packsaddle

I've driven county and state highways all across the country and the difference I see between 'legitimate' laws and enforcement and 'speed traps' is exemplified by several close calls. I was driving north, away from Chattanooga on highway 2/US11. I was stuck behind a farm truck, doing about 20 mph in a 55 mph zone and I was frustrated because there just wasn't a safe place to pass. I was getting tempted to just pass anyway when just over a rise and in a place where there would have been NO WAY to slow down quickly enough from 55 mph, and still way out in the open road, was a 35 mph speed limit sign with a carefully placed police car. I owed that farmer a debt of gratitude because I would have been one of very many people who contribute to this tiny town's budget each year. Niota, TN has maybe 700 people in the town and yet they have several patrol cars and a full complement of officers. Google that town and the words 'speed trap' and see what you get. The other example is one in South Carolina near the GA border on Hwy 72 between Greenwood, SC and Elberton, GA. The town of Calhoun Falls has a 55 mph speed limit coming into town but over the SAME stretch of highway, the speed limit is 35 mph as you leave town, way out into the open road. The local police have large turn-arounds where they can slowly drive back into town 'trolling' for 'outsiders' who think they've left the 35 mph speed zone because people coming INTO the town are going 55. These two examples are current examples of speed traps I've seen and thankfully avoided. But the best example was the town of Ludowici, GA. I remember this one from my childhood. Everyone who drove to Florida on that stretch of highway would learn that this town was a place to crawl through. From wikipedia: "The town gained notoriety during the 1950s and 1960s for its aggressive traffic enforcement policies. The American Automobile Association went so far as to specifically label Ludowici as a speed trap. Allegedly, members of the local police force were engaging in manipulation of the timing of the traffic signal downtown so as to catch unsuspecting out-of-area motorists 'running' a suddenly changed red light. The switch for the stop light was located in the barber shop. This activity subsequently came to an end when then-Governor Lester Maddox stated that the practices of the Ludowici police were giving the entire state a bad reputation." The rumor was that they tended to collect most of their budget from yankees headed south, a source of local pride I suppose. But I could list dozens of examples like this. I avoid this kind of thing by going really, really slow through all of these wretched little towns.

And a Happy New Year! to you as well.

I can go with Webelos 2 being boring. The boys really wanted to BE Boy Scouts but the program wasn't quite up to it...neither are some W2 den leaders if they've been conditioned by years of earlier den ages. I also agree that a small number of families leave due to disagreement with BSA policies on membership, but I think the boys mostly get bored and lured away by other options. I think Henry Ford (or was it Rockefeller?) who said that "Competition is Hell."

"Your mileage may vary" And so I was thinking this referred to our unknown and varied life spans...I was for sure wrong about that! I didn't watch much of 'Seinfeld' but I did catch the episode(s?) when they went for soup. I see a parallel here...a Jewish person can use their 'N' word and in some kind of parallel universe, a black person can use their 'N' word and all is fine. But not for others? Interesting. I had a group of students out early one morning in Dominica, waiting for a guide (who never showed up). While we were waiting I was accosted by a very aggressive panhandler...and I offered him little encouragement even though he was carrying the usual machete. He completely lost it and started a rant about it being his country and I owed him something and so on. Somewhere in the rant (and I'm pretty sure he could have outrun me too) he blurted out, "Go F... yourself, Ni....!" I nearly fell on the ground with laughter. Being referred to as a "Ni...." in this venue meant that I had been 'assimilated' just a bit more...I'd never make it all the way but it was a small step forward. Nice. Then, later in the day I picked up a hitch-hiker, a middle-aged woman, who talked my ear off about her family and such. Then she looked at me and mentioned that she had always wanted to have a baby by a white man...WOW what a day!

This year I will lose the 5 pounds I gained last year while I was breaking my last New Year resolution...and maybe I'll work on that old one as well.

I have one that sounds similar to yours. But I wear it as is...after all, at this age I'm getting kind of faded and grungy as well.

Use of the term 'Nazi' by itself, I think, is not grounds for closure. For example, I seem to remember some time in the past, informing the forums that my wife sometimes refers to me as a "humorless WASP with thin Nazi lips". And the thread was not closed. I add that I do TOO have a sense of humor!

