SSScout

Official Centennial Jamboree Absorbine Jr.... Official Centennial Jamboree Gold Bond ... Official Centennial Jamboree Ivory Soap, Official Centennial Jamboree UA, Official Centennial Jamboree Desitin, Official Centennial Jamboree Terracil, Official Centennial Jamboree Tinea cruris...

The Cast: a Promoter, an "Ugly Man" under a big box or blanket, a "Fall Guy" (either prearranged so no one is hurt, or someone deserving of embarrassment. It is good to know FG hasn't seen this skit before), some off stage voices, and two or three Stooges. Promoter comes in leading the UM, under his blanket or box. P speaks: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am PROUD to present for your edification and enjoyment, the UGLIEST MAN IN THE WORLD!!! He is SO ugly (voices off stage ::HOW UGLY IS HE??), that the army uses him to test the courage of their soldiers! He is SOOOO ugly (HOW UGLY IS HE??), that his momma used to tie a pork chop to his neck so the dog would play with him! Yes, he is SOOOO ugly (H U I H??), the National Institutes of Health once considered using him as the National Ugly Standard!! etc. ((lay it on thick)) "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I challenge anyone in this audience to gaze upon his visage, if you dare! You sir! Will you dare to look at him?" First Stooge: "I'm the bravest man here!" ((he strides proudly up, peeks under the blanket, and runs screaming from the stage, into the woods)). P: "All right, who's next?" S#2: "Aww, it's a bunch of hooey, It can't be that bad, I don't think anyone could be THAT ugly, it's a trick, it's a... "((he peeks under the blanket and faints dead away, falls on the floor)). P: ((proceed as above, as many times as seems necessary. Then, the Fall Guy is brought up)) You, Mr. Scoutmaster! You're the bravest man we know! Won't you look at this poor creature and prove everyone wrong? Come on, it's important for our Scouts to have faith in their leaders...!! (etc.). ((Mr. Fall Guy eventually comes up. If FG#1 refuses, choose another.)) (( When FG peeks under the blanket, the UM jumps up and runs screaming from the stage...)).

Ask around ( UC, DE, local SMs, school counselor, principal) for someone who tells a good story. An Indian story or Jungle Book story. There are lots of "moral" stories that when told well will hold a Cub's rapt attention. The story teller will probably ask the boys to gather 'round on the floor, and the 5 or ten minutes they take telling one or two stories will be remembered. Aesop's Fables? Uncle Remus? Iroquois? 'Just So' stories? There are many sources available, and if your boys have never been exposed to a good "in person" story teller, they deserve it.

As I tell the folks at IOLS: "There is no food so mediocre that it can't be improved with the addition of catsup". "There is no such thing as a dumb question."

The idea of "special" patches for the "special" year is appropriate, but I agree, the pdf pictures are TOO blatant. I would favor the "usual" designs with a special color border (?gold?), and much smaller (if any) lettering. Is it too late to ask for NO plastic on the back? Makes it harder to sew on. And BadgeMagic sticks better to pure cloth rather than plastic.(This message has been edited by SSScout)

Try to find "Matching Mountains with the Boy Scout Uniform" by Edward F. Reimer, 1929 E.P.Dutton & Co., N.Y. History and insignia of that day.

My coolest thing is being recognized , say, in a local store by a Scout as the man with the bugle, or a Cub from Day camp will introduce me to his mom. But my pal Ted has , I think, the "coolest" story. At the CSDC we worked, Ted and I did Scout Skills, and presented the morning skit. We were doing Lewis and Clark that year. Ted assumed a cartoon french accent as his schtik:"huh, huh, huh, yo' tie ze knot lika zis huh, huh, huh!" and he adopted the voyageur attitude, (if there is one). Months after camp, he told me he was in the local Safeway when a little kid walks up to him, points at him, says "Huh, huh, huh!!!" and runs away! Now THAT is making an impression!

Recommend Bill Mauldin's ""Up Front"" and ""Back Home"".

