BSA Endorsement?

[TAHAWK]

Notice the big buck product routinely suggested in Scouting.  Bleech!

 

A Scout is thrifty.   

[SSScout]

My old time family doctor always said that you could do two things to a Poison Ivy rash:   If you washed it well, as soon as possible with warm water and Octogon soap, the rash would heal in ten days to two weeks.  If you treated it with Calomine lotion, it would heal in a week and a half to 14 days. 

[NJCubScouter]

My old time family doctor always said that you could do two things to a Poison Ivy rash:   If you washed it well, as soon as possible with warm water and Octogon soap, the rash would heal in ten days to two weeks.  If you treated it with Calomine lotion, it would heal in a week and a half to 14 days. 

 

[CalicoPenn]

My old time family doctor always said that you could do two things to a Poison Ivy rash:   If you washed it well, as soon as possible with warm water and Octogon soap, the rash would heal in ten days to two weeks.  If you treated it with Calomine lotion, it would heal in a week and a half to 14 days. 

 

Hmmmm - reminds me of a certain weather forecasting rodent that makes a forecast about when Spring will arrive about 6 weeks before the end of Spring

[CalicoPenn]

I would say that "officially licensing" something is an endorsement (the UK Royal Family has been doing this for decades) but we need to be careful - the BSA isn't endorsing ALL Buck Knives - just those they have "officially licensed".

 

There is a rule that Councils, Units and individual Scouters and Scouts can't endorse anything as Scouts, but that rule doesn't apply to National.  I think if we had the time, we could probably find a lot of other examples of these kinds of sponsorships/endorsements from Jamborees past (and yes, I consider a sponsorship to be another kind of endorsement - done in such a way so that the organization benefitting from the sponsorship can claim they aren't actually endorsing a product even though we all know they are).  At the last Jamboree, was there an official soft drink company?  You would know by the brand of sodas/fruit juices and probably water sold at the trading posts and in vending machines.

 

I looked at the official Jamboree Packing List.  Zanfel is not the only brand name on it.  It also says you should pack the official Osprey Jamboree Duffel and the Osprey Daylite daypack.  It's also apparent that the BSA is amateurs at this whole sponsorship game - look at all the lost opportunities in that packing list.

 

Sleeping pad?  Where's the Thermorest sponsorship.  Sleeping bag?  Where is the North Face sponsorship.  Sunglasses?  Where is the Oakleys (or Rayban) spsonsorship.  Soap?  C'mon Life Buoy, where are you?  Underwear?  Knocking on your door Jockey, Hanes or Fruit of the Loom.

[TAHAWK]

Current learning is:

 

1. Alcohol w/in 20-30 mins

2. Strong detergent w/in 30-45 mins

3. Wash contaminated clothing separately

4. Longer-term:

          Apply cool compresses to the skin. 

          Topical treatments to relieve itching, including calamine lotion, oatmeal baths, or aluminum acetate

 

Of course,this may change, as it has in the past several times.

[Stosh]

Better yet, learn what poison ivy looks like, stay away from it and one doesn't need to treat anything. 

 

Just went through this with my boys this afternoon.  And while we were at it, I pointed out a plant for them to identify and one boy went up and touched it.  It was stinging nettle.  He learned a valuable lesson on being safe.  Second lesson was when I took and grabbed and handful of jewel weed growing next to the nettles and told him to rub the leaves between his hands until the sting was gone. 

 

I don't think the boys will forget poison ivy, stinging nettle and jewel weed anytime soon.

[TAHAWK]

Better yet, learn what Giant Hogweed looks like.

 

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/39809.html

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Herkulesstaude_fg01.jpg/220px-Herkulesstaude_fg01.jpg&imgrefurl=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracleum_mantegazzianum&h=331&w=220&tbnid=LzwxpSXHdTlPZM:&tbnh=186&tbnw=123&usg=__uOCZmI4xThKXVw7eiq0TGaHb58c=&vet=10ahUKEwjUmquKr9rUAhXCWj4KHctCD_sQ_B0IigEwCw..i&docid=ZvxUSxpmN2UetM&itg=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUmquKr9rUAhXCWj4KHctCD_sQ_B0IigEwCw&ei=fGRQWdTsFsK1-QHLhb3YDw

 

This map is wrong.  The monster is seventy miles into eastern Ohio.  https://www.eddmaps.org/distribution/usstate.cfm?sub=4536

[Stosh]

Around these parts of Wisconsin, this plant is known as Wild Parsnip.  It goes by a number of different common names.  Heracleum mantegazzianum is it's true Latin/scientific name.

[scoutldr]

Forgive me if some thought I was making an unreasonable "knee-jerk" reaction to seeing a Professional Scouter surrounded by youth in uniform endorsing a commercial product on national TV.  Now it seems the product is of questionable effectiveness (Trustworthy) and exorbitantly priced (Thrifty).  After some 40 years of being told that in unit fundraising, we can't wear uniforms to sell any product, lest it be inferred by the public that the BSA is officially endorsing it, unless of course, the product is the officially endorsed popcorn of questionable quality (Trustworthy) and exorbitantly priced (Thrifty). No, wait...never mind.  I see the pattern here.  Never mind.

[CalicoPenn]

Around these parts of Wisconsin, this plant is known as Wild Parsnip.  It goes by a number of different common names.  Heracleum mantegazzianum is it's true Latin/scientific name.

 

In Illinois, we have always called this giant hogsweed.  There are two smaller plants (small being relative - they still can grow to at least half the height of an adult human) that have the same kind of photo-sensitive effect and are much more common.  Cow parsnip - Heracleum maximum has, like the giant hogsweed, white umbels.  The plant we call wild parsnip has yellow umbels and not only looks like the parsnip plant of garden and farm, it shares the same latin name: Pastinaca sativa - which suggests to me the wild parsnip is just parsnips that have "escaped" the farm and is now growing wild.  The domestic parsnip has the same photo-sensitive chemicals that lead to the rashes one can get after encountering giant hogsweed, cow parsnip and wild parsnip in the wilds so I wouldn't go bombing through a farmer's fields of parsnip either.

[Stosh]

Like stinging nettles, they are edible, but one has to learn how to handle them.  After all habanero peppers are toxic to humans, too.

[Col. Flagg]

Did BSA endorse the use of stinging nettles or hogweed? Or did I miss the exit?

Edited June 26, 2017 by Col. Flagg

[Stosh]

If you look closely under the leaves of the jewel weed plant you will see a little fleur-de-lis showing BSA endorsement for stinging nettle poultice products.

[scoutldr]

And a "Made in China" sticker.