NightSG

Except that a lot of them have moisturizers and other gunk you'll then have to clean off. Denatured alcohol is handy to have around, and if you don't want to spring for a quart, go to the automotive section and get some Heet methanol fuel line deicer in the yellow bottle. (Red is isopropanol, which will remove Sharpie really well, but isn't as efficient in most homemade alcohol stoves, which, since BSA won't allow any homemade stoves, you're going to need to have home lessons on.)

Ah yes, for excellence in macrame and sleeping in cabins. Frankly, with the possible exception of urinary firefighting, I can't think of any Boy Scout skills in the last three decades that wouldn't be equally beneficial for girls to learn. Certainly lifesaving, first aid and wilderness survival know no gender distinction. Any of those three could keep your kids alive when something goes wrong.

Don't get me wrong; I'd love to see a fully airgapped, open source implementation of Neuralink that could provide raw knowledge and allow experiences that the user can't otherwise get, (sunsets for the blind, music for the deaf or common sense for Californians, for example) but if it can directly manipulate feelings (beyond instantaneous reactions) or memories, it will require an impractical amount of supervision and incur huge liabilities that I can't see any company wanting to risk outside of a lab they fully control.

Interplanetary colonization; what part of omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent do you think doesn't apply to all the worlds He created? Or are you concerned that we'll miss all those worlds without number, and somehow end up on one created by His cousin Earl? Neuralink; I really think effective and even remotely safe implementation of this will take more time than humanity has left. You think malware on your PC is bad, imagine getting it in your brain.

You know, it's funny how one day the Church has a major influence on BSA, and the next BSA does everything without the Church having any input. I'd be interested to how many of the restrictions on activities and removals of previously required skills came from, or were at least supported by the Church.

Around here, we call that "getting ready for hunting season." Get all the other skills solid before you add in a high powered rifle.

And real strength of character is developed through skill proved in hardship, not through having Scoutmaster Dad sign off on stuff undone because it's too inconvenient. When they end up in that bad situation and find that they can't do something critical because they didn't really learn that skill, it will break even the best character in time. I'd recommend watching http://www.history.com/shows/alone These people are all trained in survival, and yet the most common factor in quitting is simply losing the will to continue to face the challenge. A few were injured to the point where they did need to leave, some made stupid mistakes (don't put on all your warm clothes to go screw around by or in the water in winter) and realized they were pushing it too hard by staying, but by and large, they made one or two minor mistakes (losing the ferrocerium rod) and went immediately to "I can't do this anymore" mode. First season, six of the ten didn't make it past day 8 and the winner was declared on day 56; not even two months in spite of each having a backpack full of gear to start with. Season two made it past the two month mark at 66 days, and the third season almost to 3 months, with the last challenger being pulled on a medical review at day 87. The guy who got dunked with all his warm clothes would have been better served by stripping down (they run their own cameras, so he could have only done face shots for that time or just let the production crew blur as needed later) before testing a boat, but after the fact there really wasn't much of a choice; drying enough to allow him to work more than a few yards from his fire could take days in that environment, and I doubt he had enough food stored up for that. The one who lost his ferro rod could have stored embers from the fire he already had or used another firestarting method. The injuries were mostly the sort of dumb mistakes you could see coming, but that we all make when stressed. Still, what a lot of them show are people who are way too used to knowing they can pack up and walk to the car at any time, and be in a motel before nightfall. No matter what skills they actually have, they've never put them to a real test where they build the real confidence to be comfortable when completely dependent on them. Instead, you see 2-4 weeks of "I got this" bravado more to convince themselves than the viewers, then a steady decline to "I don't got this, I'm going home." The winners each season have gone in with an attitude of "I just want to see how well I do" and stayed relatively calm, cheerful and easygoing throughout their time in the woods. Whether by policy or by any other means, the end result is that requirements get quietly skipped over. And there's another failing in splitting things out by age; at least half of the merit badges I earned were taught by the older Scouts. I don't remember if they could actually sign off or not, but they could certainly teach and supervise the requirements. They learned greater responsibility, and cemented their own skills. (The best way to truly learn a skill is to teach it to someone else.) Scouting isn't meant to be a race to Eagle; it's a journey, and rushing through any journey means you don't get to see all the sights along the way.

But what better way could there be to look even more like a cult than to add another layer of weirdness like "they don't let their kids play sports?"

Ah yes, because they're not isolated enough as it is. Maybe we could also build bunkhouses behind all the meetinghouses and simply not let them leave the grounds until they're 18.

I'm fairly certain it was a lot more than six when I did it, but I can't find my old Handbook to look it up.

