Think and Grin

Question: What's the difference between these two jokes?

Answer: About 95 years.

Boys' Life is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Turning 95 this month is the magazine's longest-running column, the granddaddy of them all, Think and Grin. That's 95 years of bad jokes, silly puns, and one-liners that have left generations of readers rolling their eyes and groaning with laughter.

(For your information, the joke about the chickens was published in 1916. The other is from this month's Boys' Life.)

Here's how Think and Grin looked the first time it appeared:

In addition to lame humor, there were some good puzzles, too. This one requires a dozen toothpicks of matches:

And here's the answer:

Twenty-five years later, Think and Grin was still going strong as you can see from the header and a joke from June of 1941:

Cartoonists lit up the page with appealing artwork. Check out this example:

Another two decades and the Think and Grin banner had become a monthly cartoon. This one about frogs' legs and flippers is from 1961:

On the other hand, the jokes were as awful as ever:

Did you expect another quarter century would change anything? In 1986 the banner was still funny and the jokes were still, well, just as they had always been:

Fortunately, there were also cartoons:

There's plenty more to Boys' Life magazine than Think and Grin. A terrific place to learn about Scouting's premier magazine is the commemorative book The Best of Boys' Life, available right now from www.scoutstuff.org . With stories of adventure, information on crafts and skills, and plenty of humor, it will leave you with a lot to think about and plenty of grins, too.

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Lost and Found
Summer is here, and that means lots of time outdoors. Of course, staying found is high on everybody's list of important skills for any season. Take a moment today, while you know where you are, and make plans for what you would do if you ever get lost.

Scouting sums it up with one word:

The If You Become Lost reminder card from www.scoutstuff.org can be attached to a belt loop or your pack:

STOP! That makes sense, doesn't it? Stopping will keep you from getting even more lost. Thinking about where you are might yield clues to your location. So can looking, listening, feeling the direction of the wind, and observing the position of the sun.

Then plan what to do next. That often means waiting where you are for someone to find you.

Making noise can help searchers discover your location, and for that there's nothing better than a whistle. The BSA has been supplying whistles for a hundred years, starting with this one advertised in the first edition of the Boy Scout Handbook:

A modern brass BSA whistle is plenty loud.

Other 21st century whistles bring high-tech extras to the science of staying found. Try one of these Coghlan's whistles from www.scoutstuff.org.

The six-function model includes a LED light, compass, magnifier, thermometer, and a signal mirror.

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BSA Signal Mirrors
Signal mirrors haven't always come tucked inside a whistle. A metal BSA mirror used to come in a khaki cloth sleeve printed with the Boy Scout emblem. Instructions explained how Scouts could aim the mirror by looking through the small hole in its center, then lining up the reflective surface with the sun and the target.

A similar signal mirror today is the Rescue Flash, a durable polycarbonate mirror that can reflect sunlight for up to 30 miles.

Of course, mirrors have another purpose, too. Here's a 1961 Think and Grin cartoon that gives a clue:

Did you guess "Wash up at the end of the day?" Both Moe and Schmoe would say, "You bet!"

Even in the world of Think and Grin, there's always hope.

(This edition of the Be Prepared Newsletter was developed and written by Robert Birkby, author of the current editions of the Boy Scout Handbook and the Scout Fieldbook.)