September 27, 2004

Troop 103 News Bits

Camp Emerald Bay 2004
Troop 103's adventure to Camp Emerald Bay proved to be unlike anything that we had experienced before. We departed on our troops first domestic flight on June 26, 2004 to Long Beach airport. We transferred to the Hostel at San Pedro to sleep and prepare for the next day. During our time at the hostel we found fascinating things to occupy our time. There was a bike rally down the cliff from where we were staying with some cool looking motorcycles. The huge Korean Peace Bell on the cliff surrounded by gun turret ruins created a perfect Kodak moment. After a great pizza dinner we took a hike and played at the beach in the dark. Next morning we left on a catamaran and cruised to Catalina Island. On the way over we saw dolphins swimming along the side of the ship. When we arrived, WOW... what a cool water-based camp! We soon froze as we dove into the Pacific Ocean to take our swimming test. While being tested we quickly learned a new word (ARRRRRGH)! Once thawed, we selected our merit badge and free time activities. Some of the offerings were: sailing, canoeing, kayaking, rowing, motor boating, oceanography, rifles, archery, and skeet shooting. One of the unique offerings at this camp was the opportunity to spend all week scuba diving. Seven of our older scouts achieved scuba certification by weeks end; even five of the adults ventured into the deep. And what characters inhabited on this remote Island? Who could forget Thomas, Tex, and Joe; let alone the awesome and inspiring leadership given to us by our very own Brandon. Troop 116 from San Jose teamed up with us for most of the week as we learned important nature facts including those about Fennel. One of the highlights of the week was WAR CANOES! After packing and waterproofing our supplies we boarded the canoes and paddled to a distant beach called Smugglers Cove. On the way we saw whales, turtles, flying fish, and seals. After snorkeling we prepared a great Dutch oven beef stew and the best cobbler anyone has ever tasted. That night we all slept on the beach, under the stars, with the relaxing sound of the waves surrounding us. Before the week was out a few leaders took a bike ride across the island to spy on another Boy Scout camp called Cherry Valley. Nice, but we had already been spoiled with the best that any camp has to offer. Another highlight was when Mr. Fahl won the swan dive contest (or was that a belly flop?). It was hard to board the boat back to the mainland on July 3 after so much fun and adventure. In the end we celebrated a week that we will always remember with pizza in the airport. Jared Reis, Troop Historian

Camp Royaneh 2004

On the week of July 11-17th, over thirty scouts attended a fun filled week of activities at Camp Royaneh. After finding our campsite, we quickly put on our swimsuits, took the swimming test, toured the camp, and signed up for our merit badges. Everyone who attended would agree that Royaneh still wins the gold award for food! Rushing to each session required going up and down steep hills that resulted in a group of tired campers. Since it was hot and dry, the pool quickly became one of the most popular free time activity destinations - a luxurious retreat. Some of the weeks exciting events were: the catapult war (unfortunately the catapult failed), gladiator night (where we proved we make better farmers than warriors), nightly campfires (with skits, jokes, and songs), archery, shotguns, and black powder rifles (we are thankful that dinner was provided). Some scouts also were able to sleep out under the stars, make survival huts, and ride horses (watch out for road apples). Mr. Androwski and Mrs. Huie felt that this week was a good chance for the troop to get to know our new members. But mostly, it was an opportunity to pull together as a unit.

Jared Reis, Troop Historian

T-103 High Adventure Team Climbed Their 'Ash' Off

The High Adventurers of 103 spent a week exploring Lassen Volcanic National Park in late August. We stayed in the Manzanita Lake campground and spent our days swimming in a lake, exploring the dark places of lava tubes, and hiking, hiking, hiking. First we'd hike to one thing like Bumpass Hell sulfur works and see hot pots and fumaroles and think it was a pretty big deal, then we'd turn around and hike somewhere longer, higher and more crazy to see yet another amazing volcanic feature. Two notable climbs were Cinder Cone (one step up and a half a step down) and Lassen itself. The food on this trip was awesome! We had everything from Dutch ovens delights to expertly cooked crepes! Janis Tipton-King, Assistant Scout Master P.S. See pictures from Mrs. Tipton-King and Mr. Mitscha in Photo Album

Lord Of The Rings Trivia Light

1. 2. 3. 4. Who is the Ringbearer? Where does Bilbo live? What date is Bilbos party? What neighboring families, such as the Boffins, Proudfoots, etc, come on his Birthday Party?

