Fat Old Guy

New Jersey Dude, do you have the same empathy for fish that you do for chickens? I noticed that you had no complaints about the bluegills being caught and left to gasp their lives out on land.

"My boss wants me to go to a leadership training class." Ask him to send you to The Basic School for Marine Officers at Quantico. It's free. In fact they pay you to attend if you qualify.

eisley, methinks that you are not following the spirit nor the intent of the rule by allowing part of a second week of summer camp.(This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

Yep, it's Nebraska that's unicameral. Considering that the population of the entire state is equal to the population of my county combined with the county to the east, do they really need more than one house? Heck, they could probably get by with far less than the 49 Senators that they have. My county is run by a council of only 10.

"Having women on some of the camping trips tends to civilize both the boys and the men that are along." That's the whole problem with wimmin folk in general. They always wants to civilize us men folk. First it is the curtains on the windows, old sheets isn't good e'nuf. Next they wants to git the 'frigerator out'en the living room so's we have to walk all the ways to the kitchen to get a beer when the game is on. Oh yeah, almost fergot, they wants, not just sheets on the bed but fancy sheets with flowers on them and MATCHING towels. When ya got wimmen in the house, ya can't let Ol' Blue lick the plates clean and put them up in the cupboard. Nope, you got to warsh them with soap and wipe them dry. Civilization, who needs it? (the above was only partially tongue-in-cheek)

We did like fotoscout says.

We did like fotoscout says.

"We proudly receive two issues each month." If they are identical issues, you can stop one subscription and your troop will still be credited as 100% Boys Life.

Although history is fascinating, you really should live in the now and not the then.

"and to fetch his evidence from the life of the animals, pointing out that male does not touch male in this way" Every Biologist knows this is false. That's only because the perverts have been sneaking into the woods to teach the animals their disgusting ways.

So, in your mind, only the passages in the Bible that you agree with are relevant? "But today we live in an age where victorious armies do not rape the losers" Sure they don't. "homosexuals can, if given the chance, live in relationships being faithful to one partner." Sure they do. What planet are you on?

Percy stated, "That USAF computer operator in Ohio is or will be deployed." Ah, but they aren't deployed in a danger zone while they're in Dayton.

"Its about the visual perception of a boy walking among us with a knife (weapon?) strapped to his side." We have reached a time in our society when looking at something that may be used as a weapon frightens people as much as the use of that weapon but they are willing to pay millions of dollars to sit in a dark room and watch carnage on a screen and call it entertainment. Go figure.

"All other Webelos should be wearing only their most current badge of rank (Tiger, Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Webelos) on their left pocket." Now that's insane. If your son has rank badges and arrow points on his shirt, you're supposed to remove them all except the latest? Sounds like more work than it's worth. I don't like he oval Webelos patch anyway. If they wanted to stick Tiger into the diamond, they could have replaced Bobcat with the circular pin from the old days. As for sewing the arrow points, I did it twice on my son's shirts. It isn't that hard.

Chat room? Like, how teen aged can you get. Come on. You know. Nah. Nope. I can't stand waiting for people to hunt and peck their replies. Or course we also have that goofy shorthand that is permeating the world because of chat rooms. Thumbs down.

The Certificates have no knots (go figure) but I remember reading once that when medals were added in between two old awards that some of the old awards would get upgraded. I don't know how accurate that statement is, I read it on the internet. I don't suppose that it would hurt to contact the folks at National that handle such things and see if your award has been or can be upgraded.

"When you buy the official BSA belt a brass attachment with a snap comes with it. I always thought it was for the Scouts official BSA folding knife." I think that the last place that I'd want my pocket knife is dangling from my belt where it can get banged up and collect dirt. I might consider attaching it to a lanyard and clipping that to my belt. I have a sketch from an old Scout handbook, I'm not sure of the date but the sketch has the scout wearing pants that look like jodphurs tucked into his socks so it is between the wars. This scout apprears to be carrying his knife clipped to his belt but the picture says, "belt hook for carrying small articles."