Can you actually corroborate this? I know billionaires (OK, I just know one billionaire, going on two if things go right) that can't make that statement about themselves. How can you make that supposition about an organization that owns no high speed transportation and have to stand in line like everyone else? Has Jon Huntsman ever withdrawn the offer to use his two Gulfstreams? I don't know if that includes pilots, but I'm betting the Church can come up with a couple at need. I'd also be very surprised if there aren't several other members willing to lend the use of aircraft capable of intercontinental travel, and probably a few who own charter services that could handle such a job. A billionaire who can't return to his country of citizenship from anywhere in the world on 24 hours notice isn't trying very hard.

No, pay attention; my Scouting program produced men who can take care of themselves when things go bad, and even those of us who don't seek leadership positions as a matter of course are still well able and willing to take up the mantle of leadership when it's necessary. It did that by making things hard. Sometimes harder than they needed to be, sometimes just exactly as hard as they were without unnecessary coddling. Even some of our worse Scouts have gone on to make it through some tough times (real ones; not just having to choose between the full cable package and a weekly mani/pedi) without giving up. Heck, there's one of the troublemakers I've now thrown off elevated surfaces four times and he's become fairly respectable. (Long story. He was rappelling one of those times, and two were into water.) There were no participation trophies, no "oh this requirement is just too inconvenient to actually do, so we'll just sign it off without doing it," and our adult leaders were there to make sure nobody got hurt too badly, rather than to hold our hands through every step of every requirement. They drove the van and checked the bandages that other Scouts applied. I don't recall any of them ever stepping in on any first aid unless it was an injury that was going to require an immediate trip to the hospital. We planned long weekend campouts where the adult leaders only provided budget information and then double checked our plans before they made the grocery runs. We scheduled equipment maintenance days when too many of the tents needed to be patched or waterproofed. At 13, I went to the National Jamboree. Our 17 year old SPL handled most of what went on in camp, with the adults doing nightly headcounts and bringing updates from their meetings. We were left to our own devices, to the point that the bandage Jason put on after I stabbed a knife through my finger didn't get fully checked out by an adult for two days. (Passed on the first check, too, since both of us took the First Aid Merit Badge seriously, and of course, I was providing the third hand and second brain in getting it treated right.) The scar still reminds me that sharp blades are easier to control. I learned how to fold the Ohio State Flag not because the adults pushed me to do it, but because a couple of us were looking for something productive to do between merit badge seminars and dinnertime when we noticed the crew for the main flag display didn't have enough people to handle all 50 states plus the US, World Scouting Flag and BSA flags simultaneously, so we rounded up a couple others, and joined in. (And learned that Ohio's swallowtail burgee is the only non-rectangular state flag. That actually came in handy once a couple decades later...and not even in a game of Trivial Pursuit.) Also at 13, I did the Wilderness Survival Merit Badge campout and my OA Ordeal back to back in the middle of the Texas summer, because frankly, sleeping on a soft pile of cedar branches in a debris hut down in the shaded valley with a small smudge fire (lit by primitive means) to keep the bugs away was more comfortable than the rocky ground in the regular campsites up top. (And thus began my tradition of lugging a few armloads of cedar branches up an 80' bluff at the start of each summer camp there.) I'm sure I stunk after that, but I slept well, and the cold hose water shower at the end of it all felt pretty good. To this day when a task looks tough, one of the first things I ask myself is whether I really think it's going to be harder than 48 hours in the wilderness in summer with a canteen, a few slices of bread and a knife. At 14, I was a patrol leader, learning quickly that leading even 8 11-15 year old boys is on par with nailing soup to a wall. I was also learning a great deal of respect for the 15-17 year old SPL and ASPL that had to deal with all 30-40 of us. I ended up as acting ASPL on some campouts, and of course, that left me as acting SPL whenever the regular one wasn't available, which left me with no doubt that elementary education would not be a good career choice for me. Still, I learned to do the job and do it to the best of my ability, which has come in handy more often than knowing how to fold the flag of a state I've never even been to. (Might do a bike tour in the next year or two and fix that. Unfortunately, Cincinnati is a 8-10 day ride each way, so not something I can do in a long weekend.) At 15, well, there was a pretty girl with waist length brown hair. Then a blonde. Then another blonde, then a redhead, and back to the second blonde. That pretty much took up my free time for a while. I'd like to know how may of those 14 year old Eagle Scouts could be dumped in the woods for 2-3 days with just what's in their pockets, build a decent camp, gather wild food and ride out a thunderstorm relatively dry without calling for extraction. I'd bet good money that any of Troop 39's First Class Scouts can do it today.

And yet their First Class requirements including six camping activities still end up getting signed off.

