An Aussie Signs On

[ozemu]

mmmmm

 

I grew up 30 minutes drive from Steve Irwin and my cousins live there just up the road from Australia Zoo.

 

I wear khaki shorts like Steve and a big hat like Paul, I drive a 4WD (SUV), I've killed and eaten things with my knife (US K bar), my wife is at least as beautiful as Linda Koslowski, I had a pet roo (called Digger) when I was a teenager, I use vegimite on toast and as axle grease...well that last bit is stretching the truth a tad.

 

We're more like the Crocodile Hunter and Mick Dundee than we might at first think.

 

Actually I get mistaken for Russell Quoit quite a lot (he's probably a mystery in the land of the free but HiLo should get a laugh).

 

I don't drink beer. Rummmmm. But the funniest thing about beer where I grew up was that was called ####. That's it ####. That's the brand - not censoring. They reckon Queenslanders can't spell bere so it was labelled ####. What drivel.

 

And have you seen how much padding our footballers wear....

 

maybe we are a bit dull.

[ozemu]

Oh that auto detection thing is irritating.

 

they censored the bere label.

 

I'll space it out to trick the computer...

 

X X X X

[ozemu]

There - that worked alright.

[HiLo]

It's OK ozemu. I realised you were talking about the beer with the 4 Xs on the label. But I believe it first came from Castlemaine in Victoria anyway.

 

And Russell Coigt eh? Ha Ha. I won't embarrass you too much. Just don't call people here complete galahs, eh?

 

As a kid I was a bit of a fan of the Leyland Brothers. I like to think I grew out of it!

[moxieman]

For the other Americans on the board, what the Aussies call a biscuit, we'd call a cookie. Tim Tams are a chocolate lover's dream come true. 'Nuf said.

 

No..not really. I led a local contingent of scouts to the 2001 Canadian National Jamboree. Met up with some Aussies who were regretting they didn't bring any Tim Tams with'em. They could have traded a package of 11 cookies for a large handful of patches/crests. Tim Tams' fame beat them to the jamboree.

 

Any idea why they have to put 11 'biscuits' in a package. Are they trying to encourage buyers not to share their Tim Tams?

 

As for Moxie, it's an acquired taste much like Vegemite is Downunder (though it tastes nothing like Vegemite). You can't buy Vegemite locally, but you can buy some British knock-off called Marmite (or something like that), which is just as bitter/salty as Vegemite.

 

But I'm wandering off what I meant to type about. No way to describe how Moxie tastes. Some have called it carbonated Ben-Gay (State-side muscle ointment). Others have called it carbonated spoiled Jagermeister without the alcohol or hangover. It derives its flavor from gentian root and is a bit bitter as it hits the back of the throat. The uninitiated should try it cold. Those who are fans should be able to tolerate it at room temp. Wacked-out fanatics like myself enjoy...no prefer it at room temp. (This message has been edited by moxieman)

[OldGreyEagle]

Hey so you have to have a little moxie to drink a little Moxie? Who knew!

[HiLo]

moxieman - Thanks for the clarification of "biscuit". I try hard to use the American form of English when I write for an American audience (and that was actually a quote from Wikipedia), but it's amazing how many language differences there are between your version of English and mine.

 

I teach IT in schools and the more nerdy members here will appreciate that this week's challenge has been to get web design students to use the spelling "color" in html, rather than "coloUr" as they're used to.

 

Even my other major teaching area has a language problem if I discuss it here. We abbreviate Mathematics to Maths rather than Math.

 

Ah well, as the French say, "vive la difference"!

 

 

MAths

 

 

[ozemu]

Try the word 'thongs' then HiLo.

 

Seriously there are some things that I am still a bit shaky on:

 

Court of Honour - seems to be where Scouts are interviewed and recommended for 'advancement' to the next award level. I don't think the Scouts are involved. It is an adult check that everything has been completed and involves some questiuons that seem to trip the adults up. Some see themselves as the approving authority and the questions are vital - others see it differently

 

Patrol Leaders Council (PLC) - Troop Council

 

Council - Region

 

COR - For the few sponsored Groups here that means the rep from the sponsoring agency. But the COR is way more involved than I think our version is - this is all supposition as I have never met anyone involved with a sponsored group.

 

Fast Start - a 3 hr video that is what all Group Comitteee members and Leaders do. After that the leaders can progress onto further training, but they don't need to apparently

 

Leaders - in BSA there seem to be lots. Where we have an SL and maybe two ASL if lucky the BSA Troop may well have as many leaders as Scouts. Not always but seems to be reasonably common. Group committee executive are considered leaders. They can wear uniform.

 

Troop leadership - In BSA there are about a thousand positions a Scout can have that is a leadership position without be APL, PL or Troop Leader.

 

Transition - Going up. In BSA kids are often in age patrols (all same age) and they transition up as a team into the Troop. They then stay in that patrol (name changes happen) for years. They swap PL position every six months or so. Being USA they vote these changes through.

