NJCubScouter

I remember learning semaphore (though alas, I do not remember semaphore itself) for First Class. This would have been 1972 or so... actually it was right after the "new handbook" came out and I believe signalling was not a requirement in that handbook at all. As I recall, you were allowed to complete whatever rank you were working on in the old handbook and then switch to the new one for your next rank. But as I said, I am pretty sure that signalling was taken out of the handbook at that time, so if it was in there during the 90's, they must have put it back in at some point. I know it is

How many Varsity units are there, anyway? I have never seen or heard of one, and although I can't claim to have read every post in this forum, I have read a lot, and until the first post in this thread I have never seen anyone acknowledge being aware of any actual Varsity units. Nor have I heard any mention of actual units in either of the 2 other online Scouting forums I have participated in. (I did once see a boy wearing a uniform with "blaze" shoulder loops, and since he was on staff at a Cub Scouting event, I got a chance to talk to him. Turns out he actually was a member of a Vent

Pete Rose wins no awards for "attitude" from me, either from when he was a player or manager, when he was first accused of gambling, or now. I also think that with his "non-apology" and his subsequent comments that say in essence, "get over it," I personally think that he has blown his last change for reinstatement as an active participant in the game. He has said (if anyone can believe what he says) that his main goal is to be a manager again, and that being in the Hall of Fame is secondary. But I think that is exactly where he should be -- in the Hall of Fame. Maybe without the fancy

Oh, one other thing: Am I the only one who "gets" TwoCubDad's humor?

I think this case is a good example of why the recent Ninth Circuit decision that was discussed on this board -- and criticized by some as "stupid and dangerous" as I recall -- actually was a good decision. The decision was NOT that "enemy detainees," "enemy combatants" or whatever, captured on foreign soil, have the same full menu of constitutional rights as a person accused of robbing a bank on Main Street U.S.A. The decision was that people who are being held in a place where the U.S. exercises sovereignty, have a right to challenge their detention in a U.S. court. All the other issues

Maybe it's time to start another thread and discuss whether being on a first name basis with the boys leads to less respect being shown to leaders or does not matter. I think a good point has been made that this is going to depend largely on whether the person is, to use an expression I don't really want to use, "older" or not. In other words, a person who has a son of Scouting age who is in the troop is probably a lot more likely to say, yes, it probably leads to less respect, and someone who has no children or (perhaps) only very young children might be more likely to say it does not m

Thanks Nld. 75 miles makes more sense, though based on what you and Acco are saying, our troop's decision probably will be that it is more trouble than it's worth. Maybe a family trip tied to a visit to D.C., but that's a ways away. (I probably won't last that long without taking my son to the new Air and Space Museum outside D.C. My son, who sits transfixed watching shows about military aircraft on the History Channel, and knows a lot of them by sight, started bouncing off the walls when he heard that the new museum has an SR-71 Blackbird... not to mention the Space Shuttle Enterprise.)

Well, thanks Acco, at least now I know. That is exactly what someone had suggested we think about doing, basically "attending unofficially" as a troop. I guess they didn't "get the memo" yet either. Since most of Virginia is within a 5-6 hour drive from here it would have been do-able as an overnight. But if they are discouraging it, I will not suggest that my troop do it. It's kind of funny though, if one were to take the 250-mile radius literally... according to maps.yahoo.com, the town nearest Fort A.P. Hill is about a 270 mile drive from my home (Mapquest says 290.) As the crow f

Congrats to those of you who are going! Neither my son nor I will be part of the council's contingent. What I will be interested in is information on "visiting" the Jamboree. I understand a lot of people do that. However, I looked on my council's web page about the Jamboree and it was all about the contingent, nothing about visiting. Is there a web site somewhere that would have some information about this? And/or somewhere that would have information about reserving campsites within (say) a half-hour of the Jamboree site?

I just noticed this: Respect should neither be dependent upon age, nor its symbolic expression distributed based on it. At least not among the fellowship of scouting, that is. If the implication is that everybody (youths and adults) should be on the same "basis" (first or last names), obviously this is something I neither practice nor have seen others around me practice. Respect goes both ways, but how it is expressed and "symbolized" does not. The "fellowship of Scouting" recognizes different roles for adults and youth, as does most of our society. Maybe I am old fashioned, but b

A weekend camping trip (officially it got down to 1 degree Saturday night, fortunately we were in a cabin but it was still pretty chilly) got in the way of me answering several posts, but I couldn't let Adrian's remarks about the "Inquisition" go without a little historical footnote here. It is one thing to say that people should not use past atrocities to justify more recent ones. Of course I agree with that. Frankly I have never heard of anyone trying to downplay any of the great crimes of the 20th century by referring to the Inquisitions (Spanish or otherwise), but if they do (or did

I meant to put this in the previous post, but I hit the wrong button. My basis for saying that there are home-schooled boys in troops is not just from this forum. At least two of the boys in my son's troop are home-schooled, and their father is an assistant scoutmaster.

