qwazse

Here's an interesting mash-up of bird study and citizenship in society: https://www.alleghenyfront.org/how-the-birding-community-is-working-for-racial-and-environmental-justice/

It’s not a bad idea to master a skill in something you don’t like. I loath Kuerigs, etc … but I learned the order of operations of the beast that flagrantly defiles our counter top so that I could serve Mrs. Q her swill with scant milk and a dash of her God-awful vanilla flavored preference in creamer on days when I’m not making my espresso with (one of) my moka pot(s). Things we do for love. The truth is, if you’re doing it out of love, you need to ask the folks you’re doing it for how they’d like it. Otherwise, telling them you got your technique from strangers on the internet will just cheapen their experience.

It will take a unique American scout who understands what an SDG is. The odds favor someone who’s been to world Jambo, they could have met someone whose travels there helped them meet a school requirement regarding SDGs. However, even though they might not speak the lingo, they might be occupied in meeting an SDG. I think I’ll give Son #2 a nudge. He’s into next gen municipal water purification.

A lot of leaders don't realize how often they have to repeat, "We need you here. You're welcome. Get trained come camping with us. Sit and fish. The coffee will be strong and hot. Yes, we let scouts do their thing. No we don't want parents to badger kids about advancement. Yes we need you to encourage your scout. We also need you to enjoy watching him/her grow strong and good." If we don't do that enough, we will seem hostile.

@SiouxRanger, scouters have won long before they started typing. (Cash your deposit at @Oldscout448’s next camporee.) I bet that stipulation goes pretty far back. And, I’ve always treated it as a restriction on combat training, not parade drills. Scouting has always danced the line between trained and disciplined youth and fighting force of the future. As to why I prefer “insignia wonk…” I’ve never heard the Bar Association called “Lawyer Police” even though they can deliver far more severe consequences than any of us can when we point out uniform faux pas. The closest thing to actual insignia enforcers at National would be the folks who send cease and desists orders to media outlets who use BSA’s uniform without permission. And, IMHO, I think that has maintained the brand at the cost of hurting recruitment.

There are no uniform police, only insignia wonks. And with them, scouters chock full of snark. Given that, in reply to your questions … A scout is not required to wear a uniform to an EBoR. Jeans should be clean and neatly pressed. Who told you the kid had to get out of jail? Youth detention programs have at times found it helpful to have youth get along with their scouting advancement. Selling with red hair might postpone the EBoR for an additional week. Are these really bothering you? Or, are you just fishing around for the lowest bar to justify your preferred patch placement?

To add to @MYCVAStory's disclaimer ... this is not an analysis, but some descriptive statistics. Without going into details, criminology is hard work, and this is not such a work. But to address @fred8033's comment: It is true that sometimes abusers act in concert. Determined predators may look for co-conspirators as well as victims. A couple of my friends were abused in such a way by their families. With that in mind, we don't know how much prohibiting 1-on-1 contact prevents abuse. It's not 100%. We are hoping that it's some number much greater than zero.

There may indeed be mistakes in one’s past, but the most annoying thing is a friend who asks forgiveness for them. One owns errors, adjusts, and moves on. We need contrition from those who were malicious, avaricious, or haughty. From everyone else, we need them to do better the next time they step up to the bat.

@denibug72 in these conditions we'd simply schedule a day-hike through town or on a popular trail with full gear. It turns out that those generate some great moments. (I have vivid memories of our boys taking a wrong turn in a community park and finding themselves atop a snow-laden fifty foot cliff.) The point is to work your pack so you are making a meal, and switching out gear, and putting it all back together. It was on the aforementioned day-hike that I learned that I am not a camel-back drinker. (I suspect it's because I stopped nursing before my 1st birthday and never looked back.) Those repeated exercises keep everyone sharp. The more scouts and scouters do together, the better. Crews especially need to build a collective synergy for hiking.

Risk Zone training specifically taught not to caravan. I make sure parents know where they are going in advance. Still, I saw one parent rush a light and get t-boned. (Thankfully nobody was hurt except the parent's pride and her insurance premiums.) Now, that lecture is a little bit longer with new parents. I prefer to give it while watching the cars of seasoned parents leave. The only reason to caravan is if you want to make an A-10 Warthog pilot salivate. (Stolen from an airman's meme of the day.)

https://www.decathlon.sg/p/hiking-backpack-30l-nh-arpenaz-100-quechua-8583162.html

@69RoadRunner those Jambo Osprey Hikelitem26s were wierd. It wasn’t the width, but the height that I found problematic. A Smartwater bottle would be even more prone to rolling out, I think. Never experienced that with other packs.

