Smoke
Ignore-Amus
I come for both. Not so much at this forum but the many others in which I belong to.
As a regular poster here, I feel that I am sort of one of the old gaurd. Someone that has posted well over 15,000 posts over 16 years. I have started many educational threads showing bonsai work over a great many subjects. there are many many others that have done the same over the years, many of them I have interacted with over from the beginning of the 16 years like Mark Rockwell (RockM), and Vance Wood.
With a record like that I see no reason to beat around the bush. I read all the posts, I don't respond to many. I respond to those that seem sincere in their attainment of knowledge and where I feel I can contribute towrds their education such that it is, in a meaningfull way with out all the rhetoric. Just get to the bottom line, your wasting your time or, hey, this could be something if you did this.
While I might not be a newbie here, I am very much a newbie all over the net. I belong to many forums where my total post count is less than fifty. But I can tell you this, that fifty posts stands for something.
Let me tell you what I do.
Over the last few years I have expanded my interests to many things other than bonsai. For years I was a reefer, spending many decades in the coral reef aqaurium trade working with a partner in developing trickle filters and backpak type filters and protien skimmers for reefs. I used my woodworking skills in buying some plexi tools for my tablesaw and router and we began the garage manufacture of trickle filters all thru the lates seventies and into the early ninties. We sold well over 1000 filters during that time. While 1000 aqaurium filters does not seem like much, 1000 filters in 1985 was about what seemed like half the industry. 1000 reef tanks in America in 1985 was alot! Infancy almost. In 1985 acropora was a pipe dream!
Several years ago I began buying Japanese scrolls for the display of bonsai. I was daunted, there were so many and I had no idea what the appropriate scroll was needed for what I wanted to do. I began asking questions and emailing people in the know. looking for the tidbits of information I would need that would lead me in making sound buying decisions in a collection of usable scrolls. Scrolls are not cheap, virtually unreturnable, cost a lot of money to ship and take a long time to get here. I did not want to waste a lot of money on stupid purchases. I asked around on who to go to to get my questions answered. I was told to seek out Kathy Shaner as well as Larry and Nina Ragle and of course Hideko Metaxis. I gleened every bit of information I could from these people.
before I go on......bonsai people, as well as arrowhead people, Paleolithic people, reef people and any other hobby endeaver are usually overjoyed to take someone under their wing if they are really interested in being mentored. They will give up what they know for free and are only rewarded with your undying gratitude. There are bucket loads of PM's from people here asking personal advice about things of whaich I always answer and many times paragraphs of information on why and how to do something.
A year and a half ago I started collecting Ancient Greek and Roman coins. I belong to a few forums. i have always Pm'ed the moderators and asked who the guys in the know are. Who can I trust. I PM those people and explain what I need. I have always gotten very responsive facts from these people that are really taken with someone with enough inititive to seek out a personal helper and ask their opinion about shopping for coins. I learned so much that I was able to seek out the really good deals and spend a little more on the better coins that made my collection better rather than buying fifty filler coins that I eventually give to schools for history lessons.
Do you really want to buy a hundred club raffle trees and call that a collection? Wouldn't it be more prudent to seek the advice of half a dozen people in the know and get a yea or a nay before plunking down $50.00 on a loser?
In the last year and a half I began collecting arrowheads and Paleolithics from the stone age all the way back to Oldowan up to the Woodland period.
Let me explain, when a person is going to plunk down 500.00 for a Oldowan Pebble chopper over 2 million years old or an Acheulean hand axe over 1 million years old or arterian points knappped by Neanderthalis 50,000 year ago, you have to do some homework and find out who is selling credible stuff and who are selling fakes.
I began burning up the internet, finding the people who could send me to the right people. When I inquired about what I wanted to do, I was blown away at how people would open up and tell me the old tag line " I wish I could have had this resource when I wasted a bunch of money". They were more that willing to share all they had. I had PDF files coming in from people from all over the world that give lectures at Universaties and had written important papers published in antquities magazines all over the place.
These people all have one thing in common. They have ego's as big as all outdoors. They understand that they have spent a lifetime understanding and going through the pains of discovering the ins and outs of their craft. They have much to offer. They are more than willing to give it up freely.
All one has to do is ask, not be afraid of the truth and say thank you.
Trust me they can't wait to tell you all they know. All you have to do is take it all in and save a bunch of time and money in the process.
