ianwilkins
-
Content Count
521 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
7
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Articles
Store
Posts posted by ianwilkins
-
-
I believe in countries where the left hand is used instead of toilet paper the tradition of using the left hand to shake the hand of a fellow scout never caught on.
-
Not 10% of a Nigerian Prince's fortune is it? I think that was promised to me already.
-
and just launched, a stay at home virtual version of the Worldwide Scout Ten Pin Bowling Competition...
http://jambowlree.org/index.php/jambowlwii/
And the face to face version of the 2020 competition is now going to run until end of December 2020. Which seems logical.
-
15 hours ago, TAHAWK said:
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.
We honeymooned in Cancun and toured the Yucatan. Amazing, just amazing. Of course, being 5* all the way probably helped. Only 23 years ago so I'm sure my experience is entirely relevant.
-
3 hours ago, yknot said:
I think we are over thinking this. Up to 100 or 150 years ago, most kids grew up isolated on the family farm with just parents and siblings. Some of the greatest human beings known to man grew up this way. I don't think a few weeks, months, or even a year of this is all that bad. We'll get through it. Wouldn't it be great if the long term benefit of this pause in our overly frenetic lifestyles is that kids learn how to think and concentrate again instead of living in our non stop ADHD world.
Are they turning off the internet and no one's told us yet?
-
1
-
-
15 minutes ago, SteveMM said:
I haven't heard it come out of the SM's mouth, but my suspicion is that you're right. He seems like the type who could be listening to many of the people who have been downplaying this crisis.
Trouble is, it's kind of human nature. I don't know anyone with it. It feels like hype when they're banging on about it on the news and the numbers are tiny. We were kind of feeling the same when UK scouting stopped, a week before we'd gone up to London and had a grand day out running round the place and jumping on and off tubes and buses. We felt like we were right and okay and not panicking and not being big girls blouses about it all. I still don't regret doing it. We wanted to carry on, "let's do outside activities instead" sort of thing, just like your SM. Trouble is, you are in the dark the whole time, you don't really know if you're overreacting, or not taking it seriously enough, and you might never know, but you might know you didn't do enough when you or yours get it, and it's far far too late. I know it's not a death sentence but I still don't fancy getting it much.
-
3 minutes ago, T2Eagle said:
Everyone in the world is going to wish that they did everything they did three weeks earlier than they did it. NY is somewhere around 1 week away from running out of hospital beds. If you don't live somewhere that is in lock down, put yourself in lockdown now, and maybe you'll escape the nightmare worst.
This. Totally agree. There is no reason why the contagion rates will be any different in any part of the USA than any other developed country. Just about every country is following the same path and pattern. Cases increase slowly, then exponentially upwards at which point most go "must do something!" and start self isolating, lockdown, shut schools etc etc. Too late. This is not media hype. This is not hysteria. Calmly prepare to spend as much time as possible over the next few months away from as many people as possible.
1 hour ago, SteveMM said:I completely agree with you, and have stated my concerns to the committee. The SM said the tool cleanliness issue would be solved by everyone bringing their own tools from home, but frankly I just don't trust the younger Scouts to stick to that. We're in Virginia, where the limitations are currently a bit different than New York. Here, they're recommending no groups more than 10 and 6-8 feet distance. But, again, I just don't trust the Scouts (particularly the younger ones) not to be climbing all over each other the minute no one is looking. It's just what boys do.
Sounds like one of the "oh it'll be fine don't be such an old woman!" brigade. If it's not absolutely essential, it should stop. A camaraderie bonfire is a nice to have.
-
On 3/21/2020 at 3:08 PM, SSScout said:
No insult or bad interpretation seen, but what was meant ? Totally unknown reference. Random words to see what comes up ? Computer/card games? ...
Random words to confuse the ad algorithms. Can you be unscoutlike to computer code?
-
20 hours ago, SSScout said:
"?Magic twist knocker ???"
Oh, something got lost in translation UK->US? I wasn't meaning it to be rude honest, so if that's your interpretation (I'm not assuming) that's on you.
-
Badger meerkat sixpence magic twist knocker.
-
8 hours ago, Alesandroppo said:
So, I decided to join the community to decide if I'm really interested in scouting, soo I hope all this info will help me to make the right decision. I'm going to check as many history threads here as it's possible.