 

First Year Patrol - they often stick all of their new Scouts in a single patrol to get them through to level 2 of their award scheme.

 

Eagle - Queens Scout

 

Venture Scouts - Venturer; but this is a separate part of BSA. It has girls and the age range is the same as ours. But a Venture Crew (not unit I think) is not linked to a Scout Troop. Venture Scouts do adventurous activities. So do ordinary Troops but - no girls.

 

Scouts can be aged 11-18. Venture Scouts 14-18. So when aged 14-18 they have to choose between the two.

 

DE -District Executive - no equivilant. They have an employed manager(probably other staff) at District level. The DE is not uniformed. They seem to be focussed on sponsorship and lots of rules and forms.

 

They don't have Groups and don't know what a GL is.

 

Hope that helps you HiLo and pls Americans if I was wrong above pls correct me.

 

 

[moxieman]

OldGreyEagle: Moxie started as a nerve tonic/snake oil remedy back in the 1870's. It was first carbonated and sold as a soft drink in 1884. By the 1920's it was the #1 soft drink in the USA. It had a hit single song (Make Mine Moxie), appeared on 100's of different types of advertising materials (where do you think Coca-Cola got the idea from), had it's own theme park (Moxieland in Boston) and became slang for "Nervy, or full-of-pep". That slang eventually made its way into the dictionary and many outside of New England don't realize that moxie came from Moxie.

 

The word, Moxie, itself is the English butchering of an Abenaki (one of the native tribes that originally inhabited western Maine and New Hampshire) word "moskus". One of the meanings of this word is "Chosen One".

 

And that's probably enough useless trivia for this post.

[moxieman]

HiLo, tell me about it. The first time I went to a Scouts Canada event, the Canadian Scouts asked me if I traded Crests. I was boggled because Crest is a brand name of toothpaste state-side. Why in the world would they want to trade toothpaste! At the same time they were boggled when I offered to trade them patches because to them a patch is something you use to repair a tear in your clothing.

 

It wasn't until we pulled out our crests/patches that we realized we were talking about the same thing.

 

ozemu: Court of Honor is the event American Scout troops hold two to four times a year where the scouts receive the badges/awards they have earned since the last Court of Honor. Some units also make it a banquet event. When I was active at the unit level as scoutmaster (I'm now a District-level volunteer providing help to all volunteer leaders in our district), our unit scheduled three of these every year: one in the fall, which was a dessert-social event. One mid-winter, which was a pot luck banquet. And one in late spring which was a barbecue at the local town park. When a scout earns the rank of Eagle Scout, in most units, he has his own Court of Honor just for that rank presentation. In most cases he plans his own CoH.

 

[moxieman]

And I welcome other fellow Americans to jump in and make corrections:

 

ozemu, much of what you've posted is correct, or close enough.

 

"COR - For the few sponsored Groups here that means the rep from the sponsoring agency. But the COR is way more involved than I think our version is - this is all supposition as I have never met anyone involved with a sponsored group."

 

What a lot of people don't realize, even state-side, is that the BSA is run like a franchise (yes, like McDonald's burgers!). Local sponsoring organizations receive a charter from national giving them permission to run the BSA program in their area. They own the unit number, the unit gear, and the unit checkbook/savings account. So, yes, a good sponsoring organization will be involved with their unit.

 

 

"Leaders - in BSA there seem to be lots. Where we have an SL and maybe two ASL if lucky the BSA Troop may well have as many leaders as Scouts. Not always but seems to be reasonably common. Group committee executive are considered leaders. They can wear uniform."

 

I wish all units had enough leaders to support the unit! I don't have the material in front of me, but as I recall, the unit requires a minimum of three leaders in order to function: Scoutmaster (mentor to the youth), committee chairperson (to support the program behind the scenes) and Chartered Organization Representative (COR-covered earlier in the post). Any other leaders (Assistant Scoutmasters and committee members) are a bonus and help spread the burden of the other leaders. Also, in the BSA, you are required to have two-deep leadership at all meetings and outings.

 

 

"Troop leadership - In BSA there are about a thousand positions a Scout can have that is a leadership position without be APL, PL or Troop Leader."

 

It can seem that way for the Youth: Senior Patrol Leader--top youth leader, voted in every 6 or so months by the rest of the youth. It's his job to oversee/run the Patrol Leaders Council (PLC) and the weekly meetings and the monthly outings with the mentoring/support of the adult leadership. Assistant Senior Patrol Leader--usually appointed by the SPL as his assistant to help him do his job. Some larger units may have two or more of these. The ASPL(s) also oversee some of the other unit leadership positions such as the troop quartermaster (person who is in charge of maintaining unit gear), troop scribe (maintains attendance figures for meetings and does minutes of the PLC meetings, etc.), and Troop Guide (older youth who mentors the scouts in the new scout patrol--personally acts as a big-brother and helps them learn the 'ropes' of the BSA system in their first year in the unit). Next level of leadership down are the patrol leaders. Like the SPL, they are elected by the members of their patrol and usually appoint their own assistant.

