Maybe it's just me being cranky, but Orchids magazine doesn't seem as
good as it used to be. The January issue was exceptionally dull. The
article "Slipper Orchid Alliance" was just about people in the slipper
alliance and seemed more aimed at ego stoking than anything else. (It
would have been great to have had an article about some aspect of the
plants themselves.) The article on "Orchids in Costa Rica" was a dull
historical perspective focussed on people. (I would have rather have
had an article just about the plants in Costa Rica and tours one could
take to see them. I have been to Costa Rica, and it was a fabulous
trip.) The article on orchid cards was also boring. The article on
"Bamboo Shade House" was for Florida growers. The article on "Managing
Your Collection" is geared toward the grower with a large greenhouse,
lots of land, and a huge collection. The article on Microthelys
rubrocallosa didn't exactly make my pulse race either, but it might
have been exciting to an AOS judge.

On the cover, it says "Staking Basics," and "Staking Orchids" is also
on the magazine's spine, which would lead one to think that there is an
article on staking orchids. There isn't--there's ONE paragraph about
staking cymbidiums. An article about staking with photos or drawings
would have been great, but it wasn't there.

Now the dues/subscription is going up to $60 per year. Is it worth it?
Not to me. I learn more on this newsgroup than I do in the magazine.
What do you guys think?

when did it go up to $60?! no way am i renewing at that price.....
yipes. i mean, the magazine is very nice eye candy, but not *that*
nice.

--j_a

It's in the letter from the president on page 48.

OrchidKitty wrote:
Maybe it's just me being cranky, but Orchids magazine doesn't seem as
good as it used to be. The January issue was exceptionally dull. The
article "Slipper Orchid Alliance" was just about people in the slipper
alliance and seemed more aimed at ego stoking than anything else. (It
would have been great to have had an article about some aspect of the
plants themselves.) The article on "Orchids in Costa Rica" was a dull
historical perspective focussed on people. (I would have rather have
had an article just about the plants in Costa Rica and tours one could
take to see them. I have been to Costa Rica, and it was a fabulous
trip.) The article on orchid cards was also boring. The article on
"Bamboo Shade House" was for Florida growers. The article on "Managing
Your Collection" is geared toward the grower with a large greenhouse,
lots of land, and a huge collection. The article on Microthelys
rubrocallosa didn't exactly make my pulse race either, but it might
have been exciting to an AOS judge.

On the cover, it says "Staking Basics," and "Staking Orchids" is also
on the magazine's spine, which would lead one to think that there is an
article on staking orchids. There isn't--there's ONE paragraph about
staking cymbidiums. An article about staking with photos or drawings
would have been great, but it wasn't there.

Now the dues/subscription is going up to $60 per year. Is it worth it?
Not to me. I learn more on this newsgroup than I do in the magazine.
What do you guys think?



Sounds like you need a quick trip to the OrchidSafari archives. We have
an article on staking orchids, articles (from Bob Wellenstein) on paphs
and their culture, an article on a conservation trip to Costa Rica, and
much more.

http://www.geocities.com.brassia.geo/OSTA.html and
http://www.orchidsafari.org

Enough Blatant self promotion.... *G*!

I agree that the magazine doesn't fit my needs much anymore either...but
i always think that then end up looking back and seeing how much info
there actually is in it, once my tastes change.

But that still, IMHO, doesn't justify $60 per year. If I wasn't in the
judging program I wouldn't rejoin. The Florida bend to the articles,
the one about the lath house is especially laughable, like, only an
idiot couldn't grow orchids in Florida. Get real! LOL!!

K Barrett

I had let my membership lapse some time ago, but got roped into rejoining to
get the discount on registering an award. Kenni

"OrchidKitty" wrote in message
ps.com...
Maybe it's just me being cranky, but Orchids magazine doesn't seem as
good as it used to be. The January issue was exceptionally dull. The
article "Slipper Orchid Alliance" was just about people in the slipper
alliance and seemed more aimed at ego stoking than anything else. (It
would have been great to have had an article about some aspect of the
plants themselves.) The article on "Orchids in Costa Rica" was a dull
historical perspective focussed on people. (I would have rather have
had an article just about the plants in Costa Rica and tours one could
take to see them. I have been to Costa Rica, and it was a fabulous
trip.) The article on orchid cards was also boring. The article on
"Bamboo Shade House" was for Florida growers. The article on "Managing
Your Collection" is geared toward the grower with a large greenhouse,
lots of land, and a huge collection. The article on Microthelys
rubrocallosa didn't exactly make my pulse race either, but it might
have been exciting to an AOS judge.

