Privacy, anyone?

The good news is that I have my first article in N magazine! I think Nicky bumped me to the top of the mailing list this time because she was expecting the magazines back from the printers yesterday. I received mine in the mail today. Thanks Nicky!

Overall, it's great and they did my writing and pictures justice. I do have some problems with it though. First, my name is spelled wrong in one place, but that happens a lot. (Even Wild Bill Hickok's guns were engraved with the misspelling. Yes we're related.) Second, you'll notice that I never said "Wisconsin", because I was unsure how the DNR would take it that I'm freehiking in new places. I left the title up to TNS, and they decided to specify what state I was hiking in. No biggie. Third, they removed my joke about running around with a white-tail during deer hunting season. C'mon...it was funny! Fourth, they dumbed down my "tom" joke -- the word "turkey" was added since people might not know that a tom is a male turkey. Again, no biggie, but it doesn't read as smoothly.

Last, the biggie, you'll note that I removed the cell phone number from the article text. Among the pictures I delivered to them was a picture of the sign, with the phone number on it. And what picture do they include? Do you think people will call a phone number by a picture with an attractive female? I'm curious how many calls she's going to get.

What makes this worse is that it's a business line for Amanda's "second job" as a Passion Parties consultant. Think Tupperware, but with romance products instead. This probably isn't the image that TNS wants to project, but they probably shouldn't include random phone numbers either. The lesson is: edit out personal information from pictures. We're both guilty. I'll have more commentary on her business in a later post, but the short story is that we know exactly where the line is drawn. We're true naturists. Her business is just a business. The conflicting topics don't mix.

So if you'd like to book a party around Southwest Wisconsin, grab the latest N and give her a call!

As an addendum for the Wisconsin people, one additional tool that I love is the DNR WebView. Wisconsin is the only state that I know of that has a tool like this, which is why I didn't mention it. The tool points out every tiny piece of public land, among many other features.

If anyone wants to go for a hike in our mystery spot, let me know. I was thinking about forming a small freehiking club for the area if there's interest. There are many other places that seem safe enough to freehike, and there's a lot of trails that could use trimming during the summer months.

More News (5.58/2009)

It's not quite a regular "Missed News" post, but there's at least Ocean Angels news and a some news about the blog.

First of all, you may have noticed that there hasn't been a real (non-news) post in about three weeks. Well, I've been busy. For the record, if there aren't any posts from me it's likely due to being busy at work or busy with some (likely naturist related) project that isn't quite ready. If I'm not busy, I have a million things I can post. This time around, I've been busy with two naturist related projects. One is the Nude Olympics for Mazo Beach, which is being announced next. The other, well... Sometimes the best move is to stay quiet for a few months. It's not a project that I'm driving, but instead a project that I'm reacting to. I don't like those. I'll tell you all about it later.

On top of all that, we're planning for our big trip to Eastover for the TNS Gathering. I'm not sure how to write about the Gathering just yet... Should I do a blog post afterwords? Should I do posts each night if internet is available? Or, as Nudiarist suggested, do lots of Twitter posts during each day? The problem with Twitter is that we'd need a cell phone, and it's hard to carry one when naked! Plus, we're going our separate ways to attend things we each like. Before that, we also have an interesting weekend lined up which will result in another fairly long blog post. I'll probably do most of the writing/posting in early July. Sorry in advance for the delays...

Onward to the latest Indian Ocean Rowing Race / Ocean Angel news!

• They posted a naked picture of Simon. I have no idea how he can row that huge boat all by himself.
• Early this month, they summarized the problems on all boats, and went into detail about the water issues.
• The 8-person crew has been mooning other boats. That same post also states that the Ocean Angels are extending their lead.
• The site also talks about rower cuisine. I haven't heard of any teams fishing, but it seems like a good idea.
• Speaking of fish, a flying fish hit Simon in the forehead and landed in his boat. Easy dinner, I'd say! That post also sums up the aches and pains from rowers.
• Boat 7 was closing the gap between them and the Ocean Angels. In all fairness, a giant wave from nowhere hit Boat 7 and knocked their pants off -- literally.
• News from the Ocean Angels started out pretty good. The sea showed them a lot of love, and they were making great progress.
• Soon after they claimed they felt like peanuts, salted and tanned.
• Speaking of food, they detail what they eat.
  
