Weighing In - Part 71

Nick Heynen

Nick Heynen, nicknamed "The Hangman", is a Canadian MMA fighter born in 1983.  Above, he weighs in at the Aggression MMA 9 event in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on July 11, 2012.  He had to weigh in naked, but unfortunately for us, he was concealed behind a cloth.

However, after the weigh-in, Nick calmly proceeded to put his pants back on in the background with no cloth to block our view of him, above.

Nick fought in the lightweight class.  In this event, he fought Stephen Beaumont and lost.  His overall fight record was 4 wins and 3 losses.

Poem of the Day - Part 71

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Artists - Part 74

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Beach Bums - Part 68

 Beach 19, Lisbon, Portugal

Beach 19, called Praia 19 in Portuguese, has been called the largest and most beautiful gay beach in Europe.  To reach it, you take a little train that runs along the Costa da Caparica, which is the shore south of Lisbon (above).

Stops are marked by numbered signs.  Get off at sign 19, hence the name of the beach.

This beach is not only a nude beach, it is also mostly a gay beach.  The beach is huge – it's part of a beach that stretches along the Costa da Caparica for 13 miles – so it's not crowded.  Beach 19 was declared an official nude beach in 1995.

You can enjoy the sun ...

or enjoy the sea.  The waves are not rough here.

I saw several photos of waders but none of swimmers, but it may be that the photographers were concentrating on the attractions close at hand (above).

Behind the beach there are dunes.

You can also sunbathe in the dunes.

Some cruising takes place in the dunes.

But behind the dunes are woods, where the real cruising takes place.

Resulting in this ...

and this, both filmed behind Beach 19.

At the end of the day, the sun sets into the Atlantic Ocean ...

and it's time to take the little train back from Beach 19.

Gods, Myths, and Heroes - Part 65

Hercules

Hercules was one of the principal heroes of Greek mythology.  The Greeks called him Herakles, but I will use the Roman name Hercules which is more familiar to most people.

We have already looked at the twelve labors of Hercules.  Today we look at two other myths.  The fresco above shows Hercules at left, carrying his trademark lion skin and club, with the river god Achelous and Deianeira, daughter of the king of Calydon.

This fresco is in a house in the Roman town of Herculaneum. The town was named after Hercules and was destroyed by the same eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in 79 A.D.

Both Hercules and Achelous wanted to marry Deianeira, and they fought over her.  Achelous, being a god, was able to change shape.  He transformed himself into a snake.  Above, Hercules fighting Achelous in the form of a snake, by Francois-Joseph Bosio, 1824, in the Louvre museum.

The front view of Hercules fighting Achelous as a snake.  Amusingly, it looks like Hercules is holding a can of beer or soda, but I guess it's supposed to be a rock.

Unable to win as a snake, Achelous then transformed himself into a bull.  Above, Hercules fighting Achelous in the form of a bull, a 17th century sculpture by Ferdinand Tacca.  Ultimately, Hercules won the fight, and he married Deianeira.

A second myth involves the centaur Nessus.  A centaur was half horse, half man.  Above, a fresco in Pompeii showing Hercules, Deianeira and Nessus.  Nessus acted as a ferryman, carrying passengers across the river Euenos.  In this story, Nessus carried Deianeira across the river, then tried to rape her while Hercules was still on the other side of the river.  Hercules could see what was happening, and he shot Nessus with an arrow that was poisoned with the blood of the Hydra, a monster that Hercules had killed in his earlier twelve labors.

This vase from 420 BC shows Hercules attacking Nessus, but it omits the poisoned arrow, which is vital to the myth, as we will see.

Here's a 2nd century Roman sculpture of Hercules attacking Nessus, again omitting the poisoned arrow.

And here's the rear view of that same sculpture in the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy.

The myth continues.  As Nessus lay dying, he gave Deianeira his blood-soaked robe, telling her that if she gave it to Hercules, it would ensure that Hercules would be true to her forever.  Actually, he knew that his blood was deadly, infected with the virulent poison of the Hydra.

Later, Deianeira told Hercules' servant Lichas to give Hercules the robe.  When Hercules put on the robe, the poison blood in the robe burned his skin.  Thinking that Lichas was behind this, Hercules threw Lichas into the sea.

