berliner

I got 2 in a cardboard moving box in the basement in europe. Not too long ago I got myself a 2-piece US Army Sleeping Bag, so buttons both summer & winter into one if need be, optional bivy. A bit bulky but I love it. Got that one in one of those vacum storage/space bags sitting under the staircase in Kiwiland. I dont even have a sleeping bag where I am at now, just a good ol' poncho liner ^o^

Insurance? Wearing uniform is about Esprit de Coprs (please excuse my french spelling LOL). I am for wearing uniform from and to camp, other events and all. Got Class A's, Class B's and C's. (I wore the Centennial with basic patches as Class B and a full patched brown button old school as Class A). I was one of the nerds who would wear his cub or scout uniform to school for class picture day 8-) But this gruesome world sometimes has other plans: BSA TAC Packs/Troops are advised not to wear the Uniform Shirt in public in europe due to the Flag. We got a terror warning before headin

I know it is nothing surprising nor new. But as I posted somewhere "1984" was to be a warning of a then fictional threat, but has since become an instruction manual for big brother. Put a show on tv with containers and cameras, to entertain the masses. Many moons ago it was the "nutters" with tinfoil hats. I just saw a wallet for sale in the local outdoor store: the passport purse thingo is lined with a silver foil to help keep the RFIDs from modern IDs to be scanned unwanted ... So spying is as old as humans are (funny how scouts and spies are pretty similar), but the problem

Oh yeah: what the NSA is doing now was done by the Stasi, the communist East German Secret Service that ceased to exist in 1989. The parllels arent even funny anymore.

Haha good one jblake: I am from West Berlin, the center of the spying universe. I grew up about 2-3 miles from Glienicker Bruecke, where they always exchanged the spies and U2 pilots. Berlin is where the CIA dug a tunnel under the Iron Curtain to tap into russian phones. Funny thing about this story: Chancellor Angela Merkel loves to ignore things, or at least try to. She is one lousy politician if you ask me. So when it first leaked a not-so-well liked Minister was sent forward to declare the NSA scandal as closed and over and not important and hush hush ... and only about 2 months later

sorry Eagle92 but I cant believe that ... Puerto Rico is like a Colony, sort of the 51st State aye. To my knowledge no BSA scout is allowed to wear an "english" interpreter strip as - with the exception of sign language - speaking eloquent and fluent proper english is the base requierment for being a Boy Scout in 'Merica. We had a few discussion alright but Trans Atlantic is hard on this issue. Mind you some SMs be handing the strips out while some actually demand the skills, as everywhere. English is only my 3rd of currently 5-7 languages, depending on if starting them counts :-P

Wear as many strips as you can really speak languages. I had 4 years of french in high school and went to language school in canada twice but still dont wear the francaise strip ^o^ being honest. I got Deutsch on all my shirts. I started a couple more languages already: my grandma was and interpreter and spoke 8 or 9 languages and my grandpa as an historian could only speak like 7 O_o The joke in our Troop was, as a majority did not have english as a first language, we should have "english" strips... but SM said that being BSA, even overseas, that was out of the question :-D

"This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend ..." [h=2]Edward Snowden says he is willing to cooperate with investigations into NSA spying. At a meeting with a German lawmaker in Moscow, he reportedly suggested he would be open to coming to Germany, and complained of a US "campaign of persecution." Berlin has at least signaled readiness to talk.[/h] http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-931237.html Against a backdrop of fraying ties between the US and many of its allies, sympathy is growing within Congress for European outrage at NSA spying activities. A b

IMHO after 9/11 and the Patriot Act it was just taken too far. Interesting is how americans and europeans view data & privacy issues differently. NSA = Nanny State America (I just thought of that ROFL)

Funny thing is: the public debate on Snowden has been going on for months and as you said most people with half a brain have known/expected this for years; turns out a lot what the conspiracy theorists and nutters where going on about is actually true. In a camping store I just saw a special wallet lined with aluminum to keep RFID passports safe from unwanted scanning. In Europe the politicans where trying to appease the people the last coouple of months, trying to play it down and calm everybody down. Until it hit Hollande and Merkel. Then they got upset and their knickers in a twist