 

At the higher ranks in the BSA (Star, Life, Eagle), one of the requirements is to hold a leadership position of responsibility for six months. This is probably one of the reasons we have so many different leadership positions available for the youth.

 

 

"First Year Patrol - they often stick all of their new Scouts in a single patrol to get them through to level 2 of their award scheme."

 

Some do units do and some don't. If you search these boards, you'll find many debates about this.

 

 

"Venture Scouts - Venturer; but this is a separate part of BSA. It has girls and the age range is the same as ours. But a Venture Crew (not unit I think) is not linked to a Scout Troop. Venture Scouts do adventurous activities. So do ordinary Troops but - no girls.

 

Scouts can be aged 11-18. Venture Scouts 14-18. So when aged 14-18 they have to choose between the two."

 

The USA is one of the few countries with scouting that does not have coed at all levels. I'm for coed, but I'm not in the majority. Venture scouts who are boys may belong to both a Venture Crew and a Boy Scout Troop until they turn 18. I think Venture Scouts actually goes to 21.

 

 

"DE -District Executive - no equivilant. They have an employed manager(probably other staff) at District level. The DE is not uniformed. They seem to be focussed on sponsorship and lots of rules and forms."

 

Close. The DE is usually uniformed (at least up my way) and very involved in helping new units formed. They are also involved in fund raising that helps the local council function and maintain its facilities (both the council office and the scout camp(s)).

[HiLo]

Yes ozemu - well aware of the problem with thongs. And I'm still not used to hearing my daughter, who lives five months of each year in the States, telling us she has to go to the bathroom. I tell her she might find it more practical if she went to the toilet! ;-)

 

And moxieman - I'm constantly reminding myself when reading here that Scouts in the US is exclusively for boys (or almost). 35 years ago I was there when the Rovers of Australia (18-25 year olds) decided to let girls become full members. It flowed on from there over the years and now girls are fully part of every section or age group. Girl Guides (the equivalent of Girl Scouts) still exists, but tends to have less outdoors/adventure based program.

 

And, despite predictions to the contrary, it wasn't the end of the world!

 

But I guess that franchise arrangement you have could mean that it's difficult to change the views of those who make the rules.

 

And hey, you really are an expert on Moxie, aren't you!

[ozemu]

Thanks for the addition Moxieman.

 

I've been reading posts here for years and still don't know what we are all talking about.

 

Story of my life really.

 

You only give out badges 3-4 times per year! Mean bludgers. I pin them on their shirts the day they earn them. We keep a stock of all available badges (multiples of the popular ones) and I keep safety pins in the box with them. For kids from dysfunctional families I use three or four safety pins per badge because it might take weeks for me to teach them to sew or for someone at home to take notice.

 

But making them wait three months - shame on you guys

 

[moxieman]

HiLo: I don't really consider myself an expert, but I am a fanatic about Moxie. It's inventor was born/raised about 35 miles (55km) east of here in Union, Maine. I do a little volunteer work at the museum in that town, the Matthew's Museum of Maine Heritage (http://www.matthewsmuseum.org/), which is half-way to their funding goals to add a new wing dedicated to my favorite soft drink.

 

 

ozemu: RE: when we give out the badges

 

You're suppose to give immediate recognition as much as possible, BUT most council offices (at least in my part of the country) require you to submit paperwork showing a scout has completed said badges before you can purchase the badges the scouts have earned, so ranks/merit (proficiency) badges usually wait for a Court of Honor where everyones families can recognize the scout for their accomplishments.

 

This is a Good Thing in my opinion from personal experience. Years ago as a youth, my unit did as you do (council didn't require paperwork up front back then), but they (adult leadership in my troop) had a bad habit of forgetting to send their paperwork into the council office and the council was still more then happy to sell them all the badges they wanted. It nearly cost me the rank of Eagle Scout for when we turned in the paperwork for that, they (council) had no record that I had earned one of the required badges, or that I had earned the rank just below Eagle (Life). Their records insisted that I was still two ranks below Eagle and as such, could not earn Eagle. It took a few months to straighten out that problem (good thing I kept my own records in my handbook)--in the meantime, I aged out, but finally received Eagle after-the-fact--rank was approved 6 weeks after I turned 18 and my Eagle Court of Honor was held about 8 weeks after that.

[ozemu]

Fair enough too. Here every Scout (Cub, Scout, Venturer,Rover) has a passbook with all of the possible badges listed and each test is signed off individually. A complete record in one place. Just the thing for washing machine tragedy.

 

Our state HQ would have no idea who has earned what - everything relies on one book in the less than reliable hands of exuberant youths.

 

It is different in other states. Up north you had to put in a form to get badges for each Scout by their registered number. That was a few years ago.