skeptic

Event went off well; weather was almost perfect. Slept out under stars and did not have to zip the bag, yet comfortable. My boys had fun, though did not choose well in events to try; waited too long for a couple, which kept them from doing more. They are starting to act like a patrol; but long way to go. Am zonked, and will take a couple of days to recuperate. Stew turned out pretty well, but forgot to bring salt and pepper to add to taste. Campfire was impressive to start, and they retired two American flags with respect and dignity.

BS-87; you are beginning to sound like Trump. Lots of noise with NO reality. Any bets as to how long this idiotic thread will continue? Will it end up beating the infamous Eagle thread from a while back?

Desert; We cannot have open fires in our campsites, not even charcoal. They have a permit for the campfire bowl, and O.A. Dutch oven contest, or just cooking with it, has to be done on a large cement slab in the open field. I have a single burner Coleman I got to use with the dutch oven when I cannot have a fire. It works well. Am taking my #14 this time, since I am making a big pot of stew. Also will take the 12, so we can use it for heating water, and possibly other things. Last word was that we would have close to 500 this time. Will be the largest in many years for us.

Meet kids at 4PM to go to the camp. Short drive, but really slow dirt road for six miles. Still worrying about the compass course I have set up; hope to have time to recheck again. Feeding the whole group, 11 if they all show, and I have not shopped for beef (for the stew)and am in sticker shock. But got onions, celery, carrots (baby in bag), garlic, and mushrooms at the 99 Cent Store, along with 3 bags of rolls. So, that offset the meat I guess. Have to go start cutting up the beef and bagging it for the cooler. One and a half tri-tips at 2.97 a pound. With 15 events and temps in

I am beginning to really understand Diogenes now. We certainly could benefit from a truly "honest man". Someone find me a lantern.

How many of us were really "natural born"? Unless you were born at home without the aid of any doctors or medical materials, then you cannot claim to be "natural born". At least that is my definition. (;-}>

Almost forgot the lovely week I spent as a dishwasher on the night shift of a restaurant. Had to do the pots and pans, etc. Not only nasty, but saw what went on in the back of the kitchen. Quit when I came down with a fungus on my arms from the grease and filth.

Nasty dirt; cleaning Foster's Freeze every day before school or early on weekends. Especially bad was the grease disposal, smelled so bad it turned your stomach. Had a couple times where the women's restroom was the worst due to inconsiderate women leaving nasty messes. Just dirt, dirt, was road repair in the national forest; swamping grader or Cat, or putting in drainage chutes and pipes. Close behind that was working on the track crew in the open pit salt mine in the middle of the desert.

Just for info, the four noted in the 1920 report were a one reel entitled "Days of Real Sport", a two reeler named "America's Heritage" (about an Akron, Oh troop venture); these were from prior to 1919 apparently. Two more, from 1919, were "Adventures of a Boy Scout", and "Knights of the Square Table". They note that the Motion Picture Weeklies were very cooperative in featuring these films; I believe that was some kind of early distributor of short film. Ford and Goodyear were involved in at least two of these films; so if any of them still exist, the corporate historians, if they ex

Does anyone on here know much about the very early Boy Scout related films? Just received a copy of the 1920 Annual Report, and found a mention of two films that had just been released, and a note about two others from even earlier that apparently were doing well. Am assuming these films were being shown in the theaters. That was still the silent era if I remember correctly. Would be interesting to see some of those. Will have to go back and find the titles they spoke about and post them.(This message has been edited by skeptic)

And if he were listed as "white" or "Muslim", what would that have to do with anything? He "is" half white; and religious connection of a newborn has absolutely no connection to an adult over 40, other than to indicate the likely beliefs of his parents. Enough already!

