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packsaddle

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Everything posted by packsaddle

  1. Yeah, I have one of those too. They work fine but mine is too bulky for me so I just get along with my Whisperlite if I can't make a campfire.
  2. Methinks qwazse may be tiptoeing (tipsytoeing?) toward a problem? Basementdweller, You're right! I completely forgot about cell phones...what a Luddite I am! I guess 'neo-Luddite' would be more accurate. BTW, Man! I have keyboards. Just send me an address....
  3. BadenP, I wouldn't give them the freedom to blame Trump for that which they themselves are responsible. Trump has only himself to blame for this nonsense. Same for the others.
  4. Whew! They almost had me convinced. But still, I'm looking and I don't see "the tattered, yellowed 1961 form from a cardboard box in his grandmother's attic". What I see is a crisp fresh form on green paper. Am I missing something? On the other hand, was there REALLY a registrar named, 'UKulele'? I mean, c'mon! Moreover, I see no embossed stamps whatsoever. If JoeBob can put a convincing fake together, Hey, surely the CIA can as well. Unless, of course, as that other thread suggests, the CIA is run by Cub Scouts. Mindboggling!
  5. I also agree with most of the comments. I note that while I agree with Desertrat, his comment seems more directed to the scoutmasters than to the OP. Bart, I wish you luck.
  6. Some potential ways to cut back and balance the family budget: Quit tobacco Quit alcohol Quit junkfood, especially drinks purchased in plastic bottles. Quit cable/satellite, etc. and go with an antenna Carpool (basically drive fewer miles) Go on a diet (for most of us, at least) For a lot of us, the above measures serve several functions. First, their continuance signifies that things are not bad enough yet, really. But the really important thing is that ALL of us could actually benefit by taking those cost-cutting measures. For those of us who claim to want the good old days, this WAS the good old days when all of that crap either didn't exist, was too expensive, or else we were still in deep denial about tobacco. The alcohol saving has been available since we discovered fermentation. Gadd, I'm sounding like a Mormon.
  7. We were working to support an EPA-funded modeling effort in Puerto Rico, gathering data for the model. Two of us were collecting measurements on Laguna San Jose. We were in a small craft and the chop had soaked us with water from the waterbody, eyes, noses, ears, mouths, everything. I kept getting the feeling that this was not a good place. We spent the whole day out there getting a really good inoculation. Then late in the day, it dawned on me. We were working in raw sewage. The other guy nearly threw up. When we were loading the boat back on the trailer, I slipped and cut a gash in my leg in that water. That evening the EPA guys laughed and notified us that they were required to wear 'white suits' on that waterbody. I got checked up after we got back. The doctor listened to my story, checked the wound and everything else and he said, "you have an excellent immune system." It gave special meaning to H.G. Wells words when he noted that no life is lived in vain. Even those of us who have died quick deaths from infections have strengthened the population through the selective process. And as the successful recipient of that process, I give thanks for those lives. But that trip....I will never ever have good thoughts about Puerto Rico as a result.
  8. Right about the growth, at least in dollars that don't account for inflation. Reagan began with a little more than $14B in his 1981 budget and finished with $15.4B in 1988. GHWBush began with $22.6B in 1989 and ended with $31.3B in 1992. Clinton began with $33B in 1993 and ended with $37.5B in 2000. GWBush began with $40B in 2001 and ended with $62.6B in 2008. Funding has actually declined during Obama. Oops, the ARRA during Obama boosted overall education funding to much greater levels - $98.2B. About half of it was 'stimulus' money. I have only associated each administration with the budgets that THAT administration had requested. I also note that Congress, each year, has consistently appropriated more than requested by the executive. In 2006 the Bush budget requested a little over $69B but Congress appropriated over $100B. This was largely due, however, to one-time emergency appropriations in response to Katrina, etc. Draw your own conclusions. http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/history/edhistory.pdf(This message has been edited by packsaddle)
  9. They work fairly well but they use butane. If you're out in really cold conditions the fuel won't vaporize unless you warm the can. Also, most of the time the cans are non-refillable, the reason I don't use these things. Check out the rate of fuel use to calculate how many cans you'll need on a particular trip.
