For a bit of house keeping...

I would like to welcome our newest sponsor Gunflint Northwood Outfitters. They offer guided trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area among other wonderful and amazing places. Please take a few moments to check out their website.

156 Years Ago

Yup I am running late, as this should have been put out last month.

...An Anglican clergyman and his wife welcomed a son to their family on February 22.

Thirty-two years later to the day, an English brewer's family added a daughter.

Those two seemingly unrelated events are marked on Feb 22, in memory of Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell and Lady Olave Soames Baden-Powell, two people who have had positive effects on untold millions of youth worldwide during the past century.

We salute you both!
 

Can Tiger Cubs attend resident camps?

That’s a trick question. Yes, they can. Effectively immediately, the policy forbidding Tiger Cubs from attending resident camp has been reversed. For more info check out: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/02/22/can-tiger-cubs-attend-resident-camps/
 

New Merit Badges

If you read Scouting magazine and follow various blogs, you’ve probably heard about a bunch of new merit badges in the last year or so. While new merit badges can be exciting, it’s easy to get confused about which badges can now be earned and which have only been announced. To help clear up any confusion, Bryan Wendell at Scouting magazine recently added a calendar of new merit badges to his excellent blog http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/merit-badge-calendar/
 

BSA Advancement Newsletter

I think the advancement team does a particular good job of communicating with the field. If you’re involved in advancement—and what Boy Scout leader isn’t?—you should subscribe to the monthly Advancement News e-newsletter.
 

A Mighty Salute

Lastly, I ask everyone to give “ptsteve” a salute, for all of his hard work and dedication, in helping fellow Scouters, with his wonderful blog posts. Check out his most recent post My Boys are About to Graduate to Boy Scouts by clicking here. (http://insanescouter.org/blog/611/My_Boys_are_About_to_Graduate_to_Boy_Scouts.html) You can also click on “ptsteve” in the dark red bar at the top of the post, for a list of the almost 50 posts he has written, so far. Thank you Steve we salute you!

I've Moved
Just as an update I have now moved to the other side of Las Vegas and now living in a house. I am still renting a room from the same lady and her 2 young kids. The weather here is warming and getting nice.

Historic Ebooks
The collection is made up of 63 ebooks that relate to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, cook books, Christmas, Children's Stories, and Woodlore. The collection is only $14.99 order now! There is a list of all the books and a paypal link at http://insanescouter.org/blog/606/Historic_Book_Collection.html

BSA 2013 Boy Scout Advancement Changes
BSA makes changes to the advancement requirements, through out the year. At the start of every new year they release the new Requirements Book and our friends at usscouts.org go through it to let us know what changed. You can find this years changes at http://usscouts.org/advance/changes/advchanges13.asp

Welcome Back
I would like to take a moment to thank ScoutManage.com for agreeing to be one of our sponsors for another year. For those of you who don't know, ScoutManage provides an easy way to track Cub Scout and Boy Scout advancement online.

Save Money – Rent Gear

Did you know that it is often possible to save money renting gear rather than buying it. Maybe your Cub Scout only goes camping once a year and by the time the next year rolls around they already out grow the previous years gear. Maybe you just need certain gear for a special trip, or maybe your flying and the airline is giving you a hard time about stoves and such.

Another good reason to rent, is to test out different types of gear. For example, does an internal or external backpack work better for you? Personally I prefer internal frame packs and discovered this by renting different packs when I was a teenager.

Regardless of your needs I highly recommend you check out my friends at Outdoorsgeek rent camping gear

"60 Scoutmaster Minutes"
A cool piece of news: we have released our first ebook called "60 Scoutmaster Minutes" it is a kindle book. It is loaded with our favorite Scoutmaster Minutes and we are sure you will love the portability and ease of having it on your phone. You can buy it on amazon for $2.99.

Download our holiday word finds for Thanksgiving - Christmas - New Years. You and your scouts will surely enjoy!

Would you like an amazing gift for all the Scouters you know? Why not get them our Collection of historic books. The collection is made up of 63 books that relate to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, cook books, Christmas, Children's Stories, and Woodlore. The collection is only $14.99 order now!

Sorry that it has been so long since I last sent out a newsletter. Many work issues have kept me busy but every moment is interesting and fun. You know what is even more FUN?. Renting a room from a nice lady who has two kids a 6 month old and a 2 year old. The fun never stops with these hyperactive but adorable kids. They are always up to something and only takes a minute of watching them to laugh at whatever they are up to. Everyday I am reminded that the things we do today, will benefit the success of tomorrow in some small way.

Our bear cub friends, Fuzzy and Scout asked me to say hi to everyone. Fuzzy asks that you send him lots of salmon and Scout asks for lots of hot coco to drink. You can send them a message or a virtual treat by replying to this newsletter.

Pinewood Derby & Scoutmaster Minutes

Those of you doing stuff with Cub Scouts or just help with Pinewood Derby's will love our newest sponsor “Pinewood Derby Physics” Make sure you check them out! For those of you who enjoy Scoutmaster Minutes check out "60 Scoutmaster Minutes" which is an InsaneScouter e-book in kindle format. You can buy it on amazon for $2.99.

Ask InsaneScouter A Question

If you would like to ask us at InsaneScouter any Scouting related questions, feel free to reply to this newsletter. We may email you directly or answer your question in a blog post or in next month's newsletter.

BSA plans to go to a single Oath for all levels

The volunteer-led task forces supporting the 2011–2015 National Council Strategic Plan’s Goal 411, after considerable deliberation, have recommended moving to the use of the Scout Oath and Law for all BSA programs. This change would primarily impact Cub Scouts and Venturing.

The recommendation has been reviewed and endorsed by the national support committee responsible for program content changes. It has also been discussed and endorsed by the national officers of the BSA, and Wayne Perry has directed that the recommendation be brought forward to the National Executive Board at its October 2012 meeting. For more details...

Blog Posts

Keep an eye out for all the new blog posts, that will be coming between now and end of the year.  Did you forget to stay interactive on Insanescouter's Facebook and Twitter pages? These are great ways to stay current and have fun virtual Scouting. 

Thanks for reading!

 "60 Scoutmaster Minutes"
A cool piece of news we have released our first ebook called "60 Scoutmaster Minutes" it is a kindle book. It is loaded with our favorite Scoutmaster Minutes and we are sure you will love the portability and ease of having it on your phone. You can buy it on amazon for $2.99.

Newsletter Verfication
Please be aware that there have been a number of email errors when I send the newsletter. I am going to start flagging those address to be reverified, failure to reverify after being asked 3 times, over six weeks, will result in the account being deleted. If you do not receive a re-verification request don't fret, it means your account is fine. 

A BSA update
The Chief Scout Executive Selection Committee announced Wayne Brock as the next Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America starting September 1st. He will be replacing the current Chief Scout Executive, Robert J. Mazzuca who is retiring on August 31st. Check out this Scouting Magazine blog for more details. 

Fundraising Tip
Did you know your scouts can sell pasta to raise funds for their Pack or Troop? Maybe this would be a good way for them to take an active role in sending themselves to camp. Think about it, don't you use pasta at least once a week in your cooking? I am sure many others parents, leaders, relatives, friends and even coworkers do the same thing? Check out our sponsor Fun Pasta Fundraising for more details. 