"This would include eggs which say "Free Roaming Hens" on the carton and are probably therefore more expensive" Gotta love the concept of Free Range Hens. A couple years ago, a local news show had a report on Free Range Hens. When you hear that term, you think of chickens running wild, enjoying life. Sorry, that's not so. According to the interviewees on this show, all that is requied is that the chickens have access to the outdoors on nice days. Otherwise, they are the same as other chickens.

"What are BDU pants?" BDU is the acronym for "Battle Dress Uniform," the camo uniform worn by the military that replaced the green fatigues. I still find it amusing that Air Force computer operators in Dayton, Ohio wear camo BDUs. For my part, I have never found a pair BDU pants that fit me properly which is strange as the old fatigues fit me as if they were made for me. I also don't care too much for the double seat of the BDU pants, that might be practical for combat but it isn't too practical for sitting on your butt and watching TV.

My troop's guidelines for Scouts are as follows: No knives at troop meeting unless directed to bring them for an activty. No sheath knives on outings unless premission has been granted by the Scoutmaster or the adult leader for the outing Minor violations result in a reminder. Major ones result in confiscation of the knife until the Tot-n Chip is re-earned.

"Does the library let you use the internet and the computer all day for free? I hope you're not hogging the computer and not letting some taxpayer's kid practice Disney's Phonics Quest." One day, I was stuck waiting for my car to be fixed so I walked across the road to the library. I asked about using a PC and was told that I could only use it for one hour. Back in college, if you signed up for a terminal and no one was waiting for it you could keep using it until the next guy showed up. I asked if this was the case at the library which prompted the librarian to roll his eyes and say, "Oh, you're one of those!" The silly system requires you to log off, return to the desk and sign up for a new session which will probably be on a new machine.

" It is in the Patch Placement guide that members of the BSA can not immitate the military." Wearing camo pants doesn't mean that you are imitating the military. Around here, if you wear BDUs, you're imitating a construction worker. In the early days, BSA wore surplus Army uniforms including the high collared jacket and leggings. I've read that during WW I this caused some confusion so Boy Scouts started wearing the BSA emblem on their hats.

Ah, the old "you make the money but don't get to benefit from it" game. Have you tried explaining that if he doesn't pony up to repair the that the goose that lays the cash eggs may die of malnutrition? Now for the raffle problem. Our DE says that BSA doesn not permit raffles because they are gambling and the person does not receive anything of value in return. BTW, here there's an interesting thing about raffles, you cannot charge for the tickets. Yep, you can ask for donations but someone is within their rights to demand a "free" ticket. Anyway, back to the show. Find an organization that will run the raffle for you. I know of a number of Charter Organizations that run raffles with the proceeds going to their Troops and Packs. They sell the tickets, award the prizes but proceeds go to the Scouts. It's splitting hairs but it works. Perhaps your Police Association or FPO lodge could run the raffle.

" My father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc. have chopped wood without all of the modern safety conveniences " Safety is never a convenience. Safety is often downright inconvenient. People drove for decades without seatbelts but you'd be downright silly and stupid to drive without one now. A pair of safety goggles weights about two ounces, much less than the ax a that you are lugging. Even less than that mp3 player that you want to drag along. If you were an adult you'd understand the need to enforce written safety rules. Would you want to be the Scouter who has to make the phone call about the Scout with a wood chip in the eye just because you were too lazy to follow procedure? As for "ax" or "axe," the OED shows that they've been used interchangeably for many years.

I've been very disappointed with most of the merit badges that I've seen taught at summer camp and I think that they undermine the whole merit badge process. Rather than learning about the subject and trying to produce a good work, the Scout worryies about getting finished in one week and quality of work is not an issue. The handicraft merit badges should be eliminated from summer camp. Maybe have craft classes that can be applied to merit badges but remove the focus from the merit badge. Keep the action merit badges like swimming, canoeing, small boat sailing. Spend more of summer camp focusing on Scouting activities like hiking, nature, swimming, exploring.