Testicular Self-Check

Testicular Cancer Awareness Month

April is Testicular Cancer Awareness Month.  Testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer for men age 15 to 35, but the cure rate is excellent (98%) if it is detected early, which is the reason to do a monthly self-check.

But how exactly should you check your balls?

Unfortunately, the U.S. is so prudish about the naked body that most public information on this subject doesn't actually show testicles.  For example, the illustration above is from the website of the Rio Grande Cancer Foundation, substituting a different kind of nuts in their photos.

Luckily, my friend Pat's blog Big Whack Attack is not so prudish  The photo above is from his blog.  On the 15th of every month, he reminds his readers to check their balls. (And you'll find lots of other good stuff on his blog, too.)  Thanks, Pat!

And the British are not so prudish, either.  This British YouTube video, above, shows exactly how to do the self-check (it's easy, as you'll see).

Events - Part 84

April Fool's Day

In San Francisco, April 1 is the date of the annual St. Stupid's Day parade.  The event celebrates everything stupid.  People wear stupid costumes and carry stupid signs.

Above, the Doggie Diner heads are brought in by truck for the parade.

The event was started in 1979 by Ed Holmes, who has organized it ever since.  He dresses up as Bishop Joey of the fictitious First Church of the Last Laugh.  Above, Bishop Joey addresses the crowd and tells them how stupid things are.  His name is a takeoff on entertainer Joey Bishop, who had a TV show in the 1960s.

Then Bishop Joey moons the crowd, and the parade begins.

The parade visits six Stations of Stupid, a parody of the Catholic Stations of the Cross.  The first Station of Stupid is the Federal Reserve building, where parade goers bless the Fed by throwing away their losing lottery tickets.

The third Station of Stupid is the Statue of the Bare Butt Mechanics, above (actually a 1901 bronze sculpture called the Mechanics Monument, but the figures do have bare butts).

Speaking of bare butts, this is San Francisco, so there are always a few naked parade-goers.

We end with this video clip of part of the St. Stupid's Day parade in 2016.

Ads - Part 82

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo has been known to feature nude men in its ads.  Above, a French ad from 2004 says "A car has never been so well thought through," with a model imitating the pose of Rodin's statue The Thinker.

In 2011, Alfa Romeo ran a series of ads in England for its car called the MiTo Sprint, featuring four nude British Olympic athletes who were sprinters, two men and two women.  Of course we're looking at the men.  Above, Iwan Thomas, who won the world championship in the 400 meters in 1997.

This is Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who later won gold in the 100 meter relay in the European Championships and in the Commonwealth Games.

And if you're thinking the previous ads didn't really show anything, here's one with a nice rear view of Harry.  In addition to advertising their car, Alfa Romeo boasted that they were supporting Heart Research UK with a £100 donation for every new red Alfa Romeo MiTo car sold in the month of August, 2011.

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey has been photographed nude outside of the Alfa Romeo ads.  This is as close to a frontal view of him as it gets.

But here's another rear view of Harry.

Iwan Thomas is less bashful.  This is from a video he made.

Hiking - Part 83

NinjaAndi - Harz Mountains, Germany

In June, 2025 a man who calls himself NinjaAndi visited Harz National Park in north central Germany.   It contains the Harz Mountains, the only mountains in northern Germany.  Here he is by a map at the park entrance.

This road sign points the way to the Brocken, the highest mountain in the park.

Some roadside grass and a landscape of mainly spruce trees.

Resting at a picnic table.

He hiked up to this rock formation called the Grosse Zeterklippe.  You can see him about a quarter of the way from the left side of the photo.  Click on the picture for a larger image.

We end with the view from the Grosse Zeterklippe.  The mountain in the background is the summit of the Brocken, with a radio antenna at the top.  It's only 1141 meters (3743 feet) high, but it's the highest mountain in northern Germany.  Danke, Andi!

Weighing In - Part 84

Dixon Flores

Dixon Flores is a Nicaraguan boxer.  This clip is from a longer video showing boxers weighing in for an event at Nuevo Gimnasio Nicarao in Managua, Nicaragua on July 29, 2017.  The longer video starts with the headliners for the event weighing in, not shown here.  Then the undercard boxers weigh in.  This clip shows one of them, Yamil Alcevedo, weighing in, but over on the side we see the boxer due to weigh in next, Dixon Flores, who has already stripped naked in preparation for weighing in.

After this clip, Flores weighs in nude, but the photographer aims the camera so we can only see him from the waist up, which is why I didn't include his weigh-in.  But we have already seen a nice view of him over on the side.

In this event, Dixon Flores fought Sergio Gonzalez, and the match was suspended after Gonzalez suffered a wound to his eyebrow, so neither of them won.  Dixon Flores' overall record is 17 wins and 13 losses.

Poem of the Day - Part 84

Monday's Child

Today's poem is a traditional 19th century English nursery rhyme.

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

And the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Artists - Part 87

Pierre et Gilles

Pierre Commoy, born in 1950, and Gilles Blanchard, born in 1953, are a French couple who produce artworks combining photography and painting.  They met in 1976, fell in love, and have lived and worked together ever since.  Much of their work features nude males.

Pierre is a photographer.  He photographs the models.  The photo is then printed on cloth, and Gilles, the artist, adds to the piece, painting by hand.  The result is a combination of photo and art.  No Photoshop or digital manipulation is involved.

Above, Midnight Cowboy, 1995.

Presque Rien (Almost Nothing), 2000.

Many of their works feature mythological characters.  Above, Ganymede, 2001, is mesmerized by an eagle representing Zeus.  In Greek mythology, Ganymede was a handsome mortal who became the cup-bearer and gay lover of Zeus, the king of the gods.  Zeus was bi.

Mercury, 2001, the Roman god of messages and communication.

Apollo, 2005, considered to be the most beautiful of the male Greek gods.

David and Jonathan, 2005, illustrates the Biblical lovers.

Vive la France, 2006, features models Serge, Moussa and Roberto as football (soccer) players.  The black, Arabic and white players represent France's multi-ethnic population, and the French national colors blue, white and red are everywhere.  This work caused public controversy because of its frontal nudity when it was displayed on large street posters in Vienna for an art exhibition.

Matador, 2011.

Narcissus, 2012.  In Greek mythology, he was so beautiful that he fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. 

Pierre and Gilles are still active.  We end with Petit Matin (Early Morning), painted in 2024.