CalicoPenn

So I wonder which came first - the Lewis Black starbucks comedy routine or the scene in the Christopher Guest movie Best in Show from 2000 about a Westminster like dog show where the yuppie couple from Chicago talk about how they met when they noticed each other at separate Starbucks kity corner from each other.

I prefer local places - nearby is a Spunky Dunkers which has great cake donuts - and if I'm passing one of the two that I know of, the Country Donuts in Elgin or Crystal Lake has the best melt in your mouth crullers I've ever had. But if I had to choose between a Dunkin Donuts and a Krispy Kreme (assuming there is no Tim Horton's nearby - and yes, there are places you can get Tim Horton's in the US) then I'm going to choose Dunkin based on two criteria: 1) Better Selection and 2) You can't buy them in a grocery store like you can buy Krispy Kremes - any donuts you can buy in a Walmart, Target, Jewel, Pick & Save, Piggly Wiggly, etc. is not a real donut.

I'm wasn't advocating more required skills courses - I was advocating that the BSA develop more advanced skills courses that can be offered to volunteers on an annual or biannual basis - someting interested parties in a District could offer across district boundaries, or even something that could be offered as a more formalized training at summer camp - while the Scouts are out earning Merit Badges, the Leaders could be spending time learning too. There are all these "commissioner college" courses out there - why no advanced outdoor skills courses?

Can you tell us what has been significantly watered down? Are they skipping some of the topics? Are they reducing the time on them? What does that mean?? Every once in a while we get this kind of topic - how the IOLS course isn't comprehensive enough, that it doesn't cover topics in much depth. And every time, I just silently shake my head and wonder what part of Introduction do people not quite get. It's an introductory course - it's enough to get you started - it's not going to give you advanced knowledge of outdoor skills. It's mostly designed to get folks comfortable with the outdoors, not to get a mastery of outdoor skills. And if you stop to think about it, how much time do you spend with Scouts teaching some of these skills? When's the last time you spent over an hour teaching Scouts how to select a camp and put up a tent? I doubt most troops have ever done it in the formal way that IOLS does it - I'd be surprised if any Troop took more than 15 minutes to do this. An hour or so for an overview of backpacking and hiking in an intro course sounds just about right to me - it's enough to get some basics across and generate interest. Where the BSA fails is not in IOLS but in not offering more advanced skills courses (and no, Wood Badge does NOT count) and really leaving it up to Scouters to find their own resources for learning more advanced skills. Sure, the commissioner campsite at summer camp can be a great resource but how many Scouters get up to Summer Camp on a regular basis (why, oh why, don't more District Commissioner staffs set up a commissioner site with activities through the day at Camporees?).

Yep - that's the way to handle it. There are no right or wrong answers to this question (though I do know people that would disagree). Some things that might be desirable to some folks would be essential to others and vis-a-versa. A good example would be bottled water. In most of the United States, where good, potable water comes from the nearest tap, bottled water would probably be considered desirable. But if you live somewhere where the water has large amounts of lead, or where a disaster like a flood has overwhelmed the water supply, then bottled water would be an essential. I thought Bob's answers were interesting but would have to say it depends on the situation. Is a bug-out bag desirable? Yeah, probably for people who live in relatively geologically stable areas like Illinois, Wisconsin and the rest of the Midwest - but if you live near forests in the West during fire season, or in areas where earthquakes or hurricanes are common, then I would say a bug-out bag is essential. Broken door knob. Again, what's the situation - is it a cosmetic break? Desirable (until it's time to sell the house) - will no longer lock and secure your home? Essential. The goal of this exercise is to get Scouts to think about their purchasing choices and what impacts those choices might have on a larger scale. The thing is that most discussions on "sustainability" tend to veer off into hypotheticals rather than practicalities for individuals/families and part of the reason is that perhaps we're not asking the questions in the right way. While keeping track of purchases is a good start, it could be accompanied by a log keeping track of waste - especially something like food. How often do families buy the 10 pound bag of potatoes because it's on sale then throw out 5 pounds of it because they've gone bad before you can use it. If you're hungry for an apple, do you buy one apple or a 5 pound bag? Those are the kinds of questions that should also be considered.

I'd like to add a contrary voice - just to give you (and your SPL) something to consider, and how appropriate that you ask the day before Independence Day, arguably the United State's most sacred day and definitely the most patriotic day. One of the goals of the BSA is to instill patriotic citizenship in the Scouts. What's that phrase I've heard bandied about during some of our membership controversies? We want our Scouts to be the best kind of citizens they can be??? Do you have any veterans in your unit? Any of the parents veterans? How about in the sponsoring organization? Do you think you might encounter some Scouters at camp that are veterans? Do you think they will think the wearing of pirate bandanas at flag ceremonies is fun and shows respect to the US Flag or is it possible that it's going to be seen as disrespectful to the flag and to the veterans in attendance? The Pirate Bandanas sounds fun - wear them as head gear as part of the activity uniform, but for the flag ceremony, consider wearing them as neckerchiefs, not as headgear.

Maybe we should allow some electronics in the field - I have a pad set-up to access the internet over a mobile network - in essence, the pad is it's own wi-fi device - and as long as it can reach a cell tower, it can access the internet - then statements like the above can be checked in the field (apologies to Stosh in advance - I admit to being a precisionist when it comes to facts which means I can come across as pedantic). "Not all evergreens are pine trees and not all evergreens keep their needles year around" - As written, partially true - spruce and fir are not pine trees and are evergreens, hollies are not pine trees and are evergreens. To say that not all evergreens keep their needles year around suggests that all evergreens have needles (hollies have leaves) and semantically, if a tree loses its needles all at once every year, it's not an evergreen. I'd say 'Not all evergreens are conifers and not all conifers are evergreens that keep their needles year around'. Hollies aren't conifers but they are evergreens and larches are conifers but aren't evergreens. "Sedges are not grass" - yep! "Dame's Rocket is an invasive plant, Phlox is not but they look the same" - They do look similar from a distance but close-up, Dame's Rocket flowers have 4 petals, Phlox flowers have 5 petals - a field guide filled or web enabled pad can help make that distinction. "Wild Parsley is poisonous only in the daylight" - it's Wild Parsnip that has a juice that is photo-sensitive that can cause a rash when exposed to sunlight. In sensitive individuals, the rash usually develops a day or two after exposure so it's often unkown why the rash develops. While the juice of the plant does need sunlight to activate, there hasn't been enough research done to determine if the juice needs to be fresh in order for it to cause a rash (thus being poisonous only in the daylight) or whether dried juices on someones arms or legs can still be activated by the sun - we don't really know if someone who is exposed to the juices at night and hasn't had a chance to wash up, wll develop a rash tooo. "All the parts of day lilies are edible, but tiger lilies are not." The plant most people think of when they hear Tiger Lily is Lilium lancifolium, aka Lilium tigrinum, a non-native orange flowered lily with spots from Asia, is in fact edible. All parts of this plant is edible by humans but it is toxic to cats. The original day lily, another import from Asia, an orange flowered lily without spots, Hemerocallis fulva, is also edible. The other Day Lilies that we commonfly find growing in gardens and flower beds are either not edible or have questionable edibility. They are generally hybrids created from Hemerocallis fulva but bred for certain characterstics like color, or size, or hardiness. I wouldn't go out in to the garden and start harvesting your day lily floweres for your salads.

Armor polishing for ren-faire jousting knights?

Hi - welcome to the forum! The BSA admits the list is not comprensive (it surprises me that one of the most common power tools, the hand drill, is not mentioned) but you should be able to use the list that is there to determine what those age limits might be. For instance, I would equate a snowblower with a lawnmower so would say 16 plus (there is a "deck" between the operator and the rotating blade the same way there is a deck between the operator and the rotating blade of a lawn mower - and most lawn mowers and snowblowers have the same kind of safety handle where when you let it go, stops the blades from spinning). I would probably say 18 plus for a power auger since the rotating blade of the auger has no deck (or safety shield) between the operator and the blade. I think ultimately though, it's really up to the comfort level of the parent or adult leader in charge, whoever has the strictest criteria. If the adult leader decides that a 14 year old using a hammer drill is ok but 14-year old Scout Ben's parents say its not ok for their son, then the parents prevali. By the same token, if 16-year old Scout Scotts's parents say its ok for him to use a gas tamper but the Scoutmaster says "nope, not in this Troop", then the Scoutmaster prevails. So what does that mean for your question? Sorry but I readily admit it's just punting the question right back to you folks - we can give you ideas of what we think you can do, but ultimately, you folks have to make the decisions.

I don't see what David's CO is doing as adding to any requirements, nor are they subtracting from any requirements - what thy are doing is denying Scouts the opportunity to advance at their own pace. It's just not the same as a Scoutmaster denying someone their advancement by requiring additional nights of camping, or requiring another merit badge. They aren't saying their Scouts can't advance, they're just delaying when Scouts going through their confirmation process can start earning service hours. If they want to do that, I suppose that's ok (though I can also see how some could interpret it as adding to the requirements). My real question is why would an organization even want to charter a Boy Scout unit if they're going to back-burner a significant part of the program?

No one has noticed that the Boy Scouts approved Chunky - a FAT funny 15 year old Scout? Apparently the physically fit = not fat crowd weren't around then and the BSA was being run by people who know that boys come in all shapes and sizes.

What does your son want to do? Ask him and you'll have your answer.

The current charitable mileage write off rate is 14 cents per mile so a 1,200 mile trip will get you a write off of $168. Don't know what kind of mileage you get but lets assume 25 miles to the gallon - 1200/25 = 48 gallons used. Let's assume $2.50 a gallon x 48 = $120. Choice is yours

Dues = $10 Spring Fellowship (Ordeals, Brotherhood, Vigil) = $50 for Ordeal candidates, $20 pre-registration, $25 regular registration - all others Fall Fellowship - same as Spring costs - Vigil ceremony not done Banquet = $30 LLD = $10 Section Conclave = $40 pre-registered, $40 regular registration Assuming no pre-registrations and not an Ordeal candidate, and attending every event: $140.00 per year. $165 for first year Ordeal member. Not a bad deal at all

Forget about being a good Merit Badge Counselor - aim for being a GREAT Merit Badge Counselor. Knowing the strokes is a technical thing - you probably do most if not all of them already, you just don't know the names for them - that'll come (the best teachers are those that admit that they don't know everything they need to teach at the start of their careers but have realized that they'll not only learn it but master it as they're teaching others - and then once they master those, look for new things to teach for the challenge of learning and mastering new things. So what makes on a great merit badge counselor? Anyone can pick up a merit badge book and learn the requirements - what makes a great merit badge counselor is someone who is excited about what they're counseling, and is enthusiastic about passing that knowledge on - and has the patience to work with boys of various skill and physical strength levels to make sure the Scouts have a great experience.

Only one problem with that Backpacker challenge - it's impossible to do 42.9 miles across 4 states on the AT. The proposal starts in PA, goes through Maryland, West Virginia then Virginia. Only one problem. The AT in Maryland is 40.9 miles long. In West Virginia, a section of the tral is along the border of West Virginia and Virginia but there is 4 miles of unshared trali in West Virginia. If I've added them up together correctly, that's 44.9 miles through Maryland and West Virginia alone - which is 2 miles longer than called for in the "4-state challenge".

Snarly - it sounds to me like the Church is still wanting to sponsor the Troop. By all means, contact the commissioners staff - start with the District Commissioner (not the Council Commissioner - it's a fine idea but jumping over the District Commissioner directly to the Council Commissioner is a bridge you don't need to burn). But more to the point - the SM has absconded with the unit's gear - a unit that is controlled by the CO. You should also encourage the COR and IH to send a certified letter to the Scoutmaster demanding the return of all the unit's gear, as well as any keys he and his family may have to the unit's closet. In that letter, the CO should (after consulting with the local police so that they are informed and ready to act if needed) that they have 5 business days to return all of the gear and any financial records they may have including the check book, to the CO or that the police will be brought in to arrest them for theft. Yes - you're about to burn bridges with this family - and so is the church - and yes, the Troop will have to be rebuilt, and that can take some time - but ultimately this is going to have to happen if the Church truly wants to continue to sponsor the unit.

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers?