I'll just insert a comment about terminology and names: The SM for this unit is black. Almost every boy and family in the troop do not have an ethnic connection to Africa - his son and one other boy are the only two black members at this time. The SM is very well-liked by the parents and boys and I think all of us feel we are lucky to have him. He is also very up-front about racial things and sets all emotion aside when he maintains that the term, "poor white trash", is as racially-charged and hurtful as the kinds of things that have been applied to him and his family in the past. Worse, people seem to feel like they can throw the term around casually without suffering the kinds of social liabilities that they would if they had used terms applied to certain other ethnic groups. After listening to his reasoning, I agree with him. If you'd like to discuss this more, however, it might be better in a new thread. I just wanted to insert this to let you know how some folks feel about it.

And a Merry Christmas to all of you! Christmas on a Saturday in NY......means there's no way I'm going to find a bagel place open this morning, LOL. Ho, ho, ho.

Heh, heh, believe it or not, the day length is pretty much the same 24 hours everywhere on earth. Actually Mithra's birthday is a couple of days from now. I guess that might have been on the pope's mind in the 4th century when he decreed the same day to be the birthday for Jesus. But its all 'relevant' because of the seasons and the tilt of earth's axis. Nice.

And to you my friend, I wish you the best. Ahem, I also remind you that the 'day' was still about 24 hours in length (by definition). Sorry, couldn't resist. OK you can stop rolling your eyes now. Happy Solstice!

This brings to mind what Father Reginald Foster (senior Vatican priest and Latin scholar) said about this, "These are all nice stories, you know..." but "...it's all nonsense." and later, when asked how to convince people of the truth he responded "You don't, forget it...you just have to live and die with their stupid ideas." I just love that guy.

What Jeffry H said. I did this for most of the time I was a CM and DL for a couple of boys. There were a large number of single moms and they desperately wanted a male role model in their son's lives (desperate especially, if I was the chosen one, heh, heh). But I did quite a bit of extra duty for those boys and along with my son, we usually had a great time. It did take quite a bit of extra time though. I still see one of those guys..all grown up now. He was a great kid and has grown into a nice young man.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. If any of the rest of you would like to offer your thoughts, as Ross Perot said, "I'm all ears!" OK, I guess 'eyes' would be more accurate in this case but you get the idea.

It could be the most efficient way to do things as well. I don't see anything inherently wrong with it and I don't see how some kind of mandatory waiting period contributes anything to the process. On the other hand, it's kind of risky to the boy. If for some reason, the SM unexpectedly doesn't show or can't be there, it might throw the whole process out of whack.

"It's gotta be tought to watch what other peole say anf think without intentionally or unintantionally taking sides, having an opinion or perdsonal thougts affecting your actions." Not to mention an instinctive desire to correct typos, heh, heh. I view these forums as a scouter playground, a place for scout-related recreation that is both fun and informative. And it certainly has served both those purposes for me. So far, I think the only moderator stuff I've done is to correct a typo (sorry Eamonn) and to delete one half of a double post. I felt guilty after doing both of those and I'm not even sure why. Moreover, I myself have taken the moderators to task on occasion for deleting posts that even today, I feel were not across the line. It was a judgment call and I accept their action (although I remember asking them to explain their justification). With regard to the eponymous posts, I do remember how intense the words have been during some past exchanges, including the aforementioned examples. I participated in a few myself. While I've been supportive of the utmost freedom of expression, I also recognize that for some of us to post almost anything about certain others of us could appear to be inflamatory, especially if the other person is named in the title. In this particular case, it was a judgment call. I wasn't sure enough about it myself to make that call. OGE was. I'm OK with it either way. There's no way to know now how it would have turned out. But the one thing that IS for sure, is that we're having what I consider to be a healthy discussion about it. So for those who agree with my instinct for complete freedom of expression (don't include that thing about typos), I ask: do you think these forums need moderators? It's a 'yes' or 'no' answer question. Then, regardless of the answer, what is your reasoning to support the answer? For those of us who suffered through some of those really intense exchanges in the past, the answer is usually 'yes', and I'm OK with that. The problem is who decides where to 'draw the line' and how? Scouter Terry, when he invented the 'moderators', did it in response to the tone and content of some of those exchanges. As I remember, he did it by selecting several of the respondents who seemed willing to weigh all sides before taking action. You might think of them as 'even keeled' or something like that. Most of them had really big numbers beside their names, meaning they had been here for quite a while and had ample experience with different personalities, some of whom (me for example) had firm opinions on some subjects. Overall, I think Terry made a decent decision (as if Terry needs my support - it's his castle in which to do as he sees fit). Recently (and to my surprise) I was also made a moderator (I still am scratching my head over that) but I accept it with humility. If I ever DO make a substantial change to something I'll probably agonize over the decision afterwards. I think I'm not that different from any of the rest of you guys in that characteristic. We all want to do what is right. We all want everyone to 'play' nice. No one has written 'the rules' on stone tablets, however. So help us out. Answer my questions. Show me how to decide where to draw the line. Show me how to do this in a way that all of us will accept as the best decision. ...And thanks for taking the time to think about it.

