CalicoPenn

On 2/3/2018 at 10:38 PM, The Latin Scot said:

Ah, the yearly meteorological meanderings of the marmota monax ...

Remind me why we  get six me weeks of winter if he sees his shadow - doesn't that mean the sun is in fact shining, which should be indicative of impending spring, yet an overcast sky means he doesn't see his shadow, and thus somehow, more winter? 

This is why I would never trust the weather with an overgrown rodent. 

The legend is that if he sees his shadow, he gets scared and runs back to his burrow to continue to hibernate.  If he doesn't see his shadow, he doesn't get scared and he stops hibernating.

In the real world, make groundhogs emerge sometime in February to find a mate.  Once they have mated, the go back in to hibernation until sometime in March.

The tradition of Groundhog Day started in post-Catholic Germany.  Until Germany became a mostly protestant nation, the German's celebrated Candlemas Day (conveniently on February 2) where the Catholic Church would bless and distribute candles for "second winter".  The candles represented how much longer winter would last.  The Protestant churches did not celebrate Candlemas day so rural Germans adapted the weather forecasting part of the day into an animal prediction based celebration using badgers as the animal of choice.

It is no accident that Groundhog Day originated in Pennsylvania, specifically around the Pennsylvania Dutch areas of the state - lots of Germans settled there, and brought their traditions with them.  It was celebrated earlier than the famed "First Groundhog Day" in Punxsutawney, but they were small local celebrations amongst neighboring farmers.  The Punxsutawney Groundhog Day was created by the Puxsutawney Elks Club, mostly as a replacement for their Groundhog Feast which was held in September.  With more readily available farm raised meats, they decided that it was no longer worth it to hunt groundhogs for their feast.  They still had their feast in September but mostly with pork and chicken instead and not wanting to lose their association with the groundhog, they modified the German candlemas day badger day tradition using the groundhog.

On 2/3/2018 at 11:53 PM, NJCubScouter said:

Actually, to be fair to the groundhog, a prediction by a human meteorologist about what the weather is going to be six weeks from now is worth about as much as the groundhog’s prediction.

Maybe even less.  Phil's accuracy is about 36% from 1969 to 2016.

I've heard it said that being a weatherperson is the only job in the world where you can be wrong 95% of the time and still make more that $250K per year.

On 2/3/2018 at 5:59 PM, ItsBrian said:

I don’t see why the it matters since it’s 6 weeks until spring either way.

To quote Tevye (Fiddler on the Roof):   Tradition!

Its just a fun little way of keeping some tradition and history alive - Just sit back and enjoy it.

As long as the Scouts and the adults are in separate pop-ups, there's nothing that says you can't.

Woodstock Willie (Illinois - home of the movie Groundhog Day) is currently hiding in the witness protection program to avoid being whacked by the Chicago mob - they paid him off to not see his shadow and he betrayed them - he saw his shadow.

If I've got this right, the District (Council) sent out an e-mail inviting the district volunteers to a meeting where they would answer (or try to at any rate) the questions they posed in their letter, then you (without apparently attending the meeting) made up your own answers to the questions based on how you think/assume the District/Council is going to actually answer those questions - and now you post on that face-thingy thing and then in here and you're looking for what?  Validation?  Confirmation?  Sympathy?

Did you go to the meeting to find out what their actual answers were?  If so, care to share?

Otherwise the answer to your thread question is no, alas no, you aren't the only one, not even the only one in this forum, to get e-mails and letters and notices and see announcements from District/Council/National and read in to them whatever you have decided to read in to them and then work yourself and others in to a frenzy of negativity because you somehow just intuit what is going to be said without even bothering to attend the meeting.  And because you aren't the only one, you will get plenty of folks giving you validation, confirmation and sympathy for something you have essentially imagined.

1 hour ago, Jameson76 said:

Assuming this meets the mission

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

Wonder if the nice lady doing science experiments in her kitchen is aware of the mission, or the Scout oath and law?

