TAHAWK

Local councils to be actually run by volunteers.

1 hour ago, MattR said:

 

The underlying issue seems, to me at least, that "learning a skill" is ithe end goal. Rather than that, "using the skill" would encourage more participation, less school, and fix all the other things we don't like about merit badges. I suppose this applies to all advancement. Anyway, taking a merit badge should be the first step in doing something scoutish and not a goal in itself. I'd much rather see a patrol say "let's make a giant 8 person bike - let's take welding MB" then the usual "I gotta sign up for something at mbu and cit nation is required so I'll do that one." Making learning skills a tool to help patrols have fun would be much better. Again, there's confusion about what the goal of scouting is, especially among the scouts.

One's "learning" of a skill is only demonstrated by use of that skill.  All else is theory. YMDNV

4 hours ago, Mrjeff said:

Wow,wow,wow!!!  I couldn't agree more.   Scouting is not a classroom and is not done is a classroom setting.  Your observations are spot on.  Merit badges provide kids with an introduction to a wide world of subjects taught by subject matter experts.  These experts don't need the latest technological teaching aids.  The mb councilor covers the requirements and ensures that the scout has completed the requirements, no more and no less.  Merit badges used to require a scout to locate a councilor, call him/her and make an appointment, go to the appointment, and complete the merit badge.  Youth protection guidelines make this a little challenging,  but that's not the subject here.  This actually helped prepare the scout for real life where these skills can be applied to job applications, interviews,  and presenting material to people they may not know.  Somewhere some committee has skewed and reversed this process and has focused on the teaching aspect rather then the learning.  I don't think that one required merit badge should be offered at a merit badge university because the groups are too big and each scout can not possibly complete every requirement.  Often times a badge is awarded just for showing up. For a personal example, kids who show up with a budget earn personal management in one or two one hour sessions because the requirements are just reviewed and briefly mentioned.  I deliberately would not allow my grandson to complete this merit badge in this way.  I drove him 50 miles to a reputable councilor who had him come back 4 times,  was that was 4 100mile round trips, that's 400 miles.  He EARNED that badge.  I even heard one ASM make the statement "why bother, my son gen get all the required merit badges at merit badge university".  I also agree that PLs, ASPLs, SPLs, Troop Guides, and Instructors should be "signing the books" and they should be using the well publicized EDGE method to do it!  We need to put the outdoor world back into Scouting, get out of the classroom, and let our troop leaders LEAD and not just wear a patch.

BSA - ineptitude enthroned over Scouting.

For decades, BSA has allowed sellers to advertise non-BSA outdoor gear as "boy scout" or "scout" items, diminishing the value of the brand by waiving the trademark as an adjective applied to outdoor equipment.

Estimated U.S. deaths from communicable diseases, major causes - 2017 ( per CDC )

• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
• Influenza and Pneumonia: 55,672

Your observation on "rules" seems absolutely correct.  But the entertainment business that was and is MLB still is not, as BSA was once found to be by SCOTUS, a "religious" organization, even if some baseball players are called "gods" and are worshiped after a fashion.

I do not watch PBS and, so, have no idea what "story" Ken Burns is telling about MLB. Being a baseball fan who lived in southern California for twenty-five years, I learned the Dodger's story decades ago - primarily from Vincent Edward "Vin" Skully .   From 1973 - date, I have lived in NE Ohio and followed the Indians, saw Frank Robinson, another "first" as an MLB manager, take his first swing as Player-Manager of the Featherheads (HR), and met Larry Doby.   There are, of course,  entire "books" about baseball history, and while it might seems quaint, I read books far more than I watch TV.  Heck, I don't even have a "device" and thought for years that "WiFi must some update of Hi Fi.  😤

The troop I joined as a Scout in 1954 pre-dated BSA by well over a year and was racially and religiously integrated from 1909 forward.  That  was the rule, but there were a few exceptions in the area: a couple of Catholic troops (as the long-time Archbishop of Los Angeles,  Cardinal McIntyre , opposed Catholics being in Scouting); and all-White troops.  In those years, Japanese-American Scouts were more of an issue for racists, in California, except for the John Birch Society, whose members picketed Council HQ every Scout Week, protesting our trick-or-treating for UNICEF, the World Brotherhood Merit Badge, and "race mixing."