Hello and welcome,
I would say though scouting is global, all scouting is local, and while it looks more or less the same from the outside, you can only really see if it's a good fit for you if you try it. I'd recommend you to go find your local group and see how it feels.
-
2
-
-
UK status report:
As of Tuesday, UK HQ stopped all face to face scout meetings or camps of any kind from now on until advised otherwise. Same with Girl Guiding (Girl Scouts). All three campsites I know locally have shutdown, no third party hires, no volunteer maintenance crews. Scout groups that own their own buildings advised to not sublet to any non-scout groups, presumably to avoid having to have people go in to open up or clean, and to avoid liability issues if someone catches covid-19 while there.
Unsurprisingly, many (most) large camps and Jamborees right through until July have cancelled completely, or rescheduled for next year, as they were having to book activities and so on now and pay deposits.
Am keeping a watching brief for our much smaller summer camp in July/August, and a 500 capacity camp we run in September.
All pretty unprecedented.
Oh, and then scrolling down I see you already know this. Doh!
-
1
-
-
Our Scout County were going to have a gathering to try and break a World Record...most number of handshakes at once..."The Big Handshake". That they've cancelled it was the least surprising news I've heard today.
-
1
-
-
1 hour ago, karunamom3 said:
So we ended up canceling the trip mentioned in the original post. We put it to a parental vote and it was an overwhelming cancel response.
On Saturday we had 50 Explorer Scouts and leaders go up to London and take part in a Monopoly Run (visit all the places on the UK (London) Monopoly board) with about 4000 other Scouts and Guides. Every single Explorer that was booked on came. Speaking to the organiser enough teams pulled out at the last minute that made him wonder if he'd made the right choice to carry on with the event, but govt advice here is basically "Keep Calm and Wash Your Hands". So we did.
Yesterday a large (10,000 participants) County run international Jamboree being held in July was cancelled as the financial risk was considered too great to commit to carry on.
-
1
-
1
-
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
8 minutes ago, The Latin Scot said:I'll admit I am ... not a fan. I love larger neckerchiefs, don't get me wrong (and being a slightly-built fellow, most neckers are large on me), but this trend towards the 'friendship knot' is honestly rather silly-looking if you ask me (not that anybody has, but I'm answering anyway).
Part of the reason we use slides or slipknots is so that, in an emergency, the neckerchief can be whipped right off and used as needed. It's the very practicality of the neckerchief as an emergency tool and garment that makes it so important and and demonstrative of utilitarian Scouting values. Taking the time to undo a fancy knot like that seems like the very antithesis of that intent
The friendship knot, especially tied loose like those will come undone very easily, you only need to pull one tail out and the whole thing falls apart.
I blame the World Jamboree of course, all those foreign degenerates with their casual unit t-shirts, friendship knots, and gaudy patches, leading your fine upstanding smart Boy Scouts astray, and now they've taken the trend back to their units, spreading the abborance like a virus.
-
1
-
7
-
3
-
What you need is another couple of adults to sit round poking the fire and chewing the fat with until a normal bed time. Last time I went to bed at 8:30 I was probably cub age, or ill.
And pack a good book for the next trip to pass the time.
Having 3-4 hours "me time" on a weekend campout? That sounds amazing!
Of course, the amount of stuff for the trip that's on you will also make it harder to sleep, when you wake up at 2am and start running through things you need to remember in the morning, or things you should have said, or tomorrow's plan...it doesn't help you sleep at all (I know this only too well!)
It also helps to be comfy, I've taken to throwing in a proper sized pillow now if I've got space, and making sure I've got enough gear to stay warm. Somehow though I can't sleep through on camp and wake at silly a.m. needing a wee*, sometimes more than once. It's not ideal, so I need to prep for making that as painless an effort as possible (though I just can't bring myself to take a wide mouthed bottle to the tent).
* A couple of years ago I pitched my tent with the door due east, the sunrises and wildlife I got to see was almost worth it the early toilet trip.
-
9 minutes ago, SSScout said:
And while we're at it, what is the Metric translation for "mileage"? Kilometerage?
Distance.
Actually, google translate suggests french have Kilométrage, and the Spanish kilometraje, so you're right I think, kilometerage.
