packsaddle

Pocketknife, appropriate clothing, some rope, water, a way to make fire...I'm good. Really, I've never worried much about rescue when I've gone out alone, at least not in the last 20 years. I don't take foolish chances or unreasonable risks. I might get unlucky someday and a tree falls on me or something...but since that's already happened, the chances of that happening again are slim to none. If the last sensations I ever feel are cold rain or snow on my face, or leaves being blown over my prostrate, nearly dead body, I'll die with a smile.

Holy Toledo! Moosetracker is female? Wow, you just never know, do you? These mountains will be as cold, dark, and lonely tonight as they were two hundred years ago To me, these words are like the Siren's call. Cold, dark, and lonely...what could be better?!

The point of the article is not the usual hand-wringing over K-12 failures but rather to point to the students who ARE well-prepared for college, and who CAN be successful, but who CHOOSE to transfer to less-challenging fields. This, to me, says more about the society which as gotten the K-12 performance it asked for and whose value of education is low enough that even very bright students who 'made it' despite the K-12 experience...decide not to excel in STEM anyway. It's as if they are merely following the predominant social anti-intellectual trend. I am reminded of the recent words of an academic coordinator for an athletics program: that there are almost no fields, anymore, for which their players can pass the admissions standards - sociology being just about all that's left.

Basement, I'm with you on the plastic bottle thing. I don't even own one of those Nalgene abominations. I just save a discarded plastic drink bottle (like Gatorade) and wash and reuse it. The narrow-mouth bottles can be cut to use as funnels and I save certain ones from the bins to collect water samples for teaching lab. Those bottles are practically indestructible and it really irks me to see them, knowing the waste they represent.

I agree, the warehouse stores would be a source. You might also check to see if you can 'order' bulk from a friendly grocer...he might even make a donation, you never know.

This one seemed appropriate to bring back to life for this topic: "Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. That increases to as much as 60 percent when pre-medical students, who typically have the strongest SAT scores and high school science preparation, are included, according to new data from the University of California at Los Angeles. That is twice the combined attrition rate of all other majors." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/why-science-majors-change-their-mind-its-just-so-darn-hard.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 The article has to do with a fundamental problem in STEM. It goes way beyond the performance of K-12 schools, or even the level of preparedness of students admitted to college.

Beavah, your question keeps me thinking back to what we did to Martha Stewart for something that seems trivial in comparison. She spent time in prison and paid more than triple her gains in fines and penalties. BUT...she's a woman.

Calico, I understand the emotional response and sympathy you have and I think a sense of empathy toward others is commendable. The problem is that the OWS folks are suffering from the illusion that there is still a chance to 'win' or somehow to change things when, in fact, the train left the station long ago - I mark the year when Reagan took office but it might have been long before that, maybe during the days of Rockefeller and Carnegie. We have fully embraced a Darwinian society in which self-interest - greed if you want to call it that - is the fundamental force for social structure. It is the capitalist model and it won. The OWS people don't seem to have gotten the message. There's no credible alternative out there. If the OWS people really wanted to change things, they would form an economic co-op/union/commons or something along those lines and make their 'utopia' be the one that really works for humanity. None of the other attempts have succeeded but who knows, maybe they can pull it off. They are going to have to act like something other than a bunch of derelicts to do it, though.

Well...we left off with packing punches from Merlyn and the subject of the thread receded with a whimper into those dark recesses of our cholesterol-clogged minds. So I couldn't get the 'search' function to work this morning and I decided to use this thread to revive another somewhat-related question regarding climate change. As I remember, vol_scouter had brought to our attention the news about a Nobel laureate who resigned from the APS over the AGW issue. I've kind of been waiting for Vol_scouter to 'drop the other shoe', so-to-speak, but now I'm going to make that (evidently nasty) middle-Eastern gesture and flip the shoe myself (this is one gesture I really don't get, by the way). Anyway, a few days ago one of the most credible skeptics of AGW and his team completed their studies and have confirmed that global warming is indeed happening. Here is the link to the actual place to read the drafts of that research as they have been submitted to peer-reviewed journals: http://www.berkeleyearth.org/resources.php There is also a two-page summary on that site, for those who might not want to wade through all the technical detail. I note that as the 'birthers' were answered with that infamous 'long form', one of the two questions regarding global warming seems to have been addressed by 'one of their own'. The skeptics can, however, continue to cling to the remaining question about the anthropogenic component. I offer this because it is an example of what is great about science. An idea, healthy skepticism, open communication and exchange of data, and most importantly, the willingness to consider that one's own ideas might be incorrect. I just love this science stuff. Think I'll throw another lump of coal on the fire to celebrate! (shouting to wife, "could you bring me my stocking from last Christmas???")