Above, Hercules and Lichas by the sculptor Antonio Canova, 1815.  Canova concealed Hercules' genitals with a fig leaf ...

but interestingly, if you look from below, Canova's sculpture shows Hercules' balls behind the fig leaf (above).

Here's a modern painting of Hercules and Lichas by William Horace Littlefield, 1937.

Even without the robe, the poison continued to burn Hercules, and it became unbearable.  So Hercules lit a funeral pyre and jumped onto it, burning to death, as seen in this 1655 illustration by Michel de Marolles.  A dramatic end for a dramatic mythical hero.

World Naked Bike Ride - Part 74

 St. Louis 2023

Today we look at another World Naked Bike Ride in the U.S.  This one was held in St. Louis, Missouri in 2023.  Above, participants gather before the ride begins, including this well-hung guy.

Another participant before the ride begins, sporting body paint handprints.

It's always good to have Cupid on hand at these events.

At first I thought this guy's beard entirely covered his face.  Closer inspection revealed that it's not his beard at all.  He's wearing a dark cloth over his face, and we're seeing his long hair.

The ride begins.  Here's another long-haired guy, this one wearing a helmet.

Look, ma, no hands!

The ride goes through the downtown streets toward St. Louis' iconic Gateway Arch.

Still heading toward the Arch.  The building on the right looks like the State Capitol, but it isn't; that's in Jefferson City.  This is the Old Courthouse building.

Later, after dark, a group of riders posing for the camera.

We end with rider Jeffrey Roberts, at right, and a guy with a "Don't Tread on Me" slogan, where the treads are tire treads.  Evidently he was promoting safety for cyclists, which is a WNBR theme, i.e. "Don't run over me and my bicycle with your car or truck."  

It was another successful WNBR.

Estonian Photos - Part 30

Estonian Photos

We continue our series of photos from the Tartu Ülikooli museum of anthropology in Estonia.

For those who haven't seen my previous posts in this series, a few words of explanation.  The museum provides no information about the men, other than the photos came from the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Tartu.  In particular, it does not say who these men are, or when or why the photos were taken.

My best guess is that they are military recruits.  The very short haircuts suggest that these photos were taken during or shortly after the enlistment process.

Many of the men have dark faces and hands.  Are they are tanned from working outside like farmers, or are they dirty from some dirty occupation?  We don't know.

When were the photos taken?  My best guess is between World War I and World War II, when Estonia was an independent country with its own military.  Before WWI, Estonia was part of the Russian Empire, and after WWII, Estonia was part of the Soviet Union until 1991.

A clue to the time frame is that these photographs were made on glass plates, not film.  Dry glass-plate photography started in 1871 and began to fall out of use in the 1920s.  I found some references to it in Estonia through the 1930s.

One other clue to the time frame of these photos is that in a previous batch, one of the men is wearing a wristwatch.   Wristwatches were considered to be for ladies before World War I.  (Men used pocket watches.)  However, during the war, wristwatches proved very useful for soldiers and pilots.  After WWI, wristwatches came into fashion for men.

Although wristwatches were evidently rare in Estonia (only two men wore a wristwatch among the hundreds that were photographed), it suggests that these photos are post-World War I.

Since the use of glass plates fell out of use in the 1920s, I think the photos were most likely taken shortly after World War I.

Although these appear to be military recruits, these may not not be military photos.  We know that the museum that currently has the photos got them from the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Tartu.  If these are military photos, why would they end up at the Institute of Anatomy?

A more likely possibility is that the photos were taken by academics.  Scientists at the Institute of Anatomy were doing studies to try to measure what they considered racial characteristics of the population by measuring the body, including phrenology (measuring the skull), ideas which are now discredited.

I think that the scientists at the Institute of Anatomy may have persuaded the military to let them take photographs of the naked new recruits for "research" purposes.  I have no written evidence to support this idea, but since the photos were at the Institute of Anatomy, and the photo subjects appear to be military recruits, it's now my best guess as to what happened.

One other question that perennially arises from these photos is: why were the men photographed in pairs?  Was it to save film?

The answer is that these photos were made on glass plates, not film, but glass plates were more expensive and involved more labor than film, so yes, it's likely that the men were photographed in pairs to save on glass plates.

So, bottom line: My best guess is that these photos were taken after World War I, the subjects are new or recent Army recruits, and the Estonian military allowed scientists from the Institute of Anatomy to take photos of the naked recruits for "research".