Hi Guys Hmmm politics, I'm not sure if I understand what the problem is here other than the fact that we (BSI members) elected Delegates, but the Delegates elected not to discuss such an important issue with it's members. I have had contact at various times over the last six months or so with each of our Delegates (Aus) but at no time did they elect to ask an opinion of a member, therefore I shall elect not to elect either of these Delegates again until such time as they realize that they were in office for the members, not for their own personal opinions, or self importance. I feel disappointed for all the hard work done by Derek & others over the years & now people seem to think it's all falling apart. Well no it doesn't have to, don't just complain offer suggestions to help fix the situation instead, for one the way I see it, the BSI is only taking control of Administration of the BCR, as it is we register our hybrids with the BSI now & that goes into the BCR, then the photo's get posted on FCBS, so what is going to change, you don't register hybrids with FCBS it is only a photo index for you to look at pictures to aid in ID's. If this is correct it means you register with the BSI, you send a pretty picture to FCBS for all to see, or any other photo index around the world for that matter, as any site can post your picture, but only the BSI can register your hybrid name, therefore not much is changing as FCBS was & still is only a photo index (I believe that's what's on it's Title page) not FCBS Bromeliad Registry. I do feel it is time in this day & age of computers that all BSI members should get a copy of the minutes in one form or another so that we know what is happening in our Society, as our Delegates don't seem terribly interested in keeping us informed here at home after the meetings. "Lets be Heard" Hmmm $25.00 bucks is not going to fix the problem of so many "Neo. Binalotatrash's it's only going to help keep the great load of Neo. Ulanfils out there instead of in land fill. (sorry those names are already taken) My hat goes off to Lisa for acknowledging in an earlier thread that her little white variegate (as nice as it is) is one of so many like that out there now, so it's not worth adding another one, there's a hybridiser setting a good example worth following, congrats Lisa for self policing, only the best will do. Back in the early 1900's the Plant World had Expo's where new plants/hybrids were presented & given Awards of Merit etc, so where did this system go, Derek suggested a Certificate of Merit system but nobody was overly excited about this, so it seems to have fallen away ?? Offer a constructive suggestion don't just complain. My suggestion to Derek & others recently has been to include in local Society Show Competition Schedules, is a section for Best New Hybrid Award (locally produced not imported) with a respectable reward/incentive offered, some of our Societies are pretty well cashed up, so how about the Societies stepping-up & remembering what they are here for, THE PLANTS. Another section that should be high on the agenda is "Best Species, Seed Grown", forget the hybrids we need to save Species, I thought that's what Societies were, partly, all about. I don't know that printing this thread in a news letter is the way to go as most Society members aren't members of the BSI, & it probably wouldn't interest most of them anyway as most are just sit on the fencers anyway. I feel it should be sent in it's entireity to all members of the Board with notice, it is our Society not just the elected Delegates & we are interested in what's going on. I know I will be asking our next intending Delegate a few questions before I cast a vote, "where do you stand on the above matters ??". NO I'm not offering to do this as a Board member has been involved in this discussion, he should step-up & do it, as an elected Delegate it is his position to act on members requests & show the Board we're not happy with the way things are going. Pinkbroms

The spring fling is in the morning, I'm excited. I know I'm new to the forum and to starting my own gardens but I'm still excited about the gathering and getting to meet so many new people. I haven't really introduced myself, so I'll give a small bio. My name is Rachel,I'm 23 years old and I live NE OK, near Tulsa. I'm originally from CA but my father was in the army when I was younger, and well...this is where we ended up. I've been with the same wonderful man for the last five years and we plan to get married. We bought a house, a fixer upper, this past fall and the front and back yards are in desperate need of plants, lol. I grew up with a wonderful mother, who loves plants and gardening, so Im really excited about fixing up my yards. Also, I work at a Lowes, in the outside lawn and garden, so I spend just about everyday taking care of plants and helping people select the right plants. I was going to bring a painting and a stuffed owl for door prizes, but my friend really wanted the painting so I'll try to find something else. Also, I found the seeds that I collected from my mothers garden, from this past fall. I'll bring them incase someone wants some. That way I'll have something to trade, and won't feel like such a mooch if someone gives me something. : ) I hope everyone sleeps good tonight and I can't wait to meet all of you. -Rachel

No need to be sorry Virgil! I honestly only posted this as it is an interesting concept of who owns intellectual property. I would imagine the are many people who go to a draftsperson to “draw up their plan” (although I was paying for design services) and the draftsperson does that. Does that really entitle the draftsperson to ownership rights to duplicate that plan for profit, whether in whole or in part? I only posted my situation as another example. This revived thread was originally created due to the OP wanting an electronic file of their plan. I figured showing photos of what I thought were close matches would get some reaction of whether ideas were copied too closely or not. While my home will cost me more yearly, I don’t regret the wait. My plan is much better now. I can’t wait to get started.

IMAP works such that what you do in the client is reflected to the server, and vice versa. That's the point of it vs. POP3. Any messages you want to retain on the GMail server, you can't delete them from the (IMAP) GMail account tree in Thunderbird. I *never* keep long-term copies of mail on a server. It's *my* mail, I want it archived to *my* computer. IMO there's too much risk of a hacker getting access by brute-force or a server-side security flaw. My computer is more secure, less likely to be hacked, and I can back up the data. I have messages in Thunderbird that date 10 years back. And archived data MUCH older from Outlook Express.