BartHumphries

Speaking as a geek/nerd (I prefer geek, but both terms were applied to me when I was young and could still be applied to me today), I am proud that Scouting is stepping up to the plate in this regard. I was a four-year letterman in high school, I'm going on a 4-hour hike with a friend the day after tomorrow, I am an Eagle Scout, I also love math, science, and tech and know that 42 is "The Answer". Anyway... The NOVA-SUPERNOVA award program will be introduced at the BSA Annual Meeting in May 2011. All other components to be developed and introduced 2011 through 2013. Bottom line: To make it cool (and also rewarding) to be a Scout who is interested in doing science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The NOVA Award program consists of individual activity elements in various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) topics structured for either Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts/Venturers. These topics are designed for high participation and to increase interest in STEM by making it relevant and fun. STEM SUPERNOVA Award Program: The SUPERNOVA Award program is similar to the BSA Hornaday Award Program. The basic requirements are to earn certain Academic Pins (Cub Scouts), Activity Badges (Webelos) and Merit Badges (Boy Scouts) plus complete various other more rigorous STEM related requirements. The Venturing requirements are based on more independent achievement and teaching activities. SUPERNOVA is designed to encourage and recognize more in-depth achievement in STEM. Cub Scout o Cub Scout: Luiz Walter Alvarez Award -- Certificate and Bronze Medal on neck ribbon (Yes, the flyer I saw said "Luiz" not "Luis") o Webelos: Charles Townes Award -- Certificate and Bronze Medal on neck ribbon Boy Scout o Basic: Bernard Harris Award -- Certificate and Bronze Pocket Medal o Intermediate: Thomas Edison Award -- Certificate and Silver Pocket Medal o Advanced: Albert Einstein Award -- Certificate and Gold Pocket Medal Venturing: o Sally Ride Award -- Certificate and Bronze Pocket Medal Adult Scouter: o Paul A. Siple Award -- Certificate and Bronze Pocket Medal I didn't recognize all of those people, so I looked them up on Wikipedia and grabbed the first paragraph of the intro to the article: Luis Walter Alvarez (13 June 1911 1 September 1988) was an American experimental physicist and inventor, who spent nearly all of his long professional career on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley. The American Journal of Physics commented, "Luis Alvarez (19111988) was one of the most brilliant and productive experimental physicists of the twentieth century." Charles Hard Townes (born 28 July 1915) is an American Nobel Prize-winning physicist and educator. Townes is known for his work on the theory and application of the maser, on which he got the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics connected with both maser and laser devices. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964 with Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov. Bernard Anthony Harris, Jr. (born 26 June 1956 in Temple, Texas) is a former NASA astronaut. On 9 February 1995, Harris became the first African American to perform an extra-vehicular activity (spacewalk), during the second of his two Space Shuttle flights. Thomas Alva Edison (11 February 1847 18 October 1931) was an American inventor, scientist, and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (now Edison, New Jersey) by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who discovered the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". Dr. Sally Kristen Ride (born 26 May 1951) from Los Angeles, California, is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. She studied at Portola Middle School, Westlake School for Girls, Swarthmore College and Stanford University, and earned a master's degree and a PhD. Ride joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and then-youngest American to enter space. In 1987 she left NASA to work at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Arms Control. Paul Allman Siple (18 December 18 1909 25 November 1968) was an American Antarctic explorer and geographer who took part in six Antarctic expeditions, including the two Byrd expeditions of 19281930 and 19331935, representing the Boy Scouts of America as an Eagle Scout. Siple was also a Sea Scout. http://www.tac-bsa.org/Home_files/NOVA%20Handout.pdf Where I found the information that I posted here. http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/RTN/RTN2010.aspx "The BSA STEM/NOVA program is designed to bring a Scouting focus to skills that are relevant and needed in our competitive world."

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Awards/JourneyToExcellence.aspx Well, supposedly those troops who do the "quality unit" requirements (or Journey to Excellence now) have better retention, better advancement, the boys like it more and basically everyone learns/grows/benefits more. Since they got rid of the old quality unit Boys Life requirement/counting, I really think that sentiment is true -- troops who honestly try to meet all the Journey to Excellence requirements will really tend to have a better program than those that don't meet the requirements.

