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Callooh! Callay!1428010939

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Everything posted by Callooh! Callay!1428010939

  1. Where you find many scouters together, you may find a little scoutier-than-thou dynamic among them. Some stake out positions as more outdoorsman-like, more scoutcrafty, more boy-led, more patrol-methodical, or more seasoned than thou. Normally it's nothing offensive, harmful, or excessive. It's just a little one-upmanship and it's entertaining to watch sometimes. Of course there's always that one guy with never ending war stories and wisdom he has to share about everything and anything. Eyes roll every time he opens his pie-hole for the umpteenth time to tell his way (the best way) to do
  2. Two common complaints are that "dancing and feathers" are: 1) hokey 2) disrespectful to Indian culture But if we take complaint 2 seriously and seek to mitigate it, we run into a more substantive problem: Pre-Columbian North American cultures are not worthy of our emulation. They're worthwhile subjects of study for historical perspective and for practical reasons of learning skills and crafts that can be useful in woodcraft, camping, or survival situations. But revering and emulating these cultures is taking that too far. These cultures enjoy an undeserved halo of wonderfulness
  3. No. I just made that up. Get an answer more articulate than "good" ??? You'd need a team of seasoned folks working in shifts... eventually the sleep deprivation would work its magic and you'd get past "good" to something far more detailed like "oh, it was ok."
  4. "Social Security is just an insurance program, eh?" Insurance program - yes, it does have some similarities to an insurance program. It also has similarities to a Ponzi Scheme. Also to an extortion racket. Which similarities seem most relevant likely depends on one's leanings toward individualism and collectivism.
  5. "need to read up on that water-boarding trick" It's rumored that using that technique can elicit answers to the question "how was your day?" more detailed than the standard "good."
  6. "need to read up on that water-boarding trick" It's rumored that using that technique can elicit answers to the question "how was your day?" slight more detailed than than "good."
  7. Mile swim might be a reasonable requirement for Star rank, maybe Life. But I can see why boys wouldn't want to do it at camp. Four mandatory "training" sessions on four separate days prior to the swim? Camp has other opportunities that compete with it.
  8. Yeehaa! "Leave No Trace" is emphasized in the Wilderness Survival MB? That can only mean one thing... the Wilderness Survival MB is now more like SERE. What else could explain an emphasis on "Leave No Trace" other than the addition of Evasion training and exercise? That's is one awesome camping trip - practicing land-nav, evading, finding water, sheltering themselves from the elements... surviving... all at the same time. Throw in some challenging weather and teams of professionals to try to find them while they're evading you've got yourself a fulfilling and educational experie
  9. Cell phone at camp anecdote: We have severe lightning and a camp policy that, when the alarm sounds, all head for the nearest shelter and stay until the all clear. A thunderstorm came upon us shortly before dinner and lasted for hours. The nearest shelter to me was the chow hall when the alarm sounded. Some troops had scouts that also ended up stranded at the chow hall, uncertain of the disposition of their troops, and lacking communications because of limited cell phone reception in the area. I overheard and saw some scouts working a handy bit of resourcefulness. They shared t
  10. BadenP: "To those of you scout leaders who don't seem to mind or care about the direction scouting is currently heading... ... I respectively [sic] suggest you volunteer your time elsewhere" Understood: Scouting is headed in a direction. You don't like it. You want those who feel less strongly about it than you to go volunteer elsewhere. BSA policies leave some things up to Scouter judgment as to how to balance the inherent tension between some of Scouting's goals. You want Scouters who don't judge as you do to go away. The BSA's mission and vision statements are likely familia
  11. E-92: Palmico Seabase looks AWSOME! But it does offer at least one MB (Small Boat Sailing) and it's located with Camp Boddie which has plenty of MBs in its summer camp program. To quote the PSB website: "These programs operate on the same schedule as a traditional summer camp, with check in beginning on Sunday and the week concluding on Saturday morning. This allows units to travel together to one convienant [sic] location for their summer adventuree. Younger Scouts can participate in merit badge programs at Camp Boddie while older Scouts can go outside the box and into the water at the
  12. Yea, you think these kids have it tough... Try being a leader's son in a boy led troop!
  13. Many options here: http://www.riteintherain.com/Categories.aspx?Category=fbc3c15c-9c09-47cd-8175-79b14c0740d9
  14. Regarding the Acco40 post above at Posted: Saturday, 7/30/2011: 10:43:47 PM: Amen. That would be something!
  15. Fascinating... contrast these two statements: "Not on my watch! Last thing I'd want at a PLC is any unnecessary adults." with the two that immediately follow them: "The PLC belongs to the youth leaders. It is in my eyes a time for them to do their thing and nothing else." Apparently the PLC belongs to them as long as they do what "I'd want" on "my watch."
