scoutingagain

Well since this thread has wandered sufficiently and I'm too lazy to go back and find OGE's original thread on the cost of gasoline I'll post this here. Bottom line is world wide energy demand is high and there are no short term ways to meet demand, so prices keep going up. SA From Business Week Online Oil Prices Could Get Even Worse Tuesday August 10, 8:12 am ET When will the world get a break from oil prices that seemed unimaginable a few years ago? Not anytime soon, analysts believe. If anything, the upward march seems to be gaining momentum, with U.S.

Yes this was not an easy badge to get. As I recall the prone and kneeling positions were not too bad, but the standing position was the tough one. It was also expensive, as we had to pay for the rounds we used in practice and the rounds we used to shoot for completion of the badge. When I took this badge at summer camp I can recall spending most of the week at the rifle range. I did not know the requirements had changed that much. I tend to agree with FOG that overall there has been a deterioration in the level of expectations for some badges and requirements for advancement.

Just food for thought within this thread. I read this weekend about a website called Faith-o-matic or some such name. Apparently you can answer a questionnaire on your particular faith and values and the site with assign you to one of 2000 religions, including 500 different denominations of Christianity, based on your responses. I wish I could remember the name and pass it on, but I was struck by the number of different religions it claimed, although I believe atheism was included, so there may only really be 1999 religions if atheism is not really a religion. SA

"So off to lunch. If I'm lucky, it being Friday and all, there will be a guy in a dark suit on the sidewalk near the place where I'll get a cinnamon you-know-what. And as usual, he'll be standing on a milk crate, waving his Bible and yelling at passersby. At midday...in a dark suit...in the summer...in the South. Not very smart. A few of the passersby will yell back at him. As long as that guy doesn't harm anyone (the stores think he's hurting business) he's free to do this, or if he choses, kneel in silent prayer (better for business, I suppose). There is nothing stopping private or public

Scoutldr, you are correct. It is the behavior, not the orientation that I believe the Catholic Church believes to be immoral. OGE, I feel bad about your experiences and do not mean any disprespect to you or other Catholics. FOG, while we don't live in a perfect world, I believe the principles outlined in the G2SS, and the training provided to leaders and youth dramatically minimize the potential for abuse and if applied outside of scouting, whether at church, sports, or in the neighborhood would go far to help protect children from sexual predators. In scouting I believe the typ

It is amazing that this topic keeps comming up and the same arguments are presented over and over again. But I can't help myself either... For those that feel their sons are safer in an organization that does not allow "avowed homosexual" adults as members, I believe that none of the adult to child/juvenile sexual abuse cases that occurred in the Catholic Church system were committed by "avowed homosexuals". To my knowledge, Catholics believe homosexuality to be immoral and do not allow "avowed" homosexuals to be members of the clergy. A position similar to the BSA's on it's adult

Thanks for a great lesson guys. Scouting Again

VentureScout, Glad to hear you had a great time. Don't say I did't warn you about the climb though. Regarding the Old Man. A great quote attributed to Daniel Webster goes, "..."Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men." SA

I can't say which knot is most useful. As a sailor, I use the bowline and figure 8 knots most often. Sometimes a clovehitch. As a camper, I most often use two half hitches or a clove hitch. With the prevalence of tent slides, I don't use a taut line hitch much anymore. As far a references go I don't have much. If I have a question on one of the basic knots, I usually track down my son's BS Handbook. SA

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER! Give me a break. Maybe this was the post Hops was refering to about name calling. SA

We use the Myers-Briggs system in some management training classes. I'm an INTP. SA

One of my dad's first jobs he had after he came back from WWII and went to college on the GI Bill was at a Boy Scout Camp for the summer. He was never a scout. As his sons came of age in the 60's he made sure we all signed up as Cubs and then onto Boy Scouts. He participated as a Committee Member, Ass't SM and eventually did a couple of years as Scoutmaster. Fast forward 30 years and my own sons become eligible for membership and I ask them if they are interested in Cubscouting. We had always done a lot of outdoor activities and both enjoyed the cub scout experience. My older son lo

You never heard of the 150 miler award on an overnighter? I admitted they had some usefulness. I'm just one of those folks that don't get along well with the dang infernal things. SA