We heard there were  strange, racially-segregated troops in the South - that area over the horizon south of "back east."   Made little sense to us in our white, brown, black, yellow, ?? troop of 120.

As you doubtless know, female Explorers arrived in 1969 and female Venturers in 1998.  Most of the World population had not been born when BSA had no female youth members.Thank you for the offer of suds.

4 hours ago, SSScout said:

Mrjeff :   Thank you for your leadership to our youth.

By your definition, Major League Baseball (just finished watching all nine episodes of Ken Burns wonderful documentary) would never have had black players.   Women would not have the vote.  The local Boys and Girls Club would still be male only.  Sometimes (sometimes)  the "rules" of a club need to be changed for the better.  The membership of the BSA gradually over the years went from only admitting young white male humans to admitting any young human. The majority of the membership, I think, welcomed this evolving development.  Were there  "rules" about this that changed ?  Some were written and "official",  some just informally agreed to, a wink and nod agreement if you will.   But the change to the "rules" came, and for the better in my view.  

We profess to want our kids to learn the benefits of learning skills that help one survive in many different situations, gaining confidence in one's ability. The benefits of abiding by the Scout Promise and Law.  The benefits to one's self and society in general of doing things "The Scout Way."   How much better for all involved if those future citizens of America and the world are not fettered by taught/learned prejudices?  I have heard it said that every child is multi-lingual up to about age 6 months. They all initially speak the same language. And then, to quote Rogers and Hammerstein, "they've got to be carefully taught."    I believe the best thing BSA ever did was to make the only initial membership requirements  to be a breathing young human.  A belief in God? Some higher power?  Yes, that is still a worthy requirement, but I can tell you that in my years as a Scout leader and Chaplain, I have often had to  remind folks that the BSA is not by definition a "Christian" organization.  Religious, yes, but the particular faith of a Scout should never be up for discussion.  

Form another club?   Yes, that is done.  Notably the B-P Scouts and the new Vanguard Scouts of the CoJCoLDS . Join another club?   Lots of choices there... 4H,  Campfire,  GSUSA,     . Work to change the rules of OUR club?   Yes, that is also done.  Has been done.   

I hope to see you on the trail, sometime.   Socially distant, of course......  

Major League Baseball had no rule against Black players.  Rather, social pressure (racism) and an "understanding" (the "Gentlemen's Agreement") between owners of the franchised teams kept MLB Lilly White - the "Color line" for over fifty years.  MLB was actually two corporations until 2000, the National League and the American League, although they shared a common executive, the Commissioner of Baseball, from 1920 froward.

As WW II ended, Brooklyn General Manager Branch Rickey wanted to win and owned 25% of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  If other teams were so foolish as to fail to compete for Black stars, the greater fools they. 

Two teams broke the MLB Color Line in 1947 - Brooklyn , with Jackie Robinson,  already in its minor league system, and Cleveland,  with Larry Doby.  

The Owner of the Cleveland Indians in 1947, Bill Veeck, had planned to buy the Philadelphia  Phillies in 1942 and stock the team with Black players, but the Commissioner of Baseball, a  racist of the first order, saw to it that Veeck was not allowed to buy the team, preserving the Color Line.  By 1947, that Commissioner was dead, and the new commissioner had no desire to continue the Color Line, allowing Veeck to sign Doby and Rickey to promote Robinson to the Dodgers. 

By 1957, every MLB team had at least one Black player, although they were underrepresented on All Star teams for the next thirty years.

Trying to analogize the situation of the Boy Scouts of America to MLB does not seem like a good fit. 

Were does it say you must drink orange juice?  It's that last step - you must do it our way and like it - that makes me crazy.  They want more than tolerance; they want control.

For decades, the Law was exactly or substantially this:  "A Scout is obedient.  A Scout follows the rules of his family, school,and troop.  He obeys the laws of his community and country.  If  he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he seeks to have them changed in an orderly way."  

