The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has posted a promotional video for the 2010 National Jamboree.

In what could be construed as an implicit acknowledgement of the problems of the 2005 Jamboree the 2010 Jamboree is being billed as  ”The best, most exciting, fun filled, safest Jamboree EVER!”     I can fully understand why the BSA wants to make it clear that safety is of paramount concern, but I have to wonder why it gets such billing in a promotional video.

Will Scouts get excited about spending lots of money to attend something that is billed as “The … safest Jamboree”?     Maybe the BSA’s target audience for this video is parents and other adults who have serious concerns about this event after hearing about the numerous problems of the 2005 Jamboree.

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I have just received word that the 2008 LLD jacket patch for Tsoiotsi Tsogalii lodge has arrived.     Our LLD was three weeks ago, but the patches could not be made available in time.     As with the 2007 issue, one each is  issued to LLD participants and staff with the extras being sold to fund the next year’s LLD.

They will not be generally available to lodge members until next week.   However I am told at least one person has managed to get his in advance of the South Carolina TOR this weekend.

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Here’s a riddle, in the form of a limerick, for your pleasure today.

I once knew a gal from Dundee,
Whose age had the last digit three.
The square of the first
Was was her whole age reversed,
So what would the lady’s age be?

This  isn’t very hard.   In fact, it’s pretty simple to solve if you read carefully.

Please give everyone a chance.   If you think you know the answer, please send me an email rather than answering it in the comments.

Thanks, Chris.

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It’s time to take a break from  snowy New England  and head to fairer climes.

This is the  fifteenth in an ongoing series of posts about state shaped patches. Previous entries have covered state shaped patches from Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

It’s turning out to be a bit harder to find true state shaped patches than I thought it would be.     There are a couple of “easy” states with notable state shaped pieces that I have yet to cover but for many states  I have had to resort to  patches that use the state shape in their design.       Arkansas is another such state.

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While I’m trying to work on some other things I  thought I’d  post another  installment in this series,  one of the shortest to date.     Heading northeast from Vermont,    I turn my attention towards Maine and New Hampshire.

This is the  fourteenth in an ongoing series of posts about state shaped patches. Previous entries have covered state shaped patches from Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

These two states are served by only three lodges.     Passaconaway 220  is the sole New Hampshire lodge.     Maine is split between Pamola 211 and Madockawanda 271.   None of these lodges every issued any patches shaped like their respective states, but the states’ shapes have been used in two items from Madockawanda 271.

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There is some bad news to report from last weekend’s Dallas Trade-o-ree.     Destry Hoffard wrote Monday on patch-l:

Just wanted to give you guys the heads up in case anybody happens to hear of a Baluga Lodge #538 S1 First Flap (with certificate) showing up unexpectedly. Roy More (our company President) was in Dallas at the TOR over the weekend and had one stolen right off his table. Patch was crispy mint, and included the little index card authenticity certificate from the old Advisor of the Lodge.

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I keep meaning to  get back to this series.   However I other things seem to take up the time I need to get these together.     There’s some classic OA memorabilia yet to come.

This is the  thirteenth in an ongoing series of posts about state shaped patches. Previous entries have covered state shaped patches from Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Since the last post in this series covered Massachusetts, I thought I would stay in New England and move north to Vermont.       This is going to be a rather short post as you might guess.

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It was a snowy Saturday here in North Carolina.     I decided to continue to celebrate the anniversary of my 21st birthday and went to see Sweeney Todd instead of watching what I thought would be a boring game, an easy win for the Tar Heels.     Boy, was I wrong!

Remind me never to go out to the movies when there’s a Carolina game on!

The streak has ended.   Kansas and Memphis are the only two remaining undefeated teams.     Maryland beat North Carolina.     The Tar Heels just couldn’t pull out another last second victory and have dropped to 18-1.     I expect they’ll drop to about number 3, maybe  4, when the polls come out Monday.

More at AP Coverage on Yahoo! Sports.

The Tar Heels next travel to play Miami on Wednesday.

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The latest chapter from Tipisa Lodge 326 to celebrate their 50th anniversary in cloth is Wewahitchka Chapter.   And as is often the case, one patch is not enough (J-1, pictured) Continue Reading »

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For collectors of all things Florida or  luggage tags, Tipisa 326 has a new tag available.   This is not the usual embroidered tag made for other lodges or for event, as this one is a molded, rubber-like material.   And looks pretty sharp.

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