h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The mind boggles.

I've mixed feelings about furs as well. Animal rights has always been one of those subjects that I'm not entirely sure about.

If furs are out. Does that mean Down Jakets/duvets are next?

I agree, OP. Where does one draw the line?

Do they kill the geese for the down, or does it fall out?

Oh never mind, I don't want to sound naive. Let's ban wool too. And wigs made of real human hair.


Now I've got this mental picture of naked geese running around.

wahoo!!!!

okay, fur.

1) they don't kill the sheep to get the wool, they just shave them. i think wool is just fine.
2) goose down, eh? i'm of mixed feelings about it. you'll never pry my down quilt or jacket out of my cold, dead fingers, but if they kill the buggardly goose for the down, i'm torn.
3) i dont' think clothing should be made of animal skins unless the animal is being used for food as well. the indians used to use every part of an animal they killed, and so should we.

is that clear? i hope so.

oh, and

5) you'll never convince me to not buy leather, either. i absolutely love the way it smells...

Well it seems some geeses' goose is cooked.
http://www.duvet-pillow.com/definition.htm

But Eider Ducks are not harmed. Insist on eider down, sea.

My opinions of animal products (leather, wool, down etc.) are not all that popular, but I am a single white american male between the ages of 20 and 50. I am the most hated person in the world... I just do not let it bother me... That said, I will use leather as the source of leather is a food source and one that is not all that likely to go away. Down, I am alergic, so I avoid it for health reasons not out of any feeling of empathy for a bird (I do not really like birds all that much in general). Wool, one of the most usefull products on the face of the earth. Fur.. I would not buy it for anyone. I would not burn it or destroy it in a shop either. I feel that many animal rights activists are going way over the line when they throw paint on a display of fur at a shop. Breaking a law, even an unjust one, just worsens the matter. The animals that make it to a stole in a shop are simply dead. Nothing will bring them back. Fur has been out of fashion for a long time, it is hardly suprising to see it starting to wax once again into popular fashion. I think that this is a symptom of a much bigger but harder to see problem. People the world over, but particularly here in the US live their lives in thrall of advertisement and commercialisim. The problem is not really that fur is coming back as a fashion, it is that we look to those fashions. The fashion industry says it is good and OK to have fur again, so go drop a months salary at a botique for an incredibly impractical garment that you will wear less than 100 times. I am as guilty as the next person in this desiese. I wear Doc Marten shoes cos I think they look cool. Why do I think this? Because *everyone* in utah wears them. Utah is the largest per capita consumer of Doc Martens. And you thought it was just Jello...

The eider down is taken from nests, I believe; the ducks pull it out themselves. Cheaper mixtures include feathers, which don't have the insulating properties or the loft of true eider down, and also contain straight sticky bits...

Bad news is I seem to have bronchitis. Good news is it doesn't seem to be too bad of a case. Bad news is my trip to Denver is in serious jeopardy.

[Munchkin]
Reading all this fur stuff has now made me hungry for rabbit.
In other news, I'm off to see the Andy Warhol exhibition up in town tomorrow, if I can remember where it is. I am reliably informed it has lots more than just repeated pictures of soup cans, which is nice I thiknk I'll also play on the wobbling bridge.
Oh, and hope you get better enough to go to Denver Lil, meet ups are more fun than having nasal hair removed, and that's official.

I want to play on the wobbly bridge too . When Peregrin and I went to the Tate Modern the bridge had just been closed.

Get well soon, Lil.

*rubs her nose absentmindedly*
If nothing goes wrong I've planned to attend the Scandinavian meetup in Esbjerg.

Oh, and happy 8th of March, girls!

Hee hee. I've been on the wobbly bridge

I have thought about the Warhol exhibition but saw the size of the queue for tickets and decided against it (the bits of the gallery I did look at were also crowded). I can't remember when it's finishing but if it's still there have a good look at the Munoz installation in the turbine hall. You need a good walk around under it (looking up) and again looking at it from the middle level. A bit wierd but a very interesting idea.

Over the weekend I saw quite a number of fur wearers in Paris, far more so than London. Very rarely see it worn here, but Guildford did suffer a couple of incidents of women wearing fur coats having abuse hurled at them and being spat on.

I'm unlikely to wear the stole as I don't go to any functions that are grand enough to warrant it. I think I would feel uncomfortable wearing it in Paris even, in spite of it being more acceptable there.

Lil, you desperately need some warmer weather to clear your lungs. Hope you are feeling better today.

Happy International Women's Day to you, too, Bumblebee!

And to all of the Salonistas of the female persuasion!

*Has an urge to sing a Helen Reddy tune.*

As far as I know, no humans have been killed for the wig trade.

On the other hand, Princeton, NJ allowed a deer hunt to cut down the overpopulation of deer in the area. The animal rights activists responded by going to the home of the game warden and killing his cat.

This is a strange world we live in.

Lil, I hope you feel better in time for the trip to Denver.

The fool cats climbed up on top of a row of heavy computer books in a high place while I was at class last night and sent them tumbling down over equipment, to the floor. Broke a beautiful ceramic dragon that sat on my monitor. I hate them.

I also hate the animal activists who would kill a pet, but this is the disproportionate kind of behaviour typical of a zealot. I hate them too. How did they kill the poor cat? Did they put it with a bunch of other cats where it would slowly starve to death because of overpopulation?

I have also heard of some twenty-something minor actress who screamed and threw another woman's coat on to the floor, then ran from the room, because it was fur. Who has time for this sort of immaturity?

Well, I guess I'm just in a low mood from all this coughing and the low fever... Matina, make me some tea with honey, please?

Loo-brush time.

Can I assume that these animal activists don't live in houses with eight foot high fences to keep the deer out then? How exactly do you stop animal cruelty by killing a cat? That's like trying to stop cruelty to children by publically beating a child. I really don't understand some people.

Morning all!

My feelings on fur can be nicely explained by telling a true story. Back when baby seal clubbing was the activist flavor of the month, a group of animal rights activists went up to the Arctic and painted bright orange Xs on the sides of baby seals so that they wouldn't be killed for their pelts. This had the unfortunate side effect of making the natural camoflage of the baby seals - that lovely white fur - null and void. Polar bears ate them like popcorn. More baby seals died because of the orange Xs than would have been killed by furriers. So, activists should be careful what tacts they use. It can sometimes cause more ill than good.

Matina, some please. Thank you.