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perdidochas

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Everything posted by perdidochas

  1. Our Eagle COH's are just like any other COH--run by the boys, with the adult leaders and parents watching.
  2. I don't see a servant leadership vs. rank advancement quandary. My observation is that most boys (and for our troop until recently it's primarily been 16 yo+) are on the verge of disinterest long before Eagle (exception being two of Troop's six Life Scouts). My son is one of the two, but he's younger than most (just turned 15) in that position. He is at the end of serving his term as SPL, but wanted to be QM (the most thankless Troop job, IMHO) for his next POR (not needed, as he will have done his POR for Eagle rank when he finishes the next two weeks of being SPL). My hope for the future of scouting is that a lot of these Eagles (or Life Scouts) decide to come back to help as adults. I'm thinking many of them will, but as teenagers they really don't know everything they need to be doing.
  3. My general observation, though, is that the scouts enjoying the program are earning rank the fastest. I don't think getting rid of rank advancement will fix the ills of BSA. I think reducing paperwork merit badges would be the best thing to do. I would combine the three citizenship badges back into one. I would combine Family Life and Personal management into a single badge. I would add to the outdoors badges required.
  4. If the older scouts can't whip a rope, it's not the boys fault--it's the leaders' fault for not having enough opportunities to do it. Personally, I think whipping a rope is almost an obsolete skill (yes, I can do it, and I'm pretty good at it), as most ropes now are fused. I know in "real" life I never whip a rope, but I often fuse a rope. That said, I'm not a sailor. I don't understand the problem with EDGE. It's basic teaching--tell how to do it, show it, help them do it, and give them a chance to do it. The real problem is that we are not doing the EDGE method, not some problem with the EDGE method. The problem is we are not doing the last E. If we were, we wouldn't be having problem reteaching it. I think an easy way to increase knot knowledge by scouts is to have a bucket full of 2-3 ft long pieces of rope. If scouts have rope available, they will tie knots. Before long, you have an impromptu knot contest. Until a year ago, my troop met in a church gym, that we shared with every other group that our COR offered. They gave us an old classroom trailer for our use last October. I've seen an improvement in knot knowledge because we have that bucket of rope always available.
  5. I hammock primarily for my back. I also like the airiness. I use a pad and sleeping bag (open as a topquilt). If you have a structural ridgeline, it is a great place to hang a book. You can hang a water bottle too, with a carabiner. If you have a big enough tarp, use a small foldable table for your stuff. I did that on a few days of summer camp.
  6. Khaliela, What Eagle Court Workbook? Is it an official BSA workbook, or is it a Council one?
  7. Here are a few: http://usscouts.org/scoutduty/sd2gc65.asp Try Scout non-denominational prayer.
  8. How do you do the scalloped potatoes and ham? Sounds like a good one to add to our camp repertoire.
  9. Camporee activities should be set weeks before the Camporee. Sounds like the problem was the planning committee. Online training would have been better than the 'live" training I had for IOLS. The "highlight" was when they showed us that we should use matchlite charcoal in chimney charcoal starters. Did learn a bit about LNT and backpacking, but most was a waster of time for this former Tenderfoot. I've had Safe Swim both online and offline, and I've learned more from the online version. It was complete. Took about the same amount of time. I do agree training should be better. I wish all but IOLS was online, and that AOLS (Advanced Outdoor Skills) was a requirement.
  10. The problem with your assumption about only using 1/4 of what you were taught in day to day business, is that if you were working for another business, you might need a different 1/4, or maybe 1/8 in common, 1/8 of different material.
  11. I know troopmaster prints them out. Honestly, I can't imagine much simpler than them. I have the boys fill out almost everything on them besides the requirements the signatures and the dates.
  12. Just the way it happens. Every year in our troop, I've listened to the older Scouts moan about how wild and uncontrollable the new Crossovers are. I've done this 4 times now, so I've had a chance to hear two groups of Scouts who were the "wild crossovers" complain about the new "wild crossovers." The first group of "wild crossovers" are now pretty much the leaders of the troop. (young enough to be still active, old enough to have been around enough to know what's expected).
