Scoutmaster Podcast 240

I'm Brian Fry and I'm the committee chair with Troop and Crew 212 in North Glen Colorado. This edition of the Scoutmaster podcast is sponsored by backers like me And now the old scoutmaster.

This week I heard from an old pal and a backer, longtime listener and reader, Bill McFarland, who is with Troop 8 up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, And Bill remarked that Einstein- you know Albert Einstein, the guy with the hair right- He defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. But Bill disagrees, And when he pointed this out I had to agree with Bill. That definition of doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results, That's that's not insane, That's being a scoutmaster. Maybe maybe they're both the same thing, I don't know.

Hey everybody, this is podcast number 240. Hey, Welcome back to the Scoutmaster podcast. This is Clarke Green.

Well, let's see, looking in the mailbag this week. A post on the blog last week talked about true north or magnetic north And I was using a metaphor to describe the difference between the two. And yeah, you go read the post: true north or magnetic north. Heard from Tim Roekman, who is a troop committee chair with Troop 142 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, who really liked the post. Todd Marrhold checked in with us on Facebook, said he liked that too.

So yeah, check it out. True north or magnetic north at scoutmastercgcom We heard from Marilyn Gross who is with Troop 391 in Michigan, said thank you for the education You provide so many scouts. You're creating a positive tropic cascade effect on scouts and consequently our world. Your efforts are appreciated.

Well, thank you so much, Marilyn. Thank you for your kind words. The tropic cascade- Hey, we heard a little bit about that last week. It's a post on the scoutmastercgcom And it was the subject of our scoutmaster minute in podcast number 239.. Mike Menager, who's a scoutmastercgcom backer- He was our backer intro for podcast 239. And Mike said: keep the good work and the bad jokes coming.

You know that might be like the subtitle to the whole thing, Kind of the tagline: right, Good work and bad jokes, But thanks, Thanks so much, Mike. Chris Simone is the scoutmaster of Troop 71 in Plandum, New York.

I shared your scoutmaster minute on tropic cascades and the scout law the other night Seemed to be well taken. Thanks for that And thank you, Chris, for letting me know. I sure appreciate it. Michael Hardy in Sebastopol, California, also a scoutmastercgcom backer, said your resources, thoughts and podcasts are appreciated out here in the Redwood Empire Council. I recommended your site to other scouting friends. Your ideas give us a ray of hope as to how scouting could and ought to be.

Thanks for the chance to support your endeavors Well. Thank you, Michael, Really appreciate your help, And we're going to talk about how everybody can become a backer in just a moment. Steve Mahoney sent me this message He said: I became an assistant scoutmaster about seven months ago, and good on your for that, Steve. It didn't take me long to realize that the troop I was working with didn't really kind of understand the patrol method and they weren't really applying it. A lot of things were as they are in many troops. Steve, This is how our troop does it, This is how we've always done it, and never really been examined as to why we're doing it that way.

The troop was on its third scoutmaster in its 30 year history, And I know that history because I am one of the Webelos that crossed over into the troop 29 years ago. I thought about writing and asking for your advice about how to change things, But I realized, having listened to your podcast for the last four years, I already knew what needed to happen. It just wasn't going to be as easy as I would like.

So things are improving. After six months we finally had elections for senior patrol leaders and patrol leaders.

Scouts now know which patrol they're in- Well, most of them anyway- and they're getting the idea that they can do things. I'm leading the introduction to outdoor leadership skills course soon And, being an Eagle Scout, I'm finding that instructing the outdoor skills are the easy part. I can see how the patrol method is in the curriculum for this course, but it could be missed as just one way of doing things. The folks in my course won't be able to miss it. Thanks for the dedication, insights and words of wisdom.

Well, thank you, Steve. I'm glad that you're finding all of this useful. Also heard from our old pal, Hab Butler, who said: I love reading your stuff helps keep me focused on the individual scout, on the kids.

And yeah, well, I try. I do try, Hab. That's the point And I'm glad that it's getting through Well. This past week on the blog I mentioned the post about True North or Magnetic North already. There's another post this week about the origins of the patrol system. Understanding how the patrol system originated really does help inspire you in its application.

So make sure to check that out. And in BP's blog- Baden Powell's blog- this week had a thought from him that goes back to 1914. And it's very simply titled: Don't an interesting thought from BP.

Just a couple of sentences, but a very interesting thought, So do make sure to check that out too. Now, if you're a regular reader and listener, if all the information and the ideas that we're offering have helped you, you can return the favor by making a one time contribution and become a scoutmastercgcom backer. The funds we get from backers go towards the expenses of producing and publishing the blog posts, the podcast, making the videos, all this stuff that have turned out to be a valuable resource, And they're accessible for scouts all over the world. It's an easy thing to do. Go to scoutmastercgcom and click the support link. You'll see all the way.

At the top of the page You can choose any level of support. Some of them entitle you to premiums like autograph copies of my books.

I want to take a moment to personally thank Michael Hardy, Andy Dahmert and Jody Ammons, who signed on as backers since our last podcast. Thank you so very much. I really do appreciate it. You're the folks that make it possible. If you're interested in becoming a backer, go to scoutmastercgcom. Look for the support link at the top of the page and you'll find out just how to do that.

For the remainder of this podcast I'm answering email questions. And boy, we've had a lot of email questions lately And there are plenty to go through today.

So let's get started, shall we? Now you've got your trucker's hitch

Email. That is, folks.

And here's an answer to one of your emails