Dark
1. What is The Land of Darkness referred as? 2. Who is the first to posses the Ring other than Bilbo? 3. What are two of the four landmarks of the land of Mordor? 4. What does the writing on the Ring say? - Wing Foot

See answer on p. 8

Photo Album

High Adventure Team just arrived Lassen Volcanic National Park

Scouts paused for picture in Bumpass Hell.

This is where we are going, top of the volcano.

From hot to cold, scouts were excited by the change of scenery.

It is pretty, but it is hell, Bumpass Hell.

Last few miles on the hike around the volcanic crater.

Candid Camera

Ryan said, I can hypnotize you with a snake. Look carefully to the head of the snake. It swings back and forth, back and forth. Does it hypnotize you? Now, look at me. Look at my eyes! Do you feel dizzy?

If you take your hand out, open the bag. The chipmunk will get into the bag. Then you can zip up the bag and take it home. Just kidding.

Once upon a time, there were three professionals came down from Mount Lassen after retrieving the most sacred spring water in the whole California. The one on the right said, I am an engineer. I spent 5 years in a startup to design the most perfect plastic bottle for collecting the water. I am going IPO to sell the water for profit. The one in the middle said, I am a sales director. I did not have a good bottle. I lost half of the water. But I can still sell the bottle as half FULL. The one on the left said, I am a politician. I can sell my water to you. Dont worry if you are broke, you can still buy my water with deficit.

Lets line up for a picture. The taller ones stand on the right, shorter ones on the left. Michael, you are not forming a line. You are way too tall. Can you drop a few inches? Perfect! Are you all ready? One, two, three, and cheese.

History had been made. Two androids R2D2 and C3PO accidentally touched down on Planet Earth. They wandered in a familiar landscape around Lassen Volcanic Crater looking for Master Luke Skywalker to save Princess Leia.

Erik, can you count how many cinnamon rolls we have for breakfast? I count one, two, three, Ooooooh! I am dizzy. I only see swirls, and swirls, and circles, and butterflies.

Entertain Your Brain

I was sitting in the Board Of Review on rank advancement. We interviewed two scouts for advancement to different ranks. I was surprised to find out both of them admitted that Mathematics is their favor subject in school. Although this is hardly a scientific survey, the admission showed me that there is a strong interest in Mathematics among the scouts. So I decided to collect several Mathematics problems as brainteasers. I found the following problems on the web. I modified and simplified the original questions so that they are more defined and understandable. Each problem is related to different area in Mathematics. They are also interesting and actually related to real life problems. The first problem uses the concept of sets. The second problem introduces the idea of equilibrium. The last one provides an answer to conflict resolutions. For those who are interested in the topics, you can further research the subjects on the web.

Sustainable Tree Farm

Big Basin Tree Farm applied forestry replenishment technique on growing and maintaining a healthy forest of Douglas Firs for sales. It had about 10000 trees. Each year, its nursery planted 800 new trees. It took 5 years for the trees to grow to mature size. The Farm planned to sell 15% of the mature trees for profit. The chief biologist thought the replenishment policy would grow enough trees to sustain the sales, but the chief accountant thought the farm would eventually run out of trees. Can you find out who is right?

