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Both immunization and natural immunity have a limited duration. How long? It depends. Also, although excess deaths in general have decreased in the US, it seems to be a regional thing ... up in some regions, down in others. If you've tolerated the boosters, it's not a bad idea lining up for the next one. If they've thoroughly exhausted you, no one should judge if you take a pass. It's a roll of the dice. But how people respond to the jab does not seem to correlate with how they'd respond to the actual disease. Anyway, my pandemic guy is all tied up treating RSV. That's all the rage these

@jcousino, Daniel (thanks to that incident with Darius’ big cats) was a figure of note in Persia as well. By the first century, the Parthian Empire overarched both long-established Babylonian and Persian Jewish communities. So, to say that Magi were more in contact with one community vs the other is too specific for the Nativity text. One can only guess that they had at least indirect access to Hebrew scripture, but none of that was recorded by Matthew. Instead the text noted their obsession with stars and ignorance of messianic prophecy. The evangelist’s was not so much to associate these t

@jcousino, if in jest, it is with utmost seriousness. Some background: Our common use of the term “wise men” dilutes what the Evangelist Matthew was trying to say. Magi, in Ancient Greek literature, specifically referred to Persian priests — most likely Zoroastrian. The point being that these Christmas visitors were alien to anyone who’d have a religious or political connection to the story about to unfold. But, strange as they might have been to occupier or inhabitant of Palestine — they were specially preparing their whole lives to anoint kings as part of their religious duty. (At least

Hey guys, have you ever heard of the first Zoroastrian scouts? They formed an awesome patrol, and took turns in their unit’s most important position of responsibility: Chaplains Aide. Well, first they earned astronomy merit badge, then Orienteering . While working on personal management, they built up a stash of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They kept themselves physically fit, studied nature, transportation, and citizenship in the empire. Then one clear night, while watching Jupiter retrograde around Leo, one of them said, “Hey let’s go venturing and see where that will take us. I bet w

A lot of words to say that the national leadership of both organizations is intransigent. An article by Rothschild covered the sewing of I’ll will in the early years. My link to it is buried somewhere on these forums. I’d like to see another academic piece that would bring us into the 21st century. Bottom line, the national leaderships have done their calculus, and it would literally require a POTUS or Congress to move them toward meaningful collaboration.

I think, after Gustaf’s insistence that Sweden’s youth organizations work more closely, BSA tried to promote Scouting/USA with the idea of doing something similar. There were people in both organizations who didn’t take kindly to it. But, there is a big difference between proposing an ultimate merger and inviting your lead youth to collaborate on a national level. Rebuffed once? Invite four years later. Repeat. Unlike @Cburkhardt, I don’t see the current approach to membership as irreversible. Market forces could could drive the next few classes of boys to gain interest in BSA a

Just a note regarding longer attention spans: try not to take advantage of that in meetings. One of the challenges facing women in the workforce is to manage discussion and keep everyone succinct. (Truth be told, I have this problem.) The young women in my crew were often quite surprised at how soon they could act and how quickly people would respond to their requests for action. The young men generally needed to learn to think, while he young women generally needed to learn not to overthink. Scouting, historically, involved non-verbal communication. Be it boys or girls, we should wo

At its core, scouting (boy or girl, young or old, sport or military) is: observe and report. Part of the discourse over the determination of what’s required vs. what’s elective is a concern that we are replacing that core with memorize and recite. Doing so moves us off brand.

@Scouterlockport, the negative effect is that an Eagle-required badge takes up the time that an Eagle-bound scout might use to earn an elective badge. This reduces the diversity of experience that we expect of our youth who earn Eagle. FYI, at one time, First Aid MB was required for 1st class rank. Pushing it back to Eagle necessitated more components of it to be explicit requirements on the trail to 1st class.

@Ojoman, do you know what tipped BSA to change its attitude towards scouts and scouters with a permissive sexual ethic? This clip from our president Titular power is quite real. And the fact that no POTUS has issued an opinion on co-ed scouting, nor has congress made a non-binding resolution in favor of it ... that should speak volumes to your scout. Politicians have gladly done photo-ops with our female scouts, but they have not asserted that co-ed is or is not the way BSA should go. A few years ago, I made a rough calculus (too lazy to dredge the post and link it) that fo

As to "why", DuctTape shared the link to our discussion. Our scouts who have taken it so far enjoyed it. I'll opine no further.

