OldGreyEagle

Well now, lets not pooh pooh Alchemy all that quickly, after all, it is theoretically possible to change lead into gold. Gold has an atomic number of 79, this means it has 79 protons in its nucleus. Lead on the other hand has an atomic number of 82 or 82 protons. Now, all that has to happen is to remove 3 protons from the lead nucleus and voila you have an atom of gold. A suitable device such as a neutron gun bombarding a mass of lead will knock out protons from a lead mass and create gold. Which leads to the story about about the gold atom talking to the silver atom, when the gold atom says, "wow, I suddenly feel like I am ionized" "are you sure" asks the silver atom to which the gold atom replies. "yes, I'm positive"

is that ALF or ELF (Earth Liberation Front)

Lets see, this was first released in the summer of 2001, (http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=1731#id_1731), so if he was to be a sophomore in High School in the fall of 2001, then by now he could be a sophomore in college, not exactly the average face of a Boy Scout.

My son and I went to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons last year, June 2005. WHile it was onlu the two of us I may be able to help. As mentioned, the website is full of information and maps, but you will need a topo of your own as well. I looked over the trail selection and picked a shorter trail for the first overnight, less that 2 mile it said, it didnt say anything about the elevation change and almost forced a trail side overnight rather than one in the assigned campsite. WHen do you plan to go? What sort of transportation will you have and how 'READY" is your troop to do some backpacking?

Loved the beret

Ed, don't worry, this will be my last post on this subject, but expecting an Asperger's scout to "learn to pay attention" is as ignorant a statement as has been posted here in quite awhile. I agree that if a scout needs individual attention, it must be the product of work between troop and parents. But to merely say the Aspeger's scout merely needs to pay attention better is simply ludicrous (and I dont mean the singer)

I didnt know competition was a step in learning something according to the BSA, but I am open to it. The section on Board of Reviews was good, and could be used as a resource next time we get word of a 60 minute review of all scout skills

thanks for the update on game laws in England, but I was addressing the Red Skins Patrol wont to cook rabbits.

First a vocabulary lesson feign (feen)v. feigned, feigning, feigns v. tr. 1. To give a false appearance of: feign sleep. To represent falsely; pretend to: feign authorship of a novel. To imitate so as to deceive: feign another's voice. To fabricate: feigned an excuse. Archaic. To invent or imagine. I am not sure allowing one to learn to feign for themself is a good idea or one supported by the BSA mission. Then again there is the word: fend (f nd)v. fended, fending, fends v. tr. To ward off. Often used with off: fend off an attack. Archaic. To defend. v. intr. To make an effort to resist: fend against the cold. To attempt to manage without assistance: had to fend for ourselves until we were rescued. Now this may be the word that was intended And now for the big butt, All Disabilities are different, I think we all can agree on that. How each troop handles a disability has to be a combination of the problem, the scout and the situation. While the scouting program is designed to provide growth opportunities to all, I am not sure any of us would take a blind scout into the woods, hand him a compass and a map back to camp and tell him dinner is at 6pm I dont think it would be right to have deaf scouts told they were to start the knot tying competition when the turkey call is given. I don't know that much about Asperger's but expecting them to function as a "normal" scout and then live with the consequences is like telling an ADD scout if he can sit still in a 1 square yard area for 1 hour he will be given 5 million dollars and be surprised when he bolts after 5 minutes (if that long). Aperger's kids are easy targets as they dont "look" different, hence the title of the thread "Invisible disabilities", its easy to give deference to kids in a wheelchair, who are blind, quite different when the symptoms are not as obvious. This is an issue which the Troop must agree to work hard with the parents to provide the best experience for everyone involved. (This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

I am not sure a lion would want to morph into a Cheetah as everyone knows, Cheetahs never prosper

Ed, I am not sure how to break this to you, but I had thought I was sorta kinda inaway on your side in this debate. If you reread what I posted you will see that I don't think natural selection equals evolution. At least that was my intent, sorry to have confused you