I may be wrong on this, and maybe Bob White will chime in to correct me if we're lucky, but I don't think the ban extends to snowmobiles. I'm pretty sure I can recall recent Boy's Life articles about snowmobile camping. So if an ATV event potentially interested anyone and since it's a banned activity, they may want to look into a snowmobile event as an alternative, provided appropriate supervision, training etc. is included. But, please don't take my word on this, double check on the use of snowmobiles. Personally, at this point, I'm not a big fan of these mechanized contraptions as re

Boleta, Thanks for the flashback. My last MB that I earned for Eagle was Lifesaving and it took me 12 months to do it. Just as in your case, as a 5 ft., 110 lb 14 year old, I just physically could not wrestle a 170 lb lifeguard in the water into a rescue hold and perform the in water save requirement at summer camp that year and finished with a partial. A year later, 4 inches taller, 15 lbs heavier and 12 monthes of distance running and weight training in JV Track and Field, it was no problem. Of course that was back in "Good Ole Days" of scouting when we stalked, signaled, made fir

I guess I'll jump in with my 2 cents. Before I did anything I would want to make sure it was my son's decision. Eagle in KY had a lot of good questions to consider. I would ask my son if he is still having fun? Does he think he will continue to have fun? If he joined another troop with a different approach does he think he could have at least as much fun or more fun than he's having now? Remember, fun with a purpose. Let's not mess up the fun, because we are totally focused the other reasons we want our sons to participate in scouting or because of how we're involved with scouti

Just a note to add my Thumbs Up to the choice of moderators! SA

"In light of the changes that have been made to the forum I have decided to return. " YIPPEE! SA

Our camp does not do Blue Cards either. They havn't used them apparently for years. Scouts do get a signed merit badge application form that includes the counselors signature and all the requirements for the merit badge listed. In fact, except for last year, scouts actually recieved their MBs and signed MB cards on the last day of camp. At that point the signed MB cards are documentation that the scout has earned the badge and the forms or Blue cards are moot. SA

Through the WHEELER fiasco I found myself being drawn in and posted a few items I later regretted. This time around I was more restrained in my participation but found myself strangely drawn to the ongoing train wreck in the True Religions thread. There were many very thoughtful posts and initially it was an interesting discussion of a sensitive subject that eventually deteriorated. While I did not participate that much directly I confess I found myself silently supporting certain posters versus others. However, regarding the fact that Youth members are watching and what might they

I confess I too have been following the recent activity on the forum with a mixture of amusement and dismay. I had nothing constructive to add so I havn't said much. What started out as a very thoughtful discussion of the role of religion in scouting turned rather nasty to say the least. For many of you who put thought into coherent posts, I enjoyed monitoring the discussion until things slowly slipped as one poster seem to drag the entire discussion down. I also hope both BobW and Eamonn come back and continue to add their insight. Have a good weekend all. SA

Personally I like super crunchy with honey on just about anything. Now I can remember being a freshman in college and my roomate and I purchased the largest tub of super crunchy generic brand PB we could find. It must have been at least a couple of gallons. Never refridgerated it and it lasted the better part of the semester. It was eventually consumed by the 20 guys housed on our wing. SA

CaveEagle, The schedule we did last year for a similar 4 day trip was: Arrive Thursday Afternoon, Went to the visitor centor and electric map. This gave us all an overview of what we would see the next few days. Did the Historic Town Walk Thursday Evening. (Note it's much more than a walk, we didn't finish until about 10:30pm) Friday, we did the 10 mile trail and that evening the pool at the Y. Saturday we did the Johnny Reb trail in the morning and the Cyclorama and Eisenhower Farm in the afternoon. (That night we were treated to a fireworks display over the Bat

In another thread we had a relatively in depth discussion on BSA governance and who has a say in what. From that discussion I got the impression that volunteers and scouts have very little say in what goes on beyond the unit level. If you want to influence the program beyond the unit level you need to involve the chartering organizations. Get Charter Organization Reps and the Charter Organization Institutional heads to speak up. My bet is they are more likely to be listened to at the council and national level. Good luck. SA

TP, I have no recommendation on campgrounds but the local Y refered to in the camp literature for showers has an excellent swimming pool with a lifeguard available. When we went we rented the pool for an hour at $60.00 instead of paying $2.00 per scout for a shower. It was a little more $$$ but the pool was worth it. We still got showers. They also have the largest hot tub spa I've ever seen, and it is restricted to adults. It felt like heaven after the 10 miler. SA