NJCubScouter

I actually prefer "As a citizen of the world."  I don't expect that to be a very popular view here.  But the "outdoors" does not begin or end at a national boundary.

Some of our threads go wrong.  Some of them go really wrong.  And then, in the worst case, some of them devolve into puns.

1 hour ago, David CO said:

A scout should put some though and effort into selecting a merit badge counselor. He should not only take into account the MBC's expertise and experience, he should also consider whether or not the MBC is someone he would be interested in getting to know (adult association). If a scout is too lazy or too disinterested to take this selection seriously, then he deserves to pay the price by sitting through a few boring sessions. 

I got the impression from the OP that this might be the kind of event where the Scouts did not know who the counselors would be in advance.  They show up and there is a counselor there.  Is that the case @fred johnson?  If that is true, then the Scouts would not have the opportunity to do the research and "select" the counselor.  Of course, one could argue that a MB event that is set up that way should be avoided.

(This is probably obvious, but I did not see Fred's latest post before I posted, for some reason.)

1 hour ago, JasonG172 said:

Sounds like patches as well to me, so we should get rid of them as well.    NEVERMIND someone beat me to he punch, sorry

Patches at least relate to Scouting.  If Scouters need to spend time making their Scouts understand the need to act Scoutlike in regard to something that is part of Scouting, that is time well spent.  The magic cards are a distraction that has nothing to do with Scouting.

6 minutes ago, David CO said:

I can think of several possible answers to that question, but I think he is referring to the other side of the political spectrum.

If we are talking about McCabe and Flynn, I don't see how they are on "the other side of the political spectrum" from each other.

They are both Republicans.  (I realize that may mean less now than it did until about two years ago.)

One (somewhat ironically) led cheers of "Lock Her Up" at the Republican National Convention.  The other was (purportedly) fired from his job for allegedly making an unauthorized disclosure to the media of information UNFAVORABLE TO "HER" (i.e. Hillary Clinton) during the presidential campaign, and then allegedly being "less than candid" when asked about it.  I don't think that is really why he was fired, but it seems clear that those things happened.  The investigative report (well, apparently, we haven't seen it yet) basically says he was overzealous in going after Hillary Clinton, and then lied about it.

And, one is "cooperating" with Robert Mueller, and the other one seems to be about to cooperate.

So I'm having difficulty seeing an "other side" here.

3 hours ago, TAHAWK said:

But Flynn is on the other side.  You 're not suggesting applying the same standard?

Other side of what?

2 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Somewhere I read he was a registered Cub Scout still, which would mean the Boy Scout advancement is null and void. And there is a way for SCOUTNET to allow someone over 11 to remain in Cub Scouts. Do not know the specifics except I had two  packs with 17 and 19 year old Cub Scouts. Developmentally they were 2nd or 3rd graders.

I understand there is a way, but I would think it requires someone to take some affirmative action to tell the computer to accept this person even though they are over-age to be a Boy Scout.  I suppose it is possible that this 15-year-old Boy Scout was permitted to stay in Cub Scouts an extra year due to his disability, and someone pushed the "allow over-age Cub Scout button" and it caused the computer to keep the person registered as a Cub Scout.  But now we are into the realm of evidence-free speculation.

It's a little hazy after more than 40 years, but I think my favorite may have been Public Speaking.  (Don't make fun of me.)  I think that is because it was something I was already very interested in, was involved in my high school debate/public speaking team all four years, had already won awards in it, etc.  So it was really applying knowledge and skills that I already had to a set of requirements, so maybe it wasn't the MB that I got the most out of, but it was one of my favorites. And the counselor was pretty good.  (I laugh a little when I think back on it because I remember that it was just me and him, a 30-35-ish year old man whose kids were too young to be Scouts, and me a 16- or 17-year old, sitting in a room in his house, no buddy, no nobody.  Different times.)

I remember liking Architecture as well, and that was probably because I had a very good counselor. (My father.  He was SM or ASM my entire time in Scouting and was an MBC for a number of badges, but that was the only one I got with him.

The rest of them are just part of the blur of the past.  I liked camping, but the Camping MB itself does not really stand out, probably because it is just what I was doing in Scouting anyway. (I think I probably got about 15 MB's, so I am a Life for Life.)

