I don't think this newsletter is being produced anymore. A number of smaller bonsai publications have come and gone in the last few years. You might contact William Valavanis of the International Bonsai Arboretum in Rochester about the publication. He's been involved deeply in bonsai up that way for quite a while and publishes his own successful bonsai magazine. Here is a link that might be useful: Valavanis

I'm always glad when a Hoya gets a "real" name. Numbers are just too impersonal! Of course, sometimes they're so hard to pronounce that they might as well be just a number, but at least I can usually give it a nickname that helps me remember it's real name, but isn't painful to say. One that does NOT flow off the tounge for me is subquintplinervus (I'm guessing at the spelling right now w/o looking it up...) I call it "Sub-Q" for short... I'd probably call this one "Suri", becuase it looks like a mouthfull too! Denise in Omaha

"Busy lives/too busy" - what an excuse. I am sick of hearing it. Do we really understand the meaning of the word these days? Too many of us do not work as hard as our predecessors. Nowadays, we have more ways to communicate, keep in touch, than ever before. Getting in touch shows others that we care in a polite and invaluable fashion. Granted, some of us always had poor communication skills, or were afraid to communicate. Today's technology seems to give these types more reason to validate their "busy-ness". As for the annoying Christmas "bragging letters" - they are ghastly and thoughtless. Letters loaded with information all about themselves. What does this really mean to the receiver? EVen if they just wrote a simply few lines, e.g., "wishing you well, thinking of you or Happy holidays" would lead one to think someone cares. Why the lengthy summary? Here is someone who has not bothered to keep in touch throughout the year, or answered letters, no doubt. These letter in themselves are an example of poor letter writing and poor communication practice - one sided topics which translate usually into a lot of showing off or "bragging". In short, it is a habit that needs to stop. It is true, not everyone who receives their letter will be blessed with a charmed year/life, have all the kids well-schooled or be without illness or suffered loss of work in the preceding 12 months. So, who wants to hear how wonderful their lives have been, or how the other side of the so-call friends, so-called relatives are doing at this time - very few and especially those who are suffering. Do we even know these extended family members they keep referring to year after year?...most likely not. Hopefully, one day, the writers of these dreadful annual summaries will give it up. Perhaps take a moment (from their "busy" lives) to really consider and think of others, wonder how they are doing. One day, perhaps they might come to the realization that a lot of valuable ink cartridge and paper is being wasted, when we no longer read their notes, simply dropping them in the bin/garbage without even a read. I do hope someone puts this topic in mainstream media and gives these people some food for thought. P.S.: We put one such note straight in the bin this year.....reason being, my daughter was taken into hospital three days before Christmas. Our city suffered an horrific ice storm, freezing trees and power lines and the electrical power failed .....and extended through to New Year's eve! On a positive note - we could have used that extra paper to light another candle, I suppose.

Mindstorm, I want to thank you for your extremely informative and important post -- and the time I know it took to hammer it together. I am completely uninvolved, since I don't like granite for aesthetic reasons and have none in my home, but I really appreciate hearing someone inject a little actual empirical knowledge into this discussion. Your explanation of the "bowl test" was particularly helpful, namely that it's actually a cumulative measure over the time collected, and not a reflection of the emissions at any given snapshot in time. I understand that folks are suspicious of the EPA, but honestly, if the California EPA, one of the most kneejerk institutions around, says that granite countertops do not emit enough to be of concern, I'd go with that. Nobody is "desperately trying to shut up" Debs3. Folks are just telling her that if (despite any empiric evidence) she feels her granite countertops are a danger to her, she should absolutely remove them and select a different countertop material instead. Either that, or simply install a radon amelioration mechanism, which would be the solution in any case! It's not terribly expensive. How difficult is that to achieve peace of mind?