Thanks to Alan for the recliner suggestions; there is hope!!
 
Re: leather, let's just say my shoes stay in the other room.  My wallet
stays in my coat or pocket.  Suede is not safe in my room.  And my H-D
"biker" leather is most definitely the kids' favorite.
 
Re: MFM, well, I think that both Eric and BIG made some good points in their
postings.  I haven't seen Ferrets USA yet but I have seen Critters USA (the
last of which came out before Ferrets USA so they gained a layout problem,
not fixed it).  In any case, this is an infrequently published (annually?
bi-annually?) magazine, done by probably a good-sized staff of
proffessionals with a lot of money and resources at their disposal (not to
mention the cooperation of dedicated ferret people like Pam Grant), and they
still can't even be bothered to not print BAD (for ferrets) information.
Can you say clueless?  I have to agree with BIG, if the profits and
paychecks stop flowing, Critters/Ferrets USA stops hitting the newsstand.
 
Such is not the case with Modern Ferret, as has already been pointed out.
Whether Eric or Mary have professional layout experience, I don't know, but
the layout really doesn't bother me.  At any rate, I've seen a lot worse
from established, professionally-run magazines (I still have eyestrain from
some horrific attempts to brighten up 'Musician').  And I have seen useful
info; the article about the guy who builds cages springs to mind, as does
the interviews which, if anything, are longer and more in-depth than most.
And when Critters/Ferrets USA publishes anything like "The Doctor is in" or
"Doctor to Doctor", let me know.  Finally, I think ragging on them about
length (or layout) when they're only on the fourth issue is absolutely
ridiculous!!  At this stage, I think 48 pages is great!  Better than 1000
pages of inaccuracies and inconsistancies, no?
 
Moreover, I think that the criticisms here were basically flamebait, not
constructive and not in the spirit of the fml, especially when we all know
that Mary and Eric are on the list, and when it should be obvious that
they're busting their asses and likely their wallets to put the magazine
out.  In other words, it'd be just as easy to mail them and say, "I'd
really like the magazine better if you toned down the layout, for example,
on page xxx of issue such-and-such..." or, "hey, I'd like more informative
articles...".  I saw neither a reader survey nor an e-mail address in
Critters USA, and doubt that I'll see either in Ferrets USA, or see the
editors hanging out on the fml.
 
I'll stop now, hopefully before BIG gets any grey hairs. :-)
 
--Ed Atlee
[log in to unmask]
Ed, Kim, Goose, Anastasia, and Maggie the Lab
[Posted in FML issue 1396]