Scouting's most unique challenge
There's still time to make your plans for one of Scouting's most unique and challenging events. The White River Canoe Race will be held July 25-28, 2012. Visit www.scoutrace.com for more details. The race was recently featured in "Scouting Magazine". Canoes and paddles are available for loan to new teams. A very modest entry fee of $35 gets you a race t-shirt and patch, camping in nicely equipped parks, four evening meals, and competition and finishing awards. 

Pan American Jamboree
14th Pan American Jamboree - for some reason, they are calling it the 14th Inter American Jamboree, it is also being called the 1st Inter American Camporee, and JamCam Columbia 2013. The Jamboree will be held in Bogota, Columbia January 4-12, 2013. BSA will apparently be sending a contingent, but the details are not out yet. To find out about the Jamboree go to http://www.jamcam2013.org. Bring your Spanish with you, as you will need it. 

Center Trail
Our sponsor CenterTrail.com has asked we pass on a number of updates they have made to the functionality of the websites they offer units. Some of the new features include: newsletters, calendar invitations, event RSVP and a new communication module which includes up to 1,000 emails to your unit members each month. Check them out at CenterTrail.com 

Scouting News
Did you know that you can find all sorts of Scouting news and amazing ideas through the “Scouting News” feature on InsaneScouter. The news is updated daily and comes from 99 different sources ranging from news sites, BSA directly, World Organization Scout Movement (WOSM), and a whole variety of blogs. Go check it out. 

Scouting Postcards
Another amazing thing you can do is send postcards to your Scouting friends. Why not drop them a nice card thanking them for their help, say hi, congratulate a Scout, or even make someone smile with fond Scouting memories. Send a card now.

Thanks for reading... You all are true Insane Scouters! Keep on wacky Scouting. 

Over the last week a massive number of updates have been happening. A few things you might notice include: updates to the home page, changed how top pages works, adding top pages to the right side, adding scouting news item to the right side, cleaned up categories pages, cleaned up news page, created a new and improved way to get resources “all on one page”, and removed page ratings. If you stumble across any problems please let me know.

Do you have a few minutes to spare? Would you like to help tens of thousands of Scouters world wide? I am looking for people to help me go through content category by category. The object is to make sure the content is in the right category, that it is not obsolete, maybe it should be removed because it relates to the Order of Arrow, etc. You may also notice spelling or other such problems that need to be fixed. If you can help, please let me know.

I have been thinking about creating a “InsaneScouter Honor Wall”. The idea would be for all of you to submit Scouts, Scouters, parents, sponsors, businesses, etc that have a positive impact on the program. Then InsaneScouter will choose one of them to honor each month. If you would know someone who should be honored please send me an email to scott@iswebteam.net with subject of “honor wall” and the body of the email should explain why they should be honored.

I would like to welcome our newest sponsors:

Trail To Eagle smart phone app. Quickly look up advancement related items and easily track a scout’s progress along their trail to Eagle right from your smart phone.

Grand Prix Pinewood Derby tracker. The Hardware, Race Tower and Software was designed to 'Measure and Record' elapsed race times and calculate Finished Racing Positions for any model miniature race track. It also performs Record Keeping associated with all aspects of the race for each player.

Also, please don't forget our main sponsor ScoutManage.com a great way to track Cub, Boy Scout and Venture Crew advancement online.

On top of all of the updates on InsaneScouter, a number of updates have been done to my other site RoadCEO.com. Please go check it out, I do blog their about camping and the outdoors. You can also find campgrounds and tourist attractions all over the nation. 

Lastly, I am looking for new clients to tutor in computers anything from the basics for Grandma all the way up to advanced website management. My going rate is $15 an hour, but is negotiable. Additionally, if you know anyone who has a website that would like help with the day to day tasks involved in running the site, please have them contact me. 

Thanks for reading... You all are true Insane Scouters!

First, let me thank all of you who shared the twitter / facebook message to get a copy of the fundraising ebook. If you would like a copy of the e-book, but didn't share the message let me know and we will work something out. Just reply to the newsletter and let me know.

I have done a massive upgrade to the http://ScouterLinks.com website. Please check it out, add your Troop, Pack, Crew, Scouting, Camping, etc related website. As long as it relates to Scouting in some way and is not pure spam I will approve the link. Keep in mind I manually approve the links so it can take a week or two for new sites to appear.

Jeff, President and inventor of “The Perfect Campfire Grill” would like to thank you for your votes. He also reminds you there are still a few days left in the Walmart contest, so if you would like to help him get the grills on the shelf in Walmart stores you can vote once a day via facebook or text message. For more details check out my blog post at http://insanescouter.org/blog/530/The_Perfect_Campfire_Grill.html

Did you know that InsaneScouter is on Facebook and Twitter? You can follow us at:

• http://twitter.com/scoutbot/ → new and recycled content on InsaneScouter as well as Scouting news and updates from various Scouting blogs.
• http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_109171392506828 → this is our Facebook group where people ask questions, share answers, and new blog posts are shared
• http://www.facebook.com/scoutbot → similar to ScoutBot on twitter but only InsaneScouter updates are shared

Thanks all for being such loyal fans. You all rock!

In regards to last months contest, only Keith with Pack 22 in the Atlanta area participated. The salmon picture was hidden on bottom of the Fuzzy and Scout post at http://insanescouter.org/blog/477/Fuzzy_and_Scout_Dec_2011.html

This month, if you submit one or more camp related recipes I will send you an ebook full of Fundrasier ideas. These ideas could help you raise funds for your Scouts or even your Church.

We have two new wonderful sponsors: Stadri Emblems has over 30 years experience creating custom patches, t-shirts, caps, and more. Wepay, collect payments without any hassle, such as dues or summer camp fees. Please show your support by checking them out.

Did you know that InsaneScouter has an archive of thousands of books, ceremonies, handouts, clip art, blue prints and historical images? You can get access by signing up for the InsaneScouter Resource Dump. It is only $15 a year, but took over 15 years to collect everything made available to you. You can also create an account under your Pack or Troop name and share it with your fellow leaders. For more info check out http://insanescouter.org/members/

I hope you enjoy this issue of the newsletter and share it with all your friends. If you have any suggestions or would like to see anything added, please feel free to drop us a note. Thanks for reading. 

I would like to thank all of you who have been helping with the site, especially my amazing assistant Jennifer without whom I would be even more overwhelmed and maybe a bit bald from yanking hair out.

Roadceo.com invites you to take a look at all the exciting updates they are working on for their website. They would love to hear your thoughts by replying to this newsletter. If you find problems please pardon their progress: this is their development server where new code is created. Check it out at http://dev.roadceo.com. With some luck our next newsletter announce that Roadceo.com will be giving everyone a great Christmas present.

On the news front another successful Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) and Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI) has cone and gone. Hundreds of thousands of scouts and leaders participated and had a grand time talking to fellow scouts and leaders from all over the world. Everyone learned something about other cultures and what scouting is like in other countries. Even a few lucky people made new friends for life. If you missed out JOTA / JOTI are held the third weekend in October every year, put it on your calender for next year.