This has been changed recently on the BSA website to: "Follow the rules of your family, school, and pack. Obey the laws of your community and country."

 "Meine Ehre heißt Treue"

1 hour ago, T2Eagle said:

Our hospital system in Ohio has gone to universal masking recommendations for everyone in the building in the hospitals: visitors, non clinical workers, everyone.  Wearing a mask provides some protection from larger droplets that other people are spewing, and it protects others from you since there are lots of asymptomatic folks walking around with it.  

Wearing a mask never harms anyone, so long as you are not using up supplies that would otherwise be used by healthcare workers

Views differ. - and change.  I am nothing like an epidemiologist.  If the Battelle  fast sanitizer works and can be mass produced, mask shortages may be a thing of the past. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/29/21198715/fda-approves-battelles-decontaminate-n95-face-masks-coronavirus

The consensus may be incorrect, but it's out there:

"COVID-19 can cause a number of symptoms that may appear several days after exposure. The most common symptoms are cough, fever and shortness of breath. The virus is primarily spread by respiratory droplets transmitted via close contact (within 6 feet) with an infected person, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Respiratory droplets are produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

The increase in the general public buying surgical face masks has resulted in mask shortages for some health care workers. So should you wear a face mask to protect yourself from the virus, even if you're not sick?

"The current recommendations regarding masks are that if you yourself are sick with fever and cough, you can wear a surgical mask to prevent transmission to other people. If you are healthy, there is not thought to be any additional benefit to wearing a mask yourself because the mask is not airtight and does not necessarily prevent breathing in of these viral particles, which are very tiny," says Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist."

https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/covid-19-when-should-you-wear-a-face-mask/

How can I best protect myself?

Practice the following:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 15-20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact (within 6 feet) with people who are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Standard household cleansers and wipes are effective in cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.
• It’s currently flu and respiratory disease season and CDC recommends getting vaccinated, taking everyday preventive actions to stop the spread of germs, and taking flu antivirals if prescribed.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/landing/preparing-for-coronavirus

A Surgical Mask Won’t Help People Who Aren't Sick

For someone who is not sick, wearing a surgical mask will not be effective against the coronavirus because the main route of transmission at this time appears to be airborne. What happens is that when someone coughs or sneezes into the air, large and small droplets are formed. The larger, heavy droplets fall to the ground but smaller droplets might stay in the air for a few seconds or minutes. If someone breaths in these small droplets, they could become ill.

This does still require fairly close contact -- you have to be within 3 feet usually -- but because the droplets that stay suspended in the air are so small, they can easily pass through the pores of the mask.

In addition, as you breathe through the mask and it becomes damp, it becomes less and less useful. That is why wearing a mask out in public isn’t going to help. It is much more likely that hugging a friend or eating lunch with your neighbor would give you the kind of close contact you need to transmit the virus.

N95 Masks

The second type of mask is an N95 mask. This one has small enough pores that it does block infectious material from coming through. However, these masks must be properly fit-tested to your face to be effective. Medical professionals who use these generally have to do a yearly fit testing.

If you do not have this mask properly fit-tested, then it likely won’t fit correctly. As a result, the mask will be completely useless because even the smallest gap between the mask and your face will allow the virus to pass through. In addition, N95 masks are extremely uncomfortable and difficult to wear for long periods of time.

https://www.uhhospitals.org/Healthy-at-UH/articles/2020/03/what-you-need-to-know-about-masks-and-coronavirus

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a typical surgical mask doesn't provide the wearer with a reliable level of protection from inhaling smaller airborne particles, and it's not considered respiratory protection.

So who should use surgical masks? "The role of facemasks is for patient source control, to prevent contamination of the surrounding area when a person coughs or sneezes," the CDC reports. "Patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 should wear a facemask until they are isolated in a hospital or at home. The patient does not need to wear a facemask while isolated."

In other words, they're worth wearing if you're already showing symptoms or have been diagnosed with an illness and you want to avoid getting others sick. But regular surgical masks aren't very effective at keeping healthy people from inhaling small particles (because they don't provide a perfect seal on the face).

