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mrkstvns

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Everything posted by mrkstvns

  1. Yeah, the Indonesians seem to have wholeheartedly embraced the scouting program. BTW: I see that for 2012, Indonesia claimed 21.6 million members and in that same year, BSA's membership was 2.9 million. In 2012, the total population of Indonesia was 248.9 million while the US population was 314 million. Proportionally, the Gerakan Pramuka is kicking BSA's *ss when it comes to recruiting and retention.
  2. Saw the announcement on Scouting Newsroom. Not sure what kind of impact it may have on Sea Scout program other than, perhaps, to raise awareness within USCG Auxiliary. Any thoughts from Sea Scouters? https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/press-releases/u-s-coast-guard-auxiliary-and-the-boy-scouts-of-america-announce-sea-scouts-as-the-auxiliarys-official-youth-program/
  3. Popular Mechanics magazine ran an interesting article about Scouting a few months back. Some of their 10 facts about Scouting's history are well known to scouts and scouters, but a few are rather obscure, and may be a bit surprising. For example, did you know that there were 5 U.S. presidents who were former Boy Scouts, only 1 of whom was an Eagle Scout...and there was 1 president who was a former Scoutmaster. Want to know who those Scouting presidents were? You can read the article.... https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/g26145549/boy-scout-facts/
  4. Another Boy Scout troop in Minnesota also had their trailer stolen. Their trailer was also unmarked... https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/boy-scouts-troop-seeking-stolen-trailer/89-20d9f7ab-ef4b-4852-84ae-eadeaacd1b87
  5. As everyone here knows by now, the LDS church is discontinuing their participation in the Scouting program as they roll out their own youth development program. Motives for the LDS leaving scouting have revolved around whether policy changes in BSA motivated the change, or whether it was simply time for the church to have a program they controlled that was more tightly focused on their core values. Now a prominent church leader is speaking out, saying that "BSA abandoned us..." https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/11/15/lds-church-leader-we/
  6. A Boy Scout troop in Kansas had their trailer stolen. BTW: The trailer was unmarked --- no logos, no troop identifiers. Story: https://www.kmbc.com/article/lenexa-boy-scout-troop-has-trailer-stolen-before-big-trip/29820652#
  7. Sounds like fun! Since it's a competition, I assume that fabulous prizes will be awarded...
  8. Yep. Sometimes the cure can be worse than the cough. That kind of reminds me of a story called "First Aid" by the famous Russian author, Anton Chekhov. In the story, everyone in town is hanging out, drinking to excess, and having a grand old time. One man decides to cut the evening short and takes a short-cut back to his house. Unfortunately, he's not on a trail and gets lost in the woods, where he falls into a river. He cries out for help and is rescued by another man. He emerges from the water, shivering and utterly incoherent, but breathing and ambulatory. One of the villagers sug
  9. Sounds like a good project! This could also double as an individual or unit Hornaday project, if somebody chose to manage it that way. There are several ways to turn x-mas tree recycling into an environmental project: run the trees through a chipper and use the mulch to plant trees. Some cities already set up chippers --- and let citizens take the mulch home for their own planting projects --- like Tucson does: https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2018/12/26/from-christmas-trees-to-merry-mulch-recycle-your-tree-this-holiday truck the old trees to a seashore and use
  10. If you have a ready water source, that might work just fine, but if you're backpacking and you have to carry everything in, then a few baby wipes for a faux shower will save quite a bit in weight. Water is heavy!
  11. The media is reporting that Nathaniel Berhow, the shooter at Saugus High School yesterday is a Boy Scout.... 😞 https://www.businessinsider.com/california-school-shooting-suspect-nathaniel-berhow-2019-11
  12. Hmmm. What do you think? Maybe it's time for a little chat about whether your son (and you) actually DO see any value in Brotherhood. It would be a shame to reject it simply as a response to SM pressure. After all, it might be a case of "cutting off your nose to spite your face". But if you and your son genuinely don't find value in it, then why make him waste his time and effort? Let him make the call though...