It's your call.
As a regular poster here, I feel that I am sort of one of the old gaurd. Someone that has posted well over 15,000 posts over 16 years. I have started many educational threads showing bonsai work over a great many subjects. there are many many others that have done the same over the years, many of them I have interacted with over from the beginning of the 16 years like Mark Rockwell (RockM), and Vance Wood.
With a record like that I see no reason to beat around the bush. I read all the posts, I don't respond to many. I respond to those that seem sincere in their attainment of knowledge and where I feel I can contribute towrds their education such that it is, in a meaningfull way with out all the rhetoric. Just get to the bottom line, your wasting your time or, hey, this could be something if you did this.
While I might not be a newbie here, I am very much a newbie all over the net. I belong to many forums where my total post count is less than fifty. But I can tell you this, that fifty posts stands for something.
Let me tell you what I do.
Over the last few years I have expanded my interests to many things other than bonsai. For years I was a reefer, spending many decades in the coral reef aqaurium trade working with a partner in developing trickle filters and backpak type filters and protien skimmers for reefs. I used my woodworking skills in buying some plexi tools for my tablesaw and router and we began the garage manufacture of trickle filters all thru the lates seventies and into the early ninties. We sold well over 1000 filters during that time. While 1000 aqaurium filters does not seem like much, 1000 filters in 1985 was about what seemed like half the industry. 1000 reef tanks in America in 1985 was alot! Infancy almost. In 1985 acropora was a pipe dream!
Several years ago I began buying Japanese scrolls for the display of bonsai. I was daunted, there were so many and I had no idea what the appropriate scroll was needed for what I wanted to do. I began asking questions and emailing people in the know. looking for the tidbits of information I would need that would lead me in making sound buying decisions in a collection of usable scrolls. Scrolls are not cheap, virtually unreturnable, cost a lot of money to ship and take a long time to get here. I did not want to waste a lot of money on stupid purchases. I asked around on who to go to to get my questions answered. I was told to seek out Kathy Shaner as well as Larry and Nina Ragle and of course Hideko Metaxis. I gleened every bit of information I could from these people.
before I go on......bonsai people, as well as arrowhead people, Paleolithic people, reef people and any other hobby endeaver are usually overjoyed to take someone under their wing if they are really interested in being mentored. They will give up what they know for free and are only rewarded with your undying gratitude. There are bucket loads of PM's from people here asking personal advice about things of whaich I always answer and many times paragraphs of information on why and how to do something.
A year and a half ago I started collecting Ancient Greek and Roman coins. I belong to a few forums. i have always Pm'ed the moderators and asked who the guys in the know are. Who can I trust. I PM those people and explain what I need. I have always gotten very responsive facts from these people that are really taken with someone with enough inititive to seek out a personal helper and ask their opinion about shopping for coins. I learned so much that I was able to seek out the really good deals and spend a little more on the better coins that made my collection better rather than buying fifty filler coins that I eventually give to schools for history lessons.
Do you really want to buy a hundred club raffle trees and call that a collection? Wouldn't it be more prudent to seek the advice of half a dozen people in the know and get a yea or a nay before plunking down $50.00 on a loser?
In the last year and a half I began collecting arrowheads and Paleolithics from the stone age all the way back to Oldowan up to the Woodland period.
Let me explain, when a person is going to plunk down 500.00 for a Oldowan Pebble chopper over 2 million years old or an Acheulean hand axe over 1 million years old or arterian points knappped by Neanderthalis 50,000 year ago, you have to do some homework and find out who is selling credible stuff and who are selling fakes.
I began burning up the internet, finding the people who could send me to the right people. When I inquired about what I wanted to do, I was blown away at how people would open up and tell me the old tag line " I wish I could have had this resource when I wasted a bunch of money". They were more that willing to share all they had. I had PDF files coming in from people from all over the world that give lectures at Universaties and had written important papers published in antquities magazines all over the place.
These people all have one thing in common. They have ego's as big as all outdoors. They understand that they have spent a lifetime understanding and going through the pains of discovering the ins and outs of their craft. They have much to offer. They are more than willing to give it up freely.
All one has to do is ask, not be afraid of the truth and say thank you.
Trust me they can't wait to tell you all they know. All you have to do is take it all in and save a bunch of time and money in the process.
It's your call.
Last edited:
