Hiking - Part 95

Appenzell, Switzerland

An illustration from the Lonely Planet guidebook Don't Hike Naked in Switzerland.

Naked hiking in Switzerland had become popular, especially in the eastern canton of Appenzell.

Many of the naked hikers are tourists from Germany who followed the German naturist FKK movement.

Things came to a head in 2009 when a man wandered on a trail in Appenzell that went past a Christian elderly care home, wearing only boots and a backpack.

He was taken to court and fined, but the case was overturned on appeal because there was actually no law against naked hiking.

So in April, 2009, the canton of Appenzell, in a traditional open air assembly, voted to ban naked hiking.

However, there is still no law against naked hiking in the rest of Switzerland.

Smile!

We end with part of a video by Max Foch in which he deliberately breaks what he considers to be silly laws all over Europe.  In this last segment, he breaks the law against hiking naked in Switzerland.  Unfortunately, the video is pixelated.  But actually, the joke is on Max, because he was hiking in the Graubünden canton, not Appenzell, and naked hiking is perfectly legal in Graubünden.

Poem of the Day - Part 95

Monty Python's Penis Song

Today's poem is a song from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, 1983.  In the film it is sung by fully clothed Eric Idle at the piano in a lounge, and no penises are visible.

Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis?

Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?

It's swell to have a stiffy.

It's divine to own a dick,

From the tiniest little tadger

To the world's biggest prick.

So, three cheers for your Willy or John Thomas.

Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake,

Your piece of pork, your wife's best friend,

Your Percy, or your cock.

You can wrap it up in ribbons.

You can slip it in your sock,

But don't take it out in public,

Or they will stick you in the dock,

And you won't come back.

Artists - Part 97

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was an Austrian painter whose work helped define the Art Nouveau style.  We see him above with his cat, wearing his customary robe that he wore commando style with nothing underneath.

His primary subject was the female body, including many female nudes, which we will not show here.  Some of his work was criticized as pornographic.  He produced several drawings of nude females masturbating.

But he also painted and drew nude men, like this drawing Sitting Male Nude, 1879, above.

Male Nude with Left Foot on a Pedestal, 1879.

Reclining Male Nude, 1880.

Some of his paintings also featured male nudes.  In Idylle, 1884, not much is showing ...

but Male Nude, 1883 doesn't hide anything.

In 1910, architect Adolf Loos gave a lecture that was published in 1913 as Ornament and Crime, in which he accused Klimt and the whole Art Nouveau movement of "erotic pollution."

We end with Klimt's amused response, a sketch called Self-Portrait as Genitalia.

Vintage Military - Part 109

Civil War

Today is Veterans Day, and we have some really vintage veterans – from the Civil War.

The U.S. Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865.  Afterwards, the U.S. Government published a set of books called The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion.  It was a record of Civil War medical issues in six large volumes, covering camp diseases, epidemics, battlefield wounds, surgical procedures, and amputations.  Today we see some illustrations from the book.  These are lithographs made from photographs of wounded soldiers.  All of the soldiers in these 6 photos suffered "gunshot fractures of the femur".

Above, Captain D. Lewis, 8th Ohio (left) and Private A. F. Dinsmore, 3rd Michigan (right).

Lieutenant J. Buckley, 140th New York (left) and Private J. Hamilton, 1st Delaware (right).

Sergeant A. Ryder, 121st New York (left) and Private T. Miller, 116th Pennsylvania (right).

Private H. E. Gumberts, 136th Indiana (left) and Private H. Shetter, 7th Wisconsin (right).

Private J. Durst, 69th New York (left) and Private M. Burns, 28th Massachusetts (right).

Private R. Hanlon, 5th U.S. Cavalry (left) and Private J. O'Connor, 16th Michigan (right).

