I saw a link to a weird LA Times article today on BoingBoing. The reporter writes:

“Bird flu has killed 134 people around the world, sickened hundreds more and forced the culling of millions of poultry from Vietnam to Nigeria. Now it is smashing the world of badminton.” I bolded that last line because it’s just that powerful. And then the reporter continues by writing ”Die-hard players are bracing for the worst.”

Maybe the world will really get serious about stopping the bird flu now that the quality of badminton play is being threatened.

As bizarre as the article is, I did learn a few things and have to admit I didn’t realize that serious players still used shuttlecocks with real feathers. A few facts:

• The best shuttlecocks are made from goose feathers, plucked in China.
• Each feather in the premium shuttlecocks is hand-selected.
• Even after inspecting an entire goose, it’s not uncommon for that goose to only provide two premium feathers for a shuttlecock.
• Professional players can send a shuttlecock flying at around 150mph.