One of those Eagle’s flew over the house today while we were out to walk to the shore. Looks like it might be fixing to build a nest. In other news, the ice melted just enough to blow south from Canada and pike up. Grandson #1 looked out from atop the glacial shoreline at the wrack and ruin and shouted “Oh no! Water all gone!”

World Jambo US contingent issued Osprey day packs. My scouts love them, and it seemed that half the scouts from the rest of the world did too and would try to broker trades for them. Me … not so much. The side pockets weren’t deep enough for a standard water bottle. I had to attach a shock chord to keep from losing mine. I eventually traded with a young Spanish staff (after making sure his pack’s side pockets were sufficiently deep). I don’t know the brand, but I have been using it for the past two years with absolutely no regrets.

@denibug72, the best way to increase your comfort level is backpacking every month before your trip. Every scout and scouter needs to be very comfortable with their gear. I keep my backpack at the end of my bed (much to Mrs. Q’s consternation), and I have no clue what’s in it after three months idle.

A bald eagle swooped in on our Lake Erie lawn. The 90 lb dog must have looked worth the challenge until the bird closed in. I was relieved that all parties involved thought better of tangling. I was less concerned about the vet bill and more about the legal ramifications of "finding" a feather in my pets' maw.

That was what the Cub Scout handbook was for me ... an outline of things to do that I had not tried before. I vividly remember: holding open the page about neckties in front of a mirror until I no longer needed a clip-on. learning referee/umpire signals. Although I wasn't athletic, I began to enjoy watching sports more because I could follow the adjudication as well as the action. model boats with rubber band motors. collections -- our DL had us bring what we were collecting to a Den meeting. Plus, the book served Bobcat, Wolf, and Bear, if I recall. The sons' handbooks were a little more structured, but not as navigable.

In terms of preference: it depends on the scout. A scout who finds road biking to be boring will find those extra miles to be sheer torture. A scout who finds rough terrain and close trails to detract from the scenery will think the opposite. My colleague calls this cognitive discounting. It’s not worth the extra X for the perceived effort of Y. So, you learn who values what based on what they’d choose for a given award.

@Eagledad, it’s worse than that … now that adults of the appropriate sex are required for every meeting and activity. No late teen needs or wants that. It is therefore far more easier to venture without a crew than with. (Obviously, some do given the incidence of sexual abuse, substance abuse, and depression by age 18, which is why more demands have been put upon scouters. But, this is not a formula for healthy development.)

Nothing in any proposed YP protocol would prevent the ascent of adult leaders with a lack of compassion toward autistic children. There’s no national registry of people who disregard disabled kids.

Let’s not deceive ourselves … at one time there were maybe 50k venturers with 3 times as many on rolls for the purposes of some club’s insurance purposes. (Worth it when registration fees were less than the cost of a large pizza.) Those youth and their leaders had no intention of engaging the program. When folks like me joined council committees and insisted that the active venturers’ rolls be called up yonder, they weren’t there. P.S. - that doesn’t mean that Venturing wasn’t a wild ride. It is a thoroughly enjoyable program, but the leadership overhead is far more than most adults can support and youth desire.

We have discussed the foibles of young men this age with alcohol. Some of the abuse victims who have been kind enough to share their stories were abused by camp staff. Odds are their ages were 18-20. What’s not clear to me is the relative risk. It used to be that young ASMs outnumbered old ones. So in probability if a fixed percentage of males were serial abusers, in scouting they were more likely to young adults.

Call me a sheep denier. You all are humans. (I am too, but in this context don’t have any decisions to make.) When you are hurt, you make decisions that guide you on the path to healing. Since you are different people with different means of regulating your emotions, you are going to come to different decisions. There are people who are going to profit (material and intangible) by the majority of you making any given decision. That does not make you, whatever your choice, their blind followers. Not in the least.

@yknot and @5thGenTexan, you all are confusing the program with its administration. If scouts aren’t reading the handbook, they are working from a variance of the program. My scouts read the handbook because I teach them that the first step in teaching a scout skill is reference. If they come to me for a sign-off, I ask if they’ve read the pertinent section. If not, I tell them to come back when they have. No doubt this contributes to half of them taking 2-5 years to advance to 1st class. I have contacts with property for camping. Our scouts have not made a plan to go there. We don’t go there. We reserve the same camp (maybe a different location on the camp) until they are bored and ask for something different. This lot loves toying with knots, doing community service, and watercraft on a small flat lake. (I even offered them a Great Lake that’s rarely knows flat. No takers.). I have kept contact with really capable adults who I’ve watched carefully and have grown to trust. Like the SM’s and Advisors before me, I’ve learned to not suffer fools. BSA has not done me any favors by diminishing the roles of 18-20 year olds, but just enough capable parents keep showing up. But, I view the people I have to work with as a problem with administering a program among post-modern nomads. Bottom line: our youth are sticking around until they age out. I see no reason to blame the program.