Ankylus

I looked at the link. I did see on one of the bags an indication of 7', although perhaps I misunderstood. But after reviewing it, I don't really have anything to add. I will note, however, that the zipper and whether it has a baffle is always of interest to me, and I don't see anything there about the zipper. 90% of the troubles I have with sleeping bags come from the zippers.

The most creative patrol name I have encountered was not so much a patrol name as the patrol yell it engendered. We had a Ninja patrol, whose patrol yell was to stand around mutely because, you know, a Ninja is silent.

Well, sadly, the "boy" is not a boy. Take a DNA test and it will unequivocally establish that the child is a girl. That's a biological fact. No amount of surgery, or hormone therapy, or social conditioning or anything else can change that fact. And membership is not open to girls.

Signing petitions is a waste of time. Just like putting the "coexist" bumper sticker on your car. To paraphrase Chief Justice Roberts, the way to stop religious bigotry is to stop being a religious bigot. You know, by signing petitions for one faith while ignoring persecution of other faiths. We have a number of Muslims in our mostly Christian troop (as well as Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, etc.) even though our CO is a Christian church. All our children have gone to school with Muslims for many years in a very religiously diverse neighborhood. My oldest son's latest college roommate is a M

I took IOLS perhaps 10 or more years ago, and I do not remember an overnight component or grouping into patrols. Hmmm....perhaps because I was taking it at a week long summer camp during the day when the scouts were at MB classes. Anyway, I remember learning nothing, as everything was old hat. But then, you have to remember what IOLS is for...it's so that Boy Scout leaders know and understand the skills they are supposed to make sure are being imparted to their scouts. While I suspect that most of the members of this board are already conversant with those skills, national can't be su

I read that either West Point or Annapolis is going to reinstate curriculum w/r to orienteering because of concerns that some day the GPS will be knocked out and that the military will once again have to navigate by map and compass. That list makes it apparent why the academies like to admit Boy Scouts and especially Eagle scouts.

We literally had a father who brought his pop-up camper and stayed at a campsite not far from the troop. Brought his family too. The son was supposed to stay in a tent with an assigned tent mate, but got up and went to the camper when it started raining. When we told him that would not be permitted, he quit in a huff and took his son to another troop. Nobody missed them.

We just rechartered with 96 scouts (down a bit) and 91 adults (up a bit). But that's not reflective of the actives. We have a core of about 10 SMs (including ASMs). The monthly committee meeting usually draws about 12-15 people, of whom 5 of us are SMs there to provide reports to the committee. On the youth side, we'll probably take 60 or 65 boys to camp this summer.

Trademarks aren't all that different from copyrights in this respect. That's why you don't have to tear the Ford, Chevy, GMC etc. logos off your car when you sell it or trade it in.

The citation is 36 U.S.C. Section 30905. Here's the link: http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=Boy+Scouts&f=treesort&fq=true&num=28&hl=true&edition=prelim&granuleId=USC-prelim-title36-section30905 The citation is 36 U.S.C. Section 30905. Here is the text: §30905. Exclusive right to emblems, badges, marks, and words The corporation has the exclusive right to use emblems, badges, descriptive or designating marks, and words or phrases the corporation adopts. This section does not affect any vested rights. ( Pub. L. 105–225, Aug. 12, 1998, 112 Stat. 1

I have actually seen a genuine, authentic Medal of Honor for sale, back before the Inner Webs was a thing. An almost surreal experience.

I agree with your assessment here, but this whole thread gets back to one of my pet peeves about scouting--the ridiculous amount of work associated with adult awards. People will be trustworthy about this kind of thing or they won't. Stacking loads of paperwork requirements on the award won't ensure a single thing.

Actually, copyright is of no assistance here. The Copyright Act of 1976 contains an explicit limitation on copyright under what is known as the "first sale doctrine". Under this doctrine, once a copyrighted item is sold the rights of copyright are exhausted. This is the same doctrine that lets you sell your used books and records to stores that specialize in that kind of things. (There are some rights of copyright that are excepted from this doctrine, but they are not pertinent here.) So once an evildoer legitimately buys the item, his resale activities are beyond the scope of copyright law.

Never been in your shoes. But if I found myself there, I think I would (1) start developing best practices with respect to conduct of troop business, (2) get everyone involved in recruiting, and (3) develop a good, strong calendar well ahead of time so scouts and their families can plan. With respect to (1), this encompasses several things. For example, you need to establish and define the relationship between the SMs and the Committee as well as the troop and the CO. I know that Scouting already has a plan for all that, but sometimes the implementation is difficult to comport with theory

I also was an 18 yo ASM. (I am beginning to see a pattern here.) I had graduated high school and gone off to college, though. I can still remember being a bit lost in the transition because everyone at the troop still remembered me as a scout and, while the adults made the effort, it just overshadowed a lot of things. This was especially true with the older scouts, who still tended to view me as a peer. So I got active at the District level for a while. I still did not enjoy scouting as much because there were few peers there. But I was much more effective at the District level than at the

We regularly have BORs scheduled for the first Thursday of the month. (That's tonight!) We post a sign-up sheet in the meeting room where scouts sign up, thereby requesting one. Then, on the day of the BOR, the CM in charge emails each one of them with a time. We also hold them in the same place every time so they already know where to go. If there is a reason, we will hold an out of cycle BOR. For example, we have one scout who joined scouting at 16, and only has about 2 weeks of leeway in his timing for Eagle. He is working like a dog. We schedule out of cycle BORs for him because of his

I am in the fun camp, provided the fun is Scouting oriented, but I too hate to think of it as either/or. And I think that if they participate and have fun, advancement will come to them as quickly as they wish. And sometimes teaching/learning can be fun. Our bigger issue is that we live in an area filled with Type A personalities. Even the stay-at-home moms used to be CPAs at Big * firms before they quit to raise the children. A lot of the scouts reflect their parents attitude that scouting is about earning Eagle for the college resume, and if they don't reflect it then they live it. Some

I have never heard of this. There are 10 Eagles in my extended family, and I don't think any of us were ever asked this question. I know I wasn't. Also, we produce 10-15 Eagles per year, and I have never heard of this question being asked in a BOR. But maybe I am ignorant. I will ask and see what they say.

We do not have an "adult patrol" as such, although we sometimes refer to it as such for convenience. Our approach is much like Stosh's...we eat, clean, and sleep separately from the youth and the youth generally are not permitted in the adult area. As for "adult patrol activities", most of our adults who would have any inclination for such activities are already donating so much time to the troop I don't have the heart to ask them for more. While I think it is a worthy goal to make sure your adults have at least the skills of a First Class scout, how do you police that? Are you really goin

I have enough to do, thank you. And an odd sentiment for one whose byline is "Let not the uniform police get you down".

I agree that the sports analogy for uniforms is way overblown, but for different reasons. Mostly, sports is an entirely different field of human endeavor, and uniforming provides different roles and meets different concerns. It operates under different expectations from its participants than does the scouting program. They are generally simpler too...just a shirt, maybe some socks or something...and so easier to deal with and comply with associated rules. Finally, there are externalities in sports not present in scouting--namely, the officials enforce the rules that require uniforms. It's not

Even in Houston Cubs camp in weather colder than 40 on occasion. We were at 24F one morning at Webelos Woods. A whole camp full of Webelos and their parents at an event run by District. Not one word was said about sending everyone home. Weird.

We have that problem with sheath knives in my council.

Nice! I unfortunately just repeated that myth in another thread.

OK. The question is do we need them for the scouting program. What are your thoughts on that?