• They also explain how they use the toilet. A later post provides more detail when talking about cravings: "And Jo who is a craving a toilet she can sit on without having to straddle the person rowing at bow." Hope they aren't shy...
• Around the 7th this month, when they were still making good progress, they say that it's getting a little monotonous. Their phone rang, but would cut off before they could pick it up. They were hoping that it was Charlie and that he was going to send the Angels on a more exciting mission.
• After 3 weeks at sea, they hit the 1000 mile mark.
• They look a bit sunburned already in their picture.
• On the 15th they had to fix their last "whale gusher bilge pump".
• Around that time, they were caught in a vortex by Eddy. On the 16th, their direction was backwards. They finally broke away on the 17th, but this vortex caused them to lose their lead position.
• Life is back to normal, and they explain the process of washing their hair.

For those who don't actually read the blog posts from the Ocean Angels, you really should. They are quite funny writers, and have a lot of running jokes. They are having a miserable time at sea, but they take it all in good humor.

Missed News (5/2009)

The "Missed News" series is for all the random stuff I found interesting, but was missed by other popular bloggers. (Or that needs to be covered again.) Nudiarist has been on break, so hopefully I can snap up some of the stories he'd normally post.

Indian Ocean Rowing Race News:

• In the first day, Hoppipolla had a steering issue and had to quit. Also, one of the members of the Dream It Do It boat was injured, flown to the hospital, and is recovering. Dream It Do It has also quit the race. They were one of the teams rowing naked.
  
• Whatever It Takes (the Aussie boys in budgie smugglers) have also quit due to a leaky boat.
• Doing Time has also quit due to losing a lot of their equipment and other broken stuff.
• Old Mutual (Simon, who is rowing solo and naked) capsized his boat but has recovered and is still in the race.
• Ocean Angels news:
• Day 1 treated them pretty well, even though Fiona was washed off the seat twice and a flying fish made her scream like a little girl.
• Day 3 they wore matching textiles, and days of paddling made their butts sore.
• Day 4 and day 5 had a storm hindering their (and all teams) progress, so they deployed the para-anchor and took a break. They went a little crazy during these days. Day 4, one of the waves smashed an oar and the dagger board, and bent a light, but all is fixed. In day 5, they described their very own Swedish sauna -- including four naked blonds! (If anything, read the day 5 post because it's quite funny!)
• Day 6 they were full steam ahead and making great progress.
• A few days later they detail their entertainment for the "nightshift of doom", and talk about their daily song. (Also a funny post.)
• On the 29th they talk about their power issues. The gadget queen, who is having withdrawal, has also been saving the day (or night, actually) with her sextant. They are also seeking out an Eddy, but are worried that he's hiding from the four naked women.
• If you haven't seen pictures of the boat, and are wondering what they mean by the "coffin" and the "master bedroom", they are at opposite ends of their boat.
  
• Right now, the Ocean Angels have just pulled into the lead! Woohoo!! Go naked ladies!!

Other news:

• It's not quite the publicity we wanted. We answered an open call for models, and linked to our only decent online picture saying we could work with him in Wisconsin, and he did a post about it. Oh well... It'll scare the people who subscribe for the pictures!
  
• The Australians spice up an advertisement event with a little nudity. (video)
  
• The XKCD comic author just loves his Kindle. (Excuse me, his Hitchhikers Guide. (?)) I'm quite tempted to buy one for some quality beach reading. I may also copy his idea for reading in bed. Or maybe I'll just wait for the price to come down a bit.
  
• I love the Low-Tech Magazine blog since he proved that the sneakernet can be faster than the internet, and that wind-powered cargo ships cruised faster in 1902 than the fuel-gulping ships of today. Responding to reader comments, he pointed to some of the newer wind-powered ships like the Royal Clipper (which you can cruise nude on).
  
• Some artists like to skip over certain parts that other artists are willing to show. Being a nudist, those drawings just look weird.
  
• A high school cheerleader coach is fired after tastefully posing for Playboy.
• A lottery winner tries to open a Nude Dude ranch, but ran into a couple of issues. All Nudist covered this story already with some added commentary.
• Philly has a store selling topless bikini's (they don't know the word "monokini"). Be sure to read about the price -- it's not quite half-off.
  
• The Come As You Are blog did a great writeup on Educating Non-Naturists.
• A huge TV star was found drunk, naked, and yelling in a public park.
• Doctors are complaining that an Australian Miss Universe contestant is "dangerously malnourished".
• AOL's news channel puts Mazo Beach on their US beaches list.
• "Mom, will this chicken give me man-boobs?"
• You missed you're chance to be naked on VH1.
• Here's some Nudes in Scarves pictures (clothed naked bodies), and some commentary about the event at the Bare Oaks blog.
• Make sure to bring an extra $176 in your pack next time you hike naked past Appenzell, Switzerland.
• This DIY fashionable top is ready for felting. (I really hope it starts a new trend!)
  
