yellow_hammer

acco40 said,

"Sadly, teens today don't get a chance to experience drive in theatres."

It depends on where you live...

http://captainchicken.org/usdrivein/bluemoon_al/bluemoon_al.shtml

packwife,

I don't know whether this may be the case with your son but often a boy that has been disruptive over a period of time has used up all of the patience of the adults in charge. When it finally comes to a head the adults, being human, are just not willing to listen to an explanation from the boy who just stepped on their last nerve and is having a run in with a boy that has not caused any trouble at all. It is not fair but it is understandable.

I've had to explain this to boys several times when I get conflicting stories from the two involved. When I have one boy who often hits others and one who has never hit anyone and they both say the other hit first I ask them who they would believe in that case. Sometimes it works and they get the point that if they become known as a troublemaker then they have lost thier credibility when there is trouble. I sometimes even point out that there are some boys who will take advantage of their low credibility and will start trouble with them knowing that "the troublemaker" will not be believed if an adult gets involved.

OGE,

If only you were right. I've never been on the receiving end but I've observed managers who regularly used every word imaginable in their quest to get more out of their employees through threats and intimidation. It's not as common as it used to be but there are still plenty of social misfits (sociopaths even) who have climbed their way into management positions.

Fuzzy Bear said,

"You can't really miss him."

Only if you are not looking brother.

Looking back on Camporees when I was a boy I remember the time that we won the competition and the prize was a camp stove for the troop.

I remember a Camporee when it was bitterly cold - adversity isn't much fun at the time but it makes a great story (and memory) later. You can't do much about the weather but maybe a really difficult team event would add a challenge for some scouts.

Most state or US Senators and Representatives are more than happy to get a resolution passed to recognize one of their constituents for an accomplishment. It usually only takes a phone call or email to get it done. Be sure to have ready the person's full name, address, organization, position, and a short description of the event.

He was picked by the current board - the ones who were in charge during the membership fiasco and the ill-fated attempt to sell off all of the council's current land holdings so that they could buy land from one of the executives. Maybe he won't be one of them.

What does "balanced membership growth" mean?

Having been exposed to inner city Boy Scout Troops at summer camp I sincerely doubt that the program has any affect on them at all. It appears that they are coerced into being there, have no interest in taking part in anything they don't consider fun, and are disruptive at best - criminal at worst.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't be doing something to reach out to them and help them. I am saying that the Boy Scout program assumes that there is something in a boy that you can appeal to. I don't see a foothold with the inner city boys that I have been around.

t158sm,

I went to Comer every year when I was a scout and loved it. Back then the ladder in the aquatics area still had Camp Zinn in the ladder steps. Some of my best boyhood memories are of summer camp at Comer.

I haven't been there since I was a boy but what I hear confirms your review of Comer today. In defense of the Greater Alabama Council (GAC), I'll point out that one reason that the Chocolocco Council was absorbed into GAC was because they had been running deeply in the red for several years. GAC had to absorb that debt along with the responsibilities for Comer.

The story I've heard about the pines is that a storm took out many trees and then the camp ranger was overzealous in efforts to control pine beetles. Unfortunately, it will take many years to recover from this dumb mistake.

The Greater Alabama Council is good at coming up with big plans but gets a failing grade on execution of everything I have seen them do with the exception of the University of Scouting. It is obvious that GAC's priority is raising money and making political points. Programs for the boys are somewhere down the list. If this were not so then they would have fewer pretty buildings and a knock-your-socks-off program at Comer.

If it makes you feel any better I can attest to the fact that they lose the paperwork of units within walking distance of their headquarters. I'm in the Birmingham area and in the years I've been involved with Scouting as an adult I've only had one person at GAC headquarters respond to an email or return a phone call. It's not just you guys far from the flag pole, they spread the indifference close to home as well.

The article said,

"They could be stepped on, run over with a car or dropped and they would still work fine," Reber said.

These things won't be truly field tested until my son gets his hands on one. They boy could tear up an anvil with a rubber hammer.

Here is a good site with information on survival equipment and personal locator beacons (PLB): http://www.equipped.org/

This forum has gone to the birds.

August 19 has been declared Scouting Awareness Day in Alabama. All scouts and scouters are encouraged to conduct highly visible projects while in uniform to promote awareness of scouting across the state.

Here is the website: http://www.alabamascouter.org/

For the Girl Scouts February 22 is World Thinking Day in honor of LBP and his wife.

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/February/worldthinkingday.htm

BTW, it's also George Washington's birthday so there may be a conflict.

JenBurnette and t158sm,

I grew up way out in Alabama - the southwest end of Talladega county on Lay Lake. A few people called coke dope there and fewer still these days but I occaisionally still hear it from country folk around home and in Clay county.

Eamonn said,

"...never heard of dope."

It's a reference to the fact that they used to put a bit of cocaine in the recipe back in the old days.

Onehour's driving tip reminded me of another...

Don't expect people to signal turns. If you see someone with their turn signal on it only means that the car was that way when they bought it.

[it's not really true but fun to repeat.]

Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell.

Having been to Florida, you have an idea of what it will be like in Georgia. Unless, of course, you spent all of your time around Orlando. In that case you have no idea.