  13. I think the mom and dad can't tent together rule is a local council rule. We don't have it.
  14. Pack, Trayvon was not allowed to carry a concealed weapon. In FL, you have to be 21 to get a CCW permit.
  15. I highly doubt that Zimmerman shot the Trayvon Martin because he was black. I think folks are forgetting a few things and not thinking analytically. One, as jblake47 and others have tried to point out - jury trials such as these do not have an objective to prove someone innocent. The judges direction to the jury was to determine if George Zimmerman acted in self-defense or in legalese - if the death of Trayvon Martin resulted from the justifiable use of deadly force and that a person is justified in using deadly force if he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself. The jury was also instructed to judge Zimmerman by the circumstances by which he was surrounded at the time the force was used, that the danger facing George Zimmerman need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of deadly force, the appearance of danger must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person under the same circumstances would have believed that the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force. There was conflicting testimony - there was very different testimony by several witnesses stating who was the aggressor. So, for me - concluding that there was reasonable doubt was the correct verdict. That doesn't mean that Zimmerman acted properly. Also, I believe the jury was 100% female, as was the Circuit judge and no one is claiming gender issues? (It was not 100% white as some have claimed. Five where white and one Hispanic.) The fact that Trayvon Martin did not simply go home or that Zimmerman should have stayed in his car or not followed Martin are irrelevant to the case at hand. It did not matter how the confrontation came to be - if Zimmerman was profiling, if Martin was looking for a fight - it only mattered that when Zimmerman fired a bullet through Trayvon's heart, was the appearance of danger so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person believe that the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force? I do pretty much agree that Zimmerman acted improperly, but not illegally. It would have been better for all concerned, if he had stayed in his vehicle. That said, it's easy to say that in hindsight, and not living in a neighborhood that has been burglarized several times.
  16. I watch ABC and listen to NPR for my media. I read a bit of everything online. It's his neighborhood. If someone suspicious is walking my neighborhood, I have the right to ask him what he's up to. Now, they have a right to tell me it's none of my business or to buzz off. Yes, there was a witness who saw a young black man in her house burglarizing it while she and her kid were present. The name was Olivia Bertalan, and she testified for the defense. "In August of 2011, a neighbor of the Zimmermans, Olivia Bertalan, was home during the day when two young black men entered her house. She hid in a room upstairs and called the police. When the police arrived, the two men, who had been trying to take a TV, fled. One of them ran through the Zimmermans' yard. After the break-in, George Zimmerman stopped by the Bertalans and gave Olivia a card with his name and number on it. He told her to visit his wife Shellie if she felt unsafe." Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/george-zimmerman-before-the-trayvon-martin-shooting-2012-4#ixzz2ZDkFY4zM'>http://www.businessinsider.com/george-zimmerman-before-the-trayvon-martin-shooting-2012-4#ixzz2ZDkFY4zM http://www.businessinsider.com/george-zimmerman-before-the-trayvon-martin-shooting-2012-4
  17. Martin didn't get shot from walking around. He got shot from trying to beat somebody. If Martin had done what we tell every kindergarden kid to do--keep your hands to yourself, he would be alive, and Zimmerman would have a normal life. The evidence points towards my view of the story, or more on a legal standpoint, there is no evidence that Zimmerman started the physical confrontation. WIth our legal system, we have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that someone did something. Defendants are not required to prove that they didn't do something. Martin got shot from beating on Zimmerman. Yes, ZImmerman asked him what he was doing. That's his right. Martin should have said, I'm going back to my Dad's house, and walked off. I do agree that Zimmerman probably did the wrong thing by following Martin, but the other side is that his neighborhood had been burglarized several times by young black men. I understand his view. I feel that way every time I see somebody I don't know walking through my neighborhood. I do carefully look at them, in case something does happen. It's part of being prepared.
  18. Martin didn't get shot from walking around. He got shot from trying to beat somebody. If Martin had done what we tell every kindergarden kid to do--keep your hands to yourself, he would be alive, and Zimmerman would have a normal life.
  19. SKeptic, My thought exactly. What's the difference between their policy and the BSA policy. My main worry is that they will attract away leaders/scouts in certain areas making them harder to keep BSA going in their area.
  20. It was a Camp Director. The troop was probably asked to leave because of the dangerous situation they caused by leaving food out.
  21. The man who shot the bear was the Camp Director. I don't see anything wrong with him having a firearm.
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