-
Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I always sleep "straight" on my hammock, I can't see how I'd do it at a 30 degree angle in my hammock, which looks much like 69RoadRunner's, but without the mozzie net. I'm a side sleeper though, and so I tuck my knees in one side, and feet on the other, and works for me, I'm not bananaing at all, in fact the curve of the hammock helps my head stay level. I'd always assumed that the "30 degree rule" was for those tropical island hammocks with a bar at each end holding it out, but as always happy to be shown the error of my ways.
Last time I hammocked, on Brownsea Island [gratuitous name drop], we had to put a piece of hessian between the straps of the hammock and the trees to protect them.
-
11 hours ago, qwazse said:
The friendship knot seems to be a pernicious "World Jamboree" style -- related to, but not all-inclusive of "international Scoutjng." The exchange/college student scouts who I've met who haven't gone to Jambo use the slide. How tight, and even the ritual they use to roll the necker, varies by country.
In my WSJ swag, I had acquired as many slides as I did neckerchiefs.
And the Spanish scouts prefer a really tight and small friendship knot, while in the UK it's more of a bulky affair.
[the rest of this is true but tongue in cheek]
Then you gain another necker, and the special way of rolling two neckers together is taught, two separate points at the back and it looks "half and half", tied with a tiny friendship knot of course, and some of the kids start wearing it like a sash. All going to hell in a handcart clearly.
And when they wear slides in the UK...they don't even call it a slide...degenerates.
[US slide = UK woggle]
-
On 1/29/2020 at 1:42 PM, RememberSchiff said:
My understanding, members please correct, of the United Kingdom Scout Association Key Three (if they use that term):
Chief Scout: Bear Grylls, an outsider with military, outdoor, media, and business experience
Chief Executive: Matt Hyde , an outsider with organizational management experience
Chief Commissioner: Tim Kidd, commissioner experience, works in IT
My $0.01
I've been called a member a few times so, for info...
We don't use the term key three. Not sure we have that concept at any level, it's certainly not named as such.
I mean, they are the head honchos, you're right in that, though interestingly of the three only Matt Hyde is in a salaried role, the other two are volunteers and only get paid expenses. Bear's role is mostly ceremonial and promotional, glad-handing, dropping in on scout camps, making pronouncements about scouting that the press are less likely to ignore (because it's Bear) etc etc.
-
1
-
-
I saw this, thought of you...bit of a long read, but a good one I think...
"... nearly 45,000 Americans who killed themselves in 2016. Even at a conservative estimate, that was twice the number of homicides that year. According to data published last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national suicide rate rose 35% between 1999 and 2018, rising in all states....
And the increases are most acute in America's adolescent population, outstripping all other age groups. According to the CDC, the rate of teenagers and young adults taking their lives rose 47% in two decades.
...
Most people who kill themselves in the US use a gun. ... it accounts for roughly two-thirds of all gun deaths, while the national conversation around gun control is dominated by mass shootings, which account for less than 1%. In 2018, on average, 67 people died by firearm suicide every day, a figure that has risen every single year since 2006.
Part of the problem with guns is that they are by far the most fatal means. There are three statistics which together paint a stark picture of the role of firearms in American suicides: about 85% of people who use a gun will die; about 95% of people who use another means will survive; and about 90% of those who survive will not go on to try again."
-
19 hours ago, David CO said:
It is specific enough. For a hundred years, scouts have understood its meaning. It is only recently that people have labored to distort its meaning. When people are determined to distort the clear meaning of words, no words can be sufficient to convey the meaning of the scout law.
For info, this is the original scout law as written in the 1908 Scouting for Boys by Baden Powell...