I posted this in 2002, I think this is a place for a repeat: This is purely a fictionally made up account of how I understand adaptation. (or Natural Selection) In a secluded area there may be a herd of antelope and a pride of lions. As the antelope are the lions prime food source, the slower antelopes fall prey easier than faster ones. Over time as the slower animals contribute less and less to the herd's gene pool.The average speed of the herd increase as only the fastest animals are around to breed. Each individual animal isnt thinking, gee, I got to make my child faster, the animals that are the fastest tend to live, mate with other fast antelope and have fast off spring. Being the fastest is an example of "Survival of the fittest Now, of course the same thing may happen with the lions. Now that the Antelope are faster, its harder to catch them. Having a hide/skin color that best blends in with the native vegetation is an asset as it makes being spotted by the antelope harder. Over time having a lighter colored skin helps make the lion a more successful hunter. Over a period of years the prides hides lighten because its the most successful hunters that survive. The lions didnt learn it would be a good idea to have a lighten hide, the ones who had it were able to breed, the others didnt. Now, antelope that have better eyesight than the norm are able to detect the lighten hided lions. As soon as they see them, they take off. Antelope that dont have as good eyesight get eaten. It could be the animals with the better eyesight arent as fast as the antelope they leave behind, but they get way first. Before, being the fastest was prized, now its having the most acute eyesight. Now, not being the fastest but having keen eyesight is an example of "Survival of the fittest". Then the lions.... Ok, I think I can stop now. The animals didnt "learn" anything (the genes in the gene pool remain unchanged, its just that manifestations of some have a greater chance of survival). The environment in which the animals lived dictated what chacteristics were neccessary to survive. The fastest antelope, and then the lighter hided lions and then the sharp eyesighted antelope were natrually selected for survival The above I see as natural selection, but it doesnt explain how a species becomes a differernt species. For example, Domestic dogs are a species and with all the breeding that has done, from toy poodles to irish wolfhounds, characteristics have changed, abilities have changed but the species, the DNA remains the same. I have heard that man and monkey/ape came from a common ancestor, but when? Where? What is the missing link? What natural evolving process gave man consciousness? Why has no other creature gained consciousness, or have they and we dont know? Just an inqusitive mind that wants to know

This is a terribly complex issue. My son has ADD, is severly dyslexic and was born with epispadias. You can do a search on this forum for the word epispadias and read what that is. He has to catheterize himself every 3-4 hours through a stoma on his abdomen and sleeps with a urinary drainage bag. Having said all that, He was SPL of the Troop, was a patrol leader for the 2001 National Jamboree, spent a season on Camp Staff as an assistant Range Master and made Eagle scout at 16. You wouldnt know there is anything "wrong" with him to look at him. He once refused to do a reading at a Scout's Own worship service because he literally couldnt read it. The ASM was about to go ballistic when I saw them talking and asked what was going on, I told the ASM my son was dyslexic and that ended the confrontation. I then thought about disclosing my sons conditions. Something I hadnt done because his issues were so much a part of our life, it didnt occur to me to tell anyone as I was sure "all" were briefed on his condition. The Troop has had many special needs scouts. Currrently we have three boys in wheelchairs/Walkers, one of which was elected SPL. We have also had a multitude of ADD scouts as well. Our Committee Chair is a pediatrician and when she goes to summer camp, she has two foot lockers, one for her stuff and another for the troop meds. And I suspect we have had a few ASperger's as well, more from identifying behavior from this forum than from any disclosure. We have had many scouts from a local private school for students with disabilities At the time my son joined the troop, several other boys joined as well who also had some invisble disabilities. Some were a bit more visible after working with the scouts, others harder to see, but were there. A common denominator was the scouts who did the "best" had their families fully involved in the troop. The father's (me included) of the more challenged scouts were sure to be on every event to watch over, but not do for, our sons. At times we would take turns talking to a scout, other than our sons because sometimes the scout would rebel against what Dad said, but would do the same thing if another dad said it. As time went on, the boys matured and the dads and moms had to do less. We still had problems with other adults, a few who didnt think ADD was real, that we were just overprotective parents of spoiled rotten kids. We got a boost when one normally OK kid missed his medication and became a raving loon and then settled back down after proper medication. We developed suport systems, if someone couldnt make a trip, someone else was to watch the boy. We never did convert all the adults that ADD and other syndromes were real, but we worked amoungst ourselves to give our boys and ourselves a great experience. I tried putting myself in other leaders position, looking at it from their experience. I am not sure its reasonable to expect a volunteer with no background in any type of mental/emotional disorder to handle such a child. We can talk about training and the sensitivity required to handle such youth, but there will always be adults unable or not disposed to be the one to handle such youth. The best thing to do is cooperate with parents in similar situations, develop support mechanisms and enjoy scouting(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year JKHNY, we havent heard from you in awhile and I hoped you were well. I may be wrong, so I will be open to correction but as far as I underatand it, in all the training courses I have had, no one ever said the BSA had "democratic" representation of volunteers. I have been told its the COR's that elect the Board, not the rank and file scouters. Now, About Owasippe and the CAC, I have no idea whether or not what jkhny alleges is true or not. But, lets say that a "new board" is put in place and after about two years the new board goes to the membership and says, "gee guys Owasippe is a huge money pit and keeping it around is just throwing good money after bad and we should sell it" Wonder what would happen then?

