Eagle92

Forgot to add, I'd encourage the ASM to join a Venturing crew as Venturers can wear their Eagle until 21

great post OGE, gotta look up those two works

Beavah, Good question, and I think we all know the answer to that. One difference is that when a youth fills out an application for a unit, he signs on as a Boy Scout, a Sea Scout, a Cub Scout, or a Venturer, and at one time there were separate applications for the different porgrams. But leaders always filled out one leader application and are offically called Scouters, irregardless of the position they are serving in. Also forgot to add the knots, for the most part, are adult recognitions, not youth recognition, except AOL, Eagle QM, Silver, and the older youth knots.(This message has been edited by eagle92)

I like mixed aged patrols. It works, gives the PLs and older scouts in the patrol a chance to work with the younger guys. My troop expereimented with a NSP officially once, and realisticly twice. The official go at a NSP lasted about a year, wasn't effective, and was discontinued by the PLC. We had a new troop that wanted to work with us to see how things should work and teach their scouts until they could go off on their own. They only had 8 scouts, and were their own patrol. Long story short, within 6 months their troop merged into ours, and we moved to their CO. Then the scouts were mixed up into the patrols. Now we did have an older scout patrol, originaly called the Leadership Corps, then Venture Crew, and now Venture Patrol. They were older scouts who had expereince as PLs, and held troop level positions: instructor, QM, historian, etc. The ASPL was the de facto PL of this group,a nd they woud do their own activities on occasion.

Problem with increasing taxes on gas is that in essence you are taxing everything. let face it, almost every single good we use is somehow transported by a vehicle using gasoline.

MN, Thanks for posting the requirements. So OA camp staff, etc woudl qualify for the INDIVIDUAL award, not the unit award. HMMM how far back can I go? 6 years summer camp staff, 8 week long camps, and a bunch of weekend campouts

I'm with everyone else a Fri-Sun event for the entire troop would be 2 days and nites. A Sun-Sat camp would be 6 days and nites. I would only count troop camp outs, not individual. I would count patrol nites out IF a majority of the patrols camped out the same number of nites in a month. No individual camping, i.e. OA staffing events, etc, would count unless the majority of the troop was involved.

I love my Wisperlite international.

Well folks, I'm not an economist, just took 1 course in macro in undergrad and 2 courses for grad, and one of those was more an economic history than pure economics. My understandind is that the late 1940s to 1960s wa the best example of low tax rates and high productivity. Folks immediately after WWII had money saved up via war bonds and savings b/c of the rationing going on. When industry switched form wartime production ot peacetime production,it oped the floodgatee so to speak and industry for the most part continued on, creating jobs for returnign vets.

My district does something similar at their Webeloree. It recognizes all those who are or will be finished with the AOL. One of the packs actually uses the ceremony to give out their AOLs. If I can find the ceremony, I'll PM ya. If you'll PM me a reminder I'd appreciate it as I have a very busy day dealing with 3 hyperactive kids

Scouting IS the patrol method. You don't use the patrol method, you don't have Boy Scouts. On another note, I work with a Pack that use to be able to have 120+ folks on a camping trip. It took a dedicated cook crew to handle the cooking and cleaning, and they would only do 2 meals ( Sat Dinner and Sun Breakfast) b/c it was so much work. Compared to the patrol cooking I did as a youth and saw a week later from a cub scout family campout, doing things by patrols IS easier.

Lisa To be honest, my mortgage interest isn't enough to make me itemize as the wife and I did buy a house within our means. Problem is it's value has gone down due to rezoning ( from residential to residential and light commercial) and converting neighboring properties to rentals. So you probably did the right thing. As for lowering the tax base to increase tax revenues, wasn't it proven that when folks have money in their pocket to spend on goods, business sell more goods, which causes productivity to go up, casueing more people to get jobs and/or higher paying jobs, so incomes rise, and income tax revenue, although at a lower percentage rate, does increase? Why yes it has been shown.

Merlyn, Yes less money does mean less scouting. When everyone's taxes increase January 1 because Congress his letting the 2001 tax law expire, people will not be able to afford to do some things. I went on the IRS tax estimator site, plugged in my current salary into the 2000 estimator, and discovered I'll be paying approx $100 more every two weeks, and I don't make anywhere near $250K. So i will be cutting stuff I do to survive. Can't cut mortgage, food, and utilities. So I will probably travel less, do fewer scout activities, and not buy goods that I don't need. And I thought that folks learned that the government does not increase the economy, people spending money increases the economy. post WWII America is an example of that. WWII stoped the Great Depression, and all the folks who saved their money b/c they served overseas or suffered rationing could spend their money on goods they haven't had in a while. At least that's what I leanred in my economics class in grad school. Now I do hope A) the law is renewed as folks need the money, B) my estimate is way off, or c) Both A and B.

Merlyn, Less money in people's pockets mean less folks doing activities.

