packsaddle

My wife is a coffee snob but I believe she deserves this status and I deeply respect her opinion on coffee. Really. Seriously. I'm not kidding. She would rather get coffee from McDonalds than from Starbucks. And I tend to agree...except I am a coffee Philistine so who cares what I think? My wife sure doesn't. I think McDonalds has OK coffee. But what do I know about coffee, considering I've only been drinking just a little bit of it for the last, oh, 8 years? Not much, I must tell you. But Starbucks tastes like the next batch of coffee after you forget to change the filter. I think Starbucks is all hype and no taste. And I rue the day that our fighting soldiers have to humble their bodies to the likes of Starbucks. The thought of that saddens me almost as much as if I had just discovered Mother Theresa passed out drunk with her head in the toilet of the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal. But that is my truly humble coffee opinion. Really. Seriously. I'm not kidding.

"...just replace each instance with two apostrophes..." One more secret of the universe revealed. Cool!

"I agree with Merlyn that in general I would expect the courts to rule in the way he describes should such a case present itself." Beavah, why hasn't such a case presented itself? It seems that, if it is true that there have been no relevant court rulings, not even Dale, that some school district somewhere would fight this in the courts. Why not? Why is Dale considered so important anyway, if it merely continues a long history of BSA exclusions? Who were all those kids who applied but were rejected by BSA because the parents rejected the oath? How many were there? For how long is "many years"?

The edit feature works if you delete every apostrophe and rewrite where needed in the original post. Sometimes I notice a typo or mispelling and I just decide it's not woroth teh effrot.

The difference is that it isn't about Ed. It's about the idea. When you change the focus from the idea to Ed, the idea suffers from neglect. It is possible that Ed did learn the idea the first time he read it. However, if for some reason, he simply can't accept it, and if this is expressed verbally in a variety of ways, then it is incumbent on the teacher to present the idea in a manner that can be comprehended by the student. And even if it is comprehended, acceptance is never guaranteed.

If this was, in some way, a professional forum, I would say that Merlyn is a specialist in his field. He has a very focused viewpoint and I appreciate the depth of his comprehension and knowledge within that focused view. That said, I may look to someone else (probably Chefy - where are you Chefy?) for cooking advice. Merlyn's claims that Ed is uneducable, especially after repetition, do tend to dampen the discourse. But Merlyn's basic ideas are clear and seem accurate. I still think Ed is very cleverly baiting Merlyn, exploiting Merlyn's passion for this issue and playing on Merlyn's blindness to the hook embedded in each lure Ed casts. Once hooked, Ed plays Merlyn expertly...until OGE gets out the landing net and sets Merlyn free to fight again another day. I am mystified as to how, after the court decisions, anyone can claim that public schools CAN legally charter BSA pack or troops. That question truly seems to be settled by the courts and protests to the contrary just fall flat. Merlyn's argument regarding BSA's role in all this seems to stem from the view that BSA could have foreseen the outcome of the Dale decision, at least with regard to charters by public schools or other government agencies. If BSA DID foresee that outcome and proceeded to promote such charters anyway, then they were engaging in behavior that was risky. Once the courts decided the charters were not legal, further promotion by BSA of charters in public schools as 'legal' could be viewed as a deception on the part of BSA. I don't know the extent to which any of this happened if at all. But the outcomes and judgments seem clear to me.

MY EYES! MY EYES!

I basically agree with Terry's approach. However, if anyone wants to call me names or something, feel free to PM me with all the vitriol you can muster. Not that I WANT you to do this... I just would rather have VERBAL attacks rather than something more substantial. Besides, heh, heh, even on your best day, you coudn't come even close to matching the verbal rapier of my wife.

Gonzo1, I think you have good judgment so that cancels out Gold Winger, ok? BTW, I think he was just kidding you a little. I hope.

Gonzo1, I am not sure I can picture the belt buckle, but these guys did not seem to care about what other people were wearing. Back to the decorator crabs: It seems to me that anyone who advocates a "local option" approach to scouting should also, by extension, advocate for "alternate" or "local option" uniforming policies. And just as "local option" IS a practical reality, if we glance around at various troops in various councils, the "alternate" approach to uniforming policy also seems to be a practical reality, protests to the contrary not withstanding. I am reminded of my old tax protester buddies who KNOW they are right about the dollar NOT being legal currency. I try to remind them that the system seems to have held together in the decades after we did away with the gold standard and perhaps this issue is NOT the path to universal ruin. I expect I would have as much success in these forums as I have had with them. Like I wrote before, it would be fine to me if ALL these decorations went away. But to me this remains a small issue and my pragmatic side allows me to just shrug at the practical reality...and get on with scouting anyway. Edited part: I was able to edit this by removing every last apostrophe. ICAWTK(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