Sounds like you are going to a coastal area of Georgia. People who live on the coastal plains of southern states are flatlanders. The people who live right on the coast are a bit different than the rest of us but I doubt that even they have squid for breakfast regularly. Flatlanders are the stereotypical southerners. Flatlander is determined by where you are from in Georgia. Being a peach is a state of mind and too difficult to describe. Rest assured you'll know one when you meet one. Your acquaintance may very well be a peach as well as a flatlander.

Once you get off of the coastal plans you may notice that people are more like the stereotypical redneck or hillbilly. (I'm in this group so save your flames folks.) It may not be apparent to visitors but there is a distinct difference between rural highland southerners and true hill folk of the appalachians.

Hot sauce is only de rigueur in Louisiana. Elsewhere it is a personal preference. For the most part the hot sauces you will be served are in the mild and medium category (by my standards).

This time of year you will have two kinds of weather in Georgia. Hot and damn hot. Luckily, you'll generally have a breeze on the coast. Take it as easy as possible the first three days while your body acclimates. Drink lots of water and teach all of your scouts to observe the color of their urine to judge whether they are drinking enough.

Be cheerful and willing to laugh at yourself and any dumb things you might say will go right on past every normal person. Most of us like to be asked about the things we say and never give much thought to because everyone else says them. It's fun to teach people from other places what a frog strangler is, what wherebouts means, the correct usage of yall, etc.

Here are a few starters. Like can mean something close to nearly as in "I like to have missed the boat." The phrase "fixin to" means that you are just about to do something, "I'm fixin to eat me some squid." Coke/cocola/dope is used to refer to any carbonated soft drink, "You want a coke?" "Yep." "What kind?" "Dr. Pepper." is a common conversation. (I'm serious!) Carts at the grocery store are called buggies. Yonder means something like there. Reckon means something like think. That should get you going.

The bugs on the Georgia coast are as big as the bugs in Florida but you won't notice them much because of all the gnats. If you eat outside get used to eating gnat-flavored food.

Fuzzy Bear said,

"Church people are the happiest because another child of poverty is alive and well, so marriage at 12 is exactly what the anti-abortion crowd has longed for all of these years."

As a church member who is pro-life I take offense to this statement. It is slanderous and pure fabrication. Most of us try to maintain a civil tone in these debates - your statement is over the top.

I propose that church members today make the best of a bad situation. If the young lady decides against abortion and stays involved in church then they are willing to accept her and her child in the spirit of Christ. It has nothing to do with a secret conspiracy to lower the legal age for marriage.

SaintCad said,

"a) It will not do any business with a corporation unless it supports Boy Scouts? (sounds like Fascism)"

I got tired of the silly Fascist charges years ago. Please, you can do better.

Fascists took control of all means of production, dismissed democratically elected parliaments, and forced children to join the Hitler Youth and Italian Fascist Youth organizations or face punishment. The differences between that and what we are discussing are light years apart.

Some tips on this...

Take the bags out when the eggs look done and squish them a second time. Gloves help with this. Otherwise you will have runny eggs.

Don't cook cheese with the eggs it makes a gooey mess. Put the cheese on top after the eggs are on the plate.

Squeeze out most of the air in the bag but not all of it. If the bag sits on the bottom of the pot the plastic may melt. You want it to float around and touch the pot as little as possible.

Unless you enjoy instigating chaos and confusion, a shapie to put names on bags is essential equipment.

SR540Beaver has broken the code on these guys. They are for the most part entertainers, O'Reilly included.

But I really don't see what the big deal is - he got his history facts wrong or misspoke. It is a historical fact that there were prisoners shot on both sides.

SR40Beaver said,

"Oh yeah, the neocons have hijacked the Republican party and are trying to push a religious agenda."

You've got your conservative groups mixed up. Neocons push for greater military funding and greater use of the military to mold the world in their image. As a group they don't care much about social issues.

Novice Cubmaster said,

"The anti-gay marriage faction would have a much stronger leg to stand on if overall heterosexual behavior was more moral. People in glass houses..."

So true and so sad. Personally, I don't live in a glass house. I've been married nearly 20 years to the same sweet wife (opposites attract) and intend to stay that way.

"Since religion & morality are so tightly bound, I don't know that our diverse society can come up with a more uniform stance on gays, premarital sex, abortion, etc.. But I hope that someday society in the US might at least arrive at a national sense of what constitutes responsible behavior - especially in regards to having and raising children. And frankly, personal responsibility would fix a lot of other problems in this country."

I think that we agree more than we disagree. I think it boils down to this: I think that allowing same sex marriage would make a bad situation worse. You think that it couldn't be more broken so we might as well allow it. Is the glass half full or half empty? Being an engineer, I think the glass was designed incorrectly - it's twice as big as it needs to be. ;-)

"PS- It's a pleasure to exchange ideas with you. There's no substitute for politeness & civility."

A Scout is friendly, courteous, and kind.

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Lisabob,

As one member of the "socially conservative base" I recognize when I am being pandered to and react accordingly, with disdain.

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Fuzzy Bear,

Admit it - it's just plain fun. Pointless, but fun.

This is the same Bank of America that was fined for helping to launder South American drug money that funded Middle Eastern terrorist groups?

Why would we do business with them anyway?