As for my son (who did make Eagle, and under current rules would have received one palm as well), he liked Aviation - though some very heavy fog on the day he was going to take his flight (which is not required for the MB) kept everybody on the ground.  (It was probably the heaviest fog I have ever seen.  It wasn't really safe to drive, much less fly.)  He liked the Law MB, although unlike his father, there was no possibility that he was going to go into that profession.  I assume he liked Engineering, since he was already heading in that direction as far as a career.

Getting back to the topic...

On 3/18/2018 at 11:33 AM, Eagle94-A1 said:

I think someone at the local council, whether the pack and/or troop, or the council screwed up. It appears that the Scout has been registered as a Cub Scout all this time, and as a result ineligible for Boy Scout awards. I wonder why the council has not caught the problem earlier. Realistically he can stay a Boy Scout past his 18th birthday with the required paperwork. As stated previously, I've seen a 44 year old BOY (emphasis) Scout who not only had Down's Syndrome, but also legally blind earn his Eagle.

When you say it appears he has been registered as a Cub Scout all this time, is that based on another article, or Facebook posts, or what?  Wouldn't the council's computer kick out a re-charter with (for example) a 13-year-old Cub Scout?  Or is it that he was not registered as anything at all after "aging out" of Cub Scout?  Either way, if he was not registered as a Boy Scout, that would be consistent with the fact that ALL of his merit badges were revoked.  But some of the other things in that article do NOT seem consistent with him not being registered as a Boy Scout.  Or maybe some of the quotes are incorrect or taken out of context.  All that is clear is that the facts are not clear.

I suspect that most of us here who have been around for awhile know of at least one disabled Scout who made Eagle based on pre-approved alternate requirements and/or time extensions.  I have told the story before of the Scout in my troop (approx. 1999-2006) who has cerebral palsy, no use of his legs, limited use of his arms, great difficulty in speaking (but one you got used to the way he spoke, it became clear that he is very smart.)  He gets around in a motorized wheelchair.  He cannot swim.  He (with help from his mother and the troop leaders) got approval for alternates to many requirements and merit badges.  (I don't know any of the details as I was not involved in the paperwork myself, although I was once called upon to "nudge" a council professional who had apparently "lost" some of the papers on his desk.)  The Scout also got the time extended to his 19th birthday, but he needed less than half of that extra time, and in reality it wasn't "extra" because (due to his condition) his parents had waited a year before starting him in Kindergarten, so he was a year older than his grade in school all the way up, and he was permitted to proceed in Scouting based on his grade, not his age.  So he was close to (or beyond) his 12th birthday when he crossed over, so the one-year extension really just gave him the same amount of time that everybody else has.  I guess the point in the context of this thread is that everything was done by the book, partly because his mother (who was a committee member and eventually advancement chair) watched everything like a hawk, and learned what had to be done, and helped her son do it.  That does not appear to have been the case with the Scout who is the subject of this thread.

Pockets in the skort.  Could be the name of a rock band.

9 hours ago, WAKWIB said:

Maybe the Eagle Scouts in Trump's administration should take him camping. Get the President out in the woods, away from the TV and Twitter. 
Have a nice campfire with lots of coffee and dutch oven munchies.  Around a campfire you can give each other crap and laugh about it.  You can also have some really deep conversations that may transform you into being person with empathy and humility.

And, if the President causes too much trouble out in the woods, they could always take him on a nice snipe hunt. 

There's an idea.  Maybe he could go camping for the next 1,040 days, and leave things to his second-in-command.

No, wait...

On 3/14/2018 at 12:52 PM, Jameson76 said:

Should we be worried when our boss informs us he now has a twitter feed and it might be good to check it daily?

Probably.  If it were me, definitely yes.  I do not have a Twitter account and do not want one.  With any luck I will make it to the end of my life without having to have one.  I was dragged kicking and screaming into the Facebook Generation about 5 years ago, and I still only have about 15 friends, most of whom I am related to.  That's already more Social Media than I want.   

(I can just imagine people like ItsBrian reading this and thinking, "WHAT is this guy talking about?"   )

12 minutes ago, swilliams said:

along with what you think are important qualities or qualifications for someone in this position to have.

I think one important quality for a CC is to remember that the other members of the committee are also volunteers and are not servants to be ordered about for one's amusement.

If you suspect that I have experience with a CC who forgot this, you would be correct. 