Strangers on the internet… great shoulders to cry on. Tell your CC that it’s time to start the search for your replacement. Before passing the patch, you want to get one or more of these great parents trained … possibly including Wood Badge or Powderhorn. That takes time. Keep working for smiles.

Define “other countries” the largest organizations (India, Indonesia) are segregated. Some of the fastest growing (Pakistan) are unisex. Some of the slowest growing or declining (like ours) are facing negative growth. The most successful associations with blended organization are that way because their royals insisted it be so. Scouts UK has only just recovered its losses in male membership after decades of decline. And that was a result of a concerted effort of their leaders of Girl Guides insisting that everyone play nice. So, why should a girl AOL lack a troop to crossover? Two causes:

Or, this painting might have have caught his attention at one time.

I’ll should wait for part 2. But what you’ve recounted so far emphasizes the importance of two-deep leadership and no one-on-one contact, and the difficulty ensuring it every minute of 240 hours of summer camp.

Good luck. I’ve worked with committees faced with these kinds of decisions where every solution sounds like a bad one.

I’ve known scouts who finished their Eagle advancement while in juvenile detention. So I’m quick to say anything’s possible. But … When a seasoned scouter has his doubts, it’s time to ask hard questions. What will a Lone Scout program offer the scout that he may not already have via his treatment program? Are you sure nobody in your council is trying a scouting program for kids with behavior disorders? There’s no boiler-plate. So, you need to find the scouters in your council who may handle a program specifically for this. This is one of those situations where a note to your SE might

All minus most equals some of our scouts carrying for the rest of us. For a few years, Buttercup was the troop song. And no, it was not great. Then one choir boy decided to take the lead by opening with that guttural “Why do you …” just like on the record. All of summer would be up and dancing at evening campfire. The Good Book says “Make a joyful noise …” no mention of tonality.

I can’t even believe I’m about to say this … … make peace with the electronics. The boys in my troop become singing fools when they start streaming old-school pop tunes. I constantly remind them that I loath whatever the tech name is for their pathetic excuse for a boom box, but I’ll abide it as long as I hear their voices rise above in passable melody.

I like how you are thinking. Don’t send 1st and 2nd year scouts on HA’s. Really and truly, you want your HA contingent to have first class skills and to be practicing them throughout the year. That includes teaching them to 1st years at summer camp. In fact younger scouts see a good role model as older scouts prepare for HA. (E.g. you all are basically in the one-hike-a-month club until you go to Philmont.) So, the ideal solution is that your “elite 8” attend summer camp as well as the HA. Is there anything getting in the way of you doing that?

Your mental gymnastics could come back to bite … Philmont trek is a series of overnights interrupted by hikes with full packs. Seabase sailing adventures is a series of overnights interrupted by rolling up your bunk, stowing it in the hold, and snorkeling reefs or touring islands. We could say the same for extended adventures with dog sledding, cross country skiing, or circus caravans. Look, let’s clear all of the machinations off the table and do what this forum prattles on incessantly about doing. Be boy led. Have the scout read the requirements, look at his campin

Asked and answered here: https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/06/24/ask-expert-isnt-camping-night-camping-mb/ Wade through the myriad comments, if you dare.

I always believed the philosophy was to provide scout's fellows a sufficient amount of overnights with the troop on which to judge the candidate's merits. More nights throughout the year = more data points. Since the canoe trip was a troop excursion and not some big-ticket provisional HA, it would mean the lad's character was manifest to the rest of your scouts on that trip. If he was a saint to scouts on land where you all were watching, but a jerk in his boat every time you adults were around the bend, he won't get elected.* If your boys are like mine, word gets around if one scout made

If the registrar make this a "hang-up", it's the fault of adults. The scout's application would not be rejected. An appeal to National would come down in favor of the scout. Again, this is where getting to know your advancement chair comes in handy.

What is the "overall budget of the organization" when the organization offloads stewardship of it's resources (meeting space, equipment, and a boatload of management onto COs and volunteers? If council-owned troops become increasingly popular, there will be budgets will increase and the SE's pay as a percentage of that budget will decrease, even if actually salary remains constant. SE's get compensated well when a lot of other people do work for the council for little or nothing.