Are you a self-proclaimed Scouting historian? Please help us by adding any historic details we may be missing to our google spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqHND3P2CUCSdFQ5NTR4aURYTG9GUnhoSGdsU1lpSUE. This data will be used for a future feature on our site. All help is appreciated.

I would like to welcome all our new subscribers – you're all awesome! Please feel free to forward this newsletter on to your Scouting friends and to tell them about InsaneScouter.

Updates

New blog posts coming soon. I have been busy and just have not had a chance to get to a new batch. It would be really cool if you could leave a comment on some of the blog posts. If anyone would like to help write blog posts or you have stuff that may be good to add to the site please let me know by replying to this email.

Did you know InsaneScouter is testing a mobile version of its site for use in cell phone browsers? Take a look at http://m.insanescouter.org. I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

You can help InsaneScouter by telling your friends about us or by clicking on any ad that catches your attention. You can also help us by using the google powered search found at the top of every page on the site. InsaneScouter is made possible by our generous sponsors…

Please check out  http://roadceo.com which is my site for campers and rv'ers. I recently redesigned this site and just thought I would share it with you.  

Become An InsaneScouter

You will save time not having to look for resources and ebooks. There are resources only available through this package. Take advantage of hundreds of camping recipes! And learn loads with our coming soon how to videos. Priced to sale at $24.99 a YEAR.

Thank you all and a big Scout Salute to all the volunteers who have been helping with InsaneScouter!

I would like to welcome all our new subscribers – your all awesome! Please feel free to forward this newsletter on to your Scouting friends and to tell them about InsaneScouter.

Things Are Improving - Thank You

Over the last few months things have been steadily improving for me. I have managed to pick up a few new web development contacts, etc. I appreciate all of you for standing by me and baring with the yo yo updates on the site. Most of all a big THANKS to those who helped me out. As a Thank You I have cut the price of the InsaneScouter membership in half. It is normally $29.99 but for the next month it will be $14.99. If you would like access to tens of thousands of Scouting Resources, books, audio, video, etc that has taken me over 15 years to collect then this package is for you. http://insanescouter.org/members/index.php

Mobile InsaneScouter Site

Did you know InsaneScouter is testing a mobile version of its site for use in cell phone browsers? Take a look at http://m.insanescouter.org. I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Two of the best ways you can help InsaneScouter is

Telling your friends about us. And by clicking on any ad that may catch your attention. InsaneScouter is made possible by the generous funding provided by our sponsors…

Legoland Interview

A while back I was asking for questions to ask an Eagle Scout who works as a builder at Legoland. I recently heard back from them and do to policy changes they are now only allowed to talk to main stream mass media. I may try contacting them again in a few months after then chaos of the new Star Wars exhibit dies down. This is a disappointment, but guess life goes on.

RoadCEO

As some of you know I have several other sites including http://roadceo.com which is an outdoor site for campers and rvers. I recently redesigned this site and just thought I would share it with you.

Kamp Knots Cartoons

Lets all thank Rich Diesslin for giving InsaneScouter permission to republish his Scouting Cartoon series “Kamp Knots” in this newsletter. http://kampknots.com/

New Project - Back Office of sorts

I am working on a new project which will act, as sort of a back office for those who run their own business, website, etc. What it will do is provided low cost labor on a hourly basis to help you with a whole array of different possible tasks. The starting rate is just $6 an hour. If you would like more info please drop me a note. Also feel free to share with anyone you know who might benefit.

Green Website Hosting For Scouts

Recently I have stumbled across a way to offer high end, reliable, easy to use hosting for $40 a year for any Scouting related website. Here is a brief write up about the hosting...

It would be “green” hosting powered by a wind farm in Texas. Which would include unlimited bandwidth, sub-domains, emails, email forwards, email lists, mysql databases, dns, ftp accounts, access to full site stats, be able to automate your code with cron and more. It would support cgi, php, ruby on rails, python, ssi, curl, cpan, gd library and image magick. Guarantee 99.9% uptime. The servers are monitored 24/7 and are backed up weekly to an off site location. You will be able to fully manage each website via our cpanel control panel.

If enough people are interested I will make it available, so please let me know if this would interest you.

Thank you all and a big Scout Salute to all the volunteers who have been helping with InsaneScouter!

Contest

For some reason the site is not recording referrals so I have had to put the contest on hold until I can sort out the bug. Once I do I will relaunch the contest and the ability to win some great prizes.<

InsaneScouter Remains Free

There seems to have been much confusion lately, because of the new paid membership packagehttp://insanescouter.org/members/. Many seem to think InsaneScouter's content and this newsletter will become paid only. Please rest assured this will never happen. InsaneScouter and this newsletter will always be free. The paid membership is just an add on for additional resources, discounts, classes, etc that I have made available.

 Do you like to write?

I am looking for help creating blog posts. If you like to write about Scouting, camping, crafts, kids, etc please let me know. You can either post now and then, or you can take on a specific day(s) what you write post on (appear on the site). Any help you can give will be helping your fellow Scouters as well as InsaneScouter. 

Developing Apps

Can you help us create an android / iphone app? How about a plugin for wordpress, drupal and joomla? If you can help please let me know. 

Would you like?

Years ago I use to write a large theme based Scouting newsletter every month. The newsletter just took so much time and effort to create I stopped doing it in favor of the current format. For example here is a March 2003 newsletterhttp://insanescouter.org/p/4221/166/March+01+2004.html. Would you be interested in such a newsletter? If so would you be willing to pay a small yearly fee to get it? 

Blog Posts

Some good news, I finally have been able to get more blog posts up. Currently they will go out three times a week, but there still may be more coming. Keep your eyes open and I hope you find my ramblings helpful. 

Remember InsaneScouter is here to stay, but we can only do it with your support. Thank you to everyone who has helped make InsaneScouter the great resource it is :)

As leaders, we need to forge a path of hopefulness and desire to keep the program alive in our Scouts, our own hearts and the minds for generations to come. InsaneScouter was created based on this premise, and fights everyday to help Scouter's one resource at a time.

Recently, I was listening to a Scouter explain how he rediscovered his Scouting spirit and his tale helped rekindle the fire in me. It also reminded me of how loyal you are to InsaneScouter. Thank you, I am eternally grateful to all of you and rest assured without you InsaneScouter would not be the great place it is today.

There is no doubt that together we can ensure InsaneScouter continues to grow and everything we offer remains fresh, current and freely available. Please help us keep the lights on by Becoming A Member (http://insanescouter.org/members/).

You can also help by signing up for a free WePay Account (https://www.wepay.com/x4i7sm) and use it to collect funds. In return WePay will give InsaneScouter $20 and you $10, but you have to collect funds with it first. WePay accounts are good for collecting dues,camp fees, summer camp fees, day camp fees, training fees, and even to sale car wash tickets. The funds are insured by the FDIC and you can withdraw the funds at any time. For more details read this blog post (http://insanescouter.org/blog/387/WePaycom_The_HassleFree_Way_to_Collect_Scouting_Dues.html)

We are also looking for volunteers to help update and add resources, write blog posts, and help with tech projects. If you can help let me know.

Lastly, you can help by just letting anyone you know in Scouting know about InsaneScouter. It never ceases to surprise me how many people I meet that has never heard of the site.