I suspect we will be doing sports leagues next, though probably, somewhere, that is happening

Well why wouldn't it meet the mission of the Boy Scouts of America.  If all the activities that Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venturers and Sea Scout do, very few of which directly prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law, then surely these activities do as well.  I wonder how many Cub Scout Den Leaders know what the mission of the Boy Scouts of America is.  I wonder how many Troop leaders actually know what the mission of the Boy Scouts of America is. 

When discussing Baden-Powell, the Boy Scouts and Masculinity, we can't forget to consider the time period where his ideas were formed.  Baden Powell was very much a Victorian - as such, his ideas on masculinity were heavily influenced by the Victorian attitudes toward masculinity which were mostly formed within the religious and spirituality sphere of Victorian life.  Masculinity wasn't about being a hero or a protector - it was about being pure, about having the proper sexuality (indeed, masculinity was never really a concept that was discussed until the Victorians started trying to figure out how homosexuals fit into the normal gender roles of society).  Masculinity was ultimately about getting married and having children - being "normal".

I'm waiting for David French to answer his own question.  The only thing I get our of this opinion articles is that Conservatives are right and Liberals are wrong.  The shame of it is that the answer is probably somewhere in the middle.  The culture war isn't raging because one side is right and the other side is wrong (choose your sides according to your beliefs).  The culture war is raging because both sides are right and both sides are wrong and they can't seem to come together to discuss the issues with an open heart and open mind to get to a common understanding.

So what is a man?

36 minutes ago, TAHAWK said:

 

It's complicated.  If it were easy, anyone could do it.  Does the talent exist at B.S.A.?  They were positive the New Scouting Program would cause a big change in membership.  It did - 1/3 loss in three years.  

 

I'm afraid the numbers don't bear out the claim.  In 1972, there were 6,287,284 members.  A 1/3rd loss would bring that number down to 4,371,508 - the BSA didn't drop below that number until 1979 - 7 years later.

2 hours ago, Jameson76 said:

Interesting choices of companies that changed and brought new customers and growth

• Kodak peaked in 1996, bankruptcy in 2012 and the former Blue Chip stock was delisted from the NYSE
• For Suzuki In November 2012, Suzuki announced that its US division would file for bankruptcy and would stop selling automobiles in the United States
• Nintendo went from 18 Billion in sales in 2008 to 4 billion in sales in 2017

*  Kodak's main business was selling camera film.  In 1996, if you wanted to take photos, you bought film.  There were no digital cameras available to the consumer.  in 2002, the first cell phones that took photos were released.  By 2012, you could take fairly good photos on your cell phone.  Consumers had switched to digital cameras, including Single Lens Reflex cameras that took excellent quality photos, and taking photos with their cell phones.  Consumers were no longer buying film, their mainstay product.  Kodak tried to market Kodak-branded digital cameras but they weren't very successful at it.  The did declare bankruptcy to restructure.  They still exist but are a lot less engaged at the consumer level as they are at the business level.

* American Suzuki Motor Corp declared bankruptcy and shut down manufacturing in the US because their market niche was smaller cars with more basic features.  In 2012, the market in the US had definitively trended back up to larger vehicles, SUVs and Trucks - which had much better gas mileage ratings than previous versions and had the safety features that US law required and the bling that consumers wanted.  Suzuki could no longer compete.

* Nintendo was the king of at home video game consoles.  In 2008, a video game console was needed to play most video games.  Today, you can play those same video games on-line - on your phone or your computer.  No one needs video game consoles anymore. 

In each case, these companies were going the way of the buggy-whip.  They're main products no longer relevant in today's market.

The BSA has been heading the same direction as these companies.  They could continue down the same path making no changes because "it upsets existing customers" or they can make changes to try to keep the concern going.

Maybe a more apt list of companies to consider would be:

Nokia - from paper mills to mobile phones

Xerox - founded to manufacture and sell photographic paper

IBM - from typewriters, calculators and computer hardware to software and consulting

Fortune Brands - from tobacco to golf clubs, furniture and other varied consumer goods

3M - from mining to sandpaper to post-it notes, health care and electronics (among other varied businesses)

Also DuPont, Corning, GE, Monsanto - to name a few.

