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yknot

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Everything posted by yknot

  1. Why is anyone making a deal over this? Just do more one night camp outs if you feel your wings are clipped. Why do people have such a hard time understanding that scouting is not the same as what you do personally. You are part of an organization that has liability issues to consider and is in the public eye. What you do personally you cannot do while camping with scouts.
  2. Have you been out on a camp out lately with any Millennials? They are the hazards, lol. Insisting on relying on phone apps for weather calls while never looking up at what is brewing over their heads... I have literally had someone looking at their phone tell me that we could carry on no problem while purple clouds and cloud to cloud lightning was over their shoulder.
  3. This is pervasive. Just another reason why boy led shouldn't mean adults hands off. I'm always floored by how clueless adult leaders can be. Perhaps it's because I was exposed to a lot of extreme stuff as a kid and could often see how easy it was to game or out flank the system should you so choose. I never did but I had to navigate around a lot of very unpleasant, scary, and stressful stuff.
  4. It seems like many units have dropped out of the popcorn fundraiser because it not only has gotten to be such a hard sell but also seems to border on encouraging hucksterism. We've dropped out and do other things and usually give a donation to council although not 10%. If enough units drop out, maybe BSA will investigate adding some other fundraising partners.
  5. We can't sell much popcorn here, so we do our own fundraisers and have made a donation to council in lieu of popcorn.
  6. We have never submitted this form. We don't do popcorn. We do our own fundraisers.
  7. You are absolutely right, it's hard to be frugal. You can have them still organize and cook for their patrol with items that are safe for them, but a price adjustment is needed and the scout needs to be willing to underwrite that. Food allergies, medical issues, and preferences are burgeoning and if we want to recruit and retain scouts in the future, I think BSA needs to look at better ways to manage this. In our local units, we've lost nice scouts because the food management systems aren't good from the top down to the unit level. This is also one area where dialing back a bit on boy le
  8. Frugality is not the issue there, safety is. Depending on severity, I would assign scouts with those issues to self budget and self prepare and show personal frugality. That is the problem with all the food allergies and issues today -- economy has to go out the window. And to some degree, the boy led facet as well. I feel like I need a food safety officer more than a range officer. There are also food preferences to consider. It's not just vegan but people who are concerned about sustainability, organic origin, packaging, etc. It gets pricey and complicated to try and accommodate.
  9. If you camp out on your property just make sure you have adequate insurance. I carry a $1 million umbrella policy just in case someone trips over a rock and breaks their arm.
  10. I doubt they do. At first pass, I thought what a great idea. The more I think about it, though, it probably wouldn't be worth it because none of the places that I'm aware of that do this charge much. Some of them do it for free and others offer a group discount, so it would be counterproductive. The ones that are pricier are usually those that include some kind of equipment or facility rental, such as a horse, boat, pool, etc. Also, in our area, such outfits are almost the only way for scouts to get certain merit badges. At least two of the local businesses I know that do this charge for it on
  11. That poster is great, DuctTape. A lot of kids today can't tell the difference. I've been thinking about bullying a lot because of some of the comments in other posts on patrol methods. Kids today hear so much about bullying that unless the message is delivered in a very unique way they tune it out. Another problem is that many bullies claim they are bullied. Here's the scenario: A bully makes comments about another kid. The kid tries to ignore it. The bully persists. The kid finally acts out and says something. The bully reports the bullied kid as the aggressor. This happens frequently an
  12. It does feel like it's now a juggernaut and no one knows where it will land. One of BSA's issues to me is that it always seems years behind the times and never out in front of a challenge. A time or two could be understandable, but it happens again and again. Latest fee increase debacle is only the most recent case in point. I've been worried about scouting for years and from my low level have tried to talk to people where I've had access but it falls on deaf ears. The organization seems to be led by dirigible pilots determined to land the thing their way. Regardless, when it does go to ground
  13. One half jar peanut butter, raided from home: Free Foraged ground apples from local farmer's orchard: Free One snicker's bar, melted but edible: 35 cents Wild blackberries: Free, although may have created a calorie deficit caused by running from bear.
  14. I read Boys' Life and Scouting cover to cover but my sons have never been much interested in it. For a time when I was a den leader I tried to incorporate the magazine into meetings, but none of the kids really read it. At 7 and 8, they were already too sophisticated for it. It's largely a marketing, public relations and advertising vehicle. I don't think it's doing what it needs to do and I think it's a very dated, 1970s style publication much in need of an overhaul, preferably transitioned online. The idea of scouts sending out so much much tree pulp every month is a real disconnect for me t
  15. Boys' Life is not US News or The Economist. It's a marketing vehicle. Many articles review products in an effort to sell ads and others thump marketing themes related to membership and recruitment. It's fine if you like it but at least understand what your scouts are reading. And it may very well be migrating online. There's a big ad this issue for the Boys' Life phone app. Most publications today cannot sustain a print version.
  16. It should cost zero and be an online publication. There's no need to use so much paper and spend so much money on printing and postage. Or do it as a fold over newsletter.
  17. Our unit doesn't sell it. We do other fundraisers. Many units in our area don't participate. The parents refuse.
  18. In my opinion, popcorn encourages hucksterism in scouts. The product is of dubious quality and outrageously over priced and most scouts know it. They hear the feedback from people who say they can buy better product at a fraction of the price and yet National keeps exhorting them to peddle it. In any other youth organization my scouts have been involved with, the fundraisers offered something of value that didn't feel dishonorable to sell. Don't know why BSA can't find another fundraising partner.
  19. I feel like I get nine copies of Boy's Life and Scouting at least twice a month. One per household would be just fine. I can only assume they are inflating the circulation figures to maintain ad rates.
  20. Remove contra lateral tires, which you keep locked in the trailer, and prop it up on cinder blocks. It will be too much trouble to take.
  21. That's what I was getting at but I wasn't clear enough. The skills are the same but the process is changing. They are also managing budgets by Venmo instead of cash. I don't think it matters how they do it as long as they do their best to do it on their own and do it safely.
  22. The day is here when they can do all this online and have it delivered.
  23. The definition of a public meeting is broader than some people realize, but I don't think an HOA falls into that category. A public meeting is generally something that is noticed to the public by some branch of government and is part of a body that has a public comments session run by Roberts rule of order. Any kind of national, state, regional, county or municipal body and its subcommittees or offices would qualify. Public notice means that the public is made aware of the meeting in advance, generally within a specified time frame, and an agenda published. The public body does not have to be
  24. No, the epi pen is for anaphylactic reactions. Naloxone is used to save people who have OD'd on an opioid substance.
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