When someone does it, they're responsible to stir the ashes to make sure the fire's really really out. Suddenly nobody does that any more.

Anyone else wear theirs both over and under? I usually put mine at the back of my collar (over) then when I bring it around front the open lapels of my shirt hang out to the side and I usually tuck the neckerchief under those lapels. So I guess my answer is, "both".

No, I use the extra bit around the colored border to basting stich the knots together before I sew them on the uniform. Then I'm basically sewing on a single larger instead of multiple small rectangular knots.

You do not have to use "only the most current requirements", you may use the requirements that were current when you first started working on the merit badge. You just need to be able to show that you really did start working on it at that time and what those requirements were at that time. It's the same with rank -- rank requirements change, but as long as you got at least one of the old rank requirements done before it changed and you can show that you did that and you have a copy of what the rank requirements were, you can use those old requirements.

Yeah, it does kind of seem like overkill to me too. Luckily, it seems pretty easy to complete. Those climbing walls at summer camps seem 30' tall (although you'd want to check to make certain) and COPE/HA rules mandate that you talk people through how all the safety stuff works, etc. (which is proper preparation) and camps can't have just anyone manning those (so there's your supervision). I can't volunteer to take anyone climbing right now -- my ropes and soft gear can only be used for me and friends, not for Scouts (they're past the BSA's 5-year limit). If you have your own gear, though, I can supervise (if you live in Southern CA and want to travel out to Lake Perris or up to Lake Arrowhead). Then make sure the Scout has gone on at least a 4-mile backpack trip (which the scout probably already did at least one time in those 20 days/nights of camping, so that's easy) and 9b is complete.

Sure, you're filtering your drinking water anyway and not drinking straight from the river so as to avoid giardiasis, but the thought of someone urinating in another person's drinking water (even though it's extremely, extremely diluted and filtered out anyway) is just really yucky for most people (including me). And there's something else that you forgot... The important thing is that more and more nowdays people aren't, uhm, how should I put this, sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise. By far, most filters only strain out macroscopic particles (dirt, giardia parasites, etc.) and some microscopic particles (down to bacteria size). Filters generally cannot strain out viruses. Some filters try to kill viruses with iodine treatments or ultraviolet radiation or something like that. Fortunately, that's not really a problem because animal and human diseases don't generally transmit, we're all inoculated against polio (we are, right?) and animals don't have hepatitis (can an animal even get hep? I don't think so). Unless, though, someone who just urinated into your drinking water had hepatitis C or something less manageable. Granted, those viruses really can't survive outside the human body for very long, but the aqueous environment can allow them to survive for as much as five minutes, so I've been taught (I could be wrong). Water can travel a good distance in five minutes. Anyway, things like that are why every first aid kit nowdays should include some barrier methods like rubber gloves. Anyway, I'm nobody official but that's my reasoning based on what I've been told, although I admit up front that I could have been taught wrong.

How do people attempt to "cure" whirling disease in real life, other than hope that the fish population develops resistance? If a fish is infected with it, it seems unlikely that other fish are completely free of the disease and it seems like any parasitic spores in a fish would just be released upon the fish's death. From that standpoint, catch and release of a whirling fish would seem to be the wrong thing to do -- that you are leaving the environment and fish population cleaner if you eat the fish and bury the unwanted parts well away from the water (or burn them or pack them out or whatever). Can a human be affected by eating a fish with this disease?

http://usscouts.org/usscouts/advance/docs/mb-memo.gif Scouts may use the version of the merit badge that was current when they started working on the merit badge, presuming that they have a way to show what those requirements were at that time (they have the merit badge book from then, or found it on archive.org, or something) and that they started the merit badge then. Otherwise they have to use the current version of the requirements.

When you know how to type well, typing is faster than writing -- the greater prevalence of laptops means that more is generally expected, as you can get the same thing done in a shorter amount of time.