• A spa in New York is specializing in vaginas.
• A naked and reckless driver (with naked female passenger) was pulled over in Nebraska. Neither was charged for being naked, which gives me hope that police know what's important.
• A busty mannequin is bringing in business, and trouble, at a Cincinnati BBQ joint.
• The US supreme court is cracking down on TV profanity. "Even when used as an expletive, the F-word's power to insult and offend derives from its sexual meaning." Is it a war on profanity or a war on sex?
  

Ready, Set, GO!

This weekend, the Ocean Angels take to the seas.

We've been cheering them on for a while now, and put in a donation to get our faces on their boat. The donation goes towards breast cancer research.

Come to find out, they aren't the only ones going naked. There's a pair from London rowing naked in support of Asthma research. They will have a satellite phone for receiving text messages and posting their thoughts. There's also these two Berkshire boys rowing in support of Sparks (medical research charity) and Headway (a head injury charity). The Berkshire boys say in their article that they'll bring 6 liters (almost 1.6 gallons) of sun creme. Lastly, because he's a single and can't row as fast, there's Simon who has also said he will row naked for the Willow Foundation charity.

All-in-all, this is part of a much bigger event: The Indian Ocean Rowing Race. There are 11 teams competing to be the among the first to cross the Indian Ocean. The different team sizes are:

• 1 team of 8, which will probably be the first since they have the most people-power.
• 4 teams of 4, which include the Ocean Angels and a group of Aussies in budgie smugglers.
• 4 teams of 2, which include the guys I linked to above, except Simon.
• 2 singles, which are brave people to attempt this huge trip alone.
  

This isn't your typical canuding trip. It's a 4,350 mile trip with threats of 50 foot waves and an array of dangerous ocean critters. There's a lot that can go wrong, and it's a long trip back to civilization. I really hope they all make it back to civilization safely. If they're lucky, they'll cross the finish line in Mauritius in 60 to 100 days.

The true nudists can answer this question of mine: Is 1.6 gallons of sunblock enough protection from the sun for 3 months? Or will we see naked lobsters crossing the finish line? Also, will they forget to put on clothes after 2 or 3 months of nakedness? I hope so -- it's big publicity if they're all smiles, naked, and crossing the finish line. They should keep that uncomfortable clothing off their freshly burnt skin.

The race website has a cool scoreboard of each team's progress. The naked ones to watch are #13 Pura Vida (Ocean Angels), #9 Southern Cross (Berkshire boys), #2 Dream It Do It (Londoners), and #3 Old Mutual Endurance (Simon). I'll be cheering them on, and I'll have more posts in the future about their progress.

Book and DVD Reviews

The nice thing about living in Wisconsin is that I can just drive to TNS HQ. My girlfriend and I went there Thursday to purchase a bunch of stuff from their Skinny Dipper Shop, drop off a CD, and to chat with Nicky for a bit.

As we were shopping, Nicky was explaining the history of each item. It's clear that they take a lot of pride in their merchandise, because they seek out the best quality for everything they stock. Additionally, they've been moving toward more eco-friendly items, which I certainly appreciate.

Anyway, among the things we bought are the following books and DVD. (What can I say -- I love books and always like to expand my library.) I haven't read them all cover to cover, obviously, but have skimmed them well enough to post a review.

The World's Best Nude Beaches and Resorts
The book is made to be a reference. It has color-coded tabs on the pages which makes finding a location easy. At the start of each country's section is a map of all the places listed. Each listing has a paragraph or two describing the place, along with a section of "practical info" on what you need to know to get there. When possible they include addresses, phone numbers, and websites. Not only is this book a great text, but it also has great pictures for most of the places listed and can give you a feel for what the place is like. About 1/3 of the book's content is pictures. The only downside is that the book only shows 1000 places, the "best" 1000 places, so it's not a complete reference. Based on the listings for Wisconsin and Queensland (places I know), there is about a 5:1 ratio for listings. I concur that the 4 that are unlisted aren't as good as the 1 that is listed, so they really do pick the best. This will certainly be my primary reference for beaches and resorts, and any traveller should have this book with them. It's a fairly cheap book, and is well worth the money.

