Crazy Eskimos

Last week, All Nudist humorously described the current Wisconsin weather. (It's even snowing on his website!) It's a bit warmer now, but it's been an interesting day...

This sums up my last 24 hours in wonderful southwest Wisconsin:

1. Freezing rain -- enough to go ice skating on any flat surface.
2. Snow up to a foot on top of that.
3. Temps near 15 degrees, winds up to 25 mph. (I don't want to calculate the wind-chill!)
   
4. Walking 18 blocks (30 minutes) across town in said weather to campus and thinking nothing of it. Mickey Mouse boots and a good coat do wonders! I never got cold! This was for a training through work, since I'm actually done with school for now.
5. I saw several people walking around outside wearing t-shirts on campus.
6. I saw several people walking around outside wearing shorts on campus. (If they stop by the gym, they wear shorts that whole day.)
7. I saw several people riding bicycles to/from campus in said weather -- I seriously can't understand how they do it, since cars even have trouble getting around! I never see them fall, or evidence in the snow that they have fallen, yet they are riding on ice and through snow.
   

Last weekend, a southern attendee to Lee's memorial service referred to us as Eskimo's. (He then pointed out that it's odd that TNS is based here.) By definition, Eskimo's do not live in this region. I believe the phrase he was searching for was "just plain crazy". Often it's in a good, tough, and humorous way.

This Thursday, assuming we're able to visit some friends of ours, I might just make a naked snow angel! They have been known to dive naked into the snow, and take a dip in their pool after breaking through a layer of ice on top.

UPDATE: Of course we did! We didn't right away, but after Steve made one we had to! (See the comments on his post.) It was mid-January and 15 degrees out.

Is it wrong to be crazy when the others around us are just as crazy? Is it wrong to be naked when when the others around us are just as naked? Hopefully your answer is the same for both questions... In my opinion, doing crazy (but safe) things every once in a while is something that keeps us human. From what I understand about Lee, he would've probably agreed. Hopefully the next N magazine will capture some of the crazy/cool things that Lee has done in his life, since several were talked about at the memorial service.

Have you done anything crazy recently? Post it to the comments if you have.

Recap and Winter Plans

Every so often I do a post on what's going on with the blog, and my personal life. Similar to the "Missed News" series, it's full of little things that may or may not be of interest.

On the topic of "Missed News", I notice that other bloggers are picking up stories from my monthly posts. Cool! I'm happy that people are finding some of the stuff interesting, even though a lot of it is edgy and sometimes completely off-topic.

Back in August, I celebrated my missing of Burning Man with a reader-contributed story. Here's part 1, part 2, and part 3. Recently, I've had a commenter accusing him of having a fetish-driven desire to be nude among textiles. I disagree -- I believe that 99% of people are genuinely good and only change that opinion if I have solid evidence otherwise. The story lacks that evidence. Feel free to post your feedback to that story using the links above.

Last month I wrote up some game theory regarding the actions of TNS and AANR relative to public land issues. I was probably harder on AANR than I should've been. I later found out that AANR has donated towards TNS activities ... once ... indirectly.

Speaking of TNS and money -- they are running a little short. Since the economy is down, people haven't been renewing their subscriptions. Now is an ideal time to get a membership or buy some stuff from them if you're able to. To see what happens if they run out of money, click the game theory link above.

In other news... I used to be a very anonymous blogger, but have recently been using my real name, had naked pictures posted, and then completely busted our privacy with both a picture and our real names (below).

My recent post about the Ocean Angels got the attention of one of them. Fiona added a comment of praise soon after it was posted. It's neat that she responded, since some charities don't like to openly acknowledge that nude people exist. So far, we're the only nudists on the faceboat and we're very lonely! Use this link to post a picture by us -- donations can be as much or as little as you can afford. Please join us for the sake of breasts everywhere!*

* "Breasts everywhere" = breast cancer care charity. Imagine a world where there are no beautiful breasts to look at, or squeeze, or to use as pillows when camping, or to feed our babies. If our babies can't eat, the human race would go extinct. To prevent this scenario, you must donate, and post a picture next to ours!

