Boy Scouts work on some delightful Merit Badge projects designed to encourage learning and broaden knowledge in such diverse areas as plumbing, theater, fingerprinting, astronomy, golf, genealogy, and coin collecting (hooray!). Beekeeping and bookbinding, alas, were dropped from the list in recent years. And there are of course badges to be earned in fundamental skill areas such as first aid, fitness, citizenship, money management, and the like.

But perhaps some less conventional areas deserve coverage. For example:

Counterfeiting

Generate fake forms indicating that you have fulfilled all the requirements for this badge. Forged signatures must include those of your counselor, scoutmaster, and senior patrol leader, and must successfully fool a troop committee consisting of three or more suspicious adults.

Treachery

In a multiplayer game (e.g., Diplomacy, Risk, Monopoly, ...) form an alliance with at least two different cliques and betray both of them in the course of winning. For extra credit persuade all of your opponents that they were to blame for your deceitful victory.

Hoaxing

Make up an entirely fictitious merit badge topic and convince your scoutmaster that he should approve your working on it. Examples: "piano tuning"; "physics of ice cream"; "cave art"; "computer virus design".

Profligacy

Persuade your parents (or guardians) to spend an inordinate amount of money (at least 10% of their annual disposable income) on your behalf for camping gear, video games, tennis shoes, exotic pets, party supplies, etc.

Mess

Cover the floor of your room to the point of impassability with dirty clothes, magazines with the covers torn off, half-eaten items of food, and detritus from unfinished school projects. Maintain the room in this state for at least three months.

TopicHumor - TopicRecreation - 2002-05-09

(correlates: NewPlace, RedPosers, ImprovingMyMind, ...)