5 hours ago, Jameson76 said:

Speak for yourself...We have some varying designs stashed in the shed.  We only threaten to use them if the District gets uppity.  It is sort of a rite of passage for Scouts taking the Nuclear Science MB.

"Why worry?  Each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back."

4 hours ago, Tampa Turtle said:

The teeny ones are called 'forgotten scout socks from summer camp'. A good month for fermentation in a plastic bag and they are a bona fide WMD. 

Those are more in the category of chemical weapons.

16 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

The troop is real life scaled down to a boys size.

I don't know.  Most troops I know don't have nuclear weapons, not even tiny little ones. 

1 hour ago, JasonG172 said:

For those that have never seen the video, couldn't get away with this in this day and time

I'm not so sure about that.  It is respectful to Native Americans.  In fact, you could interpret it as being kind of anti-NON-Native Americans.  (And justifiably so, especially at the time.)

2 hours ago, hiker67 said:

Rex Tillerson was fired before dawn this morning:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/us/politics/trump-tillerson-pompeo.html

"Foreign diplomats — starting with the British and the French — said Mr. Tillerson neither returned phone calls nor, with much advance warning, set up meetings with his counterparts. Strategic dialogues with many nations, including nuclear weapons powers like Pakistan, were ended without explanation."

I do not know why Rex Tillerson did not return phone calls or abruptly ended dialogues with other nations.  But I think that if I had been him, I might be hesitant to say anything to diplomats from foreign nations, because I knew there was a high probability that whatever I said, the president I was working for would make a tweet, or an offhand remark at a campaign rally, that completely contradicted what I had just said.  I mean, a few months ago, when Tillerson suggested we should talk to the North Koreans, the president publicly undercut and ridiculed him, and said he was wasting his time.  Now the president says he will talk with the North Koreans.  (And then his aides suggest that he won't, so who knows.)

Apart from any other opinions I have about this president, I just don't see how anyone works for this guy.  (Well, actually, they don't, for very long.  I guess that's the point.)

I do not think that Rex Tillerson was necessarily the greatest Secretary of State in our nation's history, but we will never really know what he could have accomplished, because he was not permitted to do his job.  I doubt the next guy will either, or the guy after that, or the guy after that.

3 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

No and yes. The roots of LNT start with the BSA and Bureau of Land Management in the 80's. In the 90's NOLS took over with the US Forest Service.  Other government partners joined. Government funding of these education programs was always a problem. which lead to the creation in 1994 of  LNT, a non-profit educational program which marketed courses to many groups including the BSA.

More details at this link.

https://lnt.org/sites/default/files/Leave_No_Trace_History_Paper.pdf

And the Outdoor Code was adopted in 1954, I believe.

22 minutes ago, JasonG172 said:

What do you mean they are non-americans?

Don't you have to be an American citizen to be in the Boy Scouts of America?

You don't.

8 hours ago, Jameson76 said:

Our guys play Hearts and some other card games.  We even keep a supply of regular playing cards in the trailer for such.  At the lock-in they play some of these, but then that's what the lock-in is for...that and head shot dodge ball

I think the difference between regular playing cards and Magic cards is that the Magic cards themselves have "collector's value" that seems to make some kids do regrettable things.  The regular playing cards are basically worth the paper (or whatever that is) that they're printed on

21 hours ago, David CO said:

She thinks that those of us who are opposed to having girls in boy scouting should embrace the idea of boys playing nerdy fantasy card games at scout campouts. Nothing could be more effective at keeping the girls out.

Depends on the girl.  My daughter-in-law very happily accompanies my son to meetings at his old college where they play D&D and other nerdy games.  Nerds in love, it's a beautiful thing.

21 hours ago, cyphertext said:

Kinda like patches at Jambo, huh?

Based on some of the stories I have heard (I've never been there myself), that goes too far as well.  But at least it is Scouting-related. 

I have never heard of the Magic Draft, but I sure have heard of Magic cards.  They are a plague on Scouting (and on humankind in general) as far as I am concerned. There have been incidents at summer camp of kids stealing cards, charging each other exorbitant amounts (in U.S. $) for cards, and other un-Scoutlike behavior.  I am glad my son never got into that whole thing.

1 hour ago, walk in the woods said:

https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/familyscouting/pdf/Family-Scouting-Infographic.pdf

Thanks!