Blog Posts

You may have noticed there has been no new blog posts in a while. This is sadly, because I have been putting most of my attention to finding a job and web development gigs. I have had very little luck so far, but I am continuing the battle as I am sure many of you are too. Please be patient with me and as I can I will write more blog posts, and update the site.

Part of this newsletter is a random selection of content and blog posts, so just bare with me through these difficult times.

Contest

Did you know that the more people who use InsaneScouter the more we make from the ads. So even if you can't help us by becoming a member or volunteering to help with content, just by letting your friends know about us. You can simply forward this newsletter to everyone you know in Scouting and ask them to do the same thing. For every person who signs up for this newsletter, from the newsletter your forward on, you will get one entry to win one of the below prizes.

1. http://insanescouter.org/members/index.php - InsaneScouter Membership
2. http://www.kampknots.com/ - book of Scout cartoons around Camp Knots
3. http://thefirstencampment.com/ - copy of the dvd
4. http://wepay.com - (similar to paypal but for small groups) winners account will have no service fees for a whole year
5. http://campingsurvival.com/aufistflstan.html - Flint Steel and Magnesium Fire Starter
6. http://bigrockpubs.com/ - 12 Scout Novels written by Fletcher (ebooks)
7. http://etrailtoeagle.com - 1 year free account (online advancement tracking)
8. http://eaglebook.com - Mark Ray Eagle Court of Honor Handbook
9. http://eaglebook.com - Mark Ray Scoutmasters Other Handbook
10. http://www.redhonorpress.com - David C. Scott Signed copy of The Scouting Party

Thank You To...

I would like to thank our great sponsors including ScoutManage.com, http://www.jx2media.com/ (who is providing our hosting for free), and WePay.com for helping us keep the lights on. I would also like to thank you not only for using the site, but for being a Scout leaders and molding the leaders of tomorrow. Lastly, I salute the few of you who actively help maintain InsaneScouter. You All Rock!

Remember InsaneScouter is here to stay, but we can only do it with your support.

Contest

I would like to let you know about two new contests, the first one is taking place here on InsaneScouter and the other is part of Scouting A Nation. We have a boat load of prizes available and I would like to give a shout out to everyone who was gracious enough to provide prizes – Thanks!

1. http://scoutinganation.com/members.php - Virtual Hitch Hiker Package
2. http://roadceo.com – 12 inch Lodge Dutch Oven
3. http://www.kampknots.com/ - book of Knots cartoons
4. http://thefirstencampment.com/ - copy of the dvd
5. http://wepay.com – (similar to paypal but for small groups) account with no service fees
6. http://campingsurvival.com/aufistflstan.html - Flint Steel and Magnesium Fire Starter
7. http://bigrockpubs.com/ - 12 Scout Novels written by Fletcher (ebooks)
8. http://etrailtoeagle.com – 1 year free account (online advancement tracking)
9. http://eaglebook.com Mark Ray - Eagle Court of Honor Handbook
10. http://eaglebook.com Mark Ray - Scoutmasters Other Handbook
11. http://www.redhonorpress.com David C. Scott – Signed copy of The Scouting Party

 Here is how the contests will work.

To win the dutch oven you need to share this link http://scoutinganation.com/members.php?ref_r=is_{username}. Every time we get 100 new members another dutch oven will be given away. The more people you get to signup the better your chances to win the dutch oven. If you would like to blog about my road trip, feel free to contact me for an interview or what ever you need.

For all other prizes all you have to do is share this newsletter with your friends, share any page on InsaneScouter by adding ?rid={user_id} to end of any page address on the site, or add the widget (http://insanescouter.org/widgets/content_widget/sharecontent.html) to your website and set the rid= in the code to rid={user_id}. For every person who signs up for this newsletter using one of the above methods you get one entry to win the prize. Winners will be selected once a month. At least for the first contest you will be able to select your own prize from the above list, accept for the dutch oven which is for the other contest.

Scouting A Nation

I am still working toward getting on the road and having many grand adventures to share with you. During my journey I will meet with Scouters, visit units, attend events, check out National and State Parks, and so much more. As a virtual hitch hiker you will be able to virtually join me on the road meeting cool people, doing cool things, being amazed by what we learn, and generally watching me get over my head in adventure. You can become a virtual hitch hiker at http://scoutinganation.com/members.php

Help Needed

I am looking for anyone who can help me turn my widget (http://insanescouter.org/widgets/content_widget/sharecontent.html) into a iphone, android, wordpress, joomla, etc app. If you can help please drop me an email.

We have over 5,200 pages of content that need to be checked for spelling, grammar, proper categories and title. Our site html needs to be made w3c compliant. Our goal is to make the site better and more accurate for you

If you can help email me at webmaster (at) insanescouter.org

Scout Stanley

http://ScoutStanely.com - Think of Scout Stanley like a pen pal program. Have your Scouts come up with a adventure, take pictures of Stanley doing this adventure and write about it. Login to to Scout Stanley using your InsaneScouter login (username and password) and post the adventure. Then ask others to add to the adventure you started. Scout Stanley is a great way to learn about other cultures, other parts of the world, and make some new friends.

First a bit of sad news... 

Do to lack of usage I have decided to discontinue ScouterBooks.com, ScouterLinks.com and the Scout Hosting service. This in reality a bitter sweet decision, because eliminating these projects will free me up to focus more on other projects. There are some really exciting things brewing right now.

Scout Stanley 

ScoutStanely.com will remain for the time being. For those of you who don't know about Scout: 

The original Stanley was started by a London School teacher in 1995 as a way for his students to meet others from far way places while learning about those places. The story goes that Stanley was flattened by a falling bulletin board, which he survives and starts making the best of his flattened state. Soon he is sliding into rooms through the hole at the bottom of doors. He even once helped catch thieves in a art museum by posing as a painting on the wall. 

Stanley found his way to InsaneScouter where we used modern technology to scan his unique genetic make up into the computer. Now Stanley travels the world in matter of seconds and his adventures can be followed by everyone.

Think of Scout Stanley like a pen pal program. Have your Scouts come up with a adventure, take pictures of Stanley doing this adventure and write about it. Login to to Scout Stanley using your InsaneScouter login (username and password) and add post it to the site. Then ask other Scout groups from around the world to add to the adventure you started. Scout Stanley is a great way to learn about other cultures, other parts of the world, and make some new friends. 

Knots Cartoons 

There is a wonderful Scouting cartoon series called “Knots” created by Cartoonist Rich Diesslin. Rich has compiled a “Knots” book. We both agree this book would make an excellent Christmas Gift http://insanescouter.org/store/25/ 

Fireside Chat 

Those of you who follow me on twitter and facebook I am sure have already noticed that on occasion I hold “Fireside Chats”. Think of these as sitting around a virtual campfire talking with fellow leaders and maybe at times Scouts. There are no set topics so you could come ask questions, or talk about the weather. Anything reasonable goes. As these chats are held at odd times when ever I feel like chatting or have the time, so there is no set schedule. This means you need to follow me on twitter or facebook to know when these chats are bing held. On twitter http://twitter.com/insanescouter and on facebook http://facebook.com/insanescouter 

Scouting A Nation / The Adventure Begins 

As you know by now I am heading off on a year long adventure visiting Scouters, Units, trainings, camps, etc around the nation. If you would like me to drop by all you need to do is send me an email. If I can work you into my agenda, then all arrangements will be made. If you can provide me a place to park my suv (which is my house on wheels), a place to shower and do laundry, or even a meal... let me know. 

