Trevorum

SM conferences were one of my very favorite parts of being SM. I let the fellows know that conferences were always available on campouts. This was my preferred location. I would never do conferences during meetings. If a fellow needed a conference and missed a campout, I'd usually invite him over to my place on a Sunday afternoon. Usually we'd sit in lawn chairs under a big ol' pecan tree. For one especially active fellow, we actually held the conference up in the tree.

SA, Well said, and succinctly.

"What's going on here?" A good question John. I'll take a stab at answering. In my opinion, the BSA has aligned itself with intolerance by establishing membership criteria that discriminate against otherwise fine people who just happen to be homosexual or who don't believe in supernatural religions. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, such religious and sexual intolerance was considered to be a virtue. These days however, such intolerance is widely seen as an embarassing and archaic character flaw.

I love hot rock cooking! And, more importantly, so do the scouts! Depending on your local geology, the fellows especially like looking for their own griddles while on a short hike. The rock needn't be large. My personal favorite is hot biscuits for breakfast. Fast, easy, and unbelievably delicious when cooked on a hot rock. Important: as suggested, avoid sedimentary rocks whenever possible (they tend to absorb water more easily) and never use wet or damp rocks. I've seen wet limestone explode like an IED.

(Now that I changed the above post, I thought it best to change this post as it related to the post I deleted, Trev didn't say anything bad) OGE (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

Echoing Lisabob: Me: "Son, I really wish you wouln't use that kind of language. It's crude and offensive to many people." Son: "Oh dad, that is so gay." Me: "Huh?"

shortridge is right. But I think that's sorta cool. And all the more reason to be trustworthy, courteous, cheerful, etc.

An Eagle from our troop, now away at college, just today sent me a FB private message requesting a letter of recommendation. The request is not unusual of course, but he sent it through FaceBook, where I can fully see his life, his friends, his conversations. I find that extraordinarily interesting, and relevant to the current discussion thread. I've followed his crazy college antics on FB somewhat - which are just crazy college antics and nothing he'd be embarrassed to show his mom. I'm very proud of this young man and I am honored that he trusts me enough to request a recommendation through FB.

OK, how about this: God save us from True Believers who are utterly convinced that their religion is the one and only True Faith, who have no tolerance for other people who don't believe in the same way, and who are perfectly willing to resort to hatred and violence to achieve their goals.

God save us from religion.

So if I look into my crystal ball at the year 2100 and see an America that is prosperous, vigorous, just, and democratic, but is predominantly Islamic, that is a bad thing???? Why?

I'm FB friends with about 30 of the fellows/gals in our troop and crew. I don't write on their walls very often but it is nice to know what they are up to other than on Monday nights. Most of the fellows are pretty savvy about the public nature of their cyberstuff. However, last November one fellow posted some nasty racist comments about Mr. Obama and I dropped him a private message reminding him of the 5th point of the Scout Law. I think he was startled to realize that an adult in the troop could actually read his FB page. He seems to have cleaned up his act since then.

I must have missed something here. Why is it "clear that western nations need larger families"?

Be careful of Judeo-Christian biases. Not all belief systems presume an "Almighty" or a "creator".

Well, I don't know about you OGE, but I haven't skinned MY knuckles lately.

Speaking only for myself, I am very, very glad that each and every one of my ancestors successfully reproduced!

A candidate is not actually an Eagle until National approves the paperwork.

Thanks, I hadn't seen that earlier thread. I'm sure this is all part of the same reorg, but that thread had no discussion about the working committees and subcommittees. Neil, do you have any insights?

Does anyone have any background information on the recent reorganization of national committees and sub-committees (oops, make that "task forces")? All organizations like to reorganize now and then, but I am wondering about the reasons for this one.

From Anthro 101: BAND LEVEL HUNTING-GATHERING You discover two cows. You kill them both and share the bounty with everyone you know, feasting for weeks. You then start searching for another cow. INCIPIENT DOMESTICATION You have two Aurochs. They kill your father's brother and escape. Trying to keep dangerous wild animals was his idea anyway so you go back to hunting. TRANSHUMANT PASTORALISM You have two cows. You move them, yourself, your entire family, and everything you own to greener pastures. Repeat. CHIEFDOM You have two cows. You milk one and give the other to the paramount chief. When a flood destroys your village, he gives it back to you. INDUSTRIALIZED STATE You've never seen a cow in your entire life. At the end of working all day, you are given two pieces of paper. A man from the government immediately takes one. You exchange the other for your daily slice of cow.

Some of the finest people I've ever known have been smokers. I chose not to, but I hope some of their other qualities rubbed off on me.

A miracle is magic with a larger audience.

I just wanted to share with my friends here on Scouter.com, that this coming Saturday, I will have the distinct honor of presenting the Eagle Scout award to NINE young men from our troop. That's right - NINE! This will be the largest Eagle Court of Honor I've ever witnessed. These nine fellows joined our troop in 2002 and 2003 and have had some pretty terrific adventures together. I was lucky enough to serve as their Scoutmaster for three of those years. Look out world!

Are you implying that God has poor eyesight?

In prison, Stewart is still waiting for the rapture. Any day now...