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

THANK YOU!!!!!!

MR, you don't know the half of it.

I really need to dig up a certain incriminating photo of the good doctor with a paticularly interesting caption.

Remember Marv, I will have my hands on some of my own

It was a wedding, I had an excuse...

[{Courtesy}]

The pic you want was a lockup, I had an excuse.

My, but you lot are talkative !

Zomnker, I have to see the lock-up picture ! Marv told me all about it.

As far as pedophiles and children's fashions go : While I certainly agree that pedophiles should not be dictating fashion there is another aspect that should be considered. All of us have weaknesses of one type or another. Some people have weaknesses for children. I'm sure there are many people with pedophilic tendencies that have never molested anyone, because they know it is wrong and because society disapproves. Could it be that by sexualizing childrens clothing we are unintentionally pushing some of these people down that road. Surely none of us would set a bottle of whisky in front of an alcoholic ? Isn't this case similar ?

And , Z., with respect I take some exception to your statement that it is more damaging not to let children do what all the others are doing. On the contrary, it may build character. It may serve, in the long run, to teach that "society" is not always right and that it can be honorable to swim against the tide. " Any dead fish can swim downstream ." I take pride in the fact that I can stand up against the follies of the masses- and this si due in large measure to my parents emphasizing that just because all the other kids did it doesn't make it right, and that we have an obligation to stand up for the values we believe in, no matter how against the grain it is.

Also, I think Madonna bears a large measure of responsibility for the ubiquitous children's clothing styles. I remember in the 80's when she first became a superstar ( I was a teenager then ) the girls all started dressing as hookers- emulating her style. Many of those same teens are now parents passing this on to their children. Don't get me wrong- I love Madonna's music- but I still think she got the ball rolling on the trampy attire for kids.

I thoroughly enjoyed our girls' evening out. It was great to meet you Ben and Boots I have now met most of the UK Salonistas and they are as lovely IRL as they are here.

Boots has done a hilarious teaser report here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A1157834

That was an excellent write up

We've had the first snow in Sweden! Sure, it was north of Stockholm, but still south of the Arctic circle, in Dalarna, with just +1ºC (33.8ºF) - come on, it's still August!

Snow! Grief, perhaps it is readying itself for our next Scottish meet up in Aberdeen. We keep joking it will snow, maybe the weather is about to teach us a lesson.
Oh, and sounds like a very good night was had there.

Snow already....yikes...not nice. Cooler here today too....Oh dear where did I put those moon boots?
take care
boots

See if I can post

I am still having trouble accessing the Beeb, as my firewall insists that some one is trying to hack my machine and locks teh beeb out after a few mins.

Ah well off to the back log!

Thanks BC, that's a valid point! As someone who won't ever have children, I will always, I think, subconsciously take the side of the child. I have to admit in the case of the children who hang around the shop I haven't noticed any of them dressed in this sort of style, I don't live in a rich area so you would expect that they would be. It also means that whatever my opinions are then they are always going to by hypothetical, I'm never going to have to make the difficult descions that those of you with children will have to make.

I see your argument about teaching them that going against society can be the right thing. I was taught that by getting involved in my parents polictical activities, protesting and the like, and by being a vegetarian. But when I stood up for being anti nuclear power, poll tax, or meat, at school, I was always able to defend them because I believed that they were the right. I didn't stand up for my parents on things that I believed were wrong. I ignored them and did what i thought was right.

Children get their views from a vairty of sources, not just parents, from friends and from the media. Sometimes they will be in conflict. Expecting them to blindly follow what their parents think does not teach them to think for themselves, it teaches them to do as they are told. So if they do what their parents say, they are more likely to do what their friends say as well, because they don't know to think it through.

Children and teenagers do judge each other on dress a lot more than other people, they are often split into tribes that define themselves purely on the basis of dress. They use it to express their identify and indivuality. Teenagers will dress how they want wether parents like it or not. It's just a choice of do you want them to get changed at yours and leave or in the public toliets in a shopping centre and dump their old clothes in a bag.

It's a very old battle and almost unwinnable for the parents...

[d'E]
[]

Sounds like you girls had a lovely evening. I'm jealous.

There was a picture in this morning's paper of a woman in Nigeria who is sentenced to be buried up to the neck and stoned to death for adultery. She had a child out of wedlock two years after she was divorced. The father denied responsibility and was acquitted.

Permissive societies. Repressive societies. Roll the dice. Somewhere there must be a happy medium.

If y'all are willing to wait till after the Labor Day weekend (until 2 Sept), I will start the next conversation then. This one is going well, with interesting topics and this hilarious subject header tale.

If you don't want to wait, then someone can start the next thread. Marv was the last guest thread-starter, so someone else should have a go.

I do not like Madonna's music, and I completely agree with Joni Mitchell, who said that Madonna, more than anyone else, is the one responsible for removing talent from the equation in pop stardom.

When the Aberdeen meet occurs, I hope someone will go say hello to Dunnottar Castle for me. Very special memories...

*shivers* I've had to put the heating on.

Yes, my have had the heating back on today. Lovely weather isn't it! seriously I am not a hot weather person in the slightest.