess. George Bush doubled the size of government. Within the first 19 months of Obamas reign, he increased our federal debt by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the debt amassed by all presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan. But to criticize government spending is to criticize government itself and for liberals who love government, this tugs at the very core of their being. Whether it was Bush doubling the size of the fed or Obama doubling the national debt: it's the spending, stupid. Small business (largely owned by those making $250,000 or more) accounts for 64% of the new jobs over the last 15 years. http://www.sba.gov/advocacy/7495/8420 So you want to eliminate 64% of new jobs in order to recoup 4% of the budget deficit? How is your face gonna look without your nose? (This message has been edited by joebob)

I'm uncomfortable calling the assumed transgressions 'sins'. 'Sin' implies a particular deity. If you write your laws based upon a particular deity, don't you have to exempt automatically everyone who does not believe in your deity? Can we discuss 'wrongs' with the same gravitas? "There is no sense of honor anymore." Beavah, I gotta agree with you so much it hurts.

IRS Figures. The rich are leaving. Tired of being demonized. Afraid of what Obama plans to do to them. It's cheaper to pay their taxes abroad. http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/06/13/are-taxes-causing-the-rich-to-renounce-their-citizenship/?mod=WSJBlog Effecively avoiding paying their share of the huge deficit. Just Damn.

WoodBadge did it! Blame WB21C! If true. What will Scouting look like in 2031? No dirt. No mud. No smoke. No fires. No crushing the bugs with your tent. No loud voices? No risky games. No running. No blades. No climbing. No falling. No swimming. No bathing? No boys...

Beavah: "So while there's all this money around, it's only the bankers and brokers gettin' rich on shufflin' it and producing nothing, while unemployment stays high. One of those weird situations where yeh need to increase taxes to improve business investment and the general economy." Gag. The unfinished Financial 'Re-Regulation' bill, 2000 pages of bad health-care law, and a strangulating energy policy are the controllable reasons why the economy remains mired. Oh, and people who think that taxing business generates more business.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

Packsaddle:"the penal colony that prides itself on peaches". Are you trying to mark territory on my home state of Georgia? Your subtlety needs to be more discreet if you want to be an invading Alpha here!

I took my dog on Pack campouts in knowing violation of the rules when I was just a dad/ADL. He was well behaved and an asset to the trips. But when I got drafted into leadership I had to quit taking Max along, because of the example it set. If Leader JoeBob can bring his dog, why can't I? On the other hand, I would not consider camping without my dog in Northern Wisconsin. When you can hear the wolves howling in the distance and there is bear scat on the trail in, I need my intruder alarm in camp!

I thought a Lupine festival would be celebrating your Wolf Cub Scouts...