DancesWithSpreadsheets

Bt01 wrote: "Part of the reason why I started the post was there where several eagle scouts that did camping merit badge in 1970's and did not have to deal with 9b. " The Camping merit badge requirements have changed quite a bit since the 70's. Here is the text of requirement 8 (ancestor of today's req 9) from the 1975 printing of the 8th edition Scout Handbook: 8. Show experience in camping by the following: (a) Camp out a total of 20 nights. Sleep each night under the sky of under a tent you have pitched. (You may use a week of summer camp as part of the 20 days and 20 nights.) (b) On one of these camping trips, hike 1 1/2 miles or more each way to and from your campsite. Pack your own gear plus your share of patrol gear and food. (This camp is in addition to the one for Camping skill award.) © Serve as one of the cooks for your patrol for at least five meals prepared in camp. [end of req 8] So that one really hasn't changed all that much, backpacking (or at least hiking lugging your gear) was required, not an option, and cooking was required. Maybe you should give the scouts the option of substituting their Dads' req 8(b) and © for the current req 9(b). Regards, DWS edited to add missing parenthesis(This message has been edited by DancesWithSpreadsheets)

OGE, Tax Exempts don't pay income tax, nor in most places property tax. But they do pay employment taxes. If it's the state, as opposed to the IRS, I'd guess it was unemployment taxes, or maybe state income tax withholding. Regards, DWS

I tend to agree with BasementDweller; it could be a good tent for the money, but it's hard to tell from the pic and description given. Some things I don't like: the floor plan; its 10' wide, but it tapers to a point on both sides, that limits the useability of the space; only one door, bad if you actually plan on putting 2 people in it, not such a big deal if this is for 1 scout(er). The way the door zips looks odd to me too, more of a hatch than a door. Things I'd like to know; it says the fly (outer tent?) is polyester, I would hope it is urethane coated, but it doesn't say; and the aforementioned question about whether it has a bathtub floor. I don't think I'd buy this tent without seeing it set up, but then I already have a tent I like (and a couple I don't). Regards, DWS (edited to fix type)(This message has been edited by DancesWithSpreadsheets)

Are you talking about something like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/Kerosene-Oil-Hurricane-Lantern-SMUDGE-POT-Camping-Lamp-/310304054453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483f901cb5 Regards, DWS

Eagledad wrote: "A few years ago our DE invited all the charter reps in the district (almost 50) to a free lunch where the he could get to know them and talk about the future of scouting. Three showed up." The rest probably thought they were going to be subjected to an FOS pitch. Regards, DWS

Good luck to you Eagle732, the AT's been on my "bucket list" for a while, I hope that my legs hold out until I have the time for it. Give us an update on your progress when you get a chance! Regards, DWS

DLister summed up my reasons for recently reactivating my membership very nicely. Regards, DWS

Welcome to the forum! One thing to consider is that backpacks need to fit properly in order to be usable. If your son is growing (safe assumption) he may outgrow any pack you buy him now before he gets to boy scouts. My suggestion would be to wait until there is a backpacking trip in the near future before investing in a backpack, and then get one with an adjustable frame that will grow with him. In the meantime, a decent duffelbag should handle his gear for car camping just fine. If you have a full service outdoor store, such as REI, near you they will be able to measure and fit a backpack for him. They may charge a few bucks, but it's probably worth it. A good company to look at is alps mountaineering (www.alpsmountaineering.com) good quality gear with great discounts for scouts and scouters through their scout direct program (www.scoutdirect.com). Good luck to you and your son. Regards, DWS

Pack212: Thank you, I stand corrected. Calico: As I said, rare circumstances. Regards, DWS

Pack212 has it right, but to state it a bit more clearly: A boy can join Boy Scouts at age 11 or age 10 if he earned AoL. BUT the first requirement for AoL is to have been active in a Web den for 6 months after turning ten or after completing grade 4. So except in rare circumstances, a boy who has AoL will be 10.5 or very close to it, unless someone fudged the time requirements for AOL. HTH, DWS

If you know a scout to be untrustworthy in small things, like why he was late for a campout or whether or not someone was willing to help him with FA, can you trust him in matters of more critical importance? Just grist for the mill... Regards, DWS

A couple that I have on my droid: Google Sky Map; very cool app for finding or identifying planets, stars and constellations. GPS status; shows how many satellites your tracking, gives position and time info, other features. Sundroid; sunrise and sunset times for you location Moon Phase Pro; moon phase, rise and set times. Compass; displays a compass using the magnetometer, can also mark waypoints using the GPS. Droid Light; uses the camera LED flash as a flashlight. Depending on what model phone you have these may or may not work for you, I find they work very well on my gen 1 Droid. Have fun. Regards, DWS

There's an old saying among brass players: "There's them that polishes 'em, and them that plays 'em" Regards, DWS

SeattlePioneer, perhaps your community is different, but in most places local law enforcement balks at being debt collectors, especially where you 1) gave the merchandise voluntarily to the other party 2) have no enforceable (i.e. written) agreement regarding the terms for return or payment of it, including due dates, etc. and 3) the amount is relatively small, say under $1000, which in most places I'm aware of is the threshhold for grand larceny. Personally I agree with those who advocate being understanding and working with the family to get repayment; the honey v. vinegar arguement. It's more in line with the values we espouse, and if they're truly deadbeats, the threat of legal action isn't going to scare them much. My 2cw. Regards, DWS

Hmm...did you pay your Google bill this month? I was curious too and found this link, from the description it sounds like the right one, but it's probably funnier seeing it performed than reading it! http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/skit/shakespearean_play-1404.asp Regards, DWS