On the cover, it says "Staking Basics," and "Staking Orchids" is also
on the magazine's spine, which would lead one to think that there is an
article on staking orchids. There isn't--there's ONE paragraph about
staking cymbidiums. An article about staking with photos or drawings
would have been great, but it wasn't there.

Now the dues/subscription is going up to $60 per year. Is it worth it?
Not to me. I learn more on this newsgroup than I do in the magazine.
What do you guys think?

What is the cost of an award for members vs non-members? How many do you or
your plants get per year that justifies the $60 expense? :-)

I think it is somewhat weird to award a grower a CCM or CCE and then present
him/her with a bill to register it.. It turns the grower into something
like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of OZ who eagerly agrees with the Wizard
that he is smart but needs a diploma to show the world he has brain....as if
the brain can't speak for itself.

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
I had let my membership lapse some time ago, but got roped into rejoining
to get the discount on registering an award. Kenni

"OrchidKitty" wrote in message
ps.com...
Maybe it's just me being cranky, but Orchids magazine doesn't seem as
good as it used to be. The January issue was exceptionally dull. The
article "Slipper Orchid Alliance" was just about people in the slipper
alliance and seemed more aimed at ego stoking than anything else. (It
would have been great to have had an article about some aspect of the
plants themselves.) The article on "Orchids in Costa Rica" was a dull
historical perspective focussed on people. (I would have rather have
had an article just about the plants in Costa Rica and tours one could
take to see them. I have been to Costa Rica, and it was a fabulous
trip.) The article on orchid cards was also boring. The article on
"Bamboo Shade House" was for Florida growers. The article on "Managing
Your Collection" is geared toward the grower with a large greenhouse,
lots of land, and a huge collection. The article on Microthelys
rubrocallosa didn't exactly make my pulse race either, but it might
have been exciting to an AOS judge.

On the cover, it says "Staking Basics," and "Staking Orchids" is also
on the magazine's spine, which would lead one to think that there is an
article on staking orchids. There isn't--there's ONE paragraph about
staking cymbidiums. An article about staking with photos or drawings
would have been great, but it wasn't there.

Now the dues/subscription is going up to $60 per year. Is it worth it?
Not to me. I learn more on this newsgroup than I do in the magazine.
What do you guys think?

The discount is $20 ($60 for non-members, $40 for members); seems to have
gone up from last time ... I gather it pays for the award photographer as
well as AOS overhead. So you need 3 a year to make the membership pay for
itself. Which means I need 2 more this year G. Kenni

"Al" wrote in message
...
What is the cost of an award for members vs non-members? How many do you
or your plants get per year that justifies the $60 expense? :-)

I think it is somewhat weird to award a grower a CCM or CCE and then
present him/her with a bill to register it.. It turns the grower into
something like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of OZ who eagerly agrees with
the Wizard that he is smart but needs a diploma to show the world he has
brain....as if the brain can't speak for itself.

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
I had let my membership lapse some time ago, but got roped into rejoining
to get the discount on registering an award. Kenni

"OrchidKitty" wrote in message
ps.com...
Maybe it's just me being cranky, but Orchids magazine doesn't seem as
good as it used to be. The January issue was exceptionally dull. The
article "Slipper Orchid Alliance" was just about people in the slipper
alliance and seemed more aimed at ego stoking than anything else. (It
would have been great to have had an article about some aspect of the
plants themselves.) The article on "Orchids in Costa Rica" was a dull
historical perspective focussed on people. (I would have rather have
had an article just about the plants in Costa Rica and tours one could
take to see them. I have been to Costa Rica, and it was a fabulous
trip.) The article on orchid cards was also boring. The article on
"Bamboo Shade House" was for Florida growers. The article on "Managing
Your Collection" is geared toward the grower with a large greenhouse,
lots of land, and a huge collection. The article on Microthelys
rubrocallosa didn't exactly make my pulse race either, but it might
have been exciting to an AOS judge.

On the cover, it says "Staking Basics," and "Staking Orchids" is also
on the magazine's spine, which would lead one to think that there is an
article on staking orchids. There isn't--there's ONE paragraph about
staking cymbidiums. An article about staking with photos or drawings
would have been great, but it wasn't there.

Now the dues/subscription is going up to $60 per year. Is it worth it?
Not to me. I learn more on this newsgroup than I do in the magazine.
What do you guys think?

