packsaddle

1 hour ago, malraux said:

It’s not everything, but more overall numbers means more ability to afford summer camps, high adventure camps, better materials, etc. 

That makes sense. I agree. I also think that those who use these resources should pay for them. 

22 hours ago, NJCubScouter said:

And if I have this correct, Orthodox Jews find 613 (I think) commandments in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, not just 10 or 11.  A couple hundred of them only apply when there is a main Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which there hasn't been for awhile, but there are people who do follow all ~ 400 that remain.

I think it's just way cool that someone took the time to make this count. It sure saved me from wasting a lot of time.

Gblotter, I am aware that 'overall membership' is and has been a concern for 'top brass' in this organization for quite a while. But at the unit level, I am not sure why overall membership should be a great concern. It seems like at that level, the well-being of the unit and its members and families should be the top priority. Sort of an 'all Scouting is local' approach.

Is this an example of convergence? Or is it just me? It seems that most times someone starts a thread like this one started, it ends up where this one has. And if there is anyone here who thinks that any minds are going to be changed by this, please raise your hand now. I don't see any hands.

That said, back when I had a CS Pack I sometimes observed to the parents that cub scouts seemed to have the moral code of a bunch of raccoons. The parents would laugh and snicker at first....and then as they continued to watch whatever behavior their sons were engaged in, they'd get serious....and quiet. That's when I'd laugh. 

I don't share the view that people are inherently immoral. Even raccoons have some behavioral patterns that work for them (but not on my back porch, they don't last long there). Regardless of what people 'believe' or don't, we do manage to arrive at how each of us decide to conduct our interactions in the world. And most of us agree on most of whatever code each of us manages to adopt. Some of us just seem to find it easier to adapt to new things. 

A scout is trustworthy. Explain to them what happened and give them an honest assessment of what you paid. If you used a credit card you should be able to show the charge. If the store is willing to do the search they might be able to reproduce the receipt. But if none of these work you're left with the trust you have with the folks in the unit. It's a test - for all of you. Plus you have the food. If the pricing is on it you can just add it up. 

"Hideously flawed man" Sounds like my wife describing me. 

LOL, I doubt that you'll ever get a fateful knock in the middle of the night for doing it the 'wrong' way. Two fingers or three? That is a question for some other measurement involving, oh, Scotch or something. Just make sure you have the neckerchief on right. 

This is a terribly sad tragedy for the family and they have my deepest sympathy. 

When I was a boy we used to explore an old mine shaft dug into one of the nearby hills. We were probably lucky that no one ever got hurt doing that. 

Well it looks like there may actually BE some universal constants: the I&P forum is still prone to going off topic and heading toward lack of decorum. I guess some things don't change. At least it's not Facebook.

Fred, one is indeed in that age group. The other is in 4th grade. He hasn't seemed to notice yet. 

Then there are two more not old enough yet and one of those is going to be really interesting.

Best of success to you. 

Folks, Even this forum has changed. I'm having to climb that learning curve right now so bear with me. It turns out that two of the boys are entering the cubs, one at the entry level and the other one a little further along. They are just like boys always seem to have been - interested in knives, fire, food, gross stuff.....you all probably remember it well. 

The one thing I'm sad to report (and this will be relevant to everyone else as well), advanced age evidently hasn't allowed me to remain immune to all the childhood illnesses. My youngest grandsons seem to be 'sharing' with grandpa....if you get my drift. That's one aspect of 'doing it again' that I could live without, lol, but that's life. 

NJ, I think my students might take issue with your 'safe space' on campus concept....at least after the test I gave last week, lol. But as far as "Its' always New Jersey", nothing would be more refreshing than for some Southern state to take that lead in the progressive movement. But alas....

That is interesting. I never knew it before. Thanks

Thanks, I'll be working with them this weekend. Thing is, this is the front end of the crop of grandchildren so it could be a long haul.

I have to admit that I was completely surprised when my son (an Eagle) who now lives in a location where Scouting is not very visible...announced that #1 grandson was joining the Cubs. So I dragged out my old uniform and stuff and started thinking about how I could help. This boy is a perfect match for Scouts and I'm hoping he'll stick with it. A lot depends on those first experiences and, of course, some kind of instant gratification, lol. He lusts after the status of being allowed to own and use a pocketknife and eager to master the skill and responsibility that comes with it. Game on!

Anyway, it looks like I'm back after I thought it was over (quite literally, due to a close call with a heart surgeon). The Forums have evolved since I became inactive and since I feel like I'm entering for the first time, I decided to break the news here. See you 'round.

Packsaddle

Thanks David. I guess I've become somewhat of an accidental participant this time. I got a message out of the blue and I was curious. But then I discovered this thread. Interesting. 