At events I am invited to I would be happy to let the Scouts see the rig I live in, and the technologies I use to live on the road. There are a number of outdoor skills I may be able to teach them. Also I could talk about my list of learning disabilities and how I have learned to control them and live a normal life. 

The only thing holding me back right now is getting sponsors lined up. You can help me by letting me know who runs the Summer Camp program in your Council, as well as by suggesting companies you have contact with maybe a friend or relative owns it. Not only can they get ads on my sites, but also an ad in 10,000 copies of a newspaper I will be handing out where ever I go, among many other things. 

Thanks all for your support of InsaneScouter... You all rock!

Privacy Statement
We recently updated our Privacy policy, to make it better reflect our beliefs and actual services offered by InsaneScouter. Sections that did not apply were removed and many other sections simplified. please read the updated version at http://insanescouter.org/p/528/0/privacy.html

We now have a store
We recently created a store http://insanescouter.org/store/ which includes e-books, a cd, and campfire grills. Oh, and the old $15 download resource package is being replaced by the InsaneScouter Dump, which is $25 a year and will be accessed through the control panel. (in case you don't know, to access the control panel: log in, then click on "control panel" on the upper right, just above the ads where it says "user controls", on almost every page.) Just like the old resource package, the sales of the items in the store http://insanescouter.org/store/ will help keep InsaneScouter alive and well.

You can also help us out by looking at and clicking on the ads. Another good way to help us in linking to InsaneScouter from your Scouting site. You can find images and widgets to use at http://insanescouter.org/promoteus.php

Twitter and Facebook
You can receive Scouting news, updates on other Scouting sites, and of course InsaneScouter updates by following us at http://twiter.com/scoutbot and http://facebook.com/scoutbot

I am still looking for you help
A Scout is Helpful! We have over 5,200 pages of content that need to be checked for spelling, grammar, proper categories and title. Our site html needs to be made w3c compliant. Our goal is to make the site better and more accurate for you, but at the same time help improve our search engines rankings. Improving our ranking will help increase the traffic to the site and how much google ads pay us. If you know html and you are willing to help please drop us an email at webmaster[at]insanescouter.org 

Thank you to all the volunteers that help make
InsaneScouter what it is!!! 

1.3 sets of Scout Challenges
2.Fundraising A fundraising ebook (pdf 196kb - 21 pages)
3.Dutch Over Cooking For Beginners and Pros (pdf 840kb - 79 pages)
4.Board of Review Questions (pdf 137kb)
5.Bobcat Helper this (pdf 43kb)
6.Den Chief Handbook (pdf 128kb)
7.Boy Scout and Flag Ceremonies (zip 813kb - 15 pdf files)
8.Star Trek Mini Camporee (zip 108kb - 10 files)
9.Boy Scout Leadership Handouts packet (zip 6mb - 10 files)
10.Blueprints (zip 6.5mb - 133 items)
11.Baden Powel Audio and Video (zip 32 mb - 13 files)
12.Digital Patch Collection (zip 465mb - 15,269 items)
13.Historical Photo Collection (zip 53mb - 2,249 items)
14.World Jamboree Postcards postcards from the 1924, 1929, 1933, 1937, 1947, 1957, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1979, 1982 and 1988 World Jamborees (zip 22mb - 409 items)
15.Historical Jamboree Photos these photos are from 1918, 1919, 1920 1924, 1927 - 1929, 1933, 1935, 1937. (zip 7mb - 143 items)
16.Scout Camp Postcards. (zip 27mb - 581 items)
17.InsaneScouter Sample CD this is a cd I created that I use to give out at Scout Shows. What is on it 3,660 clipart images, 8 powwow books, 12 fonts, 171 outdated BSA forms, 6 multimedia items, 100 Native American Stories, and 18 orginal InsaneScouter newsletters. (zip 174 mb)

for more details and to buy go to: http://insanescouter.org/p/5429/0/InsaneScouter_Resource_Package.html

I am looking for you help. There are over 5,200 content items that need to be double checked. I recently found out that a lot of the content, because of the way it has been copied into our content management system, are to one degree or another invalid html. I believe fixing these html bugs will help InsaneScouter in two ways. First, some of the reported problems of pages no loading right I think are do to tags programs like Microsoft word left behind when it was copied over. Second, I think it will help use with the search engines rankings and thus increasing organic traffic. If you know html, are willing to spend some time to learn html, and willing to help us out please drop us an email webmaster[at]insanescouter.org

Did you know that Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) and Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI) are comping up on October 15-17, 2010. JOTA takes place over ham radios, and JOTI takes place online mostly through chat rooms and the such. For JOTI I suggest you check out ScoutLink.net which is a international Scout chat room that is fully moderated. You can access ScoutLink from InsaneScouter at http://insanescouter.org/chat/, Scoutlink is open 24 hrs a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. JOTA check with your local council to find out who will be running ham radio stations for the Scouts.

Don't forget to drop by http://scoutmanage.com one of our very wonderful sponsors. ScoutManage provides an easy to use, intuitive, secure, and inexpensive method for tracking all aspects of your Scouting unit. ScoutManage supports tracking: Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Venturing Crews, Sea Scout Ships. Using a single, easy-to-use web interface, multiple members of your unit • including leaders, parents, and individual scouts • can access, monitor, track, and update all aspects of their scouting experience in a safe and controlled environment. ScoutManage allows multiple members of your unit to view and update information at the same time, creating a truly powerful system for interacting between everyone in your unit.

I would like to thank CampFireGrill.com for agree to give away three wonderful grills as part of this contest. Further more, I wish to thank everyone who submitted recipes. In total we received 22 recipes. Wow they all look and sound so amazing, it was extremely hard to pick just three winners.

<Sounds of a drum roll>

The winners are:
     Caribbean Island Chicken Foil Packs, Scouting with the Mouse
     Pizza on the Coals, Ken Zabel - BSA Troop 319 – Brooklyn
     Apple Dew, Joe Parajecki

Honorable Mention
     Sausage and Potatoes, Wanda Hendric
     Pineapple Upside Down Cake for One, Terri Butler

     Honorable mentions win free access to the download Scouting resources....

Congratulations to you all!

Please contact me to arrange your prize and let all your firends know you won a grill from InsaneScouter / CampFireGrill.com

In the near future, if you submitted a recipe you will be receiving the e-cook book via email.

As always we could use your help. We can use your help in the following

• if you know HTML helping me go through over 5,200 pages of content cleaning up the html. Don't worry this not separate pages, but content items in the database. This includes double checking the title and categories it is in.
   
• Proofing blog posts
   
• Add campgrounds, Scout Camps, etc to RoadCEO.com (our sister site) for outdoor explorers. You can actually help in one of two ways. One is loading places that you already know of. The other is helping load a few thousand federal properties (with research to improve the listing)

Thank you everyone for you awesome support, even just your readership is appreciated and in all honesty a bit surprising. When I stop and think how this newsletter is read by over 1,285 people its jaw dropping amazing to me. I snap to attention and give all you amazing Scouter's a salute.