I did not deal with the "Lone Scout" issue before and I just want to say, I don't think it changes anything one way or the other. The key word here is "eligible." A boy being home-schooled may be eligible for the Lone Scout program but he also is eligible to be in a troop. The question is, what is the best thing for the boy. All other things being equal, the boy probably is going to get more of the program the way it is intended to be delivered, in a troop (or pack.) (I say "all other things being equal" because it is conceivable that Dad is a former SM and has Silver Beaver and Woodbadge

When you say "our home schooling program," are you referring to just your own family, or do you mean a group of parents who get together to "home school" their children? (I have heard of this, and to me it starts to resemble a very small private school, at least on a part time basis.) Depending on the numbers and ages (and genders) of the students you could potentially be able to form your own unit. Of course, any boy of the correct age can join a unit without regard to their "schooling" situation. Or, are you talking about using the materials and methods of Scouting IN your home schoo

Andrew, what I think you (and all of us) can learn from this thread is that there IS no "prevailing method." And when I say "learn," I mean it, because if I had been asked to guess at the beginning it would have been that in the Scouting context, the use of Mr. (etc.) by youth to refer to adults was nearly universal. Apparently that is not the case. Every person and group has their own "culture," I guess. My personal feeling is that nobody should be offended by being addressed in a MORE formal way, and then if you want to be called by your first name, "correct" the person and that should b

Ed, I think I've explained that to you about five times. I'm not going to do it again. But you can keep saying that the First Amendment does not say anything about separation of church and state, and your statement will continue to be irrelevant to the decision of any court in any "establishment of religion" case. Not wrong, just irrelevant.

Neil says: I'm not sure how it is Scoutlike to be essentially sitting around in a circle saying "Yup, liberals sure are condescending, aren't they?" I'm not sure either. There might even be some people who think that conservatives nowadays can be arrogant and self-righteous There sure might.

But Captainron, you still have not said what the "experienced Scouter" actually DID -- other than to sit there in a uniform with knots all over it. In your second post you say he was wearing silver loops "leftover" from a previous council. If you mean that he does not currently hold a council or district-level position, that is a somewhat different story. His uniform should be consistent with his current position. This may imply that he was in fact TRYING to upstage the Cubmaster. But unless he actually DID something to upstage the Cubmaster, I don't see why the Cubmaster should hav

OK, a lot of people die in wars. That's bad. People should make nice and not fight. But I am not sure what you are suggesting to remedy the situation. If you are hinting at the answer in the title of the thread, "Death by Government," I am not sure what that means. Do you think eliminating government is going to end war? People would probably kill each other even more. Unfortunately it seems that there is something in our human nature that makes some people put their own interests, desires, fears, ideology, whatever, ahead of the preservation of human life. I think human nature also pr

So as of today,the scouts in San Diego still meet on their regular nights, at the regular time and learn the same values that they learned yesterday. They still do the same activities, lead by the same leaders who all agreed to the same values. They can even still use the same land. Only now they use it under the same conditions as any other citizen of San Diego. So what's wrong with this picture? Nothing that I can see. Well, as the complete story (posted in the other thread but not in this one) makes clear, "as of today" nothing has changed at all, even the status of the lawsuit.

SRBeaver, I was wondering the same thing about Bob. I have never seen him be funny before.

I think the whole discussion of "lifestyles" or musicians (and other artists) is sort of pointless. If someone wants to boycott artists based on their lifestyle, that is their right, but I prefer to focus on the art. As for the "role model" aspect, and I am mostly talking about drugs now... look, kids have many influences to choose from, some good, some bad. There is no way to shield them completely from bad role models. It is much more effective to teach them how to make the right choices. And I also wonder, if we were to examine those who have produced various kinds of music, what k

I just want to make clear, I still agree with Bob. FOG, I'm just going to ignore you. If all you can do is make personal attacks on me an my "lot" there is no point in discussing anything. I didn't even know I had a "lot." And you really have no idea what I think, other than what I have said.

Heck, even in the classic star trek show they didnt start fires, just point a phaser at a rock, made it red hot and then basked in the glow... Good point, OGE... I guess that in between the better known "Stun" and "Kill" settings was the "Campfire" setting. I bet Captain Archer knows (will know? will have known? future-grammar always messes me up) how to make a real fire, though. He is (will be?) an Eagle Scout.

In my son's troop it is pretty simple, the boys call the adults Mr./Mrs. (Last Name). As in Andrew's troop, adults are on a first-name basis with each other, but not when speaking to the boys. Our SM takes it to the point that when a boy turns 18, if he wishes to continue in the troop, at his next meeting he is given an adult leader application to fill out as an ASM, then the SM introduces him to the boys as a new ASM, and says "He is no longer John, he is Mr. Smith." I have not yet had one of these 18-year-olds call me by my first name, but it would be appropriate, if somewhat jarring at f