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. 1984 was written as a warning, but someone mistook it for an instruction manual. So we know that US Spies from some Alphabet Agency have always been spying. No surprise there. Over the years, they have gotten a) pretty good and b) pretty paranoid. Now that average US or German or French citizsens have all their data collected was to be expected. Brazilian, Mexican President, Italian and French Goverment, German Chancellor Merkel, offices of the United Nationas and European Union are all bugged, tapped in some way or another by so

I have never been to NY, but funny enough my teacher in 3rd & 4th Grade was from NY so I learned the accent. If I moved there at least I would pass as a local LOL My US relatives are from St Louis

America’s Mood Map: An Interactive Guide to the United States of Attitude Read more: http://science.time.com/2013/10/22/the-united-states-of-attitude-an-interactive-guide-to-americas-moods/#ixzz2iYADUYSj Quite interesting and fun. What state should you live in? I got NY ^o^

the forced donations to the goverment are not donations, thats called taxes ^o^

I cant understand how people cant differentiate between being social and sharing and full blown communism. There is a lot in between too ... Base even posted twice by now that its not about hand outs. Thing that gets me smirking and thinking: when US Tax $ where given to Banks there wasnt as much of an outcry; try to help the sick and the country stops. Literally. Superpowershutdown.

I just saw the video for the first time ... on KiKa News ... Kinder Kanal is german Kids Channel ^o^ They said the park rangers are very upset O_o

Can you earn it and the Historical Trails at the Same Time? Will it be a Jacket type Patch or will you Wear it on the Uniform? No, its an extra month of full time training all on its own with 50 new professional scouters for each state. The National Historic Rock Formation Trail Council is still debating on the patch ...

I am sorry, I apologize in advance: Starting 2014 BSA National will introduce specialized training with patch "how not to destroy historic rock formations" & "Pebble Safety Beads"

Good one JoeBob. Now I am not a WouldBadger, but dont be so harsh on the Den Leaders. They are like the New Guys and just want to be like one of the other Banana Republic Generals, with a chest full of knots like us here ;-) There is no such thing as "overtrained". If someone wants to move a Den like a Division, let 'em. And 1 hour a week is always sweettalk - more like 1 hour per kid if you consider prep & clean up and the whole mess. Brewmeister - stop playing with PowerPoint and have a cold one Parkman - agree 1 or 2 hours intro is good. For larger Cub Programs

I still have the backpack my mom got me when I crossed over: purple and black Vaude with 65-70 L. In the past 20 (!) years the waterproof lining of the top has faded and I had to replace one plastic buckle. Such a great piece of gear. But I got myself a new one this summer: Tasmanian Tiger Pathfinder. TT is the german army version of Tattonka. A 92 L green monster with 2 detachable pockets that can be used as a day pack. So many MOLLE straps I can fit my entire ALICE collection on it LOL. Bought the US Army sleeping bag a couple of years ago - a green and a black sleeping back that can be us

I spent most of my days on a school that had the worst of both worlds LOL: a german-american school offering both 12th and 13th grade, depending on where a student wanted to study. Hard part was that all non-language subjects would switch languages every year: you would have history, physics, chemistry in english and biology, math and geography in german and next year switch languages ^o^ in 7th grade a 3rd language is added to the curriculum and in 10th grade one can elect a 4th language (I took lab, like AP science and started my 4th language as extracurriculer activity). Thing is with a HS

P38.. You Can use the Lid from The Can for a Spoon..Can't Open a Can with a Spoon as Easily I got one of those somewhere :-D But I try to avoid taking cans - too heavy ;-) Most trail food nowadays and MREs are in foil bags or ziplock bags for dehydrated etc. they dont have can lids. You can never go wrong with a spoon :-D

congrats KDD: so you speak engrish and fluent geek ^o^

Politicians taking it out on the back of the people is not a US phenomenon, same in the EU (albeit a bit different of course).

Sara, Sarah ... I know the difference between continents and countries ^o^ And I would like to see/hear your language skills KDD. How many?