qwazse

Cub scout orienteering with 1700? Wow! I mean, really, wow! Sure you could limit it to cubs, and if the #s are at capacity you may have to. But, think long and hard about this: how many AHG's have a brother or sister cub age who isn't a cub already? Nobody knows, probably. Would it be worth it to get a survey from parents of the girls with a box at the bottom: "I'd like someone to contact me about a boy I know who should join a pack."? I'm just saying, folks may fuss over opening a can of worms, but if there's leftovers to be mulched ...

V. - our scouts mix. If all the boys from a patrol were present, we couldn't fit them in one vehicle. But then, we're not that tight with the patrol method anyway. Shotgun may go to SPL in the SM's car (or crew president in mine) if there are loose ends. But I usually leave it for the youth who's willing to keep up any sort of conversation (and move the playlist along if it brings up any sort of cussin').

I'd say it varies by trip. But as a driver and participant as adult leader, I like: A map and directions on one page. Cell phone numbers of the drivers or navigators. Obedient kids, which ones decided at departure. At least one should have an MP3 player with a decent selection. An open seat or two, if at all possible. A mileage estimate that I can use on my tax returns if I forget to log it or fill up on gas after the trip.

The troop has had a youth webmaster for a few years. He's done a great job. The crew has Google-Site/Google-Group/and I use Google Spreadsheets. The youth are responsible for a Facebook group as well -- that is turning more into an alumni association. While we're jawing about this ... do any of you all know if there is any way to make unit tools on myscouting.org link with anything else? For example can I embed that calendar into a website?

Well, there is some method to only fiddling with your roster at the end of the year. Boys quit in January, but can change their mind once summer camp rolls around. Nobody needs the extra paperwork for tings like that. Anyway, it's better to have a boy tell you outright. Just put a note on your roster: "quit as of 1/8/'13 per conversation with Mr. 2C" and let your committee know. Whatever POR he's held should be counted up until that date. The OP's problem stems from a boy who considered staying active as merely keeping his name on the roster (on the troop's dime, evidently) for three straight years -- a behavior that was encouraged by the previous SM.

There is no way to know if this is a reversal in a decades-long trend. The last report of decline is 3 years old. You may wait for that statistic to be published here: http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/Abortion.htm It will take some time for the CDC to integrate Planned Parenthood's 2010-2012 numbers from those of other institutions reporting to their respective states in the same year. My bet is the trend may continue to decline, maybe level off. Regardless, PP's uptick most likely represents taking up the slack from other abortion providers who have gone out of business. Or, those other providers may be slow to report or have stopped reporting outright. However, I think it's safe to assume for every 10 scouts we serve, there will continue to be 2 who we've missed because of elective abortions. Or, phrased in economic terms implied by WE61, every couple of kids who can marginally afford make it to camp or whatever super-activity owe a debt of gratitude to a couple of kids who are no longer a burden to our society -- thanks to the brave decisions of their mums and dads. (This message has been edited by qwazse)

Don't forget positive reinforcement. If a youth patrol comes up with something fine, have a prize for "classiest camp meal of the month". It could be a kitchen tool (e.g., garlic press), a novel set of spices, or even a totem for patrol flags. Something the lion share of the boys in your group would proud of. A boy in a neighboring camp fried some asparagus one weekend and was kind enough to share some with me. (I have a knack for visiting other troops when vittles are on!) I made sure to praise him there, and when I saw him on camp staff this summer, and when I saw him out and about with his mom this fall. Likewise, when you are making your chili, be sure to ask some of the boys how they would make it differently.

Thanks for the update Guy. Nice to know the king is dead, long live the king. I'm gonna go try to polish some of the tarnish off of my bird. I sincerely think you did the right thing. Maybe the BOR saw something worth salvaging that you ignored. And maybe that's why you have no hard feelings. It's just unfortunate that the boys who put their heart and soul into your troop will probably never see it that way. Good luck if they bring it up around the next campfire. (Might be a good year to practice that 300' foot rule.)

Is there anything standard about venturing? The handbook is really useful for a youth who wants to work on awards and track his/her progress, and is more a paper person vs. digital person when it comes to looking up resources. I found the venturing leaders manual much more helpful when it came to explaining how to "be" a venturer.

And Merry Christmas to the folks who haven't bought into the Julian calendar.

There have to bee some cookies. When I took SM advanced, the orienteering guy introduced us to geocaching, the knots guy introduced us to the "taught line controversey" (there are two ways to finish it), the hiking guy introduced us to back country backpacking, the swimming guy was the aquatics director at summer camp. Sure, you can walk an adult through T2FC, but what he/she needs to really feel like a new scout is the sense that there is always something "just around the corner." Instructors who can give "peeks" at the next big thing once T2FC is accomplished are essential to this process.

Well, at least you spared me 45 minutes! I made up for it by listening to a young man who talked to me about what he learned from reading Fast Food Nation yesterday.

K. I had no idea that you had to put up with such idiocy. If I had to endure IOLS training like that, I would have spit nails.

Your pot, your time, your chili. How is this complicated? If I make it clear that I'm making bulliobase and am willing to share with any interested scouts, a "thank you, but we'll make separate arrangements" is appropriate. Suggestions that I prepare shark fin soup instead will be ignored.