Another type of mask, an N95 respirator, provides a better seal and is about 95% effective at filtering out both large and small particles. These are the masks that are sorely needed among health care providers during an outbreak.

"A surgical N95 (also referred as a medical respirator) is recommended only for use by health care personnel who need protection from both airborne and fluid hazards (e.g., splashes, sprays)," the CDC reports. "These respirators are not used or needed outside of health care settings. In times of shortage, only health care personnel who are working in a sterile field or who may be exposed to high velocity splashes, sprays or splatters of blood or body fluids should wear these respirators, such as in operative or procedural settings."

Protecting the people caring for patients is vital to preventing the spread of coronavirus.

https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/surgical-masks

1. If you develop a fever or other symptoms, isolate yourself immediately from healthy cohabitants — preferably in a separate room with access to a bathroom that you and you alone will be using for the duration of the illness. 
2. If you [with symptoms] must leave the isolation area, it may be acceptable to wear a surgical mask. Wash your hands thoroughly and ensure that surfaces you come in contact with are properly cleaned and sanitized. Return to your room as soon as possible; avoid prolonged interaction (this goes for would-be caregivers as well).

Dr. David R. Price, a critical care intensivist at New York City's Weill Cornell Medical Center

But you be "people."  😁

WHO

• If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected 2019-nCoV infection.
• Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing.
• Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.
• If you wear a mask, then you must know how to use it and dispose of it properly.

Went on line to check the menu at a local Mexican restaurant a few weeks ago, and now we get constant on-line ads for vacationing in Mexico,  Artificial intelligence is pretty dim.

I looked for the menu at our local Mexican restaurant a few weeks ago (pre close-down), and now I get ads for vacations in Mexico 2-3 times a day.  Poor software.  

 The ad for a double toilet paper roll holder does seem timely.  Bernie does want a "small favor" from me - supporting his campaign.

Temporary insignia is just that -- items which were received, earned or given to a Scout, Venturer, Scouter or Venturing leader -- for participating in or service as part of a national, regional or local event or activity. It is always worn one at a time, may either be attached to or suspended from the right pocket, and the guidance is that each individual chooses which item goes there for the period he or she chooses."

 BSA Administration Manual, "Uniform and Insignia" (section 23 in 2005 version of manual, starting at page 23-4)

I apologize for lack of clarity.in my original response.  By "right side" I  assumed that you meant right pocket, as contrasted to above the right pocket.  Above the  right pocket is reserved for jamboree participation patches, interpreter strip, a a couple of other very obscure items.

They may be normal now.   They are so normal generally online, that I successfully ignore them.

I changed nothing - did nothing - and everything is back to normal.  😃

And now the policy is it's not allowed if it's not allowed, but the language of prohibition was eliminated.  Duh!  Only "should" left - not mandatory.

46 minutes ago, kmcsenior said:

My first campout as a Scout was a weekend "Jubilee Camporee" in 1960. All the Scouts in my Troop were awarded the "50th Jubilee Camporee" patch. We were told to wear it above the pocket on the wearer's right side and I saw many Scouts wear it in that location years ago.  However, the BSA Guide to Awards and Insignia only mentions wearing a National Jamboree patch in that location. 

Does anyone know who I can ask to see if I can wear it in that location? I emailed Bryan on the "Bryan on Scouting" blog but did not get a response.

Thanks a lot.

You both can and may IIRC.

Cultural appropriation:  Use of paper, gunpowder and noodles by non-Chinese.  Leaning towers outside Italy?  Pineapple, potatoes, maize, and tomatoes outside South America.  pinus sylvestris in the U.S. or Canada.  Rice in Mexico.  Opium in the Western Hemisphere.  🐽

I  still do, but only trying to get here via www.scouter.com.  If i get a link to a post, it works now.  Yay!

Roundtable

As we have no districts, the employee-run meetings have been cancelled in the Cleveland area.

On 11/19/2019 at 12:46 PM, scotteg83 said:

If Parkman is comparing it to LDS, I dont see how these two relate.

 

But it did last 106 years

And brought in $millions and millions of boys.

Re square neckerchiefs: It's not the heat it's the humidity.