Olympics - Part 26

Akwasi Frimpong

Akwasi Frimpong represented Ghana in the 2018 Winter Olympics.  His sport, skeleton, uses a small bobsled where the rider rides face down.  He was the second Winter Olympian from Ghana in history.  Clearly Ghana is not a country with a lot of winter sports.

Frimpong was born in Ghana in 1986.  His first eight years were spent in a small one-room cottage in Kumasai, Ghana, raised by his grandmother with nine other grandchildren.  They all slept on the ground.

At age 8 he joined his mother, a gospel singer, in the Netherlands, but he was an illegal immigrant.

He began sprinting at age 15.  In 2003 he won the title of Dutch junior champion in the 200 meter sprint, earning the nickname GoldenSprint, and he aspired to compete in the Olympics.

Meanwhile, his family and his supporters worked on getting him a Dutch residence permit.  It took 13 years, but he got legal residence in 2007 and became a Dutch citizen in 2008.

However, he suffered a severe ankle injury that temporarily derailed his running hopes.  He applied to colleges in America and was offered a scholarship to Utah Valley University.  He attended UVU and ran for the college team, where he broke several records.

The Dutch bobsled team was visiting Utah and tried out Frimpong as a brakeman.  In 2013 he was invited to the Dutch pre-Olympic team trials, and he was selected among 7 others.

In 2018 he decided to compete for Ghana at the Winter Olympics on skeleton.  He was the only male athlete representing the African continent.

I do not know the story behind his posing for these photos.

Events - Part 93

Smallest Penis in Brooklyn

From 2013 to 2015 the Kings County bar in Brooklyn, above, hosted the Smallest Penis in Brooklyn contest.

Customers viewing the contest could drink a Penis Colada.

It wasn't just a contest for who had the smallest penis.  In 2013 they did measure the penises (above), but they didn't even bother to measure them in 2014 and 2015.

It was really a kind of combined beauty pageant and talent show for men with a small penis and the balls to show up.  The remaining photos are from the 2015 contest.  There were 5 contestants in 2015.  The competition consisted of three rounds.  The first round was "formal wear" (above).

A closeup of the "formal wear".

The second round was "swimwear", which didn't cover much.  Above is contestant Puzzlemaster. 

A closeup of Puzzlemaster in "swimwear".

The third round was a talent contest.  Above, contestant Cromwell singing.

Contestant Rip van Dinkle singing.

The judges awarded the 2015 title to Puzzlemaster.  In the talent contest, he sang the theme from "Goldfinger" in which he changed the words to "gold dinger."

We end with this view of Puzzlemaster.  His real name is Taylor Campbell, and he flew in from Wisconsin to be in the contest.  He won a prize of $500, but more than that, he won the proud title of "Smallest Penis in Brooklyn."

In late 2015 the Kings County bar closed, and that was the end of the Smallest Penis in Brooklyn contest.

Performers - Part 93

Sting

Sting is the alias of English musician Gordon Sumner, born in 1951.  He was the lead singer for the rock band the Police.  He never performed naked, but there are a few nude photos of him on the beach or by a pool, presumably taken by paparazzi.

He also posed for some photographers.  The shot above was taken by Michel Comte in 1994.  Sting looks like he might be nude, but you can't tell.

But there's no doubt in a set of photos taken in the California desert in 1985 by Annie Leibovitz, including the shot above ... 

and this rear view that will end our post today.

Photographers - Part 93

 Guglielmo Plüschow

Guglielmo Plüschow (1852-1930) was a German photographer who moved to Italy in 1870 and changed his name from Wilhelm to Guglielmo.  He became known for his nude photos of local youths.

Vincenzo Galdi, 1890.  Plüschow was gay.  Galdi was a favorite model and seems to have been Plüschow's lover.  Galdi later became a photographer in his own right.

Male Nude Seated on Leopard Skin, 1890s.

A Sicilian Boy Posing Naked Outdoors, c. 1900.  This might be Galdi.  Although he's called a Sicilian boy, and Galdi was from Naples, at one time all of southern Italy, including Naples, was part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Curly-Haired Boy From Behind Playing a Fife, 1900s.  This looks like the same model as the previous photo.

