Sentinel947

To my knowledge, there is no BSA rule about how many times a Scout can be SPL. In my Troop, we have a rule that a boy can only be SPL one 6 month term. I'd rather it be two terms, but the justification is sound. (It gives more boys the opportunity to be SPL). We never have a shortage of boys who want to be SPL, so it makes sense.

I've been in Boy Scouts for the last 15 years, I don't think I've ever heard any Scout or adult tell a campfire story involving sexual organs, butts and where to stick them, but I concede that my experience may not be typical. Lots of potty humor and inappropriate jokes. Can definitely say my friends and I in scouts told each other jokes far more R rated than the one you just posted, but I don't think we'd dare say them in front of the adults. Our Troop has a bit of a tradition in Eagle Court of Honors where the Scout asks his parents to speak a few kind words and a Scoutmaster or ASM to do a "roast" of sorts. Always funny. My favorite even has a name. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." It's of course, a story about large amounts of vomit.

Haha. I feel telling that joke to my Scouts would get me so much parental "hate mail."

If it's not a story you'd say around your Scouts, then it's not something we should have on the forum. That's been the unofficial standard since I joined. I&P has been a bit of an exception since most of us don't talk politics around our Scouts. Obviously if @Tampa Turtle wants to share his story with @Back Pack in a PM that's fair game. I found it humorous before it was hidden, but not really appropriate for a public Scouting forum. Has nothing to do with the "kids table." Even though Scouter.com is not an official BSA publication, we still need to represent the movement well.

At least you may get some of your money out of the pyramid scheme that is Social Security. Without changes to it, I fear I'll spend a whole lifetime paying into it and get nothing in return. I won't be retiring till 2055-2060.

The workbook is even an improvement over when I completed my Eagle back in 2011. Biggest gripe is that the PDF doesn't always save and attach to emails nicely.

I mean just look at this group. There is so much Scouting knowledge and experience in this forums membership, and with a few exceptions, none of us have worked for the BSA as a professional. You can make more money and get better benefits in government, academia (which is really saying something) or the private sector.

Even Card got inspiration for Ender's Game from Joe Haldeman's 1974 book, The Forever War, which was a very blatant critique of the Vietnam War. I will stand up on one of my personal soapboxes.. Star Trek is Science Fiction. Star Wars is not. There is no actual Science in Star Wars anywhere, and Midichlorians do not count. That doesn't make Star Wars bad. Star Wars has hamstrung the Science Fiction genre. Any Sci-Fi movie that's made has to survive comparisons to the 800 pound Gorilla that is Star Wars, even though Star Wars isn't even the same genre. We have been doing pretty well for Sci Fi recently, with The Apes franchise, Blade Runner, Interstellar being some of the really good ones to come out.

So Donald Trump 20/20. "Make Star Wars male again."

She has earned what she is entitled to. No more, no less.

Would you give Eagle to a Trails Life scout who decided he wanted Eagle instead of whatever award it is they give out? Let's just be honest. Mrs. Ireland has not done the work, because she's not eligible to do the work. I can't study advanced coursework and then go to the local university and demand my masters degree, because I "did the work." I have to follow the requirements as the university lays them out if I want their degree. Unfortunately there are no procedures in place for a situation like this, because Mrs. Ireland is the first who's the challenged the situation in this way. There are specific exceptions made for Scouts from other eligible Scouting organizations worldwide, and she doesn't meet those criteria either. The BSA may roll over and play dead to avoid bad PR with this case, but it doesn't mean they should. It's very unfortunate for Mrs. Ireland to miss out on earning Eagle, but every American Girl since the founding of the BSA has missed out on earning Eagle, and while I'm happy that's going to change in the future, it's going to be girls that earned the award following the requirements and doing things the right way, the same way all their male peers have earned it. And that is the only equality worth having.

We'll agree to disagree.

Not a bad plan. One of my former Scouts is a manager at the local movie theatre, so I went to see it a second time for free. A regular popcorn was $8!!!! What is this madness?