Photography costs can eat up a lot of the award fee. For those of us who
get slides duplicated instead of shooting a whole roll of the flower it eats
up almost the entire award fee. We send in 36 slides for every award so
that they can be distributed to all of the other judging centers. If AOS
keeps adding new judging centers this system is going to break eventually
(or a switch to digital will need to happen.)
-danny

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
The discount is $20 ($60 for non-members, $40 for members); seems to have
gone up from last time ... I gather it pays for the award photographer as
well as AOS overhead. So you need 3 a year to make the membership pay for
itself. Which means I need 2 more this year G. Kenni

Danny: That's not the only thing that's going to break AOS, as I think you
can see from this thread. Membership is already either voting, or
threatening to vote, with their feet/$$. As membership and prestige
decline, the awards become less valuable -- on that point, I have to say
that for $60 or even $40 to register an award, I really think I should get a
copy of the award photo to use on my website, but NO, that's not included.
And because they do insist on using slides, it doesn't even pay for me to
buy one from the photographer, because I have no use for the slide, I need a
digital or at least something I could scan.

I should perhaps also note that AOS HQ suffered major damage from Hurricane
Wilma. I expect it's well-insured, but that never covers everything ...
even after the deductible. So, cynical though this may sound, I will not be
surprised by more price increases.

And if I don't get 2 more awards this year, the membership will lapse again.
Kenni


"danny" wrote in message
news
Photography costs can eat up a lot of the award fee. For those of us who
get slides duplicated instead of shooting a whole roll of the flower it
eats up almost the entire award fee. We send in 36 slides for every award
so that they can be distributed to all of the other judging centers. If
AOS keeps adding new judging centers this system is going to break
eventually (or a switch to digital will need to happen.)
-danny

Since it is a non-profit organization, The American Orchid Society's IRS
Form 990 , is a matter of public record. So I thought it would be fun to
see if I could find it online. :-)

The most recent one online I found is the 2003 form, but they are available
going back to 1998. It's interesting, I suppose, and all it cost to pull up
the .pdf copy on guidestar.org was to register a my name and a password,
which was free. I say it's interesting to look over, even if some of it's
import is probably lost on me. I enjoyed reading the list of stock and bond
investments, and the list of grants...and the income, minus COGS from their
Orchid Emporium. I think I would have to dig to find the revenues and costs
associated with the award program and the magazine... I didn't look too
deeply at the numbers. Besides I just wanted to see if it was online...
and it is....

But, I'm sure the AOS must publish this info themselves someplace, right?
Don't they put it in the magazine or on the website?

You can get slides copied into .jpg files at the Ritz camera store here in
Leesburg. They used to provide a slide with the award documentation that
you get after you pay the invoice... has that stopped? It is that
professionally taken portrait of the awarded flower (albeit in slide form)
that makes it worth the cost of the award. ;-)

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Danny: That's not the only thing that's going to break AOS, as I think
you can see from this thread. Membership is already either voting, or
threatening to vote, with their feet/$$. As membership and prestige
decline, the awards become less valuable -- on that point, I have to say
that for $60 or even $40 to register an award, I really think I should get
a copy of the award photo to use on my website, but NO, that's not
included. And because they do insist on using slides, it doesn't even pay
for me to buy one from the photographer, because I have no use for the
slide, I need a digital or at least something I could scan.

I should perhaps also note that AOS HQ suffered major damage from
Hurricane Wilma. I expect it's well-insured, but that never covers
everything ... even after the deductible. So, cynical though this may
sound, I will not be surprised by more price increases.

And if I don't get 2 more awards this year, the membership will lapse
again. Kenni


"danny" wrote in message
news
Photography costs can eat up a lot of the award fee. For those of us who
get slides duplicated instead of shooting a whole roll of the flower it
eats up almost the entire award fee. We send in 36 slides for every
award so that they can be distributed to all of the other judging
centers. If AOS keeps adding new judging centers this system is going to
break eventually (or a switch to digital will need to happen.)
-danny

Al wrote:
Since it is a non-profit organization, The American Orchid Society's IRS
Form 990 , is a matter of public record. So I thought it would be fun to
see if I could find it online. :-)

The most recent one online I found is the 2003 form, but they are available
going back to 1998. It's interesting, I suppose, and all it cost to pull up
the .pdf copy on guidestar.org was to register a my name and a password,
which was free. I say it's interesting to look over, even if some of it's
import is probably lost on me. I enjoyed reading the list of stock and bond
investments, and the list of grants...and the income, minus COGS from their
Orchid Emporium. I think I would have to dig to find the revenues and costs
associated with the award program and the magazine... I didn't look too
deeply at the numbers. Besides I just wanted to see if it was online...
and it is....