Acco40, as far as I know, I've known three ax murderers, a few murderers by other means, and one serial killer so far. How COOL is that! The SK and one of the AMs were friends of mine at one time. The others were co-workers at a summer job I had for a few summers (a REALLY interesting place, I might add). Actually the AM did his deed to his wife while I knew him. I never suspected a thing. She just vanished and a search was on. Then he was arrested. To this day I just can't see this guy even picking up the ax, much less doing something like that. Really sordid story, that one. The SK was eventually executed in Oklahoma. When I bring his name up at class reunions, no one seems to want to talk about him for some reason. Like it is taboo or something. Weird! "Say, I just heard that old what's-his-name was executed...so how about you, out on parole?" Thankfully, they weren't scouts and, needless to say, they never confessed anything to me.

I can see passions run high regarding garb. At moments like this I ALWAYS like think about decorator crabs. http://www.divegallery.com/decorator.htm They stick all sorts of things all over themselves. Probably not to be conspicuous, however. But to me their insistence in doing this is comical. But no matter what things they 'wear', underneath all that stuff....they're still a crab. And for some reason, my comparison to people seems to really irritate most women. Go figure. Gonzo, see, when I read (hear) passionate statements like that, my tendency is to rebel. So now I'm really tempted to play the part of the crab and add that knot - maybe some anemones as well.

Yep, but they're still perfecting the sails. I took the photo from my 'tub'. Now that it has cooled off a bit, she's beckoning...passionately.

Heck, I'll talk to anyone who's willing to talk back. Even getting yelled at is somehow satisfying. I have seen the knot before and I have never heard anyone comment on it in any kind of critical way. For that matter, I could probably pop the top on a long neck and guzzle it down on the trading post porch on parent's day and no one would notice.

I support Trevorum's courageous stand on uniform knots. Actually, if I was not 'knot adverse' I'd probably do the same thing but it would be fine with me if ALL the knots just went away, including the two I do wear (Eagle and God and Country). "If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud." I sure wish someone would write these songs using correct grammar. I wonder if it's possible? Oh well, I guess E. coli happens.

Hey man! Where do I sign up? I want to do that.

Right you are, Gern. But there was almost nothing I could see that resembled competitive yachting. They either didn't have another sail or else too lazy to deal with it. On a hot 4th afternoon, I think there's a chance some beer was in play as well. The flags, those were rigged temporarily for the holiday. I mentioned hull speed because the breeze easily exceeded hull speed on those tubs. The flags were doomed to stream forward. There was one little Windmill out there that was doing pretty well, though. And maybe a Highlander. The rest were just wallowing around.

Eamonn, I admit that a few years back I would say similar things about lawyers. But then one of those 'ambulance chasers' helped protect my family from a huge loss. I tend to view things differently since. Sure he took a big cut. I was glad to hand it to him. I am glad we had a good man to help us with that kind of service.

OGE....where in the heck did THAT come from?

Gern got it, going downwind with Genoas just filled with a stiff breeze, the boats have not yet reached hull speed and the flags are streaming forward.

Gern, you can still buy one NEW...at collector prices. http://www.packstoves.com/optimus%20pages/optimus%20svea%20stove.htm

I was thinking TAZ was a cartoon character. Oh well. Anyway, somewhere I have a photo of a 4th-of-July regatta in which some of the sailboats are flying the flag. Guess which way those flags are pointed...

Hey, let's face it...having one foot in the grave gives us the freedom not to worry about it. Don't worry, be happy!

Anarchist, I suspect we could trade stories on our respective lanterns. I have a couple left by my father that go back to WWI times. Keeping them running is kind of a badge of honor or tradition for me. A few years ago, before we had recycling centers, I spotted a pair of chrome-plated lanterns discarded at a dumpster, you know..just set out so d-divers like me could get to them easily. They're my most recent additions and I would like to thank the person who made that possible.

I also have one of those Svea 123 stoves, about 10 years 'younger'. Mine is still in great condition and my attachment to it is as much sentimental as anything. I DO remember that under really cold conditions, it is tough to keep burning, though. Today I have one of the MSR stoves with the pressurizing pump. But I still think fondly about the Svea and its elegant simplicity.