So the agenda is to accurately represent women in movies, how subversive.... As for Girls Rule, Boy's Drool. That's been a television trope/ pop culture for a very long time. Just look at Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Guy and The Simpsons. It's even somewhat present in the original trilogy, with Leia, the smart dignified leader, vs Han, the unethical, shady, shoot first ask questions never criminal. Let's look at the characters in Last Jedi and examine "Girls rule, boys drool" Spoilers below Rey: Luke refuses to teach her because she does not resist the darkness when it calls to her. She goes into the cave of the dark side for selfish reasons, to seek her parents identity. She only finally resists the darkness when she realizes it's full of lies. She then naively goes to Kylo Ren and tries to turn him based off a feeling. She's definitely a hero of the film, and a strong female lead (and I think Ridley is a fine actress) but her character is hardly perfect. She makes several mistakes. Vice Admiral Holdo: All heroism aside: She fails to communicate with her subordinates, which causes them to mutiny out of desperation. Cluing in her subordinates would have kept the Finn and Rose misadventure from happening. That's as much on Holdo as it is on Poe. Leia: She spents most of the movie in a coma, so I'm ignoring her. Luke: Overcomes his loss and fear to stall the First Orders advance and save the Rebellion. Yoda: Comes back at the perfect time to break Luke out of his fear and loss. Finn: Goes on a heroic suicide mission to save the Rebels from Snokes Star Destroyer and later the Siege Cannon, is stopped by the sappy love of Rose. This was the character who was trying to run away all of Episode 7 and the beginning of 8. Poe: Learns his lesson to not always rush into battle, uses his brains to realize their is an escape route out of the Mining complex, saving the rebellion, even after Leia has basically thrown in the towel. In summary; many of the charters in Last Jedi are flawed characters who grow throughout the movie. It paid homage to bit's and pieces of the original trilogy without being a slave to those movies. You're free to disagree, but I think you're inserting the culture wars into something that really doesn't have it. I just saw the movie again tonight, I totally don't agree that the added influence of women is ruining Star Wars. A New Hope was influenced in a large way by Luca's first wife Marcia. http://www.syfy.co.uk/news/3-ways-which-marcia-lucas-helped-save-star-wars-0

That was after the destruction of the Jedi Order, even if the books were written before the prequels. Besides, the Expanded Universe is now "unofficial." As for other's claims of "propaganda." Most movies are trying to tell a story, teach a lesson, something like that. For example, Jurassic Park, like it's much source material, is about the dangers of science separated from "Yes we can, but should we?" Another favorite of mine is Ender's Game, where bullying, racism (specism), and "do ends justify the means?" are key aspects of that novel (and it's much worse movie adaptation.) Another favorite of mine is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Aka Blade Runner, which explores "What is being human?" What lesson do you think the Last Jedi is trying to teach and why? I'm not sure I take many lessons out of Star Wars, which has always been relatively shallow Space Fantasy (not science fiction.) Star Wars has some very broad underlying themes. (Authoritarianism is bad, Democracy is good.) The new movie had some badly shoehorned in social pontificating about "arms dealing" but that's hardly "social engineering" is it?

My Troop has Eagle Coaches. We are assigned to Scouts to be a resource for them to ask questions and give advice. Scouts in our Troop if they want Eagle and put forth the effort, we make sure the steps are not mysterious. In my 5 years as a Project Coach I've had most Scouts finish but they would have likely earned Eagle regardless. I myself am an Eagle Scout for what that's worth, and a NESA board member in my Council. Eagle is a Goal. Not making Eagle at the end is a painful lesson. But a Scouts time is not a failure because they don't earn Eagle.

Haha. Totally off topic, but if the economy totally collapses, Gold isn't very useful. Food, a way to purify water, guns and ammunition are much more valuable than gold.

Well if they're "just" dollars, I'd be happy to be the custodian of those dollars, if you're offering.

Slippery slopes on membership vs program requirements. To use sports as an analogy, we've decided to allow gay kids "play", gay adults "coach" in our sports league. That doesn't alter the rules of the game. Letting the Ireland family bully the BSA into changing program requirements is changing the rules for one "Player". Like if in soccer one player can use their hands and nobody else can. It breaks the game.

Terrible idea. Sorry, she's just not the right age at the right time. It sucks, but it is what it is. Eagle is not a measurement of being a good Scout or a good person, and she should be comfortable with the fact she is both of those things, but not an Eagle Scout. If they make this exception I'd be hard pressed to see how the flood gates of exceptions just bursts open.

I do it because I want the Scouts in my troop to get a better experience than I did as a Scout, and I got a pretty good one!

How do I cancel the subscription? I don't read them and it's wasting paper.

It was and is a pretty common practice among my male and female friends growing up. I suppose that cultural practice has made me not think twice about it. I don't give my Scouts hugs because that's getting into the murky areas where things can be misconstrued.

Welcome! Glad to see more recently aged out Scouts take the plunge into being an ASM! It's been very rewarding to me over the last few years. We've got a handful of college age Scouters here that will probably introduce themselves.

Wow I didn't realize shaking somebodies hand was such a big deal. First time on this forum that I feel like an out of touch dinosaur. Obviously there's something to be said about maintaining appropriate boundaries, even more so with small children or somebody of the opposite gender. However, I didn't realize shaking one of my scouts hand's would be viewed as some kind of harassment. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the points made in the thread.