Dont forget that you can download tens of thousands of Scouting resource for a 1 time gift of $15 and at the same be really helping to keep InsaneScouter alive and well. http://insanescouter.org/p/5429/0/InsaneScouter_Resource_Package.html

Just a reminder that the contest to win a campfiregrill.com grill is still in progress. For full details check out http://insanescouter.org/blog/299/InsaneScouter_-_Campfire_Grill_Contest.html It is really simple, all you have to do is send me one or more recipes that Scouts can make in camp ... What are you waiting for, send them now. After all winners will be announced in the next newsletter.

There seems to be alot of excitement, adventure and fun going on at the 2010 National Jamboree. If you would like to keep on top of the happenings you may want to check out the following site http://www.bsajamboree.org/ also you can follow a lot of the happenings on twitter and facebook.

I am still in search of people who are interested in writing articles about scouting, camping, backpacking, etc .. any kind of Scouting related topic to help share information, ideas and advice via the InsaneScouter Ramblings Blog. If you would like to help us blog, just reply to this email.

Wow, what a month. As of today the InsaneScouter Ramblings Blog has hit 200 blog posts. I hope you all have enjoyed following what we have had to say. Please feel free to reply to this email with your own thoughts about the blog. How can we make it better? What topics would you like to see covered? The most requested topic is on BSA happenings, policy changes, new awards, etc. But to be honest this is not an area I follow close enough to write about. Can any of you help?

As always please feel free to send this newsletter on to all your Scouting Friends. Also please link to InsaneScouter from your own Scouting related websites. You can find many ways to link to us at  http://insanescouter.org/promoteus.php

Thank you for reading this newsletter month after month. Also thank you to the few of you who routinely help make all of this possible.

Just a reminder that the contest to win a campfiregrill.com grill is still in progress. For full details check out http://insanescouter.org/blog/299/InsaneScouter_-_Campfire_Grill_Contest.html

Please tell all your Scouting friends about InsaneScouter and share this newsletter with them.

Next you may have noticed that there is a new homepage on InsaneScouter. I hope you find it more organized and easier to use. Also notice at the bottom it provides you with quick updates from some of our other sites.

There has been a on going problem here at InsaneScouter with emails not getting through. This is normal to a point but our bounce rate is pretty high. Also I have noticed some days I get almost no email, and with the number of mailing lists, etc that I am on I know emails are not getting through. The only solution I know of to fix the problems with sending and receiving email is to setup my own mail server. The problem is to do this will require at least a VPS costing $130 a month. The only way I can come up with to raise these funds would be to offer a Scouting based paid gmail like service or beg for donations. Does anyone else have suggestions?

Will you help me? My new(ish) site http://roadceo.com is up and working. RoadCEO is devoted to all outdoor travelers. The site focuses around two main elements a blog and a database of recreational properties such as campgrounds, attractions, and trails. It would be really cool if you would create an account, login, and add any properties you know about. There are a ton of data items you can add about a property but only title, details, and gps coordinates (which can be set by clicking on the map) are required.

There has been some interested expressed in helping sell the “Trail Blazer” ad package in exchange for a $65 commission to your Unit. If interested, just drop me a email.

Lastly, don't forget as a InsaneScouter user you can host your Scouting related website with InsaneScouter for free. You will get 20mb of space, 1 mysql database, awstats, ftp access, filemanager access, etc. To set up just login to your control panel, click on add hosting.

A few weeks ago I was talking to my friend Tom at http://CampfireGrill.com. You may have noticed Tom decided to become one of our sponsors, but that is not all. He also agreed to supply three of his grills to give away to you!!!

This giveaway is going to be a bit different, first it runs through the August Newsletter when we will announce the winners. Second, you need to be registered at InsaneScouter (such as being subscribed to the newsletter). Third, you need to email me recipe(s) that Boy Scouts can make on there own or with a little help while in camp. You will need to tell us who to give credit to for the recipe, also if possible please include a photo of the dish made. You may submitted more then one recipe, however please don't spam us either. We will go through the recipes and pick our favorites, the more we like your recipe the better your chance is to win.

All recipes we like will be compiled into a e-book. Everyone who submits a recipe will receive a copy of this e-book, once it is compiled.

InsaneScouter Ramblings blog...
For those of you who follow my blog I have changed to using feedburner for the rss feed, mostly because it provided me better stats then I can do on my own. You can subscribe to the blog at http://feeds.feedburner.com/NewInsanescouterRamblingBlogPosts

If you run a website or blog related to the outdoors or Scouting please drop me a note letting me know, including a url and brief description. Also feel free to add your sites, or any other Scouting related sites to http://scouterlinks.com by logging in to InsaneScouter, click on the control panel link, and then add links.

I was recently experimenting with an idea for a new home page / layout for InsaneScouter. I was wondering what you all thought http://insanescouter.org/tmp/test.php

I don't know how many of you play around on Squidoo, but the other day I was and decided to create a lens just to test it out. You can find the InsaneScouter lens at http://www.squidoo.com/insanescouter also you can follow InsaneScouter on Facebook, just do a search and you will find the profile, group and fan page.

For those of you who would like to help us promote InsaneScouter check out http://insanescouter.org/promoteus.php …. A few ideas include adding a link, banner or widget to your own Scouting website, unit site, or even encouraging your Council or District to link to us. Another option is to print out one of the pdf fliers to pass out at roundtables, trainings, camps, etc. Anything you can do to help spread the word is appreciated.

For about the last six weeks I have been running a survey, part of the survey was a list of features / services we are considering adding. One of those items was the sales of the “Trail Blazer” ad package into a fundraiser of sorts where the person / unit selling the ad makes $65 per ad sold. This idea did not get the best of votes, and thus I am not going to build anything major out to support this idea. However I would like to give those a chance who were interested in selling the package. Keep in mind if you sell 2-3 packages that is enough to pay for a week of summer camp and will help us improve InsaneScouter. If you would like to give this a shot drop me an email. I will provide you with some information to present, such as info about the sites, statics about our traffic, etc. Again just email me if your interested.

As always thank you to everyone who has put in time and effort to make InsaneScouter a great site. If you have any suggestions on how to make the sites better, please feel free to drop me a note.

Are you anxiously waiting to find out who won the Lodge cast iron skillet with a glass lid. The winner of the contest is the 1,000th subscriber to this newsletter who is Benjabc123. The most awesome part is we surpassed our goal of 1,000 subscribers and flew on to 1,154. Your are all awesome!

Benjabc123 please contact me to make arrangements to get your prize, which will be sent directly from the Lodge factory.

We have recently added a number of new websites to the InsaneScouter family. Here is a quick overview of each.

Scouter Books: is a site dedicated to sharing scouting e-books. Currently there are 389 powwow books on the site and growing.

Scouter Links: is a website directory, kind of like a fake search engine. I am hoping many people will add Scouting / Guiding related websites to help others find all those wonderful Scouting sites that are out there.

E-Scouter: is the site that talks about our free and paid website hosting service.

Scout Stanley: yeah yeah I know I spelled it wrong in the domain... I will fix this down the road … this site is a virtual Flat Stanley project based on a Scouting theme. If you don't know what flat stanley is take a look at the home page of this site.