Can They Get Together For A Bridge Game

Ten friends in the same school want to get together once a week on a weekday for a Bridge Game. But each of them is also involved in other school activities: Aaron, Bert, Chelsea, and Damon are in the swim team. Elbert, Florence, and Gene are in the school band. Chelsea, Helen, Ivy, and Julia are in the Cheerleader squad. Aaron, Damon, and Gene are in the after school painting class. Bert, Florence, and Ivy are in the debate team. Aaron, Elbert, Gene, and Helen are in the rehearsal for their drama class. Each activity has meeting or practice once a week after school from 4:30 to 5:30 or 6:30PM. 1. If we assume that they could schedule their activities on any day (weekday), as they would like, could they be able to fit the Bridge Game on a day on which they could all attend? 2. Find out what is the minimum number of days that would take to schedule all the activities include the Bridge Game. - AK See answer on p. 6

Finding A Nanny
The Schmidt Family contacted a local placement agency for a nanny. They were looking for someone fluent in German and English. The nanny had to take care of Grandma who could only speak German. They would also like the nanny to cook and to walk the dog. The agency had 100 nannies available and they had the following distributions: 31 spoke German 53% could cook 32 could walk the dog 25 spoke German and could cook 5% spoke German and could walk the dog 23% could cook and walk the dog 3 met all the requirements After talking to the three candidates, they decided to drop the requirement on walking the dog to increase the number of eligible candidates. 1. How many more candidates could they get? 2. How many of the hundred nannies did not meet any of the three original requirements?

Answer
all nannies

Finding A Nanny
speak German (3)

This problem is best resolved by using Venn Diagram. The rectangular area represents the entire population of nannies (100). The first circle labeled cook (area ABDFG) represents the total number of the nannies who could cook (53). The second circle labeled walk dog (area BEJFC) represents the number of the nannies who could walk dog (32). The third circle labeled speak German (area AHEDC) represents the number of the nannies who spoke German (31). The interaction area (BCD) of the three circles represents the number of nannies who met all three requirements and has a value of 3. The interaction area (BDFC) between the first and second circle represents the number of nannies who could cook and walk dog and has a value of 23. Therefore the number of nannies who could cook and walk dog but spoke no German is represented by the area DFC and has a value of 23 3 = 20. Similarly, the number of nannies who spoke German and could cook but not walk dog is represented by the area ABC and has a value of 25 3 = 22. The number of nannies who spoke German and could walk dog but not cook is represented by the area BED and has a value of 5 3 = 2. The number of nannies who could only cook is represented by the area ACFG and has the value of 53 22 3 20 = 8. The number of nannies who spoke German but could not cook or walk dog is represented by the area AHEB and has the value of 31 22 3 2 = 4. The number of nannies who could only walk dog is represented by the area EJFD and has the value of 32 2 3 20 = 7. The area outside of all the circles but inside of the rectangle represents the nannies that did not meet any of the three requirements. It has a value of 100 53 4 2 7 = 34. Answer for question 1: area ABC 22 more. Answer for question 2: area outside of all circles 34.

H 4 A cook (1) 22 3 C 20 8 J G F 7 E B 2 D walk dog (2)

34

Can They Get Together For A Bridge Game

This problem is a conflict resolution problem. It can be solved by one of the method presented below: Draw ten dots on a circle. Each dot represents one of the friends in the question. Connect the dots of the friends in the first activity to form a first polygon. The dots or friends become the vertexes of the polygon. Fill the polygon with a color. Draw a second polygon of a different activity. If the second polygon shares a same vertex with the first one, the second polygon must have a different color from the first one. If not, it can have the same color. Repeat the same steps and draw another polygon of the next activity. If the polygon shares a vertex with any previous polygons, it must have a different color from the polygon sharing the same vertex. Otherwise, the polygon can have the same color of any polygon not sharing the same vertex. Repeat the whole process for all the activities. Use as fewer colors as possible. Using the following graph as an example, polygon ABCD (swim team) and EFG (school band) do not share any vertex therefore they can have the same color red. Polygon CHIJ