I don't understand the original poster's post. How would the situation have been different if she hadn't been a single mother? Possibly she was thinking that if she wasn't a single mother then the father would have gone along with her boys, although most boys who go on a campout don't bring their dads along, so I don't see how not being a single mother would have changed the situation. That's terrible that the incident occurred, something should definitely be done about it, but I don't think the solution is to run out and get married first.

I think it might be difficult for an active boy to not meet the 9b requirements. If you go to a scout camp or climbing with your troop, you'll probably end up rappelling down a 30' high tower, or down a 30' high rock. Then there's the "backpack... for at least 4 miles" which seems like it would be really easy to meet, unless the troop hasn't done anything but car camping/summer camp. That would give you 9b2 and 9b6. All requirements of a merit badge must always be met in order to get the merit badge. As far as working at a summer camp goes I think that, technically, you could count the entire summer as the text could be rules lawyered to allow for that, but I think the spirit of the requirement is that "only" a week of long-term camp counts towards the merit badge. Sorry, Hawkrod. I meant that more as an "ad" for aluminum cots, which I think are incredible. I love them personally, but I'd still feel more comfortable bringing mine if everyone was using one, you know?

Cool, I learned a new word today, "eutrophication". So, despite any eutrophic concerns (Did I use that word correctly there, eutrophic concerns?), what does the 25-foot deep water have to do with it? Is that just to "ensure" that "more" wild animals than usual don't come around the area looking to eat the guts? If I swim out to 25' deep water, "drop trousers" and do my business, do I not have to bother with a cat hole, is there some sort of extra breakdown process going on in "deep" water? If there's a 300' wide marshy lake that doesn't get deeper than 5', can I not dispose of entrails in the center, must I bury them in that case? It's been years since I fished. Despite living next to a lake and formerly going out fishing regularly when I was a kid, even taking my fishing pole out on a scout trip to the Sierra's, I have never caught a fish in my life. That's probably why I've sort of lost my taste for fishing now, but that 25' deep water thing seemed to be both remarkably specific and somewhat vague at the same time -- where did it come from, why 25'?

"...think that camp staff sleeping in the outdoors qualifies but it is a specific type of camping. I don't think that using camp tents on platforms with cots should count..." Wait, you all don't bring cots with you when you go camping? Sure, I can understand that sentiment if you're used to the big wooden cots that most camps seem to have, but a nice aluminum cot is only about a pound more than a sleeping pad. It's also much easier to set up and take down (no more slowly rolling it up with your knee while squeezing all the air out, fighting the cells that want to expand it and bring air back in, no more having to roll off, reinflate, roll back on in the night after you've been using it for a few years), far more comfortable, you can't really slide off during the night, if your old tent happens to leak you'll stay drier, it's just better in every way in my opinion. When I put two cots in my tent, the door "just" zips shut. I usually leave it half zipped because this is a real Mediterranean climate down here in Southern CA and the weather reports practically guarantee dry weather on every campout during the summer. When there's a chance that wet weather might threaten, or if some surprise springs up, I'll either wrestle with the zipper or just fold the cot up for the night. I also carry a plastic toilet seat. When I was a young Scout, the "old men" carried things like that and having been hiking and backpacking for over a quarter of a century now I sort of consider that I'm qualified to bring those "old man" items with me. I was always sort of envious of them anyway on hikes. I'm -->

So, I've been told that fish entrails must be disposed of at least 100 yards away from a water source or in water at least 25 feet deep. Are they really that toxic? I mean, human waste is only 200 feet away from a water source. We have to go 50% farther to dispose of fish guts? What's this about 25' deep water, how does that have an affect?

Well, obviously National can't just do a Ctrl+H, find "red" replace "green" -- the Life rank would become a green heart! Sometimes people get so caught up in managing the forest that they forget about the thousands of people walking through and looking at the individual trees every day. National is in the business of managing forests.