An Old Man and a Youth, 1900-1907.

An undated photo called A Sicilian Boy, Posing Naked Outdoors by a Doorway, Taormina, Sicily.

Naked Man Before a Black Brocade Cloth, 1900-1907.

We end with Naked Algerian Boy Leaning on a Black Cloth, 1904-1907.  Plüschow and Galdi traveled to Algeria in 1904, where they lived and worked for three years.  In 1907 the parents of some of Plüschow's young models complained to authorities that he had had anal sex with their sons.  Plüschow was convicted and imprisoned for three years.  When he was released, Plüschow left Algeria and moved to Berlin.

Note that this youth was circumcised, as most Muslims are, whereas the Italians were uncircumcised.

Calendars - Part 94

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Protests - Part 93

Aston Villa Streaker

A streaker ran across the field at the football (soccer) match between the Aston Villa and Manchester City teams in England on Feb. 12, 2012.  Normally, streaking is just exhibitionism, but this streaker was also a protester.

Aston Villa Football Club is a team based in Aston, which is a part of Birmingham, England.  Alex McLeish had been manager of the rival Birmingham City team.  Then he quit and was appointed manager of the Aston Villa team.  Loyal Aston fans protested, including this streaker.  Written across his chest is "McLeish Out" (it's faint and hard to see).

The streaker was Sam Gorman, 23.  Here's a rear view of him kicking up his heels.  He definitely wanted to be noticed.

He even did a handstand on the field.

Then he was caught ...

and taken off the field.

Aston Villa lost the game.  That year, under manager Alex McLeish, they had their worst season ever.  At the end of the season, McLeish was fired.  So the streaker did eventually get what he wanted.

Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 72

Ivy League Posture Photos

Yale started taking nude photos of incoming freshmen in 1919 as part of a program to detect and correct posture problems.  The Yale photos have erroneously been associated with William Sheldon, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Nazi-like eugenic theories who used Harvard nude posture photos to illustrate his theory of somatypes.  The Yale program predates Sheldon, and, as far as I can tell, the Yale photos were never connected to Sheldon's work.

Here are posture photos of eight more Yale students that I had the opportunity to acquire.

Yale freshman Cuyler R. McGinley II on Oct. 7, 1953.

In 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to photograph the front, rear, side and top view.

Yale freshman Burton Foote Hatheway on Oct. 8, 1948.

Photos taken before the fall of 1952 show only a side view.

Yale freshman Charles Franklin Schnedl, Jr. on Oct. 7, 1948.

Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest.  The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis.

Yale freshman Frederick Carl Wuest on Oct. 8, 1948.

Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.

Yale freshman H.H. on Oct. 7, 1948.

If posture problems were detected, the student had to attend remedial posture sessions, and a second posture photo was taken.

Yale freshman John Cornelius Harrington, Jr. on Oct. 7, 1948.

Freshmen were told to report to Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium, and once there, they were told to strip.  The photography and analysis of the photos was conducted by the staff of the gymnasium.

Yale freshman Morton William Wivchar on Oct. 13, 1948.

Nobody outside the gymnasium staff saw the photos.  The photos were not published for other students to see.

Yale freshman Theodore Edmundson Brown Wood on Oct. 7, 1948.

The posture photo program was discontinued in the 1960s, and later, most of the photos were burned.  However, some of the photos escaped burning, including the photos that I have been showing in this series.

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Note: some of my followers consider these photos an invasion of privacy for the students.  To protect the privacy of the students, I redact the names of students who may still be alive.  I only publish the names of students who have died.  Legally, the right to privacy does not extend beyond death, i.e. it does not extend to spouses and relatives of the deceased person.

I consider these photos to be a historical record of the time.  Almost all of the Ivy League posture photos were burned when their existence became widely known.  In my opinion, that was akin to book-burning of books that someone claimed were obscene.  These photos are not obscene.  They should be celebrated, not hidden away.