2 hours ago, TAHAWK said:

On that theory, will the prospective new members replace the current members?  This was tried in 1972 and membership plumeted. 

There were other factors involved too.

Birth rates declined dramatically though the 1960s and that had an impact.

Towards the tail end and in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the BSA was losing favor among many people who felt their uniforms were too similar to the military.  In the late 1960's. my Pack had a marching drill team - in the early 1970's, our town asked the Scouts (Boy, Girl, Cubs, Brownies - what have you) not to do marching drills or even walk in ranks - they wanted folks to just walk in masses of people - to look less military.  Other units in our Council reported the same thing.

The 1970's was also about the time that youth sports started exploding to where it is today.

Lets not blame it just on the BSA changing its program in 1972.

So your DE is suggesting creating a Junior Boy Scout Troop.  Think about that for a second.  The DE is not suggesting a traditional split of a Pack, the DE is suggesting one Pack for Tiger through Bear and one pack for Webelos.  I would call that second Pack a Junior Boy Scout Troop.

In the late 60's and early 70's it was fairly common to have large packs.  My pack had 8 dens and 2 Webelos dens for a while.  Most of the packs in the district ran from 50-100 cubs.  It certainly didn't hurt the program.

I can't think of one positive reason for splitting a Pack this way - not one.  It certainly wouldn't solve your Troop participation problem - that's more of a matter of contacting your Troops and asking them if and how they want to engage with your Webelos dens.

I can think of plenty of reasons for not splitting the Pack this way and the very first is you lose the visual of Webelos meeting with Tiger-Bear at Pack Meetings and being something Cub Scouts can;t wait to become.  

I wouldn't do it - and I think you can simply remind the DE that, as a certain person from National who posts in here sometimes reminds up - its not part of the program. 

Other than the obvious answer of not spelling Candidate as Canidate , I would not put it on my resume.  Would you put Life Scout candidate if you were a Star Scout?  You want your resume to reflect your accomplishments - Eagle Scout Candidate is not an accomplishment - it says you are hoping to become an Eagle Scout in the future.  The only thing your resume should indicate is a hope for the future is a statement listing what kind of job or career you are desiring.  

For now, just state that you are a Boy Scout as one of your activities.  Hold off on listing Eagle Scout until after the medal is pinned to your shirt.

So this is just completely off the rails here but it is a virtual campfire (Thanks, Stosh!) so I want to share an observation I've recently made.  I'm taking some Library Science type classes, exploring the possibility of getting a degree in it and becoming a librarian in my upcoming doddering old age and this term, I'm taking a class in Juvenile Fiction.  For my end of term paper, I have chosen to read (re-read in some cases) The Boxcar Children series and do an analysis of the series.  For those unaware, The Boxcar Children was a book by Gertrude Chandler Warner about 4 children whose parents die (two boys - age 14 and 6, and two girls, age 10 and 12) and who runaway rather than be taken to the home of their grandfather who they heard was mean.  The story is about their adventures living on their own in an abandoned boxcar they find in the woods, with their dog Watch, who they also find in the woods.  The story ends, of course, with them meeting their grandfather, who they learn is a really nice guy, and moving in with him.  Grandfather, because he is so nice, moves their boxcar to his backyard so they can use it as a playhouse.  This is the first book that I remember to be a favorite.  The next book that became a favorite is My Side of the Mountain (and yes, I've noticed the pattern  ).

Warner wrote another 18 Box Car Children books - making them kid detectives that always solved their cases.  There are now 145 books in the series - and I need to read at least half of them as part of the project.  

I've already got the obvious "pattern" to the story telling but what hit me the other day was that there might be a possibility that these characters, these meddling kids, might be the inspiration for a certain famous meddling foursome of kids with their dog Scooby.  Henry, Jessie, Violet and Bennie might be the inspiration for Fred, Thelma, Daphne and Shaggy.