1. A SCOUT'S HONOUR IS TO BE TRUSTED. If a scout says "On my honour it is so," that means it is so, just as if he had taken a most solemn oath. Similarly, if a scout officer says to a scout, "I trust you on your honour to do this," the Scout is bound to carry out the order to the very best of his ability, and to let nothing interfere with his doing so. If a scout were to break his honour by telling a lie, or by not carrying out an order exactly when trusted on his honour to do so, he would cease to be a scout, and must hand over his scout badge and never be allowed to wear it again. 2. A SCOUT IS LOYAL to the King, and to his officers, and to his country, and to his employers. He must stick to them through thick and thin against anyone who is their enemy, or who even talks badly of them. 3. A SCOUT'S DUTY IS TO BE USEFUL AND TO HELP OTHERS. And he is to do his duty before anything else, even though he gives up his own pleasure, or comfort, or safety to do it. When in difficulty to know which of two things to do, he must ask himself, "Which is my duty?" that is, "Which is best for other people?"---and do that one. He must Be Prepared at any time to save life, or to help injured persons. And he must do a good turn to somebody every day. 4. A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ALL, AND A BROTHER TO EVERY OTHER SCOUT, NO MATTER TO WHAT SOCIAL CLASS THE OTHER BELONGS. If a scout meets another scout, even though a stranger to him, he must speak to him, and help him in any way that he can, either to carry out the duty he is then doing, or by giving him food, or, as far as possible, anything that he may be in want of. A scout must never be a SNOB. A snob is one who looks down upon another because he is poorer, or who is poor and resents another because he is rich. A scout accepts the other man as he finds him, and makes the best of him -- "Kim," the boy scout, was called by the Indians "Little friend of all the world," and that is the name which every scout should earn for himself. 5. A SCOUT IS COURTEOUS: That is, he is polite to all—but especially to women and children and old people and invalids, cripples, etc. And he must not take any reward for being helpful or courteous. 6. A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ANIMALS. He should save them as far as possible from pain, and should not kill any animal unnecessarily, even if it is only a fly---for it is one of God's creatures. 7. A SCOUT OBEYS ORDERS of his patrol-leader, or scout master without question. Even if he gets an order he does not like, he must do as soldiers and sailors do, he must carry it out all the same because it is his duty; and after he has done it he can come and state any reasons against it: but he must carry out the order at once. That is discipline. 8. A SCOUT SMILES AND WHISTLES under all circumstances. When he gets an order he should obey it cheerily and readily, not in a slow, hang-dog sort of way. Scouts never grouse at hardships, nor whine at each other, nor swear when put out. When you just miss a train, or some one treads on your favourite corn---not that a scout ought to have such things as corns--- or under any annoying circumstances, you should force yourself to smile at once, and then whistle a tune, and you will be all right. A scout goes about with a smile on and whistling. It cheers him and cheers other people, especially in time of danger, for he keeps it up then all the same. The punishment for swearing or bad language is for each offence a mug of cold water to be poured down the offender's sleeve by the other scouts. 9. A SCOUT IS THRIFTY, that is, he saves every penny he can, and puts it in the bank, so that he may have money to keep himself when out of work, and thus not make himself a burden to others; or that he may have money to give away to others when they need it. -
3
-
-
8 hours ago, Eagledad said:
Not just religions, but communities, race, sex and a million other differences. The scout oath and law are actions of respect despite our differences.
Indeed. Our scouts learning that you can rub along while disagreeing on some things is a valuable lesson for life indeed.
11 hours ago, David CO said:We can't. It will eventually have to be all of one thing or all of the other.
I respectfully disagree. In the UK we're offered a set of alternative promises for different faiths and atheists in which you promise to "uphold our scout values, to do my duty to the Queen" instead of "do your duty to god, to do my duty to the Queen" or "On My honour… or In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful… ...duty to God and to the Queen or ...duty to Allah and to the Queen" or "duty to my Dharma and to the Queen". And hey, while we're here, if one of you Americans came over here and didn't fancy swearing your promise to our head of state, then "and to the country in which I am now living" is for you.
I suppose it helps that our scout law doesn't have reverent in it.
It seems to work. Aye, it's a compromise, but life doesn't have to be yes/no black/white, and that's ok.
-
Lots of good stuff you've already thought of.
A scout group I'm involved with had their 100 year celebration in 2011. The only thing I can think of that they did also was to pull together as much history as possible and package it together into a binder for people to look at, and be "presented" to the group to keep. Obviously the more recent history was much more detailed, especially as some of the leaders they'd contacted went back 30-40 years.
If getting press involved, it's also important to focus partly on "we're still here and we're still doing it and it's still great" rather than just a wistful reminisce of how it used to be.
BP Statue to be removed
in Issues & Politics
Posted
It was on a list of "bad" statues. The local (not scout) council was told it was on a list by the police. The council decided to temporarily remove it to protect it. Then they changed their mind and have boarded it up I believe while locals have been there protecting it, and the council have put 24 hour security on it.
It's deflected the news from the cause of BLM in the UK. If one was a conspiracy theorist....
I *think* he's some sort of world ambassador for scouting as well as being UK chief scout. So let's say he's yours too.