But, I'm sure the AOS must publish this info themselves someplace, right?
Don't they put it in the magazine or on the website?



In the way olden days they used to publish it in the Bulletin, along
with minutes of the meetings, but no more.

David Grove usually provides a link to the guidestar report on the OGD.
Usually good for a few days of outrage.

K Barrett

I've gotten slides of my awards, but I know that not everyone has.
Usually its a matter of housekeeping, the award slide paperwork is as
onerous as submitting health insurance forms. Just about everyone has a
huge backlog. Jeeze, tracking the provisional awards alone can kill you.

K Barrett

Al wrote:
You can get slides copied into .jpg files at the Ritz camera store here in
Leesburg. They used to provide a slide with the award documentation that
you get after you pay the invoice... has that stopped? It is that
professionally taken portrait of the awarded flower (albeit in slide form)
that makes it worth the cost of the award. ;-)

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...

Danny: That's not the only thing that's going to break AOS, as I think
you can see from this thread. Membership is already either voting, or
threatening to vote, with their feet/$$. As membership and prestige
decline, the awards become less valuable -- on that point, I have to say
that for $60 or even $40 to register an award, I really think I should get
a copy of the award photo to use on my website, but NO, that's not
included. And because they do insist on using slides, it doesn't even pay
for me to buy one from the photographer, because I have no use for the
slide, I need a digital or at least something I could scan.

I should perhaps also note that AOS HQ suffered major damage from
Hurricane Wilma. I expect it's well-insured, but that never covers
everything ... even after the deductible. So, cynical though this may
sound, I will not be surprised by more price increases.

And if I don't get 2 more awards this year, the membership will lapse
again. Kenni


"danny" wrote in message
news
Photography costs can eat up a lot of the award fee. For those of us who
get slides duplicated instead of shooting a whole roll of the flower it
eats up almost the entire award fee. We send in 36 slides for every
award so that they can be distributed to all of the other judging
centers. If AOS keeps adding new judging centers this system is going to
break eventually (or a switch to digital will need to happen.)
-danny

I do recall that the slides shows up separately from, and somewhat later
than, award parchment. But they do show up.

"K Barrett" wrote in message
. ..
I've gotten slides of my awards, but I know that not everyone has. Usually
its a matter of housekeeping, the award slide paperwork is as onerous as
submitting health insurance forms. Just about everyone has a huge
backlog. Jeeze, tracking the provisional awards alone can kill you.

K Barrett

Al wrote:
You can get slides copied into .jpg files at the Ritz camera store here
in Leesburg. They used to provide a slide with the award documentation
that you get after you pay the invoice... has that stopped? It is that
professionally taken portrait of the awarded flower (albeit in slide
form) that makes it worth the cost of the award. ;-)

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...

Danny: That's not the only thing that's going to break AOS, as I think
you can see from this thread. Membership is already either voting, or
threatening to vote, with their feet/$$. As membership and prestige
decline, the awards become less valuable -- on that point, I have to say
that for $60 or even $40 to register an award, I really think I should
get a copy of the award photo to use on my website, but NO, that's not
included. And because they do insist on using slides, it doesn't even pay
for me to buy one from the photographer, because I have no use for the
slide, I need a digital or at least something I could scan.

I should perhaps also note that AOS HQ suffered major damage from
Hurricane Wilma. I expect it's well-insured, but that never covers
everything ... even after the deductible. So, cynical though this may
sound, I will not be surprised by more price increases.

And if I don't get 2 more awards this year, the membership will lapse
again. Kenni


"danny" wrote in message
news
Photography costs can eat up a lot of the award fee. For those of us
who get slides duplicated instead of shooting a whole roll of the flower
it eats up almost the entire award fee. We send in 36 slides for every
award so that they can be distributed to all of the other judging
centers. If AOS keeps adding new judging centers this system is going
to break eventually (or a switch to digital will need to happen.)
-danny

I remember the olden days, I think I have some old magazines that have them
in it. I remember the discussion when they stopped publishing it. And I
can see why a quick scan of the AOS 990 on guidestar would enrage the
proletariat, especially just after an announcement that dues are increasing.
:-D

If I should suddenly be killed under a bus or something, tell them it was
the orchid mafia.

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...

In the way olden days they used to publish it in the Bulletin, along with
minutes of the meetings, but no more.

David Grove usually provides a link to the guidestar report on the OGD.
Usually good for a few days of outrage.

K Barrett