Fred is always the heroic leader - Henry is the heroic leader

Thelma is the organized wonder - Jessie is the organized wonder

Daphne dresses in purple and often has the crucial insight needed to solve the case - Violet's favorite color is Purple/Violet and she often has the crucial insight needed to solve the case

Shaggy is always hungry and can eat and eat and eat without getting fat - Bennie is always hungry and can eat and eat and eat without getting fat

And Scooby is a dog - Watch is a dog.

Silly I know - but hey, its Thursday

On 1/24/2018 at 12:12 PM, Sentinel947 said:

He's 26. If that's a kid, than I'm an adolescent still. I guess I want them Eagle Palms I never finished if I'm still a child. 

All joking aside, I get that "kid" is a way to refer to younger adults. But at 24, I'm out of my parents house, undergrad is done, working, paying all my own bills. Definitely not a "kid" anymore and I doubt Zach Wahls is either. 

On the other hand, and no offense meant, at 24, you can still legally be on your parents health insurance (and Zach can be too for at least a few more months - whenever his birthday is) so maybe you are both still "kids"  

6 hours ago, Tampa Turtle said:

"girls just wanna have fun"

everyone applauds that and no one cares if something is a girls only thing

but it is not reciprocal, apparently.

How is this a girls only thing?  Just because someone says girls just wanna have fun doesn't automatically mean the opposite for boys.  

A typical year when I was a Scout:

January - Klondike Derby - County Forest Preserve - no overnight (no such thing as Okpik then)

                  Cabin Camping - Boy Scout Campground

February - District First Aid Meet - no campout

March - alternated tent camping at a BSA campground or cave camping at Eagle Cave.

April - Grant Pilgrimage in Galena, Illinois - tent camping at Mississippi Palisades State Park

            Scout-O-Rama - Arlington Park Race Track

May - District Camporee - tent camping wherever camporee was - usually a BSA campground

June - Patrol Camping - usually at local BSA campground (Camp Lakota - in council - no camping fees)

July - Summer Camp - under set-up in advance canvas wall tents - Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan.  Summer Camp was two-weeks long - Had the same weeks (3&4) and same campsite (Hickock - West Camp)

August - Day Trip - either a long distance (10+ miles) hike or a canoe trip

September - Tent Camping - usually a BSA campground

October - Camporee - wherever the District held the event

November - annual Brown County, Indiana trip for hiking or bicycling.  Always the first weekend in November - stayed in a private lodge.

December - Hayride, bonfire and shotgun shooting at local farmers.

Of course if you were in OA there was the Spring Ordeal Weekend at Napowan in June, the Fall Fellowship at Lakota in late September or early October and the Winter Banquet in December.

Patrols were encouraged to camp or hike on their own throughout the year - but we were required to plan and hold a campout in June.  We didn't do lock-ins and didn't do any battleship camping/museum overnights but I do remember an overnight stay at the Glenview Naval Air Station in one of their dorms the Saturday night of the Air & Water Show which was really cool because that's where the military planes took off from and where the crews stayed - including the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds and the Golden Knights - so we got to watch them all take off and land and got to spend time meeting the crews and pilots.

Most of our camp sites were Boy Scout camps - part of the reason is that they were always open and usually available (unless someone was doing a big event).  Being in the Chicago Metro area, we were a bit lucky (or spoiled perhaps) - We had 9 or 10 Councils, all with their own long term and short term camps, within 100 miles of us (the Councils, not the camps - though there were almost a dozen short-term Scout Camps within that 100 mile circle).

From September to May, campsite set-up was almost always in the dark.

15 hours ago, cocomax said:

 

I am reading a lot of good things about Girl Scouts that they are actually doing better than the BSA. . .  

I read a lot of good things about the Girl Scouts too - I also read a lot of things about the Girl Scouts that show that many Evangelical Christian Conservatives are as upset with the Girl Scouts about certain issues as they are about the Boy Scouts (The BSA is dealing with Girls/Gays, the Girl Scouts are dealing with Planned Parenthood/Abortion). 