I'm sorry - a what? A Customer Satisfaction Survey? For a Boy Scout Troop? Whoever is asking for that really needs to get trained so they understand the Scouting program. It's not a business and your families/Scouts are not "Customers". There are two opportunities for every rank to see how satisfied the Scouts are (I don't really care if mom and dad are satisfied - I already know they'll never be satisfied because parents tend to have agendas quite separate from the Scouts). Your "surveys" are the Scoutmaster Conference and the Board of Review. The Scoutmaster Conference is a great opportunity for the Scoutmaster to not only give feedback to the Scout but to get feedback from the Scout. The Board of Review? Beyond making sure that all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed in his book, this is the opportunity for the committee, through the BOR to see how satisfied or dissatisfied the Scouts are with the program, with the Troop, with the leaders. The best BOR's are not just a review of the Scout but are also a Scout's review of the Troop. Not to mention all the informal opportunities to take a satisfaction pulse of the Troop like around campfires, or during meal preparation, or while out on a hike - just casual conversations between adults and boys. Don't forget the PLC - every time they meet there should be some time for the Patrol Leaders to report back on what their lads want more of and want less of. That's all the "Customer Satisfaction Survey" that you need.

I wear neutral colors in the woods - except during deer hunting season when I will wear a blaze orange vest when hiking, even if I'm not hunting. As has been mentioned, bright colors attract blackflies, mosquitos, deer flies and horse flies. They are also a signal beacon to every animal in the woods - ever want a chance to see a deer? Then don't wear neon colors - it's such an unnatural color that deer won't even wait around to determine if your a threat if they see it, they just go. If you're wearing neutral colors, they tend to stick around a little longer to make sure you're a threat before leaping off. I don't wear camo either - I'm not playing war games and frankly it's just silly. The sporting gear folks make a ton of money off of camo gear having convinced hunters that it will increase their chances for game. Last time I went turkey hunting, I wore blue jeans and a green plaid shirt - my hunting buddies all wore full camo and a couple of them even wore gilly suits and told me there would be no way I would even see a turkey - I was the only one to come back with a bird. But that's me - wear whatever you want - but on the safety thing, remember this - a Baltimore Oriole is a bright orange bird - and very difficult to find starting mid-May when the trees have fully leafed out.

It certainly can count and that's entirely up to you folks to decide if it does or not. I would suggest, however; that if the only thing done at the police station is a talk on bicycle safety that you consider not making it count towards the other requirement. I would want to add a tour of the police station as a component of the outing to qualify for the visit to an emergency response agency. Even then, I think I would still try to do a tour of a fire station, even if you don't count it towards the requirement just because Tigers and Fire Stations really seem to go hand in hand - and most fire departments love to give tours to Tigers and Brownies.

Welcome to the forums - I thought you said Sunny California - I always thought of Northern California as Foggy (or maybe that's just San Francisco).