My first reaction is how could you operate a troop of 100+, or even 80+, without the patrol method? At that size you need some kind of hierarchy of leadership just to keep things from devolving into utter chaos. You might even need an intermediate level (a company, perhaps?) due to span of control issues. Personally I think a troop that size is too big and should be split, but if you have the resources, including meeting space, volunteers, and equipment and want to make a go of it more power to you, but abandon the patrol method at you own peril. Regards, DWS

"Ask them if there is a place in the band for someone who is tone deaf or hates music.. (Umm not sure if there is..).. " Yeah, the drumline [ducking] Regards, DWS

I had two of those nylon pup tents, one with and one without a rainfly. The one with the rainfly was a White Stag and was not a bad tent, easy to set up, kept you dry and you could even take the tent down while leaving the fly up, handy when breaking camp in wet weather. The less said about the other one the better. I'm not sure why the pup tent style is not available anymore, but I think a good dome tent is superior to the pup tent design. Set up may not be intuitive, but it is easy. I took a group of cub scouts camping two weekends ago and even the families who did not own a tent and used one of the Eureka dome tents we borrowed from the boy scout troop had no problem setting them up. They are free standing so they don't fall over when someone "accidentally" trips over a guy line. Most have two good size doors (without a pole in the middle of them) making entry and egress easy, and the vestibule is a great feature too. As an aside, I do remember about 30+ years ago we a pair of brothers in our troop whose parents bought them a new-fangled dome tent, we thought it was hilarious to pick it up and move it when they weren't looking. If your pup tent works for you, by all means use it. Mine wore out long ago and I am very happy with my Alps Taurus 2 AL, but if given the chance to trade it straight up for a mint condition White Stag I'd have to give it some thought. Regards, DWS

We took the tigers night hiking at a local nature preserve earlier this year and had a great time. The guide assigned to us did a fantastic job. First made sure that everyone's flashlight either had a red bulb in it or taped red cellophane over it to minimize the light's impact on our night vision. During the hike she pointed out lots of signs of animal activity that could be observed at night. When we got to a clearing she brought out her laser pointer and did a short intro to stargazing pointing out some of the major stars. One thing she did was pretty cool, I'm not sure if I remember exactly how it was done but I think it went like this. She divided us up into two groups, had each group line up facing the other, say about 15 to 20 feet apart, all lights off. Told everyone to focus on the face of the person opposite them, and after a few seconds, the face disappeared. The explanation was that your eyes receptor cells for color, the cones, are grouped in the center of your retina, and the rods (which sense only white light) are more prevalent around the periphery, so that in low light, your peripheral vision is stronger than your central vision, and focusing on something in the middle of your field of view can make is vanish. I don't know if the boys understood all that, but it was pretty cool. Regards, DWS

My Brunton Type 15 (essentially the Silva Ranger renamed for the U.S. Market) has good size white numerals on a black background, I can almost read them without my glasses (my diopter prescription is +2). It also has the letters N-E-S-W printed around the bezel in letters I can distinguish unaided. Using the letters as cues, I can figure out which numbers are where. If that's not good enough, Brunton also makes a braille compass (http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=89) (might be fun for night ops). Regards, DWS

I'm not sure that you really have a problem, since Wolf Cubs is for boys 8 years old or in second grade. At least around here you have to be 6 or quite close to it (I think by Oct 1) to start first grade, then a typical third grader would be 8. If he has a late birthday and is in third grade, he should be 8 years old, and therefore eligible to be a Wolf, correct? I suppose a boy with a late birthday could start third grade as a 7 y.o., which would lead make him eligible for Tigers or Bears, but not Wolves, is that the situation here? If so the problem goes away when he turns 8. I wonder if the age/grade requirements are deliberately out of synch to address situations like yours. Regards, DWS

Actually there is an international standard (ISO 8601) that specifies the date format of YYYYMMDD (or YYYY-DD-MM). It's mainly for electronic data interchange, but it eliminates or reduces ambiguity in other situations as well. Regards, DWS

Just so it's clear, during the procession or recession, the U.S. Flag needs to be to the right (in relation to its direction of movement) of any other flag. This can be in the center aisle or by some other path. It does not need to be to the audience's right (i.e. it does not need to pass to the right of everyone in the room). You can bring it up the rightmost aisle, but this is not a requirement. Regards, DWS

Correction/addendum to my earlier post; the tartan used on the Weblos neckerchief and hat is in fact a registered corporate tartan, under the name Cub Scouts of America, Scottish Tartans Authority reference number 4119. See www.tartanregister.gov.uk and search for "Cub Scouts" Regards, DWS

Advice from someone who only last year returned to Scouting as a Cub Scout parent after a hiatus similar to your, FWIW: I'd say it sounds like your on the right track. Tigers (and often their parents) seem to need a lot of structure. They are new to the program and frequently don't quite "get it" yet. But if you gently but firmly bring them along they should eventually figure it out. Take some time, especially during the early meetings to lay out the program for them, how it's structured as a mix of activities done with the den and at home, and what's needed to accomplish the goal. A positive and enthusiastic attitude (without being overbearing) is contagious and can keep both the Tigers and there partners involved. Some may decide along the way that the program isn't for them, don't let that get to you, work with what you've got. Be sure to ask for their help and involvement of the adults, make them part of the process; whether setting up Go See Its, leading an activity or part of a meeting, or just bringing snacks, if they feel invested in the program without being overwhelmed they tend to be more involved. Dest of luck to you and your Tigers (and their partners). Regards, DWS