  10. It can also go rancid but probably not over the length of most backpacking trips. I'd just take the oil itself. The margarine may have transfat, anyway, so check to make sure.
  11. I was really hoping you were going to mention something about Aleister Crowley but...oh well. The fire code thing seems like the biggest obstacle, if you are allowed a fire at all. Otherwise, commence firing!
  12. It might even stimulate more nights of camping for us. Reason is that we won't be as tempted by the long trips so we'll have even more opportunities close by. And as I have always tried to impress on the unit, we have an abundance of opportunities within just 5-10 miles. The number is almost without limit if we are willing to go 20-30 miles.
  13. The biggest difference I can think of is that Vermont is landlocked. Your Uncle would be right and no one had better ever forget it.
  14. That would be New Hampshire but who cares about geography anyway? I have always been amazed about how smart the people up there are supposed to be and yet they can't decide between, Live Free or Die? Seems like a 'no-brainer' to me.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)
  15. War of the Roses. In one of his movies Bruce Willis's daughter replies, 'Ruff!!' when he tells her to "Stay". What was that? Edit: I'm a space alien. I thought my mother already cleared that up. A hint: I picked this one especially for this forum, hint, hint.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)
  16. Has anyone noticed the President Trump banners showing up on Scouter.com for this thread? Cool, huh?
  17. Scoutfish, look again. Mississippi! Duh! They probably DO get away with it.
  18. Actually, I did. I also could detect the changes someone made using Acrobat. I was hoping JoeBob was going to reply, "Woof"
  19. Oak Tree, I understand and agree. Would you also invoke that statement about correlation if the data showed the opposite relationship? I would hope so.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)
  20. I'm not seeing a 'long form' there, JoeBob, no embossed seals either. That might satisfy Sherm but some of us want PROOF! Edit: In the spirit of Arizona, please do NOT show us evidence of circumcision.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)
  21. BadenP, I agree with your assessment. However, we have essentially made the decision NOT to follow that path but rather go with the free market approach. Might as well wrap our arms around it and make love to it.
  22. I rejected beer a few years ago. Does this mean I have to resign from Scouts?
  23. For a basic tent, that Timberline is hard to beat for the money. I'd consider another one.
  24. BS-87, If you think showing the difference between products, a difference in the way they are regulated, produced, and consumed..is counterproductive, I'm not sure how you think someone should respond. If I contend that the analogy fails, and you can't address the criticisms, then your support is hardly strengthened.
  25. OK, if only education could merely be purchased like...bread. To some extent the argument in your link is contradictory. Food is really, heavily controlled and regulated by the federal government. More than one agency actually, when you consider all aspects of its production. Are you advocating abolition of the DofAgriculture and the FDA? How about Commerce or Transportation? Both of those are involved as well. The analogy fails because food is quite different in several respects. First, for example, once acquired, education is a permanent acquisition while food must be replenished periodically. Physically speaking, education has no mass nor does it occupy space. In addition, the process of 'getting' it involves most of the work to be done by the 'customer'...a quite different characteristic. Edit: BadenP, fella, quadratic equations have existed for a very long time. I remember them and I can pick an old math book off the shelf dated from the 1950's and the math still works the same. Yes, there may be some improvements in the 'way' it is taught but K-12 math itself was in place a very long time ago....I just did it. I pulled a book from the 1940's and guess what I'm looking at: quadratic equations. From Wiki, "The Bakhshali Manuscript written in India in the 7th century AD contained an algebraic formula for solving quadratic equations, as well as quadratic indeterminate equations." and then, "The first appearance of the general solution in the modern mathematical literature appeared in a 1896 paper by Henry Heaton." Sorry, I don't have any books going back that far. As far as science goes, K-12 education doesn't hang in the balance on the basis of discoveries in the last 5 years...especially if they can't understand basic things like pH, electron transport, or thermodynamics. As far as the consequences of abolishing welfare, hey, that's the marketplace that we are all anxious to have as the foundation of society. It can't be as bad as all that.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)
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