Like the BSA, the Girl Scouts are also struggling with declining membership, and has been pretty much at the same time as the BSA.  Between 2015 and 2017, they lost approximately 800,000 youth members.  In the BSA, the current youth membership is approximately 2.3 million, down from 2.6 million in 2013 which means the BSA lost approximately 300,000 members since 0213.  The membership numbers don't seem to back up the idea that the Girl Scouts are doing better than the Boy Scouts. 

Who is the source of any of these quotes and ideas?  None if it is coming from National.  National says there will be single gender Troops - they specifically said there would be no mixed gender Troops.  24 hours later, there's "reporting" all over the place that the BSA is going to have mixed gender troops, and maybe even mixed gender patrols.  Where did that come from?  Scouters speculating like wild because they can't seem to take what National has said at face value and they say they can't take what National says at face value because they don't trust them.

Trust is a two-way street - A Scout (and a Scouter) is Trustworthy.  As you continue to repeat these rumors, as you continue to state that you don't trust National, ask yourself just how Trustworthy you are.

On ‎1‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 11:27 PM, SSF said:

You're saying that I should look at my own beliefs...not "politics"...but rather my beliefs.

Your beliefs are right and mine are wrong...? That seems to be what you're saying.

I know the difference between right and wrong, morality vs. immorality and that, in the sad state of the world that we live in today, common sense, traditional values and truth take a back seat to sensitivity, political correctness and the social justice drivel that's undermining our society.

This Iowa guy is part of the problem, not the solution. That's my belief.

You can have yours. I'll have mine.

Nah, I'm not saying you are right or wrong.  And you do make a good point that our politics are tied in to our beliefs.

I'm just saying it isn't his politics that led you to your conclusion - it is your politics that have done so.

10 minutes ago, SSF said:

Would he be willing to put his politics aside for traditional American families?

My gut tells me he wouldn't

Why do you assume he wasn't including "traditional American families" when he spoke about fighting for peoples families?  What prevents you from considering that he was talking about all families, even "traditional American families".   Perhaps you should look at your own politics too.

Our Troop cabin camped one time a year - in January.  Had you shared the cabin with us, you would probably have noticed a lot of similarities.  The adults cooked - we used paper products.  It is the only outing where the adults cooked for the Scouts and we used paper products.  Most of this was due to logistical issues - the cabin had a kitchen with stove, oven, refrigerator and sink.  The camp had a no coleman stove cooking in the cabin (and read coleman stove like you would read bandaid - as a generic term rather than as a brand).  With 5 patrols and one stove, it would have taken most of the day for each patrol to cook their meals.  By the time the 5th patrol was finished cooking breakfast, it would have been about time for the first patrol to start lunch.  The sink was a standard one-compartment kitchen sink.  Not very conducive to washing dishes for 60 people.  So it was decided by the adult leaders that they would cook as a reward for the Scouts hard work over the year, leaving us with more time to be outside skiing, sledding, tobogganing, snowshoe hiking, etc..  They also decided clean-up would go much quicker if paper products were used.  

It would be interesting to see what this other Troop does the rest of the year.

Our Council/District always charged a fee .  I took my first adult training course 38 years ago - cost $10.  When I was a Scout, there was always a fee.  I'm just pleasantly surprised that fees haven't seemed to go up much in the ensuing years.

We've also found over the years that you get more participation if a small fee is charged.  People seem to be less likely to find something more interesting to do that morning/day if they've paid a fee in advance.  If you offer it free, you'll get a lot of people to sign up but you also get a lot of people who decide at the last minute that they'd rather go shopping or clean the garage and just not go - frustrating for someone who has planned activities and training for 15 people and only 5 show up.

Most people will understand if you have to include a few extra bucks for a facilities fee - especially when you explain that its to help pay for the utility and janitorial costs.

My Troop would pay the fee - and end all participation in Friends of Scouting.