(cheerleader) shares a vertex (C) with polygon ABCD; therefore it uses a different color blue. Polygon ADG (painting) does not share any vertex with polygon CHIJ; therefore it can use the same color blue. Polygon BFI (debate) shares vertex with polygon ABCD and CHIJ; therefore it cannot use red and blue color. It uses a different color pink. Polygon AEGH (drama) does not share any vertex with BFI; therefore it can use the same color pink. All six activities can be drawn with three different colors. That is to say the six activities can be scheduled in three days without any conflicts (the same person in two different activities scheduled on the same day). Answer for question 1: they can play Bridge on one of the weekdays. Answer for question 2: It takes a minimum of four days to schedule all the activities

Sustainable Tree Farm

Calculation on the total number of trees at the beginning of every year is performed and shown in the following table (shown only first ten years). You can see the number of trees sold is decreasing exponentially. The number of trees grown is steady at 800 every year. In result, the total number of trees remained at the end of each year is also declining exponentially every year. Eventually, the tree population would be stabilized when the number of trees sold equal to the number of trees grown. The total number

would stable at 800 / 0.15 = 5333. This is also called an equilibrium value. If for whatever reasons the number of trees sold is higher than grown, the total number of trees in the following year will decrease and the number of tree sold will be lower than grown. Therefore the total tree population will return back to the equilibrium value. On the contrary, if the number of trees sold is lower than grown, the total number of trees in the following year will increase and the number of tree sold will be higher than grown. The total population will again go back to the equilibrium. Answer for question: the biologist is right.

Year 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Total Num Of Trees 10000 9300 8705 8199 7769 7404 7093 6829 6605 6414 6252

Trees Sold 1500 1395 1306 1230 1165 1111 1064 1024 991 962 938

Trees Grown 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800 800

Lord Of The Rings Trivia Answers Light

1. 2. 3. 4. Frodo Baggins The Shire, Eriador Thurs. September 22, 3001 Any two of the following: Bagginses, Boffins, Tooks, Brandybucks, Grubs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Burrowses, Bolgers, Proudfoots, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, Brockhouses, and Sackville-Bagginses.

Dark
1. Mordor 2. Smeagol/Gollum 3. Mt.Doom, the tower of Barad-dur, Minas Morgul, and The Black Gate. 4. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.

Editor Corner
Welcome to another troop year. For the new scouts who are not familiar with our format, the newsletter is divided into four areas. The first area is Troop 103 News Bits. It covers mainly troop activities since the last publication. The second area is Photo Album. It shows pictures of some of the scout activities. Because of the limitation on the size of publication, we normally show only six pictures (the rest of pictures can be found in our troop website). The third area is Candid Camera. It shows funny pictures with humorous comments. The intention is to make the newsletter fun to read. We will prohibit any comments deem offensive to our audience. The last area is Entertain Your Brain. It shows Trivia Questions, Brainteasers, and articles. They provide knowledge and challenges to the minds of our audience. We are delighted to have three people (Jared, Wing Foot, and Mrs. Tipton-King) contribute articles to this issue. Jared is our Troop Historian. He is a regular contributor to Troop 103 New Bits. We have an anonymous writer with the pan name Wing Foot contributing the Lord of the Ring Trivia. If you are a Lord of the Ring fan, you will enjoy the questions. Our Assistant Scout Master Mrs. Tipton-King writes a short piece on the High Adventure Trip to Mount Lassen. The High Adventure Team has and plans to have more interesting and challenging trips. Scouts will be anxious to read about their trips and adventures. For those scouts who want to become a writer, I strongly encourage you to start writing in the newsletter. First, we always need writer to contribute more articles to the newsletter. Secondly, it does not take much effort to start writing a short article. Thirdly, the newsletter is a very good testing ground. It provides many receptive and enthusiastic audiences. Your writing will benefit both yourself and your fellow scouts. Finally, I hope all of you would enjoy the articles. Andrew Kwok, Newsletter Editor