KiS MiF for all parts of the R/T. Everyone starts out in one room for opening, general announcements and then CS go to one room, VS to another and (usually) BS stay in the big first room. CS "breakout" is run like a Pack Meeting,next months theme used as a start, cheers, den activities, beads awarded for "advancement" etc. Cub activities demonstrated, skits practiced. BS might have a camping demo (biscuit donuts in the parking lot), types of tents discussed, MBfeatured, a special speaker does a slide show about Philmont. VS talk, mostly about trip and adventure planningtrips. Might have a joint meeting to discuss/demo Whitlin'/Totin'Chip, or Astronomy MB and BL. DO NOT make it a lecture series....

I think this is a neat idea. Instead of "printed material", could they not reprint the original MBBook? I'm wondering if these will have the "original" requirements or if they will be "modernized"? I talked to a contractor/builder at our Troop meeeting tonite about being a carpentry MBCouselor, he said he wouldn't know how to hold a hand tool, all he uses are power saws, drills, nailers, etc. "County Farm Agent", also called the "Extension Agent" contact your State University, they usually operate out of that. And your local 4H or County Fair should know. -.--,---,..-,.-.,...,..,-.,,...,-.-.,---,..-,-,..,-.,--.,,

Let's not say "Kill the Thread", Let's say "Time, gentlemen" And remind each other that, as in the bar you met your buddies in in younger days, "you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here". Action appropriate and approved. And there's always another distending discussion around the corner.

Are they required to wear helmets?

Or maybe Way Out West, or Saps at Sea. Or A Night at the Opera....

I favor broadening their horizons alittle. They'll see Up and the rest at home or in the theater. Be adventurous. Second Hand Lions is very good: adventure, love and loyalty, bad guys lose, good guys win and it's a boy who wants to be a Scout!. A Laurel and Hardy or Marx Brothers flick (Music Box or At the Circus). Introduce them to the classics, if you can get a good copy of Max Fleischer's "Gulliver's Travels" (1939!) there are nice restorations available, my Cubs loved it (now that was 12 years ago, in Video tape!). Bus ride with a movie. Captive audience...

Orthopaedic surgeons on helmet use: http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00425 Irish sport of "hurling" now requires helmets: http://www.brainandspinalcord.org/blog/2010/01/06/hurlers-required-to-wear-helmets-to-help-prevent-brain-injuries/ On the other hand, statistics tend to show that cycling is safer than walking. Do we wear walking helmets? http://blogs.ft.com/undercover/2008/07/should-we-cyclists-bother-to-wear-helmets/ Anyone seen "Sleeper" lately?

It is exciting, no doubt. And I have to agree there are better ways to spend our dues/donations/endowment. Safe camps? Rebuild camps? Preserve property? Just took title to 10,000 acres in WVA for a Jamboree/high adventure site. Must be lotsa naming rights therebouts, huh? "Coca Cola White Water Rapids". "Burger King Dining Hall". "First Alert Campfire Circle". "Viers Paving Memorial Driveway". "Kaiser Permanente Health Lodge". "Weyerhauser Nature Lodge". "Jinsu Axe Yard". Every time the Jamboree comes around, Car companies "donate" vehicles and then at the end, Jamboree sells them. Maybe Jamboree could GIVE them to deserving Councils or camps for staff use? Could National give local Councils low cost/no cost loans if the council is in financial straits to help fix things up? Course, now, if we could make that racer a Pioneering/Farm Mechanics/Chemistry/Composit Materials/Engineering/Automotive Maintenance/Metalwork/Traffic Safety/Truck Transportation Merit Badge project, that might make it worth while. Can an Offie be lashed to an oak frame and ... Where's Andy Granatelli when you need him?