Scouting A Nation: is a site that won't do much right now, but down the road it will relate to my adventures of living on the road . During this time I will visit Scouter's, various Scouting events and work on some other neat ideas coming up like a virtual Scouting college (basically videos of Scouter's teaching things they excel in).

KampSpace: is simply a travel site for the outdoor explorer. It will do for campers, rvers, and wilderness explorers what sites like tavelocity does for those who “fly to a city, rent a car and stay in hotel”. It does or will include listings for campgrounds, trails, attractions, geocaching, lodging, tours, stores, eateries, and more. Please feel free to create a free account (separate from InsaneScouter) and add listings to help out your fellow Scouter's.

For those of you who would like to help us promote InsaneScouter check out http://insanescouter.org/promoteus.php …. A few ideas include adding a link, banner or widget to your own Scouting website, unit site, or even encouraging your Council or District to link to us. Another option is to print out one of the pdf fliers to pass out at roundtables, trainings, camps, etc. Anything you can do to help spread the word is appreciated.

As mentioned last month there is a new control panel with many new features. From the control panel you can now access Scout Stanley, Add Scouter Links, Update your account, and even host your Scouting site with us. You can access your control panel from any of our sites. It should be noted the old control panel is no longer available and no longer supported.

Thank you for all your support and loyalty - you all have been awesome.
Also thank you to the volunteers and sponsors who make this site possible.
Without your support and dedication none of this would be possible.
 

First, I would like to announce the winner of our trivia contest “What branch of Scouting for older boys became an official part of the Scouting movement in 1912?” Those of you who said “Sea Scouts” were correct … well sort of … Here is some text as sent to me by one of our readers.

“The statement in the handbook is not really correct.The man A A Carey mentioned as the Scoutmaster of a troop called Pioneer was not a Scoutmaster and there was no troop called Pioneer.

A A Carey was the equivalent of a District Chairman in the Boston District in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1910. He founded a Scout troop on 28 November 1910 and three weeks later the troop acquired a boat which they renamed Pioneer. They trained in seamanship and went on their Long Cruise in June 1911 and are therefore considered to be Sea Scouts.

The date 1912 is also wrong. I found the original account in the New York Times archives. The Sea Scout program was officially adopted by the BSA at the annual meeting in 1913.”

Ok Ok enough history lesson …. The winner of the contest is Ted Nichols congratulations you won a 1 year subscription to ScoutManage.com. Please reply to this email so that I can get you hooked up.

Second our next contest winner will be the 1,000th subscriber to this newsletter. Our friends at Lodge Mfg have graciously agreed to give a 10 ¼ inch skillet with a glass lid to our 1,000th subscriber. This skillet is valued at almost $50 dollars. You can see what this pan looks like in this picture and on their website at https://secure.lodgemfg.com/storefront/product1_new.asp?menu=logic&idProduct=4156 See this blog post for more details http://insanescouter.org/blog/254/Lesson_First_Class_Board_of_Review.html. 

http://scouterbooks.com/ is now live. There are 389 books currently available. In these books you will find all the ideas you will ever need including activities, games, songs, skits, ceremonies, stories, crafts, recipes, etc. If you have any books to share with us, please send me an email.

You will notice on all of our sites InsaneScouter, Scouter Books, and Scouting A Nation there is a now a link to the new user control panel. One InsaneScouter it is still listed as “beta control panel. The current control panel will be getting removed soon. Please let me know what you think of the new control panel, if you have any problems with it, and if there are any ways I can make it better.

Also as part of this new control panel you can now host your Scouting project with InsaneScouter. You get 20mb of space and 1 mysql database with the free package. With a $25 a year paid upgrade you get 50mb space and 5 mysql databases among many other features. The $15 1gb upgrade is only for those already at the $25 paid level. To find these upgrades look in the new control panel and click on “Upgrade Account”. (Several of these paid features are still under development.)

We are working on launching a new site called ScouterLinks. This site will be a directory, almost like a search engine of Scouting related websites. Not only will links be sorted by category, but you will also be able to search for links by keyword. If you would like to add any Scouting related websites to the directory, login to the new control panel and click on “add links”. You can updated any links you add at anytime.

Our contest winners from last month are

okiegrl
Eaglemaster
mhom

Congradulations to you all drop me an email to claim your prize.

The next contest is up for grabs a full year of the ScoutManage.com advancement tracking service. To enter send me an email (news [at] insanescouter.org) with the answer to this trivia question:

What branch of Scouting for older boys became an official part
of the Scouting movement in 1912?

I will pick one winner from those who email me the correct answer.

I bet you have noticed a few new things around the site. There is an updated homepage, that is better organized and has more information on it. Also you will notice the “alert bar” that starts off at the top of the page and follows you as your scroll down. This bar will be used for a number of purpose in the future including letting you know when I am working on the site, performing maintenance and any other important messages.

We have a new website called ScouterBooks.com, dedicated to e-books about Scouting. Currently it has over 100 pow wow books, with more books on the way. If you have any books you think should be added to the site please feel free to drop me a note.

We are always working to add new content, features and services. Your feedback helps us gage what will be the most useful and interesting to you. Please take just a few moments, if you have not done so already and fill in our survey at http://insanescouter.org/survey.php?rid={user_id}

I would like to thank everyone who in the last month has really picked up the pace in helping make InsaneScouter better. Especially Shawn Romack, who has been instrumental in updating the meta tags on InsaneScouter and loading books onto ScouterBooks.com website. PTSteve for his continual support, comments, and advice on the best ways to move forward with ideas. Lastly, Arctic Fox for ensuring there is always new content on InsaneScouter. Everyone give them a big hand.

Great news there is finally another contest. All you have to do is forward this newsletter to all your Scouting friends. You will be automatically entered into the contest for each friend who sign ups for an InsaneScouter account. There will be three winners picked at random. Winners will be announced in the next newsletter. Each winner may choose one of the following: 

$25 gift certificate at TrailStop.com who has a wide selection of Boy Scouts of America Officially Licensed Products. Most products are discounted from the item’s list price and they guarantee your satisfaction 100%. You will also get free FedEx ground shipping. 

$25 gift certificates at BadgeMagic.com is the revolutionary new way to attach badges to Scout uniforms without sewing. Our new “peel & stick” badge adhesive has been tested on all Scout uniform materials and is guaranteed not to fall off in the wash. 

$20 gift certificate for derbymonkeygarage.com a Pinewood Derby site that specializes in getting dads and lads into the winner's circle. 

I am coming to you today asking for help and feedback. All you have to do is reply to this email to pass on your thoughts to me. 

1) I am looking for stories to use for “Lessons from the past” blog posts. For an example look at http://insanescouter.org/blog/222/Lessons_from_the_past_Poison_Ivy.html

2) If you can suggest any companies to me that my be interested in Ads on InsaneScouter or be represented at Scout Shows (Scout Expos, Scout-O-Ramas, etc) around the nation. Please let me now.

3) I have developed a way to provide free email accounts to the Scouting community. There will of course be virus and spam protection, address book, calendar, and ton of other features. I am planning on having a variety of domains you can pick from for example: you@proudscouts.com, you@scoutboss.com, you@knotdude.com, etc. Would you signup to have an email account?

