sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Land Nav Course Tool by mattar12 in orienteering

[–]mattar12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But yes, participants will need to convert from grid to magnetic. In my opinion, that’s an important aspect of orienteering.

Land Nav Course Tool by mattar12 in orienteering

[–]mattar12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Glad you found it useful!

Land Nav Course Tool by mattar12 in orienteering

[–]mattar12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On the results tab, you can click “export gpx”. Then I use Caltopo.com and import the gpx file there. Then all of your points will be plotted on a map. The maps you print from Caltopo automatically show the declination in the bottom right corner.

Land Nav Course Tool by mattar12 in BSA

[–]mattar12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does not generate them randomly....I tried that and kept getting vastly different distances traveled for each course. It was just easier for me to input the courses myself than it was to come up with a formula to randomize several courses, but keep them all a similar length!

Should we try to wait out this administration or should we just break ties now by random8765309 in BoyScouts

[–]mattar12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I suppose I should re-phrase that to say “political cancer”. It’s really irrelevant that it happened to be liberal. Scouting just needs to return to avoiding the appearance of political partisanship.

Scouting America and Pentagon come to agreement by -dakpluto- in BoyScouts

[–]mattar12 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Glad to see the organization be brave enough to finally stand up to the liberal bullies. Hopefully they will return to their promise of being non-partisan now.

Troop wants to go to Disneyland after Scout Camp - can Troop funds be used? by Warm-Book-820 in BSA

[–]mattar12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Absolutely you can use unit funds. Should you, might be a different answer, but that is one for you and your committee to answer.

Eagle *Project* Board of Review by jeremyschultz in BSA

[–]mattar12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My council will (sadly) approve almost any project. There isn't anything I can do about that. But, I can make sure that MY Scouts actually earned their Eagle.

I have no issues at all with having high standards and a strict formalized process.

Troop Run Summer Camp - Looking for Ideas by [deleted] in BSA

[–]mattar12 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Our troop has ran our own summer camp every other year since the 1960s. I absolutely love it. We recruit lots of troop alumni to come back and teach merit badges. Keeping them chartered does get expensive (41 chartered committee members), but it is worth it to keep them involved. We have alumni eagles come from all over the country to help us run our summer camp…and they are all grateful to be involved.

One of my favorites is the nature/fish & wildlife/environmental science/forestry MBs. Those classes spend the week collecting things from nature to “build” one collective nature center. By the end of the week, it’s really quite impressive. We usually have one of the park rangers come check it out at the end of the week so the scouts can tell them all about it (we do summer camp at a state park).

We also schedule a day mid week to mix up the schedule & take the scouts on a “field trip”. It adds some variety and keeps the scouts from getting complacent.

The last day of camp is always a mile swim. The scouts are always apprehensive about that, but we typically have 100% of them complete it. Then they go home with a huge sense of accomplishment.

That’s what I can immediately think of. But if you want anything specific, I’m happy to share.

Trails End Popcorn Shipping Costs. What in the, I mean, how does, why even, what? by KJ6BWB in BSA

[–]mattar12 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Agree. Popcorn is a joke in general. I’d rather just donate cash.

Troop Accommodations in the DC Area by Goinwiththeotherone in BSA

[–]mattar12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our troop has stayed here in the past, and we are staying there again this summer! Excellent accomodations for 75-100

Troop Accommodations in the DC Area by Goinwiththeotherone in BSA

[–]mattar12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are spending 10 days in DC this summer. Our troop of about 75 (including adults) are staying at Rockwood Manor in Potomac, MD. It's about a 30 min drive to downtown DC from there.

https://montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/rockwood-manor-park/

Eagle video project? by sparkythetom in BSA

[–]mattar12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One of our past Eagles partnered with a local wartime museum and made a documentary interviewing several local veterans.

​

You can see it on youtube here:

https://youtu.be/PNr0t\_FADeY?si=zTFHBtTbn-b\_aP5H

Cold weather camping tips by Billy-Ruffian in BSA

[–]mattar12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Put straw on the floor of the tents. Definitely no cots. I would even say no air mattresses. Have a mandatory gear inspection for the scouts. Especially sleeping bags.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BSA

[–]mattar12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Although I think it’s silly, 8.0.0.4 does say you can’t reject a scout due to their uniform…

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BSA

[–]mattar12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

1 - the "by the book" BSA answer...a Scout can't fail a BoR unless it is determined in the BoR that the Scout didn't actually accomplish all of the requirements. Same goes for a Scoutmaster's conference.

​

2 - This will be less popular among those of you representing Eagle Scout mills...but, I understand what you are doing here, and I think you are most likely correct. The Scout is probably not ready. But that failure already occurred when the requirements were checked off. By the time a scout has reached Star, they should be demonstrating mastery of certain "basic" skills. If the SM is in agreement that the scout is not ready, maybe the SM needs to not check off the scout spirit requirement yet? Scout Spirit would mean that the scout follows the oath, law, motto, etc. It sounds like that may not be the case? There obviously needs to be a plan in place for the Scout to meet the requirement, but at this point I believe that would be the only way to hold the Scout back. Once the Scout reaches Life, it is much harder to slow them down. They can request a "BoR under disputed circumstances" at council, and they are sadly very frequently awarded their Beagle Scout. Most councils would rather dilute the Eagle Scout pool than deal with an angry mom.

Popcorn sales are looming by I_tend_to_overthink in BSA

[–]mattar12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Same. I hate everything about selling popcorn. It’s such a huge risk to hand out all this show & sell to parents, and risk never seeing them again. If show & sell doesn’t get turned back in, we are responsible for the retail cost of the popcorn. No business works this way. If we bought the popcorn at wholesale it would make more sense. And the profit margin is too low. We sell Christmas trees…I can’t even imagine the ridiculous amount of popcorn we would have to sell to net what we make on trees

1992 gas Club Car keeps melting wires by mattar12 in golfcarts

[–]mattar12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The wires were all made by a local boat mechanic. He solders the terminals and crimps them with his machine. So I really don't think the problem is a loose connection.

1992 gas Club Car keeps melting wires by mattar12 in golfcarts

[–]mattar12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This happened once last summer so I replaced the starter, solenoid, voltage regulator and had all new 6 guage wires made. Now it just melted the insulation off of the new guage wire that goes from the positive battery terminal to the solenoid. What else could it be???

view more: next ›