I've been eagerly waiting to see what happens on Dec. 17th and Jan. 12th. What's on those days, you ask? I've been following Amy's reporting of the Naked Pumpkin Run, and those are the days of the court appearances. Will they be free, or will their lives be ruined? (Amy left a few comments on the related post here, which is neat.)

Today, I attended the memorial service of Lee Baxandall. Info was posted here about the service, and there will be a lot more info from TNS in the future. Since I'm only 3 hours away, I thought it would be good to attend and learn more about him. What an inspiration! He's an amazing guy!

After the service, I got to hang out with the TNS crew at their office for a while. I was finally able to meet Bob Morton and Mark Storey, both of which have bright minds and write some great articles. Mark brought up that they are always looking for new articles, and hinted that I could be a part of that. So far, I don't think I've written anything that matches their quality of work... Have I?

Currently, I'm happy that I have more time to work on the blog. A huge load was lifted when I completed my thesis. Another was lifted with the end of summer, which means less trips to the beach and other events. The biggest of all was when I told my mom about our lifestyle. Being of European decent, I knew that she wouldn't care. I told stories of all the cool people we've met, and all the cool things we've done, and reassured her that it has nothing to do with sex, and she doesn't think it's a big deal. I'm glad that's in the open now, actually. It'll make summer conversations a lot easier.

Next on the agenda is my "Future Resort" series. I'm currently writing the 10 parts, with the intent to post them weekly starting in January. This will certainly be a highlight for the blog, and I'm hoping that some of the ideas will be implemented.

After that, I'd like to focus on the summer. I'd still like to coordinate a "nude olympics" at Mazo Beach, and will have a post dedicated to how I intend to do that. Ideally, it would be a big crowdsourced event that can include fundraisers for TNS and BN. Stay tuned!

Ocean Angels

We're supporting the Ocean Angels on their naked trip across the ocean in a rowboat!

To put this amazing challenge into perspective: "More people have walked on the moon than have rowed across the Indian Ocean."

We put in a donation and added our picture (and real names) to their faceboat. If you're quick, you can see us in the "latest faces" list. We were #25 to sign up out of 25,000 available spaces.

Want your picture by us? Use this link. Let's show them how many nudists are actually cheering them on! Proceeds go to Breast Cancer Care.

Update: For those coming from All Nudist's blog, this is an old post. There's a lot more info here.

Missed News (12/2008)

The "Missed News" series is for all the random stuff I found interesting, but was missed by other popular bloggers.

• Merry Naked Christmas!
• Here's a warning that people sometimes get caught driving in the buff. I know you've all done it, just be careful!
• However, sometimes driving in the buff is required. (Hmm, I know what sign I'm putting on the bike at VVRC's car show next year...)
  
• One swinger finds his kind trustworthy because of their nudity. Although it's a swinger themed article, he does make the separation that it's the nudity that brings trust between people.
  
• Sonia Belle finally gets off the political rants, and switches to political celebration.
  
• Here's a small list of teachers that have been fired because of their personal life.
• The nude photo leak of Adrienne Bailon was a publicity stunt. Us nudists didn't think it was a big deal in the first place.
• If you're looking for another nude photo link, try this one. For a site that thrives on anatomy, they sure don't know it!
• An Australian outback mayor won a sexist award for asking ugly women to move to a town full of men. Sexism aside, it's not a bad idea because ugly women are few and far between. (I can say that from experience.) In a town full of men, they have a much better chance of hooking up than trying to compete with the typical Aussie female.
  
• A bra for men is surprisingly popular in Japan.
• New advances in nanotechnology make clothing "unwettable" and has potential for swimwear. We have a better technology -- skin.
• Here's a wonderful write-up from the Bare Oaks Blog regarding nipples on TV. During a sex-change operation, the same breasts are blurred out at the start and exposed at the end. They also have a paragraph on how the labia is only offensive when attached to the woman.
• Rick explains that nipple radiation is dangerous. It's an old post but a great one if you missed it.
  
• Fairwind Lakes Naturist Park thanks TNS for helping them survive after AANR ran and hid. From what I can tell, Fairwind Lakes is NOT an AANR affiliated park.
  
• All Nudist suggested a corn maze. Since the midwest is filled with corn anyway, I think it's a great idea!

And now a question for all of you -- does anyone have experience in the US patent application process? (Nudists are a very diverse group, so it's worth asking...)