  13. How ironic !! They search for "life" and instead get "death"....
  14. Let me explain my reasoning here....it all boils down to understanding "targeted marketing". * Your unit is local, focused only on your community (probably within a few mile radius) * Raise Craze is NOT a local, community-based info source: its audience is global, not local. The site is likely to have a local audience penetration of under 1%. * Your unit is likely either a pack chartered by an elementary school or a troop chartered by a church * Most schools and churchs have communication methods that reach their members, and those methods almost certainly have many, MANY
  15. It's a small detail, but it's been bugging me for weeks.....why doesn't the "NEWEST MEMBER" block on the lower right side of the Forum page update any more? It's been out of date for over 2 months now. I know that we've actually HAD new members sign up during that time (in fact, I saw at least 2 new members show up within a few minutes of each other just this morning). Sounds like a bug to me...
  16. There's not a paywall there, so it's possible you have a problem with your local web browser. Try browsing via a high-level page, then navigate to the article. You can find it linked by entering this as your URL: law.com/njlawjournal
  17. "A scout is ... CLEAN" - Scout Law "Dispose of waste Properly" - Leave No Trace Principles Wander around in any outdoor store and you'll find plenty of "environmentally responsible" solutions to the perennial problem of staying clean in the backcountry. Of course we want to keep the weight low so we're not lugging a whole bathroom with us, but we also want to maintain some modicum of hygiene. We don't want to spread germs and we don't want to smell bad. But we're well aware that conservation and outdoor ethics are keystones of the scouting program, so we like finding solutions that
  18. BSA has gotten embroiled in various discrimination issues over the past many years. Most of us remember the flap over whether gay scouts should be allowed. Then it was, well, how about gay adults? Then we had the gender flaps about girls in troops and whether a transgender was male or female or other.... We know how most of these have washed out. But the general questions still linger in the minds of many in the legal community, and among certain conservatives who regard the issues as "religious questions". I'm not taking any stand on any of these issues, but I find it interes
  19. I like the LinkedIn approach better than the FB approach. LinkedIn is a more useful, professional kind of social media site. It's used extensively for professional networking, HR recruiting, college alumni groups, etc. Although it's not perfect, it does have a better reputation than most social media sites and better embraces "values". Encouraging use of sites like LinkedIn lets scouts know how responsible adults use the internet. On the other hand, Facebook is an insecure site favored by marketers, hucksters, manipulators, hackers, perverts, and criminals. Facebook has been facing
  20. Interesting, but I see 2 potential problems: * you are asking for "donations" --- generally that is the domain of councils, not units. This is not dissimilar from the "rent a scout" fundraiser that other units have done in years past, but rent-a-scout doesn't specifically use the word "donation". * if you're successful with your efforts, you're wasting 10% of your income on an unknown website without the kind of reach and traffic to actually generate real improvement. Cut their website out of the equation and you can pocket that wasted 10%
  21. McIver Furman was the first Eagle scout in Corpus Christi TX (the troop was founded by his mother in 1911). He would go on to become one of the city's leading citizens, earning his medical degree from University of Texas, serving as the city's mayor, and founding a hospital in the city.; Boy Scouts do great things! Here is Dr. Furman's story... https://www.caller.com/story/news/special-reports/building-our-future/throwback/2019/11/14/corpus-christis-mciver-furman/2575244001/
  22. Hmmm. Not sure I'm a big fan of the bikes in most cases, but in the case of long distances, I like the idea of bikes better than buses carrying scouts around (which I've seen at some camps).
  23. No, I'm afraid Plimouth Plantation would be well outside the 10-hour driving limit that BSA's G2SS recommends... That sobaheg recipe looks interesting! And the addition of turkey probably makes it a richer, and tastier dish than the veggie-focused pottage. Thanks for the pointers to interesting reads!
  24. With thanks to @le Voyageur INGREDIENTS 1-1/2 cup frozen corn 1-1/2 cup butternut squash, chopped 14 ounce can pinto beans 1 large yellow onion, chopped 1 tbsp. minced garlic (2-3 cloves, if fresh) 2 quarts vegetable broth 1 bay leaf 1/2 teaspoon sage 1/2 teaspoon thyme 1/2 teaspoon rosemary 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup barley DIRECTIONS Peel and chop all vegetables. Add to large soup pot. Add 1/2 cup broth and saute until
  25. Interesting ideas here. I had to do a bit of research to figure out what the heck "Three Sisters" meant, then more research to figure out what the heck "pottage" was, since it's not exactly something that comes natural to my kitchen. "Three Sisters" refers to the Native American practice of growing corn, squash, and beans together in the same plot, or mound. "Pottage" was a thick stew made in medieval times, consisting of veggies and grains with little or no meat. I found a couple of "pottage" recipes that were adapted to modern cooking methods, but they were based around other vegg
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