The Funny Side of Going Naked
At about 150 pages of mostly images, it's a quick read. It's a book that once you pick it up, you can't put it down. The only time that you'll stop reading is when you're laughing too hard to continue. This happens a lot! Plus, the jokes are still funny after you've read them a few times. Whenever you need to cheer yourself up, reach for this book and open it up to any random page. This, too, is well worth the money.

Bodies and Souls: The Century Project
It started out as a fairly simple project, but has evolved over the last 20 years into something quite impressive. Each turn of the page reveals a new woman, slightly older than the previous one, with a picture on one side and their words on the other. Sometimes the author adds a little text to the bottom to put things into context better. The goal is to present real women, along with their stories of body acceptance and inspiration, to show other women that they are not alone in their struggles. It directly goes against society's pressure that women must be perfect. This book shows that you can be happy without being perfect. This isn't a full review, because I'm not a woman with body acceptance issues, and therefore don't have the qualifications to say if this book is of benefit or not. Sorry. My girlfriend is better qualified than I am (even though she doesn't have many body acceptance issues), so I may revisit this after she's read through it.

The Spirit of Lady Godiva
It's a book full of impressive black&white photography at many places across America. Each turn of the page has a full picture on one side, and some text about it on the other. The photographer shows standard building, landscape, and people shots, except with one small twist. His images show a world where people have a true choice of what to wear, or what to not wear. Textiles mix with nudes, and nobody seems to mind. (Well, OK, some heads are turned and some faces have a big smile, but a vast majority don't seem to notice.) What's most impressive is that all of these shots are real, and are of great quality. The book is a bit pricey, since it's a big chunk of tree. I'd only recommend it if photography is a big interest of yours.

Chasing the Sun DVD
This is a short video from TNS that is an introduction to naturism. It's made to be shown to classes, politicians, and anyone who doesn't really understand the topic. I'd say that it meets the goal pretty well. It includes statistics from the Roper polls, the positive economic impact of a nude beach, how beaches are self-policing and very safe, and how naturism is a family friendly activity. It addresses every big concern or misunderstanding that people have, and shows them that naturism is a good thing. The only problem with this video is that it shows a lot of nudity. Anyone who is seriously offended by nudity will not want to watch it, despite them being the ones that should watch it. Since it's a short video, they could've added a censored version just in case, or a version that uses alternative video clips that don't show nudity. Either way, it's in my archive just in case I need it.

If you have more to add about any of these items, or have questions, post 'em in the comments.

Springtime News

A few times a year I post what's new, what I've been working on, and my plans for the near future.

Freehiking Season

St Patrick's Day brought us some Irish Luck. My girlfriend and I went freehiking (for the first time ever) during the only 72+ degree day in March. We hiked a 3 mile trail that is absolutely perfect for freehiking. It has a clear wide path, wide open fields, a river, and not a house in sight. There was nobody else there, no bugs, no snow, and not much mud.

I sent a writeup about this trip to TNS. Most of it consists of how to find a good local trail for freehiking. I pointed out that almost all of their freehiking articles are from out West. I took on the task of finding a trail locally, in a state that has a higher than US average population density. Hopefully it'll be in one of the future issues. I could dive into the details of this trip, but I think it would only make you jealous.

I concluded that here, "freehiking season" is the few warm days we get in March. Summer months are too buggy, too weedy, and too busy. Fall is deer hunting season. April and May are turkey hunting season. March is all that's left, assuming it gets warm enough!

WWNCW

My other site, the World-Wide Nudist Collaboration Wiki, has been revamped to version 3.0. I removed the whole social web idea, stripped the profiles, and removed almost everything. Naturists don't need another social platform -- they need a collaboration platform! The new Wiki does only that, without any fluff and as simply as possible. It's fair to say that I gave the WWNCW a really big KISS.

So how does it work now? Follow these steps if you would like to initiate a project, event, or meeting:

1. Enter a project name and click "add project".
2. Fill out the new project form, which is only 4 questions.
3. Add events to your project calendar, create sections specific to your project for tables, polls, or more text. Tables contain information for tasks, items that are needed, or other general information. See the examples for how to use the tools.
   
4. People volunteer to help out or bring stuff by adding their name to the table. They can also vote for stuff, or post comments. The project almost organizes itself, since everyone has all the information in one central place.
   

Most important is that people DON'T NEED TO REGISTER anymore to go in and create/edit stuff. There is a shared WikiGuest account that anyone can use, or they can register to get their own username.

Nude Olympics

We're still in the process of organizing the Mazo Beach Nude Olympics this year. Of course, the project will be organized via my handy site mentioned above. (I'll do a special post when it's ready.)