I loved Theodoric of York, he was my kind of guy! Didnt he have a reference book he would consult to answer tough questions? wish I had one, a book that had answers to all questions, they might not be the right answers, but at least just having an answer sometimes helps. I agree with CA_Scouter AND I agree with ED. Merlyn and Ed can be quite tiring to follow, then again no one forces the rest of us to read the exchanges although it would be nice if they would take future exchanges on this topic to the private message route. Then again if they do we would be bereft of the urbane, witty and sophisticated banter which is their trademark We had a poster who would often argue against prohibiting topics or censoring posts because he claimed some people did more damage to their case by their own postings than any argument ever could PS CA, which one do you see as John? Blanche?(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

I can see using the tie tack as the beginning of a Boy Scout collection, but not as something to wear. it would be like getting a new soldier getting a Silver Star from a relative and then wearing it. Not in the uniform, but on "other clothes" it wouldnt work

Originally November 11 was called Armastice Day to mark the end of WWI (the big one). Over the years, that holiday was changed to Veterans Day and today celebrates all Veterans (as well they should be celebrated) I hope no one tries to bring down the honoring of all Veterans by pointing out the original intent was to honor WWI vets only. The word "gay" has changed, it wasnt that long ago being a gay fellow just meant you were happy and carefree. Today it means something else and those that point out that "gay" didnt always mean "Gay" would be asked why that tidbid was relevant? Remember the old song: School days, school days Good old-fashioned rule days. Readin' Ritin' and Rithmetic All taught to the tune of a hickory stick ... Perhaps some lament the end of school teacher administred corporal punishement, but its day is past and we can talk about the past, but it doesnt change the present. Things change, whether its the name and intent of holidays, the meaning of a word, or policies of a social institution, in any case sometimes we just have to move on

I hope at the very least they only hunted animals in season unless of course the orginal Baden-Powell program included blatant disregard for the law

Far far off in the future when we are truly are old and feeble and cannot "whatever" anymore we will look upon the gleeming poles, the airing of greivances and wrestling and some young smart butt will try to take all the fun away by saying the holiday is a sham as it was geminated by a trite "free broadcast" sitcom about nothing. But the old white hairs long in the tooth will know no matter its origination, its what a holiday means to each of us that measures its value.

Luke 6:37

I guess it has to be 7.5 point to Ed, the name of the charactor was Doris Lynch as portrayed by Barrie Chase in "White Christmas"

Nope. not Mae West, but a good guess

Mutual I am sure... (10 points to the person identifying the reference)

Mark 3:28

The Winter Solstice is the "shortest" day of the year and ushers in the season of Winter. The Summer Solstice is the "longest" day of the year (shortest and longest refer to sunlight)and ushers in the season of Summer. These are opposed(?) By the Vernal Equinox (a day of equal daylight and night)to usher in the season of Spring and the Autumnal Equinox ushers in the seaon of Autumn/Fall. I hope this gets you in the mix Rather than worry about what holiday greeting is most appropriate, I prefer to wish all a joyous life, at all times filled with the spirit of scouting.