Tampa Turtle

On a serious note Irene is making her turn and tracking a little more west. FL, GA, and SC are looking OK, NC, Chesapeake, and NJ/NY looking worse. Looks pretty good she will hit somewhere between eastern NC to NY. I saw a briefing that, depending upon the scenario, that because of her large size that she pushes a lot more water (storm surge) than her size would indicate. In other words even if she skirts NC and cools off to a Cat 2 she may have a surge like a 3 or 4. Or maybe not. Next 24 hours will tell. So be prepared and stay on top of info. Maybe not the best weekend to camp on L.I. Good luck!

SMT, Classic GO. I have an old set I got 40 years ago from my mom. I was never very good at Chess (my brother was a Chess prodigy) so she took pity on me. I love the little black and white stones. First time I thought my 5 year old son he beat me. So I am not a very good player. I have 300+ various board and wargames so I am a bit of a "analog game" geek. I have introduced some to my scouts and I find many of them like the old-school as well as the electronic ones. So you never know. The popularity of Fluxx shows boys will play a good non-electronic game if it is designed right. And it fits in a backpack. I was shocked at how the older boys take to Poker. Got to keep an eye on that. I agree about the shooting. My home sniper had to work really hard to qualify for Rifle MB at camp. Shocked he never got his dime but saw that his heartbeat was enough to throw off his shot. Introducing the boys to games just shows that it easy to focus on the program and leave out the fun. Scouting should be fun not school...

SMT224 Yes I have a GO set and have played with my sons. I think Chess is pretty comparable. Both can be pretty hard to master. I wish National would release an "Outdoors" MB with each "Indoors" one.

I used to explain that in Scouts we want you to believe in God --however your family defines it. If you are not sure then it is something you work on all your life. Regular church attendance is an issue for a particular faith/denomination. I wouldn't dare go there. I think the intent IS to spur the conversation. In some cases it may lead to why don't we go to church if we are XYZ and believe in God. On the other hand some of the most evil people I know were regular church attenders. The boy could answer a question "what does God mean to me" or "how do we see God in the world around us". It could be a picture. You could watch Veggie Tales or something similar. You could discuss how mommy and daddy belong to different faiths, etc, etc. I wouldn't spend more than 15 or 30 minutes on it.

Chess has been around a long, long time and it is pretty challenging so I don't begrudge it a MB. Now a Fluxx MB would be cool. I was playing that with my kids and some of the boys at camp in between Poker and Black Jack.

Beavah, Thanks for pointing out that it is hard. For example in Florida the new guv says welfare recipients must take an annual drug test (on the assumption that the poor are all drug addicts)at $30 a pop. Now if you test positive you lose benefits for a year. Negative and the State reimburses the cost of the test. The assumption was this would save the state money by getting all the druggies off welfare. Well it turns out in the first year that only 2% of the folks tested positive and the State has to reimburse everyone else their $30. So the result is a wash --almost the same amount saved by cutting benefits as spent in reimbursements. So it is not always easy to save money based on "easy logic".

Commissary style could be kind of fun to see what different things Patrols could make with the same ingredients. I think a week long camp trip would make for a VERY educational experience in planning food for a week without refrigeration. I do think it is doable for the boys though toting would be a major challenge without some sort of food drop/resupply.

I used to have the cub talk to the parents on what "duty to God" meant in their family and leave it at that. A couple times it led to some good explosions in the parking lot between spouses.

I am replying to this (dormant) thread after reading Scouting last night. I don't see why the Great Chief Scout Executive was so verklempt in the article talking about JTE? I played with the spreadsheet and our Troop could do Silver/Gold but it seems to smack of too much management/business speak. I am a Planner by trade these days so I am all about benchmarks and metrics. I just can't believed they PAID a consultant to come up with that... The only thing I got out of the exercise is a reminder to have the SPL and PLC in on the budget planning more. I can see how you could have a busy little Troop of parlour scouts and paper Eagles getting a Gold JTE as long as they do enough plop camping. I think it misses some of the core issues we keep batting about on this forum -boy led, outdoor oriented, etc. Maybe it is just me but the older I get the less patience I have for all the creeping corporatism and management-speak coming out of Irving.

I like the Bobcat. Yes it is a little confusing but it is the great equalizer --start as a Tiger or a late Webelos joiner all must do it. Besides it is a cute patch and the boys get it quick. And yes we did do the dreaded upside down pinning. Some of those kids were hefty.

I saw it in Scouting. Didn't see the requirements in meritbadge.org. Anyone know much?

Good luck with Irene: Hide from the wind, run from the water. Earthquakes: find a door jamb or get under table.

I would say to prep for scouts: 1-Hiking Stick (drill holes, frap cord the whole deal) 2-Stuff Sacks (basically a pillow case) 3-"Camping Pillow" small pillow made of ripstop cover or old poly shirt with polyfill inside/ 4-Stool

I hope Irene misses the east coast, I remember visiting the Battery in Charleston and seeing the high water marks on some of the facing historic houses. Brookgreen Gardens got a lot of damage inland as well. I am sure that feeling an east coast earthquake was a bit of a shock. Grew up in the San Francisco area and never liked 'em. You can prepare for a Hurricane but if you are standing in the wrong place in a earthquake it is just bad luck. Good job on (trying) to pull the fire alarm. Good idea.

We do a Dad and Lad bake-off. Also allow cookies, etc as well as cakes. About 1/3 enter. Not as bad as PWD. We use Boy Scouts as judges. Always invite extra people to eat it all up.

But it hit central Virginia; isn't that God's Country?

Yeah but he damaged the National Cathedral and left the White House and Capital intact. Not sure how to interpret that?

The Beev brings up a good point. Veterans Benefits are going to eat us alive. I do not see how anyone can logically approach this without a cutting spending/raising revenue approach...

Gary, I am all for Patrol and skill competitions. It makes learning and practicing the skills relevant. It also flushes out the lazy ones.

I hate popcorn too, selling that is. It just seems like an over-priced out dated way for Boy Scouts to raise money. Was always good for our Cubbies, because the Tigers are awful cute. But I was always ashamed by the cost/benefit of the product even when selling to folks that I knew could afford it. I think it leaves a bad taste --no pun intended--in the mouth of folks regarding the BSA "brand". I do not see why they cannot follow Girl Scouts example of a lower price point. Even cheap people like me will buy a couple boxes. I have mixed feelings about supporting the professionals but have known some good ones. I feel it may be the cost of doing business. In my case I am already too busy doing my bit of running the program and spending money out of my pocket for our Troop to want to spend energy on all the bother selling popcorn. I find it a big distraction.

If two earthquakes in one day(one in the west and one in the east) weren't enough we could have a weekend Hurricane strike on the east coast. A good reminder for boys to start thinking about that Emergency Preparedness MB!

Back in the 50's guys wore sports coats and hats.

I can't wait to go into the field in my new blazer! Sorry, wrong thread.

Guy, I think you have a good argument there. My two camp experiences were that there was a lot of idle time wasted marching to the dining hall, waiting to get in, waiting to get served, etc. Time spent is probably a wash.

Cooking, not reheating in a microwave, is a real life skill. Locally cooking classes are full for kids, especially boys in part of TV chef shows and in part because of the economy. Cooking is again seen as a valuable skill. I do not think it is nostalgic at all. I know my boys after cooking over a fire or camp stove find cooking in a kitchen with an electric oven a breeze. I agree that summer camp is an excellent opportunity for a patrol to learn to work together cooking as a team.