Where do we learn that it is good-and-right to kill innocents if they impose on our fleeting sense of mental well-being? Ask the 50 million aborted for the sake of right to privacy.

You omit that it was in accordance with BSA policy and all legal requirements. Ask yourself why the headline wasn't "Top Executive Was In Compliance with All GA Statues When Handling Abuse". Or on a more general scale, ask yourself why you haven't seen a headline, "Thousands of Incidents of Sexual Abuse Preceded BSA's Policy Against Homosexual Adult Leaders."

Not sure about symbols, but I know that the 5 golden rings refer to ring neck pheasants. Also the total number of gifts is 364, one for each day of the year 'cept Xmas. And from my economist buddies: http://www.psfk.com/2012/11/pnc-true-cost-of-christmas-cpi.html

YPT certs came in today, with all sorts of apologies. The very last said I deserved to yell at her, I told her I would never do that. Instead I have a more devious "punishment." She gets to be the next round's training czar! Redo-ing the whole process is well and good, that's what our troop did, but that make's for one more adult application and a COR's signature to chase for each adult who decides they want back on the roster!

JB. A little bit of both ... the "once and done" mentality doesn't just apply to advancement. And it can get complicated. I'm behind re-certifying my BSA guard because of bad weather interruptions. I just haven't found time to commit to redoing those requirements, including updating my first aid and CPR. One thing slips, other things follow. The interface isn't perfect, but the leaders who through it last week showed up on my unit training report as soon as they completed the course. I have adults who experienced the problems f8033 and skeptic mentioned. I'd have no problem if someone said "found my certificate, can you swing by and get it?" Or, "I can't get this computer to work, help!" That's not what we have here.

D.R., I could probably use a little touch-up on woodcutting skills. Now that I'm older, the effects of poor posture (and poor tool maintenance) are coming home to roost! Also, true story: at my beading, the MC stuck the ax in the log, but couldn't keep the darn thing from rolling sideways nearly off the table! Nobody taught him about preparing by shaving the bark off of one side or splitting two short pieces and notching them for a stand. But, if the course did that, you bet there'd be topic in this site's side bar: Woodcutting Session I was reading through the WB horror stories, and there were a lot of complaints with that segment. I remember no issues. Some people have feelings hurt ...

call their house, go visit and wait as they complete it. Their seeing you show up at their house will help them realize how important it is. Hopefully, they won't be such a pain two years from now. I think f8033 has the answer that fits for me. Meetings haven't worked, so it's time to make house calls. It's also time spent away from the youth. What I should have done: arrange for youth to go caroling at each slacking adult's: "We wish you a Merry Christmas ... now do your YP!" Yes, I have issues with adults. And 2C has a point. This is somebody else's job. But we're dysfunctional that way. Most of my adults are pulling double shifts or holding down three jobs. (Kids in college, grandchildren to attend to, etc ...) Make's 'em scatterbrained in spite of their big hearts. I'm affected too, there's a month-overdue check for the soccer association on my breakfast nook. I guess I'll run it over tonight.

My crew's charter is not ready to be approved because two adults haven't re-updated youth protection. Plenty of repeated E-mails, phone calls, etc ... and these are very nice, generally helpful adults who offer to do anything for me. Really, if I asked them for the world in a phone call, they'd leave it at my doorstep in a minute. I've probably accumulated more time in phone calls and e-mails than the hours it would have taken them to do this course. So at this point, what would you do? Delay turning in the charter until they complete YPT? Or, drop them from the roster? (For me dropping would be problematic because one adult is the CC.) This all would be so much easier if they would just cuss at me and tell me to go pound sand ...

But, CC that may require fathers to maintain a long standing commitment to the person of the opposite sex with whom they chose to have relations. We would have to elevate the status of such a relationship, and that would slight those whose long-standing relationships have minimal risk of pregnancy.

Although I wholeheartedly agree with the "death by PowerPoint" sentiment, "real patrol" distances are more likely to engender transactions that model game theory. TGoL could be played across a football field at equal effect. Given the physical distance, one patrol may be tempted to operate at the expense of others. An SM who experiences this among fellow adults might be prepared for when it happens among youth. Or, maybe an hour spent sharpening axes and splitting wood would benefit the troop more.

The aspects of prisoner's dilemma that aren't discussed in TGoL are long term strategies. Obviously, if your cliques are all helpful, then continuing that way is a productive strategy. But, what if you have an unhelpful clique and (unlike 2C) you do care? Game theory suggests that the next most winning strategy involves all of the cliques becoming unhelpful and not attempting a mutually beneficial strategy until the belligerent clique takes a beating. (In TGoL that means everyone chooses unhelpful until the obnoxious table takes a loss by choosing helpful while everyone else still chooses unhelpful. That the signal that for the next round, everybody tries helpful. If a clique tries unhelpful again, all switch to unhelpful for the following round until that clique "pays" by signaling it's willingness to take a loss.) In a sense, this "corporate discipline" is its own kind of helpfulness, enforcing a culture of altruism. We aren't all wired one way (selfish or selfless), but we all have the ability to inculcate a spirit of increasing or decreasing altruism in others. We just have to know how to "trip the switches."