Gone With the Wind was released in 1939. Was the Great Depression still going on then?

OGE, since you brought it up, I'd like to thank the overweight persons who put my recent commuter flight over the weight limit so that the airline forked over $400 a pop to me and 5 other people, plus meals and hotel. Heck, the flight itself only cost $100! And I made the meeting on time! I have suggested to the airlines in the past that they establish a baseline total weight allocation to each passenger (including the passenger and all bags) and then allow us to trade pounds or pay a surcharge at check-in. We pick up our bags, stand on a scale and look at the resultant surcharge (or else pound credits to sell to someone else). So far, no takers on that idea though. Oh well. But THAT would be a great place for the feds to collect their data on weight demographics. It might even fall within the realm of Homeland (public health) Security. H'mmmm....now THAT would be a really cool twist for the Patriot Act!(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

As I have said before, I tend to learn far more from people who disagree with me than from those who think in similar ways. That's not to say that conflict isn't destructive but rather that if viewed and taken the right way, it can possibly be instructive. If nothing else, I can learn how to do more first aid on my ideas, LOL. Besides, I think if I had to, I still can probably outrun most of you guys.

Thanks Merlyn, for those words of peace, not to mention the sense of humor. Ed, you have to understand that the moderators are not perfect and that each of us has a personal and different perception of each other. And you also have to understand...I could be alone in this...but sometimes when you and Merlyn start going at it hammer and tong, I just tune it out and go somewhere else. Sorry. Regarding eponymous thread titles, it is a judgment call and now it's done. I always maintain and try personally to be critical of ideas not people and, yes, I know I fail at it sometimes. It's what I try for anyway. I think that is the spirit of the 'rule' and if it didn't get applied the way someone thinks is correct, I offer my thick skin for your whips and chains. Believe me, there's nothing any of you could write that could come even close to the wrath of my wife. Hi Vicki! I'm still working really hard on that sexist claptrap thing!(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

Thanks for the fun... Anyway, Shell decided to name their fields after birds and I have often wondered what was the decision-making process that arrived at that naming convention (in this case after 'Brant' or 'Brent Goose'). It's one of those pieces of energy trivia that could spice up a lecture and if anyone knows the story...I'd love to know too. Otherwise, I had a student whose name was 'Brant' and he was one of those anal-retentive pre-med types "..tell me what I need to know to make an 'A'..." He was extreme in this sense. After my course I saw him in the hallway one day and said 'hello'. We talked a bit and he expressed frustration with the biochem course he was taking at that time. It so happened that I had just purchased the big 4-page giant flipchart loaded with details on the intermediary pathways including structures, enzymes, etc. I said, "Brant, would you like to make an 'A' in biochem?" He responded enthusiastically. I unrolled the chart across the lab table and said, "Brant, if you memorize everything on these charts, I dare say you'll probably make an 'A'." He didn't hesitate. "Where do I get one of those?" he asked. And I like to think that he DID memorize the whole thing, heh, heh. I do know he made an 'A'. Back to crude Brent....

I too think his tears are sincere and I, for one (apparently the only one) can see compassion in persons who don't share my political views. A political opponent is still a human being, most likely sharing every human emotion that each of us has. I'll give Boehner credit for being honest about his feelings. Too bad it didn't work for Edmund Muskie. But if Boehner can break this new ground, then maybe we can view future candidates in a new light. We could see them as human, yes subject to human emotions. We could judge them rationally, on the basis of ideas, not prejudice....Naaahhhhh!!

I think that every moment that anyone spends viewing a video screen is a moment in which imagination and creativity are being sucked out of them. The idea that a child's world should be similar to an adult's world is ludicrous. If adults want to connect, take the time to read to them from books. And then when they are ready, take the time to teach them to read for themselves. Or better yet, write for themselves. ...writing from my neo-Luddite perspective.

I like New Hampshire's approach: Live Free or Die. But it seems to me that smart people could figure out which one of THOSE to choose pretty quickly.

What a jaded, mean-spirited bunch you all are! Can't you even consider the possibility that this guy is a sincerely sensitive person who has a soft spot for children? Sheesh!