I thru-hiked the AT from Katahdin to Springer (Maine to Georgia - most go from Georgia to Maine - I wanted to get the 100 mile wilderness out of the way early in the trip - not at the end of the trip when I would likely be far more exhausted) back in 1981. The trail has changed a lot since then. Back when I hit the trail, folks around the trail didn't really like thru-hikers much - there were places with hiker hostels but "trail angels" were very few and far between. You were as likely to be robbed, or beaten while heading in to town as you wetre to be offered a friendly ride. You never left your backpack outside when you went in to the post office for your resupply - it would be gone by the time you got back outside - smart hikers left them hidden where they left the trail. There were unofficial guides to the AT that you were wise to pay attention to - they would tell you which post offices were the best for resupply drops and which post offices to avoid at all costs. Which towns were friendly and which were places to avoid. They were detailed enough to tell you locations along the trail where it passed by farmer's land that were best to move past quickly because of unfriendly folks. I hate to say it but most of the warnings were about the Southern states. That has mostly changed - there may still be some unfriendly people out there but they're probably miserable old (and young) sots that are unfriendly in general. There are now towns along the trail that hold trail festivals and more places for folks to leave the trail and find good restaurants, supplies, hostels, etc. There are a lot more people now attempting to thru-hike - and in the "the more the merrier" vein, it also means that the trail does have more of a "party" atmosphere but from what I've read, and heard, and talked about with friends from my college who thru-hiked recently (and later in life), the partying tends to take place in town and at various trail festivals (except for the guy last year that did the AT in less than 45 days and to celbrate, popped a champagne bottle open on top of Katahdin to party like it's 1999. He was outraged that a park ranger gave him multiple tickets, including for having too large of a group with him (a lot of his friends showed up and went up the mountain with him - group sizes are limited), for littering (he was outraged that champagne foam would be considered littering though it was the cork that he let fly that got him the ticket) and for having an alcoholic beverage in the park itself. He was young and felt entitled - Maine smacked him back). There are now thru-hikers (or mega-section hikers) who plan the timing of their hike to go from festival to festival during the season. Another sign of change - I was at a presentation at my library of a guy who thru-hiked and he asked if anyone had thru-hiked it. Naturally I raised my hand and he asked me about "yogi-ing". I had no clue what it was so he explained that it was sidling up to folks having picnics and being like Yogi the Bear - begging for food. When he expressed surprise that I had never heard of it, I told him that I hiked it in 1981 and if anyone tried Yogi-ing back then, they'd likely find themselves beaten bloody or sitting in the sheriff's jail for the night. So where to go? My #1 choice would be Virginia. My #2 would be Maryland. Georgia is good too. I would, unless you have lots of experience backpacking in mountains, stay away from North Carolina and Tennessee. If you travel through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you will need permits and must camp in designated camp sites. This is also where the highest mountains in the AT are located. Pennsylvania has some excellent ridge walking, but the trail is wicked on boots - there is a lot of shale on the trail in PA. New Jersey and New York aren't bad but you may as well hike in Kansas. Massachussets and Vermont would be good but stay away from Maine and New Hampshire. The trail goes through the White Mountains in New Hampshire and it's not for beginners. Maine is (in my humble opinion) the most beautiful part of the trail but it is one of the most difficult - and most remote. Summer is going to be very busy almost anywhere on the trail, but particularly through the mid-section of the trail when all the thru-hikers are coming thru. If you could arrange it, I would suggest doing the Virginia portion of the trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway or through Shenandoah National Park in September. Why September? Summer vacationers are not on the trail, and the North-bound thru-hikers are long gone and the South-bound thru-hikers should be thru already. (I know - but September - school is in session - think outside the box!). And a word about those trail shelters. Some can indeed be rodent infested - Section and Thru-hikers are rarely to blame for that - they don't tend to make too much food and leave a bunch of trash. They (we) tend to blame weekend warriors who hike up, take over a shelter for the weekend and have beer parties, or Boy Scout Troops, who often hike up on a weekend trip, take over a shelter, and just become slobs. Can you guess which groups of people thru-hikers tend to despise when they come across them on the trail? Weekend warriors and Boy Scouts and sorry to say, Boy Scouts rank higher on the scale of hatred towards than weekend warriors. Most weekend warriors start to pass out after they've had a few too many and are quiet (except for loud snoring) - Boy Scout Troops tend to be loud, for a long time - nothing demoralizes a thru-hiker more after hiking for 15 miles to come upon a shelter full of loud, noisy and obnoxious Boy Scouts spilling out of the shelter and taking up way too much of the surrounding camping sites and realizing they've got to hike on another couple of miles at least before they can set up camp and cook their meal. Please don't become one of those groups.

Don't sweat the small stuff - and remember, it's all small stuff

That sounds to me like a legislature trying to have it's cake and eat it too. In Illinois, though the universities are run as a public corporation with most operational control granted to the Trustees, the Trustees are appointed by the Governor with advise and consent of the State Senate, and the operations are subject to laws passed by the General Assembly. Because of this I used a much broader concept of State - I include things like the university system and the tollway authority where boards that are not elected but are appointed by the governor/assembly. I know the Trustee's have had to raise tuition - I know a big part of the reason for that is because the General Assembly has cut spending to the University system. I just refuse to make it easy for the General Assembly to show outrage over the rate increases when they are just as much part of it than the University system is. If the University system was a separate government entity (like a municipality), I'll be glad to blame them, but as it stand now, when the University raises rates, I consider that to be the State of Illinois raising rates.