Those tiny tealight candles are not very good are they? Everyone seems to have a few stashed away in the murky depths of a some cupboard for use in an emergency. However, relying on them during a power outage makes you soon realise they don’t make tea… or light. So what good are they? I […]
Being able to make a thermometer is a handy thing for a Scout to know. You can make a reasonably accurate room thermometer out of some rough and ready materials. In fact, if you’re feeling creative, you can make some downright crazy thermometers. So what if they don’t hold up to scientific scrutiny. What you […]
We glamorise the life of an explorer, but it was largely a miserable existence. If the expedition was a success the leader got some glory and could regale its fascinating tales to an intrigued, paying audience. But as for the remainder of the crew; they mostly got the opportunity to repeat the wretched experience on […]
Remember that time before matches and gas lighters? Na, me neither, but it did exist apparently. It was a time when your options for starting a fire were extremely limited and involved very simple materials. Modern methods of fire starting have made these primitive methods quite obscure. Anybody that possesses the skills nowadays is considered […]
Lighting a fire with a flint and steel is a phrase we’ve all heard, but those 2 items alone won’t create a fire. You need a third item – tinder. It’s the magic stuff that catches the spark and will smoulder and burn. Nature provides a variety of tinder, but many are quite challenging to […]
I’m sure every Scout fancies themselves as adventurer like Indiana Jones. Searching for lost treasure and exploring mysterious, dark caverns with the aid of a flaming torch. Well, fire torches are remarkably easy and economical to make. So with a horse-whip on your belt and a fedora on your head, let’s get started. Step 1 […]
Sometimes it’s convenient to have magnets you can turn on and off. For example, the magnets recyclers use to pull steel cans out of general rubbish and then drop them into containers. Similar magnets are used for moving large, heavy steel objects – like dropping cars into crushers at an auto-wreckers. These types of non-permanent […]
Here are some large images of the coat of arms of Australia and those of each state and territory. I had trouble finding high resolution versions of them on the Internet, particularly the state and territory coats of arms. So I’ve uploaded these to correct matters. If you are a cub or scout in Australia […]