Yeah, like the boy is going to want to do three ranks at once. CNY, Which type A parent is interested in this? Had a Cub in the Pack I commish. CM asks me (in October)if they could award this Cub his Wolf from the previous year, because his Den Leader had ceased being DL and did not get a chance to sign off on the boys requirements. The new DL (now Bear Den) said that the parents had approached him with this. The previous DL had signed off on the other boys' req's before the year was up, and had promised (so said) to sign off the Cub's req's before the turn of the school year, but didn't before he/she left. I said I saw no reason to penalize the Cub for an adults lapse. If the DL and parents (Akela) and CM were satisfied he had met the req's, award him the rank, postdated if you will. Then too, I guess that wasn't really "working" on a younger rank...

" Doesn't matter what happens to you . Therefore, I want the absolute worst thing to happen to you if you have an UNINTENTIONAL event. No need for padding or knee pads or helmets, they just impede your motion and don't allow the wind in your hair. Please go for the 4 diamond slope , cut close to the tree line, mogul, rad it, and generally raise your adreniline level. Don't worry. go fast." "I love you. Please train and practice and gradually increase the challenge you face so you can meet those challenges with skill and take pride in your accomplishments. Oh, just in case some UNINTENTIONAL event happens, wear the pads, the helmet, the knee pads 'cause ya never can tell when a loose patch of ice may come up, or some other fool cuts across your line, or a misplaced piece of lift tower appears closer to your cut than you thought.I know you don't need to worry about the PLANNED stuff. It's the UNPLANNED stuff we wear helmets for. Have fun."

"it's not a rule, it's only a guideline". No, it's a rule, now. If we didn't love you, it wouldn't be a rule. We learn and get better as we get older. Barney Oldfield didn't use seatbelts when auto racing was invented, but he invented the rear view mirror to increase his chances of surviving AND winning. Bet Jacky Ickx and Jimmy Stewart and all the Gordons and Eckharts are glad to wear helmets and seatbelts now. Same with helmets in ALL sports. It's not wimpy, it's smart. It's an advantage. You might like the feel of the wind in your hair, but you'd like the feel of asphalt in your scalp less, hence helmets for biking; both motor and pedal. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/19/ski.safety/index.html Hit your head once, you never have to do it again. It took a long time to see the advantage of the helmet. High iron workers, football players, Delta Force, deep sea divers, motocross, skateboarder. My son rode his bike across the street to a neighbors house. Riding back he slipped, the bike went one way, he went the other. He walked back home the 300 yards, met me in our driveway(I was washing the car and had not seen what happened) and asked me where had he been? We were at the emergency room for about three hours while he was diagnosed with a "possible" concussion (nothing showed on the scans). He is a believer now if he wasn't before, and will ALWAYS wear the helmet ANY time he is on the bike. Next months Troop ski trip? Helmets are on his mind...and around it! "you only need it once...which once?"

Bike helmets are still a good idea for snowsports, even if you are not an "Xtreme" boarder. If the Bike helmet was properly fitted to begin with, take out some of the sizing pads, and wear a wool watch cap. Don't forget the goggles. Wear it square on the head, not on the back, in a "cool" manner. Snug up that chin strap. I would tell them the same thing I tell my son when he is bike riding; "You only need the helmet once. Which once is it going to be?" And then we remind each other of the demonstration we watched of a melon being only dropped from 5 feet up, onto a dirt floor (not concrete!), and then thinking about adding some velocity to it, and snagging a rock "just by accident".

I'll not waste the space with the whole poem, but, Lonescout, I recommend to you a bit about "Tommy Atkins" by Rudyard Kipling: http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Kipling/Tommy.htm The homeless are not only one type of person. Each are made needy by their own history, and only that history can be blamed for that person's trouble and particular need. Safety issues can be met, Scouts can learn from example and lesson. The church can follow it's ministry. I see no real conflict. Communicate your concerns, solve the problems. Serve both the youth and the troubled adult.

Maryland has no fewer than 6 BSA Councils delineated within its convining boundaries. Pg.32... *sigh*(This message has been edited by SSScout)

"...Aw, Red, why would a mother try to starve her own son..."

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Sorry, multiple posts for some reason...(This message has been edited by SSScout)(This message has been edited by SSScout)