Just remember, a "flat tax" replaces the various brackets and exwemptions, and everyone pays the same % of income tax. Me personally I would prefer a "fair tax" that would be an inclusive tax on items purchased. It would replace all income taxes, and would be similar, not identical to, a value added tax. That way every one pays taxes only on what they buy.

One thing I think everyone needs to remember, whether you beleive in wearing everythign you have, wearing nothing, or wearing only what is specific to your program: WE ARE IN IT FOR THE YOUTH SO LET OUR ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN OUR WORDS AND WHAT WE WEAR ON OUR UNIFORM (caps for emphasis, not shouting.).

'Box, One thing I've seen done is to cut the pin off and use a magnet.

Working on a project for tomorrow, and discoverd I must now eat some humble pie. The president used the quote I gave above from a CAPT Ned Dolan, USMC.

Sailing, That's also part of the problem too, thanks for pointing it out. If you look at supply's website they come in three colors: Blank with white lettering for Scouting, Venturing, Cub Scouts, and Exploring, and white with red lettering and logo for the OA http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=UNIFORMS&c3=NAMEPLATES&c4=&lv=3&item=201UN&nimg=20104&us7=Y And for commissioners, red with white lettering. http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=UNIFORMS&c3=NAMEPLATES&c4=&lv=3&item=280CN As for sea scouts, the now old manual stated black with white lettering, but Ships Stores deos sell them in Silver with black lettering, Black with White lettering, and White with blue lettering. http://www.ships-store.org/

Sailing, Most bookstores are not owned by the universities, but are contracted out. That said, I'll give you my secret to saving money on books (sshhh don't tell anyone ). This secret saved me approx $800 for one class, the one where I had 13 textbooks (gotta love grad school) 1) Use college and public libraries. I was able to get approx. 5 of the books through the college library, 2 public library systems, and through ILL. 2) use www.half.ebay.com to get used books online. CAVEAT use repsectable sellers and get a copy of your syllabi in advance to order the books in advance. It can be cheaper than Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc. Got 7 books that route. 3)Use Amazon to buy those books you must get new. Only bought 1 book that route.

While receiving AOL and Crossing over are two separate activities, they are usually combined and done at one time b/c most Webelos are ready to move on to Boy Scouts, and let the fun really begin. By earnign AOL they should be ready and willing to move up. But if you have soem who want to stay behind a little longer, then by all means let them.

Beleive it or not, the wording on the placement in the literature is interesting as the wording is different and leads to different interpretations. The Insignia Guide states http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Media/InsigniaGuide/10.aspx Nameplate, white letters on black plastic, No. 20100. Worn by all members, either above BSA strip, above interpreter strip, or centered on right breast-pocket flap. May also be worn at top edge of left breast pocket on male dress uniform or on right lapel of female dress uniform. so the IG's wording says either. BUT if you look at the diagrams, they show with OA flap and without OA flap. Now the Leader's inspection sheet states http://scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/34048.pdf Right Pocket Optional insignia, if worn, is placed in the following order, from the BSA strip upward: interpreter strip, Venture or Varsity strip, name plate. The name plate may be worn on the pocket flap if no lodge insignia is worn. Again it sound as an either or proposition. And they only have 1 diagram. And the Boy Scout/ Varsity Scout Inspection sheet states http://scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/34283.pdf Right Pocket Nameplate, if worn, is centered above the BSA strip, interpreter strip, and Venture or Varsity strip. If no Order of the Arrow lodge emblem is worn, the name plate is centered on the pocket flap. So for Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts, if no OA insignia is worn, they must wear it on the flap. Clear as mud, right?

I admit I have not looked at the new syllabus, and I won't need to for at least 4 more years But i have heard lots of complaints about it. One of which is that it isn't long enough nor does it cover needed topics fully. That said, I have gone through some older youth training, and taught it as an adult. So yep I'm comfortable.

Acco, Actually the standards were so low at that university, that as long as you had money to go to school, they kept you. Trust me on that one. When a student turns the exact same paper 4 times for 4 different assignments, and gets the same grade 4 times, you know the prof isn't readig the material. EDITED: point Ididn't make is that the teachers wouldn't flunk you. Sailing I don't know about other schools' AP history courses, but the school I went to, the only difference was 2 papers, one per semester. Same material, same books, and same teachers. What's funny was that I remembered the stuff very well, and when I went to college, the college allowed you to test out of up to 6 credits of world history if you had not taken AP classes by their taking their tests. When I asked if I could take both exams on the same day, I got this funny look from the prof and other students, and the prof said that if I could pass one, he would allow me to take the second test at a later time. So I had to take the second test a week later. Edited: forgot to add this college prep school had the high standards and I learnd the content so well I was able to pass th e test a few years after the course. The teacher was phenomenal in that he only used his notes to mark where he ended each day. the guy could lecture you for 45-50 minutes and not bore you to death. One of the hardest to get teachers as everyone wanted to be in his class. (This message has been edited by Eagle92)

Thanks for the advice folks. Will be looking at one or two of the scouts in the near future. He's homeschooled, so school band is out of the question.