He was given something completely irrelevant to the discussion; a sort of answer to "which Church should I join?" in the form of "Hi, yes, We are real, and We thank you for your interest, but want you to know that We do not have any authorized representatives on your world at this time. We'll get back to you with details when you're older." I learned all of that at 12 because no one was going to sign off my requirements until I actually demonstrated those skills at a reasonable level of proficiency, and I had to make First Class by early June to get to go to Jamboree. My six (actually probably closer to 30 by that point) "overnight camping activities" weren't "go out on the manicured lawn Friday night after dinner, hold the bag ("help erect a tent or other shelter") while dad sets up the popup screen shelter to keep the mosquitoes away and nap on a sleeping bag in the 70 degree clear night before heading back in the house for breakfast" either, but actual full weekend, long weekend, or in at least two cases, week long campouts where the height of luxury was that there was usually either an old well or a water trailer there so we didn't have to boil creek water for everything. Voyager tents, (the simple triangle with its own floor, a zipper and a mosquito net) were a rationed commodity, so we'd learn to set up the wall and Baker styles, rather than just grabbing the easy Voyagers every time, and so we'd learn other ways to deal with mosquitoes and keeping the rain out. If you're not even going to test the camping skills for a full 36 hours, you might as well just give them a credit card and sign off on their ability to check in to LaQuinta and order pizza. Our 14 year olds won't be going to war, because our battle plans generally don't include infantry charges with machetes, and we're certainly not going to try to build "grow a cockpit" adjustable aircraft so we can handle having pilots go through puberty and combat training at the same time. I'm sure there are Guineans who wonder why we make our girls wait until they're so old to get married and pregnant, but that doesn't mean that even their 12 year olds are really ready to be popping out babies, any more than our customs mean that every (or any) 21 year old will drink responsibly.

Joseph Smith wasn't given an Eagle Scout Court of Honor at 14. One or two Doogie Howsers are impressive. When it becomes the standard, something isn't right. Especially given that gundecking the requirement sheets has already been discussed, and more than one former LDS Scout or leader admitted to seeing it happen on a regular basis. I worked with a lot of Scouts who worked their butts off to manage Eagle by 16 or 17, and I've met LDS Eagles who didn't know how to properly fold the Flag, even though that's a specific Tenderfoot requirement, and advancement to Eagle would require participation in at least three more flag ceremonies. Talking to a couple of ~12 year old Scouts in the ward, they had no idea what a taut line hitch is, even though describing and tying it are also Tenderfoot requirements, and it's a very common knot in setting up tents, which falls under various requirements from Second Class on up. I could overlook the sheet bend, (Second Class requirement, I think) since I've never actually used that knot other than to pass that rank, and I'm the guy who has actually used the sheepshank in real life more than once.

"But little Johnny did it too!" You going to try "I know you are but what am I" next? Maybe you could just call all the people who disagree with you poopyheads.

Wow, down to name calling now. How you've failed to be called as a GA is a mystery.

Sure, that works so well with "don't do drugs," "don't steal," "don't kill," and hundreds of other messages. Telling someone to lock their doors at night is hardly victim blaming. Nor is advising them to take reasonable steps to mitigate a bad situation that does happen, regardless of whether our moral code says it shouldn't.

The idea that preaching Christ's word will get everyone to accept it is also nonsense; even He didn't convert all those who met Him, but for some reason we persist in trying. If fixing the presentation of that message strengthens even a tiny number of marriages, it's well worth sacrificing some pretty lame analogies on that altar.

Another reason to start them in effective, self defense oriented martial arts as early as any school will take them. If you think a 6 year old can't at least delay a 200lb man in an abduction, I'll get some photos of the bruises next time I tell one to "go ahead and fight like it's real." And that's with me expecting effective resistance and wearing pads. A real attacker is looking for targets that won't resist effectively. Once you know how to get a limb free and have the will to use it wherever it can get to, it doesn't take a lot of strength to hurt someone. A good class will also go over situational awareness and not looking like a good target to start with.

Probably about the same as the ones who were unable to go on a mission feel about all the harping on how much better RMs are. Haven't seen any sign of that being toned down.

And therein lies the reason LDS Eagles don't have a lot of credibility. Right up there with 11 year old PhDs.

That was FlaVorAid. Couldn't even spring for the good stuff.

Look at how many people have been killed by water, and it's still getting passed around in Sacrament Meeting.

Yup. I can remember at least two nights intentionally spent in debris huts. (And another after a windstorm took out several tents and the Scoutmaster gave everybody the option of staying out in "survival mode" with him or going to the ranch's bunkhouse with one of the assistants.) Firestarting by various methods. Bleeding often, and occasionally profusely. Smelling like river water and campfire smoke in an outdoor interdenominational Sunday morning service. Virtually every memory of Scouting I've shared with my Eagle Scout HT companion was answered with, "well, we never did things like that." And he's only 2-3 years younger than I am, so we were in Scouts at the same time.