Again, I am "skeptical" that much of what was the norm when I was in school would fly in today's "me first", "don't hurt my kid's feelings" society. Certainly, as far as determining my own incentive to find a better than menial job, was the fact I did menial jobs. I had my first job starting the summer after my freshman year, cleaning up Foster's Freeze before school. Had to be there at 5:30AM, and still get to school before first bell at 8AM. Did that til I graduated. In between, I cleaned motel rooms, house sat, did yard work (I lived in the desert), worked as a helper on moving vans, d

Beavah, I really do not have an answer that makes sense in today's society. Certainly something like fines for not making kids actually be in school might help; though reality is that the same people would simply ignore the fines, even if the kids are expelled. Parents that want to take a kid out for something other than doctor appointment and such, should have to request it and indicate how the student will make up the missed work; and kids should still be accountable to catch up on missed work in most instances. That is part of the problem. When I was in school, if I got in trouble there

While there is ABSOLUTELY a huge problem within our public schools, much of which can be addressed by strict policies regarding attendance, discipline, and respect, we really cannot make a fair comparison of the charter schools and non-charters within districts I don't feel. Charters are successful more because of the students attending; they are the ones whose families seem to better understand the importance of education. The support outside of school directly effects the outcome within the school. And, many of these parents directly involve themselves gratis in the functions within the s

Actually, the traditional bell curve was derived from the shape of a bell, where 5% are A's, 15% B's, 60% C's, 15% D's, and 5% F's. A variant has 20% B's and D's, with 50% C's. Of course that actuality has long ago gone by the wayside. The idea that average is normal is not acceptable anymore.(This message has been edited by skeptic)

Similar to the Rockwell ingots a while back. Now they go for substantial amounts on eBay. Take it or leave it; I will leave it.

Beavah and Pack; Thank you for clearing my "poorly stated" idea up. I agree with both of you in that regard. What I intended to say was that as earlier empires grew, they initially still focused on their central, starting point, expanding and incorporating land and people into their slave/serf/warrior systems. Those core cities became very advanced, for their period. The core also was the source for continued growth, where the funding and supplies were controlled. But, as they over extended their reach, supply lines got too long, and expansion bogged down. Eventually the malaise of too muc

It seems to me that the point is that all these previous "super powers" built their highest level of success on focusing on their own infrastructures and people first. Only when they allowed themselves to reach too far, either militarily or politically did they begin to lose their grip on success. The expense for over reaching ultimately led to the demise of their central core, and the eventual slide to mediocrity or lower; and in some cases uprisings of the the citizenry. We have all been reminded that those who forget or ignore history are doomed to failure.

Pack; am afraid that many have learned to ignore the smell; or blame it on someone or something else.

Yep; and I still have my notched stick (never really got it made into a real arrow). One notch, gotten right before the end when one of my "friends?" tricked me into a short response to a question. He thought it was funny of course; said I could not get out without at least one. But I was pushing sixteen then, so think I handled it well (he was able to get up; just kidding).

Personally, I would not be averse to having us go back to the time when we were not the defender (supposedly, but really a lot of political economics involved) of the world; where our assistance to other countries, especially developing countries, was limited to the lend a hand mode; where our priorities and financial resources (of the government) were used to improve our own country's infrastructure and schools; where rights were not so skewed to the "me/mine" idea. Many of our problems today are directly related to the very thing Eisenhower warned against. Add the oil, pharmaceutical firms

Speaking of arrows. We old guys went through Ordeals where they notched your candidate arrow/stick if members decided you were not meeting the candidate challenges. In our lodge, five notches resulted in likely failure of the induction, though I think they had an appeal process. It occasionally became a problem if not properly overseen by fair minded adults; but rarely did it lead to a real blackball. Yet, that was the main reason the tradition was eliminated. Not sure they accomplished much by doing it, as it contributes to the idea that there are really no consequences to breaking or be

It is interesting to see how broad the project development and completion process can be. Ultimately, it is a very subjective evaluation, but basically will end up with a minimum hour level of 50 to 100 on average. A few will fall lower, either due to poor record keeping (not counting prep hours completely, or forgetting to log scouts); an absolute minimal, rush project; or a super organized scout with the ability to get good production with small resources. Then there are the "super" projects that seem to multiply exponentially as they progress, ending up with far more hours than would hav

Beavah; I think we know the answer to your last question.

Yes, I have to agree with Desert; when electing actually was choosing someone the troop felt really deserved it. Many probably never even know that at one time there were limits on how many eligible could be elected based on how many met the minimum requirements and also on the size of the unit. And if I remember correctly, a scout only had one vote, not one for each eligible candidate. And of course, there were actual "tap outs", and the Ordeal was far stricter in holding candidates to the challenges. I was a Life scout and 15 when I was tapped out. It really meant more then I think.