Reading

At the start of winter, I had a pile of stuff that I wanted to read. And it kept getting bigger, since I never wanted to pull myself away from the computer just to read. I looked for another solution. Scheduling a time to read didn't work because I didn't take it seriously. I'm very limited to what I can take on my weekends of travel. I can't read at the beach since it's winter. All I needed was about a half-hour each day, so I moved my reading materials to the bathroom. Hey -- it works! I read through my 9 back-issues and 2 current issues of Nude & Natural Magazine, and highlighted some things in the NR 45 regulations (DNR land use rules). The real test is next -- I moved my Worldchanging book to there. It's almost 4 pounds of very small text. I bought it new in 2006, and haven't yet hit the half-way point.

Modeling

We answered the call from N 28.3 page 87, and it sounds like it might happen this summer! We not only offered ourselves as subjects, but also offered some of our "secret" locations. I'll keep you posted on what develops from this.

Missed News (4/2009)

If you were expecting pictures and a farewell today ... April Fools! :-) I at least convinced one blogger who realized it may not be true an hour later. I also had friends questioning if it was true or not, but they at least flagged my post as fishy right away. Other than that, it seems that nobody cares... Or they wanted to wait and make sure I was leaving before commenting. Here's a roundup of other April Fool's jokes.

The "Missed News" series is for all the random stuff I found interesting, but was missed by other popular bloggers. (Or that needs to be covered again.) Hopefully I filtered out the duplicates from Nudiarist's recent flood of news posts.

• NAC needs your help! Send an email to the Vermont representitives indicating that you want public nudity to remain legal on public lands, and to leave the many skinny dipping sites alone. (I sent an email last weekend.)
  
• I haven't heard anything from anyone in the nudist community about the new 2257 regulations that went into effect this month. Photographers who shoot nudes are freaking out about this, but the news hasn't hit any of my nudist blogs. Why?? Stephen Haynes wrote a whole book about these new regulations, and did interviews talking about it. Dave Levingston, a very popular photographer, has posted examples, got mad as hell, and is considering giving up nude photography because this law threatens to jail him for his work. How is this law going to impact nudists? It threatens to jail anyone who takes a picture that includes the pubic region, unless lots of records are kept.
  
• Mazo Beach's least favorite church is in a new battle. I had to laugh when I saw it in the paper!
• Speaking of the beach, I'd like to buy a bunch of these mosquito-killing lasers for the trail.
• All Nudist reminds us that the Ocean Angels paddle their naked butts across the Indian Ocean starting this month. It's not too late to join us in cheering them on!
  
• New image programs (iPhoto, Picasa) now feature face recognition. Picasa links the name to an email address and stores it on Google's servers. Soon enough we'll be able to identify all those anonymous naked people on the internet.
  
• Rich is afraid to be naked.
• Photos from The Century Project were banned from UNC, and protests are pouring in because of it.
• Here's a video showing just how fake most pictures can be.
• This is a very cool project to crowdsource to bored people with cell phones.
• A lawmaker wants to ban Barbie in West Virginia because she promotes an unrealistic body image.
• Hummer is probably closing unless someone is dumb enough to buy them. Yay!
• One photographer boasts that has has never killed a model, although this one was pretty close.
• In fact, modeling is fairly dangerous.
  
• I know it's been covered already, but I have to say it: Since when does an "anything goes" party not tolerate anything? I'd classify "clothing" and "mini-riot" as a part of "anything", which makes ot OK, right? It seems the owner forgot that anything goes at an anything goes party.
  
• For some laughs, check out the top 10 confusing place names, or the top 10 rudest place names.
• Although not naked, the lack of clothing is still mentioned in this headline. More cops need to sleep naked!
  
• More proof that Australians are tough. There's no mention of their sleeping attire, is that just an American thing?
  
• Urinating in public makes for an interesting equal rights case.
• I thought this photo of a "nudist locker room" was cute.
• A TV show is seeking a naturist couple who are getting married. We're not planning a wedding just yet, but I'm interested in seeing the show when it airs. Let me know if you spot it!
• People are surprised to find topless sunbathers in Europe, and other interesting things, through Google Street View.
• Australian magazines are testing the child nudity laws.
• NASA goes through so much trouble sending clothes to the space station. Sending clothes back to Earth just to get washed is such a waste. There is no reason at all why they need to wear clothes in an environment that is completely climate controlled.
• Here's PETA protesting pregnant pigs. They also protested KFC recently too.
  
• It's gotta be fun when the festival promises that you'll have a ball.