Did you know that you can add your Scouting related website to “InsaneScouter Links” at http://insanescouter.org/add_links.php think of this as a mini Scouting search engine. New links have to be approved before going live, do to problems with spam. 

Have you sent a Scouting postcard lately? Send one to say Hi, congratulations, to give some one a poke to do their Eagle project, etc. You can send one from http://insanescouter.org/php2/plugins/postcards/ 

Did you know that you can get amazing Scouting news, discover Scouting blog & Podcast updates, and find InsaneScouter updates on twitter and facebook. On twitter: http://twitter.com/ScoutBot and on face book by doing a search for InsaneScouter to find our fanpage.  

www.KampSpace.com

Drum roll please ....... This winner is

vonbruin

Please contact me to arrange to receive your prizes. You will get to pick either "Scout Camp, The Movie" DVD, one of the Blue Sky Kitchen books or a Scout Manage Account for 1 year as well as one of the gift codes.

2) The second contest is coming soon. It will be a lightning round, lasting just 36 hours. It will take place on Twitter and Facebook only. I will post a tweet which will also show on Facebook. From that point you will have 36 hours to tell others about ScoutBot. You are free to use any text you wish, the more catchy the better. However the link and hash code used must stay the same. Which ever post catches my eye will win.

You will get to pick either "Scout Camp, The Movie" DVD, one of the Blue Sky Kitchen books or a Scout Manage Account for 1 year as well as one of the gift codes.

3) Please take just a few minutes to complete our survey at http://insanescouter.org/survey.php. Your response will truly help us to improve InsaneScouter ... I am on my knees bagging you, pleading with you... I will bribe you with virtual binary candy, ok not really. Seriously you will be helping me a ton by taking the survey so please do so right now! (or at least as soon as possible!)

4) It takes a lot of time and a pretty penny to keep InsaneScouter running. The revenue generated by the ads really do help keep us online, but in all honesty just barely. With the current economy and the fact that I am currently unemployed it is becoming a struggle to keep everything up and running, let alone to move forward. What I am hoping is that you like the site enough to drop something into our virtual tip jar. http://insanescouter.org/p/2003/0/dontation.html

5) If you are not doing so already, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/insanescouter/ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5113053326

6) If you are not already doing so, please take a few minutes to promote InsaneScouter. You can find some easy ways to do this on you existing websites at http://insanescouter.org/promoteus.php

7) I am working on a "Today In Scouting" history idea. I need help adding dates and events to the Google spreadsheet located at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AqHND3P2CUCSdFQ5NTR4aURYTG9GUnhoSGdsU1lpSUE&hl=en ... Please help add events. I have some cool plans for this data.
 

• Here are this months contests.
  
  The first contest will go for two weeks. Your mission is to get people to just look at InsaneScouter. You do this by sharing links to any page on the site. Don't forget to add ?rid={user_id} to the end so you will get credit. Yes, sharing the newsletter also works. At the end of the two weeks I will check the view logs and pick just one winner. Will it be you?
  
  The second contenst is a lightening round, lasting just 36 hours. It will take place on twitter and facebook only. I will post a tweet which will also show on facebook from that point you will have 36 hours to catch my attention. You are free to use any text you wish, the more catchy the better. However the link and hashcode used most stay the same. Which ever post catches my eye will win.
  
  For both of these contest you will get to pick either the Scout Camp Movie dvd or one of the Blue Sky Kitchen books or 1 year ScoutManage account. I also plan to offer more gift codes but need to see which ones are taken in from the first contest.
  
   
• We have many new members to this newsletter and only 11 of you have taken the survey. So please, pretty please, go take the InsaneScouter survey, honest it will only take you a few minutes and will really help us improve the site. You can find the survey at http://insanescouter.org/survey.php?rid={user_id}
  
   
• I am working on a "Today In Scouting" history idea. I need help adding dates and events to this google spreadsheet http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AqHND3P2CUCSdFQ5NTR4aURYTG9GUnhoSGdsU1lpSUE&hl=en ... Please help add events I have some cool plans for this data.
  
   
• How can we make InsaneScouter remarkable? I am looking for ideas, thoughts, concerns, good, bad, evil, anything... If it can help make the site better by fixing a problem, changing way something works, adding something new, etc ... tell me ... please don't make me beg!!! Tell me by replying to the newsletter or using one of the methods on the contact us page.
  
   
• I have been pondering the idea of creating a way for you to create a profile to list yourself as a local/subject expert. The idea is simple. If you know a lot about the places to camp around where you live, or about a specfic subject regardless if nature, fishing, computers, law, etc ... anything that could help other leaders. The ultimate idea is then when someone needs a "human resource" all they have to do is come to InsaneScouter, do a search for the kind of "expert" they are looking for and the code will spit you out. What do you think? Do you like this idea? Would you list yourself as an expert? Would you use it to find other experts? Tell me by replying to the newsletter or using one of the methods on the contact us page.
  
   
• I have created a new "promote us" page you can find it at http://insanescouter.org/promoteus.php?rid={user_id}. This page includes a daily tip widget, various ads and text links you can use to promote InsaneScouter. Also in time this page will include a number of flyers you can print out, ranging from full page to business card in size, which you can hand out at round table, to members of your unit, to Scouting friends, at summer camp, at a jamboree, etc. If you include your rid on any of the widgets, links or banners on this page it will give you credit for the contests and allow me to better track where people are coming from.
  
   

There are just two weeks left until I pick two contest winners and who ever refered them. If you want your chance at the prizes, all you have to do is spread the word. Just tell your Scouting friends about InsaneScouter and have them become a free member at http://insanescouter.org/users/register.php?rid={user_id}

I have added a box to the homepage that shows the top 10 users names base on number of signups. I encourage each of you to strive to get to the top of this list.

We have added a new way to access the InsaneScouter download / ftp service. When you login as a user, go to the control panel and click on "Access Download Archive Online". A new window will popup, from which you can access all the pow-wow books, clip art, etc. You are also able to upload your own items into the "upload" folder.

Please feel free to link to InsaneScouter from your own Scouting websites, this will help more people find the site, as well as allow us to help more Scouters. You may also have a link from InsaneScoututer to your Scouting website. In your control panel there is a link for "Add A Link To Scout Search". Just fill in the form. Please, do this only once I manually approve all listings to prevent spam and adult sites... which have been a problem in the past.

You may follow InsaneScouter on twitter at http://twitter.com/insanescouter as well as get Scouting News and InsaneScouter updates at http://twitter.com/scoutbot. You may also follow us on facebook at http://facebook.com/insanescouter. There is a facebook group and fan page as well whcih you can find by doing a facebook search for InsaneScouter.

Please take just a few minutes, right now, to let us know what we are doing right and wrong by taking our survey at http://insanescouter.org/survey.php

We are proud to announce the new site search. This search tool does a far better job at finding the content you are interested in. Also when you mouse over the link in search a window will pop up showing you more of that pages content so you can more quickly decided if its what you are looking for before clicking on it.

Lastly, I would like to thank every one on the InsaneScouter team for the hard work and devotion to making InsaneScouter a great Scouting resource.