  16. Sanctimonious moral exhibitionism over good deeds cheapens them; as does reviling those who don't do likewise.
  17. Those who insist on hewing to the facts of the OP as in a court case, please hold your cries of "I object, Your Honor... that's not what the OP said!"... and ignore this post starting..... here. We'll follow the protocol jtswestark invoked in an earlier post and use the OP as a prompt for discussion of related matters general. The question in Beavah's post "If yeh home school with a cooperative, other parents are under no obligation to share their kids backgrounds with yeh. Why would you expect scouting to be any different?" The question takes us back to the pointy point of E61's
  18. Fascinating discussion here: Seattle Pioneer and Jtswestark Westarks points make sense and are what first came to my mind: one bad kid can cause a lot of trouble, and if hes especially bad, he can be dangerous, even lethal. Not everyone is prepared to handle such kids and not everyone who is prepared wants to. As far as I know, BSA does not expect that because we signed up we signed up for that. Folks who want to take on that role (ref qwazse & BadenP posts) are doing a great service and we can all wish them success without feeling as if were shirking by not doing the same.
  19. Attacking a forum member? I presented ideas. Forum member disagreed and countered with other ideas. I readdressed with other ideas and examples from posts on the forum. And oddly enough, we don't disagree about the value of some views expressed in Beavah posts. You don't like satire? sarcasm? hyperbole? Make this the last Callooh! Callay! post you'll read. Or savor these posts while they last -as you note, it takes time to compose these and soon a schedule lull will be over and I'll be otherwise occupied. Maybe you're serious about taking all this personally... I a
  20. And keeping the thread on topic.... I agree with Tampa Turtle, no parent new to scouting should be offended by the idea they have things to learn. On the contrary, they should assume they have things to learn, and they should take action to remedy their ignorance. Scouting.org is easy to find. And they'll probably be taking their son to the scout store... while he's buying the Boy Scout Handbook they may notice the SM Handbook nearby - why not pick that up too and read both? Both are written in an accessible and simple style. Of course, some parents don't get any further than scoutin
  21. The E-92 Question: Where I'm coming from? I'm not. What's posted in this thread are ideas and/or response to ideas. They come from having read comments in this forum denigrating parents, condescending to parents, discouraging parental participation, assuming parental MBCs are unqualified cheats, saying that parents are stunting childrens' growth etc. Please don't let your kindness, courtesy, and helpfulness make you feel obliged to respond to me personally rather than to the ideas posted. Feel free to be thrifty with your energy, wasting none on me personally, as you address mat
  22. Afscout, Taking off my clown hat for a moment... Best wishes brother. As I'm sure you know, you'll soon enough be enjoying the satisfaction of having picked yourself up, dusted yourself off and gotten back into the saddle. Reading your posts, I get the impression of a good man and a great father. If anyone's done you wrong - your best revenge is to live well.
  23. Some Scouters make disdainful and condescending remarks about parents. Not supportive enough? They're "Drop-off" parents. Very supportive, interested, and involved in what their sons do? They're "Helicopter" parents. Scouters couch many complaints about parents as defense of the Patrol Method. Patrol Method is great, but monomaniacal adherence to just about anything can be detrimental to other values. And an insecure or dictatorial SM can use Patrol Method as disingenuous rationale for shutting out all that doesn't conform to his judgment or submit to his control. Real monomani
  24. Meaning missed in the response to the "Perfect SM:" Nothing in the imperfect parent's "unhinged parental rant" is intended to convey that he believes the Patrol Method is "trying to isolate Scouts... impose SM's judgement etc." The point is that he wonders if the "Perfect SM" tends toward such an interpretation. In the hypothetical dialogue, he'd just gotten curt commands from the SM that telegraphed a presumption that either the son lacks independence and self reliance or the parent is remiss in their duty to push that (or both). Maybe there's a reason the parent is handling t
  25. Don't bother. The successful middle aged man you describe will have long since lived down any regrets over this. He'd find your concern puzzling, maybe patronizing. Sure, he'd thank you and accept it gracefully. But he'd wonder... "Why are they doing this? What's the big deal?" He knows what he did, and what the experience did for him. He doesn't need the T-Shirt... not at 40-something, with plenty of other shirts in his closet. Even if he did care about it, back in his 20's, he might have reasonably expected having earned Eagle to earn him some credibility and confid
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