Hitler was an evil, evil man. He did however pioneer and make remarkable strides in the science of sociology, or "crowd control" as it might be more popularly know. As far as organization and leadership and building popular movements went, he really was a genius. I do not support his hatred of Jewish people or the Holocaust in any way, but that doesn't change the fact that he was really smart in certain ways. He'd photograph himself making poses and go through and choose the stances and movements that best communicated what he was trying to convey, then he'd practice making those movements in front of a mirror until he got them just right. And he didn't just dabble in things like this, he took notes and really started investigating it scientifically and having other people investigate, keep notes, report back to him. With the idea that close confines can agitate people, he purposefully held rallies in spaces that were too small for the group, both so that the group would appear larger, and so people's emotions would be heightened by their close proximity. Again, he was an evil, evil man, I do not in any way endorse his motivation or the end result, but he was really smart in certain ways. I mean, even Hannibal Lector had some good things to say occasionally.

I have a signed letter of recognition from the first President Bush regarding earning Eagle, but I didn't get a card.

"Vintage" military uniforms seem like they'd be fairly close -- try http://www.vintagetrends.com/military/thumbnails.asp?MC=Military+Vintage&CA=Men&SC=Shirts&ST=2+pocket

"1995 WSJ stamp" The 1995 Wall Street Journal stamp? Where might I see this at? Anyway, I'm not really a fan of neckerchiefs. As a scarf to keep your neck warm, ok. As a tie under the collar, ok. As this extra thing that lays outside your collar, it just seems a little strange, especially for Canada -- if you're outside during the winter, then you're going to need to wear a second thing around your neck to keep cold drafts from blowing down your open neck shirt collar (I'm presuming that if Boy Scouts are outside during the winter then they'll be too active, too warm, to be wearing a coat). If it is so bitterly cold that you have to wear a coat anyway, well, that's when you "really" want a scarf. I keep a wool scarf and a knit cap in my front two coat pockets, just in case. I don't use them that often, but when I'm outside at night and the temperature's dropping below freezing with a wind chill on top of that, I'm glad to have them. The weather can be erratic down here in the mountains of Southern CA -- tomorrow the temperature is supposed to rise to about 70 and fall back down to about 30 at night. Anyway, I'm not really a fan of a neckerchief unless I'm wearing it as a tie on a non-open shirt collar (and Scout shirts are open) or unless I'm wearing it like Baden Powell did, to keep my neck warm. I do think we shouldn't follow Canada -- the Boy Scout uniform shirt is iconic, known the world over. When Libya started falling to pieces recently and Boy Scouts stepped in to direct traffic and handle other normal functions of local government, not all of them had uniforms, but most did and I think that made them far more recognizable than they otherwise would have been.

The pocket is a "technology pocket"? Hunh, ok. I mean, I don't have a shirt sleeve pocket in my normal clothes -- I'm already used to carrying my phone in my pants pocket. It kind of seems like it would get jarred more in my arm -- I know when I walk my arms swing much more than my legs do, or at least I'm not conscious of things in my pants pockets rattling as I walk. I think anything in a shirt sleeve pocket would likely not fit exactly and I'd either have to pack some cotton in there to fill the extra space or just put it in my pants pocket like I normally do. In any case, this discussion is sort of academic for me. I only have long sleeve shirts -- when it gets really hot I just unbutton the cuff and roll the sleeve up two or three times to my elbow.

Yeah. When I pulled the mail out of the PO Box, I saw an adult and a half clothed youth... all by themselves... and the boy was looking really uncomfortable with the whole situation. Then I pulled the magazine all the way out from the envelopes and saw the mention of a swimming stress test which offered another explanation for why the boy was so worried. Yeah, I thought it was creepy too.

The change is that now there's a "published" book with a collection of variant ceremonies for people who didn't want to think of their own ceremony or are looking for a different type of ceremony. The book has more "ornate" ceremonies and more "plain" ceremonies, so you can generally find what you're looking for. My troop's ceremony is most like #10, but in ours the Scoutmaster also speaks about the boy for a couple minutes, maybe relates a couple anecdotes about the boy or something. So, if you're wondering what to do at an Eagle ceremony or want to try something different, use the booklet and pick one or mix and match or whatever you'd like. (This message has been edited by BartHumphries)

I don't know about that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goEozOAQ6yI from 1952. That's the same song I learned in elementary school in the 80's. Smokey Bear sounds like smokey is an adjective.