Today our Sunday paper (the one that almost everyone actually reads each week) had a really big article on this case and the Boy Scouts of America's Pervert File. Stuff like this doesn't exactly cover BSA with glory, does it? So I'm wondering, was there a section of "The Peter Principle" that I missed in which large organizations tend to become delusional to the point that they think the best way to handle things like this is to keep it 'in house' or sweep it under the rug, or they think maybe they're too big to fail? I guess it HAS worked for the banks, if dollars are all that are involved, but I wonder, did the people at BSA really think this stuff would never bubble up to the surface? Did the Catholic Church hierarchy think this stuff would never bubble up to the surface? Well...I guess if your organization and hierarchy is organized along the lines of, say, North Korea or maybe the government of Libya a few months ago, it does work. What exactly does that say about BSA or the Catholic Church?

I am, Beavah. I'm a gay heterosexual. Tip toe...through the tulips....

I'm not picking on you, Papadaddy....well, I guess I sort of am, sorry...but thing is, you admit that it's complicated and "not something any of us are qualified to deal with." Yet starting from a simple policy of only accepting 'boys', in this thread we've progressed to accepting pretty much anyone with a 'Y' chromosome, no matter what. I'm not bringing this stuff up simply to befuddle people. I'm bringing it up to illustrate that simplistic (and rather thoughtless) policies like the BSA membership policy tend to unravel when you pick at a few 'threads'. And I haven't even invoked chimerism. I refer to the membership policy as 'idiotic' because it is designed to be applied thoughtlessly, successfully by an idiot if needed. But the reality, as for so many simplistic ideas, is something that isn't served well by such policies...and those of us who are not prepared to address these issues...we just run for cover when reality knocks. And no one benefits.

I agree with Beavah on this. However...on reflection I feel like I'm missing something. I have not seen a single one of those Bad Idea ads, nor really anything else that might be associated with something unsavory. I don't even know what 'Bad Idea' would be an ad for, for that matter. Right this moment, I'm seeing an ad for Chevrolet. Sure, it is a French-sounding word but other than that and the fact that a bunch of incompetent jerks at GM walked away with a lot of undeserved pay, I don't see the problem.

I'm glad to read of your approach to gender identity. However, I'm talking about an ACTUAL girl, with all the functional parts. And a 'Y' chromosome to boot.

The forum members have complete control of this, same as what they watch on television. Don't participate. Don't read it. Don't respond to it. It's that simple. See...every time I read complaints like this, the only conclusion I can conclude is that the complaint is REALLY about the fact that the person making the complaint can't control their own urge to jump right into one of these threads. No will power. Fact is, those who complain the loudest might just be the ones who enjoy this stuff the most and what they really want is for someone else to control their life and make the decision about what to discuss...for them. So I ask you, do you REALLY want someone else to control what you read or talk about? Really?

drmbear, "Why is any of this about their sins?" Answer: Because the basis for this idiotic policy is in a particular interpretation of a particular sectarian belief system which BSA applies to the "morally straight" and "a scout is clean" parts of the oath and law. The prohibition of gays is based on certain sectarian beliefs. And violations of those are therefore interpreted as 'sin' by some scouters.

...I'll try it one more time... Pappadaddy, so if a beautiful young girl who happens to have a 'Y' chromosome gives you an application along with her karyotype as proof, would you accept her membership?

CCbytrickery, those are the moments when I draw from my bag of clever retorts, this one from the Hitchhiker's Guide: 'So long, and thanks for all the fish." WAKWIB, I remember that nurse. I thought she was hot!

So Papadaddy, this beautiful girl shoves an application at you and a birth certificate identifying her as 'male'. Are you going to let her in?(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

Yeah Scoutfish, like the 'Birthers' and most of the Tea Party didn't already KNOW all that.

Oops, I might have been wrong about that autism...it's actually AIDS. I seem to remember something about jackbooted thugs involved in a CIA conspiracy to infect witless persons who fall for the flu scam. Edit: Oops, sorry. That jackbooted thug thing was an NRA conspiracy theory, NOT a gay rights conspiracy. My bad.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

Moose, you're taking it way too seriously. Everyone knows that flu shots cause autism. There's no chance of those children being put at risk of turning gay, they'll never see that nurse.

"Can I assume then that you'd think nothing of your Tenderfoot eleven year old sharing his tent with an eleven year old girl?" If the Tenderfoot is another girl, no problem. What's your point? I'm not sure what 'rank' has to do with this. "Call me old-fashioned, but aren't there any limits in your world?" No, there are limits. But I set them neither in a purely arbitrary manner nor based simply in prejudice.

If they were serious about scouting and the kinds of things we do as a unit, I'd let anyone in. But in a generic response, I'd support letting the CO decide membership questions.

We get the government and economy that we ask for, and possibly deserve. To cue off the Rolling Stone article, I suppose it all means that the average American is less intelligent than the average chimpanzee. But I'd sure like for someone to put together a comprehensive list of the alleged culprits in the banking debacle: names and addresses and what they are alleged to have done to deserve the accusation.