Many thanks John, for your thoughtful and thought provoking response.
Here's some questionable thoughts that you provoked.

In my corner of the USA money may not be becoming obsolete, but it sure
is an endangered species and it's rapidly becoming extinct; disappearing
into our hungry gas tanks and greedy mortgagees.

In many trade or professional (whatever's the difference) associations,
the original rigid ABC requirements for membership have often been
reduced to AB or even A, instead of being strengthened to XYZ. I suspect
that's owing to the increasing recognition of the value of belonging and
the inability of the organizations to keep up with testing and
certifying an ever increasing number of applicants. Ex.: Medical
speciality certification boards have mostly discontinued hands on
practicals and narrative answers in favor of checking the right multiple
choice box.

Also I think, that as these "august bodies" age and grow in size there
is an inexorable need to spend more money for administration and
therefore they have to resort to raising it not only by dues, but also
by activities that don't enhance prestige, such as selling advertising,
or becoming a publishing house. The American Medical Associaton and the
American Radio Relay League might be examples, but to stay on topic,
maybe the AAW and the GMC isn't there yet, but their list of
publications and videos is getting longer while the content gets more
expensive and less original.

As to rcw's fine woodturning professionals and their equally fine
hobbyist brethren, not to mention we amateurs, I don't know what to
think, but that doesn't stop me from posting too long and too often.



Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


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