It's interesting to see the men's hairstyles that were current 160 years ago (not much different from today) and the facial hair (mustaches were popular).  Also, although it's difficult to tell in some of the images, most if not all of these men were uncircumcised.  Circumcision for non-Jews was not promoted in the U.S. until the late 1800s.

Beach Bums - Part 92

 Cobblers Beach, Sydney

Cobblers Beach is a small beach located in Sydney Harbour National Park on the northern edge of Sydney Harbour near Sydney, Australia.

It's an official nude beach.  The beach is small and can almost disappear at high tide.

It is perhaps most famous as the location for the Sydney Skinny, an annual nude swimming event, named after skinny dipping, that was held here starting in 2013.  Above, bathers entering the water at the 2013 Sydney Skinny.

Some of the Sydney Skinny participants in 2017.  Those who appreciate rear views (like Rick) can click for a larger view.

Some of the Sydney Skinny participants in 2019 being photographed by a guy whose swim trunks say "lifesaver".  I assume that's Aussie for lifeguard, but it makes me wonder what this LifeSaver tastes like.

The Sydney Skinny in 2023.  Each year, the event raised money for charity.  In 2023, more than 1000 people participated, but it failed to set a record for the most people getting naked, which was set in Ireland in 2018 with 2505 people.  Unfortunately, Sydney Skinny was cancelled in 2026 due to lack of funding and failure to attract a corporate sponsor.

We end with this guy on Cobblers Beach in 2023.  G'day, mate!

Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 89

Misericords

In medieval churches, people had to stand up while saying prayers.  This could be a problem for elderly monks and other clergy members who had to endure prayer sessions that went on for a long time.  The solution was to provide misericords, a type of seat that could be flipped up or down.  When flipped down, it was a seat that you could sit on.  When it was flipped up, as shown above, it still provided a little perch that you could rest your butt on while standing.

The undersides of these wooden seats were carved by local artists.  Sometimes they used Biblical themes, like Adam in Carlisle Cathedral, England.

But more often, it was not thought proper to use religious images on something that people rested their ass on.  So the local artists were given free reign on the misericords to depict anything they wanted to.  The artists went to town, often depicting things that you would not expect to see in a church.  Above, a figure mooning in the church of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, Aarschot, Belgium.

A naked man in the Catedral de Santa Maria, Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain.

Frontal views are rare, but there are a few of them, like this naked man being attacked by a fantasy animal in the church of Saint Ferreol, Essomes sur Marnes, France.

And apparently there were no restrictions on rear views, like this one in the church of Notre Dame, Rodez, France.

Or this one in the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam.

Another misericord in the same church (Oude Kerk, Amsterdam) shows a man shitting money.  Did it perhaps depict a local rich man?

We end with a misericord in the Great Malvern Priory in Malvern, England.  The man at right has the head of a bull.  Does that suggest that he's hung like a bull?  But the woman at left has stuck two bellows up his ass.  I'm thinking that's not the kind of blow job that he was hoping for.

World Naked Bike Ride - Part 98

Brighton 2026

The World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) in Brighton, England is one of the largest in the country.  This year, it was scheduled in June but postponed.  The rescheduled WNBR happened on September 12.  Riders gathered in Preston Park.

This guy attracted my attention for some reason.

A rear view of him.  He had "GO" painted on both his front and back.

The ride began through the streets of Brighton.

Here's flamingo man riding.

A rear view of flamingo man.

Near him is a guy on skates with the painted message "Car Sick".  I don't know why it's painted backwards (perhaps for motorists to see in their rear-view mirror?).  I think "Car Sick" is a clever nod to one of the WNBR messages: please ride bikes instead of driving cars, because cars generate pollution that makes us sick.

This banner proclaims a similar message: "Cycle for Clean Air".

I did not see any signs advocating WNBR's other main message: asking drivers to drive more carefully around bike riders.  But some riders had their own messages.  This guy is painted with the words "Equality" (misspelled), "Inclusion" and "Diversity".

And this rider just wants us to "Be Happy".