Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions.

Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet … Read More
fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

I have a 26″ in my office and I sit a couple feet away, it is plenty big. I couldn’t have a 32″ on my desk or nearby. This was intentionally overkill though. I couldn’t help it. I am hoping to fix the old tube for Jarrett or someone who wants it, but it weighs like 250 lbs and is flaky, and not HD. I hope you get your new 32″ that will be awesome!

I download films from iTunes and have had good luck with them.

I have that 27″ Sanyo and it is on the way out but for my place a 32″ HDTV 1080p is on my wish list. Any bigger would blow me out of the place.

MS Ellie is my hero she seems to have come thru her challenges very well. Still as beautiful as ever…

Enjoy the clean house/basement…

Happy Halloween – stay warm and cozy.

When I mention things like this to parents I know with kids in the scouts, they don’t seem to know of any such behavior in their troops. But then again, it is easy to not notice or ignore something that organization leaders excuse away. I am glad that most kids have a positive experience with the scouts, but neither kids or adult volunteers should be encouraged to hide their personal beliefs, because of the threat of retaliation.

Sorry to be late chiming in, I had not seen this article until just now when I did a google search on myself. I am the above mentioned Neil Polzin. As Jake is going to achieve, I am an Eagle Scout. For that matter I also have my arrow of light. I have staffed National Jamborees and participated in NJLIC at Philmont. The Boy Scouts taught me skills that have enabled me to save the lives of others.

Above these things the Boy Scouts have shaped who I am. I attended my undergraduate college because it hosted a merit badge day. I earned my electricity, chemistry, atomic energy badges there among others to lead me to major in Chemistry. I met my fiance in 2000 at a lifeguard training I was assisting with for the scouts.

As for this matter I started to volunteer at Camp Cherry Valley on Santa Catalina Island in 1999. Along with volunteering at CCV and other camps I worked for the scouts as a clerk from 2001 until 2005. In 2007 I was promoted to the Aquatics Director at the Camp. A post I held for the 2007 and 2008 position, and was terminated before the start of camp in 2009. Without pay for the months of work already put in for the 2009 season.

I have never preached or mentioned my atheism in camp or at scouts at all. Instead it came down from the top when it was found out that I was an atheist. A situation that so upset my boss at camp that he resigned from his post. This is not a situation from the bottom up. Anyone locally involved the scouts over the last decade knows me personally, and universally since this happened I have received support from them. Instead this is a national policy that is being pushed from the higher ups.

Ironically a large part of what brought me to atheism was boy scouts itself. The scouts have a very odd non/omni-deminational stance. They exposed me to multiple religions for the first time. Intimate exposure by talking with Holy Men and Women from a dozen plus different religions. This started off my freethinking and doubts in a religion, which later spread to all.

I worked with hundreds of boys 8-11 years old every summer. And when they came back to camp this year looking for me, they where instead told that I was ousted for being an atheist. That is the truly scary part of this, that young boys see such blatant discrimination and feel it is justified.

A private organization can choose there membership. I am not arguing against that. I woulst instead argue that the boy scouts ’should’ change the policy regardless if they legally have to. I would further argue that the boy scouts are a public organization and not a private (meaning regardless of ’should’ they are ‘legally required’ to)

To anyone that says that boy scouts is a private organization, why is it charted by congress? My former council (San Gabriel Valley Council) runs camp Trask in the Monrovia foothills. The camp office is on private land, but most of the campground and all of the camping is done on national forest land. Used rent free by the scouts. Presumably for the public good, even though they say they are a private organization. Or the national jamboree each 4 years. That I have staffed and is on Fort AP Hill Virginia. A large space is put aside for the scouts, land that tons of infrastructure has been installed to support the scouts. Not to mention the hundreds if not thousands of military personal and vehicles they have on parade for the scouts, all on the public dime.

I would be happy to take questions on it if someone is not convinced.

Neil Polzin
cinoo@me.com

I’d love to see aliens, but I see nothing but fantasy. Bring me proof, not documents claiming something, I mean a body, or a clear video.

I could spend 40+ years studying anything and that doesn’t make it true. Also, the fact that you have someone with a science degree that is a “believer” also doesn’t make it true.

My logic doesn’t fail, it is my definition of evidence that is more stringent than yours. Why should you expect someone who hasn’t seen concrete evidence to agree with your conclusions? That’s not logical. After buying-into the stories, and devoting 40 years to reading 300,000 documents, this sounds even more like a cult. If I want to prove there’s a cow in my yard, it doesn’t take 40 years or 300,000 documents… the stories that are invented to rationalize why aliens visit us and then don’t want to be seen are truly a leap of faith that I’m not prepared to take.

Bring me a true skeptic who believes in Jesus or aliens. Maybe he can explain why I should believe, because I haven’t heard anything nearly convincing enough for me. I guess when they land and take dominion over humanity, you’ll really be laughing your ass off at me!