I actually teach ecology courses, among others. While I agree that there are what I term, 'true believers' who call  themselves 'ecologists' and probably quite a few who claim to teach (preach) it, the ones I know and with whom I interact are probably more skeptical about their own field of study than most of the forum members here. The 'true believers' can claim to be whatever they want to but I will suggest that as long as they do not carefully cast a critical eye at their own field of study, they are not 'scientists', at least not very good ones. 

This is a source of frustration to me because I do interact with good scientists who are climate change skeptics. They are mostly skeptical about proposed 'solutions' and about those persons who think they know what the consequences will be. But what I find so disappointing is that objective discourse about this and so many other issues that strongly depend on scientific evidence seems to be totally absent from public forums. I do not find our public discussions to be a source of abundant optimism. 

Global dimming: True. I don't know the basis for the speculations of the 70s but I suspect they were aware of the effect that this has on albedo. It's just really difficult to make predictions about their dynamics. I guess a good supervolcano could be just the thing we need, lol.

On 1/6/2018 at 8:08 PM, TAHAWK said:

I am old enough to recall the late 70s when the prediction was that air pollution would bring on another Ice Age.

That prediction was held by a very small minority of scientists who were basically attempting to play the 'devils advocate'. They were obviously wrong.

On 12/21/2017 at 10:31 AM, RememberSchiff said:

We seem to have a surplus of deer and turkey  in New England where the top predator may be a car bumper but the coyotes are coming back.

How large a human population can the world's environment and economy sustain?

In regard to the question about the human population, there is an interesting essay on this. You just need to search on the following: Eating Fossil Fuel

I had never heard of it before, but here it is, with a picture of the badge and the requirements from the BSA's web site:

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/Merit_Badge_ReqandRes/Exploration.pdf

 

On the badge itself, it looks like they're going for an Indiana Jones thing. I'm guessing it is the only merit badge with a whip on it.

 

The requirements are a combination of things but the main focus seems to be on planning and going on a scientific expedition.

 

I was thinking of what qualifications you would want to have to be a counselor for this, and it occurred to me, the ideal counselor would be @@packsaddle.

I feel like 'Jambi' in the old Pee Wee show: "Wish, did someone make a wish?" 

'Ideal' probably doesn't apply but I can help if anyone is interested enough. I'm still taking students to exotic overseas places to study weird stuff. Repeat after me, "mecalecahi mecahinyho"!

If you survey this section of your website: http://12thcambridge.org.uk/blog/2015/04/

I'd say that the vast majority would be accepted with no problem on GE. Even some of the camporee photos would likely be accepted. And GE doesn't care about multiple photos of the same place. Their review process is a laborious manual one-at-a-time process. And like I said before, there is no storage limit as long as they're mapped and they don't have to be accepted to be mapped. Even if you submit closeups of scouts without mapping, the limit is at least 500 photos.

Those, by the way, are spectacular photos and I hope you'll get them out there on GE. If they're not already georeferenced, you'll have to do that manually. It's actually a lot of fun.

Edit: I just checked and I'm correct. Georeferenced photos have no storage limit. For others they 'may' apply a limit of a total of 2 GBytes. The max for a single photo is 25 MBytes or 50 Mpixels.

You might consider using Panoramio. I've been adding to that for a very long time, mostly in order to get photos onto Google Earth. But I have over 3000 photos mapped to GoogleEarth and more than that archived in Panoramio. The great thing about it is that as long as the photos are mapped, there is no storage limit. GE won't accept photos of people or events or closeups but you can still map them after they're uploaded to Panoramio. Google Earth accepts and approves submissions (mostly) to photos of places but if people are part of the place they can sometimes be included. On the other hand if you're troop is posing in front of some monument that will not be accepted. But they'll still be mapped...they just won't show up as little photo indicators on the view of the planet in Google Earth. Plus you can make your own groups and store massive numbers of photos. It's what I chose over the alternatives.

Here's a link: http://www.panoramio.com/

The only problems I've ever observed is that the analytics don't function sometimes. Otherwise I like the site and the other people who use it are really nice and great photographers too. Use the link to navigate to the account setup if you're interested.

On a different Scouting note, if you go somewhere on a trip, or even if you have photos around your area, the boys can engage in getting their photos out to the entire planet as a fun activity. In our unit they learned a lot of geography that way, something that is good to know.

Good luck

I had an interesting situation this past week.  All the boys in the week at camp that took the Indian Lore MB got partials.  How this could ever happen is beyond me, but I was kinda stunned.  Does anyone know just how hard it's going to be to find a non-summer camp counselor to sign off on an Indian Lore MB?

Local historical society may have a member who can do this, also look to local museums who may know of someone. There's also the people involved with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes who are quite eclectic in their abilities. You may be able to find someone among or through them.